of certain Ancient British Skull Forms. 81 
of type; and no such causes, even if brought to bear in 
infancy, could possibly convert the one into the other form. 
But as the cranial forms, both of the Old and New World, 
betray evidences of modification by such artificial means ; 
so also we find in ancient Africa a diverse form of head, to 
which art may have contributed, solely by leaving it more 
than usually free from all extraneous influences. Such at 
least is the conclusion suggested to my mind from the 
examination of a considerable number of Egyptian skulls. 
Among familiar relics of domestic usages of the ancient 
HKgyptians is the pillow designed for the neck, and not the 
head, to rest upon. Such pillows are found of miniature 
' sizes, indicating that the Egyptian passed from earliest in- 
fancy without his head being subjected even to so slight a 
pressure as the pillow, while he rested recumbent, The 
HKigyptian skull is long, with great breadth and fulness in 
the posterior region. In its prominent, rounded parieto- 
occipital conformation, an equally striking contrast is pre- 
sented to the British brachycephalic skull with truncated 
occiput, and to the opposite extreme characteristic of the 
primitive dolichocephalic skull; though exceptional ex- 
amples are not rare. This characteristic did not escape Dr 
Morton’s observant eye, and is repeatedly indicated in the 
“Crania Aigyptiaca” under the designation “tumid occiput.” 
It also appears to me, after careful examination of the 
fine collection formed by him, and now in the Academy of 
Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, that the Egyptian crania 
are generally characterised by considerable symmetrical 
uniformity, as was to be anticipated, if there is any truth in 
the idea of undesigned artificial compression and deformation 
resulting from such simple causes as the mode of nurture in 
infancy. 
The heads of the Fiji Islanders supply a means of testing 
the same cause, operating on a brachycephalic form of 
cranium ; as most of the islanders of the Fiji group employ 
a neck-pillow nearly similar to that of the ancient Egyptians, 
and with the same purpose in view, that of preserving their 
elaborately dressed hair from dishevelment. In their case, 
judging from an example in the collection of the Royal 
College of Surgeons of London, the occipital region is 
NEW SERIES.—VOL. XVIII. NO. 1.—suLY 1868. L 
