A friend of surgeon James Braid, he is known for his contributions to the study of mental illness and epidemic diseases.
[1][2] Noble was President of the Manchester Phrenological Society from 1835 to 1838 but had turned away from the subject by the early 1840s, a time that coincided with his rise in social and professional status and also the general realisation that phrenology was unlikely ever to be accepted by the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
[4] Noble dropped phrenological ideas completely in 1846 after criticism from William Benjamin Carpenter, who favoured the theory of brain physiology.
[6] Noble's views on mental illness influenced the terminology introduced by Henry Monro.
[7] On 9 February 1847, Noble assisted his friend, Manchester surgeon James Braid,[8] to (successfully) conduct a mastectomy, using inhalation ether as an anaesthetic agent.