TRANSACTIONS OF WAGNER 

 54 



^ HAWAIIAN SKULLS 



lying nearly parallel to the inner wall of the orbit, the deep recession of the 

 anterior aspect of the body of the maxilla, the wide megaseme orbit, all indi- 

 cate a pinched,' narrow, under-developed facial region. Yet precocity of a 

 certain kind is seen in the closure of the sutures in the infraorbital margin 

 and the disappearance of the intermaxillomaxillary suture on the hard palate. 

 Asymmetry is seen in a prenasal fossa, being confined to the right side, and 

 a small pteriotic bone being found on the left, while there is none on the 

 right side. What cause can be given for these features occurring in so young 

 an individual ? And why should the oldest skull in a series of four show the 

 smallest face proportions ? I venture to believe that it is to be found in an 

 attack of measles, which has left characteristic impressions. The central in- 

 cisors are pitted on the crowns near the cutting edges, the remaining single- 

 rooted teeth are gibbous {i.e., abruptly convex at the base of the crowns pos- 

 teriorly) : all the teeth are stunted. A wide interval lies between the centrals, 

 and all the single-rooted teeth are intervalled on the left side. The interior of 

 the nose shows signs of inflammation. 



The other appearances above noted are probably the outcome of the 

 attack. It must be recalled that measles was unknown to the Hawaiians 

 until it was brought to them by the Europeans. It was terribly devastating, 

 the survivors exhibiting many evidences of the ordeal through which they 

 had passed. It is fair to assume that the skull, so different from other 

 Hawaiian crania of about the same age, yields the sequelae of a virulent type 

 of the disease. 



Reflecting upon these features I was lead to ask myself the question. To 

 what extent does the action of the exanthemata modify the skull in our own 

 people ? The deformities in the Hawaiian child were impossible before the 

 measles came to the community of which he was a part. How many of the 

 deformations of our own children's heads are due to the exanthemata whose 

 ravages are familiar in the communities of which they are a part? To what 

 extent do these diseases, caused by the operation of the law of transmission 

 of acquired characters, produce a gradual alteration in the ethnic type which 

 is unknown to the peoples to whom the exanthemata are also unknown ? 



Concluding Remarks ■ 

 In the study just completed I have described a new graphic method of 

 collating measurements. I have endeavored to establish the proposition, that 



