CHAP. v. PHRENOLOGY. 47 



Keir. They were upon astronomy, geology, and phreno- 

 logy. He was greatly interested by the lectures. He 

 not only heard them closely, but followed them up by 

 study. He was particularly impressed by the lectures 

 on astronomy. Halley's Comet was then careering 

 through the heavens. Appearing, as it did, once in every 

 seventy-five years, it was calculated to make a deep 

 impression upon his thoughtful mind. 



He borrowed such books on astronomy as he could 

 obtain, and read them eagerly. He thus gathered a 

 general notion of the subject ; but he had no means of 

 following it up. Telescopes were unknown at Thurso. 

 He could only look up to the heavens, and admire and 

 wonder. He was thus in a measure forced to inquire 

 into such matters as lay within his own reach. He was 

 sent back to mother earth, the secrets of which still 

 remained to be unveiled. Hence his love for geology, 

 and the beginning of his knowledge of the rocks of 

 Thurso, which he first obtained from Keir's lectures. 



Phrenology also excited his deep interest. The sub- 

 ject had been made popular throughout Scotland by 

 the lectures and works, and probably by the personal 

 influence, of George Combe of Edinburgh. Though the 

 " science," as it was then called, is now nearly forgotten, 

 it was then the subject of much discussion. George 

 Combe started the Phrenological Magazine to advocate 

 his views, and to maintain the principles of phrenology. 

 He also established the Phrenological Lecture Hall and 

 Museum, where he collected an immense number of 

 busts of distinguished and notorious characters. 



