Franz Joseph Gall: Naturalist of the Mind, Visionary of the Brain [Hardcover]

Franz Joseph Gall, a dedicated physician and scientist, is unfortunately most remembered for his controversial doctrine that would become known as phrenology. Although often portrayed as a discredited buffoon who believed he could assess a person's strengths and weaknesses by measuring cranial bumps, Gall strove to answer pressing questions about the mind, brain, and behavior. His career began in Vienna during the 1790s and ended with his death in Paris in 1828. This work presents a fresh look at Gall, both his life and seminal ideas, some of which--for example, cortical localization of function--would become tenets of modern behavioral neuroscience.Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) was always a controversial figure, as was his doctrine, later called phrenology. Although often portrayed as a discredited buffoon, who believed he could assess a person's strengths and weaknesses by measuring cranial bumps, he was, in fact, a serious physician-scientist, who strove to answer timely questions about the mind, brain, and behavior. In many ways a remarkable visionary, his seminal ideas would become tenets of modern behavioral neuroscience. Among other things, he was the first scientist to promote publicly the idea of specialized cortical areas for diverse higher functions, while taking metaphysics out of his new science of mind. Moreover, although he obviously placed too much emphasis on tell-tale skull features (mistakenly believing that the cranium faithfully reflects the features of underlying brain areas), he fully understood the strength of convergent operations, conducting neuroanatomical, developmental, cross-species, gender-comparison, and brain-damage studies on both humans and animals in his attempts to unravel the mysteries of brain organization.Rather than looking upon Gall's organology as one of science's great mistakes, this book provides a fresh look at the man and his doctrine. The authors delve into his motives, what was known about the brain during the 1lÃk