Phrenology Head

Phrenology was a medical theory which argued that the shape of a person’s skull determined personality, and so feeling for bumps on the skull would help to account for a person’s character.  Different parts of the brain were believed to control different traits, and therefore would be larger where these traits were present. Franz Joseph Gall had been the originator of this theory in the late 1700s, and it became more popular in the nineteenth century.

A label on the front reads ‘approved by Fowler & Wells, New York’. Fowler and Wells was a phrenological publishing business, established by Orson and Lorenzo Fowler in 1835, who were later joined by Samuel Robert Wells in 1843. In the late nineteenth century, the company published many phrenological texts, as well as The Phrenological Journal. The company also saw the establishment of the American Institute of Phrenology, an educational institution, and later the British Phrenological Society in the 1880s.

Phrenology has now been discredited due to its lack of scientific evidence and the development of more sophisticated neuroscience methods. It is also problematic because of its links to eugenics and its use in supporting racist ideologies.

For more items related to phrenology, see the Death Mask or Post-Mortem Kit

In 1861, one patient’s occupation was listed as Professor of Phrenology and Mesmerism. Click to find out more about the illustrious Edwin Cockburn Garry!