Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/522

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dorsey] MUSEUMS OF CENTRAL EUROPE 4 6 3

While this is a direct advance, the scheme is so limited that the races can be but very superficially represented. To illustrate the limits of the proposed exhibit, in speaking of the subject of exchanges, I was told that American skeletons were not desired, inasmuch as there would be no place for them in the general scheme, but that the museum would be very glad to secure American crania.

In the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, there is probably the largest collection of race skulls and skeletons to be found in any museum in England. The material is grouped by geographic areas, for which only general case labels are provided ; but the individual specimens of the different tribes within these broad areas are not labeled, so that they are not readily available for study. In addition to the ethnic osteology in this museum, there is a very interesting series of bones illustrating the normal range of variation in the skeleton of man. This series, although the best seen in Europe, is not nearly so complete, comprehensive, or well labeled as the series in the gallery of Physical Anthropology of the Field Columbian Museum.

In the Natural History Museum in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, there is another very extensive and valuable collection of osteological material representing many races. This collection has recently been rearranged in a handsome new building, and presents a very attractive appearance ; the material is excellently mounted, well labeled, and is supplemented by valuable maps and a full series of photographs of the different peoples repre- sented. There is also in this museum a small series illustrating the range of variation in the human skeleton.

Still another collection of osteological material was seen in the museum of the School of Anthropology at Paris, sometimes called Broca's Museum. It is housed in the attic of an old building, and most of the specimens are so covered with dust that it is impossible to determine whether they are labeled or not.

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