1913-14.1 The Place in Nature of the Tasmanian Aboriginal. 177 
o 
In fig. 9 the modern Italian is utilised as the base, and upon it is plotted 
out the Australian variation index. As the latter falls within the extreme 
ranges of variation of the former, the graph would lead us to believe, if 
Mollison’s index be indeed a reliable guide to racial affinities, that the 
Australian aboriginal and the modern Italian are one and the same race — 
a conclusion which, we take it, will not be credited by any anthropologist, 
certainly not by ourselves. 
It may well be, that, in view of this extraordinary result, some anthro- 
pologists will be inclined to discredit Mollison’s index altogether and refuse 
to accept it as a means of distinguishing diverse racial types. On the 
other hand, there are the undoubted facts that in the hands of Mollison 
Fig. 9. — The Australian Variation Index for 14 craniological observations plotted 
out upon the Modern Italian as the basis. 
himself, and in the work of Czekanowski, Oppenheim, Radlauer, and our- 
selves it has given results which confirm the conclusions attained from other 
sources and which would lead to the supposition that it is a fairly accurate 
method of eliminating racial types one from the other; but the Italian- 
Australian-Tasmanian comparison just instituted seems to prove conclusively 
that the index is not an infallible guide and that its findings must be 
regarded with a considerable amount of caution. For ourselves, for 
reasons to be presently adduced, we have been led to the conclusion that 
Mollison’s variation index is only a reliable guide to racial difference 
provided the range of variation of one, at least, of the racial types compared 
is but small. It is perfectly obvious to anyone who has worked with the 
index that as the range of variation increases it gradually encroaches on 
the variation index and eventually necessitates the latter falling within 
VOL. xxxiv. 12 
