SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY 
ANTHROPOLOGY. 
Brachycephalism and Civilization. — Professor Virchow has suggested that 
dolichocephalous races may become brachycephalous by the sole agency of 
civilization. To test this view, M. Luschan [has undertaken a number of 
investigations into the contents of the great ossuaries of the German pro- 
vinces of Austria, dating back to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and 
communicated his results summarily to the French Association for the 
Advancement of Science (1878, p. 825). At Modling, in Lower Austria, 
he found the crania of the fifteenth century of a very pure dolichocephalic 
type with a mean index of 68. The present population of the village is 
brachycephalous, with a mean index of more than 80. 
Analogous results were obtained in many ossuaries in upper and lower 
Austria, in Carinthia, and in Salzburg. But in others, such as that of St. 
Peter im Holz, near Spital, in Carinthia, all the crania from the sixteenth 
century down to the present day were dolichocephalous. Now the popula- 
tion of St. Peter im Holz has the same schools, the same language, the 
same laws, and the same degree of civilization as that of Modling ; and it 
is consequently hard to say that at Modling the crania have become brachy- 
cephalous by civilization, whilst under the same conditions, they have re- 
mained dolichocephalous at St. Peter. 
There must therefore be another cause for brachycephalism being so pro- 
minent in many parts of the German provinces of Austria. According to 
M. Luschan, wherever brachycephalous crania are found, the state registers 
show Sclavonic names, and it may be ascertained in all cases either from 
history, or from the registers, that a more or less abundant Slav immigration 
took place into them during the sixteenth century. Some ossuaries in 
Bavaria have furnished the author with similar results. He regards it as 
certain that in Austria brachycephalism has been produced not by civiliza- 
tion, but by Slavs ; and he thinks it very unlikely that the Prussians have 
acquired their remarkable brachycephalism solely by the influence of culture 
and civilization. 
The Aye of Stone in China, and the Chinese Origin of the Cremation of 
the Dead. — According to M. Zaborowski (Assoc. Franc Avancem. Set., 
1878, p. 835), the age of stone was only a matter of tradition in China at 
the earliest period of history, and even then this tradition was coupled with 
