122 WOMAN IN SCIENCE 



According to this method, women are found to possess 

 brains which are equal to or even somewhat larger than 

 those of men. If the comparative excess of non- vital tissue 

 in the form of fat in woman be eliminated and estimates be 

 based only on the active organic mass of her body, as com- 

 pared with the same mass in man, the excess of brain 

 weight in woman over that in man will be still more marked. 



A careful study, then, of the brain as a whole, far from 

 proving woman's inferiority to man, rather proves her 

 superiority. The same may be said regarding sexual dis- 

 tinctions based on certain parts of the brain. 



Some years ago it was positively asserted that the de- 

 velopment of the frontal lobe exhibited a pronounced dif- 

 ference in the two sexes. It was said to be much greater 

 in man than in woman and was regarded as a distinguish- 

 ing characteristic of the male sex. This was in keeping 

 with the generally accepted assumption that this portion 

 of the brain is the seat of the higher intellectual pro- 

 cesses. Further investigation, however, showed that there 

 was practically no sexual difference in the frontal lobe of 

 the brain, or, if there was a difference, it was probably in 

 favor of woman. 



It has also become recognized that there is no valid 

 reason for considering the anterior portion of the brain as 

 the seat of the higher mental functions. It is possible, 

 but in the present state of science it can neither be affirmed 

 nor denied. So far as our present knowledge goes, it seems 

 more likely that the whole of the brain, especially the 

 sensori-motor regions of its middle part, have a part in 

 mental operations. At all events, it can certainly be 

 affirmed that Huschke 's distinction of man and woman into 

 homo frontalis et homo parietalis is utterly devoid of foun- 

 dation in fact. 



Many anthropologists have fancied that a certain index 

 of the degree of intelligence is to be found in the convolu- 

 tions of the brain. The tortuous foldings of the female 



