1
220 CRANIA BRITANNICA. [CHAP. VILI.
CHAPTER VIII.
ON THE MEASUREMENTS OF ANCIENT BRITISH, ROMAN, ANGLO-SAXON,
AND OTHER SKULLS.
Scilicet et tempus veniet quum finibus illis
Agricola, iucurvo terram molitus aratro,
Graudiaque effossis mirabitur ossa sepulcliris.
VIRGIL, Geory. Lib. I. 492.
IN our Introductory Chapter, at p. 11, a promise was made tliat, on the completion of the
sui-vey of the crania of the ancient races of the British Islands, as ample tables of the
measiu-ements of these relies shoidd be supplied as the materials within our reach afforded.
In proceeding to redeem this promise, it is needful to say that, in the meantime, we have
thought it advisable to extend the number of measures, in order to give more complete notions
of the skuUs themselves, and to render the tables more generally useful for anthropological
pvu-poses. In recent times many metrical systems, as well as instruments, have been introduced
into cranioscopy, each of which has its OTvn special advantages Some of them are complex,
and require more time and attention than can generally be devoted to such investigations.
* We can only enumerate the principal ones here. The
distinguished zoologist Van der Hoeven was one of the very
earhest craniometricians : " Sur les Dimensions de la Tête osseuse,"
Ann. des Sei. Nat. 1837 ; " Catalogus Craniorum div.
Gent."1860, p. 3. S.G.Morton: "Crania Americana," 1839,
p. 249; Proc. Acad. Nat. Sei. Philad. 1849 ; " Cat. of Skulls,
3rd ed. 1849. Carus : "Grundzüge einer Cranioscopie," 1841 ;
"Atlas der Cranioscopie," 1843. Virchow : " Ueber den Cretinismus,"
Verh. der Phys. Med. Ges. zu WUrzb. 1851 ; Gesam.
Abhandl. 1856, S. 914. Buschke: Schädel, Hirn und Seelen,
1854. Scherzer and Schwarz : " On Measurements as a diagnostic
Means of distinguishing Human Races," 1858 ; "On the
Methods of Meas. adopted by Drs. Scherzer and Schwarz," by
J . Barnard Davis, Sill. Journ. 18(10, p. 329. "A System of
Anthropometrical Investigations," by Eduard Schwarz, 1862.
Von Baer : " Crania Selecta," Mém. de l'Ac. des Sc. de St. Petersb.
1859, vol. viii. 244 ; "Bericht über die Zusammenkunft
einiger Anthropologen im Sept. 1862," S.48. Busk: "Obs. on
a systematic Mode of Craniometry," Trans. Ethnol.Soc., 1861,
vol. i. p. 341 ; " Craniometry and Craniography," Nat. Hist.
Rev. 1862, p. 347. J. Aitken Meigs, " The Mensuration of
the Human Skull," Nor. Amer. Med. Chir. Rev. 18G1, p. 837.
Welcker, " Untersuch, über Wachsthum und Bau des menschl.
Schädels," 1862, S. 22. Alexander Ecker, " Crania Germanise
merid. occid." 1863, Heft I.
For the manipulation of these and other systems of craniometry
many special instruments have been devised. A reference
to the whole of these, any more than to the whole of the
systems themselves, is out of our intention ; but a few of them
may be mentioned. The splendid .Anthropological Atlas (Voy.
au Pôle Sud, 1842-47) contains, on three foho plates, the delineation
of the Céphalomètre du Dr. Dumoutier. This very
complex instrument, which is on the principle of those used by
sculptors in carving busts, is here represented in its complete
and working state, and also everypart of which it is constructed.
Dr. H. Jacquart, "Me'm. sur la Mensuration dul'Angle Facial,
les Goniomètres faciaux et un nouveau Goniomètre facial "
(Gaz. Me'd. 1856). In the year 1853, Mr. John Grattan published
an account of his ingenious Craniometer (Ulster Journ. of
Archseol. vol. i. pp. 198, 276; vol. vi. pp. 27, 221), by means
of which he was able to measure accurately, and afterwards to
record, all the diameters from any centre of a calvarium,
whether the transverse (¿. e. from the axis of the auditory
foramma), vertical, or other. On reading this description and
studying the figure of the instrument, it occurred to the writer
of this note that it might be possible, in the hands of so skilful
a person as Mr. Grattan, to alter the machine so as to make
it trace, and thug itself record, every circumference of a
skull, from which tracings any measurements could be obtained.
On communicating with Mr. Grattan, he adopted the
principle suggested, and by great pains and perseverance has
now succeeded in constructing a Craniometer which fulfils all
these requirements. It circumscribes a skull in any direction,
and, at the same time, traces its outline of the exact size, on a
sheet of paper. These outlines can then be measured with the
greatest nicety. An account of this instrument will shortly be
published. Antelme, " Note sur la Céphalométrie, avec une
planche," Mém. de la Soc. d'Anthropologie, vol. i. p. 337.
Broca, " Mém. sur le Craniographe et sur quelques unes de ses
applications, avec une planche," ib. p. 349.
CHAP. VIII.] MEASUREMENTS OE THE SKULLS. 221
Some are so indefinitely framed that their results would be uncertain, except in the hands of
their authors; and others are arranged with too little allowance for the aberrations which are
met with among the crania of every race, however clearly their diagnostic characters may be
marked. Indeed, for the entire series of cranial peculiarities, we are constrained to discountenance
the too hasty assumption of specific values. It is only where these are observed frequently, and
can be dealt with nnmericaUy, that they become satisfactory and convincing.
The method of measurement we have been led to adopt is partly anatomical and partly
geometrical, so as to afford the most faithful image of the skull and the value of each of its
elements. It extends to twenty observations and results; and, whilst it is tolerably complete and
embraces almost every dimension, it requires no great variety of instruments nor any serious
expenditm-e of time. It may be regarded as a slight extension of the plan pursued in the
Descriptions of the Skulls in this work, with an alteration of the order of notation, for convenience'
sake. It includes. A, the internal capacity of the cranium, expressed in ounces avoirdupois
of clean Calais sand, of sp. gr. 1-425 ; B, the circumference, taken, as well as the follo-vving
measurements (C, a, b, c, D), with a tape graduated in English inches and tenths, by placing the
tape across the frontal bone, about an inch above the frouto-nasal suture, and passing it round,
over the most prominent part of the occiput, to the same spot again; C, the longitudinal ovfrontooccipital
arch, taken from the fronto-nasal suture over the middle of the vault of the calvarium
to the posterior edge of ih.Q foramen magnum, distinguishing, a, th.ei frontal, b, the parietal, and
c, the occipital portions of this arch, being the lengths of the three cranial vertebra3; D, the
transverse or intermastoid arch, taken from the point of one mastoid process vertically across
the sagittal suture, about an inch behind the coronal, to the point of the other; E, the length,
or longitudinal diameter, measured, like the following (E, a, b, c, G, H, I), with callipers, or with
Mr. Busk's convenient craniometer, from the glabella, regarded as about an inch above the
fronto-nasal suture, to the most prominent point of the occipital; E, the extreme breadth,
distinguishing whether it be interparietal (p.) or intertemporal (i.); and also, a, the breadth of
the frontal, or the mdest part of that bone; b, the parietal breadth, or the diameter between
the parietal tubers; and c, the occipital breadth, or the diameter between the spot at which the
squamous suture abuts on the lambdoidal on one side to that on the other*; G, the height,
taken from the centre of the plane of the occipital foramen to a spot on the vertex in the
sagittal suture an inch behind its junction with the coronal, either with the craniometer or with
the callipers, by deciding this plane at sight—a, the height of the frontal, b, of the parietals,
c, of the occipital, taken with the little instrument described at p. 111, or with Mr. Busk's
craniometer, from the axis of the external auditory foramina to the most remote parts of these
bones respectively; H, the length of the face, from the fronto-nasal suture to the tip of the
chin; I, the breadth of the face, the diameter between the outsides of the zygomatic arches at
their most prominent parts. To these measurements we have added the following ratios, viz. :
J, the proportion which the breadth of the calvarium, E, bears to the length, E, regarded as 100;
and K, that which the height of the calvarium, G, bears to its length, E, equally taken as 100.
The former of these relations has, with his usual felicity, been denominated by the learned
anthropologist. Dr. Paul Broca, I'indice ciphaliqiie J. lu arranging skulls according to these
* This measure is the extreme Ireadth of the occijiital bone,
instead of the less accurate diameter prescribed at p. 11.
j- This craniometer, figured on the next page, is eight inches
high and the same broad. It has a brass rod, rising from the
centre of the moveable cross bar, which slides through a hole Bulletins de la See. d'Anthrop. ii. 505.
in the upper fixed transverse bar. Professor Ecker has introduced
some modifications in the construction of this instrument,
which are described in his • Crania Germaniie' above
quoted, S. 4.
2 G