754 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVH. No. 436. 



new and interesting facts concerning tlie 

 weight of the human brain. His material 

 and data were gathered in the Bohemian In- 

 stitute of Pathological Anatomy and in the 

 Institute of Forensic Medicine, and were sub- 

 jected to a careful anal^^sis with reference to 

 age, sex, stature, race, muscular and skeletal 

 development, state of nutrition, mental state, 

 occupation, cranial capacity and form, and 

 the mode of death. The work is exhaustive, 

 and hardly permits of suitable abstraction in 

 a limited space. Only a few of the most in- 

 teresting results may be quoted here. 



The heaviest male brain (1,820 gms.) was 

 that of a young man, age 22, of large stature 

 (180 cm.) and powerful build, well-nourished; 

 suicide by drowning. The heaviest female 

 brains, three in number, weighed 1,500 gms. 

 The lightest female brain, from an individual 

 of middle age (25 years), weighed 1,020 gms., 

 with a stature of 150 cm.; cause of death, 

 hemorrhage from a stab-wound of the lung. 

 The brain of a senile female (age, 89) 

 weighed 1,000 gms. The average weight (or 

 as Matiegka specifies, ' der Kulminations- 

 punM ') of males aged 20 to 59 is 1,400 gms. ; 

 of females, 1,200 gms. 



Among recent brain-weights of notable per- 

 sons, Matiegka mentions that of Konstan- 

 tinoff, a Bulgarian novelist, 1,595 gms.; F. 

 Smetana, the insane composer, 1,250 gms. 

 (atrophy of paralytic dementia) ; J. G. Kolar, 

 a Bohemian dramatic writer, 1,300 gms. (age, 

 84 years; senile atrophy), and Marie Bittner, 

 a talented actress, age 44, 1,250 gms. (about 

 45 gms. above the average). The skull of 

 P. J. Savarik, the noted Slavist, had a 

 capacity of 1,738 c.c, which, with Manouv- 

 rier's coefficient 0.87, gives an estimated brain- 

 weight of 1,512 gms. 



One of the most interesting chapters in 

 Matiegka's monograph concerns the relations 

 of brain-weight and occupation. For this 

 analysis he had 235 brain-weights at his dis- 

 posal, which he arranged in six groups, as- 

 cending from the ordinary day-laborers, who 

 never could learn a trade or remain steadily 

 employed, to those of considerable mental 

 ability. The table is here reproduced in con- 

 densed form: 



Persons employed in clothing industries, 

 who are apt to be poorly nourished and not 

 very muscular, show a lower brain-weight, 

 1,433.6 gms. Carpenters (11 cases) have 

 1,441.8 gms.; coachmen and truck-drivers (14 

 cases), 1,445.7 gms. Blacksmiths, locksmiths 

 and metal-workers in general, who are as a 

 rule muscular and well-nourished, have a 

 higher brain-weight (21 cases) . 1,476.7 gms. 

 Persons occupied in the manufacture and sale 

 of alcoholic beverages (brewers, tavern-keep- 

 ers, waiters, etc.) have a low brain-weight (16 

 cases), 1,416.9 gms., doubtlessly due to the 

 large proportion of drinkers among them. 



These results are indeed striking and sig- 

 nificant, and while they may be challenged 

 as being based upon an insufficient number of 

 cases, the method of the analysis employed 

 by Matiegka is worthy of wide-spread ■ adop- 

 tion in anatomical institutes everywhere. 

 E. A. Spitzka. 



THE ST. LOUIS CONGRESS OF ARTS AND 

 SCIENCES. 

 We begin on Monday, the 19th of Sep- 

 tember, 1904, late enough to avoid the tropical 

 summer heat of St. Louis, and early enough 

 still to make use of the university vacations. 

 On Monday morning the subject for the whole 

 congress is knowledge as a whole, and its 

 marking off into theoretical and practical 

 knowledge. Monday afternoon the seven 

 divisions meet in seven different halls; Tues- 

 day the seven divisional groups divide them- 



