description of Müller coincides very well with the appearance of
this skull.
Kg- 86- In Fig. 36. the reader has
before him another peculiar
type—and a unique specimen—
of skull, that of the
Ancient Phoenicians, the sea-
wanderers (a name their habits
suggest and justify), the bold
navigators and commercial
traders of antiquity, who, as
early as the sixth century,
b. c., had dared the waters of
P h o s n i c i a n . the Atlantic, and, perhaps,
doubled the Cape of Good
Hope in their fearless explorations ; and whose language, after being
lost for nearly two thousand years, has lately been deciphered, and its
long-hidden secrets revealed to the wprld.223
“ I received this highly interesting relic,” says Dr. M o r t o n , “ from M. F. Fresnel, the
distinguished French archaeologist and traveller [since deceased, February, 1856, at
Bagdad, in the midst of Ninevite explorations], 'w ith the following memorandum, a . d .
1847 g Crâne provenant des'•caves sépulchrales de Ben-Djemma, dans l’île de Malte.
Ce crâne paraît avoir appartenu à un individu de la race qui, dans les temps les plus
anciens, occupait la côte septentrionale de l’Afrique, et les îles adjacentes.’ ” 224
This cranium is the one alluded to in the interesting anecdote
narrated by the late Dr. P atterson, in his graceful Memoir, as
illustrating the wonderful power of discrimination, the tactus vism,
acquired by Dr. M orton in his long and critical study of cranio-
grqphy.225 From this circumstance, and from the many singular
and interesting associations inseparably connected with its antiquity,
its introduction here cannot fail to be received with a lively.sense
of interest by those engaged in these studies. It is in many respects
a peculiar skull. In a profile view, the eye quickly notices the
remarkable length of the occipito-mental diameter. This feature
gives to the whole head an elongated appearance, which is much
heightened by the general narrowness of the calvaria, the backward
slope of the occipital region, and the strong prognathous tendency
of the maxillæ. The contour of the coronal region is a long oval,
which recalls to the mind the kumbe-kephalic form of W ilson.
The moderately well-developed forehead is notable for its regularity.
In its form and general characters the face is sui generis. It may
223 See Pulszky’s Chap. I., p. 129-137, ante.
22é See Morton’s Catalogue of Skulls of Man and the Inferior Animals. Philada., 1849.
No. 1352.
225 See Types of Mankind, p. xL
not inaptly be compared to a double wedge, for the facial bones are
not only inclined downwards and remarkably forward, thus tapering
towards the chin, but also in consequence of the flatness of the
malar bones and the inferior maxillary rami they appear laterally
compressed, sloping gently, on both sides, from behind forwards,
towards the median line. The lower jaw is large, and much thrown
forwards. The slope of the superior maxilla forms an angle with
the horizon of about 45°. Notwithstanding this inclination of the
maxilla, the incisor teeth are so curved as- to be nearly vertical.
Hence the prognathism-of the jaws is quite peculiar, differing, as it
does, from that of the Eskimo cranium already alluded to, and from
the true African skulls presently to be noticed.
In the consideration of European types, we pass next to the supposed
primeval home of the human family. In the mountainous
but fertile region of the -Caucasus, extending from the Euxine to the
Caspian Seas, dwell numerous tribes, speaking mutually unintelligible
languages, and differing in physical characters. From this
region were the harems of the Turk and Persian supplied with those
beautiful Georgian and Circassian females, who have, to no smn.ll
extent, imparted their physical excellence to the former people.
.Some idea of the multiplicity of languages spoken in this small area
may be obtained from a fact mentioned by Pliny, that at Dioscurias,
a smalh sea-port town, the ancient commerce with the Greeks and
Romans was carried on through the intervention of one hundred and
thirty interpreters.
This Caucasian group of races, comprising the Circassian or Kabar-
dian race, the Absne or Abassians, the Oseti or Mn, the Mizjeji, the
Lesgians, and the Georgians, is classed by E atham, singularly enough
with the Mongolida. In alluding to their physical conformation, he
speaks of them as “ modified Mongols,” although he confesses his
inability to answer the patent physiological objections to such an
arrangement — objections based upon the symmetry of shape and
delicacy of complexion on the part of the Georgians and Circassians.
“ The really scientific portion of these anatomical reasons” (for connecting the above
group with the European nations), says he, “ consists in a single fact, which was as follows-
_ Blumenbach had a solitary Georgian skull, and that solitary Georgian skull was the finest
in his collection, that of a Greek being the next. Hence, it was taken as the type of the
skull of the more organized divisions of our species. More than this, it gave its name to
he type, and introduced the term Caucasian. Never has a single head done more harm to
science than was done in the way of posthumous mischief, by the head of this well-shaped
temale from Georgia. I do not say that it was not a fair sample of all Georgian skulls. It
might or might not be. I only lay before critics the amount of induction that they have
gone upon.” 22« ' J
J j g i Vari6ties of Man> PP- 105> K b 108. The attention of the reader is directed to
o owing paragraph, descriptive of the Georgian cranium referred to above. “ The
orm of this head is of such distinguished elegance, that it attracts the attention of all who