The Washington herald., 1908-01-05
DR.. Spitzka Says Corpus Cal
lOSum Fixes Brain Power.
HIS HYPOTHESIS IS DOUBTED
FeIIew-seientists Do Not Readily
Accept New Theory offered by
list, of PhiIadeIphia-Has Made His
Subject Close study for Years.

OF the corpus callosum. the bundle of
white hbers which connect the hemi-
spheres Of the ceTebrum, determines the
quality of the intellect
While admitting that Dr. spitzka is
probably the foremost brain student ia
this country, most OF them are unwilling
TO abardon the theory which has been
popular for years among scientists that
the quality of gray matter is the real
determining factor IN the measure Of the
mind
DIT. Spitzka's theory, as set forth in the
treatise which has just been published was
much discussed to-day by the members Of
the University Of Pennsylvania medical
faculty. Most Of them expressed the
opinion that Dr. Spitzka has laid too
much stress upon the corpus caIlosum.
Dr. NJ. G. Greenman. director of the
Wistar Institute Of Anatomy and Biology
said. in discussing DR.. Spitzkas theory:
''Dr. Spitzka is undoubtedly one Of the
foremost students Of the brain in this
country. He has had an excellent oppor-
tunity for the study and comparison of
brains Of distinguished men, as we'll as
those OF the criminal class More than
any other man, he has brought out with
great emphasis the value OF the corpus
eaIISsum and endeavored to show that Il
is larger In the brains of brilliant men
than in lower types. As a matter Of fact,
there are a number Of cases on record
where the brains of apparently normal
individuals have been found TO be without
q oh.
brains quite recently.
His Exhaustive Research.
Or. Spitzka has done great work in
the study Of the brain and IL viii undoubt-
etly result In great good. DR.. Barrett, OF
the Psychopathic Hospital, al Ann Arb0T
Mich. has many specimens of normal
brains with very rudimentary callosa and
some of them have no caliosa whatever.
Notwithstanding this fact DE-. Spitzka
has certainly achieved great results and
is regarded as one OF the foremost men
in his line Of work although all anato-
mists do not accept his theories"
Dr. George A. PiersoI, who occupies
the chair Of anatomy at the university.
would not express an opinion on DR..
spitzka's theory.
"Dr. spitzka is a very eminent anato-
mist, he said Anything which comes
from him Is well worth reading
One Of the foremost anatonlists at the
university, vino did not wish his name
used. said.
DE- Spitzka is great student Of
the brain. and all men of science appre-
ciate what he has done. although the
majority refuse 20 accept his theory. DR..
SpitZka has erred. I believe, In declaring
that the corpus callosum is the seat Of
the intellect and that mental development
depends on the size % the cali0sum. 1t
may have something to do with mentality,
but il Is not so important as DIT. Spitzka
would have Us believe.
Dr. Spitzka treatise has been pub
lished by the American Philosophical So
ciety under the title of A study of the
brains Of six eminent scientists and
scholars belonging 10 the American An
thropometric Society. together with de
scription OF the skuli OF Prof, +. ID.
Cope" The six eminent men were Dr.
Joseph Leidy. DIT Philip Leidy, Dr. VIII
liam Pepper Dr. Andrew J. Parker, Dr.
Harrison Allen, and Prof r. ID. Cope.
The brain Of Walt Whitman, the poet
Of unconvention, was also TO have been
included in the study, but Dr. Spitzka
states that the brain was dropped by
careless attendant The glass jar which
contained IL was broken in the fall. and
the shattered fragments rendered the or
gan useless for scientific study. This
fact has just become known, and the eX
ecutors OF the viii, when they learned
about il. expressed much Indignation.
In explaining his theory concerning the
Importance of the callosum in determin-
ing the quality of the intellect. DT.
Spitzka says that this bundle OF white
iibers connecting the hemisphere Of the
eerebrum, the latter being that portion
Of the brain which lies ia the front por-
ton of the skull and Is recognized as the
seat of the mind, bears the same rela-
tion to the cells of gray matter as the
switchboard of q telephone system bears
TO the thousands Of stations
Importance of CaIIosum.
''The caIIosum is largest in the brains
Of man. writes Dr. Spitzka: smallest.
or just beginning to develop in the mar
supial and entirely absent in the lower
animals.
Every case Of deficiency or disease of
this structure is attended by more or less
profound weak-mindedness or downright
idiocy, not to speak of hemiparetie and
Of the brains OF these notable men. pos
sessing large capacity for doing and
thinking more than their fellows. shows
the converse to be quite as true. Com
pared with ordinary men. individually
and collectively, they have larger calIosa
The callosum Of Joseph Leidy exceeds
| in cross-section area that of any other
in this series or recorded In literature
| Here again. then, we have an index in
somatic terms of how we may distinguish
the brains Of the genius or talented man
from that of persons of only ordinary
abilities"
in contrasting the brains of Dr. Joseph
Leidy with that Of Professor Cone. Dr
SpitZka shows that il is possible. not only
to differentiate between the learned and
the ignorant. but that abstratic reasoning
produces one kind of brain. while OBJ
servation and concrete philosophy pro
duces another form. In the case of Pro-
fessor Cope. whose work developed the
quality of abstract reasoning the frontal
area known as usual if of much smaller
Dimensions than the same area in the
brain Of Dr. Leidy.
DixsOIves Old Theory.
In few words Or. Spitzka smashed the
theory maintained by the Lombroso School
that criminality may be due to some de-
! feet in the brain. He says:
Every attempt TO prove crime to be
1ue to a constitutional peculiar to crimi-
nails has failed signally. It is because
criminals are drawn from the ranks of
the low, the degraded, the outeast that
investigators were ever deceived into at
tempting 60 set up a type of criminal
In criminals demonstrably sane in life,
have failed 10 find any nerehraI charac-