Ethnic Significance of the Human Skull. 275 
varying uncertainty on this disputed question ; and even after — 
the publication of Dr Morton’s “ Crania Americana” had fur- 
nished a complete history of the practice, and abundant illus- 
trations of its results, the artificial origin of such cranial 
malformation was still denied by eminent anatomists and 
physiologists. The celebrated anatomist, Tiedemann, after 
careful inspection of the distorted skulls brought by Mr Pent- 
land from the ancient sepulchres of Titicaca in Peru, still 
maintained that their singular forms were entirely due to 
natural causes; and this idea appeared to receive remark- 
able confirmation from opinions published by Dr Tschudi, 
after personal examination of numerous skulls and mummies 
exhumed during his travels in Peru. Without denying that 
some of the peculiarities of cranial conformation frequently 
observed in skulls found in ancient Peruvian graves are the 
result of artificial deformation, purposely superinduced by 
bandaging and mechanical pressure during infancy, Dr 
Tschudi maintains that diverse natural forms of skull per- 
tain to different ancient races of Peru, and especially that 
one peculiar and extremely elongated form of head is a natu- 
ral Peruvian characteristic ; in confirmation of this he not only 
refers to mummies of children of less than a year old, belong- 
ing to the tribe of Aymaraes, exhibiting the dolicocephalic 
proportions observed in adult skulls, but the very same spe- 
cialities which he had noted in adult crania of the Huancas 
came under his observation in more than one mummied fetus, 
which could not have been subjected to any artificial appa- 
ratus for the purpose of modifying the cranial configuration. 
In proof of this, he makes special reference to a foetus in his 
possession found enclosed in the womb of a mummy discovered 
in 1841, in a cave at Huichay, two leagues from Tarma, in 
Peru. Professor D’Outrepont, an experienced obstetrician, 
determined the age of the foetus at about seven months; and 
Dr Tschudi refers to his illustrative drawing of it as afford- 
ing interesting and conclusive proof, in opposition to opinions 
advanced by the advocates of mechanical pressure as the sole 
cause of the remarkable cranial forms recovered from Peru- 
vian sepulchres. Similar proofs are also stated by him to be 
furnished by another mummy, preserved under the direction 
