I had to read some actual phrenologist papers from the late 1800s/early 1900s for a college class I took on racism and wow it is some WILD shit. Like the base level is the skull measurements but a lot of those crackpots tried to rope in literally every academic and religious subject they could.
Also fun fact the guy who my university department was originally named after believed that black people weren’t just unintelligent but that melanin made your skull a different shape which also made you less intelligent. It was only found out after some of his diaries were sold at auction. School was named after him for like 70 years.
I had to read some actual phrenologist papers from the late 1800s/early 1900s for a college class I took on racism and wow it is some WILD shit. Like the base level is the skull measurements but a lot of those crackpots tried to rope in literally every academic and religious subject they could.
Also fun fact the guy who my university department was originally named after believed that black people weren’t just unintelligent but that melanin made your skull a different shape which also made you less intelligent. It was only found out after some of his diaries were sold at auction. School was named after him for like 70 years.