Remarks on the Skull of an Ancient Peruvian. 79 
to three. It is unnecessary to enter into further details, as 
the above are sufficient for comparison with other crania. 
I also exhibit a skull brought from the same locality, near 
Pachacamac, but destitute of ossa tvormiana, and in which 
there is not the slightest trace of a furrow to indicate the 
remains of a former suture. In contrast to the national 
flatheaded skull, I produce a skull belonging to the tribe of 
the Chinooks from Vancouver Island. It is a well-known 
practice amongst this tribe to flatten the head in infancy ; 
but, as Dr Pickering remarks, " As the children grow up, 
the cranium tends to resume its natural shape, so that the 
majority of grown persons hardly manifest the existence of 
the practice. One effect, however," he adds, " seemed to 
be permanently distinguishable, in the unusual breadth of 
the face." Both statements are well borne out in an adult 
specimen in my possession, likewise brought home by Com- 
mander Palmer, the breadth between the malar bones 
being 5^ inches. I have thus briefly referred to the au- 
thorities and statements upon which the hypothesis of a 
distinct race of man has been founded, and hitherto pretty 
generally accepted. The chief osteological characters are 
the peculiar flattening of the skull and the assertion of the 
constant presence of an inter-parietal bone, or os Incce as 
it is termed by Von Tschudi, in compliment to the nation 
in which the peculiarity is said alone to be found. The 
question has been ably and successfully investigated by Dr 
Archibald Smith, whose long residence in Lima afforded 
him favourable opportunities for that purpose. In a com- 
munication entitled "Peruvian Gleanings," published in the 
Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal for 1860, Dr Smith 
says, " That in regard to the supposed osteological type of 
wormian bones in all the crania of the Peruvian Indian 
race, he found, upon due inquiry at the Medical College at 
Lima, that neither its deacon nor professors could give him 
the least information. He then applied to Dr Lorenti, one 
of the best authorities in Peru on such subjects, who at 
once assured Dr Smith that Tschudi's statement was utterly 
untrue. Dr Smith afterwards went to the museum, and saw 
five native Indian skulls from ancient tombs in which the 
