666 



NERVOUS SYSTEM. (NERVOUS CENTRES. THE ENCEPHALON.) 



been studied, the means of instituting such 

 inquiries on a large scale have been altogether 

 wanting. But it may be confidently expected 

 that the many well-educated men who now 

 visit distant climes, accompanying our fleets 

 and armies, will riot let slip the opportunities 

 which they possess, without contributing some- 

 what to the solution of so interesting a 

 question. 



Many years ago it was thought that the brain 

 of the coloured races possessed a greater quan- 

 tity of colouring matter than that of the white, 

 and this opinion appears to have originated with 

 J. F. Meckel, who asserted that 'the grey sub- 

 stance was of a darker hue than in the Euro- 

 pean brain, and also that the medullary sub- 

 stance was not so white, but yellowish grey or 

 light-brown.* Walter, Camper, Bonn, Soem- 

 mering, have, however, amply refuted this state- 

 ment. 



Walter denied more particularly that part of 

 the assertion which attributed a darker colour 

 to the white substance. He states that it is 

 just as white as in the European, but that the 

 cortical substance is darker, that is, of a greyish 

 brown colour, which he attributed to the darker 

 colour of the blood in the Negro.f 



Soemmerin?, with a view to decide the ques- 

 tion, dissected three perfectly fresh Negro brains 

 in the presence of other anatomists, Professors 

 Weichmann, Schumlanski of Petersburgh, and 

 Billman of Cassel, taking the very proper pre- 

 caution to compare on the spot the fresh brain 

 of an European. The result was that he could 

 not discover either the cineritious or medullary 

 substance to be in the least darker than in 

 Europeans; he even thought that the colour 

 was rather paler in the African than in the 

 European brain 4 



It is true that Caldani and Rudolphi appear 

 to have considered the grey substance darker 

 in the Negro than in the European, the former 

 having examined the brains of two Negroes, 

 and the latter that of a Mulatto. But'little 

 dependence is to be placed on statements 

 founded upon such a limited number of ob- 

 servations, and moreover it is well known that 

 the aspect of the grey substance varies in dif- 

 ferent individuals according to the quantity of 

 blood which it may contain. 



Tiedemann affirms that the brain of the 

 Negro does not present any material difference 

 from that of other nations. Judging by Cam- 

 per's rule, founded upon the measurement of 

 the facial angle, which is smaller in the Negro 

 than the European, it had been supposed that 

 the latter was smaller. The results of a few 

 cases in which the Negro brain was weighed do 

 not confirm this statement. The brain of a 

 Negro boy according to Soemmering weighed 

 2 Ibs. 10 oz. 3 dr. avoirdupois, or 3 Ibs. 6 oz. 



* De la diversite de couleur dans la substance 

 medullaire de Negres, Hist, de 1'Acad. de Berlin, 

 1753. Du Cerveau des Negres, ibid. 1757, quoted 

 in Tiedemann's paper. 



t Epistola Anatomica ad W. Hunterum do venis 

 oculi. Berolin. 1778. 



t Vom Korpcrlichen Unterschied des Negers, 

 p. 18. 



6 dr. troy. The brain of a tall handsome Negro, 

 about twenty years of age, weighed 2 Ibs. 13 oz. 

 4 dr. avoidupois, or 3 Ibs. 9 oz. 4 dr. troy 

 weight. A Negro's brain, examined by Sir 

 Astley Cooper, weighed 3 Ibs. 1 oz or 49 oz. 

 and that of a young Negro, aged twenty-five, 

 short and thin, examined by Tiedemami him- 

 self, weighed 2 Ibs. 3 oz. 2 dr., having been a 

 short time kept in alcohol. 



Tiedemann has also contrasted the capacity 

 of the Negro skull with those of men of the 

 Caucasian, Mongolian, American, and Malayan 

 races. This was done by first weighing the 

 skull with or without the lower jaw-bone. 

 Then the skull was weighed, having been filled 

 with dry millet seed through the foramen mag- 

 num. Lastly, by deducting the weight of the 

 empty skull from that of the filled one, the 

 capacity of the cranial cavity was obtained. 



In the Ethiopian race, the range of capacity 

 was found to be, in male skulls from 54 oz. 

 2 dr. 33 gr. to 31 oz. 5 dr. 16 gr. troy, in thirty- 

 eight observations, and in female skulls from 

 31oz. 4 dr. to24oz. 7 dr. 39 gr. in three ob- 

 servations. 



In the Caucasian race, the capacity of male 

 skulls of European nations was found to range 

 between 57 oz. 3 dr. 56 gr. to 32 oz. 6 dr., in 

 seventy-seven observations, and that of male 

 skulls of Asiatic nations from 41 oz. 5 dr. 6 gr. 

 to 27 oz. 6 dr. 30 gr. (a Hindoo Brahmin's 

 head), in twenty-four observations. 



The male skulls of the Mongolian race ex- 

 hibited a capacity from 49 oz. 1 dr. 22 gr. to 

 25 oz. dr. 18 gr. (a native of Nootka Sound), 

 in eighteen observations. 



In the American race the capacity of the 

 male skulls ranged between 59 oz and 26 oz. 

 1 dr. 44 gr. (a Toway Indian), in twenty-four 

 observations. 



And in the Malayan race it ranged from 

 49 oz. 1 dr. 45 gr. to 30 oz. 5 dr. in thirty- 

 eight observations, and in five female skulls 

 from 37 oz. 5 dr. to 19 oz. 2 dr. 49 gr. (a Lascar 

 woman). 



These researches certainly give no counte- 

 nance to the doctrine which assigns the lowest 

 place, in the chain of human varieties, to the 

 Negro as regards cerebral developement. So 

 far is this from being the case, that the Ethio- 

 pian race differs to a very trifling degree from 

 the European ; and, indeed, the examples of 

 skulls of the smallest capacity are found among 

 Asiatic natives (Hindoos) and Americans. 



The following conclusions are derived by 

 Tiedemann from his comparison of the Negro 

 brain with that of other races. 



" 1. The brain of a Negro is upon the whole 

 quite as large as that of the European and 

 other human races. 



" 2. The nerves of the Negro, relatively to the 

 size of the brain, are not thicker than those of 

 Europeans, as Soemmering and his followers 

 have said. 



" 3. The outward form of the spinal cord, me- 

 dulla oblongata, the cerebellum and cerebrum 

 of the Negro show no important difference from 

 that of the European. 



" 4. The Negro brain does not resemble that of 



