Phrenology
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is primarily a novel about a man’s trip to the African Congo and the horrors he encounters while there. However Conrad’s novel is also a story of its time and therefore makes mention of the theories held when it was written. Included in these ideas is that of phrenology and its relatives, mentioned clearly when the doctor examining Marlow asks, “[may I] measure your head?” and the doctor then produces “a thing like calipers and [gets] the dimensions back and front and every way...” (p. 13). The following will provide a description of Phrenology and its implications.
A pseudo-science developed by Austrian physician Franz Joseph Gall in the early 1800s, Phrenology is in its most basic form the study of the morphology of the human skull and its relation to human character. Gall’s “doctrine of Phrenology” (www.134.184.33.110/phreno/) is based upon five key principles, which were first presented in his work The Anatomy and Physiology of the Nervous System in General, and of the Brain in Particular. First, it is understood that man’s “moral and intellectual faculties” are innate” (Sabattini, R) and that their expression depends on how the brain is organized. Secondly, he proposed that the brain is the organ responsible for all inclinations, emotions and abilities. Thirdly he stated that the brain is composed of many different “organs” (Sabattini, R.) with each one being responsible for a certain human function. He also proposed that the size of these “organs” is directly related to the amount of their presence and use in specific pers! ons. And finally, he suggested that the external morphology of the skull directly expresses the internal structure of the brain and that the “relative ...
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While Gall was incorrect in theorizing that the external skull reflects the personality and tendencies of an individual, he was surprisingly correct and in fact pioneered the idea that specific human functions and emotions are related to specific regions of the brain. His way of coming to this conclusion was scientifically incorrect but the implications of this idea helped modern science discover the idea of cerebral localization that is present today.
Sources
http://pages.britishlibrary.net/phrenology
A comprehensive site which includes phrenology charts, photographs of key figures in the development of phrenology as well as a thorough overview of the science.
www.epub.org.br/cm/n01/frenolog/frenologia.com
A site designed by Dr. Renato M.E. Sabatini which gives a basic overview of the science and provides wonderful links to other sites on phrenology.
Every year high school, college, and professional athletes try to get just ?a little bigger,??a little stronger,? and to increase the amount of weights they lift by, ?just a few pounds.? To achieve these goals athletes often turn to anabolic steroids to aid them in achieving their goals. Anabolic steroids are a quick, but dangerous way to increase muscle mass, and they can carry many risks including some life threatening side affects. Years after taking steroids athletes can live to have serious heart problems, sterility, or possibly not even live, all because of foolish decisions they made in the past. These potentially fatal drugs are not widely known by young athletes at all, because they don?t know about the risks that can go along with them. In school, every student is taught about marijuana, cocaine,heroin, sex, liquor, and all those other health risks, but they?re never taught about ?roids? or ?juice.? (slang words for steroids) That should be changed, because it is known that student athletes often use steroids, not knowing the risks. Many times they take the risk because they hear about professional athletes taking steroids. But, despite their widespread use in sports, steroids can have more negative than positive effects on athletes of all types. Steroids are chemical substances that can be made naturally by the body or produced synthetically. There are many different types of steroids that are used for different things other than just athletes enhancing muscles. For example, there are types of steroids that can be used by women as birth control pills, and other types that are used for menopause treatment. The abuse of steroids is almost always found to be in the case of athletes, and that is the focus of this paper. ?All anabolic steroids are synthetic compounds whose molecular structure is similar to that of the natural male sex hormone testosterone. Testosterone affects development of the male body in two important ways: it has an anabolic effect - increases growth, especially of muscular and skeletal tissue - And an androgenic effect - increased development of male sexual characteristics. Anabolic steroids are constructed stythetically in such a way that they maximize the anabolic effect of testosterone while minimizing the androgenic effect.? The way that steroids work can easily be interpreted by a foo...
Hergenhahn, B. R. (2009). An introduction to the history of psychology (6th ed., p. 224,
Ross, A. C. (2005). Physiology. In B. Caballero, L. Allen, & A. Prentice (Eds.), Encyclopedia of
Anabolic steroids were first developed in 1930 when scientists attempted and successfully created a synthetic form of testosterone. This synthetic product was created for the intent that it will aide men who were unable to generate a sufficient amount of testosterone for a safe and balanced growth (Anabolic Steroids, 2013). Steroids simply function by converting proteins into muscle at an accelerated speed, which is the major influence for users. Over the past few years, there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of teenagers experimenting with steroids with little or no awareness of the side effects. According to “teenagers at risk for use of performance enhancers” journal article, 76% of the teens who responded to the survey could not identify any negative side effects of steroids (Schneider.M, 2004). Another study in the Sydney Morning Herald’s “Steroid Use Soars among young men” article, the 2013 needle syringe program survey, by the Kirby Institute at the University of NSW, found 74 per cent of people in NSW who started injecting illicit substances in the past three years had sought out performance- and image-enhancing drugs, compared with only 27 per cent in 2003. This increase of steroid use may ...
Zhang, Y. B., Harwood, J., Williams, A., Ylänne-McEwen, V., Wadleigh, P. M., & Thimm, C.
Smith, M., Barston, S., Segal, R., & Segal, J. (2009). Help guide Web. 24 Oct. 2015.
Athletes are often pressured from an early age to be better than the rest. In sports such as football, baseball, basketball, and soccer, the need to be “great” is becoming a dominant factor in the world of sports. Regardless of which sport is chosen, the stigma to be great is slowly surpassing the main goal of sportsmanship among team players. With the notion that being great is the key; many athletes, both amateur and professional, are relying on steroids to help bring them to the top of their game. Steroid use can cause damaging effects to the body and preventing this may save the lives and careers of current and future students. This essay is written to explain the problems of steroids in sports and the solutions in which to help deter or stop this problem.
As Marlow assists the reader in understanding the story he tells, many inversions and contrasts are utilized in order to increase apperception of the true meaning it holds. One of the most commonly occurring divergences is the un orthodox implications that light and dark embody. Conrad’s Heart of Darkness brims with paradoxes and symbolism throughout its entirety, with the intent of assisting the reader in comprehending the truth of not only human nature, but of the world.
...o, while the novella’s archetypal structure glorifies Marlow’s domination of Kurtz. These two analyses taken together provide a much fuller and more comprehensive interpretation of the work. Conrad presents the idea that there is some darkness within each person. The darkness is is inherited and instinctual, but because it is natural does not make it right. He celebrates – and thereby almost advises – the turn from instinct. By telling Marlow’s tale, Joseph Conrad stresses to his audience the importance of self-knowledge and the unnecessity of instinct in civilization.
As a result of this statement Lombroso started to enhance on phrenology. Phrenology was the study of the Franz Joseph Gall, which in general was the study of skull feature and whether bumps could be related to people’s inner personality. (Cherry n.d.)
"Federico Fellini." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.
Psychoanalysis is a set of psychological and psychotherapeutic theories based on the work of Sigmund Freud. Freud is also known as the father of psychology. He was an expert in neurology, study of nervous system, neurons, etc. The present context of the class which is the study of the brain is greatly related to Freud’s theories and ideas.
Kumar R, O'Malley P, Johnston L, Laetz V. Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Use Prevention
The body is born by nature and dies for nature. Nature takes ownership of the physical body through the organic matter of which it is made. Then when it dies, it is consumed back into the earth to provide nutrients and life into other beings. In Thich Nhat Hanh’s article “Buddha Nature and Our Relationship with Mother Earth”, Hanh states that, “We often forget that the planet we are living on has given us all the elements that make up our bodies. The water in our flesh, our bones, and all the microscopic cells inside our bodies all come from the Earth and are part of the Earth. The Earth is not just the environment we live in. We are the Earth and we are always carrying her within us” (Hanh). This ownership is rooted deep in an individual’s being and is inescapable, as a person is born to it. A human will always have some of themselves belonging to nature through being “breathing manifestation of this beautiful and generous planet” (Hanh).
One example of why people use steroids is peer pressure. Lots of teens want to look good and fit in with society’s idea of a “handsome” person. Another reason is to rapidly meet requisites for sport functions. For example, the desire to make the football or baseball team, or to impress peers and be popular-fragment (Song). Recently, anabolic steroids were placed in the same category as cocaine, heroin, LSD, and other habit forming drugs (Song). In an effort to alert teenagers of steroid abuse, the FDA has developed a series of pamphlets, posters, and public service announcements of the possible consequences from taking these drugs. The courts are handing down stiff sentences for people dealing in illegal steroids and similar drugs. Distributors have been sentenced up to three to six years in jail and been fined up to hundreds of thousands of dollars (Song). These are just a few of the ways that the public is trying to deter the use of steroids. Paper does not match outline