238 CRANIA BRITANNICA. [CHAP. IX.
Tliis gives an equivalent of 50-9 ounces of cerebral substance, having previously deducted 5'0
ounces for the membraaies and fluids. In accordance with the calculations already given, this is
nearly one ounce in excess of the average weight of the adult male brain in Dr. Peacoct's
Tables; so that, maMng a trifling allowance for an unconscious but inevitable selection
which may prevail to some extent in our Tables, we may come to the conclusion that the
brain of the ancient Briton did not differ materially in weight from, and certainly was not
less than that of the modern English. Although our measurements and calculations tend to
show a slight advantage in favour of the former, we may with great reliance confide in this conclusion.
Hence it is almost superfluous to carry the comparison any further. Morton's Table
is estimated in cubic inches, and the above average of VO'G ounces of sand, when converted into
cubic inches, gives an equivalent of 93'1 cubic inches. This is very nearly the mean measurement
of the internal capacity of the skuU in his " Teutonic Family," that which occupies the
highest position in his Table, embracing Swedes, Germans, English, and Anglo-Americans—the
last the lowest in the scale, the English the highest. It is the same if we refer to Professor II.
Wagner's Table, and reduce the weight of the brain (50'9 ounces av.) to grammes, this weight
being equivalent to M^l grammes. This is the weight of the brain of a man of 40 years of age
observed by M. Parchappe, which occupies the high position of No. 177 in the long tabular series
of Wagner, whose Table extends from No. 1, the largest brain, to No. 694, the smallest*.
We have devoted a smaller space to the craniology of the more highly endowed, invading
races, as these may be, and, indeed, have been studied out of the British islands. Here, again,
we have found the special development of the cranium immediately according with the phase of
civilization of that great Eoman people who subdued so many races to their sway. The character
of massiveness, squareness, and broadness of outUne which is seen in their skulls might be taken
as an index to theii- vigour, their intellectual power, and their avidity for conquest. The finest
cranium in the work, that of Theodorianus (Plates 6 and 17), in the elegance of its development,
points to that wondrous people, indicated in his cognomen, some of whose blood he appears to
have shared.
The series of Anglo-Saxon skulls, in their great resemblance to those of modern Englishmen,
vindicate the true derivation of the essential characteristics of our race from a Teutonic origin.
The form and proportions of these crania probably evince more power than refinement.
In the division of the ancient Britons it is probable that our Plates, from the inevitable
necessity of our selecting the most perfect examples, have exhibited them in a light a little too
favourable, and somewhat above the mean of their race. But, from the extreme difficulty of
acquiring any authentic specimens of the skulls of the Scandinavian invaders, and the few we
have met with that could be relied upon, we believe we have been compelled to descend as much
below the mean with regard to them as we have passed above it in the case of the aborigines.
Perhaps, now that we have roused a lively attention to the examination and the preservation of
ancient cranial relics, a series of more favourable examples of the skulls of Norsemen and Danes
will ultimately be brought to Hght, skulls more in accordance with the powerful, fine, and wellendowed
people spread over those parts of the islands in which northern blood is justly thought
to predominate.
* Alas! it was whilst inscribing these lines that the intelli- writer. His decease took place on the 13th of JMay 186-1, in
gence of the death of this distinguished man, who took a deep the 59th year of his age.
and friendly interest in the ' Crania Britannica,' reached the
(J. B. D.)
T A B L E S
OP
M E A S U R E M E N T S OF SKULLS;
TAKEN ACCORDING TO THE METHOD DESCRIBED AT PAGES 221, 222.
2 I 2
m