246 PHYSICAL ETHNOLOGY. 



vertex, flattened occiput, great interparietal diameter, ponderous bony structure, 

 salient nose, large jaws and broad face. It is the perfect type of Indian con- 

 formation, to which the skulls of all the tribes from Cape Horn to Canada more 

 or less approximate." 



Of this skull the measurements which involve the most essential typical 

 elements, and so furnish precise materials for comparison, are — 



Longitudinal diameter 6.5 inches. 



Parietal diameter 6. " 



Vertical diameter 6.2 " 



Inter-mastoid arch 16. " 



Horizontal circumference 19.8 " 



So that, in fact, the cranium very closely corresponds in its measurements, in 

 length, breadth, and height. Still further, it may be noted that the singular 

 longitudinal abbreviation of this skull is nearly all posteriorly. A line drawn 

 through the auditory foramen in profile, parallel to the elevated forehead, divides 

 it into two unequal part^?, of which the anterior and posterior parts are nearly 

 in the ratio of three to two. If, however, we turn from the definition of the 

 American typical form, as recorded in relation to this particular skull, and reduce 

 it to the general formulae derived by its originator from the examination of 

 numerous examples, it amounts to this: A small receding forehead, somewhat 

 broad at the base, but with a greatly depressed frontal bone; a flattened or 

 nearly vertical occiput; viewed from behind, an occipital outline which curves 

 moderately outwards, wide at the occipital protuberances, and full from these 

 points to the opening of 'the ear; from the parietal protuberances a slightly 

 cutved slope to the vertex, producing a wedge-shaped outline; a great vertical 

 (jiameter, and the predominant relative .interparietal diameter of the brachy- 

 cephaJic cranium. If to those are added the large quadrangular orbits, the 

 cheek-bones high and massive, the maxillary region salient and ponderous, and 

 the nose prominent, we have, nearly in Dr. Morton's own words, the character- 

 isxc features of that American cranium which prevails among both ancient 

 and modern tribes of the brachycephalic typo, and has been assumed by him as 

 universal. 



It is with great diffidence that I venture to challenge conclusions adopted 

 after mature consideration by the distinguished author of the Crania Americana. 

 The frontal bone of the Scioto mound skull is by no means depi'essed, but well 

 arched, and the flattened occiput bears unmistakable evidence of an artificial 

 origin. The conical or wedge-shaped vertex of the Indian head is very pai*- 

 ti;ity traceable in the original, even when viewed from behind, and, altogether, 

 when tried by Morton's own standard, it differs greatly from the American typi- 

 cal cranium. The same skull has been selected, by Dr. J. C. Nott,* for the 

 purpose of instituting a comparison with the well developed and characteristic 

 head of a modern Indian, a Cherokee chief, who died while a prisoner at 

 Mobile in 1837, and the two crania arc there engraved ,side by side, with other 

 examples, "to show, through faithful copies, that the type attributed to the 

 American races is found among tribes the most scattered ; among the semi-civi- 

 lized and the barbarous; among living as well as among extinct races ; and that 

 no foreign race has intruded itself into their midst, even in the smallest appre- 

 ciable degree. "t. But, judging merely by the reduced profile drawings, placed 

 in juxtaposition, without reference to precise measurements, the points of agree 



* Types cf Mankind, p. 442. 



tDr. Nott's definition is as follows: "The most striking- anatomical characters of the 

 American crania are, small size; low, receding forehead; short antero-posterior diameter; 

 great inter-parietal diameter; flattened occiput; prominent vertex; high cheek-bones ; pon- 

 derous and somewhat prominent jaws." — 2'ypes of Manjcind, p. 441. 



