CRANE CRANIOLOGY. 



509 



is high and silent, it Is regarded as an indication of con- 

 tinued fine weather ; they fly low and are noisy in 

 cloudy, wet, or stormy weather. A gainst approaching 

 storms, the cranes, like various other birds of lofty 

 flight, readily guard, by ascending above the level of 

 the clouds, and the atmospheric currents which bear 

 them ; and this indication of an approaching gust is 

 not lost sight of by Virgil : 



" Nunquam imprudeutibus imber 



Obfuit : aut ilium surgentem vallilms imis 

 Aerice fugere grues ; aut bucula," &c. 



Georg. I., 373-5. 



When a flock of cranes is engaged in feeding, or 

 while it is at rest, when the birds sleep standing on 

 one foot, with the head under the wing, one of the 

 number acts as sentinel, and keeps a vigilant watch, 

 alarming the whole if any enemy approach, or the 

 slightest danger threaten. 



Two species of this genus are known to inhabit 

 America the whooping crane (G. Americana) and 

 the brown or sand-hill crane (G. Canadensis, Bonap.). 

 The first named derive their trivial appellation from 

 their loud, clear, piercing cry, which may be heard 

 at the distance of two miles. If wounded, they at- 

 tack the sportsman or his dog with great spirit, and 

 are said to have occasionally driven their long, point- 

 ed bill tlirough the hand of a man. Wilson states 

 that, during winter, they are frequently seen in the 

 low grounds and rice plantations of the Southern 

 States, seeking for grain and insects. He met with 

 a number of them on the 10th of February, near Wac- 

 camau river, in South Carolina, and saw another flock 

 near Louisville, Ky., about the 20th of March. They 

 are very shy and vigilant, and consequently, shot with 

 difficulty. They sometimes rise spirally in the air 

 to a vast height, their mingled screams resembling 

 the full cry of a pack of hounds, even when they are 

 almost out of sight. They are distinguished from 

 other cranes by the comparative baldness of their 

 heads, and by the broad flag of plumage projecting 

 over the tail. Their general colour is pure white. 

 The brown or sand-hill crane is of an ash colour, 

 generally, with shades or clouds of pale-brown and 

 sky-blue : brown prevails upon the shoulders and 

 back. It is a very stately bird, being above six feet 

 long, from the toes to the point of the beak, when 

 extended, and its wings measure eight or nine feet 

 from tip to tip. When standing erect, the sand-hill 

 crane is full five feet high ; the tail is quite short, 

 but the feathers pendent on each side of the rump 

 are very long, of a delicate silky softness, and sharp- 

 pointed. The crown of the head is bare of feathers, 

 and of a reddish rose colour, but thinly barbed with 

 a short, stiff, black liair. When the wings are mov- 

 ed in flight, their strokes are slow, moderate, and 

 regular, and, even when at a considerable distance 

 above us, we plainly hear the quill-feathers, as their 

 shafts and webs rub upon one another, creaking like 

 the joints of a vessel- in a tempestuous sea (Bartram). 

 The sand-hill crane is common, and breeds in the sa- 

 vannas of Florida. It is also found in various parts 

 of the American states and territories. It is most 

 rare in the middle portions of the Union. 



CRANE ; a machine employed in raising or lower- 

 ing heavy weights. Cranes are generally constructed 

 by an application of the wheel and axle, cog-wheel, 

 wheel and pinion, on the principle of the hydrosta- 

 tic press. The first may be regarded as somewhat re- 

 sembling the CAPSTAN, and the lastBRAMAH's PRESS, 

 which have already been described. The subjoined 

 cut will illustrate the form and operation of the wheel 

 and pinion crane, made of cast-iron. The collar B 

 is made to revolve in an iron or stone cylinder A, 

 fixed in the ground ; the collar revolving on balls 

 at the top, for the purpose of diminishing friction. 



The post c, is firmly attached to the collar, and 

 carries the gib and stay, D,E. It has a double gib 

 and stay, which screw on each side of the post, and 

 admit the pulley between them. This crane is very 

 commodious, and may be made of great power. 



CRANIOLOG V (from x^tiat, the skull, and Aeyar, 

 science), a term applied to express a doctrine said to 

 have originated with Drs Gall and Spurzheim, by 

 means of which a knowledge is to be obtained of the 

 characters of individuals, merely by inspecting the form 

 of the brain, as demonstrated by the external forma- 

 tion of the bones of v the skull. It is assumed in this 

 doctrine, that the contents of the skull, by pressing 

 outwards, impress various contours upon the bones 

 of the head, and that these are different in every in- 

 dividual exactly in proportion as certain parts of the 

 brain are more or less energetic or developed. And 

 it is also assumed, that every human being is bom 

 with certain innate propensities, which may be im- 

 proved or suppressed by education, but that these 

 innate propensities will always exist in proportion to 

 the greater or less development of that particular 

 portion of the brain, in which the organs of these 

 propensities reside. 



Nemesius, bishop of Emesa, under the reign of 

 Theodosius, taught that the sensations had their seat 

 in the anterior ventricles, memory in the middle oi 

 the brain, and understanding in the posterior ven- 

 tricles. Albertus Magnus, in the 13th century, 

 went so far as actually to delineate upon a head, the 

 supposed seat of the different faculties of the mind. 

 He placed common sense in the forehead, or first 

 ventricle of the brain ; cogitation and judgment in 

 the second ; memory and moving power in the third. 

 Peter de Montaguana, in 1491, published a figure of 

 the head, on which were indicated the seat of com- 

 mon sense, the cell of imagination, the cell of estimat- 

 ing or cogitation, the cell of memory, and the cell 

 of reason. Ludovico Dolci, Servito, and a great 

 number of other writers, have hazarded similar opin- 

 ions as to the particular seat of the different facul- 

 ties. Both Baron Haller and Van Swieten fancied 

 ihat the internal senses occupy different places in 

 the brain, but they considered its whole organization 

 as too complicated, too intricate, and too difficult, to 

 allow of any hope that the seat of memory, of judg- 

 ment, or of imagination could ever be detected. 



Dr Gall, after many years spent in this difficult 

 investigation, conceived that he discovered the clue 

 wiu'ch was tc conduct us through the mazes of the 



