i6 



NATURE 



[November 7, 1901 



THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CERTAIN FEA TURES 

 AND TYPES OF THE EXTERNAL EAR. 



TN these days the search for some characteristic of the human 

 body which will give unequivocal evidence of the mental 

 nature of the individual still goes on as merrily as ever. To 

 some men the buinps of the head tell everything ; to others the 

 lines of the palm are hieroglyphic expressions of the qualities 

 of the brain, not to speak of what they tell of things past and 

 events to come : in fact, there is scarcely a feature of the 

 human body that has not, at one time or another, been advo- 



consideration. The first of these is the school of workers founded 

 by Lombrosa, which believes that a certain class of criminals ate 

 criminals because of an imperfection in the development of their 

 brains. It is probable, as this school supposes, that such im- 

 perfectly developed brains will be wrapped in defective bodies ; 

 by the presence of bodily defects, and they have used very largely 

 those of the external ear as an index, the imperfections and 

 unljalanced nature of the brain may be detected. It is clearly 

 a matter of the utmost moment for a State to be able to 

 recogni.se its criminals, who are criminals because of their con- 

 stitutional imperfectiins, and this undoubtedly i.s the aim of 



'•• iC II 12 V (o 14 1.^ . ■ t6 ■ 



.VJ 2 • ■ 21 ' . ■ 1"J n.-;. a't 



-Illustrating certain types of ear ret rred l 



cated as an index of certain laculties, and now it is the turn ol 

 the external ear. Although not one of the.se many pretensions 

 has ever stood the test of scientific investigation, or even that 

 of a casual everyday experience, yet their advocates continue 

 to thrive and abound unabated. If those handmaidens of the 

 brain— the muscles of expression— those that set the eye and 

 strengthen the mouth, fail to yield a clue, then it is vain to seek 

 for it in any other structure of the body. 



There are three cl.isses of observers, however, which have 

 made a special study of the external ear, deserving of the utmost 



NO. 1671, VOL. 65] 



the Lombrosa school. In their investigations of the external ' 

 ear they found certain features to exist in those of the criminal 

 and insane classes with a much greater frequency than in the 

 sane. With their results I wish to compare a wide series of 

 observations made on the criminal and insane classes of this 

 country. 



The second class of observers, which deserves attention, is 

 that which has contributed to our knowledge of the develop- 

 ment, anatomy and evolution of the human external ear. Its 

 contriljutions make up quite an extensive literature. Prof. 



