THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 25 



modern populations, large and small varieties are found, just as 

 the same types are now found through persistence of forms. 



From this it is evident how much there is to reform in anthro- 

 pology when we study by natural methods facts until the present 

 misinterpreted, respecting the classification as well as the physical 

 and psychological characteristics of man in time and space. Per- 

 haps in the future, when we know all cranial forms by natural 

 classification, it will be possible to find a correspondence of psy- 

 chological characteristics in populations according to the pre- 

 dominance or superiority of types, a fact which has until now 

 escaped research, because the capacity of the cranium in its abso- 

 lute sense is not in correlation to the development of the mental 

 functions, notwithstanding what is commonly affirmed. The 

 reform is urgent, but a natural method should be employed, and 

 that is my purpose. 



PART SECOND. — Method and Classification. 



I. 



Varieties. 



The greatest variation in a series of human crania cannot be 

 distinguished by an untrained eye; anatomists continually accus- 

 tomed to the study of the human skeleton and scholastic demon- 

 strations do not at first discover the salient points of difference 

 among crania, their attention being distracted by observing the 

 single parts of which they are composed, the canals, depressions 

 and minor details, and does not grasp the complex form of the 

 entire cranium. There are two different kinds of observations: 

 one is useful in examining the development and normal condition 

 of the cranium; the other serves for the classification of forms, 

 and it is this last method of inquiry which I am about to consider. 



The distinctions of forms depend in the first place on the com- 

 parison of different crania. They should be placed upon a table 

 and compared in every direction. Little by little a useful habit 

 and keen eye are acquired, by means of which the slightest varia- 

 tions are detected, so that the similarity of fundamental character- 

 istics can be seen among great differences which at first appear 

 absolutely dissimilar. 



