JT'LY 10, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



51 



Zuckerkandl based his conclusions that 

 children have more elongated heads than adults 

 on measurements of 156 children and 197 adults 

 from the interior parts of Austria. But in 

 selecting these individuals he excluded what he 

 calls the Slavic type, including only the elon- 

 gated heads which he ascribes to the Teutonic 

 type. This arbitrary selection makes the 

 results of his comparison of doubtful value for 

 a treatment of the question of growth; Zucker- 

 kandl discusses this point at length and points 

 out that his statistics must not be considered 

 final. {Mitt, der Anthrop. Ges. in Wien XIV. 

 1884, p. 127.) 



Holl has based his statement on the measure- 

 ment of only 16 skulls of children, and conse- 

 quently no weight can be attached to it. 



Mies to whom Dr. Ripley refers does not 

 make — so far as I can make out — any statement 

 in regard to the question at issue in the pas- 

 sage quoted (ibid. XX. 1890, p. 39 flF.). 



The statistics of Dr. Livi which were pub- 

 lished in the Archivio per V antropologia e la etnol- 

 ogia, 1886, p. 235, are based on observations by 

 Calori, Brennsohn, Waldhauer, Wseber and 

 Broca ; but they are classified in two groups : 

 of more and of less than 33 years of age, and 

 can therefore not be utilized for treating the 

 question of the influence of growth upon the 

 form of the head, as they are rather directed 

 to detecting retrogressive changes which be- 

 gin after the 35th year of life. 



While these European data are open to serious 

 objections, we find in America that with few ex- 

 ceptions long-headed tribes as well as short- 

 headed ones, show a decrease in the value of 

 the cephalic index with increasing age. I have 

 compiled the following table in order to make 

 this point clear : 



Cephalic Index of 



Tribe. Adults. Children. Difference. 



Miemac 79.0 (136) 80.9 ( 84) +1.9 



Eastern 



Ojibwa... 81.8 (396) 81.6(309) —0.2 



Cherokee... 82.0 (140) 81.0 ( 75) — 1.0 



British Co- 

 lumbia... 83.6 (284) 85.3 (138) + 1.7 



Moqui 84.0 (116) 86.4 ( 77) + 2.4 



Navajo 84.2 ( 77) 86.8 ( 76) + 2.6 



The cause for this decrease is not far to seek. 

 With maturity the frontal sinuses and the occip- 



ital protuberance begin to grow, particularly 

 in males, while there is no corresponding local 

 growth on the parietal or temporal bones. This 

 has the effect that the length grows more rapidly 

 than the breadth and that the index begins to 

 decrease. The lesser development of the frontal 

 sinuses and of the occipital protuberance in 

 women is also a sufficient explanation for their 

 greater brachycephalism. 



Nevertheless, I believe that the breadth of 

 the head increases as long as the length, al- 

 though at a slower rate, and that Dr. Ripley 

 would have* obtained this result if his series had 

 been more extensive. I cannot find that Schaaf- 

 hausen, who held this opinion, has substanti- 

 ated it by any extensive series of observations. 

 The best series that is available is that of Dr. 

 Venn (Jour, Anthrop. Institute. XVIII. , p. 152, 

 ff".) which when arranged ft'om this point of 

 view gives the following results : 



Year. Length of Head. Breadthof Head. Index. Individuals. 

 Indies. Inches. 



19 7.54 5.87 77.9 139 



20 7.57 5.93 78.3 305 



21 7.58 5.93 78.2 248 



22 7.63 5.98 78.4 189 



23 7.54 5.97 79.2 83 



24 7.71 6.03 78.2 52 

 +25 7.62 6.00 78.7 79 



But the growth of the head does not close 

 with the twenty-fifth year. The following 

 table shows that among the Indians it con- 

 tinues to grow until near the thirtieth year, 

 and the period will certainly not be found 

 shorter among people of European descent, 

 while it may be shorter among the negroes : 



Years. Length of Head. 



20-21 193.0 mm. 



22-23 193.7 " 



24-25 193.8 " 



26-27 194.3 " 



28-29 194.8 " 



30 and more 194.8 " 



Franz Boas. 

 New York. 



biology, zoology and botany. 

 To THE Editor of Science : Prof. Conway 

 MacMillan, who claims (Science, III., p. 634) 

 to have single-handed banished a 'sham 



