October 18, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



605 



gone so large a degree of modification in 

 human evolution, presents a greater uni- 

 formity of type and a greater constancy of 

 form in different individuals and different 

 races than the cranial vault, which covers 

 the more highly specialized and more vari- 

 able cerebral hemispheres. 



To what extent and in what directions 

 modifications in the form of the cranium 

 may be the outcome of restrictions placed 

 on the growth of the brain it is difiicult to 

 say. But, broadly speaking, I think we 

 may conclude that the influence which the 

 cranium, under normal circumstances, in- 

 dependently exerts in determining the 

 various head-forms is trifling. 



When we speak, therefore, of brachy ce- 

 phalic or short heads and dolichocephalic or 

 long heads, we are merely using terms to in- 

 dicate conditions which result from individ- 

 ual or racial peculiarities of cerebral growth. 



The bracbycephalic brain is not molded 

 into form by the bracbycephalic skull ; the 

 shape of both is the result of the same he- 

 reditary influence, and in their growth they 

 exhibit the most perfect harmony with each 

 other. 



Craniology has been called the ' spoiled 

 child of anthropology.' It is supposed 

 that it has absorbed more attention than 

 it deserves, and has been cultivated with 

 more than its share of care, while other 

 fields of anthropology capable of yielding 

 rich harvests have been allowed to remain 

 fallow. This criticism conveys a very par- 

 tial truth. The cranium, as we have seen, 

 is the outward expression of the contained 

 brain, and the brain is the most charac- 

 teristic organ of man ; cranial peculiarities, 

 therefore, must always and should always 

 claim a leading place in the mind of the 

 anthropologist; and this is all the more im- 

 perative, seeing that the brains of different 

 races are seldom available for investiga- 

 tion, whilst skulls in the different museums 

 may literally be counted by thousands. 



Meantime, however, the craniologist lies 

 buried beneath a mighty mountain of fig- 

 ures, many of which have little morpho- 

 logical value and possess no true importance 

 in distinguishing the finer diflerences of 

 racial forms. Let us take as an example 

 the figures upon which the cephalic or 

 length-breadth index of the skull is based. 

 The measurement of the long diameter of 

 the cranium does not give the true length 

 of the cranial cavity. It includes, in addi- 

 tion, the diameter of an air-chamber of 

 very variable dimensions which is placed in 

 front. The measurement combines in itself, 

 therefore, two factors of very different im- 

 port, and the result is thereby vitiated to a 

 greater or less extent in different skulls. 

 A recent memoir by Schwalbe ^ affords in- 

 structive reading on this matter. One case 

 in point may be given. Measured in the 

 usual way, the Neanderthal skull is placed 

 in the dolichocephalic class ; whereas 

 Schwalbe has shown that if the brain-case 

 alone be considered it is found to be on the 

 verge of brachycephaly. Huxley, many 

 years ago, remarked that ' until it shall 

 become an opprobrium to an ethnological 

 collection to possess a single skull which is 

 notbisected longitudinally, ' in order that the 

 true proportions of its different parts may 

 be properly determined, we shall have no 

 ' safe basis for that ethnological craniology 

 which aspires to give the anatomical 

 characters of the crania of the different 

 races of mankind.' It appears to me that 

 the truth of this observation can hardly be 

 disputed, and yet this method of investiga- 

 tion has been adopted by very few craniolo- 

 gists. 



It has become too much the habit to 

 measure and compare crania as if they 

 were separate and distinct entities and with- 

 out a due consideration of the evolutionary 



* ' Studien iiber Pithecanthropus erectiis' (Dubois). 

 Zeitschrijt /. MorpU. und Anthrop., Band I., Heft 1, 

 1899. 



