One of the things I love about writing historical
romance is learning tidbits about the past. I’m fascinated by the small things
that don’t often make it into history class.
Right now, I'm in the midst
of Lord Randolph Gresham's story, the fifth book in my Duke's Sons series.
Randolph is the clerical brother, stuck in a parish in the far north of
England. But he’s come down to London for the season with the express purpose
of finding a wife as lovely as those his brothers have snagged. They made it
look easy (kind of), but he finds it isn't. He keeps being distracted by a pert
young lady who insists she'd never marry a churchman. Well, who asked her?
Randolph is a bit of an
intellectual, and in London he discovers a fad for phrenology – a new “science”
that was very popular from about 1810 to 1840. Phrenologists said that the
human mind was made up of various faculties, each located in a different area
of the brain. They theorized that individual skulls must reflect the relative
strength of these traits, like a glove on the hand.
Since this was the case, said
the phrenologists, a person's character and temperament could be determined by
mapping the shape of his or her head. If you had a strong tendency toward benevolence,
for example, that area would be enlarged – a “bump.” If you lacked some trait,
like self-esteem, there would be a valley.
In their sessions,
phrenologists ran their fingertips and palms over the skulls of their patients
to feel for these enlargements or indentations. The absolute and relative geography
of each head made a map of character.
I could see plenty of
potential for funny scenes there. And if someone really believed that head
shape was destiny? Where might that take the story? I wanted to find out!
Although phrenology had some
basis in reality – certain functions are in fact located in specific parts of
the brain – it’s now regarded as a pseudoscience. I don’t know about you, but I’m
relieved that the shape of my head doesn’t reveal all my propensities to the
world.
Jane Ashford
Jane Ashford
I love those fun research finds.Who knows what people 200 years from now will think of our science.
ReplyDeletePhrenology is oddly fascinating. Makes you wonder how they even thought to come up with that in the first place.
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