The Races of Man: An Outline of Anthropology and Ethnography

Chapter II (1)

Text size

1. MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS (_continued_).

_Cranium or Skull_: Cranial measurements--Orbits and orbital
index--Nasal bone and nasal index--Prognathism--_Head of the living
subject_: Cephalic index--Face--Eyes--Nose and nasal index in the
living subject--Lips--_Trunk and Limbs_: The Skeleton--Pelvis
and its indices--Shoulder blade--Thoracic limb--Abdominal
limb--_Proportions of the body in the living subject_: Trunk and
neck--Curve of the back--Steatopygy--_Various Organs_: Genital
organs--Brain--Its weight--Convolutions--The neuron--Its importance
from the psychical point of view.

Having treated of the body in its general aspect, we shall now examine from the morphological point of view its different parts: the head, trunk, limbs, etc., as well as their relations to each other and their reciprocal dimensions, both in the skeleton and the living subject.

_Cranium or Skull._--This part of the skeleton forms the object of investigation of a very extended branch of anthropology called craniology.

Craniology must not be confounded with the cranioscopy of the phrenologists, a sham science founded by Gall, who wished to establish a connection between certain bumps or irregularities of the surface of the skull and the parts of the brain in which, as was pretended, were localised the different intellectual functions. It is now demonstrated that the inequalities of the external table of the cranium walls have no relation whatever with the irregularities of the internal table, and still less have they anything in common with the conformation of the various parts of the brain. But if there be no such direct connection as this between the cranium and the brain, there is nevertheless a certain remote relation between them, and the brain has attained such a development in man that the study of everything which concerns it, immediately or remotely, possesses great interest. This would alone suffice to explain the pre-eminent position assigned to craniology in the natural history of man. But there exist still other reasons why the study of the skull is one of the most cultivated branches of anthropology. As in the case of all the other mammals, the skull in man is one of the parts of the skeleton, and even of the entire body, which exhibits the greatest number of well-marked variations. The differences in the form and the dimensions of the skull in correlation with those of the brain and the masticatory organs, serve to distinguish races and species, both in man and other vertebrata. Besides, the teeth, which characterise not only genera but even families and orders of the mammifera, are always attached to the skull, though not forming part of the bony system. We may also observe that the skull, with the other bones of the skeleton, constitutes the only anatomical document of prehistoric man which has come down to us; it is only in studying it that we can connect and compare, from the point of view of physical type, existing with extinct races of mankind.

The characters that may be observed in the skull are very numerous, and may be divided into _descriptive_ characters, which give an account of the conformation of the bony structure of the head and its parts, and _craniometrical_ characters, which give the dimensions of these parts by exact measurements taken by means of special apparatus or instruments. These two orders of characters are complementary to each other. The cranial characters vary according to race, but within the limits of each race there are other lesser variations according to age and sex.

The general form of the cranium, as also the number, the consistence, and structure of the different parts which compose it are modified as the individual develops and grows older. Formed of a single cartilaginous and membranous substance at the beginning of embryonic life, the cranium is composed in the last fœtal state of a great number of _points of ossification of various texture_. At birth the number of these points has considerably diminished; they have united for the most part to form the different parts of the _bones of the cranium_ or _brain case_ and the _bones of the face_; as the child grows, these points grow and end by being contiguous; about the age of eighteen or twenty years they form bones separated by _sutures_. There are twenty-one separated bones described in classic treatises on anatomy. Later on these bones begin to unite, the _sutures_ which separate them disappear, and in extreme old age the cranium is formed of a bony mass almost as continuous and homogeneous as was the cranial cartilaginous and membranous mass in the embryo. According to the number of the pieces composing the cranium, and also according to their position, structure, and conformation, according to the degree of obliteration of the sutures and the order in which the obliteration of each suture takes place, according to the general form of the forehead, the angle of the lower jaw, according to the volume and dimensions of the skull, and lastly, according to the state of the dentition, etc., the nearly exact age of the individual to whom the skull had belonged may easily be discovered in this cycle of development. Other characters serve to distinguish the sex: the forehead is straight and rounded in woman, retreating in man; the cranial cavity is less in woman than in man in any given race; the orbital edges are sharper in woman, the impress of the muscles less marked, the weight of the skull in general less than that of the masculine skull, etc.[56] Lastly, the characters of race are numerous and special. I shall proceed briefly to enumerate some of them. First in order of importance comes _cranial capacity_, or the volume of the cavity of the brain-case, which gives an idea of the volume of the brain, and approximately of its weight.

Cranial capacity may vary to the extent of double the minimum figure (from 1100 cubic centimetres to 2200 cubic centimetres) among normal individuals in the human race. The average capacity for the races of Europe is from 1500 to 1600 cubic centimetres; that of the skulls of Asiatic races appears to be very nearly the same; that of the Negro races and Oceanians a little smaller, perhaps from 1400 to 1500 cubic centimetres on an average. That of the Australians, the Bushmen, and the Andamanese is still less, from 1250 to 1350 cubic centimetres. But it must not be forgotten that the volume of the head, as with its other dimensions, has a certain relation to the height of the individual, and, as a matter of fact, Bushmen and Andamanese are very short in stature; Australians, however, are of average height. Partly, too, to their disproportion of height must, probably, be attributed the difference between the volume of the cranium in man and in woman. According to the series examined, this sexual difference may extend from 100 to 200 cubic centimetres, and even beyond, in favour of man. The cranial capacity of woman represents from eighty-five to ninety-five of the cranial capacity of man.[57] The cranial capacity of lunatics, of certain criminals, and especially of celebrated or distinguished men, scholars, artists, statesmen, etc., appears to be slightly superior to the average of their race. We shall revert later to the question of cranial capacity in connection with weight of brain.

(_After O. Thomas._)]

(_After Holl._)]

The general form of the brain-case is an oval, but this oval may be more or less rounded, quite globular (Fig. 11), or more or less elongated to resemble an ellipse, the major axis of which is almost double the minor (Fig. 10). The numerical expression of the cranial form is given in anthropology by what is called the _cephalic index_--that is to say, by the relation of the length of the cranium (ordinarily measured from the glabella to the most prominent point of the occiput (Figs. 10 and 13, /A B/) to its greatest breadth (Fig. 10, /C D/, Fig. 12, /M N/)). Reducing uniformly the first of these measurements to 100, we obtain the different figures for the breadth, which expresses the cranial form; thus very round skulls (Fig. 11) have 85, 90, and even 100 (extreme individual limit) for index, while elongated skulls (Fig. 10) may have an index of 70, of 65, and even of 58 (extreme individual limit). According to Broca’s nomenclature, skulls having indices between 77.7 and 80 are mesaticephalic or mesocephalic; those having the indices below this figure are sub-dolichocephalic (up to 75), or dolichocephalic (beyond 75, Fig. 10); those which have the index above 80 are sub-brachycephalic (up to 83.3), or brachycephalic (above 83.3, Fig. 11).[58] Peoples or ethnic groups being formed of various elements, it is in most cases impossible to determine, after the examination of an isolated skull, to which population it belongs; all that can be said is that the skull is brachy- or dolicho-cephalic, orthognathous or prognathous, etc. We must have a certain number of skulls (from ten to thirty at least, according to the homogeneity of the population) to be able to discern the constituent elements of this population as far as they are manifested in the cranial characteristics. The _average_ measurements are then deduced from a given number of skulls, by adding the individual measurements and dividing them by the number of skulls examined. But the average of any measurement whatever only gives a very general and somewhat vague idea of the actual dimensions of skulls. To determine it we must _co-ordinate_ and _seriate_ these skulls--that is to say, arrange them, for example, in an ascending order of figures expressing their cephalic index. In this manner we can discover one or several indices around which the skulls are grouped in the largest number. It is thus that we can often discern two or three cranial elements in the same population.[59]

If we apply these methods to the study of the cephalic index, we see that generally the crania of Negroes, Melanesians, Eskimo, Ainus, Berbers, the races of Northern Europe, etc., are dolichocephalic, while those of the Turkish peoples, the Malays, certain Slavs, Tyrolese, etc., are brachycephalic; that the dolichocephalic predominate in Great Britain, while the brachycephalic are in a majority in France, etc. (See p. 75, and Appendix II.)

The relation of the height to the breadth or to the length of the skull gives likewise an idea of its general form. It is thus that we recognise low skulls (platycephalic), medium (orthocephalic or metriocephalic), or high (hypsicephalic).

In order more correctly to describe the different peculiarities of the cranium, and to be able to refer the measurements to fixed co-ordinates, it is desirable to place the skull, when being studied, on a horizontal plane. Unfortunately, anthropologists are far from being agreed as to this initial plane. In France, in England, and in many other countries, that adopted is the alveolocondylean plane of Broca (Fig. 13, /L K/), which passes through the condyles and the alveolar border of the upper jaw; it is nearly parallel to the horizontal plane passing through the visual axes of the two eyes in the living subject; whilst in Germany the plane still in favour is one passing through the inferior border of the orbit and the centre or top of the contour of the auditory meatus[60] (Fig. 13, /N M/). The skull once conveniently placed in position according to a horizontal plane, the different views of it are the following: seen from above (_norma verticalis_ of Blumenbach, Figs. 10 and 11), from below (_norma basilaris_), from the side or in profile (_norma lateralis_, Fig. 13), from the full face (_norma facialis_, Fig. 12), or from behind (_norma occipitalis_).

In regard to the face, different measurements express its general form; thus the relation of the bi-zigomatic length (Fig. 12, /I G/) to the total height of the bony structure of the head (Fig. 12, /K L/), or to its partial height from the glabella to the alveolar border of the upper jaw-bone (Fig. 12, /F H/), serves to separate skulls into brachy-or dolicho-facial, or, as they are also called, _chamæprosopes_ and _leptoprosopes_. Other characters, such as the excessive development of the supraciliary ridges (Fig. 13, /A/), also give a special physiognomy to the bony structure of the face.

But the parts that deserve particular attention are the orbits and the nasal skeleton. The orbital orifice represents a quadrilateral figure more or less irregular, more or less angular or rounded, the length and breadth of which can be measured. According to Broca,[61] the breadth is measured from the point called dacrion (Fig. 12, /X/) (situated at the intersection of the fronto-lachrymal suture and the crista lachrymalis) to the most distant point of the opposite edge of the orbit (Fig. 12, /Y/); the height (Fig. 12, /T Z/) is also measured perpendicularly to the preceding line. The relation of this height to the breadth = 100, or the orbital index, expresses in figures the form of the more or less shallow quadrilateral of the orbit. What are called average orbits, or _mesosemes_, are those whose index varies from 83 (Broca), or from 84 (Flower), to 89; shallow orbits, or _microsemes_, those which have the index lower than 83 or 84; finally, higher or large orbits, _megasemes_, those which have their index from 90 and upwards. The annexed table gives the orbital indices of the principal populations of the globe.

TABLE OF ORBITAL INDICES.

(Crania of both Sexes together; series of more than 10 subjects.)

-------+-----------------------+-------+------------------
No. of | |Orbital|
Crania.| Ethnic Groups. |Index. | Observer.
-------+-----------------------+-------+------------------
MICROSEMES.
-------+-----------------------+-------+------------------
49 |New Caledonians | 80.6 | Broca.
14 |Tasmanians | 80.8 | Flower.
101 |Australians | 81.5 | Fl., Tur., C.E.[62]
22 |Kaffirs | 83 | Broca.
21 |Bushmen | 83 | Turner.
16 |Hottentots | 83.9 |}
53 |Spanish Basques of | |}Broca, Hamy
| Zaraus | 83.6 |}
-------+-----------------------+-------+------------------
MESOSEMES (84-89).
-------+-----------------------+-------+------------------
23 |Papuans of the | |
| Northwest(Rubi) | 84 | C.E.
20 |Ruck Islanders | |
| (Carolines) | 84.1 | Virchow.
11 |Croats | 84.3 | Broca.
20 |Papuans in general | 84.4 | Broca.
13 |Botocudos | 84.7 | Rey.
68 |Melanesians | 85.1 | Flower.
132 |Ainus | 85.2 | Koganei.
20 |Negroes of Kordofan | 85.1 | Broca.
84 |Western Negroes | 85.4 | Broca.
96 |Papuans of the | |
| N. W. (Kordo) | 85.8 | C.E.
11 |Natives of | |
| Admiralty Islands | 86 | Turner.
43 |Negroes | 86.3 | Flower.
80 |Auvergnats | 86.5 | Broca.
11 |Vitians (Fiji) | 87 | Flower.
18 |Maori | 87 | Turner.
208 |Various Europeans | 87 | Flower.
48 |Fuegians | 87.5 | Mantegazza, Hya., Den.
31 |Japanese | 88 | Baelz.
63 |Southern Bretons | 88.1 | Broca.
19 |Eskimo | 88.2 | Broca.
33 |English | 88.4 | Flower.
43 |Veddahs | 88.5 | Sarasin, Fl.
28 |Corsicans | 88.6 | Broca.
26 |Kabyles | 88.9 | Broca.
16 |Hindus | 89.2 | Flower.
11 |Bugis of Mangkassar | 89.2 | C.E.
28 |Berbers | 89.5 | C.E.
28 |Arabs | 89.5 | Ten Kate.
11 |Dyaks | 89.8 | C.E.
19 |Javanese | 89.5 | C.E.
12 |Tatars of the Volga | 89.5 | C.E.
-------+-----------------------+-------+------------------
MEGASEMES (90 AND UPWARDS).
-------+-----------------------+-------+------------------
69 |Kalmuks | 90.2 | Den., Ivanovs.
26 |Indians of N. America | 90.8 | Broca.
13 |Modern Mexicans | 90.8 | Broca.
43 |Javanese | 91.1 | Broca.
88 |Polynesians | 91.6 | Fl., Broca.
14 |Andamanese | 91.7 | Flower.
127 |Am. Indians in gen. | 91.7 | Broca.
17 |Malays | 91.9 | C.E.
30 |Peruvians not deformed | 92 | Broca.
16 |Modern Aztecs | 92.1 | C.E.
-------+-----------------------+-------+------------------

The capacity of the orbital cavity and its depth are also measured, but, as the researches of L. Weiss have demonstrated, there is no correlation between the form of the skull (dolicho- or brachy-cephalic) and this depth. On the other hand, it appears to have some relation with the form of the face; broad faces (_chamæprosopes_) have deeper orbits than long faces (_leptoprosopes_).[63]

The skeleton of the nose presents numerous variations according to race. The nasal bones may be more or less inclined, one in relation with another, so as to form either an almost flat plane or a sort of prominent roof; their outline may be straight, concave, or convex; their breadth and their length also vary. The form of these bones, together with the nasal opening which is found below, may be expressed by the figures of the nasal index--that is to say, of the relation between the height of the bony mass (from the root of the nose to the anterior nasal spine) and its breadth (lines /V B/ and /E D/ of Fig. 12). According to the greater or lesser breadth of the nasal bones and of the nasal opening, the skull is called _leptorhinian_ (long-nosed) or _platyrhinian_ (flat-nosed); the intermediate forms bear the name of _mesorhinian_. The form of the nasal opening appears to be transmitted very tenaciously by heredity (Broca).

The following table, in which I have introduced only series of more than ten skulls, gives the distribution of the principal ethnic groups according to their nasal index.

It is easy to see in running the eye over this table, that almost all the populations of the so-called white races are leptorhinians, while all the yellow populations are comprised exclusively in the group of mesorhinians, and Negroes and Bushmen in that of the platyrhinians.

The Polynesians seem to be leptorhinians, the Melanesians with the Australians show a tendency towards platyrhiny.

NASAL INDEX OF THE CRANIUM.

(Series of more than 10 Skulls of both Sexes together.)

_Prognathism_, that is to say the degree of projection of the maxillary portion of the face, is a characteristic trait of certain skulls; however, it does not seem to play so important a part in the classification of races as anthropologists had thought twenty or thirty years ago. It presents too many individual varieties to be taken as a distinctive character of race. The degree of prognathism is measured by means of different _facial angles_, of which that of Cloquet, passing by the forehead, the upper alveolar point (between the two incisors), and the external auditory meatus (Fig. 13, /F O K/), is one of the best. However, as it expresses the relation of points too far removed from each other, it is better to confine ourselves to the measurement of _alveolar prognathism_, that is to say, of the sub-nasal projection of the face. This prognathism is measured with the angle determined by the alveolar point, the external auditory meatus, and the nasal spine (Fig. 13, /F′ O K/).

(_Photo. Prince Roland Bonaparte._)]

Among numerous other measurements which give indications for certain characters we must cite: the minimum frontal diameter (Fig. 12, /S J/); the interorbital line; the length and the breadth of the palate, the relation of which constitutes the _palatal index_, etc. Among the measurements of the curves it is necessary to note the horizontal circumference of the head, the antero-posterior curve with its frontal, parietal, and occipital portions, etc. Besides the facial angles, a great number of others are taken; the more important are the sphenoidal angle and the different occipital angles (of Daubenton, Broca, etc.), which give the inclination of the occipital foramen in relation to a horizontal plane. The measurements of these angles furnish valuable indications on the characters called _seriary_, to which we have recourse in order to compare man with animals which bear the closest resemblance to him.

(_Photo. Prince Roland Bonaparte._)]

But all these measurements do not suffice to exhaust the data of the morphology of the skull. There still remain a host of _descriptive_ characters: the general form of the skull, pentagonal, oval, elliptical, etc.; the contour of the face more or less angular or rounded, its _canine fossa_ more or less deep, its zygomatic arches, and its molar bones more or less projecting, etc. Certain anomalies in the sutures of the bones, as for example the persistence of the medio-frontal suture, the dispositions of the _pterion_ (point of union of the sutures between the frontal, the temporal, the sphenoid, and the parietal bones), are only important as seriary characters, but there are others which possess some value in the differentiation of races. The _Wormian bones_, or points of ossification inserted between the bones of the skull, are of the number. One of these bones found between the parietal bones and the occipital, has even received the name of the _Inca bone_ (Fig. 23, /A/), on account of its very frequent occurrence among Peruvian crania (deformed or not). In fact, it is met with in an imperfect state 20 times in 100 and perfect 5.4 times in 100 among Peruvians, while in Negro crania it is found only 6 times in 100 imperfect, and 1.5 perfect; among Europeans it is still more rarely imperfect, and is hardly ever met with perfect (Anuchin). This peculiarity seems to be a special character of the American race, seeing that among the crania of the Indians of the New World (outside Peruvians) the anomaly in question is found 10 times in 100 imperfect and 1.3 times perfect. Among the Indians of Rio Salado, an affluent of the Gila in Arizona, the frequency of this anomaly is still greater than among Peruvians (5.7 perfect cases against 5.4 in Peru).[64] In the same way, the presence of a suture which divides into two, more or less imperfectly, the malar bone (Fig. 23, /B/) appears to be a special character of Ainu and Japanese crania; Hilgendorf has even proposed to call the lower portion of the malar bone thus formed _os japonicum_ (Fig. 23, /B/, _a_). While the suture is only met with 11 or 12 times in 100 in Mongolian races, and 9 times in 100 in European races according to Ten Kate,[65] it is found from 25 to 40 times in 100 among Japanese according to Doenitz.

It is well understood that in the description of crania the alterations of form produced by all kinds of causes are taken into account. (Such, for example, is the considerable asymmetry or _plagiocephaly_ due to a physiological cause, as the hypertrophy of the capacity of the skull, or its atrophy in the pathological cases of _hydrocephaly_ or _microcephaly_, and so many other ethnic deformations which will come up for treatment in Chapter V., etc.)

_The head of the living subject_ furnishes more numerous characters than the skull, especially if the face be considered with the play of feature. Sometimes an examination of the face suffices to determine the race of the subject.

The measurements of the head are about fifty in number, but they are not all of equal importance. Very few of them, indeed, are really useful.

The chief of the _angular measurements_ is the facial angle; great importance was formerly attached to it when prognathism, or the degree of projection of the maxillary region, was considered as a character of inferiority. In spite of the numerous instruments invented (double square, Harmand’s instrument, Jacquard’s goniometer, etc.), great precision in these measurements is not attainable. The only angle which can be taken with sufficient exactitude, thanks to the facial medium goniometer of Broca, is Cuvier’s angle, formed by a line running either from the glabella or the point between the eyebrows to the interval between the incisor teeth, and by another line starting from the external auditory meatus towards this interval. This angle enables us to estimate the _total prognathism_ and the _alveolar prognathism_, but the variations which it presents are too slight (3 to 4 degrees), taking race with race, to constitute a distinctive character. Prognathism of the lips, pushed forward to form the prominence of the “muzzle,” which gives so characteristic an expression to the profile of certain Negroes or Australians (Fig. 15), is not expressed by this measurement, and ordinarily cannot be measured in any way.

Among the _measurements of the curve of the head_ the principal are those of the _horizontal circumference_ with its _anterior and posterior portions_, the limits of which are found at the supra-auricular point, that is to say, in the depression which is found immediately in front of the spot where the helix of the pinna of the ear is inserted. The value of this measurement has also been exaggerated, it being said that men of well-developed minds have the circumference greater than men without intellectual culture. The comparative observations of Broca made on house-surgeons and attendants of hospitals seem to bear out the assertion; but they have not been confirmed, and stature appears to have a decided relation with the size of the head.

(_Phot. Coll. Mus. Nat. Hist., Paris._)]

The measurements in a straight line are more numerous and more important than those of angles and curves. Those which give the antero-posterior diameter or maximum length of the head (from the glabella to the most prominent point of the occiput, as on the cranium) and the transverse maximum diameter, are the first to note. We have already seen (p. 57) that their centesimal relation constitutes what is called the _cephalic index_. Let us note afterwards the _total height of the head_ (projection on a vertical plane), the _maximum breadth of the face_ (between the zygomatic arches) and the different “lengths” of the face, the relation of which to the breadth constitutes the _facial index_. The latter is far from expressing the form of the face as well as does the cephalic index the form of the head, on account of its irregularity, and the want of agreement between anthropologists with regard to the “facial lengths.” Nevertheless we distinguish according to these measurements elongated faces or _leptoprosopic_ (Fig. 16), short faces or _chamæprosopic_ (Fig. 17), and medium faces, _meso-_ or _ortho-prosopic_ (Fig. 14).

(_Phot. Miss Godden._)]

Other measurements taken are the _frontal minimum diameter_ or minimum breadth of the forehead (between the temporal ridges of the frontal bone, which makes a projection under the skin); the _distance between the inner angles_ or _canthus_ of the eyes is a good measurement, especially if it be compared with the _breadth of the nose_, taken by just touching with the points of the callipers the alæ of the nose. Referred to the length of the nose (between the root of the nose and the point of insertion of the septum) reduced to 100 it gives the _nasal index_, one of the important characters in the classification of races. Among several other measurements may be mentioned the _breadth of the mouth_ between the commissure of the lips, the subject being in repose; the _length and the breadth of the ears_, etc. All these measurements are taken either with callipers or with sliding compasses, similar to those used by shoemakers or engineers, or with special instruments.[66]

Measurements taken on the living subject can never be as accurate as those obtained on the cranium; but, on the other hand, they may be much more numerous, and the greater number of observations compensates largely for individual errors due to difficulties of the mode of operation. Further, when measuring heads of living subjects, there is the advantage of knowing sex, approximate age, and exact origin, while in the case of one-half the crania examined, one or more of these particulars may be wanting. All these conditions sufficiently explain why, in these latter days, the attention of anthropologists is directed towards measurements of living subjects, among which those of the head occupy the foremost place.

Do the measurements of the head of the living subject correspond to the measurements of the cranium? Various researches made with the object of elucidating this question leave it still unsettled. It was believed at first, for instance, that the _bregma_, or point of junction between the coronal and the sagittal sutures in the cranium (Fig. 11, O), corresponded in the head with the most prominent point of the line passing from the supra-auricular point to another perpendicularly to the horizontal plane; but the very careful researches of Broca and Ferré have shown that this point is always in front of the bregma by a quantity which varies according to sex and individual. The correspondence of the _tourbillon_ of the hair with the _lambda_, or point of junction on the cranium of the sagittal and occipital sutures (Fig. 11, /F/), has not either been clearly demonstrated. The principal measurement, the _cephalic index_, does not appear always to correspond on the cranium and on the head of the living subject. _A priori_, the living head should have the index a little higher than the cranium, the muscles of the temporal region being thicker than those of the supra-occipital and frontal region. However, experiments made in connection with this subject are contradictory. According to Broca, two units must be subtracted from the index taken on the living subject in order to obtain the index on the cranium; this is also the opinion of Stieda and Houzé and a great number of anthropologists, while Mantegazza and Weisbach advocate the reduction of the index by three units; and Virchow and Topinard do not admit any. In the face of these divergent opinions, it is best to give the indices on the cranium and the living subject separately as they are, and indicate the rate of reduction or augmentation.

However, in a general way, one may admit, and I admit in this book, the difference of two units between the indices of the cranium and the living subject. In this way the two may be compared by adding these two units to the index of crania and removing them from the index of the living subject. I have given (p. 57) the divisions of the cephalic index of the cranium; those of the living subject are the same with the addition of two units.

We may now proceed to examine a little more closely the principal measurements and the indices on the living subject by beginning precisely with the _cephalic index_, which I believe to be, in spite of the recent criticisms of Sergi[67] and Ehrenreich,[68] one of the good characteristics of race, enabling us to make some secondary partitions in the principal partitions of the genus _Homo_, based, as we shall see afterwards (Chapter VIII.), on the colour of the skin and the nature of the hair. Assuredly this index cannot express by itself alone the true form of the head or the cranium, but it supplies very clearly a first indication which gives a much better idea than detailed description, useful, to be sure, but rendering the study almost impossible when it is a question of comparing with one another a great number of different types. On the other hand, this index has such a fixity within the limits of any given race, that it is difficult to conceive how it could be dispensed with. The figures given by different authors when they rest on a sufficient number of subjects agree so much among themselves as to the cephalic index, that it is impossible to deny its fixity. The recent researches of Gonner[69] on one hundred children of Basel, far from weakening the assertion, as it would appear, speak in its favour; made on only the new-born or children one month old, they confirm what was already known, that the cephalic index varies with age, and by no means contradict its fixity. Ordinarily, at birth children appear to be more dolichocephalic than the adults of their race, but from the first month the head grows faster in breadth than in length; thus at the end of the first month, according to Gonner, the head is broadened in 52 children in 100, and remains stationary in 9 per 100. My own researches lead me to believe that the heads of children increase at first in breadth, to arrive afterwards gradually at a definite form, which is fixed about the age of ten, twelve, or fifteen years, according to race.

If instead of comparing, as Gonner has done, children of one month old with their parents, he had taken children from ten years upwards, he would have arrived at the same results as Spalikowski, who on forty-eight infants at Rouen found forty-one of which the cranial form corresponded with their parents. The researches of O. Ammon, Johansson and Westermarck, Miss Fawcett and Pearson, as well as my own (yet unpublished), lead to the same result.[70]

The differences of the cephalic index according to sex are insignificant. According to my personal researches, this difference hardly exceeds on the average 0.7 in the living subject and 1.5 in the cranium; and even this latter figure is exaggerated. It may, in a general way, be admitted that the difference between the cephalic index of men and women hardly exceeds one unit--that is to say, the degree of personal error in the observation. This difference is, in any case, less than the discrepancies between the different series of a single and homogeneous race.

In the table of the cephalic index which appears at the end of this volume (Appendix II.), however, I have given only the figures relating to men. A few series comprising individuals of both sexes appear there as exceptional cases. I have taken care to mark these with a letter S. In this table will be found side by side with indices taken on the living subjects some taken on crania, but no series contains measurements of crania and heads intermingled. The series of ten to twenty subjects or crania in the table appear there exceptionally, for the only series furnishing figures really exact are those comprising more than twenty individuals.

An inspection of the table shows us that there is a certain regularity in the distribution of the different cranial forms on the surface of the earth.

Dolichocephaly is almost exclusively located in Melanesia, in Australia, in India, and in Africa. Sub-dolichocephaly, diffused in the two extreme regions, North and South, of Europe, forms in Asia a zone round India (Indo-China, Anterior Asia, China, Japan, etc.), but is met with only sporadically in other parts of the world, especially in America. Mesocephaly is frequent in Europe in the regions bordering on the sub-dolichocephalic countries, as well as in different parts of Asia and America. Sub-brachycephaly, much diffused among the Mongolians of Asia and the populations of Eastern Europe, is very rare elsewhere. Lastly, brachycephalic and hyper-brachycephalic heads are almost exclusively limited to Western and Central Europe, to some populations of Asia, Turco-Mongols, Irano-Semites, and Thaï-Malays.

Has the form of the head, so far as the cephalic index can express it, an influence on the volume of the brain, and consequently on its weight, and even perhaps on the mentality? This question is subordinate to another, namely: To what point is the weight of the brain the expression of the psychical value of this organ? We shall see further, on p. 101, that the weight can only be considered as a very rough approximation for the solution of psychological questions. But even in recognising in the weight of the brain the exaggerated importance that too long has been attributed to it, it may be said that it is not in relation with the conformation of the skull. The only investigation made into this matter--that of Calori--restricted to the figures of adults (from 20 to 60 years) by Topinard,[71] shows us that among Italian men the brachycephalic have on an average 27 grammes of brain more than the dolichocephalic, while among Italian women it is the dolichocephalic who have the better of the brachycephalic by 21 grammes. The differences in the two shapes being so very trifling, one may consider one’s self equally intelligent whether dolichocephalic or brachycephalic.

Next to the form of the head, that of the face is of great importance in recognising races. It may be more or less long or broad, oval (Fig. 109), ellipsoidal (Fig. 136), or round (Figs. 119, 164, and 169), with soft contours or very angular, and then it may be found as an elongated rectangle (Fig. 121) or a square (Fig. 124); it may approximate also to the pentagonal form (Fig. 17), etc.

The _forehead_ may be broad or narrow, low or high, retreating (oblique, Fig. 21) or straight (Figs. 24 and 90), it may present a medium protuberance, as for instance, among many Negro tribes (Fig. 140), etc. The _superciliary arches_ may be absent (Mongolian races) or very prominent, overhanging the eyes (Australians, Fig. 15; Veddahs, Fig. 5).

The _cheek-bones_ may be little developed (Europeans) or very prominent (Mongolians, Figs. 17 and 20; Bushmen, Fig. 24, etc.), but cheek-bones projecting forward must be distinguished from those developed laterally. The _chin_ may be pointed, rounded, square, projecting, retreating (Fig. 15), but these variations are of little importance, and may be found in conjunction with the most diverse forms of the face, while giving to it its own character. The posterior angles of the lower jaw may be more or less wide, and thus help to produce the angular contour of the face; quadrangular in the case of the square chin (Fig. 121), or with pentagonal contour in the case of the pointed chin (Fig. 118).

The _eyes_ furnish also some differences of form. We distinguish the ordinary eye, as in our countries, and the _oblique_ or _narrowed Mongolian eye_. The latter presented in its most perfect form is characterised as follows. It is placed obliquely, so that its external angle is higher than its inner angle (Fig. 121). This disposition is due to the too high attachment of the external palpebral ligament to the skull, as Regalia has shown.[72] Its palpebral aperture is much narrower than in the ordinary eye, and instead of having the form of an almond, it has rather that of a scalene triangle (Figs. 18 and 118) or of a little fish whose head corresponds to the inner angle (Fig. 119). But these peculiarities are not the most important, and may be met with, though rarely, in ordinary eyes. The essential characters of the Mongolian eye consist, as Metchnikof[73] has shown, in a puffiness of the upper eyelid, which turns down at the inner angle of the narrowed eye, and, instead of being free, as in the ordinary eye, is folded towards the eyeball, forming a fixed fold in front of the movable ciliary edge; this last becomes invisible and the eyelashes are scarcely seen. Moreover, towards the inner angle of the eye, the eyelid forms a fold covering more or less the caruncula, and sometimes extending more or less far below (Fig. 18). These peculiarities, which can be met with quite often among the children of all races as a transitory characteristic, may be explained up to a certain point by the very small development of the pilous system in general in people among whom they persist. For among Europeans, for instance, the inversion of the eyelid (_entropion_) may become a cause of disease (_trichiasis_) precisely on account of the growth of the eyelashes.[74]

(_from nature_).]

Sometimes this puffiness only extends to the outer part of the eyelid; we have thus a variety of the Mongolian eye, with a palpebral triangular opening, very frequent among the eastern Finns (Fig. 106) and the Turco-Tatar populations.

(_Photo. and particulars, Beddoe._)]

The _nose_, by the variety and the fixity of its forms, presents one of the best characters for distinguishing races. We can express by means of the nasal index of Broca its width (measured by just touching the alæ of the nose) in relation to its length (from the root to the sub-nasal spine) supposed = 100. This index varies in the proportion of one to three (from 40 to 120), according to race. Among the platyrhinians, the breadth of the nose exceeds 85 (Fig. 14); among the leptorhinians, this breadth is less than 70 (Fig. 16); lastly, among the mesorhinians, it oscillates between 70 and 85, according to the nomenclature of R. Collignon.[75] I give in Appendix III. a table of the nasal indices of the principal populations; I have only introduced into it series of more than ten individuals, whose measurements have been taken according to the Broca-Collignon method, explained above.[76]

Besides the general form of the nose given by the nasal index, there remain a host of descriptive characters which may be observed in this organ. It may be more or less flattened (examples: Negroes, Melanesians, Mongolians), or more or less prominent (Europeans, Jews, Arabs). Its profile may be: (1) straight and sometimes sinuous (examples: Turco-Tatars, Europeans, Fig. 19); (2) concave (certain Finns, Bushmen, Lapps, Australians, Fig. 15); (3) convex and sometimes arched (American Indians, Semites, Fig. 21). Each of these forms may be in combination with a fine, thick, or medium tip, and with a plane of the nostrils directed upwards, downwards, or horizontally. A. Bertillon[77] admits at least fifteen varieties of the forms of the nose. In the majority of cases concave noses have the extremity thick, and the plane of the nostrils directed upward (Figs. 9, 14, and 15); convex noses, on the contrary, have most frequently the tip fine, and the plane of the nostrils directed downward (Figs. 21, 102, 103, and 134). But there are also convex noses with very thick tips, for instance, among the Jews and the Iranians of the Assyroid type (Fig. 22), or again, among the Papuans and the Melanesians (Fig. 53), as well as concave noses with fine tips, for instance, among certain European races (Figs. 97, 104, and 105). Broad noses are most frequently flattened (Figs. 14, 15, and 24), but the flattening may also extend to narrow noses, as for example among the Mongols (Fig. 20). The sunken, very depressed root of the nose is almost always associated with a considerable prominence on the supraciliary arches: examples, Australians, Fuegians, etc. (Figs. 14, 15, and 48).

(_Phot. S. Sommier._)]

In a general way, as may be seen from the table, the leptorhinians, who have for the most part the convex and straight noses, with fine, straight, or turned-down tips, are met with almost exclusively among Europeans, Eurasians, Armenians, Caucasians, and Eurafricans (Arabo-Berbers), as well as among the inhabitants of anterior Asia. The mesorhinians, among whom the form of the profile of the nose varies much, include different populations of India, some American, Turco-Tatar, and Mongol peoples. And lastly, the platyrhinians, having most frequently the profile convex and the tip turned up, comprise the whole of the black populations of Africa, Oceania, and India.

(_Phot. Coll. Mus. Hist. Nat., Paris._)]

At birth and during early infancy the nose is most frequently concave, with the tip turned up (Fig. 130); it only becomes straight or convex in the adult; in old age it has a tendency to become convex with the tip turned down (Bertillon, Hoyer). In the dead body it always takes the arched form. According to Broca and Houzé, the nasal index has a tendency to get lower--that is to say, the nose becomes relatively thinner as the individual advances in age; according to Hoyer,[78] the contrary takes place.

(_Author’s Phot. Coll._)]

The ears present few characteristic traits for distinguishing races,[79] but the same cannot be said of the lips. They are thin in the so-called white races and among Mongols; very thick and protruding among the Negroes; somewhat thick among Malays, Melanesians, etc. Their form contributes much towards hiding or accentuating dental or alveolar prognathism.

_Skeleton of the Trunk and Limbs._--The parts of the skeleton other than the head furnish but few materials for characterising races. We have already seen (p. 14) that the differences of curvature in the _vertebral column_ according to race may be explained by the mode of life. As to the other peculiarities of the spine,--spinous processes split in the cervical vertebræ,[80] narrow sacrum, etc.,--all that can be said about them is that they are more frequent among Negroes, and perhaps among Melanesians, than among Whites.

The _pelvis_ has more importance on account of its function from the obstetrical point of view, and of its influence on the general form of the body. Unfortunately this part of the skeleton has only been studied in very inadequate series among a dozen populations. Subjoined is given:--1st, the table of _pelvic index_--that is to say, the centesimal relation between the maximum breadth of the pelvis (between the iliac crests) and its height (from the top of the iliac crest to the lowest point of the ischion), taking for our unit sometimes the first of these measurements following Turner, sometimes the second following Broca; 2nd, the table of the index of the inlet (_pelvic or brim index_ of English authors)--that is to say, the relation of the antero-posterior diameter of this aperture (from the middle of the promontory of the sacrum to the pubic symphysis) to its maximum transverse diameter, which, let us suppose, = 100.[81] It will be remarked that the tables, formed of series of five subjects at least, are given in separate parts for men and for women, as the sexual differences are very appreciable in the pelvis of all races. In a general way the pelvis is broader and less high, its slope more pronounced, in woman than in man. The iliac fossa are wider in the former than in the latter; the _superior inlet_ or _brim_ is elliptical or reniform in woman, in the form of a playing-card heart in man, etc. But, as may be seen by our table, if these differences are very appreciable in certain races, notably among Whites and Negroes, they become less and less among Melanesians, among whom the pelves of the two sexes approximate nearly to the masculine type.

Has the form of the pelvis, and especially that of the inlet, any relation to the form of the head of the fœtus and of the child? Exact data for solving this question are wanting. However, comparing from our tables the index of the superior inlet and that of the cephalic index, it may be observed that, in a general way, pelves with a large aperture are met with in brachycephalic races, and pelves with a narrow aperture in dolichocephalic races. But there are numerous exceptions: I note at least four (English, Russian, Swedish mesocephal and Malay women) in the meagre list of 12 series of women that, with much difficulty, I have been able to draw up.

The form of the _shoulder-blade_ varies little with race. The _scapular index_--that is to say, the centesimal relation between the breadth of the shoulder-blade and its length (measured on the vertebral edge and taken as the unit of comparison)--oscillates between 64.9 (Australians) and 70.2 (Andamanese). In a list of 14 series of from 10 to 462 shoulder-blades that I have drawn up from the works of Broca, Livon, Turner, Topinard, Garson, Martin, Hyades, Sarasin, Hamy, Koganei, and my own measurements, the populations are arranged as follows: index from 64.9 to 66.6, Australians, Europeans, Fuegians, Bushmen, Ainus, Peruvians, Polynesians; indices from 67.2 to 70.2, Japanese, Veddahs, Hindu-Sikhs, Malays, Negroes, Melanesians, Andamanese. This classification suffices to show that the greater or less breadth of the shoulder-blade has almost no value as a seriate character or as a character of race. It is the same with the _sub-spinal index_, which it has been proposed to add to the foregoing in order to judge of the form of the shoulder-blade.[82]

------------------------------------------------------------
MEN.
-------+------------------------+------+--------------------
Number | | |
of | Ethnic Groups. |Index.| Observer.
Pelves.| | |
-------+------------------------+------+--------------------
1_a_.--INDEX OF HEIGHT (TURNER).[83]
-------+------------------------+------+--------------------
7 |Fuegians | 77 |Garson, Martin.
7 |Australians | 77 |Garson, Turn., Vern.
46 |Europeans | 79 |Verneau, Turner.
-------+------------------------+------+--------------------
1_b_.--PELVIC INDEX OR INDEX OF WIDTH-HEIGHT (BROCA).
-------+------------------------+------+--------------------
17 |Negroes in general | 121.3|Garson, Verneau.
11 |Melanesians | 122.7|Verneau.
46 |Europeans | 126.6|Garson, Verneau.
5 |Fuegians | 129.8|Hyades, Deniker.
| | |
-------+------------------------+------+--------------------
2.--INDEX OF THE SUPERIOR INLET.
-------+------------------------+------+--------------------
63 |Europeans} Princ. French| 80 |Verneau, Flower.
8 | } „ Italians| 82 |Marri.
17 |Fuegians | 85.1|Deniker, Hyades,
| | | Martin, Garson.
12 |New Caledonians | 91 |Verneau.
38 |Negroes | 92.3|Turner, Henning,
| | | Verneau, Vrolik.
24 |Australians | 96.6|Flower, Turner,
| | | Vern., Ecker, etc.
14 |Andamanese | 98.7|Turner, Fritsch.
5 |Bushmen | 99.5|Gar., Turn., Flow.
| | |
| | |
-------+------------------------+------+--------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
WOMEN.
-------+------------------------+------+---------------------
Number | | |
of | Ethnic Groups. |Index.| Observer.
Pelves.| | |
-------+------------------------+------+---------------------
1_a_.--INDEX OF HEIGHT (TURNER).
-------+------------------------+------+---------------------
28 |Europeans | 74.3|Garson, Verneau.
7 |Australians | 76.6|Gars., Turn., Vern.
8 |Andamanese | 76 |Gars., Turn.
-------+------------------------+------+---------------------
1_b_.--PELVIC INDEX OR INDEX OF WIDTH-HEIGHT (BROCA).
-------+------------------------+------+---------------------
13 |Andamanese | 125.5|Garson.
10 |Melanesians | 129 |Garson, Verneau.
5 |Australians | 130.4|Garson, Verneau.
10 |Negresses | 134.2|Garson, Verneau.
28 |Europeans | 134.9|Garson, Verneau.
-------+------------------------+------+---------------------
2.--INDEX OF THE SUPERIOR INLET.
-------+------------------------+------+---------------------
33 |Europeans} Princ. Engl. | 77.6|Garson.
49 | } „ French | 79 |Verneau.
14 |Japanese | 82.8|Dönitz, Werner.
5 |Hawaiians | 83 |Turner.
13 |Fuegians | 83 |Deniker, Hyades,
| | | Sergi, Martin.
50 |Russians | 84.8|Filatof.
9 |Italians | 86.7|Marri.
32 |Negresses | 88.4|Turner, Verneau.
8 |Australians | 88.5|Turn., Vern., Garson.
8 |Bushmen | 91.6|Muller, Hux., Ver., Fl.
16 |Andamanese | 91.7|Henning.
20 |Malays | 94.8|Garson, Flow., Turn.
-------+------------------------+------+---------------------

As to the skeleton of the limbs, here is a summary of what can be said about it from the point of view which specially concerns us now. In the _thoracic limb_ the _humerus_ presents an interesting peculiarity: the perforations of the _olecranon cavity_ (which receives the extremity of the ulna) are very frequent in prehistoric bones in Europe (10 to 27 times in 100), as well as in America (31 times).[84]

This perforation is met with more often among men than women, perhaps because it is more especially connected with the extent and frequent repetition of the movements of flexion and extension. Here is its growing frequency in the races from a list which I have drawn up with series varying from 20 to 249 humeri: white population of the United States (3.8 times in a hundred), French, Fuegians, Ainus, Basques, Melanesians, Japanese, Negroes, Polynesians, Mongolians, and American Indians (36.2 times in a hundred). The _torsion of the humerus_--that is to say, the degree of rotation of the lower part of this bone in relation to its upper part, is a character of a certain seriate value; but it is of no use in the differentiation of races. Besides, the degree of torsion varies too much in the same race: it is greater in woman than in man, in short than in long humeri (Manouvrier, Martin, etc.). This torsion is measured by the _angle of torsion_, which is taken either according to Broca’s method or Gegenbaur’s. This is how the different peoples are arranged according to the decreasing figures of this angle (series of 10 humeri): according to Broca’s system:--Melanesians (angle of 141°), Guanches, Arabs or at least Kabyles, Polynesians, Negroes, Peruvians, Californians, Europeans, French (164°); according to Gegenbaur’s system:--Ainus (149.5°), Fuegians, Veddahs, Japanese, Swiss, Germans (168°). Until further discoveries are made, a single fact becomes prominent from the examination of this character--that is, that the torsion appears to be greater in white races than in black and yellow. In the ulna Collignon has noted a special incurvation in certain prehistoric bones.

In the _femur_ one peculiarity has especially attracted the attention of anthropologists in recent times; it is the more or less frequent presence of the _third trochanter_ (Fig. 23, C 3), or tuberosity situated between the great (_ibid._, 1) and the lesser (_ibid._, 2) trochanter on the offshoot from the _linea aspera_ which furnishes a point of attachment to the lower part of the _gluteus maximus_. This projection, pointed out and studied for the first time by Houzé,[85] appears in infancy as a special centre of ossification analogous to those of the other diaphyses (Török, Deniker, Dixon), and so does not seem to depend on the greater or less development of the _gluteus maximus_ (Bertaux).[86] The third trochanter is almost always accompanied by a _hypotrochanteric fossa_ (Fig. 23, C).

Previous Next

Comments

The Races of Man: An Outline of Anthropology and EthnographyChapter II (1)

0%37 min left in chapter