The indicator., 1897-10-23
THE HUMAN HEAD.
Progress in knowledge Increasing
Its Size
Comparative Dimensions of Cra-
MUM. Of Famous Men of
Ancient and Modern
Times.

According to Prof. John II. Francis,
Of New England Terrace, Orange. y. J.,
chronological statistician, as the world
progresses in knowledge the human
grows larger and larger. As conse-
queuce the men of to-day carry on their
shoulders q dome OF thought" beside
which the occiputs of the ancient he
roes were small almost to iusiguiti-
cance. In recent interview he said:
AS civilization increases education
becomes more and more general among
men. The brain begins its training
at an earlier age than ever before, and
as our modern Intelligence is subjected
10 greater activity the brain develops
accordingly. Consequently The size Of
The head expands This is thoroughly
consistent with Darwiu's theory OF eyo-
luton, Us well as with every principle
of science that know Of
"Such men as Caesar and Shakes
pcare were prodigies, and must he con
s'dered apart by their very genius.
While admitting that the size Of the
brain among anciruts must have been
much less Than that of man living
to-day, 1 am forced TO this double con-
clusiou with respect to such Il man as
yaesar-namcly that what brain he
had must have been of the highcdst pos
sible quality, and moreover, that IL he
lived to-day. with a brain of such rare
quality added to tho enlarged size Of ir,
such as nature cquips men with now,
his genius would have been proper
tiouately maguitied.
Julius Caesar was a mighty man
for his times. If he lived to-day doubt
If he would be much larger than Tom
Thumb. BY careful system Of cali
ru,atiou | figure out that the great
Caesar would have worn 81. hat, and
as for shakespeare, colossal. fgurativc-
ly speaking, as was his brain, have not
the slightest doubt that he carried it
al1out without crowdiuF in a 81. hat
and that's figuring on him generously,
too.
81 have been told that Napoleon Wore
a Ga hat In the latter years Of his life,
and from one to two sizes smaller when
be was simply an officer in the army
If Napoleon Bonaparte had ever been
.'e to put on the hat Of Gen. Grant
would have hidden him from sight
rom the crown 10 the shoulders.
Washington was a good-sized man
Vet he wore a hat 20 sizes smaller thaa
McKinley's, whose Immediate prede-
cessors. Presidents lInrri-on and Cleye'
land. wore still larger hats-7ia. Let
me give You O. further illustration. \
census Of the United States congress
taken in the time of President Taylor
80 years ago, shows that our Legislators
Of that time only wore on the average
6Ia hat. | doubt if there is single
man in either house to-day who wears
so small a size.
"Webster, of course, had phenom
enally big head. OF his colleagues and
predecessors, however, there was moi
one who wore size as large as that
of the present secretary of state. John
Sherman wears a ~, hat. Foster wor,
% :, Blaine ~ large size, and Bayarc
"a close.
Let me conclude with further il
/ lustration Of my theory. Old Commo
dore Vanderbilt wore 67s. His son
William H., took hat a shade larger
which the hatters mark at 67s and l-lG
Willie k Vanderbilt and his brother
Cornelius wear ~, and one of the i0oys
If the fourth generation takes ha'
stiularger than his father, uncle, grand
father or gTeat-grandfather - which
doesn't necessarily prove that tn,
youngest scion is the brainiest.
1T is the same way with the Goulds
Jay Gould wore a G94 hat, while hii
sons, George and Eddie, each require {
67,. The probability is that the nex'
generation Of boys will 90 their illus
trious progenitor at least three ful
sizes better.'-N. Y. Journal.