You can mark you interesting snippets of text that will be available through a unique link in your browser.


Phrenology

Translation
Phrenology
The study of variations in size, shape, and proportion of the cranium. Phrenology was a pseudoscience of the 18th and 19th centuries based on the belief that a person's character could be learned by looking with care at the shape of their head and noting each and every bump and depression in their skull. The individual mental faculties were believed to be contained in neat compartments in the cerebral cortex and the size of these faculties were supposed to be reflected by the configuration of the skull. The best known model of phrenology was that of Gall who marked off the places of twenty-six organs on the head. The term "phrenology" was cobbled together from the Greek "phren" (the mind or the seat of reason and passion) and "logos" (a treatise, discourse or study). Phrenology has also been called craniognomy and craniology. Irrespective of name, it is an absurd concept.
* * *
An obsolete doctrine that each of the mental faculties is located in a definite part of the cerebral cortex, the size of which part varies in a direct ratio with the development and strength of the corresponding faculty, this size being indicated by the external configuration of the skull. SYN: craniognomy. [phreno- + G. logos, study]

Medical dictionary. 2011.

Synonyms:

  
Share  

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Phrenology — (from Greek: φρήν, phrēn , mind ; and λόγος, logos , knowledge ) is a defunct field of study, once considered a science, by which the personality traits of a person were determined by reading bumps and fissures in the skull. Developed by German… …   Wikipedia

  • phrenology — noun френология …   Англо-русский словарь Мюллера

  • Phrenology — Phre*nol o*gy, n. [Gr. ?, ?, the mind + logy: cf. F. phr[ e]nologie.] 1. The science of the special functions of the several parts of the brain, or of the supposed connection between the various faculties of the mind and particular organs in the… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • phrenology — 1> френология …   Новый большой англо-русский словарь

  • Phrenology — est un album des The Roots, sorti en 2002. Liste des titres Phrentrow Rock You !!!!!!! Sacrifice Rolling With Heat WAOK (AY) Roll Call Thought @ Work The Seed (2.0) Break You Off Water Quills Pussy Galore Complexity Something In The Way Of Things …   Wikipédia en Français

  • phrenology — phrenologic /fren l oj ik/, phrenological, adj. phrenologically, adv. phrenologist, n. /fri nol euh jee, fre /, n. a psychological theory or analytical method based on the belief that certain mental faculties and character traits are indicated by …   Universalium

  • phrenology — frɪˈnɔlədʒɪ сущ. френология (наука о зависимости способностей человека от формы и размера его мозга) френология phrenology френология …   Большой англо-русский и русско-английский словарь

  • phrenology — noun The science, now generally discredited, which studies the relationships between a persons character and the morphology (structure) of the skull. Oh, sure, you have a system for predicting the stock market; whats next phrenology? Syn:… …   Wiktionary

  • phrenology — noun Etymology: Greek phren , phrēn Date: 1805 the study of the conformation of the skull based on the belief that it is indicative of mental faculties and character • phrenological adjective • phrenologist noun …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • phrenology — n френология; научное направление, использовавшееся в ранней криминологии, которое пыталось выявить связи формы черепа с интеллектуальными и моральными качествами индивида …   Англо-русский словарь по социологии