Palla Ákos szerk.: Az Országos Orvostörténeti Könyvtár közleményei 37. (Budapest, 1965)

Tóth Tibor: The Variability of the Brain-Weight by Homo

of cases examined, is rarely included (Kohlbrugge, 1935; Lassek, 1957). Undoubtedly the thorough study of Roessle-Roulet is one of those employing pathological viewpoints as well as abundant material (999 males and 458 females, altogether 1,457 adults with normal brain weights, see Table 4).* It should be mentioned that recently Bürger (1960) expresses doubts about the validity of the morphoscopic evaluation of the brain, nevertheless he publishes a part of his own data together with the normal weight values of Roessle-Roulet. In addition, when arguing against the otherwise highly controversial conception, it is still considered permissible to use theaverage brain-weight data of an extremely small number of individuals Connoly (1950) after Swan (1964). Regarding the analysis of the data I collected for the normal brain weight of 1,110 males and 1,022 females, it can be asserted that in the majority of ages grouped according to decades (Table 2) the extent of individual variation is greater for females than for males. At the same time it is also interesting to note that the average extremes (males: 1,050—1,650 grams; females: 940—1,600 grams) for the weight of the adult brain (20—100 years) deviate to a certain extent from those published by Bunak (1941) and Roginsky—Levin (1955) (males: 1,100—1,700 grams; females: 1,100—1,500 grams). Certain authors hold that the weight of the brain may be reduced by as much as 300 grams during the lifetime of an individual (Zhedenov, 1962). The material I analyzed shows a 201.6 gram variation for males (30—100 years) and a 134.6 gram variation for females (20—100 years) in the normal categories (Table 2). The analysis of the average values is interesting even in the different diagnostical categories (normal, oedema-, apoplexia-, atrophia cerebri). In the normal category the brain reaches its maximum weight during adulthood in both males and females (1.368.2 and 1.253.3 grams respectively; Table 2). Here it must be added that the weight difference is not proportional between the main age groups of the normal category of males because we find only a 11.5 * Unfortunately I did not have access to the works of Prof. Bunak (1936) and E. Handmann (1906).