i88o.J 
Analyses of Books. 651 
accompanies and indicates intellectual superiority, is quite un- 
founded. Brains far above the average may be observed among 
lunatics. At the Wilts County Asylum, in 10 per cent of the 
males and 7 per cent of the females who died there, the brain- 
weight exceeded the upper limit of the medium size, being 
52^ ozs. and 47^- ozs. respectively, while in from 3 to 4 per cent 
the weights were respectively 55 and 50 ozs. In an asylum in 
one of the northern counties Dr. Clapham found, among seven 
hnndred male brains, forty-three the weight of which exceeded 
55 ozs, and reached in four of them 60 to 61 ozs. The heaviest 
brain weighed by Dr. Thurnam (62 ozs.) was that of a butcher 
who was just able to read, and who died of epilepsy combined 
with mania. The heaviest brain weighed by Dr. Bucknill — 
64-5 ozs., equal to that of the celebrated Cuvier — was that of a 
male epileptic. The brain of a female monomaniac weighed by 
Dr. Skae was 61*5 ozs., a monstrous weight for a woman. 
Brains of unusual weight may also be found among persons 
not indeed lunatics, but quite ordinary, common-place characters, 
who have never displayed any high intelligence. The heaviest 
human brain on record (67 ozs.) was that of a Sussex bricklayer 
who could neither read nor write, and who died of pyaemia in 
University College Hospital, in 1849. 
Nor must it be forgotten that though certain eminent men 
have had very large brains, others, perhaps not less eminent, 
have but little exceeded the mean standard, or even fallen below 
it. Hence, as the author remarks, there is no necessary relation 
between the mere brain-weight of individuals and their degree 
of intelligence. 
A most interesting chapter is that headed “ Phrenology, Old 
and New.” But into this, as into many other portions of Dr. 
Bastian’s work, space will not allow us to enter. For all who 
wish to acquire a general knowledge of the structure and func- 
tions of the brain and nervous system, human and animal, with- 
out dissecting, or consulting the original documents scattered 
through the scientific journals and the transactions of learned 
societies, the book before us will prove a most valuable guide. 
We cannot help pointing out that in one passage (p. 21 1) the 
“Journal of Science ” is mis-quoted as the “ Quarterly Review 
of Science.” 
Abstract of a Discourse on Ornament , delivered at the Royal 
Institution , June \th , 1880. By H. H. Statham. 
An interesting pamphlet, but dealing with a subjeCt as regards 
which we must admit ourselves outsiders. The concluding- 
remarks have a special claim upon our attention : — “ One aspeCt 
