63 
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 
observed deformity of the head or skull arises from an inten¬ 
tional 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 m 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, hpwever, as in the former, considerable 
abnormities of form may be produced, as it were, uninten¬ 
tionally, 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 
innocuous, cannot in any case be supposed to possess any 
direct advantages, 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, there¬ 
fore, to be attended to are :— 
1. The kind or form of the deformation. 
2. Whether by a flattening process or by bands. 
3. Whether, in the former case, the pressure is applied 
both in front and behind, or on either aspect singly, and how 
it is effected. 
4. In the latte c case, whether the elongation be upwards 
or backwards. 
