Memoirs Read Before the Anthropological Society of London (Volume 1) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1865. Excerpt: ... f Appendix. On the Weight of the Brain and Capacity of the Cranial Cavity of a Negro. By Thomas B. Peacock, M.D., F.R.C.P., F.A.S.L. In the present volume of Memoirs, I published a short paper on the weight of tho brain in the Negro. On this occasion, I propose to report the particulars of the weight of the brain and capacity of the cranial cavity of another Negro, whose body I have had the opportunity of examining since that paper was written. The caso referred to is that of a man, who was supposed to be from twenty-five to thirty years of age. He stated that he was born in the interior of Africa, and taken as a boy by Portuguese slave dealers to Mozambique, whence he was carried to the Cape of Good Hope, and remained there some years. He had been in England, with the exception of the interval occupied by a voyage to the Cape, for about fourteen years. He was not very intelligent, and spoke English imperfectly. Ho did not know to what race he belonged; but he had the characteristic features of the Negro, --a narrow and retreating forehead, a projecting jaw, and woolly hair. He was small and spare, not more than 5 feet 4 or 5 inches high, and the weight of his body, after death, did not exceed six or seven stones. His death was occasioned by phthisis and colliquative diarrhoea; and on examination, tuberculous deposits were found in the lungs and other organs, and there was much old and recent ulceration of the mucous membrane of the bowels. The weights of the different organs were as follows: --Encophalon. Cerebrum. Cerebellum. Pons A Medulla. Hrart. Liver. Spleen. 42 oz. 8 drs. 37 oz. 7 drs. 4 oz. 5 drs. 12 drs. 6 oz. 48 oz. 22 oz. I.--1. On referring to the former paper, 'it will be seen that of four brains of Negroes of similar ages, the mean weight was 4