396 DR MATTHEW YOUNG. 



From an examination of the table of correlations of length and breadth, length 

 and height, and breadth and height, we observe that in all cases, with the exception 

 of length and height in the male German and length and breadth in the French 

 female, the coefficients of correlation are positive ; that in the case of each of these 

 groups of skulls of different types where one of these dimensions increases, there is 

 a distinct tendency for increase in the other which is correlated with it. In the case 

 of the above two exceptions, moreover, the value of the negative correlation is hardly 

 significant, considering the magnitude of the probable error ; whereas in most of the 

 other cases the positive coefficients are scarcely, if at all, significantly altered by the 

 deduction of the probable error. 



This series of Scottish skulls affords new proof that there is no scientific founda- 

 tion for the theory usually defined as the " law of compensation." This was first 

 enunciated by Virchow (36), is firmly upheld by many anatomists, and, according to 

 Professor Thomson, has an important bearing on the growth of the cranium. 



Thomson (37) writes : " As that distinguished anatomist (Virchow) has shown, 

 among skulls belonging to the same type a breadth above the average is compensated 

 for by a height and length below the average." This, according to Thomson, " is 

 also associated with a difference in the activity of the growth along the line of the 

 cranial sutures as exemplified in the types of form described as scaphocephaly, 

 thyrsocephalic, and trigonocephalic, where each variety is associated with premature 

 synostosis of the sagittal, coronal, and mid-frontal sutures respectively. But this 

 principle of compensation seems to act independently of these factors, and appears 

 to be associated with the poise of the skull upon the summit of the vertebral 

 column." 



The evidence supplied by 405 male skulls and 100 female skulls of the same type 

 is confirmatory of the contention that we do not find between the lengths and 

 breadths of skulls in the same race a relation which is in accordance with the principle 

 spoken of as that of " compensational growth." If one increases the other also in- 

 creases. It is otherwise if, according to Tschepourkowsky (27), we take dolicho- 

 cephalic and brachycephalic groups in the same race or such groups from different 

 races, " If we pass from one race to another we find that with a growth of length there 

 is a decrease of breadth, and vice versa. This arises from the fact that the most 

 brachycephalic races have the greatest breadths and smallest lengths." 



Boas (26) seems to favour the intraracial " law of compensation " theory. He 

 states that " when capacity is introduced into our consideration of the question a 

 compensatory growth is found to exist between the breadth of the head on the one 

 hand and height and length on the other." He also states : " If one of the diameters 

 differs from the normal in being excessively large, the other will tend to be too 

 small." This view is not supported by the correlation of these characters in series 

 of skulls of the same type. 



