PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OP FEE-HISTORIC MEN. 179 



Greenlanders, and, like them, of small stature, but 

 they have short orthognathous heads, while those of 

 the Greenlanders are dolichocephalic and prognathous. 

 Of the most ancient skulls taken from caverns, as we- 

 shall see, some are long-headed, others very short. 

 Those of the more northern American Indians tend to 

 a lengthened form, but in the south they become short 

 and broad. Of modern civilized races, the Germanic 

 race seems to have shorter and more broadly oval 

 heads than the English and Swedish, and these than 

 the purely Celtic peoples. The greater or less pro- 

 minence of the jaws or recession of the forehead is,, 

 on the other hand, more an indication of lowness of 

 culture and civilization than of difference of race. In- 

 civilized countries the ruder peasantry present most 

 of this prognathous character, and it belongs to nearly 

 all the more barbarous nations. A similar statement 

 may be made respecting breadth and prominence of 

 the cheek bones and of the angles of the lower jaw, 

 though these probably have reference rather to the 

 constant use of coarse and tough food than to want 

 of mental culture. Small capacity of the brain-case is 

 also a mark of an inferior race, though some highly 

 intelligent people have small heads. On the whole, 

 the smaller development of the anterior and upper 

 regions of the cranium, and the greater proportionate 

 development of the face and jaws, are marks of the 

 lower races. Habits of life may have mechanical 

 connections with skull forms. Independently of the 

 attempts made by some tribes to modify the skull 



