866 THE SIZE AND WEIGHT 



ciation sliould be encountered is harmonious enough 

 with commonly received beUefs, though the existence of 

 the two former will be regarded, at first sight, as 

 altogether anomalous. But it is not so anomalous as 

 it may seem. 



(1.) In regard to associations of the first order Thurnam 

 found that in about 10 per cent, of the males and 7 per 

 cent, of the females who died in the Wilts County Lunatic 

 Asylum, the brain-weight exceeded the upper limit of 

 the *' medium size," viz., 52J oz. and 47|- oz. respec- 

 tively ; while in from 3 to 4 per cent, decidedly megalo- 

 cephalous weights were met with — that is, above 55 oz. 

 and 50 oz. respectively. These facts agree pretty closely 

 with the observations more recently published by Dr. C. 

 Clapham,* although the proportion of decidedly megalo- 

 cephalous weights was found by this latter observer to 

 be slightly higher in his larger series of brain-weights 

 obtained from a more northern English Asylum. Thus, 

 among 700 male brains there were no less than 43 the 

 weight of which was 55 oz. and upwards — and of these 4 

 weighed even as much as 60-61 oz.f 



In reference to the brain-weights met with in the Wilts 

 Asylum, Thurnam says : — 



"The large brains above reviewed are with little exception those 

 of persons in the labouring or artisan class, and if in any of them 

 there was an unusual degree of intelligence, the sphere for its 

 exercise must have been very limited. The heaviest brain weighed 



♦ West Riding Asylum Reports, vol. vi., 1876. 



f Is the lower percentage of decidedly megalocephalous brnina 

 met with by Thurnam, to be accounted for by the difference in 

 geographical area from which the above two sets of patients were 

 derived? or may it not be just as much due to the fact that 

 Thnrnam's weighings were made after previous slicings and pro- 

 longed drainage of b cod and serum had taken place? (see p. 353.) 



