372 DR MATTHEW YOUNG. 



Parsons (7) favours the ophryo-occipital length as advocated by Flower, as he 

 says that by this means we avoid the projection due to the frontal sinus. He puts 

 the other on record, however, the comparison between the two giving one some 

 idea of the development of that sinus. Still it is remarkable how frequently the 

 frontal sinus extends upwards in a well-marked form beyond the point where the 

 extremity of the one arm of the calipers is usually placed in taking the ophryo- 

 maximum length, as is evident from our series of sectionised skulls. He says that 

 on an average the ophryo-maximum length is about 2 mm. less than the glabello- 

 maximum length in the male Hythe crania and equal in ' the female, and this is 

 confirmed by the Whitechapel series and the two groups of the present Scottish 

 series. I have not recorded the horizontal length. The glabello-occipital maximum 

 mean length in the whole Scottish male series is somewhat below that of the White- 

 chapel series, but the subsidiary male group of 100 has a mean practically identical 

 with the latter. The German and French absolute mean lengths are practically 

 equal, but distinctly less than the two means above mentioned, while the Tasmanian, 

 Australian, and modern Negroes are all distinctly longer than the German, and also, 

 but to a less degree, than the Naquada and Aino. 



As regards greatest breadth, we find that the Scottish series and the Whitechapel 

 series show practically identical means, while the German and French are notably 

 higher. The mean value for the Aino is slightly greater ; then, in a descending 

 series, follow the Tasmanian, which is slightly less in mean value, the Naquada and 

 modern Negroes about equal, and less still and lowest of all, the Australian, which has 

 a mean value of about 10 mm. less than the Scottish skull in this group. 



The influence of the relative lengths of these measurements is apparent in the 

 cephalic index, i.e. 100B/L. The mean cephalic index in the Whitechapel series is 

 practically identical with that of the West Scottish series of 400, and this relationship 

 is not appreciably altered if we take the mean of the "K" Scottish series of 100 

 specimens. The cephalic index in the French series is definitely higher than the 

 above, and lies at the upper limit of the mesocephalic class, while the two German 

 series show a mean value well above the lower limit of the brachycephalic class. 

 The Naquada and modern Negroes give a similar mean value, while the Australian 

 gives the lowest value, dependent to some extent upon its well-marked glabello- 

 occipital maximum length but to a larger extent on its extremely small maximum 

 breadth. 



Macdonnell (12), from a comparison of modern English skulls, obtained by 

 reduction of the measurements from large numbers of living individuals, comes to 

 the conclusion that there has been a decided change in the shape of the English 

 skull during the last two or three hundred years — a change from dolichocephaly as 

 exhibited by the Whitechapel series towards a more brachycephalic type ; the length 

 has been decreasing and the breadth increasing. This change, he says, is more 

 marked when we compare English with modern Germans. According to Fawcett 



