pared with that of the simiæ, has been most fully made known
by Mr. Owen, who has shown that it is much greater in respect
to the adult ape than it has been hitherto supposed. Since
the time of Soemmerring it has been a general opinion that
the Negro differs considerably from the European in the same
circumstances, and that the head of the Negro is placed so
much further backward on the vertebral column, as to occasion
a material difference in the figure of the whole body. This
opinion is founded on a very exaggerated idea of the real
facts of the case. - The foramen magnum is only posterior in
the Negro.skull to its place in the European in consequence
of the projection of the upper jaw, particularly, of the alveolar
process. When considered in relation' to tjïe cranial cavity
and the vertex, there is little or no difference between Negro
heads and Europeans in this respect, and therefore there can
be no material diversity arising from this . supposed cause in
the general form and attitude of the body.
— It has been observed, that the skeletons- ofNegroes have;
in some instances, six lumbar verteb.æ." I have-seen the same
variety in an European ; and Mr. Owen has -noticed a curious
approximation to it in an Australian skeleton. The number
of the lumbar vertebræ in the satyr and troglodyte is four, according
to Mr. Owen, but the skeleton ofithe pongo in the museum
of the College of Surgeons has five; a fact which affords
a similar instance of variety, if, as Mr. Owen appears to have
proved beyond all reasonable doubt, the pongo is an adult
órang.
The sternum is more arched, the ribs larger, more roundly
curved, and the chest more expanded in some Negroes'than in
Europeans. This was remarked by Soemmerring, who observes,
that although there are generally in the Negro seven
true and five false ribs, as is. Europeans, yet the eighth rib
more nearly approaches to the sternum in the Negro ; and in
one instance there were eight ribs attached to that bone.
Soemmerring says, that he has seen the same variety in Europeans.
The greater number of true ribs was supposed by
Soemmerring to be an approximation to the character of the
simiæ. In this he was mistaken, as far as the anthropoid
apes are concerned.' -The{troglodyte, according to Mr. Owen,
has^tlfiiteenigiribs. on each sidie^of which seven, are true, and
, six false.
/* Differences have been observed between Europeans, Negroes,
and men ©f other races, in the relative length of the
extremitiles compared'to* the tpank, and to -the proportion of
the limbs and the bones blithe arms and /legs' to each other.
According ito some writer#; there, is a difference, .'between
Negroes and Europeans in, the^proporbpnate length of the
humerus and the ulna..; . “ I measured;’’ says Mr. Whitest* the
arms of about fifty- Negrofes, men, womien;/ an d 1 children, borri
in 1 very'different ciimatesy; and found the lower arm longer
than in Europeans, in proportion-to the upper arm, and to the
height ofi.the body. The first Negrofon the li% # o n e in- the
lunatic-hospital at Liverpool, whose fore-arm measures twelve
inches and a quarter, and his stature is only five*>fe0t* ten
inbhes and a half. I have measured a great number of white
people from that -sifeChip to six feet four inches and a half, and
among them one who was. said to have-«the longest arms of
any man in England, but none of them had a fore-arm equal
to that ofethe black lunatic.”
«N|r. White^has -given a statement o f these measurements
in’ a table, from which it ^appears that in general the difference
observed-is j not very considerable, and by no * means
greater than the varieties which are every day to h e observed,
on comparing many individuals? of any .race or
natibn.
In this in s ta n c e d diversity observed by Mr. W h ite s t was
supposed that a signal approximation to the ape had been
discovered; but the difference between adult apes and men
in the length of the extremities is so great-as/to render all
such comparisons very remote, and 6f very,doubtful import-«,
ance with respect to any ulterior* conclusion. According to
Mr. Owen, the arms of the orang reach to the heel,- or at least
to the ankle-joint; while in the chimpanzee or troglodyte they
extend below the knee-joint. This bs a most decided and
widely-marked difference between the most anthropoid apes
and the Negro races of men. Yet even the slightest approach
to the former shape would be a curious circumstance, if it