Note 149 — Chapter III
Reading edition
This is due to the practice, observed and described by Mr Man, of flattening the occiput and forehead of infants by the mother, who gently exerts pressure by means of a small pillow, and the palms and outstretched fingers of both hands for an hour or so at a time.—Jour. Anthrop. Inst., Feb. 1894, p. 238.
"It is a custom with them to compress with their hands the occiput of the new-born child; by this method they say the hair remains close to the head as nature intended it, and the upper fore-teeth very prominent out of the mouth."—Nicholas Fontana, Asiatic Researches, vol. iii.