“Among the articles which may be regarded more as household furniture ... are the dried human skulls, which are found wrapped in banana-leaves in the habitation of nearly every well-regulated Dyak family. They are hung up on the wall, or depend from the roof. The lower jaw is always wanting, as the Dyak finds it more convenient to decapitate his victim below the occiput, leaving the lower jaw attached to his body.”—(“Head-Hunters of Borneo,” Carl Bock, London, 1881, p. 199.) The careful manner in which the Mandans preserved the skulls of their dead, as narrated by Catlin, is recalled to mind. MOSS GROWING ON HUMAN SKULLS. The medicinal use of the moss growing on the skulls of those who had died violent deaths is mentioned by Von Helmont.—(“Oritrika,” p. 768.) Etmuller speaks of the _usnea_, or moss, growing on the skull of a malefactor, which was given in cases of epilepsy (vol. ii. p. 273). Flemming regarded such moss, if taken from the skull of a malefactor, who had been hanged or broken on the wheel, as of great efficacy in epilepsy, in brain troubles, and as a styptic for hemorrhages (p. 11). “Such a moss, if dried, powdered, and taken as snuff, will cure the headache.”—(Brand, “Popular Antiquities,” vol. iii. p. 277, article “Physical Charms,” quoting Grose. The same reference is given by Pettigrew, “Medical Superstitions,” p. 86.) HUMAN BRAIN. The human brain, dissolved or distilled in spirits of wine, was employed in nerve troubles and as an anti-epileptic.—(Flemming, “De Remediis ex Corpore Humano desumtis,” p. 10.) LICE. One might infer that habits of personal cleanliness did not prevail in England two centuries ago, judging from the terms of the following prescription, which seemingly takes as a matter of course that the patient could at any time obtain the insects needed:— “For the cure of sore eyes ... take two or three lice out of one’s head; put them under the lid.”—(“Rare Secrets in Physicke,” collected by the Comtesse of Kent, London, 1654, p. 75.) The author of this work knows, from disagreeable personal experience and observation, that the Indians of North America very generally were addicted to the disgusting practice of cleaning each other’s heads and putting all captured prey in their mouths. Such an office was considered a very delicate attention to be paid by a woman to her husband or lover, or from male friend to male friend, while on a campaign. No instance was noted of the use in a medical sense of these troublesome parasites. MOSS GROWING ON THE HEAD OF A STATUE. “It is asserted that a plant growing on the head of a statue gathered in the lappet of any one of the garments, and then attached with a red string to the neck, is an instantaneous cure for the headache.” (Pliny, lib. xxiv. c. 106.) This would seem to be germane to the idea of moss growing on the human skull. WOOL.