M. L. TiLDESLEY 
231 
flatter than those of Group A (on the t order between the chamaeconchic and 
mesoconchic categories); frequently characterised by sub-nasal prognathism, but 
fairly vertical above; palate also similar to that of Group A. 
One of the measurements which has been taken, I believe, for the first time on the 
sagittal contours of my series, is that of height of palate (see p. 201). The term " high 
palate" figures frequently in literature dealing with mental defect, and it is generally 
assumed that a connection exists between these two phenomena. It seemed, ac- 
cordingly, to be of some interest to discover whether any association existed be- 
tween height of palate and capacity of skull in the present series : of mental capacity 
I naturally had no record. Miss Margaret Moul of this Laboratory was kind enough 
to make out for this purpose a correlation table, using the palate height index* 
as one variate, and the capacity of the skull as measured by mustard-seed (C of 
the direct measurements) as the other. The two sexes were kept separate; and as 
there were only 31 male skulls and 38 female on which it had been possible to take 
both measurements, the numbers were too few for grouping, and the correlation 
coefficient was worked out on the individual measurements. 
The following results were arrived at: 
Coefiicient of Correlation between palate index and capacity of skull: 
cJ: r = - •3102 ± -1071, 
?: r = - -3283 ± -0976. 
In spite of the large "probable error," due to the small series of skulls, the 
value of r is seen to exceed three times that of the probable error for both sexes, 
and must be accepted as significant: that is to say, the figures show a tendency 
for the higher palate to be associated with smaller skull capacity, in both male 
and female. It is not easy to conceive how a relatively high palate could connote 
physically a reduced capacity for the skull although it might mark a reduced 
nasal cavity. The point is of much interest, since the opinion of those dealing with 
mental defectives as to their relatively high palates has not been confirmed by the 
American investigators, who took casts of the mouth of 300 normal and 300 men- 
tally defective children")". The present relation will be shortly tested on a wider 
series, a special instrument having recently been designed for the measurement of 
the palate. But if this correlation should hold, it does not follow that the relative 
palate height would be correlated with intelligence. A recent series of 88 mentally 
defective children of ages eight to fourteen collected for age showed no sensible 
correlation between their mental ages judged by the Binet-Simon tests and their 
cranial circumference. Although no great weight can be placed on this series, it 
tends pro tanio to confirm the results reached by Pearson in 1906J that the corre- 
lation between size of head and intelligence is very small. 
* By palate-height index I understand 100 x height of palate ^length of palate. The latter was 
the of my direct measurements, while the height of the palate was obtained as described on p. 201 
from the sagittal contour. 
f American Journal of Insanity, Vol. xvi. pp. ()87-697. "Comparative Measurements of the Hard 
Palate in Normal and Feeble-minded Individuals," by Drs Walter Channing and Clark Wissler. 
J Biometrika, Vol. v. pp. 119-125. 
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