 In 1815 he caused an international stir by debunking the new science of phrenology and publicly criticising its principal European exponents, Johann Spurzheim and Franz Joseph Gall.He was born on 19 April 1786 in Forres in northern Scotland the son of John Gordon a wine-merchant and banker.He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh under Dr John Barclay and philosophy under Dugald Stewart.