ANTHROPOLOGY OF EASTERN EUROPEAN JEWS 227 



perceptible to the calipers when measurements are taken on the 

 Jews. 



The cephalic index is considered by many anthropologists a 

 primary test of race. At the present state of our knowledge we 

 are not aware that it is influenced by any external conditions and 

 environment. Neither climate, nor altitude, nor any artificial or 

 social selection, social or economic conditions are known to have 

 any effect on the shape of the head. Wherever any differences 

 in headform have been found, anthropologists have always 

 looked for its cause in the intermixture of races. But can we 

 accept uniformity of cranial type, even such striking uniformity 

 as is displayed by the Eastern European Jews when studied en 

 masse as a proof of their racial purity and the absence of any 

 non -Jewish blood in their veins ? 



In order that we may answer this question intelligently, we 

 have collected measurements taken by European observers on 

 the various Slav races inhabiting the countries in which these 

 Jews have lived for nearly i,ooo years. For Poland, Elkind's 

 work has been used; Talko-Hryncewicz's works have been 

 drawn upon for data on the Letto-Lithuanians, Little-Russians, 

 and White-Russians ; for the Roumanians figures have been 

 taken from Pittard's recent study of this people. 'We have 

 thus collected measurements of 2,906 non-Jewish inhabitants of 

 Eastern Europe, and have compared them with the Jews under 

 consideration. 



A glance at Table XXVI and the accompanying diagram, 

 Sj reveals the following remarkable features : The course of 

 both curves is about the same, excepting that the curve repre- 

 senting the Jews appears to be tending to display more dolicho- 

 cephalic heads — it is more toward the left. The curve for the 

 Slavs shows a small elevation at the index of 80 and an inden- 

 tation at 81. That this is not an indication of any particular 

 racial element can be concluded by considering the fact that the 

 interval between the two apices is only one unit — 81 ; and the 

 difference between the proportion of the indices is very small. 

 There appears to have been a few more individuals with an index 

 of 80, than might be expected theoretically, and a few less with the 



