122 « . report — 1865. 



On the Comparative Anthropology of England and Wales. 

 By D. Mackintosh, F.G.S. 

 The author begins by referring to a paper read by him before the Ethnological 

 Society of London in 1861, and published in their ' Transactions.' Since then he 

 has had many opportunities of confirming and adding to the theories and facts con- 

 tained in that paper. He believes that in most parts of England the masses of the 

 popidation seldom shift their localities, and that internal migrations are generally 

 limited to the middle and more affluent classes. The fact that different dialects still 

 linger in different parts of England is a proof that the inhabitants have not become 

 so interblended as to destroy typical distinctions, or render classification impossible. 

 During many years the author has succeeded in tracing a difference in type or race 

 in various parts of England and Wales ; and he believes that this difference is not 

 the result of accident, but exists through hereditary descent. It may have origi- 

 nated in ancient " family variations " in certain districts of Europe which have 

 acquired a persistent character, and which in some cases have become so hardened 

 as to resist amalgamation. In North Wales the autbor has been able to reduce the 

 principal differences observable in the physical characteristics of the inhabitants to 

 two types, one of which, for historical reasons, he provisionally calls Cymrian : — 

 skull rather narrow and elongated ; hair brown, frequently very dark ; eyes sunk 

 and ill defined ; sudden sinking in under the cheek-bones ; face long, and nose more 

 or less prominent. The other he calls British :— skull approximately square ; face 

 rather flat, the upper part broad, and the lower angular ; eyes sunk, and generally 

 half-closed ; chest and shoulders very broad. The first type predominates in North 

 Wales ; and there the second is common, though much more prevalent in South 

 Wales, where it coexists with a very well-marked type, to which the author gives 

 the name Gaelic, as it is to be found not only in AVales, but among the lower 

 classes in France, the south-west of England, the Higldands of Scotland, and the 

 west of Ireland : — skull elongated backwards ; forehead retreating, with the lower 

 part of the face projecting ; nose more or less concave, with a great distance from 

 the nose to the mouth. The British and Gaelic types coexist with the Saxon in 

 the south-west of England, but the latter is most prevalent in Sussex, some parts 

 of Hampshire and Berkshire :■ — skull intermediate between square and round, 

 slightly elongated, and small in the occipital region ; light brown hair and promi- 

 nent blue eyes ; low cheek-bones, broad, smooth, and round face ; features exces- 

 sively regular. The author believes there is a tall and convex-profiled type in the 

 eastern part of the Isle of Wight and in central Kent, to which he applies the term 

 Jutian. He describes a type intermediate between Jutian and Saxon, and thinks 

 it may possibly be Frisian. In the Midland Counties, and throughout a zone 

 running northwards through the West Riding of Yorkshire into Durham, there is 

 an extensively-prevailing type, with lateral variations, which he supposes must 

 have settled in England under the name of Angles. The complexion is very fair, 

 and in many respects this type resembles the Saxon, though the features are rather 

 sharper, and the figure not nearly so rotundiform. In Cumberland, and other 

 districts shown by Worsaae to be inhabited by descendants of Norsemen, the 

 author has not been able to make out a very distinct predominating type. He has 

 no hesitation in asserting the existence of a strikingly marked and strongly per- 

 sistent Danish type in districts where Danes must have settled according to history, 

 esp'ecially Lincolnshire :— skull rather narrow, elongated, and elevated backwards, 

 with projecting occipital region; hair and complexion more or less ruddy; high 

 nose and prominent cheek-bones ; long or rather long face, tall frame, and swinging 

 gait. The author describes the mental peculiarities of the different types ; speaks 

 more favourably of the North Welsh than most writers, especially as regards their 

 frugality, industry, temperance, social order, &c. The Danes are sanguine, ambi- 

 tious, and energetic, with great aptitude for progression in the active affairs of life, 

 but deficient in cogitation. Saxons are characterized by extreme moderation ac- 

 companying individuality, and an equal absence of great defects and extraordinary 

 talents. Gaels are quick in perception, deficient in foresight, excitable, and strong 

 in attachment. The author concludes by stating that he has intentionally left 

 details relating to anatomical structure and complexion out of consideration, as Dr. 

 Barnard Davis and Dr. Beddoe have taken up these departments, and will soon be 



