SCHAAFFHAUSEN ON THE CRANIA OF THE ANCIENT RACES OF MAN. 163 



Huschke estimates the cranial contents of a Negress at 1127 cubic cen- 

 timetres, of an old Negro at 1146 cubic centimetres. The capacity of 

 Malay skulls estimated by water equalled 36, 33 ounces, whilst in the 

 diminutive Hindoos it falls to as little as 27 ounces. 



It is, of course, a matter of the greatest interest to inquire whether 

 a similar conformation has been before noticed ; whether it is probable 

 that it exists only in skulls to which a high antiquity must be assigned ; 

 and whether in any instance of the kind observations may not have been 

 made tending to supply what is wanting in the results of the investi- 

 gation above detailed, and to confirm or to contradict the conclusions 

 drawn therefrom. Large frontal sinuses, it is admitted, are occasionally 

 noticed in skulls ; but these instances afford only faint indications of 

 the remarkable conformation which gives the cranium we are consi- 

 dering its brutal expression. In the museums of the College of Surgeons 

 in London, the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, of the Universities of 

 Gottingen, Berlin, and Eonn, there is nothing which can be compared 

 with it. Neither do the ancient northern crania, described by Retzius, 

 Eschricht, &c, show any conformation of the kind. But it is remark- 

 able, and important in the explanation of this form, that a prominence, 

 though in much less degree, of the supra-orbital ridges has been ob- 

 served chiefly in the crania of savage races, as well as in those of great 

 antiquity. Thus Sandifort* figures the skull of a North American 

 from an ancient burial-place on New Norfolk Sound, as cranium 

 Schitgagani, with a similar though far less considerable projection of 

 the supraorbital ridges. In Morton's worksf an unusual development 

 of the same part may be seen in the Peruvian (tab. 6), the Mexican 

 (tab. 16, 17, 18), the Seminole (tab. 24), and in the skulls of other 

 races (tab. 25, 34, 35, 36, 37, 52, 57, 63, and 66), some of which 

 were taken from ancient burial-places. Lucas \ gives a figure of a very 

 brutal Papu skull in the Senkenbergian collection, having strong, 

 coalescent superciliary arches. Even Bory St. Vincent assigned as 

 characters of the Celtic race an elongated form of the skull, a forehead 

 somewhat depressed towards the temples, a deep depression between 

 the forehead and nose, strongly developed supra-orbital ridges, and 

 worn teeth. Eschricht examined the skulls from the Hiinengrabern 

 (Giants' Graves) of the Island of Moen;§ they are remarkably diminutive, 

 especially in the facial part, the occiput very short, the orbits un- 

 usually small, whilst the supra-orbital ridges, on the contrary, are very 

 large; the nasal bones project strongly in front, and a depression exists 

 between the supra-orbital arches and the nasal bones, deep enough to 

 receive the forefinger of an adult ; the attachments of the facial muscles 

 are strongly marked, the alveolar margins projecting, and the teeth 

 worn off obliquely. Subsequently Eschricht obtained from the same 



* Tabulae craniorum, Lugd. Bat., 1838. 



+ Crania Americana. London, 1839. 



+ Zur Organischen Formenlehre. Frankf. , 1844. Taf. xi. 



§ Bericht ub. d. 22 te Versamm. deutsch. Naturf. u. Aerzt. in Bremen, 1841. 



