103 
The first consists in the application of pressure, usually both 
in front and behind, or in front or behind alone, by means of 
flat boards or pieces of bark applied in such a way as to exert con¬ 
tinued pressure for a considerable time in early infancy, and 
commencing immediately after birth, when the shape of the 
head admits very readily of being moulded in almost any di¬ 
rection. It is to be observed, however, that under certain very 
common conditions a considerable modification of the form of 
the head, more especially in the hinder region, may arise, as it 
were unintentionally, from the practice of swathing the infant 
continually upon a board for the convenience of carriage. Or, 
again, the form of the head may be affected even by the manner 
in which the child is otherwise habitually carried, either on the 
right or the left arm of the nurse, in consequence of which a 
considerable degree of unilateral deformity may be produced. 
It will be necessary, therefore, to ascertain whether any ob¬ 
served deformity of the head or skull arises from an intentional or 
unintentional cause, and in all cases to note the mode in which 
infants are habitually carried or swathed. 
The other principal mode in which the form of the skull is 
altered is by the methodical application of bandages encircling 
the head in various directions. The artificial forms produced 
in this way are usually more or less elongated or pyramidal, or, 
as some may be termed, cylindrical. In the case of this kind 
of deformation, however, as in the former, considerable abnor¬ 
mities of form may be produced, as it were, unintentionally, by 
the mode in which the head-attire, more especially, is worn. A 
striking instance of this has been observed very extensively in 
France, but more or less of a tendency to the same kind of thing 
may be frequently observed amongst ourselves. 
As the practice of cranial deformation, though probably inno¬ 
cuous, cannot in any case be supposed to possess any direct ad¬ 
vantages, the reason for its extensive prevalence among all races 
of mankind is not very obvious, and is a very curious subject of 
inquiry. 
One of the most probable reasons, and also the most ancient, 
is that assigned by Hippocrates, viz. that it arose from a desire 
to magnify any form of head, considered either as intrinsically 
beautiful or as distinctive of a superior race or rank. 
In investigating this subject, the principal points, therefore, 
to be attended to are :— 
1. The kind or form of the deformation. 
2. Whether by a battening process or by bands. 
