338 THE LIMITS OF NATURAL SELECTION 



volume of brain is one, and perhaps the most impor- 

 tant, measure of intellect ; and this being the case, we 

 cannot fail to be struck with the apparent anomaly, 

 that many of the lowest savages should have as much 

 brains as average Europeans. The idea is suggested 

 of a surplusage of power ; of an instrument beyond the 

 needs of its possessor. 



Comparison of the Brains of Man and of Anthropoid 

 Apes. In order to discover if there is any foundation 

 for this notion, let us compare the brain of man with 

 that of animals. The adult male Orang-utan is quite as 

 bulky as a small sized man, while the Gorilla is consi- 

 derably above the average size of man, as estimated by 

 bulk and weight ; yet the former has a brain of only 

 28 cubic inches, the latter, one of 30, or, in the largest 

 specimen yet known, of 34J cubic inches. We have 

 seen that the average cranial capacity of the lowest 

 savages is probably not less than Jive-sixths of that of 

 the highest civilized races, while the brain of the 

 anthropoid apes scarcely amounts to one-third of that 

 of man, in both cases taking the average; or the 

 proportions may be more clearly represented by the 

 following figures anthropoid apes, 10 ; savages, 26 ; 

 civilized man, 32. But do these figures at all approxi- 

 mately represent the relative intellect of the three 

 groups ? Is the savage really no further removed from 

 .the philosopher, and so much removed from the ape, 

 as these figures would indicate ? In considering this 

 question, we must not forget that the heads of savages 

 vary in size, almost as much as those of civilized 



