86 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIV. No. i 



soft parts attached, was preserved for a time but 

 cannot now be found. Of late years brains have 

 occupied most of my attention. The mulatto ealva 

 was misplaced in one of the cases of skulls; I even 

 forgot that it was in two parts, as are several 

 others. I did remember, however, that it was un- 

 usually thin, even for a Caucasian. In the spring 

 of 1909, when preparing my address on the ' ' Brain 

 of the American Negro, ' ' by way of emphasizing 

 my warning not to generalize from single speci- 

 mens, which might be quite exceptional, I took the 

 thickest calva in the collection, that of a white 

 murderer (_Euloff, No. 965) and the thinnest, which 

 I supposed to be that of the mulatto of 1S80. 

 It then bore no number or other mark of identi- 

 fication, but it has since been numbered 6070. It 

 and the calva of Euloff were shown at the con- 

 ference and afterward photographed side by side 

 as Fig. 1 of the published address. Since my 

 retirement, while revising the museum and its 

 records for my successors, the mulatto calva of 

 1880 has been found, bearing Professor Gage's 

 original date and the number, 322; of its identity 

 there can be no doubt. Of course a correction and 

 explanation must be published.' First, however, I 

 desire to ascertain the extent of the misapprehen- 

 sion that may have been caused by the unintended 

 substitution of the calva 6070 in Fig. 1 of my ad- 

 dress. Does it, either in the published figure 

 (which is all that readers of the address have to 

 judge from) or in the actual specimen, exhibit any 

 feature incompatible with its being from the 

 mulatto? For a frank opinion I shall be very 

 grateful. 



Following is the report of Dr. Hrdlicka: 



The calva marked C. U., 322, Male Negro, pre- 

 sents nothing that would suggest that race. The 

 thinness is very unusual. It was probably from a 

 small and not very strong individual. It is de- 

 formed in an uncommon way, due to premature 

 synostosis of large portions of the coronal suture 

 on each side, the like of which I have not seen 

 in either negro or mulatto. The parietal eminences 



4766, 4767, 4770 and 4772 of the first edition, and 

 Figs. 762, 764, 765 and 766 of the second. 



* Proceedings of the First National Negro Con- 

 ference, pp. 22-66, with 13 figures. Eeprinted. 



°In addition to the copies distributed by the 

 committee in charge of the conference I have 

 given a thousand copies to scientists and personal 

 friends. 



are much more pronounced than is generally the 

 case in the negro or even the mulatto, and the 

 occiput is without any protrusion, which is also un- 

 like what is most commonly observed in the two 

 classes named. The calva marked C. U., 6070, 

 may well have been from a male. It bears several 

 fairly plain negro characteristics and would well 

 agree with being that of a mulatto. The evenly 

 rounded forehead, the narrowness of the anterior 

 half of the vault, the premature, not physiological, 

 obliteration of the sagittal suture, are all strong 

 signs pointing in this direction. The ventral con- 

 formation of the frontal part of the vault is typi- 

 cally negro -like. 



Summary and Comments. — (1) Calva 6070 

 is not (as supposed when the address on the 

 brain of the American negro was prepared and 

 printed) that of the mulatto, 322, obtained 

 in 1880. There is no documentary evidence 

 that it was from any individual of the 

 African race. Hence it must not be em- 

 ployed in any racial generalization. 



(2) But it is about as thin as the true 

 mulatto calva, 322; both of them are excep- 

 tionally thin for either race, while calva 965, 

 from a white murderer, is exceptionally thick 

 for either race. 



(3) According to high anthropologic au- 

 thority calva 6070 " bears several plain negro 

 characteristics, and would well agree with 

 being that of a mulatto." 



(4) The publication of this correction has 

 been delayed in the hope to ascertain the 

 identity of calva 6070 from former students 

 and assistants in various parts of the country.' 



(5) No similar error has occurred among 

 the specimens in my charge. I alone am to 

 blame. Self -correction is not a pleasant task; 

 still less pleasant, however, would be the con- 

 sciousness that silence might mislead others 

 and eventually cast a doubt upon the accu- 

 racy of our records, hitherto unimpeached. 



2. In 1875, while formulating a " provi- 

 sional arrangement of vertebrates according 

 to cerebral [encephalic] and cardiac char- 



° The lower part of the skull has both petrosals 

 excavated as if for the study of the internal ear. 

 This condition and the extreme thinness may recall 

 the specimen to some one not already applied to. 



