Gould famously claimed that Samuel Morton lied about the sizes of various skulls in his extensive collection the American Golgotha in a way that was biased in favor of Whites.
So some people went and remeasured the skulls in 2011 and they found Gould wrong, Morton was accurate.
So some people went and remeasured the skulls in 2011 and they found Gould wrong, Morton was accurate.
The degree to which Morton's measurements held up is so extreme that there is just no room for him to have been a biased measurer.
And this is true for all of the ancestry groups he classified the skulls into, indicating that Gould's criticism was totally off-base.
And this is true for all of the ancestry groups he classified the skulls into, indicating that Gould's criticism was totally off-base.
Gould also claimed Morton equated intelligence and cranial capacity and that his calculations were biased by failing to account for sex and stature.
There's no evidence for the former, and the latter was impossible for him due to how his collection was gathered.
There's no evidence for the former, and the latter was impossible for him due to how his collection was gathered.
But perhaps Gould's most revealing comment was that Morton never corrected his errors.
What error? One that Gould knew Morton corrected, but which never even mattered in the first place!
I'm serious. Read this:
What error? One that Gould knew Morton corrected, but which never even mattered in the first place!
I'm serious. Read this:
Gould just loved to lie, and to lie to so brazenly that it's unfortunate anyone ever took him seriously.
Morton, on the other hand, may have had his biases, but they failed to influence his work, because he was a scientist, and scientific methods limit the influence of bias.
Morton, on the other hand, may have had his biases, but they failed to influence his work, because he was a scientist, and scientific methods limit the influence of bias.
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