Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 47.djvu/222

212 Among the peculiarities of the female skull the following are definitely determined by Rebentisch, Mantegazza, Schaffhausen, and others. The skull of woman is smaller, the base relatively contracted, and the crown larger. The forehead is more nearly perpendicular, making a sharper angle with the flatter crown. The glabella and ridges above the eyes are less prominent. The parietal protuberances are more developed, but the occipital protuberances and the mastoid processes under the ears are less so. The lower jaw is smaller and more rounded. Relatively to the size of the head the face is slightly smaller and lower, and there is a little more prognathism than in man.

The long-disputed questions about woman's brain are now approaching solution in a few leading points. In the first place, woman's brain is of less absolute weight than man's, the proportion among modern civilized races being about nine to ten. This fact in itself has little significance, as man is heavier and taller than woman. If we consider the weight of the brain relatively to the height of the body, it still appears that woman's brain is smaller; but if, as is more just, we consider the weight of the brain relatively to the weight of the body, it appears that there is nearly perfect equality, the difference, if any, being in favor of woman. These results are still of little value, for, as fairly pointed out by Havelock Ellis, other corrections must be made, such as this, that woman has relatively more fat and less muscle than man, the latter, of course, making greater demands upon the brain. On the whole it appears that there is no considerable difference, such as there is being in woman's favor. Of more significance in its bearing upon woman's mental capacity is the relative size of the different parts of the brain. Here it is shown that the lower centers as compared with the hemispheres are larger in the female brain. In the cerebrum itself the frontal region is not, as has been supposed, smaller in woman, but rather larger relatively. The same is true of the occipital lobe. But the parietal lobe is somewhat smaller. It is now believed, however, that a preponderance of the frontal region does not imply intellectual superiority, as was formerly supposed, but that the parietal region is really the more important. As a balance, perhaps, to these female deficiencies, we may note that the circulation of the blood seems to be somewhat greater in woman's brain. In respect to her whole physical structure woman is less modified than man and shows less tendency to variation. Women are more alike than men.

Before proceeding to consider the purely mental peculiarities of woman, we may pause for a moment to ask whether the facts already cited have any bearing upon the various theories regarding woman's nature that were mentioned above. Concerning the