620 
with the squaws of many tribes of North- American Indians. 
Where sucli a large amount of labour, not merely domestic, 
falls to the share of women and the duties imposed on 
them' demand activity and frequent journeys, the cradle- 
board must be a very useful adjuvant. The infant so 
eontined is qujte safe, and can be suspended from the 
branch of a tree, or a peg in the wigwam and slung over 
the back, whenever it is comenient. It seems to me 
most likely that the women of the ancient Britons, who, 
no doubt, were real hel])-me6ts of the greatest use to their 
husbands, followed this custoun. At all events, the skulls 
of the ancient Britons frequently exhibit an artihcially 
flattened surface behind, extending over a portion of the 
parietals and of the occipital l>one. The degree of this 
parieto-occipital flattening varies in different instances and 
is almost always accomj)anied with other slight defor- 
mations. The circumference of the calvarium immediately 
before tliis flattened portion, in the inter-parietal and inter- 
temporal regions, is usually bulged out, so as to render 
these diameters a little greater. And there is another 
peculiarity that attracts attention. It is rare that the 
occipital region of the head has been placed exactly sym- 
metrically on the plane surface, on the contrary, it is 
commonly found to be rather more flattened on one side 
than the other; this is sometimes the left, sometimes the 
right. But, to whichever side the occi})ital flattening may 
incline, there is generally observed «a slighter flattening in 
the frontal region, on the opposite side. These are the ne- 
cessary results of any interference with the form of a 
spheroidal body having yielding walls, like the human 
calvarium. Whenever such a body, as a full bladder for 
instance, is laid on a flat surface, its sides tende to bulge 
