able to return his kindness. The elder Comb died 29 Sept. 1815. George Combe was extending his law business, and for some years took charge also of the brewery. He helped his brothers, especially Dr. (Andrew) Combe [q. v.], who through life was his most confidential friend. His elder sister, Jean, kept house for him in Edinburgh till her death in 1831, and their younger brother, Andrew, lived with them from 1812. Their mother died 18 May 1819. The family affections were as warm between the Combes as between the Carlyles. In June 1815 Dr. John Gordon attacked Gall and Spurzheim in the 'Edinburgh Review.' Spurzheim immediately came from Dublin to Edinburgh to defend himself in a course of lectures. Combe attended them, was greatly impressed, and says that 'after three years' study (Introduction to American Lectures, 1838) he became an ardent disciple and then the most prominent expositor of the doctrine. The conversion was probably quicker. He visited Spurzheim at Paris in 1817, and appears to have come back a thorough believer. Others, especially Sir George Stewart Mackenzie of Coul, gathered round him. In the beginning of 1818 he began a series of essays in the 'Literary and Statistical Magazine' in support of phrenology. He gave lectures twice a week at his own house, and collected casts of heads. He wrote 'Essays on Phrenology,' published at Edinburgh in 1819. It sold fairly, and attracted friends and converts. In February 1830 the Combes, with David Welsh and others, formed the Phrenological Society, which in December 1823 started the 'Phrenological Journal.' Interest in the new theories increased rapidly, and Combe became convinced that they supplied the key to all philosophical and social problems. His interest in such questions led him to visit Owen's mills at New Lanark in 1820. He foresaw their failure, but his brother Abram was ultimately ruined by trying a similar experiment at Orbiston, Lanarkshire, dying, after much vexation and over-excitement, in August 1827. Combe began to lecture at Edinburgh in 1822, and published a manual called 'Elements of Phrenology' in June 1824. Converts came in, new societies sprang up, and controversies became warm. The first draft of his 'Essay on the Constitution of Man' was the substance of his lectures in the winter of 1826-7, and was afterwards privately printed. A second edition of the 'Elements,' 1825, was attacked by Jeffrey in the 'Edinburgh Review' for September 1825. Combe replied in a pamphlet and in the journal. Sir William Hamilton delivered addresses to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1826 and 1827 attacking the phrenologists. A sharp controversy followed, including challenges to public disputes and mutual charges of misrepresentation, in which Spurzheim took part. The correspondence is published in the fourth and fifth volumes of the 'Phrenological Journal.'
Spurzheim visited Edinburgh in the beginning of 1828. In the following June was published Combe's best known work, the 'Essay on the Constitution of Man.' The book made a great impression, though the sale was not at first rapid. In 1832 a bequest of over 5,000l. came into the hands of trustees by the death of William Ramsay Henderson. The income was partly applied, in accordance with the testator's desire, to lowering the price of the essay. A 'people's' edition was also published, and between 1835 and 1838 over 50,000 copies were printed; further aid from the fund being needless after 1835. In 1843 it was still selling at a rate of 2,500 copies a year, and was then appearing in Polish. The book gave great offence; many religious members left the society, and Combe was denounced as an infidel, a materialist, and an atheist. He incurred general unpopularity at Edinburgh, though the religious objection seems to have been heightened by his personal qualities. He was sincere and simple-minded, but rigid, tiresome, and unpleasantly didactic. Whatever the logical consequences of his teaching, Combe was a sincere and zealous theist through life, though his position in regard to immortality was purely sceptical. Dr. Welsh withdrew from the society in 1831 on account of their refusal to permit theological discussions.
On 25 Sept. 1833 Combe married Cecilia (born 5 July 1794), daughter of the famous Mrs. Siddons. The lady had a fortune of 15,000l., and was six years his junior. He examined her head and took Spurzheim's advice as to his own fitness for a married life. Her 'anterior lobe was large; her Benevolence, Conscientiousness, Firmness, Self-esteem, and Love of Approbation amply developed; whilst her Veneration and Wonder were equally moderate with his own' (Life, i. 298); and the marriage was thoroughly happy.
In 1836 Combe was a candidate for the chair of logic at Edinburgh, but ultimately eighteen votes were given to his old opponent, Sir W. Hamilton, against fourteen to Isaac Taylor. Soon afterwards Combe resolved to retire from business. His own fortune with his wife's amounted to 800l. a year, and he could make 200l. or 300l. more by his books and lectures. He took cheerfully some loss of income caused by injudicious American investments. The rest of his life was chiefly devoted to the propagation of his principles
