TRANSACTION'S OF THE SECTIONS. 109 



the eye with its unusual length or shortness, although it is not at all deficient in 

 length ; but it appears somewhat broader than common. The frontal region is fre- 

 quently upright, so as to afford a good Camperian angle, broad and expanded at the 

 sides, in this respect greatly resembling what we regard as the typical Roman form. 

 The lateral regions are full, and sometimes project over the base of the skull. The 

 posterior region is usually capacious and elevated. The outer surface of the vault of 

 the calvarium, which is full, equable, and expanded, gives the impression of great 

 capacity, and of constituting the receptacle of a massive powerful brain. The face 

 is upright, and only occasionally presents any marked prominence in the region of 

 the frontal sinuses. The nasal bones differ a good deal in form, are seldom large, 

 and only very rarely aquiline. The face is somewhat broad ; but from the angles of 

 the lower jaw not being so much expressed, does not present the quadrate form of 

 the ancient Roman. 



Table of Measurements derived from the Crania exhibited, and others to show the 

 considerable size of the Anglo-Saxon skull. 



Internal capacity. 



Largest skull in Mortonian College at Philadelphia, of a Dutchman of 



noble family, 114 cub. in. (of sand) 94 oz. 



Largest skull author has gauged, of an Irishman, found 10 feet deep in 



Dublin 102ioz. 



Anglo-Saxon skull from Harnham near Salisbury 75 oz. 



„ „ „ „ another example 76i oz. 



Anglo-Saxon skull from Linton Heath, Cambridgeshire 79 oz. 



„ ,, „ „ another example 90f oz. 



Skull of Merovingian Frank from cemetery at Envermeu, Normandy . . 80 oz. 



Large modern Saxon skull from Leipsic 90 oz. 



Mean internal capacity of these six crania, 99 cubic inches, or. . . . 8 If oz. 



In Morton's great table the mean of eighteen German skulls was 90 cub. in., that 

 of five English ones 96 cub. in., and that of seven Anglo-Americans 90 cub. in. The 

 mean of these three classes, 92 cub. in., is 7 cub. in. less than the mean of the six 

 crania enumerated ; and these three classes stand at the head of Morton's table. 

 Without claiming for the Anglo-Saxon skull such a large average capacity as that 

 deduced from the examples, we are still justified in assuming that it was not at all 

 deficient in capacitv, and in believing that the people of Germanic race equal, if they 

 do not exceed, all others in the size of their heads. 



Besides the typical form, there is a large proportion of skulls found in Anglo-Saxon 

 cemeteries, which present much of the oval form that may be regarded as distinctive 

 of modern English crania. 



Of the accounts of the ancient German tribes, that of Tacitus is most ethnological. 

 He says, " I have already acceded to the opinion of those who think that the Germans 

 have hitherto subsisted without intermarrying with other nations, a pure, unmixed, 

 and independent race, unlike any other people, all bearing the marks of a distinct 

 national character. Hence, what is very remarkable in such prodigious numbers, a 

 family likeness throughout the nation ; the same form and features, stern blue eyes, 

 ruddy hair, their bodies large and robust, but powerful only in sudden efforts." It 

 should be recollected these accounts are derived from Italian writers, accustomed to 

 a people of somewhat smaller stature, and to dark hair and eyes, and for these reasons 

 likely to exaggerate the more marked differences which arrested their attention in the 

 ancient Germans. 



That the Anglo-Saxons were a large people wehave the indisputable evidence of their 

 skeletons. Of three thigh-bones, one is 176 in. long, another ]9'5, and the third 

 20-5. Of thirty-six thigh-bones of different ancient Britons, the range is from 17 to 

 19"5 in. The longest therefore is an inch less than the longest of these Anglo-Saxon 

 femora. Faussett, in the ' Inventorium Sepulcrale,' remarks of a skeleton found at 

 Crundale, "I think this person must needs have been about 6i feet high." The brothers 

 Lindenschmit found the skeletons in the Frankish cemetery at Selzen to range from 

 5| to 7 feet Rhenish, including those of -women, or from 4 ft, 8 in. to 6^ feet English. 

 One woman actually measured this extreme length, Douglas met with Anglo-Saxon 



