"Combe argues that the human mind is best understood through Phrenology, and that the relative size of the various regions of the brain defined by Phrenology determines a persons behavior and potential interactions with the external world. In The Constitution of Man Combe uses Phrenology to create a practical science of morality,^[2] proposing that conforming to Natural Laws leads to happiness based on the Phrenological understanding of human nature.^[3] The book was an international bestseller, selling at least 100,000 copies in Britain alone^[4] and over 300,000 copies worldwide by 1855, largely due to the publication of the 'people's edition,'^[5] making it one of the best-sellers of the nineteenth century " (Wikipedia article on The Constitution of Man, accessed 03-2018).

"In this book, Combe wrote: "Mental qualities are determined by the size, form and constitution of the brain; and these are transmitted by hereditary descent". ‘Combe was part of an active Edinburgh scene composed of people thinking about the nature of heredity and its possible malleability, such as Lamarck proposed. Combe himself was not a Lamarckian, but in the decades before the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species, the Constitution was probably the single most important vehicle for the dissemination of naturalistic progressivism in the English-speaking world’^[13] "(Wikipedia article on George Combe, accessed 03-2018).

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.