Tohn G rattan 



24 



only more fully elaborated in his subsequent contributions to the 

 subject. 



The spirit and aims of Grattan's work are so admirably expressed 

 in a paper he published in the Ulster Journal of Archeology 

 for 1858 that I cannot refrain from quoting it. After discussing 

 the craniological methods then in vogue he wrote as follows : — 



" So far, we look in vain, therefore, for that uniformity of 

 method and that numerical precision, without which no scientific 

 investigation requiring the cooperation of numerous observers can 

 be successfully prosecuted. The mode of procedure hitherto 

 adopted furnishes to the mind at best nothing but vague gene- 

 ralities which it cannot by any intellectual effort reduce into 

 general shape and form ; and until we can accomplish something 

 more than this — until we can record with something approaching 

 towards accuracy the proportional development of the great sub- 

 divisions of the brain, as indicated by its bony covering, and by 

 our figures convey to the mind determinate ideas of the relation 

 they bear towards each other we shall not be in a position to do 

 justice to our materials, or to interpret faithfully or profitably the 

 natural hieroglyphs thus submitted to our examination. What we 

 specially stand in need of is some method of measuring cranial 

 forms and magnitudes which by combining perfect simplicity and 

 facility of application with rigid scientific accuracy shall command 

 our confidence ; so that the ethnologist may be able to record his 

 own observations, and to profit by the recorded observations of 

 others without the risk of misinterpretation, and the phrenologist 

 possesses a sound numerical foundation upon which to base his 

 special measurements. But although an improved method of 

 taking and recording cranial measurements would admittedly be 

 of great importance to the phrenologist, to the ethnologist it is 

 absolutely indispensible. The phrenologist can pursue many of 

 his enquiries and test the soundness of most of his inferences, by 

 the aid of detached or isolated specimens, each head itself 

 affording the necessary data by which its mental capabilities may 

 be determined. But the ethnologist has to deal with tribes and 

 nations. He stands somewhat in the position of the actuary who 



