BRAIN OF MAMMALIA. 15 



and four pounds six ounces ; in the female, between two pounds eight 

 ounces, and three pounds eleven ounces, Troy weight. In a child, six 

 years old, Haller found it to be two pounds twenty-eight drachms and 

 a half. In Tyson's Chimpanzee, the weight of the brain was eleven 

 ounces seven drachms, while the stature was only twenty-six inches : a 

 proportion, Lawrence observes, equal to that of the human subject ; 

 which, however, is not the case, inasmuch as the shortness of the lower 

 limbs of the Chimpanzee, compared to the bulk of the body, renders the 

 admeasurement of the animal fallacious, when opposed, in this point of 

 view, to that of Man. With respect to the comparative weight, or size, 

 of brain, between Man and the lower animals, there is much difficulty in 

 arriving at correct estimates ; nor, when attained, do we thence derive any 

 results of importance. Monro states, that he " found the brain of a large 

 Ox not to weigh more than one-fourth part of the human brain, whilst the 

 weight of the Ox was six times greater than that of the Man ; or the brain 

 of Man was, in proportion to his weight, twenty-four times heavier than 

 that of the Ox :" on the contrary, according to Cuvier, the brain of the 

 Seal is larger in proportion to the body than in Man, as is also that of the 

 Sai (an American Monkey). But, admitting these facts, what is the infe- 

 rence ? It cannot be concluded, from the latter, that the animals in question 

 are intellectually superior to Man ; or, on the other hand, that the Ox is 

 inferior to these animals ; it may, or it may not be and, in either case, 

 as is very plain, the mere size of the brain, compared with that of the 

 body, affords no index, which is only to be sought for in the modification 

 of its parts, and their respective degrees of development. Moreover, this 

 test is invalidated by the fact, that, while the weight of the body varies 

 from a multitude of circumstances, is increased by the development of the 

 muscular system, resulting from athletic exercises, and by the accumula- 

 tion of fat, or is diminished by emaciation during illness, or a flaccid state 

 of the muscles, the weight of the brain is not sensibly affected, but remains 

 stationary. Hence the contradictory scales of comparison given by dif- 

 ferent authorities. The ratio in the Cat, for example, is stated by one 

 author to be as one to eighty-two, and by another as one to 156; and, 

 according to the observations of different physiologists, in some Dogs it is 

 as one to forty-seven, and in others as one to 305.* 



* The weight of the brain, compared to that of the body, in Man and certain other animals, has 

 been thus stated by physiologists : 



Child, six years old, as .. 



Adult human being 



Gibbon and Mangabey .... 



Malbrouck 



Callitriche and Patas ., 



32 

 85 

 48 

 24 

 41 



Saimiri 1 ... 22 



Sagou 1 ... 11 



Sai (Cuvier) 1 ... 25 



Sai (Ebel) ... i ... 16 



