358 THE LIMITS OF NATURAL SELECTION 
volume of brain is one, and perhaps the most impor- 
tant, measure of intellect; and this being the case, we 
cannot fail to be struck with the apparent anomaly, 
that many of the lowest savages should have as much 
brains as average Europeans. The idea is suggested 
of a surplusage of power; of an instrument beyond the 
needs of its possessor. 
Comparison of the Brains of Man and of Anthropoid 
Ayes.—In order to discover if there is any foundation 
for this notion, let us compare the brain of man with 
that of animals. The adult male Orang-utan is quite as 
bulky as a small sized man, while the Gorilla is consi- 
derably above the average size of man, as estimated by 
bulk and weight; yet the former has a brain of only 
28 cubic inches, the latter, one of 30, or, in the largest 
specimen yet known, of 344 cubic inches. We have 
seen that the average cranial capacity of the lowest 
savages is probably not less than jive-sizths of that of 
the highest civilized races, while the brain of the 
anthropoid apes scarcely amounts to one-third of that 
of man, in both cases taking the average; or the 
proportions may be more clearly represented by the 
following figures—anthropoid apes, 10; savages, 26; 
civilized man, 382. But do these figures at all approxi- 
mately represent the relative intellect of the three 
groups? Is the savage really no further removed from 
the philosopher, and so much removed from the ape, 
as these figures would indicate? In considering this 
question, we must not forget that the heads of savages 
vary in size, almost as much as those of civilized 
