PHRENOLOGY
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11. Once the most popular of all psychic sciences phrenology was an offshoot of modern physiognomy as propounded by Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741 1801). Among Lavater’s admirers was Franz Joseph Gall, who was born in Baden in 1758, studied medicine in Strassburg, and became a practicing physician in Vienna, where, in 1796, he advanced his theories of phrenology, which he based on extensive research.

Just as physiognomy had its roots in ancient teachings, so could phrenology point to earlier findings. One dealt with general physical appearance as an index to individual traits; the other considered the formation of the skull as indicative of mental processes.

Both studies followed a similar pattern; With physiognomy, facial formations were checked against traits that they seemingly represented, which led to surveys of less obvious formations, which were accepted on the strength of positive – or negative – results.

With phrenology, Gall applied this same process of rationalization to the formation of the skull, dividing it into three major regions which offered rather obvious interpretations. Those areas were subdivided into many more, all identified by individual enlargements, or lack of such. Gall listed twenty-six of these, and compared the characteristics of persons having the same notable “Bumps” or developments.

These were later classified as irregular areas, and their number was increased by Johann Kaspar Spurzheim ( 1776 – 1832), another Viennese physician and an ardent follower of Gall.

In Scotland, Spurzheim’s lectures impressed a lawyer named George Combe (1788 -1858), who took up the subject of phrenology and later helped to establish it in America.

There, the number of divisions, which had jumped first to thirty-two- and then grown to thirty-six, was increased to forty-two by the Fowler brothers, Orson and Lorenzo, who started giving phrenological readings in New York in 1835, and soon issued charts and sent lecturers throughout the country. Eventually they set up a phrenological museum containing thousands of models of human skulls, ranging from those of savages to famous historical personages, all of whose traits could be traced by a skilled phrenologist.