The Brain in Relation to Intellect 39 



THE BRAIN IN RELATION TO INTELLECT. 



When we speak of size of brain in reference to intellectual 

 endowments we must draw a clear distinction between the 

 eminence of a specialist and that of one of wide attainments. 

 A man may become famous as a specialist by the sedulous 

 cultivation of one branch of knowledge, whilst far from being 

 distinguished by wide grasp of thought. Indeed, the absence 

 of interest in some branches of knowledge may greatly favour 

 the exclusive devotion to a single one. Peschell quotes the 

 weights of the brains of some Gottingen professors which 

 were considerably below the average : Gauss, Fuchs (patho- 

 logist), Hermann (philologist), Haussmann (mineralogist). 



Cuvier and Lord Byron are usually cited as having had 

 brains much heavier than the average, but there is some 

 uncertainty, especially as to the latter. None of his lordship's 

 portraits suggest a large head. 



Although there are considerable discrepancies in the state- 

 ments of those who have examined the matter, there can be 

 little or no doubt that the brain increases somewhat with the 

 advance of civilisation, and that it was smaller in the pre- 

 historic races of man than in the more advanced ones of the 

 present age. The differences are probably not so great as many 

 may expect, but they are real. The Australian natives stand 

 the lowest, and the Europeans the highest. The American 

 Indian had a larger brain than the Asiatic, and the Asiatic 

 than the African. The Chinese stand between the European 

 and the Negro. Two Irish skulls are perhaps the largest on 

 record. 



The size of the skull may possibly not be always a safe 

 indication of the amount of useful brain matter contained 

 in it. It is said that the large-skulled Germans have brains 

 which are of lower specific gravity than those of others. 



There are many sources of fallacy as regards the weight 



