Greeks, with the high distinction attained by that people in
philosophy and the fine arts. But before we can determine
that this relation is essential and real, we must explain why
other nations who partake of the same form have never displayed
the same genius. According to Blumenbach, the
skull of a Georgian female in his collection is^equal in beauty
of conformation to the Greek ; indeed he onlyugives to the
Grecian skull the second place ; but the natives of Georgia
have never been supposed to be possessed of any intellectual
superiority. It may also occur to those who would refer the
great mental power of the Greeks to the organization of their
brains, to ask themselves the question why, if that opinion
were true, did the Greeks cease, soon after the Roman world
had become enslaved, to show any proofs of high intellect ?
IIow came it to pass that the subjects of the Byzantine empire,
though in the possession of literature and all means -of culti-
vating.it, produced no great work of genius during the thousand
years which intervened betweenrGonstantine th e great
and Palseologus ? Luxury, - sloth, effemirta&yj-iand'
obedience to their despotic rulers, many^qf whom, with Justinian,
were barbarians, constituted the leading features .of
their character during all those ages, while the German and
Latin nations in the west were rising to a higher cultivation,
and displaying the greatest moral and,, intellectual energy. ;
I am not prepared to deny th at any connexion exists between
perfection and the developement and structUreyQf $5®; brain,
and vigour in the exercise of the mental functions; -but it appears
to me that those who dogmatize on this subject, overlook
many opposing facts, which they are bound to explain.
The shape of the head differs considerably, in different
nations, without going beyond those who belong to the class
now under consideration. The varieties in the form£of the
skull, in the European nations is the particular object of a
work by one o f the most distinguished writers of the present
day, on physiology and natural history, and to it I must refer
my readers who are particularly interested in this investigation.*
* W. F. Edward, D. M. sur les characters des races humaines. A Paris, 1829.
* A considerable number of skulls have been found in bar-
rows in different parts of Britain, and a much greater number
might be collected if pains were bestowed upon this object.
It might probably be not difficult to obtain a series of skulls
• displaying the national forms proper to each of the races of
ancient Europe. The skulls found in old burial places in
Britain, which I have been enabled to examine, differ materially
from the Grecian model. The amplitude of the anterior
parts of the cranium is very much less, giving a comparatively
small space for the anterior lobes of the brain. In this particular
the ancient .inhabitants of Britain appear to have differed
very considerably from the present. The latter, either as
the result'of many ages of greater intellectual cultivation, or
from some other cause, have, as I am persuaded, much more
capacious brain-cases than their forefathers*
S ection V.r—O f Pyramidal, or Broad-faced Skulls.
Paragraph 1.—Of the Skulls of the Turanian Nations.
I have termed the nomadie people of northern Asia, who in
the form of their skull resemble the Kalmuks, Turanian
nations, for reasons already explained. I shall now proceed
4a a more particular account of the form of their skulls, observing
that it belongs to. many very distinct and widely-
separated human races. Among all these the Mongoles have
been the mdst Celebrated as conquerors, and one of their
tribes, the Kalmuks, have been most frequently visited by
travellers from Europe. Hence the name of Mongoles as well
as that of Tartars (which according to Klaproth belonged originally
to the same people though it has been of late applied
to the Turkish race) was extended to all the nations who bear
to the real Mongoles some general resemblance. When
the name of the latter people is so applied, it is used in a
sense as vague and as widely extended beyond its real meaning
as is the term Frank, by which the natives of Europe are
designated in the East. To describe all the European
nations as one race; under the name of Franks, would not
be more improper than to designate the nations of northern
Asia as the Mongolian race.
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