NATURE 



[August i8, 1892 



tion depend for their production upon more extensive modifica- 

 tions in the same directions. 



I can only allude now very briefly to the effects of the third 

 set of factors, the sizes of the sense organs, on the conformation 

 of the skull. We have already noted that the shape and the 

 size of the orbital opening depend on the jaw as much as on the 

 eye. A careful set of measurements has convinced me that the 

 relative or absolute capacity of the orbital cavity is of very little 

 significance Xs a characteristic of race. The microseme Austra- 

 lian orbit and the megaseme Kanaka are practically of the same 

 capacity, and the eyeballs of the two Australians that I have 

 had the opportunity of examining are a little larger than those 

 of the average of mesoseme Englishmen. 



The nasal fossae are more variable in size than the orbits, but 

 the superficial area of their lining and their capacity are harder 

 to measure, and bear no constant proportion to the size of their 

 apertures, because it is impossible without destroying the skull 

 to shut off the large air sinuses from the nasal fossse proper for 

 purposes of measurement. Thus the most leptorhine of races, 

 the Esquimaux, with an average nasal index of 437 has a nasal 

 capacity of 55 c.c.m., equal to thatof the platyrhine Australian, 

 whose average is 54-5, and both exceed the capacity of the 

 leptorhine English, which average about 50 c.c.m. There is 

 an intimate and easily proved connection between dental size 

 and the extent of the nasal floor and of the pyriform aperture. 



These are but a few of the points which a scientific cranio- 

 metry should take into consideration. There are many others 

 to which I cannot now refer, but which will naturally occur to 

 the thoughtful anatomist. 



In this rapid review of the physical side of our subject the 

 study of these race- characters naturally suggests the vexed 

 question as to the hereditary transmission of acquired pecu- 

 liarities. This is too large a controversy for us now to engage 

 in, but in the special instances before us there are grounds for 

 the presmption that these characters of microdontism and mega- 

 cephaly have been acquired at some stage in the ancestral 

 history of humanity, and that they are respectively correlated, 

 with diminution of use in the one case, and increase of activity 

 in the other. It is a matter of observation that these qualities 

 have become hereditary, and the point at issue is not the fact, 

 but the mechanism, of the transmission. We know that use or 

 disuse affects the development of structure in the individual, 

 and it is hard to believe that the persistent disuse of a part 

 through successive generations does not exercise a cumulative 

 influence on its ultimate condition. 



There is a statement in reference to one of these characters 

 which has gained an entrance into the text-books, to the effect 

 that the human alveolar arch is shortening, and that the last 

 molar tooth is being crowded out of existence. I have ex- 

 amined 400 crania of men of the long, and round-barrow races, 

 Romano-British and early Saxon, and have not found among all 

 these a single instance of absence of the third molar or of over- 

 crowded teeth. On the other hand, out of 200 ancient Egyp- 

 tian skulls, 9 per cent, showed displacement or disease, and 

 1 1 per cent, show the want of one molar tooth. Out of 200 

 modern English skulls there was no third molar tooth in i per 

 cent. So far this seems to confirm the current opinion. 



Yet the whole history of the organism bears testimony to the 

 marvellous persistence of parts in spite of contumely and dis- 

 use. Take, for example, the present position of the little toe 

 in man. We know not the condition of this digit in prehistoric 

 man, and have but little information as to its state among savage 

 tribes at the present day, but we do know that in civilised 

 peoples, whose feet are from infancy subjected to conditions of 

 restraint, it is an imperfect organ — 



Of every function shorn 

 Except to act as basis for a corn. 



In 1 per cent, of adults the second and third joints have 

 ankylosed, in 3 per cent, the joint between them is rudimentary, 

 with scarcely a trace of a cavity, in 20 per cent, of feet the 

 organ has lost one or more of its normal complement of muscles. 

 But though shorn of some of its elements, and with others as 

 mere shreds, the toe persists, and he would be a bold prophet 

 who would venture to forecast how many generations of booted 

 ancestry would suffice to eliminate it from the organization of 

 the normal man. 



Nevertheless, although it is difficult to demonstrate, in the 

 present imperfect state of knowledge, the method whereby race- 

 characters have originated, I think that the most of our anthro- 

 pologists at least covertly adopt the philosophy of the ancient 



NO. II 90, VOL. 46] 



proverb, " The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's 

 teeth are set on edge." 



But there are other branches of anthropology of far greater 

 interest than these simple problems upon which we have tarried 

 so long. The study of man's intellectual nature is equally a 

 part of our subject, and the outcomes of that nature are to be 

 traced in the tripartite record of human progress which we call 

 the history of culture. It is ours to trace the progress of man's 

 inventions, and their fruits in language and the arts, the direct 

 products of the human mind. It is also ours to follow the 

 history of man's discovery of those secrets of nature to the un- 

 folding of which we give the name of science. The task is also 

 ours to inquire into that largest and most important of all sec- 

 tions of the history of culture which deals with the relation of 

 human life to the unseen world, and to disentangle out of the 

 complex network of religion, mythology, and ritual those ele- 

 ments which are real truths, either discovered by the exercise of 

 man's reason, or learned by him in ways whereof science takes 

 no account, from those adventitious and invented products of 

 human fear and fancy which obscure the view of the central 

 realities. In this country it matters less that our time forbids 

 us to wander in these fascinating fields wherein the anthropo- 

 logist loves to linger, as the munificent benefaction of Lord 

 Gilford has ensured that there shall he an annual fourfold pre- 

 sentation of the subject before the students of our Scottish 

 universities. There is no fear that interest in these questions 

 will flag for want of diversity in the method of treatment or of 

 varieties in the standpoints of tbe successive Gifford lecturers. 



From the ground of our present knowledge we can but faintly 

 forecast the future of Anthropology, when its range is extended 

 by further research, and when it is purged of fancies, false 

 analogies, and imperfect observations. It may be that there is 

 in store for us a clearer view of the past history of man, of 

 the place and time of his first appearance, of his primitive 

 character, and of his progress. But has this knowledge, inte- 

 resting as it may be for its own sake, any bearing on the future 

 of mankind ? Hitherto growth in knowledge has not been ac- 

 companied with a commensurate increase in the sum of human 

 happiness, but this is probably due to the imperfection which 

 characterises even our most advanced attainments. For ex- 

 ample, while the medical and sanitary sciences, by their pro- 

 gress, are diminishing the dangers which beset humanity, they 

 have also been the means of preserving and permitting the per- 

 petuation of the weaklings of the race, which, had natural 

 selection exercised its unhindered sway, would have been 

 crushed out of existence in the struggle for life. 



It is, however, of the essence of true scientific knowledge, 

 when perfected, that it enables us to predict, and if we ever 

 rise to the possession of a true appreciation of the influences 

 which have affected mankind in the past, we should endeavour 

 to learn how to direct these influences in the future that they 

 shall work for the progress of the race. With such a know- 

 ledge we shall be able to advance in that practical branch of 

 Anthropology, the science of education ; and so to guide and 

 foster the physical, intellectual, and moral growth of the indi- 

 vidual that he will be enabled to exercise all his powers in the 

 best possible directions. And lastly, we shall make progress 

 in that kindred department. Sociology, the study of which does 

 for the community what the science of education does for the 

 individual. Is it a dream that the future has in store for us 

 such an Anthropological Utopia ? 



PHYSICS AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



'T'HE mathematicians and physicists of the British Association 

 -*■ could not have had better accommodation than that which 

 was placed at their disposal in Edinburgh. The physics lecture- 

 room of a University, with its appropriate fittings and appli- 

 ances, is their ideal environment. Almost all the leading British 

 physicists were present, the chief absentee of note being Lord 

 Rayleigh,and foreign men of science were well represented by such 

 men as Profs, von Helmholz, Wiedemann, Ostwald, and Du 

 Bois, from Germany ; M. Guillaume, from France ; Schoute, 

 from Holland ; and Michelson, from America. 



The Discussion on a National Physical Laboratory was one of 

 the most important. 



The speakers were Oliver Lodge, Glazebrook, von Helm- 

 holz, Lord Kelvin, Riicker, Dr. John Ince, Fitzgerald, Stokes, 

 Carey Foster, Ayrton, and the President. 



