354 AVERAGE WEIGHT OF THE BRAIN IN THE 



In the fifth great division of mankind, which we have made to embrace the races 

 of the great Australian continent and the closely situated Tasmanians, so little is 

 known by an accurate investigation and comparison of tribes that it is hardly safe to 

 draw any conclusions. The " highly civilized " European has here discovered and 

 invaded the territory to possess everything it contains, regardless of the wholesale 

 destruction which has followed in his train, and without considering the original pro- 

 prietors of the soil worth being studied. Both sections of this division have small 

 brains, but the smaller appertains to the continental tribes, as far as our materials 

 enable us to discover. The more robust Tasmanians have the larger brains. And 

 regarding the division as a whole, it presents the smallest average brain-weight 

 among the six geographical sections to which we have referred all human races. 



In the sixth and last very comprehensive division of Oceanic Races, we find the same 

 phenomena repeated. There is a large section composed of many races, which, without 

 any clear understanding, have gone under the common name of Negritos, composed, 

 I believe, wholly of small peoples who have brains of small weights ; and another 

 section of races, which are very numerous and very varied, who have large brains ; 

 and, it must be added, some of these latter rivalling those of European races, and 

 generally standing at but a few grammes of brain-weight below Europeans. But, 

 notwithstanding the comparatively large size of their brains, these races of the Indian 

 Archipelago have never developed a civilization resembling that of Europeans. 



That there is good reason for doubting that stature and size of brain should be re- 

 garded as standing in any intermediate and direct relation to each other, may be 

 shown by pointing to many different races of men. The Lapps aflbrd a good instance on 

 one side of short stature and large brain. The Lapp brain is a decidedly large one. 

 The average in the table is 1283 grammes, or 45'27 oz., but the Lapp people are of 

 low stature. Some were measured for me by Mr. A. G. Nordoi, of Mortensnees, in 

 Einnmark, Norway, and gave these results ; Of eight Lapp men the tallest measured 

 5 ft. 2-6 in. Eng., the shortest 4 ft. 9-5 in., the mean being 5 ft. 0'3 in. Of three 

 Lapp women the tallest was 4 ft. 10-1 in., the shortest 4 ft. 7-1 in., the mean being 

 4 ft. 8*7 in. The average stature of the whole eleven Lapps, men and women, 4 ft. 

 11"3 in., or 1505 millimetres.* These measurements correspond very closely with 

 those taken by other observers. Mr. J. F. Campbell measured twelve Lapps, — ten 

 men and two women. The tallest man was 5 ft. 4-5 in., the shortest 4 ft. 8 in., the 

 mean of the ten being 5 ft. 1 in. The taller woman was 4 ft. 6 in., the shorter 4 ft. 

 5-5 in., the mean being 4 ft. 5-75 in. The average stature of the men and women is 

 4 ft. 11'8 in., or 1513 mm.f Dr. Weisbach, on the authority of Tenon, attributes a 



* Thesaurus Craniorum. By J. Barnard Davis, M.D., p. 100. 



t Transactions of the Ethnological Society of London, vol. v, p. 2. 



