Help keep Salon independent

Jessica Helfand

Advertisement:

Alphonse Bertillon (1853-1914), French scholar, developed the criminal anthropometry. Self-portrait ID following his own methods made on August 7 1912, at the age of 59. (adoc-photos/Corbis via Getty Images)

Alphonse Bertillon and the troubling pursuit of human metrics

Jessica Helfand
The Austrian-born Bernard Hollander favored a quantitative approach to phrenological diagnosis, and is shown here methodically measuring his own skull. His meticulous view of the critical role of cranial measurement mirrored Galton’s in its obsessive assessment of statistical averages. Image: Wellcome Collection. Bernard Hollander: Cranial Measurement (1902) (<a href="https://wellcomecollection.org/works/sqjvypsb">Wellcome Collection</a>. Bernard Hollander: Cranial Measurement (1902))

Darwin, Expression, and the lasting legacy of eugenics

Jessica Helfand