How deceptive mere unmeasured impressions of size may be is shown by
the well-known example of the Patagonians, who, though really only tall
men (averaging 5 feet 11 inches), long had the reputation of a race of
giants. Such measurements as any traveller can take with a measuring-tape
and a three-foot rule with sliding square are good if taken with proper
precautions. As the object of the anthropologist is to get a general
idea of a race, it may be in some respects misleading to measure at
random one or two individuals who are perhaps not fair specimens. If
only a few can be measured, they should be selected of ordinary average
build, full-grown but not aged. What is much better is to measure a
large number (never less than thirty) of persons taken indiscriminately
as they come, and to record the measurements of each with sex, age,
name, locality, etc. Such a table can afterwards be so classified as to
show not only the average or mean size, but the proportion of persons
who vary more or less from that mean size; in fact, it represents on
a small scale the distribution of stature, etc., in the whole people.
Gigantic or dwarfish individuals, if not deformed, are interesting, as
showing to what extremes the race may run. The most ordinary measurements
are height, girth round chest, fathom or length of outstretched arms,
length of arm from shoulder and leg from hip, length of hand and foot.
The traveller may find that such measuring of another race shows very
different stature and girth from that of his own companions, who, if
they are well-grown Europeans, may stand 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet,
and measure 34 to 36 inches round the chest. Beyond this, he will find
that the relative proportions of parts of the body differ from those
he is accustomed to. An example of this is seen by placing Europeans
and negroes side by side, and noticing how much nearer the knee the
negro’s finger-tips will reach. It will be found that body measurement
needs skill in taking the corresponding points, and in fact all but the
simplest measures require some knowledge of anatomy. This is especially
the case with skull measurements. There are instruments for taking the
dimensions of the living head, and with care and practice the untrained
observer may get at some of the more conspicuous, such as the relative
length and width of the skull as taken by hatters. This roughly indicates
the marked difference between dolichocephalic or long-headed peoples,
like the African negro, and brachycephalic or short-headed peoples, like
the Kalmuks and other Tartars. Attention should be paid also to the
degree of prognathism or projection of jaw, which in some races, as the
Australian, gives a “muzzle” unlike the English type. Where practicable,
native skeletons, and especially skulls, should be sent home for accurate
examination. How far this can be done depends much on the feeling of the
people; for while some tribes do not object to the removal of bones,
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