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GALL, Franz Joseph (1757-1828)

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Metadata

Born: 1757

Died: 1828

Editorial Description

the "inventor" of phrenology; born in Tiefenbronn near Pforzheim, Germany, of Roman Catholic parents; studied medicine in Strasbourg, 1777; moved to Vienna, 1781, where he received his MD, 1785; his lectures on the new theory of the brain being proscribed by Emperor Francis I in 1801, he conducted a successful lecture tour (accompanied by his assistant SPURZ- HEIM) of the principal towns in Europe, arriving in Paris, 1807, where he remained writing, lecturing, and carrying on a highly respectable med practice until his death. In the spring of 1823 he made a brief visit to London where he lectured on phrenology (in French) at Bossange & Co, Great Marlborough St, to a numerous and fashionable audience; hon M EDIN PHREN SOC, Mar 1820. (DSB; and N. Capen, in 52 pages of introduction to W. Lewis's translation of Gall, On the Functions of the Brain [Boston], 1835); the latter was dedicated to J. ELLIOTSON, and reviewed in PHREN J, 10 [1836/7], but there was never a British publication or complete translation of Gall's works. Ellen EPPS began but never completed a translation in the J HEALTH & DISEASE, while the 2 vol translation completed by E. SYMES could find no publisher. For a bibliography of European and American publications of Gall's works, see B5. For biographical and critical works, see A1-3, A13, A15, A31-2, A46, A55, A77-8, A93, A104, A108-13, A125, A132, A136-7, A148, A154, A156, A158, A175, A188-9, A204-6, A214, A216-17.

Works as Listed by Roger Cooter (1989)

• 441.1 — 441.1 "Petition and Remonstrance by Dr. Gall Against an order issued by Francis the First, Emperor of Germany, prohibiting him from delivering lectures on the functions of the brain, without special permission previously asked and obtained. Translated from the German." In G. COMBE et al., On the Functions of the Cerebellum (1838): 309-35.
• 441.2 — 441.2 "Letter to Charles Augustus Blöede, Mannheim, 26th February 1807," PHREN J, 16 (1843): 394-6.
• 441.3 — 441.3 "Proceedings of the French National Institute for the Year 1808 [on Gall and SPURZHEIM'S 'Memoir']," PHIL MAG, 34 (1809): 303-5.
• 441.4 — 441.4 "Anatomie du Cerveau," reprinted (in French) in the Appendix to John GORDON, Observations on the Structure of the Brain, 1817: 185-207. (Originally appeared in Dictionaire des Sciences Médicales, vol 4, [Paris, 1813]: 447-9.)
• 441.5 — 441.5 "Dr. Gall's Lectures on the Physiology of the Brain," WEEKLY MEDICO CHIRURG & PHIL MAG, 1 & 2, serially between 24 May and 23 August, 1823.
• 441.6 — 441.6 "Catalogue, Numerical and Discriptive, of Heads of Men and Animals, which composed the collection made by the late Dr. Gall. Transcribed by Mons. A. A. Royer, of the Jardin des Plantes, from the Manuscript drawn up by M. le Dr. Danncey, the pupil and friend of Dr. Gall," PHREN J, 6 (1829/30): 480-99, 583-602; and 7 (1831/2): 27-36, 181-5, 250-3. I and
• 441.7 — 441.7 On the Functions of the Brain [comprising] Parts II of The Phrenological Library: On the Organ of the Moral Qualities and Intellectual Faculties and the Plurality of the Cerebral Organs. 2 vols, London: G. Berger & W Strange, [1844]. Pp. 185 & 219.
• 441.8 — 441.8 "Correspondence of Dr. Gall," PHREN J, 19 (1846): 36-42. (Letter to Dr. Wohlgeborner, 1805, and from BLUMEN- BACH to Dr. Albers of Bremen respecting Gall.)
• 441.9 — 441.9 "Original Letter by Gall [to Dr. Hoser of Potsdam, 16 May 1805] communicated to the Zoist by R. R. Noel," ZOIST, 7 (1849): 64-6.

Editorial Information

441. GALL, Franz Joseph (1757-1828), the "inventor" of phrenology;
born in Tiefenbronn near Pforzheim, Germany, of Roman Catholic
parents; studied medicine in Strasbourg, 1777; moved to Vienna,
1781, where he received his MD, 1785; his lectures on the new theory
of the brain being proscribed by Emperor Francis I in 1801, he conducted a successful lecture tour (accompanied by his assistant SPURZ-
HEIM) of the principal towns in Europe, arriving in Paris, 1807,
where he remained writing, lecturing, and carrying on a highly respectable med practice until his death. In the spring of 1823 he
made a brief visit to London where he lectured on phrenology (in
French) at Bossange & Co, Great Marlborough St, to a numerous
and fashionable audience; hon M EDIN PHREN SOC, Mar 1820. (DSB;
and N. Capen, in 52 pages of introduction to W. Lewis's translation
of Gall, On the Functions of the Brain [Boston], 1835); the latter
was dedicated to J. ELLIOTSON, and reviewed in PHREN J, 10
[1836/7], but there was never a British publication or complete
translation of Gall's works. Ellen EPPS began but never completed
a translation in the J HEALTH & DISEASE, while the 2 vol translation
completed by E. SYMES could find no publisher. For a bibliography
of European and American publications of Gall's works, see B5. For
biographical and critical works, see A1-3, A13, A15, A31-2, A46,
A55, A77-8, A93, A104, A108-13, A125, A132, A136-7, A148, A154,
A156, A158, A175, A188-9, A204-6, A214, A216-17.