The Science and Myth behind Phrenology Essay -- Biology Essays

The Science and story behind PhrenologyPhrenology is a phenomenon that attempts to relate ones personality and moral capabilities with the form and structure of ones skull. This information became popular in the nineteenth century as the Eugenics motility gained widespread approval. In Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness, the reference to Phrenology is apparent in the scene where Marlow visits the doctor. Then with a certain eagerness the doctor expected me whether I would let him measure my head. Rather affecthe produced a thing like calipers. I the doctor always ask leave, in the interests of science, to measure the crania of those going out there the African jungle.He gave me a searching glance, and made another note. Ever any hysteria in your family? he asked, in a matter-of-fact tome. I entangle very annoyed. Is that question in the interests of science, too? (Conrad 13). As it can be inferred, Marlow patronizes the doctor by implying that Phrenology is not a scient ific practice because it cannot be used to determine the psychologcal fitness of an individual. Regardless, the spectacle of this practice in the late 1900s around likely gave Conrad the impetus to construct this parodied scene, which depicts Phrenology as a baseless science however, the practice is not wholly baseless. The ensnareer of Phrenology, Austrian physician Franz Joseph Gall, persistent the existence of a relationship between the morphology of the skull and the human credit (Peter 1). Franz asserted that the brain is responsible for a humans affable capacities. He attempted to prove this assessment by making statementsfound in his chief work, The Anatomy and Physiology of the Nervous System in General, and ... ...d the movement to justify their White supremacist, Aryan revolution. Fascist ideologies like Nazism prepare misused some elements of craniometry in the framework of their infamous racist doctrines (Peter 3). As a result of this misuse of Phrenology, it lost much of the scientific detect it hand gained in Western Civilization to the emerging field of psycho-analysis, whose father, Sigmund Freud, believed that the objectiveness of Phrenology was limited because of its lack of introspection. Regardless of Phrenologys disgraced past, it can stable be regarded as a well-founded science that has an objective foundation for assessing the importance of self-knowledge, self-achievement, education, and human relationships (Peter 4) in human development. Works CitedPeter, Van den Bosche. Phrenology. http//134.184.33.110/phreno/intro21.html. 05 October 2002.