The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-09-18
GAVE BRAINS TO SCIENCE
More Similar Bcquests Wanted-Men
With Big and Little Heads.

tha. all over the civilized world there
is a strong demand for brains that
are a little above the Average in quail
ity; not intelligence. intellect, ~
| genius, but literally that part of the
human organism which is contained
within the skull and is known as The
brain.
Scientists who devote themselves e
the study Of comparative anatomy
have for the part nothing better
to dissect than the brains OF pauper2
and %lunatics. These, however. leave
much to be desired, and it is to he
interest of the human family that The
brains Of cultured and learned people
should be placed at the disposal of
those patient and Iaborious men who
are engaged in the vastly important
work of u~nraveling the secrets Of he
working OF the mind.
But 1t must not be supposed that Il
certain number of such brains are not
forthcoming. Comparatively speaking.
they are few, but still more numer-
Gus than people imagine. In the
great majority of S they are be-
Queathed by their respective owners.
On one occasion Sir William FoWle.
the famous authority on comparative
anatomy, in addressing an audienc
of cultured men and women, spoke Of
the difficulties he and his fellow work
ers had to contend with having little
else than the brains of people of low
intellect to dissect, and went SO far
as to appeal to the audience to nelp
science in this matter in the only DOS
sible way.
On the conclusion Of his address
several members Of the audience. in
Guiding a few ladies, promised to be-
queath their brains to him, and il is
said, proved as good as their word.
o than one man of great eminence
has regarded it as something in the
nature of a duty % do this in The
interest of science. Prof. Glodw;n
Smith, for instance, sometime ago in
formally willed his brains to Cornell
University.
Some remarkable brains have been
sold, not given. An EngIishman who
calls himself Datas has disposed of his
to an American university for 80 600.
He is a man of little education, and
for many years worked as a coal miner.
But he has a marvellous memory. e>-
peclally for dates, and is now earning a
handsome income on the musical stage.
member OF the audience may ask
MIN the date Of some occurrence, and
IS answered instantly. It is considered
that his brain must show some very
unusual development, and there was
not a little bidding to secure it after
1t stands to reason that the brain
Of a man Of intellect offers a much
richer field for observation than the
brain Of a pauper or some other hu-
man derelict. The brains of great men
vary very much, more, in fact, than
those of nOnentities. 1t is found that .
men of encyclopaedia mind have largo
and heavy brains-Gladstone had TO
a very big. hat-with an enormous
oed or gray matter and numerous con-
on the other hand, men
whose genius is concentrated upon one
Inc OF thought are of small brain, and
have a small head.
Newton, Byron and Cromwell be
onged TO this class, and each had y
small head. Yet many people imagine
mis- is a sign of small mental capacity
4 visitor who was shown the skull Of
CronW2ll was so disappOintmentel At
IS size that the caretaker Of the relic
..ndeaVored to console him b~y~saviny
his was the skull Of the great Round
lead When he was a boy. Prof. Svnas-
thompson told anecdote in a recent
ecture, and he also mentioned thar
Newton was so small when born that :,
le could be put inside a quart pot
American.
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