﻿Vol. 66.] 



ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. 



lxiii 



like the Australians, or civilized, like ourselves. It is possible also 

 that the Gibraltar skull belonged to a woman. 1 



An instructive example of the distribution of cranial capacity in 

 a modern race is afforded by the measurements made by F. Tap- 

 peiner 2 of 557 male skulls taken from a mediaeval ossuary in 

 Tyrol. Collecting these in groups, the frequency with which 

 different capacities occur is represented by percentages in the 

 following table : — 



Cranial capacity 



Individuals 



Cranial capacity 



Individ ua 



in cubic centimetres. 



per cent. 



in cubic centimetres. 



per cent 



From 850 to 950 



02 



From 1450 to 1550 



30-8 



950 „ 1050 



00 



„ 1550 „ 1650 



195 



„ 1050 „ 1150 



04 



„ 1650 „ 1750 



11-2 



„ 1150 „ 1250 



20 



„ 1750 „ 1850 



32 



„ 1250 „ 1350 



75 



„ 1850 „ 1950 



06 



„ 1350 „ 1450 



241 







A doubt may arise, as to whether the Mousterian skulls are merely 

 chance selections: they may have belonged to exceptional men, 

 tribal chiefs perhaps, and the fact that in two instances they were 

 found under circumstances which point to a ceremonial burial might 

 tend to strengthen this suspicion. But, apart from the fact that 

 exceptional men are not, as a rule, distinguished by exceptional 

 heads, it is evident that the argument will not apply to the three 

 skulls discovered in the Neanderthal and at Spy, for these were not 

 found in a tomb. 



The result of the numerous investigations carried out during the 

 last quarter of a century is to show that no discoverable relation 

 exists between the magnitude of the brain — or even its gross 

 anatomy — and intellectual power. At first sight, the fact that the 

 more advanced races of the present day are distinguished by a large 

 average brain might seem to furnish evidence to the contrary ; it 

 must not, however, be overlooked that the largest existing average 

 brain is to be met with, not among civilized races, but among the 

 Eskimo. 



The following list, which might be easily increased, is of great 

 interest in this connexion : — 



W. J. Sollas, Phil. Trans. Eoy. Soc. ser. B, vol. exevii (1907) p. 322. 

 2 Zeitschr. f. Ethnol. vol. xxxi (1899). 



