The above data show that while the narrow nose in the Eskimo is to some extent affected by the large development in these people of the facial bones, yet there must be also other factors.
But if not wholly connected with the development of the facial bones, then some of the causes of the narrow nose in the Eskimo must either be inherited from far back or must be due to influences outside the face itself.
Pushing the character far back would be no explanation of its original cause, but it may be shown that such a procedure would not be justified. In the following important table are given the now available data on the breadth of the nasal aperture of the Eskimo, group by group and area by area, and these data show that narrow nose is by no means universal in this family. The nasal aperture is broader in the southwest and midwest than in the northwest, and broader in the latter region than in the Arctic north, and the northeast. In general it is seen that the farther northward and northeastward the narrower the nose, until it reaches beyond that of all other human groups; while in the west and southwest it gradually approaches until it reaches the nasal breadth of the Indian. And that this latter condition is not due to Indian admixture is shown by the fact that among the broadest noses are those of the Eskimo in Siberia and those on the St. Lawrence Island, where there was no known contact with the Indian, while the narrower noses are along the midwestern coast, where Indian admixture might have been possible.
| Southwestern and midwestern | |
|---|---|
| (5) | |
| Southwestern Alaska | 2.50 |
| (31) | |
| Indian Point (Siberia) | 2.48 |
| (5) | |
| Chukchee | 2.47 |
| (6) | |
| Pilot Station, Lower Yukon | 2.45 |
| (280) | |
| St. Lawrence Island | 2.42 |
| (29) | |
| Pastolik | 2.41 |
| (13) | |
| Hooper Bay | 2.39 |
| (10) | |
| Mumtrak | 2.38 |
| (6) | |
| Cape Nome and Port Clarence | 2.38 |
| (23) | |
| Nelson Island | 2.37 |
| (9) | |
| Togiak and vicinity | 2.36 |
| (4) | |
| Yukon Delta | 2.34 |
| (107) | |
| Nunivak Island | 2.33 |
| (11) | |
| Little Diomede Island | 2.32 |
| (13) | |
| St. Michael Island | 2.21 |
| Northwestern | |
| (3) | |
| Kotzebue | 2.41 |
| (34) | |
| Wales | 2.37 |
| (20) | |
| Shishmaref | 2.36 |
| (56) | |
| Barrow | 2.35 |
| (211) | |
| Point Hope | 2.33 |
| (92) | |
| Point Barrow | 2.30 |
| (48) | |
| Igloos, north of Barrow | 2.30 |
| Northern and northeastern | |
| (9) | |
| Smith Sound | 2.29 |
| (15) | |
| Northern Arctic | 2.26 |
| (14) | |
| Southampton Island | 2.25 |
| (29) | |
| Baffin Land and vicinity | 2.25 |
| (98) | |
| Greenland | 2.23 |
| (7) | |
| Hudson Bay and vicinity | 2.19 |
It is hardly possible, therefore, to assume that a narrow nose is an ancient inheritance of the Eskimo. From the facts now at hand it seems much more probable that the Eskimo nose or respiratory nasal aperture was not originally very narrow, but that it gradually acquired this character as the people extended farther north and northeastward; and there appears to be but one potent factor that could influence this development and that increases from south to north, namely, cold. A narrowing of the aperture can readily be understood as a protective development for the throat and the organs of respiration.
It is not easy to see how the bony structures respond to the effects of cold or heat, but that they do, particularly where these are aggravated by moisture, has long been appreciated, and shown fairly conclusively through studies on the nasal index by Thomson and later by Thomson and Buxton.[154] An even more satisfactory study would have been that of the nasal breadth alone. Perhaps the normal variation with the elimination of the less fit are the main agencies.
The next two tables show other interesting conditions. The first of these, seen best from the more general data, are the relations of the nasal dimensions and index in the two sexes. The females in all the three large groupings have a higher nasal index than the males. This is a general condition among the Indians as well as in other races. It is usually due to a relative shortness of the female nose. This condition is very plain in the Eskimo. The female nose is actually narrower than the male, due to correlation with shorter stature and lesser facial breadth, yet the index is higher. The reason can most simply be shown by comparing the general mean nasal breadth and height in the two sexes. The breadth in the female is approximately 96.2 per cent of that in the male; the height is only 92.7 per cent.
| Area | Males | Females | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Height | Breadth | Index | Height | Breadth | Index | |
| Groups | (14) | (14) | (14) | (10) | (10) | (10) |
| Southwestern and Midwestern | 5.46 | 2.42 | 44.3 | 5.06 | 2.32 | 45.8 |
| Groups | (7) | (7) | (7) | (6) | (6) | (6) |
| Northwestern | 5.42 | 2.37 | 43.7 | 5.06 | 2.30 | 45.4 |
| Groups | (6) | (6) | (6) | (5) | (5) | (5) |
| Northern Arctic and northeastern | 5.38 | 2.28 | 42.4 | 4.95 | 2.18 | 44.0 |