the skulls of the natives of the New World are in general, as
Blumenbaeh has observed, particularly light.*
The following table exhibits the weights of several skulls,
nearly of the same size.
lb. oz. avoirdupois.
Skull of a G re e k ................. 114 m
Of a Mula tto......................... 2 10 a
Negro 1 , . . . . . . i . . . . . . . . . . 2 0 ----99 N
Negro 2, .................... ........... . 1 124 99
Negro 3 , ^ ........... 51 -- }9 | 1
Negro 4, (from Congo) . . . . . . 1 ’ n j g § h
New Zealander..................... . 1 10f 99
Chinese ................................ 71 }>.
Gipsey without the lower jaw. . 1 § É ■--therefore with the lower jaw
— at least............. 2 0
It appears from this that there is no constant difference.
Section I I I .— O f prognathous or narrow and elongated
Skulls.
Paragraph 1.—Of the shape of the Skull in the Negro.—
l have already cited the testimony of many accurate
writers, which are sufficient to establish the fact that the black
and woolly-haired inhabitants of Africa have.frequently beautiful
features, and-scarcely differ in form from European
nations. It may be observed, on the other hand, that individuals
among other races are frequently seen who strongly
resemble the more characteristic form of the African, and
* Azara mentions a circumstance which, if true, is worthy of observation, and tends
to confirm the Opinion that the American crania are generally light. “ Un homme
qui avait vécu longtemps parmi les Guaranys Chrétiens (in Paraguay) m’assure
qu’il avait observé dans lés cimetières, que lès os des Indiens se convertissaient en
terre beaucoup plutôt que ceux des Espagnols.” Don Félix de Azara, Voyages
dans l’Amérique Méridionale, tom. xi. p. 59.
that examples might easily be found in which all the peculiarities
of the. Negro countenance are discernible in the
persons of Europeans. Soemmerring has made this remark,
and he has cited Loder, who describes the skull of a Thurin-
gian as affording the characteristics of the African race in a
native of Europe, and sprung-from European parents.
My present óbject is to describe those forms of the
African cranium, which recede ‘ most from the European, or
Indo*Atlantic, as well as from the shapes which j the skull
assumes .in other races' of men. The following observations
on the cranium of'thë -Negro refer'to that'*,figure which is
most peculiar and different from the type prevalent in other
human races.
The chief peculiarities*in the general form~ofthe4 strongly
marked' Negro skull may be referred to the two characters of
lateral conyprë'ssiony or narrowing^jóf the entire cranium, and
greater forward projection?of'thè jaws. The head is proportionally
narrower' and the* upper jaw is more protruded forwards
than in.$he;>ordinary form of other racëhl,v&’
, Soemmerring, wha was followed by* Mr. White -and many
Other- anatomists, observed -or fancied numerous points of
relation ^'between the skulls of Negroes and tho$è*,wApes.
Now*as the Negro has the;narrowest and most elongated of
all human skulls, and as the crania of apes?and all othfer animals
of tlie monkey tribe are much longer and narrower than
those jof men, it could hardly be but that some points of
analogy should display themselves between the Ape and the
Negro. These analogies??are of much less weight than they
have been supposed to b e ; (but we must take'some notice%f
the essential differences between the-Heads of the Simiêe and
those of men) before we can * estimate their importance t and
extent.
Of all the monkey tribe, the chimpanzee and the prang
alone make any.considerable approach towards the human
form. These anthropoid apes are arranged by M. Geoff-
roy St.-Hilaire and Mr. R. Owen in two sub-genera, termed
Troglodytes and Pithecus.* The $e$^xffies of Mr. Owen
have lately thrown a most important light on the anatomy
• Annales dn Muséum, tom. xix. Zoological Transactions, vol. i.