THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 2/ 



should be adult, though when special conditions permit, those of 

 infants can be added. We should bear in mind that the forms of 

 the latter are never decided, just as they are not permanent. The 

 condition of the sutures and of normal or abnormal development 

 should be taken into account, because abnormal development, as 

 well as the partial arrest of development, may profoundly alter 

 typical forms; exclude, therefore, all pathological crania when 

 this pathological condition is apparent. I have, however, been 

 able to observe and will demonstrate in a future work' that crania 

 belonging to persons of enfeebled mind, in spite of various alter- 

 ations, preserve the typical forms and are recognizable without 

 difficulty by those experienced in the method and classes of forms. 



The examination of the cranium must begin with the well- 

 known norma verticalis of Blumenbach, that norma from which, 

 in turn, Retzius derives the index of the width. It should furnish 

 us the first form or the first characteristic for classification. When 

 the vertical line is undecided, or cannot be reduced to a normal 

 form, then the norma lateralis must be observed in order to ascer- 

 tain the first characteristic; it may also happen that the lateral 

 modifies the norma verticalis so profoundly that it may be pre- 

 ferred to this, or that it may have a characteristic much more 

 prominent and more easily distinguished than the vertical; in 

 such a case it should have the first place. It may also happen 

 that another characteristic may be more decided and more marked, 

 giving it the preference, and such a characteristic may be visible 

 in the norma occipitalis or norma facialis; this should then be 

 selected as the first characteristic for distinguishing varieties. 



Let us now consider those characteristics which should separate 

 and classify varieties according to the natural method. I begin 

 with the forms given by the norma verticalis, as they are those 

 which are easily distinguished and can be in great part reduced to 

 geometrical figures. 



1st. Ellipsoid {ellipsoides) (Fig. 2). 



We will call ellipsoid a cranium which in the norma verticalis 

 presents an elliptical contour, as in the figure reproduced, taken 

 from life, and which I insert in the parallelogram in order to show 



* This is the work of Dr. G. Mingazzini, entitled Concertiing the Craniology of 

 the Insane. 



