Anthropological Survey in Alaska

The above data show that while the narrow nose in the Eskimo is to some extent affected by the large development in these people of the facial bones, yet there must be also other factors.

But if not wholly connected with the development of the facial bones, then some of the causes of the narrow nose in the Eskimo must either be inherited from far back or must be due to influences outside the face itself.

Pushing the character far back would be no explanation of its original cause, but it may be shown that such a procedure would not be justified. In the following important table are given the now available data on the breadth of the nasal aperture of the Eskimo, group by group and area by area, and these data show that narrow nose is by no means universal in this family. The nasal aperture is broader in the southwest and midwest than in the northwest, and broader in the latter region than in the Arctic north, and the northeast. In general it is seen that the farther northward and northeastward the narrower the nose, until it reaches beyond that of all other human groups; while in the west and southwest it gradually approaches until it reaches the nasal breadth of the Indian. And that this latter condition is not due to Indian admixture is shown by the fact that among the broadest noses are those of the Eskimo in Siberia and those on the St. Lawrence Island, where there was no known contact with the Indian, while the narrower noses are along the midwestern coast, where Indian admixture might have been possible.

It is hardly possible, therefore, to assume that a narrow nose is an ancient inheritance of the Eskimo. From the facts now at hand it seems much more probable that the Eskimo nose or respiratory nasal aperture was not originally very narrow, but that it gradually acquired this character as the people extended farther north and northeastward; and there appears to be but one potent factor that could influence this development and that increases from south to north, namely, cold. A narrowing of the aperture can readily be understood as a protective development for the throat and the organs of respiration.

It is not easy to see how the bony structures respond to the effects of cold or heat, but that they do, particularly where these are aggravated by moisture, has long been appreciated, and shown fairly conclusively through studies on the nasal index by Thomson and later by Thomson and Buxton.[154] An even more satisfactory study would have been that of the nasal breadth alone. Perhaps the normal variation with the elimination of the less fit are the main agencies.

The next two tables show other interesting conditions. The first of these, seen best from the more general data, are the relations of the nasal dimensions and index in the two sexes. The females in all the three large groupings have a higher nasal index than the males. This is a general condition among the Indians as well as in other races. It is usually due to a relative shortness of the female nose. This condition is very plain in the Eskimo. The female nose is actually narrower than the male, due to correlation with shorter stature and lesser facial breadth, yet the index is higher. The reason can most simply be shown by comparing the general mean nasal breadth and height in the two sexes. The breadth in the female is approximately 96.2 per cent of that in the male; the height is only 92.7 per cent.

Detailed group data on the nasal index show that this ranges from 47.7 on the Yukon to 41.8 in the northernmost contingent of the Eskimo at Smith Sound. The Kotzebue group that shows even a higher index than on the Yukon is too small to have much weight. Barrow and Point Barrow are once more nearly the same, as are the Old Igloos and Greenland; and there are some other interesting relations.

THE ORBITS

In many American groups the orbits are notoriously variable, yet their mean dimensions and index are of value.

The Eskimo orbits have long been known for their ample proportions. Their mean height and breadth are larger than those of any other known people and the excess is especially apparent when proportioned to stature. Taking the family as a whole, the mean height of the two orbits in males averages approximately 3.64 centimeters, the mean breadth 4.03 centimeters; while the males of 23 Algonquian tribes give for the same items 3.42 and 3.93, and those of 12 Siouan tribes 3.58 and 3.96 centimeters.

The general averages for the female Eskimo approach for orbital height 3.52 centimeters, for breadth 3.89 centimeters, dimensions which also surpass those in the females of any other known human group.

These large dimensions of the Eskimo orbit are, however, on closer examination into the matter, found not to be racial characters except in a secondary way. They are the direct consequence of the high and broad face. The correlation of the orbital height and breadth with the height and breadth of the face are shown by the following figures. These figures indicate also some additional details of interest.

The general orbital index of the Eskimo is close to 90 in the males, 90.5 in the females. Such orbits are classed as also relatively high or megaseme, a character in which they resemble many of the American Indians. Thus the male crania of the Siouan tribes give the practically identical general index of 90.5.

The slightly higher index in the females is the rule to which there are but few exceptions, and those in individual groups where the numbers of specimens may not be sufficient. The same tendency is observable in the Indians, and appears in fact to be panhuman. It is due to slightly lesser relative height as compared to the breadth of the orbit in the males, which condition is due in all probability to the greater development in the males of the frontal sinuses and supraorbital arches.

Individual variation in the orbital index of the Eskimo is extensive, reaching from slightly below 80 to well over 100. It extends more or less over the whole Eskimo area, without conveying definite indication anywhere of either a mixture or of a special evolutionary tendency. Yet it occasions group differences that eventually might prove evolutionary, though they may merely represent the next or higher order of variability, namely, that of groups within a family.

The group differences in the orbital index of the Eskimo skull are shown in the next table. They elude a satisfactory explanation, unless recourse is had to the above suggested theory of normal group variability within a family. They have about the same range in the three large areas, which would seem to support this theory.

Group relations are indicated in the cases of Pastolik-Yukon Delta-St. Michael Island; Point Barrow-Barrow; and Old Igloos-Greenland.

THE UPPER ALVEOLAR ARCH

The dental arches correlate with function (use), with stature, with the dimensions of the face, and with those of the teeth. The western as well as other Eskimo show arches that are about equal in absolute dimensions to those of our taller Indians, such as the Munsee, Arkansas, and Louisiana;[155] but relatively to stature the Eskimo arch is decidedly larger.

The upper dental arch index L×100
B, now being used in preference to the unwieldy "uranic index" B×100
L of Turner, is rather high, showing that the arch is relatively, as well as absolutely, broad. The same index in the Munsee averaged in the males 82.8, in the females 82.7; in the Arkansas and Louisiana mound skulls 84.4 in the males and 85.1 in the females. Data are needed here for more extensive comparisons.

Sex differences in the index are small, nevertheless the females tend to show a slightly higher index, due to relatively slightly smaller breadth of the arch.

The size of the arch and its index differ but little over the three main areas of the Eskimo territory, yet there are slight differences. They appear plainly in the following table. Notwithstanding the fact that on the whole the southwestern and midwestern groups are somewhat taller than those of the far north and northeast, the largest palate, in the males at least, is found in the latter area.

In the southwest and midwest the upper alveolar arch is relatively (as well as absolutely, barring one group) somewhat broad and short. This may be in correlation with the broader head in this area, just as the absolutely slightly longer palates over the rest of the Eskimo territory and particularly (in males) in the northeast may correlate with the longer heads in those regions. This point may be tested on our splendid material from St. Lawrence Island. Taking the broadest and the narrowest skulls from this locality, the following data are obtained for the proportions of the upper dental arch:

The above figures show several conditions. The first is that the arch is quite distinctly larger in the narrow than in the broad skulls in both sexes. The second fact is that the skull (vault) itself is slightly larger in the narrow-headed. The third is that the length of the arch is somewhat greater in the narrow and long skulls than it is in the broad and shorter, relatively to the skull size. The fourth is that there appears a close correlation, more particularly in the females, between the length of the arch and that of the skull.

THE BASION-NASION DIAMETER

The anterior basal length (basion-nasion) is a measurement of importance, though its full meaning in anthropology is not yet entirely clear. From data quoted by Martin (Lehrb., 715-716) it appears to average in whites up to 10.3 centimeters in males and up to 10.1 centimeters in females, and is known to correlate closely with the length of the vault. Secondarily it also correlates with stature.

Data on American Indians are not yet generally available, though in preparation. The Munsee skulls gave the writer for the diameter the means of 10.27 for the males and 10.02 for the females; the mound skulls from Arkansas and Louisiana gave 10.45 for the males and 9.77 for the females.

An abstract of the data on the Eskimo skulls is given in the next table. The values for the measurement are rather high, especially for such short people. The percentage relation of the measurement to the length of the skull appears also to be high. Manouvrier (1882, quoted in Martin, Lehrb., 716) found this relation in French skulls to be 53.6 in the males and 54.7 in the females.

The female measurement to that of the male, in the Eskimo, is as 94.9 to 100. As a similar relation of the cranial modules in the two sexes is close to 95.7, the anterior basal length would seem to be at a little disadvantage in the female Eskimo skull.

The same condition is seen also when the basion-nasion diameter is compared with the length of the skull. In the males, notwithstanding the fact that the length of the vault is increased through the development of the frontal sinuses and not infrequently also through that of the occipital ridges, the percentage relation of the basion-nasion to the maximum total length of the vault is approximately 56.3, in the females but 55.8. It seems therefore safe to say that in the Eskimo, in general, that part of the brain anterior to the foramen magnum is relatively somewhat better developed in the males than in the females.

But to this there are some exceptions. Thus it may be seen in the general table which follows that in the northwestern groups conditions in this respect are equalized; and in the succeeding detailed table it will be noted that while the males exceed the females in this particular in 14 of the groups, in 5 groups conditions are equal (or within one decimal), and in 5 the female percentage exceeds slightly that in the males. In the numerically best represented groups conditions are nearly equal, with the males nevertheless slightly favored.

An interesting point is that in the north and northeast, where the skulls are longest, there is evidently a slightly greater relative development of the occipital portion of the vault, or slightly lesser development of the frontal portion.

Some additional points of interest appear when the basion-nasion: skull-length index, taken collectively for the two sexes, is compared in the different groups. All these comparisons suffer, naturally, from unevenness and often insufficiency of the numbers of specimens, yet some of the results are very harmonious with those brought out repeatedly by other data. Thus the St. Lawrence material stands once more close to the medium of the southwestern and midwestern groups; Barrow and Point Barrow are almost identical; and so are the Old Igloos from near Barrow and Greenland. The St. Michael islanders show very favorably in the midwest, the Shishmarefs in the northwest and the Southampton islanders in the northeast.