106 
Brain-weight and Head-size 
No case has been included in which the brain showed a distinctly pathological 
condition which would have obviously affected its weight ; nor have individuals 
with foreign or Jewish names been included. 
For permission to make use of this valuable material, and for assistance in 
many ways, I am indebted to Dr R. A. Young, Pathologist, and Lecturer on Morbid 
Anatomy at the Middlesex Hospital, and to Mr W. T. Hillier, Pathological 
Assistant in the Cancer Department of the Middlesex Hospital. 
In each case the following items have been recorded : (a) name, (6) age, (c) sex, 
(d) cause of death, (e) remarks : on general condition, degree of emaciation, &c., 
( /) stature, (g) measurements of head : 
These were : L, the length of the head from the glabella to the occipital point. 
B, the maximum transverse diameter of the head above the level of the zygo- 
matic arches. 
H, the height of the cranium as indicated by the vertical distance from the 
biauricular line * to the bregma. 
U, the horizontal circumference, taken in a plane passing in front through a 
point just above the glabella, and behind through the occipital point. 
S, the longitudinal or sagittal arc, measured from the glabella, over the vertex 
to the external occipital protuberance. 
Q, the transverse or coronal arc, measured from the tragus of one side, over the 
vertex to the tragus of the opposite side. 
These measurements of the head having been obtained, the scalp was reflected, 
and {%) the length, (33) the breadth, (|^) the height, and (53) the circumference 
were measured on the bared skull. The vault of the skull was then removed, and 
the brain taken out and weighed in the usual manner, without removing the pia 
and arachnoid membranesf, the weight being recorded in grammes J. 
The longitudinal and transverse diameters of the head have been taken with a 
Flower's craniometer, made by Aston and Mander, of 25 Old Compton Street, 
* Taken at the eentre of the auricular orifices. 
t The pia and arachnoid membranes vary considerably in their total weight and an increase in their 
weight accompanies an increase in age ; thus according to Broca, the weight of the ' pia ' at different 
ages in males, averages 
20 — 30 years ... ... 45 grammes 
31—40 , 50 
GO „ 60 
The variations ranged between 38 and 130 grammes. The mean weight of the 'pia' in the case 
of 133 females was 48'7 grammes, and of 273 males 55-8 grammes. The term 'pia' as used by Broca 
obviously includes both the pia and arachnoid membranes. 
X The weight of the brain in ounces was in a large number of cases also ascertained, and recorded in 
the Hospital Reports; and a reference to these reports proved to be a useful means of verifying 
the recorded weight in grammes, of certain cases in which there was a considerable deviation from the 
usual relation between the brain-weight, and the outside measurements of the head. 
