290 ANALOGICAL INVESTIGATION.
to the middle of the basis of the skull : still its position is
obviously posterior to the situation of the samejfommen in
the human skull. ’ Soemmerring thought he perceived some
difference in this same respect between the skulls of Europe*
ans and Negroes. He considered the difference to be very
slight, and expressed himself with doubt upon the subj ect ;
but by all the late writers who have cited, his observation
without taking much pains, as it would appear, to verify it,
Soemmerring’s statement has been repeated in much stronger
terms.*
I have carefully examined the situation of the foramen
magnum in many Negro skulls. In all of them its position
may be accurately described as being exactly behind the
transverse line bisecting the antero-posterior diameter of the
basis cranii. This is precisely the place which Mr. Owen has
pointed out as the general position of the occipital hole in
the human „skull. In those Negro skulls which have the
alveolar process very protuberant, the anterior half of the line
above described is lengthened in a slight degree' by this circumstance.
I f allowance js made for it, no difference, is
perceptible. The difference is in all instances extremely
slight, and it is equally perceptible in heads belonging to
other races of men if we examine crania which have prominent
upper jaws. I f a line is let fall from the summit of
the head at right angles with the plane of the basis, the occipital
fpramen will be found to be situated immediately behind
itj and this is precisely the same in Negro and in European
heads. I shall subjoin some further observations on this
subject in the explanation of the plates.
3. It is chiefly the projection of the muzzle, or of the alveolar
process of the upper maxillary bone that gives to the
skull of the Negro its peculiar deformity, and to the face its
ugliness and monkey-like aspect, and it is principally on this
circumstance that the difference in the facial angle noticed by
Camper between Negro and European heads depends. The
facial angle differs greatly in individual Negroes, as Blumen-
* “ Etwas weniges mehr nach hinten als bey uns schienet mir dies Loch beym
Mohren zu liegen.” Soemmerring, p. 54. jj'
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