Ill 



DESCRIPTIONS AND MEASUREMENTS OF SOME 



MAORI AND MORIORI CRANIA. 



By Walter R. Harper. 



Read September 14, 1897. 



As the subject of my paper will probably be new to many 

 of you, it may be as well to make a few introductory remarks. 

 We were all aware of the great value scientists attached to 

 the brains, hair, etc., of various individuals and races, but, to 

 quote Topinard, " Bones, on the other hand, have the in- 

 estimable advantage of presenting to us all that remains of 

 ancient peoples of which there are no longer any living 

 representative ; some extending back to one and two thou- 

 sand years, others to ten and twenty thousand, when the 

 various types had become less changed. When making a 

 comparison of races, therefore, it should not be matter of 

 surprise that such importance is attached to the study of the 

 bones, and particularly of the skull — that noblest part of the 

 human animal." When man was first studied in relation to 

 the animals, early in the present century, it was noticed that 

 in the former the brain case was directly above the face, and 

 in the animals smaller aud further back. From this arose 

 the study of the facial angle, one of the earliest attempts of 

 craniometry. Many angles were suggested, but it is only 

 within comparatively recent times that the measurement has 

 taken definite form. 



At first the skull was placed on a plane and studied from 

 above, without the use of instruments — craniology was 

 merely a descriptive science — but now it has become exact 

 and is capable of expressing characteristics with precision. 

 First the brain-case was considered the part of the skull 

 most worthy of attention, then later it was recognised that 

 more certain characteristics were to be discovered in the face, 

 aud now was found in the various facial indices, projections 

 and angles, the best aids for defining race differences. It 

 was not claimed for craniometry that it was the one means 

 by which the mystery of man's origin and early life and 

 history on this planet might be solved, but it was a most 

 important branch of the master science of anthropology. 

 However, I have this evening to lay before you not an 

 essay on comparative craniometry, but just a table and short 

 description of seven skulls in the Tasmanian Museum. 



