36 



Professor Arthur Keith 



[Feb. 20, 



have been about 1730 c.c. In the average 'Scot, the capacitv is 

 1478 c.c. Burns had a brain at least 200 c.c. above the averag-^e of 

 his countrymen. The length of the cast is 206 millimetres; its 

 width, 153 "5 millimetres ; the width is 74 -5 per cent of the length. 

 In type of skull, Burns belouged to the long-headed group. 



When a profile view of Burns' skull is compared with a corre- 

 sponding view of a skull of the same type, but of rather less than 

 average capacity, its remarkable dimensions become apparent (Fig. Ki). 



There are two features of the poet's skull which are worthy of 

 attention. One is its excessive length. As regards height, there i& 

 little difference between the type skull and the poet's. One other 

 feature is the compression, or apparent flattening, of the poet's skull 

 in a vertical direction. The part of the base to which the neck was 



50 

 76 75 



MODERN ENGLISH 



Fig. 9. — Posterior view of the cast of Robert 

 a modern skull (capacity 1425 c.c). Both 

 and orientated on the same plane. 



Burns' skull contrasted with 

 are drawn to the same scale, 



attached, is shaded in both skulls drawn in Fig. 10. The area for 

 the attachment of the poet's neck is exceptionally flat. In life, his 

 head must have appeared to be closely set to the neck. That feature 

 is very apparent in Raeburn's portrait of Burns. It is not so 

 apparent in the Nasmyth portrait, for reasons to be given later. 



The one feature which strikes the expert when Burns' skull is 

 viewed from the front, and contrasted with a skull of moderate dimen- 

 sions, is the size of the orbits (Fig. 11). They are of average width 

 (39 millimetres), but their height or vertical diameter (45 millimetres) 

 is altogether uncommon — 11 millimetres more than Sir William 

 i'urner found to be the average in skulls of Scotsmen. The eyebrow 

 ridges are strongly marked in contrast to the slight development 

 indicated for those of Shakespeare in the Stratford bust. The face 



