lopement of the bony palate, in consequence of which the\
teeth are much larger and more, spread, and want that continuity
which is, with a single exception, a characteristic pf
man, and intervals between the laniary, cutting and bicuspid
teeth admit, as in th e lower tribes of animals, the apices of
teeth belonging to the opposite jaws. Fourthly, the-basis of
the skull is flat, owing to the want of that downward deve-
lopement of the brain, and of the bony case, connected with
the greater dimension which the cerebral organ acquires in
the human being, compared with the.lower tribes.
The characteristic points of diversity above enumerated are
perceived by examining the basis of the skull.. There are
others perhaps not less remarkable when the crania of adult,apes
are compared with the human skull in other point^of view.
A charactef j Tor example, on which much stress, has been
laid, as one in which the orang approximates to the human
form, and particularly to th a t of some races-.of mentis .the
facial. angle. This angle contains, according* to Brofes&or
Camper’s measurement, 80° in the heads of Europeans. In
some human skulls it has been considerably less; and ha|f
even measured only 70°, according to th e same writer, in the
heads of Negroes. In the orang it has been estimated at 64°^
63°, or 60°,* but this has been in the measurement,of the
skulls of young apes. I t is stated by Mr. Owen that the
facial angle of the adult troglodyte is only 35?, and that of
the orang or satyr 30°.
Such being the extent of difference manifest between^the
skulls of those simise which most approach to the human
form, a difference so great that the utmost diversity between
human races is quite inconsiderable when compared with it, it
becomes rather a matter of curiosity than, jof importance to
the solution of any great question, to know whether the
crania of any human tribes actually make a slight advance
towards the type of the troglodyte or orang. Still the facts
which Soemmerring and other anatomists have pointed out,
are not to be overlooked.
• Lesson Hist Nat. des Mammifères, tom. iii. p. 230.
t Zool. Transact, vol. i. pp. 3,72, 373.
1. The anteroposterior diameter of the basis of the cranium
is certainly somewhat longer in proportion to the transverse
diameter-in the skulls ofi many N egroeà than in those of
Europeans. This is the main circumstance of approximation?
towards the ape, and that on which most of the particular
instailcJitOf this approximation1#ppear to depend. The difference
is however very slight, and requires some care in order
that it may be ascertained. I have several Negro skulls in
which it may be discerned. On the other hand, in the skull
of ah Esquimaux ’ the difference is decidedly of an opposite
kind, So that if wo are entitled to affirm that the skulls of
NejgrWs display degradation when compared with the European,
the Same thing must be conceded of the European in
comparison with the Esquimaux. The greater length of the
an^eT^pojStet^pi^- 'diameter, in the Negro dtepèncts almost
putirely on the prominence-of the upper j aw, which appears in
wte- basis Tóf the^, skull in the length of the longitudinal
diameter of the bony palate, and in the face, in the forward
projection of the alveolar ridge of the upper maxillary bone. .
2. n The position of the great occipital foramen has been
considered as affording a strongly marked character of differ-
encefbetween the skulls .of Negroes and Europeans,*
Il was long ago.observed by Daubenton, that the occipital
foramen holds-in-thé heads of all the inferior animals a position
somewhat further backwards than in the human head.
In the human head this foramen is near the middle of the
basis of the cranium, or> as Mr. Owen has more accurately
defined its position, immediately behind a transverse line dividing
the basis cranii into two equal portions or bisecting the
antero-posterior diameter. - In the head of the adult troglodyte
the place of the foramen magnum is at the middle of
the posterior third part of the basis ; or if the antero-posterior
diameter is divided into three equal portions, it will be
found in the midst of the third division. In the heads of
young apes which heretofore have been the subjects of comparison,
this foramen is situated much more forward, or near
* Mémoires de l’Academie des Scie, de Paris, 1764, sur les différences de la situation
du grand trou occipital dans l’homme et dans les autres animaux,—Soemmerring
über die verschiedenheit des Negers, w. s., f. p, 54.'