NATURE 



457 



THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 1892. 



MAN IN NATURE. 

 IJ Homme dans la Nature. Par Paul Topinard. (Paris : 

 Bailli^reet Cie., 1891.) 



IT is with much pleasure that we announce the appear- 

 ance of a new work from the pen of Dr. Paul 

 Topinard, formerly General Secretary of the Anthropo- 

 logical Society of Paris, and Professor in the Ecole 

 d'Anthropologie. Dr. Topinard is well known in this 

 country as one of the most eminent, if not the most 

 eminent, physical anthropologist in France at the present 

 day, and it is with much regret that anthropologists here 

 have observed the shameful way he has been treated by 

 a faction of the Anthropological Society of Paris, who 

 have done their best to diminish his usefulness and retard 

 the advancement of true anthropological science in Paris. 

 Notwithstanding the troubles and anxieties he has gone 

 through — to which we would not have alluded here had 

 they not been public property, and discussed in French 

 scientific journals — it is gratifying to find that Dr. 

 Topinard has pursued the even tenor of his way, and been 

 able to enrich anthropological science by another of his 

 valuable works, forming the seventy-third volume of the 

 " International Scientific Series." 



The work under review is divided into twenty-two 

 chapters. The first contains, in addition to a statement 

 of the scope of the book, a short but interesting his- 

 tory of the development of anthropological science. In 

 the second chapter, its nature, its proper limits, and its 

 relation to biology, ethnology, psychology, and sociology, 

 are pointed out. The term " anthropology " is restricted 

 to the study of man as an animal and a member of a 

 group in the zoological series, in conformity with the 

 acceptation in which it is used by Blumenbach, Broca, 

 Ouatrefages, and others. In the third chapter, the various 

 subjects of study included in anthropology, as above re- 

 stricted, are set forth, and the general principles of zoology 

 on which the distribution of animals in groups of different 

 values rests, the choice of characters on which they are 

 founded, and the differences between race, species, family, 

 and order are indicated. 



The methods employed in anthropological research are 

 considered in the fifth chapter. These may be briefly 

 stated as descriptive and anthropometric. As descriptive 

 terms are liable to vary very considerably according to 

 the ideas of different observers, their value has hitherto 

 been much less definite than characters based upon 

 measurement. For some time past the author has been 

 endeavouring to elaborate a system of observation which 

 will render descriptive characters more uniform and 

 trustworthy than heretofore. Having had some practical 

 experience of the plan advocated by Dr. Topinard, we 

 may state that we have been favourably impressed with 

 it, not only for producing more uniform results, but also 

 for saving labour to the observer, facilitating the analyses 

 of observations, and for classifying the latter according to 

 their type. 



The character ot the hair is dealt with in the sixth 

 chapter. The hair is shown to furnish us with characters 

 which are of importance not only in distinguishing races, 

 NO. I 168, VOL. 45] 



but also in comparing man with the animals most nearly 

 allied to him. The author shows that, in respect to their 

 hair, the negro races differ most from the monkeys, while 

 the white races most nearly resemble them, the yellow 

 races being intermediate. In the straight-haired races 

 the hair corresponding to the long coarse outer fur of 

 mammals displaces the woolly hair — the homologue of 

 the woolly under-fur ; while in the woolly-haired races the 

 reverse takqs place. These characters of the hair would 

 have formed an impassable gulf between the yellow and 

 negro races had not some intermediate forms fortunately 

 been left. The abundant generalization of fur as lanugo 

 in the foetus would go to prove that man descended from 

 a furred progenitor. 



The value of statistical maps is discussed in the seventh 

 chapter, and as an example of their use in tracing race- 

 characters, the distribution of the blonde and dark types 

 in France has been taken and illustrated. It is shown, 

 however, that the combination of the descriptive and 

 anthropometric methods gives the most trustworthy 

 results in determining the natural types of man. The 

 latter method is discussed in chapter viii., and the use of 

 indices, projections, seriations, graphic curves, averages, 

 &c., are also explained. 



The ninth chapter deals with measurements of the skele- 

 ton and the living body, and how these should be made by 

 travellers and others. The directions given for the mea- 

 surement of the long bones by ascertaining their maximum 

 length is undoubtedly the best method. The proportions 

 which these bones bear to the height of the skeleton (the 

 latter being taken as 100) he gives as follows : humerus 

 200, radius I4"3, femur 27*3, tibia 22- 1. To get the 

 stature of the subject when alive, he adds 35 mm. to the 

 height of the skeleton obtained from the detached bones 

 by the above formula. The proportions just mentioned 

 correspond very closely to those of the second series of 

 French skeletons given in the " Elements d'Anthropo- 

 logie," and also with RoUet's important observations. 

 Our own observations on subjects which have been care- 

 fully measured before dissection, go to support those ol 

 Rollet, and to show that the formulse above given in- 

 dicate the actual stature as nearly as possible, without 

 adding 35 mm., as Dr. Topinard does. This is probably 

 due to difference in mounting the skeletons — a fertile 

 source of error. We are of the opinion that where it is 

 not possible to get measurements of subjects before dis- 

 section in sufficient numbers to establish the formula for 

 the race, it is more trustworthy to do so from the mean 

 I stature of the living, than from the height of articulated 

 skeletons. The directions given for measuring the 

 i living body and tabulating its descriptive characters, 

 are specially arranged for the purpose of encouraging 

 i travellers to undertake anthropometric observations. .\ 

 I model schedule of observations is given, arranged so that 

 I the various questions may be answered by a figure or a 

 measurement, which should prove valuable to travellers. 

 The system of measuring the body aimed at in it is to 

 obtain the relative proportions of the several parts, rather 

 than absolute anatomical dimensions ; in other words, the 

 author's idea is that it is better that travellers who are 

 not anthropologists, and consequently not trained to 

 anthropological research, should confine their attention 

 to obtaining such measurements as will enable the canon 



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