Contributions to the theory of natural selection. A series of essays ... By Alfred Russel Wallace ...

AS APPLIED TO MAY~. 337
which might have belonged to a philosopher, or might
have contained the thoughtless brains of a savage."
Of the cave men of Les Eyzies, who were undoubtedly
contemporary with the reindeer in the South of France,
Professor Paul Broca says (in a paper read before
the Congress of Pre-historic Archoeology in 1868)" The great capacity of the brain, the development of
the frontal region, the fine elliptical form of the anterior
part of the profile of the skull, are incontestible characteristics of superiority, such as we are accustomed to
meet with in civilised races;" yet the great breadth of
the face, the enormous development of the ascending
ramus of the lower jaw, the extent and roughness of
the surfaces for the attachment of the muscles, especially of the masticators, and the extraordina:ry development of the ridge of the femur, indicate enormous
muscular power, and the habits of a savage and
brutal race.
These facts might almost make us doubt whether
the size of the brain is in any direct way an index of
mental power, had we not the'most conclusive evidence
that it is so, in the fact that, whenever an adult male
European has a skull less than nineteen inches in circumference, or has less than sixty-five cubic inches of
brain, he is invariably idiotic. When we join with this
the equally undisputed fact, that great men-those who
combine acute perception with great reflective power,
strong passions, and general energy of character, such
as Napoleon, Cuvier, and O'Connell, have always heads
far above the average size, we must feel satisfied that
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