On the SIZE of the TEETH as a CHARACTER of RACE. By WILLIAM HENRY FLOWER, LL.D., F.R.S., P.Z.S., Pres. Anthrop. Inst., Director of the Natural History Departments of the British Museum. IT has long been known that the teeth of certain races, notably those of the Australians, are of superior size, both actually and in proportion to the general stature of the individual, than are those of other races. It is, however, very desirable that some more exact information on this subject should be obtained, and if possible more numerical relations established, by which the amount of variation in the size of these organs in different races may be formulated and compared. The For this purpose I have availed myself of the very large and varied series of skulls, now contained in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, including those of the Barnard Davis collection, and having measured the greater number of them, beg to submit the results to the Anthropological Institute. Even in so large a collection, numbering over 3,000 specimens, those which can be made use of for this purpose are less numerous than might be supposed at first, in consequence of the numbers, -in fact, the great majority being defective in their teeth, either from decay or loss during life, or from their having fallen from the skull after death. Complete sets are extremely rare. incisors and canines, owing to their simple mode of implantation, are most frequently lost; but the molar series, if complete and sound at the time of death, are in a great many cases preserved. Sufficient numbers for deducing any general observations could, in fact, only be obtained from the latter, and those of the upper jaws alone have been used, because they are more numerous, so many skulls wanting the mandible, and because there is no need to measure both, as the general size of the one is necessarily related to, and coincides with, that of the other set. I have therefore taken as a test of the size of the teeth the length in a straight line (as measured by the sliding compasses) of the crowns of the five teeth of the upper molar series in situ between the anterior surface of the first premolar and the posterior surface of the third molar, which length is designated hereafter as the dental length (d). The absolute length is, however, hardly sufficient for our purpose in comparing races; for the size of the individual, and of the cranium generally, should be taken into account, as smaller races and individuals might naturally be supposed to have smaller teeth. It is therefore necessary to find some standard of length as indicating the general size of the cranium, with which to compare the dental length. For this purpose I have selected the cranio-facial axis, or basio-nasal length (BN), the distance between the nasion (naso-frontal suture) and basion (middle of anterior edge of foramen magnum), as being on the whole the most constant and convenient indication of general size. Even in this measurement there is, unfortunately, an element of variability introduced, independent of the actual size of the skull, by the inclusion of the roof of the nasal chamber, and the thickness of the lower border of the frontal bone; but putting aside occasional individual variations, this is one of the most constant dimensions of the cranium, and if not safe to apply to a single skull, will, if the averages of a sufficient number of specimens are taken, afford a good standard of comparison. In the average male skull the length is very nearly 100 millimetres, in the female skull 95. Between the basio-nasal length and the dental length an index can be established on the d × 100 formula = the dental index. BN The average dental indices of the various races measured appear to vary between 40 and 48, although individuals may be found which either fall below or exceed these numbers. The general average may be taken at 43. Following the convenient method of division adopted with other indices, the dental indices may be divided into three series, called respectively Microdont.. below 42. between 42 and 44. Megadont.. above 44. I may begin, for the sake of comparison, with a study of this character in the Anthropoid apes, the results of which are shown in the following table. It will be observed the dental index is, in all cases, greater in the female than in the male, in consequence of the molar teeth of the former sex more nearly retaining their characteristic size, while the general size of the cranium, as indicated by the basio-nasal length, is diminished. This is very marked in the gorilla, in which animal the disparity between the sizes of the sexes is very great, while, in the chimpanzee, the male and female of which scarcely differ, the dental index is also almost alike. A similar relation of the dental index of the two sexes in the human species is also seen, especially in those races where the disparity of size between the men and women is greatest. The first three species are therefore strongly megadont, while in the siamang the molar teeth are scarcely larger in proportion to the skull than in the higher races of men. In twenty male British skulls, of which the teeth are sufficiently perfect to allow of measurement, the average BN is exactly 100 millimetres, and the average dental length is 41 millimetres, giving an index of 41; the maximum dental length being 45, the minimum 35, the maximum index 452, and the minimum 35.8. The In thirteen female British skulls, the average BN length is 95, the average dental length 39-5, giving an average index of 416. The maximum length is 43, the minimum 35. maximum index is 449, the minimum 36. The remaining results of the measurements, which it may be hoped will be extended and corrected by other observers having still more ample material at command, are as follows. It will be observed that the three groups into which the races may be separated by the size of their teeth have a general correspondence with the three principal modifications of the human species: the Microdont section, containing all the so-called Caucasian or white races; the Mesodont, the Mongolian or yellow races; and the Megadont section, being composed exclusively of the black races, including the Australians. Mr. HYDE CLARKE ventured to express a wish that Professor Flower had given the maximum and minimum in each case, as he had simply quoted the averages. An average, he would remark, was not a scientific fact, but rather an amusement of statisticians. In natural science it amounted to the suppression of individuality, and thereby of the real elements of description, definition, and classification. The method of their President was a tentative one, but he had great hope that it would afford a convenient medium for the ready determinations of characteristics, as, indeed, the teeth themselves had done in Zoology, and thereby give to anthropological determinations a definiteness which they had not hitherto obtained. He believed that the very determination of the distinctions and differentiation between male and female dentition might prove ultimately a criterion for determining the influence of mixture on races. Dr. WALTER COFFIN begged the privilege of thanking the President, on behalf of the dental profession, for a very suggestive paper on a matter of great interest to them. The measurement which Professor Flower would doubtless find it convenient to call The teeth are actually larger than in Europeans, but the index is reduced by the great length of the basis cranii. 2 In these again the index is reduced by the great length of the basis cranii. It is the relative but not the actual size of the teeth which brings there small people into the megadont series, among the races to which in many other respects they are allied. the "mesio-distal molar length," was an important one, and conveniently made upon the living subject, though unfortunately the other factor of the Professor's dental index" must be otherwise inferred during life. Perhaps the most interesting point brought out by the statistics was that the European races were really within one group-the Microdont; this fact bearing upon the theories as to the pathological conditions presented in dental crowding and certain forms of irregularities. It was highly important to know something of the distribution of variations within the range of the groups averaged, and especially of the frequency of exceptional ones at the limits. Mr. LEWIS inquired whether the teeth in all races were of the same proportions, or nearly so, as it seemed that the observations of the President were based solely on the space occupied by the three molars in line. He congratulated the President on having taken up a line of investigation which was apparently not only new, but likely to lead to important results. The following paper was read by the author: A HINDU PROPHETESS. By M. J. WALHOUSE, Esq. ABOUT five-and-thirty years ago, in 1850 or 1851, when the Company still bore rule, I was posted in one of the Madras provinces on the borders of Mysore, a jungly region, thinly sprinkled with villages; and one day received information from a Tahsildar, or native magistrate, that a certain woman, credited with supernatural powers, was causing terror and annoyance in his neighbourhood from the belief that she could inflict cholera, so that people were leaving their villages on her approach. I directed him to send her to me, but he replied that none of his peons, i.e., native policemen, dared meddle with her, and requested me to send some of my own. So I despatched two constables, both Mussulmans, who despised all Hindu superstitions, and they returned with her in custody, for she made no resistance to authority directed by an European. She proved to be a woman somewhat over thirty, rather tall, of composed, reflective demeanour, with no assumption of any unusual powers. She had a long thin visage, a fixed dreamy gaze, a slow, measured way of speaking. She belonged to the agricultural class, and was commonly spoken of as Ammal, i.e., Lady or Madam; her name was Nágamani, or "Snake-necklace," an allusion to the ornament worn by Siva. Her only attendants were a large black monkey |