Large and Small Brains

Apparently, mankind is prejudiced in favor of heavy brained persons. This view was bluntly expressed at a recent conference by a physician who averred that it is generally recognized that men with large heads seem to represent the intelligentsia of man, although this does not mean necessarily that a smaller headed man may not be quite as keen in his intellectual processes. Superiority and size do not always go together in other anatomic relations in the body. It is true, of course, that a muscle such as the biceps, capable of high grade contractile performance, is likely to be larger and heavier in the case of a powerful person than in the physically weak; but a heavy person is not necessarily superior to one of less weight, who has dispensed with several pounds of superfluous fat. The tissues of the human organism may be interpreted in terms of quality as well as of quantity. In the development of the brain, the sequence of events is quite fixed. At birth the brain is composed of neurons, most of which have ceased to divide; but there are still some dividing cells, most numerous in the cerebellum. This phase is completed during the first part of the second year, and with the completion of the development of the cerebellum comes the ability to walk. At this time the number of neurons forming the system, a number that is characteristic for the species, becomes complete, and the subsequent growth of the brain depends mainly on the enlargement of the formed elements.