322 
A Study of the Negro Skull 
have only introduced the French* and Scottish data to show what differences may 
be supposed to arise when the material is very heterogeneous. A careful study of 
this table shows (i) that the two Negro series are at least as variable as, perhaps 
on the whole rather more variable, than the prehistoric Naqada, (ii) compared 
with the English, it is difficult to say which series is decisively more variable. 
In regard to the second table of the standard deviations of indices, the conclusion 
must, I think, be that there is no single index in the Negro series of which we can 
say the variation is markedly less than in either European or primitive races. 
There is, however, one character in which the Negro differs markedly from the 
European, the occipital index ; in this he appears to be at least thre'e times as 
variable. No great stress can at present be laid on the point, because the occipital 
index has at present been ascertained for far too few series, but undoubtedly it is 
suggestive. The indication given would be that the European crania are a 
stringent selection with regard to occipital development, and that the negro 
stand closer to more variable and less developed primitive stock. As another 
marked negroid character we may examine the nasal index. There appears again 
to be a greater variability in the negroid group ; it is, perhaps, less marked, but it 
is quite significant. Again suggestion, not proven hypothesis, arises if we look 
at the components of the nasal index, NH and NB of the table of absolute length 
variations. We see that the nasal height of the Negro is sensibly more variable 
than that of the English. There is no very great difference in the variability of 
nasal breadth. The suggestion is therefore indicated that the nasal differentiation 
of European and Negro is due to a selection of nasal height in the former, and not 
to a selection of nasal breadth in the latter. Thus, as in the case of the occipital 
index, the indications are towards the theory that the European rather than the 
Negro has been more stringently selected from an original stockf. Such indi- 
cations, however, cannot reach the plane of probable hypotheses until far larger 
series of Negro crania have been dealt with and much fuller biometric reductions 
have been made on European and primitive race crania. At present all we can 
say is that there is no evidence whatever for the Negro having small variation, or 
for his being a stringently selected offshoot of a more widely varying primitive 
type. It is the European who appears to differ from him by the action of more 
stringent selection. 
(6) Special Crania and Anatomical Peculiarities. As usual a careful exami- 
nation was made for anatomical anomalies, and all such are recorded in the 
" Remarks " column of the folding plates of measurements. It is possible that 
externally visible anomalies do not occur so frequently in the Negro as in 
European races ; the reason being that deformed infants have in many negro tribes 
been, until recently, promptly destroyed. However, a collection of photographs 
* These are the Paris Catacomb crania and not the French crania of the previous tables, which were 
those of French prisoners of war dying in Germany. 
t Pigmentation investigations — both as to hair, skin and eye-pigment— seem to support the suggestion 
that the white races could have arisen from a xanthous variant of a dark race, and there is no good 
evidence at present for any really dark skinned variation having arisen in a white race. 
