Re: Australia and brains...

Rod Hagen (rodhagen@netspace.net.au)
4 Oct 1995 23:50:00 GMT

In article <44rotq$asj@jupiter.ks.symbios.com>,
jimf@vangelis.FtCollins.NCR.com (Jim Foley) wrote:

> In article
<Pine.SUN.3.91.951001122036.10713A-100000@sawasdee.cc.columbia.edu>,
> Ralph L Holloway <rlh2@columbia.edu> wrote:
>
> >Jim Foley asked for some refs on the Australian Aboriginal brain weight.
> >The most recent reference I know of is: Klekamp et al, 1987. A
> >quantitative study of Australian Aboriginal and Caucasian brains. J.
> >Anatomy,150:191-210....
>
> > Harry Erwin's ap"apology" isn't really necessary as in fact, some of
> >the older Australian Aboriginal women do have low brain weights, but the
> >value of 750 ml is rare. I have seen it, however.
>
> Thanks for the reference. I assume that in old people the brain is
> smaller than in young adults, and that the smallest brains in any
> population will therefore belong to old women.
>
> I have read one source, by Stephen Molnar, "Races, Types and Human
> Variation", which states that there are "many" people in the 700-800
> range. "Many" is of course a vague term: if there were thousands of
> such people worldwide, it might be "many" in an absolute sense, but they
> would still be a vanishingly small percentage of the population.
>
> Molnar unfortunately provides no documentation of his claim. Most
> sources list the lower human range in the 800-900 area, but if Ralph
> says some are as low as 750 cc, then I accept that.
>
> Part of the problem is that defining a "normal" range depends on how
> many people you want to include. Should it be 99%, 99.99%, or 99.9999%?
> How far into the tail of the bell curve do people have to be before they
> are "out of the normal range"? Are people who are 3' and 8' feet tall
> still "normal"? What about a brain size of 800 cc?
>
> --
> Jim (Chris) Foley, jim.foley@symbios.com
> Assoc. Prof. of Omphalic Envy Research interest:
> Department of Anthropology Primitive hominids
> University of Ediacara (Australopithecus creationistii)

People involved in this thread would be well advised to proceed with some
caution. Australian Aboriginal cranial capacities show a similar range of
sizes / body weight ratios to those of all other "modern" human beings.
Quoting outlying figures is dangerous in most disciplines, but
particularly so when issues of racial difference are involved.

-- 

Rod Hagen

Hurstbridge, Victoria, Australia

rodhagen@netspace.net.au