What was phrenology?
Phrenology was a science of character divination, faculty psychology, theory of brain and what the 19th-century phrenologists called “the only true science of mind.” Phrenology came from the theories of the idiosyncratic Viennese physician Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828). The basic tenets of Gall’s system were: 1.The brain is the organ of the mind. 2. The mind is composed of multiple, distinct, innate faculties. 3. Because they are distinct, each faculty must have a separate seat or “organ” in the brain. 4. The size of an organ, other things being equal, is a measure of its power. 5. The shape of the brain is determined by the development of the various organs. 6. As the skull takes its shape from the brain, the surface of the skull can be read as an accurate index of psychological aptitudes and tendencies. (For a description in Gall’s own words see: Letter to von Retzer) So it was believed that by examining the shape and unevenness of a head or skull, one could discover the development
