it was nature that was dealing with them, and that, although they might 'cheat the doctor,' they could not arrest the progress of her evolutions, or escape from aggravated evils, if they obstructed the course of her sanative action. Under these convictions, they obeyed his injunctions with earnestness and attention. By being premonished of approaching symptoms, which were frequently steps in the progress of the cure, but which, if not explained, might have been regarded as aggravations of the malady, they were saved from much alarm, and he from many unnecessary calls and attendances. His present biographer had ample opportunities of remarking how few messages, even during the busiest seasons of his practice, came to him from patients under treatment, and how very rarely he was called upon to visit them during the night. He ascribed this comparative immunity from nocturnal calls to the explanations and pre arrangements now adverted to."
It was not till 1831 that Dr. Combe appeared as the author of a separate work, as his productions had hitherto been articles and essays, which were afterwards published in the form of pamphlets. Among the subjects he had studied in connection with phrenology, was that of insanity; and from its importance, as well as the general interest which several cases of mental disease had lately excited, he resolved to give at full length the fruits of his study on this painful malady, with a view to its prevention, amelioration, and cure. The title of the work he published was, "Observations on Mental Derangement; being an application of the Principles of Phrenology to the elucidation of the Causes, Symptoms, Nature, and Treatment of Insanity." After this his close application to professional duties, in which he embarked with his whole heart, and the physiological studies that occupied every moment of his leisure time, so exhausted his delicate constitution, that intermission and change of climate were again found necessary; and accordingly he spent the winter of 1831-32 in Italy, and the following year in Edinburgh, London, and Paris. In 1834, though his health was still infirm, he published in Edinburgh "The Principles of Physiology applied to the Preservation of Health, and to the Improvement of Physical and Mental Education." This work was so favourably received, and continued to be so highly valued, that at the period of his death 28,000 copies of it had been sold, exclusive of the numerous editions that had been published in the United States of North America. So highly was Dr. Combe's professional reputation now established, that in 1836 he was honoured with the appointment of Physician to the King of the Belgians. This occasioned two visits to Brussels during the same year. At the same time he published his "Physiology of Digestion, considered with relation to the Principles of Dietetics," which went through nine editions. In 1838 Dr. Combe was appointed one of the Physicians Extraordinary to the Queen in Scotland, an office of professional honour merely, as no salary is attached to it. In 1840 he published " A Treatise on the Physiological and Moral Management of Infancy; being a practical exposition of the Principles of Infant Training, for the use of Parents." This work, which was highly esteemed, and obtained an extensive circulation, he continued to improve till his death. His last effort in authorship was an article on phrenology, which was published in the "British and Foreign Medical Review" for January, 1840.
Enough has been said in the foregoing narrative to show that Dr. Combe, although so able a physician, was himself often in need of the benefits of the healing art. Originally of a delicate and consumptive constitution, through which
