Phrenology. Historical chart showing skulls and heads used in the pseudo-sciences of phrenology and physiognomy. Phrenology was based on the belief that a person's intellectual capabilities and personality was related to the shape of their skull and scalp. Physiognomy was based on the belief that the proportions of a person's facial features were related to their character. Practitioners of these principles claimed they could assess a person's personality by feeling the bumps on their head or by measuring their features. Artwork taken from the Iconographic Encyclopaedia of Science, Literature and Art", published in 1851."