CERTAIN ANCIENT BRITISH SKULL FORMS. 149 
the modern Celtic Briton, the cause may be an intermixture of races, 
like that which is clearly traceable among the mingled descendants of 
Celtic arid Scandinavian blood in the north of Scotland; but it may 
also be, in part, or wholly, the mere result of a change of national cus- 
toms following naturally on conquest, civilization, and the abandon- 
ment of paganism for christianity. 
It is in this respect, that the artificial causes tending to alter the 
natural conformation of the human head, invite our special study. 
They appear at present purely as disturbing elements in the employ- 
ment of craniological tests of classification. It is far from improbable, 
‘however, that when fully understood they may greatly extend our 
means of classification; so that when we have traced to such causes 
certain changes in form, in which modern races are known to differ 
from their cael precursors, we shall be able to turn the present el- 
ement of ‘disturbance to account, as an additional confirmation of 
truths established by inductive craniology. Certain it 1s, however, 
whatever value may attach to the ‘systematising of such artificial 
forms, that they are of frequent occurrence ; apart altogether from such 
configuration as is clearly referrible to the application of mechanical 
pressure in infancy with that express object in view; or again, as is no 
less obviously the result of posthumous compression. But, though 
the deforming processes designedly practised among ancient and 
modern savage nations lie beyond the direct purpose of the present 
inquiry, they are calculated to throw important light on the approxi- 
mate results of undesigned compression and arrested development. 
Among the Flathead Indian tribes of Oregon and the Columbia 
River, where malformation of the skull is purposely aimed at, the 
infant’s head is tightly bound in a fixed position, and maintained 
under a continuous pressure for months. But it is a mistake to sup- 
pose that in the ordinary use of the cradle-board the Indian pappoose 
is subject to any such extreme restraint. ‘The objects in view are fa- 
cility of nursing and transport, and perfect safety for the child. But 
those being secured it is nurtured with a tenderness of maternal instinct 
surpassing that of many savage nations. The infant is invariably laid 
on its back, but the head rests on a pillow or mat of moss or fray ed 
bark, and is not further restrained in a fixed position than necessarily 
results from the posture in which the body is retained by the bandages 
securing it in the cradle. This fact I have satisfied myself of from re- 
peated observations. But the consequence necessarily is, that the soft 
and phant bones of the infant’s head are subjected to-a slight but con- 
