ITALIAN ANTHROPOMETRY. 



DR. RIDOLFO LI VI still carries on the work of 

 utilising- the Italian military statistics for anthropo- 

 logical purposes. His investigation of the cephalic index, 1 

 a few years ago, resulted in the partial confirmation of the 

 previous work of Calori and Lombroso. Livi showed that 

 the proportion of breadth to length of head in the living 

 man gradually decreased from the north to the south of 

 Italy, being about eighty-eight in the province of Ivrea 

 (Piedmont) and seventy-seven in those of Cosenza (Calabria) 

 and Sassari (Sardinia), the most conspicuous exception to 

 the rule being the comparative longheadedness of the people 

 of Lucca and Liguria. 



Already in 1884 Dr. Livi had published the results of 

 an investigation of the comparative stature of Italian con- 

 scripts from the several provinces, the most notable conclu- 

 sion being that the mean stature was highest in Venetia and 

 lowest in Sardinia and Calabria. 2 In his latest publication a 

 he has followed the same line of inquiry, but with a much 

 broader basis and with much more minuteness of detail. 

 He has also brought into comparison with the variations of 

 stature in the conscripts those of the complexional char- 

 acters, the colours of the hair and eyes. 



On the first glance at his elaborate maps, one is disposed 

 to conclude that high stature, breadth of head, and blond 

 complexion go together in Italy, and that they abound in 

 the north, while the opposite characters, low stature, long 

 and narrow head, and dark hair and eyes, greatly predomi- 

 nate in the south. A more careful examination somewhat 

 qualifies this impression, and shows us that the case is not 

 quite so simple as one might have supposed. Thus Sicily, 

 the most southern province, stands above Calabria and 



1 Lindice cefalico degli Italiani. Firenze, 1886. 



2 Sulla statura degli Italian/, studio statistico, antropologico. Firenze, 

 1884. 



3 Saggio dei risultati antropometrici ottenuti d'allo spoglio dei fogli sani- 

 tarii delle classi, 1859-186 3. Voghera. Roma, 1894. 



