Medicine 19th / Broussais Course of Phrenology First Edition 1836 Pseudo Science

Description: [MEDICINE - PSEUDO-SCIENCE - PHRENOLOGY] Phrenology, a term probably coined and used for the first time by Thomas Ignatius Maria Forster in 1815, is a pseudo-scientific theory according to which bumps of a human being's skull reflect his character. Its founder is Franz Joseph Gall.In 1825, François Magendie described phrenology as a pseudoscience.The theory Phrenology is the theory of the German neurologist Franz Joseph Gall (1757-1828) concerning the differentiated localization of cerebral functions in the brain. He stated it in his major work, also innovative on the notion of animal cerebrality, published from 1810 in Paris: Anatomy and physiology of the nervous system in general, and of the brain in particular, with observations on the possibility of recognizing several intellectual and moral dispositions of mane and animals by the configuration of their heads.This theory localizes brain functions to specific regions of the brain. However, brain development influences the shape of the skull. A particularly developed capacity (cheerfulness, causality, benevolence, etc.) would therefore inscribe its trace on the “map” that appears on the phrenological skull of Gall.Gall had the intuition by observing the bumps that we all have at the level of the cranial vault. He set about scientifically validating his hypothesis, notably by putting together a collection of hundreds of plaster busts, cast directly on particular subjects: microcephalics, “idiots”, etc. He and his students proposed statistical series to correlate character traits with the shape of the cranial vault, founding a discipline called “cranioscopy”. These cephalognomony studies were, however, tainted by selection or interpretation bias, which can be attributed to imperfection of the methodology of the time.Reception of the theoryIn 1820, George Combe was among the founders of the Phrenological Society of Edinburgh. In 1822, Charles Caldwell and JC Warren founded the Central Phrenological Society of Philadelphia. Charles Caldwell published Elements of Phrenology in 1824 in Lexington. In FranceIn France, Gall's theory is favorably received by the doctors of the School of Paris who are looking for an organic lesion location for any nervous disorder. It experienced its golden age after the July Revolution, under Louis-Philippe, as evidenced by theformation of the phrenological society of Paris on January 14, 1831 by the famous doctor François Broussais. But, outside of medical phrenology, it remains a marginal movement: popular in certain socialist circles, notably among the Fourierists, who advocate a materialist atheism, according to them it is a democratic science which is not satisfied with natural determinism, so it is not put forward by conservative political circles; wanting to be generalist, it clashes with the philosophical eclecticism of Victor Cousin; finally Gall's localizationist theories are contested by the physiologist Pierre Flourens who, in his Examination of Phrenology in 1842, methodically criticizes this doctrine; in decline in the 1840s, the French phrenological movement began to interact with spiritualism, animal magnetism and metaphysics. Disqualified, he disappeared during the Revolution of 1848.From phrenology to the theory of the born criminalIn this era where systematics is king, and in the phrenology movement, Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909) sought to find a statistical association between facial features and morals, particularly when they were doubtful. In The Criminal Man, born criminal – moral madman – epileptic (1876, five successive editions until 1897), he evokes the “primitive” forms supposed to characterize vagrancy and criminality.The theories of Gall and Lombroso were quickly abandoned, but techniques for measuring the human body (anthropometry) in forensic medicine developed. for identification purposes. Phrenology had great repercussions on the characters of romanticism and particularly on the long Balzacian descriptions where we find the character traits associated with their phrenological traits.We must also remember from phrenology that it opened the way to modern psychiatry, by anchoring the mind in the body. Popular memory has also preserved its trace with expressions like “have a knack for math” or “a knack for business”.François BROUSSAIS1772-1838François Joseph Victor Broussais, born in Saint-Malo on December 14, 1772 and died in Vitry-sur-Seine November 17, 1838, was a French doctor and surgeon of the Revolution and the Empire, known for a moment as "the emperor of medicine" under the Restoration. He is the author of a new medical doctrine,triumphant during his lifetime, abandoned after his death, the “Broussais system”. -We sell hereF.-J.-V. BROUSSAISPhrenology courseParis, JB Baillière, 1836 Original editionFirst Printing Strong in-8, (approximately 21.5x13cm), [IV]-X-850-[1]pp.1/2 leather back (brown sheepskin) smooth back with gold titling and fillets, 3 yellow edges Miscellaneous usual binding defects as often for old and often handled worksRubbed binding on spine, covers, etc. various wear and friction, various leather losses on caps, slightly banged corners, upper corner of the first cover stripped and weakened, various paper losses on the edges, cornersSolid finish however, body of work holding up very wellGood interior condition, clean, some rare and faint foxing or usual old halossee visuals... Rare work The Work is voluntarily left in the condition described, as found, without untimely restorations, hazardous retouching, etc... Related keywords science phrenology science books a first course in probability phrenology book Provided by

Price: 241.2 USD

Location: Fontenay sous Bois

End Time: 2024-11-27T14:35:58.000Z

Shipping Cost: 25 USD