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123 | THE EVOLUTION OF MAN |
At first sight, the fact that the more advanced races of the present day are distinguished by a large average brain might seem to furnish evidence to the contrary; it must not, however, be overlooked that the largest existing average brain is to be
met with, not among civilized races, but among the Eskimo.
The following list, which might be easily increased, is of great interest in this connexion:
Cranial capacity. | Weight of brain. | Authority. | |
Bismarck | 1965 c.c. | 1867 gms. | Waldeyer |
Kant | 1715 | - | Kupfer & Hagen. |
Bobbe (a robber and murderer) | - | 1510 | R. Wagner. |
Mohl (a distinguished botanist) | 1431 | - | A. Froriep. |
Do | 1500 | - | Buschan-Stettin. |
Gauss | - | 1492 | Rudmeyer. |
Skobelew (General) | - | 1451 | Sernoff. |
Mommsen | - | 1429 | Hansemann. |
Liebig | - | 1.353 | - |
Menzel | - | 1298 | Hansemann. |
Bunsen | - | 1295 | Do. |
Leibnitz | 1422 | 1257 | His. |
Gambetta | - | 1247 | Duval. |
Do. | - | 1160 | Paul Bert. |
It thus appears that there is no apparent reason why a great man should not possess a large brain (Bismarck); on the other hand, he may attain the highest flights of genius with a comparatively small one (Leibnitz).
The dissection of the brains of criminals and of distinguished men fails to reveal any characteristic difference between them.
Since the motor-centre for speech is situated in Broca’s area, we might have expected to find some connexion between great linguistic powers and the size or complication of the lower frontal lobe, but even, this is not the case. Dr. L. Stieda gives an interesting account of Dr. Georg Sauerwein, who was master of forty or fifty languages ; after his death, at the age of 74, on December 16th, 1904, his brain was dissected by Stieda, but it revealed nothing which could be correlated with his exceptional gift.