The Mismeasure of Science: Stephen Jay Gould versus Samuel George Morton on Skulls and Bias

Jason E. Lewis; David DeGusta; Marc R. Meyer; Janet M. Monge; Alan E. Mann; Ralph L. Holloway

doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001071

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The Mismeasure of Science: Stephen Jay Gould versus Samuel George Morton on Skulls and Bias

Jason E. Lewis ,

* E-mail: lewisjas@stanford.edu

Affiliation Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States of America
⨯
David DeGusta,

Affiliation Paleoanthropology Institute, Oakland, California, United States of America
⨯
Marc R. Meyer,

Affiliation Department of Anthropology, Chaffey College, Rancho Cucamonga, California, United States of America
⨯
Janet M. Monge,

Affiliation Department of Anthropology and Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
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Alan E. Mann,

Affiliation Department of Anthropology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
⨯
Ralph L. Holloway

Affiliation Department of Anthropology, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America
⨯

The Mismeasure of Science: Stephen Jay Gould versus Samuel George Morton on Skulls and Bias

Jason E. Lewis,
David DeGusta,
Marc R. Meyer,
Janet M. Monge,
Alan E. Mann,
Ralph L. Holloway

Published: June 7, 2011
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001071

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Samuel Morton's bias may have occurred earlier

Posted by qrehmani on 24 Jun 2011 at 17:47 GMT

While Gould did not raise the issue, Morton may have labeled the skulls to get the results he wanted. On Page iv, paragraph 3 of his Introduction, he wrote:

“… sometimes had the skulls of both Europeans and Africana sent me by mistake for those of Indians: that these should occasionally be mingled in the same cemeteries is readily understood; but a practised eye can separate them without difficulty.”

http://books.google.com/b...

No competing interests declared.

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The Mismeasure of Science: Stephen Jay Gould versus Samuel George Morton on Skulls and Bias

The Mismeasure of Science: Stephen Jay Gould versus Samuel George Morton on Skulls and Bias

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Samuel Morton's bias may have occurred earlier

Posted by qrehmani on 24 Jun 2011 at 17:47 GMT