LECTURE SII. 363 



for all skulls measured by Von Baer and myself liave a longitu- 

 dinal diameter of at least 1 70 millimeters. In all tlie Romanic 

 (Helvetian) skulls I have seen^ amounting to several hundreds, 

 the forehead rises almost perpendicularly, whilst the supraci- 

 liary arches are scarcely developed, and the frontal bone is at 

 least in the posterior region very wide, and presents only, as 

 Von Baer remarks, a local constriction behind the eyes. The 

 occipital squama descends also almost perpendicularly, its 

 muscle ridges are but httle developed, and the foramen mag- 

 num is, on the contrary, placed farther back, whilst the arti- 

 cular surfaces are much projecting. This backward position of 

 the foramen magnum is so great that Von Baer considers it as 

 a decided approach to the animal form. 



The notice of Pruner-Bey does not even afford a certain 

 indication whether the said skull, from the alluvial cone of the 

 Tiniere, near Villeneuve, is really a short head, as the trans- 

 verse diameter is not mentioned at all. But all the other 

 characters are so opposed to those of the well-known Romanic 

 (Helvetian) skulls, that I must decidedly reject Pruner-Bey's 

 unfounded inferences as to their supposed similarity. 



I must here add, that in other passages Pruner-Bey compares 

 a Helvetian skull to that of Meilen, which, as we have seen, 

 has nothing in common with the Romanic cranial type. I very 

 much doubt whether by this Helvetian cranium he meant that 

 of Tiniere, for there the following measurements are given for 

 this Helvetian skull: — Length, 195 millimetres; width, 145; 

 which would give for the head-measure 74*3, corresponding 

 to that of what we have termed " apostle-heads." It is indeed 

 difficult for an unprejudiced person to find the guiding thread 

 in this Pruner-Beyish labyrinth. 



Such calculations are open to various objections. Despite 

 of all apparent regularity, the deposits of a mountain torrent 

 are never quite regular. One single flood, in consequence of a 

 storm, may bring more material than will be deposited regu- 

 larly in long periods, and this material will be deposited accord- 

 ing to its gravity on the sides as regularly as that gradually 

 accumvdating. The computation as regards the Roman bed, 

 which forms the basis of the whole calculation, is as ques- 



