could be fully established. It would tend, with other feels,
to imply that the savage, races of mankind have somewhat
more of the animal even in their physical conformation than
the more- .cultivated races, or those whose improvement by
civilization may be dated from a very remote era in the history
of the world.
It must,be observed that this difference, |§ it really exists,
on an extensive comparison, is only to be found in a scale of
averages, the majority of Europeans differing from the majority
of Negroes. There are many Europeans whose fore-arms,
are as long as those of Negroes, and there are Negroes who
resemble Europeans. This consideration renders it difficult,
if not impossible, to sjappose that such a diversity can be
©WlQg for original difference of species. In the following
chapter we shall inquire whether analogous diversities are
known to exist in other tribes of animated beings.
Slender, lean, and elongated limbs are generally foun.d in
races'who are badly fed, and in those whose food, if^chiefty or-
entirely of vegetables. It is; observed by Mr. Lawrence thatf
this is the case with the Lascars or Indian, sailors who come
to, England in the East-India ships. Their fogs also' are long.,
A greater length of the arms and legs, and smallifosg. of the
hands and feet, have been remarked by many writers' as general
characters of the Hindoos. It was noticed by Hodges,
whose remark has been cited by Mr. .Lawrence in connexion
with this subject, that when the sabres of Hindoos have been
brought to England, the gripe has been found toocsmall for
most European hands. In the Peschernis of Tierra del Fuego,
a half-starved tribe, who are probably of the same-race or
nation with the huge Patagonians, Forster observed that
the thighs are thin and dean, and the legs bent, ancT badly
formed. The natives of Van Diemen’s Land and of New
Holland are likewise small in stature, with long and slender
limbs.”
I t has been a prevalent opinion that, in merely physical
powers savage nations are superior to those who are civilised,
and that in proportion as the mental faculties become developed,
the more the animal qualities become defective. Mr.
Lawrence, in his lectures .on the natural history of man, has
PROPORTIONS OF PARTS. 337
collected a great number of testimonies' which completely
prove this supposition* to be erroneous., The experiments of
Peron are Well known. By’these.it was demonstrated-, that
the Australians, Tasmaniahs, 'arid Timorians are very much
weaker in lf^btefthan the French and English. Even the
American aborigines, ias M r ^ aw to c e has .shown from the
te stim o n y ^ Herrera,;Mackenzie} Hearne,-Lewis and Clarke,
and others,, betray the samèrinferiórity in (physical strength.
In engagements between troop and' droop, or* man* and man,
the (Virginians and Kentufckiahs, according do Volney, have
always the advantage over the American sa*vagöSJ* - ■
-In all other races, when compared with Europeans, and the
most civilized nations, of Asiaydhe lowenextrepiities .are more
apt to. bè crooked, and, as!we should say, badly^formed.
Even among the higher and fewer*.glasses’!of theifeme community,
there is perhaps, more difference in respect to this
than to -any other physical character ; Wd it is not a matter for
surprise that the diversity' iêf greater when hhtidns' in different
grades ©f civilization are compared,
Soemmerrihg has remarked, that in Negroes fÊ: bones of
the leg appear to',be bent outwards, uqder the condyfefs of the
thigh-bone, so that the knees stand further apart, and the
feet are turned more outwards than in Europeans.f This ób^l
servation-applies to two Negro skeletons in his possession, i
and to more than twelve living individuals whom he has sèeü; I
Soemmerring’s remark is confirmed by Mr. Lawrence, who']
observes that this peculiarity is observable in the cast of a
Negro belonging to the^Gbllfege Museum. “ The tibia and
fibula are more convex in front than in Europeans. The
calves of the leg are very high/so as to encroach upon the.
hams. The feet and hands, but particularly the former,'are
flat; thé os calcis, instead of being arched, is continued
nearly m a straight line with the other bpnes of the foot,
which is remarkably broad.”+
This high position of the gastró-cüemii muScles and the same
clumsy form of the legs have been observed repeatedly, as
* Lawrence’s Lectures, p. 4Ö3. + Soemmerting, ubi supra, § 42. '
$ Lawrence, ubi supra, p(. 408.
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