126 THE HUMAN SKULL 



and unnecessarily add to the length of this 

 article. 



The first point which an observer would wish to 

 ascertain about any given cranium is the actual 

 measure of its capacity, for this, when once ob- 

 tained, affords us a means of estimating the size 

 of the brain which it contained. I need not tediously 

 describe the process by which this figure of capacity 

 is arrived at. Suffice it to say that, after all the 

 holes leading from the cranial cavity, with the 

 exception of the foramen magnum (through which 

 the brain and spinal cord communicate), have 

 been stopped up, shot or millet seeds or the like 

 is poured into the interior of the skull and well 

 rammed down, until the cavity is quite full. It is 

 then an easy matter to empty the shot or seeds 

 into a large glass measure and ascertain the capacity 

 of the skull in cubic centimetres. 



What do we learn from the measurements thus 

 obtained ? First of all we learn that amongst per- 

 fectly normal individuals in the human race the 

 capacity may vary to the extent of double the 

 minimum figure, that is to say, from 1,100 to 

 2,200 cubic centimetres, so that there is a very 

 great range of variation in this particular. 



About 1,550 cc. may be taken as the average 

 capacity of European, and indeed of Asiatic, races. 

 The average for Negro and Oceanian races is about 

 100 cc. smaller. Still smaller are the skulls of 

 Australians, Bushmen and Andamanese. Indeed, 

 the average of a group of skulls of Andamanese 

 women only amounted to 1,128 cc. But here one 

 has to pause and consider two points. First, one 



