RECORDS. 177 



SECTION OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY. 



March 23, 1903. 



The regular meeting of the Section was held at 8.30 P. M., 

 Professor Thorndike presiding. The following program was 

 offered : 



Clark Wissler, Observations on Abnormalities of the 

 Hard Palate. 



A. Hrdlicka, Physical Anthropology of the Hyde Expe- 

 dition IN 1902. 



Summary of Papers. 



Dr. Clark Wissler's paper reported progress in the measure- 

 ments of the casts of the hard palates of idiots. The first thing 

 to be considered in this work was the determination of the 

 significant points and dimensions in the palate. The results 

 presented indicated important structural relations between the 

 width at the canine teeth and the length of the palate measured 

 from the first molars and the maximum height of the arch. 

 The comparative study of the palates of normal and of idiotic 

 persons will be based upon these measurements. 



During 1902 Dr. Hrdlicka made two expeditions, one of 

 seven and the other of three months' duration, to the south- 

 western United States and Mexico. These expeditions were 

 the conclusive ones of a series of five, begun in 1898, made for 

 the purpose of ascertaining the physical characteristics of all 

 those present as well as extinct tribes which occupy or occupied 

 the region marked by the boundaries of the ancient Pueblos, 

 Cliff-Dwellers and Nahaun (Toltec, Chichimec, Aztec) peoples. 

 The region thus bounded extends uninterruptedly from Utah 

 and Colorado to the Mexican States of Morelos and Guerrero, 

 and in it live at present a little over forty tribes or distinct 

 groups of Indians. About nine tenths of all these peoples were 

 visited on the five expeditions and examined ; all the measure- 

 ments and data secured are being studied, but to arrive at de- 

 tailed results will require several years. ' 



What can now be safely stated is: (i) All the ancient as 

 well as the modern peoples in the region mentioned belong to 



