The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-12-07
THE BRAIN OF WOMAN
NheRElN IT DIFFERS MATERIALLY
FROM THAT or MAN.


l<edicnlIy DiGerent In Cerebral Nature.
1oteIisctuality and Beauty.
Al Westminster Gazette writer inter.
}xiened sir james Crichton browne at his
Ioine In London.
"Would you,D asked the visitor. "as an
rxpert i'm questions connected with the
fhrsin. favor me with your views regardin.
{1rofessor BuchEer's argument upon The
brain Of WomenY"
II regard IL Us very fallaciors in biolog.
fcni Argument. The tone of it ia objection.
able. TOO. because il drags into the question
Abe matter of inferiority and superiority as
between men and women, which, main
taif. Is beside the mark. for although Pro
tcssor Bnchner is writing merely popular
k.1sele 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
6ubject upon this ground at all
Ia II do not say woinan's brains is OF less
weight than mans brains. therefore she IL
his Inferior Certainly not. But do say
this. that there is difference between tine
male and fenlnIe brain, just as there Is a
|dfference i'm their body formation. Briefly.
there is mental difference, just as there is
4 Neurological difference between the sexes
|2Woman does not possess the same bodily
|proportions as man nor the same strength
of muscle. What she lacks in these direc-
|tionsis fully compensated for by her great
er beauty OF form and grace of movement.
III like manner, although she does not dis
inlay SO strong reasoning and critical fac
|nlty as inan, she excels him in quick per-
ception and intuition"
N s'Would you tell me what are the struc-
|fural differences between tho male and the
|1cmale brainfv
First. there is that of mass and weight.
Noting the aserage difference in brain
fye ounces-and the average
difference in stature-viz, five inches-I still
|Iand there Is still an excess Of brain weight
|bfAnc ounce in favor of the male. have
|arrived at this conclusion by personal OBJ
|eoryatiou, having weighed the brains of
home 600 men and women. All available
|evidenoe points to the conclusion that the
|n,ale brain exceeds the female brain in
weight in this country to an even greater
degree than has hitherto been believed, and
III contend that tthesmaller size of the female
brain is a sexual distinction and is not to
|be accounted for on the ground of environ
|1nent, education or habits of life"
"But does quantity necessarily mean
|nualityf"
.'No, It docs not, but quantity is the pri-
mary consideration. A large, massive
brain indicates great mental power. Com
bare the heads of the idiots at the East
|vvood asylum with the heads, say of the
|Fellows of the Royal society, and you will
|Gnd my theory demonstrated. lie Bon has
made an examination of the heads OF three
|cIasses the peasants, shopkeePersa and men
|bf science--with the result that the size of
|&he heads corresponds to the known intel
|1ectuai capacity of the three different
|clnsses."
Admitting your conclusion that the
male brain is at least one ounce heavier
|fhan that of the female, it does not strike
me as being a very great difference"
"One ounce of so precious an organic
product as brain tissue" said Sir Crichton
browne, s'may mean great deal That one
|onnce evenly distributed over the surface of
|<he brain would certainly involve very
marked difference in mental capacity, but
when you have an extra ounce localized 1t
may be still more important.
''This brings me to the second sexual dis
|<inction in brains We have already con-
|&idered weight; now we come to balance of
|IM<l<- IIUltSoOI DuChnSh says thdb NhO
Frontal lobes are larger in the male; Broca
|declared that the occipital lobes are moro
|toluminousin the female, and my own OBJ
|ncrvations, as far as they go, confirm Bro
|ca's conclusion and show that while the
|(rontal lobes are equally developed in both
sexes the parictal lobes, the center of the
brain, are larger in the male than in the
female, and the occipital lobes are larger
|1n the female than in the male, and these
latter being sensory in their functions inn
hart to her n quicker perception. So we
|{1nd that not only is the female brain less
|rn weight, but IL Is different in shape.
"The third brain difference between the
|nexes is one of convolutional arrangement
The gray matter Of the brain is convoluted,
land the extent of the surface depends upon
|these convolutions. We see it through the
animal kingdom. The rabbit and the mar
||moset monkey have smooth brains Many
|conyolutions mean much gray matter, and
The female brain, being more symmetrical,
like her body, and not so much convoluted
Is that of the male, has consequently less
|]0rny matter. Some observations of my
own indicate that the specific gravity OF
|the gray matter is lower in the female than
Ia the male brain"
"Do you not think that the advanced ed
|,ucation of women will in measure coun-
teract this differenceg"
eThere is an exaggerated notion abroad
|pf what education can accomplish in de-
veloping the brain. Education does not
1mpart faculties-these are born in the
child. 1t is simply the guidance Of
krowth."
"Bnt faculties may lie dormant for the
want Of education, as they often do in wo-
men, may they notY
"They may, but fear that what woman
gains intellectually by the higher educa-
dion now in vogue she will lose In beauty
and grace and often in health too. II looks
10 me like straining her faculties against
nature. Womans personal charms are her
Rreatest power-we must not have these
destroyed-and she greatly excels man in
perception, Intuition and the moral faculty.
Among the Caro- nation-a people dwelling
on a range OF hills between the Brahma-
pootra and the Soorma vallcys-the women
are supreme They WOO the men, they con-
trol the affairs Of the home and the nation.
1)roDerfv deecends through them and In