60. 



compressed. We do not hesitate to express this opinion, although it 

 appears from Welcker's extensive investigations* that brachy cephalic 

 skulls are mostly orthognathoiis, while those described above are all 

 more or less prognathous. 



Kow the question arises, was the deformation to be found among 

 the ancient inhabitants of the ruins generally, or only in some instances? 

 Was it practiced as a rule, or is the compression only more or less acci- 

 dental? As the five skulls before us show the most unmistakable signs 

 of deformation, it is more than probable that the compression of the 

 skull cannot have been of rare occurrence, for it is scarcely possible 

 that, by a mere accident only, the deformed crania should have been 

 found by the collectors, while others, showing normal features, should 

 have escaped their observation. 



If deformations of this kind are practiced, as a rule, among savages 

 or civilized people, there is always a guiding idea,t either emanating 

 from a^sthetical feelings or with reference to some practical purpose. 

 For instance, among the ancient Peruvians the flattened skulls were 

 considered a sign of aristocracy and high breeding, while in other cases, 

 as among the inhabitants of the northwestern corner of Europe,^ the 

 skulls of the children were deformed in early youth in such a manner 

 as to produce a more or less straight line of profile, which we are accus- 

 tomed to admire in the Greek ideal of human beaut3\ 



That the idea of the beautiful was developed to an uncommon 

 extent among the inhabitants of the ruins is borne out by the fact that 

 the fragments of pottery found show simple but tasteful ornamentation, 

 that great regularity prevails in the structure of their buildings, both 

 in the square and round ones, and that other pieces of their handiwork 

 would even gratify our own sesthetical feelings. As symmetry is found 

 everywhere among their buildings, even where an educated eye would 

 require it, there is no reason whatever to suppose that the taste should 

 comply with these requirements in one instance and not in the other. 

 Why should people who bestow so much care upon a door, in order to 

 make it symmetrical, or upon a piece of pottery, to make it perfect in 

 shape, try, in case they practice deformation of the skull, to produce an 

 asymmetrical form, such as is found in the greater number of our 

 crania "?§ Wherever deformation of the skull is made a practice, the 

 mother, or whoever may be in charge of the child, performs this opera- 

 tion with the utmost care, in order to produce the conventional shape, 

 which is almost symmetrical in every instance; and some time ago, 

 when we had occasion to examine about 200 flatheads, we found but few 

 that were not symmetrical. 



Under such circumstances we are justified in believing that the 

 deformation of the skulls in question is more or less accidental, and, 

 taking the mode of depression into consideration, there cannot remain 

 any doubt in regard to the way the skulls were distorted. Evidently 

 the ancient inhabitants of the ruins were in the habit of strapping their 

 children against cradle-boards, as a gieat many modern Indians do, and 

 hence resulted the flattening of the occiput.|| 



*Untersnchnngen ueber Wachstbum und Bau des riieuschlichen Schiidels von Her- 

 mann Welcker. Erster Tbeil. Leipzig, Wilbelin Engehiiaun, 1862, p. tii and 90. 



tAndrete Vesalii Opera Omnia Anatomica et Cbirurgica, cnra Hermanni Boerbaave 

 et Bernbardii Siegfried Albini. Lugdiui Batavoruui, MDCCXXV, Tom. 1, p. 16. 



t Hippocrates: Toe. cit., De acre aqnis et bjcis, p. 289. 



§ As it seems, asymmetry is not met witb very seldom among tbe ancient Peruvian 

 skulls. Compare Morton Crania Americana, PI. X. 



II As Major Powell kindly informs me, tbe different Indian tribes be is familiar witb 

 keep tbeir cbildren strapped to tbe cradle-board from between one and a balf to two 

 years. 



