On the relation between the quantity of brain and the size of the body in vertebrates / by Eugène Dubois ; [communicated by H. Zwaardemaker].

  • Dubois, Eugène, 1858-1940.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: On the relation between the quantity of brain and the size of the body in vertebrates / by Eugène Dubois ; [communicated by H. Zwaardemaker]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    7/24 (page 5)
    the relation between quantity of brain and size of the body likewise for the lower classes of Vertebrates. This is connected here with greater difticulties, for whereas in Birds the relative weight of the brain is still of the same order of amount as in Mammals, it descends in the inferior classes, both absolutely and relatively, as low as to the order of magnitude of about Vio t)f that of the two highest classes. The quantities of brain we have to deal with are thus absolutely little, and we can only make use of those rare cases of the usually very scarce evidences about these classes, in which the weights of the bodies show great differences. A few accurate evidences are found in Welcker’s “Gewichtswerthe der Korperorgane bei dem Menschen und den Thieren”, published after the author’s death by A. BKA^DT ^). Further L. Bapicque and H. Laugier”) gave in 1908 some trustworthy determinalions of weight, and lately G. Waterlot, who had made himself conversant with the technical method in the Laboratory of Lapicque, published a great number of weights of brains and bodies of Vertebrates, among which also Reptiles and Amphibia, determined in Dahomey ^). As early as 1855 and 1856 E. Crisp gave trustworthy evidences concerning a Reptile 'and a Fish '*). Among Waterlot’s Reptiles were a Monitor and a Gecko, belonging both to the same sub-order of the Lacerlilia as likewise the Emerald- Lizard, of which Laugier and Lapicque communicated the weight. All were full-grown animals, the Monitor (Varanus niloticus) was a subject of mean size; four individuals of the little Gecko (Hemi- dactylus Brooki) were weighed and consequently average weights can be calculated. The weight of the body of the Varanus is 1600 times that of the Gecko and almost 450 times that of the Emerald Lizard. Under these circumstances trustworthy results may be expected. A third good compai-ison of Reptiles affords a Viper (Vipera berusk of which Crisp weighed 7 individuals, with a Cobra (Naja melano- leuca) of Dahomey, weighing almost 28 times as much. A few other Reptiles have been inserted into the following table. The values of k calculated with r = 0.56 are likewise indicated in it, as well as the average diameter of the eye-ball of some species ®)- 1) Archiv fCir Anthropologie. Vol. 28 iBraurischweig 1902), p.p. 55—61. 2) Gomptes renlus. Soc. de Biologie. Paris 1908, Vol. 64. p. 1108. h Bulletins du Museum d’Histoire naturelle. Paris 1912, p. 491. h E. Crisp, Proceed. Zool. Soc. London. Part. 23. (1855), p. 191. Ibid. Part 24 (1856), p. 106. 0 N'A k, 2 and 4 have been borrowed from Waterlot (l.c.), 3 and 8 from Lapicque (l.c.) 5 from Crisp l.c. (1855), 6, 7 and 9 from Welcker—Brandt d.c.).— An Alligator rnississippiensis from Hrdlioka, cited by Lapicque (Bull, et Mem. Soc.