Gall's lectures on cranioscopy became very popular, and it was his followers who gave his doctrine the name 'phrenology'. His two 'hits' concerned language and word memory, and that's why you're reading this at all. He characterized his primary goal to develop a functional anatomy and physiology of the brain as well as a revised psychology of personality as 'organology.' Gall ultimately identified 27 discrete brain 'centres' of behaviour, 25 of which have never been confirmed to exist. His collaboration with his pupil Johann Christoph Spurzheim, who served as research assistant and collaborator, which began in 1800, led him to the development of his theories concerning brain localization and phrenology, which he initially referred to as cranioscopy. His new doctrine was made known through private lectures which he gave in Vienna from 1786, and through his book Des Herren Dr. For this purpose he built a collection of skulls as well as casts in plaster and wax which after his death were acquired by the Jardin des plantes in Paris.

Besides his work he concerned himself with anatomical investigations and with the foundation and elaborations of the doctrine of the skull named for him.

He obtained his doctorate in 1785 and subsequently established an active and successful medical practice which included many eminent patients. In 1781 he left Strasbourg to continue his studies in Vienna under van Swieten. The Galls had no children, but his wife’s niece and nephews lived with them at various times. As a result, Galls' marriage was not pleasant however, he did not let this dissuade him from his exploits, and was quoted as saying cheerfully, 'Neither sin nor friends will ever leave me'. Gall, however, also acquired a variety of mistresses, one of whom bore him a son, Hamann. It was here, too, that he married a young Alsatian girl surnamed Lieser (whose first name apparently was not recorded for posterity), who cared for him when he had typhus. Under Hermann he preferably concerned himself with the natural sciences and anatomy, in particular comparative anatomy. In 1777, at the age of 19, he went to Strasbourg to study medicine under Jean Hermann. Gall received his first education from his uncle, a catholic priest, and further education in schools at Baden and Bruchsal.

Both he and his wife, Anna Maria Billingerin, were devout Roman Catholics.

He was a modest merchant and sometimes mayor in the village of Tiefenbronn on the outskirts of the Black Forest. Thus the basic thesis of phrenology was disproved.Īs a medical scientist Gall is recognized as the first to identify the grey matter of the brain with active tissue – neurons - and the white matter with conducting tissue - ganglia.įranz Joseph Gall's father was of Italian extraction and his original name was Gallo. It was soon also proved, however, that, as the thickness of the skull varies, the surface of the cranium does not reflect the topography of the brain. This concept was proved correct when the French surgeon Paul Broca demonstrated the existence of a speech centre in the brain in 1861. His development of the pseudoscience of craniology, later known as phrenology, has long been abandoned as a “science”, but played an important role as a precursor to modern doctrines of brain localizations. Franz Joseph Gall is rightfully recognized as a great anatomist, pioneering the concepts of localized functions in the brain.

Francis gall