600 THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE BRAIN. 



a male epileptic. This was the brain weij;ht, it will be observed, of the 

 celebrated Cuvier. 



Dr. Spae records the heaviest female brain weight on record that I 

 can find. The patient Avas not ei)ileptic bnt '• labored under a mono- 

 mania of pride," dying at the age of 30. The brain had, for a female, 

 the astonnding weight of 1743 grams. 



The heaviest human brain on record, as far as I have been al)le to 

 ascertain, belonged to a man who was perfectly sane and healthy, but 

 of very ordinary mental attainments. The man from whom it was 

 taken was 38 years of age, a bricklayer, and died from blood poisoning, 

 alter a surgical operation, in a London Hospital in 1840. Dr. James 

 Norris says of this brain: 



"The weight of the brain, taken immediately on removal, exceeded 

 1945 grains. This weighing was most carefully made, and was wit- 

 nessed by several students. The brain was well proportioned; the 

 convolutions were not flattened, though the surface was fairly moist; 

 it only lost about 32 grains weight after the usual dissection and drain 

 ing for two hours. The man's height was 5 feet 9 inches, and he was 

 of a robust frame. It was difficult to obtain any satisfactory history 

 of him — his wife and his landlady gave difl'erent accounts. It seemed, 

 however, that he was a native of Sussex, England; that he had left 

 his native village aiul changed his name on account of some poaching 

 troubles; that he was not very sober; had a good memory and was fond 

 of politics. He could neither read nor write." - - - 



How are these facts to be leconciled with one another? In this way. 

 It is now universally held that it is the gray nerve tissue in the front 

 l)ortion of the cerebral liemi-si>heres (prosencephalon) that has to do, 

 more particularly, with the intellectual activities, the white nerve tis- 

 sue consisting, essentially, of nerve threads that conduct impulses to 

 and from the gray matter. The nerve elements, as stated above, are 

 bound together and held in place by a form of connective tissue called 

 neuroglia. The neuroglia has no connection, whatever, with the gener- 

 ation or conduction of nerve impulses — it is merely a supporting tissue. 

 If this tissue, in consequence of disease, increases much in ({uantity it 

 jnay add very much to the weight of the brain — as occurs iu epileptics — 

 without increasing tlie gray matter which is concerned with mental 

 processes. In reality the increase of neuroglia decreases the gray 

 matter and thus deteriorates tlic mind. 



Or, if there is no increase in the neuroglia, there may be, with a large 

 brain, an unduly small amount of gray cortex on account of a compara- 

 tively small number of lissures and convolutions. Or, again, the cortex 

 of gray matter may not reach the average thickness. Or, the texture 

 of the brain may be poor — its microscopic elements feeble andpooily 

 related and correlated. 



Thus it may be understood that a comparatively small brain — one 

 below the average brain weight^ — may be capable of vastly finer and 

 better work than a nuich larger one. 



So, iu answer to the question, " Is there any invariable connection 



