ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PARIS. 383 



Taking as a point of departure tlie measurements \vhicli lie had executed on the 

 great series of crania known by the name of sJcidls of the citi/, he deduced a 

 formula wliich he has since tested by its ap{)lication to the craniomctrical tables 

 prepared, from series the most diverse, by JM. Pruner-ljcy, b^^ ]\DI. His and 

 Kutimeyer, and by myself. Now, such is the precision of his calculations, that in 

 every case where the formula applied to scries of skulls of the same type apj)eared 

 to indicate divergencies, it has been ascertained that these depended on the 

 dilVerence of the processes emjdoyed by the different observers for the measure- 

 ment of the vertical diameter. The way opened by j\I. Gaussin in this remarka'ole 

 memoir may be easily enlarged, for all the craniomctrical elements ma}' be made 

 auxiliary to the same researches ; nor can it be necessary to point out the import- 

 ance of a method whi(;h permits of reducing to the same standard observations 

 collected according to different processes, and even of correcting what astrono- 

 mers call the personal error. 



Our distinguished colleague, M. de Khanikof, also, bringing to the study of 

 anthropology the aid of the exact sciences, has successfully applied the formula 

 of M. Gaussin to the cephalometric measurements reported from Persia by M. 

 Duhousset, who, operating on the living man, had only been able to obtain by 

 approximation the length of the vertical diameter. In coufoi-mity with the 

 general instructions published by the society, M. Duhousset has taken, to replace 

 that diameter, the height of the plane of the vertex above the auditor}^ orifice. 

 But the situation of this orifice in relation to the plane of the base of the cranium 

 sensibly varies according to races. We might expect, therefore, to recognize a 

 certain divergence betwe(^n the results of the cephalometric observations of l\i. 

 Duhousset and the craniometric fornnila of M. Gaussin. This divergence has, 

 liowever, proved very small ; in four out of six series of observations the result 

 has been less than one millimeter and a half. The two series of Kurds and 

 Hindoos alone have presented divergencies of three and four millimeters, which 

 depend, doubtless, on variations in the position of the auditory canal. On this 

 occasion M. Khanikof communicated to us the notes which he had collected in 

 the museum of St. Petersburg on the height of the orifice above the plane of 

 the occipital orifice. He has consigned them to a valuable table, in which figure 

 most of the populations of Asia. 



But it is impossible to speak of craniometric tables without immediatel}^ recall- 

 ing those W'ith which our former president, M. Pruner-bey, has enriched our 

 memoirs and buUeihis. Thanks to him, we can now pursue, in the closet, the 

 most precise study of the constitution of the skull and face of the greater number 

 of the human races. The three great tables which accompany his memoir, 

 entitled lUsultats de crdnlometrie, comprise more than 15,000 measurements 

 taken on skulls derived from all quarters. Among them we find 117 African 

 skulls, 165 from Oceanica, 82 American, 58 Asiatic, and 105 European skulls, 

 ancient or modern. It would be in vain to seek elsewhere an equal amount of 

 documents collected after imiform pnjcesses by the same observer. 'J'heso three 

 tables present us, in a condensed form, the results of many years of circumstantial 

 researches, and when we think of the immense labor they have cost we cannot 

 but wonder how our colk^ague has found time to execute his great works in 

 linguistics, and to treat, moreover, with so much competence the highest ques- 

 tions of general and philosophic anthropology. The secret consists in his 

 having enjoyed the happy jirivilege of preserving, in the maturity of age, the 

 indefaligable ardor and the sacred lire of youth. Let us add that he is one of 

 those rare men of science who have the good fortune to 1)0 able to devote them- 

 selves entirely to the study, or rather the' religious culture, of anthropology. 

 May the example he gives us find frequ(int imitators ! 



It is not here that 1 can hope to recaj)itulate all the craniological facts whicli 

 liave been comnumicated to the society, llare it is for a single sitting to pass 

 without an offerinff of new skulls. Avnonj]: those which have come from foreign 



