The New York herald., 1850-04-29
The Human Brain.

From the Philadelphia American and Gazette
The question whether the intellectual faculties
have any dependence upon, or bear any proportion
to- the relative weight and magnitude OF the brain,
is that has long engaged the attention Of PHI
losophers, without, however, having been IN any
degree satisfactorily decided. The notion of such
dependence and such relation, however, rs an ex-
tremely common-and therefore, doubtless, very
natural one: II is proverblal 10 say of man Of
great mind that he has a big head, and OF a weak
man that he has small one ; and when we hear of
the brain Of such savant the celebrated Cuyier
having been found TO weigh some half pound
more than the average oi ordinary brains, and re-
member how dimnutiye those of IDIOTS often are,
we feel almost that the point is settled and the the
ory estal lshed as a law OF nature General obser-
vations, however, are not so favorable 10 the hy-
pChess isolated ones and the further the scru-
tiny is carried, and the more exactly the expert
ments performed, the greater appears TO be the
difficulty OF ascertslnng any precise rule on the
subject. This, Il seems 10 VA, shown very clearly
by The researches Of our distinguished townsmln,
l,r. :. G.. Morton, who has taken the lead of all
psychologists in the practical study Of the human
skull, particularly in regard to ITS capacity, and
has, ly his numerous publications., added vastly to
the sum Of our knowledge, and obtlined world
wide reputation, which was never better deserved,
because never more labonousy earned
The last tables published by DR.. Morton present
results which are highly interesting although
some of them in opposition both 10 preconccived
opinions and 10 the supposed rule Of relation.
Thus the general fact Is true that there - differ
in the size of the brains Of the different races
Of men, the most cultivated races having larger
brains than the uncutivated. The Caucasian
family, for example, have brains averaging capa-
city of 92 cubic inches while those Of the Hoiten-
tots and Alforans only average a.. The Chinese
have an average of s6; the aboriginal Americans
~ But In opposition To all this We have the equally
general, aud somewhat incompr,hcn fact, that
the baIbarous races now In existence have larger
brains Than the civilized nations of the early ages.
This is 20 far true that the sem-sayage Arabs OF
the desert now boast brains ot ~ cubic inches.
while the old Egyptians the builders Of the pyra-
uds, had brains of but ~ inches and
dering red men of North America, including The
" Digger" ." Poor Devils" or Shozhonees, as
they are yaTiously called, of the Rocky Noun
taBs, IIsc 10 an ayerage of ~ inches, while the
ancient Penvans and Nieyicans who were semi
civilized. dwelling Ia cities and worshiPping IN
temples, had but 10 and ~ inches
There other facts, which appear from these
tables, of an equally curious character. Dr. Nor
ton divides the modern Caucasian group into six
smiles, OF which the first In order. ~ IN brain. IL
the Ieutonic family, reprcscDied m s lists by Ter
mans, English. and Anrlo-Amercnns. Of these
the inst and last named run up 20 80 cubic inches,
while the English exceed both by no less than two
cutie inches. Cousin John viii, perhaps, exult at
his fancicd superiority; aud Jonathan may stare
and feel indignant. Neither, however, should b.
Trccipiiaie. There Is another and still more ano-
mslous fact exhibited IN these tables, which will
surgett cquaniuIiiy and caution; which -. that
the native Afiicans, sayaccs though they b.. have
n similar excess OF one cubic inch of hran over
their civilized descendants in the United Stes. the
ormcr standing ai nm average OF s'. the other ony
/ 'f - cuhic inches.
These are fscis wholly rTrconcilaMc with the
dea of the intellectual powers being proportiOn.d
to the mass Of the brain. We have every reason 10
know that neither the English nor the African rae,
has degenerited in any way. physically or intel-
ectually. in the new world
The experiments Of Dr. Morton are directed 10
ascertain the cubic contents of the brain. ne
older physiologists attended 10 it, weight, ana thry
constructed tables, though very inigrieci ones,
showing the average or supposed ayer,gn =
weight of the brgin as coiuptred "i,h M Ie' M OF
The body. and this in the lower aniiuilS. ss
well as in man. Now every one knows thit the
relative weight of chi'ds brain " greater tinn That
oi an adults and this D. m initial itci. which, of
COURSE does not speak very ftvoahy Tor the theofy.
Nv table (taLcu chiefly from llalicr and CuvicT)
! in Prof Dinqlitcn's well known woik on Phy -'clo-
pv n supcaTs that tl,a brain Cf chd, ~ so yeats
od eqnsls I22d part II iis body that oi an adult.
I l25h pert. Gnluckily Tor human dignity. al
| though somc Of the monkey and bibuon tribe sink
as low ~ to l-l0ith part, others 81 that race have
brains Of 22 os large IN proportion ~ chiii's
The Qafue cock and dolphin tread and swim
close on the lord OF creations heel, their brains
being i-2jih part the weight of their bodies. The
little canary bird, however, beats man and monkey,
dolphin and game cock. rs hram weighing only
4 9TH while he. in turn. retres IN disgrace before
the insignificant humming-bird. whose brain cN-
pands 10 the immensiy i-llth OF his whole weight
las Dr. ID. informs us on the authority of The atc
President Madison. We find, from this table, iha,
the bat H. n respectable animal 30 - the bear anh
the hedgehog. the mole. the rabbit, the oN, ibs
sheep. the donkey, the goose, and the agi'ih"si & III
creature that furnishes Virginia hahiS an is,'
OIL tor they all come before. having 49,. 49,, III
in proportion than the horse end elepn'n, "o, ~,
1 which bovcyer have more intelligence man III
| he o,hcys ms, ,o,ctber with these exanpies bc.
| fore us. we shall crssc TO wonder tas;s ~. H.,
| evcn,s 10 Iamcnf--the degeneration oi Ora'iS WI
/ North America.
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