280 PHYSICAL ETHNOLOGY. 



much more olrongly marked in the Fluthead t<kullt<, which luivo boon pubjoctod 

 to groat comf/ro^siou. It is cU-arly traeoaliU' to tho ditfioulty of subjecting the 

 living and growing head to a perlVctly unit'orui and e(|uabk> pressure, and to the 

 cerebral mass tbrcuig the skull to expand with it in tho. direction of least resist- 

 ance. Hence the unsymnn'tncal form accompanying the vt^rtical occiput in the 

 Losmnrdie and Juniper CJreon skulls, and, as 1 conceive, also in the (heek skull 

 of Kctzius. The study of the latter skull-form has tended to confirm my belief 

 that the extreme abbreviated proportions of many naturally brachycophalic 

 cnmia are due to artificial cau.NOs. Wherever a \ery noticeable inequality exists 

 between the two sides of a skull, it mav be ascribed with much probability to 

 the indirect results of designed or accidental compression in infancy; and by its 

 frequent occurrence in any uniform aspect, may, quite as much as the tlattoued 

 occiput, furnish a clue to customs or modes of nurture among the people to whom 

 it pertains. 



But besides tlu^ praotices refeiTod to, many minor causes tend to produce 

 peculiar forms and irregularity of development in the human head. Among 

 those, 1 have become familiar with a number of cases, whore, owing to the 

 inability of the motln'r to suckle her child at one breast, the constant pi-essure 

 in one direction which this led to has produced a marked flattening on the cor- 

 responding side of the child's head, with tumid (expansion on the other. The 

 mere practice of the nurse constantly carrying the child on one arm, or syste- 

 matically laying it to sleep on one side, must have a tendency to produce similar 

 results ; tor the bones of the infant's head during the first year are exceedingly 

 soft and pliable, and, as the processes pursued by the Flathead Indians show, 

 may be moulded into almost any form by moderate pressure. The normal 

 human head may be assumed to present a perfect correspondence in its two 

 hemispheres; but very slight investigation will sufiice to convince the observer 

 that few living examples satisfy the requirements of such a th(!oretical .standard. 

 Not only is inequality in the two sides of fri'quent occurrence, but a perfectly 

 symmetrical head is the exception rather than tho rule. The plastic condition 

 of the cranial bones in infancy also renders the infant head liable to many un- 

 designed changes of form. The obstetric practitioner is also familiar with the 

 extreme d(^vi;itions from the normal or congenital form of head produced at birth, 

 where instruments have to be iised; but which, from the plastic condition 

 of the bones, speedily disajipear, or are greatly modified by the growth of the 

 brain. 



In connexion with this branch of the subject the following observations of Sir 

 ilobert H. Schomburgk on the Mao})ityans, or Frog Indians, of British Guiana, 

 are Avell w^orthy of consideration. They are the remnant of a nearly extinct 

 tribe. Of their cranial formation he remarks : ''The flatness of the head, and 

 consequently the long face and short circumference, is peculiar to the tribe. I 

 have not been able to learn, upon the most minute inquiries, that the form is 

 given to the head by artificial means. The occiput of the men is high, and 

 almost perpendicular above the front; the frontal bone is small with I'ogard to 

 extent, and in no com|)arison to tho face below the eyes; the cheek bones are 

 harsh ami prominent ; but the most remarkable part of the head is the great 

 extent between ear and ear, if measuri'd from the upper part of that organ, and 

 the line continued above the eyebrows to the commencement of the other ear. 

 It surpasses the measurement of other Indians generally by an inch or two." 

 Notwithstanding tho inability of this intelligent and observant traveller to recover 

 any traces of araficial causes influencing so remarkable a form of head, we might 

 still be tempted to reier it to a source so familiar to the American crauiologist. 

 But three days after his arrival at the settlement, one of the women, a i^Iaopi- 

 tyan, but the wife of a Taruma — a neighboring tribe characterized by an un- 

 usually small and differently formed head — was delivered of a male child. Sir 

 Robert Schomburgk states : " The Indians invited me to see the infant, and 



