1914] on Some Portraits of Shakespeare and Burns 



33 



form. The condition is now recognized as a distinct kind of mal- 

 development known as Acrocephaly. Sir Walter Scott was certainly 

 the subject of this condition, at least to a mild degree. Was Shake- 

 speare also a subject of acrocephalj ? 



If the Droeshout portrait be set side by side with a skull which 

 shows the acrocephalic condition (Fig. 6), it is seen that the vault 

 of the skull rises higher than does the dome of the Droeshout head. 

 When the acrocephalic skull is viewed in profile and placed within the 



SHAKESPEARE. 

 ACROCEPHALY 

 200 



Fig. 7. — Skull, showing the malformation known as acrocephaly, set within a 

 profile of the Stratford bust. Both are drawn to the same scale. 



outline of the Stratford bust, it is seen that all grounds for suspecting 

 acrocephaly in Shakespeare disappear. The most characteristic 

 feature of the acrocephalic head is its shortness from back to front. 

 The head of Shakespeare's bust is absolutely long. Yet, both bust 

 and portrait show certain features with which we are familiar in 

 acrocephalic skulls, features which do not exist in skulls of the 

 Bronze Age type. The short skulls of the Bronze Age period are 

 remarkable for their prominent, well-developed eye-brow ridges. In 

 acrocephalic skulls these ridges are not well marked, and the lower 

 Vol. XXI. (Xo. 108) d 



