THE LOWER JAW
The lower jaw of the Eskimo deserves a thorough separate study. For this purpose, however, more jaws in good condition are needed from various localities, and particularly more jaws accompanying their skulls. As it is, a large majority of the crania are without the lower jaw, or the alveolar processes of the latter have become so affected in life through age and loss of teeth that their value is diminished or lost. Still another serious difficulty is that the measuring of the lower jaw is difficult and has not as yet been regulated by general agreement, so that there is much individualism of procedures with limited possibilities of comparison.
One of the principal measurements taken on the available Eskimo mandibles was the symphyseal height. This is taken by the sliding calipers and is the height from the lower alveolar point (highest point of the normal alveolar septum between the middle lower incisors) to the lowest point on the inferior border of the chin in the median line.[161] The results are given in the following tables.
| Male | Female | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwestern and midwestern | Northwestern | Northern and eastern | Southwestern and midwestern | Northwestern | Northern and eastern | |
| Groups (main) | (9) | (5) | (5) | (9) | (5) | (5) |
| Specimens | (116) | (143) | (40) | (121) | (134) | (25) |
| Average | 3.75 | 3.76 | 3.67 | 3.38 | 3.34 | 3.39 |
| General mean in western Eskimo | 3.76 | 3.36 | ||||
| Percental relation of female to male (M=100) | 89.4 | |||||
| Males, 19 groups (399 jaws) | Females, 19 groups (280 jaws) | |||||
| General mean for all Eskimo (approximate) | 3.73 | 3.37 | ||||
| Percental relation of female to the male | 90.4 | |||||
| General mean of total facial height | 12.47 | 11.60 | ||||
| Percental relation of height of jaw to total facial height | 30 | 29 | ||||
| General mean of upper facial height | 7.76 | 7.20 | ||||
| Percental relation of height of jaw to upper facial height | 48 | 47 | ||||
Just what these figures mean will best be shown by a table of comparisons.[162] All these are my own measurements.
| Male | Female | Female versus male (M=100) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| (399) | (280) | ||
| Eskimo (all) | 3.73 | 3.37 | 90.4 |
| North American Indians: | (36) | (26) | |
| Sioux | 3.60 | 3.22 | 89.4 |
| (52) | (50) | ||
| Arkansas | 3.66 | 3.24 | 88.5 |
| (29) | (21) | ||
| Florida | 3.69 | 3.38 | 91.4 |
| (9) | (6) | ||
| Munsee | 3.70 | 3.40 | 91.9 |
| (15) | (14) | ||
| Louisiana | 3.72 | 3.29 | 88.4 |
| (44) | (30) | ||
| Kentucky | 3.49 | 3.18 | 91.1 |
| (50) | (30) | ||
| U. S. whites (miscellaneous) | 3.29 | 2.87 | 87.2 |
| (41) | (8) | ||
| Negro, full-blood, African and American | 3.54 | 3.14 | [163]88.7 |
| (261) | (191) | ||
| Australians | 3.44 | 3.07 | 89.2 |
The table shows the Eskimo jaw to be absolutely the highest at the symphysis of all those available for comparison, with the female nearly the highest.[164] Relatively to stature it exceeds decidedly all the groups, the Indians that come nearest matching it in the absolute measurement being all much taller than the Eskimo. And the female Eskimo jaw is relatively high compared with that of the male, being exceeded in this respect only in three of the Indian groups, in two of which, however, the showing is due wholly and in one partly to a lesser height of the male jaw. The relative excess of the female jaw in this respect seems particularly marked in the northern and northeastern groups, though it must remain subject to corroboration by further material.
The white, Negro, and Australian data have an interest of their own.