438 



ETHNICAL FORMS AND UNDESIGNED ARTIFICIAL 



little reconcileable with the theory of a race of autochthones having 

 held undisputed possession of the British Isles through all previous 

 centuries since its first occupation by man. Here are Mr. Davis's 

 own selected examples of typical and aberrant cranial forms in so far 

 as they refer to the question under discussion, as the platycephalic and 

 acrocephalic crania are confessedly rare and exceptional : — 



TABLE III.—" TYPICAL AND ABERRANT CRANIAL FORMS." 



Here we have a supposed typical skull, measuring 6.8 by 5.7, and 

 the aberrant deviation from it : 8.1 by 5.7 — to speak of comparison 

 in a case of such extreme contrast is impossible. If this furnishes a 

 fair illustration of aberrant deviation from a typical form, what comes 

 of " the beautiful principle of nature, of an endless diversity under a 

 comprehensive uniformity ;" or what indeed are the practical results 

 to be hoped for from the science, if skulls as short as the most brachy- 

 cephalic Mongol, and others longer than the most dolichocephalic 

 Ethiopian, are to be ranked as mere varieties of the same ethnical 

 type ? With indefatigable zeal Mr. Davis has devoted himself to the 

 task of constructing an adequate " Crania Britanuica ; " and in the 

 successful pursuit of so worthy an aim, he has proved that the mantle 

 of Professor Samuel George Morton has fallen to no unworthy succes- 

 sor. But in this idea of British autochthones, Celtic, aboriginaly 

 primordial and idiogeneous in character, it seems as if he were resolved 

 to perpetuate the very creases and flaws of the sacred mantle : for here 

 we have Dr. Morton's homogeneous cranial type reproduced to tramel 

 the investigations of British craniologists, as it has already done those 

 of America. One theoretical type is assumed, and every example 

 which will not conform to its requirements thenceforth becomes an 

 aberrant form. In reality, however, the only aberrant form among 

 the above crania is the Codford skull ; while in that from Uley Bar- 

 row we have a strongly marked illustration of the essentially diverse 

 British dolichocephalic type, which Mr. Wilde recognizes as corres- 

 ponding to primitive Irish crania found under similar circumstances, 



