PROFESSOR TIEDEMANN ON THE BRAIN OF THE NEGRO. 
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brain. Although the human brain is considerably larger than that of any other 
animal, except the Elephant and Whale, even than the brain of animals much larger 
than Man, such as the Horse, the Zebra, Stag, Camel, Lion, Tiger, Bear, &e. ; never- 
theless, relatively to the size of his body, he has not the largest brain. Pozzi* has 
shown that many small birds (for instance, the Sparrow,) have, in comparison to the 
size of their body, a larger brain than Man. Daubenton, Haller-^, Blumenbach, 
and Cuvier found the brain of some of the smaller Apes, of the Rodentia, and singing- 
birds, relatively to the size of the body, larger than in Man. We must seek for the cause 
of his superiority therefore, not merely in the greater bulk of his brain in comparison 
to that of his body, but regard must also be had to the size of his brain with respect 
to the bulk and thickness of the cerebral nerves, and likewise to the degree of perfec- 
tion in its structure. Soemmerring % was the first to show that the human brain, 
in comparison to the size and thickness of the nerves, is larger than that of any 
other animal, even the Elephant and Whale, both of which have an absolutely larger 
brain than Man. Blumenbach’s, Ebel’s, Cuvier’s, Treviranus’s, and my own re- 
searches §, have sufficiently corroborated this. It is also satisfactorily shown that the 
organization of the human brain is far superior to that of any other animal, not even 
excepting those Apes which have the closest resemblance to Man. 
Most anatomists, Vesal, Realdus Columbus, Bauhin, Highmore, Collins, and 
others, as well as those who have paid particular attention to the anatomy of the 
brain, Willis, Ridley, Vieussens, Tarin, Vicq-d’Azyr, have taken no notice of the 
weight of the human brain, resting content with what Aristotle has said upon 
that subject. What other celebrated anatomists, Piccolhomini, Schneider, Bartho- 
lin, Pozzi, Arlet, Haller, Meckel, Soemmerring, Portal, Cuvier, Joseph and 
Charles Wenzel, and Mascagni, have said on the weightof the brain is very unsatis- 
factory. They made use of different weights, without mentioning them ; they neither 
take any notice of the size and weight, nor of the age and sex of the bodies, the 
brains of which they examined ; and, lastly, they weighed far too few to draw any 
general conclusion. The note proves sufficiently the truth of this statement [|. 
Physiologie, Band ii., Abth. 2, Seite 11,) 5 lbs. 10^ oz., and measured 8" 7 in length ; that of a Narwhal 
( Monodon monoceros ), 17 to 18 feet long, only 2 lbs. 3 oz., and was 6" 3 long. 
* Observatio A.natomica de Cerebro, an sit in homine proportione majus, quam in aliis animalibus (Com- 
mentar. Bononiens., tom. ii. p. 1.). “ Felis, canis, gallus, et pleraque animantium cerebrum habent portione 
minus, quam homo ; qui id tamen universe affirmant de omnibus, videant in passere, ne fallantur.” 
f De Partium Corporis Plumani praecipuarum Fabrica et Functionibus, tom. viii. p. 6. “ Simiae quaedam 
minores, ut mures et animalia minora, videntur cerebrum habere potius ad corpus universum majus.” 
£ De Basi Encephali, p. 17. “ Homo ratione habita nervorum omnia hucusque animalia nota magnitudine 
eerebri superat.” 
§ leones Cerebri Simiarum et quorumdam Mammalium rariorum. Heidelbergae, 1821. fol. 
|| Piccolhomini mentions first the weight of the brain (Anatomicae Praelectiones, lib. v. lect. 2. Romae, 
1586. fol.). “ Cerebrum humanum, quatuor aut quinque libras aequans pondere, maximum est.” 
3 s 2 Joh 
