The Osceola times., 1875-11-13


hausting factory labor at whether
the devotion to this hard work from an
early period | not in itselfa prominent
cause of the bad habits observed. But,
if children are to be so employed, there
Is no doubt that their hours Of labor
should be limited, and further duty is
cast ON the mill owners. This is, to 80
look after the habits oftheir operatives
that the children may have chance Of
entering upon their cherries life with
tolcrable good constitutions. In Ger
many parents are not allowed to derive
any income from the labor Of their
children until they have had a
thoroughly gopp schooling. aud hayc
grown well-nigh to manhood and wo-
manhood the consequence is, that Ger
many contains both the healthiest and
most efficient race Of laboring young
men and women in the world. The
English law Is M yet notoriously defci-
ent in protecting the health and con-
dition Of the children of the manufact-
uring districts and unless more Wig
orous reforms are made, the prospect
is that factory labor will become more
weak and more scarce, while the bill
for parish relief will become heavy
burden to the taxpayers and a dis
couragement to the philanthropist.
ROBERT LAWSON, M. B., patholcgist
to the West Riding Lunatic Asylum,
contributes to the Lancet paper on
brains and intellect, which, in addition
to the many interesting facts presented,
contains an ingenious defense Of the
universal insanity theory. We con-
dense from the communication as fol-
lows: As opposed to the popular idea
that the weight Of the brain hears q
direct relation to the intellectual capa-
city of the individual, we learn that,
though Cuvier, Abercrombie, Simpson,
and others, were found to have possessed
cerebral centres of considerably more
thun the average weight, yet even
these did not attain to the known
maximum. The sixty-four-ounce brain
of Cuvier is, in some respects balanced
by the sixty-iive-ounce brain observed
by Ticdemann, and the sixty-one and
sixty-two ounce brains commented on
by DIR. Peacock, the living representa-
tives of which did not seem to possess
corresponding superiority over their
smaller-braincd contemporaries. 1t
furthermore appears that, if all the
elements of the case were considered,
the heaviest brain on record would be
found to be that Of a senile dement,
died at the West Riding Asylum at
the age of seventy, and which then
weighed sixty-one ounces. Additional
evidence in support of these views is
cited from the official records Of this
same institution. 1t appears that
a compilation of the brain-weights of
seven hundred and five patients who
died at this asylum shows that the
average weight Of brains in the insane
was little, if any, below the commonly
accepted average of forty-nine ounces
in sane males, and forty-four ounces in
adult females. There are numerous
instances in the records of the West
Riding and other lunatic asylums, in
which male brains are noted as weigh
ing from fiftyeight to sixty-one ounces,
and those of females from fifty to
fifiy-six ounces. In further illustration
and enforcement of his claim, the
writer gives the following table, in
which the brain-weights Of six men,
who have earned fame in science,
philosophy, or politics, are directly COM
pared and contrasted with those Of
men whose lives have been mute and
inglorious:
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