Jan. 8, 1880] 



NATURE 



>23 



valuable that the original catalogue has ceased to fulfil 

 the requirements of the collection, and the preparation of 

 a new catalogue has become necessary. 



Prof. Flower, the present Conservator, has undertaken 

 this task, and the first fruit of his labours is now before 

 us. In this volume he has catalogued the specimens, 

 1,312 in number, which illustrate the development of the 

 human skeleton, the osteology of adult man, the dentition 

 of man, and the crania and other parts of the skeleton 

 illustrating the osteologieal characters of the various 

 races of men. This volume is, therefore, from the extent 

 and variety of the collection, and from the methodical 

 way in which the numerous measurements are recorded, 

 an important contribution to physical anthropology. 



In the introductory chapter Prof. Flower describes the 

 method he has pursued in obtaining the measurements of 

 the crania, and he explains the meaning of a number of 

 terms, mostly introduced by Paul Broca, into craniology. 



The measurements which he records are taken with 

 especial reference to the determination of the circum- 

 ference of the craniuni, its length, breadth, and height 

 and the relations of these to each other ; the length from 

 the anterior margin of the foramen magnum, on the one 

 hand to the fronto-nasal suture, and on the other to the 

 most projecting part of the upper alveolar arch, from 

 which the alveolar index is deduced ; the height and 

 width of the nose ; the height and width of the orbit ; and 

 the cubic capacity of the cranium. The capacity is ex- 

 pressed in cubic centimetres and the other measurements 

 in millimetres. 



In measuring the length of a skull craniologists arc in 

 the habit of taking the longitudinal diameter between the 

 prominence at the root of the nose called the glabella, 

 and the most projecting part of the occiput behind, a 

 measurement which has the advantage of giving the 

 absolute length of the cranium between its two most 

 extreme points. Prof. Flower, however, does not follow 

 this method, but prefers to take the length from the most 

 projecting part of the occiput behind, to a point situated 

 immediately above the projection of the glabella, to which 

 Broca has given the name ophryon. This point is in the 

 centre of a line drawn across the narrowest part of the 

 forehead, which separates the face from the craniuni. 

 He has selected this point anteriorly, in preference to the 

 glabella, on the ground that the glabella is properly a 

 part of the face, and that it may vary much in develop- 

 ment, without occasioning any alteration in the essential 

 form of the cranium. Similarly in taking the horizontal 

 circumference of the cranium he passes the tape line, not 

 over the prominence of the glabella, as is customary with 

 craniologists, but above it, around the supra-orbital line. 

 Mr. Flower therefore entirely excludes this well-known 

 prominence from his measurement of the cranium. 



But in excluding the glabella from the cranium, on the 

 ground that it belongs to the face, he does not appear in 

 his measurements of the face, to have made provision for 

 including th glabella, so that in these measurements a 

 feature which gives a very decided character to the 

 anterior region of the head is left out of consideration. 

 This seems to us to be a defect, for if such a mode of 

 mensuration were generally adopted, skulls possessing 

 great projections in the glabellar and supraciliary regions, 

 such as the well-known Neanderthal skull and the crania 



of the generality of the Australian aborigines would not 

 have, what undoubtedly constitutes one of their most 

 salient and characteristic features, represented in a table 

 of their dimensions, and the relations of their extreme 

 length and breadth to each other, as expressed by the 

 latitudinal cephalic index, would not be fully brought out. 



It may, however, be argued that, by including the 

 glabella in the longitudinal diameter and in the horizontal 

 circumference, a portion of the cranial wall which lies 

 superficial and owes its extent of projection to a subjacent 

 air-containing space— the frontal sinus— and not to the 

 brain cavity, is made to appear as if it were an essential 

 part of the box containing the brain, and that the size of 

 the cavity of that box is made to seem therefore to be 

 greater than it really is. But to this it may be replied 

 that the capacity of the cranial box, as capable of being 

 deduced from external measurements, is affected, even 

 when the glabella and supraciliary ridges are left out of 

 consideration, by other causes, such as variations in the 

 thickness of the diplbe and the development of ridges for 

 muscular attachment. 



The only reliable mode of ascertaining the capacity of 

 the cranium is by actual measurement of what it can 

 contain, and not by calculations based on the external 

 dimensions of its walls. The longitudinal diameter of 

 the cranium ought in our judgment to express the actual 

 length of the skull between its two extreme anterior and 

 posterior points, to whatever causa it may be due. The 

 special mode of taking the length of the cranium, 

 adopted in this Catalogue, is to be kept in mind in com- 

 paring, not only the length of the crania but their lati- 

 tudinal and altitudinal indices, with the corresponding 

 measurements recorded by those craniologists who take 

 the length of the skull between its two most extreme 

 points. 



The several measurements have been made and re- 

 corded with that care and precision which charact; 

 the anatomical work done by Prof. Flower. To obtain 

 reliable evidence of the cubic capacity, one of the most 

 difficult and important measurements to procure, many 

 thousands of experiments have been made to ascertain 

 the best process, and some of the crania have been gauged 

 several times over. The material used has been mustard 

 seed, with which the brain cavity has been filled to its 

 maximum and the quantity of the seed has then been 

 taken with the choremometer designed and constructed 

 by Mr. Busk. 



In addition to the measurements recorded of the indi- 

 vidual crania, the author has given a valuable table in 

 which he summarises the general results that have been 

 obtained from the examination of the skulls of the dif- 

 ferent races. This table shows clearly that after making 

 allowance for variations in individual skulls, yet that the 

 different races of mankind posses; in the configuration 

 and dimensions of their skulls certain tangible characters 

 which may be expressed by distinctive terms. Thus, to 

 select a few examples adduced by the author, from the 

 rices which are probably unmixed. The Veddah race of 

 Ceylon is dolichocephalic, orthognathous, with the orbital 

 and nasal apertures moderately wide in proportion to the 

 height (incsoseme and mesorhine), and with the capacity 

 of the cranium small (microcephalic). The Australian 

 race, again, whilst dolichocephalic, and microcephalic as 



