ABSTRACT
Phrenology is the key to the mind', wrote Andrew Combe to Sir James Clark in 1842. 'It shows where reliance can safely be placed and gives confidence in the good of human nature'. Once the student of phrenology mastered the location of the faculties and understood something of the structure of the brain, it was not difficult for him to render a fair judgment of a person's mental character. George Combe was generally ready to concede 'indecision or discrepancy' in analysis, he claimed that the possibility of error only put phrenologists in good company. Phrenology, Combe thought, must be exceedingly popular by now; he prepared his wife for what he was certain to be a splendid welcome. Early editions of Spurzheim and Combe appeared in New York and, when they could not visit Britain, the American phrenologists directed waves of correspondence towards London and Edinburgh. Combe found only Nahum Capen, his Boston publisher, waiting for him when his ship landed.
