310 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. ix. 



Huxley, Busk, 1 and others into the physique of the 

 people described in the last chapter, who buried their 

 dead in the tombs, and whose skeletons are met with in 

 the alluvia and peat-mosses, reveal the important fact 

 that the population of the British Isles was uniform in 

 character through the whole of the Neolithic age. They 

 were small in stature, averaging five feet five inches 

 in height, according to Dr. Thurnam. The stature of 

 the dead buried in the sepulchral caves of Perthi Chwareu, 

 and in the chambered tomb at Cefn, is estimated by 

 Prof. Busk at a maximum of five feet six inches and 

 at a minimum of four feet ten inches. 2 Their skulls 

 are of fair average capacity, and are of the long or oval 

 type 3 (Fig. 110), the length being due to a develop- 



1 Thurnam, Mem. Anthrop. Soc., vols. i. and iii. Tliurnam and Davis, 

 Crania Britannica. Wilson, Prehistoric Man, and Prehistoric Annals of 

 Scotland. Laing and Huxley, Prehistoric Remains of Caithness. Busk, 

 Journ. Ethnol. Soc. Lond., 2d ser. ii. 



2 The stature of the people buried in the long barrow of Nether Swell, 

 Gloucestershire, is estimated by Prof. Rolleston at 5 feet 5 inches for the 

 men and 4 feet 9 to 10 inches for the women. Journ. Anthrop. Inst. v. 

 p. 21. 



3 Human skulls are classified, according to Dr. Thurnam and Prof. 

 Huxley, as follows the basis of classification being the " cephalic index," 

 or the ratio of the extreme transverse to the extreme longitudinal diameter 

 of the skull, the latter measurement being taken as unity (Huxley) : 



I. Dolichocephali, or long skulls, with cephalic index at or below -70 

 Subdolichocephali ..... from '70 to '73 



II. Orthocephali, or oval skulls . . . . '74 to '77 



Subbrachycephali . . . . . . '77 to *79 



III. Brachycephali or broad skulls . . . at or above '80 



It has been argued from the diversity in the forms of the skulls ob- 

 servable at the present time among people living under artificial conditions, 

 such as ourselves, that it is impossible to tell a man's race by the shape of 

 his skull. To some extent this is true of our highly organised com- 

 munities in Europe and America, where people of different nations and 



