1. The first is suggested by the following Table; taken from a fuller one in Mr. D. Wilson’s valuable Archæology and Prehistoric Annals of Scotland. It shows the relative proportions of a series of skulls of very great, with those of a series of moderate antiquity.
The study of this—and it requires to be studied carefully—gives grounds for believing that the capacity of a skull may increase as the social condition improves; from which it follows that the physical organization of the less-favoured stocks may develope itself progressively,—and, pari passu, the mental power that coincides with it. This illustrates the nature of a certain ethnological question. But what if the two classes of skulls belong to different stocks; so that the owners of the one were not the progenitors of the proprietors of the other? Such a view (and it is not unreasonable) illustrates the extent to which it is complicated.
[Transcriber’s Note: The measurements in the table are in inches and twelfths.]
[[Version of the table for narrower screens]]
| Longitudinal diameter. | Parietal diameter. | Frontal diameter. | Vertical diameter. | Intermastoid arch. | Intermastoid arch from upper root of zygomatic process. | Intermastoid lines. | Ditto from upper root of zygomatic process. | Occipitofrontal arch. | Ditto from occipital protuberance to root of nose. | Horizontal periphery. | Relative capacity. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very old. | ||||||||||||
| 1. | 7·0 | 5·4½? | 4·9? | 4·10 | 13·11 | 11·5 | 3·6½ | 4·8½ | 13·9 | 12·0 | 20·4 | 32·2 |
| 2. | 7·0 | 4·8 | 4·4 | 5·3 | 13·2 | 11·0 | 4·1 | 4·10 | 14·0 | 11·11 | 19·6 | 31·9 |
| 3. | 6·11 | 5·3 | 3·11 | 5·0 | ... | 12·0 | ... | 4·8½ | 14·4 | 11·4 | 19·0 | 30·11 |
| 4. | 7·0 | 4·11 | 4·4 | 5·3 | 13·8 | 11·4½ | 4·1 | 4·10 | 13·10 | 11·3 | 16·7½ | 28·10½ |
| 5. | 6·6 | 4·1? | 4·11 | 4·2? | 13·2 | 11·3 | ... | 4·8? | 13·11 | 12·0 | 19·0 | 29·6 |
| 6. | 7·3 | 5·4 | 4·6 | 5·2 | 14·3 | 11·9 | 4·4 | 5·0½ | 14·8 | 12·3 | 20·8½ | 33·1½ |
| 7. | 7·5 | 5·2 | 4·5 | 5·2 | 14·3 | 12·0 | 3·7 | 4·10½ | 14·3 | 12·3 | 20·7½ | 33·2½ |
| 8. | 7·9 | 5·6 | 4·9 | ... | ... | 12·3 | ... | 5·6 | 15·6 | ... | 21·3 | ... |
| 9. | 7·3 | 5·8 | 4·3½ | 4·9 | 14·0 | 11·9 | 3·8½ | 5·0 | 14·2 | 11·9 | 20·7 | 32·7 |
| Moderately old. | ||||||||||||
| 17. | 7·9 | 5·0 | 4·10 | 5·6 | 14·9 | 11·11 | 4·0 | 5·4 | 15·5 | 13·6 | 21·3 | 34·6 |
| 18. | 7·6 | 5·1 | 4·6 | 5·1 | 14·8 | 11·3 | 3·11 | 5·3 | 14·6 | 12·11 | 20·4 | 32·11½ |
| 19. | 7·3 | 5·3 | 4·5 | 5·4½ | 14·5 | 12·4 | 3·11½ | 4·9 | 14·9 | 12·9 | 20·10 | 33·5½ |
| 20. | 7·5 | 5·6½ | 5·0½ | 5·6 | 14·11½ | 12·3 | 4·0 | ... | 14·9 | 12·6 | 20·10 | 33·9 |
| 21. | 7·3 | 5·6½ | 4·4 | 5·6 | 14·8 | 12·0 | 4·1 | 5·3 | 14·5 | 12·10 | 20·2 | 32·11 |
| 22. | 7·2 | 5·7 | 4·5 | 5·6 | 14·9 | 11·10 | 4·3 | 5·6 | 14·4 | 12·6 | 20·0 | 32·8 |
| 23. | 7·3½ | 5·7 | 4·6 | 5·2 | 15·0? | 12·4? | ... | ... | 14·8 | 12·6½ | 19·10½ | 32·4 |
| 24. | 7·2 | 5·5 | 4·6 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 12·10 | 20·7 | ... |
| 25. | 7·8 | 5·6 | 4·3½ | 5·3 | 14·4 | 11·8 | 4·7 | 5·6 | 14·6 | 12·7 | 20·11 | 33·10 |
| 26. | 7·9 | 5·7 | 5·3 | 5·6 | 15·7 | 13·3 | 4·0½ | 5·4 | 16·4 | 14·4 | 21·11 | 35·2 |
| 27. | 7·11 | 5·5 | 4·9 | ... | ... | 12·0 | ... | 5·1 | 15·5 | 13·9 | 21·6 | ... |
2. The second, like the first, shall be explained by extracts:—
a. Mrs. ——, a neighbour of Mr. M’Combie, was twice married, and had issue by both husbands. The children of the first marriage were five in number; by the second, three. One of these three, a daughter, bears an unmistakeable resemblance to her mother’s first husband. What makes the likeness the more discernible is, that there was the most marked difference, in their features and general appearance, between the two husbands.