BRAIN-WEIGHT AND BRAIN-POWER. 173 



carelessly for twenty-four years, with but eighteen months' leave, 

 weakened a naturally magnificent constitution, and he was compelled 

 to take furlough. His intellectual vigor, however, was shown nearly 

 to the last, and only a few days before death he expressed his capa- 

 bility of undertaking difficult mental work. But a sudden change set 

 in, and in a few days proved fatal. 



During his stay at Netley he suffered from extreme debility, in- 

 duced probably by intractable diarrhoea. A day or two before death 

 he complained of severe headache, and his axillary temperature rose 

 from 101-102 to 106 Fahr. 



It is very much to be regretted that, at the time I was called upon 

 to make the autopsy, I was not in possession of the facts narrated, for, 

 had I been, the examination would have been more complete in many 

 points. The diagnosis of the case was very obscure ; but hepatic ab- 

 scess was suspected, and it was to clear up this point that the exami- 

 nation was made. The severe headache, however, and the rise of tem- 

 perature, pointed to some cerebral or meningeal mischief, and it was 

 thought advisable to find out if such existed. For this purpose the 

 cranium was opened. 



Abstract of Autopsy (made not only with the full permission of 

 relatives, but, I believe, by request). Cranial bones very dense ; dura 

 mater extremely vascular ; brain-substance generally firm and normal. 

 On opening the left ventricle pus was observed in the anterior cornu ; 

 the origin of this was in the anterior part of the intraventricular por- 

 tion of the left corpus striatum, which here was quite destroyed and 

 broken down into soft shreds. Before dissection the brain weighed 

 26,130 grains avoirdupois, or 59*72 ounces. After examination, a por- 

 tion of it, weighing 22,785 grains, was found to displace eighty-six 

 cubic inches of water ; the specific gravity was, therefore, l - 049. The 

 lungs were perfectly healthy, with the exception of the lower lobe of 

 the right. In this there was a circumscribed abscess-cavity, measuring 

 in its longest diameter three inches. It communicated with a small 

 abscess in the liver, through an opening, about the size of a florin, in 

 the diaphragm. The heart was quite normal. The lining membrane 

 of the great blood-vessels was deeply blood-stained, that of the aorta 

 being very much roughened, in patches, by atheromatous degeneration. 

 Jejunum, ileum, and colon normal ; no trace of ulceration, but the 

 solitary glands of the latter were large and prominent. The liver 

 presented a uniformly brown color throughout, and was much softened. 

 In the upper portion of the right lobe there was a small abscess, about 

 one inch in diameter, and nearly surrounded by a dense, thick, fibrous 

 envelope. This abscess communicated with the lung. The spleen was 

 slightly enlarged, weighing 4,375 grains. The kidneys appeared to be 

 quite normal ; they were enveloped in a large amount of fat. 



The chief interest in this case lies in the great weight of the brain, 

 and its high specific gravity, in relation to the highly gifted intellectual 



