June 19, 1885.] 



SCIENCE 



499 



storage-reservoir into the city. One of them, 

 at the head of the aqueduct, near Croton dam, 

 is to be of unusual size, and is to be con- 

 structed to support a maximum pressure of 

 65 feet of water. 



The aqueduct from Croton dam to Harlem 

 River is now under contract to the amount 

 of $11,900,000. The rest of the work is to 

 be commenced shortly. A. Fteley, C.E. 



MEASURING THE CUBIC CAPACITY OF 

 SKULLS. 1 



In referring to the application of composite pho- 

 tography to craniological studies, Dr. Billings de- 

 scribed the methods employed at the 

 army medical museum in the prepara- 

 tion of such composites. They are made 

 directly from the skulls, and not by com- 

 bining separate pictures of individual 

 crania. The skulls are adjusted in suc- 

 cession on the object-stand, in such a 

 manner that the horizontal datum-plane 

 adopted by German craniologists, and 

 the subnasal and maximum occipital 

 points (or the supra-auricular points in 

 profile exposures), shall coincide; this 

 being effected by movable frames on 

 which are stretched a series of vertical 

 and horizontal threads. It is very de- 

 sirable that some uniform scale for the 

 preparation of such photographs should 

 be agreed upon by craniologists before 

 the preparation of extended series is 

 undertaken, and one-half of the natural 

 size is suggested for this purpose. 



These composite photographs should 

 be studied in connection with the meas- 

 urements of the crania included in them. 

 It is a rapid and convenient means of 

 obtaining graphic representations of a 

 series of irregular objects,— representa- 

 tions which shall indicate not only the 

 mean, but also, as far as possible, the 

 maxima, of variations. 



While something has been done in 

 the study of the internal configuration 

 of the cranial cavity, and more especially 

 of the various fossae and projections at 

 its base, with reference to their differ- 

 ence in various races, this field of in- 

 quiry is as yet comparatively unworked ; 

 and Dr. Billings thinks it very desirable 

 to follow out this special line of investi- 

 gation in connection with the large and 

 valuable collection of crania of Ameri- 

 can races which now exists in the army 

 medical museum and in the national 

 museum. To do this, however, it is necessary that 



1 Abstract of a paper read to the National academy of sciences 

 by Dr. Washington Matthews, U.S.A. Presented, with 

 introductory remarks, by Dr. J. S. Billings, U.S.A. 



sections should be made of the skulls ; and, before 

 making such sections, it is desirable that all measure- 

 ments, and especially the measurements of cubic ca- 

 pacity of these crania, should be made according to 

 the best and most approved methods, and the results 

 carefully recorded. 



From the results of preliminary experiments upon 

 the methods in use for measuring the cubic capacity 

 of crania, Dr. Billings became dissatisfied with their 

 accuracy, and accordingly requested Dr. W. Matthews 

 to undertake a series of experiments for the purpose 

 of obtaining, if possible, some more accurate and re- 

 liable method of ascertaining the cubic capacity. The 

 following is an abstract of the report of Dr. Matthews, 

 giving the results of his observations and experiment** 

 on measurements by means of water. 



SIX ADULT MALE ANCIENT CALIFOKNIANS FROM SAN NICHOLAS ISLAND. 



Exposure of each skull 10-20 seconds, according to color. 



Hitherto anthropologists have chiefly employed 

 solid particles, such as shot or seeds, in the cubature 

 of skulls. Water has been tried by former experi- 

 menters without success. Dr. Topinard, in his *Ele- 



