Sorry for the lack of updates lately, I've been reading way too many books on these subjects, and gotten a bit behind. I thought I would make some quick thoughts before I post about an experiment or two I will undertake this weekend.
One thing that struck me interesting, was that phrenology is much more general than I thought. I had always heard it was about 'looking for lumps' on a person's head, but it's actually more about the general shape, size and appearance of the head. Physiognomy of the skull, in a manner of speaking.
I was also surprised as I read a book by the Fowler brothers, (one of the brothers) that they seemed rather progressive for the time. The book I'm reading was written in 1899, but it is not nearly as racist as some books on physiognomy I've read from forty or fifty years later. There is quite a bit of Euro-centrism, (the European face seemingly the 'average' face,) but women are included in the book without derogatory remarks, and some differences in the races commented on, but nothing very dismissive or offensive. (Any more offensive than saying that people with small foreheads are 'idiots.') Overall, surprising for this time period.
I checked out more modern books, but they seem to mostly just be rehashing information from these older books, and taking out some parts that seem bizarre or offensive to modern people. I love reading these old books, I scanned the oldest, and will post images from it, (if not the whole book,) on Monday. In all of them, people have underlined passages, and made notes. One book in particular has nearly every page covered in tiny illegible penciled words. I love old books, and the more it shows that people have actually read them over the years, the more I like them.
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