WHY WE MEASURE PEOPLE. 5 



The region under consideration consists partly of the 

 calcareous beds, and partly of primitive rocks of the Central 

 Plateau of France ; the limiting line between them is 

 shown on map No. 1 ; to the east it passes into the 

 mountainous mass of Auvergne. The five Departments 

 which constitute this region are traversed from east to west 

 by the gradually decreasing elevations of the Limousin 

 Mountains, which serve as barriers between the three 

 basins of the Dordogne — or rather of its right affluents the 

 Dronne Isle, Vezere and Correze ; of the Charente and of 

 the left affluents of the Loire, the Vienne, Gartempe, 

 Creuse and Cher. A line running roughly north and 

 south, starting at the junction of Charente and Haute- 

 Vienne and passing not far to the east of Perigueux, 

 would separate the fertile district to the west from the 

 poor lands to the east. At certain points in the latter, 

 as in the Limousin, the valleys are rich, but the up- 

 lands are infertile, and produce only chestnuts and scanty 

 cereals. 



The physical features of the population studied by 

 Dr. Collignon are mainly those of the conscripts for the 

 xii e Corps d'armee who are recruited from these five 

 Departments. 



The characters are given in the order of importance 

 that Dr. Collignon allocates to each. 



CEPHALIC INDEX. 



This index is the ratio of the breadth of the head to its 

 greatest length, the latter being taken as 100. In dealing 

 with skulls, anthropologists usually arrange the indices in 

 three groups: (1) Dolichocephals, with an index of less 

 than 75 ; (2) Mesaticephals, with an index between 75 and 

 80; and (3) Brachycephals, having an index of over 80. 

 It is the practice of some anthropologists to deduct two units 

 from the corresponding index of the living head so as to 

 reduce the cephalic to the cranial index. 



There is a tendency at present not to lay too much 

 stress upon these purely empirical divisions and some 



