May 24, 1912] 
collected into book form they would certainly 
be still more serviceable. The inclusion of all 
known minerals would be a very desirable 
feature, but the more important ones should 
be marked by bold-face type. 
The necessity for repetition of each species 
would be in a large measure obviated if a 
complete discussion of the rules governing the 
orientation of crystals in general were pre- 
sented. Even in the tetragonal system two 
values of ¢ must be given unless the student 
is first taught to distinguish first from second 
order pyramids, by relative size of faces, pres- 
ence of cleavage, direction of striations, etc. 
And in the more complex systems similar 
rules can be formulated. In fact, if such 
rules had only been collected and presented 
in an authoritative way in some text-book 
long ago the rather unfortunate confusion in 
the present usage in orienting even some 
common erystals—as, for instance, making 
the long prism-like faces of gypsum the pyra- 
mid—might have been avoided. 
Yes, by all means, the preparation of such 
a list of tables should be undertaken. And 
perhaps it would be worth while to include 
similar tabulations of some of the physical 
properties of minerals, such as color, hard- 
ness, etc., on a more elaborate scale than those 
in Dana’s text-book, for instance. 
Epeaar T. WHERRY 
DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY, 
LEHIGH UNIVERSITY 
CHANGES OF BODILY FORM IN DESCENDANTS OF 
IMMIGRANTS 
To THE Eprror or Science: Four years ago 
Professor F. Boas, of Columbia University, 
was intrusted by the U. S. Immigration Com- 
mission with an investigation of the bodily 
characteristics of descendants of immigrants 
in America. The results of this undertaking 
were published two years ago in his report 
entitled “Changes in Bodily Form of De- 
scendants of Immigrants” (Washington, 
1910). In this report Dr. Boas questions the 
generally accepted theory of anthropologists 
that the form of the head is one of the most 
unchanging characteristics of human races, 
SCIENCE 
821 
and concludes that it is subject to “ far-reach- 
ing” changes in type due to the transfer of 
the races of Europe to American soil. 
Last year I wrote a critique of this report 
entitled “ Professor Boas’s New Theory of the 
Form of the Head—A Critical Contribution 
to School Anthropology,”* in which I took 
the ground that Professor Boas’s own figures 
do not warrant his conclusion that the shape 
of the head is influenced by a new environ- 
ment. 
In a recent number of Science” there ap- 
peared a reply to my critique. As the general 
reader can not get a clear conception from 
this reply either of the nature of Boas’s report 
of 1910 or of the salient points of my criti- 
cism of it, I venture to call attention to the 
following statements: 
Professor Boas in his report of 1910 ignores 
all previous theories of this most complicated 
problem (see especially pp. 7, 31, 32, 51) and 
writes as follows: 
Children born more than a few years after the 
arrival of the immigrant parent in America develop 
in such a way that they differ in type essentially 
from their foreign-born parents. These differences 
seem to develop during the earliest childhood and 
persist throughout life. It seems that every part 
of the body is influenced in this way; and even the 
form of the head, which has always been consid- 
ered as one of the most permanent hereditary 
features, undergoes considerable changes. .. . The 
importance of this entirely unexpected result lies 
in the fact that even those characteristics which 
modern science has led us to consider as most 
stable are subject to thorough changes under new 
environment. (This is quoted in the ‘‘Introduc- 
tion’’? to the Report.) 
The head form, which has always been consid 
ered as one of the most stable and permanent 
characteristics of human races, undergoes far- 
teaching changes due to the transfer of the races 
of Europe to American soil (p. 7). 
This fact is one of the most suggestive ones 
discovered in our investigation, because it shows 
that not-even those characteristics of a race which 
have proved to be most permanent in their old 
home remain the same under our new surround- 
1Published in the American 
XIII., 1911, 394-436. 
2 April 5, 1912, 537-40. 
Anthropologist, 
