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 Reprinted from The Philadelphia Medical Journal, May 2, 1903 
 
 A STUDY OF THE BRAIN=WEIGHTS OF MEN 
 NOTABLE IN THE PROFESSIONS, ARTS AND 
 SCIENCES. 
 
 By EDWARD ANTHONY SPITZKA, M. D., 
 
 it 
 
 of New York. 
 Fellow in Anatomy, Columbia University, 
 
 That the very slow accumulation of brain-weights 
 of distinguished men, or of successful members of 
 the liberal professions, has contributed to the exist- 
 ing diversities of opinion concerning the significance 
 of the weight of the brain in its relations to the in- 
 telligence is clear to anyone familiar with recent 
 essays on the subject. Particularly disconcerting 
 to some writers has been the not infrequent occur- 
 rence of unusually heavy brains in idiotic persons, 
 while certain low brain-weights of men ranking high 
 in intelligence have prompted not a few anatomists 
 and anthropologists — not content to defer judgment 
 until a sufficient number of data had been collected 
 — to make the flat assertion that the weight of the 
 brain is absolutely unrelated to the psychical facul- 
 ties.* 
 
 It were indeed strange if we had thus to over- 
 throw the general principles governing the func- 
 tions of the brain as an apparatus of thought. Aside 
 from the well-established proofs of the interdepend- 
 ence of brain-size and intelligence in the animal 
 series, there exist the very convincing craniological 
 studies of Ranke, Manouvrier, Vircrow and many 
 
 *Sernoff says: " The brains of eminent men do not diffrr 
 
 from those of ordinary persons in regard to size, weight or sur- 
 face morphology." Ha.nsemann (Ztschr. f. Phys. u. Psych, d. 
 Sinnesorg, XX., 1.) likewise denies any interdependence of 
 brain-weight and mental capacity and says: "We know that the 
 weight of the brain depends least of all upon the ganglion cells 
 and nerve fibers, but chiefly upon the mass of the neuroglia, 
 and the amount of blood contained in it." The gross error hero- 
 in hardly requires exposition; however, see the proof of 
 the preponderance in weight of the neuraxones in Donaldson's 
 "Growth of the Brain." 
 
 
 ^irf 
 
others, pointing in no uncertain way to a decided 
 . relation between the cranial capacities of men and 
 their psychical powers. If, as Broca has shown, 
 the skulls of modern Parisians are larger than those 
 of the seventh century, if the cranial capacity of 
 townspeople is, as a rule, greater than that of the 
 peasants of the environs (Ranke)*, and if the heads 
 of university students have been found to be "on 
 the average greatest and growing for the longest 
 time in the group of most successful men" 
 (Venn),** it would certainly seem that the size of 
 the brain assumes, relatively speaking, that signi- 
 fincance due this organ of mind quite as much as, 
 for example, the large size of the vestibular nerve 
 in the cetacea and phocidae relates to their remarka- 
 bly skilful equilibristic movements. 
 
 A great number of unusually heavy brain- 
 weights found among idiots, imbeciles, criminals, 
 insane and other defectives, as well as a number 
 among obscure bricklayers, blacksmiths and com- 
 mon laborers, are fondly thrust before us to be taken 
 in a manner as a refutation of the "unfounded doc- 
 trine that the intelligence depends upon the size of 
 the brain." Such cases are nearly always explained 
 by pathological hypertrophy, either congenitally 
 acquired or later developed during disease, and, in 
 the case of idiots and imbeciles, invariably charac- 
 terized by grave defects in structure, such as ab- 
 normal increase of the neuroglia with profound 
 diminution of ganglion cells or abnormal gyral 
 development, and so on. It were as unfair to in- 
 clude such unhealthy brains in a comparative study 
 of brain-weights in their relation to the mental 
 functions as it would be to assert the large liver in 
 a case of hypertrophic cirrhosis to be better able to 
 perform its functions than the smaller but healthy 
 one. A pathological hypertrophy impairs the func- 
 
 ♦Ranke (Beitr. z. Biol., 1882) found the average cranial capacity 
 of 100 males of the city population to be 1523 cc. ; (max. 1815, min. 
 1288) while among the peasants the average was 1503 cc. (max. 
 1260. min. 1780). 
 
 **Venn measured the heads of Cambridge University students 
 and found that throughout the entire student period the head 
 increased in size. (Nature. 1890.) 
 
 T 
 
- 3 - 
 
 tions of any organ, but such is not the form of in- 
 crease noted in the brains of certain men dis- 
 tinguished for mental ability. The proposition here 
 dealt with concerns the relation which the weight of 
 the brain bears to healthy psychical functionating, 
 and this study is based upon the collection and 
 analysis of the actual brain-weights of men who in 
 their lifetime have become more or less dis- 
 tinguished in some branch of the professions, arts 
 or sciences, or who have been noted for their ener- 
 getic and successful participation in human affairs. 
 
 Before proceeding to this analysis, it must be 
 emphasized that the weight of the brain in itself is 
 not the all-important factor which still another class 
 of writers avers it to be. Aside from the fact that a 
 certain volume and weight of brain is absolutely 
 essential to mental integrity, the external appear- 
 ances of the cerebrum often give the best indication 
 of the individual's psychical powers. The recent 
 morphological studies of Retzius 1 on the brains of 
 the astronomer and mathematician Hugo Gylden, 
 the mathematician Sonya Kovalewski, and the 
 physicist and pedagogue Siljestrom; of Hansemann 2 
 on that of Helmholtz; of Guszman 3 on that of the 
 musical composer Rudolf Lenz ; of Duval* on that 
 of Gambetta; of Riidinger 5 on those of several scien- 
 tists ; and of those on the brains of the two 
 physicians Seguin, father and son, G tend to 
 show that the index of an individual's promi- 
 nent characteristic is to be found in certain 
 individual peculiarities in the development of 
 one or another cortical region. If the older in- 
 vestigators have been disappointed in their search 
 for definite areas of differentiation in different 
 brains, it has been because there did not yet prevail 
 a thorough appreciation of the complex and but re- 
 cently understand mechanisms involved in cerebra- 
 tion, and because of the small extent of knowledge 
 of the cerebral topography. The evidence that has 
 been gathered by the above mentioned observers, 
 while arguing for territorial differentiation of the 
 cortex, has, as a supplement to the anatomical in- 
 
— 4 — 
 
 vestigations of Flechsig, furnished us with a com- 
 prehensive understanding of certain distinctions be- 
 tween brains of high and low order. Psychologically 
 speaking, perhaps the most important difference be- 
 tween the human mind and that of the brute lies in 
 the great powers of association possessed by the 
 former. To a slighter degree the same differentia- 
 tion may be made in comparing human minds with 
 each other. When then, to return to the anatomical 
 aspect of this theme, in addition to large brain-size 
 we likewise have a superior development and ar- 
 rangement of the cerebral gyri and of special cor- 
 tical fields in particular (Gauss' brain remains the 
 best example of this), we see in such a case the 
 establishment of a true parallelism between the 
 potency and efficacy of every psychical function and 
 the size and architecture of the brain. 
 
 The subject of the brain-weight in men of distinc- 
 tion has already been treated by other writers, 
 notably Wagner, Welcker, Broea, Manouvrier and 
 Donaldson. More than a decade has elapsed since 
 the appearance of the last of the important and 
 original treatises .upon the subject, and the accumu- 
 lation of additional data prompts the writer to re- 
 view the subject, and to analyse still further the 
 material thus collected, in so far as the degree of the 
 intelligence may be correlated with the weight of 
 the brain. 
 
 The writer has been able to bring together 114 
 such brain-weights, of which 96 could be selected as 
 available in this analysis.* The mythical figures for 
 the brains of Cromwell (2330 gm.), Byron (2238 
 and 1807), General Abercrombie (1758) and certain 
 others are entirely left out of consideration. In still 
 another category have been placed those noted in- 
 dividuals who died insane, viz : 
 
 Frank Collier, (circular insanity) 1720 gm. 
 
 Altmann, anatomist (paresis) 7 1460 gm. 
 
 Donnizetti, composer, (paresis)* 1391 gm. 
 
 R. Schumann, composer, (melancholia) 9 1352 gm. 
 
 * Up to the time of reading proof, the writer has received an 
 additional brain-weight, that of Prof. Carl v. Kupffer, aged 73. 
 Prof. Bollinger found its weight to be 1400 gm. 
 
— 5 — 
 
 Ludwig II., sovereign (paranoia) 10 1349 gm. 
 Smetana, composer, (paresis) 11 1250 gm. 
 
 Others which are dismissed here with the mere 
 mention are those of a "Scotch Army Officer, of 
 marked intelligence, 12 (1693 gm.) ; "an obscure jour- 
 nalist, formerly, a clergyman" 13 , (1588 gm.) ; the 
 notorius "Jim" Fisk 14 (1644 gm.) ; E. L. B. 
 Curtis, 15 an educated farmer (1348 gm.) ; R. D. 
 Milne, 16 "newspaper reporter," (1135 gm.) and that 
 of Washington I. Bishop* (1135 gm.) 
 
 Still others omitted from the table are those of 
 the physiologists Harless and v Dollinger, and that 
 of Gambetta. The first two were not weighed until 
 after long immersion in alcohol, and Bischoff 17 at- 
 tempted an estimate by adding 41% to this weight, 
 obtaining for Harless 1238 gm., and for v. Dollinger 
 1207 gm. Gambetta's brain lost much of its weight 
 on account of the use of a zinc chloride solution, the 
 figure being 1160 gm.; an hour later 10 gm. less. 
 Duval's 4 experiments with a similar fluid led him 
 to estimate the original weight as 1247 gm. 
 
 The writer has as yet been unable to verify the 
 following, and they are, therefore, omitted from the 
 table for the present : 
 
 Eduard Lasker, 1300 gm. 
 
 Andrew Combe, 1616 gm. 
 
 Janos Vajda, 1500 gm. 
 
 On the other hand, the writer is not at all per- 
 suaded to exclude, as has been urged, the brain- 
 weights of Turgeneff ls and Cuvier. 19 . That of the 
 former is an extraordinary figure (2012 gm.), but 
 it is quoted from a very reliable source and was 
 accepted by contemporary authorities, notably such 
 careful men as Manouvrier and Topinard. The 
 physicians who performed the autopsy, namely : 
 Brouardel, Segond, Descout and Magnin, are cer- 
 tainly exempt from the charge of carelessness in 
 
 *This individual suffered from hystero-epilepsy, wore himself 
 out through imprudent wakefulness and self-prescribed doses 
 of antipyrine for nervousness and cephalalgia, and died in a 
 "trance," the consequence of cerebral exhaustion. The case 
 created a sensation on account of the accusation that Bishop's 
 physicians had performed an autopsy upon a living man while 
 in a "trance." This was proven to be unfounded, however. 
 
observation or dishonesty of purpose. The Rus- 
 sian poet was a tall man, but not extraordinarly so, 
 but his head was large, and the report that there was 
 noted a tendency to symmetry of the cerebral gyri 
 may have some significance in this connection. As 
 for Cuvier's brain, his alleged hydrocephalus, if it 
 existed at all, did not in any way impair the magnif- 
 icent mental powers of this founder — and most 
 productive worker — of the modern natural history. 
 His death occurred at the age of 63, with mind un- 
 clouded. Cuvier's skull was large, macrocephalic,** 
 but who can say from its inspection that it was not 
 simply and normally kephalonoid, or whether it was 
 thus enlarged by an undue accumulation of fluid. 
 The alleged hydrocephalus of Helmholtz 2 seems to 
 be based entirely upon the history of slight attacks 
 of vertigo*, of very rare recurrence ; attacks which 
 he might have had from a multitude of causes other 
 than hydrocephalus — of which there were no physic- 
 al signs observable in the shape of his head. 
 Hansemann's vague reference to a "slight dilatation 
 of the ventricles" are best explainable by the two 
 apoplectic hemorrhages which terminated Helm- 
 holtz's life six weeks after. If the suggested theory 
 of Perls and Edinger is to have for its foundation 
 cases like these, the arguments in favor of the "ad- 
 vantages of a moderate hydrocephalus" (i. e. if fol- 
 lowed by a recession) as a means of increasing the 
 brain and the intellectual powers are of a very 
 problematical nature indeed. 
 
 The actual weight of the brains of each of the in- 
 dividuals in the table has doubtless been in- 
 fluenced to a varying extent by the conditions and 
 causes of death. These variations must, however, 
 be disregarded here, except to mention that, as a 
 general rule, the figures are rather lower than they 
 should be by reason of atrophy from old age, or from 
 wasting diseases, or both. In a few cases there is 
 ample proof of this diminution of weight, as, for 
 
 ** Although Cuvier figures as a French naturalist, he was in 
 reality a native of Wuerttemberg, and belonged to the North 
 German, not the Celtic, race. 
 
— 7 — 
 
 example, in that of the phrenologist and anatomist 
 Gail/ who died at the age of 70, after a most active 
 career, and whose brain had shrunken considerably, 
 weighing only 1198 grams. The report of the 
 autopsy mentions this atrophy as well as the exis- 
 tence of "four or five ounces of fluid." The skull of 
 Gall had an internal capacity of 1692 cubic centi- 
 meters, from which we may fairly infer (employing 
 the law co-efficient of Manouvrier, 0.87) that the 
 brain must at one time have weighed fully 1475 
 grams or more. Bischoff 17 for a like reason would 
 raise Tiedemann's 1254 gm. to 1422 gm., and v. 
 Liebig's 1352 gm. to 1450 gm. at least. At the 
 autopsy on v. Liebig there was found "considerable 
 fluid under the arachnoid," and that "the brain had 
 already lost much in its nutrition during the last 
 days of life" may be deduced from the fact that it 
 lost in weight very rapidly after immersion in alco- 
 hol, namely, 34% in the first month and 50% after 
 about six years. - Daniel Webster 21 , with a cranial 
 capacity of 1995 cc, probably had a brain weighing 
 1735 gm., whereas after death it weighed over 200 
 gm. less. Spurzheim, 22 with a skull capacity of 1950 
 cc, which would indicate a brain-weight of 1695 
 gm., had an actual weight of only 1559 gm. The 
 brain of v. Pettenkofer 23 , who died at the age of 
 82, showed, Dr. Bollinger writes, a mild degree of 
 beginning atrophy. The brain of the ethnologist 
 and geologist J. W. Powell 24 showed distinct signs 
 of atrophy, and those of Whewell, C. Bischoff and 
 Fallmerayer are similar examples. That of the Hon. 
 B. G. Ferris, 15 an active lawyer and politician who 
 lived to b'e 89 years old, is doubtless another in- 
 stance of such senile atrophy. 
 
 Aside from these atrophic changes there occur the 
 inevitable errors due to variations in the amount of 
 fluid and blood contained in the cavities and the 
 brain-substance itself, and in the thickness of the 
 pia-arachnoid. These recur so frequently in brain- 
 weighings that in the absence of special data they 
 may be neglected, since relativity of the weights is 
 not much impaired. So far as I know, all of the 
 
brains here tabulated* were weighed with the pia- 
 arachnoid. As those of Bischoff's and Marchand's 
 tables, used here for comparison, were weighed 
 under like conditions, no further allowance need by 
 made. 
 
 Other factors known to affect brain-weight, such 
 as stature, nationality, body-weight and build, etc., 
 cannot well be considered in these cases ; the neces- 
 sary data are insufficient for the purposes of a 
 critical estimate of these influences. Marshall 25 has 
 essayed to do this with the brain-weights of 
 Thackeray, Grote, Grant Babbage and DeMorgan. 
 
 In Table i, are tabulated the 96 brain-weights 
 which are suitable for the purpose of our analysis. 
 No attempt at correction for the various deteriora- 
 ting influences above-mentioned has been made, and 
 all further discussion is based upon these figures ex- 
 clusively. 
 
 TABLE I. 
 
 OCCUPATION 
 
 BRAIN- 
 WEIGHT 
 
 Ivan Turgeneff, 
 G. Cuvier,i9 . . 
 
 E. H. Knight, 26 
 ( Theologian ; Prof t 
 John Abercrombie " 
 Ben Butler. 29 . . . 
 Edward Olney, 30 . 
 Herman I,evi, sl . 
 W. M. Thackerajv 
 Rudolf Lenz, 3 . , 
 John Goodsir, 33 
 Hospa Curtice, 15 
 C G. Atherton. 3 * 
 W. v. Siemens 2 . 
 George Brown, 33 . 
 A. Konstantinoff, 63 
 R. A. Harrison, 35 
 
 F. B. W. v. Hermann 
 J. K. Riebeck 30 . 
 Hans Biichner, 31 . 
 K. Spurzheim, 22 . 
 Edward D. Cope, 3 
 
 G. McKnight, 15 . 
 Harrison Allen, 37 
 J. Y. Simpson,^ . 
 P. Dirichlet, 39 . . 
 C A. DeMorny, 40 
 Daniel Webster, 23 
 Lord John Campbell, 41 
 Chauncey Wright, 15 . 
 
 I 
 
 I Poet and novelist 
 
 Naturalist 
 
 Physicist and mechanician, 
 in Freiburg University), 27 . . 
 
 Physician 
 
 General and lawyer, .... 
 
 Mathematician, 
 
 Composer, 
 
 Humorist, 
 
 Composer 
 
 Anatomist, 
 
 Mathematician, 
 
 TJ. S. Senator, ....... 
 
 Physicist 
 
 Editor, 
 
 Litterateur 
 
 Chief Justice, Canada, . . . 
 
 Economist and statistician, 
 
 Philologist, 
 
 Hygienist 
 
 Anatomist and phrenologist, 
 
 Palaeontologist, 
 
 Physician and poet, 
 
 Anatomist , 
 
 Physician, 
 
 Mathematician, 
 
 Statesman 
 
 Statesman, 
 
 Lord Chancellor (England), , 
 
 Philosopher, 
 
 65 
 63 
 59 
 42 
 61 
 74 
 59 
 60 
 52 
 
 53 
 
 2012 
 1830 
 1814 
 1-00 
 17. c 6 
 1758 
 1701 
 1690 
 1658 
 1636 
 1629 
 1612 
 1602 
 1600 
 1596 
 1595 
 1590 
 1590 
 1560 
 1560 
 1559 
 1545 
 1545 
 1531 
 1531 
 1520 
 1520 
 1518 
 1517 
 1516 
 
 •Coudereau's was weighed both with and without the pla. 
 
9 — 
 
 M. Schleich, 5 . . . 
 Thos. Chalmers, 42 
 Garrick Mallery, 24 
 Edward C. Seguin, 
 Napoleon III, 36 
 K. H. Fuchs, 3 ' J . 
 I,ouis Agassiz, 43 
 C. Giacomini, 44 
 DeMorgan, 13 . . 
 K. F. Gauss, 3 " . 
 Ch. lyetourneau, 45 
 J. W. Powell, 24 . 
 K. v. Pfeufer, 17 
 Wiilfert, 5 .... 
 Paul Broca, 46 . . 
 G. de Mortillet, 4 . 
 I,ord Francis Jeffrey, 48 
 1,. Asseline, 49 . . . 
 M. D. Skobeleff, 50 
 Ch. H. E. Bischoff, 1 
 Hugo Gylden, 1 . . 
 I<ainarque, 51 . . . 
 F. R. v. Kobell, 36 
 Mihalkovicz, 52 . . 
 H. v. Helmholtz, 2 
 Dupuytren, 53 . . . 
 P. A. Siljestrom, 1 
 Franz Schubert, 2 
 A. T. Rice, 54 . . 
 J. E Oliver, 1 " . 
 Melchior Meyr, 17 
 Joseph I^eid}', 37 
 Philip I,eidy, 37 . 
 George Grote, 25 
 Nussbaum, 31 . . 
 Joh. Huber, 17 . 
 C. Babbage, 23 . . 
 Jules Assezat, 55 
 A. Bertillon, 56 . 
 Fr. Goltz, 57 . . 
 Coudereau, 58 . . 
 Win. Whewell, 50 
 Henry Wilson, 24 
 Riidinger, 31 . . 
 Szilagyi, 60 .... 
 H. T. v. Schmid, 36 
 
 A. A. Hovelacque, 47 
 T. I,. W. v. Bischoff, 36 
 K. F. Hermann, 39 . 
 Justus v. I,iebig, 17 , 
 v. Schagintweit, 36 . 
 
 J. P. Fallmerayer, 17 . 
 John Hughes Bennett 
 Max. v. Pettenkofer "" 
 Seizel, 51 .... 
 J. G. Kolar, 11 . . 
 R. E. Grant, 25 . 
 Walt Whitman, 37 
 Robert Cory, 62 . 
 Edouard Seguin. 6 
 Fr. Tiedemann , 17 
 v. I,asaulx, 17 . . 
 I,, v. Buhl, 17 . . 
 J. F. Hausmann, 3 ' 
 
 B. G. Ferris, 27 . 
 F. J. Gall ,» . . 
 
 OCCUPATION 
 
 Writer and orator, 
 
 Theologian, 
 
 Ethnologist and explorer, . . 
 
 Neurologist, 
 
 Sovereign, 
 
 Pathologist, 
 
 Naturalist, 
 
 Anatomist, 
 
 Mathematician, 
 
 Mathematician, 
 
 Anthropologist, 
 
 Geologist and ethnologist, . 
 
 Physician, 
 
 Jurist, 
 
 Anthropologist, 
 
 Anthropologist, 
 
 Justice and editor, 
 
 Journalist, ; 
 
 General 
 
 Physician, 
 
 Astronomer, 
 
 General, 
 
 Geologist a'id poet, 
 
 Embryologist 
 
 Physiologist, 
 
 Surgeon 
 
 Physicist and pedagogue, . . 
 
 Composer 
 
 Diplomat and editor, .... 
 
 Mathematician, ....... 
 
 Philosopher and poet .... 
 
 Morphologist 
 
 Physician, 
 
 Historian, 
 
 Surgeon, 
 
 Philosopher 
 
 Mathematician and inventor, 
 
 Journalist, . 
 
 Anthropologist, 
 
 Physiologist, 
 
 Physician, . 
 
 Philosopher, 
 
 U. S. Vice-President, 
 
 Anatomist, 
 
 Statesman, 
 
 litterateur, 
 
 Anthropologist, 
 
 Anatomist, 
 
 Philologist, 
 
 Chemist, 
 
 Naturalist, 
 
 Historian, 
 
 Physician, 
 
 Chemist, 
 
 Sculptor, .... 
 
 Dramatist, 
 
 Astronomer, 
 
 Poet, 
 
 Physician, 
 
 Psychiatrist, 
 
 Anatomist, 
 
 Philologist, 
 
 Anatomist, 
 
 Mineralogist, 
 
 Turist 
 
 I Anatomist and phrenologist. 
 
 52 
 6(3 
 58 
 73 
 78 
 71 
 68 
 63 
 64 
 55 
 77 
 76 
 49 
 39 
 79 
 55 
 63 
 79 
 55 
 73 
 58 
 76 
 70 
 35 
 65 
 61 
 67 
 53 
 75 
 61 
 49 
 79 
 45 
 62 
 68 
 50 
 72 
 61 
 64 
 
 65 
 52 
 76 
 51 
 70 
 51 
 71 
 63 
 82 
 50 
 84 
 80 
 72 
 55 
 68 
 79 
 57 
 64 
 77 
 
 BRAIN- 
 WEIGHT 
 
 1503 
 1503 
 
 1503 
 1502 
 1500 
 1499 
 1495 
 1495 
 1494 
 1492 
 1490 
 1488 
 1488 
 1485 
 1484 
 1480 
 1471 
 1468 
 1457 
 1452 
 1452 
 1449 
 1445 
 1440 
 1440 
 1437 
 1422 
 1420 
 1418 
 1416 
 1415 
 1415 
 1415 
 1410 
 1410 
 1409 
 1403 
 1403 
 1398 
 1395 
 1390 
 1389 
 I3h9 
 1380 
 I3b0 
 1374 
 1373 
 1370 
 1358 
 1352 
 1352 
 1349 
 1332 
 1320 
 1312 
 1300 
 1290 
 1282 
 1276 
 1257 
 1254 
 1250 
 1229 
 1226 
 1225 
 1198 
 
IO 
 
 The average (arithmetical) brain-weight of the 
 96 individuals is 1473 grams, exceeding the various 
 averages given for the European brain by 75 to 125 
 grams, and this without allowing for the advanced 
 ag'e of this series ; the average of 92 being 63 years. 
 
 A Detter appreciation of the greater average brain- 
 weight of these notable persons can be formed from 
 
 
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 Fig. 1. This chart shows the relatively greater number of 
 heavier brains among the (96) "eminent men" (shaded;, as 
 compared with the distribution of the ordinary brain-weights 
 of the combined Bianhoff and Marchand series (in dotted out- 
 line). Both the 800 ordinary and the 96 brain-weights of the 
 eminent series are tabulated, for comparison, on the basis of 
 100 cases. 
 
 a glance at the chart (Fig. I.) showing the distribu- 
 tion of "ordinary" and "eminent" brain-weights. It 
 shows a relatively greater number of heavier brains 
 among the noted individuals, and the chart in Fig. 
 2 shows the same relation in another manner. 
 It is further shown that the period of decrease with 
 
— II 
 
 age is deferred for fully a decade among the more 
 intellectual persons, a point already alluded to by 
 Donaldson, and significant in connection with the 
 longevity of healthy persons endowed with high in- 
 telligence. 
 
 So far as nationality goes, our 96 noted persons 
 are nearly all Western Europeans and Americans. 
 They are distributed as follows : 
 
 Yrs.35 
 
 Cms 
 
 1550 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 9/ EmineJt Men 
 
 
 1450 
 
 / 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Broca-Bisch, 
 
 if- Boyd Sen 
 
 es 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 /?■>(> 
 
 
 
 
 
 '~'^ 
 
 JblG. 2. Curves of average brain-weights per decade in the 
 series of (91) "eminent" men whose age is recorded in Table I, 
 compared with the Broca-Bischoff-Boyd series. The curves 
 show that in the eminent series senile decrease occurs a decade 
 later than in the "ordinary" series. 
 
 Germany and Austria 
 
 United States and Canada 
 
 France 
 
 British Islands 
 
 Russia 
 
 Sweden 
 
 Italy 
 
 Bulgaria 
 
 38 
 
 21 
 17 
 14 
 2 
 2 
 1 
 1 
 
 The average brain-weights according to national- 
 ity are : No. of Cases Average 
 
 Brain-Weight. 
 1518 gm. 
 1473 gm. 
 1443 gm. 
 1440 gm. 
 
 In proceeding to a further analysis it seems best 
 to distribute these men of eminence among the three 
 
 United States and Canada 
 British Islands 
 Germany and Austria 
 France 
 
 21 
 14 
 38 
 17 
 
12 
 
 categories of science, creative arts and action. In 
 submitting these lists, the writer feels constrained to 
 repudiate any intention of maintaining the classi- 
 fication adopted to be one meeting all the requisites 
 involved. The simple divison into representatives 
 of science, creative arts and action is necessitated by 
 the smallness of numbers; a proper rubrication 
 would leave more than one important division re- 
 presented by only one or two individuals. Aside 
 from the failure of three groups to provide for the 
 various branches of mental activity as manifested 
 in various professions — here conventionally 
 adopted — it were doubtful if mature reflection would 
 endorse such classification. The latter is far from 
 a. natural one, for it does not regard the intrinsic 
 physiological relations of the professions, arts and 
 sciences. For example, the sharp demarcation of 
 art and science leaves music and mathematics 
 abruptly and remotely separated ; yet, whatever 
 justifiable presumption exists as to the relations of 
 cortical fields would assign both to closely situated, 
 nay, in almost identical areas, tracts, and neurons 
 of such. Again, to place, for example, generals in 
 one group, is to throw in a chaos of unrelated units, 
 the mathematical genius, the geographical explorer, 
 the expert physicist, with the strategic adventurer 
 and opportune gambler of the battlefield chess- 
 board. 
 
 With these limitations, the following table expres- 
 ses the results of such classifications in condensed 
 form : 
 
 TABLE II. 
 
 Categories. 
 
 No. 
 of cases 
 
 Average 
 Age. 
 
 Average 
 Brain-W't. 
 
 I, a. Ijxact Sciences 
 
 12 
 45 
 
 [57] 
 25 
 
 14 
 
 67.5 
 63 3 
 [61.2] 
 59.0 
 
 65.0 
 
 1532.0 
 1444.3 
 
 [1463.0] 
 
 IT. Pine Arts, Philosophy &c. . . 
 
 III. Men of Action [Government, 
 politics, military, &c] . . . 
 
 1482.2 
 1490.0 
 
— 13 — 
 
 It is readily seen that the representatives of the 
 exact sciences, such as the mathematicians and 
 astronomers, possess the heaviest brains ; in the 
 present series of 12, all have brain-weights of over 
 1400 grams, except the very aged Grant. Next come 
 those in the category of "Men of Action," i. e. states- 
 men, politicians and military men. The "Creative 
 Arts" come next, containing, among others, three 
 opera composers (Levi, 1690; Lenz, 1636; Schubert. 
 1420) with an average of 1582 gm.. The average of 
 45 representatives of the natural sciences is the 
 lowest of all, but still well above the average of 
 ordinary brain-weights. In this category we find 
 seven anthropologists and ethnologists, averaging 
 63 years of age, with 1459.3 g m - '■> ^ en anatomists and 
 surgeons of the same average with 1436.3 gm. ; 
 while six morphologists and naturalists (Cuvier, 
 Cope, Agassiz, J. Leidy, and v. Schlagintweit) aver- 
 age 1 5 19 gm.* 
 
 Of course, every rule has its exceptions, and, with 
 this limitation, the inference that the intellectual 
 status is in some way reflected in the mass and 
 weight of the brain seems generally correct. But 
 further than this our analysis shows that the brains 
 of men devoted to the higher intellectual occupa- 
 tions, such as the mathematical sciences, involving 
 the most complex mechanisms of the mind, those of 
 men who have devised original lines of research 
 (Cuvier) and those of forceful characters, like Ben 
 Butler or Daniel Webster, are generally heavier 
 still. The results are fully in accord with biological 
 results. 
 
 1. Retzius, Biol. Untersuch., 1898—1902. Stockholm. 
 
 2. Hansemann, Zeitschr. f. Psych, u. Physiol, d. Sinnesorgane 1899, 1. 
 
 3. Guszman, Anat. Anz., XIX, 1901, 239. 
 
 4. Duval, Bull. Soc. d'Anthrop., 1886. 
 
 5. Rudinger, Anat. des Sprach centrums, 1882, p. 43. 
 
 6. T$. A. Spitzka, Phila. Medical Journal, April 6. 1901. 
 
 7. Nacke, P., Hubertusburg, Germany. 
 
 8. Cappelli, Arch. ital. per le mal. nervos, 1887, 135. 
 
 ♦It is worth while to quote at this juncture the interesting 
 results of Matiegka's inquiry into the relations of brain-weight 
 and occupation (11). He distributed 235 cases among six groups, 
 ascending as follows: Day-laborers, 1410 gm. ; steadily employed 
 laborers, 1433.5 gm. ; porters 1435.7 gm.; mechanics, trades.work- 
 ers, 1449.6 gm.; business-men, teachers, clerks, 14 68.5 gm. ; schol- 
 ars, physicians, etc.. 1500 gm. 
 
— 14 — \ 
 
 9. Richarz, in Wasilewski's "Life of Schumann", 1871. 
 
 10. Rudinger, cit. in Jour. Ment. Sci., 1886 ; Med. Record, 1886. 
 
 11. Matiegka, Sitzber. d. k. Bohm. Ges. d. Wiss., 1902. 
 
 12. Boileau, lancet, 1882, II, 485. 
 
 13. Bastian, Brain as an Organ of Mind, 1880, p. 392. 
 
 14. Flint, Physiology. 
 
 15. B. G. Wilder, Cornell University, Ithaca. 
 
 16. Los Angeles Times, Dec. 26, 1899. 
 
 17. Bischoff, ,,Das Hirngewicht des Menschen", 1880. 
 
 18. Proces verbal, etc., par Brouardel, et al, 1883 [Paris]. 
 
 19. Berard, Gazette Medicale, May 19, 1832. 
 
 20. London Med. Gaz., 1828, p. 478. 
 
 21. Jeffries Wyman, Am. Jour. Med. Sci., 1853, p. 110. 
 
 22. Phrenological Journal, IX, p. 566. 
 
 23. Prof. Bollinger, Munich, Germany, 
 
 24. D. S. Lamb, Washington, D. C. ' 
 
 25. Marshall, Jour. Anat. and Physiol., XXVII, p. 30, 18)2. 
 
 26. Bost. Med. and Surg. Jour., 1883. p. 184. 
 
 27. Prof. Wiedersheim, Freiburg University, Germany. 
 
 28. Goodsir, et al, Edinb. Med. Jour., 1845, p. 231. 
 
 29. Med. Record, 1893, p. 186. 
 
 30. Prof. W. J. Herdman, Univ. of Mich. 
 
 31. Daffner, ' Das Wachsthum des Menschen", 1902, p. 275. 
 
 32. London Times, Dec. 25, 1863, cit. by Marshall 25 . 
 
 33. Chiene and Stierling, Goodsir's Anat. Mem., 1868, 1, p. 195. 
 
 34. Boston Med. and Surg. Jour., 1854, p. 512. 
 
 35. "The Lost Atlantis and other Ethnographic Studies", 1892, p. 376. 
 
 36. O. Amtnon, "Die natiirl. Auslese b. Menschen", 1893. 
 
 37. In Collection of American Anthropometric Society, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 38. Lancet, 1870, i; p. 717. 
 
 39. Wagner, Vorstudien, 1860—1862. 
 
 40. Thurnam, Jour. Ment. Sci., 1866. 
 
 41. Acton, Lancet, 1861, II, p. 193. 
 
 42. Bennett, Edinb. Mo. Med. Jour., 1851, p. 205. 
 
 43. Wyman, Med. and Surg. Rep. [Phila.], 1874, p. 131. 
 
 44. Sperino Gior. d. R. A. di Med. di Torino, 1900, No. 8. 
 
 45. Jour. Ment. Pathol., 1902, p. 269. 
 
 . 46. Kuhff, cit. by Topinard, "Anthropologic", p. 553. 
 
 47. Dr. Georges Herve, Paris. 
 
 48. Miller and Christison, cit. by Calderwood, "Relations of Mind and 
 
 Brain", 1884, p. 23. 
 
 49. Duval, Chudzinski and Herve, Bull. Soc. d'Anthropol., 1880 and 1883. 
 
 50. Neiding, Bull. Soc. d'Anthropol., 1882. 
 
 51. Manouvrier, "La Quantity dans l'Encephale", 1895. 
 
 52. Orvisi Hetilap, 1902, p. 8. 
 
 53. Broussais. et al, Gaz. des Hdpitaux, 1835, p. 78. 
 
 54. Autopsy by Keyes, Chetwood, Janeway, et al, N. Y. World, May 18, 
 
 1889. 
 
 55. Duval, et al, Bull. Soc. d'Anthropol., 1883. 
 
 56. Chudzinski and Manouvrier, Bull. Soc. d'Anthropol., 1887. 
 
 57. Prof. Ewald, Strassburg Univ. 
 
 58. Laborde, Duval, et al, Bull. Soc. d'Anthropol., 1883. 
 
 59. Humphrey, Lancet, 1866. I, p. 279. 
 
 60. M. Sugar, Orvosi Hetilap, 1902, p. 8. 
 
 61. Cadge, Brit. Med. Jour., 1875, 454. 
 
 62. St. Thomas Hosp. Autops. Rec, 1900. 
 
 63. Watjoff, Arch. f. Anthropol. XXVI, p. 1080. 
 
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