854 KEPOBT— 1888. 



TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11. 



The following Papers were read : — 



1. The Monument hnown as ' King Orry's Grave ' compared with Tumuli 

 in Gloucestershire. By Miss A. "W. Buckland. 



The monument known as ' King Orry's Grave,' in the Isle of Man, belongs to 

 the Chambered LoDp: Barrows, described by Thurnam, which are found chieliy in 

 Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, and are always regarded as the earliest of oiur monu- 

 ments, being assigned by all antiquaries to the neolithic age. 



The points common to all these barrows are the long, somewhat ovate shape of 

 the covering mound, the rudely arched principal chamber, and of the passage lead- 

 ing to it, generally pointing east and west, and the square form of the enclosed 

 chambers. All these are found in ' Ivjng Orry's Grave,' which has in addition a 

 singular form of entraiice to the principal chamber, of which only a few instances 

 are known. This consists of an elliptical opening cut in two large stones, forming 

 an egg-shaped aperture through which it is possible to creep. 



Thurnam supposed that this opening was made to facilitate fresh burials from 

 time to time, but, as in the majority of these long-chambered tumuli, the entrance 

 is through an arch formed of three stones, and in all cases the entrance is carefully 

 covered up and concealed. Miss Buckland suggests that in the case of these ovate 

 openings the burials were probably those of priests, and that the elaborately cut 

 opening symbolised the doctrine of the new birth, of which the egg was, and still is, 

 typical, and which was taught alike by Indian Brahmins, Egyptian priests, and the 

 mystical Druids. The only known openings to tumuli similar to that of ' King 

 Orry's Grave ' are three in Gloucestershire, at Rodmartou, Avening, and Leighterton, 

 one in Brittany, and two, the Men-an-Tol, in Cornwall, and that at the Museum 

 of St. Germains, Paris ; but in the Men-an-Tol the hole is cut in a single stone. 

 'King Orry's Grave ' has one especial feature— that of a tall monohth,ten feet m 

 height, rising from the mound ; whilst in plan it appears to resemble the one at 

 Man6 Lud, Brittany, and one at West Kennet, Wiltshire. But according to the 

 description of Oswald it had originally a circle at one end and a crescent at the 

 other, suggestive of sun and moon worship. 



In many of the Gloucestershire long barrows cleft skiUs have been found, and, 

 from the account given of a similar skull having been found with a skeleton and 

 the bones of a dog buried in the ruins of Peel Cathedral, Miss Buckland suggests 

 that this skeleton may have come originally from one of the chambered tumuli in 

 the island, of which two at least are mentioned besides • King Orry's Grave,' which 

 is the best known. Thurnam assigns the Gloucestershire tumuli to the Dobuni, 

 but it is evident that the same people built these in the Isle of Man, and the ques- 

 tion arises whether they came originally from Gloucestershire through Wales, or 

 from Brittany. 



2. Ohservations made in the Anthropometric Laboratory at Manchester. 

 By George W. Bloxam, M.A., and J, G. Garson, M.B. 



Two hundred persons had been examined, of whom 102 were men and 98 

 women. The average age of the men was 41-7 vears, while that of the women 

 was 32-1 years. 



There was a marked difference in both sexes between the power of the two 

 eyes. 



One case only of absolute colour-blindness had been observed, the subject being 



The average height of the men was rather more than 68 inches, that of the 

 women about four inches less. The weight averaged 150 lbs. for the men, and 

 some 25 lbs. less for the women. 



