384 



NA TURE 



^August 30, 1877 



By dividing the one diameter of the liead by the other we obtaia 

 what is known as the cephalic index. The dolichocephalic arj 

 those whose cephalic index is less than \ or 777 to 100 ; the 

 brachycephalic are those whose index is greater than the fractioi 

 I or 80 to 100 ; the index of the mesatocephalic is between the 

 two. But the variations of the cephalic index are so extended 

 that it appears useful to distinguish two degrees in the dolicho- 

 cephalic type ; the dolichocephalic properly so called .are those 

 whose index descends below 75 to 100, the index of the sub- 

 dolichocephalic being above that limit. -So among the brachy- 

 cephalic, we distinguish tliese properly so called from the sub- 

 brachycephalic, according as the index is above or below the 

 fraction \ or 83 "3 to 100. fn consequence of many mixtures of 

 races which have been produced before or during the historic 

 period, these diverse cranial forms exist to-day with a varying 

 degree of frequency among all the populations of Europe. We 

 may conclude with certainty that the peoples of Europe are the 

 issue of several races characterised by very different cranial forms. 



After referring to the simple theory of Retzius, M. Broca said 

 that the diversity of the races of Europe does not date from the 

 almost recent era of the .\siatic invasions ; it does not date from 

 that long period of polished stone which preceded the introduc- 

 tion of metals, and which succeeded the age of the reindeer ; it 

 goes back to quaternary times. More, the dolichocephalic type, 

 far from being the latest comer among us, is the most ancient of 

 all ; the migrations and l!ie mixture of races, far from develop- 

 ing it, have only attenuated it ; and these brachycephalics, wlio 

 were formerly considered an autochthonous race, conquered and 

 dispossessed by stronger and more civilised races, have l>cen, on 

 the contrary, foreign invaders, whose slow and progressive immi- 

 gration modified in a manner as profound as durable the 

 ethnology of Western Europe. They only appeared in the later 

 times of the quaternary epoch. Before them two other races of 

 dolichocephalic type had successively occupied the ground. M. 

 Broca then proceeded to describe the chief distinctive charac- 

 teristics of these three races, discovered by science after so many 

 ages of oblivion. Names have been given to these three races 

 alter the places where their remains have been found, viz., 

 Canstadt, Cromagnon, and Furfooz. 



The race of Canstadt is the oldest. Its remains were ex- 

 humed so long ago as 170D by Duke Eberhard, of Wiirtemberg, 

 at Canstadt, near Stuttgard. These remains were found in the 

 Wiirtemberg collections only in 1S35 by Fred. Joeger, who 

 recognised their importance. But the Canstadt cranium has not 

 been universally accepted as genuine. Six or seven other 

 incomplete crania, some fragments of jaws and long bones, are 

 all that have hitherto been found cf the Canstadt race. To 

 these belong the Neanderthal skull and the lower jaw, found 

 by M. Dupont in 1S65 in the Naulette Cavern, in the valley of 

 the Lesse, Belgium. The jaw has some very peculiar charac- 

 teristics, and the Neanderthal skull recalls the form of that of the 

 anthropoid apes. The Canstadt race seems to have been robust, 

 of short stature, probably not exceeding from i '68 m. to i 70 m. 

 The crania, though incomplete, show th.it the Canstadt race 

 was " dolicho|)latycephalic," i.e , long-headed, but with the top 

 of the head much flattened. The marked dolichocephaly of the 

 Canstadt race is to be found now only among the Australian 

 and the Esquimaux. The platycephaly was due greatly to the 

 obliquity ot the forehead, which rapidly retreated. Although 

 the occipital region was also prominent, yet the cranial capacity 

 was small, and appears to have been smaller than that of the 

 Hottentots and Australians. Other characteristics of inferiority 

 were the prominence of the incisors, the great size of the jaws, 

 the total absence of chin, and the total absence of the alveolar 

 arch. If the skull Ibund in the Forbes Quarry at Gibraltar be 

 of the Canstadt type, as M. Broca is inclined to think, it shows 

 still more marked characteristics of inferiority. The Canstadt 

 race, he concludes, was certainly very sav.ige, more savage than 

 any existing race ; its instruments were of the rudest kind, and it 

 had to carry on a painful struggle for existence with the powerful 

 mammils that then disputed the ground with them. Nevertheless 

 its geographical extension was very great ; it is found at Brux, in 

 Bohemia ; at Canstadt, in Wiirtemberg ; at Neanderthal, in 

 the Rbme provinces ; Naulette, in Belgium ; Eguisheim, in 

 Alsace, at Paris, Arcy-sur-Cure, in Yonne, Mount Denise, in 

 Haute-Loire, Olmo near Arezzo, Tuscany, and probably at 

 Gibraltar. In Central and Western Europe then it maintained 

 its place from the beginning to the middle of the quaternary 

 epoch, when appeared another stronger and more perfect race 

 which took the place of the former only probably after having 

 nearly exterminated it. 



This second fossil race was that of Cromagnon. It tikes its 

 name from a cive discovered in 1868, near the village of Eyzies, 

 in the valley of the Vezere, Dordo^ne. This race, now repre- 

 sented by a score of crania, some almost complete s'teletons, and 

 a large nijmber of bones, is comparatively well known. Though 

 dolichocephalic like the Canstadt race, it otherwise differs com- 

 pletely from it. Its mean height was 17S m., and one skeleton 

 measures 185. Its crania was equal if not superior to that of 

 modern Parisians; forehead straight and high ; vertical diameter 

 well devehiped, and the cranial arch elevated ; chin pronounced, 

 and lower incisors vertical. The type as a whole approaches 

 the Caucasim, though the upper incisors project somewhat, and 

 the cheek-bones are high. The Cromagnon race is also charac- 

 terise! by its peculiar bones, its elastic-like femur, its platycnemic 

 tibia, its channelled fibula, its arched cubitus ; these characteristics, 

 found now only in scattered individuals and much subdued, are 

 normil to the Cromagnon race, and distinguish it from all 

 modern races. With regard to the great capacity of the Cro- 

 magnon skull it should be remembered that among theai the 

 weak in intellect as in body would not survive as they do with 

 us ; still it shows a highly intellectual race, as is evidenced 

 besides by the highly finished remains of their work which have 

 been found. This race did not extend so far east as that of 

 Canstadt. It has been found in Italy and probably in Britain ; 

 but it occupied especially France and Belguim. Its chronology 

 coincides almost with the second half of the quaternary epoch, 

 the age of the reindeer being that of its greatest prosperity. Its 

 decline came with the departure of that animal. Still the race 

 survived in some parts, and mixed with new races, and they 

 have left behind them a lasting anthropological characteristic ; 

 even now their peculiarities occasionally appear in obedience to 

 the Uw of atavism. 



The Cromagnon race takes us down to the neolithic period ; 

 the Furfooz race leads us bick to the reindeer. The latter race 

 was discovered in lS56 and 1867, by M. Dupont, in several 

 caverns on the right bank of the Lesse, near the village of FurfoDz, 

 Belgium. Crania, bones, and cave-dwellings have furnished 

 materials for its study. The height of the Furfooz race was only 

 I ■53m. to I •62m., and descends even to the level of the Lapps. 

 The bones are exactly similar to our own. Its only peculiarity 

 was the elbow qoerforation of the humerus, which, however, can- 

 not be regarded as any mark of inferiority. With this race 

 appears for the first time a rounded cranial type, which is not 

 yet true brachycephaly, but which announces the arrival of the 

 brachycephalics. The cranium as a whole is small, especially in 

 its anterior parts ; the forehead is narrow, low, and retreating, 

 the vault little elevated, thus placing the race below that of 

 Cromagnon, and nearer that of Canstadt. The face is smiUer 

 than the Cromagnon one, cheek-bones less prominent, the orbits 

 narrower and higher, the nasal opening less extended compared 

 to its breadth, the lower jaws smaller and thinner. The Furfooz 

 race arrived in Belgium only at the end of the reindeer age. 

 They lived in caverns and by the chase, but were inferior to the 

 Cromagnons, their art and their weapons and implements being 

 of a much ruder tyjie. But they manufactured pottery, which 

 is not found .among the remains of the Cromagnon race, 

 and which would indicate a date a little before the epoch of 

 polished stone. This race was mesatocephalic or subdolicho- 

 cephalic, and while they lived in Belgium, the true brachy- 

 cephalics, with indices of eighty-three, eighty-five, and beyond, 

 entered France by the eastern frontier. Their remains have 

 been found at Solutre, in the Maconnais. The discovery m.ide 

 in the loess at Nagy-Safi, neir Gran, in Hungary, proves that 

 the true brachycephalics lived on the Danube at the height of 

 the quaternary epoch. Their immigration, however, belongs to 

 subsequent geological periods belonging to the present geological 

 epoch, and therefore not entering into M. Broca's subject ; they 

 may possibly have been modifications of the Furfooz race, by 

 crossing and otherwise. 



It is the problem of anthropologists to unravel these different 

 elements as they appear in modern European races ; and alto- 

 gether we have no reason to be ashamed of our remote ancestors. 



The Mayor of Havre followed M. Broca with a few warm 

 words of welcome, when M. Deherain, the general secretary, 

 gave a sketch of the work of the Association in 1S76. M. G. 

 Masson, the treasurer, made a statement as to the funds of the 

 Association. For the past year its income has been 48, 764 francs, 

 and its expenditure 44,181 francs, of which 6,361 francs were 

 given as grants for research. The capital of the Association at 

 the end of 1S76 was 210,307 francs. 



The bad weather, our correspondent wiites, has told upon the 



