Eskimo Osteology c45 



adult, and it also exhibits a difference in male and female crania of the same 

 race, the index being somewhat higher in the latter sex. If these two factors be 

 rigorously excluded then the index will be found to display a few consistent 

 features. For instance, it is persistently high in all the Mongoloid races, and is 

 lowest in the negro, with the European races occupying an intermediate position. 

 It was, therefore, not surprising' to find that the orbital index in these crania 

 was high, recording an average of 92 in the female and 88 in the male series, 

 thus betraying a Mongoloid affinity. As a comparison with this it was noted 

 that the average for 24 unsexed Eskimo skulls in the R. C. S. Museum^O was 

 89, thus placing the race definitely in the megaseme category. In contrast with 

 this, the average for 208 European crania, as given in the catalogue of the 

 R.C.S. MuseumC^O was 87, which located them in the mesoseme group. Compare 

 these again with the index in a Micmac North American Indian skull, recently 

 recorded by the author as 88,(5) ^^jj ^t^^ Mongolian (Chinese) average of 89,(") 

 and with the Polynesian average of 91.("). It is, therefore, evident that the 

 height of the orbital aperture is consistently greater in the Mongoloid races than 

 in the European. 



The writer has recently shown(8) that "the generalized form of orbital 

 aperture in the adult male skull of modern races is represented by a quadrangular 

 contour, individual variations of outline depending upon the degree of 'rounding 

 off' of the four angles." 



The Maxillo-Facial Index 



Long-headed races are also long-faced as a rule. That is to say, the maxillo- 

 facial height is more than half the interzygomatic breadth. This series of crania 

 closely adhered to the above rule. For example this index was over 50 in all the 

 male crania, with a maximum of 60-8. In the female crania only two indices 

 sank below 50, and the maximum was 59-7. This conclusion is of interest when 

 compared with the Mongolian type of skull which is usually both brachycephalic 

 and brachyfacial. Again, the brachycephalic skull of a North American Indian 

 (Micmac tribe)(5) was also found to be brachyfacial, so that it consistently 

 followed the Mongoloid type. The striking fact about this index in the Eskimo 

 therefore is, that though he gives one the impression of being broad-faced in the 

 living condition, his skull is really doUcho-facial. 



The Stephano-Ztgomatic Index 



This index provided a great surprise in these crania. For example, Duck- 

 worth(i'') states that the Eskimo skull is cryptozygous. Of the present collection 

 all were phaenozygous, some being excessively so — one male cranium registering 

 an index as low as 58-1. The maximum for this index was 71-6 in the male 

 series and 79-7 in the female group. These results provided a most striking 

 comparison with the European type of cranium which usually registers an index 

 in the vicinity of 90. During a recent study of two low grade Melanesian skulls 

 from the New Hebrides, the writer considered that he had reached the lowest 

 ebb for this index(^) with the figures 71 and 73. It was, therefore, all the more 

 surprising to find that half the skulls of this Eskimo series were under these low 

 levels. Yet, after all, one need not be unduly amazed at these results, for it has 

 been already pointed out how highly placed on the sides of these skulls the tem- 

 poral lines were found to be. In a race like the Eskimos, accustomed as they 

 are to a most vigorous, indeed, almost violent type of mastication, one certainly 

 meets with conditions calculated to reduce the . stephano-zygomatic index to 

 the most marked degree. As a result it will evidently be necessary to recon- 

 sider our present views regarding this cranial index in the Eskimo race. 



