AKCIENT AND MODERN CELT. 383 



form of head is recognisable as characteristic of the true Celt. Dr. 

 Morton, in defining the Celtic Family, says : " they have the head 

 rather elongated, and the forehead narrow and but slightly arched. 

 The brow is low, straight, and bushy ; the eyes and hair are light, 

 the nose and mouth large, and the cheek-bones high. The general 

 contour of the face is angular and the expression harsh."* Dr. J. 

 Aitken Meigs in discussing the characteristics of the race, as repre- 

 sented in the Mortonian Collection, selects a cast bearing the memor- 

 andum : " Descendant of an ancient Irish King, Alexander O'Connor, 

 • — original in Dublin." Of this he remarks : "No. 1356, — a cast of 

 the skull of one of the ancient Celtic race of Ireland, — appears to me 

 the most typical in the Irish group. This head, the largest in the 

 group, is very long, clumsy and massive in its general appearance. 

 The forehead is low, broad, and ponderous ; the occiput heavy and 

 very protuberant. The basis cranii long, broad, and flat ; the orbits 

 capacious ; and the distance from the root of the nose to the upper 

 alveolus quite short."t Dr. Kombst also, who, during a residence of 

 some years in Scotland, devoted considerable attention to the deter- 

 mination of the Celtic, as distinguished from the Germanic type, states 

 that " the Celtic skull is elongated from front to back, moderate in 

 breadth and length, and the face and upper part of the skull the exact 

 form of an oval." J Professor Retzius after studying the modern 

 Celt both iu France and Britain, assigns to the cranium of the com- 

 mon race a form of peculiar length, compressed at the sides, narrow 

 and generally low in the forehead. At the same time he ascribes to 

 the true Celtic type of head greater breadth, though still describing 

 the skull as long, oval, and narrow. § In his latest matured views he 

 groups the Celts as European orthognathic Dolichocephalse, under 

 the heads : " Scottish Celts, Irish Celts, Eiighsh Celts, and Welsh ;" 

 and when referring to a skull sent to him by Dr. Prichard, as the first 

 Roman one he had seen, he remarks : " It had been picked up on an 

 ancient field of battle near York, with another skull of different form. 

 The latter was smaller, much elongated, straight and low, and had 

 evidently belonged to a Celt."l| This judgment, he adds, fully 



* Crania Americana, p. 16. 



f Indis^enous Races of the Earth, p. 801. 



J Johnston^ s Physical Atlas, c. 8. 



§ Kraniologisches, MuUer's Jrchiv., 1849, p. 575. 



\Sviithsonian Report, 1859, p, 253. 



