82 ALES' HRDLIKA 



Important features in this connection are the order of procedure, 

 and especially the mode of recording. The procedure should be as 

 far as possible logical, the eye passing from organ to organ in the most 

 natural order; and the recording is best done in definite, steadily ad- 

 hered to abbreviations, which are recorded like measurements in 

 columns and can eventually be summed up and analyzed in much the 

 same manner. 



Another important subject is the characterizing of certain observa- 

 tions, such as for instance the thickness of the lips, size of the eye 

 aperture, quantity of beard, etc. To properly describe such varia- 

 tions we are in absolute need of definite, well-known standards or 

 media, and the most available and intelligible standards to us of the 

 white race are those of our own, the white people. To become properly 

 acquainted with these "means" must therefore self -evidently be 

 one of the main aims of the worker in physical anthropology. 



All observations should be made in good and as far as possible 

 even (northern) light, never in dusk or in direct sunlight ; and at the 

 most effective visual distances for the student. And of course, where 

 possible, the observer will use well-known artificial standards. 



The following classification of characteristics agrees in essentials 

 with that of anthropologists in general, differing only in a few details, 

 as indicated by prolonged experience on varied races. For the 

 sake of brevity it is given in a somewhat schematic form, which will 

 need but little explanation. 



As to abbreviations, the student is free to adopt such as will best 

 suit him. The author has thus always used the easily made and read 

 sign of + for " medium," "average," "normal," for which we have 

 no other symbol. Terms often called for, such as "slight" (si.), or 

 "slightly" (si.), "some" (sm.) or "somewhat" (sm.), "moderate" 

 (mod.) or "submedium" (subm.), "considerable" (cons.), "marked" 

 (mk.), or "pronounced" (pron.), and "excessive" (exc.), are easily 

 understood by all and easy to record. 



COLOR OP SKIN 



Remarks: Observations best taken on chest, back, or upper portion 

 of arms. Color standards useful on dark races, but of very limited 

 utility with whites. Student should bear in mind that pathological 

 conditions, particularly those which affect the blood, may alter for 

 the time being the color of the skin, even in very dark individuals; 

 and also that even dark skins may be perceptibly changed by sunburn 

 or long exposure to the sun. 



