skulls, which in my original analysis were placed with the Pelasgie
group, I have, on a further and more elaborate comparison, transferred
to the Egyptian series..
The Greeks were numerous in Egypt even before the Persian invasion,
b. c. 525, and their number greatly increased after the conquest
by Alexander the Great, nearly 200 years later (b. e. 332).
When the Romans, in turn, took possession of the country thirty
years before our era, the Greeks had already enjoyed uninterrupted
communication with it for five centuries. Their colonies were 300
years old; and it is, therefore, by no means surprising that the Egyp-
tian-Greek population, which chiefly inhabited Lower Egypt, ’should
he largely represented in the catacombs of Memphis. They are fewer
in proportion in Theban sepulchres; and yet fewer as we ascend the
Rile; and are hardly seen in the cemeteries of the rural districts.
The peaceful occupation of the Delta by the Greeks, for a long period
of time, must necessarily have caused an interminable mixture of the
two races, and fully accounts for that blended type of cranial conformation
so common in the catacombs.
It is further remarkable that, these Graeco-Egyptian heads, which I
have separated from the other Miotic crania by their conformation
only, and consequently without any regard to size, present an average
of eighty-seven cubic inches for the size of the brain; or, no less than
seven cubic inches above that of the pure Egyptian race, and hut
three inches less than the average I have assumed for the Teutonic
nations. Yet, no one of this series is of preponderating size ; for
the largest measures hut ninety-seven cubic inches, while the smallest
descends to seventy-four.*
Again, if we take the mean of the whole twenty-eight crania embraced
in the present division, we find it to be eighty-six cubic
inches:
The Celtic R ace.—The Celts who, with the cognate Gauls, at one
* Dr. J. C. Warren, of Boston, possesses two finely preserved Roman crania, from the
ashes of Pompeii. It is many years since I saw them, but they appeared to be highly characteristic
of this division of the Pelasgie race. The difference between the Roman and
Greek heads is familiar to all observers, but it has not been satisfactorily explained. It
may have arisen from alliances between the intrusive Pelasgie and some neighboring, but
dissimilar tribe, in Italy. One of the first acts of the Romans was to seize the Sabine
women, in order to people their infant colony., These Sabines, .however, are said also to
have been of Pelasgie origin; but that the rural population of Italy, at that period, embraced
a large proportion of Celts, may be inferred from history and confirmed by the Etruscan
vases; for wherever these relics, now so numerous, picture the sylvan deities, whether
as fauns or satyrs, they are represented with marked Celtic features; while the higher and
ruling caste, represented on the same vessels, has a perfect Grecian physiognomy. See
Sir William Hamilton’s Etruscan Vases, passim. The true Roman profile, however, is not
unfrequent on the antique bas-reliefs of Persia. Flandin: Voyage en Perse, pi. 33, 48.
period, extended their tribes from Asia Minor to the British Islands,
■are now chiefly confined, as an unmixed people, to the west and southwest
of Ireland, whence have been derived the six crania embraced
in the Table. These range between ninety-seven as a maximum and
seventy-eight as a minimum of the size of the brain; and the mean,
which is eighty-seven cubic inches, will probably prove to be above
that of the entire race, and not exceed eighty-five.
Erance, Spain, and parts of Britain, partake largely of Celtic blood,
but so variously blended with the Teutonic and Pelasgie branches of
the Caucasian group as to form a singularly mixed population. I f a
series of crania could be obtained from the old Provincial divisions
of Erance, they would constitute a study of extreme interest; for
those of th e . northern section ought to conform in a marked degree
to the German type, from their long intercourse (since a. d. 420) with
the Pranks, Burgundians, Visigoths,'and other Teutonic tribes. Those
in the south would present a greater infusion of the Roman physiog-
nomy, with some Greek traits; while the intermediate, communities
would retain a marked preponderance of their primitive Celtic characteristics.
For Caesar restricts the true Continental Celts between
the Garonne on the south and the Seine on the north: for although
the genuine Gauls were a Celtic people, many German tribes bore
the same collective name among the Romans, in the same way that
all the nations of the far Rorth were designated Scythians.
Europe was successively invaded by the Celtic, Teutonic, and Sclavonic
races. The Celtic migration is of extreme antiquity, yet there
can he no question that thejy displaced preexisting tribes. Among
the latter may be mentioned theTberians of Spain, who are yet represented
by a fragment of their race — the Basques or Euskaldunes of
Biscay.
T he I ndostanic F amily.—Ro part of the world presents a greater
diversity of human races than the country which bears the collective
name of India. Exotic nations have repeatedly conquered that unfortunate
region, and to a certain degree amalgamated with its primitive
inhabitants. In other instances, the original Hindoos remain
tmmixed; and beside these, .again, the mountainous districts still
contain what may be called fragments of tribes which have taken
refuge there, in remote .times, in order to escape the sword or the
yoke of strangers.
That peninsular India was originally peopled, at least in part, by
races of very dark and even black complexion, is beyond a question.
These people are stigmatised as Barbarians by their conquerors, the
Ayr as—a fair race, with Sanscrit speech, whose primal seats* were in
eastern Persia. They now occupy the country between the Himalaya