22 John G rat tan : 



into a single volume the various portions of his unfinished work, 

 along with " Notices of the Round Towers of Ulster," by Edmund 

 Getty, M R.I. A., and presented copies to a number of his friends. 

 It was a specimen of this volume, which I obtained from a second- 

 hand bookseller, that first directed my attention to his methods of 

 skull measurement. On enquiry I found that Grattan's work was 

 unknown to many of our leading anatomists and to others interested 

 in physical anthropology, as it had previously been to myself- 

 The cause of this is easily explained. The earlier part of Grattan's 

 investigations appeared in a journal which is not readily accessible 

 to, and is rarely consulted by, the great majority of those interested 

 in craniology, while the later unpublished portion, issued privately, 

 was still less likely to fall into the hands of such workers. 



Before proceeding to discuss the nature and value of Grattan's 

 scientific work it is advisable that I should explain, as briefly as 

 possible, the circumstances that led him into this line of research 

 and the problems that were then engaging the attention of anthro" 

 pologists and ethnologists. 



About the time when Grattan came to Belfast, phrenology was 

 at the zenith of its popularity. It is evident from his writings that 

 he was a convert to the theories of Gall and Spurzheim, and indeed 

 he appears to have been personally acquainted with the latter. 

 He collected a large number of skulls and casts of heads, and 

 naturally became interested in the variations in their form. 



Further, the long period during which Grattan pursued his 

 craniological investigations witnessed the rise of a scientific 

 ethnology. 



Anthropologists began to collect material from barrows, caves 

 and other ancient burial grounds to determine the physical 

 characteristics of their remote ancestors ; and to procure specimens 

 and make observations in all parts of the world to ascertain the 

 structural peculiarities of existing races. It soon became evident 

 that for anthropological purposes the skull was the most important 

 part of the skeleton, and attempts were made to utilise certain 

 differences in the form of the skull for purposes of racial 

 classification. 



