46 Anthropology. | Jan., 
was itself formed, or what were the forces or agencies which 
induced the development of the “anatomical element” in it he does 
not condescend to tell us. Of such and similar loose assertions the 
essay is in a great measure composed, and the number of facts which 
the author advances in support of his statements, is so small that 
one is tempted to exclaim with Prince Hal, ‘“O monstrous! but 
one half-pennyworth of bread to this intolerable deal of sack!” 
The volume of memoirs issued by the Anthropological Society 
consists of the most important papers read before it during the 
Session 1863-64. The first on the list is by the President, “On 
the Negro’s Place in Nature ;” but as it has already been noticed 
in the pages of this Journal, in connection with the meeting of the 
British Association in Newcastle, we need not allude to it further. 
Then follows a short but interesting paper by Dr. Peacock, in 
which are recorded the results of some observations on the weight | 
of the recent brain in four negroes. His observations “ tend gene- 
rally to support the conclusions of Sir William Hamilton and 
Professor ‘Tiedemann, that there is no very marked difference 
between the ordinary size of the brain in the African and the 
European; but they certainly indicate that the brain is usually 
somewhat smaller in the former race than in the latter.” Mr. 
Bollaert contributes three elaborate papers “On the Astronomy of 
the Red Man,” “On the Paleography of America,” and “ On the 
Past and Present Populations of the New World.” As showmg 
the great destruction of the aboriginal population, he states that 
the number of natives at present inhabiting the great western con- 
tinent is probably not more than between ten and eleven millions, 
whilst at the time of the discovery of America in 1492, the popula- 
tion was over 100 millions. Messrs. Thurnam, Davis, and C. C. 
Blake furnish each a memoir on craniological subjects. Dr. Thur- 
nam’s is on ancient British and Gaulish skulls, a subject on which 
no man is more fitted to speak with authority. To attempt any- 
thing like an analysis of this very exhaustive paper in the space at 
our disposal is impossible. We may, however, cite the general 
conclusion he has arrived at, that there is proof of a succession of 
two primitive races—a long-headed and a short—in Britain in 
pre-Roman times, the dolicho-cephalous being the earlier of the two ; 
but, as to France, he agrees with Carl Vogt in saying, “the farther 
we go back, the greater is the contrast between individual types, 
the more opposed are the characters,—the most decided long-heads 
immediately by the side of the most decided short-heads.” 
In a short memoir, entitled “ Notes on certain Matters connected 
with the Dahoman,” Captain Richard F. Burton congratulates his 
fellow-members that a society has at length arisen, in which a 
hberty of speech and a freedom of thought hitherto unknown in 
Great Britain is enjoyed, and then proceeds, evidently con amore, 
