Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1880-05-15
Skulls, Brains and Souls.

Skulls, Brains and Souls.
The weight of the brain has often
been held to be the criterion of the
mind, though, apart from the want of
obtained by investigation,
there are serious theoretical difficulties.
The brain, whatever other functions it
may have, is undoubtedly a source of
power supplied to the muscles, and we
are ignorant to what extent the activity
of the muscular system or the size of
the body may influence that of the brain.
We know that a muscle grows by judi
the brain, supplying it with the nerve
enlarge pai'i passu? 1t may be doubtful |
whether we can prove that this is so. 1t
is, think, certain that we cannot prove
that it is not so. DR.. LIE Bon, in work |
to which l shall refer again, has de-
cided that the height of person has an
effect, though a very slight one, on the
size of the brain. He found that the
influence of the weight of the body is
greater, but by no means sufficient to
account for the variations of the brain.
Another disturbing element is age. 1t
has been estimated that after II rather
uncertain date, say forty-fivc years, the
brain gradually dwindles. Again, may
not some wasting disease preceding
death cause q shrinking of the organ;
and may not other pathological changes
increase its density? All these sources
of error must make us skeptical as to in
dividual results, though, at the same
time, we cannot free ourselves from
some share in the general belief that
the weight of the brain is an index of
the mind.
The weight of the brains of numbers
of known men, distinguished and other
wise, has been cited for and against this
theory. Cuvier is usually found head
! ing the list, with a brain weight of Ga 35
between forty and fifty.) One is struck
vast intellect should have worked
through a heavy brain. Within the
last ten years, however, a laborcr
has died in England whose brain
weighed sixty-seven ounces. Of his
history and habits little is known.
Though intelligent for his rank in life,
he apparently gave no signs of fitness,
for higher one. His most intellectual
trait, if | remember rightly, was his
fondness for reading newspapers, prob
ably the only literature he could easily
obtain. sChill penury'' may have
repressed his noble rage" if he had
any. He may have been a "mute in
glorious Milton" But who knows
whether the sublime imaginations Of the
poet bctokcn remarkable cerebral de-
velopment? The late James Fisk, Jr.,
had brain weighing fifty eight ounces,
surprising Daniel Webster, Chaunccy
Wri ght, Dupaytren, and mathemati-
| - 4 L., Ill
except Fisk, come after a man who
from his second year was reckoned
an idiot. A celebrated philolo
gist is below the average, and a
distinguished mineralogist much be-
low it. In spite of many excep-
tions, however, we find distinguished
men most numerous near the top of the
list, and laborers, criminals and idiots
at the other end of it. Before leav.
, ing the literature of the subject,
| must mention a paper by DR.. J. S.
Wight, of Brooklyn. The basis is Sc
ries of measurements, which show clear
ly enough the outline and capacity O
the head, taken on forty-two men ant
as many women, one-half of each Sc
being educated and the other half igno
rant. The numbers, no doubt, are ia
too small to give Il satisfactory mean
1 and other objections for instance
the mingling of those of different race
, in the same category might be raised
v but the work is ingenious and not fruit
: less. The author shows that the fore
part of the head is more developed il
, educated men than in educated women
+ and also in ignorant men than in igno
d rant women. He finds, moreover, tha
|, the brain of the uneducated male some
4 what resembles in size and form that Q
Y the educated female.
= Anatomists give very discordant di
!, rections for determining the sex c
n skulls. In a great many cases it canno
n be determined. The female skull, as
rule, is smaller than the male, and
;; moreover, the jaws and prominenccs fo
q muscles are less developed; consequent
IL ly the brain case. though smaller tina
n in man, is larger in proportion to th
a face. DIR. LIE Bon gives some very C,
" " rious statistics concerning the capacitie
B. of female skulls. There is no qucstio
It 4hat the differences in skull and brai
l. between the sexes increase with the d.
~ gree of civilization; but it is astonishin
ID that while the skulls of male Partisan
Is are among the largest, those of til
women are remarkably small; they al
70 even smaller than those of the wome
of Polynesia, and but little above thos
If of the women of New Caledonia. Th
e is a fact not easy to account for
;s Thomas D,0ight, IN International Reuie
$ for Nay.