328 MENTAL FACULTIES. 



age is given by Haller at two pounds three ounces and a half ; whilst 

 that of the adult is estimated by Sommering at from two pounds three 

 ounces, to three pounds three ounces and three-quarters j 1 by Tiede- 

 mann 2 at from three pounds three ounces, to four pounds eleven 

 ounces troy, the brain of the female weighing, on an average, from 

 four to eight ounces less than that of the male. The average weight, 

 after the meninges have been stripped off, is, in the healthy adult male, 

 according to M. Lelut, 3 about 1346 grammes, or three pounds and a half 

 avoirdupois ; of which the cerebrum weighs 1170, the cerebellum 176 

 grammes. In the female, the weight of the encephalon was about Jgth 

 less. From the tables of weights of the brain given by Dr. Sims, 

 Clendinning, 4 Tiedemann, and Dr. John Reid, 5 it was found that in a 

 series of 278 cases the maximum weight of the adult male brain was 65 

 ounces: the minimum weight 34 oz. In a series of 191 cases, the maxi- 

 mum weight of the brain of the adult female was 56 oz. : the minimum 

 weight 31 oz. By taking the mean of all the cases, an average weight 

 was deduced of 49 J oz. for the male; and of 44 oz. for the female brain]; 

 and although many female brains exceed in weight particular male 

 brains, it is found that the adult male encephalon is heavier than that 

 of the female, by from five to six ounces on an average. 6 The encephalon 

 of the elephant, according to Haller, weighs from seven to ten pounds. 

 The brain of an African elephant, seventeen years old, was found by 

 Perrault to weigh nine pounds; that of an Asiatic elephant, weighed 

 by A. Moulins, was ten pounds. Sir Astley Cooper dissected one that 

 weighed eight pounds one ounce and two grains, avoirdupois. 7 These 

 facts, consequently, overthrow the proposition; and, moreover, in certain 

 insects, the bee and the ant, we meet with evidences of singular intel- 

 ligence. The proposition was therefore modified, and it was laid down, 

 that the larger the encephalon, compared with the rest of the body, the 

 greater the mental sphere. When the subject was first investigated in 

 this way, the result, in the case of the more common and domestic 

 animals, was considered so satisfactory, that without farther compari- 

 son, the proposition was considered established. More modern re- 

 searches have shown, that it admits of numerous exceptions; and that 

 several of the mammalia, and many diminutive and insignificant ani- 

 mals have the advantage over man in this respect. It has, indeed, 

 been properly observed by Mr. Lawrence, 8 that it cannot be a very 

 satisfactory mode of proceeding, to compare the body, of which the 

 weight varies so considerably, according to illness, emaciation, or em- 

 bonpoint, with the brain, which is affected by none of those circum- 



1 Weber's Hildebrandt's Handbuch der Anatomic, Band iii. 423; Rudolphi, Grundriss, u. 

 s. w. ii. 11, Berlin, 1823. 



3 Proceedings of the Royal Society for 1836; also Das Him des Negers mit des Eu- 

 ropiiers und Orang-outangs vergleichen, Heidelb., 1837, cited in Brit, and For. Med. Rev., 

 for Oct. 1839, p. 374. 



3 Gazette Medicale; and Medico-Chirurgical Review for Oct., 1837, p. 507. 



4 Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, xix. 353. 



6 Lond. and Edinb. Monthly Journal of Medical Science, April, 1843, p. 298. 



6 Quain's Human Anatomy, by Quain and Sharpey, Amer. edit, by Leidy, ii. 185, Philad., 

 1849. 



7 Dr. Todd, art. Nervous Centres, in Cyclop, of Anat. and Physiol. Pt. xxv. p. 664, 

 Lond., 1844. 



8 Lectures on Physiology, Zoology, &c., p. 191, Lond., 1819. 



