The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1880-05-21
SKULLS AND BRAINS.
The Rrcad and kts Contents - INTEL T
lectuaI Growth.
Thomas Dwight in the international Review

lectual Growth.
Thomas Dwight IN the international Review.
The weight of the brain has otte
been held TO BE- the criterion of tn
mind, though, apart from the want q
confirmation obtained by investigation
there are various theoretical difficulties
The brain, whatever other function j
may have, is undoubt edly source O
power supplied TO the muscles, and w
are ignorant to what extent the activit,
of the muscular system or the size Of tn,
body may influence that of the brain
We know that muscle grows by judi
cious exercise; why, then, should no
the brain, supplying it with the nerv,
force necessary for Its increased duties
enlarge pdri passu! 1t may he doubt
ful whether we can prove this is so. Il
Is, L think, certain that we can moi
prove that it is not SO. DR.. LeBon, il
n work to which l shall refer again, has
decided that the height of person has
an effect, though 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 n rather
uncertain date, say 45 years, the brain
gradually dwindles. Again, may not
some wasting disease preceding death
cause a shrinting of tn. organ, aid may
not other pathological changes increase
its density? All these sources of error
must make us skeptical us to individual
results, though, at the same time, We
cannot free ourselves from some share III
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
heading the list, with brain weight of
6i.33 ounces. (The average for the male
is between 40 and So One is struck
with the apparent propriety that this vast
intellect should have worked through a
heavy brain. Within the last ten years,
however. a laborer has died III En-
gland whose brain weighed 81 ounces.
OF his history and habits little is
known. Though intelligent for his
rank i'll life, he apparently gave no
signs of fitness for higher one.
His most intellectual trait, if L re-
member rightly, was his fondness
Tor reading newspapers, probably
the only literature he could OBJ
tain. "Chill penury" may have Gre
pressed his noble rage, if he had any.
He may have been n '' mute, inglorious
Milton" But who knows whether the
sublime imaginations of the poet betoken
remarkable cerebral development The
late James Fisk, Jr., had brain weigh
ing tifty-eight ounces, surprising Dan
lei Webster, Chauncey, Wright, Dupay
tren and IL mathematician of the first
rank. Indeed, all these, except Fisk,
came after man who from his second
year was reckoned an idiot. A cele-
brated philologist is below the average,
and distinguished mineralogist much
below it, In spite of many exceptions,
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 leaving the literature of the
subject, must mention n paper by Dr.
j. 5. Wight, of Brooklyn. The basis
is n series Of measurements, which show
clearly enough the outline and capacity
of the head, taken on forty-two men
and rs many women, one-half of each
set being educated and the other ha f
ignorant. The numbers, no doubt, are
far too small to give satisfactory
mean, and other bjections-such, for
instance, as the mingling of those of diff
ferent races in the same category
might be raised but the work is in
genious, and not fruitless. The author
shows that the fore part of the head is
more developed in educated men than i'll
women, and also i'll ignorant
men than III ignorant women. He
finds, moreover, that the brain of the
uneducated male somewhat resembles
III SIZE and form that OF the educated
female.
Anatomists give very discordant di-
rectionS for determining the sex of
skulls. In II great many cases it cannot
be determined. The female skull, us a
rule, is smaller than the male, and, more
over, the jaws and prominences tor
are less developed, consequent
ly the brain case, though smaller than III
man, is larger III proportion to the face
DIR. LeBon gives some very curious
statistics concerning the capacities OF
female skulls. There is no question
that the differences i'll skull and brain
between the sexes increase with the de-
gree of civilization; but it is astonishing
that, while the skulls of male Prussians
are among the largest, those of the
women are remarkably small; they are
even smaller than those of the women of
and but little above those of
the women of New Caledonia. This is a
fact not easy to account for.
The Boy Verdi.