Indigenous Races of the Earth

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212 TilE CRANIAL CHARACTERISTICS how ver, it is cheerincr to know that the labors of BLUMEND.A.OII, Mon·roN, l)mCHARD, LAWltENOg, RE'L'7.1UR, NrLSSON, and othel's, have ai lotttrlh r sult d in the siablishm ut of a Thesaurus Etltnolooicus, consiHting of a vat numb t' of' w 11-ascertained facts waiting the appli •atiou of more eflici.ont metlJOds of g neralization. Again, Lhc novelty f the scienc , th startling chamcter of some of iLl:! propositions, and tho uHfortunn,to errors wlli. h have been foisted upon it by c rtain hnsLy theorizers, whose spccn]atlv zeal has outrun t.bc slow accumulation f facts; and its apparent r lation to a dubious sci nco,1r. l1avo all onspirod L bring the cranioseopical dey,al'tmcnt of Human Natural History inL disr pllt . Bnt iL political importan •o alone outw ighs these tTors; fol' amidst its manif·old d tails we must so 1 for the rca ns of tho divot'siLi s so vident in tlto human f}tmily; th ext nt, pennanonc , and moaning of these diversities; and the h st m 'lttts of harmonixing tbo di crcpallcics in modes of thought a11cl action flowing thoref't·om. Jt endeavors to c}ucidat tho socictal'y condition of man by appealing to a OJT ct anatomy and pl1ysiology, u.nd th zoological Jaws based upon th so. Not a few ethnologit:~ts have indicated its impot·Lanc in their writings. 'l'hus Ooul"t1'l>T DE Lrst.J>10 attempts-and I think su ces~;fully-to show that I olitical J~conomy -is necessarily foun<l•d upon our sci no . KNOX17 and J!;J.t.J:;1ij <lwcll wlth ompltafli~ 11pon itt:! political sig11iilcaneo, while the CouNT DJ<J OomNgAU19 socks in it tho solution of those sudd n and apparently inoxpli able changes which h1we giv n to Eul'opoan his­tory so 011igmatical a character. A moment's r flection will show that the co1mocti n h ro attempted to bo established js a perfectly logical on . If tho acts of an individual arc to a considerable extent c.onA~ituto . tho mos~ ;aluflblo c.ontribution to Ethnogmphy Umt has appeared since tho pub­IJCI\ 110~ of tho Cmn1a .JEgyp.tl.aca of Mo1.·ton. 'J'bo text betrays ovidenco of much thought, oxtons1vo research, and orlt1cnl obsorv1\tion of a high character, while tho numerous lithcgmphic rcp1·esontations of ancient British nnd Roman Crnnia nrc executed in tho finest ety lo of twt. tG Tho fundl\montal propositions of Phrenology are oqually truo of Cranioscopy. Of tho truth, o!' tho~o propositionH, thoro ~l\n bo IHtle ~oubt. Cornp!\rative Anatomy, Physiology, nnd 1 ttlhology, all toud to substt\ntmto tho mult1ple chamoter of tho structure and function of the bmin, and demonstmte thr\t mind is not only oounooted with brr1in but connected with a }lllrLiculat· portion o!' it. Little doubt onn be ontortl\inod of tbo gcn 1 cro.l adl\ptation of. lho skll.ll to ita contents. Thus mind, brain, and omnium are connected. 'fhua far sotonco confirm~ !'hronology; but in tho "m11pping-out dotl\ils," to which tho followers of Oall n.ncl Spur1.houn ho.v so unwnrrl\11l11bly resorted, Phrenology is no longer a science. 16• Ln. Scionoo Politi quo fond6e aut· lr1 Scionco de l'liomme, &o., par V. Courtot do Lisle. Pn.r•s, 1838. 17 'rho Rl\ccs of Men: a Fragment, by Robert Knox M.D. &o Amor Edit Pl 'lad 1850. ' ' · · ., ll a., :Irish Ethnology, Sooi!\lly and Politically Considered, by Geo. Ellis. Dublin, 1852. Op. cit. OF THE RACES OF MEN. 213 tho outward expressions, or fun tional manif,sta.tions of tho organ­ism, and if tho acts of a society arc tho sum total of tho individual acts of its members, then it nece sari.ly follows, that the civil hi~;tory of a nation in great measure al'i cs from, and js dcp nd 'nt up n, the natural or physical characters of jts citi>-:cns. ThuB, then, paradoxical as it may scorn, tho polygamy of tho Ori nt, tlte catmibalism of tho South Sea Islands, tho difl:'orcnccs between th civilizntionB of Emopo and Asia, between the artistic powers of tho negro and the " anca­siau," aro so mo.oy indications of the philosophical value of human osteolocry. But to the American citizen, ospc ially, do s ur science rccom­m nd itself as one worthy of all consid ration, sin ·c upon Am L'ican soil, r pr scntativcs from neat·ly all parts of the artl• have lJecn gathct·ing tog ib r during tlto )at two hundr'd years. Tho pea ·cf'ul and scrni-civilizcd 'l'oltc ·an man-once tl10 proud mast r of om con­tinent, wl1ieh ho busily dotted with forts and 1nounclfl, with mighty monuments and 0TCat citi s-luts just boon sw pt away by tho unro­len Ling hand of the loner t·-h adod but l ss in tellcctual no made of tho North-the r d Indian-wh , in his turn, is sufl:' ring a111Jihilation in tJtc presence or~ aud by contact with tbo yet larg r-hcud d 'l'cuton of Bur p . While the loz ngc-faccd Eskimo of out· Polar coast-line js myst riously fading away, under tho action of influ ocos tending to r nd r the oxtr mo north an uninhabited wast ,'JJJ 1i·om the old world a Btcady stream of human life, a heterogeneous exodus of various r.a · s of men, is inundating ours il, and threatening to chancre our entire political asi oct by tho )ntrodnctioH of nov 1 physical and intellectual elements. Tho ~ candinavian, the Gorman, the Sclavo­J1ia. n, and tho Kelt of outh rn Enrop , tho follower of Mahomet, and tl•o disciple of Confucius, the aboriginalH.cd Man, and the unhappy children of Afl'ica, have in congr ss assembled in tho New World­not brought together fortuitously, for chanc kts notltincr to do with th history and <1 stiny of nations-but imp lled by laws of humani­tc'lrian prog•· ss and cltango, as yet improp rly und rstood. All th so have assembled to work out tho problem of human destiny on tho one hand, and tl10 stability of our boasted r public on the other. Lot the American reader st adily cont mplate this picture, and study its details; let him give car to some of the m m ntous qucfltions which arc anxiously di turbing tho peace and quietn ss of this con­gt ·oss, -tho ultimat lisposition, for cxarnpl , of tho prognathous man, imported by out· Enrrlish forefathers, and l ft with us, a fearful element of discord,-the op mtions of tho" manifest destiny prinL:i- 20 Seo Tho Nnturl\1 History of tho Humnn SpocicB, &c., ny Lieut. Col. ChaB. Uo.111iltou Smith; cditod by S. Kneeland, Jr., M.D. Boston, 1851, p. 291:.