Brain 



Brotherhood 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



less cubical capacity than 62 cubic inches, 

 the smallest cranium observed in any race 

 of men, by Morton, measuring 63 cubic 

 inches; while, on the other hand, the most 

 capacious gorilla skull yet measured has a 

 content of not more than 34% cubic inches. 

 Let us assume, for simplicity's sake, that 

 the lowest man's skull has twice the capac- 

 ity of the highest gorilla. 



No doubt this is a very striking differ- 

 ence, but it loses much of its apparent sys- 

 tematic value when viewed by the light of 

 certain other equally indubitable facts re- 

 specting cranial capacities. 



The first of these is, that the difference in 

 the volume of the cranial cavity of different 

 races of mankind is far greater, absolutely, 

 than that between the lowest man and the 

 highest ape, while, relatively, it is about 

 the same. For the largest human skull 

 measured by Morton contained 114 cubic 

 inches that is to say, had very nearly 

 double the capacity of the smallest, while 

 its absolute preponderance of 52 cubic inch- 

 es is far greater than that by which the 

 lowest adult male human cranium surpasses 

 the largest of the gorillas ( 62 34y 2 = 

 27 %). Secondly, the adult crania of goril- 

 las which have as yet been measured differ 

 among themselves by nearly one-third, the 

 maximum capacity being 34.5 cubic inches, 

 the minimum 24 cubic inches; and, thirdly, 

 after making all due allowance for differ- 

 ence of size, the cranial capacities of some 

 of the lower apes fall nearly as much, rela- 

 tively, below those of the higher apes as the 

 latter fall below man. 



Thus, even in the important matter of 

 cranial capacity, men differ more widely 

 from one another than they do from the 

 ape, while the lowest apes differ as much, in 

 proportion, from the highest as the latter 

 does from man. The last proposition is still 

 better illustrated by the study of the modi- 

 fications which other parts of the cranium 

 undergo in the Simian series. HUXLEY 

 Man's Place in Nature, p. 221. (Hum.) 



401. 



Difference in Weight 



of Brain. It must not be overlooked, how- 

 ever, that there is a very striking difference 

 in absolute mass and weight between the 

 lowest human brain and that of the highest 

 ape a difference which is all the more re- 

 markable when we recollect that a full- 

 grown gorilla is probably pretty nearly 

 twice as heavy as a Bosjes man, or as many 

 an European woman. It may be doubted 

 whether a healthy human adult brain ever 

 weighed less than thirty-one or two ounces, 

 or that the heaviest gorilla brain has ex- 

 ceeded twenty ounces. This is a very note- 

 worthy circumstance, and doubtless will one 

 day help to furnish an explanation of the 

 great gulf which intervenes between the low- 

 est man and the highest ape in intellectual 

 power. HUXLEY Man's Place in Nature, 

 p. 231. (Hum.) 



4O2. 



Enormous Increase 



in Human Brain. We find the most pro- 

 nounced distinction between man and the 

 anthropoid apes in the size and complexity 

 of his brain. Thus, Professor Huxley tells 

 us that " it may be doubted whether a 

 healthy human adult brain ever weighed less 

 than 31 or 32 ounces, or that the heaviest 

 gorilla brain has exceeded 20 ounces," altho 

 " a full-grown gorilla is probably pretty 

 nearly twice as heavy as a Bosjes man, or as 

 many an European woman." The average 

 human brain, however, weighs 48 or 49 

 ounces, and if we take the average ape brain 

 at only 2 ounces less than the very largest 

 gorilla's brain, or 18 ounces, we shall see 

 better the enormous increase which has 

 taken place in the brain of man. WALLACE 

 Darwinism, ch. 15, p. 308. (Hum.) 



403. BRAIN OF PRIMITIVE MAN 

 HELD THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE FU- 

 TURE The one endowment that this crea- 

 ture [primitive man] possessed, having in it 

 the promise and potency of all future 

 achievements, was the creative spark called 

 invention. The superabundant brain over 

 and above all the amount required for mere 

 animal existence, held in trust the possi- 

 bilities of the future, and stamped upon 

 man the divine likeness. This naked igno- 

 ramus is the father of the clothed philos- 

 opher, looking out into infinite space and 

 time and causation. MASON The Birth of 

 Invention, Address at Centenary of Amer. 

 Patent System, Washington, D. C., 1891, 

 (procs.) p. 405. 



404. BRAIN, THE ESSENTIAL ORGAN 

 OF KNOWLEDGE Results of Changes in. 

 The experiences of the body are one of the 

 conditions of the faculty of memory being 

 what it is. And . . . the brain is the part 

 whose experiences are directly concerned. 

 If the nervous communication be cut off be- 

 tween the brain and other parts, the experi- 

 ences of those other parts are non-existent 

 for the mind. The eye is blind, the ear 

 deaf, the hand insensible and motionless. 

 And conversely, if the brain be injured, con- 

 sciousness is abolished or altered, even altho 

 every other organ in the body be ready to 

 play its normal part. A blow on the head, 

 a sudden subtraction of blood, the pressure 

 of an apoplectic hemorrhage, may have the 

 first effect; whilst a very few ounces of 

 alcohol or grains of opium or hasheesh, or a 

 whiff of chloroform or nitrous oxid gas, are 

 sure to have the second. The delirium of 

 fever, the altered self of insanity, are all 

 due to foreign matters circulating through 

 the brain, or to pathological changes in that 

 organ's substance. JAMES Psychology, vol. 

 i, ch. 1, p. 4. (H. H. & Co., 1899.) 



405. BREAD CONTAINS FEW BAC- 

 TERIA The Universal Food Relatively Pure. 

 Bread forms an excellent medium for 

 molds, but unless specially exposed the bac- 

 teria in it are few. Waldo and Walsh have, 



