Brachycephalic person

The adjective “ brachycephalic person ” means literally “which has cranium runs” (of the old Greek kephalê , head, and brakhus , short). The name corresponding is “brachycephaly” and indicates the fact of having short cranium.

These terms are used or were used with slightly different meanings in Anthropologie, Génétique and Anatomopathologie.

Anthropology

Like “Dolichocéphale”, the term “brachycephalic person” was proposed by the Swedish anatomist Anders Retzius to nominate the persons whose cephalic Indice was raised, in opposition to the Dolichocéphale S. After work of Paul Broca, a cranium was regarded as brachycephalic person if its cephalic index were higher than 80.

Used initially at descriptive ends, the term was then employed by the racist theorists such as Georges Vacher of Lapouge who wished to establish a hierarchical classification of the “human races”. The concept is not employed almost any more in anthropology, since in particular that the influence of the environment on the cephalic index could be shown.

Medicine

In medicine, the brachycephaly is a pathological deformation of the cranium related to the early welding of the joining coronale. This pathology could be transmitted genetically. The cranial deformation is accompanied by eye trouble, of a Exophtalmie, backwardness and , headaches even Cécité. The Crânioplastie is necessary to treat the brachycephaly.

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