INTRODUCTION 



in number, fortunately came under my observation. Tlie specimens of the 

 cave crania are of two series collected at one time by Dr. Whitney from a lava 

 cave on the island of Hawaii. One of these, eighteen in number, he presented 

 to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia ; the other, fourteen in 

 number, he presented to the Museum of the Harvard Dental School. The 

 coast crania studied, thirty-three in number, are in the main in the series 

 represented in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and in 

 Princeton University. Sixteen of these were collected by Messrs. Sharp and 

 Libbey. 



In general appearance the specimens form two groups, those having a 

 uniform Isabella brown tint and those which were bleached in whole or in 

 part. The statements of residents explain these contrasts. Tiie brown speci- 

 mens are from the caves and the bleached specimens are from the superficial 

 graves. The cave skulls are undoubtedly more than a hundred years old, 

 since the natives ceased to use the caves for burial purposes after European 

 intrusion, yet they are intact, the smallest processes in the interior of the nose, 

 and even the tartar and food detritus on the teeth, being undisturbed. The 

 coast skulls, on the other hand, are rarely perfect. The teeth are often lost by 

 dropping out, or even sometimes knocked out. The laborers introduced from 

 other islands of late years, according to Dr. Whitney, seek everywhere for the 

 skulls, and remove the teeth for the purpose of making necklaces. 



The cave skulls are, for the most part, free from disease affecting the 

 periphery, but are commonly the subject of defective nutrition, the bones 

 being often thin and occupied with numerous foramina of absorption ; together 

 with this, and in a measure concomitant, were numerous small exostoses 

 and arthritic deformations. The specimens, with few exceptions, are well 

 developed, but, as will be seen, show evidences of low grade in many details. 



The coast skulls, on the whole, are of a lower structural type as compared 

 with those of the cave, and show a greater variety of diseased action. The 

 miscellaneous series of the Morton cabinet exhibit in marked degree evidences 

 of diseases of inflammatory origin ; they are often stunted, almost uniformly 

 of an inferior grade, and are bleached and deteriorated in other ways by 

 exposure to the air. 



It is impossible to say to what extent the above differences were due to 

 caste, through the operation of which the bodies of the ruling class were 

 buried in the caves and the lower classes in the sand, or to what degree 

 Whitney's statement can be accepted, that the coast crania are all more recent 



