Definition for Franz Gall
From Biology Forums Dictionary
Gall was born in Baden, Germany, but settled in Vienna as a physician. He was a distinguished anatomist, responsible for much of our early understanding of the nervous system, particularly the distinction between the function of the white (myelinated) and gray (nonmyelinated) matter of the brain. Along with his student, Johann Spurzheim, Gall promoted the science of phrenology, in which a person's character, and emotional and intellectual dispositions could be inferred from an assessment of the various bumps and contours of the head. Although long since discredited as legitimate science, phrenology was extremely popular in its day. (Darwin was nearly kept off the HMS Beagle because of the shape of his nose.) Nearly thirty phrenological societies were in existence in England in 1832, and a number of professional periodicals concerning phrenology flourished during the mid-1800s.
