human races, was Professor Camper; This writer invented
a technical method by which 'he imagined that he could
display in a single measurement the essential difference of
skulls as to form and capacity^ not only in reference to various
nations of men, but likewise as to the inferior species of
animals. His own account of this method; is as follows.
“ The basis on which;the distinction of nations is founded
may be displayed by two straight lines, one of which is to be
drawn through the meatus auditorius to the base of the nose,
and the other touching the prominent centre of the forehead,
and falling thence on the most advancing part of the upper
jaw-bone, the head being viewed in profile. In the ^ngle
produced by these two lines, may be said to consist, not only
the distinctions between the skulls of the several species of
animals, but also those which are found to exist between different
nations; and it might be concluded that Nature has
availed herself, at the same time, of this angltej-to'mark WÊ
the diversifies of the animal kingdom, and to establish a sort
of scale from the inferior tribes up to the most beautiful
forms which are found in the human species. Thus it will
be found th a t th e heads of birds display the'smallest^ angle,
and that it always becomes of greater extent in proportion as
the animal approaches more nearly to the human figure.
Thus there is one species of the ape tribe, in which the head
has a facial angle o f forty-two degrees ; in another animal of
the same family, which is one of those Simiae most approximating
in figure to mankind, the facial angle contains exaMy
fifty degrees. Next to this is the head of the African Negro,
which, as well as that of the Kalmuk, forms an angle of seventy
degrees, while the angle discovered in the heads of Europeans,
contains eighty degrees. On this difference of ten
degrees in the facial angle, the superior beatfty of the European
depends, while that high character of sublime beauty,
which is so striking in some works of ancient statuary, as in
th e head o f Apollo, and in the Medusa of Sisocles, is given
by an angle which amounts to one hundred degrees.”
The measurement of this angle has been supposed to afford,
in the first place, a criterion for estimating the degrees of intelligence
and sagacity which Nature has bestowed on all
those animals -pqs$q£sed of a skull and b rain ; secondly, when
applied-; to mankind, it. becomes, according t o , the ingenious
-inventor,) a. foundation, fer- the physiognomy of nations and
individuals, a^imal-l ,facial angle denoting, stupidity either in a
whole tribe, pipin particular persons,' and the converse: and
in the .third place>;,itv.is proposed, in the same measurement,
to find ajdistinguishing mark of the principal divisions of the
human species.
...In the application of this .method to the estimate of sagacity
or intelligence, in individuals, on. races of men, or differe
n t species of animals, it is evident- that twoypositions are
taken'for granted,^either of which*. ought to be admitted
without pr,ps<ff. It is understood,-as* if the feet were
Self§v|dent^fW,hich it certainly is not, that, intelligence bears
some'.pmp^Ejd^n to ithendpyplppement of the {brain: in other
words!/ jjthat the quantity of brain, either positiyely-pjfper se-^- i
or mediation to sopte standard,* is a measure of the extent of
mental power. THe possession of ^mental fatuities is scarcely
predicated of -the inferior animals, but if we; refer to, the aggregate.
.of psychical endowments which in the inferior tribes
stand in-the rplace. of. the mental, faculties in man, we shall
find it very , difficult-to4 establish the conclusion as a general
one, that tfevresults of that internal , energy which directs the
actions.:of animated? beings towards certain ends, are displayed
in degrees that may be measured b y the,- quantity of
brain, and its approximating towards the form which it bears
in man. It has been, indeed, remarked,, frequently, that the
most wonderful instincts are manifested by termites and bees,
and various other tribes of insects which have no organization
resembling the cerebral lobes. It may be observed likewise
that the faculties of animals are different in kind, and that
we can form no definite notion o f different quantities or degrees,
of sagacity and intelligence bestowed on the several
tribes, nor conceive any possible:method-of, estimating them.
The psychical endowments ,of each tribe, are perfect in relation
to the-sphere of existence for which it is destined. The
instincts and inodes of perception and of action, even in those
animals most remote from mankind, are all equally adapted
to their several ends. But, secondly, does the facial angle