42 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OF 



yet there are many minor diversities ; and it is probable that among European 

 races these diversities have a wider range than in the other great divisions of 

 the human family. Morton was able to discern among all the numerous Ameri- 

 can races, exclusive of his hyperborean, a family resemblance. Notwithstand- 

 ing this position of his, we must admit that the diversities of the cranial forms 

 of the very numerous and diverse tribes of the American continent are both 

 great and frequent; and an extended study would in all probability develope 

 such resemblances in specific families as would confer upon them a distinct 

 and proper value. Now among such specific families belonging to European 

 races we believe it is much the same, only that the individual peculiarities in 

 the families diverge further from the tribal type of form, and are probably 

 more frequent. Under these circumstances, we are prepared to expect diver- 

 sity of form among the crania of the ancient IBritons ; but it is not unreasonable 

 also to expect that, true to the beautiful principle of nature, of an endless diversity 

 under a comprehensive uniformity, this diversity will be restrained within limits, 

 and be subjected to definite rules. We may therefore endeavor to distinguish 

 what may be denominated the typical form of cranium belonging to any race of 

 man, and then to arrange the divergent forms subordinately around this. 



I. We believe the iijpical form of cranium of the ancient Briton may be re- 

 garded as represented by some of the skulls delineated in these lithographs, 

 especially in that from the Barrow on Ballidon Moor in Derbyshire, and that 

 from Green Gate Hill Barrow in Yorkshire, and that from Codford iu Wilt- 

 shire, plates 1, 3, 4 of the 1st decade of Crania Britannica. They are somewhat 

 short or brac/u/-ccphalic, not ill-developed, nor remarkable for a small facial angle. 

 The bones of the face, and especially the upper maxillaries, are upright, or orthog- 

 nathous, but, also rather short ; and they present, more than the bones of the 

 calvariunl that rugged aspect which is the characteristic of a savage or semi-civil- 

 ized race. The chin is usually prominent, the external surface of the upper max- 

 illaries depressed, the nose abrupt and short, surmounted with a frowning 

 eminence marking the situation of the frontal sinuses. The teeth are tolerably 

 large and usually well worn. They correspond with the rugged and frequently 

 everted angle of the lower jaw, the spacious zygomatic arch, and the large 

 surface, well marked out by its superior semi-circular line on the sides of the 

 calvarium. These rough and spacious surfaces indicate power in the temporal 

 and masseter muscles, and equally with the condition of the teeth, reveal a 

 people of carnivorous tastes, a peojile whose delight was in the chase, and the 

 luscious feasts it afforded them. 



II. Of the aberrant forms of the ancient British skull one is remarkable for its 

 length, and may be denominated doUcho-cephalic. To this form there attaches 

 a good deal of interest, from the theories which learned men have been in- 

 duced to associate with it. An example of this peculiar aberration is afforded 

 by the cranium from the famous chambered Barrow of Uleybury in Gloucester- 

 shire, plate 5 of Cran. Brit. This skull is remarkable for its length and want 

 of elevation, but it is not particularly distinguished by narrowness. Other ex- 

 amples of the dolicho-cephalic form of the ancient British cranium are known 

 to the writer, but some of these are quite as much marked by their want of 

 breadth as by their elongation. In fact, they equal in this feature the skulls of 

 that race to which longness and narrowness of cranium are regarded as pe- 

 culiarly appropriated — the negroes of Africa. It is a singular circumstance 

 that these long skulls of ancient Britons have usually been met with in a 

 particular species of Barrow, that which is composed of a series of chambers, 

 arranged it may be in diverse manners — the chambered Barrow. In the anxious 

 inquiries in which the mind is apt to indulge when prying into the almost im- 

 penetrable obscurity of a very remote past, every special circumstance fixes 

 the attention and acquires importance. And the discoveries we have men- 

 tioned have led to the theory that these long crania have belonged to a par- 

 ticular precedent race of people, a people who interred their dead in a more 

 elaborate and complex manner than the race which succeeded them ; a race of 

 people which have been distinguished by the denomination oipre-Celtic. In the 



LFeb. 



