Wilson’s prehistoric man. 
29 
well written, and will repay an attentive perusal. He gives also an 
amusing and instructive history of the various opinions which have 
been held by different Archeologists, on the nature of the Highton 
Hock inscriptions, and some other doubtful relics; but as these anti¬ 
quities are the subject of a special article which appears in another part 
of this review, we shall not here enter into any discussion of them. 
In the chapter entitled “ Ante-Columbian Traces: Colonization,” 
Hr. "Wilson examines the evidence as to a Scandinavian discovery of 
North America, and the conclusion to which he arrives is the follow¬ 
ing : “ That the old Northmen visited some portions of the Ameri- 
“ can coasts appears to be confirmed by most credible testimony; but 
“ that their presence was transient, and that they left no enduring 
“ evidence of their visits, seems little less than certain.” 
The dictum of Ulloa, “ He who has seen one tribe of Indians, has 
“ seen all,” and the inference that the various nations of America 
(always excepting the Esquimaux) constitute a single variety of 
Man, have generally been accepted as true by American Ethnolo¬ 
gists. “ Lawrence, Wiseman, Agassiz, Squier, G-liddon, Nott, and 
Meigs might each be quoted in confirmation of this opinion.” It has 
also the support of Morton, who, however, noticed the differences 
between the skulls of different tribes, but attributed them to artifi¬ 
cial distortion. To this curious habit Dr. Wilson devotes a separate 
chapter, which is a valuable addition to our knowledge of the subject, 
and we regret that our space does not permit us to do justice to the 
facts which he has brought together. “ The artificial forms,” he 
says, “ given to the human head by the various tribes among whom 
“ the custom has been practised in ancient and modern times, though 
“ divided by Dr. Gosse, of Geneva, into sixteen classes, range be- 
“ tween two extremes. One of these is a combined occipital and 
“frontal compression, reducing the head as nearly as possible to a 
“ disk, having its mere edge laterally .... The other form, 
“ which is more common among the Elat-head tribes on the Columbia 
“ river and its tributaries, depresses the forehead, and throws back 
“ the whole skull .... Fashion regulates to some extent the 
“ special form given to the head among various tribes, but this is 
“ modified by individual caprice, and a considerable variety is obser- 
“ vable in the strange shapes which it is frequently forced to assume.” 
As illustrations he gives figures of a Nematee chief, a Elat-head child, 
anfl Caw-we-litcks, “ a Elat-head woman.” 
It is certainly difficult to believe that such changes as are here 
portrayed can be produced without injury, and yet we are assured 
that they affect neither the health nor the intellect. 
While, however, Dr. Wilson fully appreciates the importance of 
these observations, he denies that all the differences which distin¬ 
guish the form of the head in different tribes, can be thus accounted 
for. He gives careful measurements of many American skulls, both 
ancient and modern, and after comparing them together he sums up 
the question as follows: “ If differences of cranial conformation of 
