Do Big Brains Mean Ability

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 608, 9 March 1929, Page 19

Do Big Brains Mean Ability

What Anatomists Have Found

Arthur Keith, who has had some continent to- offer in the discussion, brain came as a surprise to anatomists. -The large size of the brain bad been looked upon as a proof of ability, whereas Anatole France's brain was notably below the normal -There have been,'’ he said, “many disting lished men, such as Jeremy Bentbani, t hose body is preserved at Lniversity ollege, who had markedly -Anatomists have long been familiar with men of small heads and brains who were definitely geniuses a nd well-known scholars, while many mel i with large heads have proved failures. The mere size of the head is, in fact, uot a proof of ability, but ibe general evidence of evolution is to the effect that the increase of the brain has been accompanied by an

“Or, to come to contemporary ! times, you have only to look at lead- j ing business men or the Fellows of the Royal Society to realise that they are j larger brained than the average, and * the conclusion can fairly be drawn i that there is a relation between ability j and the size of the brain. “There are cases of successful I authors with small heads. This seems j to be because they take a limited, but j a very close, view of one detached j and isolated side of life. It is pos- I sible that with an increased size of i brain a man would see all sides of life and would have a difficulty in describ- ! ing it, while, with a more limited out- j look, it is possible for him to take a sharp view. “A characteristic of Anatole France was that he looked at life only from one aspect. If he had had a larger brain he might have been trammelled. One must ask whether the writing of novels or other forms of literature can be regarded as a fair test of a man's whole ability. The final test must be as to how he takes his place in the world as a man of action. “Are we right in assuming that a man of genius need have a big brain? Genius is not necessarily a display of the whole of a man’s ability, but more usually the manifestation of ope ability, and, for this reason, the case of Anatole France should not really be regarded as surprising. A man’s enjoyment of music, for instance, may be of enormous value to him. but not Ibe marketable, and we have no measure of computing the intensity I of enjoyment. j “Animals like sheep and goats are perfectly contented If they can keep their stomachs full, but man is always looking backward and forward. It is with the increase of man’s intelligence and understanding that he has achieved the faculty of enjoyment, and it would be quite possible for bigheaded duffers to have a greater power of enjoyment than Anatole France. “The question to ask is whether a farmer with a big brain gets more enjoyment out of life than Anatole France. A large part of the brain is emotional, and it is worth noting that none of us uses his brain to full capacity. Most people ordinarily only show 20 to 50 per cent, efficiency, although in some there may be a greater yield. “One must look on the brain as a real effective living mechanism. The whole universe Is in no way comparable with man’s brain in complexity. It has been studied tor thousands of years, but we are only on the fringe, although we are steadily making progress, and the further we advance in knowledge the more we are conscious of the fact that our brains are living mechanisms.”