January 6, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



19 



culiar character of this material, we may 

 take as an instance the bearing of the re- 

 sults obtained from material of this sort 

 on the problem of the brain weight in the 

 community at large. It must be admitted 

 that the figures which we have at our com- 

 mand for this measurement are, with the 

 exception of one short list, derived from 

 the study of individuals belonging to the 

 least fortunate class in the community, and 

 it is not fair, therefore, to carry over these 

 data and apply them directly to the av- 

 erage citizen who is of the normal type and 

 moderately successful in the general strug- 

 gle for existence. From what has been 

 said, it is plain that much of the work now 

 being carried on in the dissecting room 

 comes very close to the lines which have 

 been followed for years by the physical 

 anthropologists, yet because these have for 

 the most part concerned themselves with 

 the study of the skeleton, have limited their 

 comparisons to the various races of men 

 and have developed no interest in surgery, 

 they have for a long time stood apart, 

 and only recently joined forces with 

 the professional anatomists. This step 

 has certainly been to the advantage of 

 anatomy, and as one result of it, ana- 

 tomical material not previously utilized 

 will now be treated by statistical methods. 

 But all the work to which reference has 

 here been made is on the body after death. 

 So manifest are the disadvantages arising 

 from the conditions which are thus im- 

 posed, that the necessity is felt on all sides 

 of extending our observation as far as pos- 

 sible to the living individual. As an 

 example of such an extension, we have 

 the determination of the cranial capacity 

 and brain weight in the living subject 

 which has resulted from the labor of Karl 

 Pearson and his collaborators.* The meth- 

 ods which have been employed for this 



* Pearson and collaborators, Phil. Trans. Roy. 

 8oc., 1901. 



purpose are capable of giving as accurate 

 results as are ordinarily obtained from 

 post-mortem examinations, and, moreover, 

 have the advantage of being applicable at 

 any time to any group in the community 

 which it is desired to investigate. 



To redetermine, as far as possible, from 

 studies, on the living, all the relations 

 which have been made out, post-mortem 

 becomes a very immediate and important 

 line of work. 



But even under the general limitations 

 which apply to the dissecting room ma- 

 terial, it is desirable to refine our knowl- 

 edge of the human body by classifying 

 the subjects according to race, and thereby 

 briijging into relief the slight anatomical 

 differences that exist between the well- 

 marked races of Europe and the races of 

 other parts of the world. The history of 

 anatomical differences due to sex lacks 

 several chapters, and it is possible also to 

 show the modifications of structure which 

 come from the lifelong pursuit of certain 

 handicrafts which call for peculiar posi- 

 tions of the body or for the unusual exer- 

 cise of certain muscles; as, for example, 

 the anatomy of a shoemaker.* 



Such results as the one last mentioned 

 have a direct bearing on the modifications 

 of the human form which may be intro- 

 duced by peculiarities of daily life and 

 work, and bring anatomy into connection 

 with the problems of sociology; while, on 

 the other hand, both lines of work are con- 

 tributory to the broader questions of 

 zoological relationship and susceptibility 

 to modification. 



Yet when we have gained all the informa- 

 tion which the scalpel can give, there still 

 remains the whole field of finer anatomy, 

 the extent of which it is so difficult to ap- 

 preciate. 



While recognizing that the human body 



* Lane, W. A., Journ. of Anatomy and Physiol- 

 ogy, Vols. XXI. and XXII., 1887 and 1888. 



