Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-05-11
BRAINS ~ MAN AND Nom4N

Leaving the physical side. let us
now compare the mental caliber of thss
two sexes The first argument always;
brought out by the medical profession
is the prioyi one derived from braau
weight A woman's brain weighs less
than mans brains. Therefore, il Is
argued, she must be inferior to him isa
mental power. In the first place. how
ever, it is yet by no means certain that
large brain is superior to smaller
brains Brain power depends, aa-
thorities tell us, first, upon quality
second, upon activity; third, upon
size. The man who possessed the
heaviest brain yet weighed was an
American blacksmith, who does not
seem to have been otherwise remark
able, even for the excellence Of his IRON
work. However, admitting that if the
quality and activity be equal, a lssgss
brain is superior to q small one, il ia
still uncertain whether or not women,
possess smaller brains than men IN
proportion to their size. When. We
consider how much of the brain Sx
occupied in controlling muscular nove-
ment, it is obvious that the larger AMI
NAL needs the larger brain to exert the
same mental power than the smaller
animal. How much less, ii any, the,
female brains weighs in proportion to
size, has never yet been calculated
Even the average weight of the female
brain itself is not exactly known. RS
every experimenter gives . different
result. Parehoppe estimates that tbs
proportion of the female to- rhe:
male brain is 900 to l,toO-
Surely the difference of statures
| would allow difference an
weight greater than this? Other ia
quirers give different figures. One s,a
the best known tables is that quoted by
Prof. Huxley in his "Man's Place IN
Nature" where the result seems adj
verse to feminine pretensions. Allow
ance must, however, be made for tbs
following considerations: In the case oz
mon large number of brains were
weighed, amongst which were incladea
the brains of many celebrated men,
especially collected for this ehiset-
The women's brains we're much fewer,
in number, taken from the lowest
source, and did not include the brain
of one woman of distinction. A COM
parison Of such material is obviously
unfair. Yet amongst the female braSns
the heaviest brain known to science up
to that time was discovered. ID
weighed several grammes moro shszn
the brain of Culver. Since that tilae,
however, though great pains have been
taken to ascertain the brain weight of
celebrated men, not one record exists
of the brain weight of famous women
The brain of George Eliot was
specially remarkable. The following.
passage occurs in her life: "Mr. Bray :.
the enthusiastic believer in phrenolegyy,
was SO much struck with the grand
proportions of her head that he took
Marian Evans up to London to have a
cast taken. He thinks that, after that
of Napoleon, her head showed the
largest development, from brow tct
ear, of any persons recorded
GENEKAL IGNORANCE
Some of the newspapers not long ago,
made no end of fun of college grad
uate who could not tell who discovered
| America Oh, well, my son, that Is
one of the things you don't learn in,
college. 1 am like the above graduate.
do not know who discovered Americs.
If you know, wish you would tell me-
I would give some money to learn just;
that much. I am also away down ia
the spelling class. I cannot speia
Shaikespear as SHAKESPEARE himasdk.
spelled it. wish you would tell re
the proper way of spelling the gress-
mans name l do not Know why there
are SO MANY gray horses, and no gray
colts. I do not know whether the egg.
began with the hen, or the hen startesX
with the egg. Ican't understand wby
we can't find the North Pole when ws.
know right where it is. I don't Auass
| why matinee should come in Che at
ternoon. ! don't know why ma1s
wears buttons on the tails of his eoat-
7 cart see what earthly use ST. e2e-
plants tail is to him. j don't .lnder-
stand why people in town are ALWAYS
wild to so to the country, ana people
in the country are crazy to come. sss
town. Why don't they change places
at once, and be done with il? ! taD
wish I could somewhere hear of > WEE
man who would devote few hsAsss
every century to teaching me afew sim
pie things that everybody ought 80
know, and that everybody, except .s,za.
and I, seems. TO know already. Bot,
BlL,uette
"iHE see YES OF MY CHlLUN"oD -
The Bard was asked to compose y
little poem on his childhood, and sfls
is what he produced: "How dear ss
nv heart is the school I attended. ana