illustrates a remarkable head, which may serve as a type of the genuine
Egyptian conformation. The long oval cranium, the receding
forehead, gently aquiline nose, and retracted chin, together with the
marked distance between the nose and mouth, and the long, smooth
hair, are all characteristic of the monumental Egyptian,” and well
shown in Figs. 44, 45, 46 (retro). “ To this we may add, that the most
deficient part of the Egyptian skull is the coronal region, which is
extremely low, while the posterior chamber is remarkably full and
prominent.”
The Pelasgic form is represented in Fig..47 — “ A beautifully-
Fig 47 formed head, with a forehead high, full,
and nearly vertical, a good coronal region,
and largely developed occiput. The nasal
bones are long and straight, and the whole
.facial structure delicately proportioned.
Age between 30 and 35 years. Internal
capacity 88 cubic inches; facial angle 81°.
Pelasgic form,”-— and in Fig. 48, — “Head
Fig. 48. Fig. 49.
of a woman of thirty, of a faultless
Caucasian mould. The hair,
which is in profusion, is of a dark
brown tint, and delicately curled.
Pelasgicform.” Fig. 49, originally delineated in Napoleon’s Description
de TEgypte, admirably illustrates the Egyptian type or configuration.
Of the Fellahs of Lower Egypt, the lineal descendants of the ancient
rural Egyptians, an excellent idea may he obtained from the engraving
on next page (Fig. 50), representing five skulls of this people.
“ The skull of the Fellah is strikingly like that of the ancient Egyptian.
It is long, narrow, somewhat flattened on the sides, and very
prominent in the occiput. The coronal region is low, the forehead
moderately receding, the nasal bones long and nearly straight, the
cheek-bones small, the maxillary region slightly prognathous, and
the whole cranial structure thin and delicate. But, notwithstanding
these resemblances between the Fellah and Egyptian skulls, the latter
possess what may be called an osteological expression peculiar to
themselves, and not seen in the Fellah.” j
According to B r u n e r , the skull of the Fellah is broader a n d
thicker than that of the Arab.241
Fig; 51 represents a Coptic cranium, which Morton describes as
“ elongated, narrow, but
otherwise mediately de- Flg' 51'
veloped in front, with
great breadth and fulness
in the whole posterior region.
The nasal bones,
though prominent, are
broad, short, and concave,
and the upper jaw is
everted. There is also a
remarkable distance between
the eyes.”342
Turn we now to the consideration o f the human skull-types characterizing
the so-called African Bealm—a region cut off, as it were,
from the rest of the world by the vast Saharan Desert, once the bed
ot an ancient ocean, but now constituting a natural line of demarcation
between the organic worlds of Europe and Africa.
A glance at a large chart or map of the African continent, as at
present known to us, reveals the various races or nations of this
part of the world, distributed in a somewhat triangular manner,
t he apex of this triangle, composed of the Hottentot family, coincides
with the southern extremity of the continent; the two sides
are represented by’the tribes of the western and eastern coasts;
W 1 e base, skirting the sands of Sahara, and stretching from
i Dle „Ueberbleibsel der altagyptischen *o40, p# Menschenrape. Von Dr. Franz Prnner, München
m Crania .ffigyptiaca, p. 67.