418 SUPPOSED PREVALENCE OF ONE CRANIAL TYPE 



aptitude for civilization, present the genuine type in a remarkable 

 degree. My birth, and long residence in Southern States have per- 

 mitted the study of many of these living tribes, and they exhibit this 

 conformation almost without exception. I have also scrutinized 

 many Mexicans, besides Catawabas of South Carolina, and tribes on 

 the Canada Lakes, and can bear witness that the living tribes every- 

 where confirm Morton's type."* 



We cannot err in taking the very interesting cranium found by 

 Dr. Davis and Mr. Squier in a mound in the Scioto Valley, Ohio, as 

 an example of the true typical head ; for it is produced as such by 

 Dr. Nott, in the " Types of Mankind," and is described, in the 

 words of Dr. Morton, in Dr. Meigs's Catalogue of Human Crania, in 

 the collection of the Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia, 

 issued during the present year by order of the Academy, as : "an 

 Aboriginal American ; a very remarkable head. This is, perhaps, 

 the most admirably-formed head of the American race hitherto dis- 

 covered. It possesses the national characteristics in perfection, as 

 seen in the elevated vertex, flattened occiput, great interparietal 

 diameter, ponderous bony structure, salient nose, large jaws and 

 broad face. It is the perfect type of Indian conformation, to which 

 the skulls of all the tribes from Cape Horn to Canada more or less 

 approximate." As shown by the front view of this skull it presents 

 no trace of pyramidal conformation. 



Of this skull the measurements which involve the most essential 

 typical elements, and so furnish precise materials for comparison, 

 are : — 



Longitudinal diameter. 6.5 inches. 



Parietal " 6 . " 



Vertical " 6.2 



Intermastoid Arch 16 . " 



Horizontal circumference 19.8 " 



So that, in fact the cranium very closely corresponds in its measure- 

 ments, in length, breadth, and height. Still further it may be noted, 

 on examining the full sized view of the skull, as given by Messrs. 

 Squier and Davis (PI. XL VII.) that the singular longitudinal abre- 

 viation of this skull is nearly all posteriorly. A line drawn through 

 the meatus auditorius externus in profile, parallel to the elevated 

 forehead, divides it into two unequal parts, of which the anterior 

 and posterior parts are nearly in the ratio of two to one. To this 

 type the Ancient Peruvian and Mexican crania unquestionably 

 approximate. Of one of the former, from the Temple of the Sun, 



* Types of Mankind, pp. 441. 



