Editing Craniometry (section)

== Cranial capacity, races and 19th–20th-century scientific ideas ==
[[Samuel George Morton]] (1799–1851), one of the inspirers of [[biological anthropology|physical anthropology]], collected hundreds of human skulls from all over the world and started trying to find a way to classify them according to some logical criterion. Influenced by the common theories of his time, he claimed that he could judge the intellectual capacity of a race by the [[cranial capacity]] (the measure of the volume of the interior of the skull).

After inspecting three mummies from ancient Egyptian catacombs, Morton concluded that Caucasians and other races were already distinct three thousand years ago. Since the Bible indicated that [[Noah's Ark]] had washed up on [[Mount Ararat]], only a thousand years ago before this, Morton claimed that Noah's sons could not possibly account for every race on Earth. According to Morton's theory of [[polygenism]], races have been separate since the start.<ref name="David Hurst Thomas 2001, pp. 38 - 41">David Hurst Thomas, Skull Wars Kennewick Man, Archaeology, And The Battle For Native American Identity, 2001, pp. 38 – 41</ref>

Morton claimed that he could judge the intellectual capacity of a race by the [[Human skull|skull]] size. A large skull meant a large brain and high intellectual capacity, and a small skull indicated a small brain and decreased intellectual capacity. Morton collected hundreds of human skulls from all over the world. By studying these skulls he claimed that each race had a separate origin. Morton had many skulls from ancient Egypt, and concluded that the [[ancient Egyptians]] were not [[Ethnic groups of Africa|African]], but were [[White people|White]]. His two major monographs were the ''Crania Americana'' (1839), ''An Inquiry into the Distinctive Characteristics of the Aboriginal Race of America'' and ''Crania Aegyptiaca'' (1844).

Based on craniometry data, Morton claimed in ''Crania Americana'' that the Caucasians had the biggest brains, averaging 87 cubic inches, Indians were in the middle with an average of 82 cubic inches and Negroes had the smallest brains with an average of 78 cubic inches.<ref name="David Hurst Thomas 2001, pp. 38 - 41"/>

[[Stephen Jay Gould]] (1941–2002), an American [[paleontologist]], evolutionary biologist and [[historian of science]], studied these craniometric works in ''[[The Mismeasure of Man]]'' (1981) and claimed Samuel Morton had fudged data and "overpacked" the skulls with filler in order to justify his preconceived notions on racial differences. A subsequent study by the [[anthropologist]] John Michael found Morton's original data to be more accurate than Gould describes, concluding that "[c]ontrary to Gould's interpretation... Morton's research was conducted with integrity."<ref name="jsmichael">{{cite journal | last1 = Michael | first1 = J. S. | year = 1988 | title = A New Look at Morton's Craniological Research | journal = Current Anthropology | volume = 29 | issue = 2 | pages = 349–354 | doi=10.1086/203646| s2cid = 144528631 }}</ref>

In 2011, physical anthropologists at the University of Pennsylvania, which owns Morton's collection, published a study that concluded that almost every detail of Gould's analysis was wrong and that "Morton did not manipulate his data to support his preconceptions, contra Gould." They identified and remeasured half of the skulls used in Morton's reports, finding that in only 2% of cases did Morton's measurements differ significantly from their own and that these errors either were random or gave a larger than accurate volume to African skulls, the reverse of the bias that Gould imputed to Morton.<ref name="jelewis">{{cite journal | last1 = Lewis | first1 = Jason E. | last2 = DeGusta | first2 = D. | last3 = Meyer | first3 = M.R. | last4 = Monge | first4 = J.M. | last5 = Mann | first5 = A.E. | display-authors = etal | year = 2011 | title = The Mismeasure of Science: Stephen Jay Gould versus Samuel George Morton on Skulls and Bias | journal = PLOS Biol | volume = 9 | issue = 6| page = e1001071 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001071 | pmid=21666803 | pmc=3110184 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Morton's followers, particularly [[Josiah C. Nott]] and [[George Gliddon]] in their monumental tribute to Morton's work, ''Types of Mankind'' (1854), carried Morton's ideas further and backed up his findings which supported the notion of [[polygenism]].

Charles Darwin opposed Nott and Glidon in his 1871 ''[[The Descent of Man]]'', arguing for a [[monogenism]] of the species. Darwin conceived the common origin of all humans (the [[single-origin hypothesis]]) as essential for [[evolutionary theory]].

Furthermore, Josiah Nott was the translator of [[Arthur de Gobineau]]'s ''[[An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races]]'' (1853–1855), which is one of the founding works of the group of studies that segregates society based on "race", in contrast to [[Henri de Boulainvilliers|Boulainvilliers]]' (1658–1722) theory of races. Henri de Boulainvilliers opposed the ''[[French people|Français]]'' (French people), alleged descendants of the Nordic [[Franks]], and members of the [[aristocracy]], to the [[Third Estate]], considered to be indigenous [[Gallo-Roman]] people who were subordinated by the Franks by [[right of conquest]].{{clarify|date=September 2019}} Gobineau, meanwhile, made three main divisions between races, based not on colour but on climatic conditions and geographic location, and which privileged the "Aryan" race.

In 1873, [[Paul Broca]] (1824–1880) found the same pattern described by Samuel Morton's ''Crania Americana'' by weighing brains at [[autopsy]]. Other historical studies alleging a Black-White difference in brain size include Bean (1906), Mall, (1909), Pearl, (1934) and Vint (1934).

[[Image:Ripley map of cephalic index in Europe.png|thumb|300px|[[William Z. Ripley]]'s map of the "cephalic index" in Europe, from ''[[The Races of Europe (Ripley)|The Races of Europe]]'' (1899)]]
Furthermore, [[Georges Vacher de Lapouge]]'s racial classification ("Teutonic", "Alpine" and "Mediterranean") was re-used by [[William Z. Ripley]] (1867–1941) in ''[[The Races of Europe (Ripley)|The Races of Europe]]'' (1899), who even made a map of Europe according to the alleged cephalic index of its inhabitants.

In Germany, [[Rudolf Virchow]] launched a study of craniometry, which gave surprising results according to contemporary theories on the "[[Aryan race]]", leading Virchow to denounce the "[[Nordic theory|Nordic mysticism]]" in the 1885 Anthropology Congress in [[Karlsruhe]].

[[Josef Kollmann]]<!-- see [[:de:Josef Kollmann]] -->, a collaborator of Virchow, stated in the same congress that the people of Europe, be them German, Italian, English or French, belonged to a "mixture of various races", furthermore declaring that the "results of craniology" led to "struggle against any theory concerning the superiority of this or that European race" on others.<ref name=Orsucci>Andrea Orsucci, "[http://www.unifi.it/riviste/cromohs/3_98/orsucci.html Ariani, indogermani, stirpi mediterranee: aspetti del dibattito sulle razze europee (1870–1914)] {{webarchive |url=https://archive.today/20121218231754/http://www.unifi.it/riviste/cromohs/3_98/orsucci.html |date=18 December 2012 }}, ''[[Cromohs]]'', 1998 {{in lang|it}}</ref>

Virchow later rejected measure of skulls as legitimate means of taxonomy. [[Paul Kretschmer]] quoted an 1892 discussion with him concerning these criticisms, also citing [[Aurel von Törok]]'s 1895 work, who basically proclaimed the failure of craniometry.<ref name=Orsucci/>