science

Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement

Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement rather than just read about it. In short: Phrenology has been a cultural factor in the Latter Day Saint movement (informally Mormons) since around the time of its founding in 1830. Phrenology is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits.

Key takeaways

Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Phrenology has been a cultural factor in the Latter Day Saint movement (informally Mormons) since around the time of its founding in 1830. Phrenology is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits. Developed in the 1790s, it became widely popular in the United States in the 1830s and 1840s, coinciding with the rise of the Latter Day Saint movement. Phrenology was never endorsed as a part of church theology or doctrine, but neither was it considered incompatible. This contrasts with the basic attitude of Orthodox Christian clergy, who generally condemned phrenology as "atheism, materialism, and determinism". Phrenologists themselves considered themselves a secular science, compatible and even supporting of religion. Many early Latter Day Saints, including Joseph Smith, had phrenological readings done, and these readings were used by adherents and critics as supporting evidence of their respective viewpoints. The seriousness with which Latter Day Saints treated phrenology varied greatly, either considering them heretical, frivolous, amusing, or highly significant. By the beginning of the 20th century, the respectability of phrenology began to decline, the appeal to Latter Day Saints subsequently faded away, and is currently generally frowned upon.

Phrenology from 1830 through 1845

Book of Abraham Egyptian mummies

In 1835 the Church of the Latter Day Saints acquired four Egyptian mummies along with papyri from a larger collection of 11 mummies. Only four of the seven mummies Chandler sold before he met Joseph Smith have a current known location. Two mummies were sold by Chandler in Philadelphia to Dr. Samuel Morton who bought it for Philadelphia's Academy of Natural Sciences. These were dissected by Morton in front of other Academy Members. Morton was interested in the phrenology and would remove the skulls from the body, fill the skull with buckshot and then weigh the skull to determine the cavity size. These two skulls reside at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology with other crania from the Morton Collection. Several eyewitness accounts of the mummies purchased by the Church also gave phrenological commentary.

Nauvoo Era As the popularity of phrenology increased in the United States in the late 1830s and early 1840s, it became a routine, fashionable thing to obtain a reading. Many Latter Day Saints obtained readings, including many of the leaders. Privately during the last four years of his life Joseph Smith rejected phrenology. In January 1841 Smith said he received a revelation about phrenology, with "the Lord Rebuking him sharply in Crediting such a thing; & further said there was No Reality in such a science But was the works of the Devil". On October 14, 1843, Smith engaged in a "warm debate" with a phrenologist and a mesmerist. Smith contended that they could "not prove that the mind of man was seated in one part of the brain more than another." In contrast to his private stance, publicly Smith still permitted phrenologists to take readings, and allowed followers to publish them in friendly newspapers. Joseph Smith consented to having phrenologists study his skull at least three times. One of his phrenological charts was published in the Nauvoo newspaper The Wasp, along with an explanation that it was to satisfy a large number of people in many places who had "manifested a desire to know the Phrenological development of Joseph Smith's head."

Smith's phrenological chart was re-printed by former counselor in the First Presidency John C. Bennett in 1842, as part of his exposé. Bennett used the chart as evidence to argue that Smith was naturally deceitful and untrustworthy. William Smith brother of Joseph Smith and the editor of the Nauvoo newspaper The Wasp, engaged in an editorial battle with Thomas C. Sharp, editor of the anti-Mormon newspaper, the Warsaw Signal. In his June 25, 1842, editorial, William Smith published an attack on Sharp, using elements of phrenology in a satirical article titled "Nose-ology" in reference to Sharp's large nose. Smith attacked "Thom-ASS C. Sharp" stating that "the length of his snout is said to be in the exact proportion of seven to one compared with his intellectual faculties, having upon its convex surface well developed bumps," and that these bumps signified fourteen traits, the first being "Anti-Mormonitiveness." Advertisements for books on phrenology were displayed prominently in nearly every edition of the church magazine The Prophet starting in May 1844, including those edited by William Smith, Samuel Brannan and Parley P. Pratt. The January 25, 1845 edition produced an article sandwiched between conference reports and a hymn, explaining phrenology in detail, "for the benefit of all those who wish to investigate the science of phrenology."

Brigham Young received at least two readings. One occurred in Boston from famed phrenologist Orson Squire Fowler in 1843 along with Heber C. Kimball, Willford Woodruff and George Albert Smith. At the time Young was at least amused enough to copy his reading into his journal. Later, Young noted that he was not impressed with Fowler or his reading, writing: After giving me a very good chart for $1, I will give him a chart gratis. My opinion of him is, that he is just as nigh being an idiot as a man can be, and have any sense left to pass through the world decently; and it appeared to me that the cause of his success was the amount of impudence and self-importance he possessed, and the high opinion he entertained of his own abilities. Phrenology led to an increase in the popularity of making death masks, and could have been a contributing factor in the creation of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith's death masks. Joseph and Hyrum's bodies were exhumed and moved several times to avoid vandalism and rising Mississippi River waters. In 1928, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints moved the bodies to a safer location. The 1928 identification of the bodies was challenged in 1994. Phrenological charts taken of Joseph have been used in forensic analysis to confirm the identity of the exhumed remains.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement

In research: Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics History of the Latter Day Saint movement, Joseph Smith, Mormonism-related controversies, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement in simple terms?

Why does Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint movement.