666 
been studied, the means of instituting such 
inquiries on a large scale have been altogether 
wanting. But it may be confidently expected 
that the many well-educated men who now 
visit distant climes, accompanying our fleets 
and armies, will not let slip the opportunities 
which they possess, without contributing some- 
what to the solution of so interesting a 
question. 
Many years ago it was thought that the brain 
of the coloured races possessed a greater qtian- 
tity of colouring matter than that of the white, 
and this opinion appears to have originated with 
J. F. Meckel, who asserted that the grey sub- 
stance was of a darker hue than in the Euro- 
pean brain, and also that the medullary sub- 
stance was not so white, but yellowish grey or 
light-brown.* Walter, Camper, Bonn, Soem- 
mering, have, however, amply refuted this state- 
ment. 
Walter denied more particularly that part of 
the assertion which attributed a darker colour 
to the white substance. He states that it is 
just as white as in the European, but that the 
cortical substance is darker, that is, of a greyish 
brown colour, which he attributed to the darker 
colour of the blood in the Negro.+ 
Soemmering, with a view to decide the ques- 
tion, dissected three perfectly fresh Negro brains 
in the presence of other anatomists, Professors 
Weichmann, Schumlanski of Petersburgh, and 
Billman of Cassel, taking the very proper pre- 
caution to compare on the spot the fresh brain 
of an European. The result was that he could 
not discover either the cineritious or medullary 
substance to be in the least darker than in 
Europeans; he even thought that the colour 
was rather paler in the African than in the 
European brain.} 
It is true that Caldani and Rudolphi appear 
to have considered the grey substance darker 
in the Negro than in the European, the former 
having examined the brains of two Negroes, 
and the latter that of a Mulatto. But little 
dependence is to be ‘placed on statements 
founded upon such a limited number of ob- 
servations, and moreover it is well known that 
the aspect of the grey substance varies in dif- 
ferent individuals according to the quantity of 
blood which it may contain. 
Tiedemann affirms that the brain of the 
Negro does not present any material difference 
from that of other nations. Judging by Cam- 
per’s rule, founded upon the measurement of 
the facial angle, which is smaller in the Negro 
than the European, it had been supposed that 
the latter was smaller. The results of a few 
cases in which the Negro brain was weighed do 
not confirm this statement. The brain of a 
Negro boy according to Soemmering weighed 
2 lbs. 10 oz, 3dr. avoirdupois, or 3 Ibs. 6 oz. 
* De la diversité de couleur dans la substance 
medallaire de Negres, Hist. de l’Acad. de Berlin, 
1753. Du Cervean des Negres, ibid. 1757, quoted 
in Tiedemann’s paper. 
t Epistola Anatomica ad W. Hunterum de venis 
oculi. Berolin. 1 
t Vom Korperlichen Unterschied des Negers, 
p- 18. 
NERVOUS SYSTEM. (Nervous Centres. Tae Encernaton.) 
6dr. troy. The brain of a tall handsome Negn 
about twenty years of age, weighed 2 lbs. 13 0; 
4 dr. avoidupois, or 3 lbs. 9 oz. 4 dr. tm 
weight. A Negro’s brain, examined b 
Astley spd weighed 3 lbs. 1 oz. or 
and that of a young Negro, aged twenty-fi 
short and thin, examined by Tiedemann hi 
self, weighed 2 lbs. 30z. 2dr., having been 
short time kept in alcohol. ; 
Tiedemann has also contrasted the c pa 
of the Negro skull with those of men of 
Caucasian, Mongolian, American, and 
races. This was done by first weig 
skull with or without the lower j: 
Then the skull was weighed, having been fi 
with dry millet seed through the foramen m 
num. Lastly, by deducting the weight of : 
empty skull from that of the filled one, 
capacity of the cranial cavity was obtained 
In the Ethiopian race, the range of cap 
was found to be, in male skulls from 5: 
2 dr. 33 gr. to 31 0z. 5 dr. 16 gr. troy, in 
eight observations, and in female skul 
310z. 4dr. to 2402. 7 dr. 39 gr. in 
servations. 
Tn the Caucasian race, the capaci 
skulls of European uations was found to Ta 
between 57 oz. 3 dr. 56 gr. to 32 oz. 6 dr 
seventy-seven observations, and that of 
skulls of Asiatic nations from 41 oz. 5 dr. ¢ 
to 27 oz. 6 dr. 30 gr. (a Hindoo B 
head), in twenty-four observations. 
The male skulls of the Mongolian rae 
hibited a capacity from 49 oz. 1 dr. 22 gt 
25 oz. 0 dr. 18 gr. (a native of Nootka So 
in eighteen observations. ‘ 
In the American race the capacity of t 
male skulls ranged between 59 oz. and § 
1 dr. 44 gr. (a Toway Indian), in 
observations. 
And in the Malayan race it ranged 
49 oz. 1dr. 45 gr. to 30 oz. 5 dr. in 
eight observations, and in five female 
from 37 oz. 5 dr. to 19 oz. 2dr. 49 gr. (al 
woman). q 
These researches certainly give no ¢o 
nance to the doctrine which assigns the 
in the chain of human vari ies, 
egro as regards cerebral developemen 
far is this from being the case, that the 
pian race differs to a very trifling degre 
the European ; and, indeed, the exai 
skulls of the smallest capacity are found 
Asiatic natives (Hindoos) and American 
The following conclusions are dé 
Tiedemann from his comparison of t 
brain with that of other races. 
“1. The brain of a Negro is uponth 
quite as large as that of the Europe 
other human races. 
“ 2. The nerves of the Negro, relatively 
size of the brain, are not thicker than the 
Europeans, as Soemmering and his foll 
have said. , 
“3. The outward form ofthe spinal cord, 
dulla oblongata, the cerebellum and o 
of the Negro show no important difference 
that of the European. 
* 4, The Negro brain does not resemble t 
} 
