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CRANIA BRITANNICA. [CHAP. I.
improbable tliey mingled very sparingly by intermarriage with the people over whom they
exercised such tyrannical sway. The preceding are interesting questions, which, although it
wovild be prematm-e to discuss in this place, we shaU hope to be able to elucidate, in some
deo-ree at least, and as far as cranioscopic inqi.iiry mU carry us, before we conclude. It may,
however, be weU to premise a few words as to what has been the result of observation on other
races mt h respect to intermixture and its consequences, although the subject demands much
more extended and accurate inquiry, and more close study than it has yet obtained. The
familiar cases of the Jews and the Gipsies prove that natui-e is not to be turned from her permanent
types by slight intermixture; that there is a deep conservative principle inlierent m her
forms wliich would seem to requii-e a stronger force to overcome than can be brought to bear
upon a creature possessed of independent .vill and self-control, yet subjected to moral influences
hi-hly diversified, that reaUy operate upon him very arbitrarily, although imperceptibly. These
r a L mamly, not wholly, unmixed, remain imchanged from remote antiquity, and in all countries
and climates, both temperate and tropical, of each of the great continents The amalgamation
of races there are strong reasons for believmg depends chiefly on then- original proxiimty-their
likeness from the beginning. Where races are remote, their hybrid products are weak, infertile,
shoi-t-lived, prone to disease and perishable, mere they are primitively nearer in resemblance,
tliere is still an inherent law operating and controling their intermixture, by which the predominant
blood overcomes that which is in minor proportion, and causes the offspring ultunately
to revert to that side from which it was chiefly derived. As it is only where the resemblance of
races is most intunate that moral antagonisms can be largely overcome, so it is in these cases
alone that we may expect to meet with the physical attraction productive of perfect amalgamation
nature probably still at times evincing her unsubdued resistance by the occurrence of
families bearing the'impress of one or the other of their- original progenitors. As the taolaUon
of tribes is one of the most essential elements for the preservation of their puiity, the British
Islands in theh- remote districts may reasonably be expected to yield to the careful mvestigator
e-s-idences invaluable to ethnology.
Allowing the permanence of diversities amongst races of men, still we have to endeavour to
determine the question, whether by ascending to remote times we may not discover and discriminate
primitive differences in nations and tribes, as those of pre-Roman Britain-distinctions
in primeval families, which have been overshadowed since by intermixture with other proxnnate
tribes In fact, we have to inquii-e whether primordial and minor differences of a gentilitial
or tribal character, which are siifiiciently marked, are permanently impressed, and recm-, either
»•eneraUy or occasionally, in subsequent generations; or whether they sink and are swallowed
up on intermixture. Most, if not all, great nations have been formed of many sepai-ate but
proximate elements, of confederations or tribes, in which one or more may have predominated,
as the Greeks and the Romans. The English people form no exception to this rule; or, rather
• The often-quoted instance of tlie Jews of Cochin and Malabar,
visited by Dr. Claudius Buchanan, and referred to in so
unfortunate a manner by Dr. Prichard (Res. iv. n97), who are
really unchanged, and still emphatically called;'White Jews,"
wherever their blood has been preserved, finds a parallel in the
Jews of the Province of Antioquia in Nueva Granada of tropical
America. They were formerly expelled from Spain, and settled
in this highly auriferous prorince, to which they gave a
name derived from their oriental associations. The Jews of
the city and province of Antioquia, notwithstanding the change
of climate, "all the vicissitudes of early colonial life, and their
contact with strange races for so long a period, are strongly
stamped with the Israeiitish peculiarities to this day, both morally
and physically."—MS. communication from Edward "W,
Mark, Esq., II. B. M. Consul at Bogotii.
CHAP. I.] INTRODUCTION.
by a succession of conquests, probably a more diverse blood has been mingled in a greater or
less degree upon om- soil than upon that of most of the nations of antiquity. Taking this
commingling of elements, and determining the amount of its expression in cranial peculiarities,
can we, by a reference to typical skulls of the different primitive tribes and nations, approximately
ascertain the value of each element ? Undoubtedly, to solve with anything like precision
such nice problems as these, demands a delicate educated tact only to be acquired by very extended
inspection and manipulation, and an investigation of crania such as has not hitherto been
made, for which, in truth, adequate materials have yet to be collected. The different tribes of
Germania, Gallia, and Britannia were marked by sufflcient peculiarities to obtain distinct names,
either native or exotic, probably the former, in origia. Where these diversities were impressed
on their organization and addressed to the eye, we may hope to trace them in their remains.
The Roman legionaries and colonists, who made a settled abode in our island, were derived from
various parts of the empire, as well as of Italy. The Teutonic nations who subsequently invaded
the country, were of distinct tribes. And the Scandinavian people, who made various descents
upon and settlements in the British Islands, crowned by the last, the Norman Conquest, were
not all of strictly one homogeneous origin. The full extent and exhaustion of our inquiry,
therefore, would demand the tracing out aU these diversified people to their primitive seats,
ascertaining in each the peculiar physical form belonging to it, where suificiently marked to be
stiU perceptible in its remains,-—then, where the case admits of our doing so, following each
separate band of so many different epochs, in its victories, migrations, colonizations and settlements
into particular districts of our country,—and ultimately seeking the indications of its
presence amongst the inhabitants now making these their permanent abodes. To obtain the
comjilete solution of such a vast problem as this, spreading over an extent of Europe so wide,
and embracing historical periods so remote, claims such abundant materials and such ample
and recondite researches, that we can scarcely reasonably expect to do more than eliminate
certain reliable data for it *.
We have now dwelt sufficiently on the difficulties of the study to moderate the expectations
of the reader in our results. The uses of such investigations wiU have been rendered apparent
* In the admirable paper addressed to the Société Impériale
des Antiquaires de France, M. Alfred Maury has taken up
this subject for that country, and urged with much force and
soundness upon the members and correspondents of the
learned body with which he is connected, residing in the Departments,
the great desirableness of studying the characters,
jthysical and moral, manners, customs, costumes, languages,
&c. of the many diversified people who are seated in them,
before the immense advances making in modern modes of communication
shall have effaced these peculiarities—under the
impression, derived from the doctrine of persistency of races,
that numerous remnants of the various people who have made
up the French nation are still to be met with in its provinces,
enjoying even a tolerable purity of blood. lie has, however,
attached more importance to languages and dialects than they
deserve in such an inquiry, and not dwelt sufficiently upon
the physical characters, omitting altogether the study of
skulls, which had already been recommended (Vimont, " Traiti!
de riuénologie," 400) with this view. He suggests, besides
careful descriptions of the provincials, the preparation of a
series of accurately coloured portraits of them. "Were such a
study of the present inhabitants of the British Islands, with
constant reference to their origin and history, made upon
anything like a commensurate scale, taking their cranial
and other physical properties and moral features as a basis,
the results would be most productive to ethnology—in a
series of reliable data, of far greater value than hypothetical
speculations on the productiou of the varieties of man, and
the equally speculative erudition upon the resemblances of
language, whether in construction or vocabulary. Till the
philosophy of these curious but doubtful researches is better
understood, they appear to deserve to be regarded only as
occupying a secondary place in ethnology, however vast the
philological attainments brought to bear upon them, which
we have no wish to disparage. In such a study as has been
suggested photographers might find constant amusement, and
their truthful pictures would be of the greatest use both in describhig
the people and in delineating the coloured drawings
required.—Questions relatives à l'Ethnologie Ancienne de la
France, par M. Alfred Maury, 1853.
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