New-York tribune., 1900-07-02
THE BRAIN OF WOMAN.
A MAN WHO HAS WORD TO SAY IN ITS
BEHALF

BEHALF.
Alexander Sutherland, IN The Nineteenth Cen
tury,' writes extensively ''Womans Brain and
draws many interesting deductions from statistics
IN comparison with the brain Of man He says:
The man whose brain is small finds a certain
satisfaction in the conviction that womans must
OF necessity be smaller. It is a very ancient ar
rogance-od as the Aryan house father, and older
We find II in ancient development among savages,
whose contempt for the female understanding is
usually measureless. IN proportion men progress
toward civiliza ton. do they grow out Of this
crude conceit
The comparison must evidently be Of pro-
portion and yet the difficult question arises, What
ia TO be the basis Of that proportion? Occasional
efforts have IN the last forty years been made by
Psychologists settle this point but there is none
yet that is satisfactory The most obvious and
most usual is TO compare the brain weight with
the body weight II this done woman has pro
portionally larger brain than man, for Boyds
figures show that she has 80 ounce Of brain for
every pound Of weight in her body. while man has
only At ounce. Here she has an advantage Of
per cent Bischoh's figures, gathered in Bonn from
626 men and $50 women give to the feminine brain
exactly the same advantage Of per cent and
those OF Vierordt, Parchappe and others lead to
closely approximate results
rs the Ignouliuous conclusion. then. 10 be swal-
lowed and digested that after ALL instead Of being
inferior. woman is richly endowed with brain
than man. MorphoIogy comes TO the rescue by
showing that in proportion its body weight, the
smaller animal has always the larger brain A
cat has much more than tiger; a mouse three
times as much as a rat terrier six times as much
a Newfoundland; baby has, in proportion 10
it's weight, five times much brain as his father
while a little is the average more richly
provided than a tall Simple comparison OF
brain weight with body weight is therefore, quite
naduissible for which relief the male owes its
thanks
Whatever be the size we choose for comparison
woman's brain is always less than the mans
{ do in E1Rl a n
France or Germany the results quite unaf-
fected. From Boyd's figures we can pick out lo2
men and 1l3 women between 81 and 90 inches hlgn'
I averaging close on to 90 inches for each group.
But the brains Of the average 46.9 ounces
while those of the women are only 49, which gives
the men an advantage Of u per cent From the
figures which Broca gathered in Paris we may
select 81 men AMI % women whose heights were
about 81 metres, the average Of the women now
ever being nearly half an inch more than that OF
the men. yet their brains were less by per cent
than the mems the weights being 12lS grarnrles 1or
the females and 1,329 for the males
1t would be erroneous. however to jump TO the
conclusion that there is much difference be-
tween a woman's brain and mans as there is
between the brain OF the average man and that OF
the eminent man. for we have evidence to snow
that while great men a rule owe something 10
the size Of their brains. they owe much more 10
quality.
There may be some Importance in another IN
huence Judging from Boyd's figures, mans brain
seems more variable than woman 8. The fena4e
brain lies closer 10 IT'S average there few speci
mems excessively large or excessively sllati me
male brain has a wider range al ooIn ends, ana
We know that there are more male IDIOTS ana IN
beetles than female IN some countries the excess
is nearly 30 per cent. BY parity Of reasoning we
should exUect this greater variability or brain When
displayed at the upper end to give larger proper
ton Of male than Of female ge1tuses-
wise mothers thoughtful wives and deeply m
telligent sisters are surely not so rare oCl Lla-
they often enough come within the notice OF every
One OF the surest Of tests in diagnosing the stage
Of peoples civilization is the estimation IN WIlch
the female intellect is he'd; and ne VINO IoI'oWs Le
story of human progress will realize tfat We are
still no more than halfway up the scaIe WINE d
half cOnteuptuOus feeling Is Stlh bY arge masses
OF our population entertained IN regard 70 woman
intellect while that feeling IS still IN some
measure suffered TO color our legislation.
'One mas only TO keep his eve open uttLe 70 see
this fine old crusJy preJudce mas sun d IlOI
ishuE time in our midst
observe how the first reader Of the morning
newspaper deals out the news over the nreaAIast
he had made the news, had by his own private
sources Of information gathered II from all ens OF
the earth Watch how the typical citizen conlucts
his typical wife through picture gallery nave
we not all seen the average man thus engaged III
edIfvtnE the weaker intellect
The question OF relative quaLry IS one tlat la9
still 70 be left the region OF mere specu4a Liorl.
All we can say at present is that, in regard 70
ouznrirv man has a clear advantage HlsJory
seems TO tell that in general brain capacl-y,
which must be dependent on aoLE, man mas La1
OF this is no doubt real. but part has certainly
been only apparent and due 70 the soca- opstacieS
which have always inpeded the aspirations OF the
intellectual woman. t- -
Fanny Meudelssohn Lady Marine, and sucF glIleo
women as Georges Sand George Eliot ana CnaI-
lotte Bronte who found il wise to conceal their
Identity and assume male designations