174 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



power exhibited by the individual during life. As this brain weighed 

 very nearly 60 ounces, it exceeds that of all others usually quoted, with 

 the exception only of Cuvier's, which weighed 64^ ounces, and that of 

 Dr. Abercrombie, which weighed 63 ounces.* Sir J. Y. Simpson's 

 brain weighed 54 ounces, and that of Agassiz 53*4 ounces. It is well 

 known that the average weight of the adult male brain is under 50 

 ounces. The specific gravity of the brain I examined was 1*049, and 

 this is as high as any recorded. From Professor Aitken's work I find 

 that the average specific gravity of the brain is 1*036, and the highest 

 specific gravity of the densest part of a brain ever taken by Professor 

 Aitken, or any one else, I believe, is 1*049. 



The weight of the brain in this case was, in the first instance, taken 

 by the orderly corporal in charge of our microscope room, and recorded 

 by him on the blackboard in the mortuary. I immediately verified its 

 accuracy by weighing the organ myself, and I also verified the correct- 

 ness of the weighing-machine. The specific gravity was taken very 

 carefully. Surgeon-Major Hogg, Army Medical Department, was 

 present at the time. 



The average cranial capacity of the adult male head is, I believe, 

 about 90 cubic inches. Cuvier's is reported to have been about 118, 

 In the case which I now record it must have been about 108. Lancet. 



THE CELL-STATE. 



By Professor FEKDINAND COHN, of Breslav. 



"VTOTHING is more sure than that all life is subject to age and 

 -L- i death, and yet nothing is more contradictory to our feelings. 

 In the vigor of youth our body feels as if it was created to last for 

 ever ; why must the highest work of art wear out and break down 

 with time? The more formidable the contradiction between inex- 

 haustible life-joy and inevitable fate, the greater the longing which 

 reveals itself in the kingdom of poetry and in the self-created world 

 of dreams hopes to banish the dark power of reality. The gods enjoy 

 eternal youth, and the search for the means of securing it was one of 

 the occupations of the heroes of mythology and the sages, as it was of 

 real adventurers in the middle ages and more recent times. . . . But 

 the fountain of youth has not been found, and can not be found if it 

 is sought in any particular spot on the earth. Yet it is no fable, no 

 dream-picture ; it requires no adept to find it : it streams forth inex- 

 haustible in all living nature. 



* A case is recorded in the " British Medical Journal," October 26, 1872, by Dr. Morris j 

 in which a brain examined at University College, London, weighed 67 ounces. It was 

 that of a bricklayer, who could neither read nor write. 



