Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1891 — SOMETHING ABOUT BRAINS. [ARTICLE]

SOMETHING ABOUT BRAINS.

•onto South American Mon hoy Hove Larger Ones than Man. For a long time it was supposed that the relative weight of the brain, as compared with the body, was greater In man than in any of the lower animals; but, alas for poor human nature! it Is now known that some of the smaller South Americas monkeys have, proportionally, a larger share of brain than oar noble selves. On the other hand, however, man carries (absolutely) more weight in hie cranium than any other breathing creature, except the elephant and the wnale. As a rule, the human brain increases In specific gravity up to the twentieth or twenty-first year, and from the “age of discretion” till the fortieth year usually remains in statu quo. After forty, the organ in most oases begins to wilt It continues to decrease in volume more rapidly as we grow older, and in those who are unhappy enough to reach the seventh stage of “second childishness and mere oblivion" there Is nothing of it left worth mentioning. As a proof that the weight of the encephalic mass determines to a considerable extent the amount of Intellectual power, it may be stated that when the former is less than thirty-two ounces—-forty-nine ounces for the male and fortyfour for the female brain are the aver-age-idiocy or partial imbecility invariably accompanies the defect The heaviest brain on record Is that of Cuvier, the groat naturalist, which weighed sixty-four ounces.