SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN ONE HUNDRED AND SIX YEARS OLD. 147 



the mental powers of the subject of this notice ; from my own per- 

 sonal acquaintance with him, I came to consider him as a little 

 more than equal in intelligence to most men in his class of life. 

 The result, however, of a similar comparison of the brains in either 

 case would be expressed by exactly reversing this conclusion. 



The cavity of the lateral ventricle was somewhat enlarged ; its 

 lining membrane, however, was smooth and unthickened ; numerous 

 amylaceous bodies were to be seen in microscopic slides taken 

 from the surface of the corpus striatum and of the eminentia 

 collaterals. 



Von Baer 1 has suggested that the transverse coronal depression 

 in the skull, noticed above, corresponds to a great development of 

 the anterior and posterior genu of the corpus callosum of the con- 

 tained brain. This anticipation may be said to be verified by the 

 examination of the brain of John Pratt, for both the anterior genu 

 and the posterior bourrelet of that commissure appeared remarkably 

 large when compared with the corresponding structures in other 

 brains. 



In the only other instance with which I am acquainted of a 

 record having been taken of the weight of the brain in a cente- 

 narian, the weight amounted to 45 ounces, exceeding that of John 

 Pratt's by two ounces. For a note of this case, that of a woman of 

 100 years, I have to thank It. Garner, Esq., of Stoke-upon-Trent. 

 This weight, it may be added, corresponds very nearly with that 

 (45-34 ounces) given by Dr. Boyd 2 as the average of twenty-four 

 brains from males about eighty years of age. 



Though the body generally had the appearance of much, though 

 not extreme, emaciation, there was yet a considerable layer of 

 yellowish fat over the pectoral muscles and anterior body surface. 

 The thoracic muscles looked thin and pale to the naked eye, but 

 under the microscope their fibres showed the usual characters of 

 striated muscle with very great clearness and distinctness: the 

 same remarks apply to the diaphragm. The costal cartilages cut 

 with the greatest ease, the line of demarcation between bone and 

 cartilage was very well marked ; the section of the cartilage pre- 

 sented a brownish-yellow colour, much like that of a decaying nut- 

 kernel, to the naked eye ; under the microscope the cartilage-cells, 



1 'Die Makrokephalen im Boden der Krym und Oesterreichs,' p. IT, 



2 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1861, p. 253. 



L % 



