PHYSICAL ETHNOLOGY. 279 



on many American crania, Loth by tlie undpsignerl action of the cradle-board, 

 and by proti'acted compression purposely applied with a view t6 chnngi:; the 

 form, merits the careful attention of craniologists. The normal humin head 

 may be assumed to present a perfect correspondence in its two licmisphores ; 

 but very slight investigation will sxiffice to convince the observer that few living 

 examples satisfy the requirements of such a theoretical standard. Not only is 

 inequality in the two sides frequent, but a perfectly symmetrical head is the 

 exception rather than the rule. The plastic condition of the ci-anial bones in 

 infancy, which admits of all the strange malformations" of ancient Macrocephali 

 and modern Flatheads, also renders the infant head liable to many undesigned' 

 changes. From minute personal examination I have satisfied myself of the 

 repeated occurrence of inequality in. the two sides of the head, arising from the 

 mother being able to suckle her child only at one breast, so that the head was 

 subjected to a slight but constantly renewed pressure in the same direction. It 

 is surprising, indeed, to how great an extent such nnsymmetrical irregularity is 

 found to jn-evail, when once the attention has been drawn to it. The only ex- 

 ample of the Greek head possessed by Dr. Morton was a cast presented to him 

 by Dr. Retzius, and which, from its selection by the distinguished Swedish 

 craniologist for such a purpose, might reasonably be assumed to illustrate the 

 Greek type. It is accordingly described by Dr. J. Aitkcn Meigs, in his " Cra- 

 nial Characteristics of the Race of Man," as very much resembling that of 

 Constantine Demeti-iades, a Greek native of Corfu, and long a teacher of the 

 modern Greek language at Oxford, as engraved in Dr. Pr:<;hard's Researches. 

 Its cranial characteristics are thus defined in the Catalogue of the Mortonian 

 Collection, (No. 1354.) "The calvarial region is well developed, the frontal 

 line expansive and prominent, the facial line departs but slightly from the per- 

 pendicular." On recently visiting Philadelphia for the purpose of renewed 

 examination of its valuable collections, I was surprised to find this head — instead 

 of being either oval, or, as Blumenback describes the example selected by him, 

 sub-globular — presenting the truncated form, with extreme breadth at the parietal 

 protuberances, and then abruptly passing to a flattened occiput. It measures 

 6.5 longitudinal diameter; 5.7 parietal diameter; and 19.2 horizontal circumfer- 

 ence. But the most noticeable feature is the great inequality of the two sides. 

 The right side is less tumid than the left, while it projects more to the rear, and 

 the whole is fully as nnsymmetrical as many American crania. Were it not 

 that this feature appears to have wholly escaped Dr. Morton's attention, as he 

 merely enters it in his catalogue as a " cast of the skull of a young Greek : Prof. 

 Eetzius," I should be tempted to suppose it had been purposely sent to him to 

 illustrate the phenomena of nnsymmetrical development, and of the influence of 

 undesigned artificial causes on other crania besides those of the New World. 



The strongly marked deformation of many flattened Indian skulls so clearly 

 separates them as a class from all others, including those modified by partial or 

 undesigned compression, as in the British examples referred to, that the very 

 familiarity with the former is calculated to lead the American craniologist to 

 overlook the artificial source of slighter changes. Nevertheless, Dr. Morton 

 was not unobservant of such indications of the frequent dissimilarity between 

 opposite sides of the skull, nor did he entertain any doubt as to its cause when 

 occurring as the accompaniment of other artificial changes, though he entirely 

 overlooked its more general prevalence. When first noticing the probable origin 

 of the flattened occiput of certain British skulls, I drew attention to the fact that 

 he had already recognized undesigned artificial compression as one source of 

 abnormal cranial conformation, and that he accompanied its demonstration with a 

 reference to the predominant nnsymmetrical form in all such skulls. " This irregu- 

 larity," he observes, "chieiiy consists in the greater projection of the occiput to one 

 Bide than the other," and " is not to be attributed to the intentional application 

 of mechanical force." Such want of uniformity in the two sides of the head is 



