Indigenous Races of the Earth

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202 TJIE CRANIAL CJIARACTERISTICS oval cranium than tho tl'llo Swedes. In tho skull of a Tnm11nic 8w do (No. 121) tho posterior region of Lho calvaria is broader, and docs not slope away so much. In general configuration this cranium approaches the bra hy-cophalic class of H.ETZIUA. A Danish skull figured by NrLSSON,u!o after E onurcm, of Copen­hagen, 1' somblos the Lapponic much more than Lhe Norwegian or wodish 1\)I'Jn:,; described above. '£he cl'anial types of reat Britain-the "islands set in the sea" -next claim ont· atL ntion. Tho cLhnolocry of tho J31'itish Isles appears to be very closely con­nected with that of andinavia. .Accot·ding to Prof. NILSSoN, the ancient inhabitants of Britain arc identical with those of Norwny and woden.181 Refer nee to the views put forth by different ethno­graphers and archeo]oO'uos reveals to us a remarkable degr e of unc rtainty respecting tho cranial forms and general physical charac­ters of the primitive Britons. "Tt scorns $tl'llngo," snys Dr. l"ItiOHARD, "thl1t such n subject as tho physicnl ohtwnotor of tho Coltio moo should ltnvo boon matlo a theme of controversy. Yet thi~ hns happened, and tho disputo has tumod, not only on tho question, what chnrnct r.istio trnilH belonged to tho nnoiont Coltro, but, whnt aro thoso of their dosccndants, tho Welsh and tho coltish Oo.iil ?" 18l Agnin, ho says-" Tho skulls found in old burio.l-placos iu Drituin, which I lmvo boon onablcd to oxnrniuc, diffor matcrinlly f1·om tho Orocian motlol. Tho amplitude of t.ho nntorior parts of tho omnium is very muoh less, giving n compnrnlivoly small spnco for tho nntorior lobes of tho bmin. In this particular, tho nnciont inh11bitm1ts of l3ritflin 11pper1r to lmvo difi01·cd vory oonsidornbly from tho prosont. Tho latter, either ns tho result of mo.ny ngos of grcntot· intolloctufll cultivntion, or from some oth r CMlSO, havo, ns I am porsundod, much more cnpncious brtlin-casos than th it· forefathers." 168 In nnothor })!nco, ho asks­" Wns thoro anything poculinr in tho conforu1ation of tho hoatl in tho UriLish and Onuli~h l'l1ooa? I do not remember that !IllY pcculinrity of fol1tUI·os lmH boon observed by l'toman writers in either Ortuls or Dritons. 'J'horo are probnbly in existence sufficient menns for dcoicling this inquiry, in tho skulls foun<.l in old Dritish cuirns, or plttcos of sepulture. I have soon ttbout lutlf-l1-dozon skulls, found in different pnrts of Englt1nd, in situntions which ronrlcrotl it highly probnblo that th y holongcd to tlllCiont 13ritona. All those pnrtook of ono Rll"iking ohtlrt\cteri~tic, viz., n ren11wlmblo lll\l"l'OWnoss of tho for hoatl, oompnrod with tho oooip1tt, giving !t very small spn.co for tho nntcrior lobes of the bmin, and allowing room for n lat·go dovolopmont of the posterior lobes. Thoro aro somo modern English nnd Wol~h hoads to bo soon of n similat· form, but lhoy nro uot uumerous. It is to bo hoped that such specimens of tho craniology of our nncestors will not bo au1fored to fnll into doony."l8{ Tho hope hero expressed, I may say, en passant, has at length met with an nblo response, in tho Orania Britannica of Messrs. DAVIti 180 Sknndinavislm NordonR Urinvlttmro, ott forsok i oompnro.tiva Ethnogro.phion af S. Nils­eon, Phil. Dr., &o. Christi!lllstod, 1838. I. llMtol, Plato D, Fig. 10. 161 Soc his Letter to D1·. Davis, quoted in Crania lJritannica, p. 17. m I'tosen.rches into tho Physical History of Mankintl, 3d edition, vol. III. Londou, 1841, p. 180. tss lbid, 8d edit., vol. I., p. 805. ts' Ibid, III., 109. OF TIIE RACES OF MEN. 2U1 and TrruRNAM, who have spiritedly undcrtttken to "r sene and perpe­tuate the faithful lineaments of a suilicicnt number of Lhc skulls of tbe aneiout races of Britain to preserve authentic data for the future." Mr. WILJ)E, a distingui shotl antiquary, calls the primitive Il"ish-thoso who, in tho t•omo­toat times, built tho pymmidal sepulchres with stone p•tssagos- "globular-lJOlttletl." ~'l•o skulls folllld in tho "Ct·omlecbs," or sepulchral mou11tls of a lnlor dnlo, ho nssm·os us !tt·o "chiefly chnractorizod by their cxtromo length from boforo hMkwn.rds, or whnt is toohnically termed their nntoro-posloriot· dinmctot·, ttnd tho OttlHcss of th ir sides; nnd in this, au <.I in moat other roapccts, they corrospontl with tho second form of bond tliscovorod in tho DttlliHh sopulchros." Tboy nlso "p•·cstmt tho same m11rked chnrnetcrs in their facio.! aspect, nnd tho projecting occiput 11nd prominent frontal sinuses, o.s tho Do.ni sh" skulls. "'l'ho nost•, in common with nll tho truly Iri sh honda 1 have oxo.min!ltl, presents the most marked pecu­liarities, and evidently must have been very prominent, or what is usually termed aquilin~. With this we lmvo ovidonco of tho tooth slightly projecting, ll11d the chin squrtrc, wollmurkod, and also prominent; RO that, on the whole, this mco mnst hnvo posMcssctl pcculirtrly woll­mr. rko<l features, and o.n int lligcnt physiognomy. '!'Ito fo•·oltcttd is low, but 110t ruh·o,ttinp;. Tho mol11r teeth nro romo...Jmbly ground down upon their crowns, and tl1o attnchrne11tS of tho tcmpornl muscles nre oxccodingly well mnrked. . . . . Now, wo fintl similar con litiorts of head still existing nmo11g tho modern inhnbitants of tlds cou11try, particulnrly boyonrl tl1o Shannon, towards tho west, whore tho d11rk or F'ir-l3olg moo may still bo trnccd, as di ~ tin c t from tho more globulnr-bondod, light-eyed, fnir-hnired Celtic people, who lie to tho no•·tlt­oast of that river." Jn tho "Kistttevon," n still lo.tor form of the nnciont funereal roccp­taolos, "tho skull is much bolter proportioned, higher, moro globul£\r, nnd, in every rc~poc t, approaching more to tho highest fo1·ms of tho Indo-European vnrioty of the Cauonsiun raco." 186 From these interesting. researches of Mr. Wrr.DE, it app are quito evident that Ireland has, at cliflcront ancl distant periods, been pcovlc<l by at least two, if not three, distinct races, of which tho ii 1·st waf.! characterized by a shol't, and tho second by an clongaLcd f rm or skull; thus corresponding remarkably, in pl1yAical character and order of succession, to tho early inbauitants of 'candinavia. Prof. DANIEL WILSON, the learned general editor of the Canadian Journal, has recently demonstrated the existence in cotland of two distinct primitive races, prior to the app aranco of the true Oelta.>. Tie thus refers to the crania of these ancient people : "Forlunatoly, n fow skulls from Scottish tumuli and ciata nrc preserved in tho Museums of tho Scottish Antiqunries and of tho Edinburgh Phronologicl11 Society. A compnrison of these with the specimens of crania drawn by Dr. 1'hurnam from oxo.mplcs found in nn ancient tumular comotory at Lamol Hill, near Yor~ boliovcd to be of tho Anglo-Saxon period, abundo.utly proves au essential dilforcnco of rnce~.l 80 Tho latter, though belonging to the superior or dolicho-kophnlic type, nro amnii, very poorly dovclopotl, low ~ntl narrow in tho forehoo.d, nnd pyro.midnl in form. A striking fonturo of ono type of emma from tbe Scottish barrows is n. squaro compact form_._· ·_· - ·- ·------------- 186 Lecture on tho Ethnology of tho Ancient Irish. Dy W. l't. Wilde, 1844. 100 Nnturalllistory of Mao, p. 193.