The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-04
BRAINS WANTED.
Demand for Use in Scientific Investi
 gation and Some Requests.

From the Scientific American
 It may not be generally known that all over the civilized world there is a strong demand for brains that are a little above the average in quality; not intelligence. intellect, or genius, but literally that part of the human organism which is con- tained within the skull and is known as the brain.
 Scientists who devote themselves to the study of comparative anatomy have for the most part nothing better to dissect than the brains of paupers and 1unatics. These, however, leave much to be desired, and 1t 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 im- portant work of unravelng the secrets of the workings of the mind.
 But 1t must not be supposed that a cer- tain number of such brains are not forth coming. Comparatively speaking they are few, but still more numerous than . most people imagine. In the great ma jority of cases they are bequeathed by ! their respective owners. On one occasion Sir William Fowler, the famous authority on comparative anatomy in addressing an audience of cultured men and women, spoke of the difficulties he had his fel- loW-WOIhtIS ldt to contend With Tn n1X- ing little else than the brains of people of low intellect to dissect and went so far as to appeal to the audiences to help science in this matter in the only possible way.
 On the conclusion of his address sev- eral members of the audience, including d few ladies, promised to bequeath their brains to him, and, it is said, proved as good as their word. More than one man nj pDDiDpr'ra hos something in the nature of a duty to do this in the interest of science Prof Goodwin Smith, Cor instance, some time ago formally willed his brains to Cornell university.
 Some remarkable brains have been sold, not given. An Engishman, who calls himself Datas has disposed of his to an American university for $10O00. He is a man of little education, and for many years worked as d coal miner. But he has marvellous memory, especially for dates, and is now earning a handsome income on the music-hall stage Any member of the audience may ask him the date of some occurrence. and is an- swered instantly It is considered that his brain must show some very unusual development, and there was not a little bidding to secure ii after his death It stands to reason that the brain of a man of intellect offers q 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 nonenti- ties. It is found that men of encytc- pedic minds have large and heavy brains -tiladstone had to wear a very big hat with an enormous bed of gray matter and numerous conVolutions; on the other hand men whose genius is concentrated upon one line of thought are of small brain, and consequently have d small head.
 : Newton Byron and Cromwell belonged to this class, and each had small head. Yet many people imagine that this is q , sign of small mental capacity. A visitor
 who was shown the skull of Cromwell was so disappointed at it's size that tho i caretalSer of the relic endeavored to con sole him by saying that this was the skull of the great Roundhead when he was boy. Prof Symes-Thompson told this anecdote in recent lecture, and he also mentioned that Newton was so small when born that he could be put inside quart pot