180 STUDY OF BRAINS OF SIX EMINENT SCIENTISTS AND SCHOLARS. 



13. Gauss, Karl Friedrich (1777-1855), German Mathematician and Physicist 

 (Gottingen collection). The brain is in many respects the most notable of any in 

 this series. It was preserved in alcohol and the illustrations in Wagner's memoirs 

 were made from the somewhat shrunken specimen. The intracranial diameters 

 were 18 and 15 ctm. (in Vol. II (1862) Wagner gives the diameters of an endocra- 

 nial cast of Gauss as 18.5 and 14.1 ctm.) while the hardened brain was 17 cm. in 

 length and 12 ctm. in breadth. The fresh brain-weight was 1492 grams ; after harden- 

 ing it weighed 1031 grams. The surface configurations of the cerebrum are remark- 

 able for the multiplicity of fissures and the great complexity of the convolutions. 

 The richness of fissuration is particularly notable in the frontal region while the sub- 

 parietal regions, especially the marginal and angular gyres, exhibit a relatively enor- 

 mous expansion. The very thorough morphological studies of this brain are published 

 in Wagner's two memoirs. R. Wagner: "Vorstudien zu einer wissenschaftlichen 

 Morphologic und Physiologic des menschlichen Gehirns als Seelenorgan." (Gottin- 

 gen) I (1860); II (1862). 



14. FucHS, KoNRAD Heinrich (1803-1855), German Pathologist and Physician 

 (Gottingen collection). Fuchs was a man of medium stature. Death was caused by 

 fatty degeneration of the heart. The fresh brain-weight was 1499 grams. After preser- 

 vation in alcohol each hemicerebrum weighed 489 grams ; the ratio of cerebrum to 

 cerebellum was 88.1 : 11.9. Wagner observes that the central fissures of both sides 

 are interrupted by bridging gyres. The frontal lobes are more massive and more com- 

 plexly marked than in average brains. The tortuosity of the fissures is especially 

 marked in the left frontal lobe. The asymmetry of the surface-markings on the two 

 sides is more marked than usual. The paroccipital gyres are depressed so that the 

 occipital fissure extends laterad for quite a distance. R. Wagner : "Vorstudien, etc.," 

 II, 1862, pp. 14, 15, 17 and 91. 



15. Hermann, Carl Friedrich (1804-1855), German philologist and archaeologist 

 (Gottingen collection). Compared with the brains of Dirichlet and Gauss, Wagner 

 finds this brain to present rather simpler contours. Hermann's stature was about 170 

 ctm. The fresh brain-weight was 1358 grams. In the hardened specimen, preserved 

 in alcohol, the left hemicerebrum weighed 447 grams, the right, 443 grams. R. 

 Wagner: "Vorstudien, etc.," I and II. 



16. Schumann, Robert (1810-1856), German composer, when about 44 years of 

 age, became melancholy and attempted suicide. In a communication to v. Wasilewski, 

 by Dr. Richarz of Endenich (near Bonn) concerning the illness and death of Schumann, 

 is the following account of the examination of the brain : "It may be interesting to 

 known that the transverse (acoustic) stria marking the fourth ventricle of the brain 



