ABSTRACT
In the case of the London phrenologists, schism preceded heresy. The estrangement of the mid- and late twenties essentially revolved around the problems of personalities and leadership, the sort of issues which Sir George Mackenzie termed 'petty jealousies'. As phrenologists extended their lecture tours in the 1830s, Mackenzie wondered about the possibility of establishing a 'grand national society' for the propagation of the science, 'perhaps based along reformist-agitation lines'. The London Phrenological Society began in 1823. Its first meetings were held at the home of its founder, Dr John Elliotson, who immediately sought the advice of George Combe and urged him to visit London. By the early 1840s, the downfall of phrenology as an intellectual study was apparent almost everywhere. As a method of transmission, the once popular lecture series joined the local societies and the journals as part of the ennui of phrenology.
