A system of phrenology.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Combe, George, 1788-1858, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Phrenology.

Medical Subjects:

Phrenology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Edition:

Second edition.

Other Title:

APA PsycBOOKS.

Place of Publication:

New York, N.Y. : S.R. Wells and Company Publishers, 1876.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

"My first information concerning the system of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim was derived from No. 49 of the Edinburgh Review. Led away by the boldness of that piece of criticism, I regarded the doctrines as contemptibly absurd, and their authors as the most disingenuous of men. In 1816, however, shortly after the publication of the Review, my friend Mr. Brownlee invited me to attend a private dissection of a recent brain, to be performed in his house by Dr Spurzheim. The subject was not altogether new, as I had previously attended a course of demonstrative lectures on Anatomy by Dr. Barclay. Dr. Spurzheim exhibited the structure of the brain to all present, (among whom were several gentlemen of the medical profession,) and contrasted it with the bold averments of the reviewer. The result was a complete conviction in the minds of the observers, that the assertions of the reviewer were refuted by physical demonstration. The faith placed in the Review being thus shaken, I attended the next course of Dr. Spurzheim's lectures, for the purpose of hearing from himself a correct account of his doctrines. The lectures satisfied me that the system was widely different from the representations given of it by the reviewer, and that, if true, it would prove highly important; but the evidence was not conclusive. I therefore appealed to Nature by observation; and at last arrived at complete conviction of the truth of Phrenology"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Notes:

Electronic reproduction. Washington, D.C. : American Psychological Association, 2011. Available via World Wide Web. Access limited by licensing agreement. s2011 dcunns

Other Format:

Original

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.