410 TWO REMARKABLE SKULLS 



chocephal}^ is the predominant form of skull and it is the 

 condition met with in certain extinct races of mankind, such 

 as Neanderthal or Mousterian man (cephalic index 73.9)/^^^ 

 and Cro-magnon man (cephalic index 73.3) ^^®\ The average 

 cephalic index for the Anglo-saxon race is 76.1/^'^) which is 

 usually classed as mesaticephalic. The index for the British 

 skull, however, so closely approaches the transition point 

 into dolichocephaly which is 75, that many anthropologists 

 place it in a special class termed subdolichocephalic/^^' Yet 

 who of us will admit for one moment that the Briton is inferior 

 to any race in either intellectual capacity or ability. Just 

 to illustrate further how much the cephalic index fluctuates, 

 one has only to study it amongst the anthropoid apes, where 

 the gorilla, the most highly evolved of them, is dolichocephalic, 

 the chipmanzee is mesaticephalic and the orang-utan is 

 brachycephalic.^^^^ 



It is of interest to find that the average cephalic index 

 of the Polynesian skull is about 80,^^°^and therefore tends to 

 belong very definitely to the brachycephalic group. It is 

 thus a somewhat striking fact to note that the inhabitants 

 of even neighbouring groups of islands can exhibit a very 

 distinct contrast in regard to their cephalic indices. 



The Index of Cranial Height. — The index of height was 

 calculated to be 68 in No. 1 skull, and as low as 65.6 in No. 2. 

 These represent the lowest indices I have been able to find 

 a definite record of. These skulls may be thus placed at the 

 lowest limit of the tapeinocephalic class. They are decidedly 

 lower than the height index even of the aboriginal Australian 

 skull which averages about 71,^^^^ and also lower than the 

 Fijian average 74/^^^ which may be taken as a representative 

 Melanesian type. In the case of this index the effect of 

 binding the head would again certainly have to be considered, 

 and may, indeed, account in great measure for the above 

 remarkably low indices. It may perhaps be as well to 

 note at this point that the bandaging does not appear to 



