. MIND AND THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 17 



existing between the mind and the nervous system ; but, having it in 

 view, the connection is at once clear and well defined, there being no 

 exception to the law that the mental development is in direct propor- 

 tion to the amount of gray matter entering into the composition of the 

 nervous system of any animal of any kind Avhatever. 



A point which attracts a good deal of attention at the present day 

 is that which relates to the differences in the brain and mind as ex- 

 hibited in the sexes of the human species. A few words on this divis- 

 ion of the subject may not, therefore, be out of place. 



The skull of the male is of greater capacity than that of the female, 

 and it is a singular fact that the difference in favor of the male in- 

 creases with civilization. Thus, in savage nations, as the Australians 

 and the negroes of Africa, the skulls of men and women are much 

 more alike in size than they are in Europeans. It would appear from 

 this fact either that women, from some cause or other, have not availed 

 themselves of the advantages of civilization, as factors in brain devel- 

 opment, to the same extent that man has ; or that, among savages, 

 there is not that dissimilarity in mental work that is found in civilized 

 nations ; and that, hence, there is not the same necessity for a differ- 

 ence in brain-development. 



For it naturally follows that, in the normal skull, there is a corre- 

 spondence between its size and that of the organ contained within it. 

 Many observations have shown that the average male brain weighs a 

 little over forty-nine ounces, while the average female brain is a little 

 over forty-four ounces, or about five ounces less. The proportion 

 existing between the two is, therefore, as 100 to 90. 



This apparently makes a good showing for man, but, when we look 

 at the matter in another and possibly a more correct light, the advan- 

 tage is rather the other way, for, relatively to the weight of the body 

 in the two sexes, the difference, what there is, is in favor of woman. 

 The body of the female is shorter, and weighs less, than that of the 

 male. Thus, in man the weight of the brain to that of the body has 

 been found to be an average of 1 to 36"50, while in woman it was as 

 1 to 36'46. I have said that 2^ossihly this may be a more correct way 

 of determining the size of the brain than by absolute measurements, 

 without regard to the size of the body. The doubt arises from the 

 fact that we do not know that very thin persons, in whom, of course, 

 other things being equal, the brain would be relatively larger, are 

 more remarkable for mental vigor than very stout ones, in whom the 

 relative size of the brain would be less. Such being the case, it is 

 difficult to believe that the proportionate size of the brain to that of 

 the body has any important influence as a factor in the production of 

 mind. It is the absolute, rather than the relative, amount of gray 

 matter that is to be considered in determining the brain-power. 



It must, however, be borne in mind that the quantity of gray 

 matter can not be positively affirmed from a determination of the size 



VOL. XXVI. — 2 



