Definition of Phrenalogy

Definition of Phrenalogy

Phrenology claims to be a science in which the relation of the functions of mind to the material of the brain substance is observed. It asserts that just as speech, taste, touch, &c., have their centres in certain convolutions of the brain, so have benevolence, firmness, conscientiousness, &c., and that by studying the configuration of the brain, as indicated by that of the skull, a man's character may be approximately discovered. As a science it is usually discredited, and held to be unsupported by physiology, anatomy, and pathology. It is held as strongly militating against its claims that it takes no account of the convolutions of the brain that lie on the base of the skull. Its originators were Gall, Spurzheim, and Andrew and George Combe.

- Wikipedia

Phre*nol"o*gy (?), n. [Gr. &?;, &?;, the mind + -logy: cf. F. phrénologie.] 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.

&fist; Gall marked out on his model of the head the places of twenty-six organs, as round inclosures with vacant interspaces. Spurzheim and Combe divided the whole scalp into oblong and conterminous patches. Encyc. Brit.

- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

PHRENOLOGY, n. The science of picking the pocket through the scalp.
It consists in locating and exploiting the organ that one is a dupe
with.

- 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

the science which studies the relationships between a person's character and the morphology of the skull

- The Nuttall Encyclopedia

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