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PROFESSOR TIEDEMANN ON THE BRAIN OF THE NEGRO. 
From these observations we may draw the following conclusions : 
1. The weight of the brain of an adult male European varies between 3 lbs. 2 oz. 
and 4 lbs. 6 oz. The brain of men who have distinguished themselves by their great 
talents is often very large. The brain of the celebrated Cuvier weighed 3 lbs. 11 oz. 
4 dr. 40grs. avoirdupois, or 4 lbs. 11 oz. 4 dr. 30grs. troy weight. The brain of the 
celebrated surgeon Dupuytren weighed 4 lbs. lOoz. troy weight. The brain of men 
endowed with but feeble intellectual powers is, on the contrary, often very small, par- 
ticularly in congenital idiotismus. The brain of an idiot fifty years old weighed only 
1 lb. 8 oz. 4 dr., and that of another forty years of age weighed but 1 lb. 1 1 oz. 4 dr. 
2. The female brain is lighter than that of the male. It varies between 2 lbs. 8 oz. 
and 3 lbs. 11 oz. I never found a female brain that weighed 4 lbs. The brain of a 
girl, an idiot, sixteen years old, weighed only lib. 6oz. 1 dr. The female brain 
weighs on an average from four to eight ounces less than that of the male ; and this 
difference is already perceptible in a new-born child. 
3. The brain arrives, on an average, to its full size towards the seventh or eighth 
year. Soemmerring* says erroneously that the brain does not increase after the third 
year. Gall and Spurzheim, on the other baud, are of opinion that the brain con- 
tinues to grow till the fourteenth year. The brothers Wenzel -f-' have shown that 
the brain arrives at its full growth about the seventh year. This is confirmed by 
Hamilton’s researches. 
4. Desmoulins ^ is of opinion that the brain decreases in size in old people. From 
this circumstance he explains the diminution of the functions of the nervous system 
and intellectual powers. The truth of this assertion has not as yet been determined. 
The brothers Wenzel § and Hamilton || deny it. 
It is remarkable, that the brain of a man eighty-two years old was very small, and 
weighed but 3 lbs. 2 oz. 3 dr.; and the brain of a woman about eighty years old 
weighed but 2 lbs. 9 oz. 1 dr. (see preceding Tables). I have generally found the 
cavity of the skull smaller in old men than in middle-aged persons. It appears to 
me therefore probable, that the brain really decreases in old age, only more re- 
markably in some persons than in others. 
5. There is undoubtedly a very close connexion between the absolute size of the 
brain and the intellectual powers and functions of the mind. This is evident from 
* Tabula Baseos Encephali Pueri trium annorum, p. 13. Francoforti ad M., 1799. fol. 
t De Penitiori Cerebri Structura, p. 266. 
+ De l’Etat du Systeme Nerveux sous ses Rapports de Volume et de Masse dans le Marasme non senile; 
Journal de Physique, par Ducrotay de Blainville, Juin 1820, t. lxx. p. 442. Suite des Recherches, ibid., 
Fevr. 1821, t. xcii., p. 165. 
§ 1. c. p. 267. “In senectute pondus cerebri non notabiliter minui videtur ; et cum hoc ipsum etiam in 
magnitudinis ratione locum ha’beat, diminutio efficaciae cerebri in senectute cum aliqua aequa notabili massoe 
voluminisque ipsius adtenuatione baud necessario conjuncta esse videtur.” 
|| 1. c. p. 5. “ It is extremely doubtful whether the cranial contents usually diminish in old age. The vulgar 
opinion that they do, rests on no adequate evidence, and my induction would rather prove the negative. 
