1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,440 Speaker 1: back to the show, Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always 3 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:33,920 Speaker 1: so much for tuning in. Let's give it up for 4 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:37,000 Speaker 1: our number one super producer. You know him, you love him, 5 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 1: Mr Max Williams. They called me ben uh Noel. I 6 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 1: have to say, this is an episode that at least 7 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:49,520 Speaker 1: I have been waiting for for a number of years. 8 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:52,280 Speaker 1: It's like up there with the rescut and episode or 9 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 1: the Nixon Voice episode for me. Yeah, those are both 10 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:58,560 Speaker 1: like mythical episodes that will probably never actually happen. With 11 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:02,360 Speaker 1: this one, my friends happening. This is real. It's also 12 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:06,520 Speaker 1: decidedly not real, utter pseudo science. And just really quickly, 13 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: just to do a little housekeeping in case anyone notices 14 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 1: my voice sending a little more echoe, it is because 15 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 1: I am I'm podcasting from inside of a hollow void today, 16 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: just to paint a picture. I'm moving out of my 17 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:21,640 Speaker 1: house and my studio is mainly I just realized, like 18 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 1: with no stuff in the room, it sounds like a cave. 19 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:27,280 Speaker 1: So please forgive. Hopefully Max can maybe de verb it 20 00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:30,280 Speaker 1: a little bit and do some production magic, but you 21 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:35,319 Speaker 1: may catch a little bit of he Oh, but that 22 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,440 Speaker 1: sounds good. You're you're dulcet toads are coming in. Uh, 23 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:42,959 Speaker 1: strong and true, strong and true, much more true than phrenology, 24 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: which is they subject up today's episode. Weirdly enough, folks, 25 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: this is not gonna be entirely us dunking on phrenology. 26 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: This is actually the first part of a two part episode, 27 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:58,320 Speaker 1: because that's how into this idea we are, as well 28 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:02,840 Speaker 1: as our research associate Zac. So let's first off, if 29 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,960 Speaker 1: you're not driving, folks, feel around on your head. If 30 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:09,480 Speaker 1: you guys ever shaved your heads, do you have Do 31 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 1: you have bumps in your heads? Oh? Yeah, yeah, I actually, 32 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:14,480 Speaker 1: which is surprising because I have like eighteen inches of 33 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:17,680 Speaker 1: heroin now. I have rucked the shaved head look much 34 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:20,600 Speaker 1: of my life, and I actually have a very very 35 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,520 Speaker 1: People always comment how round my head is. Yeah, they 36 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: call you old smooth skull, right, that was your nickname 37 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:30,120 Speaker 1: back in grade school exactly, it was. You remember those 38 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:32,000 Speaker 1: days very well, know I know, I know I was 39 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:34,560 Speaker 1: there in spirit anyway. Yeah, I've got some ridges in 40 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:37,119 Speaker 1: the back of my head. Um. I'm not quite sure 41 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: if they're just like fat rolls or not, but they 42 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:41,519 Speaker 1: are there. Um, but yeah, I'm a top. I've got 43 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: a couple of distinct kind of bumpy spots. I don't 44 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:47,760 Speaker 1: think my fontinell ever closed either. So there's that. What's 45 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 1: the font nill o, that's that thing they tell you 46 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:54,239 Speaker 1: not to poke on babies. You're like, you know, murder them. 47 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: I have. I'm kidding. I think mine's closed. I was 48 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 1: just doing it so silly joke. So I um, as 49 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:04,800 Speaker 1: a malungeon, we don't have to spend an episode on that. 50 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:08,520 Speaker 1: As a malungeon. There was growing up, there was a 51 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 1: test people used to self administer in Tennessee and ridiculous 52 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:14,920 Speaker 1: historians and Nolan Max if you guys want to play along, 53 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:18,960 Speaker 1: one of the old tests for malungeon's was to take 54 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 1: your take your hand and start at the nape of 55 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,079 Speaker 1: your neck where your hair kind of begins, and then 56 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:29,560 Speaker 1: go up and if you are luncheon, you might feel 57 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:32,359 Speaker 1: a tiny bump there at the base of your neck 58 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: and your skull. That is called an Anatolian bump or 59 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: a malungeon bump, and it was taken as evidence of someone's, 60 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: you know, someone's providence. This is very unscientific, but you know, 61 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: if you were a phrenologist, you would agree not only 62 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,800 Speaker 1: does that bump indicate someone be malungeon, but it also 63 00:03:54,840 --> 00:04:00,160 Speaker 1: indicates stuff about their character. And if you were millions 64 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 1: of Americans in the eighteen hundreds, you would be all 65 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: about this. Chronology was like a Myers Briggs for people 66 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: or an astrological chart. But the difference was they felt 67 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 1: it was quite quite legitimate. Yeah, you know, it reminds 68 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:17,800 Speaker 1: me a lot though, of some of the arcane kind 69 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:21,480 Speaker 1: of medieval sciences, like the humors and all of that, 70 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 1: and the idea of like drilling holes in your head 71 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:27,080 Speaker 1: to release demons. Only this is even more dangerous than 72 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 1: that because that was backed entirely by like, you know, 73 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:33,720 Speaker 1: kind of conjecture and sort of like vague spiritualist kind 74 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:37,120 Speaker 1: of beliefs. This was back by what they believed the 75 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 1: practitioners anyway, to be hard. Science of the mind. I 76 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:43,720 Speaker 1: can remember if this is a band or an album name, 77 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:46,640 Speaker 1: but mind Science of the Mind I always thought was 78 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: very funny, And that's what this is. It's like imagined 79 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: science involving the brain, but believed to be completely um, 80 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:59,240 Speaker 1: without fault uh and unimpeachably accurate. There's this guy named 81 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:03,160 Speaker 1: Richard Shannon Vix, who's a phrenologist in eight who said 82 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 1: before phrenology, all we knew about the brain was how 83 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:12,080 Speaker 1: to slice it. Yeah, and he got a lot of 84 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:17,840 Speaker 1: applause with this. During its heyday, the practitioners of phrenology 85 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:21,960 Speaker 1: were kind of the pop science public figures of their time, 86 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:25,000 Speaker 1: the Neil Degrass Tyson's you know, they were the one 87 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:29,240 Speaker 1: the people making ted talks, and they owe a lot 88 00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:34,160 Speaker 1: of their popularity to a physician named Franz Joseph gall 89 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:40,400 Speaker 1: Like gall Stone, he developed these theories on the anatomy 90 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:43,760 Speaker 1: and the function of the brain in Vienna in the 91 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:47,440 Speaker 1: eighteenth century, same town where Sigmund Freud would later go 92 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: on to uh form his own opinions about the workings 93 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:54,480 Speaker 1: of the mind. Yeah, it's funny. Phrenology really was kind 94 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:57,719 Speaker 1: of a precursor to psychology and the early days of 95 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:00,120 Speaker 1: psychology because we know, also had a lot of problems 96 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:02,440 Speaker 1: and there was a lot of pseudoscience and you know, 97 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:05,520 Speaker 1: kind of conjecture wrapped up in that as well. But 98 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:07,320 Speaker 1: that's what we're talking about today. But it is fun 99 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:09,400 Speaker 1: to think about how kind of the trajectory of that, 100 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:12,840 Speaker 1: uh and even today there's a lot of distrust in psychology. 101 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:15,880 Speaker 1: It's it's not necessarily seen as much as a science 102 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:18,679 Speaker 1: as other things that are a little more measurable, because 103 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 1: the fact of the matter is, even today we know 104 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 1: precious little about being our workings of the brain. Right, 105 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 1: the human species still has no agreed upon definitionive intelligence. 106 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:31,880 Speaker 1: And that's something we were talking about earlier on stuff 107 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:34,280 Speaker 1: they don't want you to know. I believe what it 108 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:37,720 Speaker 1: was standardized testing. That's right, that's right, really great conversation 109 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:39,520 Speaker 1: is it's one of those topics we always kind of 110 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 1: do a little caveat with or a little disclaimer that 111 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:44,159 Speaker 1: sounds like it could be a snooze, but you have 112 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:47,680 Speaker 1: no idea that conversation goes so many interesting places. And 113 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:49,480 Speaker 1: all three of us definitely had skin in the game, 114 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:53,240 Speaker 1: being products of kind of the standardized test nation, you 115 00:06:53,279 --> 00:06:56,360 Speaker 1: know here in America. Oh, that's a good turn of phrase, man, 116 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:58,880 Speaker 1: that that would be a good title for a book. Yeah, 117 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:01,039 Speaker 1: thank you, We should we shoul write it. I mean, honestly, 118 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 1: it's it's there's so much involved in the study of 119 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:07,120 Speaker 1: the mind and so many kind of thought leaders quote 120 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:10,920 Speaker 1: unquote that sort of lead the charge usually propelled by 121 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 1: not much more than raw confidence and enthusiasm around their 122 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 1: particular way of looking at it. And then if they're confident, 123 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:21,640 Speaker 1: enthusiastic enough and have just enough science to back it up, 124 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:25,360 Speaker 1: and I say Swiss, Swiss science, the quotation science, then 125 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:27,600 Speaker 1: people will follow suit and before you know it, there 126 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 1: could be a whole lineage of tests and and theories 127 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: and concepts based around something that at its root was 128 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:40,560 Speaker 1: in fact pretty dubious. Yeah, a hundred percent. And we 129 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: we've introduced you to gall But which you need to 130 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 1: know about Frunds is that he was a working physician. 131 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:53,640 Speaker 1: He had the skills. He also was a talented anatomist, 132 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:58,160 Speaker 1: and he spent a lot of time dissecting brains to 133 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:02,480 Speaker 1: learn about the origins and the pathways of cranial nerves. 134 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 1: So his his revelatory moment really really happens when he 135 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:16,400 Speaker 1: is a kid. He notices growing up that his schoolmates, 136 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:20,040 Speaker 1: who are very very good at memorization, also tend to 137 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:24,120 Speaker 1: have really big eyes, kind of like fish eyes that 138 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:28,080 Speaker 1: stick out. And he said, I bet there's there's something 139 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:32,040 Speaker 1: behind that. I bet those eyes go somewhere that they 140 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:35,080 Speaker 1: there must be a part of the brain behind their 141 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:39,720 Speaker 1: eyes that the window to the soul. The bigger the window, 142 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:43,079 Speaker 1: the more light gets in to the soul. I mean 143 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:45,680 Speaker 1: that that's that works, right that it sounds like a 144 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:49,680 Speaker 1: childhood theory. We all have our childhood pet theories. He 145 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: just never let it go, Nol. He just like he 146 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:55,400 Speaker 1: kept up with it. He kept up with it, And 147 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 1: you're right, the whole idea of never letting it go 148 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:00,560 Speaker 1: really is one of those things that you not supposed 149 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:02,199 Speaker 1: to do with science. I mean, that's not true. You 150 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:04,800 Speaker 1: can be obsessed, you can be driven to try to 151 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:06,760 Speaker 1: find the truth. But this guy has sort of a 152 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:11,400 Speaker 1: preconceived notion based on an observation that was entirely um, 153 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:13,719 Speaker 1: you know visual. You know, it was like, oh, well 154 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:15,880 Speaker 1: look at this. Like it's like one of those causation 155 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:19,960 Speaker 1: correlation kind of deals where it's like, not necessarily one 156 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:22,800 Speaker 1: is not necessarily include the other, Like just because you 157 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:25,199 Speaker 1: observe that people with all that the people that you 158 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:27,720 Speaker 1: observe with big eyes are good at memorization, and therefore 159 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:30,080 Speaker 1: all people with big eyes must be good at memorization. 160 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:33,559 Speaker 1: That's not really good. And it's also a pretty small 161 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:36,280 Speaker 1: sample size. And he's just looking at his like schoolyard mates, 162 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:39,439 Speaker 1: you know. But yeah, so he decided that that this 163 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 1: he came up with his concept based on this that 164 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:45,800 Speaker 1: the brain it was not a single organ and this 165 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:48,080 Speaker 1: is accurate, but but a but you know, myriad of 166 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:54,040 Speaker 1: various specialized parts that each governed different processes, uh, mental 167 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:56,880 Speaker 1: or emotional functions. And by the way, some of this 168 00:09:56,920 --> 00:09:58,840 Speaker 1: information that we're talking about right here comes from a 169 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:02,440 Speaker 1: fabulous article from the Atlantic called wonderful title The Shape 170 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:04,199 Speaker 1: of Your Head and the Shape of Your Mind by 171 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:09,000 Speaker 1: Erica Janet from January definitely worth a full read. So, yeah, 172 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:11,920 Speaker 1: he wasn't like barking entirely up the wrong uh the 173 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:16,640 Speaker 1: wrong cranial trunk. He had somewhat of a of a 174 00:10:16,679 --> 00:10:19,400 Speaker 1: pretty forward thinking view of the brain. He believed that 175 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:22,280 Speaker 1: all of these parts each have their own dedicated tasks 176 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:25,960 Speaker 1: and and processes and govern different emotional and mental functions. 177 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:28,000 Speaker 1: Nobody's really Here's really kind of like lost the plot 178 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:29,960 Speaker 1: a little bit, it would seem. He believed that the 179 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:33,600 Speaker 1: size and development of each area, which he called faculties, 180 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:38,480 Speaker 1: were a way of measuring certain qualities and an individual 181 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:40,800 Speaker 1: that pertained to each of these functions, Like if this 182 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:44,040 Speaker 1: part is bigger than this person has a higher capacity 183 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:46,720 Speaker 1: for reasoning, or if this part is smaller than this 184 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:50,559 Speaker 1: person might tend to be more submissive. Um, these are 185 00:10:50,559 --> 00:10:53,040 Speaker 1: things that we're going to get into and a bit 186 00:10:53,559 --> 00:10:57,600 Speaker 1: in terms of how these were used in horrible, horrific 187 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:02,120 Speaker 1: and racist ways. Yes, yes, just so, I'd also like 188 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: to shout out the article in Smithsonian by Mina Sirlander 189 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:11,480 Speaker 1: Morse facing a Bumpy History, which will come into play 190 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:16,400 Speaker 1: in part two of this episode. Actually, so, yeah, he 191 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:20,040 Speaker 1: was not entirely wrong at the basis. We know that 192 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:24,679 Speaker 1: parts of the brain do specific things, and his logic 193 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:27,640 Speaker 1: was pretty you know, it made sense, It was rational. 194 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:33,080 Speaker 1: He said, there's a brain beneath your skull, so just like, um, 195 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:35,079 Speaker 1: he wouldn't put it this way, but you know, just 196 00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:40,360 Speaker 1: like a mountain, right or a canyon can indicate something 197 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:44,040 Speaker 1: going on beneath the surface of the earth, so can 198 00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:48,080 Speaker 1: the topography of the skull reveal something about the brain. 199 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:49,960 Speaker 1: And like you said, he just took it too far. 200 00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:55,360 Speaker 1: And later his followers, other phrenologists, would say, you can, 201 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:01,040 Speaker 1: through certain exercises and methods, strengthen pause of parts of 202 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:05,360 Speaker 1: your brain the same way exercise helps you build muscles. 203 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 1: But interesting though he did not call this science of 204 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:17,000 Speaker 1: his phrenology. He actually called this originally cranioscopy. Uh. The 205 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:21,000 Speaker 1: term phrenology comes about in the eighteen hundreds when a 206 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:25,559 Speaker 1: guy named T. I. M. Forster coins he's a British 207 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:31,240 Speaker 1: physician and his name is a his name is an abbreviation. 208 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:33,959 Speaker 1: But I think it sounds I think really slaps to 209 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:37,520 Speaker 1: have it like robot? Is that his model? Like he's 210 00:12:37,559 --> 00:12:39,920 Speaker 1: like a helper robot or something's n I M D. 211 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:52,320 Speaker 1: I am called made Tim. So phrenology was the kind 212 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:55,640 Speaker 1: of later version of this of the science, but I 213 00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:58,320 Speaker 1: mean the same versions of the different label on it. Yeah, 214 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:01,240 Speaker 1: what was the other one? Cranioscopy? That sounds that just 215 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:03,840 Speaker 1: sounds like quack science right there, doesn't know. It sounds 216 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:07,320 Speaker 1: like trepid nation almost. It sounds like a medical procedure, yes, 217 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:10,040 Speaker 1: you know, as it does phrenology at least has. I 218 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:12,319 Speaker 1: don't know why it matters or why we have these 219 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 1: sorts of associations with words, but to me, phrenology sounds 220 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:18,000 Speaker 1: a little more proper, didn't It sounds a little more 221 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:22,400 Speaker 1: like a real science. Yeah, it does. It does sound 222 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:25,880 Speaker 1: for some reason more scientific and I looked up the 223 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:29,040 Speaker 1: I looked up the etymology, of course, and it's just 224 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:37,280 Speaker 1: mind plus logy. So it's like mind science. But but people, yeah, 225 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:40,080 Speaker 1: there we go spear Fingers. I love it. So we 226 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:44,439 Speaker 1: have kind of the nexus of the origin story. And 227 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:49,880 Speaker 1: we want to tip our craniums to psychologist Dr Paul Ealing, 228 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:56,920 Speaker 1: Professor Stanley Finger, and Professor Harry Whittaker. I know Finger, 229 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:05,720 Speaker 1: DUCR Finger, So anyway, uh they chase so doctor Finger, 230 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:14,080 Speaker 1: that's true. Figure out galls ultimate like what he nails 231 00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:18,160 Speaker 1: down as this science that's later called phrenology. He says, 232 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:20,720 Speaker 1: you know, he called them faculties, like you point out, 233 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:25,680 Speaker 1: In all, he settles on twenties seven different distinct functions 234 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:30,720 Speaker 1: or faculties, and a lot of them are shared with humans, 235 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:36,480 Speaker 1: memory for locations, love and affection for offspring. But then 236 00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:39,480 Speaker 1: there are other things he considered uniquely human that are 237 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:44,760 Speaker 1: very much like not in the realm of science, wit, poetry, religion, 238 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: and uh ha to loftiness, elevation. I mean, we have 239 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:53,239 Speaker 1: a list of some of his some of the faculties 240 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:57,160 Speaker 1: he described, and some of them makes sense to me. Honestly, 241 00:14:57,400 --> 00:14:59,840 Speaker 1: what the heck is hot tour is that like like 242 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:03,640 Speaker 1: hate cuisine, like sort of gorminus. Is that what hotetur means? 243 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:08,320 Speaker 1: You know? The Yeah, it's like tony posh high class. 244 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:11,000 Speaker 1: You know the meme where those three dudes are dressed 245 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:14,840 Speaker 1: like aristocrats and they're like snootily looking down the balcony. 246 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:17,080 Speaker 1: Do you know the one we're talking about. There's one 247 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:21,200 Speaker 1: there's there's that actor uh yeah, yeah, yeah, he's he's 248 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:22,440 Speaker 1: in the front, and then there's two guys in the 249 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 1: usually some version of like I don't know and implying 250 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:32,200 Speaker 1: looking down upon peasants, and it's us looking. It's probably 251 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:36,120 Speaker 1: for you and me. It's probably like us looking at 252 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 1: people who can't beat uh. The first the first boss 253 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:43,480 Speaker 1: at El Debree. Yeah, that's fair. Um. You know, I 254 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:46,400 Speaker 1: will say I did it with the help of the uh, 255 00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:50,080 Speaker 1: the rotten stray uh. And that is a pretty powerful 256 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:52,840 Speaker 1: summit that you know, he bites Godrick and then he 257 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:55,400 Speaker 1: kind of basically just waste away from Scarlett Rock. So 258 00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:57,360 Speaker 1: I sort of cheese it a little bit. I'm not 259 00:15:57,360 --> 00:15:59,480 Speaker 1: gonna lie so I barely deserve to have on those 260 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:02,600 Speaker 1: uh roughly caller and and and waving around that ankie 261 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:05,440 Speaker 1: at my my underlings. But I'll still do it, mind you, 262 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:09,400 Speaker 1: I'll still do it. Oh yeah, Qualifications never stop people 263 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:12,760 Speaker 1: from being from being prideful. Also, I like the deranged 264 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:19,520 Speaker 1: perfumer spirit ash and the skeletal Militiaman will come back repeatedly. 265 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:23,520 Speaker 1: Skeletal militiaman. Dope, do not know the deranged perfumer, but 266 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 1: my imagination is going wild. Perfumer in this game means 267 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:28,600 Speaker 1: to completely different than I think we think of as 268 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:36,520 Speaker 1: a traditional perfumer. Yes, okay, sorry, Max, come on moving. 269 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:39,800 Speaker 1: I'll ever understand you don't understand, as Max, I was 270 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:42,840 Speaker 1: playing Scarum all the weekend. It was awesome. I love truth, honestly, 271 00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:48,240 Speaker 1: I love it. Is it two thousand five? I was 272 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:52,480 Speaker 1: surprised by that, but yeah, Morowitch is Oblivion and Skyram 273 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:53,800 Speaker 1: all came out back to back to back, and its 274 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:56,760 Speaker 1: finanvers since we've had one, and it's probably gonna be 275 00:16:56,760 --> 00:16:58,360 Speaker 1: another three or fourth to get another one. Yeah, but 276 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:00,720 Speaker 1: there's one on the way. And anyway, I sorry we're 277 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:05,160 Speaker 1: boring you with our description, with our enjoyment, our happiness 278 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:08,640 Speaker 1: with elden Ring. But okay, al right, back to back 279 00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:11,840 Speaker 1: to our brain bumps. Uh. There are other things like 280 00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:14,560 Speaker 1: the like, tell me what you think about this one 281 00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:19,600 Speaker 1: talent for music, the faculty of the relations of numbers 282 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:23,840 Speaker 1: being good at math, or the faculty of spoken language. 283 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:28,560 Speaker 1: Those sound a little bit more. Those sound a little 284 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:31,560 Speaker 1: bit more legit, like something the brain can actually do, 285 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:36,840 Speaker 1: versus some predisposition to hot tour. But again it all 286 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:40,359 Speaker 1: breaks down because he thought these were, you know, skull bumps. 287 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:43,000 Speaker 1: Skull bumps sounds. It's like it's being completely different too. 288 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:45,160 Speaker 1: I just saw I think today about coming called caviare 289 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:51,879 Speaker 1: bumps that it's so like a thing actually something I 290 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:53,600 Speaker 1: hote tour would be into. It's like the idea of 291 00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:56,760 Speaker 1: taking caviar and doing little bumps of it like you 292 00:17:56,800 --> 00:18:02,520 Speaker 1: would snortable drugs. It's weird. But here we are back 293 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:07,080 Speaker 1: to skull bumps. So we've got these characteristics um that 294 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:12,400 Speaker 1: Gall described now being supported by Sir Tim's um new 295 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:16,320 Speaker 1: you know, coined phrenology concept, and it's all kind of 296 00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:18,680 Speaker 1: coming together and really starting to pick up some steam. 297 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:21,359 Speaker 1: So Gall also believes that the two hemispheres of the 298 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:26,240 Speaker 1: brain were actually interchangeable and had similar functions. Of course, 299 00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:28,200 Speaker 1: what we know now is that that's not the case 300 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:31,919 Speaker 1: at all. Um, we believed that if one should sustain damage, 301 00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:34,880 Speaker 1: the other would compensate, sort of like having two kidneys 302 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:37,399 Speaker 1: or something like that. But again, we know the left 303 00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:39,440 Speaker 1: hemisphere of the brand the right hemisphere of the brain 304 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:44,280 Speaker 1: do completely different things. Um. During the nineteenth century things 305 00:18:44,359 --> 00:18:47,119 Speaker 1: really started to take off for Gall. He did a 306 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:51,680 Speaker 1: series of lectures alongside a guy named Johann Caspar sport 307 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:55,800 Speaker 1: Tim who was a protege of his, another physician. They 308 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:57,040 Speaker 1: were still think of them as like sort of the 309 00:18:57,080 --> 00:18:59,800 Speaker 1: ted Talks of the day. They really like almost went viral, 310 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:04,680 Speaker 1: and these concepts started to be picked up on by 311 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:09,080 Speaker 1: some other very well established people in the scientific community, 312 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:11,719 Speaker 1: or at the very least the community of of of 313 00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:16,880 Speaker 1: money and nobles. Yeah. Yeah, And one of the things 314 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:21,760 Speaker 1: we have to realize is that this appealed to people's vanity, 315 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:25,000 Speaker 1: just like a horoscope, you know what I mean. They 316 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:29,200 Speaker 1: were able to say, oh, let me think more about myself. 317 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:32,720 Speaker 1: Humans love doing that, It's like one of their main things. 318 00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:38,120 Speaker 1: And that's why people flocked to these folks and the 319 00:19:38,119 --> 00:19:41,120 Speaker 1: phrenologists of the day, who for the most part were 320 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:45,400 Speaker 1: not con artists, they weren't flim flammers. They legitimately believed 321 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:48,040 Speaker 1: in what they were doing. That's why they wrote books 322 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:51,000 Speaker 1: about it. They popularized the science. We're thinking of folks 323 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:55,600 Speaker 1: like the Scottish lawyer George Combe who wrote books like 324 00:19:55,760 --> 00:20:00,119 Speaker 1: Elements of Phrenology, and he seems to he tend us 325 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:04,719 Speaker 1: to agree with a lot of galls initial findings. Man. 326 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:06,760 Speaker 1: I think it's really interesting distinction that you just made 327 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:09,560 Speaker 1: between these folks in this kind of school of thought 328 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:12,679 Speaker 1: and maybe like the snake oil kind of peddlers of 329 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:14,840 Speaker 1: eras to come, you know, with like the idea of 330 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:17,840 Speaker 1: of medicine and wonder cures and tonics and all of 331 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:21,440 Speaker 1: that stuff. It really calls into question or brings up 332 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:24,439 Speaker 1: the idea of belief, like if you're if you believe 333 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:29,159 Speaker 1: in something that's entirely wrong, and you're basing like you know, 334 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:32,399 Speaker 1: theories and and and and and remedies and science and 335 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:35,080 Speaker 1: things that will change people's lives, not only necessarily for 336 00:20:35,119 --> 00:20:39,840 Speaker 1: the better, on these kind of you know, misconceptions. Does 337 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:43,919 Speaker 1: that make you any better necessarily than someone who is 338 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:46,679 Speaker 1: actively conning. I would argue yes, But also you have 339 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:49,240 Speaker 1: to wonder did some of those snake oil salesman truly 340 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:52,719 Speaker 1: believe in the wondrous miracles of their care as they 341 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:56,600 Speaker 1: were peddling. Oh ad percent, there were some people who 342 00:20:56,680 --> 00:20:58,840 Speaker 1: were going to make a buck. You'd go to a 343 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:03,000 Speaker 1: very well to do person and give them a reading. Right, 344 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:05,880 Speaker 1: getting your skull read it was a very, very big deal. 345 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:09,199 Speaker 1: So I'm sure there were people who like grease the 346 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:12,160 Speaker 1: cranium a little bit or embellished the good news so 347 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:14,520 Speaker 1: that they could get a better payout and get repeat 348 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:18,960 Speaker 1: customers and get recommendations right word of mouth spreads. This 349 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:23,320 Speaker 1: guy Comb is really interesting because here's how you know 350 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:26,560 Speaker 1: he believed in it. He was such a believer in 351 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:31,159 Speaker 1: the accuracy of phrenology that when he and the lady 352 00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:35,040 Speaker 1: he was courting decided to get married, he said he 353 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:38,840 Speaker 1: would not do it until they had both undergone an 354 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:45,320 Speaker 1: examination to determine whether they were phrenologically. I guess, uh, 355 00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:50,960 Speaker 1: it's compatible phrenologically, and yeah, let it go. Keep it in. 356 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,119 Speaker 1: But uh, but just like you would take a horoscope 357 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:58,800 Speaker 1: birthday compatibility quiz on your social media of choice, that's 358 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:01,760 Speaker 1: what they did. It was like the deal breaker for 359 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:05,840 Speaker 1: his marriage. If their bumps weren't vibing, he was going 360 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:08,840 Speaker 1: to call the whole thing off. But here's the thing. 361 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:12,720 Speaker 1: You know. While gall was you know, really reveling in 362 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:15,320 Speaker 1: the limelight, you know, in the scientific community and being 363 00:22:15,359 --> 00:22:17,679 Speaker 1: treated as something of a kind of a prophet of 364 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:20,520 Speaker 1: the future of science, there's some folks that didn't care 365 00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:25,280 Speaker 1: for that too much, specifically clergy high officials in the 366 00:22:25,359 --> 00:22:29,280 Speaker 1: Church who believed that these ideas are the ability even 367 00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:33,040 Speaker 1: for another human being to make these kinds of distinctions 368 00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:37,239 Speaker 1: about God's creations was in fact heresy, and I need 369 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:41,159 Speaker 1: you know to the State of Austria actually prohibited him 370 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:45,119 Speaker 1: from promoting his theories there because of you know, these 371 00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:49,280 Speaker 1: religious concerns and the fact that the state was mad 372 00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:52,040 Speaker 1: about it and the church was mad about it made 373 00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:54,480 Speaker 1: it even more popular to the public. Right, who doesn't 374 00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:59,959 Speaker 1: loved every time happens every time. So he's becoming increasingly 375 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:06,159 Speaker 1: disconnected from Austria. He's touring across Europe and he's telling them, 376 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:10,120 Speaker 1: you know, here's the stuff Austria doesn't want you to know. 377 00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:14,920 Speaker 1: And in eighteen o five, with his former student now 378 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:24,720 Speaker 1: protege Johann Spurzheim, he's schedattled across the pond. He left 379 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:30,399 Speaker 1: Austria for good. And this is where things believe You're 380 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:33,800 Speaker 1: not really take off of phrenology because, yeah, it's popular 381 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:39,040 Speaker 1: in Europe, but it becomes even more popular in the 382 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:46,440 Speaker 1: United States of America because it reinforces the American zeitgeist, 383 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:59,000 Speaker 1: the idea of self determination, individualism, you know, the can doitiveness. So, uh, Spursheim, 384 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:06,960 Speaker 1: things don't end well for him though. He is on 385 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:10,920 Speaker 1: a whirlwind lecture tour in eighteen thirty two, and maybe 386 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:14,800 Speaker 1: he's working too hard. This tour results in his death 387 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:17,560 Speaker 1: after just six months. Yeah, and at this point the 388 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:20,159 Speaker 1: kind of keys the phrenology Kingdom get passed on to 389 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:23,480 Speaker 1: a ministry student by the name of Orson Fowler, who 390 00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:26,920 Speaker 1: believed that he had found his you know, life's passion 391 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:31,160 Speaker 1: and and true calling in a spurt times theory and 392 00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:35,480 Speaker 1: this practice, this polemical practice. So Fowler started lecturing as well. 393 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:38,639 Speaker 1: He would basically spread the word to anyone that would listen, 394 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:42,520 Speaker 1: especially at his to his classmates at Amherst College in Massachusetts, 395 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:47,119 Speaker 1: UM and he would do readings for two cents a piece. 396 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:50,760 Speaker 1: It's like sort of like uh like Lucy or no, yeah, 397 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:53,920 Speaker 1: Lucy is it Lucy? And peanuts who did like the 398 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:56,960 Speaker 1: therapy for five cents. I think his was a little cheaper. 399 00:24:57,240 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 1: Um same idea though, you know, it's like let's let's 400 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:02,840 Speaker 1: let's read our own kind of quack scientific theories, uh, 401 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:05,320 Speaker 1: and actually charge people for it. But it's affordable. People 402 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:08,320 Speaker 1: wanted to listen. So one friend in particular, Um was 403 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:12,520 Speaker 1: a guy who would become the Reverend Henry Ward. Beecher 404 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:16,320 Speaker 1: and Fowler believed that this gentleman possessed something called that 405 00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:19,479 Speaker 1: he referred to anyway as a strong social brain with 406 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:22,800 Speaker 1: very large benevolence. It's funny too in the in the text, 407 00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:26,159 Speaker 1: benevolence is capitalized almost like it's like sacred in something. 408 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:30,600 Speaker 1: And orson Um really was able to kind of spread 409 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:36,399 Speaker 1: this thought by just again the virtue of enthusiasm and 410 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:39,040 Speaker 1: and and confidence, and just like this is the truth. 411 00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:41,880 Speaker 1: You know, when someone says something with enough conviction, you 412 00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:44,240 Speaker 1: tend to want to pay attention. That's how a lot 413 00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:46,880 Speaker 1: of hucksters work. But again a lot of hucksters don't 414 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:49,439 Speaker 1: even know their hucksters. They're just high on their own supply, 415 00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:52,240 Speaker 1: drinking their own coolat, or any other number of cliche 416 00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:55,840 Speaker 1: expressions for you know, being kind of up your own backside. 417 00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 1: And we should also say in the context of this. 418 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:04,399 Speaker 1: We we mentioned that Spurzheim died, but when he died, 419 00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:08,199 Speaker 1: it was considered a huge loss to the medical community 420 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:12,040 Speaker 1: across the Western world. Ralph Waldo Emerson called him one 421 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:16,120 Speaker 1: of the world's greatest minds. The president of Harvard handled 422 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:20,800 Speaker 1: spurs Tim's funeral arrangements. The American Journal of Medical Science said, 423 00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:23,760 Speaker 1: the prophet is gone, but his mantle is upon us. 424 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:27,400 Speaker 1: And that's that's the world in which Orson Fowler steps in. 425 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:31,760 Speaker 1: Is the clear kind of air to this throne of skulls, 426 00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:38,800 Speaker 1: which sounds kind of metal. I like it. That's the 427 00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:41,720 Speaker 1: throne of skulls. And think about it. He's off, he's 428 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:46,440 Speaker 1: saying he's talking to important people, thought influencers, movers and shakers, 429 00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:50,000 Speaker 1: and he's telling very nice things about themselves. You know, 430 00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:55,479 Speaker 1: his little brother joins the phrase, Lorenzo Fowler, and they 431 00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:59,840 Speaker 1: have found kind of a new religion in phrenology because 432 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:02,800 Speaker 1: they both were once you know, they were both once 433 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:06,080 Speaker 1: ministry students. That's so interesting, how you know there was 434 00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:11,480 Speaker 1: this backlash by the church, you know, against Gauls theories 435 00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:13,359 Speaker 1: to the point where they tried to shut him down. 436 00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:16,160 Speaker 1: And now it's almost going full circle. Where these like 437 00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:19,359 Speaker 1: former religious kind of zealous, I mean the stuff. Probably 438 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:22,000 Speaker 1: they were probably still believers to some degree, but instead 439 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:25,040 Speaker 1: of spreading the gospel you know, of Jesus that spread 440 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:29,040 Speaker 1: in the Gospel of of of skull theory just so. 441 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:33,040 Speaker 1: And they also, uh, they're also of course charging people 442 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:37,400 Speaker 1: a little every time they do these reads. And this 443 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:43,160 Speaker 1: takes off. There's something really interesting French ridiculous historians. I'm 444 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:46,040 Speaker 1: sure this is no longer the case, but for a 445 00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:52,000 Speaker 1: while in France there was this strange evaluation for employment. 446 00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:55,800 Speaker 1: Sometimes employers would ask you to hand right things and 447 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:59,399 Speaker 1: then they would have a handwriting analysis applied, and that 448 00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:02,639 Speaker 1: could herman whether you or the other guy got the job. 449 00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:08,719 Speaker 1: Employers in the US at this point start advertising for 450 00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:16,879 Speaker 1: employees with particular phrenological profiles, and sometimes they said, look, 451 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:19,159 Speaker 1: we need you to get a reading from one of 452 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:24,919 Speaker 1: the Fowler boys. Women began changing their haircuts to show 453 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:31,679 Speaker 1: off their perceived good bump features skull bumps and you know, 454 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:35,920 Speaker 1: gradients and whatnot. Thats been cobb, is it not? And 455 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:37,720 Speaker 1: that's like that's like almost like some stuff you would 456 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:40,200 Speaker 1: make up and like some sort of weirdo future sci 457 00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:42,760 Speaker 1: fi world where it's like people have like some sort 458 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,760 Speaker 1: of strange cranial protrusions and they like it. It's like 459 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:48,120 Speaker 1: some sort of new mating ritual or something. This is 460 00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:51,320 Speaker 1: very bizarre to me heart degree. And again, these people 461 00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:55,000 Speaker 1: were just as intelligent as anybody else, and they're just 462 00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:59,120 Speaker 1: as intelligent as the people alive now. In they thought 463 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:03,640 Speaker 1: they were on the forefront of science, in part at 464 00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:06,520 Speaker 1: least because it told them things they wanted to hear. 465 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:10,920 Speaker 1: Everybody sat for readings, to the point where it was 466 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:14,600 Speaker 1: almost like owning a cell phone. Today, it will be 467 00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:20,000 Speaker 1: unusual for you to not have someone reading your skull. 468 00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:25,120 Speaker 1: By the eighteen forties, the Fowler's HQ in New York, 469 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:28,640 Speaker 1: which they called the Phrenological Cabinet, was one of the 470 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:33,520 Speaker 1: most popular destinations in town. It was partially a museum, 471 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:35,120 Speaker 1: but it was also a place where you could get 472 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:38,440 Speaker 1: readings and then they would hold lectures on, you know, 473 00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:42,920 Speaker 1: the latest developments in phrenology. They had a lot of 474 00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:47,880 Speaker 1: portraits of famous people's heads totally. They even like would 475 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:51,200 Speaker 1: have these like kind of death mask almostly well plaster 476 00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:53,120 Speaker 1: cat only death masks, that's just like the face. But 477 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:56,680 Speaker 1: they would like commission when like famous people would pass away. 478 00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:58,400 Speaker 1: I don't know how they would go about this, but 479 00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:01,600 Speaker 1: they would commission, like, you know, plaster casts of their heads. 480 00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:03,920 Speaker 1: And I guess they were so popular and so beloved 481 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,360 Speaker 1: they were able to do this through like legitimate channels, 482 00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:10,600 Speaker 1: right absolutely, And people thought this knowledge was a way 483 00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:15,600 Speaker 1: to empower themselves. Right, they could focus on shaping their 484 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:20,400 Speaker 1: own future, to appeal to American individualism by saying, you know, 485 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:24,120 Speaker 1: now that you know this about yourself, you can work 486 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:30,080 Speaker 1: toward becoming a better you. Right, like one example, that's interesting, 487 00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:32,720 Speaker 1: and it would have been a total pr move. Again, 488 00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:34,880 Speaker 1: even if they believed it, I think they obviously knew 489 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:37,920 Speaker 1: how to institute some showmanship around this stuff and that 490 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:40,600 Speaker 1: influence that they wielded. They were able to order a 491 00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:44,480 Speaker 1: plaster cast of Aaron Burr's head when he passed away 492 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:46,760 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty six. There and Burr, of course, is 493 00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:49,360 Speaker 1: the man who shot Alexander Hamilton's I, which has been 494 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:52,840 Speaker 1: massive you know, national news. Absolutely, you know, people on 495 00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:55,160 Speaker 1: the edge of their seats. And they were able to 496 00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:59,440 Speaker 1: do this and then report upon examination that Burr's head 497 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:06,320 Speaker 1: the bumps contained um organs of secretiveness and destructiveness that 498 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:09,920 Speaker 1: were of course in large, and I just want to 499 00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:14,640 Speaker 1: point out nearly our third president in American history, Aaron Burr. Yes, 500 00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:17,040 Speaker 1: so damn close. I don't know if you guys remember this. 501 00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:20,080 Speaker 1: There was an Oreos commercial when I was a kid, 502 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:22,400 Speaker 1: and I can't remember exactly what the setup was, but 503 00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:26,800 Speaker 1: the punchline was some historian like saying, Aaron Burr trying 504 00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:29,720 Speaker 1: to answer this question, and he's got a mouthful of oreos, 505 00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:36,160 Speaker 1: so he just goes. I always thought that was really funny. Yeah, well, 506 00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:46,960 Speaker 1: that's something good that came from Burke. The Fowlers made 507 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:51,760 Speaker 1: this set plan using phrenologies of basis. They said, we 508 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:56,880 Speaker 1: are going to completely up end society and improve it. 509 00:31:57,160 --> 00:32:02,080 Speaker 1: We're creating a perfect socialist, more real system. We're taking 510 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:06,080 Speaker 1: all the science that could improve the mind or benefits 511 00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:11,520 Speaker 1: mankind and it will make a better world. And to 512 00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:15,240 Speaker 1: your point about commercialization, they also just happened to be 513 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:19,240 Speaker 1: the people who sold all the accoutremal you needed to 514 00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:23,240 Speaker 1: make this happen. It's like Apple coming out and saying 515 00:32:23,760 --> 00:32:27,280 Speaker 1: iPods are going to save the world. You can also 516 00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:30,720 Speaker 1: only buy them here, so totally. Yeah, be apart be 517 00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:33,320 Speaker 1: the change you want to see in the world. With us, 518 00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:35,720 Speaker 1: with our help and our help alone. Uh yeah, because 519 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:38,040 Speaker 1: I mean they probably have like proprietary tools, like you know, 520 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:40,800 Speaker 1: those like calipers for measuring the skulls. And it's one 521 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:42,400 Speaker 1: of those things where you could probably could have made 522 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:45,479 Speaker 1: your own and and you know, pursued your own study 523 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:47,760 Speaker 1: of phrenology. But in those days, it's not like they 524 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:50,680 Speaker 1: had YouTube or other means to find out this stuff. 525 00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:52,280 Speaker 1: If you wanted the literature, you had to get it 526 00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:55,400 Speaker 1: from the source, let alone like specialized tools and things. 527 00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:57,040 Speaker 1: And I don't know this for a fact, but I 528 00:32:57,040 --> 00:33:00,480 Speaker 1: imagine there must be some really fascinating collects of some 529 00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:03,120 Speaker 1: of this kind of memorabilia, uh in in in the 530 00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:05,640 Speaker 1: United States. I wouldn't be surprised if the Motor Museum 531 00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:11,640 Speaker 1: in Philadelphia maybe had some weird phrenology stuff. Yeah. And 532 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:14,960 Speaker 1: I used to have one of those reproductions of a 533 00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:18,760 Speaker 1: phrenology skull map or whatever they're called. Can you describe 534 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:20,520 Speaker 1: that to as it's something we've been kind of hinting around, 535 00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:22,720 Speaker 1: and I think a lot of people have probably seen them, 536 00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:25,280 Speaker 1: But it's a it's an interesting thing that really took 537 00:33:25,320 --> 00:33:29,640 Speaker 1: on like such a widespread kind of life of its own. Yeah, 538 00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:34,040 Speaker 1: so it essentially like depending on what kind of UM 539 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:38,080 Speaker 1: model you're looking at, because there were multiple You would 540 00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:44,960 Speaker 1: see ahead usually male looking head with no hair, and 541 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:49,960 Speaker 1: atop the cranium from like the bottom of your eyebrows, 542 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:54,520 Speaker 1: two around your ears to the back of your skull. 543 00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:59,920 Speaker 1: There would be these maps that describe what is happening 544 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:03,800 Speaker 1: in your brain and apparently what you can glean from 545 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:06,360 Speaker 1: the shape of the skull above it self see things 546 00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:13,520 Speaker 1: like sublimity, cautiousness, destructiveness, combative secretiveness. That's what they were 547 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:16,359 Speaker 1: looking at. For Aaron Burr, they were actually to pay 548 00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:18,480 Speaker 1: on the model. They were like looking a little bit 549 00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:21,600 Speaker 1: above his left ear to see if anything great was 550 00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:25,000 Speaker 1: going on. And although yes, we're dunking on it a 551 00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:29,840 Speaker 1: little bit because this is clearly pseudoscience, it might interest 552 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:32,960 Speaker 1: a lot of our fellow ridiculous historians to know that 553 00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:38,000 Speaker 1: phrenology is a movement was in some ways surprisingly progressive. Yeah, 554 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:40,279 Speaker 1: that's right. There was almost like a women's lib kind 555 00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:44,080 Speaker 1: of like subculture of phrenology UM. After her marriage to 556 00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:49,160 Speaker 1: Lorenzo Fowler, Lydia Folger started lecturing on phrenology. She caught 557 00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:52,360 Speaker 1: the bug as well, but she applied it specifically to 558 00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:56,360 Speaker 1: the lives of women and in their place in society. 559 00:34:56,640 --> 00:34:59,320 Speaker 1: So if you had like a woman who is a 560 00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:01,759 Speaker 1: phrenologist kind of like on board, it was a big 561 00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:03,799 Speaker 1: deal for the fowlers in general because it allowed a 562 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:06,040 Speaker 1: lot of women to kind of come into the fold 563 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:12,600 Speaker 1: because again they were providing useful or very least flattering 564 00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:15,319 Speaker 1: information to them as well. And this has been seen 565 00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:18,600 Speaker 1: largely assembing for men. That was used to understand the 566 00:35:18,600 --> 00:35:20,399 Speaker 1: workings of the minds of men, and then it wasn't 567 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:23,399 Speaker 1: really including women. Um. But in eighteen forty nine, when 568 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:26,680 Speaker 1: she was only twenty seven, Lydia actually enrolled in a 569 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:30,800 Speaker 1: then newly established Central Medical College of Syracuse and Rochester. 570 00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:34,360 Speaker 1: In the Central Medical College there was kind of a 571 00:35:35,239 --> 00:35:38,520 Speaker 1: bit of a modernist bench to the medical school, sort 572 00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:41,360 Speaker 1: of eclectic as it's referred to, which included things like 573 00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:45,480 Speaker 1: holistic medicine, plant remedies, hygiene, diet um. And she got 574 00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:48,239 Speaker 1: her medical degree and became the second woman in the 575 00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:50,640 Speaker 1: United States to do that, and then she was able 576 00:35:50,719 --> 00:35:54,160 Speaker 1: to kind of become this voice for women in the 577 00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:58,080 Speaker 1: world of phrenology, which was becoming more and more mainstream. Yeah, 578 00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:02,360 Speaker 1: and Phrenology was also decent intralized, so there wasn't an 579 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:06,960 Speaker 1: overall structure or hierarchy. It was kind of an individualistic 580 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:12,759 Speaker 1: pursuit with no national association. And most people I saw 581 00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:15,719 Speaker 1: a chronologist, once you got the reading one time, you 582 00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:19,080 Speaker 1: didn't come back and say, hey, I've been doing a 583 00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:22,400 Speaker 1: lot of cognitive pull ups. Have my bumps changed? You 584 00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:25,080 Speaker 1: just took what they said at that time, and most 585 00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:30,320 Speaker 1: chronologists supported women's rights and said, look, women are human beings. 586 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:34,200 Speaker 1: They have all the same potential as men, and a 587 00:36:34,200 --> 00:36:37,560 Speaker 1: lot of them use this to argue for the equality 588 00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:43,919 Speaker 1: of the sexes. And it had a lot of good 589 00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:49,279 Speaker 1: things in that respect, socially progressive things. But as we 590 00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:52,720 Speaker 1: saw apart one of today's episode, we have to take 591 00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:56,520 Speaker 1: a bit of a turn. Just like earlier I said, 592 00:36:56,560 --> 00:36:59,839 Speaker 1: people back then were as intelligent as they are now. 593 00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:03,800 Speaker 1: So it should be no surprise that despite how good 594 00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:08,080 Speaker 1: phrenology made everybody feel, there were a lot of skeptics 595 00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:13,759 Speaker 1: who said, okay, alright, alright, pump your brakes. I don't 596 00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:19,160 Speaker 1: know if we're on the money here. Because as this 597 00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:22,480 Speaker 1: was gaining such mainstream popularity, there was of course parallel 598 00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:26,840 Speaker 1: science going on good science that we're finding some pretty 599 00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:32,680 Speaker 1: contradictory things that were really casting a pretty negative light 600 00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:36,360 Speaker 1: on phrenology, or at the very least the science of phrenology, 601 00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:38,440 Speaker 1: because a lot of this was confirmation bias, where it 602 00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:42,120 Speaker 1: was like seeking results, seeking particular answers. As we mentioned, 603 00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:44,439 Speaker 1: part of what made this so popular was the fact 604 00:37:44,520 --> 00:37:47,160 Speaker 1: that you could give someone a reading that would kind 605 00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:49,080 Speaker 1: of make them feel good about themselves or make them 606 00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:51,400 Speaker 1: feel like they were in some way special because of 607 00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:54,840 Speaker 1: these specialized parts of their brain. But when you start 608 00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:58,080 Speaker 1: to look at a larger selection of individuals, you might see, 609 00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:01,840 Speaker 1: for example, uh, someone having a very well developed organ 610 00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:06,879 Speaker 1: that you know, it dictates their benevolence um, but they're 611 00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:10,280 Speaker 1: not very benevolent people at all. And this was usually 612 00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:13,680 Speaker 1: they found a way to explain it away by referring 613 00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:17,239 Speaker 1: to other organs that might counteract the size of that 614 00:38:17,560 --> 00:38:21,600 Speaker 1: particular organ. So there was always a way, like in 615 00:38:21,719 --> 00:38:26,520 Speaker 1: most kind of scams, to explain contradictory evidence. Um. But 616 00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:30,360 Speaker 1: then he started to get other, you know, serious scientists 617 00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:32,319 Speaker 1: that were looking into this, and they weren't able to 618 00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:36,600 Speaker 1: be misled or argued with so easily. Yeah, a hundred 619 00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:42,359 Speaker 1: percent man like the doctors, scientists, some religious figures, and 620 00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:46,920 Speaker 1: even politicians, as we mentioned earlier, had plenty of negative 621 00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:51,960 Speaker 1: stuff to say about phrenology, and their criticism was valid. 622 00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:57,680 Speaker 1: One French scientist, Laurie Jean Pierre Laurenz became like goals 623 00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:03,800 Speaker 1: arch nemesses and he is always saying phnology is malarkey. 624 00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:08,080 Speaker 1: And let me tell you why, doctor Gall. Here's what, 625 00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:13,680 Speaker 1: here's what Marie Jean Pierre did this. This scientist said, okay, 626 00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:19,040 Speaker 1: let me take all your uh phrenology theories about animals, okay, 627 00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:23,319 Speaker 1: and let me dissect the brains of rabbits, birds and 628 00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:29,560 Speaker 1: dogs and see how the remaining sections function. And all 629 00:39:29,600 --> 00:39:32,600 Speaker 1: the evidence from all his experiments ghoulish as they were, 630 00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:36,200 Speaker 1: proved that Gall was incorrect. The brain acted as a 631 00:39:36,239 --> 00:39:41,080 Speaker 1: whole unit and not just as like street irreplaceable parts. 632 00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:47,279 Speaker 1: Harvard professor Oliver Wendell Holmes UH said he also drew 633 00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:50,480 Speaker 1: exception to this. We've actually we've got a quote from him. 634 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:53,240 Speaker 1: That's right. He said, the walls of the head are double, 635 00:39:53,320 --> 00:39:56,160 Speaker 1: with a great air chamber between them. Over the smallest 636 00:39:56,239 --> 00:40:00,000 Speaker 1: and most closely crowded organs. Can you tell how much 637 00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:03,040 Speaker 1: money there isn't a safe which also has thick double 638 00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:06,640 Speaker 1: walls by kneeding its knobs with your fingers. So when 639 00:40:06,640 --> 00:40:09,880 Speaker 1: a man fumbles about my forehead and talks about the 640 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:14,080 Speaker 1: organs of individuality, size, etcetera, I trust him as much 641 00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:16,040 Speaker 1: as I should if he felt the outside of my 642 00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:18,919 Speaker 1: strong box and told me there was a five dollar 643 00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:22,440 Speaker 1: or a ten dollar bill under this or that particular rivet. 644 00:40:25,040 --> 00:40:28,719 Speaker 1: But shots fired. Um, we had another guy, you know, 645 00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:32,560 Speaker 1: another Again, we're talking about these like very serious scientists 646 00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:35,840 Speaker 1: in Washington, d c At Professor Thomas Sewell, who also 647 00:40:35,880 --> 00:40:39,840 Speaker 1: rejected phrenology as a way of understanding the brain. He 648 00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:44,360 Speaker 1: said that brain injuries almost never affected bodily function in 649 00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:47,600 Speaker 1: the way that was predicted by phrenology. In addition, he 650 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:51,000 Speaker 1: said that the brain couldn't possibly be measured from the 651 00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:54,520 Speaker 1: skull alone. Uh, And that goes hand in hand with 652 00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:58,560 Speaker 1: what Oliver Wendell Holmes said so expertly and that strong 653 00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:01,839 Speaker 1: box analogy. So let's just also note that, you know, 654 00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:06,960 Speaker 1: while Holmes didn't necessarily say that phrenology was entirely useless, 655 00:41:07,480 --> 00:41:11,920 Speaker 1: he did feel like it's true scientific nature was at 656 00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:16,279 Speaker 1: best built on not very sturdy ground. Yeah, and then 657 00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:21,240 Speaker 1: he had other snarkier critics as well, Samuel Clemens Street 658 00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:26,440 Speaker 1: name Mark Twain. He said that Fowler has found in 659 00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:30,400 Speaker 1: my skull a cavity where humor ought to be. John 660 00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:34,440 Speaker 1: Quincy Adams said, you know, I wonder how for I 661 00:41:34,520 --> 00:41:36,280 Speaker 1: just can you look at each other in the eye 662 00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:42,480 Speaker 1: without laughing? And I added that but it was it 663 00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:47,600 Speaker 1: was there. I'm sure the story right right, And later 664 00:41:47,880 --> 00:41:55,040 Speaker 1: in the editors over it. Encyclopedia Britannica wanted to debunk phrenology, 665 00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:59,400 Speaker 1: so in their definition of the Encyclopedia, this is a 666 00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:04,279 Speaker 1: true story. They published instead of just a basic definition, 667 00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:10,080 Speaker 1: a seven page rebuke of the whole idea, and they 668 00:42:10,239 --> 00:42:12,520 Speaker 1: clearly had an ax to grind. And you don't want 669 00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:15,960 Speaker 1: to make an editor mad and nol. I gotta say, 670 00:42:16,040 --> 00:42:19,440 Speaker 1: I'm glad we made this a two parter on purpose, 671 00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:22,480 Speaker 1: because this is like, this is already pretty long, and 672 00:42:22,560 --> 00:42:24,680 Speaker 1: this is just part one. We haven't even gotten to 673 00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:28,239 Speaker 1: the dark side of phrenology. Well, I think we've done. 674 00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:31,000 Speaker 1: And huge thanks to Zach Williams for, you know, digging 675 00:42:31,239 --> 00:42:33,319 Speaker 1: a lot of this stuff up for us. It's an 676 00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:37,200 Speaker 1: excellent and fascinating topic. And just in the backstory that 677 00:42:37,239 --> 00:42:40,160 Speaker 1: we've kind of gotten to so far, but it really 678 00:42:40,200 --> 00:42:42,799 Speaker 1: does take a turn two more that I think some 679 00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:45,840 Speaker 1: of the associations people might have with phrenology are It 680 00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:47,680 Speaker 1: depends on who you are and where you're from and 681 00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:50,919 Speaker 1: how much you've dug into this. But um, there are 682 00:42:51,640 --> 00:42:57,319 Speaker 1: kind of echoes in this history of abject racism. I'm 683 00:42:57,440 --> 00:42:59,640 Speaker 1: using some of these tools as a way to keep 684 00:42:59,680 --> 00:43:03,720 Speaker 1: people down and justify some of the most detestable institutions 685 00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:08,920 Speaker 1: in the history of the world. Agreed, and we hope 686 00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:12,799 Speaker 1: that you tune in to learn more about phrenology Part 687 00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:16,520 Speaker 1: two of this two part series. Thanks as always to 688 00:43:16,719 --> 00:43:20,719 Speaker 1: our super producer, Mr Max Williams, Thanks to all of 689 00:43:20,760 --> 00:43:24,120 Speaker 1: you fellow ridiculous historians, and shout out to everybody just 690 00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:29,520 Speaker 1: looked up uh phrenology head map or has been awkwardly 691 00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:32,600 Speaker 1: feeling around the top of your head throughout the course 692 00:43:32,680 --> 00:43:36,120 Speaker 1: of this episode. We hope he dug it. Can't wait 693 00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:40,680 Speaker 1: to hear your phrenological results. I gotta wonder, you know. 694 00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:44,439 Speaker 1: I'm thinking, of course, we'll have the quiz to return soon, nol, 695 00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:49,640 Speaker 1: but I'm thinking I bet Jonathan knows more than we 696 00:43:49,719 --> 00:43:53,200 Speaker 1: might assume about phrenology right because he shaves his head. 697 00:43:53,640 --> 00:43:55,920 Speaker 1: He does, but I will tell you he's he's this 698 00:43:56,000 --> 00:43:58,919 Speaker 1: guy in the Smooth Skull Club with with with Mr 699 00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:03,080 Speaker 1: Max over here. Yeah, and so thanks to thanks to 700 00:44:03,120 --> 00:44:04,960 Speaker 1: the quister. And what does that mean? What if you're 701 00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:09,560 Speaker 1: completely smooth? You got no bumps at all? You got 702 00:44:09,560 --> 00:44:13,799 Speaker 1: no bumps bumps? Uh man. We're also going to chaos, 703 00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:16,880 Speaker 1: pure chaos magic. We're also gonna get into how this 704 00:44:17,200 --> 00:44:21,239 Speaker 1: this kind of bump analysis started to extend to like 705 00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:24,360 Speaker 1: facial features as well, and like, oh, the nose on 706 00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:26,839 Speaker 1: that guy means that he's not he's not up to 707 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:29,759 Speaker 1: the task of whatever job he's applying for. Like it 708 00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:31,080 Speaker 1: kind of makes me think of that's where like the 709 00:44:31,120 --> 00:44:34,640 Speaker 1: idea of I like the cut of your jib came from. Yeah, yeah, 710 00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:37,800 Speaker 1: And we'll get into the etymology of cutting your jib 711 00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:41,839 Speaker 1: as well. We'll learn about something from predecessors of phrenology. 712 00:44:42,239 --> 00:44:45,359 Speaker 1: All in all, can't wait. We're gonna get weird with it. 713 00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:49,200 Speaker 1: Please join us later this week. Shout out to, of course, 714 00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:52,719 Speaker 1: our composer Alex Williams. Shout out to the rest of 715 00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:57,120 Speaker 1: the Ridiculous History crew, our pals. Heve's Jeff Coach, Christopher 716 00:44:57,120 --> 00:45:00,960 Speaker 1: Hasiotis and no, you know shout out to us. Shoutouts 717 00:45:01,000 --> 00:45:05,239 Speaker 1: are nifty craniums. I guess yeah, Well you got out, Tom, 718 00:45:05,239 --> 00:45:14,520 Speaker 1: all right, um, We'll see you next time. Books. For 719 00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:16,759 Speaker 1: more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the I Heart 720 00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:19,680 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your 721 00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:20,440 Speaker 1: favorite shows.