SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol XLIII. No. 1120 



been carried on by the writer now for three years. 

 The object of these investigations is twofold. In 

 the first place they are expected to show what, if 

 any, bodily and functional changes have taken 

 place in the descendants of early whites under pro- 

 longed action of American environment; and, in 

 the second place, they are to give us a series of 

 milch-needed standards, for use in anthropological 

 comparisons. 



The study is limited to healthy adults between 

 24 and 60 years of age, and no selection what- 

 ever is made beyond this requirement; in fact the 

 work is purposely confined to the District of Co- 

 lumbia, where the old American population is de- 

 rived from all vocations and from all parts of the 

 country. The number of individuals of each sex 

 to be examined was set at from 150 to 200, and 

 the lower limit has now been nearly reached with 

 both males and females. 



The results of the research are most interesting. 

 In general, it may be said that no homogeneous 

 American type exists, even in the very oldest fam- 

 ilies; ancestral traits often persist in a remarkable 

 manner; yet on the whole there are unquestionable 

 evidences of a tendency towards the formation of 

 a purely American subtype. In other words, there 

 are evident, on the one hand, the power and per- 

 sistence of heredity, while, on the other hand, we 

 can also trace the effects of local American ac- 

 quisitions. Yet there is little probability that a 

 national type will develop in this country within 

 the next few centuries; the old families are dying 

 out or mixing with newcomers, and immigration 

 will keep on pouring in fresh foreign strains. 

 Even should immigration stop, there is little prob- 

 ability that a single American type would ever 

 develop, but we should expect rather several sub- 

 types, due to the basic regional differences in the 

 components of the population, jointly with differ- 

 ences in environment. 

 The Genesis of the American Indian: Ales 



Hrdlicka. 



The author of this paper considers the question 

 of the unity or plurality of the American race. 

 In answering this question he decides in favor of 

 the origiaal unity of the Indian race in America. 

 He bases his conclusion upon the similarities of 

 language, culture, mentality and physique. The 

 author next takes up the question of the antiquity 

 of the race on this continent. He does not think 

 that the Indian was autoethonous on this conti- 

 nent. He bases this belief upon the absence of 



the inferior primates of the anthropoid type on 

 this continent, also upon the subject of the unity 

 of the human species and upon the circumstances 

 that the primitive types of humanity living in 

 Europe during the quaternary or glacial epoch 

 could not have come from America. According to 

 the author no human remains of geological antiq- 

 uity have been demonstrated to exist on this con- 

 tinent. 



The third question considered is the source of 

 the elements that occupy America and the epoch 

 of the occupation. 



With respect to the first point the author passes 

 in review the means of transportation of prehis- 

 toric man. The geographical situation of America 

 with respect to the other continents; the anthro- 

 pological characteristics of the American Indian, 

 which compare with the primitive characteristics of 

 the great ethnic groups of other parts of the 

 world. The author concludes from these consid- 

 erations that the American' aborigines could have 

 come only from Asia. 



With respect to the epoch, the author thinks 

 that no direct proof exists upon which to base an 

 opinion. Considerations or proofs of an indirect 

 character tend toward the idea that emigration to 

 America could not have been effected before the 

 European NeoUthic period. 



The manner or manners of the arrival of man 

 to the new world and his subsequent dissemination 

 and reproduction there constitutes the last point 

 of analysis by the author. His opinion is that 

 there was not one but many successive immigra- 

 tions. 



Variations in the Lambda of the Crania of the 



Ancient Peruvians: Caklos Moeales Macedo. 



In the limited zone between the two occipito- 

 parietal sutures and in the lambda itself, there 

 are observed certain morphological variations, 

 which present in the crania of the ancient races of 

 Peru a frequency not surpassed in the crania of 

 other peoples. The author is of the opinion that 

 in the lambdoid region the Peruvian crania show 

 an anatomical peculiarity. 



The interparietal, the epactal and the lamb- 

 doids are treated separately. The study is based 

 on the observation of 924 authenticated Peruvian 

 crania, of which 551 belong to the National Mu- 

 seum of Peru, 102 to the Eaimondi Museum 

 (School of Medicine), Lima. The remaining 271 

 were collected by the author in the ruins of 

 Pachaeamac and the huaoas of Anoon. 



The author's conclusions are: 



