I know that I have not had the chance to continue writing my comments on the controversy arising around the re-measurement of Samuel Morton's collection of crania. I intend to finish that task up this summer. Until then, here is a collection of citations from the web related to the criticism of Gould's interpretations. I'll include a more scholarly version later, of course. This is just to give a flavor of the range of opinion.
Commentaries: Serious and Otherwise
Morton skulls hold controversial history
The Daily Pennsylvanian
In his research, Morton
found that European skulls were larger than African skulls and he took
this information to assert that Europeans were more intelligent than
Africans. Stephen Gould, an evolutionary biologist, rose to counter Morton's findings....
Top 100 Stories of 2011 #59: The Mismeasure of Stephen Jay Gould
Discover Magazine
by William Saletan
Discover Magazine
From the January-February special issue; published online January 3, 2012
Scientific error, scientific fraud: why did Gould claim Morton mismeasured skulls?
Posted on March 17, 2012 by Joan Strassmann
Anthropologists Hurl Skulls at Stephen Jay Gould
In the example in question, nineteenth century physician Samuel George Morton, who filled skulls from his grisly ...
deliriumliberty
Skullduggery? Did Stephen Gould’s Bias against Samuel Morton Prove His Point?
September 19, 2011 by Kelly Grooms
"Ironically, it seems that it was Gould’s analysis that was flawed and influenced by his biases. Where the results reported in this study falsify Gould’s hypothesis that Morton manipulated his data, they also lend support his greater hypothesis that “Unconscious or dimly perceived finagling is probably endemic in science”, as his analysis of Morton is a strong example of bias influencing results."
The mishmashing of Gould: scientific method and bias
Gould's skulls: Is bias inevitable in science?
New Scientist
Some left response to latest Gould exposure
race/history/evolution notes
John Horgan equates incompatibilism with racism
Why Evolution is true
Mismeasure for mismeasure
Nature
474, 419 (23 June 2011) Published online 22 June 2011
A critique of the work of Stephen Jay Gould should serve as encouragement to scrutinize the celebrated while they are still alive.
The Mismeasure of Stephen Jay Gould: Dr. Burns' Commentary
Image from the physical anthropology collection at The Burns Archive:
Graphic: John Shaw Billings, MD & Cranial Capacity Research, 1885.
“Ascertaining Capacity of Cranial Cavity by Means of Water”
Samuel Morton collection of skulls at center of controversy
June 16, 2011
(PhysOrg.com) -- The scientific integrity of one 19th century Philadelphia scientist has been reaffirmed—but at the decided expense of a prominent late 20th century scientist who had discredited him.
Related or mentioning Morton or Gould
"Peter Wanderfalke (1 April 1806 - ca. May 1849) was a German anthropologist and anatomist, closely associated with early race theory but also an early opponent of eugenics.
In it he reviews Blumenbach's race classifications, Samuel George Morton's.... In 1845 Wanderfalke received a copy of Samuel George Morton's new work...."
Mulatto: Less than Human
Indian Country Today
2012-01-16
Julianne Jennings
Arizona State University
An example of how the Right has responded:
The Reality of Race | American Renaissance
In a 1978 Science paper, Gould (1941 – 2002), reported that the Samuel George Morton (1799-1851), “a prominent Philadelphia physician,” had mis-measured....
