Physiognomy and Phrenology wrap up

Overall with Pseudo-sciences, I've been discovering that they obviously do not hold up to experimentation. I think that the reason people might have believed in this sort of thing is the argument from authority, of smart looking scholars telling them that it is true. Also, one can skim one of these books and say, "Oh, I'm smart, and it says that this aspect of my head/face means I'm smart, how canny!" Yet, most people do not delve in and really examine what the shape of their nostrils means. With much scrutiny at all, these 'sciences' fall apart. I was nearly wanting to believe them, because it 's fun to imagine you can determine people's personalities based on this sort of thing, but it just isn't possible. I'm a bit disappointed, and I fear that I am going to be doubly disappointed on my next experiment, contacting the dead with a Ouija board. I tried it out a bit last night, I will write a quick summary in my next entry.

Phrenology - Experiment

It took a little longer to decipher these books than I thought, so today will be the phrenology experiment, to be followed by physiognomy experiments tomorrow.
I set to measuring my head, which proved difficult without calipers. I followed the instructions in the book Descriptive Mentality... Head Face and Hand by Holmes W. Merton (1899)
The instructions were very vague and poorly written. The names of the certain measurements were obfuscated, either on purpose or not. Once it would be referred to as "top head measurement" and later as "forehead measurement." After about an hour I was able to take all of my head measurements and determine what they were supposed to be. For science's sake, I will provide my measurements and notes here.

"measurement 1 22 inches (high medium or large)"

This was the circumference of my head, surprisingly not that big. I suppose this was probably designed with men as a base line. I have a very large head in reality. This measurement has little to do with anything, other than creating a proportion for the other measurements to go off of.

"temperament 1 14, 1/2 large"

This measurement was from the center of my ear to the top of my forehead and around to the other ear.

"2 15 1/2 (real big)
3 15 1/2 (pretty big)
(mental temperament)
(middle and second range of faculties strong)"

Here I have determined that based on these measurements which are basically the top of my head from the ear up from various angles, I have the "mental temperament," based on information from the book.

"measurement 2 6 inches?? exceedingly tiny
DEFINITELY not vital temperament
height from ear holes to top 5 1/4
side head slightly less than 12 inches, VERY small"

My strange head shining through. I can wear children's sunglasses, and yet I can't wear a lot of normal sized hats. This apparently means I am very un-vital, for what that's worth.

"estimative temperament
high motive and mental, low vital"

So I have determined my temperament, based on my having high 'motive' and 'mental' and low 'vital', which means I am intelligent and hard-working, but not very lively or healthy. That is in some ways accurate, but I am actually reasonably healthy. I was a bit disappointed that this is all that I was able to find out after all that measuring. This was the experiment I could most easily do with phrenology, because the rest of it requires one knowing what an 'average' head feels like, and the only people I know who would probably let me touch their heads are not very 'average'.
I guess these measurements are difficult and vague, because it is actually a lot easier to measure one's head than to do the more specific reading, so more people might do it. The more people who can do it, the more vague one must be for it to seem 'true.' Of course most people are going to consider themselves intelligent, or lively, or hard-working, so any combination of the three is going to ring true to most people.
I must admit I did try doing a more thorough reading on my head, and was only able to determine that I am apparently lousy at math, mechanical objects, and don't believe much in personal liberties. Not sure how true any of those are, more than an average person.
Something I am finding about these pseudo-sciences, is that prior to my experiments, I am more readily able to believe them than the occult subjects. I suppose this is how people believed them in the past, a scholarly person makes claims that seem reasonable, people are likely to believe it until they actually test it. Such is the definition of a pseudo-science, it seems.

Phrenology and Physiognomy

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.

Phrenology and Physiognomy

Due to the interchangeability of phrenology and physiognomy, I have elected to combine the two topics into one long section that I will cover for the next two weeks. At first, I had a hard time tracking down books on these subjects, particularly physiognomy. I think that because that it has been used to justify racism and certainly looks-ism, it has become scarce and some of the only remaining texts on it are those from the perspectives of rather ill personage. I did eventually find some, and now have a stack of books with extreme "character", and extensive use of Futura font. One book I have has a stamp from someone checking it out in 1910! (I had no idea books this old were able to be checked out from my local library.) I will post shortly some thoughts on these subjects once I'm using a computer that isn't as terrible as the one in my college's writing center.