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COMBE, GEORGE (1788-1858)
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See also:COMBE, See also:GEORGE (1788-1858) , Scottish phrenologist, See also:elder See also:brother of the above, was See also:born in See also:Edinburgh on the 21st of See also:October 1788. After attending Edinburgh high school and university he entered a lawyer's See also:office in 1804, and in 1812 began to practise on his own See also:account. In 1815 the Edinburgh See also:Review contained an See also:article on the See also:system of " craniology " of F. J. See also:Gall and K. See also:Spurzheim, which was denounced as " a piece of thorough quackery from beginning to end." Combe laughed like others at the absurdities of this so-called new theory of the See also:brain, and thought that it must be finally exploded after such an exposure; and when Spurzheim delivered lectures in Edinburgh, in refutation of the statements of his critic, Combe considered the subject unworthy of serious See also:attention. He was, however, invited to a. friend's See also:house where he saw Spurzheim dissect the brain, and he was so far impressed by the demonstration that he attended the second course of lectures. Investigating the subject for himself, he became satisfied that the fundamental principles of See also:phrenology were true—namely " that the brain is the See also:organ of mind; that the brain is an aggregate of several parts, each subserving a distinct See also:mental See also:faculty; and that the See also:size of the cerebral organ is, caeteris paribus, an See also:index of See also:power or See also:energy of See also:function." In 1817 his first See also:essay on phrenology was published in the Scots See also:Magazine; and a See also:series of papers on the same subject appeared soon afterwards in the See also:Literary and Statistical Magazine; these were collected and published in 1819 in See also:book See also:form as Essays on Phrenology, which in later See also:editions became A System of Phrenology. In 182o he helped to found the Phrenological Society, which in 1823 began to publish a Phrenological See also:Journal. By his lectures and writings he attracted public attention to the subject on the See also:continent of See also:Europe and in See also:America, as well as at See also:home; and a See also:long discussion with See also:Sir See also: He gave time, labour and See also:money to help forward the See also:education of the poorer classes; he established the first See also:infant school in Edinburgh; and he originated a series of evening lectures on See also:chemistry, See also:physiology, See also:history and moral See also:philosophy. He studied the criminal classes, and tried to solve the problem how to reform as well as to punish them; and he strove to introduce into lunatic asylums a humane system of treatment. In 1836 he offered himself as a See also:candidate for the See also:chair of See also:logic at Edinburgh, but was rejected in favour of Sir William Hamilton. In 1838 he visited America and spent about two years lecturing on phrenology, education and the treatment of the criminal classes. On his return in 184o he published his Moral Philosophy, and in the following See also:year his Notes on the See also:United States of See also:North America. In 1842 he delivered, in See also:German, a course of twenty-two lectures on phrenology in the university of See also:Heidelberg, and he travelled much in Europe, inquiring into the management of See also:schools, prisons and asylums. The commercial crisis of 1855 elicited his remarkable pamphlet on The Currency Question (1858). The See also:culmination of the religious thought and experience of his See also:life is contained in his work On the Relation between See also:Science and See also:Religion, first publicly issued in 18J7. He was engaged in revising the ninth edition of the Constitution of Man when he died at See also:Moor See also:Park, See also:Farnham, on the 14th of See also:August 1858. He married in 1833 See also:Cecilia See also:Siddons, a daughter of the See also:great actress. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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