Bumps Make the Man

BlackHawkPhrenologyStaying on yesterday's Black Hawk theme, we found a major scientific curio related to the Sauk chief: an 1838 account of Black Hawk's phrenological characteristics, published in the not-so-renowned American Phrenological Journal and Miscellany. We're big lovers of old-time junk science, and this paper is chock full of such wrongheaded (though utterly sincere) treats. One of our favorite passages goes:

The superior-posterior part, or the back and upper portion, of the head, embraces the organs...

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Published on September 10, 2009 09:00
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