Richland beacon., 1880-07-24
Skulls and Brains.


The weight of the brain has o1Ie n
been held to be the criterion of tie
mind, though, apart from the want of
confirmation obtained by Investigate on,
there are various theoretical difficulties.
The brain, whatever other function it
may have, is undoubtedly sour.e 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 tho brain.
We know that muscle grows by judi
cious exercise; why, then, should not
the brain. supplying it with the nerve
force necessary for its incrcas ed duties,
enlarge y,ari passu? 1t may he doubt
full whether We can prove tins IS so. 1t
is, l think. certain that we can not
prove that it is not So DIR. LeBon, in
q work to which J shall refer again, has
decided that the height of a 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 a rather
uncertain date, say As years, the brain
gradually dwindles. Again. may not
some wasting disease preceding death
cause shrinking of the organ, and may
not other pathological changes increase
its density? All these sources of error
must make us skertical as to individual
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. Culver is usually found
heading the list. with brain weight Of
64.33 ounces. (Thc average for the male
is between 40 and 5O.) One is struck
with the apparent propriety that this vast
intellect should hare worked through a
heavy brain. Within the last ten years,
however. laborcr has died in En-
gland whose brain weighed 81 ounces
OF his history and habits little is
known. Though intelligent for his
rank in life, lie apparently gave no
signs of fitness for higher one
His most intellectual trait, if 1 re-
member rightly, was his fondpess
for reading newspapers, probably
the only literature he could OBJ
tain. "Chill penury' may have ere
pressed his noble rage" if he had any.
He may have been "mute, inglorious
Milton" But who knows whether the
sublime imaginations of tie poet betOken
remarkable cerebral development? The
late James Fisk. Jr., had brain weigh
ing tiity-eight ounces, surprising Dan
iel Webster. Chauncey, Wright, Dupay-
trcn and II mathematician of the first
rank. Indeed, all these, except Fisk.
came after q man who from his second
year was reckoned an idiot. A celc-
brated philologist is below the average,
and a distinguished mincralogist much
below it, In spite If 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.
Anatomists give very discortlant di-
rcctions for determining the sex Of
skulls In great many cases it cannot
be determined. The female skull, rs a
rule, is smaller than the male, and, more
over, the jaws and prominences for
muscles are less developed, consequent
ly the brain case, though smaller than ia
man, is larger in proportion TO the face.
DR.. LeBon gives some very curious
statistics concerning the capacities Of
female skulls. There is no question
that the differences in 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
Polynesia, and but little above those Of
the women of New Caledonia. This is q
fact not easy to account for.-Interna'
tiOnak ReriesO.