| Skull of | Spy II (Fraipont) | ? | 1723 | c.cm. | |
| " | La Chapelle (Boule, Verneau, and Rivet) | 1626 | " | ||
| " | Spy I (Fraipont) | ? | 1562 | " | |
| " | Neanderthal | 1408 | " | ||
| " | La Quina, female (Boule approximation) | 1367 | " | ||
| " | Gibraltar, female (Boule estimate) | 1296 | " |
Fig. 120. Brains of Lower and Upper Palæolithic races compared (top and left side views). Piltdown (left), as restored by J. H. McGregor; Neanderthal (centre) brain, cast from the type skull; Combe-Capelle (right) from the base of the Upper Palæolithic, after Klaatsch. The Combe-Capelle brain, though unnaturally compressed, shows a relatively broad frontal area. One-quarter life size.
The size of the brain in the existing races of Homo sapiens varies from 950 c.cm. to 2020 c.cm.[(63)] Thus in respect to the volume of cerebral matter the brain of the Neanderthal man is surely human, but in form the brain lacks the proportions characteristic of the superior organization of the brain in recent man. In another important respect it is human: in the larger size of the left hemisphere, indicating the development of the use of the right hand. In its general form the brain is more like that of the anthropoid apes in the relatively smaller size of the frontal portion, in the simplicity and length of the convolutions, and in the position and direction of the great fissures at the side known as the 'fissures of Sylvius' and of 'Rolando.' As studied by Boule and Anthony[(64)] there are many primitive characteristics in the brain of the Neanderthals. The front of the forebrain, the so-called prefrontal area, which is the seat of the higher faculties, is not fully developed but has a protuberance as in the brain of the anthropoids. The left frontal lobe in particular, which is associated with the power of speech, is not much developed in the lower part, so that a limited development of the faculty of speech is inferred. The lateral fissure of Sylvius is relatively wide and open, and this and other features suggest the brain of the anthropoid. The brain of the skull of La Quina, which is believed to be that of a female, also shows many primitive features.[(65)] The absolute cubic capacity of the brain is less significant of intelligence than the relative development of those portions of the brain which are concerned in the higher processes of the mind.
The stature of the various examples of the Neanderthal race is estimated somewhat differently by Boule and by Manouvrier, and also varies with the sex:
| Neanderthal (Boule) | 1.55 m. | 5 ft. | 1 | in. | ||
| "(Manouvrier) | 1.632 m. | 5 ft. | 4⅕ | in. | ||
| La Chapelle (Boule) | 1.57 m. | 5 ft. | 1⅘ | in. | ||
| "(Manouvrier) | 1.611 m. | 5 ft. | 3⅖ | in. | ||
| Spy (Manouvrier) | 1.633 m. | 5 ft. | 43⁄10 | in. | ||
| La Ferrassie I (Manouvrier) | 1.657 m. | 5 ft. | 5⅕ | in. | ||
| Average of Neanderthals supposed male | 1.633 m. | 5 ft. | 43⁄10 | in. | ||
| La Ferrassie II (female) | 1.482 m. | 4 ft. | 103⁄10 | in. |
The Neanderthal head is very large in proportion to the short, thick-set body, which we observe rarely exceeds 5 feet 5 inches in height in the male, and 4 feet 10 inches in the female. The proportions of the body and limbs of the Neanderthals throw a surprising light on their ancestral history as well as upon their defects as a race dependent upon the chase. In proportion to the length of the thigh, the lower leg is much shorter than in any existing human race. The tibia or shin-bone is only 76.6 per cent of the length of the femur or thigh-bone, whereas in the existing races with the shortest shin-bone, such as the Eskimos and the majority of the yellow races, it is never less than 80 per cent of the length of the thigh-bone. In this respect the Neanderthal man is not like the anthropoid apes but has a relatively shorter shin-bone, because the gorillas have an index of 80.6 per cent, the chimpanzees of 82 per cent, the orangs and gibbons of above 83 per cent; thus all the anthropoid apes and the lower races of man have a relatively longer leg from the knee down than has the Neanderthal race.
Fig. 121. Skeleton of the Neanderthaloid man of La Chapelle-aux-Saints. About one-seventeenth life size. After Boule.
The shortness of the shin-bone as compared with the length of the thigh-bone is proof that the Neanderthals were very clumsy and slow of foot, because this proportion is characteristic of all slow-moving animals, whereas a long shin-bone and a short thigh-bone indicate that a race is naturally fleet of foot.