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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 443 



capacity can be segregated into five groups, 

 namely : 



1. The skull is made impermeable and tben 

 filled with some liquid, preferably water, which 

 is then weighed or measured; or the water is 

 forced into a thin rubber bag until it fills with 

 this the entire skull cavity, after which the 

 liquid is measured. These methods, em- 

 ployed by Broca, Schmidt, Matthews, etc., 

 yield good results, but are too complicated or 

 tedious for ordinary use. 



2. The skull is filled with sand or other 

 substances, and this is weighed, the result 

 giving a basis for calculating the capacity. 

 This method, used especially by some Ameri- 

 can anthropologists of the last century, was 

 not sufiiciently accurate, and soon became 

 obsolete. 



3. The skull is filled with small, rounded 

 seeds, beads, shot or other substance, and the 

 contents are then measured (Tiedemann, Busk, 

 "Flower, etc.). The filling or the measuring 

 (or both) is aided by certain manipulations 

 (tilting, tapping, etc.), but, except the meas- 

 uring vessels, no implements are required. 

 The method in its numerous modifications is 

 comparatively easy and has other advantages, 

 but the results are mostly not as accurate as 

 desirable. 



4. The method invented and regulated by 

 and named after Broca. In this procedure 

 the skull is packed with shot, which is then 

 measured; but both the filling and measuring 

 are aided by certain implements, and every 

 step of the procedure follows definite rules. 

 Among the implements used appears a funnel 

 of certain dimensions, which controls the flow 

 of the shot. The method gives steady results, 

 but can not be used with frail skulls, and the 

 capacity obtained is always larger than actual, 

 the proportion growing with the size of the 

 skull. 



3. The Welcker's method.* In this pro- 

 cedure, which is the outgrowth of the majority 



* Arch. f. Anihrop., Bd. XVI., S. 1 et seq. E. 

 Schmidt, ' Anthropologisehe Methoden,' pp. 217- 

 219. Recently a modification of the instruments 

 with a form of a funnel stopper has been pro- 

 posed by E. Landau, Intern. Centralblatt f. 

 Anthrop., etc., 1903, I., pp. 3-7. 



of those mentioned, but more directly of that 

 of Broca, the most important part is delegated 

 to the funnel, which, by its size, controls the 

 measuring of the contents of the skull. The 

 mode of filling the skull, so long as efficient 

 and uniform, is immaterial; all that is re- 

 quired is that each worker should, with the aid 

 of a standard skull, find the exact size of the 

 funnel necessary to give him, in measuring, 

 the correct result with his particular method 

 and substance used for the filling of the skull. 

 Any rounded seed or substance can be em- 

 ployed for the filling, as it is possible to com- 

 pletely fill the cranial cavity without using 

 the process of jamming, such as that used by 

 Broca; this allows the most fragile skull to 

 be measured without any injury. Welcker 

 advocated a funnel large enough to receive all 

 the contents of the skull. The contents of the 

 properly filled skull are emptied into a separate 

 vessel and then ' with one movement is versed 

 into the funnel,' which is open (not provided 

 with any stopper) and held in position verti- 

 cally and centrally above the graduated re- 

 ceiving vessel. Each new series of measure- 

 ments is controlled by the standard skull. 



There can be no doubt that this last is 

 the most advanced and preferable method, 

 and the one which, a little more perfected, 

 presents the best claim for universal adoption. 



Experimenting for nearly six years, at the 

 American Museum of Natural History, with 

 the various earlier procedures of measuring 

 cranial capacity, I arrived, a little over two 

 years ago and practically independently, at a 

 method which in principle is identical with 

 that of Welcker, but is carried on with a few 

 further helping details which deserve being 

 mentioned. 



Starting, as Welcker, with the laws con- 

 cerning the flow of solid substances, etc., as laid 

 down by Broca, and with Broca's implements 

 and a standard skull, I was soon able to satisfy 

 myself that: (a) The same substance poured 

 through the, same funnel with the same rapid- 

 ity will always give the same, but with differ- 

 ent rapidity will give differing, measures ; and 

 that (Z)) each different substance that can be 

 utilized for the measurement of cranial ca- 



