deformity may be marked by drawing a line along the middle of the forehead, around over the ears, and beneath the protuberance of the occiput. This depression is most observable on the forehead and sides of the head. He accounts for it by tight bandaging in the early months of infancy. He observed it in all classes of society-among adults, old people, youths, children, and infants newly born-under such striking circumstances, that what was only a floating conjecture in his mind in 1829, was in 1834 a solid conviction. At a certain degree of intensity this malformation produces grave disturbances in the cerebral circulation, such as imbecility or epilepsy, and may, sooner or later, end in confirmed idiocy or insanity. It is a barbarity, he says, which would seem to have had its origin only among savages; and the object of his memoir, at the head of this article, is to lay open the magnitude of the evil, and to insist on the necessity of its being effectually remedied.

The shape of the head, when perfectly developed, is that of a sphere or spheroid, half of which is above the eyebrows and half below, the ear-hole being two-thirds of the distance in a line from the orbitar ridge to the occiput. The annexed outlines are examples of this kind of head, and, with such a formation, its fortunate possessor could not be anything else than intelligent, if not good. Every head, however, is

cal in their two halves. But the deformity described by Foville is a caricature of nature in her worst mode of expression, as will be seen in the annexed drawing, which is copied from one of Foville's illustrations. The forehead re

of a thick crop of hair; but sometimes, in order to observe it, the head must be uncovered or shaved. There is, of course, every possible variety, but a very common inferiority of shape most people are familiar with in the example given in No. 5, which is a likeness. In the worst cases, the skull is divided into two portions, an upper and lower, by the circular depression, and the child in the night-cap (the subjoined outline) may serve to convey some idea of the miseries, both immediate

and future, produced by drawing the bobbins rather too tightly. It will be remarked, that when this malformation is excessive, the forehead is thrown forward and the chin depressed, for the sake of preserving, it would seem, the balance of the median line.

Now, do such deformities arise from the process of ossification being disturbed? Is it rachitis of the cranium? or diseased softening of the bones? Evidently not; because these misshapen heads are met with in persons in all other respects healthy. In fact, the cranial bones are in these cases elongated de seipsis, proving an innate power of growth; whereas scrofulous bones are deficient in the power of growing. But is this deformity the result of external compression? It would seem to be so; although some authors affirm that no external force can alter the shape of the cranium. They judge by analogy, and ground their opinion on comparative anatomy. But, in this instance, comparative anatomy fails in deciding the question, which is one of fact, relating to the human head, that sometimes goes on

enlarging till the fortieth year, and not to the lower animals, whose ossification is complete and stationary after a fœtation of a few weeks or months. Yet, though the analogy with the lower animals is unsatisfactory, we find that the comparison with other races of mankind is valid and conclusive. The Caribbees exhibit a remarkable proof in our favour, for their heads are from their birth forced into a false shape by a very mischievous artifice, the frontal bone being pressed almost flat, and the occiput squeezed out so much backwards, that one of these crania looks at first sight like the skull of a dog. Mr. Lawrence, in his work on the "Natural History of Man," has commented on this striking physiognomy; and Blumenbach, in his "Collectio Craniorum," gives two representations of it, which are worthy of attention. Exactly opposed to this kind of shape is that of the Peruvian skull, which, instead of being pressed out horizontally, is forced up vertically, into the shape of an obtuse cone. Foville says that Blumenbach mentions some Turkish skulls, exhibiting a circular depression, in consequence of ligatures having been tied round the head in infancy. M. Virey, in his article Enfant in the "Dictionnaire des Sciences Médicales," says it is certain that the shape of the head may be altered mechanically, and that some caps drawn tightly by ribbons force the head into a sugarloaf shape; thus, he adds, producing idiotcy by means of compression.

In France, the rustics, if not the citizens, generally bandage their children's heads from the birth, exactly along the line of depression already pointed out; and it is remarkable, that the tip of the cartilage of the ear is, at that point where it is pressed upon, flattened and wasted, but that the lower portion of the ear, which has escaped the pressure, retains its original character. The scalp, likewise, over the fontanelle, is blanched, dry, and shining, exhibiting a few cicatrices, through which some scanty hairs make their appearance. Among adults, women suffer more than men, while children of either sex suffer equally; but then the women cover their heads more continually than the men, and the infants are all bandaged alike. These sad effects are entirely prevented by laying aside the head-dress from the first.

Some have supposed that the midwife may knead the head into a particular form during the act of birth. This is not the case: for the head of the child is always compressed and disfigured in a very awkward manner during the easiest labours, while, in tedious ones, it is distorted to a great degree. Nor does it recover its natural form immediately after birth, as it always does when the labour has been short and easy. It is not possible for us to compress the child's head

at this time.

Those mothers who have been persuaded to discontinue the use of bandages acknowledge the happy results in consequence of their having done so; and others have remarked the ill effects of the bandage, although it has never occurred to them to abandon the use of it. No intelligent man, to whom Foville disclosed his views, ever entertained any doubts as to their reasonableness. Several medical men from Rouen, besides Dr. Hodgkin from London, MM. les Docteurs Marc and Pasquier, and Professor De Blainville, who visited his Asylum, agreed in his conclusions. It was the opinion of Pasquier, that the coincidence of the wasting of the gristle of the ear, and the atrophy of the hairy scalp, upon those parts over which the bandage or roller had evidently passed, was a proof positive in his favour. How, indeed, can these facts be denied, when the head is as deeply crimped by the marks of former bandaging, as the leg, above the knee, becomes permanently indented by the constant use of a tight garter?

The results obtained in studying the deformed heads at the Asile Départmental de la Seine Inférieure bear out this view of the question. In the month of August, 1833, the number of patients there was 431, of whom 202 were men, and 229 women. Out of the total number of men, 109 heads were regular, and 93 deformed; of these 93, all did not betray the evidences of tight bandaging equally, for 36 were moderately marked-46 more distinctly, and 11 only very distinctly so. Out of the total number of women, there were 75 regular, and 154 deformed; and of the latter number, 68 moderately, 46 much more so, and 40 most of all. Relative differences apart, the sum total gives, out of 202 men, 109 regular conformations, and 93 deformed; while out of 229 women, it gives 75 regular conformations, and 154 deformed: both sexes taken together, it gives, out of the gross amount of 431 alienated, 184 regular conformations, and 247 deformities-i. e., more than half. Among the men, the deformity does not extend to half the number, while among the women, the proportions exceed two-thirds-thus: Of both sexes taken together, it is 57 out of 100; of the men, 46 out of 100, and of the women 67 out of 100. From the 11th July, 1825, when the Asylum was first opened, up to the month of August, 1833, an interval of eight years, 508 men and 640 women were admitted, giving about one-sixth more of women than men; and the total differences between the two sexes are still the same-namely, about one-half of the men having deformed heads, and two-thirds of the women. This result is as interesting as it was unlooked for. But what is still more interesting than this is, that, in this Asylum, there are separate apartments for those variously affected-with fury, or moping, or passive mania-among the inmates. And besides this house in particular, there is a sort of town residence (Maison Bourgeoise), of a similar