rdeleben, there is no such thing as a
normal type of brain. Weight of brain is a much simpler question than
brain type, but so far it is impossible to say whether the criminal
brain is heavier or lighter than the ordinary brain. The solution of
this comparatively simple point is beset by a certain number of
obstacles. It is not enough, Dr. Binswanger tells us, to weigh the
brains of criminals and the brains of ordinary persons and then strike
an average of the results. The height and weight of the persons whose
brains are averaged are essential to the formation of accurate
conclusions; till these important factors are taken into account, all
deductions based upon weight of brain only rest upon an unsure
foundation.

But supposing we had a trustworthy body of facts bearing upon the
weight and structure of the criminal brain, we should still require to
know much more of brain functions in general before satisfactory
conclusions could be drawn from these facts. We know something, it is
true, of the physiological functions at certain cerebral regions, but
as yet nothing is known of the localisation of any particular mental
faculty, whether criminal or otherwise. A conclusive proof that the
study of the brain, as an organ of thought, is still in its infancy,
is found in the fact that the fundamental question is still unsolved,
whether the whole brain is to be considered one in all its parts, so
far as the performance of psychic functions is concerned, or whether
these functions are localised in certain definite centres. Till these
fundamental difficulties are cleared away, the presence of anomalies
in certain convolutions of the brain will not prove very much one way
or the other.[35]

[35] A masterly article on the "Localisation of Brain Functions"
will be found in Wundt's _Philosophische Studien Sechster Band_,
1. _Heft Zur Frage der Localisation der Grosshirnfunctionen_,
Von W. Wundt. Compare also _The Croonian Lectures on Cerebral
Localisation_, by David Ferrier. London: 1890.

An examination of the criminal face has so far led to no definite and
assured results. In the imagination of artists the criminal is almost
always credited with the possession of a retreating forehead. As a
matter of fact, Dr. Marro, one of the most eminent representatives of
the anthropological school, assures us that this is not the case.
After comparing the foreheads of 539 delinquents with the foreheads of
100 ordinary