Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1906-09-06

which is contained within the skull
and is known as the brain.
Scientists who devote themselves
to the study of comparative anato-
my have for the most part nothing
better to dissect than the brains of
paupers and Iunatics. These, how
ever, leave much to be desired, and
it is to the interest of the human
family that the brains of cultured
and learned people should be placed
at the disposal of those patient and
laborious men who are engaged in
the vastly important work of I'M
raveling the secrets of the work
ing of the mind.
But it must not be supposed
that certain number of such
brains are not forthcoming. Com
paratively speaking, they are few,
but, still, more numerous than
most people imagine. In the great
majority of cases they are be-
queathed by their respective owners.
On one occasion Sir William
comparative anatomy, in address,
ing an audience OF cultured men
and women, spoke of the difficulties
he and his fellow workers had to
contend with in having little else
than the brains of people of low
intellect to dissect, and went so far
as to appeal to the audience to help
science in this matter in the only
possible way. On the conclusion of
his address several members of the
audience, including a few ladies,
promised to bequeath their brains tc
him, and, it is said, proved as
good as their word. More than
one man of great eminence has
regarded it as something in the
nature of duty to do this in the
interest of science. Prof. Goodwin
Smith, for instance, some time ago
formally willed his brain to Cornell
University.
Some remarkable brains have
been sold, not given. An English
man who calls himself Datas has
disposed of his to an American
university for $40, 900. He is a
man of little education, and for
many years worked as a coal miner.
But he has a marvellous memory,
especially for dates, and is now
earning a handsome income on the
music-hall stage. Amy member of
the audience may ask him the date
of some occurrence, and is answer
ed instantly. 1t is considered that
his brain must show some very un-
usual development, and there was
not little bidding to secure it af-
ter death.
1t stands to reason that the brain
of man of intellect offers a much
richer field for observation than the
brain OF a pauper or some other
human derelict. The brains of
great men vary very much more,
in fact, than do those of nonen-
titles. 1t is found that men of en-
cyclopedic mind have large and
heavy brains-Gladstone had tc
wear very big hat-with an enor-
nous bed of gray matter and nu-
merous convolutions; on the other
/. hand, men whose genius is concen-
trated upon one line of thought are
of small brain, and, consequently,
have a small head. Newton, By
ron, and Cromwell belonged to this
class, and each had small head.
Yet many people imagine that this
is sign OF small mental capacity.
A visitor who was shown the
skull of Cromwell was so dissa-
, pointed at it's size, that caretaker
of the relic endeavored to console
him by saying that this was the
| skull of the great Roundhead wher
he was boy. Prof. Symes.
: Thompson told this anecdote in Z
; recent lecture, and he also men,
|. toned that Newton was so small
, when born that he could be put in.
side quart pot. Charles StirruI
in Scientific American.