Phrenology: Mapping the Human Skull

Phrenology is the study of head or skull, in the belief that the shape of the bone reflects brain development and makes it possible to read the subject's personality traits and behavioral tendencies. The Austrian physician Franz Joseph Gall­who calls his work cranioscopy­is usually considered the founder of phrenology. He is also one of the first people to apply the concept to criminality. His work marks the early stages of what will become known as biological determinism, a theoretical model citing physical characteristics and features as the causes of criminal behavior. Phrenology will be the dominant theoretical approach of the 19th century. Though Gall lives in Europe, one of his students, Johann Gaspar Spurzheim, lectures and publishes extensively in America. By 1825, there are 29 journals of phrenology circulating in America and Britain. Another important result of this new theory is that it moves criminology beyond philosophical conjecture toward the study of the offender rather than the crime. The skulls of actual people are examined, although the scientific methods are still crude. Prisons will continue to map and classify inmates¹ skulls until the 20th century.

Franz-Joseph Gall (1758-1828) founder of pseudo-science cranioscopy, which then became phrenology.