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Phrenology - Dictionary Definition and Overview |
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Phrenology : (noun)
1: a now abandoned study of the shape of skull as indicative of
the strengths of different faculties
Based on WordNet 2.0
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Phrenology : \Phre*nol"o*gy\, n. [Gr. ?, ?, the mind _ -logy: cf.
F. phr['e]nologie.]
1. The science of the special functions of the several parts
of the brain, or of the supposed connection between the
various faculties of the mind and particular organs in the
brain.
2. In popular usage, the physiological hypothesis of Gall,
that the mental faculties, and traits of character, are
shown on the surface of the head or skull; craniology.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Phrenology : Phrenology: The study of variations in size, shape, and proportion of the cranium. Phrenology was a pseudoscience of the 18th and 19th centuries based on the belief that a person's character
could be learned by looking with care at the shape of their head and noting each and every bump and depression in their skull. The individual mental faculties were believed to be contained in neat
compartments in the cerebral cortex and the size of these faculties were supposed to be reflected by the configuration of the skull. The best known model of phrenology was that of Gall who marked off
the places of twenty-six organs on the head.
The term "phrenology" was cobbled together from the Greek "phren" (the mind or the seat of reason and passion) and "logos" (a treatise, discourse or study). Phrenology has also been called
craniognomy and craniology. Irrespective of name, it is an absurd concept.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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