30 John G 'rattan : 



some labour ? And if it be desirable to furnish measurements at 

 all (and from the fact that almost every writer upon the subject 

 gives them after some fashion this is manifestly the case), surely 

 it is of some importance that they should be adequate to accomplish 

 the object in view, and at least be so taken and recorded as to 

 convey truthful and intelligible impressions to the mind." — 

 Ulster Journal of Archceology, Vol. vi., p. 35. 



An examination of present-day craniological methods will show 

 that various attempts are made to amplify and check the data 

 afforded by the greatest length, breadth and height measurements 

 of the cranium. Thus, the transverse diameter is taken between 

 several different points, the chords of the frontal, parietal and 

 occipital arcs are measured, and the lengths of radii drawn from a 

 point on the base of the skull to various spots on the median 

 longitudinal arc of the vault are recorded. The points selected in 

 many cases correspond to the union of certain of the skull bones. 

 These, however, may vary without affecting the general shape and 

 dimensions of the skull, and have not the mathematical precision 

 of Grattan's points. On the whole, it appears to me that fo r 

 completeness and accuracy, and for facility in making a thorough 

 comparison between the external form of different skulls, Grattan's 

 method, devised about 50 years ago, when craniology was in its 

 infancy, can hold its own against any scheme yet formulated- 

 Curiously enough he made no attempt to measure the diameters of 

 the cranial cavity, or to ascertain how far the inequalities of the 

 outer surface of the skull correspond to those on its inner aspect. 

 Possibly his phrenological view led him to suppose that this 

 question had been settled. 



There is one feature in Grattan's method to which I must 

 allude, viz., his selection of the middle of the auditory axis as a 

 starting point from ' which to measure the various radii and 

 diameters of the cranial vault. The point usually selected for 

 this purpose is the anterior edge of the foramen magnum and on 

 morphological grounds there is much to be said in its favour. It 

 represents, as Huxley long ago pointed out, the posterior end of 

 the true base of the skull, and he used this point from which to 



