70 EVOLUTIONS OF LIFE. 



that from these data, the most inconclusive 

 reasonings should have been made. To Pro- 

 fessor SOEMMERING considerable merit is due, 

 for having put the subject upon its true footing; 

 he it was, who first pointed out that the magni- 

 tude of the brain, with relation to the nerves of 

 sense which proceeded from it, was the true 

 point whence the comparison was to be made ; 

 it was from this mode of investigation, that it 

 was found, that, although the most irrational 

 systems have the largest nerves of sense, they 

 have the smallest brain ; and, on the contrary, 

 that the highest orders of animals have the 

 largest brain with organs of sense comparative- 

 ly small, 



BARON HALLER observes, that in a boy six 

 years old, whose body weighed fifty pounds, 

 the brain weighed two pounds, three ounces, 

 and a half; and that when it is fully developed, 

 it may be generally averaged, in each individual, 

 at the rate of four pounds.. BLUMENBACH as- 

 serts, that the largest brain of a horse which he 

 ever saw, weighed only one pound four ounces. 

 REDI says, that the weight of the brain of an 

 ox to that of its body, is, as 1 to 1154; and a 

 shark that weighs 300lbs. it is said, has a brain 

 that does not weigh more than three ounces. 

 In the snail, the brain is composed of a congre^ 

 gation of nervous fibrils, which terminate in a 

 gort of trunk, of a semicircular structure. In 



