33 Absurd Phrenology Charts From A Century Ago

These vintage phrenology diagrams from 1902 claim to reveal which head shapes indicate which personality traits — and what passed for medical science a century ago.

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1 of 34Genuine husband vs. unreliable husband.archive.org 2 of 34Honesty vs. deceitfulness.archive.org 3 of 34Ear types and the impulsive head shape.archive.org 4 of 34Masculine male head vs. feminine male head.archive.org 5 of 34Genuine mother vs. unreliable mother.archive.org 6 of 34Genuine father vs. unreliable father.archive.org 7 of 34Thinking-oriented student vs. visual-oriented student.archive.org 8 of 34Head with good qualities vs. head with bad qualities.archive.org 9 of 34Affectionate head shape and intense head shape.archive.org 10 of 34Analysis of Alexander Graham Bell’s head and a pugnacious head.archive.org 11 of 34Head the combines intellect with executive force.archive.org 12 of 34Lips indicating jealousy and large appetites.archive.org 13 of 34Steadiness and practicality.archive.org 14 of 34Vital magnetism vs. lack thereof.archive.org 15 of 34Laziness.archive.org 16 of 34Lovers of music in minor keys vs. lovers of music in major keys.archive.org 17 of 34Nose types and the center of personality.archive.org 18 of 34The center of vitality.archive.org 19 of 34Amativeness.archive.org 20 of 34Pluckiness vs. nervousness.archive.org 21 of 34Approbativeness and the deceitful nose.archive.org 22 of 34Dangerousness and profaneness.archive.org 23 of 34"Holy Smoke. Self Explanatory.“archive.org 24 of 34Acquisitiveness and psychical phenomena.archive.org 25 of 34Incredulity and “the psychological railway.“archive.org 26 of 34"How to read the face.“archive.org 27 of 34Vengefulness.archive.org 28 of 34Social idiocy and Julia Ward Howe.archive.org 29 of 34Psychical sensibility and materialism.archive.org 30 of 34Spiritual eyes.archive.org 31 of 34Dreams and the nature of the head.archive.org 32 of 34The strata of the head.archive.org 33 of 34The torrid zone.archive.org 34 of 34Like this gallery?Share it:

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33 Absurd Phrenology Diagrams From A Century Ago View Gallery

Phrenology, the practice of reading the shape of one’s skull to discover their character and mental faculties was all the rage in the United States and Europe in the 19th century. And it was almost complete pseudoscience.

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1 of 34Genuine husband vs. unreliable husband.archive.org

2 of 34Honesty vs. deceitfulness.archive.org

3 of 34Ear types and the impulsive head shape.archive.org

4 of 34Masculine male head vs. feminine male head.archive.org

5 of 34Genuine mother vs. unreliable mother.archive.org

6 of 34Genuine father vs. unreliable father.archive.org

7 of 34Thinking-oriented student vs. visual-oriented student.archive.org

8 of 34Head with good qualities vs. head with bad qualities.archive.org

9 of 34Affectionate head shape and intense head shape.archive.org

10 of 34Analysis of Alexander Graham Bell’s head and a pugnacious head.archive.org

11 of 34Head the combines intellect with executive force.archive.org

12 of 34Lips indicating jealousy and large appetites.archive.org

13 of 34Steadiness and practicality.archive.org

14 of 34Vital magnetism vs. lack thereof.archive.org

15 of 34Laziness.archive.org

16 of 34Lovers of music in minor keys vs. lovers of music in major keys.archive.org

17 of 34Nose types and the center of personality.archive.org

18 of 34The center of vitality.archive.org

19 of 34Amativeness.archive.org

20 of 34Pluckiness vs. nervousness.archive.org

21 of 34Approbativeness and the deceitful nose.archive.org

22 of 34Dangerousness and profaneness.archive.org

23 of 34"Holy Smoke. Self Explanatory.“archive.org

24 of 34Acquisitiveness and psychical phenomena.archive.org

25 of 34Incredulity and “the psychological railway.“archive.org

26 of 34"How to read the face.“archive.org

27 of 34Vengefulness.archive.org

28 of 34Social idiocy and Julia Ward Howe.archive.org

29 of 34Psychical sensibility and materialism.archive.org

30 of 34Spiritual eyes.archive.org

31 of 34Dreams and the nature of the head.archive.org

32 of 34The strata of the head.archive.org

33 of 34The torrid zone.archive.org

34 of 34Like this gallery?Share it:

Flipboard

33 Absurd Phrenology Diagrams From A Century Ago View Gallery

33 Absurd Phrenology Diagrams From A Century Ago

View Gallery

However, discerning personality traits based on the shape of someone’s head or facial features seemed medically sound at the time, especially with the idea coming from a physician and anatomist who dabbled in dissecting the human brain.

That German-born anatomist was Franz Joseph Gall, and he had a hunch. He’d remembered from his childhood school days that all the kids who excelled in memorization had slightly protruded eyes. Gall theorized that the part of the brain located directly behind the eyes was associated with memory.

Through his studies in the late 1700s and early 1800s, he concluded that each part of the brain specialized in a function, or faculty, as he called them. If any of these brain areas were larger or more developed than others, Gall thought, that likely indicated a greater or lesser tendency toward the faculties pinned to those areas. Furthermore, he believed that the skull as a whole mimicked the size and shape of the underlying brain. Phrenology was born.

It probably only took a few people getting head readings they didn’t agree with before the thought emerged to “exercise” your brain in order to “build-up” certain areas. Doing this, some thought, could fundamentally change aspects of your personality.

With this in mind, phrenology became both a “scientific practice” and a commercial self-help scheme, complete, of course, with books and potions designed to strengthen mental faculties.

Just like that, Victorians were hooked on the idea, with phrenology also becoming popular in America especially between 1820 and 1850. The practice simultaneously validated individuals with all the right traits and gave hope to those with less than perfect traits. It was an empowering message: You were the master of your own mind; you could change, physically and emotionally, from how God made you.

With such popularity, phrenology made its way into the popular vernacular. The terms “lowbrow,” “highbrow,” and “shrink” (meaning psychologist) are still in use today. Meanwhile, well-known phrenologists the Fowler brothers created an empire from the ministry of phrenology. They gave readings, lectures, and created publications. They touted the practice as the gateway to a perfect world through science and understanding. The American Phrenological Journal was one of the most widely read and circulated magazines of the time.

But like any craze, phrenology was bound to crash. Almost every other medical and scientific community dismissed the very idea of it. Professional criticism of phrenology — and its role in racist thinking and rhetoric — while always present, gained traction when test after test revealed that the brain cannot be mapped by the skull alone. By the 20th century, everyone (save a few die-hards like the Fowler family) chucked phrenology to the wayside.

However, Gall got a few things right. He asserted that the brain was the center of all emotion and cognitive function (some doctors of the time still associated love with the heart), he correlated the prefrontal lobes with language, and his studies that indicated how the brain localized functions still hold up today.

But to see the outgrowth of all that Gall got wrong, view the vintage phrenology charts above from Louis Allen Vaught’s 1902 phrenology handbook Vaught’s Practical Character Reader.

After this look at phrenology charts, see some disturbing photos that reveal the history of eugenics. Then, look inside the Psychopathia Sexualis, the 19th-century books that experts once used to explain sexual deviancy.

These vintage phrenology diagrams from 1902 claim to reveal which head shapes indicate which personality traits — and what passed for medical science a century ago.#

These vintage phrenology diagrams from 1902 claim to reveal which head shapes indicate which personality traits — and what passed for medical science a century ago.