The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-27 00:00:00

ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

At the last meeting of this society, Dr.• Conolly, pre-
sident, in the chair, Mr. Henry Christy, - Mr. Thomas
Sidney Walker, and ➢lr. James Walker, were elected
fellows of the society. The first paper read was—
On the artificially compressed (Avarian ?) Crania, by
Professor Retzius. The well-known skull in the pos-
session of Count August von Breuner, founded at Graf-
enegg, in Austria, exhibits a peculiar artificial form,
which is considered to belong to an individual of the
Avarian Huns, who lived in that neighbourhood about
the end of the seventh century. Professor Joseph Hurth,
the eminent anatomist of Vienna, sent a copy of it in
plaster to the Caroline Institution, and Professor Ret-
zius, in describing it before the Royal Academy of
Sciences at Stockholm, showed that this skull, which
had been considered remarkable for its length, is on
the contrary short, but certainly i 3 extremely high. It

is of the brachycephalic form to which the skulls of the
Avarians, as related to those of the Finlanders, must
belong. Dr. Techudi thought, from its artificial form,
the skull was that of a Peruvian. Dr. Fitzinger is of
epinion that it must undoubtedly have belonged to an
individual of the ancient inhabitants of the district,
as he found a similar one in Altgerrsdolf, in South
Austria. The professor accompanied his paper with
drawings of a skull found by Mr. Trayon, at Bell Air,
near Lausanne, in Switzerland, also showing artificial
compression ; and discoveries of other skulls of the
same singular form were also made by the same
person at the village of St. Remain, in Savoy ; and Pro-
fessor Duvernay, of Paris, had also discovered a skull of
a brachycephalic form in the Valley of the allies, not
far from the Mandeuse ; from which facts Professor
Retzius states there is no doubt that they belonged to
the Avarians who accompanied Attila's army. The
Professor referred to "Attila," an hi>torical work by
Amedie Thierry, where the author shows that the pro-
per Huns were Finlanders from the Ural, and the Valley
ofthe Volga, but that under the same government with
them were Turks and Mongols, besides later Slaves, &c.,
that Attila himself, and part of his people have been de-
cribed as of the Kalmuc type. The phys'cal character
of Attila is more like that of a Mongol than of a Fin-
, lander from the Ural ; besides we know that the
Huns used artificial means for giving Mongolian phy-
siognomy to their children ; thus they pressed the
• nose. flat with firmly- bound linen bandages, and
also pressed the head to make the cheek bones project.
Roman authors state that this artificial moulding of the
head was to make the helmet fit better ; but this is
scarcely credible. It seems more probable that when
the Mongols were masters'of the Huns, the Mongolian
physiognomy was the prize attached to aristocratic dis-
tinctions ; they consequently tried to obtain this form,
and considered it an liwnour thus to deform themselves,
in order to resemble the dominant nation. Professor
the old
Retzius believes this barbarous custom has now ceased
among the Mongolians, but informs us, on the authority
of Dr. Foville, of Paris, that it stilt exists in many parts
s Bretagnewher where
the Celtic
country France, is very
Toulousec em, Lodn
severalin
race abounds. Bid the custom of changing the form
of the head arise spontaneously in both hemispheres ? If
so, in which did it originate ? The professor will re-
turn to the discussion of these questions on a future oc-

casion.
After an interesting discussion, in which Drs. Con°lly,
TT dgkin, Browne, and other gentlem en took part,
-----°A—naper called " Ethnological Nlemoranda on the
Neirr• Tr
and on the Indians of Chili (South Arne-
rica),,, by General Miller, communicated by his Excel-
lency Sir John Bowring, was read ; and a paper, " On
the Ethnology of the Crimea," by Richard Cull, houo•
rary secretary, was also reach

The departures from the port of London for the Aus-
tralian colonies during the week have comprised six
vessels--five to Port Phillip, with an aggregate burden
of 2,533 tons, and one to New Zealand, of 459, making
a total of 2,997 tuns. The rates of freight have not re-
covered from the late depression.
AMSTERDAM AND ROTTERDAM ,PRODUCE MARKETS.—
The weekly reviews from the Amsterdam and Rotter-
dam produce markets state that business had been limited,
owing to the close of the year, but that prices continued
to be well supported. In some descriptions of sugar there
was a tendency to improvement,