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analyze the arguments - and
then
decide.
Brain Size
At least to sorne degree, mental
capacity is proportional to brain size.
Brain weight and intelligence increase
from rat to rabbit to cat to chimp to
human. But there are mammalian
brains
mrtch Jarger
than the lnunan
brain- like the brains of whales, dol–
phins, and elephants. What about these
mammoth, well-structured brains? They
require thorough investigation.
Now it would betray incredible
ignorance to immediately conclude
that, since man's brain is smaller than
a whale's brain and since human men–
tal activity is much more profound
than whale mental activity, man must
have a non-physical factor. We must
íovestigate in detail.
Whales especíally stand out when
mammalían brains are compared by
gross weight. A sperm whale brain
can weigh 19.6 pounds- that's more
than six times the three-pound human
brain and 20,000 times more than the
0.0009-pOtllld mouse brain.
Clearly, mere weight of brain can
tell
us
liule about an animal's mental
capacities, for otherwise an elephant
would be mnre than three times as
intelligent as man and a Rorqual [fin
whale] would have
an
unheard of
I.Q.
(E.
J.
Slijper,
lf/bales)
Many elaborate formulas have been
devised to portray the relevance - or
more precisely the irrelevance - of
gross brain síze. Naturally, the huge
brains of whale and dolphin cause
sorne anxiety to the materíalist. None–
theless, he has bis apparent explana–
tion.
The tradítional ( and most simple–
minded) interpretatioo of the brain
weight-íntelligence relationship is thís:
brain weight itself is not as important
as the brain weight's
percentage
of
total body weight. On this scale, man
surely ranks highest - or so we are
led to believe - his brain being 1.8%
of bis 165-pound body weight. Chimp
brain is about 1.0%, sperm whale
brain 0.03%, aod blue whale brain
0.005% of its 300,000-pound hulk.
Though this theory seems logical
- and is indeed partly correct - it
rapidly breaks down. Among cetaceans
(whales, dolphins, porpoises)
whose mental capacities are almost
indistinguishable from one another -
the brain weight percentage varíes
almost 200 times from 0.86% (por–
poise) to 0.005% (blue whale). This
variation is about
lOO
times greater
than the difference between man and
porpoise. Are porpoises 200 times
"smarter" than blue whales? And are
men only twice as "smart" as por–
paises?
Without wasting any more time,
the capuchin monkey of South America
blows the theory apart. lts brain
weighs 5. 7% of its total body weight
- over 200% more than the human
brain-weightjbody-weight ratio. Does
that mean this little monkey is 200%
more intelligent than human beings?
Other systems such as the ratio of
total brain weight to body surface
area or brain-stem or frontal-lobe
weight may seem more valid at .first
- but soon turn out to be just as
ineffective in explaining the superiority
of the human mind.
Let's get more speci.Jjc. The
entire
brain isn't responsible for conscious-
PLAIN TRUTH May 1972
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