the city authorities, chiefly for conveying fuel to its elevated depositories. This they do by means of an osier creel, supported by a broad leathern strap passed over the head. On first proceeding to examine the heads of those porters, I was struck with the general prevalence of poorly developed, and even remarkably low foreheads; but more careful observation showed that the leathern band of the creel is placed by them, not across the forehead, but directly over the coronal suture; and here I could detect no prevailing indications of depression, although some of those examined had been subjected for periods extending over more than a quarter of a century to the almost daily pressure of the broad leathern strap supporting a heavy load of coals, and this generally carried up steep flights of stairs, where the weight would be less equally divided between the back and the head. As to the poor frontal development, it may be ascribed with little hesitation to the fact that, as a general rule, only those whose capacity unfitted them for anything but the coarsest manual toil, were likely to resort to what constitutes one of the least attractive and most poorly remunerated branches of unskilled labour. It is otherwise, however, with the well-known class of Scottish fishwives. The introduction of railways has somewhat modified the habits of this, as of so many other classes of the labouring population; but until recent years, the fisherwomen of Newhaven, Fisherrow, Musselburgh, and Prestonpans were in the habit of daily bringing to the Edinburgh market a heavy load of fish, in an osier creel, supported, like that of the coal-porters, by a leathern strap over the head. This they carried a distance of from two to five or six miles; and although by their stooping gait the back is made to bear a considerable share of the burden, nevertheless the pressure on the head must be

great. One of its results is that the fisherwomen acquire a peculiar walk, consequent on the position they have to assume in order to regulate the centre of gravity, when carrying their load to market. Unlike the coalporters, they are a sagacious, intelligent class of women, accustomed to look upon their husbands' sphere of labour as limited to the sea; and to consider the whole charge of the household, and the sale of the produce of the fishing expedition, as well as the judicious expenditure of the proceeds, to devolve upon them. No question as to women's rights troubles the amphibious communities of the Scottish fishing-villages; where the labours of the men are limited on land to the repair of their fishing-boats, and the getting ready again for sea; and the fisherman in the city market would be as much out of his element as one of his own finny prey. Here, therefore, we have a test of the intellectual influences wrought by continuous external pressure on the cranium, and the result of my own observations was to satisfy me that the form of the head was as little affected by it. In this I am confirmed by other observers of long experience. Dr. Scott of Musselburgh thus writes: "With the co-operation of a professional friend, who has devoted much attention to phrenology, I made an extensive survey of the heads of our fisherwomen. I have been unable to detect any marked change in the shape of the skulls from carrying the creel. The leather band of the creel is placed, not across the forehead, but directly over the coronal suture; and though in one or two instances there seemed to be a slight depression in that region, in all the others, including several instances where the women had carried fish to Edinburgh for upwards of forty years, there was no trace of change of form in the skull." The fishing-village here referred to is distant upwards of five miles from Edinburgh,

and consequently presents examples of heads subjected to the most protracted operation of a pressure which, if applied in infancy, would have completely distorted the skull. The populous fishing-village of Newhaven lies little more than two and a half miles distant from the city market, and there my own investigations were chiefly pursued. To these a medical friend adds the following results of his own independent observations, derived from long residence and professional practice among them. "I have not observed any peculiar conformation of the cranium in the fishermen and fisherwomen of this neighbourhood. In point of shape I think it very much resembles that of other classes of the community. The pressure of the creel-band, of course, does not affect the males, as they devolve the duty of carrying it entirely on the females, and even in their case the head is fully formed before they go regularly to market. In size the crania of the Newhaveners are certainly below the average. This cannot fail to strike you in the village church, if you sit on the south side in front of the pews occupied by the fishers. There are some exceptions; indeed, there are families in the village characterized by good heads, and among whom this and other qualities appear to be hereditary; but, generally speaking, I believe actual measurement would show that the size of the cranium among the fishing population is under the average." How far actual measurements would bear out the latter assertion, my removal from Scotland prevented me from testing; but the testimony otherwise concurs with my own observations, and indicates that the head of the adult- -beginning with the fisherwoman at sixteen or seventeen years of age, may be subjected to a considerable pressure, applied daily on the same region, for hours together, through a long series of years, without affecting the

shape. The infant, on the contrary, may at the period of birth be subjected to a pressure by the obstetric forceps, or by other causes operating in parturition, which completely alters the form of the skull; and during the first year its head may be moulded into the most fantastic forms that the inherited customs of savage tribes can dictate, without interfering with the healthful functions of the brain) (Even by many apparently trifling causes, consequent on nursing usages, the form of the head is modified, so that the national cranial type may be the unconscious product of hereditary customs. But at a very early date the skull appears to acquire its permanent form, and thereafter resists all external pressure, less than that which suffices to crush its bony arch; nor does it seem consistent with those facts that the adult skull should be found readily susceptible of posthumous distortion by the ordinary pressure of the superincumbent earth, which, in the great majority of cases, is not found even to modify or displace the delicate nasal bones generally exposed to its direct action.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE RED BLOOD OF THE WEST.

THE theory of an aboriginal unity pervading one indigenous American race from the Arctic Circle to Terradel-Fuego has been shown to be liable to challenge on indisputable evidence. Moreover, the proof that the American man is in any sense separated by essential physical differences from all other nations or races of the human family, in like manner fails on minute examination. The typical white, red, and black man, placed side by side, do indeed present very strikingly contrasting characteristics; and the author still recalls with vivid force the question forced on his mind when, seated for the first time at a large public table in a southern American city, he found himself surrounded by the proscribed pariah race of Africa. A servile people, isolated from all community of interests, and from all share in the wondrous triumphs of the dominant race, presented itself there under aspects scarcely conceivable to the European, who sees a stranger of African blood mingle occasionally, like any other foreigner, in public assemblies or social circles, without being tempted to ask: Can he be indeed of one blood, and descended of the same primeval parent stock with ourselves? But the isolation of the red man is even greater, for it is voluntary and self-imposed. No prejudice of caste precludes him from a perfect equality of intercourse with the white supplanter. Intermarriage of