660 THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKULL AND BRAINS. 



to the great development of the o-l;il)ella and supraorbital an-bes. 

 Now these processes are well known to present very strikino- variations 

 in existing human races. They are usually supposed to be developed 

 as buttresses for the purpose of affording support to the large upper 

 jaw and enable it to resist tlie pressure of the lower jaw due to the con- 

 traction of the powerful muscles of mastication. These processes, how- 

 ever, are usuall}' feebly marked in the microcephalic, prognathous, and 

 macrodont negro skull, and may be well developed in the macrocephalic 

 and orthognathous skulls of some of the higher races. Indeed, their 

 variations are too great and their significance too obscure for them to 

 form a Ixxsis for the creation of a new species of man. Both Iluxlej^ 

 and Turner have shown that the low vault of the Neanderthal calvaria 

 can be closely paralleled b}^ specimens of existing races. 



If the characters of the Neanderthal calvaria are so distincti\e as to 

 justify the recognition of a new species, a new genus ought to he 

 made for the Trinil skullcap. In nearl}^ every respect it is distinct!}^ 

 lower in type than the Neanderthal, and yet many of the anatomists 

 wlio have expressed their opinion on the subject maintain that the 

 Trinil specimen is distinctly human. 



Important and interesting as are the facts which may be ascertained 

 from a study of a series of skulls regarding the size and form of the 

 brain, it is evident that there are distinct limits to the knowledge to ))e 

 o])tained from this source. Much additional information as to racial 

 characters would undoubtedly be gained had we collections of brains at 

 all corresponding in number and variety with the skulls in our juuseums. 

 We know that as a rule the brains of the less civilized races are smaller 

 and the convolutions and fissures simpler than those of the more 

 cultured nations; ])eyond this but little has been definitel}^ determined. 



As the results of investigations in human and comparative anatomy, 

 physiology, and pathology, we know that definite areas of the cere})ral 

 cortex are-connected with the action of definite groups of muscles, and 

 that the nervous impulses starting from the organs of smell, sight, 

 hearing, and conunon sensibility reach defined cortical fields. All 

 these, however, do not cover more than a third of the convoluted sur- 

 face of the brain, and the remaining two-thirds are still to a large 

 extent a terra incognita so far as their precise function is concerned. 

 Is there a definite localization of special mental qualities or moral 

 tendencies, and if so, where are they situated ? These arc problems of 

 extreme difficult}^, but their interest and importance are difiicult to 

 exaggerate. In the solution of this problem anthropologists are 

 bound to take an active and important part. When they have col- 

 lected information as to the relative development of the various parts 

 of the higher brain in all classes of mankind with the same thorough- 

 ness with which they have investigated the racial peculiarities of the 

 skull the question will be within a measurable distance of solution. 



