ABSTRACT
Edinburgh was Britain's foremost scientific and medical center. Hewett Cottrell Watson arrived in the autumn of 1828 and found lodgings in the heart of the city at 27 Howe Street, just off Royal Circus, midway between the university and the Royal Botanic Garden. Watson contributed to phrenology as both scientific investigator and advocate, but he left the university without a degree. Watson was familiar with texts by Spurzheim and by Combe, and he often cited Gall as well, without specific reference, because his knowledge of Gall's writings came from the extensive quotations in English contained in the first five volumes of The Phrenological Journal. Watson's concern over the small number of phrenologists was shared by the Edinburgh leadership. Watson's two articles, 'Evidence Towards Ascertaining the Real Function of Comparison' and 'Inquiry into the Function of Wit' argued cases more elaborately than was usual in either of these treatises.
