CEANIA BBITANNICA. [CHAP. I. 10
enough already. They wiU tend to solve some of the obscure problems of ethnology. They
will aiford a few reliable data to the liistorian, and avail the antiquary on many occasions,
e^peciaUy where objects are discovered in connexion with human remains, or offering representations
of different people. In numerous oases of this kind the age and nation to wluch the
antiquities are referable may be at once deihied by the help of comparative cranioscopy.
The insular position of these countries gives to them an especial value in ethnological
inquu'ies respecting primeval ages, matever reUance is to be placed upon the smgular doctrme,
that the nearer we approach to prhnitive thnes the less can we depend on those instmcts of
man wliich have continued ever since to distinguish ^Mm,-for example, if the social mstmct,
now so strong as to be effectuaUy overcome, in certain races merely, by other impulses, as
ciu-iosity and the desu-e of gain, the wish to possess the earth-had not been developed m the
human bosom in the first ages, and the few of mankind were impelled mt h the strange desire of
scattering themselves over every region and island of the globe,-still we cannot but regard
such countries as oui-s the most likely to afford satisfactory results respecting primordial races.
Here were to be found for tribes, whether indigenous or introduced, a far greater protection
and secm-i t y from"successive waves of population" than could occui- on contmental ground.
And for th¡ ante-Eoman period, whether we are justified in speaking of a pre-Celtic or not,
we may assume for our inquiry, resting upon personal relics, notwithstanding the dai-kness
which necessarily overshadows such times, a more reliable and less disturbed character than
it could possess elsewhere. We may presume to have in these islands materials for solving
the secret problems of primeval man in at least as pm-e, abundant, and satisfactory a form as
thev are to be found in any other land. " Britain is a world by itself."
' It would be incorrect to represent the subject of the present inqnii-y as altogether new,
althou-h new it is in this enlai-ged sense. On the contrary, it has been already taken up and
discussed by a number of writers justly eminent for theii- science and learning. These authors
have too often assumed the laws of cranial conformation to be more absolute than natm-e has
made them; and with materials in their hands quite inadequate (perhaps scarcely suflcient
to display the extent to which natm-al diversities vibrate between two extremes), have sought
to estabUsh rules and to b^iild up theories which subsequent investigation has not confii-med.
I t may be a question, in some instances, whether they have not whoUy overlooked the peculiarities
of and age. There has been a disposition to generalize and theorize upon scanty
data wHeh is at least prematui-e. The view now given of the magnitude of the inqmi-y will
indicate the caution which should regulate every conclusion, and the necessity for much more
extensive research, in the sphit of resolved freedom from the bias of the hypotheses hitherto
ennnciated. It is the careful study of diversities which can alone give the key to gentilitial
peculiarities. At the fii-st glance the mind is apt to catch too eagerly at aU promment points
of resemblance, overlooking specialities less obvious.
With respect to Tables of measurements of the skuUs, these will have to be postponed,
together with many other subjects to which a review of the whole series of crania depicted is
esLntial, to the conclusion of the work. It was Su- William HamUton who first undertook to
gauge the capacity of a large number of skuUs with a view to determine the weight of the
brain. Dr. Morton then extended this process to a somewhat adequate number of crania
of the different races, in order to deduce available averages of the size of the brain, and fix the
relative capacities of the crania of these races. With this pui-pose he expended great labour
upon his vast coUeetion, the result of which is comprised in a Table printed on an octavo page,
CHAP. I.] INTHODUCTION. 11
and which gives the largest, smallest, and mean capacities of 623 crania of various races and
varieties of man, ai-ranged in groups and families Without entn-ely concurring, either in the
unexceptionable character of the method employed, or in the extent to which such averages may
be relied upon for determining the intellectual power and status of different races—for the
human mind is something beyond rule and Une, and stiH eludes the grasp of aU mechanical
experiments—the groat value of data ehminated with such care as this is unquestionable. The
reseai-ches of Professor Eeid and of Dr. T. B. Peacock have contributed materially to determine
the average weight of the brain in the two sexes and at different ages f- Taking the important
data thus acquired, as weU as others not now alluded to, and availing ourselves of the methods
ah-eady devised, with some corrections, we shaU ultimately present our readers with tables of
measm-ements of the various crania dexiicted, and others which have already fallen and may
hereafter fall into our hands, of the capacities of these skulls, and of the weights of the brain
they have contained, as nearly as these can be recovered.
But, in order to render the description of each skull as complete as possible, as it passes
under our review, we shaU append an account of its dimensions. These will embrace the
foUo-iidng elements, to be obtained by the methods here detailed. The measurements are
obtained in three ways. Mrst, by means of a tape, marked with inches and tenths, is taken,—
the horizontal circumference, by passing the tape round the skuU across the glabella or lower
part of the frontal, and the most prominent portion of the occipital bone; the lengths, of the
frontal region, from the nasal suture to the middle of the coronal; of the parietal region, or
that of the sagittal suture; and of the occipital region, from the end of the sagittal suture to
the posterior margin of the foramen magnum; and the length of the mastoid arch, from the
point of one mastoid process over the highest part of the vertex to the point of the other.
Second, by means of a pair of callipers, and expressed in inches and tenths, is taken,—the
length of the cranium, the occipito-frontal or longitudinal diameter, from the glabella to the
most prominent point of the occiput; the breadths of the frontal region, at the most divergent
points of the frontal bone in each temple upon the coronal suture; of the parietal region, at
the parietal protuberances; and of the occipital region, from a point between the top of the
mastoid and the termination of the upper border of the squamous on one side, to the same point
on the other side; the length of the face, or more properly its height, from the nasal suture
at the root of the nose to the tip of the chin; and the breadth of the face, from the most
prominent part of one zygomatic arch to that of the other :—and, Third, by means of a simple
contrivance, or measm-er, which is composed of two bars graduated in inches and tenths from
the centre of a peg placed at right angles at the lower extremity of each bar, and which is
passed into each outer ear, whilst a cross bar slides at the top of the bars to mark the point of
intersection, is taken,—the height, of iha frontal region, from the centre of the cranium in a line
with the orifices of the ears to the most prominent point of the frontal bone; of the parietal
region, from the same spot to the most prominent point of the sagittal suture; and of the occipital
region, likewise from the same spot to the most prominent point of the upper portion of
the occipital bono. The internal capacity of the cranium, ascertained by filling it carefuUy and
accurately, after closing any natural or accidental opening with a lock of cotton wool, with dry
and clean white Calais sand, of sp. gr. 1-425, and then weighing the sand, its weight being
* Observations on the Size of the Brain.—Proceedings of
the Academy of Nnturnl Sciences of Philadelphia, Oct. 1849.
t Monthly Journal of Medical Science, April 1843, and
August and September 1846.
c 2