596 PROFESSOR SIR WILLIAM TURNER ON 



that forty-nine skulls were below 75, i.e. dolichocephalic ; ninety skulls were between 75 

 and 79*9, i.e. mesaticephalic (mesocephalic) ; thirty-five skulls were 80 or upwards, i.e. 

 brachycephalic 



Although it is a matter of convenience to accept a mesaticephalic group, interposed 

 between the more extreme dolichocephalic and brachycephalic forms, it should be kept 

 n mind, as I have stated in my memoir on Indian craniology, # that if we take 77'5 as 

 marking a division of this group into two sections, the skulls which have an index 

 between 77*5 and 80 approach in their characters more closely to the brachycephalic, 

 whilst those that range from 77 '5 to 75, on the other hand, are more allied to the doli- 

 chocephalic type. In these crania forty-five mesaticephali had their indices from 77 '5 to 

 79 '9, in no fewer than eighteen of which the index was between 79 and 80, brachycephalic 

 therefore in form, though they were fractionally below its lowest numerical limit. 



It is obvious, therefore, that a strong brachycephalic strain pervades the population 

 of Scotland at the present time, as in no fewer than fifty-three crania of this series 

 the index was 79 or upwards, either numerically brachycephalic or closely approximat- 

 ing thereto. If expressed in percentages we may say that 20% were numerically 

 brachycephalic, and an additional 10% had a cephalic index from 79 to 7 9 '9; on the 

 other hand, 28% were dolichocephalic, and in 42% the index ranged from 75 to 79. 



The relative proportion of the more rounded to the more elongated heads varied, 

 however, materially in the different counties. Of the sixteen skulls from Fife six had 

 the index above 80, one of which was hyperbrachycephalic, two were 79 '7, three were 

 between 77 "5 and 79. In the Lothians, including Edinburgh and Leith, of seventy- 

 nine skulls twenty had the length-breadth index 80 and upwards, and of these 

 four were hyperbrachycephalic; eight crania also ranged from 79 to 79*9 and were 

 thus essentially brachycephalic, whilst fourteen ranged from 7 7 '5 to 7 8 '9. In the 

 group of nine skulls from Stirlingshire, Lanarkshire, Peebles, and Roxburghshire, two 

 had a length-breadth index above 80, and one of these was hyperbrachycephalic, and 

 three others were 78 or 78 '1. The Renfrewshire group of twenty-one crania, on the 

 other hand, had no specimen with an index as high as 80, though three were between 

 79 and 80, and three were from 77*5 to 79. The three skulls from Ayrshire had one 

 brachycephalic example. Of the six skulls from the north-eastern counties of Forfar, 

 Kincardine, and Banff, four had the length-breadth index 80 or upwards, and one of 

 these was hyperbrachycephalic; the remaining two were 79'7 and 79"9 respectively, and 

 were essentially brachycephalic. In the five crania from Shetland, one was hyper- 

 brachycephalic, and another had the index 79"4. Of the five crania from Iona the two 

 highest were 79 and 79 '3 respectively. In the miscellaneous series of sixteen crania 

 from the dissecting-room, only one had an index 80, no specimen was between 79 and 

 80, and four were from 77 "5 to 79. 



Our attention should now be directed to the distribution of dolichocephalic crania 

 in the different counties ; and along with those whose index is below 75, we shall 



* Trans, Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xxxix. p. 744, 1899. 



