basis skulls are classified in the text books as being _microcephalic_
when below 1,350 cubic centimetres, such as those of the extinct
Tasmanians, Bushmen, Andamanese, Melanesians, Veddahs, and the Hill-men
of India; _mesocephalic_, those from 1,350 to 1,450 cubic centimetres,
comprising Negroes, Malays, American Indians, and Polynesians; and
_megacephalic_, above 1,450 cubic centimetres, including Eskimos,
Europeans, Mongolians, Burmese and Japanese. The mean capacity among
Europeans is fixed at 1,500 cubic centimetres, and the average weight of
the brain at 1,300 grams.

These figures show that the skull capacity of the average European is
larger than that of the average Negro, and as it seems plausible that
the greater the central nervous system, the higher will be the faculty
of the race, and the greater its aptitude for mental achievements, the
conclusion that the European is superior in this respect seems on the
face of it to be well grounded. There are, however, certain relevant
facts which qualify this inference, and these must be briefly
considered.

The anthropologist Manouvrier measured thirty-five skulls of eminent
white men and found them to be of an average capacity of 1,665 cubic
centimetres as compared to 1,560 cubic centimetres general average
derived from 110 ordinary individuals. On the other hand he found that
the cranial capacity of forty-five murderers was 1,580 cubic
centimetres, also superior to the general average. Professor Franz Boas,
in discussing this experiment, says that most of the brain weights
constituting the general series are obtained in anatomical institutes,
and the individuals who find their way there are poorly developed on
account of malnutrition and of life under unfavourable circumstances,
while the eminent men represent a much better nourished class. As poor