108 ALE& hbdli<5ka 



The various older methods of measuring cranial capacity may be 

 segregated into five groups, namely: 



1. The skull is made impermeable and after that filled with some 

 liquid, preferably water, which is then weighed or measured; or the 

 water is forced into a thin rubber bag until it fills with this the entire 

 skull cavity, after which the liquid is measured. These methods, 

 employed by Broca, Schmidt, Matthews, etc., yield good results, but 

 are too complicated or tedious for ordinary use. 



2. The skull is filled with sand or other substances, and this is 

 weighed, the result giving a basis for calculating the capacity. This 

 method, used especially by some American anthropologists of the 

 last century, was not sufficiently accurate, and soon became obsolete. 



3. The skull is filled with small, rounded seeds, beads, shot or other 

 substances, and the contents are then measured (Tiedemann, Busk, 

 Flower, etc.). The filling or the measuring (or both) is aided by cer- 

 tain manipulations (tilting, tapping, etc.), but, except the measuring 

 vessels, no implements are required. The method in its numerous 

 modifications is comparatively eiasy and has other advantages, but 

 the results are mostly not as accurate as desirable. 



4. The method invented and regulated by and named after Broca. 

 In this procedure the skull is packed with shot, which is then measured ; 

 but both the filling and measuring are aided by certain implements, 

 and every step of the procedure follows definite rules. Among the 

 implements used appears a funnel of certain dimensions, which con- 

 trols the flow of the shot. The method gives steady results, but can 

 not be used with frail skulls, and the capacity obtained is always larger 

 than actual, the proportion growing with the size of the skull. 



5. Welcker's method.' In this procedure, which is the outgrowth 

 of the majority of those mentioned, but more directly of that of Broca, 

 the most important part is delegated to the funnel, which, by its size, 

 controls the measuring of the contents of the skull. The mode of 

 filling the skull, so long as efficient and uniform, is immaterial; all that 

 is required is that each worker should, with the aid of a standard skull, 

 find the exact size of the funnel necessary to give him, in measuring, 

 the correct result with his particular method and substance used for 

 the filling of the skull. Any rounded seed or substance can be em- 



1 Arch.}. Anthrop., Bd. XVI, S. 1 et seq. E. Schmidt, "Anthropologische Metho- 

 den," pp. 217-219. A modification of the instruments with a form of a funnel 

 stopper has been proposed independently of the author by E. Landau, Intern. 

 Cetitralbl. f. Anthrop., etc., 1903, I, pp. 3-7. 



