Phrenologists of Influence
Influence into the late 18th- early 19th century
<a> LINE SPACE: 20px; </a> F. J. Gall is known as the father of what had become to be the scientific class of Phrenology. Gall began a physician studying the shapes of skulls, but laid the foundation of linking the brain to characteristics of a human's mental order. He stated in his works that the morality, sentimentalities, etc. of a man were housed in the brain and organized in ways which he could decipher by studying the shape and morphology of the skull. These beliefs, or facts, to Gall, became the basic laws of Phrenology. Spurzheim, Gall's fellow collaborator and dedicated pupil, spent his years in the field studying the human skull to solidify the link between the human brain and one's character and temperament, spreading these ideas to the UK and America.
The Combe Brothers (early 19th century Sclottland) and the Fowler Brothers (late 19th America)
Those thinkers and physiologists who wrote of and studied Phrenology after Gall took it very seriously. For white-European philosophers and physiologists, it was a reminder that the superiority of the white man can be physically accounted for via measurements of their Caucasian skull. Their gene-given intelligence, physical capacities, and strong moral values are now backed by science, and so scientists like George Combe and his brother and the Fowler Brothers took flight with enthusiasm to spread these ideas.
