The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-07-05


more nearly to Il right angle
3 says Prof ". f. McGcc, Of the
bureau Of cthnology, who has made a
more exhaustive study Of this subjc
Ian any other living scientist.
My proposition is fairly we'll illus
tratcd By the portraits Of presidents Of
,hs United States, said the Professor
yesterday "If you will look at a
series Of profile portraits Of the Chief
Magistrates, from Washington down.
you will find that the facial angle
shows steady development. The
forehead Of the Father of his Country
had considerable slant backward,
and the same characteristic is shown
IN the cxtant likcncsscs Of other early
Presidents, whereas recent occupants
of the Office exhibit quite strikingly
thc rectangular cranial formation.
This same progressive alteration is
observable in portraits Of other cclc-
brl;ics following them down through
tLc last century. the shape Of the head
changing gradually from the retreat
ing type to the full-forchcad conform
alton Of living statesmen. At the
>anc time the jaw Of the typical
American is perccptibly shortening
and the face is becoming less progna-
4ious. In other words, the lower part
of the face no longer projects SO far as
it formerly did. 1t is easily under
stood that the shortening Of the jaw
aud the Strengthening Of the face are
directly connected with the improve
sncnt in the form Of the top-hcad.
1T may be said in a general way
that the human skull is improving in
shape and increasing in size. AS to
the latter point, VIC observe that the
crania Of modern dissecting rooms are
decidedly better developed than those
found in any ancient cemeteries or
tombs. Evidently this increase has
been going on progressively century
after century, and we have been able
70 ascertain by exact measurements
that the skull Of the Incas of Peru are
larger than those Of prehistoric Peru
vians who lived at an earlier date. In
like manner VIC have been able to COM
pare ancient with modern crania in
other parts of the world, and sip,ilar
results are obtained. T. skull of an
average Egyptian of thirty centuries
ago had capacity of 93 cubic inches;
the capacity of the negro Uranium to-
day is 96 cubic inches, and of the
-Anglo.Saxon l05 cubic inches
THE interest attaching to such data
MS these is very great, of course, We
find that there is progressive in
crease Of cranial capacity among all
peoples of the world and decrease
among none. Hence, gcneralizing,
We may say that the size Of the human
brain is steadily becoming grcater-a
fact, obviously, of the utmost impor-
tance in its bearing upon the future
prospects Of the race, inasmuch as
brain expansion necessarily implies
augmented thinking power. Anthrop-
illogical study has disclosed the fact
that the peoples which inhabit the
earth are cultured in proportion to the
size of their brains, and, although a
big brain does not always imply the
possession Of superior intelligence in
GO individual, there is marked rela-
.tion between brain-sizc and thinking
power where large aggregate of per-
sons is considered.
This, however, is practically self
evident, inasmuch as We find that
among the lower animals those species
which have tho largest brains in pro-
portion to their size are, as rule, the
most intelligent. Reptiles, which are
extremely stupid, possess remarkably
small brains, as might be expected,
while the big herbivores, notoriously
dull-witted, have very inferior cranial
capacity. In respect to brain-size,
if man be represented by 100, the
gorilla may bc put down at 35, the
orang outang at 29, and the chimpan-
zee at 2S. 1t is seen from these fig
urcs how vastly superior is the think
ing equipment of the human animal,
merely as indicated by bulk, to that
of his cousins, the antropoid apes.
Zone curious result of the short
cning of the lower jaw is that there is
no longer sufficient room for all of the
teeth which nature supplied. Conse-
1ucntly the wisdom teeth are being
crowded out and, because they are no
longer wanted, they are being made of
such poor material as to decay at once,
usually on making their appearance.
From this fact an inference has been