Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/720

 NOTES AND ABSTRACTS.

Studies in Anthropo-Sociology. Two principal anthropological elements compose the population of Europe : Homo Europeans and Homo Alpinus,, differing in general in height, complexion, and color of hair and eyes, but definitely distinguished on the basis of length of head the former being dolichocephalic, the latter brachy- cephalic. Each element has its peculiar aptitudes and tendencies, and the aptitudes and tendencies of a population appear to vary according as it contains a majority of dolichocephalics or brachycephalics. The relations which exist, or seem to exist, between certain anthropological characters and certain social phenomena have been formulated in laws, and the whole constitutes a new science, anthropo-sociology. Cranial measurements made by the author on a considerable number of pupils in different schools have furnished results of two sorts. First, they simply verify the laws formulated by Ammon and Lapouge on the basis of several thousand measurements. Other results seem to indicate that there exists a relation between the form of the skull and certain tendencies, radical or conservative, in the substance of instruction, and a relation between scholastic success and the absolute dimensions of the skull. The longer cranium seems to coincide either with more energy or with greater intellectual aptitude. Of the anthropo-sociological laws three in particular are verified by the author's measurements the law of urban indices, the law of stratification, and the law of intellectual classes with an important restriction. Four tables are given in verification : Table I, urban and rural indices (Saint-Brieuc); Table II, cephalic indices of day-scholars (urban) and boarders (rural); Table III, cephalic indices of pupils and peasants of Saint-Brieuc ; Table IV, re'sume' and proportion of subjects to various indices. Comparing the dimensions of the skulls of the better students with the poorer in the same classes, Table V shows in the classes of science and modern (technical) instruction 62 of the better students with an average index of 82.01, and 156 of the poorer students with an average index of 82.92. Moreover, the absolute dimensions, both breadth and length, are greater in the case of the former. In the classical instruction the case is quite different, Table VI showing the brachycephalics to be at the head of the classes, with both greater breadth and less length of skull, the index being 83.81 to 82.72 for the poorer students. This variation is partially explained by the geographic origin of the classical students from the most brachy- cephalic region. But there still remains the fact that the dolichocephalics go by preference to the modern instruction and succeed little in the classic. This is to be explained on the general ground of the differences in the tendencies of the two types. "The brachycephalic is the man of tradition." The dolichocephalic seeks action, functioning. His superiority is accentuated in real life, and he attains the highest political, commercial, industrial, or scientific position. H. MUFFANG, Revue Internationale de Sociologie, November, 1897.

Economic Progress and Social Ethics. The economic side of life is entirely dominant in society and it constitutes the very basis of the social movement of our epoch. The problem, then, is to discover the formulae of economic progress and social well-being corresponding to the necessities of our time and the needs of a fat -tie sociale. Examining man from the social point of view, but without reference to any existing organization, these formulae are : (i) "Theoretically, every normal man is obliged to produce, directly or indirectly, and under pain of vital loss, everything that is indispensable to his nutrition, clothing, lodging, protection, and amusement, in quantity and quality appropriate to his temperament, his state of health, the place he

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