19 September 2011

Feeling Superior to Your Ancestors: Pseudo-Science

Yes, our forefathers were industrious, frugal, innovative, and all sorts of other traits that seem to be going the way of the telegraph and the 8-track. But you know what else they were? Gullible. Actually, I'm not sure gullible is the right word, but it really doesn't matter. You can still chuckle at them and their quaint notions of science. Let's talk about phrenology.


Phrenology is the idea that certain areas of the brain serve certain functions. That's actually true. What's not true is the idea that you can study these areas by feeling up your skull.


The "science" was developed a German doctor, Franz Joseph Gall, in 1796. He believed that your skull changed shape to accommodate for bulges in your brain. Nowadays, brain bulges would be troubling. Not so two centuries ago. On the contrary, these bulges corresponded to different traits. The bigger the bulge, the more capacity you have for the corresponding trait.


This was all the rage in the nineteenth century, particularly in Europe. It was most popular in the first four decades of the century, and, though it had been disproved by mid-century, it remained popular into the 20th century. 


Here's a link to the best site I found: http://www.historyofphrenology.org.uk/. So go play; feel up your skull and see if you learn anything about yourself.


cover of the American Phrenology Journal 1848
Know Thyself


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