1 ß4 Søren Hansex. 



these indexes exactly corresponds to the difïerence of breadth of 

 circa 2 — 2-5 mm on each side which is obtained by measuring, in 

 accordance with Broca's directions, between the extreme points of 

 the wings of the nose and, on the other hand, according to Virchow's 

 method, by taking the distance between the bottom of the grooves 

 behind the wings of the nose. The first of these methods is un- 

 questionably entitled to the preference, partly because in this case, 

 as in anthropology in general, it is not a question of strict anato- 

 mical correctness, but of finding an expression for the characteristic 

 features, as they present themselves at first sight, and partly because 

 it is easier, and hence yields more reliable results. While it de- 

 volves upon me to point out that the nasal index ascertained cannot 

 be used for comparison without due rectification, I must add that 

 there is a very considerable sexual difference, the index being 639 

 in the case of men, and 609 in the case of women. 



The unusually large individual variations, which are also 

 noted by Knud Poulsen, must certainly be regarded as the best 

 proof that the method employed is unpractical, as the distance 

 from a minimuin of 40*3 to a maximum of 811 is far greater than 

 can reasonably be expected in a race so little mixed as the East 

 Greenlanders and moreover represented only by 43 individuals. 



In the case of a number of the subjects examined there Ьал^е 

 been given, besides the measurements, short descriptive notes on 

 the shape and size of the nose, from which it will be gathered that 

 it is as a rule prominent, most frequently regular and well-shaped, 

 occasionally curved or with a hanging tip, only in exceptional cases 

 more or less flat. This agrees perfectly with the above-mentioned 

 low index which characterizes the nose as narrow, but there are, 

 of course, no grounds for supposing that it should be to any great 

 extent less subject to individual variations in its form than amongst 

 other races of mankind. Considered in its relations to the anthro- 

 pological system, this characteristic brings the East Greenlanders 

 nearer to the American group of the yellow races than to the Asiatic, 

 if indeed they are not to be placed in this respect side by side 

 with the American Indians. However, I shall later on have occa- 

 sion to return to the importance of the nose as a race characteristic 

 in the section on the skulls. 



With regard to the form of the face, it may be remarked at 

 the outset that it is in general oval with a comparatively broad 

 lower portion. It is described as such in the records, and the same 

 appears still more distinctly from the calculated measurements, 

 the index facialis and the index gonio-zygomaticus, the propor- 

 tion between the breadth of the zygomatic arch and the distance 



