Red River prospector. (Red River, Taos County, N.M.) 1900-190?, 1906-08-09
WEIGHT IS NOT ALL
MANY OTHER FACTORS IN DE-
TERM1NING BRAIN POWER.
When the Cells Are So Constituted as
to Give Ability for "Team
Work." High Intelligence
Is Present.

Other factors besides brain weight
are known to influence intelligence. 1t
has long been known that the distin-
gushing character of the human brain
is the large number of connecting
fbers by which its cells are co-ordi-
mated. In no other species are they
so numerous or complicated. The cells
constitute but a very small part of the
weight. There is now considerable
evidence that the same rule applies
among individual men and hat those
of great intelligence have more con
nections, so that their cells can do
more and better team work"
Some Investigations have shown the
corpus callosum to have a large cross
section in men who have shown great
ability. 1t is also known that the
brains of able men are likely to pre-
sent more commissions and deeper one
than the average, as if there were
more brain cells as well as more con
nections. A few observations in the
lower races point to the fact that their
brains are essentially different in mi
~croscopic organization, partly account
ing for less intelligence.
All these facts will fully explain
why men of intelligence in the higher
races may have brains not notably
heavy, but they do not disprOve the
general statement that as n class such
men do possess brains heavier than the
average.
The mistake arises from the failure
to recognize that noted men who have
shown intellectual power no infre-
Q%uently we're sharply limited to one or
two directions, being very defective in
other directions. Blind Tom was an
idiot. in fact-an extreme case of what
is quite common. At the other ex-
IRENE was Gambetta, who was not
much more than an orator, whose cere-
bral speech centers were found to be
highly developed. The rest of his
brain was small, and his general in
tellectual power and judgment were
decidedly defective. Ability in n or
two lines may make a mar famous,
while he is really very defective, and
his brain proves to be small.
Heavy brains are not necessarily in
tellectual ones, or elephants would be
in the class of geniuses.
The material might also be patho-
logic and the possessor an imbecile.
1t often happens that men of big
brain and great ability suffer from
early neglect and are found in lowly
employments or may remain ignorant
through life. These few facts do not
prove that large brains are worthless
and not indicative of mental power as
a rule. We cannot get away from the
fact that man as an animal is supreme
because of his large brain; that among
races the b~rainiest are the highest, and
that in any one race the most intel
ligent, as a rule, are those who have
the most brains.
Men of small brains are not the lead
ers, and no statistics of the brain
weights of a few exceptional men
noted for limited abilities can reverse
the rule. Universities do not create
brains, but merely train what exists,
so that the owners are better fitted for
the battle Of life. Many a man is
sent 10 college who should be handling
a pick and shovel, and he never
amounts to much, even though he
subsequently makes his living at some
very limited speciality.