ABSTRACT
One system briefly popular in medical science was the doctrine of phrenology, and this paper examines that doctrine in the United States. Physicians writing in the leading medical journals of America used the principles of phrenology in case reports to try to understand certain difficult clinical situations. Phrenology offered an intriguing explanation for this disorder, even though it afforded no potential for therapy. Three American reports in the late 1820s and early 1830s used phrenology to understand the clinical picture that today would be called aphasia. Medical practitioners tried to use phrenology to understand their patients' clinical situations. When phrenology seemed to explain some symptoms, such as speechlessness, it was useful, but the doctrine was frozen in place and could not change. Phrenology provided an explanatory framework for physicians to understand their patients' neurological and psychiatric symptoms, but did not lead to any significant treatment modalities.
