Indigenous Races of the Earth

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288 TilE CRANIAL CHARACTERISTICS fined, not only by tho semicircular line of the os frontis, but also by a very prominent crest above tlto oxtornal meatus, into tho posterior part of whiclt the zygomatic processes nre continued. Moreover, in nearly all tbo .Esthonian skulls, tho external pterygoid processes arc very broad; often the spinous process of the sphenoidal bono is, at tho snmo timo, ~o prolonged, that it oonlo~ces with the posterior n111rgin of the former process. . . . . 'fh1s conformation indicates a grontor evolution of tho external pterygoid musolo than in others loss broud. 1'his nmsolo being offioiont, tho ln.tcrnl motion of tho lower jaw is iucl·cascd, in consoquonco of tho smallness of tho condyles as compared with tho largo glenoid cavity; hence, tho crowns of tho teeth, already worn down iu the young, arc proofs of tho posses­sion of tho most powerful organs for masticating vogotablo food. It only remains to be obsorvod that, in tl•o lower jaw, tho ascending ramus is lower than in skulls of tho Cauca­sian vnrioty, tho nnglo moro obtuse, and tho posterior part of the body of tho jaw loss broad, and tho anterior part higher, and tho obin itself rounded, and rarely angular." Such, according to Dr. TiuEoK, are the characters of the Esthonian skull- characters which, he further assures us, aro more pronoun<.: d in proportion as those people arc loss mixed with others. IIo also expresses a belief in tho possibility of tracing the Finns to tlJOir primitive sources, by a careful study of the heads found in ancient sepulchres of this region. J!'1·om tlJe foregoing dcsCiiptions the reader will readily perceive tho difl:' ronccs between tho Finnic and. Mongolic typos of skull. Tho Mongolian face is broad and high, tho check-bones very robust, tho malar fossa shallow, tho nasal bones small and :flat, tooth stroHg and straightly placed, hounding a largo space; the orbits are deep and loss square. Oblique palpebral openings correspond. to the formation of the facial bones, ior the internal orbital process of the frontal bono descends more deeply than in tho Caucasian variety, and tho Estho­nians especially, whence tho lachrymal bone and tho entrance to the canal arc lower down. Tho internal canthus being adjacon t to tbis, is pia cd lower; hence tho obliquity of tho palpebral opmting, so peculiar to tho Mongolian. We thus find nothing common to tho Mongolian typo and to tho shape of the Estbonian skull except a certain sq uaronoss of :figure which is not constant. It will thus bo soon that tho cranial type of the Laplander belongs to a lower order than that of the l!...,inn, and that tho former race falls properly within tho limits of tho Arctic form, while the latiot· lcm1s d.ccidoclly towards tho Indo-Germanic typo, finding its r lation to tl1e latter through tho Sclavonian rather than tho trno Scandinavian types. But inferiority of form is to some extent a natural indi­cation of priority of existence. Wo arc thus lou fi·om cranial in vesti­~ ations alone to recognize tho Lapps as the autochthones of North­western Europe, who at a very romoto period have boon overlaid by ~h ~ncroaching Finn. TJJis opinion is countenanced by tho follow­mg facts. GEIJER assures us that the earliest historical accounts of OF TIIE RACES OF i'tf"EN. 2 a the Lapps and Pinna testifY to their diversity and primitive scp.ara­tion. Under tho combined pressure of the Swedes and Norw gwnt) on the west, and tho Finns on tho cast, tho Lapponic area has, from tho da·wn of history, be n a receding one. Lapponic names for places arc found in Finland, and, as already observed, human hones more Jiko those of tho Laplanders than the Scandinavim1s hav been found in ancient comotori s as far sontl1 as Denmark. PETlm II dOS'l'lWM tolls us that tho Lapps maintain that th ir aJJCCstors formerly had possession of all Sweden. Wo have it upon hi storicalr cord, t11at so Jato as tho fifteenth century La11ponic tribes were pushed. out of Savolax and. East Bothnia to·wards tbo north. P1·of. S. NILSSON, of Lund, thinks that tho southern parts of Sweden wore formerly connected with Denmark and Germany, while tho northern part of Scandinavia was covered with the sea; that Scania r coivod its post-diJuvian :fiom from Germany; and that as vegeta­tion incroa sod, graminivorous aninu:tls came from tJJO soutl1, followed by tho carnivora, and finally by man, wl10 Jived in tho time of tl10 Bos p?·imigenius and Ursus SpelaJus. Iu proof of tl1o anti~uity lJOro assigned to candinavian man, he tells us that tl10y have Jn Lund a sk loton of the Bos pi reed with an arrow, a11d another of tho Ursus, which was found in a peat-bog in cania, under a gravel or slouc deposit, along with impl 'monts of tho cl1ascY° From thc s~ i~Hplo­ments, be infers that these aborjgh1os wero a savage race oi fishers and hunters. "'l.'ho skulls of tho nbor1ginal inhabit1UHB found in tltoso ancient barrows aro short (brncuy-ceplmlic of notzitla), with promi.nont p~rietul tub er~, tutd ~rond nntl flnttoncd occi­put. It is worthy of remark, tltut the same Jorm of Cl'lltllum ox ,ats rtnt011g several vory 110 'l'he reader wilt find some highly interesting nnd curious spoculntious upon tho antiquity of llritish Man, in n pttper on tilled, On the Claims of the Gi!Jantic hiall lJe~:r to be considered as contemporary witt. .Alan, r occutly road (1\itly, 18lili), by 1\lr. H. D~NNY, before tho Ocologicnl aud l'olytochnic Society of tho West !tiding of Yorkshire. "In my endeavor to tmco tho Mcgacoros down to tho human em," s11yH l\ft-. D., in concludi11g l1is pttjlOr, "I am by no me11ns advoc1tting tho idon that they havo, as species, boon equally l ~ng h•ltabi­tants of this ol\l'th. On tho contmry, I suppose that tho lnst strn gglors onl!J, wl11ch OSCilpcd annihilation by physical olutngos nud ctmsos, muy have continued to exist down to Man's first nppcnranoo on tho Dritish Jslos; nnd ns }ll'Ccisoly Aimilltr views rc.gnrtling Ut? extinction of tho Diuomis in Now Zealttml have boen aclvOOittod by Dr. Mautollw ono uf Ius laHt com­munications to tho Ocologicnl Society, I shall mako no apology in concluding with his remarks wbon speaking of the Moa-bctls : -lloth these ossif'crous tloposits, th ough but of yesterday in geologict~l history, nrc of immonso antiquity in relation t~ tbo lnu~utn inhrtbi­tants of tho country. I boliovo that ages, ore tlto ndvont of tho l\luol'ls, Now Zealand was <lonsoly peopled by tho stupomlous bipeds whoso fos~il romnins rti'O the sole indications of their former existonoo. 'fhat tho last of tho species was oxtormi111ttod by humnn ngoncy, like the Dodo and Solitaire of tho Mauritius, and tho Gigantic mk of Irelnnd, tltero cnn bo 110 doubt; but, ore man begtm tho work of destruction, it is not twphilosopbical to rtasomo that physic111 1·evolutions, inducing gront changes in the relative distribution of tho lund 19