78 



NATURE 



\_May 27, 1880 



On one piece of rock there nre at least thirteen of the marliings 

 visible, and the rings or grooves round the central depression 

 vaiy in numbers from one to six. Mr. Joseph Lund, of Over- 

 dale, Ilkley, who most politely gnided me to the stones in 

 question, also showed me, in his own garden, a large block of 

 gi'it, bearing some of these markings, from each of which is a 

 district channel ciil to the edge of the rock. There have been 

 many theories as to the significance of these markings. Has 

 their use been yet ascertained ? 



R. Morton MiddletoM, Jun. 

 West Hartlepool, May 15 



A Double Egg 



The other day on opening an egg, certainly a fine one, I found 

 inside another perfect egg, so far as shell and the white part are 

 concerned, but with only a faint streak of yellow for yolk. Double 

 yolks are common, but I never sa^-, or read of, a perfectly 

 formed shell inside an ordinary one before. If you think it 

 worth notice, I send it for that purpose. T. Allwood 



Stafford, May 14 



COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF MAN^ 

 II. 

 'Y\7'ITH regard to the cranial characters of the Americans 

 * • the same difterence of statement is met with as in 

 respect to their external appearance. Morton's assertion 

 of the general sameness in the skulls from all parts of the 

 continent has been contested by others. But the contro- 

 versies relating to this subject have nearly all turned upon 

 one character alone, that is, the relative breadth of the 

 cranium compared to its length, to the neglect of many 

 others probably of equal importance. The prevalence of 

 artificial cranial deformity, spoken of in a previous lecture, 

 causes some difficulty by limiting the number of crania 

 linssessing their natural form at our disposal ; but still 

 there is sufi'icient pvidenre to show great variation in the 

 cephalic inde.K of American skulls. Although such 

 extreme dolichocephaly as is met with among the Eskimo 

 is very rare among true Americans, the larger number of 

 crania of Indians, excepting those inhabiting the west 

 coast of North America, and the region west of the Andes 

 in South America (Peru and Bolivia), as well as Patagonia, 

 in all of which regions brachjcephaly prevails, are either 

 mesaticephalic or moderately dolichocephalic. But the 

 two forms are curiously intermixed, or at all events found in 

 different tribes inhabiting contiguous regions, much, in 

 fact, as they are in Europe. As the inhabitants of the 

 two extreme ends of the continent, the Eskimo and the 

 Fuegians, are both dolichocephalic (though in the case 

 of the latter the evidence of cranial form is not yet so 

 complete as might be wished), and as certain skulls, 

 apparently of great antiquity, which have been discovered 

 in Patagonia and Brazil are of the same form, it has been 

 conjectured that the primitive inhabitants of the continent 

 were a race with long and narrow heads, and that the 

 brachycephalic race are later intruders. 



The characters of the skeleton of the face exhibit, as is 

 so often the case, greater uniformity than those of the 

 cranium proper. The frontal region is almost universally 

 low and retreating, and the supraciliary ridges generally 

 well developed in the males. This and the form of the 

 nose distinguish them from the majority of Asiatic Mon- 

 gols. Nasal bones, compressed laterally, hollowed near 

 their upper end, and forming a salient projection forwards at 

 the lower end, giving the characteristic high bridge to the 

 nose of the living face, are found in the great majority of 

 American skulls from all parts of the continent. The ten- 

 dency to a narrow form of nasal aperture (so very marked 

 in the Eskimo) prevails throughout the American continent, 

 the average index of 123 specimens being 47-2, which is 



■ Abstract Report of Prof. Flower's lectures at the Royal College of 

 burgeons, March i to March 19, on the Comparative Anatomy of Man. 

 Continued from p. 61. 



almost as low as that of Europeans, while a really platyrhine 

 nose, such as is the rule among negroes and Australians, 

 is rarely, if ever, met with. The form of the orbit is also 

 characteristic, being almost invariably large, round, and 

 high, having an average index in 129 examples of gi'S- In 

 the artificially-flattened heads this index is greatly in- 

 creased, as the depression of the forehead drags the 

 superior margin of the orbit upwards, often so much as to 

 cause the vertical height to exceed the horizontal diameter. 

 The malar bones are always full, and project laterally, 

 and the nasi-malar angle, though somewhat diminished 

 by the saliency of the nose, approaches to that charac- 

 teristic of the Mongolian races. In the projection of the 

 jaws forwards the skeleton of the face holds an intermediate 

 position between the orthognathous white and the prog- 

 nathous black races, in a great many cases inclining 

 towards the latter. The lower jaw is large and the chin 

 fairly prominent ; the teeth are of moderate size and 

 vertically implanted. Morton found the average cranial 

 capacity of 155 ancient Peruvian skulls to be as low as 

 75 cubic inches, less than that of almost any other known 

 race. It has been thought that some error may have crept 

 into his method of measurement, but his estimate is 

 probably not far wrong, as the average of 47 male skulls 

 in the College collection is 1,345 cubic centimetres, or 

 82 inches, and of 50 females, 1,194 c.c, or 73 inches, 

 giving a mean for both se.xes of 77 cubic inches. On the 

 other hand the barbarous tribes of Indians of both North 

 and South America gave, in Morton's hands, an average 

 capacity (for both sexes) of 84 cubic inches, and the 

 Chinooks, from the mouth of the Columbia River, have 

 remarkably capacious skulls, the average of 7 males in 

 the College being 1,589 c.c. (97 inches), larger than those 

 of any other race, but these may be rather exceptional 

 specimens. It is, however, perfectly certain that the 

 crania of the comparatively civilised Peruvians were 

 much smaller than those of either the Indians of 

 the North-West, or the Patagonians, or even Fuegians ; 

 but, as Morton remarks, the former, living under a 

 thoroughly organised paternal despotism, seem neither to 

 have thought nor acted except at the dictation of a master, 

 while the brain of the savage was always in a state of 

 activity to provide against the necessities and dangers of 

 his daily life. But it must be recollected that the stature 

 of the Peruvians was much less than that of the hunting 

 tribes, and it is also possible that the difference may de- 

 pend partly upon some general law connecting the size of 

 the brain with the prevailing temperature, as inhabitants 

 of cold regions have usually a larger brain capacity than 

 those who dwell within the tropics. 



The general characters of the American cranium 

 arc thus rather negative than positive, but on comparing 

 it with the cranium of other races, it will be seen that it 

 has no affinity whatever with that of any of the negroid 

 people, Australians, Melanesians, or true negroes. From 

 these it differs in every essential character, but with the 

 Mongolian cranium it presents many aftinities, especially 

 in the form of the orbit, the narrowness of the nose, and 

 the great size and forward projection of the malar bones. 

 It is by the latter character especially that it difl'ers fron* 

 the European cranium. The prominence of the nasal 

 bones is sometimes the only distinction to be found between 

 American and North Asiatic skulls. Although Mongolian 

 in the genera! type of face, it never presents such an 

 extreme exaggeration of that type as is to be seen in the 

 Eskimo, from which it can always be readily distinguished. 

 The best argument for the unity of the American race 

 (using the word in a broad sense) is the great difficulty of 

 forming any natural divisions founded upon physical 

 characters. Although certain special modifications pre- 

 vail in different districts, and the Mongolian resemblance 

 is greatest on the north-western coast, the same form 

 constantly reappears at widely separated parts of the 

 continent. Skulls from Vancouver's Island, from Peru, 



