Franz Joseph Gall

Franz Joseph Gall or Franz Josef Gall (German: [gal]; 9 March 1758 – 22 August 1828) was a German neuroanatomist, physiologist, and pioneer in the study of the localization of mental functions in the brain.

Claimed as the founder of the pseudoscience of phrenology, Gall was an early and important researcher in his fields. His contributions to the field of neuropsychology were controversial at the time and are now widely referred to as pseudoscience. However, Gall's study of phrenology helped establish psychology, contributed to the emergence of the naturalistic approach to the study of man, and played an important part in the development of evolutionist theories, anthropology, and sociology.

Gall was born in the village of Tiefenbronn to a wealthy Roman Catholic wool merchant. The Galls, originally a noble family from Lombardy, had been the leading family in the area for over a century. His father was the mayor of Tiefenbronn and he was one of 12 children, only 7 of whom lived to adulthood.

Gall's scientific inquiry began in his youth. As a boy, he was fascinated by the differences between himself, his siblings, and his classmates. He developed an early interest in the brain after making a connection between one classmate's odd shaped skull and advanced language abilities. It is being said, that his first ideas about functional localization came from noticing that classmates who excelled at memory tasks had prominent facial features. He enjoyed collecting and categorizing plants and animals. He also realized the importance of observation as a scientific technique at a young age.

As the second eldest son, he was intended for the priesthood but chose instead to study medicine at the University of Strasbourg. In his advanced studies, he again made observations about his classmates. He noticed that many of the particularly bright students had prominent eyeballs and concluded that this could not be purely coincidental.

He later completed his degree in Vienna, Austria. While in medical school, he studied under Johann Hermann and Maximilian Stoll who impressed upon him the importance of natural observation. He took his first job at Lunatic Asylum making observations about the insane. He then opened up his own successful private practice and became so popular he even gave well attended lectures to the public. He was offered the position as head Austrian Court physician but decided to remain in private practice and research.

Based on his early observations about the skull sizes and facial features of his classmates, Gall developed the theory of Organology and the method of Cranioscopy that would later be known as Phrenology. Gall's version of Organology states that the mind is a collection of independent entities housed within the brain. Cranioscopy is a method to determine the personality and development of mental and moral faculties on the basis of the external shape of the skull. During his lifetime, Gall collected and observed over 120 skulls in order to test his hypotheses.

Gall believed that the bumps and uneven geography of the human skull were caused by pressure exerted from the brain underneath. He divided the brain into sections that corresponded to certain behaviors and traits that he called fundamental faculties. This is referred to as localization of function. Gall believed there were 27 fundamental faculties, among them were: recollection of people, mechanical ability, talent for poetry, love of property, and even a murder instinct. Based on the surface of a person's skull, Gall could make assumptions about that person's fundamental faculties and therefore their character.