Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 41.djvu/70

 always in getting the capacity of this standard skull exactly, he is considered competent to measure the capacity of real crania. In drawing skulls most German workers use an instrument called a diopter, which produces a drawing of the natural size. Dr. Ranke has ingeniously attached a pantograph to the diopter in such a way that a correct reduced drawing may be produced at one operation. His craniophore—an instrument for supporting a skull in a horizontal position for purposes of study—is the simplest and best made, but is, of course, suited only to the German horizontal.

In German Switzerland, at Basel, is Dr. Kollman, best considered here, as he is of the German school. Prof. Kollman is a born teacher, and every specimen in his Anatomical Museum of the university is considered as instruction material, and is so mounted or prepared as to make its teaching value the greatest. The subject of prehistoric races has taken much of his attention, and a large case in the museum is devoted to a series of casts or originals of such skulls. Particularly interesting is the large series of prehistoric Swiss skulls representing the types described in His and Rutimeyer's classic work. Dr. Kollman has introduced some exceedingly long and difficult words into the nomenclature of physical anthropology—leptoprosopic, chæmæprosopic, etc. They are descriptive of cranial forms, and are intended as classificatory; it is doubtful, however, whether they really express natural types or simply artificial and arbitrary groupings.

As to ethnography, Germany is permeated with it, Magnificent collections are numerous, and workers are everywhere. Leipsic is a center of work. Here is the collection at which Dr. Klemm worked so diligently, now in charge of Dr. Obst. Only a small part of the treasures of this collection are on display. These are crowded, poorly arranged, and badly lighted; and a vast quantity of precious things are stored away, where they must be deteriorating in value as the months pass. In the university