When a keen observer has his first inspection of the negro crania in the Hamann Museum, there are at least two very striking features that arrest the attention, namely, their splendid dentitions and the remarkable width between their orbits. The latter condition is so outstanding that one is thereby enabled to locate at once the position of these negro crania on the shelves of the museum. Professor Wingate Todd suggested to the writer that he make a study of this dimension, with particular reference to the interorbital width of fossil man. The present paper is the outcome of this investigation.
The first problem that had to be solved was the selection of a point on each inner orbital wall that would be in every way suitable for the purpose of making this new cranial measurement. The chief qualifications for such a point naturally were that it would have to be readily localized and at the same time really represent as far as possible the point of maximum interorbital width. After some deliberation, Professor Todd and the writer decided to select Martin's lachrymal point(4) as the one that most closely satisfied the above requirements. The definition of this in his book reads a s follows: "derjenige Punkt an welchem die Crista lachrpmalis post., die die Tranengrube nach hinten begrenzt, mit der Sutura fronto-lachrymalis zusammentrifft. " P u t briefly, then, the lachrymal point is the junction of the upper end of the lachrymal crest with the frontal bone. I t may be noted 509