426 



THE BRAIN. 



posterior diameter of the girl's head was 4J inches, the transverse 

 diameter only 3f inches. The habits of these children, so far as 

 regards feeding and taking care of themselves, were those of chil- 



Fig. 139. 





AZTEC CHILDREN. Taken from life, at five and seven years of age. 



dren two or three years of age. They were incapable of learning 

 to talk, and could only repeat a few isolated words. Notwithstand- 

 ing, however, the extremely limited range of their intellectual 

 powers, these children were remarkably vivacious and excitable. 

 While awake they were in almost constant motion, and any new 

 object or toy presented to them immediately attracted their atten- 

 tion, and evidently awakened a lively curiosity. They were ac- 

 cordingly easily influenced by proper management, and understood 

 readily the meaning of those who addressed them, so far as this 

 meaning could be conveyed by gesticulation and the tones of the 

 voice. Their expression and general appearance, though decidedly 

 idiotic, were not at all disagreeable or repulsive ; and they were 

 much less troublesome to the persons who had them in charge than 

 is often the case with idiots possessing a larger cerebral development. 



It may also be observed that the purely intellectual or reasoning 

 powers are not the only element in the mental superiority of certain 

 races or of particular individuals over their associates. There is 

 also a certain rapidity of perception and strength of will which may 

 sometimes overbalance greater intellectual acquirements and more 

 cultivated reasoning powers. These, however, are different facul- 

 ties from the latter ; and occupy, as we shall hereafter see, different 

 parts of the encephalon. 



A very remarkable physiological doctrine, dependent partly on 

 the foregoing facts, was brought forward some years ago by Gall 



