4b4G ETHNICAL FORMS AND UNDESIGNED ARTIFICIAL 



that the idea of artificial causes supplying one means of accounting 

 for aberrant cranial forms is already receiving very general accept- 

 ance, and it appears from a reference of Mr. Davis that Dr. L. A. 

 G-osse has not only illustrated this subject at some length in relation 

 to the extreme compression of the occiput, but incidentally notices 

 the peculiarity referred to in Scottish and Scandinavian skulls, and 

 traces it to. the same probable source of the cradle-board. His 

 remarks are : "Passant dans I'aneien continent, ne tardons-nous pas 

 a reconnaitre que ce berceau plat et solide y a produit des effets 

 analogues. Les anciens habitants de la Scandinavie et de la Caledonie 

 devaient s'en servir, si Ton en juge par la forme de leurs cranes."* 



There is perhaps, a danger, now that the operation of such unde- 

 signed influences is recognised, that more may be ascribed to 

 them than is legitimate. Such was undoubtedly the effect on Dr. 

 Morton's mind from his familiarity with the results of artificial de- 

 formation on American crania, coupled perhaps with the seductive 

 influences of a favourite hypothesis. In his latest recorded opinions, 

 when commenting on some of the abnormal forms of Peruvian crania, 

 he remarks : " I at first found it difficult to conceive that the original 

 rounded skull of the Indian could be changed into this fantastic 

 form ; and was led to suppose that the latter was an artificial elonga- 

 tion of a head remarkable for its length and narrowness. I even 

 supposed that the long-headed Peruvians were a more ancient people 

 than the Inca tribes, and distinguished from them by their cranial 

 configuration. In this opinion I was mistaken. Abundant means 

 of observation and comparison have since convinced me that all these 

 variously-formed heads were originally of the same shape, which is 

 characteristic of the aboriginal race from Cape Horn to Canada, and 

 that art alone has caused the diversities among them."f In contrast 

 to such sweeping deductions, the observations of Sir E-obert H. 

 Schomburgk on the Maopityans, or Erog Indians, of British Gruiana, 

 are well worthy of consideration. They are the remnant of a nearly 

 extinct tribe. Of their cranial formation he remarks : " The flatness 

 of the head, and consequently the long face and short circumference, 

 is peculiar to the tribe. I have not been able to learn, upon the 

 most minute inquiries, that the form is given to the head by artificial 



* Dr. L. A. Gosse, quoted by Mr. Davis " Essai sur les Deformations artificielles du 

 Crane," p. 74. 

 t Ph/ysical Type of the American Indian. Schoolcraft : p. 326. 



