NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 309 



from Peru which had been sent to him for examination by Mr. 

 John Kirsop, F.S.A. Scot., V.P. One of these was quite entire, 

 but the other two had been divided vertically so that only the face 

 and anterior portions of the cranium remained. The teeth were 

 sound and well-preserved, but showed marked evidences of attrition, 

 possibly the result of the grain on which their owners fed beiDS 

 ground in mills formed of soft stone, the flour being thus mixed 

 with traces of sand. All three skulls were greatly compressed 

 antero-posteriorly, the forehead shelving backwards and upwards 

 from the superciliary ridge. The complete skull resembled 

 "very closely the most compressed Peruvian skull figured in 

 Morton's Crania Americana, but was even more distorted than 

 that is represented to have been ; and it had a capacity of 85 cubic 

 inches, as compared with 90 cubic inches, the measurement of the 

 average British skull. The occipital region showed very marked 

 flattening, as did also the frontal region, but in the latter there was 

 a central rounded prominence, probably due to the presence of a 

 hole in the anterior compressing-board. Mr. Clark described the 

 means by which this compression was exercised, and mentioned 

 that only the children of the chiefs were subjected to the process; 

 as far as could be ascertained it did not affect the mental qualities 

 of the persons; and the skulls exhibited were of fair average 

 capacity, giving no evidence of any arrested development. He 

 also referred to the wide distribution of this singular custom, and 

 remarked that it had prevailed in tribes the most diverse, between 

 whom it was impossible to conceive that there had ever been any 

 communication. The mutilated skulls exhibited were partly covered 

 by the dried scalps ; and the hair was long, dark, and straight, and 

 not brown, as would have been the case had the skulls been buried 

 amongst lime. The vertex of each of these imperfect skulls had 

 been pierced, and through the hole passed a rope terminating in a 

 rude tassel, showing that they had at one time been suspended, 

 either as the trophies of a successful war, or more probably in the 

 process of burial, for when whole skeletons had been found in 

 Peruvian burial-places they were always in the sitting posture. It 

 was noticeable that while the hole in the vertex had been made 

 with some fine instrument, the vertical division had been done 

 very roughly, appearing as if effected by means of a club or axe. 

 Mr. Clark gave a brief summary of the evidence in support of the 

 view that these skulls belonged, not to the race of Incas ; but to an 



