Phrenology

A detailed Summary of Phrenology


"Before phrenology all we knew about the brain was, how to slice it" -- Richard Chenevix, 1828 (Victorian Web). Phrenology was a popular pseudoscience that was founded by Franz Gall. He believed that by examining the bumps on a person's skull, you could determine ones personality characteristics, moral characteristics, and intelligence. Notions such as, are people with large foreheads smarter than people with small foreheads, were at the core of phrenology. This is what led me to pick this topic for this paper. I have always been told I have a large forehead, so I found this topic interesting. By going to hospitals, prisons, and schools Gall gathered evidence to try and support phrenology. By doing this he identified 27 personality characteristics that he believed could be diagnosed by ex


The science spread to America and France and was reintroduced in the German states in the 1830s and 1840s. It died in Britain by the early 1850s. In the 1860s the American Fowler brothers introduced a new movement. Remnants are still seen today from this later movement of phrenology. This latter movement by the Fowler brothers was responsible for the head reading craze the started in the late nineteenth century. Phrenology also became well known for its anthropological/racial concerns.

rehead was associated with ones higher intelligence. Gall took his ideas to the general public when his theories started to be ridiculed by other scientists. He began to give "readings" in which he described ones personality based on measuring the bumps on a person's head.

"Verizon on-line service" The Victorian

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 556
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Science

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