Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1888-04-28
BRAINS IN NAV AND WomxN

two sexes The first argument alway
brought out by the medical profession
is the priori one derived from brai1
weight. A woman's brain weighs les,
than mans brains. Therefore, it i.
argued, she must be inferior to him il
mental power. In the first place, how
ever, it is yet by no means certain thai
large brain is superior to smalle,
brains. Brain power depends, au
thorities tell US, first, upon quality
second, upon activity; third, upon
size. The man who possessed the
heaviest brain yet weighed was ar
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 large
brain is superior to a small one, it is
still uncertain whether or not women
possess smaller brains than men in
proportion to their size. When we
consider how much of the brain is
occupied in controlling muscular move
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, if 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, as
every experimenter gives different
result. Parchoppe estimates that the
proportion of the female to the
male brain is 900 to 1000.
Surely the difference of stature
would allow difference in
weight greater than this? Other in
quirers give different figures. One of
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 the
following considerations: In the case of
men large number of brains were
weighed, amongst which were included
the brains of many celebrated men,
especially collected for this object
The women's brains were 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 brains
the heaviest brain known to science up
to that time was discovered. It
weighed several grammes more than
the brain of Culver. Since that time,
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 phrenology,
was so much struck with the grand
proportions of her head that he took
Marian Evans up to London to have
cast taken. He thinks that, after that
of Napoleon, her head showed the
largest development, from brow to
ear. of any persons recorded"
THERE has been a great deal written
lately about the way in which our
Senatorial statesmen show up on the
avenues in their well-kept equipages,
writes a Washington correspondent.
All the elegant carriages have been
described, but nothing has ever been
said about Joe Browns turnout, and
yet for real old democratic style it
takes the palm. The Georgia man is
worth millions, and could afford as
elegant victoria as Hearst or STAN
ford, of California, but he contents
himself with much less snowy car
riage. He has an old family hack,
rough and ragged enough looking to
have served fifty years on the corduroy
roads of mis- State, and it certainly has
never been acquainted with paint or
varnish since the days when it first was
built He has pair of sheepish-
looking horses attached to the hack,
and one looks involuntarily from the
shabbily dressed coachman to the
traces, expecting them to be made of
rope. Yet the gray-haired and gray
bearded Senator, accompanied by Mrs.
Brown, rides along the great asphalt
pavements with the utmost unconcern,
while they are alive with the hand
soonest carriages and the most stylish
of turnouts.