Article ID: CBB466857192

Mark Twain's life-long fascination with phrenology (2019)

unapi

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain; 1835–1910), American humorist and writer, followed scientific and medical developments, and relished exposing questionable practices and ideas. In his youth, he pondered how phrenologists were assessing character, and in 1855 he copied sections of a phrenology book and a skull diagram into a notebook. Later, in London, he had two phrenological examinations by Lorenzo Fowler—one without and the other after identifying himself. Following his “test,” which produced contrasting results, he began to ridicule phrenologists and phrenology in Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and other works. He underwent at least two more head readings in the United States, and in Eddypus, an unfinished work from 1901 to 1902, he maintained that phrenologists base their insights primarily on how people dress and answer questions. Although now lampooning the craniological tenets of phrenology, Twain never seemed to reject the idea of distinct faculties of mind associated with specialized brain organs.

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Authors & Contributors
Finger, Stanley
Eling, Paul
Thompson, Courtney Elizabeth
Sysling, Fenneke
Rachel E. Walker
Kahan, Benjamin
Concepts
Phrenology
Brain localization
Psychology
Medicine and law
Science and literature
Gender
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
18th century
20th century
Places
United States
United Kingdom
Melbourne (Victoria, Australia)
London (England)
Netherlands
Germany
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