﻿NO. I 



NATIVES OF KHARGA OASIS HRDLICKA 



83 







Percental 





Percental 



Mean 



Mean 



relation 



Mean 



relation 



nasal 



to general 



nasal 



to general 



age 



length 



average 

 length 



breadth 



average 

 breadth 



40.0 



4.87 



100 



3-73 



100 



24.3 



4.76 



97.7 



3-6 



96.5 



40.0 



4-85 



99.2 



3-72 



99.7 



56.4 



4-97 



102.1 



3-9 



104.6 



Mean 

 nasal 

 index 



The entire series of 150.. 



21 youngest adults 



42 adults between 35 



and 45 years of age . . 

 25 oldest adults 



76.6 



75.8 



76.7 

 78.8 



These figures show that the average nasal measurements and in- 

 dex in the adults in the " best " years agree very closely with the 

 general averages of the entire series ; and that both the measurements 

 and the index are smaller in .the youngest and larger in the oldest 

 adults than in those of mean age or in the Kharga series as a whole. 

 These conditions, notwithstanding individual exceptions and varia- 

 tions, are so regular and well marked that they can not be regarded 

 as accidental. They bear evidence to the fact .that in general the 

 nose grows both in length and breadth even after a fully adult life 

 is reached, apparently even after 45 years of age; they show that 

 the growth is perceptibly greater in the breadth than in the length ; 

 and as a result of these alterations the mean nasal index increases 

 with age, advancing towards platyrhiny. Judging from the writer's 

 experiences with the Indian, the augmentation in length ceases some- 

 where before the age limit of the present series, and later on the 

 dimension may diminish ; but the breadth seems to increase slightly 

 or retain its maximum proportions — unless affected by emaciation or 

 pathological conditions, to the end of the life. A series of the oldest 

 individuals in the Kharga Oasis would, it can be confidently ex- 

 pected, show a nasal index of still higher value than that shown by 

 the group of the oldest men that were measured. 



The differences in the mean nasal index in the youngest and that 

 in the oldest men in the present series, suggested that the age factor 

 might be responsible for what irregularities there were observed in 

 the distribution of the index. But eliminating the " youngest " and 

 " oldest " groups had actually the opposite effect, accentuating the 

 main mode at J2.6-J$, as well as the tendency towards a second 

 mode at 77.6-80 and not influencing appreciably the third grouping 

 at 85.1-87.5. And the large variability of the series is not dimin- 

 ished. In this manner the curve of distribution of the index ap- 

 proaches that obtained by Myers in the Valley and the probability 

 grows that the irregularity is due to admixture, which otherwise 

 passed undetected at Kharga, of the platyrhinic Soudanese. 



