phrenology
noun
Example Sentences
Eleanor Cummins, The New Republic, 10 Aug. 2022 To broaden Kelso’s story, the author takes every opportunity to look beyond the man, with cogent discussions of national political and cultural trends and enlightening digressions on everything from phrenology to dueling. Gerard Helferich, WSJ, 19 Dec. 2021 In Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine, Duchenne laid important foundations for both Darwin and Ekman, connecting older ideas from physiognomy and phrenology with more modern investigations into physiology and psychology. Kate Crawford, The Atlantic, 27 Apr. 2021 Microclimate and phrenology are explained with clarity and sufficient depth. Sally Peterson, oregonlive, 23 Apr. 2021 With its title mocking the attempts of phrenology to diminish the worth of African Americans, Smith paints dignified portraits of everyday black people—a bootblack, a washerman—as examples of the unique personalities inherent to every human being. Bryan Greene, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Feb. 2021 But others disliked the stench of charlatanism that clung to any ideas associated with phrenology. Grace Huckins, Wired, 17 Aug. 2020 Some of these were fads, such as phrenology (the idea that personality or psychology could be determined by the shape of the head). Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 22 Dec. 2020 One of Mensa’s co-founders, Roland Berrill, believed in the pseudoscience of phrenology, which involves measuring skulls to predict mental ability. Cat Zhang, The New Yorker, 9 Mar. 2020 See More Word History
Greek phren-, phrḗn "midriff, seat of the passions, mind, wits" + -o- + -logy — more at frenetic
Note: In reference to the study of the skull as a guide to the mind, the word was introduced by the English physician and astronomer Thomas Ignatius Maria Forster (1789-1860) in the essay "Sketch of the new Anatomy and Physiology of the Brain and Nervous System of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim, considered as comprehending a complete system of Phrenology," The Pamphleteer, vol. 5, no. 9 (February, 1815), pp. 219-43; and also in "Observations on a new System of Phrenology, or the Anatomy and Physiology of the Brain, of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim," The Philosophical Magazine and Journal, vol. 45 (January-June, 1815), pp. 44-63. As indicated by the titles, Forster gave a name to a system already in existence, introduced by the German anatomist Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) and Johann Spurzheim (1776-1832). The word phrenology had been in use slightly earlier as a more general name for the scientific study of the mind.
1815, in the meaning defined above
Medical Definition
phrenology
noun