similarly prepared mummied heads from the same locality, and may be attributed to the fact that the hairy covering, though it may subsequently fall off, protects the scalp from the action of the red preparation with which the skin is besmeared. The sockets of the eyes were filled with a dark brown substance, apparently a vegetable gum like gutta-percha, as it softens with heat and burns with a smoky flame. In this was embedded a narrow oval piece of mother-of-pearl, pointed at each end, in the centre of the anterior surface of which is fixed a round mass of the same resinous substance, representing the pupil of the eye, On close examination, it was found that the eyeballs and other contents of the orbits had not been removed, but that the artificial representatives of the eyes had been placed over the sunken lids. Both nostrils had been distended by some substance placed within them, but now removed. The lips had not been fastened together, but had widely retracted, thus unfortunately allowing of the loss of some of the incisor teeth spoken of before. The lower jaw had however been secured from falling down by a strong plaited cord, like that used in constructing the supporting frame, which had been passed beneath the lips and skin close to the bone, through the right nasal cavity, passing out behind at the posterior nares, and round the ramus of the mandible, and secured by a knot in front. This was probably done after the tongue, hyoid, and larynx had all been removed through the mouth, as no remains of these parts were found. The brain cannot have been removed, for the walls of the orbits and nasal chambers were intact, and it would not seem possible to extract it through the foramen magnum without greater external damage than the body had sustained. In the right flank was a longitudinal incision, 3 inches in length, extending between the last rib and the crest of the ileum.* This had been very neatly closed by what is called in surgery the interrupted suture, seven separate ligatures being placed upon it. Through this, it was evident, the whole of the pelvic, abdominal, and thoracic viscera had been removed, as no vestige of them remained in the body, and their place was occupied by four picces of very soft wood, roughly split from the interior of some endogenous tree, each being from 12 to 15 inches long. Except the wound in the flank, there was no other opening or injury to the skin. Having taken this description and a photograph of the mummied body, I have had the skeleton, which is that of a *The ancient Egyptians, as is well known, removed the viscera from the bodies about to be preserved as mummies, through an incision in the same situation, but on the left side. powerful muscular man in the prime of life, prepared for the osteological series of the Museum of the College of Surgeons, and the framework, cord, and shield will be deposited in the Christy collection of the British Museum. Heads of bodies prepared in a similar manner from Darnley Island are to be seen both in the Museum of the College and in the British Museum, but I am not aware that any entire body has been previously brought to Europe; though it is probable that the custom of preserving the dead in this fashion is common in the Island. Jukes relates that on one of his visits, "under some trees outside the fencing, were sitting two old women, one of whom was Seewai's wife, the other Keouck's. The latter had on her lap the body of a child, a few months old, and which seemed to have been dead some time. It was stretched out on a framework of sticks, and smeared over with a thick red pigment, which dressing she was now renewing. It was much shrunk, with the skin hanging in loose folds, but had no other appearance of decomposition. As soon as she had smeared it all over, she hung it up behind her in the shade of a bush, talking and laughing quite unconcernedly. Keouck said it was his 'piccaninny.' The two women had their heads closely shaven and smeared, as well as their faces, with a white pigment, but had no other sign of mourning about them." Macgillivrayt says: "The natives always objected to show to me the inside of their huts, many of which we knew were used as dead-houses. Several human skulls were brought down for sale, also a little shrivelled mummy of a child. Some of the former had the skin quite perfect, the nose artificially restored in clay, mixed with a resinous substance, and the orbits occupied by a diamond-shaped piece of mother-of-pearl, with a black central mark." On making inquiries regarding this custom from Signor D'Albertis, who has been in Darnley Island more recently than either of the travellers quoted above, he told me that a woman there asked him if he would like to see her husband. On his assenting, she conducted him into her house, where, to his surprise, he found the man, dried and painted, and placed in the upright position exactly like the specimen described above. Before leaving the subject of Darnley Island mummies, it may be worth mentioning that in the British Museum is a very "Narrative of the Surveying Voyage of H.M.S. 'Fly,' commanded by Captain F. P. Blackwood, R.N., in Torres Strait, &c., during the years 1842-46" (1847), p. 246. + "Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. 'Rattlesnake,' commanded by the late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., during the years 1846–50” (1852), p. 48. remarkable microcephalic head from that locality, which has been preserved in the usual manner, though the skin is now nearly all stripped off it, so that its characters can be well seen. It is entered in the catalogue as the head of an "idiot," though whether this is an inference from its extremely small size, or whether a statement of the known character of the individual while living, I cannot say. It belonged to a young person apparently of the male sex, and from sixteen to eighteen years of age, as the basilar suture is not united, but all the permanent teeth are in place, except the third molars, which were on the point of eruption. The circumference of the cranium is 422 millim., the length 152, the breadth 110, the height 116, and the capacity only 830 cubic centimetres. The average capacity of seven normal Torres Strait Islanders in the College of Surgeons' Museum is 1320, the smallest being 1225. The second illustration of modes of preserving the dead among barbarous people, which I have to bring before the Institute this evening, is a dried mummy of an adult male Australian from the neighbourhood of Adelaide, which was presented to the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1845, by Sir George Grey, at that time Governor of South Australia. It is described on a label attached to it, as "one of a tribe in which the practice exists of drying the corpse and preserving it above ground." As the skeleton will form a more instructive specimen when the dried and decaying integuments are removed, I have had it cleaned, but before doing so a photograph was taken of the body (Pl. XII), and such observations upon the mode of preservation and preparation as its condition permitted of were made. The attitude was very peculiar, the limbs being trussed up closely to the sides, in a position impossible for the living body to assume, and the head was thrown back. The thighs were forcibly bent upwards by the sides of the body, so that the knees were placed behind the shoulders; the legs were tightly flexed on the thighs, the heels being close to the hip-joints; the forearms were crossed in front of the lower part of the abdomen, each hand resting on the foot of the opposite side. A broad bandage of netting of native manufacture, was fastened horizontally round the middle of the body, to retain the limbs in this position. The surface of the skin was of a dark reddish colour, having apparently been covered with red ochre, as in the case of the Darnley Island mummy. Though the hair of the scalp had nearly all disappeared, some still remained on parts of the arms, limbs, and trunk, specimens of which have been preserved for microscopic examination. The mouth was stuffed with emu's feathers, and the lips were |