OCR Text |
Show :I 2G4 TilE CRANIAL CHARACTERISTICS North. New World. Old World. I. IIIon SxuLr •• ,-------"""-------, 4. Apo.laohirm, I 1. Caucasian, or Natchez Race. or Imn Race. II. DnoA 1> SxuLL. ,-------"""---------, 5. Guianian, I 2. Mongolian, or Carib Race. or l'uran Race. III. LONG SKULL. -------, 6. Peruvian, 8. Ethiopian, or Inca Race. or Sudan Race. South. A serious objection to this division exists in the fact that the socalled Mgh skulls, in many important features, differ as much from each other, as they do from the broad and long skulls, and this is equally predicable of each of these last two varieties, as compared with the first. Moreover, the requirements of scienbc discountenance all attempts at the indiscriminate arrangement of artificially deformed with natural skulls. PmciiARD divides all skulls into 1. The symmetrical or oval form, which is that of the European and Western Asiatic nations ; 2. The naiTow and elongated or prognathous skull, of which the most strongly marked specimen is perhaps the cranium of the Negro of the Gold Coast; 3. The broad and square-faced or pyramidal skull, which is that particularly of the Turauian nation.112 Want of space, alone, prevents reference to other systems. However, regarding nature as an harmonious and indivisible whole, and believing with the venerable lluMBOLDT, that it is impossible to recognize !:!>ny typical sharpness of definition bctwe~m the races; 113 and with the eminent Gorman physiologist, JonANNES MuLLER, that it is incontestably more desirable to contrast the races by their constant and extreme forms; 114 and finally, inclining to the opinion so ably argued by GERARD,115 and entertained by KNox,us and others, 112 Researches int.o the Physical ITistory of Mankind. London, 1886. Vol. I. p. 281. JIB Cosmos: A Sketch of a Physical Description of tho Universe. By Alexander Von IIumboldt. Trnnslated from tho German by E. C. Ott6. New York, 1850. Vol. I. p. 856. I'' Jiaudbuch der Physiologic des Monschen. Bd. II., s. 775. m Dictionnaire Universe! d'ITistoiro Naturelle. Dirig~ par M. Chas. d'Orbigny. Art. Espcoo, pttr G6mrd; t. 5cme. 110 "In time there is probttbly no such thing as species; no absolutely new creations ever took place; but as viewed by the limited mind of man, the question tn.kes another nRpeot. As regards his individuttl existence, time is a short span; a few centuries, or a. few tl~ousand years, more or loss; this is all he can grn.sp. Now, for that period at Iett~t, orgttmo forma seem not to have changed. So far back as history goes, the species of ani- OF TilE RACES OF MEN. 255 that species occupy no absolutely permanent place in nature's method, and that all specific distinctions are, therefore, fallacious-I have deemed it more judicious, in the present state of our science, to avoid any similar attempt at a classification, preferring to lay before the general reader a panoramic view of a few of tho almost innumCl ·able cranial forms wbich the traveller meets with in making a tour of the surface of the earth. But, in order to avoid misconceptions, a few preliminary remarks will be noccssaq before proceeding with our proposed survey. H, to facilitate our progress, we divide the earth's surface into several regions or realms, tho limits of each being determined by the geographical distribution of its peculiar organic forms, and represent each by a cranial form selected f1·om among its most numerous and apparently indigenous inhabitants, we will obtain a series of typical or standard figures, similar to those constituting the second column of the extensive "Ethnographic Tableau" accompanying this work. With one exception, the crania figured in the tableau arc contained in the Mortonian collection. Taken by means of the camera lucida, in tho hands of the accomplished Mrs. Gliddon, I can vouch for the general accuracy of the drawings, and their truthfulness to nature. The exception alluded to is a drawing of Schiller's skull (C), borrowed from the cranioscopic atlas of Carns. Forced by the arrangement of the Tableau to represent the entire European area by two crania instead of many, I have selected the above figure because it embraces both Gothic and Sclavonic characters, and may be taken therefore as a standard for Central and Eastern Europe in general; while the more elongated Circassian skull (D) may be regarded as a not inappropriate representative of Southern and South-eastern Europe. Now it is quite evident that all attempts at representing the skull-forms of tho numerous races of men by a few figures (as in the Tableau), must neccs. arily be imperfect, and consequently open to criticism. I wish the reader, therefore, distinctly to uudcl'stand that the skulls figured in tbc 'J'ablcau arc merely so many examples, each of a cranial type, more or less numerously represented, and prevailing over a greater or l ss extent of the particular geographical area to which it belongs. Each figure represents not the whole realm in which it is placed, bnt one only of the characteristic forms of that realm. The Negro hcacl (E), for example, is not tl~e standard of the entire African continent, but a peculiar form found there, and nowhere else. To represent the whole of this continent, many heads would be required. mals, as we call them, httvo not changed; tho rnccs of men have boon nbsolutely the sttme. '!'hoy were distinct then for tlmt period tts nt prescnt."-Races of Afm, p. 34. |