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X.—Contributions to the Craniology of the People of the Empire of India. Part III. : Natives of the Madras Presidency, Thugs, Veddahs, Tibetans, and Seistanis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2012

Extract

Since the pu blication in the Transactions of this Society of Part II. of my Contributions to Indian Craniology, I have prepared for publication descriptions of additional series of skulls, both from India itself and from countries with which the Government of India has had diplomatic relations in recent years. From the Presidency of Madras I have obtained specimens of the Tamil-speaking Southern Dravidians, of Pariahs, and the skeleton of a Badaga. I have examined and described an interesting series of the skulls of the professional stranglers or Thugs. Some additional skulls of the Veddahs of Ceylon, with one of which the other bones of the skeleton had been preserved, have also been presented to the Anatomical Museum of the University. To former pupils attached as medical officers to the expeditions to Tibet and Seistan I am indebted for skulls from those countries. Thirty-nine specimens are described in this part, and their measurements are recorded in the tables.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1907

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References

page 261 note * Part I. of these Contributions appeared in the Transactions, vol. xxxix. part 3, 1899;Google Scholar Part II. in vol. xl. part 1, 1901.

page 263 note * The importance of measurements to determine the character of the profile of the nose was shown by Mr Oldfield Thomas (Journ. Anthrop. Inst., vol. xiv. p. 332, 1885). From them a nasio-malar index may be computed as follows, the bi-malar line being = to 100; . The bi-malar line is the distance in a direct line between the most posterior points of the malar borders of the two orbits. The nasio-malar line I measured with sliding compasses between these points on the two malar bones and the mid-point of the nasion. A low, flat-faced profile is platyopic, say, with index below 106; a projecting profile ia pro-opic, say, with index above 110; whilst one with intermediate projection is mesopic.

page 264 note * In my memoir on the Craniology of the People of Scotland (Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin. vol. xl. part iii. p. 599, 1903)Google Scholar, I have specially referred to the relations of the breadth to the height of the cranium, and have computed a breadth-height index from the following formula: . When the index exceeds 100 the skull is hypsistenocephalic, a high, narrow skull; when less than 100, platychamoecephalic, a wide, low skull.

page 265 note * See my memoirs on Human Skulls and Skeletons in Challenger Reports, part xxix. p. 35, 1884, and part xlvii. p. 122, 1886.

page 266 note * The Lubbais, variously spelt Labbeis, Lubbye, Lubbays, are people speaking Tamil, but Musalmans in religion, who are believed to be the descendants of Arabs who have intermarried with Dravidian native women.

page 266 note † Census of India, vol. 1.–A, by H. H. Risley and E. A. Gait; part ii., Tables, pp. 303, 341. Calcutta, 1903.

page 267 note * “Ueber die Indischen Parias,” Oppert, Vox G., Archiv für Anthropologie, Bd. iv. Heft 2/3, p. 149, 1906.Google Scholar

page 267 note † Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages, p. 540, 2nd edition, London, 1875.Google Scholar

page 267 note ‡ Phrenological Journal and Miscellany, vol. v. p. 479, 1829Google Scholar.

page 268 note * In this, as in the other Tables in this series of memoirs, E.U.A.M. signify Edinburgh University Anatomical Museum; and H.T., Henderson Trust.

page 269 note * Madras Government Museum vol. i., Bulletin No. 4, p. 221, Madras, 1896Google Scholar; and vol. ii., Bulletin No. 1, Madras, 1897Google Scholar.

page 270 note * In his interesting memoir, The Coorgs and Yeruvas: an Ethnological Contrast” (Journal Asiatic Soc., Bengal, vol. lxx. part iii. No. 2, 1901)Google Scholar, Mr T. H. Holland has compiled comparative tables of measurements of the Pariahs with other tribes and castes in Southern India.

page 270 note † Bull. et Mém. de la Soc. Anthrop. de Paris, ve série, t. vi. p. 400, 1905Google Scholar.

page 273 note * Cunningham, , Nature, February 18, 1886Google Scholar; and in Cunningham, Memoirs Royal Irish Academy, 1886Google Scholar; Turner, , Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, April 1886Google Scholar; Challenger Reports, Zoology, part xlvii., 1886.

page 273 note † Memoir in Challenger Reports, “On the Comparative Anatomy of the Human Skeleton,” p. 72, part xlvii., 1886, op. cit.

page 275 note * King, Ross, Journal of Anthropology, No. 1, p. 18, July 1780Google Scholar. Brerks, J. W., Primitive Tribes and Monuments of the Nilagiris, London, 1873Google Scholar.

page 275 note † Bulletin Madras Government Museum, vol. ii., No. 1, p. 7, 1897Google Scholar.

page 276 note * See memoir in Asiatic Researches, by Sherwood, R. C., in which they are called P'hansigárs, or Stranglers, vol. iii. p. 259: Calcutta, 1820Google Scholar. In this memoir, as well as in a Report by Mr John Shakespear, p. 282, the alternative names T'hegs and Badheks are given to them. See also Ramaseena, by Sleeman, W. H.: Calcutta, 1836Google Scholar; Edinburgh Review, vol. lxiv. p. 357, 1837;Google ScholarQuarterly Review, vol. cxciv. p. 506, 1901Google Scholar.

page 277 note * The Phrenological Journal and Miscellany, p. 511: Edinburgh, 1834Google Scholar.

page 281 note * MrRisley, , in his Anthropometric Data of the Tribes and Castes of Bengal, vol. i. p. 21, c.s. Calcutta, 1891Google Scholar, gives a table of measurements of a hundred Bráhmans. In 32 the cephalie index was 80 and upwards, in 30 it was from 77·5 to 79·9, in 25 from 75 to 77·4, and in only 13 it was below 75. When an allowance is made for the difference between the index in the living head and in the skull, there still remains a decided preponderance in the Bráhmans of heads either brachycephalic or approximating thereto.

page 281 note † The influence exercised by intermarriage on the physical characters of a race is discussed in Mr T. H. Holland's interesting study in Contact Metamorphism, which shows the nature and degree of physical modification of the Kulu Kanet caste, owing to true blood fusion with the Mongoloid Kanets of Lahoul in the Western Himalayas (Journ. Anth. Inst., vol. xxxii. p. 96, 1902)Google Scholar.

page 288 note * Jour. of Arthr. Inst., Nov. 1889.

page 288 note† Ergebnisse naturwissenschaftliche Forschungen auf Ceylon; Wiesbaden, 1893Google Scholar.

page 292 note * The Land of the Lamas: a Journey made in 1889, London, 1891Google Scholar. Diary of a Journey through Mongolia and Tibet in 1891 and 1892, Washington, 1894. Reports of the United States National Museum, 1893.

page 292 note † Between the years 1895 and 1899 Mr and Mrs Rijnhart resided in the border country of China and Tibet, and also travelled in North-eastern and Eastern Tibet, following almost the same route as Mr Rockhill. See With the Tibetans in Tent and Temple, by Susie C. Rijnhart, M.D., Edinburgh, 1901. This book being written by a lady, gives glimpses of interest into the domestic life of the Tibetans. See also Tibet, the Country and its Inhabitants, by Grenard, F., pp. 72, 224, London, 1904,Google Scholar for an account of variations in the physical characters of the Tibetans.

page 292 note † Candler, G., The Unveiling of Lhasa, London, 1905Google Scholar. Landon, Perceval, Lhasa, the British Mission, London, 1905Google Scholar.

page 293 note * Lhasa and its Mysteries, London, 1905Google Scholar.

page 293 note † Authorities are not agreed as to the characters of the people of Baltistan, a district to the north-east of Cashmere. Some regard them as showing a pronounced Mongolian type, others recognised Tibetan characteristics, whilst Ujfalvy considered them to be almost Aryens (Les Aryens, by de Ujfalvy, C.; Paris, 1896)Google Scholar.

page 293 note † The Great Plateau, London, 1905Google Scholar.

page 294 note * The Tribes and Castes of Bengal, Anthropometric Data, vol. i. p. 273, e.s., Calcutta, 1891.Google Scholar

page 295 note * The division of the nasal index, computed from measurements during life, is as follows: leptorhine, below 70; mesorhine, 70-85; platyrhine, 85 and upwards. In the skull itself the division is leptorhine below 48; mesorhine, 48-53; platyrhine above 53.

page 295 note † The Tribes of the Brahmaputra Valley,” Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. lxix. part iii. 1900, Calcutta, 1901Google Scholar.

page 295 note ‡ Census of India, 1901, vol. i. part 1, by Risley, H. H., C.I.E., and Gait, E. A., I.C.S., Calcutta, 1903Google Scholar.

page 296 note * Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xxxix. p. 703, 1899Google Scholar.

page 296 note † Two Nagas, and two from the South Lushai Hills, were brachycephalic, and are not included in the comparison.

page 296 note ‡ Op. cit., p. 736, pl. iii. fig. 14.

page 301 note * Tribes and Castes of Bengal, Anthropometric Data, vol. ii., Table 1., p. 815.

page 301 note † Man, iii. p. 69, 1903Google Scholar.

page 301 note ‡ Chalenger Reports, part xxix., 1884; Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xl. part i., 1901;Google Scholar part iii., 1903.

page 302 note * Journ. Anat. Phys., vol. xxix. p. 424, 1895Google Scholar.

page 302 note † The inion on the outer table is, as a rule, lower down than the upper border of the groove for the lateral sinus on the inner table which marks the attachment of the tentorium, hence the term nasio-tentorial plane is to be preferred to nasio-inial plane.

page 302 note ‡ The Braiu of the Microcephalic Idiot,” Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society, vol. v. p. 344, fig. 16, 1895Google Scholar.

page 302 note § The Veddah, Gond, Múnda, Blúmij, and Pan Cole skulls are described and measured in part ii., Tables i., iii., iv., ix., Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xl., 1901Google Scholar.

page 302 note ∥ Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., Tables iii., xiii., xvii., 1903Google Scholar.

page 304 note * Cleland, Philosophical Transactions, p. 122, 1869, Cunningham, , Transactions Royal Dublin Soc., vol. v. 1895Google Scholar.

page 304 note † Turner, , Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xl. part iii., 1903Google Scholar.

page 304 note ‡ Where the number permitted more then one skull to be measured, the mean of the group is given in the Table.

page 307 note * See my address on some Distinctive Characters of Human Structure at the Toronto meeting of the British Association, Reports, p. 775, e.s., 1897, for an explanation of the signification of these characters.