structure from the Teuton as is the Hottentot: and we might just as well class reindeer
and gazelles together as the Teuton and Hindoo, the Negro and Hottentot. Can any naturalist
derive a Peruvian from a Circassian ? a Papuan from a Turk ?
Dr. Morton’s collection of crania, though extraordinarily copious in some races, is very
defective in others; and, although his measurements doubtless approximate sufficiently to
the truth to prove a wide difference in the form and size of crania, yet they are by far too few
to afford perfectly accurate admeasurements. The first, or Teutonic group, for example,
gives a mean of ninety-two cubic inches; and this average is based on the measurements
of but thirty skulls; whereas 300 might not suffice to evolve a fair average of Germanic
cranial developments.
In these anatomical statistics the science of anthropology is wofully deficient; nor can
the vacuum be filled without the universal concurrence of physiologists. Morton’s cabinet,
the largest in the world, fails to supply adequate materials. In African, American, and
Egyptian, types, it leaves little to be desired; but the great ethnographer himself frankly
calls attention to its requirements: “ For example, it contains no skulls of the Eskimaux,
Fuegians, Californians or Brazilians. The distorted heads of the Oregon tribes are also
but partially represented; while the long-headed people of the Lake of Titicaca, in Bolivia,
are altogether wanting. Skulls also of the great divisions of the Caucasian and Mongolian
races are too few for satisfactory comparison; and the Slavonic and Tchudio (Finnish) nations,
together with the Mongol tribes of Northern Asia and China, are among the especial
desiderata of this collection.” 546
Nevertheless, it is with some feelings of national and professional pride that I remind
the reader how an American physician, unsupported by any government, and amidst incessant
devotion to a most arduous practice, who “ commenced the study of ethnology in
1880” without a single cranium, has bequeathed to posterity above 840 human skulls, and
above 620 of the inferior animals, so thoroughly illumined by his personal labors, that, in
' the absence of fresher materials, science must pause before she hazards a doubt upon any
result at which S a m u e l G e o r g e M o r t o n had maturely arrived.
Deploring the absence of these cranial desiderata, the idea occurred
to me that such deficiency might, in some degree, he supplied by hat-
manufacturers of various nations; notwithstanding that the information
derived from this source could give hut one measurement; viz.:
the horizontal periphery. Yet this one measurement alone, on an extended
scale, would go far towards determining the general size of
the brain. Accordingly, I applied to three hat-dealers in Mobile, and
to a large manufacturer in Newark, New Jersey, for statements of the
relative number of each size of hat sold to adult males. Their tables
agree so perfectly, as to leave no doubt of the circumference of the
heads of the white population of the United States. The three houses,
together, dispose of about 15,000 hats annually.
The following table was obligingly sent me by Messrs. Vail and Yates of Newark; and
they accompanied it with the remark, that their hats were sent principally to our Western
States, where there is a large proportion of German population; also that the sizes of these
hats were a little larger (about one-fourth of an inch) than those sold in the Southern
States. This useful observation was confirmed by the three hat-dealers in Mobile. Our
table gives—1st, the number, or size of the hat; 2d, the circumference of the head corresponding,;
3d, the circumference of the hat; and, lastly, the relative proportion of each
sold out of twelve hats.
S i z e— Inches. Circum. of Head—Inches. Cireum. of Hat—Inches. Kel. Proportion in 12.
6f ......... 21t 22$
7 22 :........ 22J
74 ........................ 2 2 | 23J
71 ........ 22i 23J
7 f ................ 2 2 i 2 3 J
71 ................... 231 2* i
All hats larger than these are called “ extra sizes.”
The average size, then, of the crania of -white races in the United States, is ahout 221
inches circumference, including the hair and scalp, for which ahout 1}_inches should he
deducted; leaving a mean horizontal periphery, for adult males, of 21 inches. The measurements
of the purest Teutonic races in Germany, and other nations of Europe, would
give a larger mean; and I have reason to helieve that the population of France, which is
principally Celtic, would yield*a smaller mean. I hope that others will avail themselves of
better opportunities for comparison.
Dr. Morton’s measurements of aboriginal American races present a mean of but about
191 inches; and this mean is substantially confirmed hy the fact stated to me by my
friend, Capt. S c a e e itt, U. S. A. [supra, p. 289]. Although his head measures but 22 inches,
it was with great difficulty that he found one hat amid several hundred to fit him; thus
proving that the Anglo-American mean is equal to the Maximum of the Mexican Indians;
who are here, at Metamoras, more or less mixed, too, with Spanish blood.
Hamilton Smith states: — “ We have personally witnessed the issue of military chacos
(caps) to the Second West India regiment, at the time when all the rank and file were
bought out of slave ships, and the sergeants alone being part white, men of color, Negroes
from North America, or born creoles: and it was observed that scarcely any fitted the
heads of the privates excepting the two smallest sizes; in many cases robust men of the
standard height required padding an inch and a half in thickness, to fit their caps; while
those of the non-commissioned officers were adjusted without any additional aid.” 547
My own experience abundantly proves the correctness of these facts in the United States-,
and my colleague, Mr. Gliddon, who resided two years in Greece, 1828-30, informs me that
he saw hundreds of the Greek regulars, at reviews, drills, or on guard, who were compelled
to wind a handkerchief around their heads to prevent their newly-adopted chacos, made
for English soldiers, falling over their noses. The modern Greek head, like the Armenian,
is somewhat sugar-loafed, owing to early compression by the turban.
The largest skull in Dr. Morton’s collection gives an Internal capacity of but 114 cubie
inches; and we know that head3 of this size, and even larger, are by no means uncommon
in the Anglo-Saxon race. Dr. Wyman, in his post-mortem examination of the famed Daniel
Webster, found the internal capacity of the cranium to be 122 cubic inches: and, in a private
letter to me, he says, “ The circumference was measured outside of the integuments,
before the scalp was removed, and may, perhaps, as there was much emaciation, be a little
less than in health.” It was 23J inches in circumference; and the Doctor states that it is
well known there are several heads in Boston larger than Mr. Webster s.
Mr. Arnold, a very intelligent hat-dealer in Mobile, writes me in a note as follows: —
“ Frequently I have calls for the following sizes (measured from head)—24, 2 4 |, and, about
once a year, 25 inches.”
I have myself, in the last few weeks, measured half-a-dozen heads as large and larger
than Webster’s ; while a reference to Morton’s tables will show that in his whole Egyptian
group only one reaches 97 inches internal capacity; and, out of 338 aboriginal American
skulls, but one attains to 101, and another to 104 cubic inches.
It has been asserted by Prof. Tiedemann of Heidleberg, that the brain of the Negro is as
large as that of the White races; but Dr. Morton has refuted this opinion by a mass of
facts which cannot be overthrown. He has, moreover, shown that Tiedemann’s own tables
contradict such deduction.