Phrenology between anthropology and neurology in a nineteenth-century collection of skulls

Abstract

The University of Padua has many legends about its cultural heritage. One of these concerns a collection of eight skulls still preserved in the Hall of Medicine at Bo Palace, near the old anatomy theatre built in 1545. It is said that some famous professors of the University donated their bodies to medical science, and the skulls were from these bodies. From multidisciplinary research, both historical and anthropological, we have discovered that Francesco Cortese, Professor of Medicine and Rector of the University, started this personal collection of colleagues’ skulls, although they had not donated their bodies to science, so that he could make his own detailed phrenology study.