Feb., 1905.] 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



31 



The 



Late Rev. J. M. Bacon. 



We arc able to present an excellent likeness of the late 

 Rev. John Mackenzie Bacon, F.R.A.S., whose sudden 

 death at Christmas was so widely deplored. Born in 

 1846, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he 

 was ordained in 1870, and for some years was curate 

 at Harston, Cambridgeshire. Latterly he had not 

 taken regular duty, but had devoted himself to scientific 

 pursuits. At his home at Coldash, near Newbury, he 

 had a small observatory, and he took part in three 

 expeditions to observe eclipses of the sun. He had 



THE LATE REV. J. M. BACON. 



also conducted numerous interesting experiments in 

 acoustics and in meteorology. But his name was most 

 widely known as an intrepid balloonist, he having for 

 many years made frequent ascents in the cause of 

 science, often accompanied bv his daughter. Miss 

 Gertrude Bacon. He published two books on the sub- 

 ject — " By Land and Sky " in 1900, and " The 

 Dominion of the Air " in 1902. 



Mr. Bacon has contributed many interesting articles 

 to " K^■o\^■ LEDGE," and we now have one in hand on 

 " Seeing beneath the Waves," which we hope to pub- 

 lish very shortly. 



Heredity. 



The continuation of Mr. J. C. Shenstone's article has 

 unfortunately been crowded out this month, but will 

 appear in our next issue. 



SIR. WILLIAM TUR.NER on 



TKe CraLi\iology of the 

 People of Scotland. 



By Dr. J. G. McPhersun, F.R.S.i;. 



The learned Professor of Anatomy in the University of 

 Edinburgh has just received the Keith Prize from the 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh for his " Contribution to 

 the Craniology of the People of Scotland." 



For several years he has been forming a collection 

 of Scottish skulls with a view of studying the charac- 

 ters of these skulls. He has had considerable ditTiculty 

 in acquiring a suitable number from which to deter- 

 mine the type skull of the Scottish people. A great 

 number of the skulls available to a professor are of 

 necessity from the bodies of the pauper part of the 

 community; and these can give no proper conception 

 of the cranial type of the well-educated and well-to-do 

 classes. 



Through the kind interest and help of his many 

 former pupils and friends. Professor Sir William 

 Turner has obtained skulls from definite districts all 

 over Scotland. But Edinburgh, Haddington, Fife, 

 and Mid-Lothian have furnished him with a consider- 

 able proportion of the number. He has, in this way, 

 been able to study one hundred and seventy-six skulls 

 outwith the ordinary stock of anatomical specimens; 

 and these represent the characters of the skulls of the 

 people of Central Scotland. 



After a very careful and minute examination ol these 

 specimens, the Professor drew some definite conclu- 

 sions as to the form, dimensions, and proportions 

 which prevailed in the crania generally. The shape of 

 the cranium, from its influence on the form of the head 

 and from its connection with the brain which it once 

 enclosed, has for long attracted the attention of 

 anatomists. The relations of the length to the breadth 

 and the grouping of skulls into the " elongated " and 

 the "rounded" have been of much importance in de- 

 termining the distinctions of the human races. But the 

 Professor has combined observations on the shape of a 

 skull with exact measurements. 



The measurements are taken with callipers in 

 straight lines between certain definite points, in order 

 to ascertain the length, breadth, and height of the 

 exterior of the cranial box; with a graduated tapeline 

 over the curved walls of the outer table, the arcs and 

 circumference are determined ; and with small shot 

 the internal capacity is known. 



Speaking generally. Professor Turner has concluded 

 that the Scottish skull is large and capacious. Its 

 vertex has a low, rounded arch in the vertical trans- 

 verse plane. Its side walls are not vertical, but they 

 bulge slightly outwards, so that the greatest breadth 

 is at or near the squamous suture. 



In the men the longest skull was eight inches, and 

 the shortest 6.V inches, the mean being 7.35 inches. 

 In the women the longest skull was slightly over 7! 

 inches; the shortest was 6.34 inches— the mean being 

 seven inches. The length of the Scottish skull 

 indicated a brain longer than existed in the long-headed 

 black races. 



Professor Turner found that m the men the broadest 

 skull was b\ inches, and the narrowest 5.12 inches— 

 the mean being 5. 86 inches. In the women the 

 broadest skull was six inches, and the narrowest five 

 inches— the mean being 5.43 inches. 



