Description of different varieties of skulls and of human remains referable to the tenth century, obtained during recent excavations of a large sepulchral mound near Donnybrook, Co. Dublin / by William Frazer.

  • Frazer, William.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Description of different varieties of skulls and of human remains referable to the tenth century, obtained during recent excavations of a large sepulchral mound near Donnybrook, Co. Dublin / by William Frazer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    skulls are occasionally to be noticed in all our large asylums for the insane and for idiots; and the A»tec children, so-called, who were shown here a few years since were specimens of microcephalic idiots with dwarfed bodies. One portion of a skull of unusual thickness was ob- tained. In some parts it is almost one-third of an inch thick, measuring 15 millimetres exactly. This appears to be a natural and healthy bone, the thickening being caused by no disease whatever. In considering the shapes of the skulls obtained that belonged to adults for classing them, I have selected out of a large number three specimens which will illustrate the three great divisions of crania which are usually described. Of these No. 44 will represent a dolichoce- phalic skull, .No. 21 an intermediate mesaticephalic form, and No. 22 is brachycephalic. These classifications, which depend on the relation or ratio that the antero-posterior diameter will bear to the transverse measurement of the skull at its widest part, is calculated by the formula a^posFdiam^^, but such calcula- tions are facilitated by the excellent tables of Prof. Flower, published in the last catalogue of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. The index varies from 750 and under for dolichocephali, 750 to 800 for mesaticephali, 800 and upwards for brachycephali. Now the cranium No. 44 affords us an index so low as 704. This is an exceptionally low result, for the skull of the average Australian savage reaches 71’49, and even the Hottentot amounts to 72’42. No. 21, the mesaticephalic skull, is found to possess when measured an index of 754 ; this corresponds with the skulls of the Dolmen builders, and that of the Ancient Egyptians. It also corresponds exactly with the index ascribed by Messrs. Thurnam and Davis to the ancient Irish skull. From several considerations I am led to believe this is a typical Celtic or Irish cranium. But on examining the skull which I first obtained, No. 22, and which, I believe, was that interred with the sword and spear, having the deep sword cut in its frontal bone, the index rises to 833; this is, therefore, a good specimen of a dolichocephalic skull, and it corresponds in