JOHN MORROW COMBE, GEORGE (1788–1858)

JOHN MORROW COMBE, GEORGE (1788–1858)

George Combe, the well-known nineteenth-century popularizer of phrenology, was born in Edinburgh on 21 October 1788. From humble beginnings as one of seventeen children born into a family of brewers, Combe raised himself through a long process of self- education and service as an articled clerk to become by 1812 ‘a writer to the signet’. Thereafter, he set himself up in his own practice, a career he combined with his burgeoning interest in phrenology, the interest growing quickly to encompass lecturing, writing and publications on the subject. Combe’s first book Elements of Phrenology appeared in 1824, the widely popular The Constitution of Man in Relation to External Objects following in 1828. Earlier, in 1822, Combe had joined with others to form the Phrenological Society, which also published its own Phrenological Journal Constitution of Man, etc., the book that made Combe’s reputation, was published in numerous editions, including a print run of 50,000 copies aimed at what he called ‘the industrious classes’. Subsequently, the demands on Combe as the public face of phrenology in Britain grew to such an extent that by 1836 he had made a decision to retire from business entirely and spend the rest of his life propagating phrenology.

Phrenology was developed in Vienna by Franz Joseph Gall (1758–1828) and Johann Caspar Spurtzheim (1776–1832). Prior to publishing his own work on phrenology Combe attended lectures given by Spurtzheim in Edinburgh, visiting him in Paris in 1817. The basic idea of phrenology was that a variety of traits and abilities—faculties—were differentially located within the brain, and that the relative dominance of these could be identified by examining the shape of a subject’s head, relating its topography to that found in specially prepared phrenological charts. Combe’s contribution to the subject was to take the original ideas and make them both accessible and relevant to daily life, principally by using the outcomes of phrenological examination as a guide to advice on maximizing a person’s potential. Thus, through understanding the strengths and weaknesses of one’s character as revealed by phrenology a person might conduct his affairs in the world more successfully, thereby achieving personal happiness and harmony with his fellow beings.

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Combe’s ‘theory of mind’ was an interesting mix of nature and nurture, partly developmental as well as being fixed, in the sense that although ‘different individuals possess the faculties in different degrees’ it was also the case that in order for a man to act harmoniously and achieve happiness he must train himself. As Combe put it in Constitution, etc., ‘the sources of knowledge are observation and reflection,— experience,—and instruction by books, teachers and all other means by which the Creator has provided for the improvement of the human mind’. This tension between having a fixed potential but some ability to make choices and develop allowed Combe and other phrenologists to propose a wide range of interventions including: advice on physical and mental hygiene, the selection of an appropriate marriage partner, advice on the hiring of servants, the determination of racial characteristics, education in its broadest sense and the reform of criminals.

Phrenology achieved a wide following in the 1830s, particularly it seems among young people and those attempting to rise in the world. Lectures on the subject were popular and many societies were formed. However, phrenology also had its critics, principally among those concerned at the continuing failure and likely impossibility of identifying either the location or the number of faculties in the brain. In addition, adherence to phrenology raised serious religious questions at the time, for example its seeming concentration on achieving happiness in this life as opposed to the hereafter, and also for the way in which appropriate conduct was being derived from observation and the Natural Law without recourse to religious teaching or the Scriptures. Ultimately, phrenology as a movement within society was to fail but not before many thousands had derived reassurance and consolation from having a programme to follow that gave direction to their lives together with confidence that the direction they were taking was based on what appeared to them as sound principles.