'genius,' we have on the physical side certain equally rare individuals who at birth enormously excel their fellows in physical size, while yet remaining normal and well proportioned. Now, we may ask, do these individuals possessing congenital physical 'genius' resemble persons of psychic genius in being more often male than female? Ordinary statistics are not here available, for these cases are so rare that they very seldom fall into an ordinary series. Smellic found one child weighing over 13 pounds in 8,000 cases; in France, a child of 12 pounds was only found in 20,000 cases.[1] As even a child of 9 pounds is generally considered large, it is clear that when we get beyond 13 pounds we reach a point at which the average difference between males and females is trifling, so that there is almost as great a chance of females as of males reaching the extremely large weights. The only practicable way of obtaining information concerning these cases lay in collecting the scattered records. I have collected all that I can find in medical journals of standing, chiefly English, during the past half century, being aided by the references in Neale's 'Medical Digest.' I have only noted the cases that appear to have been healthy and well developed and weighed over 13 pounds at birth. One unexpected difficulty I encountered: in many cases, even when numerous measurements were given, no reference was made to sex. While such cases were necessarily rejected, I may say that I think it probable that most, and perhaps all, of these rejected cases were males; this was so in the only case in which, by writing to the medical reporter immediately on publication, I was able to repair the omission; the medical mind seems to share in some degree the instinctive conviction that the typical human being is a male, and that in the case of males it is unnecessary to make any reference to sex. My cases were thus reduced to 21. Of these there were only 3 females to 18 males. The females all died at birth, as well as about half the males. However rough this method of estimation may be, it is highly improbable that any more methodical inquiry on children of this size would entirely reverse so large a preponderance of males.
Such a result, it will be seen, can not be considered as absolutely conclusive proof that there exists a selection of birth which in its operation tends to the destruction of the larger male children either at the moment of birth or during the succeeding days and weeks, though it renders such selection probable. This element of doubt, however, by no means makes Professor Pearson's position any stronger. It
- ↑ It must also be said that (as in the case of psychic genius) it is among the well-to-do classes that these very large infants are most usually found, not only because the parents tend to be larger among these classes, but because, as has lately been shown, other things being equal, women who rest during pregnancy tend to have larger children.
