Abstract
DR. H. L. GORDON'S letter in the Times of December 8, recording the results of his calculation of the average skull capacity of 3,444 unselected adult male natives of Kenya Colony, and an examination of 100 brains of normal adult male natives, opens up a question of considerable scientific interest and of far-reaching practical importance. Dr. Gordon finds that the average cranial capacity of the natives measured is 1,316 cubic centimetres, as against the European average of 1,481 c.c. The element of uncertainty introduced by the fact that the cranial capacity, and inferentially the size of the brain, is calculated from measurements taken on the head of the living is neutralised in some degree by the examination of the 100 brains, which confirms the evidence of the cranial capacity, giving an average weight 150 gm. less than the average brain weight of the European. There is a further quantitative inferiority in the brain, in that, according to Dr. Vint, Government pathologist, the cortex shows a deficiency of 15 per cent in quantity, while the cells of the cortex are smaller, less well arranged and less well shaped than in the European brain. Thus both in quantity and quality the Kenya brain is shown to be inferior. Anthropologists have virtually abandoned any attempt to correlate size of brain with mental ability in view of the conflicting character of the facts; but if ability is regarded as in some way related to the quality of the brain, the inferiority of the Kenya brain is still significant.
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European Civilisation and African Brains. Nature 132, 958 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/132958a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/132958a0