from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. The study of the shape, size, and other features of the human skull.
- n. Phrenology.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. Scientific examination of the cranium.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The examination of the configuration of the skull; phrenology.
Following the old route of exploration by cranioscopy, I sought to supply these defects.
To those who fall far short of that development, it gives the means of a definite measurement of the defect, and shows by cranioscopy and psychometry what is to be done in self-culture, as clearly as we learn in the gymnasium what muscles need greater development.
The first question that occurs to the enlightened enquirer, when he learns that the functions of the brain have been positively determined by experiment, is whether the cranioscopy of Gall and Spurzheim was successful in locating the cerebral functions, and how nearly their inferences from development correspond with the revelations of experiment.
Were the skull composed of more pliable materials, cranioscopy would be more accurate in its facts, but while it preserves a uniform exterior, the interior often undergoes remarkable changes.
The art of cranioscopy requires as its basis a correct knowledge of the anatomy of the brain and skull, a correct knowledge of the localities of all the cerebral organs, and a practical skill in determining their development with accuracy.
All whom I have taught find, when they test it, that, in its applications by cranioscopy, the results invariably confirm the accuracy of the science.
But this nice survey of the convolutions and their boundaries was obviously impossible by cranioscopy, which, at the best, could only recognize considerable differences of magnitude.
Page 51 into the study of Man, says, that in considering the lower specimens of humanity, too much importance has been attached to the cranium and the science of cranioscopy; for it is not in the skull, says he, but in the outer covering of the body or skeleton, that nature has placed the great marks of difference.
Wilson Armistead, 1819?-1868. A Tribute for the Negro: Being a Vindication of the Moral, Intellectual, and Religious Capabilities of the Colored Portion of Mankind; with Particular Reference to the African Race.