346 MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS. 



Another set of inquirers now entered the field, who, seeing the disadvan- 

 tages of attempting to investigate the functions of the brain, by examining 

 that organ in an unnatural or unhealthy condition, proposed to investigate it 

 only in its healthy and natural state ; and, by considering its developement, 

 to determine its functions. Perhaps this may be denominated the physiolo- 

 gical method; or that, which, by comparisons regarding the size of the organ 

 in man and other animals, sought thus to determine in what man's intellec- 

 tual superiority consisted. " Man has absolutely the largest brain of any 

 animal in creation, and hence man's intellect is superior." This was a plau- 

 sible dogma, and had the support of some great names, and much apparent 

 truth ; but, unfortunately for those supporting this opinion, it did not prove 

 to be absolutely true, and so, necessarily fell to the ground. Man, in fact, 

 has not the largest brain of all animals — the brain of the elephant and whale 

 being larger; — hence man's superiority to these animals consisted not in the 

 superior size of the brain : well, said others, we see this, and give up that 

 test ; but, though man's brain be not absolutely the largest, it is surely the 

 largest in jiroportion to his body — and this is the reason of his superior intel- 

 ligence. But this test was less fortunate than the former; for the wren, the 

 sparrow, the canary, and many monkeys, have been found to possess brains 

 larger, in proportion to the size of their bodies, than man ; but it has not 

 been proved, though each may be clever enough in his way, that any of them 

 surpass man in intelligence. This mode of comparison not answering, the 

 brain was next compared in size to the spinal marrow, and man was said to 

 surpass in intellect, because in him the brain exceeded the spinal marrow 

 more than in any other animal. Sommering, in particular, supported this 

 opinion, but it is not tenable as matter of fact ; there are exceptions, and 

 Cuvier points out the dolphin as one. 



The next mode of comparison adopted, was that of comparing the brain 

 with the size of the bones of the face. The larger the brain was in compari- 

 son to the face, the greater would be the intellectual power ; and hence the 

 superiority of man over all other animals, and even of one man over another; 

 because the size of the brain compared with that of the face was the largest. 

 This sounds silly enough ; and yet this is, in truth, neither more nor less 

 than an enunciation of Camper's celebrated " Facial Angle" — one of the 

 most popular, and apparently successful, tests of this kind that has been 

 proposed ; and which continues in favour with many physiologists. This 

 angle (as all know) was formed by a line drawn horizontally from the roots 

 of the incisor teeth of the upper jaw, to the opening of the ear, which, being 

 intersected by a line drawn perpendicularly from the same incisor teeth to 

 the most elevated part cf the forehead, constituted an angle, the capacity of 

 which was to be taken as the measure of intellect. Now, it happened that, 

 in this mode of comparison, there accidentally existed an element of truth, 

 which accounts for its apparent success in many cases. The perpendicular 

 line, in fact, gave a rude measure of the degree of projection of the forehead, 

 or development of the anterior lobes of the brain, which are agreed upon by 

 all observers, as more particularly connected with the intellectual powers. 

 The more the forehead projected, the larger the angle would become — hence 

 the apparent truth of the test ; — but, on a closer view of the subject, it will 

 not bear examination. The facial angle of the infant is greater than that of 

 the man, (as 90" to 86°, according to Cuvier) — hence the infant should have 



