120 THE GROWTH OF THE BRAIN. 



such a condensed series to harmonise the intermediate 

 groups with the theory that brain-weight and culture, 

 as we measure it, are closely correlated. 



If attention is confined to the European peoples with 

 whom we are most familiar, it is found that occasionally 

 there occur individuals noticeable for their deviation from 

 the general average by reason of their weight or stature 

 or both. These persons of unusual stature are the giants 

 and dwarfs. It is customary, among English authors, 

 to consider individuals more than seven feet (2,133 mm.) 

 tall as giants, and those under four feet (1,219 mm.) as 

 dwarfs. Examination shows that the giants owe their 

 excess in stature cither to an abnormal length of the 

 lower limb, or to an excessive development in which 

 the proportions of the normal body are fairly well main- 

 tained. As a rule, however, the head in giants is dis- 

 proportionately small, and also, as a rule, they are 

 neither mentally nor physically possessed of unusual 

 powers. In fact, their general health tends to be poor, 

 and they are short-lived. These facts are still without 

 a full explanation, though it is possible that in one 

 group a nervous disease (acromegaly) is responsible for 

 the result. 1 



On the other hand, the dwarfs have more vigour, and 

 tend to be nearly normally developed, with the excep- 

 tion of one well-marked group among them, in which 

 the excessive shortness of the lower limbs accounts for 

 the small stature. In these deformed dwarfs a rachitic 

 condition is often a prominent feature. In general in 

 this group the trunk is well developed, the head propor- 

 tionately large, and the individuals active, both mentally 

 and physically. We have much to learn concerning 

 such exceptional persons, but there are no observations 



1 Dana, " Giants and Gigantism/' Scribner's Magazine, vol. xvii., 

 No. 2, Feb., 1895. 



