COMBE’S essay on “The Constitution of Man Considered in Relation to External Objects” is characterized by frequent passages of remarkable power. He was a specialist in phrenology and his best-known essays are devoted to discussing it. As phrenology has not been admitted to the list of recognized sciences, his speculations in attempting to make a science of it have served to distract attention from the power of his reasoning on other subjects. He was a pupil of the celebrated Spurzheim whose lectures he attended as the beginning of a painstaking course of study in support of the theory that “the brain as the organ of mind is the aggregate of several parts, each subserving a distinct mental faculty.”

  He was born at Edinburgh, October 21st, 1788, and educated for the bar, but after seeing Spurzheim dissect the human brain and explain the phrenological theory of its functions, he devoted himself to physiology and psychology. He published “Essays on Phrenology,” “Moral Philosophy,” “Notes on the United States,” and other works which attracted international attention. The essay on the “Constitution of Man” has passed through many editions. He was revising the ninth when the work was interrupted by what proved to be his last illness. He died August 14th, 1858.