I >
I's
I ^ I
-I
I
22J, CRANIA BRITANNICA. [CHAP. VIII.
undistinguisliable equality in their antiquity, or devoid of other indications of precedence or
sequence. It is alike impossible to meet the requirements of the upholders of the " pre-Celtic
hypothesis," in any of its forms, without making assumptions which facts and legitimate
deductions do not appear to support with any such readiness and fulness as to merit confidence.
The pressure of these difficulties has led us, for the secondary arrangement of the ancient British
skulls, to adopt a geographical order, very much that in which Ptolemy, circa A.D. 120, mentions
the tribes of the British Islands as they were known in his day. Upon the whole it is probable
that the majority of these tribes occupied pretty much the same districts from very ancient times :
yet some of these are known to have been intrusive, and the limits of others most likely varied;
therefore it is not in all cases possible to assert that each individual cranium is of that tribe
under which it is placed. Hence this order, in which it is intended to arrange the Plates of the
work, although the best we have been able to devise, is not and cannot be made exact. It will be
seen that, with Ptolemy, we take the sister island of Hibernia first, and then proceed to Britain
and its islets, beginning with the northern tribes, and so passing gradually to the south.
I t may be added here that a similar geographical method has been observed with the Anglo-
Saxon skulls, which are arranged under the heads of the respective Anglo-Saxon kingdoms,
commencing with that fli-st established, Kent.
We have devoted much time and labour to procuring accurate measurements of crania,
witliout ever conceiving that any mathematical precision can be attached to such metrical
materials; rather, they become valuable when in sufiicient abimdance to allow of reliable
averages beuig deduced from them. In truth, our figui-es, our descriptions, and our measurements
must be regarded as supplementing each other, as aU contributing to afford more correct
ideas of the skulls themselves, and as data as trustworthy as we have been able to make them.
In Table I. the averages of the 16 brachycephalie skulls are, breadth J -82, height K '76. The
averages of the 13 dolichocephaKc skulls, excluding the synostotic ones, breadth J-76, height K-76.
This is according to the method of Mr. Sush. By that of M. Broca the 34. skulls will be divided
as follows, and give the following averages. Of 5 ptire brachycephali, the average breadth J is
•85, the average height K "77; of 11 sub-brachycephali, the average breadth J is '81, the average
height -76; of 4 mesaticephali, the average breadth J is '78, and the average height K is also -78.
Of 5 sub-doUchocephali, the average breadth J is -75, and the average height K is also "75. Of
9 pure dolichocephalic the average breadth J is -71, and the average height K is -74.
Taking the average internal capacity of the 27 shiMs of men of Table I., which is 80 ounces
avoirdupois of sand, or 97-29 cubic inches, we shall find that the average weight of the brain in
an ancient Briton, allowing 5-0 ounces for that of the membranes, c&c., is 54-0 ounces av.*
According to the conclusions of Dr. Peacock, " the encephalon in the adult male weighs on an
average 50 oz. 3'25 dr."t. This corresponds closely, he says, with the average deduced by Dr.
Reid, and does not differ greatly from the conclusions of Sir William Hamilton, Dr. Sims, and
Dr. Clendinning. The result of Dr. Robert Boyd's very numerous observations is, that the
* It must be recollected that in any comparative estimate
of the weight of the contained brain in a skull of ordinary capacity,
an allowance must be made for the dura mater and
other membranes, the blood and other fluids. Probably about
5 oz. av, should be deducted for them in the male, and4'0 oz.
in the female. This is the result of several observations bv
Dr. Thurnam, and corresponds very closely with the computation
of Prof. Huschke. He regards the dura mater as
weighing about 70 grammes, the pia mater, vessels, and effused
blood, according to their thickness and state of fulness with
blood, from 50 to CO grammes. He thus concludes that it is
necessary to deduct somewhere near 130 grammes, i. e. 4 öoz.
av., from the cubic measure to obtain the volume of the brain,
and therefore a true datum for comparison with tables giving
the weights of brains.—'Schädel, Hirn und Seele,' 18.04, S. 5(i.
t ioc.. dt. p. 19.
» L Ä
CHAP. VIII.] MEASUREMENTS OE THE SKULLS. 225
average weight of the adult male encephalon, placed in decennial periods of age, ranged from
48'2 oz. to 45-34 oz. av., giving a mean of 46-77 oz. av. * If we turn for comparison to the long
table of Prof. Rudolph Wagner, which is disposed on a different principle, that of gradual
progression, of males and females indiscriminately, from the largest brains to the smallest, the
weights being given in grammes, we shall find that, as 54-0 ounces equal 1528 grammes, the
average weight of the brain of the ancient Briton is the same as that of a man of 50 years of
age, weighed by Bergmann, No. 91 in the Table (which extends from No. 1 to No. 964), therefore
plainly occupying a very high position.
In this place we may summarily mention the chief archaeological relations of the 35 ancient
British skulls, engraved in the " Crania Britannica." Of the interments of the bodies from
which they were derived, 28 had been made in cists of some kind, 3 in chambers or larger cists,
1 in a tree cofiin, 1 in a grave, and 2 are in this respect doubtful. Of the skeletons to which
the skulls belonged, 32 were laid in a crouching or contracted position, 1 was extended at length,
and of 2 the exact position is doubtful. With 19 of the bodies stone implements were discovered,
and in 4 of these cases implements or ornaments of bronze also; in two instances bronze
objects were met with, stone implements being absent. Articles made of iron were found with
two of the skeletons. (Plates 43 and 45.) In 12 examples of the entire series pottery was
present, and in 3 objects made of bone.
Table II. confirms all the results of Table I.
The comparison of the average internal capacity of the skuUs of the 30 ancient British women
in Table II., which is 69-6 ounces of sand, will afford not dissimilar results. Dr. Peacock states
the average weight of the adult woman's brain to be 44 oz. 14 dr. av. Dr. Boyd says it
ranged in his researches from 43-7 to 39-77 oz. av. That of the ancient British women,
allowing a deduction of 4-5 oz. for the membranes and fluids, is equivalent to 46-2 oz., or
1308 grammes. This latter weight stands on the same paraUel as that of the weights of the
brains of two women, weighed by Bergmann, one aged 57, the other 31 years, in the Table of
Dr. Wagner, Nos. 449 and 450, i. e. as near the middle of his long series as may be.
The various conditions under which the bodies of the persons referred to in Table II. were
discovered, as to the position of the skeleton, kind of grave, &c., or what may be caUed their
antiquarian relations, were, as far as can be ascertained, as follow. The interments had taken
place in cists in 41 cases, in chambers in 4 cases. The bodies had been laid in a reclining or
crouching position in 52 instances, at length in one; they were both extended and flexed in
another barrow, and in three they formed a confused pile of skeletons. Stone implements
accompanied them in 36 interments, in two those of bronze were also present, and in two others
bronze objects alone. None of iron were met with. Implements or ornaments of bone were
found with five of the skeletons, and ancient British urns and pottery with 19.
We have inserted in Table III. a considerable number of the measurements of 46 skuHs of the
aboriginal people of Sweden and of Denmark. This Table is of much interest and importance, as
it affords the means of compai-ison with the crania of our own aborigines. By an examination
of the averages, it wiU be seen that there is a great resemblance between the two series of skulls,
though those of the ancient Britons generally exceed in some degree those of the primeval Scandinavians.
StUl the numbers indicating the ratios of the breadth J, -77, and of the height K, -76,
agree tolerably closely with those in the ancient British Table I., -80 and -75; and ttill morl
closely with those in our ancient British Table II., viz. -77 and -75.
* Tables of the Weights of the Human Body and Internal Organs arranged from 2614 post-mortem examinations " -Phi l
Trans. 18C1, p. 241. '
(J. B. D.)