New-York tribune., 1872-08-30
SCIENCE.
TBE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION.

flD1D VnS TV
and but little opportunity was left for reading papers
The niace Of meeting next year. the third Wednesday
of Aperst will be Portland, Me. The oucers eiecteu
for next wear are Prof Joseph Lowering OF Harvard UNI
versty President; Prof A. H. Worthen' State GeooSS'
q, mnos yice-Presiden; Prof. + W Putnam OF Salem,
Mass Permanent Secretary; Prof c. ~ White Geherai
secre,srv and W s Vaux of Philadelphia, treasurer
TIE Association has only changed is Treasurer once
durng it's existence. resolution was pasSee apPouF
ing Committee 10 urge the Legislature OF iowa tne
need OF a State geological survey. The Association se-
cevted an invitation spend the afternoon IN WISH 10
some neiehborng lead mines. Among the papers read
the following;
MIN WITH BIRD-sHAPED SKULLS.
I w Foster IL D., Of Chicago, exhibited some |
straprelysaped human skulls aud drawings OF others
He said: There have several skulls discovered IN
Indian mounds widely separated 10 locality, which
seem 10 have commOntype utterly unlike those OF any
other known human crania. These skulls taken 'Ie
spectively groups OF mounds ABOUT nVe miles
apart ON the Des Plantes River, in the vicinity OF chi
cseo. from the neghborhOOd OF MerOm, station on the
Cincinnati and Terre Haute Railway, in Indiana; and
from the vicinity OF Duneith, Illinois, just across the
Mississippi Dubuque, Iowa. present these maikeu
pecuiarities in the extreme degree In the hrst
of the tw groups OF mounds near Chicago portions OF
II skeletons were found; but only one skull and three
frontal bones were sufficiently well preserved to adhlt
Of measurement aud comparison The other group ol
mounds yielded human remains evidently belonging 10
two distinct eras Of which must nave Oeen eAoee
ingy recent In addition TO these were FOUND nearly
on level with the original surface many skulls Iar eone
IN decomposition, and presenting peeniarlues not aP
pertaipins 70 the existing Indian To these DE- roster
ia inclined 10 assign an antiquity OF several hundred
wears Some Of these relics are undoubtedly those ol
the mound builders and OF the highest value 10 the
snuquary.
So abnormal the appearance OF these sRuls When
first discovered, that Dr. Foster had difficulty III SaS
fying other Investigators that these skulls hau ho'
leeo subjected TO compression. But the shape is en-
ely dierent from that of the Indian skull or any
osr compressed otherwise. The skulls OF Europeans
tCaucasan and Of American Indians were compared WIN
The Mound Builder. The Caucasian skull is developed
more completely tlan the Indian in every direction ex-
cent in hne through the head, somewhat above tue
ears ana ia somewhat bOashaped; that OF the Indian
somewhat approaches the shape of block with the cor
pers rounded or But the Mound Builders skull IS Ike
that of bird and needs only beak TO complete the
Illusion 1t Itrounds down equally from the apex to both
front and back. with no forehead worth naming
The measurement Of one of the Chicago skulls as &C.
termined by Dr. Bridge. is follows Circumference
2O25 inches around longitudinal arc l25 inchesi YER
teal hight above the gla6elooccpital ne o0 lnchesi
extreme longitudinal measurement, 76 inches: extreme
trapsyerse 575 inches The skull is not quite symmetr-
cal Its general outline is dolchicO-cephac It's differ
euces compared with a European skull are, notably
The large development of the supercilary ridges the
greatly depressed forehead the Occiput not merely nat
tened but forming ODque line upward WnHe IL occu-
the extreme pOSerlOf Ol Shuli 1HSS
from the KeDncut mound, exhibited remarkably prom
ent supgaorbal ridges and peculiarly retreatng fore
heads one these being more retreatiDg fore
head than hat of which the measurements given above
think" SAYS Dr. iFOser, that no one can view TINS
fragment with ITS great, massive superciary ridges
its low nat forehead and its thick, i00ny wall,
without coming to the conclusion that its possessor
when alive must have been essentially ferOcious brute
Oft crana from the Hass's Park mounds one is dis
tnguished by almost the entire absence Of forehead;
the orba rings sharp, without the least sign OF
supercary ridge but the region Of the glabela rises
up IN ridge and nasal bones projected like the
beak OF a bird or garpike. The skull is only Of the
OF pasebOard The brain capacity Is not large
without indorsnG phrenoogy, Dr. Foster thinks IL may
be admitted observation justes the assignment OF
particular faculties Of particular parts Of the BRAIN as
the seat OF the intellectual faculties in the anterior obe
Of the propenstes which most link us with the brute
In the middle lobe of those that appertan 10 the social
affections in the posteror lobe Judged by these tests
may infer that the Mound Builders were not as III
telectnai as the Indian, but less crafty and cruel
Foster then went into an analysis OF the pecuari
them with North American Indian skulls ana the skulls
Of the Mound Bades me s y ynofceabIe Dr
Lund disting guished swedish naturalist says: The
human figures sculptured on the ancient mounds of
Mexico represent. for the greater part singular con-
formation head-beiDg without forehead, the era
MUM reteating backward Immediately above the super
ciiary arch TINS anomaly which generally attributed
artificial designation Of the head or the taste OF
the artist, admits of more natural explanation u
being proved by authentic documents that there
really existed in this country race eXhlbtng tbls
anomalous conformation Ihe skeletons, wMeh were Oh
both sexes, were OF the ordinary hight, although
two of them were above the common stature
These heads, according 10 the received OPINION
in craniOlogy, coEjd not have occupied hgh
position intellectually" Rivero ana Tschudl believe that
the artificial dist guremens Of the skull among the Inca
PeruyianS their origin to the prior existence OF an
autOchthonOus having this pecularty; and they
further that such pecuiarities are some cases
cODgeDita having been found in the f9us IN PERUVIAN
by compression Morton has pointed out that where TINS
is attempted the volume of the brain is not diminished
but simply transferred 10 parts OF the head where the
pressure Is not applied Dr. Foster has examined skulls
OF the Flathead and Chen0Ok Indians where the
forehead is depressed. but there is an enormous
prolongaton OF the posterlor region ana the nne De
tween Occpa prOtuDerance and The intersection OF
ambOda sutures, instead OF being vertical as IN the
normal state Is curved outward so as oIten 70
bring the Occiput point beneath the skull, ana
Indian as drawn by DR.. Foster the blackboard was
not unlike OF the ladies two three years
fashionable But examining the skulls OF the Mound
Builders it evident that there no such swelling
at the back The Occipu forms the extreme posterior
part of these skulls, from which the line OF the Uranium
curves upward and inward Moreover whenever IL has
depressing skull is marked by bony ridges de-
pressOns which do not exist III the skulls IN question
Ii may safely asserted that there are certain c0lne
deuces in the eOnguratLOn OF the head between the
prmeva inhabitants Of Brazil, the temple-builders OF
Peru and Mexico and the Mound Builders OF the Mis-
In tne discussions that followed Dr. Foster said that
Morton had placed too much emphasis what be called
typical types Nevertheless here facts whch could
not be thrown aside. Among the bones dsinterred at
MerOu Indiana there also thigh-bOnes Of which
the shape OF the femur was peculiar and different from
that OF Europeans Col Forshey asked whether these
differences Of Uranium and femur justified the announce
OF a species OF maD To which Dr. Foster replied
the negative Prot Putnam thought we mad scarcely
a sufficient number Of these owbrOwed skulls 10 assume
that they were typical OF the Mound Builders large
majority Of the skulls taken from these mounds |
were not OF this extreme form at al-they were |
OF the box-shape or Indian skull. At the ut /
most he thought that 4 there i> %ere> ORIGINALLY
sorbed or driven south again long before the Mound
Builders, as such, ceased 10 exist Prof Winter
uQe0a new ~ q