Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1906-06-22
WEIGHT OF BRAIN
DOES NOT DETERMINE INTEL
LIGENCE OF MAN.
May Be Defective in Part and Yet
the Person May Become Noted
for Mental Brill
ancy.

Other factors besides brain weight
are known to influence intelligence. II
has long been known that the distin-
guished character of the human brain
is the large number of connecting
fibers by which it's cells are coor-
dinated. In no other species are they
SO numerous or complicated. The cells
constitute but very small part OF tho
weight, says American Medicine
There Is now considerable evidence
that the same rule applies among in
dividual men and that those of great
| intelligence have more connections, SO
that their cells can do more and bet
| ter team work"
Some Investigations have shown the
| corpus callosum to have large cross
| section in men who had shown great
| ability. 1t is also known that the
| brains of able men are likely to pre-
| sent more convolutions and deeper
| ones than the average, as If there
were more brain cells as well as more
/ connections. A few observations in
the lower races point to the fact that
their brains are essentially different
in microscopic organizations, partly
accounting 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 class such
men do possess brains heavier than
the average.
kaIr uso f.a,, fhn 70
ure to recognize that noted men who
have shown intellectual power not in
frequently were 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 extreme was Gambetta
who was not much more than an
orator whose cerebral speech centers
were found to be highly developed
The rest of his brain was small anG
his general intellectual power ant
judgments were decidedly defective
Ability in one or two lines may make
man famous while he is really very
defective and his brain proves to b'
small.
Heavy brains are not necessarily in
| tellectual ones or elephants would b.
in a class of geniuses. The materia
might also be pathologic and the pos
SCISSOR an imbecile.
. 1t often happens that men of BIZ
brain and great ability suffer iron
a early neglect and are found in lowl
employments or may remain ignoran
. through life. These few facts do no
), prove that large brains are WORTHLESS
and not indicative of mental power a
:, rule. We can not get away from tn
4 fact that man as an animal Is suprem
because of his large brain, that anon
races the brainiest are the highest an
|. that in any case one race the mos
n intelligent as a rule are those VIII
O have the most brains.
r Men of small brains are not the leat
% ers and no statistics of the brai
n weight of a few exceptional me
Il noted for limited abilities can rever.
"a the rule. Universities do not crea
70 brains but merely train what exist |
n that the owners are better fitted II
}, the battle of life. Many a man is sci
IA to college who should be handling
"a pick and shovel, and he never amour
to much, even though he subsequent
makes his living at some very limit
sDeciaIty