210 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



XVI. 

 REMARKS ON THE BRAIN, 



ILLUSTRATED BY THE DESCRIPTION OF THE BRAIN OF A 

 DISTINGUISHED MAN. 



By Thomas Dwight, M.D., 



Late Professor of Anatomy at the Medical School of Maine. 

 Bead Dec. 12, 1877. 



The objects of this paper are: first, to describe the brain of a dis- 

 tinguished man, for in the present state of knowledge, wlien we are 

 infnorant to what extent purely anatomical appearance may be of 

 psychological or physiological significance, the observation of tlie brains 

 of known individuals is doubly important; secondly, to call attention to 

 au extremely rare anomaly of the convolutions ; and, lastly, to present 

 a few observations on the extent of our knowledge of the brain. 



The late Mr. Chauncey Wright, whose brain is the one to be de- 

 scribed, died in the prime of life. He was a man of very varied accpiire- 

 ments, a proficient in pliysics and matliematics, and was what may 

 be called a general critic. He was considered an instance of very 

 exceptional mental power. He was of rather large frame, with a 

 large head and a high forehead. 



The brain weighed 53^ oz. avds. The most striking point in the 

 shape is the height in the frontal region and the sharpness of the 

 curve where the upper surface passes into the anterior one. In most 

 brains the two ends are in this respect nearly symmetrical, but in tliis 

 one the difference is very marked. The convolutions are large and 

 plump, witli deep fissures between them ; but the small, in-egular 

 fissures, that give many brains a very complicated appearance, ai'e 

 comparatively few except in the frontal region. The two sides are as 

 symmetrical as are often observed, the chief difference between them 

 beino^ the somewhat greater complexity of the left frontal lobes. 



The frontal convolutions are the most complex. On each side, the 

 first one arises by two roots from the anterior central convolution. 



