ON THE BEAINS OF TWO IDIOTS OF EUROPEAN DESCENT. 
527 
paniment of the idiotic condition, for it existed years antecedently to any spinal affec- 
tion. 
In neither the female nor the male idiot was there found any diseased state of the 
substance of the brain. 
b. Weights of the Idiots' Encephala and their parts. 
The recent brain of the female idiot, after removal of the membranes, weighed 10 oz. 
5 grs. In the idiot boy the brain, with the membranes, weighed 8^ oz. The normal 
weight of the female brain at 42 years of age would be about 42 oz., and that of a boy 
12 years of age about 44 oz. Idiots’ brains have already been noticed weighing 20*25 oz. 
(Todd*), 19*88 oz. (Tiedemann f ), 13*125 oz. (OwenJ); and the lightest brain, not 
altered by disease, previously recorded (Theile’s case), weighed 10*6 oz.§ 
The weight of the body of the female idiot, seeing that she was of good proportions, 
about 5 feet high, but deficient in about 2 lbs. of brain, may be assumed to have been 
about 88 lbs. The idiot boy, at 10^ years old, weighed 33 t? lbs. At his death, 19 months 
afterwards, his stature having increased though his growth was slow, for his ultimate 
height was only 39^ inches, his weight, independent of the effects of disease, may be 
taken at 36 lbs. 
In the idiot woman the weight of the brain, after preservation in spirit for many 
years, was found by Mr. Gore to be 7^oz., but, as subsequently weighed by myself, it 
proved to be 7 oz. 102 grs., or 7*23 oz. This weight was made up as follows: — cere- 
brum, 5*52 oz. ; cerebellum, 1*41 oz. ; pons and medulla oblongata, *3 oz. Maintaining 
similar proportions for the several parts of the recent brain, which weighed 10 oz. 5 grs., 
the recent cerebrum would weigh 7*63 oz.; the cerebellum, 1*95 oz.; and the pons and 
medulla oblongata *42 oz. 
In the idiot boy the preserved brain weighed 5*1 oz., which total weight was thus com- 
posed: — cerebrum, 3*51 oz.; cerebellum, 1*35 oz.; pons and medulla oblongata, *24 oz. 
Taking 8*5 as the ascertained weight of the recent brain, the recent cerebrum would 
weigh 5*85 oz. ; the cerebellum, 2*25 oz. ; and the pons and medulla oblongata *4 oz. 
The average weight of the cerebrum, cerebellum, and pons with the medulla oblon- 
gata, observed by Dr. Boyd in 94 females between the ages of 40 and 50, was 37*12 oz., 
4*69 oz., and *89 oz. ; whereas the average weight of the same parts in 22 males between 
the ages of 7 and 14 was 40*36 oz., 4*84 oz., and *76 oz. 
Assuming 90 lbs. to be the weight of a healthy female 5 feet high, between 40 and 
50 years of age, and 88 lbs. to have been the weight of the idiot woman ; and again, 
taking 42 lbs. to be the weight of a healthy boy between 7 and 14 years of age, and 
36 lbs. as the weight of the idiot boy, we have the following results :— 
* Cyclop. Anat. and Phys. vol. iii. p. 719. f Philosophical Transactions, vol. cxxvi. 1836, p. 502. 
% Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. i. p. 343. § Wagner’s Yorstudien, ut supra, Th. 2. 
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