yage to the United States, but was compelled to return within
a few weeks of the date of his landing at New York. He died at Gorgie,
near Edinburgh, on the 9th of August 1847.

His biography, written by George Combe, was published in 1850.

COMBE, GEORGE (1788-1858), Scottish phrenologist, elder brother of the
above, was born in Edinburgh on the 21st of October 1788. After
attending Edinburgh high school and university he entered a lawyer's
office in 1804, and in 1812 began to practise on his own account. In
1815 the _Edinburgh Review_ contained an article on the system of
"craniology" of F. J. Gall and K. 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 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 attention. He was, however, invited to a friend's 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 phrenology were true--namely "that the brain
is the organ of mind; that the brain is an aggregate of several parts,
each subserving a distinct mental faculty; and that the size of the
cerebral organ is, _caeteris paribus_, an index of power or energy of
function." In 1817 his first essay on phrenology was published in the
_Scots Magazine_; and a series of papers on the same subject appeared
soon afterwards in the _Literary and Statistical Magazine_; these were
collected and published in 1819 in book form as _Essays on Phrenology_,
which in later editions became _A System of Phrenology_. In 1820 he
helped to found the Phrenological Society, which in 1823 began to
publish a _Phrenological Journal_. By his lectures and writings he
attracted public attention to the subject on the continent of Europe and
in America, as well as at home; and a long discussion with Sir William
Hamilton in 1827-1828 excited general interest.

His most popular work, _The Constitution of Man_, was published in 1828,
and in some quarters brought upon him denunciations as a materialist and
atheist. From that time he saw everything by the light of phrenology. He
gave ti