TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 133 



tion, requires tlie development of the convolutions in general, and not of the ex- 

 ternal temporal gyri in particular. Wideness of skull, as seen in most of the 

 dominant races, the author would set down rather to bodily conformation than to 

 the reason the phrenologist would give. The Negro brain is well developed as 

 regards the posterior lobe, whether this be a perfection or the reverse ; probably it 

 is less a character of the brain of the Quadrumana, than of them and Bimaua, 

 smooth in monkeys, with gyri in man. 



The brain in the Negro in question is more developed than that figured so well 

 by Calori. The lobules of the orbit are certainly simple, but the frontal convolutions 

 are rather rich, the temporal lobes deep and long, the fissure of Rolando not 

 situated so far bade as in many Europeans, but this is due rather to a fulness of the 

 convolutions behind (where, at the summit of the brain, they are rich and extend as 

 far back as the post-parietal lobe, cuneus, and annectent gyri) than to the poverty 

 of those before. 



The sulci were in places an inch deep ; the grey matter looked dusky, but there 

 was no dark pigment in the arachnoid as we see in some animals. The author 

 thinks that it is a misnomer to call the fissure of Rolando the coronal Jissure, there 

 being another sufficiently well marked under the coronal suture, the direction ot 

 which the first does not follow. 



Though our prepossessions may be that the Negro is in his place as the labourer of 

 the hot regions of the earth, servant and not master, and that he is not of the most 

 highly organized race of man, yet the cast seems to show that he may be very 

 capable of improvement though still retaining his peculiar characteristics, but to 

 what extent and in what direction has not perhaps been fairly tried, and not set 

 about in the right way. 



The author anticipates that light will be thrown on the brain by a more precise 

 indication of the course of its formative fibres, resjiecting which no two authorities 

 agree. The mere topography of the organ has now been sufficiently made out, it 

 remains to connect it with fibrillation and formation. 



The cast of an old man's brain, oet. 97, which was exhibited, exemplified how 

 much the gyri shrink in old age, whilst the sulci enlarge, corresponding atrophy 

 occurring in all the other organs of the body ; whilst the brain of the deceased con- 

 sumptive retains all the plumpness of the healthy organ. 



In judging of the brain from its size, several qualifications must be made, the 

 size of the individual for instance. Unless we make such a qualification we might 

 conclude that the elephant is wiser than man, or the Chinese giant than all other 

 men, as he can get on no other man's hat. 



On the Paucity of Aboruiinal Monuments in Canada. 

 By Sir Duncan Gibb, Bart., M,D., F.G.S. 



The ordinary sepulchral remains commonly found in various parts of the country 

 with fiint implements, pottery, &c., were excluded in this inquirj'. It was confined 

 to true Aboriginal monuments built of stone, such as are met with in Central 

 America and Peru. Their scarcity and almost complete absence he attributed to 

 the peculiar character of the climate, which would be imfavourable to their pre- 

 servation, unless constantly looked after as in modern times. The mounds existing 

 in the heart of the country north of Lake Ontario, though often filled with broken 

 granite, were not regular buildings, and the frost and ice exerted no destructive 

 influence upon them. He anticipated the discovery some day of traces of the 

 ancient inhabitants in the gi'eat caverns north of Flamliorough, and possibly in 

 similar caverns which he conjectured would be found in the i-sland of Anticosti, 

 composed of similar rocks belonging to the Middle Silurian formation. 



On an Obstacle to European Longevity beyond 70 years. 

 By Sir Duncan Gibb, Bart., M.D., F.G.S. 



The author had previously drawn attention to the position of the leaf-shaped 

 cartilage at the root of the tongue, known as the epiglottis, in 5000 people of all 

 ages, and in 11 per cent, it was found to be drooping or pendent in place of being ver- 



