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COMBE, Andrew : OBSERVATIONS ON MENTAL DERANGEMENT

COMBE, Andrew. OBSERVATIONS ON MENTAL DERANGEMENT: Being an application of the principles of phrenology to the elucidation of the causes, symptoms, nature, and treatment of insanity. Boston: Marsh, Capen & Lyon, 1834. First American edition, with notes and a bibliography, "by an American Physician." Octavo. 26,25-336 (i.e. 338) pp. Contemporary maroon cloth binding with a paper spine label. Contemporary ink ownership (Henry Bronson, 1834) on first blank and at top of p. 5. Binding is sunned at spine and along perimeters, with shallow loss at heel and crown, and wear at tips of corners; and, the spine label is rubbed. Endpapers are foxed but the text leaves are clean. A sound and very good copy. Combe (Scottish, 1797-1847), a physiologist and phrenologist, completed his medical studies at Paris in 1818-19, concentrating on anatomy, and investigating the brain under J. G. Spurzheim's influence. He helped establish the Phrenological Journal in 1823, to which he was a frequent contributor throughout the rest of his life, and was elected president of the Phrenological Society in 1827. Combe published Observations on Mental Derangement, his first book, in 1837, with great success; but it was never reprinted because his busy schedule and chronically poor health did not allow him time to revise the text. Combe's writing is characterized by its simplicity, practicality, and general good sense. (D.N, Good