DISCOVERY OF PRE-NEOLITHIC MAN S5 
diameters the Cromagnon skulls are not unlike those of 
the river-bed type. The width is very nearly 74 per 
cent, of the length, just as in skulls of the river-bed 
type. The brain capacity is much greater — roughly 
1660 c.c, being 180 c.c. above the modern average. 
We have to remember that a certain amount — a small 
amount — of that is due simply to a big body ; a big 
body needs a bigger brain for its animal administration. 
We have come across, in those large heads, a puzzling 
and unexpected fact ; we are naturally astonished to find 
that men who have preceded us so long ago — men of a 
former geological epoch — should so far outstrip their 
Fig. 23. — Skull of Cromagnon man viewed from the side and from the front. 
successors of to-day who regard themselves as " the 
survival of the fittest," and believe the fittest to be the 
race with the biggest brains. We cannot quarrel with 
the facts, but how are we to explain them .'* The 
conclusion to be drawn is, not that brain mass, on the 
average, is to be rejected as an index of brain power, but 
that there are other virtues or characters which go to 
ensure success of a human race in the struggle of life 
— other than brain power. A philosopher may be 
miserable or die childless, when a brainless savage or an 
industrious labouring man may be happy and leave a 
large family. 
Since 1868, as we shall see later, many further dis- 
