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Brachycephalic

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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• Brachycephalous
• Brachycephalic
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1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Brachycephalic

(Gr. for short-headed), a term invented by Andreas Retzius to denote those skulls of which the width from side to side was little less than the length from front to back, their ratio being as 80 to ioo, as in those of the Mongolian type. Thus taking the length as Ioo, if the width exceeds 80, the skull is to be classed as brachycephalic. The prevailing form of the head of civilized races is brachycephalic. It is supposed that a brachycephalic race inhabited Europe before the Celts. Among those peoples whose heads show marked brachycephaly are the Indo-Chinese, the Savoyards, Croatians, Bavarians, Lapps, Burmese, Armenians and Peruvians. (See CRANIOMETRY.)