EXPRESSION BY MEASUREMENTS. 295 



doubtless it has been to a great extent ■wiih the ancient European Celtag, 

 notwithstanding the distinct historical evidence we possess of the utter 

 extermination of whole tribes both of the Britons and Gauls by the mer- 

 ciless sword of the intruding Roman." In this sense I believe that, 

 ■what is witnessed in actual' process of accomplishment on this continent, 

 where a certain percentage of " Red" blood is being taken up by the 

 so-called " Anglo-Saxon" of the New "World, has been the law within 

 ancient historic areas; and that their modern occupants are, to some 

 extent, the sum of all the ethnic elements that have seemed to displace 

 each other in the long march of ages since the night of time. 



This is a proposition directly conflicting alike with ideas embodied 

 in Dr. Knox's favourite proposition, that "Race is everything," and 

 witb that of Professor Agassiz of " the close connection between the 

 geographical distribution of animals and the natural boundaries of the 

 different races of men." Do races ever amalgamate ? Does a mixed 

 race exist? are questions put by Dr. Knox, in order to be answered 

 unhesitatingly in the negative. To me it rather seems that the question 

 submitted to the ethnologist, at least within the whole historic area, is 

 this: Does any unmixed race exist? Has any seemingly extinct race 

 passed away, leaving no transmitted trace, or taint of blood to its suc- 

 cessors ? Hence, when -treating of allophylian precursors of the 

 historic races of Britain, I remarked, in a passage, subsequently adopted 

 by Dr. J. Barnard Davis as the motto for his prospectus of the Crania 

 Britannica : {Prehist. Annals, 1st Ed., p. 193, 1851). ''They are 

 our ancestry, even though we may question our lineal descent; our 

 precursors, if not our progenitors. From them we derive our inherit- 

 ance and birthright; nor, among all the later mingling of races, can 

 we assume that no drop of their blood mingles in our veins." 



Let us then consider the various points embodied in the statement 

 made by Mr. C. Carter Blake as to claims of originality, and priority of 

 publication, in reference to certain ethnical British characteristics. 



(1) " The fact that the modern English possess long skulls was first 

 established by the plaintiff," viz., in 1866. But in 1864, we had 

 already published this statement : " Amid considerable diversity in 

 minute characteristics, the English heads appear to be divisible into 

 two classes, of which one, characterised by great length, and slight 

 excess of breadth in the parietal as compared with the frontal region, 

 appears to be the Anglo-Saxon head ; the other, also long, but marked 

 by a sudden tapering in front of the parietal protuberances, and a narrow 



