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Show I 2G2 TilE CRANIAL CllARACTERISTICS unheeded-and carne. tly compare tho historical phases of our youthful Republic with those of tho fallen Gr ck and Roman ompir s, and tho already cnfoobl d English Commonwealth, that he may learn those unalterable laws of political reproduction, evoh1tion, and decay, and thus, forewamcd, provide intelligently for the amelioration of tl1at disease whoso seeds wore planted when tho Declaration of Independence was proclaimed, and wl1oso deadly influences threaten, soonot' or lat r, lil o tho Liancs of a tropical forest, to suffocate tho national tree over whi ·h they at'c silently spreading. 'l'hongh war and slavery, those powerful agoiJts in amalgamation, have been going on, witbout intcrl'Uption, from the carl i st recor led hi tory of our race down to the present moment, yet certain primary types have maintained tlJCmsolvcs, amidst every on1li ·t, and under· tho most destructive iJJfl.uonc s, as vestig s onvrocks of thor m test times, and in virtue of a certain inl10rcnt and mutuftl antipatl1y, as old as tho oldest vari tics of Ollr race. The int>tabitity of human hybrids is as rcmarl able as tho permanency of tho pure stock~:~. Tho area of tho hybrid forms is in all cases limited, aud their existence devoid of a solf~sustaining power. Where the mixed races ar subject d to a modified climatic influence, they for a while appear to maintain themselves, and even extend their locality b yond their primary centres of ct·cation; but, sooner or later, they disappear, either throngb extermination, or absorption by tbe purer races, or in consequence of a mysterious degradation of vital energy. N over theless, long after their obliteration, they leave their impress upon the conquering and cxterminatinO' races, in the shape of modi.fications of tl1o skull, stature, habits, intellectual conditions, &c. Iu this instability, this inherent tend ncy to decay, wo discover the O'J'oat check to tho as umption by tho hybrid types of that homog n itywhich, in all probability, once characterized the primeval groups of man. "As it is with individual lifo, so families, tribes, and nations, most likely oven rnces, pt188 away. In dobatnblo rcgionR, Lhoir tenure is only provisional, until tho typical form np~oars, when they nrc extinguished, or found to abnndon ttll open totTitorios, not positively assrgncd thorn by ntttnre, to mnkc t·oom for those to whom they arc gouittl. This cffeot is itself' a critm·~on of nn nbnormal origin; ~or ~~ parent stock, a typical form of tlto prcsout genus or spcot~s, perhaps with tho solo exception of tho now extinct Flatheads, is, wo believe, in:lostruotiblo nn~ inotr.~eon.blo. No chango of food or circumstances onn swoop awny the troptcn.l, woolly-lnm·od mnn; no event, short of a general cato.clyois, ottn trnnsfor his centro of existence to ttnot.hor; nor can any known cause disloc.lge tho beardless typo f1·om the primeval high North-Eastern region of Asia and its icy sbot·cs. The white or bent·ded form, particularly tbnt section which has little or no n.dmixturc, Md is therefore quito fair can only live, not thrive, in tho two extremes of tompemturc. It exists in thorn solely 11~ tt ~astor mcc, and must be maintained therein by foreign influences; and tho intormedir1to rog1ons, us we havo seen, woro in part yielded to tho Mongolic on one side, u.nd but tempo- OF TIIE RACES OF ?tfEN. 253 rarily ohtninod, by extermination from the woolly-lmired, on tho other." we Hybrid forms orumot be regarded a~ characteristic of a now rnco; amidst all tho coufusion of hlood, "we look ir1 vu.in fot· a uow race. Nnturo assorts her dominion on all hands in a dotcriorution r1nd degradation, tho fr~tal and depopulating consoqueueos of which it is appalling to oontomplate." tOO To the cranioscopist, the most interesting point, perhaps, in this whole inquiry, is the determination of the particulal' influence exerted by each parent stock upon the formation of tl1c hybrid cranillm. f-lo fill •h ObSCUrity SULTOU11dS this question, hOWCVCl', anJ the facts concerning it are so scanty and confli 'ting, that I am compelled to for 'go its diAcussion in this place, and rotor the r adcr to the writings of W AI,lO!:n (Intermarriage; or, Beauty, Healtlt, and Intellect); COMDE ( '.L'lte Constitution of Man); Br.AINB (Outlines of tlte Veterinm·y ..th·t); JtDWAROS (.Des Garactemq .Pltysiologiques des Races Humaines); HARVEY (Monthly Joumal of Medical Science, Attg. 1854); BEnARD (Gours de .Pltysiologie); and p:.wticularly, LuoAs ('l'raite PltilosopMque et Pltysiolo, qique de l' Ilb·edite Natur·ellc). As already intimated, tho attempted classifications of the human family arc as 1mmcrous a they arc various. Those based upon the f01'111 of tllc skull arc perhaps the moflt rcliabl , since the skull is intimately co1mcctcd with the intellectual organs, and resists, in a remarkable manner, tho altcrinO' inilucncos of climate. A.mong other , the most simple, though in some rcRpects obj ctionablo, is that of Prof. Rwl'zrus, who, in an essay upon the cranial forms of N orthcrn Eu1·ope,no divides all heads into Long (DolicltocepltalrE) and hort (Bracltycf'pltal(J>.). Each of these he again subdivides into Straight, faws ( Or·tltognatltm) and Prominent-Jaws (Prognatluv). Tho races comprised in each of thc~:~o divisions are seen in tho accompanying scheme. Lon bends { Stmight jaws } Celtic and Oormrmio tribes. g Prominent jaws Negroes, Austro.lians, Oceanians, Caribs, Oroenlandors, &o. Short heads { Stmi~ht ja~s } Laplanders, Fin~1s, So laves, Turks, Persians, &o. Pt·ommont JMVS i'artars, Mongolmns, MahLys, Incns, Papuas, &o. Prof. ZEUNE, after animadvertin()' upon what he calls tho "one-sided polat·ity" of this classification, adopts three main forms or types of skull for tho Eastern, and three corresponding typos for the Western hemisphere, thus dividing mankind into six races, as is shown in the subjoined table: 111 108 Hamilton Smith, op. cit., p. 176. too Drwis, Cran. B1·it., p. 7. no Ueber die Sohiidclformon dor Nordbowolmor.- MUller's Archives, 1846, p. 84. Ill Ubor Sohii.dolbildung, pp. 19, 20. |