12 C. IV. M. Poyntcr 



§111. BRAINS OF SCHOLARS 



Through the earnest efforts of Broca, Riidinger, Retzius, 

 Wilder, Spitzka and others the brains of educated minds are 

 becoming available for study and comparison. The cases so far 

 studied cover a number of nationalities and vocations, but the 

 number is still so small that it is unwise to attempt to make deduc- 

 tions from the characters they present. It is to be regretted that 

 there is available no group of brains representing the same 

 class, environment and general education with which to compare 

 the brains of those geniuses studied. From an analysis of these 

 studies on the brains of scholars we find that no common char- 

 acteristics can be discovered, which would warrant the effort, 

 apparent on the part of some investigators, to establish an elite 

 type. Variations of the type designated as indicative of infe- 

 riority have been observed in too small a number of brains to say 

 that they are or are not of the same average frequency already 

 established for the lower classes. 



It is probably true that indications of mental characteristics on 

 the brain surface, other factors being known, will be discovered 

 through a careful comparison of the mental peculiarities of the 

 individual and his brain. For this work the brains of scholars 

 are very desirable, both because they represent the greatest devol- 

 opment of the organ, and because generally the habits of mind 

 are known. 



Great caution should be used in drawing conclusions from a 

 small number of subjects, and factors of unknown significance 

 and importance must of necessity complicate the problem. The 

 " accident " of a complex: configuration in the brain of Gauss has 

 been responsible for as many erroneous deductions as confluence 

 in Benedikt's criminal type. 



Present study has failed to yield any data which will enable us 

 to select a brain of genius. Perhaps, as Kohlbriigge has sug- 

 gested, variations have only a psychic significance, but if so it 

 will take more extensive and careful examination and along new 

 lines to interpret them. Elite brains alone will not solve the 

 problem. 



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