368 CRANIA FROM THE MOUNDS OF FLORIDA. 



have found that suggestions come to the mind in studying the results of sums total 

 that are not apt to arise from observation alone ; and while one must acknowledge 

 that the number of these suggestions is not so great or the importance of the 

 results obtained always commensurate with the labor implied, still it is difficult to 

 suggest a method which can readily be substituted for it. The value of taking 

 measurements can be seen in the following : In studying the " Seminole" skulls it 

 was found that two out of twelve skulls, namely Nos. 456 and 726, possessed un- 

 usually prominent foreheads and the impression was received that measurement 

 would show the minimum frontal diameter to be far above the average. This 

 average in ten skulls is 94 mm., but that of the exceptional skulls is 98 mm. and 

 95 mm., respectively, a difference in reality very slight. — In No. 456 the trans- 

 verse frontal arc is 310 mm. In No. 725 the same arc is 300 mm. This com- 

 parison is of interest since it shows the difference in a general way in the sizes of 

 the frontal bones themselves. It is seen (Table IV) that the specimens Nos. 456 

 and 726 have the minimum frontal diameters greater than any of the facial dia- 

 meters, and it is not surprising to see the transverse frontal arcs of these specimens 

 measure 310 mm. and 300 mm., respectively, while the average arc measurement is 

 292, the minimum being 269 mm. Meigs, while classifj'ing No. 456 as a sphaero- 

 cephalic skull and No. 725 as an archencephalic, acknowledges that the former 

 is a transitional form from the latter. — That the length of the pyramidal process of 

 the palatal bone can be measured with advantage is evident from the epitome here- 

 with given. In all the skulls from the western portion of North America including 

 those from the Santa Barbara Islands, the process measured but 4 mm. ; in the 

 Seminole skulls, 5 mm. ; in the Moore series, 9 mm. ; in fifteen Esquimaux skulls 

 the same ; while in forty-one Sandwich Island crania it measured 13 mm. Thus 

 in fifty crania of North American Indians it measured but 8 mm., and each of 

 the localities was distinct. The average was nearly one-half less than the length 

 of the process in the Sandwich Island skulls. — Interesting correlations of measure- 

 ments are sometimes noted. Thus in the Seminole skulls we have the basi-nasal 

 length averaging 101 mm., the minimum frontal 94 mm., the bimalar 97 mm., and 

 the least facial diameter 99 mm. The mean of the last three measurements is 

 but slightly less than the basi-nasal length. The value of such a conclusion in 

 stucbying fragments of the skull must be conceded. 



But in many particulars a skull when exhaustively measured remains uncle- 

 scribed, and the measurements themselves are arbitrary numbers, which, no matter 

 how valuable they may be in the study of race, may have slight value in increasing 

 our knowledge of the skull itself. The rates of change which take place in the 

 skull of the adult as compared to that of the child ; the equivalent rates which go 

 on from the time of maturity to old age ; the harmonies which are established 

 between the different parts of the skull in all the great divisions of life, are unnoted 

 by the mere taking of measurements. Even the variations of the forms of skulls 

 when due to exceptional conditions of development and of sex are neglected. Thus 

 we are told that the skulls of the immature and of the aged, of women, those with 



