The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-10-31
An EXPERT IN BRAINS
He Has Examined Those Of Six
teen Hundred People OF
Both Sexes
He Declares That the Brain OF
Woman Differs From That
OF Man.


Medically Different In Cerebral Mature
intellectually and Bsaaty--sir james
Crishssn Browne Interviewed.
A Westminster Gazette writer inter
viewed Sir James Crichton Browne at his
home in London.
would you," asked the visitor, 'as an
expert in questions connected with the
brain, favor me with your views regarding
Professor Buchner's argument upon The
Brain Of Womenr"
II regard it rs very fallacious in biolog-
ical argument. The tone of it is objection
able, too, because il drags into the question
the matter of inferiority and superiority as
between men and women. which, / main
tain, Is beside the mark, for although Pro
fessor Buchner Is writing a merely popular
article he is dealing with the arguments
and with the attitude of scientific men in
connection with this question, and he must
know that scientists do not approach the
subject upon this ground at all.
II do not say woman's brains is of less
] weight than mans brains, therefore she Is
4 his inferior. Certainly not. But do say
this, that there is a difference between the
male and female brain, just as there is a
~ AN boAy AaSAAyS
there is a mental difference, just as there is
physiological difference between the sexes.
Woman does not possess the same bodily
proportions as man nor the same strength
~ of muscle. What she lacks in these direc-
tions is fully compensated for by her great
or beauty of form and grace Of movement.
In like manner, although she does not dis
play so strong a reasoning and critical fac
ulty as man, she excels him in quick per-
oeption and intuition"
"Would you tell me what are the struc-
tural differences between the male and the
female brains"
First, there is that Of mass and weight.
Noting the average difference in brain
! weight-vix, five ounces-and the average |
difference in stature-viz, fveinches-I still
find there is still an excess of brain weight
of one ounce in favor Of the male. have
arrived at this conclusion by personal OBJ
%servation. having weighed the brains of
some 1000 men and women. All available
evidence points to the conclusion that the
male brain exceeds the female brain in
weight In this country to an sven greater
degree han has hitherto been believed, and
/ contend that the smaller size of the female
brain is q sexual distinction and is not to
be accounted for on the ground of environ
ment, education or habits of life"
but does quantity necessarily mean
quality?"
mo, it does not, but quantity is the pri-
mary consideration A large, massive
brain indicates great meDtal power. Com
pare the heads of the idiots at the East
wood asylum with the heads, say of the
Fellows Of the Royal society, and you will
find my theory demonstrated LIE Bon has
made an examination of the heads of three
classes-the peasants, shopkeepers and men
of ~science-with the result that the size of
the heads corresponds to the known intel
lectual capacity Of the three different
classes"
Admitting your conclusion that the
male brain is at least one ounce heavier
than that of the female, it does not strike
me AS being a very great difference"
Zone ounce of so precious an organic
product as brain tissue" said Sir Crichton
Browne, may mean q great deal. That one
ounce evenly distributed over the surface of
the brain would certainly involve a very
marked difference in mental capacity, but
when you have an extra ounce localized it
may be still more important.
This brings meto the second sexual dis
tinction in brains. We have already con-
sidered weight; now we come to balance of |
parts. Professor Buchner says thai the
frontal lobes are larger in the male; Broca
declared that the occipital lobes are more
voluninous in the female, and my own OBJ
servations, as far as they go, confirm Bro
cas- conclusion and show that while the
frontal lobes are equally developed in both |
sexes the parietal lobes, the center of the |
brain, are larger In the male than in the
female, and the occipital lobes are larger
in the female than in the male, and these
latter being sensory in their functions i'm |
part to her a quicker perception. So we
find that not only is the female brain less
In weight, but it is different in shape.
The third brain difference between the
sexes is one of convolutional arrangement
The gray matter of the brain is convoluted,
and the extent Of the surface depends upon
these co%nvolutions. We see it through the
animal kingdom. The rabbit and the mar
moset monkey have smooth brains. Many
con%volutions mean much gray matter, and
the female brain, being more symmetrical,
like her body, and not so much convoluted
rs that Of the male, has consequently less
gray matter. Some observations of nv
own indicate that the specific gravity of
the gray matter is lower in the female than
In the male brain"
do you not think hat the advanced ed
ncation Of women will in a measure coun.
teract this difference?"
There is an exaggerated notion abroad
OF what education can accomplish in de-
velopiug the brain. Education does not
tmrart faculties-these are born in the
child. 1t is simply the guidance OF
growth"
But faculties may lie dormant for the
want of education, as they often dc in wo-
men, may they not?"
"They may, but l fear that what woman
gains intellectually by the higher educa-
ton now in vogue she will lose In beauty
and grace and often in health too. 1t looks
TO me like straining her faculties against
nature. Woman's personal charms are her
greatest power-we must not have these
destroyed-and she greatly excels man in
perception, intuition and the moral faculty.
Among the Caro- national people dwelling
on a range of hills between the Brahma-
pootra and the Soorma valleys-the women
are supreme. They woo the men, they con-
troll the affairs of the home and the nation,
property descends through them, and in
everything they are dominant. but-nnte