The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1893-12-15
LORE OF HUMAN SKULLS.
STORIES THEY TELL TO THOSE WHO
CAN INTERPRET THEM.
What One Piece of Bone Indicate -
How Ancient Races Produ ed
Head Flattenlng.

NROBABLY the most complete
- museum of human ostcology
is located in Rochester under
{ charge of Professor Charles
H. Ward, who has AZ international
reputation as an authority on this
question. "Skulls are great story
tellers, ;" said Professor Ward "For
instance, the original of this cast OF
a skull overturned the theories of half
of Europe, and probably it's discov-
cry was the most sensational thing in
the realm of science of the decade.
Before this piece of bone, which You
can hold in your hand, was discovered,
nothing had been found which tended
to show that human life existed in the
pre-glacial period, in the days of the
cave bear and other ante glacial fossils.
Not only does the place where it was
found indicate all this, but the skull
comes nearer in supplying the much
laughed-at missing link than any
thing ever before discovered There
is no question whatever that it is
portion OF human skull, but the
forehead is lower than that of any
normally developed skull ever found,
aud the superciliary or super-orbital
arnh is heavier than ever before seen
on human skull. This is one of the
most marked points of distinction be-
tween the skulls of gorilla and Of
man.
''You can see what ] mean from this
picture" continued Professor Ward.
The arch is that of the eyebrow, just
over the eye socket.
zone of the most interesting things
in the ology of skulls is the fashion of
deforming the head prevailing among
the savage races of North and South
America. 1t is accomplished by pres
sure brought to bear on the skull
through infancy. The cliff dwellers
fattened the back of the head. Skulls
have been found on an island in the
Gulf of Mexico which were divided in
to two lobes, evidently produced by
fastening a strap from the back of the
neck to the forehead of the infant.
If there had been more travel in those
days, the fashion might have spread.
The fad of fattening the front of the
head evidently prevailed among the
ancient inhabitants of Peru, as the
mummy remains clearly indicate, and
this has led to belief that there is
some race connection between the an
cient Peruvians and the Flathead In
dams of to-day.
''You can see the effect produced by
the process 1 have described from this
picture. Were this deformity pro-
duced on the head of grown man, it
would be followed by insanity and
death, but the brains of the infant
gradually accommodate themselves to
the new conditions; but 1 should Judge
that it would be difficult to have very
highly developed intellect witha skull
of that shape. Here, you see, is the
skull of Peruvian lady of high rank.
We know that this was some Inca
queen by the pomp with which she
was buried. She paid the usual trib-
ute to fashion, or her parents did, in
having her skull fattened up to the
latest style.
Here said Professor Ward, sis
the skull of maiden of eighteen years
who, with number of her compan-
ions, was knocked in the head with an
AK and was eaten on an island in New
Zealand several centuries ago at a great
feast
''For goodness sake, how could you
find out all that?"
Simply enough. You can tell it
all for yourself, with little help. OF
course we know from the place where
it was found that it was in a land where
cannibalism prevailed. Father found
no less than seven skulls, all with a
fracture like this horrible one, where
the victim was struck with an AK OF
some similar implement. Then all
have the hole knocked in at the base
of the skull, evidently with the pur-
pose of extracting brain, for the hui
man brain is considered a great deli
cacy by cannibal epicures. We know
from the sharpness of the edges of the
obital cavity and other infallible indi-
cations that this is woman's skull,
for an expert can always tell male
from female skull at glance. Lastly
you can see by counting for yourself
that the dentition of this girls skull is
not complete, and that, therefore, this
is, as I have said, the skull of New
Zealand maiden of seventeen or eight
cen.
81 had curious instance not long
ago of the way in which an observer
can find a story in a skull. A skeleton
was sent me from a hospital in Vienna
to be mounted. The skull had not been
opened. The man had been taken i'll
on the street suddenly and had been
taken to the hospital. In polishing