5 
were industrioasly collected and deposited in the Museums of these Societies. 
But many of the latter having ceased to exist, after a few years of activity, it 
is not now easy, though very desirable, to obtain any information concerning 
the disposal made of their collections. 
Cranial collections are also contained in the Cabinets and Museums of many 
scientific associations, colleges, universities, &c., throughout Europe, such as 
the Koyal College of Surgeons, in London and Dublin, Guy's Hospital, the 
Yorkshire Philosophical Society, the Bristol Infirmary, the Senckenberg Natural 
History Society, the Josepheum in Vienna, the University of Dorpat, the 
Fremley Museum at Utrecht, Rijks Museum and the AnatomicaL Cabinet at 
Leyden, &c. &c. 
In a letter dated Shelton, 25th Dec. 1857, my friend Mr. J. Barnard Davis in- 
forms me that his private collection, at present, " exceeds 450 specimens." In 
the Museum of Thos. Bateman, Esq., at Lomberdale House, Derbyshire, England, 
are numerous skeletons, skulls, and separate bones, exhumed from tumuli 
chiefly of the Celtic period in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Yorkshire," amount- 
ing at the time of the publication of his excellent antiquarian catalogue (1855) 
to 224 specimens. Among other private collections may be mentioned those of 
Retzius, Nilsson, Eschricht, Van der Hoeven, Thurnam, &c. 
The Mortonian collection, in this Academy, is by far the largest and most diver- 
sified in the United States, and, as far as I can learn, in the world. The Smith - 
sonian Institution is in possession of several hundred crania, chiefly of Ameri- 
can Indians. I have examined a few, also, in the Patent Office in Washington. 
Most of the cranial collections in this country are small and are principally 
contained in the Museums of Scientific Associations, Medical Colleges, Phreno- 
logical Societies, &c. In this city (Philadelphia) the Museum of the University of 
Pennsylvania contains 169 skulls ; that of the Jefferson College 12 ; that of the 
Pennsylvania College 125 ; and that of the Philadelphia College of Medicine 80. 
In the Canadian Journal of Industry, Science and Art for October, 1855, spe- 
cial directions were given with a view to the formation of a collection of An- 
cient Crania, illustrative of Canadian Ethnology." In the same Journal for 
November, 1856, the Editor Prof. D. Wilson, re-produces some of these direc- 
tions, in the hope of securing a more careful attention to the preservation of 
the human remains and relics of art found in the ancient sepulchral deposits in 
Canada. He appeals to the " members of the Canadian Institute, who are scat- 
tered over nearly every district of the Province," to contribute their share to 
the elucidation of Ethnological Science, by rescuing from destruction the re- 
mains of the ancient and more recently displaced aborigines, and the specimens 
of their rude arts, brought to light in the course of the agricultural, railway, 
and other operations, which are extending into new districts, breaking up virgin 
soil, and leading to extensive excavations in regions hitherto untouched by the 
spade or plough. 
From a later number of this Journal (November, ISST) it appears that in 
Canada there are several small collections of human crania contained in the 
Museums of the Canadian Institute, the Toronto University, Trinity and Knox's 
Colleges, and in the private cabinets of Prof. Wilson, and Drs. Rodder and 
Bovell, of Toronto, and the Rev. Jno. Gray, of Orillia. 
Now, from the foregoing remarks, the members of the Academy will perceive 
that, to the student of craniology, catalogues of all such collections, whether 
large or small — especially if they be descriptive — are of very considerable 
value. They make known to him the existence of other collections besides his 
own, and inform him what races and tribes of men are represented therein, 
or in other words, precisely how much and what available material has been 
collected for the furtherance of his scientific specialty. He may be desirous 
of studying the cranial characters of a particular race, of which the specimens 
in the only collection to which he has access are few in number or of doubtful 
origin. Having exact catalogues of the various cranial collections which have 
been made, from time to time, and deposited in different parts of the world, he 
