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than 19 inches in circumference, or has less than 65 cubic inches 
of brain, he is invariably idiotic. When we join with this the 
equally undisputed fact that great men, — those who combine 
acute perception with great reflective power, strong passions, 
and general energy of character, such as Napoleon, Cuvier, and 
O’Connell, — have always heads far above the average size, we 
must feel satisfied that volume of brain is one, and perhaps the 
most important, 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 Apes . — 
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 considerably above the average size of 
man, as estimated by bulk and weight ; yet the former has a 
brain of oiily 28 cubic inches, the latter, one of 30, or, in the 
largest specimen yet known, of 34 J cubic inches. We have 
seen that the average cranial capacity of the lowest savages is 
probably not less than five-sixths of that of the highest civilised 
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; civilised 
man, 32. But do these figures at all approximately 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 1 In considering 
this question, we must not forget that the heads of savages vary 
in size almost as much as those of civilised Europeans. Thus, 
while the largest Teutonic skull in Dr. Davis’s collection is 1 1 2 *4 
cubic inches, there is an Araucanian of 1 15 '5, an Esquimaux of 
113T, a Marquesan of HO'6, a Negro of 105 - 8, and even an 
Australian of 104‘5 cubic inches. We may, therefore, fairly 
compare the savage with the highest European on the one side, 
and with the orang, chimpanzee, or gorilla, on the other, 
and see whether there is any relative proportion between 
brain and intellect 
