November 7, 1901] 



NA TURE 



Table I. 



No. of Orang- Chimpanzee- 

 obser>-ations. type. type- 

 Male. Female. Male. Female. Male. Female. 

 Per cent. Per cent. 



"35 776 ... 27 40 ... 14 5 



700 492 ... 17 44 ■■■ 13 2 



109 62 ... 16 51 ... 17 8 



281 205 ... 18 41 ... 34 I 



296 256 ... 18 48 ... 19 6 



306 227 ... 19 50 ... 19 6 



256 245 .. 24 50 ... 28 3 



278 26S .. 22 38 ... 33 7 



Place. 



Aberdeenshire 

 London, E. 

 Jews (London) . 



Kerry 



Carmarthen 

 Peterborough 



Cork 



Dublin ... . 



The table shows that the orang-type occurs in from 38 to 51 

 per cent, of women, while in men it varies between 16 and 27 

 per cent. Taking the average of this table, the orang-type may 

 be said to occur in 18 per cent, of men and 45 per cent, of 

 women. The chimpanzee-type, on the other hand, occurs four 

 or five times more frequently in men than in women. That the 

 orang-type should be characteristic of women and the chim- 

 panzee of men is what one may expect ; for in bodily characters, 

 always excepting those of a sexual nature, woman apparently 

 foreshadows the coming characters of the race. 



My statistics are not sufticiently wide to allow of more than a 

 partial statement as to the orang-type of ear being a sign of 

 aristocratic birth, but of eight peeresses I find five have ears of 

 this type, which certainly lends some support to the popular 

 supposition. On the other hand, of five leading lady singers 

 only one shows this type of ear. 



Race, too, has an influence on the proportion with which the 

 two types occur. That may be seen from Table L The preval- 

 ence of the chimpanzee-type in Kerry, and the orang-type amongst 

 the Jewish women may be noted. The orang-type occurs in 

 about 90 per cent, of Hottentots ; it is very frequent, although 

 of a characteristic type, in certain races of negroes. 



The ear-types, too, are correlated with the colour of the hair. 

 In Table IL statistics are given of observations made at twenty- 

 seven different localities of the United Kingdom. 



T.ABLE IL 

 No. of Orang- Chimpanzee- 



Observations, type. type. 



Male. Female. Wale. Female. Male. Female. 

 Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. 



Fair-haired ... 2015 1127 ... 3i'3 467 ... 15-8 41 

 Black-haired.. 1796 1463 ... 15S 403 ... 36 47 



The individuals with hair of intermediate shades of brown 

 are omitted, and only those with distinctly fair or distinctly 

 black hair are included. It will be seen that the orang-type 

 occurs in fair-haired men twice as frequently as in black- 

 haired men ; the chimpanzee-type occurs in exactly the reverse 

 proportion. Curiously enough the colour of hair scarcely affects 

 the ear of the woman ; black and fair show both types with an 

 equal frequency. Both this table and the last draw attention to 

 the fact that the variations in one sex are not necessarily 

 correlated with those of the other. 



It will be readily seen how necessary it is to consider those 

 various factors which influence the ear before proceeding to 

 consider the ears of those who have their liberty temporarily or 

 permanently suspended because they are no longer able to con- 

 form to recognised social standards of conduct. The variation ac- 

 cording to race or locality is wide (vide Table I.) ; sex and other 

 qualities are influencing factors. In the following table (Table 

 III.) are given the proportions with which the orang- and chim- 

 panzee-types of ear occur (i) in habitual criminals, obtained 

 through the courtesy of Ur. Garson ; (2) the insane of four 

 asylums in different parts of the kingdom ; (3) congenital idiots. 

 Table III. 



No. of Orang- Chimpanzee- 



Localiro observations. type. tj-pe. 



Locality. j^j^,^ Female. Male. Female. Male. Female. 



Per cenl. Per cent. 



Scotland Yard 326 208 ... 35 33 ... 15 12 



Aberdeen Asylum ... 190 211 ... 23 40 ... 16 8 

 Durham Asylum ... 211 208 ... 26 40 ... 18 3 



Cork Asylum 202 205 .. 12 37 ... 19 3 



Dublin Asylum (Rich- 

 mond) 189 204 ... 29 33 ... 12 3 



Congenital idiots 27 9 ... 26 66 ... 4 o 



Taking the insane first, it will be observed (compare Tables 

 I. and III.) that on the whole the insane, so far as relates to the 

 prevalence of the two types of ears, do not show a marked devia- 



NO. 1671, VOL. 65] 



tion from the sane of their neighbourhood and that there is rio' 

 constant difference between the two classes. The insane men' 

 of Aberdeen and Cork show the orang-type less frequently than 

 the sane; in Dublin the case is the reverse. In the in.sane 

 women a similar variation is shown in the prevalence of this- 

 type ; in one case it is lower, in another higher and in still 

 another the same. It is so also as regards the chimpanzee-' 

 type. We must, therefore, conclude, so far as concerns these 

 two types of ears, that there is no correlation between them" 

 and a bias towards insanity. 



The congenital idiots show a prevalence of the orang-type, 

 considerably above the average, and an occurrence of the 

 chimpanzee-type below the average, but the number of the 

 observations is too small to allow of any certain conclusion. 



When, however, the confirmed criminal class is dealt with a 

 striking departure from the normal is encountered — quite 

 unlike the statistics gained from any other series of observa- 

 tions. The sexual ratio becomes inverted ; the orang-type, 

 instead of occurring in the female twice as frequently as in the 

 male, which is the normal ratio in the sane, occurs with the 

 greatest frequency in the male. So, too, with the chimpanzee- 

 type, it is found almost as frequently in the female as in the male. 

 In short, male criminals show a preponderance of the orang-type, 

 female criminals of the chimpanzee-type. There is a reversion 

 of the normal sexual ratio. 



Thus it will be seen that, taken as a class, not as individuals, 

 criminals fhow a departure from the sane in their physical 

 constitution. But what does this really mean ? Ic means, I 

 take it, that the criminal class is recruited in undue proportion 

 from the group of men who manifest the orang.type of ear and 

 the women who possess the chimpanzee-type. A larger propor- 

 tion of individuals of these two classes is predisposed towards 

 crime than those with opposite types. But clearly the presence 

 of the orang-type of ear in any individual is of itself no evidence 

 of this predisposition. 



I have already shown that the ratio in which these two types 

 of ear occur is correlated with the colour of the hair. On 

 comparing the colour of the hair of the criminal class with that 

 of groups of people in various parts of the country, for the 

 criminals I dealt with were drawn from almost every county, I 

 found that the criminal class was drawn in an undue proportion 

 from the black-haired men, in a lesser degree, also, from the black- 

 haired women, and that therefore the orang-type should occur 

 in them with a decreased, and not as it does with an increased, 

 frequency. 



Darwin's Point. — Since Darwin drew attention to the 

 renmant of the tip of the human ear, an enormous literature has 

 grown up around it. Vali found that it occurred with thrice 

 the normal frequency in the insane ; but before considering the 

 relationship which its presence bears to an unstable mental 

 equilibrium it is necessary to clear away some popular miscon- 

 ceptions that still prevail as to its nature. 



It is not the case, as the following table (Table IV. ) will 

 show, that it is only in the human ear that the tip has become 

 lost ; it will be seen that this is also the case in all the anthro- 

 poids, a group that is genetically closely related to man. In all 

 Table W. — T/ie Occurrence of Danvin s Point. 

 (i) In .\pes and Anthropoids. 



No. observed. Present. 



Baboons ... 15 ... 100 per cent. 

 Macaques ... ,21 ... 95 ,, 



Cercopitheques 19 ... 80 ,, 



Semnopitheques 29 ... 45 ,, 



Gibbons ... 12 ... o „ 



Orangs ... 15 ••• 4° i> 



Chimpanzees... 23 ... 9 „ 



Gorillas ... 19 ... 26 ,, 



(2) Races of Men. 



No. of Present, 



observations. Male. Female. 

 Male. Female. Per cent. 



.African Negroes 29 — ... 7 — 



Hottentots 18 — ... 6 — 



Andamanese ... ... 52 15 ••• 3^ 4° 



Turin (Gradenigo) ... — — ... 3 '5 3 



English (Peterborough) ... 306 247 ... 12 4 

 Lower Alsace (Schwalbe) — ■ — ... 36 11 

 Upper Alsace (Schwalbe) — — ... 21 14 



Kerry 282 209 ... 13 9 



Dublin 267 268 ... 12 to 



Cork 254 254 ... 14 7 



