Evidence for a secular increase in human brain weight during the past century

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Abstract
A survey of 7397 post-mortem records included all 20-50 yr old men and women who were autopsied in The London Hospital [England] since 1907. Fresh brain weight, body weight and height were abstracted and analyzed statistically according to sex and to year of birth, with any person with a cerebral or skeletal abnormality having been excluded. Fresh brain weight in men increased gradually by an average of 0.66 g/yr from a mean of 1372 g for those born in 1860 to 1424 in 1940, a total of 52 g. The weight of the female brain increased by 0.28 g/yr from 1242 g to 1265 g over the same period. No appreciable rise in fresh brain weight occurred in women until 1900, after which date the increase was of the same order in the 2 sexes. Evidence of secular increases in body height and in body weight is also given.

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