ANCIENT AND MODERN CELT. 389 



-mho assumes the short crania of the barrows to represent •* the typical 

 form of cranium of the ancient Britons," describes them as " some- 

 what short or brachycephalic, not ill-developed, nor remarkable for a 

 small facial angle. The bones of the face, and especially the upper 

 maxillaries, upright or orthognathous, but also rather short. The 

 chin is usually prominent, the exterior surface of the upper maxillariee 

 •depressed, the nose abrupt and short, surmounted with a frowning 

 eminence, marking the situation of the frontal sinuses."* Having 

 thus determined the typical Celtic head-form, Dr. Davis disposes of 

 the remarkable class of extreme dolichocephalic crania, already referred 

 to as found in Britain, by classing them, along with other variations 

 from his Celtic type, as : " aberrant forms." Here therefore we see 

 to how great an extent the selection of any assumed typical form is 

 liable to be affected by preconceived theories. 



But another difficulty meets us when we attempt to select the living 

 representative of the pure Celt. M. D'Halloy classes the French, 

 apart from the Celtic family, under La Famille Latine, but he adds : 

 *'It is probable that the French derive their origin principally from 

 the Celts 5 but these submitted during five centuries to the Romans, 

 and not 6nly mingled with them, but have entirely lost the use of the 

 Celtic languages. Subsequent conquests, repeatedly effected by Teu- 

 tonic people, subjected them to fresh admixture, and they took the 

 name of French ; but the descendants of the conquerors lost the use 

 of the Teutonic languages, and the Latin dialects have prevailed. . . 

 It is probable that the people of Central France are those who remain 

 most thoroughly Celtic ; that those of the south have inherited the 

 •vivacity of the Basques ; and that those of the north have undergont 

 more change from Teutonic races. This influence has been chiefly 

 felt in Normandyj which received its name in consequence of its 

 settlement by Scandinavians in the tenth century. "f Turning from 

 France to Britain, the same difficulties are eacountered ; and even 

 when we confine ourselves to what are commonly designated the purely 

 Celtic districts of Wales, Scotland, and Ireland: the northern and 

 western Highlanders of Scotland differ little less noticeably than the 

 Irish on either side of the Shannon, while the Welsh are distinguish- 

 able in many respects from both. In Sir David Wilkie's graphic pic- 

 ture of the " Heading of tbe Waterloo Gazette," the characteristic 



* On the Crania of the ancient Britons. Proceed. Jlcad. Nat. Sc. Philadelphia, 

 Feb. 1857, p. 42. 

 f Des Races Humaines, pp. 38, 40. 



