1892.] Address. 5.S 



long-headed (dolichocephalic) race ; the broad-headed (brachj'ceplialic) 

 race occurs only along the northern and eastern borders of Bengal, and 

 can hardly be deemed Indian at all. In the long-headed race, however, 

 two extreme forms can be distinguished ; one (the Aryan) has a 

 straight, finely-cut nose, a long, narrow face, a well developed forehead, 

 regular features, high facial angle, and fairly high stature ; the other 

 (the Dravidian) has a thick broad nose, low facial angle, thick lips, wide 

 and fleshy face, coarse and irregular features, rather -low stature, squat 

 figure and sturdy limbs. Between these two extreme types a large num- 

 ber of intermediate groups can be distinguished, each of which forms for 

 matrimonial purposes a sharply defined circle, commonly known as a 

 caste, beyond which none of its members can pass. If these groups are 

 arranged in the order of their average nasal index, or the formula 

 indicating the proportion of the length of the nose to its breadth, so 

 that the caste with the finest nose shall be at the top, and that with 

 the coarsest at the bottom of the list, it is found that this order sub- 

 stantially corresponds with the accepted order of social precedence. 

 Thus Mr. Risley arrives at the curious result, that it may be laid down 

 as a " law of caste organisation in Eastern India, that a man's social 

 status varies in inverse ratio to the width of his nose." Whether the 

 two extreme types really represent two distinct races, as Mr. Risley is 

 disposed to believe, or whether they do not rather represent the two ex- 

 treme points of differentiation of the same race under differing conditions, 

 is a question which may be considered open to further research. Mr. 

 Risley 's volumes are published as a preliminary edition in order to 

 invite criticism with the object of supplying omissions and correcting 

 mistakes. We may hope that their accomplished author will soon be 

 enabled to give us the second edition of his valuable work in its final 

 form. 



Vedic Mythology by Prop. A. Hillebrandt of Breslau. 1st volume : 

 Soma and Cognate Deities" (In German). — The author of this excellent 

 book will be well-known to many members of our Society as the editor of 

 the Sankhdyana S'rauta Sutra in the Bibliotheca Indica. He has made 

 the study of the Yedas his speciality, and in the present work he has given 

 us not the least important results of his researches. The question of the 

 identity and the name of the famous Soma plant has been long discussed 

 and still remains undecided. It will be remembered that at the time 

 of the Afghan Boundary Commission, the naturalist who accompanied 

 it was instructed to make inquiries on the subject. These inquiries 

 would perhaps have been more fruitful, if it had been possible to place 

 in his hands a brief abstract from Sanskrit authors of all notices of 

 the Soma plant occurring in them, leaving his mind unbiassed by 



