FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE 



43 



HAWAIIAN SKULLS 



of the variation in skull form, as well as in the more restricted problems of 

 the influence of environment over the primary factors in the pathology of a 

 race, that the following observation may be accepted as germane in a com- 

 parative study of crania. 



The Loss of Upper Front Teeth determining Important Changes 

 in the Shape of the Skull 



Some or all of the upper incisor teeth were found wanting in nine speci- 

 mens, — namely, Nos. 1117, 1120, H. U., 1749, 1755, 1757, ^l^i' A. N. S., of 

 the cave, and Nos. 1957, 2088, 2089, A. N. S., of the coast series. It is 

 evident that these losses had occurred at a time sufficiently early to permit 

 the alveoli to be completely absorbed, while the remaining teeth were scarcely 

 at all worn, and the sagittal suture remained open. In three specimens all 

 the incisors were lost; in one the centrals; in two the laterals; three speci- 

 mens showed loss of one tooth only; in one all the teeth on the left side were 

 wanting. The crown being removed, though the root remained in the socket, 

 it was interesting to note the attempt on the part of the alveolus to cover 

 in the root. In two specimens only (Nos. 11 17, H. U., and 20S8, A. N. S.) 

 were the lost teeth to be accredited to age. I believe it is tenable to associate 

 this peculiar condition of the teeth with the following statement. The natives 

 of the Sandwich Islands were in the habit of knocking out some of the upper 

 front teeth as a sign of mourning for the death of a chief W. Ellis states 

 that a front tooth was broken off The loss of a single front tooth sufficed 

 for an occasion of mourning, but the mutilations being repeated, few men 

 were seen with an entire set of teeth (p. 165). According to S. Dibbles, " The 

 people not only wailed, but shaved their heads, burnt their bodies with sharp, 

 pointed sticks, and knocked out their front teeth" (p. 84). A similar account 

 is given by W. D. Alexander. If the men deferred the operation, an oppor- 

 tunity was taken by the women to do it for them while they slept. It is 

 evident, from the fact that more specimens of the premature loss of teeth are 

 found in the cave specimens than in the coast, that the chiefs were subjected 

 to the same mutilation as the lower class. 



In a lower jaw without skull (No. 1773, A. N. S.) the right canine and 

 the left incisor had been early lost. The changes subsequent to their loss 

 had increased the interval between the right premolars by moving the first 

 premolar forward while having no influence upon the second. This corre- 



