subject, and, according to Prof. R etzius, even the intestinal parasitic
worms of the two are unlike.135 H amilton Smith remarks that
the “Einnic race repudiates in national pride all consanguinity with
the Laplander.”136 Dr. M orton considers the Lapps as unquestionably
Mongolian. L uke B urke, the able editor of the London Ethnological
Journal, appears to adopt another view:
“ The Eakimaux, the Lapp, and the Samolde, are three entirely distinct beings. They
represent each other . They consequently offer a host of resemblances; but resemblances
and affinity are often entirely distinct matters in zoology, though they are constantly confounded,
even in cases of the utmost importance.............. The Lapp is entirely European,
possessing a quite distinct constitution from the Eskimaux and the Samoide, and being
very much higher than either in the human scale, though still by far the lowest portion o f ’
the European family. The Samolde is in all respects a Mongolid®. Indeed, he has the
leading traits of the family even in excess.” 137
.A. critical examination of three Laplander crailia, and two casts,
contained in the collection of Dr. Morton, and a comparison of these
with a Kalmuck, head and a number of Einnic skulls, convince me
that the Laplander cranium should be regarded as a sub-typical
form, occupying the transitionary place between the pyramidal
type of the true Hyperboreans on the one hand; and the globularheaded
and square-faced Mongol on the other. Just as upon the
shores of Eastern Asia, we behold the Arctic form passing through
the Kamtsehatkan and the Southern Tungusian into the Central
Asiatic type, so in the western part of the great Asio-Europekn
continent, we behold a similar transition through the Lapponie into
the Tehudic and Scandinavian types —the most northern of the
European.
It is strictly true that the skulls of the Eskimo, Laplander, and
135 The following curious paragraph, relating to entozoal ethnology, I find in Prof. Ow e n ’s
admirable Lectures on the Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of the Invertebrate Animals
(2d edition, p. 67): “ The Tania Solium is that which is most likely to fall under the notice
of the British medical practitioner. It is the common species of tapeworm developed in the
intestines of the natives of Great Britain; and it is almost equally peculiar to the Dutch
and Germans. The Swiss and Russians are as exclusively infested by the Bothriocephalus
latus. In the city of Dantzig it has been remarked, that only the Tcenia Solium occurs;
while at Königsberg, which borders upon Russia, the Bothriocephalus latus prevails. The
inhabitants of the French provinces adjoining Switzerland are' occasionally infested with
both kinds of tapeworm. The natives of. North Abyssinia are very subject to the Tcenia
Solium, as are also the Hottentots of South Africa. Such facts as to the prevalent species
of tapeworm in different parts of the world, if duly collected by medical travellers, would
form a body of evidence, not only of elminthological, but of ethhological interest. In the
Bothriocephalus latus of some parts of Central Europe and of Switzerland we may perceive
an indication of the course of those North-Eastern hordes which contributed to the subversion
of the Roman Empire; and the Tcenia Solium affords perhaps analogous evidence
of the stream of population from the sources of the Nile southward to the Cape ’’
1* Op. cit„ p. 321.
“ t Charleston Medical Journal and Review, July 1856; pp. 446-7.
Samoiede are not identical, in the fullest sense of the word. Neither
are the localities of these people. The various portions of the so-called
Arctic realm, of A gassiz, do not accord precisely in geographical and
climatic conditions. Arctic America and Asia more closely resemble
eaeh other than they do Arctic Europe. The same thing is true, of the
skulls, and of the organism generally, of their human inhabitants. A
deeply indented sea-border; direct and positive relations to the G-ulf
Stream which divides upon the Norwegian coast into two great currents,
bathes and tempers the whole north-western shore, and supplies
an immense body of warm, humid air, which serves to ameliorate the
otherwise extremely harsh and rugged climate; a range of lofty mountains
running parallel with the western coast, and acting as great condensers
of atmospheric vapor;—such are the physical peculiarities
which give to Lapland-Europe an organic physiognomy somewhat
different from other sections of the Arctic realm. In this region the
tree-limit obtaihsffts highest northern position in lat. 70°-71° N., and
if we trace this line eastward, on a physical chart, we will find that,
under the influence of a continental climate, it recedes towards the
Equator, until in Kamtschatka it reaches the ocean in 58° N. latitude.
So that while in a considerable portion of Lapland we find a wooded
region, in Asia it will be observed that a large part of the country of
the Samoiedes and Tungus, and the whole of that of the Koriaks,
Yukagirs and Tchuktchi, lie to the north of the wooded zone. Hpon
the American continent, which is colder under the same parallels
than the Asiatic—in consequence of the presence of a greater quantity
of land in these high latitudes — the Eskimo live entirely in a
treeless region. The distribution of the bread-plants in Northern
America, Europe, and Asia, reveals to us similar irregularities. We
need not be surprised, therefore, if, in harmony with these vaiying
physical and organic conditions, we should
find the: Lapland cranium differing more
from those of the Eskimo and Samoiede
than these two do from each other.
The skull here figured is reduced from
Tab. XLIH. of the Decades. B lumen-
bach describes it as “ large in proportion
to the stature of the body; the form and
appearance altogether such as prevail in
the Mongolian variety; the calvaria almost
globose; the zygomatic bones projecting
outwards; the malar fossa, plane; the forehead
broad; the chin slightly prominent
Fig. 14.
L a p l a n d e r .