Besides the general form of the nose given by the nasal index, there remain a host of descriptive characters which may be observed in this organ. It may be more or less flattened (examples: Negroes, Melanesians, Mongolians), or more or less prominent (Europeans, Jews, Arabs). Its profile may be: (1) straight and sometimes sinuous (examples: Turco-Tatars, Europeans, Fig. [19]); (2) concave (certain Finns, Bushmen, Lapps, Australians, Fig. [15]); (3) convex and sometimes arched (American Indians, Semites, Fig. [21]). Each of these forms may be in combination with a fine, thick, or medium tip, and with a plane of the nostrils directed upwards, downwards, or horizontally. A. Bertillon[77] admits at least fifteen varieties of the forms of the nose. In the majority of cases concave noses have the extremity thick, and the plane of the nostrils directed upward (Figs. [9], [14], and [15]); convex noses, on the contrary, have most frequently the tip fine, and the plane of the nostrils directed downward (Figs. [21], [102], [103], and [134]). But there are also convex noses with very thick tips, for instance, among the Jews and the Iranians of the Assyroid type (Fig. [22]), or again, among the Papuans and the Melanesians (Fig. [53]), as well as concave noses with fine tips, for instance, among certain European races (Figs. [97], [104], and [105]). Broad noses are most frequently flattened (Figs. [14], [15], and [24]), but the flattening may also extend to narrow noses, as for example among the Mongols (Fig. [20]). The sunken, very depressed root of the nose is almost always associated with a considerable prominence on the supraciliary arches: examples, Australians, Fuegians, etc. (Figs. [14], [15], and [48]).
FIG. 20.—Kalmuk of Astrakhan.
Example of convex and flattened nose.
(Phot. S. Sommier.)
In a general way, as may be seen from the table, the leptorhinians, who have for the most part the convex and straight noses, with fine, straight, or turned-down tips, are met with almost exclusively among Europeans, Eurasians, Armenians, Caucasians, and Eurafricans (Arabo-Berbers), as well as among the inhabitants of anterior Asia. The mesorhinians, among whom the form of the profile of the nose varies much, include different populations of India, some American, Turco-Tatar, and Mongol peoples. And lastly, the platyrhinians, having most frequently the profile convex and the tip turned up, comprise the whole of the black populations of Africa, Oceania, and India.
FIG. 21.—Jew of Algiers.
Example of convex and prominent nose.
(Phot. Coll. Mus. Hist. Nat., Paris.)
At birth and during early infancy the nose is most frequently concave, with the tip turned up (Fig. [130]); it only becomes straight or convex in the adult; in old age it has a tendency to become convex with the tip turned down (Bertillon, Hoyer). In the dead body it always takes the arched form. According to Broca and Houzé, the nasal index has a tendency to get lower—that is to say, the nose becomes relatively thinner as the individual advances in age; according to Hoyer,[78] the contrary takes place.