Anatomy. — “On the Index cephalicus and the absolute Dimensions 
of the Head of the Population of Holland’ By Prof. L. Boux. 
(Communicated at the meeting of March 27, 1920). 
For a general anthropological characterization of a people or a 
race, one is generally restricted to the three following characteristics : 
the degree of pigmentation, the length of the body and the propor- 
tion of the greatest length of the head or skull to the greatest 
breadth, expressed in a proportionate number, the so-called Index 
cephalicus. 
100 breadth 
length 
as the length always surpasses the breadth, the Index cephalicus 
will always be expressed by a number smaller than 100. When 
the Index cephalicus rises above 80, the head is called brachycephalic; 
when it falls below 75, the term dolichoeephalie is applied to it. 
Indices between 75 and 80 are characterized as mesocephalic. 
The Index cephalicus — being a proportionate number — does not 
teach us anything about the real dimensions of the bead or skull, 
every value of the Index may occur with larger and smaller skulls 
and heads. 
Some time ago I communicated the result of very extensive 
investigations on the two first mentioned anthropological charac- 
teristics — the degree of pigmentation and the length of the body, 
so that I may assume a sufficient knowledge of this physical dis- 
position of our population. Until now this was not the case with 
the third characteristic — the Index cephalicus — because it is not 
„so easy to obtain data for this in sufficient number, as for the 
characteristics mentioned before. It is true that I previously 
communicated data *) on the Index cephalicus, but these were based 
ona comparatively small number of measurements and so they must 
be considered as provisional communications only. 
I have gradually gathered a number of data, in my opinion suffi- 
cient, to te able to construct a reliable image of the Index cephalicus 
This is calculated according to the formula ‚and 
1) De Bevolking van Nederland in hare anthropologische samenstelling, in 
“GauLée, Het Boerenhuis in Nederland en zijn Bewoners", Utrecht 1909. 
