The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-21 00:00:00

Anthropological Society.

At the ordinary meeting of this society yesterday
evening—Captain Burton in the chair—there was-
a long and animated discussion, adjourned from the
previous meeting, on the paper by Mr Lang respect-
ing his discovery of implements of the early stone
period in shell mounds in Caithnese, together with
skeletons found in kists,apparently of the same date.
The dismission was opened by Dr J. Hunt, who ads
verted to the vague manner in which the subject had
been hitherto treated, by adducing general resem-
blances between the skulls found in Caithness and
those of negros and Australians, and called attention
to the points to which it was desirable to direct at.
tention, with the view of ascertaining who were the
primitive inhabitants of this island. Mr Higgins,
Mr Mackenzie, Mr Carter Blake, Dr Miller, Mr
M'Clay, Mr Prideux, Mr Reddie, Mr Bendyshe, and
some other gentlemen took part in the discussion,
which turned principally on the character of the
skulls, the antiquity of the implements, and whether
those ancient inhabitants of Scotland were canni-
bals. Mr C. Blake compared the skulls of those of
other types, for the purpose of showing that they
did not correspond with the skulls of negroes or
Australians, and he was especially desirous to die.
prove the opinion expressed by Professor Huxley at
the last meeting of the Ethnological Society, that
they belonged to what was called the " riverebed"
class of skulls. The question of cannibalism was
taken up rather warmly by Mr. M'Clay, a native of
Caithness, who was anxious to exculpate his antes.
tors from such a charge. He considered the fact of
the finding of a single jaw-bona of a child among
shells and bones, the refuse of food, was no proof
of cannibalism; that it might have been gnawed by
a wolf, or the child might have been murdered and
her body thrown on the heap. Mr. Bendyshe
quoted St. Jerome to show that the savages
brought from the north of Scotland by the Romans
preferred human flesh to that of oxen, and that
there were certain parts of the body, such as the
breasts, that they particularly relished as " tit bits."
Capt. Barton said that his experience as a traveller
taught him that cannibalism was a necessary state
through which mankind must pass in their progress
to civilisation. He was willing in consideration of
the feelings of some gentlemen present, to except
Caithness, but only Caithness.
Mr LAING replied at considerable length to the
various remarks made Gn his paper. First, as to the
question of cannibalism, he inclined to think, from
the circumstances in which the jaw of the child was
found, that in that instance at least the body had
been eaten; and he referred to the evidence of Pro-
fessor Owen respecting the manner in which the
bone had been broken to extract the marrow, in
confirmation of that opinion. Next, as to the cha-
racter of the skulls, they were d'fferent from those
found in the Danish " kitchen middens," for the lat-
ter were round, resembling those of the modern
Eequimaux, while those from the kists in Caithness
were of an opposite character, and indicated a
southern origin. The proof of the great antiquity
of the people was to be seen in the extreme rudeness
of the weapons found ins the kists and in the lowest
stratum of shells. Those implements were of the
rudest possible kind, and resembled some found in
the kitchen middens of Denmark. In the museum
at Copenhagen, the implements taken from the mid-
dens were classed in the order of antiquity according
to the rudeness of their construction, and the most
ancient exactly resembled those brought from Caith-
ness. Hs did not athibute very great antiquity to
them, not equal to that of the implements found in
geological deposits, but he thought they might be
dated several hundred years before the Christian era.
The thanks of the meeting having been accorded
to Mr Laing, the meeting adjourned.
The table was covered with the skulls, bones, .end
implements extracted by Mr Laing from the 'sista
and shell mounds of Caithness, and it was announced
that he intends to have casts made cf the skulls,
which he will present to the society, to be placed in
their museum.