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| Phrenology Model |
Somehow I ended up with a few pages in the genealogy archives that are the documented visit of David Mulholland to have a reading of the shape of his skull for the pseudo-science of phrenology, popular in the 19th century. The proponents of phrenology considered their work to be scientific—an effort to study mind, personality, and character objectively, quantitatively. Some of its assumptions were that mental phenomena have causes that can be determined; that anatomical and physiological characteristics have influence upon mental behavior; and that the mind is not unitary but is dependent upon localized functions of the brain. It is easy to see, perhaps, that such an approach to the study of human personality seemed an improvement over the highly impressionistic, subjective approaches of the past. Moreover as one writer pointed out, "It was the first system that permitted detailed analysis of the human brain without the inconvenience of an autopsy."
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| David Mulholland (1856-1922) |
Mormons who received phrenological readings between 1840 and 1891 included Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Wilford Woodruff, Willard Richards, Brigham Young, George A. Smith, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, John E. Page, Alfred Cordon, Elias Smith, James J. Strang, Matthias Cowley, James Bunting, James S. Brown, Joseph C. Rich, George Reynolds, Amasa Lyman, Charles C. Rich, N. V. Jones, George Q. Cannon, O. S. Clawson, E. L. T. Harrison, Edwin D. Woolley, Christopher Layton, Christopher M. Layton, William Blood, Jesse N. Smith, Sanford Porter, Andrew Jensen, Elizabeth Williams, John D. Lee, Orson F. Whitney, Franklin S. Richards, J. B. Toronto, James H. Moyle, William S. Godbe, William Spry, Daniel Wells, and Abraham H. Cannon.
You can read the actual phrenology report done for David Mulholland at the link below.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6KBE88seim7N0Y1QWdXdW9OM3M/edit?usp=sharing
This link will take you to a bit of history on the enthusiasm surrounding phrenology amongst the Mormons.
http://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V09N01_44.pdf
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