Talk:Franz Joseph Gall

message: An unidentified contributor added the following material to this short bio:
In 1805, Dr. Gall visited the prison of Berlin in the course of his experimental travels to establish his theories. On April 17, in the presence of many witnesses, he was shown upwards of two hundred culprits, of whom he had never heard till that moment, and to whose crimes and dispositions he was a total stranger. Dr. Gall immediately pointed out, as a general feature in one of the wards, an extraordinary development in the region of the head where the organ of theft is situated, and in fact every prisoner there was a thief. Some children, also detained for theft, were then shown to him; and in them, too, the same organ was very prominent. In two of them particularly it was excessively large; and the prison-registers confirmed his opinion that these two were most incorrigible. In another room, where the women were kept apart, he distinguished one drest exactly like the others, occupied like them, and differing in no one thing but in the form of her head. "For what reason is this woman here," asked Gall, "for her head announces no propensity to theft?" The answer was, "She is the inspectress of this room." One prisoner had the organs of benevolence and of religion as strongly developed as those of theft and cunning; and his boast was, that he never had committed an act of violence, and that it was repugnant to his feelings to rob a church. In a man named Fritze, detained for the murder of his wife, though his crime was not proved, the organs of cunning and firmness were fully developed; and it was by these that he had eluded conviction. In Maschke, he found the organ of the mechanical arts, together with a head very well organized in many respects; and his crime was coining. In Troppe he saw the same organ. This man was a shoemaker, who, without instruction, made clocks and watches, to gain a livelihood in his confinement. On a nearer inspection, the organ of imitation was found to be large. "If this man had ever been near a theatre," said Gall, "he would in all probability have turned actor." Troppe, astonished at the accuracy of this sentence, confessed that he had joined a company of strolling players for six months. His crime, too, was having personated a police-officer, to extort money. The organs of circumspection, prurience, foresight, were sadly deficient in Heisig, who, in a drunken fit, had stabbed his best friend. In some prisoners he found the organ of language, in others of colour, in others of mathematics; and his opinion in no single instance failed to be confirmed by the known talents and dispositions of the individual.
As the main contributor to this article, I dont' agree with this addition, because it is irrelevant and excessively detailed for a biographical treatment in short encyclopedic form. I suggest that this material, if deemed relevant, be added to phrenology
--R.Sabbatini 11:39, 5 Jan 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't really agree with it either, not because it's too detailed—detail is fine—but because it seems to uncritically endorse phrenology and sounds very much as though it's copied from a source that is not identified. In an ideal world, it would be cited and given a good NPOV treatment. Everyking 12:01, 5 Jan 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: Prof Gall 11:37, 13 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Errors  

message: This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 04:01, 10 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  WikiProject class rating

message: It is incorrect that Gall was the first to 'disover' that the brain was the seat of thoughts and emotions. Several thinkers dating from Egyptian times had proposed this, and it was widely accepted by Gall's time.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Christophersummerfield (talk • contribs) 10:55, 23 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Errors