356 NATURE AND LIFE. 



large heads. We know that Cuvier's brain weighed 1,829 

 grammes (64 -{- oz.), while the mean weight of the brain 

 among Europeans, as Broca states, is from 1,350 to 1,400 

 grammes (48 -j- to 50 oz.). Sedillot regrets that we do 

 not have, and wishes that pains were taken to obtain, the 

 measure of the different dimensions of the skull among 

 men conspicuous for marked capacities, in order to study 

 the very noteworthy relations existing between those di- 

 mensions and such capacities. At least we know, in a 

 general way, what characteristics and what proportions in 

 the skull correspond with the various degrees of cerebral 

 activity. Almost all anthropologists are aware that the man 

 whose head does not measure fifty centimetres (19.68 inch- 

 es) in horizontal circumference is almost doomed to medioc- 

 rity, and that one in whom that measurement equals or ex- 

 ceeds fifty-eight centimetres (22.83 inches) has many chances 

 to become quite eminent. It is true, some instances of 

 distinguished men with small heads are mentioned, but, 

 then, the case is that of men eminent in some very narrow 

 specialty. These dimensions, however, form only one of 

 the external signs by which the intellectual quality of the 

 individual may be determined with some accuracy. We 

 must study besides these the general shape and the rela- 

 tive proportions of the different regions of the cranium, 

 that is to say, the harmony which is called beauty. An 

 easy way, Sedillot thinks, to judge of the conformation of 

 the head, is to look at it from the side or in profile, and 

 slightly back from the front of it. This strikingly brings 

 out the relations of the height and breadth of the forehead 

 and temples with the face, and shows clearly the relative 

 proportions between the anterior or frontal contour of the 

 head and the occipital or posterior one. Any one who has 

 the eyebrow arches prominent, the temples open, straight 

 or almost vertical, and high, whose forehead is broad and 

 high, and his expression of countenance neither wandering 



