Weight of Brains

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8054, 1 November 1897, Page 4

Weight of Brains

At the recent conference of lhe J_J,i tioh Medical Association at Toronto Sir William Turner, president of the anthropological section, read apaper on " Some Distinctive Characters of Human Structure," and made a most interesting com paiison between the comparative weight of brains, which was 490z to SOoz in European men and 440z t 450z in European women. In new-born children boys had larger brains than giils. In the case of men of great ability the brains weighed from SOoz to 60oz, and in a few exceptional cases, as in that of Di- Abercronibie, the weight had been mole than 60oz. It was, however, only fair to state that very large brains were sometimes found in persons who had shown no siwn of intellectual eminence. The result of his investigation)! was summarised as follows : First, that tho average animal capacity, and consequently the weight and volume of the brain, were markedly higher in the civilised European than in the savage races. Secondly, that the range of variation was greater in the former than in the latter. Thirdly, that in an uncivilised man the proportion of male brains having a capacity equal to the European man's (9T5 cubic inches) was extremely small. And, fourthly, that, though the capacity of men's skulls was greater than that of the women's, there was not quite the difference of the sexes in a savage as in a civilised race.