THE HUMAN SKULL 129 



teach us, the average difference between the skull 

 of a Parisian man and a Parisian woman is twice 

 as great as that between the skull of a European 

 and a Negro, and as great as that between a 

 European and an Australian ; and when we admit, 

 as we must, that the Parisian woman of the nine- 

 teenth century was not by any means lacking in 

 brains, we begin to see that actual cubic capacity, 

 within very wide limits too, does not much help 

 us in gauging the intellectual capacity of the former 

 owner of the cranium. Speaking of the Engis skull, 

 then thought to belong to the Mammoth period, 

 but now believed to be of much later date in fact, 

 Huxley wrote : " It is, in fact, a fair average human 

 skull, which might have belonged to a philosopher, 

 or might have contained the thoughtless brains 

 of a savage." And Deniker states that " the cranial 

 capacity of lunatics, of certain criminals, and 

 especially of celebrated or distinguished men, 

 scholars, artists, statesmen, etc., appears to be 

 slightly superior to the average of their race." 

 So that we have a wide range for conjecture as to 

 the character of its owner when we are confronted 

 with a skull of more than ordinary cubic capacity, 

 but we are not at liberty from that character alone, 

 at any rate, to conclude that he or she was superior 

 either in intellect or in morals to the possessor of 

 some much smaller brain-case. 



From measure of capacity we pass to measure 

 of length. These indices, so-called, or expressions 

 of one measurement in terms of another, are legion, 

 and I shall content myself with dealing with two 

 of them which are, for our present purposes, the 



K 



