You Need Your Head Examined!

New Illustrated Self Instructor Phernology Physiology book

National Park Service

It doesn’t take very long at James A. Garfield National Historic Site to conclude that nineteenth century medicine was woefully misguided. In addition to the sluggish response to Listerian theory of infection, nineteenth century doctors also believed in a now discredited scientific discipline known as phrenology, the examination of a person’s skull shape. Phrenologists believed they could make deductions about a person’s mental capabilities, character, and medical health. In its darkest form, the ideas behind phrenology were offered as evidence that bolstered racist claims of genetic inferiority based on skull shape and size observed in Africans, Slavs, and Asians. Many people believed phrenologists’ claims to be able to divine the future by examining and measuring the skull dimensions of a patient, sometimes taking great sums of money for doing so. James A. Garfield was, of course, a brilliant scholar, but even he was not immune to exploring the popular medical trends of his day. He visited several phrenologists and attended lectures on them while he was at Williams College. Garfield reflected,

“I visited the Fowlers' establishment and had my head examined by Mr. Lorenzo N. Fowler. In the main he agreed with others. He said I was inclined to be mentally lazy, and had never called out my powers of mind, that they were greater than I supposed. He told me to elevate my standard of aspiration and thought. I had better aim at the Judge's Bench. Said I needed to be more spirited in resenting an insult” (JAG Diary, July 10, 1854).

Learn more about phrenology and other types of Victorian medical interest here at the site in our Visitor Center exhibits.