Pedagogical Anthropology

From the little black point to the big circle are represented the different stages of embryonal and fœtal development, until we reach the child. In A we have the fertilized ovum. Here it may be said that the new individual does not yet exist; we are at a transition point between two adults (the parents) and a new organism, which is about to develop. Now comes the embryo, which may be called the new individual in a potential state; then the fœtus, in which the human form is at last attained; and lastly the child, which will proceed onward toward the physical and spiritual conquests of human life. But so long as an individual has not completely developed, deviations may occur in his development; but these will be just so much the graver, in proportion as the individual is in a more plastic state.

We should reserve the term degeneration, real and actual, to that which presupposes an alteration at A, i.e., at the time of conception. An alteration all the graver if it antedates A, that is to say, if it preexisted in the ovum and in the fertilizing spermatozoon, i.e., in the parents. In this case, there is no use in talking of a direct educative and prophylactic intervention on behalf of the individual resulting from this conception; the intervention must be directed toward all adult individuals who have attained the power of procreation. And in this consists the greatest moral problem of our times—sexual education and the sentiment of responsibility toward the species. All mankind ought to feel the responsibility toward the posterity which they are preparing to procreate and they ought to lead a life that is hygienic, sober, virtuous, and serene, such as is calculated to preserve intact the treasures of the immortality of the species. There exist whole families of degenerates, whose offspring are precondemned to swell the ranks of moral monsters. These individuals, who result from a wrongful conception, carry within them malformations of the kind known as degenerative, and together with them alterations of the moral sense that are characteristic of degenerates, that is to say, they will be unbalanced (through inheritance) in their entire personality.

Something similar will happen if such a lesion befalls the embryo, i.e., while the individual is still in the potential state (lacking human form). In the fœtus, on the contrary, i.e., the individual who has attained the human form but is still in the course of intrauterine development, any possible lesion, and more especially those due to pathological causes, while they cannot alter the entire personality, may injure that which is already formed, and in so violent a manner as to produce a physical monster, whose deformities may even be incompatible with life (e.g., cleft spine or palate, hydrocephaly, Little's disease, which is a form of paralysis of fœtal origin, and all the teratological (i.e., monstrous) alterations). That is to say, in going from A to C we pass from malformations to deformations; from simple physical alterations of an æsthetic nature to physical monstrosities sometimes incompatible with life itself; while in regard to the psychic life, we find that the remoter lesions (in A) result for the most part in anomalies of the moral sense, while those occurring later (B, C) result for the most part in anomalies of the intellect. So that at one extreme we may have moral monsters, with malformations whose significance can be revealed only through observation guided by science and at the other extreme, physical monsters, whose moral sense is altered only slightly or not at all. Those who suffer injury at A may be intelligent, and employ their intelligence to the malevolent ends inspired by moral madness; those who suffer injury at C or D are harmless monsters, often idiots, or even foredoomed to die. The peril to society steadily diminishes from A to C, while the peril to the individual steadily augments.

Over all these periods so full of peril to human development and so highly important for the future of the species, we may place one single word:

Woman.—Throughout the period that is most decisive for its future, humanity is wholly dependent upon woman. Upon her rests not only the responsibility of preserving the integrity of the germ, but also that of the embryonal and fœtal development of man.

The respect and protection of woman and of maternity should be raised to the position of an inalienable social duty and should become one of the principles of human morality.

To-day we are altogether lacking in a sense of moral obligation toward the species, and hence lacking in a moral sense such as would lead to respect for woman and maternity—so much so, indeed, that we have invented a form of modesty which consists in concealing maternity, in not speaking of maternity! And yet at the same time there are sins against the species that go unpunished, and offenses to the dignity of woman that are tolerated and protected by law!

But even after the child is born and has reached the period of lactation, we should still write across it the words Woman and Mother. The education and the responsibility of woman and of society must be modified, if we are to assure the triumph of the species. And the teachers who receive the child into the school, after its transit through society (in the form of its parents' germs) and through the mother, cannot fail to be interested in raising the social standards of education and morality. Like a priesthood of the new humanity, they should feel it their duty to be practitioners of all those virtues which assure the survival of the human species.

Moral and Pedagogic Problems within the School.—Children when they first come to school have a personality already outlined. From the unmoral, the sickly, the intellectually defective to the robust and healthy children, the intelligent, and those in whom are hidden the glorious germs of genius; from those who sigh over the discomforts of wretchedness and poverty to those who thoughtlessly enjoy the luxuries of life; from the lonely hearted orphan to the child pampered by the jealous love of mother and grandmother:—they all meet together in the same school.

It is quite certain that neither the spark of genius nor the blackness of crime originated in the school or in the pedagogic method! More than that, it is exceedingly probable that the extreme opposite types passed unnoticed, or nearly so, in that environment whose duty it is to prepare the new generations for social adaptation. From this degree of blindness and unconsciousness the school will certainly be rescued by means of the scientific trend which pedagogy is to-day acquiring through the study of the pupil. That the teacher must assume the new task of repairing what is wrong with the child, through the aid of the physician, and of protecting the normal child from the dangers of enfeeblement and deformation that constantly overhang him, thus laying the foundations for a splendid human race, free to attain its foreordained development—all this we have already pointed out, and space does not permit us to expand the argument further.

But, in conclusion, there is one more point over which I wish to pause. If the Lombrosian theory rests upon a basis of truth, what attitude should we pedagogists take on the question of moral education? We are impotent in the face of the fact of the interrelation between physical and moral deformity. Is it then no longer a sin to do evil and no longer a merit to do good? No. But we have only to alter the interpretation of the facts, and the result is a high moral progress pointing a new path in pedagogy. There are, for example, certain individuals who feel themselves irresistibly attracted toward evil, who become inebriated with blood; there are others, on the contrary, who faint at the mere sight of blood and have a horror of evil. There are some who feel themselves naturally impelled to do good, and they do it in order to satisfy a personal desire (many philanthropists) thus deriving that pleasure which springs from the satisfaction of any natural need. In our eyes, all these individuals who act instinctively, though in opposite ways, deserve neither praise nor blame; they were born that way; one of them is physiologically a proletarian, the other is a capitalist of normal human ability. It is a question of birth. When the educator praised the one and punished the other, he was sanctioning the necessary effects of causes that were unknown to him:

(Dante, Longfellow's Translation.)

The instinctive malefactor is not to blame, the blame should rest rather upon his parents who gave him a bad heredity; but these parents were in their turn victims of the social causes of degeneration. The same thing may be said if a pathological cause comes up for consideration in relation, for instance, to certain anomalies of character.

Analogously, he who is born good and instinctively does good deeds, deriving pleasure from them, deserves no praise. There is no vainer sight than is afforded by a person of this sort, living complacently in the contemplation of himself, praised by everyone, and to all practical intent, held up as a contrast to the evil actions of the degenerate and the diseased who act from instinct no more nor less than he does himself. The man who is born physiologically a capitalist assumes high moral obligations; he ought to discipline his nature as a normal man in order to make it serve the general good. And this is not to be accomplished through an instinct to do good, which acts at haphazard, but through the deliberate will to do good, even if the requisite actions bring no immediate satisfaction, but even involve a sacrifice. Society will be ameliorated and rendered moral through the harmonious efforts of good men, trained for the social welfare. Man will become good only when his goodness costs him a voluntary effort.

Hence it will be necessary not to limit ourselves, as has been done in the past, to admiring the man who is born good, but to educate him so as to render him thoughtful, strong and useful; not to condemn the sinner, but to redeem him through education and through a sense of fellowship in the common fault, which is the scientific form of pardon. The degenerate, who succeeds in conquering his sinful instinct and in ceasing to do harm, the normal man who renders himself morally sublime by dedicating his splendid physiological inheritance to the collective good, will be equally meritorious. But what a moral abyss gapes open to divide them! Because it is a short stride at best that the physiological proletariat can take, while for the soul of the normal man an untrammelled pathway lies open toward perfection.

Accordingly the new task of the teacher of the future is a multifold one. He is the artificer of human beauty, the new modeler of created things, just as the sublime chisel of Greek art was the modeler of marbles. And he prepares for greater utilisation the physiological and intellectual forces of the new man, like a Greek deity scattering broadcast his prolific riches.

But above all he prepares the souls for the sublime sentiment which awaits the humanity of the future, glorying in the attainment of peace, and then indeed he becomes almost a redeemer of mankind.

CHAPTER VII
TECHNICAL PART

In a book the technical part can serve only to point the way, because the acquirement of technique demands practical experience.

The technique of anthropology consists, essentially, of two principal branches: 1. the gathering of anthropological data by means of measurements (anthropometry) and by inspection (anthroposcopy); 2. the formulation of laws based on these anthropological data.

Anthropometry requires a knowledge: a. of anthropometric instruments; b. of the anatomical points of contact to which the instruments must be applied.

For beginners it will be found helpful to mark upon the subject the anthropometric points of contact by means of a dermographic pencil.

In anthropology so large a number of measurements are taken, both from life and from skeletons, that a minute description of them all would demand a separate treatise. We shall limit ourselves to indicating such measurements as it has been found of practical utility to take in school.

The Form

In the theoretic part of this work we emphasized the word form, representing the body as a whole and embodying the conception of relationship between the proportions of the body, tending to determine the morphological individuality.

From the normal point of view the two individualities which are most interesting and worthy of comparison are those of the new-born child and the adult (see Fig. 140 and its eloquent testimony). In these two individualities the greatest possible prominence is given to those differences of proportion between bust and limb on which all the various measurements of the form depend: the standing and sitting stature; the total spread of the arms; the weight; the circumference of the thorax (see "Theoretic Lessons on the Form"). With the theory recalled to mind we may now pass on to the practical procedure for obtaining these various measures. Among them the most important is the stature, whose cycle is represented in Fig. 141. The theoretic section of this book devotes special attention to the stature in a separate chapter following that on the Form. It is well to have in mind the general principals before taking up the technique of the separate measurements.

Stature.—The stature is the distance intervening between the plane on which the individual stands in an erect position and the top of his head.

Technical Procedure.—It is necessary to know how to place the subject in an erect position, heels together and toes turned out, shoulders square, arms pendent, head orientated, i.e., occipital point touching the wall, gaze horizontal.

In measuring the individual stature it is customary to use an instrument called an anthropometer (Fig. 142).

It consists of a horizontal board on which the subject stands, a stationary vertical rod marked with the metric scale against which the subject rests his back, and another small movable rod perpendicular to the first and projecting forward from it; this is lowered until it is tangent to the apex of the cranium; and the scale upon the upright rod gives the number corresponding to the stature.

Certain anthropologists are now trying to perfect the anthropometer (Mosso's school). And, indeed, how is it possible to bring the entire person posteriorly in contact with the vertical rod of the anthropometer? The rod is straight while the body follows the curves of the vertebral column and the gluteus muscles. Accordingly, Professor Monti, an assistant to Professor Mosso, has proposed a new anthropometer which, in place of the single rod at the back, has a pair of rods, so that the more prominent portions of the body may occupy the intermediate space; a similar anthropometer was already in use for measuring kyphotics.

At the present day there are exceedingly complicated and accurate anthropometers which comprise, in addition, instruments for obtaining various other measurements, such as the thoracic and cephalic perimeters, etc. But these are very costly and not practical for use in schools. Their use is confined chiefly to medical clinics, as, for example, Viola's anthropometer, which is used in Professor De Giovanni's clinic.

Broca recommends to travelers an anthropometer consisting of a graduated rod with a movable index attached. By means of this a series of distances from the ground can be measured, and consequently various partial heights of the body, from the ground to the top of the head, from the ground to the chin, to the pubis, to the knee, etc., but grave errors may be committed and its use is not advisable so long as we have within reach a universal anthropometer.

The universal anthropometer consists essentially of two planes perpendicular to each other; now we may say that in every room, in the meeting of two planes, the floor and the wall, we have an anthropometer. There is no reason why we should not make use of this simple means! Placing the child in an erect position with the body touching the wall throughout its whole length, we place a perfectly horizontal rod tangent to the top of the head, we make a mark upon the wall, and then with a millimetric measure we take the distance between the mark and the floor, and this gives us the stature. Two difficulties are met with, first, that of holding the rod horizontally on the top of the head, and secondly, that of measuring the distance in a perfectly vertical line. In the first difficulty a carpenter's square may help us or, if there is a school of manual training within convenient reach it is easy to have a little instrument constructed (Fig. 143) consisting of two planes perpendicular to each other, one of which should be held tangent to the head while the other is pressed against the wall (carpenter's square).

As regards the vertical measurement, a plumb line may be used, but it is more practical to trace upon the wall that we mean to use for such measurements, a design consisting of a vertical line on which a mark may be made at the height of one metre from the floor in order to simplify the task of measuring.

It is better if the millimetric tape is made of metal, so that it will not vary in length; but even a tailor's measure of waxed tape may answer the purpose if it is new and has been tested with a metallic measure or an accurate metre rule.

The height of the stature is taken without the shoes, and it is necessary to state at what hour of the day the measurement is made, because in the morning we are taller (though by only a few millimetres) than we are in the evening. The stature may also be taken in a recumbent position (length of body), and in this case will be longer by about one centimetre.

Consequently in giving the measure of stature it is necessary to state in what position the subject was placed, by what method the measurement was taken (whether with an anthropometer or not) and at what hour of the day the measurement was made.

It is not necessary to say that the subject was required to remove his shoes, since that is taken for granted.

Sitting Stature.—Besides the stature taken on foot, the sitting stature (height of bust) is also taken by an analogous process. It is the distance between the plane on which the individual is seated and the vertex of his head. The subject should be seated upon a wooden bench having a horizontal plane and should place his back in contact with the wall; just as in the case of the preceding measure the shoes had to be removed, in the present case the clothing is discarded, leaving only the light underwear (Fig. 144). With the aid of the square we find the point corresponding to the vertex of the head and with the millimetric measure we obtain the distance on the wall between this point and the plane of the bench.

Index of Stature.—We know that these two measures are extremely important for ascertaining the type of stature, i.e., macroscelia and brachyscelia, determined by the proportion between the sitting stature and the total stature reduced to a scale of 100, that is, the relation of the bust to the total height of the individual. Let us remember in this connection that the bust should be a 52d or 53d part of the total stature and that below 52 down to 50, it is macroscelous, and that above 53, up to 55, it is brachyscelous.

Having obtained the two numbers corresponding to the two statures, e.g., stature 1.60 m., bust 0.85 m., how are we to find out the percentual relation between the two measurements? First, we form an equation: 85:160 = x:100.

from which we obtain x = (100×85)/160 = 53

This stature is of the normal average type, that is, it is mesatiscelous; but the mesatiscelia is high (in comparison with the other measurement that is also mesatiscelous, namely, 52), in other words, it is brachy-mesatiscelous.

Note the formula which gives us the value of x. If we substitute general symbols in place of the concrete values, we may say that x is equal to one hundred times the lesser measurement (m) divided by the greater measurement (M). If, in place of x, we substitute I, signifying index, we may draw up the following general formula of indices:

I = (100×m)/M

This formula of relations between measurements is of wide application in anthropology and is fundamental. Indices of every measurement are sought for. The one given above is the index of stature, and it determines the type of stature. All the other indices are calculated by similar procedure.

Total Spread of the Arms.—This measurement is taken quite simply. The subject must place himself with his arms outstretched in a horizontal direction and on a level with his shoulders. The measurement corresponds to the distance intervening in a horizontal line from the tip of one middle finger to the other (Fig. 145). A specially constructed anthropometer may be used for this measurement. It has a long horizontal rod adjustable perpendicularly, so that it may be placed on a level with the shoulders of the subject to be measured. This rod forms a cross with the other vertical rod with which the subject should be in contact. The arms are then extended along the cross rod which is marked with a millimetric scale. But this greatly complicates the anthropometer, and hardly any anthropometer possesses this attachment. This measure may be successfully taken with the very simple aid of the wall. The only difficulty offered is that of securing a perfectly horizontal position for the arms. For this purpose horizontal lines, which either happen by chance to be upon the wall or which may be drawn on purpose, will be of assistance. In order to have guiding lines suited to different statures, several horizontal lines may be drawn intersecting the vertical line already traced for guidance of the millimetric tape measure used in taking the stature.

Thoracic Perimeter.—The thoracic perimeter is taken on the nude thorax, in an erect position and with the arms hanging beside the bust, by applying the millimetric measure in such a way that its upper margin passes just below the nipples. The tape measure should completely encircle the thorax in a horizontal plane passing through the mammary papillæ. Since the thorax is in constant motion, we must observe the oscillations of the tape measure and obtain the average; or else we may take the measurements during the state of expiration (repose). In giving the figure it is necessary to specify the procedure followed.

Vital Index. Index of Life.—Index of life is the name given to the proportion between the stature and the thoracic perimeter. It ought to be equal to 50, i.e., Tp = S/2

Vi = (100×Tp)/S = 50 (normal).

Weight.—The weight of an individual is taken by means of ordinary scales. In order to obtain the weight of the nude person, the clothing may be weighed separately and their weight subtracted from the total weight of the clothed person. The weight should be taken before eating, in order that unassimilated alimentary substances may not alter the real weight of the subject. If this method cannot be rigorously followed out, it should be specified how much clothing the subject retained, whether he had eaten, etc.

Ponderal Index.—Stature and weight are the most synthetic and comprehensive measurements of the form. But we need a clear proportion between these two measures to tell us whether an individual weighs more or less relatively to his stature. It may happen, for instance, that a stout person of short stature actually weighs less than another person who is tall and thin; but relatively to his stature he may on the contrary be heavier, that is, he may have a higher ponderal index. A robust and plump child will weigh in an absolute sense less than an adult who is extremely thin and emaciated; but relatively to the mass of his body he weighs more. Now this relative weight or index of weight (ponderal index) gives us precisely this idea of embonpoint, of the more or less flourishing state of nutrition in which an individual happens to be. But linear measurements such as the stature cannot be compared with volumetric measurements, such as the weight. Hence it is necessary to reduce the volumetric measure—the weight—to a linear measure, which is done by extracting the cube root from the number representing the weight. Then the root of the weight may be compared to the stature reduced to a scale of 100. By forming a general proportion, in which W represents the weight of a given individual, and S the corresponding figure of his stature, we obtain:

S:∛(W)::100:x (where x represents the ponderal index)

hence Pi = (100×∛(W))/S

The application of this formula would necessitate some rather complicated calculations, which it would be inconvenient to have to repeat for a large number of subjects.

But there are tables of calculations already compiled, which are due to Livi, and which are given, together with other tables, in Livi's own work, Anthropometry (Hoepli). These are numerical tables, to be read in the same manner as tables of logarithms. At the top, in a horizontal direction, the stature is given in centimetres, while in the vertical column the weight is given in kilograms. The calculation of all the ponderal indices has been worked out, in relation to every possible stature and weight. If we look up the ponderal index corresponding to the figures already cited in illustration (see p. (182)), we find that for the adult the Pi = 23.6, and for the child the Pi = 27.4; i.e., considered relatively the child weighs more in the given case. This is the true and accurate technical method of finding the relative proportion between weight and stature.

Accordingly, we have now learned to take all the measurements relative to the form, to calculate from them the more important indices (or proportions), such as the index of stature, the index of life, and the ponderal index. We have also learned to understand and to consult the tables of anthropological calculations.

The Cranium

The Head and Cranium.—Let us bear in mind the fact that the word head is used in speaking of a living person, and cranium, of a skeleton.

The science which makes a study of the cranium is called craniology. The cranium and the head may be studied either by observing the external form—cranioscopy or cephaloscopy; or else by taking measurements—craniometry or cephalometry. Craniology makes use equally of cranioscopy and of craniometry: in fact, if cranioscopy alone were used, certain anomalies might escape attention, because we can recognise them only by measuring the head; and conversely, if we confined ourselves to craniometric researches, we might miss certain anomalies of form, which we become aware of only by attentively observing the cranium. Frequently craniometry serves to verify cranioscopy. For example, a cranium may appear to the eye too large or too small, but certainly if we measure the cranial circumference with a tape-measure we shall have an accurate decision of a case which may well be a simple optical illusion. Indeed, we all know how easy it is to give an erroneous judgment, relying only on our senses; for the personal equation enters very largely into judgments of this sort. For instance, a person of low stature easily judges that other men are tall, and vice versa. To the eye of the Italian or the Frenchman, the hair of young English girls is a pale blond; to the Scandinavians of the North it is a warm blond. If two men possessed of different æsthetic tastes and in different frames of mind wish to describe one and the same garden they will give two widely different descriptions which will reveal far more of their individual impressions and moods than of the actual characteristics of the garden described. It is easy to understand how important it is in scientific descriptions to exclude completely the influence of the observer's personality. In the cranioscopic study of a cranium, for instance, the precise characteristics of that cranium are what must be found and nothing else whatever, no matter who the student is nor in what part of the world he is working. But in order to achieve this result it is not enough to take observations; it is also necessary to know how to observe, and in observing to follow a scientific method.

Cranioscopy.—Cranioscopic methods require that the skull shall be observed from several sides. Blumenbach, who studied crania by observing them from the vertex, divided them into ovoid, rhomboid, etc., while Camper, on the other hand, studying them in profile, classified them as flat, elongated, etc., and the conclusions of the two scientists were irreconcilable.

The cranium must be observed from above, from the front, in profile and from the occipital part; and in such a manner that the observer's glance shall fall perpendicularly upon whichever cranial side is under observation. Hence it is said that the observation is made according to the norm, i.e., according to the perpendicular, and there are four norms in cranioscopy—vertical, frontal, lateral, and occipital. In this way we may be sure that no anomaly of form will escape the eye.

There are innumerable anomalies of form. We will indicate only the principal ones. In order to detect all the anomalies that may occur in a cranium it is necessary to observe it according to all the norms, each one of which may reveal a different set of anomalies.

A. Vertical Norm.—The word norm, as we have already said, has here the signification of perpendicular. To look at a cranium according to the vertical norm means to let our glance fall perpendicularly upon the vertex of the cranium. We may do this in one of two ways, either by raising our head above that of the subject of inspection, in such a way that our glance falls vertically upon it, or by bending back the head of the person to be observed until the crown of his head becomes perpendicular to our gaze. This norm is taken by placing oneself behind the person to be observed, who, if an adult, should be seated while the observer remains standing; and by taking the head to be examined between the two hands in such a way that the extended thumbs and index-fingers form a horizontal circlet around the cranial walls.

This is the most important of the norms, not only because it reveals the most important normal forms already described in the text, but also the greater number of anomalies such as are indicated below.

B. Lateral Norm.—The observer must stand at the side of the subject to be observed and look at him perpendicularly to the profile.

We remain standing while we look if the subject is an adult and is standing up, but we sit down if the subject is a child and is standing; and we determine the vertical position by moving the subject's head as the occasion requires.

C. Occipital Norm.—The observer places himself behind the subject and gazes perpendicularly at the occipital point.

D. Frontal Norm.—The observer stands in front of the subject and gazes at him on a level with the forehead.

Craniometry.—The volume of the cranium is of high importance because it bears a relation to that of the brain. In the studies which have been made relative to the correspondence between physical and intellectual development, the measurement of the cranial volume comes first in order.

In measuring the cranium it is necessary to use:

a. the millimetric tape measure, b. the craniometric calipers, c. the compass with sliding branches, d. the double square. In order to facilitate the task of measuring and to secure uniformity it is necessary first to locate the craniometric points to which it will be necessary to apply the instrument. These craniometric points are easily located on the cranium, where a great number of them have been studied. In the case of a living person, on the contrary, these points are reduced to a small number because of the difficulty of accurately locating them.

The points on the vault of the cranium, along the sagittal line, are:

1. The nasion (point of union of the nasal and frontal bones).
2. The ophryon (middle point of the line tangent to the two superciliary arches, a line corresponding to the horizontal drawn transversely across the forehead and passing through the two points on the temporal lines which are nearest to the median line. This point lies in an important region of the forehead, situated between the two eyebrows—the glabella. The central point of the middle region of the forehead above the glabella is called the metopion).
3. The bregma (point of juncture between the coronal and sagittal suture).
4. The vertex.
5. The lambda (point of juncture between the sagittal suture and the occipital or lambdoid suture).
6. The occipital point.
7. The inion (situated at a level midway between the occipital point and the occipital foramen).

Laterally we have these other craniometric points:

1. The external orbital apophysis (formed from the frontal bone).
2. The supra-auricular point.
3. The auricular point (corresponding to a little depression which may be felt just below the tragus and in correspondence with the zygomatic arches).
4. The minimum frontal point (a bony angle which may be felt about 1 centimetre above the external orbital apophysis, along the temporal line).

On a living person the following points can easily be located:

Along the sagittal line:

1. The nasion.
2. The ophryon.
3. The vertex.
4. The occipital point.

Laterally:

1. The external orbital apophysis.
2. The supra-auricular point.
3. The auricular point.
4. The minimum frontal point.

Now, with these points as guides it becomes practical to measure the various curves and diameters of the cranium. The curves are measured by means of the millimetric tape; the diameters by means of the calipers.

There are various curves; we shall confine ourselves to considering only the following:

The maximum circumference, which is obtained by passing the tape across the ophryon, the occipital points and the supra-auricular points, beginning to apply it at the ophryon. Its measure varies from 520 to 540 mm. in man and from 490 to 510 mm. in woman, if taken from the skull. In the case of a living person 20 mm. should be added.

If we find a circumference greater than normal, we are beginning to enter upon the anomaly which goes by the name of macrocephaly. If, on the other hand, the maximum circumference is notably smaller, we are entering upon the anomaly of microcephaly.

Measurement of Diameters.—Maximum Antero-posterior Diameter.—With the left hand place one branch of the calipers upon the glabella; the other extreme point is to be sought tentatively along a vertical line dividing the occiput in two halves. Partially close the calipers by means of the screw and then make trial by raising and lowering the posterior branch. It ought to move with a slight friction.

This is the classic diameter which measures the maximum length of the cranium and which, as we have seen, it is customary to compare with the width in order to obtain the cephalic index. In the adult man it normally oscillates between 170 and 180 mm.

Maximum Transverse Diameter.—This measures the width of the cranium. The investigator places himself in front of the subject in order to keep the compass quite horizontal through the guidance of the eyes. The maximum distance is found by experimenting. It normally corresponds very nearly to the supra-auricular points. In children this diameter is frequently situated higher up toward the parietal nodules; in men of tall stature, in whom the cranial vault is generally slightly developed, this diameter may be found, on the contrary, lower down, near the mastoid apophyses. If this diameter occurs similarly low down in children, a notable growth in stature may be prophesied (Manouvrier); and if inquiry is made it will be found that the parents are very tall. This diameter measures, in the adult, from 140 to 150 mm.

Vertical Diameter.—This measures the height of the cranium from the occipital foramen to the bregma. This diameter cannot be measured directly excepting on a skull; in the case of a living person its projection is taken, which, though far from accurate, is given by the distance between the vertex and the external auditory meatus.

It is necessary to use the double square. The horizontal branch is placed tangent to the vertex, its direction should be perceptibly parallel to the transverse orbital line, the graduated vertical branch should pass over the auricular foramen. The required number may be read, corresponding to the point of the tragus.

The height of the cranium is exceedingly important; its variations produce variations in the physiognomy.

In the first period of childhood, the cranium is very low in comparison to its width; this is also true of dwarfs. In these cases the width of the cranial vault is large in comparison to that of the base; a low cranium bulging above is distinctive of babies and dwarfs.

In the adult this diameter measures from 130 to 140 mm.