The average brain weight in man may be said to range from 40 to 52-1/2 ounces, and in women from 35 to 37-1/2 ounces; the question of the increase in size and weight of the brain, in proportion to intellectual power, is by no means determined; statistics exist of the weight of 23 eminent men, the list being headed by Cuvier, the naturalist, whose brain weighed 64-1/2 ounces, whilst that of the orator, Gambetta, weighed only 39 ounces, being much below the average weight in the adult male; an imbecile died at the Montrose Asylum, whose brain weighed 63 ounces, and the heaviest brain on record, which weighed 67 ounces, was that of a bricklayer, who could neither read nor write; it must therefore be conceded that no definite statement can be made as to the relation that brain weight has to intelligence.[19] It was formerly supposed that idiots always presented some obvious malformation of the cranium or skull. This is by no means necessarily the case; one of the most remarkable cases of idiocy that has come under my notice was that of a child with a well-formed head, remarkably handsome face, and a well-proportioned body. Dr. Ireland says, "the principal anomalies met with in the skull of genetic idiots are flatness of the head behind, a rapid slope of the clivus, an osseous rim round the foramen magnum, unsymmetrical size of the cavities on each side, irregularities in the wings of the sphenoid, and differences in the size and shape of the jugular and other foramina; but these appearances are not constant, and often the skull is quite regular, both in structure and capacity."[20] One of the most noted writers on the subject, after stating that a number of scientific men had spent thirty years in measuring and weighing the heads of idiots, sums up their conclusions as follows:-- 1st. There is no constant relation between the development of the cranium and the degree of intelligence. 2nd. The dimensions of the anterior part of the cranium, and especially of the forehead, are, at least, as great among idiots as others.[21] 3rd. Three-fifths of idiots have larger heads than men of ordinary intelligence. 4th. There is no constant relation between the degree of intelligence and the weight of the brain.[22] 5th. Sometimes the brain of idiots presents no deviation in form, colour, and density from the normal standard; it is, in fact, perfectly normal. After such a statement as this, I can readily imagine that some of you may say, it seems to us that you doctors really know but little about the genesis of idiocy. I am afraid this is, to some extent, true. We are only on the threshold of inquiry, and science of to-day is unable to bridge over the gulf that separates matter from mind.