George Combe to GE, Edinburgh, 17 November 1853
Title
George Combe to GE, Edinburgh, 17 November 1853
Title
George Combe to GE, Edinburgh, 17 November 1853
Sender
George Combe
Recipient
George Eliot
Date(s)
- 1853-11-17
Place
Edinburgh
Letter Content
George Combe to GE, Edinburgh, 17 November 1853
MS: Copy in Combe Letter Book, National Library of Scotland.
Edin[burgh] | 17 November 1853.
My dear Miss Evans
The accompanying article 182 is the text of my lucubration for the Review; which is now far advanced, and will be in your hands by the first of December. I shall have it revised by Rob. Cox and James Coxe M.D. before sending it to you. You and Mr. Chapman may feel quite at ease about rejecting it, if found too phrenological and technical, for I shall print it as a pamphlet and distribute it, if you reject it, and thus my labour will not be lost. I expect this result: so you will not disappoint or annoy me in the least by an adverse decision on the part of the Review.
I have had several letters from Sir James Clark lately. At my suggestion, he is working, and with some prospect of success, towards inducing Lord Palmerston to consult physiologists in his forthcoming prison building and prison discipline, instead of parsons and military officers. Conceive, then, my judgement of the discretion which introduced that long paragraph of conglomerated nonsense from the British Review into the Leader, 183 on Phrenology, with approval, and with a piece of fresh nonsense added. The ignorance of the writer of the extracted lines is equalled only by his self-complacency.
I do not know who is now the Editor of the Leader and, therefore, have no personal reference when I ask him whether there will be more phosphorus in one part of the same man's brain, than in another? and so that his small organ of Causality, for instance, shall have so much phosphorus, as to make him a second Bacon, while his large organ of Self-esteem shall have so little, as to render him a second Moses in meekness? 184 That is the practical question in deciding on the relative strength of the mental powers of a man. Besides, would not Iron be as good as Phosphorus for the purpose in hand in the Editor's remarks. It is deplorable to see the Leader's bending backwards on the science through which only certain and selfconsistent progress in all interests emanating from and resting on the mind of man, can be made.
We are both well and unite in kind regards to you. I remain, My dear Miss Evans
Yours sincerely
Geo. Combe.
MS: Copy in Combe Letter Book, National Library of Scotland.
Edin[burgh] | 17 November 1853.
My dear Miss Evans
The accompanying article 182 is the text of my lucubration for the Review; which is now far advanced, and will be in your hands by the first of December. I shall have it revised by Rob. Cox and James Coxe M.D. before sending it to you. You and Mr. Chapman may feel quite at ease about rejecting it, if found too phrenological and technical, for I shall print it as a pamphlet and distribute it, if you reject it, and thus my labour will not be lost. I expect this result: so you will not disappoint or annoy me in the least by an adverse decision on the part of the Review.
I have had several letters from Sir James Clark lately. At my suggestion, he is working, and with some prospect of success, towards inducing Lord Palmerston to consult physiologists in his forthcoming prison building and prison discipline, instead of parsons and military officers. Conceive, then, my judgement of the discretion which introduced that long paragraph of conglomerated nonsense from the British Review into the Leader, 183 on Phrenology, with approval, and with a piece of fresh nonsense added. The ignorance of the writer of the extracted lines is equalled only by his self-complacency.
I do not know who is now the Editor of the Leader and, therefore, have no personal reference when I ask him whether there will be more phosphorus in one part of the same man's brain, than in another? and so that his small organ of Causality, for instance, shall have so much phosphorus, as to make him a second Bacon, while his large organ of Self-esteem shall have so little, as to render him a second Moses in meekness? 184 That is the practical question in deciding on the relative strength of the mental powers of a man. Besides, would not Iron be as good as Phosphorus for the purpose in hand in the Editor's remarks. It is deplorable to see the Leader's bending backwards on the science through which only certain and selfconsistent progress in all interests emanating from and resting on the mind of man, can be made.
We are both well and unite in kind regards to you. I remain, My dear Miss Evans
Yours sincerely
Geo. Combe.
Signature
Geo. Combe.
Citation
George Combe, George Combe to GE, Edinburgh, 17 November 1853, Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/94241