June 19, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



of the head is attained before the full 

 breadth.* In Italy, Dr. Livi has brought 

 together the results of a number of ob- 

 servers from both northern and southern 

 Europe, but all of them from the broad- 

 headed races.f The difference of cephalic 

 index on the average among 447 cases here 

 amounts to one unit in favor of broad- 

 headedness of the adult, the contrary ten- 

 dency to that noted for the Americans. 

 That age brings a relative increase in the 

 breadth of the head -was also apparently in- 

 dicated by the few measurements made by 

 Welcker.| For Bohemia, Dr. Matiegka, 

 from measurements on 400 children, as- 

 serted that there is no tendency toward a 

 change in the relative length and breadth 

 in the cases observed by him.§ Dr. Boas 

 finds that in the North American Indians 

 age is characterized by a relative increase 

 in the length. || 



On the whole, summarizing the results 

 and opinions of these various writers, whose 

 conclusions are, on the whole, contrary to our 

 American ones, it appears that no universal 

 rule can be established with respect to the 

 effect of age upon the proportions of the 

 head. The only hypothesis which seems to 

 be confirmed by all this evidence is that 

 development brings an approximation to 

 the racial type most clearly marked in the 

 adult. In other words, in the narrow- 

 headed races, like our own, the children are 

 broader-headed than the adults. Among 

 the brachy- cephalic races, such as those in- 

 stanced by Dr. Livi and most of the others 

 cited, the children exhibit the race pecu- 

 liarity in a less marked degree, that is, 

 they are relatively narrower headed than 



* Tiber die tTrforin des Menschlichen Schiidels, in 

 report of Congres Int. d'Anth. et d'Arcbteologie, 

 Paris, 1867. 



t'L 'Indice Cefalico degli Italiani,' Florence, 

 1886, p. 15. 



t Archiv. fiir Anthropologie, I., p. 151. 



?Mitt. der Antli. Gesell. in Wien, XXII., 1892, 

 Sltzungsberiohten, p. 81. 



II Verb, der Berliner Gesell. fur Anth., Sitz l^er. 

 May 18, 1895, p. 392. 



at maturity. Finally the change from 

 childhood to maturity becomes nil where 

 the adults themselves belong to a group 

 with a cephalic index near the mean 

 for the entire European race. No rela- 

 tion can be established between the intelli- 

 gence and the proportions of the head so far 

 as the experience of European study goes, 

 although Krause and Virchow declare in fa- 

 vor of the broad-headed type. If this hy- 

 pothesis be true that age brings the fuller 

 development of the race type, it may be 

 possible in the future to apply a correction 

 to the comparative results obtained by stu- 

 dents of anthropology whose results are 

 drawn from the study of children. But 

 until that time the inferences to be drawn 

 from such study are as likely to be errone- 

 ous as are conclusions drawn from the 

 study of the color of the hair and eyes of 

 school children, since in both cases matur- 

 ity brings a change which has not as yet 

 been statistically measured. It is earnestly 

 hoped that further study along this line 

 may be undertaken. The testimony of ex- 

 pert psychologists would be also of interest 

 as bearing upon this point. In the hope of 

 stimulating some such investigations, the 

 modest results obtained from this study at 

 the Institute of Technology are submitted. 



W. Z. KiPLEY. 



IS THE PUMPKIN AN A31EBICAN PLANT?* 

 In the Index Kewensis seventeen species 

 of the genus Cucurbita are recognized and 

 their distribution given as follows : 



C. ionoiiiensis. Hab.? 



C. californica. Am.bor.oco 



C. ciceraria. Chili. 



C. digiiata. N. Mexic. 



C. ficifoUa. As. or. 



C. fosiidissima. Mexic. 



C. Ocdeotiii. Mexic. 



C. TiieroglypMca. Hab.? 



(7. lignosa. Am. autr. 



C. maxima. As. trop. Orb. 

 trop, cult. 

 C. medullaris. Hab. 



0. melanseformis. Japon. 

 C. moschata. As. trop. 

 C. palmata. Calif. 



C. Pepo. Oriens.Afr. trop. 

 C. purpurea. Java. 



C radicans. Mexic. 



* Substance of a lecture before University Archeo- 

 logical Association, Feb. 19, 1896. 



