branch of anthropology. It consists in the determination of the standard
or typical "mean man" (_homme moyen_) of a population, with reference to
any particular quality, such as stature, weight, complexion, &c. In the
case of stature, this would be done by measuring a sufficient number of
men, and counting how many of them belong to each height on the scale.
If it be thus ascertained, as it might be in an English district, that
the 5 ft. 7 in. men form the most numerous group, while the 5 ft. 6 in.
and 5 ft. 8 in. men are less in number, and the 5 ft. 5 in. and 5 ft. 9
in. still fewer, and so on until the extremely small number of extremely
short or tall individuals of 5 ft. or 7 ft. is reached, it will thus be
ascertained that the stature of the mean or typical man is to be taken
as 5 ft. 7 in. The method is thus that of selecting as the standard the
most numerous group, on both sides of which the groups decrease in
number as they vary in type. Such classification may show the existence
of two or more types, in a community, as, for instance, the population
of a Californian settlement made up of Whites and Chinese might show two
predominant groups (one of 5 ft. 8 in., the other of 5 ft. 4 in.)
corresponding to these two racial types. It need hardly be said that
this method of determining the mean type of a race, as being that of its
really existing and most numerous class, is altogether superior to the
mere calculation of an average, which may actually be represented by
comparatively few individuals, and those the exceptional ones. For
instance, the average stature of the mixed European and Chinese
population just referred to might be 5 ft. 6 in.--a worthless and indeed
misleading result. (For particulars of Quetelet's method, see his
_Physique sociale_ (1869), and _Anthropometrie_ (1871).)

Classifications of man have been numerous, and though, regarded as
systems, most of them are unsatisfactory, yet they have been of great
value in systematizing knowledge, and are all more or less based on
indisputable distinctions. J.F. Blumenbach's division, though published
as long ago as 1781, has had the greatest influence. He reckons five
races, viz. Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, American, Malay. The
ill-chosen name of Caucasian, invented by Blumenbach in allusion to a
South Caucasian skull of specially typical proportions, and applied by
him to the so-called white races, is still current; it brings into one
race peoples such