face, which is done by means of a spoon, the face is to be carefully smeared over with oil or clarified butter, in order not to draw up with the plaster the hairs from the head; the beard, particularly, is to be preserved by stiff pomade of some kind. Our brother Edward, a Bavarian officer lately killed in the battle of Kissingen, succeeded, when in Morocco, in making casts of the back of the head also. For this purpose he found it of great use to cover the hair with thin oiled muslin. The back of the head was made first, then the borders were flattened with a knife, and all duly oiled; the head was placed again in this part of the mould for making the face and part of the breast; thus he obtained a true copy of the head. About 15 pounds of plaster are wanted for an entire head and part of the breast. Dr. Anderson said that he felt quite uncertain as to what was attempted to be proved in the paper just read. If the object was to detect a similarity of race by the comparison of characters derived solely from the external face, he dissented entirely from the adoption of any such system in Ethnological research. The facial characters, when taken by themselves, as M. Schlagintweit has done from casts, which give not the slightest inkling of the form of the cranium, can lead to no very sound generalization in Ethnology, and indeed the more we restrict ourselves to one character as our guide, in proportion will be our liability to increase in error. Believing that much weight cannot be attached to facial casts as an aid to Ethnological study, I commenced three years ago the formation of a series of life busts, to illustrate in the Indian Museum the external characters of the head and face of the various Indian races. The busts were taken from life, and the plan I adopted, appears to differ little from that which Mr. Schlagintweit has lately followed. It is this-I make the subject lie down on a charpoy, and support his shoulder and head with a couple of pillows, over which a loose cloth is laid and tucked in round the head, neck and shoulders, to prevent the plaster spreading too much when it is poured on. Before making the subject lie down, I first thoroughly anoint his face, neck and shoulders and chest with oil, and his beard, moustache, eyelids, eyebrows and the hair of his head with butter, which should be laid on unsparingly on these parts, to prevent their adhering to the plaster. When the anointing has been completed, I place a tube on to each nostril, to allow of respiration when the face is covered with plaster, and I plug the ears. He is then made to recline on the charpoy in the manner I have indicated, and a well oiled cord is laid along the neck from the shoulder in front of the ears and over the top of the forehead to the shoulder on the other side, the ends are allowed to hang down the shoulders a little way. The eyes being gently but firmly closed and the quills in the nostrils, the plaster is poured over the face, neck and as much of the head as can be reached without interfering in the least with the position of the patient; when the plaster is beginning to set, the ends of the string which passes from shoulder to shoulder are laid hold of by the two ends and pulled towards each other, thus separating the head and facial portions of the cast from one another; when the latter has hardened it is carefully removed and the man can then open his eyes and breathe naturally. With the former portion still remaining on the head and part of the shoulders, he is made to sit up, and the back of the head and neck; is well smeared with butter, and another well oiled string is placed along the posterior margin of the still adherent portion of the cast. The plaster is then poured on to the back of the head and neck; and when it has commenced to harden, it is separated from the remaining portion of the first cast by pulling the ends of the string towards each other. These two pieces are then removed, and the three are found to fit to each other in the most perfect manner. The process is thus completed; I have found it attended with little or no difficulty, and as I have manipulated on a number of hill tribes who are generally difficult people to manage, I fully expect to be able, through time, to have life busts of all the accessible Indian races. These busts will prove of considerable value when crania cannot be obtained, and there is no country in the world in which the craniologist finds greater difficulty in obtaining materials for study than India, where the inhabitants either burn their dead or regard their remains with superstitions awe. Dr. Partridge, as Secretary to the Falconer Memorial Committee, presented a marble bust of the late Dr. H. Falconer to the Asiatic Society. He stated that 44 members of the Society had subscribed Rs. 20 each for the purchase of the bust, and two subscriptions have yet to be realized, but even then a balance of Rs. 110 would be still due to meet the excess of expenditure over receipts. He therefore appealed to the members for additional subscriptions which he hoped would suffice, not only to meet the balance due, but also enable the Society to purchase a suitable pedestal. LIBRARY. The following additions were made to the Library since the Meeting held in July last : PRESENTATIONS. Annales Musei Botanici Lugduno-Batavi, by F. A. Guil. Miquel. Tome II. Fasc VI. to X.-THE AUTHOR. Actes De La Société D'Ethnographie, 5th Avril, 1867.—THE SOCIETE D'ETHNOGRAPHIE. Three copies of Memoranda on the Solar Eclipse of 18th July, 1860, and Data to aid in the observation of the Solar Eclipse of 17th August, 1868.-THE SURVEYOR GENERAL OF INDIA. Annual Report on the condition and management of the jails in the North-Western Provinces for 1866.-THE GOVERNMENT OF THE NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES. Mémoire de la Société Impériale des Sciences Naturelles de Cherbourg, Vols. XI. and XII.-THE SOCIETE. Six copies of Memoranda on the Eclipse of August, 1868, by Major F. Tenant :-THE AUTHOR. Two copies of Catalogue of the Mollusca in the collection of the Government Central Museum, Madras.-CAPTAIN J. MITCHELL. Report of the Revenue survey operations of the Lower Provinces for 1865-66.-THE GOVERNMENT OF BENGAL. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. VI. pt. I. Mr. Blanford's Geology of Cutch.--THE GOVERNMENT. OF INDIA. Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, Mai, 1867.-THE GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF PARIS. Four copies of Extract from the Proceedings of the Government of Bombay in the General Department, dated 27th June, 1867.—THE GOVERNMENT OF BENGAL. Vividha Jnán Vistára, No. I.—THE EDITOR. The Coal resources and Productions of India, by Dr. T. Oldham. THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. A History of Orissa in Bengali, by Shib Chunder Shome.-THE AUTHOR. The Journal of the Chemical Society, April, May, and June, 1867. THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. Reise der Oesterreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859. Linguistischer Theil, by Dr. F. Muller:K. K. MINISTERIUM des InnERN ZU WIEN. Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Vol. XI. No. II. THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. January to December, 1866.-THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Vol. VI. pt. I.—THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. Brief sketch of the gold, silver and copper coinage of Mysore by Lieut. H. P. Hawkes.-COLONEL C. S. GUTHRIE. Annals of Indian Administration, pts. I. and II. Vol. XI.-THE GOVERNMENT OF BENGAL. Annual report upon Vaccination in the North-Western Provinces.THE GOVERNMENT OF THE NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES. gafag a fa? translated by Nandalala Dhol.-THE TRANS LATOR. PURCHASE. The Indian Medical Gazette, Vol. II. No. 8. The Annals of Indian Medical Science. No. XXII. The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, June, 1867. Comptes Rendus, Nos. 18, 19, 20 and 21. Le Livre de L'Agriculture D'Ibn-Al-Awam by J. J. Clement Mullet, Vol. II. pts. 1 and 2. Catalogue Général de la Libraire Française, Livr. 4. Journal des Savants, Mai 1867. EXCHANGE. The Athenæum, May 1867. |