Page:The American Indian.djvu/371

Rh are treated as components of a single series, we get the normal frequency curve. The suggestion is, therefore, that we have in the height of the skull for the New World a character that shows considerable range of variation, but which, on the other hand, is of one distinct type. However, at present this must remain a mere suggestion.

A great deal of attention has been given to the form of the eye sockets or orbits, and the nasal skeleton. The former takes a quadrilateral form whose varying breadth and height can be measured. The relation of the latter to the former is expressed as the orbital index. The tabulation of such data as we found in the literature presents a symmetrical distribution with an approximate node at 87. As in the case of other characters we find the orbits of each local group to vary, but all to cluster about a single norm. Since there are several ways of measuring the orbit and the several authors are not often explicit as to the method employed, the above result should be regarded as tentative. Both Deniker and Martin have compiled standard lists of this index, which furnish the additional series in our table. The series we have for the New World is of the symmetrical type which gives us greater confidence in its mean value. Martin regards the Fuegian as in the lowest class, with the Tasmanian and Australian, while the Patagonian and Indians in general have very high indices, as also do the Eskimo and Mongolians. It appears, therefore, that the New World as a whole falls in the same class as do Asiatics, but that, on the other hand, high values are not unusual elsewhere. Thus, we cannot be sure that the orbit is a definitive character.

The skeletal structure of the nose affords further opportunity for measurement. The reader interested in the technical details of the subject may consult the very concise and convenient statement of Deniker, together with a tabulation of nasal indices for representative groups from all parts of the world. This index is analogous to that for the orbit, expressing the relation between the height of the nasal bones and