124 



NA TURE 



[Jime 1 8, 1874 



but was surprised to find that at p. 446 the former figure is repeated 

 wilh the description, "Fig. 58. — Peruvian Depressed Skull." This 

 is quite correct, for it is not only depressed, but depressed by art ; 

 therefore it cannot be an instance of a natural Peruvian doli- 

 chocephalic skull. But at p. 451 the latter woodcut is repeated 

 as " Fig. 60.— Peruvian Child's Skull, Normal," and described 

 as such. Indeed it is not necessary to go beyond Dr. Wilson's 

 communication to Nature. His Fig. 3, p. 48, is the identical 

 woodcut, as " Peruvian Child's Skull Normal." This woodcut 

 is quite conclusive as to what I have as.serted, that Dr. Wilson 

 has answered himself. For it is the calvarium of a child which 

 has been artificially distorted and thereby elongated. And in 

 truth it is only necessary to cast the eye on the figures upon the 

 same page in Nature to see that all the skulls, Figs, i, 3, and 

 4, have all been distorted, and distorted in the same manner, viz. 

 by a figure of 8 bandage, which has left its distinct impressions 

 upon the frontal, parietal, and occipital bones. This distortion 

 has necessarily converted them into dolichocephalic or long skulls, 

 in contradistinction to their natural form, which is exhibited in 

 Fig. 2, on the same page of Nature. This bandage has been 

 the instrument of distortion, and all three have been deformed 

 in what I call the cyliiitinvJiil manner, resulting in the lengthen- 

 ing out of the calvarium. It may be observed that this mode of 

 distortion is the most generally diffused of any among human 

 races, both of the old woild and the new. The figures differ 

 only in the degree of deformation, the " Fig. 3. — Peruvian Child's 

 Skull , Normal, " having been;less tightlyjcompressed than the 

 other two. I conclude that it is quite unquestionable that this 

 Peruvian skull cannot be looked upon as a natural Peruvian 

 skull, cannot be adduced as evidence that there was a second 

 type of cranium among the ancient Peiiivians. The best inspec- 

 tion I am able to give the figures proves this unequivocally, and 

 I am bound to affirm, with the utmost respect to Dr. Daniel 

 Wilson, that he has fully answered himself, and proved that the 

 asserted long Peruvian jskuUs are simply crania artificially con- 

 torted into dolichocephalic ones. After this it may be very 

 safely said that craniologisls, beginning with Morton, and going 

 on to that eminent and accurate anatomist. Prof. J. Wyman, 

 are agreed that the ancient Peruvian race was distinguished by 

 having brachycephalic skulls, as is shown in Dr. Wilson's 

 • < Fig. 2.— Peruvian Child's Skull, Santa," Nature, vol. x. 

 p. 48, which is simply an undistorted and natural example. 



Having said this, which is a plain statement of what I believe 

 to be the truth, I may add that I regret to find scientific ques- 

 tions are by some even who have acquired a reputation treated 

 as a source of wrang ling (I do not at all allude to Dr. Wilson), 

 which I observe with much regret ; but such course I most certainly 

 shall not imitate. If a plain statement of facts does not convince, 

 I shall not try any other method. When Dr. D. Wilson shall 

 produce half a score of ancient Peruvian dolichocephalic skulls, 

 the appearance of which totally precludes the possibility of inter- 

 ference by art or other deforming accident, then the question he 

 introduces will be open for discussion, but, until then, I hold 

 that there is no valid reason to doubt that the ancient Peruvians 

 were a decidedly brachycephalic race. 



J. Barnard Davis 



In Nature, (vol. x. p. 46), Prof. Daniel Wilson replies to 

 criticisms by Dr. J. Barnard Davis and myself, of his con- 

 clusion that certain skulls, described and figured in " Prehistoric 

 Man," and belonging to the collections of Dr. Warren, of 

 Boston, had natural and not artificial forms. As far as I am 

 concerned, he quotes from a letter of mine to Dr. Davis the 

 following sentence : — 



'•The upshot of the whole is the crania do not confirm Dr. 

 Wilson's statement. One of Dr. Wilson's chief points— in fact 

 it is his chief point— is, that the skulls are natural because they 

 are symmetrical, and it is next to impossible that a distorted 

 skull should be symmetrical. " 



In this sentence he says I misrepresent him, and appeals to his 

 published views with regard to asymmetry in skulls in general, 

 about which I had said nothing. I was writing only of those 

 particular ones represented in Figs, i and 3 of Prof. Wilson's 

 article in Nature, and Figs 59 and 60 m "Prehistoric Man." 

 In justification of the paragraph from my letter given above, and 

 to which he objects as unfair, I quote the following sentence from 

 "Prehistoric Man," pp. 449-50 : — 



" P'ew who have had extensive opportunities of minutely exa- 

 mining and comparing normal and artificially formed crania will, 

 I think, be prepared to dispute the fact l/iat tlic hillcr are rarely 

 fever symmetrieal. The application of pressure on the head of 



the living child can easily be made to change its natural contour, 

 but it eaiinot give to its artificial proportions that harvionioiis 

 repelitioii of corresponding developments on opposite sides which 

 may be assumed as the normal condition of the unmodified 

 cranium. But in so extreme a case as the conversion of a bra- 

 chycephalic head averaging about 6 3 in longitudinal diameter, 

 the retention of anything like normal symmetrical proportions is 

 iiipossil'le. Yet the dolichocephalic Peruvian crania present no 

 such abnormal irregularities as could give countenance to the 

 theory of their form being an artificial one." 



I will only add, that in several distorted dolichocephalic Peru- 

 vian crania in the collections of the Peabody Museum at Cam- 

 bridge, the symmetry is as complete as in any ordinary undistorted 

 crania. Jefi-ries Wyman 



Cambridge, Mass., U.S. 



Lakes with two Outfalls 

 Fli'TY miles south of Denver, Colorado Territory, on the Denver 

 and Rio (;rande R.R., there is a little lake with two outfalls, 

 which I have myself seen. This lake is on an east and west 

 "divide" and is 8,000ft. above sea-level; the outfall to the 

 north, Phun Creek, goes to the Platte River, while Monument 

 Creek, to the south, flows into the Arkansas. 



Edward S. IIolden 

 Naval Observatory, Washington, U.S., June 2 



Cai'T. J. D. Cochrane, R.N., in his "Narrative of a Pedes- 

 trian Journey through Russia and Siberian Tartary, &c., in the 

 years 1S20-23," has the following reference. I quote from the 

 American edition (1824), p. 235 : — 



"In the evening we reached a fertile spot, and halted on the 

 b.anks of a lake, from which, it is said, the rivers Okota and 

 Koudousou, running in counter directions, have their source, a 

 circumstance w hich recalled to my recollection those words in an 

 able work by Mr. Barrovr upon rivers, wherein it is said that, 

 although it is not a physical impossibility that two rivers should 

 How in opposite, or indeed in any direction out of the same lake, 

 yet the contrary approaches so near to an axiom in geography 

 that no instance is perhaps known of such an occurrence." 



The rivers named flow respectively into the Sea of Okhotsk 

 and the Arctic Sea. Perhaps a reference to other and lalei 

 works may settle the question whether this lake has two outlets. 



Chicago, U.S., June 2 S. W. Burnham 



PaljEOtherium magnum 

 The PaLeolherinm inagnnm, an account of the discovery of 

 which appeared in Nature, vol. ix. p. 2S5, differs in so many 

 respects from that which was restored by Cuvier, that it may be 

 well, if possible, to try and reconcile these two accounts. 



Cuvier, in his " Ossemens fossiles" (1S25) after taking the 

 individual bones of the Paheotherium one by one, and considering 

 their affinities, places tliem together, and restores from them as 

 far as possible the animals to which they belonged. 



In vol. ii. p. 163, he says: " Hence we see in our environs 

 of Paris, and elsewhere, the genus Pahcotlieriuin, which resembles 

 the tapirs by its incisor and canine teeth, and in that the nasal 

 bones are so arranged as to carry a trunk, whilst the molars more 

 nearly approximate to those of the rhinoceros and deer." 



In vol. iii. p. 53, et seq. he commences with a description of 

 the skull, and passes on to the other bones in order. 



Having considered separately the various bones of the eight 

 species which he describes, he passes on at p. 243 to the restora- 

 tion of the whole skeleton, considering first that one of which 

 he had the most perfect remains, viz. Palu-otheriiim minus, vide 

 vol. iii., pi. 34. This skeleton is a nio.e perfect specimen in 

 many ways tlian that which was discovered the other day, though 

 a good part of the lower extremities are wanting. 



Speaking of this specimen Cuvier says (vol. ni., p. 244) : " If 

 only we could bring this anini.al to life as easily as we have put 

 together its bones, we should see running about a tapir smaller 

 than a roebuck, with thin and slender legs." And again, "lis 

 height to the withers would be from 16 to iSin." 



'1 his skeleton, it will be seen, resembles to a great extent that 

 ol Paheotherium. magntini, which was figured in Natdre, vol. 

 ix. p. 286. Having completed the smaller aidm.al, /'. magnum 

 is next considered, of which Cuvier says : "We have the head 

 and four extremities of this animal ; by supplying it with a body 

 like that of its predecessor, it will be very easy to restore its 

 skeleton. Its head and limbs may be seen at pi. 49, 50, and 60, and 

 its restoration at pi. 66, resemblmg almost ex.actly that of 



