DR. J. CLELAND ON THE VAEIATIONS OF THE HUMAN SKULL. 
155 
the whole mesial extent of the face is brought forwards, and the nasal spine often even 
more than the root of the nose. 
In the adult the range of variation of this angle is great, but is principally dependent 
on individual peculiarity, not at all on sex, and only to a limited extent on race. The 
extremes are 79° in the German skull 33, and 103° in the Hottentot skull 87. In 
almost all the nationalities of which several specimens have been examined, there is a 
range of variation of 10° or more, while the difference between the lowest and the 
highest national average is only 7°. The range of variation appears to be as great in 
the female as in the male ; thus, for example, the largest and the smallest orbito-nasal 
angles found among the nine Irish skulls are in females. Welcker’s* statement that 
women are more prognathous than men, like his other statement that opisthognathism 
specially accompanies brachyceplialism, and prognathism dolichocephalism, is merely a 
geometrical result of his unfortunate choice of an upper bounding line for his nasal 
angle. He states that the female skull has “ a greater tendency to prognathism as well 
as a less strongly bent tribasilar bone than the male;” thus the really valuable part of 
the statement resolves itself into finding the base more level in the female than in the 
male. This may be illustrated by reference to the French female skull 25, which in 
consequence of the levelness of its base would give a high figure for Welcker’s nasal 
angle, and yet has the orbito-nasal angle small, and is altogether in general appearance 
rather opisthognathous. 
Considering the great individual variation and comparatively limited national variation 
of the orbito-nasal angle, and the exceedingly small number of skulls of any one nation 
which the writer has been able to measure, the results in the accompanying Table can- 
Average. 
Extremes. 
Range. 
Average male. 
Average female. 
5 Greeks 
87f 
O 
80 
94 
O 
14 
9 Irish 
881 
82 
93 
11 
—CO 
OGO 
GO 
881 
2 Esquimaux ... 
00 
00 
84 
93 
9 
8 German 
88f 
79 
94 
15 
89f 
871 
4 Kafir 
88f 
87 
92 
5 
89 
88 
8 Scotch 
90f 
84 
99 
15 
90f 
90! 
2 Kanaka 
91 
85 
97 
12 
85 
97 
9 French 
91* 
86 
97 
11 
91! 
921 
3 Hindoo 
931 
88 
98 
10 
7 Negro 
93f 
85 
102 
17 
93 
95 
2 Australian ... 
941 
94 
95 
l 
2 Peruvian 
941 
91 
98 
7 
Op. cit. pp. 51 & 66. 
