OF QUADRUPEDS. 
‘293 
Nature deems no object unworthy of examination, none destitute of 
interest; nor does the spirit of philosophic inquiry suffer him to 
rest satisfied with a casual glance at the multitudinous phenomena 
around him : he is not content merely to wonder and admire ; but, 
urged onward, he attempts to trace back effects to their causes; he 
investigates, he discriminates, he analyzes, he combines, and, still 
proceeding in his course, endeavours to obtain a glimpse (imper¬ 
fect it may be) of the mighty plan of creation,—a knowledge of 
the grand scheme by which the whole is blended into unity. 
In the introductory Number before us, the author commences 
with remarks on the extent of creation, and on the intrinsic value 
of the science of Natural History ; whence proceeding to the class 
to which the work is expressly devoted, it gives a summary of 
the characters of the mammalia, a sketch of the peculiarities of 
their cerebral developments, and an outline of their osseous system. 
We extract the following remarks on the weight of the brain, 
compared to that of the body, in man and certain other animals :— 
“ Much has been said by anatomists and physiologists respect-' 
ing the weight of the brain compared with that of the body, but 
Avith very inconclusive results: it has, moreover, from very early 
times, been asserted, that man has not only a brain comparatively 
larger, with regard to the Aveight of the body, than the lower ani¬ 
mals, but that he has positively a larger brain than any of them: 
neither of these propositions is absolutely true. It is in the deA^e- 
lopment of the cerebral hemispheres, the complexity and volume 
of the apparatus (especially the corpus callosum), by Avhich its 
several parts are brought into communication, and the increased 
extent given to the surface of the hemispheres, by means of the 
convolutions, that the brain of man rises aboA^e that of other mam¬ 
malia. Nevertheless, the size of the human brain is a remarkable 
character; but, as if to prove that its superiority consists in the 
arrangement and development of its parts, it is smaller, compared 
Avith the bulk of the body, than in many of the passerine birds; 
and though it absolutely exceeds the brain of some of the large 
mammalia, it does not exceed the brain of all. In the rhinoceros, 
hoAvever, it is smaller than in man; for Sparrman found the cranial 
cavity in the enormous tAVo-horned rhinoceros of Southern Africa 
to be only six inches long and four inches deep; and, on filling a 
skull of this animal Avith peas, it barely contained one quart; while 
a human skull,, measured at the same time, required nearly three 
pints to fill it. Tiedemann observes, that the brain, in the average 
of the human race, attains its full size toAvards the seventh or 
eighth year*. Its Aveight in the male varies between three pounds 
* Soemmering says, erroneously, that the brain docs not increase after the 
third year. Gall and Spurzheim, on the other hand, are of opinion that it 
VOL. XIII. Q q 
