ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING. XXXVli. 



' hourglass * shape perforation for the handle, which is taken to be 

 Neolithic, as opposed to the straight drilling of the Bronze -age." 



I have to thank the executors for enabling me to obtain theie 

 interesting objects. 



Mrs. Baxter, of Sherborne, has presented to the Museum two beauti- 

 fully designed instruments for measuring human skulls, by which the 

 cephalic index is calculated, and some light may be thrown on the 

 characteristics of those races whose remains are found in our sepulchral 

 barrows. Our late member, Lieut. -Colonel Baxter, was much interested 

 in this subject, and often visited the outlying villages of Dorset, carry- 

 ing with him these instruments to take skull measurements of the 

 inhabitants. There is a well known saying ' Long barrows long heads ; 

 Bound barrows round heads ; ' but in the Round -barrow period the 

 population was of mixed races, and the rule could not hold good. 

 At the present day the diversity of skull form is often very marked 

 (e.g,, Mr. Lloyd George and Mr. Bonar Law). I feel sure that Mrs. 

 Baxter would wish these instruments to be placed at the service of 

 any member of the club who might like to carry on the investigations 

 pursued by her husband. 



Through the kindness of Mr. W. Hooper, we have acquired an iron 

 spur found in his allotment ground in Victoria Park, Dorchester. It 

 is remarkable for the length of the neck or shank, and the size of the 

 rowell, and may be assigned to the end of the XVth century, as that 

 appears to be the only period when this type of spur was in common 

 use. 



A well preserved relic of the XVlth Century has been added to our 

 collection by Mr. Dicker. It is a large memorial stone measuring 2' 2* 

 by 1' 3* with fine bold cut inscription " E.B. 1665 A.B." It was found 

 and excavated by Mr. Dicker himself in a corner of the garden of No. 

 20, Trinity Street, Dorchester, and was probably built originally into 

 the wall of a house over the doorway. 



Coming one Century nearer to our own day, I may draw attention 

 to the gift by Mrs. Perking, St. Leonard's Terrace, Weymouth, of a 

 beautifully embroidered pair of satin shoes, with a history sufficiently 

 accurate to enable us to assign them to the later part of the XVIIth 

 Century. Mrs. Perkins says : " The shoes belonged to Miss Mary Jenkins 

 who died at Chetnole in 1850, aged 96. They are said to 

 have been the wedding shoes of her great -grandmother." Mrs. 

 Perkins gave at the same time three Dorset worked samplers, one of 

 which is dated 1630, and the others 1787 and 1792. 



In the Geological Department, we have obtained a gocd specimen 

 of Ichthyosaurus, which, though much smaller than others in the 

 Museum, is in a much better state of preservation. The full length 

 would have been about 4ft., but the end of the snout is missing. It 



