XX DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
The flatness of the face is perceptible in these sketches; it is immediately
striking when the skulls are examined and compared.
Figures 13 and 14 have been described in the- appropriate places;
O f the Four Figures, representing the Basis o f the Skull,
prefixed to the title-page,
It has been proved by Mr. Gwen, that some of,the most impor-
tant diversities in the form of skulls, as distinguishing' different
races of the same species as well as different species, are displayed
by a comparative view of the bases,of skulls. I have fallowed this
suggestion by giving representations of thehasis tbe Hh’ree
most distinct forms ofthe humair skull, and these are placed intfie
same view with' the basis _of the skull of the adult oratigb^imia
^satyrus, which is copied from Mr. Owen’s ' en gr av ing ’in "iheJ first
volume of the Zoological Transactions.» The four sketches here
given are those of the skulls of an Esquimaux, an European, a
Negro, and an Orang.
1. The Esquimaux, from a skull ihr the museum of the Bristol
Institution. The basis is somewhat broader than that Neither :of
the remaining four. Its antero-posterior diam&ter is least in ’proportion
to its transverse,
2. The European. The skull is one of a French-soldier killed
m the battle of Waterloo, Supposed to have been one of the imperial
guards of Napoleon.
It may be observed, that the foramen magnum, in this skull, is
situated more posteriorly than in the following figure, which i$
that of the skull of a Negro strongly characterized by the pecili-
• arities of the Negro races. Tins refu tes the frequent assertion's Of
those who approximate the Negro to the Orang, and assert that the
black man resembles that beast particularly in the position of the
foramen magnum.
3. The skull of which the basis Is here figured is that of Philip
Bernard, before mentioned, and represented at the head of the engravings
of proghathous skulls.
On comparing these four figures, the reader will find all the observations
collected on the proportions of the skull as displayed by
this view of it completely verified.