Brinton.] OlU [Oct. IS, 



words. It has also been commented on that the Etruscan cine- 

 rary urns frequently represent short, stout men, with dispropor- 

 tionately large heads and aruis. This, however, was merely a 

 technique of the national artists. They often put all their work 

 on the upper, and effaced tlie lower portion of the figure, as not 

 presenting individual characteristics. Where the full figure is 

 shown, as in some beautiful specimens in tlie Museum at Flor- 

 ence, the squat appearance referred to is not apparent. 



Fortunately we do not have to rely on the contradictory testi- 

 mony of art to learn the stature of the Etruscans. The Italian 

 anatomists have measured two hundred of their skeletons and 

 from these have deduced, in accordance with well-known osteo- 

 logic rules, the height of the average individual. The result 

 shows them to liave been an unusually tall race, the average of the 

 two hundred persons having been 1.75 metres, or very nearl}' five 

 feet nine inches.* This is greater than the average height of our 

 soldiers during the war, which was 1.70 metres, and is rather 

 above the average of the soldiery of any European nation to-day, 

 though less than some of the picked corps, the French carabineers, 

 for example. It is a little more than the average stature of the 

 j^lgerian Kabyles, who, nevertheless, are a tall race, averaging 

 above 1.70 metres.f ^ 



Dr. Taylor nnd his followers do not fare better when it comes 

 to cranial measurements. The typical skull of the Turanian 

 stock is short and roundish — brachycephalic ; that of the Etrus- 

 can was markedlj^ of the long type — dolichocephalic. MM. 

 Hovelacque and Herve quote the results of three extended meas- 

 urements of the cephalic index b^^ Italian craniologists as showing 

 75.6, 7G and 77.3.J Less than a fourth of the crania can be called 

 brachycephalic.§ 



It is interesting to compare these figures with- measurements 

 from the skulls of the modern descendants of the ancient Liby- 

 ans — the Kabyles. According to data furnished by two excel- 

 lent observers, MM. Topinard and Lagneau, these are respectively 

 76.7 and 77.3, almost absolutely the same as for the old Etruscans. 



There is a current tradition in Italy that the Etruscans were 



* Paul TopinArd, E'cments cV Anthropologic Gcnirale, p. 498 (Paris, 1885). 

 f Ibid., Chap. xiv. 



J Hovelacque et Ilervi?, Precis cVAnthropologip, p. 577 'Paris, 1887). 

 'i A number of aut liorities are quoted to this effect by Prof. G. Scrgi, in the Arckivio 

 per I' Antropologia e la Etiiologia, 1883, p. KO. 



