REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 
ANTHROPOLOGY. 
A Study of Hawaiian Skulls.' — The collection studied contains 
sixty-five crania. One series is from the lava caves and represents 
the dominant race of the Hawaiian Islands, and the other is from 
the sands of the coast where the common people were buried. Dr. 
Allen states that it is impossible to say to what extent the differences 
between the two series are due to differences of caste, and how much 
is due to the fact that the coast series is more recent than that from 
the caves, and has been more affected by imported diseases. The 
number of skulls in each group is comparatively small, so that on 
the whole the differences shown are of doubtful importance. The 
value of the paper lies in the methods employed rather than in the 
contrasts shown between the two types of crania. The descriptive 
method is given much less prominence in this study than in the 
author’s memoir on the Crania from the mounds of Florida. It is 
stated in the preface that the method by measurements, “all things 
considered,” is the most fruitful. The differences in anatomical 
variation are expressed in percentages rather than by perplexing 
Greek compounds. 
A few of the dimensions are charted on quadrille paper by the 
“terrace”? method of graphic delineation, an innovation in crani- 
ometry. The advantages of broken over curved lines are obvious. 
We believe that other devices in common use by statisticians might 
be employed with advantage by craniologists, e.g., the average, mini- 
mum, maximum, and relative amount of variation may be clearly 
and easily shown by simple bar diagrams. Craniology concerns 
itself largely with the study of variation, and the numerical expression 
of this, while precise, conveys little meaning to the uninitiated. 
Dr. Allen’s paper emphasizes the fact that there are other prob- 
lems than those of race for the consideration of the craniologist — 
in the closing words of the author: “I remain of the opinion that 
the interest attached to the study of the human skull is not confined 
to attempting to limit race, but to the study of the effects of nutri- 
tive and even morbid processes upon the skull form.” 
1 Harrison Allen, A Study of Hawaiian Skulls. rans. of the Wagner Free 
Inst. of Sci. Philadelphia, 1808. 
