548 



NA TURE 



April 9, 1896 



A NEW HUMAN SKULL OF A LOW TYPE 

 FROM BRAZIL} 



ALOW type of human skull has recently been described by 

 Prof. A. Nehring, which was found near Santos, in Brazil. 

 It occurred in a breccia (" sambaqui"), the exact age of which 

 js uncertain, associated with fish vertebrae, a portion of the lower 

 jaw of a toothed-whale, and a few fragments of other human 

 remains and implements. 



The principal measurements given are the maximum length 

 <i83 mm.), maximum breadth (135 mm.), minimum frontal (88 

 mm.), maximum frontal (92 mm.), frontal sagittal arc (118 mm.), 

 and the parietal arc ( 1 34 mm.) The cephalic index is thus 77-6. 

 Virchow has also described two skulls from a sambaqui near 

 Santos, with indices of 82 and 79-8 ; while de Lacerda measured 

 three male skulls from sambaquis in Parana and Santa- 

 Catherina, with the indices of 67, 68-8, 77-2, and two female 

 skulls with 797 and 81-4. There is thus great variation among 

 these people, which Nehring regards as individual or partly 

 sexual, and not due to ethnical mixture. 



The forehead is low and retreating, the glabella and orbital 

 ridges well developed, and the frontal is greatly constricted 

 behind the orbital region, as in Pithecanthropus. This con- 

 striction is also very characteristic of ancient and recent South 

 American skulls (Peixoto and de Lacerda), some of which are 

 absolutely and relatively not broader than Pithecanthropus. 



Dr. Nehring, from his studies on the skulls of both sexes and 

 various ages of anthropoid apes and of dogs of different breeds, 

 is of the opinion that the occurrence of a constriction between 

 the orbital and cerebral portions of the skull has direct relation 

 to the strength of the head musculature, and more especially of 

 the jaw muscles. If the skull of a muscular Eskimo dqg be com- 

 pared with that of a pug or a Bolognese lap-dog, it will be found 

 that this constriction is very marked in the Eskimo dog, the 

 zygomatic arches of which are widely outstanding, and all the 

 muscular attachments strongly developed ; but the constriction 

 is scarcely noticeable in the pug, and is entirely wanting in the 

 Bolognese lap dog ; the two latter exhibit feminine rounded 

 forms of the corresponding parts of the skull, with a feebly 

 developed musculature. 



The author compares human skulls with those of middle-aged 

 female chimpanzees and gibbons, and finds a great similarity in 

 the constriction of their respective frontal bones. He justifies 

 this comparison by pointing out that the human skull always 

 remains in a juvenile stage, while that of the ape, especially the 

 male, is strongly modified by the jaw and neck muscles. The 

 human condition is accounted for by the erect position, with the 

 consequent balancing of the skull on the vertebral column, and 

 the reduction in the dentition owing to the artificial preparation 

 of food. According to Nehring, the constriction of the orbital 

 portion from the cerebral portion of the skull of Pithecanthropus 

 does not prove a simian origin. 



The face of the sambaqui cranium is strongly prognathous ; 

 perhaps this is increased by an abnormality in the arrangement 

 of the teeth, there being seven upper incisors, of which two are 

 placed behind the others, and the third is in the middle of the 

 normal series and has a curious curve on its anterior aspect. 

 Only one of the normal teeth is slightly displaced. Nehring 

 does not regard these as persistent milk-teeth, but as super- 

 numerary teeth. 



The whole dentition is strong, in fact it is one of the most 

 powerful of known human dentitions, and the two molar series 

 are parallel to each other, and are not in the form of a horse-shoe. 

 All the teeth are perfectly sound. 



The dimensions of the pre-molars and molars come very close 

 to those of Spy No. i skull, any difference there may be being 

 in the direction of the dentition of Spy No. 2 ; thus we find that 

 the exceptional size of the wisdom-teeth in the Spy skulls is also 

 characteristic of the sambaqui cranium. 



While the length-breadth dimensions of the new skull agree 

 fairly closely with those of Pithecanthropus, the cranial height 

 is considerably higher, and consequently the capacity, if it could 

 be measured, would be much greater. Looked at from above, 

 the skull is better filled than that of Pithecanthropus, both 

 posteriorly and in the anterior temporal region ; there is also a 

 marked difference between the orbital portion of the frontal 

 bone, which somewhat resembles that of the Neanderthal 

 calvaria, and the flat projecting character of that region in 

 Pithecanthropus erectus. ' A. C. Haddon. 



1 Prof. A. Nehring : " Menschenreste aus einem Sambaqui von Santos in 

 Brasilien, unter Vergleichung der Fossilreste des Pithecanthropus erectus 

 J)ubois." Verhandl. Berliner anth. Gescllsch., 1895-6, p. 710. 



NO. 1380, VOL. 53] 



THE SURFACE-DIMENSIONS OF AN EARTH- 



Q UAKE-P ULSA TION. 

 T T is now well known that the effects of a great earthquake 

 -•■ are not confined to the more less limited area over which it 

 is perceptible to human beings, or capable of disturbing seismo- 

 graphs. With suitable instruments, the oscillations may be 

 traced for thousands of miles, and there is no reason whatever 

 for doubting that in the future they may be traced (possibly 

 several times) completely round the globe. As to the exact 

 nature of the pulsations, we are still in partial ignorance ; but 

 part of the movement certainly consists of a real tilting of the 

 surface of the ground. Prof. Milne regards earth-pulsations as 

 long, low waves, somewhat resembling an ocean-swell ; and the 

 object of this short note is to show that, in one case at any rate, 

 his view is correct. 



On April 27, 1894, a severe earthquake occurred in North- 

 east Greece, and the pulsations were observed in Birmingham 

 with one of Mr. Darwin's bifilar pendulums (Nature, vol. 1. 

 pp. 7, 246-9). The average period of the pulsations was fourteen 

 seconds, and the maximum change of inclination of the ground 

 in the east and west direction was not less than one-quarter of a 

 second. A comparison of the times at Athens, Birmingham, and 

 other places, shows that the velocity of the first large pulsations 

 was nearly constant, and equal to 3 '21 km. per second. 



Assuming the form of a right section of the pulsation to be a 

 simple harmonic, the length of a complete pulsation is vt km. 

 where v is th^ velocity in km. per second, and t seconds the 

 duration of its period. The amplitude of the pulsation, i.e. the 

 height of its crest above the position of equilibriuni, is easily 

 shown to be avtjb^ metres, where a seconds is the maximum 

 tilt of the ground with reference to a horizontal plane. In the 

 case of the Greek earthquake, we have t = 14, z' = 3 '21 and 

 a not less than h. These figures show that at Birmingham the 

 length of a pulsation must have been 45 km., and the height not 

 less than 4*4 mm. 



The estimate of the height is not great enough for two 

 reasons: (i) owing to its suspension in oil, the mirror of the 

 pendulum was unable to perform its full swing during the briet 

 period of the pulsation ; and (2) the pendulum showed only the 

 component of the tilt in the east-west plane. When the frame 

 of the pendulum is suddenly tilted through an angle of 2", the 

 deflection of the mirror at the end of a quarter of a minute is 

 only half the correct amount. If, therefore, we multiply the 

 above result for the height by 3, we shall probably be not far 

 from the true value. 



Thus, translated into ordinary units, the largest pulsations of 

 the Greek earthquake at Birmingham must have been about 

 28 miles long and half an inch in height. 



Charles Davison. 



W^ 



SCIENCE IN THE MAGAZINES. 

 ITH an article on " The Evolution of the Professions," Mr. 

 Herbert Spencer concludes the series of papers on pro- 

 fessional institutions which he has been contributing to the 

 Contemporary for some months. The fact which the whole of 

 the papers have aimed at showing, and which is illustrated by 

 the present article, is that society is a growth, and not a manu- 

 facture, and has its laws of evolution. " From Prime Ministers 

 down to ploughboys," we read, " there is either ignorance or 

 disregard of the truth that nations acquire their vital structures 

 by natural processes and not by artificial devices. If the belief 

 is not that social arrangements have been divinely ordered thus 

 or thus, then it is that they have been made thus or thus by 

 kings, or if not by kings then by parliaments. That they have 

 come about by small accumulated changes not contemplated by 

 rulers is an open secret which only of late has been recognised 

 by a few and is still unperceived by the many— educated as well 

 as uneducated." In support of this law of the evolution ot 

 society, Mr. Spencer cites numerous instances drawn from 

 agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and various professional 

 institutions where advancement has been achieved by spontaneous 

 co-operation of citizens, and not by legislative direction. We 

 have " knowledge developing into science, which has become 

 so vast in mass that no man can grasp a tithe of it, and which 

 now guides productive activities at large, has resulted from the 

 workings of individuals prompted not by the ruling agency but 

 by their own inclinations." So, and in like manner, it is held 

 that the unprompted workings of humanity, and not time- 

 serving legislation, are responsible for real social progress. 



