PROFESSOR PEARSON'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO OSTEOLOGY. 475 



CGefticients of variatiou, coefficients of correlation, and their 

 probable errors. The coefficients of correlation are calculated 

 for all pairs of fingers in the right and left hands respectively, 

 and for the corresponding fingers in both hands. Tables of 

 correlation between indices — the first little finger joint being 

 taken as unit — are also given. 



The following are the chief conclusions drawn from the 

 tables : — 



(1) The first finger joints are sensibly larger in the right 



hand than in the left. 



(2) The first finger joint is more variable in the left hand 



than in the right. The relative order of variability 

 is in each case that of the relative size of the fingers 

 — the little finger being the most variable. Except 

 that in the right hand the index finger is less variable 

 than the middle finger. 



(3) The hand is a very highly correlated organ, more so than 



the long bones, and considerably more so than the 

 skull. 



(4) The first finger joints are, on the whole, more highly 



correlated in the left hand than in the right. 



In conclusion, the authors draw attention to the importance 

 of determining, by means of wider statistics, whether it is 

 selection or use which differentiates the two hands. 



\^Notc. — More recently there has appeared {Phil. Trans., vol. 

 196 A) an extremely interesting paper by Miss Alice Lee on 

 the correlation of the human skull. No further mathematical 

 principles are involved, however, than what has already been 

 mentioned above. Miss Lee deals with the reconstruction of 

 skull capacity from regression formulae of both individuals and 

 races. Light is also thrown on the relation between skull 

 capacity and intellectual power in a discussion on the deter- 

 mination of the former in the living subject. The paper is of 

 great importance from the anthropological point of view.] 



