412 



ANNUAL BEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 193 3 



for the conditions. In the Old Americans, owing to their high 

 stature, the height of forehead-stature relation is below the general 

 medium. The position of the Irish, of whom only 32 had been 

 measured, may be somewhat accidental. 



While the data on these immigrant series cannot be regarded as 

 perfectly representative of the different nationalities, owing to the 

 limited numbers of subjects, with the wholly accidental selection of 

 these and hence perhaps biased composition, nevertheless it is plain 

 that barring one real and a few possible exceptions, the groups 

 reflect a substantial racial similarity. 



HEIGHT OF FOREHEAD IN THE TWO SEXES 



The height of the forehead, it was seen above, presents unexpected 

 and interesting similarities as well as differences both socially and 

 racially ; the data to follow demonstrate that it also shows interesting 

 conditions in the two sexes: 



Relation of absolute height of forehead of females to that of males (tnales = 100) 



Percent 



Old Americans 97. 9 



American Indians 92.3 



American Negroes 99. 1 



Height of forehead in the two sexes relative to stature 



The main result that appears from these figures is that the relation 

 of the height of the forehead in the two sexes shows distinct differ- 

 ences in the three main American races. There are not many fea- 

 tures of the human body that could show such irregularities. 



The forehead of a white woman may be taken as a standard. Its 

 absolute height is 2.1 percent lower than that of the male, but when 

 compared to the stature (and also the size of the head — see my " Old 

 Americans ") it actually makes a better showing than that of the 

 male. 



The forehead of the Indian woman absolutely, as well as relatively 

 to stature (and size of the head), is decidedly lower than that of the 

 white woman. This lowness of the hair-free part of the front in 

 the Indian female is in some instances very striking. It is not due 

 generally, it may be said at once, to a low vault of the skull, but to 

 a low extension of the hair. 



