November ii, 1892.] 



SCIENCE. 



279 



Dr. Virchow aims in the first place to establish a series of 

 cranial ethnic types as the foundation of ethnic classiScation. 

 Here, very much depends on the sense in which a " type" is un- 

 derstood. For him, it is the sum of those traits which belong to 

 the crania of a given ethnic division, excluding, on the one hand, 

 traits which are individual, and, on the other, those which are 

 generic. Theoretically, it is the expression of the ethnic law of 

 hereditary development, which, independently of outward cir- 

 cumstances, controls bodily growth. It must be defined by a 

 series of exclusions and averages. 



Each of the "types" which he figures is represented with the 

 utmost fidelity in five different positions, showing the following 

 norms : norma frontalis, occipitalis, temporalis, verticalis, and 

 basilaris. All are represented from the points of view of the 

 "German horizontal," which is a line drawn from the superior 

 point of the external auditory foramen to the lower margin of the 

 ocular cavity. This method of iconography is in itself worth a 

 particular study, and no exception can be taken to its accuracy 

 and its superiority to those heretofore in use. 



Close attention is given to artificial deformations of the skull, 

 which were numerous and widespread among the American abo- 

 risines. Eight leading varieties are classified and their effects 

 analyzed. It is shown that by laws of compensatory growth such 

 deformity does not entail diminished cubical capacity. The 

 lowest capacity, 1,100 cubic centimeters, was in a normal skull 

 from Chile; the highest, 1,830 cubic centimeters, was in a Labra- 

 dor Eskimo. 



The general conclusions reached by this masterful study will 

 interest every one. In the fi.rst place. Dr. Virchow denies that 

 there is any one characteristic aboriginal American type of skull, 

 or, so far as one can see, that there ever has been one. The salient 

 traits, none of which is peculiar to the race, are the os Incss, 

 which is an arrest of development; the absence of the temporal 

 process, the presence of which is a pithecoid trait; exostosis of 



the meatus auditorius, which must be regarded as pathological ; 

 and certain changes in the alveolar and malar bones, largely due 

 to function. Finally, the conclusion is reached that the lowest 

 known forms of the human skull have no counterparts in any 

 yet discovered in America, and therefore we must at present 

 draw the inference that such types did not exist there, and that 

 the oldest history of the human species will not be enlightened 

 by any discoveries in the New World. Man came to America as 

 an immigrant, physically highly developed, and doubtless in a 

 condition of culture corresponding thereto. 



This brief outline gives but a faint idea of the riches offered in 

 Dr. Virchow's introduction, which is written, moreover, in that 

 lucid and vigorous style of which he is such a master, and which 

 is in such happy contrast to most German scientific composition. 

 There are. however, a fevv points where the work is open to ques- 

 tion. The reference on the first page to the inferior value of 

 linguistic grouping carries with it its own condemnation ; for 

 where there is mixture of languages there is invariably mixture of 

 blood, and hence of cranial types as well. Bones cannot guide 

 us better than roots in such interminglings. In several of his 

 " types " the history is sadly incomplete. Thus Plate xv. shows 

 a " Mexican" skull; but to say " Mexican ' is every whit as vague 

 as to say "European;" and what guarantee have we that its 

 peculiarities are not individual instead of ethnic ? This observa- 

 tion applies to several other of the crania figured. According to 

 his own definition of type, such specimens can have but very 

 doubtful value. In the text to Table xx. it is assumed that a 

 prominent frontal protuberance is a proof that the skull belonged 

 to a male. Do other anatomists concede this? But criticism is 

 disarmed by the candid statement of the author that the material 

 at hand was far from sufficient to reach the point he desired, and 

 that his work must be regarded rather as a preliminary contribu- 

 tion to the study of this wide and important field. This it is. in 

 the best sense of the word. D. (j. Beinton. 



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