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THE   ANTHROPOLOGICAL   TREATISES    OF 
BLUMENBACH 

AND 

HUNTER. 


THE 

ANTHROPOLOGICAL   TREATISES 


OF 


JOHANN  FRIEDRICH   BLDMENBACH, 

LATE  PROFESSOR  AT  GOTTINGEN  AND  COURT  PHYSICIAN 
TO  THE  KING  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


WITH  MEMOIRS  OF  HIM  BY  MARX  AND  FLOURENS, 

AND  AN  ACCOUNT  OF  HIS  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  MUSEUM  BY 

PROFESSOR  R.  WAGNER, 


THE  INAUGURAL  DISSERTATION  OF  JOHN  HUNTER,  M.D. 
ON  THE  VARIETIES  OF  MAN. 

TRANSLATED   AND   EDITED 

FROM  THE  LATIN,  GERMAN,  AND  FRENCH  ORIGINALS, 


THOMAS   BENDYSHE,  M.A.,  V.P.A.S.L. 

FELLOW  OF  KING'S  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE. 


LONDON: 

PUBLISHED  FOR  THE  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  SOCIETY,  BY 

'LONGMAN,  GEEEN,  LONGMAN,  ROBERTS,  &  GREEN. 

1865. 


52f5\D 


EDITOE'S   PEEFACE. 


The  Works  of  Blumenbach  edited  in  this  volume  are  the  first 
and  third  or  last  edition  of  his  famous  Treatise  On  the  Na- 
tural Variety  of  Mankind ;  which  were  published  in  1775  and 
1795  respectively:  the  Contributions  to  Natural  History,  in  two 
parts;  and  a  slight  notice  of  three  skulls  which  appeared  in 
the  Gottingische  gelehrte  Anzeigen  of  Nov.  1833,  only  remark- 
able for  being  the  last  printed  utterance  of  the  author.  Two 
Memoirs  of  Blumenbach  have  been  prefixed,  which  contain 
together  almost  everything  of  interest  concerning  the  circum- 
stances of  his  life.  I  have  also  added  an  account  of  his  once 
famous  anthropological  collection,  written  by  his  successor,  now 
himself  lately  deceased,  Professor  Rudolph  Wagner,  one  of 
the  original  Honorary  Fellows  of  the  Anthropological  Society, 
London. 

Blumenbach  has  related  in  the  little  autobiographical  frag- 
ment, which  has  been  incorporated  by  Marx  in  his  memoir, 
the  causes  which  led  to  his  selection  of  an  anthropological 
subject  as  the  thesis  for  his  doctoral  dissertation.  It  was 
delivered  in  1775,  and  reprinted  word  for  word  in  1776.  A 
second  edition,  enlarged  by  as   much   as  would   make  about 


Vlll  EDITORS   PREFACE. 

fifteen  printed  pages  uniform  with  this  translation,  was  issued 
in  1781  ;  and  finally  a  third  in  1795,  which  in  arrangement 
and  matter  was  almost  a  new  work.  I  hesitated  some  time 
as  to  which  of  the  two  first  editions  it  would  be  most  satis- 
factory to  give  to  the  public;  for,  on  the  one  hand,  the  first 
is  obviously  most  interesting  for  the  history  of  the  science, 
and  the  additional  matter  contained  in  the  second  has  scarce 
any  intrinsic  value  in  the  present  day;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
in  the  first  mankind  is  divided  into  four  races  only,  and  the 
now  famous  division  of  the  Caucasian,  Asiatic,  American, 
Ethiopian,  and  Malay  races,  occurs  for  the  first  time  in  the 
edition  of  1781. 

To  give  them  both  in  their  entirety  would  have  perhaps 
been  less  troublesome  to  myself,  but  certainly  tedious  to  the 
reader,  for  not  only  are  the  Plates  the  same,  but  much  the 
greater  part  of  the  second  edition  is  a  mere  repetition.  At 
last  I  determined  to  use  the  first  as  my  text,  and  appended  in 
a  note  the  important  pentagenist  arrangement.  Accordingly 
the  translation  has  been  made  from  the  reprint  of  1776,  which 
differs  in  the  title-page  alone,  and  that  I  have  taken  from  the 
copy  in  the  British  Museum.  The  preface  To  the  Reader  has 
been  omitted  as  of  no  value.  But  this  is  not  the  case  with 
the  Letter  to  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  which  forms  the  preface  to 
the  third  edition  of  1795,  and  contains  a  system  of  natural 
history,  with  appendices  giving  an  account  of  Blumenbach's 
Collection  as  it  then  was. 

The  Contributions  to  Natural  History  consists  of  two  parts ; 
the  first  of  which  went  through  two  editions.  The  first  in 
1790,  and  the  second,  from  which  the  translation  is  made,  in 
1806.  The  second  part  appeared  in  1811.  That  part  in  the  ori- 
ginal is  composed  of  two  sections ;  the  first  upon  Peter,  the  Wild 
Boy,  and  wild  boys  in  general:  and  the  second  on  Egyptian 


EDITOR  S   PREFACE.  ix 

mummies.  This  latter  essay,  as  may  be  supposed,  is  considerably 
behind  the  knowledge  of  the  present  day,  and  though  in  it, 
as  well  as  in  that  written  by  Blumenbach  in  English  and 
printed  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions  of  1794,  he  had 
observed  the  varieties  in  the  national  character  of  the 
Egyptian  mummies  and  artistic  representations,  yet  the  whole 
essay  has  been  pronounced  lately  by  a  competent  writer  to 
be  "in  some  sort  not  worthy  of  that  great  authority1."  The 
fact  that  the  incisors  of  the  mummies  resembled  in  shape  the 
molar  teeth  was  thought  by  Blumenbach  to  be  a  discovery 
of  much  greater  importance  than  modern  writers  are  willing 
to  allow.  I  have  therefore  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is 
not  worth  while  to  edit  this  part  of  the  Contributions,  especi- 
ally as  it  is  quite  distinct  by  itself,  and  has  no  immediate  bear- 
ing on  general  anthropology. 

The  treatise  On  the  Natural  Variety  of  Mankind  cannot  be 
considered  obsolete  even  at  the  present  day.  All  subsequent 
writers,  including  Lawrence,  Prichard,  Waitz,  &c,  have  ac- 
knowledged their  obligations  and  proved  them,  especially  Law- 
rence, by  borrowing  largely  from  it.  "Blumenbach  may  still 
be  considered  a  chief  authority,"  says  Waitz2.  And  his  classi- 
fication of  mankind,  though  avowedly  neither  final  nor  rigidly 
scientific,  has  survived  a  very  considerable  number  of  preten- 
tious improvements,  and  still  holds  its  ground  in  the  latest 
elementary  text-books  of  ethnology8.  "The  illustrious  natu- 
ralist, in  whom,  after  Buffon,  we  ought  to  acknowledge  the 
father  of  anthropology,  has  made  two  important  advances  in 


1  Perier  (J.  A.  N.),  Sur  Veihnogenie  Egyptienne.     Mem.  de  la  Soc.  de  V Anthro- 
pologic de  Pans,  Tom.  I.  p.  443. 

2  p.  29.     Eng.  Trl.  by  J.  F.  Collingwood.     8vo.  Lond.  1863. 

3  See  Page  D.  Introductory  Text  Booh  of  Physical  Geography,  p.  178,  Edinb. 
and  Lond.  1863,  nmo. 


X  EDITORS   PREFACE. 

that  science,  in  his  views  on  the  classification  of  races.  Although 
he  continued  to  place  at  the  head  of  all  the  characteristics  that 
derived  from  colour,  Blumenbach  is  the  first  who  founded  his 
classification  in  great  part  on  those  presented  by  the  general 
conformation  of  the  head,  so  different  in  different  races,  as  to 
the  proportion  of  the  skull  to  the  face,  and  of  the  encephalon 
to  the  organs  of  sense  and  the  jaws.  This  progress  led  also 
to  a  second.  It  is  because  Blumenbach  attributed  a  great 
importance  to  that  order  of  characteristics ;  it  is  because  he  was 
the  first  who  devoted  himself  to  determine  exactly,  by  the 
assistance  of  a  great  number  of  observations,  the  essential 
elements  which  distinguished  the  types  of  man  that  he  was 
also  the  first  who  made  a  very  clear  distinction  of  several 
races  in  which  it  is  impossible  to  fail  of  recognizing  so  many 
natural  groups.  Thus  it  has  happened  that  these  races,  after 
having  been  once  introduced  into  science  by  Blumenbach, 
have  been  retained  there;  and  we  may  assert  that  they  will 
always  be  retained,  with  some  rectifications  in  their  charac- 
teristics and  in  their  several  boundaries.  But  are  the  five 
races  of  Blumenbach  the  only  ones  possible  to  distinguish  in 
mankind  ?  And  if  all  the  five  must  be  considered  as  natural 
groups,  is  it  proper  to  place  them  in  the  same  rank,  and  allow 
them  all  the  same  zoological  value  ?  Blumenbach  himself  did 
not  think  this. 

"  In  the  first  place  his  five  races  are  not  the  only  ones  whose 
existence  he  is  disposed  to  admit;  but  what  is  very  different, 
the  five  principal  ones.  Varietates  quince  principes,  says  Blu- 
menbach in  his  treatise  On  the  Varieties  of  Mankind.  He  uses 
the  same  expression  in  his  Representations.  The  unequal  im- 
portance of  these  races  in  a  zoological  point  of  view,  is  also,  at 
least  by  implication,  admitted  by  Blumenbach.  Of  the  five 
races  there  are  three  which  he  considers  above  all  as  the  princi- 


EDITOR  S  PREFACE.  XI 

pal  races;  and  therefore  he  deals  with  those  first.  These  are 
the  Caucasian,  which  is  not  only  for  Blumenbach  the  most 
beautiful,  and  that  to  which  the  pre-eminence  belongs,  but  the 
primitive  race;  then,  the  Mongolian  and  Ethiopian,  in  which 
the  author  sees  the  extreme  degenerations  of  the  human  species. 
As  to  the  other  races,  they  are  only  for  Blumenbach,  transitional : 
that  is,  the  American  is  the  passage  from  the  Caucasian  to 
the  Mongolian;  and  the  Malay,  from  the  Caucasian  to  the 
Ethiopian.  These  two  races  are  put  off  till  the  last,  instead  of 
being  treated  of  intermediately,  as  they  ought  to  be,  if  they 
were  not  considered  as  divisions  of  an  inferior  rank. 

"  It  is  apparent  that  Blumenbach  was  more  or  less  aware  of 
three  truths  whose  importance  no  one  can  dispute  in  anthropo- 
logical taxinomy,  that  is  to  say,  The  plurality  of  races  of  man ; 
the  importance  of  the  characteristics  deduced  from  the  confor- 
mation of  the  head;  and  the  necessity  of  not  placing  in  the 
same  rank  all  the  divisions  of  mankind,  which  bear  the  common 
title  of  races,  in  spite  of  the  unequal  importance  of  their  anato- 
mical, physiological,  and  let  us  also  add,  psychological  charac- 
teristics1." 

This  criticism  taken  from  one  of  the  latest  essays  of  a  most 
distinguished  modern  naturalist  and  anthropologist  will  relieve 
me  from  the  arduous  task  of  passing  this  work  of  Blumenbach 
in  review.  The  Contributions  as  is  pointed  out  by  M.  Flourens 
is  altogether  a  production  of  a  lighter  kind.  It  contains  many 
curious  observations,  and  though  its  geological  theories  are  long 
since  obsolete,  the  chapters  on  anthropological  collections  and 
on  the  Negro  may  still  be  read  with  considerable  interest. 
Lawrence  has  largely  borrowed  from  the  last  in  his  lectures  on 


1  Is.  Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire,   Classification  Anthropologiqite.     Mini,  de  la  Soc. 
d'Anihrop.  de  Park,  Tom.  I.  p.  129,  sq. 


Xll  EDITOR  S  PREFACE. 

the  Natural  History  of  Man.  The  history  of  Peter  the  Wild  Boy 
has,  so  far  as  I  know,  never  been  translated  into  English  in  its 
entirety,  but  all  that  has  been  said  of  him  and  the  other  wild 
men  there  mentioned  has  been  borrowed  from  Blumenbach. 

I  had  at  one  time  intended  to  edit  the  Decades  Craniorum,  a 
book  now  become  somewhat  scarce.  Inquiries  were  made  by  the 
President  and  Publishing  Committee  of  the  Anthropological 
Society  as  to  the  probable  expense  which  would  be  incurred  in 
reproducing  the  65  plates  of  which  that  work  is  composed.  The 
results  showed  that  such  an  undertaking  would  be  beyond  the 
present  means  of  the  Society ;  and  an  opinion  was  also  expressed 
by  some  who  are  worthy  of  all  attention  in  such  a  matter  that 
more  typical,  characteristic,  and  hitherto  undelineated  skulls 
scattered  about  in  the  different  English  Museums  should  have  a 
preference,  in  case  such  an  outlay  as  the  publication  of  so  many 
crania  with  their  descriptions  should  at  any  time  be  seriously 
contemplated.  Whilst  I  do  not  for  a  moment  doubt  the  wisdom 
of  the  decision,  or  deny  the  expediency  of  preferring  hitherto 
inedited  materials,  I  still  think  that  if  the  present  possessors 
of  the  Blumenbachian  Collection  could  be  induced  to  join  not 
only  in  furnishing  entirely  fresh  drawings  of  the  skulls  contained 
in  it,  but  also  in  publishing  the  very  minute  and  accurate 
descriptions,  certificates,  and  documents  relating  to  each  particu- 
lar one,  which  form  by  no  means  the  least  instructive  portion  of 
the  inedited  remains  of  Blumenbach,  the  result  would  not  only 
be  a  great  stimulus  to  those  international  exertions  without 
which  the  science  of  Anthropology  cannot  hope  to  make  the 
progress  so  much  to  be  desired  for  it,  but  would  also  confer  the 
greatest  credit  on  the  Societies  which  might  be  principally  con- 
cerned in  carrying  out  such  an  undertaking.  With  respect  to 
the  last  utterance  of  Blumenbach,  which  has  been  extracted 
from  the   Gbttingen   Magazine,    I   am   indebted   to   Professor 


EDITORS   PREFACE.  Xlll 

Marx  for  the  following  information.  "  The  Spicilegium  was  not 
printed.  It  had  been  the  intention  of  Blumenbach  to  work  out 
in  greater  detail  the  short  lecture  which  was  read  at  the  session 
of  the  3rd  August,  1833,  but  he  did  not  fulfil  it.  Therefore  the 
short  notice  in  the  177th  number  of  the  Gottingische  Gelehrte 
Anzeigen,  for  1833,  is  the  only  communication  on  that  point 
that  we  have  of  his." 

The  Memoir  of  Prof.  Marx  has  been  previously  translated 
in  the  Edinbur-gh  New  Philosophical  Magazine,  but  many  in- 
teresting details  about  the  life  and  habits  of  Blumenbach  were 
omitted.  It  was  made  great  use  of  by  M.  Flourens,  as  he  acknow- 
ledges ;  but  since  his  own  memoir  contains  many  original  details 
and  remarks  from  an  independent  point  of  view,  I  have  thought 
it  would  be  equally  acceptable. 

A  singular  mistake  has  however  been  made  by  M.  Flourens, 
both  in  this  memoir,  and  in  his  larger  book1  on  Buffon,  which  I 
cannot  help  pointing  out.  The  reader  will  probably  observe 
that  he  gives  as  the  title  of  Blumenbach's  book  The  Unity  of 
the  Human  Genus,  which  is  obviously  wrong.  This  would  be  of 
no  importance ;  but  in  the  work  above  referred  to  we  have  this 
reflexion:  "Nothing  promotes  clearness  of  ideas  so  much  as 
precision  in  the  use  of  words.  Blumenbach  wrote  a  book  to 
prove  the  unity  of  the  human  species2,  and  entitled  it  On  the 
Unity  of  the  Human  Genus;  now,  a  genus  is  made  up  of  species, 
a  species  only  of  varieties.  Buffon  writing  on  the  same  subject, 
and  putting  before  himself  the  same  object,  said  excellently, 
Varieties  in  the  Human  Specie^ 

Blumenbach  never  once  gave  as  a  title,  The  Unity,  &c. ;  and 


1  Hist,  des  travaux  et  des  idees  de  Buffon,  p.  169,   second  ed.  Paris,    1850, 
i'2rao. 

2  De  Vunite  du  genre  hv.main  et  de  se$  varietes,  Trad.  Franc.  Paris,  1804. 


XIV  EDITOKS   PEEFACE. 

notwithstanding  the  elaborate  ingenuity  of  M.  Flourens  as  to  the 
word  genus,  I  have  preferred  to  translate  the  Latin  words 
humcmum  genus,  by  the  ambiguous,  and  as  I  believe  correct 
expression,  mankind. 

I  have  thought  the  reader  would  prefer  for  many  reasons  to 
find  each  of  the  several  treatises  in  this  volume  with  an  exact 
copy  of  its  original  title-page  prefixed.  Those  which  had  no  title- 
page  have  still  one  made  up  of  that  of  the  periodical,  and  the 
heading  prefixed  to  each  in  its  original  form  of  publication. 

M.  Flourens  had  appended  to  his  Memoir  a  list  of  some  of 
Blumenbach's  works.  A  much  more  perfect  one,  with  notices  of 
many  of  their  translations,  and  of  the  different  portraits  and  en- 
gravings taken  of  Blumenbach  at  various  periods  of  his  life,  is 
to  be  found  in  Callisen  (A.  C.  P.  von),  Medicinisches  Schriftsteller- 
Lexicon,  B.  n.  pp.  34<6 — 356.  1830.  Copenhagen,  12mo.  As 
will  be  observed  it  occupies  ten  pages,  and  therefore  is  far  too 
long  for  insertion  here,  yet  is  still  neither  quite  complete  nor 
quite  correct. 

The  treatise  of  John  Hunter,  delivered  in  June  1775,  has 
been  added.  It  will  be  interesting  to  compare  it  with  the 
contemporaneous  effort  of  Blumenbach.  But  to  enter  into 
the  question  why  the  study  of  anthropology  never  became 
popular  in  Edinburgh,  whilst  it  continued  to  be  cultivated 
in  Gottingen,  would  carry  us  beyond  the  limits  of  a  Preface. 


King's  College,  Cambridge. 
Jan.  i,   1865. 


CONTENTS. 


Editor's  Preface  .... 

Memoir  of  J.  F.  Blumenbach  bt  Prof.  Marx 
„  „  „  M.  Flourens 


On  the  Natural  Variety  of  Mankind,  ed.  1775 

„  „  „  THIRD  ED.    1795 

Contributions  to  Natural  History,  Part  I. 
„  „  „  „         Part  II. 

Remarks  on  an  Hippocratio  Maorocephalus 


Index  of  Subjects 
Index  of  Authors 


page 
vi 

I 

47 

65 
x45 
277 
3^5 
34i 


An  Account  of  the  Blumenbachian  Museum  by  Prof.  Rudolph 

Wagner  .......  345 


Inaugural    Disputation    on   the   Varieties    of   Man,    by   John 

Hunter,  June,  1775  -  -  -  -  -  357 


395 
399 


ERRATA . 

For  Jesus  Sirach,  p.  35,  read  Jesus  the  son  of  Sirach. 
...  Mongoz  Lemur,  p.  90,  read  Lemur  Mongoz. 


ZUM  ANDENKEN 


AN 


JOHANN   FRIEDRICH   BLUMENBACEL 


EINE    GEDACHTNISS-REDE 

GEHALTEN   IN   DER  SITZTJNG    DEE  KONIGLICHEN   SOCIETAT 
DEE  WISSENSCHAFTEN   DEN   8   FEBETJAE,    1840. 


VON 


K.   F.   H.   MARX. 


GOTTINGEN : 

DEUCK  UND  VEELAG  DEE  DIETEEICHSCHEN  BUCHHANDLUNG. 

1840. 


LIFE    OF    BLUMENBACH 


K.   F.  H.   MARX. 


Though  a  very  vivid  and  ineffaceable  recollection  of  the  man, 
who  has  lately  departed  from  our  circle,  can  never  cease  to 
dwell  in  us,  still  I  may  be  permitted  to  sketch  with  a  few 
strokes  a  picture  of  his  occupations  and  his  personality,  and  in 
that  way  to  strew  a  flower  upon  the  grave  of  him  who  in  life 
was  honoured  by  all  of  us,  but  was  especially  dear  to  myself. 

It  was  his  happy  lot  to  fulfil  the  office  of  instructor  far 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  ordinary  age  of  man,  and  to  direct 
the  affairs  of  our  society  for  a  longer  time  than  any  one  of 
those  here  present  can  remember.  For  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury the  most  important  events  of  this  University  are  bound  up 
with  his  memory  and  his  name  ;  and  the  development  of  one  of 
the  greatest  and  most  important  branches  of  science  is  essen- 
tially involved  with  his  undertakings,  his  accomplishments,  and 
the  efforts  he  made  to  advance  it. 

He  stood  at  last  like  a  solitary  column  from  out  the  ranks 
of  those  who  had  shared  his  struggles  and  his  enterprises,  and 
had  trodden  in  the  same  path,  or  as  an  old-world  pyramid,  a 
stimulating  example  to  us  juniors,  how  nature  will  sometimes 
stamp  her  crowning  seal  on  high  mental  powers,  by  adding  to 
them  the  firmness  and  long  continuance  of  the  outer  form. 

John  Frederick  Blumenbach  was  born  at  Gotha  on  the  11th 
May  1752.  His  father  was  a  zealous  admirer  of  geography  and 
natural  history,  and  lost  no  time  in  arousing  a  love  for  them 
in  his  son.     It  will  be  convenient  to  insert  here  a  note  in  his 

1—2 


4  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACH. 

own  handwriting,  which  I  owe  to  the  kindness  of  the  departed, 
upon  the  earliest  incidents  which  happened  to  him  while  still 
under  the  paternal  roof,  and  his  earliest  promotion  on  his  first 
entrance  into  the  great  world;  for  it  will  tell  a  clearer  tale  than 
if  I  were  to  turn  it  into  an  historical  form. 

"My  father  was  born  at  Leipsig,  and  died  at  Gotha  in  1787, 
proctor  and  professor  of  the  gymnasium1.  He  owed  his  scientific 
culture  to  two  men  especially,  Menz  and  Christ,  two  Leipsig 
professors  of  philosophy,  and  so,  indirectly  through  him,  they 
contributed  a  great  deal  to  my  own.  Amongst  other  things,  he 
owed  to  the  first  his  love  for  the  history  of  literature  and  for 
the  natural  sciences,  to  the  second  his  antiquarian  and  artistic 
tastes.  And  so  in  this  way  I  also  acquired  a  taste  and  a  love 
for  these  branches  of  knowledge,  which  I  never  found  to  stand 
in  the  way  of  my  medical  studies;  to  which  in  very  early  days 
I  had  addicted  myself  from  natural  inclination,  and  sometimes 
they  were  even  in  that  way  of  great  service. 

«  J  began  my  academical  career  at  Jena,  and  there  I  derived 
nourishment  for  literature  and  book-lore  from  Baldinger,  whilst 
my  relation,  J.  E.  I.  Walch,  the  professor  of  rhetoric,  performed 
the  same  office  for  me  as  to  natural  history  and  the  so-called 
archaeology.  I  went  from  there  to  Gottingen  to  fill  up  some 
remaining  gaps  in  my  medical  studies;  and  my  old  rector  at 
Gotha,  the  church-councillor  Geisler,  gave  me  a  letter  for  Heyne. 
As  I  was.  giving  it  to  him,  I  showed  him  at  the  same  time  an 
antique  signet-ring,  which  I  had  bought  when  at  school  from 
a  goldsmith.  Such  a  taste  in  a  medical  student  attracted  his 
attention,  and  this  little  gem  was  the  first  step  to  the  intimate 
acquaintance  which  I  subsequently^enjoyed  in  so  many  ways 
with  that  illustrious  man. 

"  There  resided  then  at  Gottingen  professor  Chr.  W.  Buttner, 


1  Besides  the  more  considerable  communication  in  the  text  Blumenbach  has  left 
only  a  few  scattered  notices  of  his  life.  So  far  as  these  have  come  to  my  know- 
ledge, I  have  made  good  use  of  them.  He  had  an  idea  of  composing  his  own 
biography,  and  two  passages,  written  by  him  in  his  pocket-book,  seem  to  point  to 
this  intention.  "Many  have  written  their  own  lives  from  feelings  of  sincerity 
rather  than  of  conceit." — "Without  favour  or  ambition,  but  induced  by  the  reward 
of  a  good  conscience." 


MARX.  5 

an  extraordinary  man,  of  singularly  extensive  learning.  He 
had  at  one  time  been  famous  for  the  great  number  of  lan- 
guages he  was  skilled  in,  but  had  for  many  years  given  up 
delivering  lectures,  and  was  then  quite  unknown  to  the  stu- 
dents. Just,  however,  about  the  time  I  came,  the  eldest  son  of 
his  friend  and  great  admirer,  our  orientalist,  Michaelis,  had 
then  begun  to  study  medicine  ;  and  his  father  had  enjoined  him 
to  do  his  best  and  get  Buttner  to  deliver  a  lecture  upon  natural 
history,  which  in  old  days  he  could  do  very  well,  and  for  which 
he  had  a  celebrated  collection.  Immediately  on  my  arrival  I 
also  was  invited  to  the  course,  and  as  the  hour  was  one  I  had 
at  my  disposal,  I  put  my  name  down,  and  so  came  to  know  the 
whimsical  but  remarkable  Buttner.  The  so-called  lecture 
became  a  mere  conversation,  where  for  weeks  together  not  a 
word  was  said  of  natural  history.  Still  he  had  appointed  as  a 
text-book  the  twelfth  edition  of  the  System  of  Nature;  though 
in  the  whole  six  months  we  did  not  get  beyond  the  mammalia, 
because  of  the  hundred-and-one  foreign  matters  he  used  to 
introduce. 

"  He  began  with  man,  who  had  been  passed  over  unnoticed 
in  his  readings  by  Walch  of  Jena,  and  illustrated  the  subject 
with  a  quantity  of  books  of  voyages  and  travels,  and  pictures 
of  foreign  nations,  out  of  his  extensive  library.  It  was  thus  I 
was  led  to  write  as  the  dissertation  for  my  doctorate,  On  the 
natural  variety  of  mankind;  and  the  further  prosecution  of  this 
interesting  subject  laid  the  foundation  of  my  anthropological 
collection,  which  has  in  process  of  time  become  everywhere 
quite  famous  for  its  completeness  in  its  way. 

"  In  that  very  first  winter,  through  Heyne's  arrangement, 
the  University  undertook  the  purchase  of  Biittner's  collection 
of  coins  and  natural  history.  But  in  consequence  of  the  unex- 
ampled disorder,  in  which  the  natural  objects  had  been  let  lie 
utterly  undistinguished  from  each  other  by  this  most  unhandy 
of  men,  he  was  first  of  all  in  want  of  an  assistant  to  arrange 
and  get  them  ready  for  delivery.  So  Heyne  said  to  him, 
'Don't  you  give  lectures  on  natural  history?  and  haven't  you 
got  any  one  among  your  pupils  whom  you  can  employ  for  that?" 


6  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACH. 

'  That  I  have/  said  Blittner,  and  named  me.  '  Ah,  I  know  him 
too;'  so  the  office  of  assistant  was  offered  to  me,  and  I  gladly 
undertook  it  without  any  fee,  and  found  it  most  instructive. 

"Sometime  after,  when  everything  had  been  handed  over, 
and  the  collection  had  found  a  temporary  home  in  the  former 
medical  lecture-room,  the  honourable  minister  and  curator  of 
the  University,  von  Lenthe,  came  to  visit  our  institute,  so  these 
things  too  had  to  be  shown  him,  and  as  the  worthy  Biittner 
did  not  seem  quite  fit  to  do  it,  I  was  hastily  summoned,  and 
acquitted  myself  so  well,  that  the  minister  directly  he  got 
out  took  Heyne  aside,  and  said,  '  We  must  not  let  this  young 
man  go.'  I  took  my  degree  in  the  autumn  of  '75,  on  the  anni- 
versary day  of  the  University,  and  directly  afterwards  in  the 
ensuing  winter  I  commenced,  as  private  tutor,  my  first  readings 
on  natural  history,  and  during  the  same  term,  in  February  '76, 
was  nominated  extraordinary,  and  afterwards  in  November  '78, 
ordinary  professor  of  medicine." 

Such  was  Blumenbach's  very  promising  beginning.  How  he 
progressed  onwards  in  his  scientific  and  municipal  career,  how 
he  became  in  1784  member  of  this  society,  in  1788  aulic  coun- 
cillor, in  1812  perpetual  secretary  of  the  physical  and  mathe- 
matical class  of  this  society,  in  1815  member  of  the  library 
committee,  in  1816  knight  of  the  Order  of  the  Guelph,  and  in 
the  same  year  chief  medical  councillor,  and  in  1822  commander  of 
the  Order,  all  that  is  so  well  known  and  so  fresh  in  everybody's 
recollection,  that  I  need  make  no  further  mention  of  any  of  those 
particulars. 

Much  more  appropriate  will  it  be  to  describe  here  the 
direction  he  followed  himself  and  also  imparted  to  the  sciences, 
his  activity  as  teacher,  his  relations  to  the  exterior  world,  and, 
in  a  few  characteristic  outlines,  the  principal  features  of  his 
personal  appearance  and  character.' 

First  of  all  it  may  fairly  be  asserted  of  Blumenbach,  that  he 
it  was  especially,  who  in  Germany  drew  the  natural  sciences 
out  of  the  narrow  circle  of  books  and  museums,  into  the  wide 
cheerful  stream  of  life.  He  made  the  results  of  his  own  per- 
severing researches  intelligible  and  agreeable  to  every  educated 


MARX.  7 

person  who  was  anxious  for  instruction,  and  understood  very- 
well  how  to  interest  the  upper  classes  of  society  in  them,  and 
even  to  excite  them.  Taking  a  comprehensive  view  over  the 
whole  domain  of  the  exertions  of  natural  science,  he  knew  how 
to  select  whatever  could  arouse  or  sharpen  observation,  to  give 
a  clear  prospect  of  what  was  in  the  distance,  and  to  clothe  the 
practical  necessities  in  a  pleasing  dress.  This  feeling  and  tact 
for  the  common  interest,  this  inclination  for  popular  exposition 
and  easy  comprehension  was  meantime  no  obstacle  to  his  solid 
progress.  He  laboured  away  on  the  most  diverse  departments 
of  his  science  with  single  and  earnest  application,  and  arrived  at 
results,  which  threw  light  on  the  darkest  corners. 

Equipped  with  classical  knowledge,  perpetually  sharpening 
and  enriching  his  intellect  with  continuous  reading,  and  kept  in 
lively  intercourse  with  the  first  men  of  his  day,  he  knew  how 
not  only  to  look  at  the  subjects  of  his  attention  from  new  points 
of  view,  but  also  how  to  invest  them  with  a  worthy  form  of 
expression  and  representation. 

Besides,  he  looked  upon  every  result  either  of  his  own 
researches,  or  those  of  other  people,  as  seed-corn  for  better 
and  greater  disclosures.  He  busied  himself  unceasingly  by 
writing,  conversation,  and  instruction  in  disseminating  them, 
and  endeavouring  to  fix  them  in  a  productive  soil.  Thus  it 
came  to  pass,  that  he  soon  came  to  be  regarded  as  the  supporter 
and  representative  of  natural  science,  and  collected  crowds  of 
young  men  about  him,  and  by  words  as  well  as  deeds  continued 
to  exercise  an  increasing  influence  upon  the  entire  circle  of 
study  for  many  decades  of  years. 

Blumenbach  soon  became  known  to  the  Society  of  Sciences 
as  an  industrious  student  of  physic,  and  in  the  meeting  of 
the  15th  January,  1774,  he  communicated1  the  remarkable  dis- 
covery he  had  made  (which  had  been  already  done  by  Braun  in 
1759  at  St.  Petersburg)  of  how  to  freeze  quicksilver. 


1  Gotting.  gel.  Anzeigen.  1774,  st.  13,  s.  105—7.  Blumenbach  himself  set  little 
store  by  this  experiment ;  for  he  suspected  that  his  friends  might  be  too  hasty  in 
considering  the  fact  to  be  proved. 


8  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACH. 

In  1784<  he  became  member  of  this  Society,  and  immediately 
afterwards  read  his  first  paper  On  the  eyes  of  the  Leuccethiopians 
and  the  movement  of  the  iris1. 

It  was  a  happy  chance,  that  his  first  literary  work  was  con- 
cerned with  the  races  of  men,  and  thus  physical  Anthropology 
became  the  centre  of  the  crystallization  of  his  activity. 

Few  dissertations  have  passed  through  so  many  editions,  or 
procured  their  author  such  a  wide  recognition,  as  that  On  the 
natural  variety  of  mankind2.  It  operated  as  an  introduction  to 
the  subsequent  intermittent  publication  of  the  Decades3,  on  the 
forms  of  the  skull  of  different  people  and  nations,  as  well  as 
the  foundation  of  a  private  collection4.  This  was  unique  in  its 
way ;  and  princes  and  the  learned  alike  contributed  to  its  forma- 
tion by  giving  everything  which  could  characterize  the  corporeal 
formation  and  the  shape  of  the  skull  in  man.  Blumenbach 
used  to  call  it  his  "  Golgotha,"  and  though  they  do  not  often  go 
to  a  place  of  skulls,  still  the  curious  and  the  inquisitive  of  both 
sexes  came  there  to  wonder  and  reflect. 

Perhaps  it  is  worth  while  remarking  that  the  theme  of  this 
earliest  work  of  his  youth  was  likewise  that  of  his  last  scientific 
writing,  for  after  the  3rd  August,  1833,  on  the  exhibition 
of  an  Hippocratic  Macrocephalus  before  the  Society,  when  he 
communicated  his  remarks5  thereon,  he  came  no  more  before 
the  public  except  to  read  a  memoir  upon  Stromeyer,  and  to 
say  a  few  never-to-be-forgotten  words  at  the  festival  meeting  of 
the  centenarian  foundation  feast. 

One  of  Blumenbach's  great  endeavours  was  to  illustrate  the 
difference  between  man*  and  beast ;  and  he  insisted  particularly 


1  De  oculis  Leucwthiopum  et  iridis  niotu.  Comment.  Soc.  E.  Gott.  Vol.  vn.  p. 
29 — 62. 

2  De  generis  humani  nativa  varietate.     ist  ed.  1775. 

3  The  first  decade  of  his  collection  of  skulls  of  different  nations  with  illustrations 
appeared  in  1 790  in  Vol.  x.  of  the  Comment.  Soc.  &c.  The  last  under  the  title, 
Nova  Pentas  collectionis  sum  craniorum  diversarum  gentium  tanquam  complementum 
priorum  decadum  exhibita  in  consessu  societatis  8  Jul.  1826.  Comment,  recentior. 
Vol.  vi.  p.  141 — 8.     Comp.  Gott.  gel.  Anz.  1826.  st.  121,  s.  1201 — 6. 

4  Comp.  his  paper  On  anthropological  collections  in  the  second  edition  of  his 
Bcitrdge  zur  NaturgescJiichte  1806.  Th.  1.  s.  55 — 66. 

5  Gott.  gel.  Anz.  1833,  st.  177,  s.  1761.     [Edited  in  this  volume.     Ec] 


MARX.  9 

upon  the  importance  of  the  upright  walk  of  man,  and  the 
vertical  line.  He  asserted  the  claims  of  human  nature,  as  such, 
to  all  the  privileges  and  rights  of  humanity,  for,  without  deny- 
ing altogether  the  influence  of  climate,  soil,  and  heredity,  he 
regarded  them  in  their  progressive  development,  as  the  imme- 
diate consequences  of  civilization  and  cultivation.  Man  was  to 
him  "the  most  perfect  of  all  domesticated  animals."  What  he 
might  become  by  himself  in  his  natural  condition,  without  the 
assistance  of  society,  and  what  would  be  the  condition  of  his 
innate  conceptions,  he  showed  in  his  unsurpassable  description 
of  the  wild  or  savage  Peter  von  Hameln1.  How  the  osseous 
structure  of  the  skull  will  approximate  nearer  and  nearer  to 
the  form  of  the  beast,  when  unfortunate  exterior  circumstances 
and  inferior  relations  have  stood  in  the  way  of  the  development 
of  the  higher  faculties,  might  be  seen  in  his  collection  from  the 
cretin's  skull,  which,  not  without  meaning,  lay  side  by  side 
by  that  of  the  orang-utan;  whilst,  at  a  little  distance  off,  the 
surpassingly  beautiful  shape  of  that  of  a  female  Georgian 
attracted  every  one's  attention. 

At  the  time  when  the  negroes  and  the  savages  were  still 
considered  as  half  animals,  and  no  one  had  yet  conceived  the 
idea  of  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  Blumenbach  raised  his 
voice,  and  showed  that  their  psychical  qualities  were  not  inferior 
to  those  of  the  European,  that  even  amongst  the  latter  them- 
selves the  greatest  possible  differences  existed,  and  that  oppor- 
tunity alone  was  wanting  for  the  development  of  their  higher 
faculties2. 

Blumenbach  had  no  objection  to  a  joke,  especially  when  it 
injured  no  one,  or  when  the  subject  in  hand  could  be  elucidated 
thereby,  and  with  this  view  he  wrote  a  paper  on  Human  and 
Porcine  Races3.  ' 


1  Beitr.  zur  Naturg.  Th.  II.  s.  i — 44. 

2  Gotting.  Magazin,  1781,  st.  6,  s.  409 — 425,  On  the  capacities  and  manners  of 
the  Savages. 

3  Lichtenberg  and  Voigt,   Magazin  fiir  das  neueste  aus  der  Physilc,   B.  VI. 
Gotha,  1789,  st.  1.  s.  1. 


10  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACH. 

Man  always  was  and  continued  to  be  his  chief  subject,  not 
from  a  transcendental  point  of  view,  which  he  gave  up  to  the 
philosophers  and  theologians,  but  man  as  he  stands  in  the  visible 
world.  Not  only  did  he  contribute  essentially  to  his  better 
comprehension  and  treatment,  but  it  was  not  very  easy  for  any 
one  to  surpass  him  in  practical  knowledge  of  men. 

Natural  history,  not  the  description  of  nature,  was  the  aim 
he  placed  before  him.  With  Bacon  he  considered  that  as  the 
first  subject  of  philosophy.  He  understood  how  to  indicate  the 
peculiarity  of  the  subject  with  a  few  characteristic  strokes;  and 
showed  also  how  the  inner1  properties,  relations,  and  attributes 
of  the  individual  were  connected  with  each  other,  and  their 
connexion  and  position  to  the  whole.  With  this  view  he  busied 
himself  actively  on  organic  and  also  on  animal  nature.  Nor 
was  he  a  stranger  to  the  study  of  geology  and  mineralogy,  as 
is  clear  from  De  Luc's  letters2  to  Blumenbach,  besides  what  he 
himself  communicated  about  Hutton's  theory  of  the  earth,  and 
his  paper  on  the  impressions  in  the  bituminous  marl-slates  at 
Biegelsdorf3. 

The  name  of  Blumenbach  must  certainly  be  recorded 
amongst  those  who  have  signally  contributed  through  the 
research  and  discovery  of  the  traces  of  the  old  world  to  the 
history  of  the  condition  of  our  earth  and  of  its  earliest  inhabi- 
tants. He,  too,  it  was  who,  long  before  any  others,  prepared 
a  collection  of  fossils  for  the  illustration  and  systematic  know- 
ledge of  the  remains  of  the  preadamite  times4. 


1  He  worked  long  at  a  History  of  Natural  History,  but  he  never  gave  any  of  it 
to  the  public.  That  he  had  reflected  on  the  possibility  of  a  Philosophy  of  Natural 
History  may  be  seen,  amongst  other  proofs,  by  a  letter  to  Moll  in  his  Communica- 
tions, Abth.  r.  1829,  s.  60. 

2  Magaz.  fur  das  neu.  aus  der  Physik,  B.  vili.  st.  4.  1793.  Comp.  Gott.  gel. 
Anz.  1799,  st.  135,  s.  1348. 

3  In  Kohler's  bergmannisch.  Joum.  Freyberg,  1791,  Jahrg.  iv.  B.  I.  s.  151 — 6. 
Blumenbach  proved  that  though  they  were  the  marks  of  a  mammal,  they  were 
not  those  of  a  child,  and  therefore  no  anthropoliths. 

4  The  fossil  genus  Oxyporus,  which  is  found  in  amber,  and  was  represented  by 
Gravehoorst  in  Monographia  Coleopterorum  Micropterorum,  Gotting.  1806,  8vo.  p. 
235,  exists  also  in  Biumenbach's  collection.  Speaking  of  the  last,  that  author 
says,  "I  wish  Blumenbach  would  give  us  a  description  of  the  numerous  insects 
preserved  in  amber,  which  he  possesses,  and  compare  them  with  the  allied  insects 
of  the  present  day.       His  well-known  genius  for  natural  history,  so  long  and  so 


MARX.  11 

In  1790  he  wrote  Contributions  to  the  Natural  History  of  the 
Primitive  World1.  He  devoted  two  papers  before  the  society 
to  the  remains  with  which  he  was  acquainted  of  that  oldest 
epoch,  principally  from  the  neighbouring  country2.  He  also 
expressed  an  opinion  upon  the  connection  of  the  knowledge  of 
petrifactions  with  that  of  geology,  thinking  by  that  means  a 
more  accurate  knowledge  of  the  relative  age  of  the  different 
strata  of  the  earth's  crust  might  be  obtained3,  and  he  was  the 
first  who  set  this  branch  of  study  going.  On  the  occasion  of  a 
Swiss  journey  he  drew  particular  attention  to  those  fossils, 
whose  living  representatives  are  still  to  be  found  in  the  same 
country,  to  those  whose  representatives  exist,  but  in  very  dis- 
tant regions  of  the  earth,  and  to  those  of  which  no  true  repre- 
sentative has  yet  been  found  in  the  existing  creation4.  Later 
on  he  elucidated  the  so-called  fossil  human  bones  in  Guada- 
loupe5. 

His  views  on  opinions  of  that  kind,  as  also  on  more  compre- 
hensive considerations,  such  as  On  the  gradation  in  nature6,  or, 
On  the  so-called  proofs  of  design7,  generally  like  to  abide  within 
the  limits  of  experience,  and  the  conclusions  which  may  fairly 


justly  famous,   might  furnish  us  "with  some  well-weighed  and  sound  hypothesis  on 
the  origin  and  formation  of  amber." 

1  Mayaz.  ib.,  B.  VI.  st.  4,  s.  1  — 17. 

2  Specimen  archaeologies  telluris  terrarumque  imprimis  Hannover unarum,  i8or. 
In  clen  Comment.  Vol.  XV.  p.   132 — 156.     Spec,  alteram  1813.  Vol.  ill.  recent. 

P-  3—24- 

3  On  the  succession  in  time  of  the  different  Earth-catastrophes.  Beitr.  zur 
Naturg.  2nd  ed.  1806,  Th.  1.  s.  113 — 123.  One  of  the  most  competent  judges  on 
this  subject,  namely,  Link,  in  his  work  The  Primeval  World  and  Antiquity  eluci- 
dated by  Natural  Science,  which  he  dedicates  to  his  teacher,  says  in  the  preface,  that 
the  representation  of  the  primeval  world,  as  quite  different  from  that  of  the  pre- 
sent, is  due  to  the  science  of  Blumenbach  and  Cuvier.  To  the  same  effect  Von 
Hoff,  who  is  well  entitled  to  a  voice  in  this  matter,  expresses  himself  (Tlioughts  on 
BlumenbacKs  Services  to  Geology.  Gotha,  1862,  s.  3.) :  "Amongst  naturalists 
Blumenbach  is  the  first  who  assigned  to  a  knowledge  of  petrifactions  its  true 
position  in  the  foundation  of  Geology.  He  considered  them  as  the  most  necessary 
helps  to  that  study.  He  asserted  with  determination,  that  from  a  knowledge  of 
petrifactions,  and  especially  from  an  acquaintance  with  the  different  position  of 
fossils,  the  most  important  results  for  the  cosmogenical  part  of  mineralogy  might  be 
expected." 

4  Lichtenberg and  Voigt's  Mag.  &c.  1788,  B.  v.  s.  13—24. 

5  Gott.gel.  Anz.  1815,  st.  177,  s.  1753. 

6  Beitr.  zur  Naturg.  2nd  ed.  1806,  Th.  1.  s.  106 — 112. 
i  Ib.  s.  123. 


12  LIFE   OP   BLUMENBACH. 

be  deduced  therefrom.  Brilliant  hypotheses,  subtle  and  imagi- 
nary combinations,  phantastic  analogies,  were  not  to  his  taste. 

If  it  can  be  said  of  any  scientific  work  of  modern  times, 
that  its  utility  has  been  incalculable,  such  a  sentence  must  be 
pronounced  on  Blumenbach's  Handbook  of  Natural  History1. 
Few  cultivated  circles  or  countries  are  ignorant  of  it.  It  con- 
tains in  a  small  space  a  marvellous  quantity  of  well-arranged 
material,  and  every  fresh  edition2  announced  the  progress  of  its 
author.  Still  in  spite  of  the  effort  after  a  certain  grade  of 
perfection  the  skill  is  unmistakeable,  with  which  only  the  actual 
is  set  forth  ;  and  with  which  by  a  word,  or  a  remark,  attention 
is  directed  to  what  is  truly  interesting,  agreeable,  and  useful, 
and  an  incentive  given  to  further  study. 

Not  only  did  Blumenbach  well  know  how  to  set  out  the 
whole  domain  of  this  study  in  a  simple,  easily  comprehensible 
and  transparent  way,  so  as  to  utilize  it  for  instruction;  but  he 
also,  by  bringing  to  its  assistance  allied  occupations,  obtained 
new  points  of  view,  and  enlarged  its  boundaries. 

His  Contributions  to  Natural  History3,  and  his  ten  numbers 
of  Representations  of  Subjects  of  Natural  History 4,  have  by 
interesting  translations,  prudent  selection,  and  accuracy  in  hand- 
ling the  subjects,  done  profitable  service  in  the  extension  and 
foundation  of  this  science.  He  took  special  pains  to  throw 
light  on  doubtful  questions,  and  to  clear  up  overshadowing  and 
difficult  undertakings  in  natural  history  from  old  monuments  of 
art5,  and  the  traditions  of  the  poets6.    He  looked  on  the  migra- 


1  It  appeared  first  in  1779. 

2  The  publishers  alone  issued  12,  the  last  in  1830,  not  including  the  re  issues 
and  the  translations  into  almost  all  civilized  languages. 

3  The  first  part  appeared  in  1790,  the  second  in  181  r.  They  contained  the  fol- 
lowing essays:  Part  I.  On  variability  in  creation.  A  glance  at  the  primeval 
world.  On  anthropological  collections.  On  the  division  of  mankind  into  five 
principal  races.  On  the  gradation  in  nature.  On  the  so-called  proofs  of  design. 
Part  11.     On  the  homo  sapiens  ferus.     On  the  Egyptian  mummies. 

4  1796 — 1810. 

5  Specimen  hist.  not.  antique?  artis  operibus  illustr.  eaq.  vicissim  illustr.,  1S03. 
Comment.  Vol.  xvi.  p.  169 — 198. 

6  Sp.  hist.  not.  ex  auctor.  class,  prceserlim  poetis  illustr.  eosq.  vie.  illustr., 
1815.  Comm.  recent.  Vol.  in.  p.  62—78.  Comp.  Qott.  gel.  Am.,  1815,  st.  205, 
s.  2033 — 2040. 


MARX.  13 

tions  of  animals  and  their  appearance  at  different  times,  and 
their  wide  dispersion  in  enormous  numbers  as  a  great,  but  not 
necessarily  insoluble  riddle ;  and  he  contributed  his  mite  also  to 
the  future  solution  of  this  weighty  question1. 

Blumenbach  was  blamed  somewhat  here  and  there  for  fol- 
lowing with  little  divergence  the  artificial  classification  of 
Linnseus.  But  this  conservatism  was  not  the  consequence  either 
of  convenience,  or  want  of  knowledge,  but  from  the  conviction 
that  the  time  for  a  natural  system  was  not  yet  come.  That  he 
felt  the  want  of  such  a  system  is  plain,  because  as  early  as 
1775  he  sketched  out2  an  attempt  at  a  natural  arrangement  of 
the  mammalia,  according  to  which  attention  is  paid  not  to 
single,  or  a  few,  but  to  every  outward  mark  of  distinction,  and 
the  whole  organization  of  the  animals. 

His  communications,  On  the  Loves  of  Animals3,  and  On  the 
Natural  History  of  Serpents4,  display  not  only  the  critical,  but 
the  judicious  observer.  Manifold  interest  attaches  to  his  re- 
marks on  the  kangaroo5,  which  he  kept  for  a  long  time  alive  in 
his  house,  on  the  pipa6,  and  on  the  tape-worm7. 

Blumenbach  was  thoroughly  penetrated  with  the  truth,  that 
we  are  only  then  in  a  proper  position  to  understand  the  appear- 
ances of  the  present,  when  we  attempt  to  clear  up  as  far  as 
possible  their  condition  in  the  beginning,  and  from  early  times 
down  to  the  present.  He  considered  archaeology  and  history 
not  only  as  the  foundations  of  true  knowledge,  but  also  as  the 
sources  of  the  purest  pleasures.  He  was  not  afraid  of  being 
reproached  with  encroaching  upon  foreign  ground8,  for  he  knew 
his  own  moderation:  nor  did  he  shrink  from  the  trouble  of 
seeking  and  collecting,  for  he  had  too  often  had  experience 

1  De  anini.  colon,  sive  sponte  migr.,  sive  casu  aut  studio  ab  horn,  aliors.  transl., 
Comm.  recent. , Vol.  V.  p.  ioi — 116.  Comp.  Gott.  gel.  Anz.,  1820,  st.  57,  s. 
561—68. 

2  Gott.  gel.  Anz.  st.  147,  s.  1257 — 1259. 

3  Gott.  Magaz.  1781,  s.  93 — 107. 

4  Magaz.  fiir  das  n.  aus  der  phys..  B.  v.  st.  1,  17SS,  s.  1 — 13. 

5  lb.  1792,  B.  vii.  st.  4,  s.  19 — 24. 

6  Gott.  gel.  Anz.  1784,  st.  156,  s.  1553—1555. 

7  lb.  1774,  st.  154,  s.  1313— 1386. 

8  He  approved  of  Seneca;  "I  often  pass  into  the  enemy's  camp,  not  as  a 
deserter,  but  as  a  spy. " 


14  LIFE   OF    BLUMENBACH. 

that  though  the  roots  of  a  solid  undertaking  may  be  bitter,  the 
fruit  may  be  sweet.  Besides  he  knew  well  how,  by  keeping 
at  a  distance  from  useless  distractions,  and  by  internal  collec- 
tiveness  and  regulated  arrangement  of  work,  to  bring  together 
in  one  much  that  lay  widely  separated. 

Some  years  after  he  had  written  his  paper  On  the  Teeth  of 
the  Old  Egyptians,  and  on  Mummies1,  he  had  an  opportunity 
during  his  stay  in  London  on  the  18th  February,  1791,  of 
opening  six  mummies,  and  derived  considerable  reputation  from 
his  communication2  to  Banks  on  the  results  he  obtained  there- 
from. He  took  his  part  also  in  the  opinion3  pronounced  by  the 
Society  of  Sciences  of  that  day  on  Sickler's  new  method  of 
unfolding  the  Herculaneum  manuscripts,  which  he  had  invented. 

He  showed  that  our  granite  answers  to  the  syenite  of  Pliny*. 
He  possessed  a  collection  of  ancient  kinds  of  stone  to  illustrate 
the  history  of  the  art  of  antiquity,  on  which  account  his  opinion 
was  often  consulted  on  the  determination  of  doubtful  antiques, 
for  example,  those  given  out  as  such  made  of  soap-stone5. 

He  had  himself,  principally  with  a  view  to  natural  history 
and  the  varieties  of  man,  a  collection  of  beautiful  engravings 
and  pictures,  and  set  great  store  besides  on  the  woodcuts  in  old 
works  which  give  representations  of  animals6,  for  in  that  way 
the  proper  position  of  observing  the  art  of  that  time  is  easily 
arrived  at.  And  so  also  he  endeavoured  to  become  better 
acquainted  with  "the  first  anatomical  wood-cuts,"  and  drew 
attention  to  them,  when  otherwise  they  would  have  remained 
quite  unnoticed7. 

After  a  careful  comparison  of  the  objects  of  ancient  art,  with 


1  Gbtt.  Mag.  1780,  Jahrg.  1.  s.  109 — 139. 

2  Philos.  Trans.  1794.  [The  original  MS.  of  this  paper  is  in  the  library  of  the 
Anthrop.  Soc.  of  London.  Ed.]  His  letter  to  Sir  Joseph  Banks  was  printed  in 
the  third  edition  of  the  De  Generis  Hum.  v.  n.  1795.  The  subject  is  thoroughly 
treated  of  by  him  in  the  Beitr.  zur  Naturg.  Th.  II.  s.  45 — 144. 

3  Gbtt.  gel.  Anz.  1814,  st.  200,  s.  1993. 

4  lb.  1819,  s.  1208.  Blumenbach  gave  his  views  before  in  the  second  part  of 
the  edition  of  Natural  History  in  1780,  on  the  proper  distinction  of  the  kinds 
of  stones  employed  by  the  ancients. 

5  Gbtt.  gel.  Anz.  181 1,  s.  2050. 

6  Gbtt.  Magaz.  1781,  st.  4,  s.  136 — 156. 

7  Baldinger,  Neues  Mag.  fur  Aerzte,  1781,  B.  ill.  s.  135 — 140. 


MARX.  1 5 

which  he  was  acquainted,  his  opinion1  was  that  we  ought  to  be 
chary  in  our  praise  of  the  anatomical  knowledge  of  the  artists 
of  antiquity,  but  that  their  accuracy  in  the  representation  of 
characteristic  expression  had  not  been  sufficiently  appreciated. 

In  the  history  of  literature  Blumenbach  emulated  his  origi- 
nal and  pattern,  Albert  Von  Haller,  whose  acquaintance  he  had 
made  when  studying  at  Gottingen,  by  sending  to  him  at  Berne 
a  book2,  on  the  suggestion  of  Heyne,  which  Haller  had  men- 
tioned in  one  of  his  works  as  unknown  to  him,  and  which  he 
had  picked  up  at  an  auction3.  Later  in  the  day  he  often  fur- 
nished him  with  many  additions  and  supplements  to  the  already 
published  volumes  of  the  Practical  Medical  Library*. 

Among  the  bibliographical  labours  of  that  great  writer  Blu- 
menbach esteemed  most  highly  the  Bibliotheca  Anatomica.  In 
his  own  pocket  copy  he  wrote  down  especially  all  the  volumes 
and  editions  of  it  which  were  at  that  time  to  be  found  in  the 
royal  library,  and  to  the  first  volume  he  added  a  supplement. 

He  wrote  a  preface5  to  Haller's  Journal  of  Medical  Litera- 
ture, in  which  his  services  as  critic  received  their  due. 

However  little  value  the  body  of  physicians  generally  attach 
to  literary  performances,  still  there  is  no  doubt  that  most  of 
them  are  acquainted  with  Blumenbach's  Lntroduction  to  the 
Literary  History  of  Medicine*.  With  a  prudent  selection,  pre- 
cision, and  brevity  the  whole  field  of  medicine,  quite  up  to  the 
end  of  the  preceding  century,  is  there  described  in  a  compre- 
hensive survey7. 


1  De  veterum  artificum  anatomical  peritice  laude  limitanda,  celebranda  vero 
eorum  in  charactere  gentilitio  exprimendo  accuratione.  The  treatise  itself  was  never 
printed,  but  on  its  contents  comp.  Gott.  gel.  Anz.  1823,  st.  125,  s.  1241. 

2  Observationum,  anatomicarum  collegii  privati  Amstelodamensis  Pars  altera. 
Amst.  1673.  i2uio. 

3  Haller's  answer  is  dated  28th  March,  1775. 

4  Baldinger's  N.  Magaz.  fur  Aerzte,  1780,  B.  11.  s.  33. 

5  Besides  this  perhaps  scarcely  any  one  was  so  well  acquainted  with  all  the 
writings  of  that  most  famous  of  Gottingen  teachers  as  Blumenbach.  He  learnt 
much  from  the  collection  of  letters  to  and  from  Haller,  for  there  he  found,  among 
many  other  remarkable  observations  for  the  history  of  medicine,  the  mode  of 
curing  deafness  by  piercing  the  tympanum.     Gott.  gel.  Anz.  1806,  st.  147,  s.  1459. 

fi  Theil  1.  Bern.  1790. 

7  Introductio  in  historiam  medicinte  Uterariam,  1786. 


16  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACH. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  fifty-year  Jubilee  of  our  Univer- 
sity he  brought  together  all  the  literary  performances  of  the 
medical  professors  of  Gottingen  in  a  catalogue1,  which  had 
equally  the  effect  of  serving  as  a  memorial  to  them,  and  as 
a  cause  of  emulation  to  their  successors. 

He  frequently  celebrated  the  memorials  of  distinguished 
men,  especially  in  his  Medical  Library2,  that  almost  insur- 
passable  journal,  and  then  as  secretary  of  our  Society,  in 
which  capacity  he  worthily  fulfilled  this  painful  duty  over  his 
departed  colleagues,  in  the  memorial  orations  over  Richter 
(1812),  Crell  (1816),  Osiander  (1822),  Bouterwek  (1828),  Mayer 
(1831),  Mende  (1832),  and  Stromeyer  (1835). 

His  Honourable  mention  of  Regimental-Surgeon  Johann  Ernst 
Wredens  is  so  far  of  importance  for  the  history  of  the  career  of 
medicine,  as  that  long-forgotten  surgeon  was  the  first  on  the 
continent,  and  that  in  Hanover,  to  introduce  inoculation  for 
the  small-pox. 

The  lover  of  literature  should  not  pass  unnoticed  his  Notice 
of  the  Meibomian  Collection  of  Medical  MSS.  preserved  in  the 
Gottingen  Library*. 

"What  has  already  been  done  goes  some  way  to  place  Blumen- 
bach's  merits  and  excellence  in  a  right  light.  But  the  most 
important  of  all  have  not  been  mentioned  yet,  and  from  their 
exposition  it  will  be  clear  how  many  things  were  united  in  one 
man,  of  which  each  by  itself  would  have  gone  far  to  confer 
reputation  upon  the  possessor. 

The  branches  of  learning  in  which  the  name  of  Blumenbach 
shines  forth  without  ceasing  are  physiology  and  comparative 
anatomy.  What  he  performed  both  by  word  of  mouth  and  by 
his  writings  in  these  departments,  will  all  the  less  easily  be 


1  Synopsis  systematica  scriptorum,  quibus  inde  ab  inaugurations  Academics 
Georgue  A  ugustw  usque  ad  solemnia  istius  inaugurationis  semiso3cularia  disciplinam 
suam  augere  et  ornare  studuerunt  jwofessores  medici  Gbttingenses,  1788. 

2  B.  1— in.  1783— 1795. 

3  Annalen  der  Braunschw.  Liineb.  Churlande.  1789,  Jahrg.  III.  st.  2,  s.  389 — 396. 

4  In  his  Medicin.  Biblioth.  B.  I,  s.  368 — 377. 


MAEX.  1 7 

forgotten  by  his  fatherland,  because  foreign  countries  first  took 
a  liking  to  these  studies  through  him,  and  expressed  their  grati- 
tude not  only  to  him,  but  above  all  to  German  erudition. 

The  obscure  learning  of  generation,  nutrition,  and  repro- 
duction received  light  and  critical  elucidation  from  him.  If 
after  the  lapse  of  sixty  years  since  he  first  strenuously  employed 
his  mind  to  sift  the  existing  materials  and  make  particular 
investigations,  more  comprehensive  results  than  he  expected 
have  been  obtained,  still  it  is  but  just  to  observe,  that  his  ideas 
have  certainly  been  expanded  and  here  and  there  connected, 
but  have  not  in  any  way  been  controverted. 

On  the  9th  of  May,  1778,  his  observations  upon  green 
hydrse,  then  in  the  act  of  reproduction,  first  led  him  to  the 
comprehension,  and  afterwards  to  the  further  investigation  of 
the  incredible  activity  of  the  powers  of  nature  in  the  circle  of 
organized  life.  In  1780  appeared  his  essay  On  the  Formative 
Force  and  its  Influence  on  Generation  and  Reproduction1;  and 
the  next  year  the  monograph,  On  the  Formative  Force  and  on 
the  Operations  of  Generation2.  At  the  same  time  he  expressed 
himself  On  an  uncommonly  simple  method  of  Propagation3, — 
namely,  on  that  of  the  conferva  in  wells,  whose  mode  of  propa- 
gation he  had  discovered  on  the  18th  of  February,  1781. 

He  sent  in  on  the  25th  of  May  a  short  reply  to  the  question 
proposed  by  the  Academy  of  St.  Petersburg,  On  the  Force  of 
Nutrition*,  which  he  wrote  on  the  preceding  day,  and  obtained 
half  the  prize.  He  wrote  some  remarks  on  Troja's  experi- 
ments on  the  production  of  new  bone5.     On  the   occasion  of 

1  Gbtt.  Mag.  1780,  s.  247 — 266. 

2  1 78 1.  Then  in  the  Comment.  T.  vin.  p.  41 — 68 :  De  nisu  formative-  et  genera- 
tionis  negotio.  1785.  In  all  living  creatures  there  is  a  peculiar,  inherent,  live-long 
active  energy,  which  first  of  all  causes  them  to  put  on  their  definite  appearance, 
then  to  preserve  it,  and  if  it  should  be  disturbed,  as  far  as  possible  to  restore  it. 
The  theory  of  development  from  spermatic  animalcule,  or  by  means  of  panspermy, 
he  showed  is  without  foundation.  [A  translation  of  this  treatise  by  Dr  Crichton 
was  published  in  1792,  London,  i2mo.    Ed.] 

3  Gott.  Mag.  i'jSi,  st.  1,  s.  80—89. 

4  De  nutritione  ultra  vasa.  The  prize  was  awarded  Dec.  4,  1788.  The  essays 
sent  in  were  24.  Nova  Acta  Sc.  Petropol.  T.  vi.  1790:  Histoire.  Comp.  Zicei 
abhandl.  tiber  die  Nutritionskraft,  K.  F.  Wolf,  St.  Petersb.  1789.  (The  second  is 
by  C.  F.  Born.) 

6  Richter's  Chir.  BiUiotheh,  B.  vi.  st.  1,  1782,  s.  107. 


18  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACH. 

The  Generation  of  the  Eye  of  a  Water-Lizard,  he  communicated 
in  a  sitting  of  this  Society1  the  fact  that  he  had  amputated 
four-fifths  of  the  apple  of  the  eye,  and  a  new  eye  had  been 
produced. 

With  clear  insight  and  unusual  experience  he  distinguished 
the  anomalous2  and  morbid  aberrations  of  the  formative  force, 
and  showed3  how  The  Artificial  or  Accidental  Mutilations  in 
Animals  degenerate  in  Process  of  Time  into  Hereditary  Marks. 
His  studies  upon  the  formative  force  were  taken  up  by  great 
thinkers,  and  were  made  use  of,  though  with  alterations  of 
expression  and  manner  of  representation,  as  foundations  for 
further  developments,  by  Kant4  in  his  Critique  of  the  Under- 
standing, Fichte  in  the  System  of  Morality,  Schelling  in  the 
Soul  of  the  World,  and  Goethe  in  the  Morphology.  From  this 
he  derived  particular  satisfaction,  as  it  was  a  proof  of  their 
solidity  and  productiveness. 

His  Elements  of  Physiology5  is  remarkable  not  less  for  the 
elegance  of  its  language,  than,  like  all  his  books,  for  a  well- 
selected  display  of  reading,  and  the  profusion  of  his  own 
observations. 

He  busied  himself  much6  with  the  investigation,  whether 
a  peculiar  vital  energy  ought  to  be  attributed  to  the  blood, 
or  not.  And  also  with  the  origin  of  the  black  colour  of  the 
negroes7.     He  confirmed   the  principal   discovery  of  Galvani, 

1  Gott.  gel.  Anz.  1785,  st.  47,  s.  465. 

2  Be  anomalis  et  vitiosis  quibusclam  nisus  formativi  aberrationibus,  181 2.  Com- 
ment, recent.  "Vol.  11.  p.  3 — 20. 

3  Magazinfur  das  N.  cms  cler  Physilc.  1789,  B.  vi.  st.  1,  s.  13. 

4  With  reference  to  Kant's  manner  of  expression,  he  remarked  (Gott.  gel.  Anz. 
1800,  st.  62,  s.  612),  "that  the  ornithorynchus  affords  a  speaking  example  of  the 
formative  force,  as  showing  the  connection  of  those  two  principles,  the  mechanical 
and  the  teleological,  in  the  exhibition  of  an  end  being  also  a  product  of  nature." 

5  Institutions  Physiological,  1787.  Amongst  the  many  editions  and  transla- 
tions of  this  work,  Blumenbach  set  the  most  value  upon  the  edition  of  Elliotson's 
translation,  published  by  Bentley,  London,  1814  ;  because  this  was  the  first  book 
which  was  ever  printed  entirely  by  a  machine.  Comp.  Gott.  gel.  Anz.  1818,  st. 
172,  s.  1713. 

6  Be  vi  vitali  sanguinis,  1787.  Comment.  Vol.  ix.  p.  r — 13.  And  again  on 
the  appearance  of  the  posthumous  work  of  John  Hunter  On  the  Blood,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  degree  of  seven  candidates  in  1795,  the  argument  he  gave  was  Be 
vi  vitali  sanguini  deneganda,  vita  autem  propria  solidis  quibusclam  corp.  hum. 
partibus  adserenda  curce  iteratce. 

7  Be  gen.  hum.  var.  nat.  p.  122.  ed.  3. 


MARX.  19 

reposing  on  his  own  observations1.  With  respect  to  the  eyes  of 
the  Leucsethiopians2  and  the  movement  of  the  iris,  he  took 
great  pains  to  ascertain  their  probable  reasons  by  collecting 
and  criticizing  the  experiences  of  others,  and  by  personal 
observation.  On  the  23rd  Aug.  1782,  he  examined  two  Albinos 
at  Chamoimi. 

In  1784  he  discovered3,  during  the  dissection  of  the  eye  of 
a  seal,  the  remarkable  property  by  means  of  which  these 
animals  are  enabled  to  shorten  or  lengthen  the  axis  of  the  eye- 
ball at  pleasure,  so  that  they  can  see  clearly  just  as  well  under 
the  water  as  in  the  air,  two  mediums  of  very  different  density. 
He  was  the  first4  who  accurately  distinguished  the  nature  and 
destination  of  the  frontal  sinuses,  as  also  their  condition  in 
disease.  He  showed  the  intersection  of  the  optic  nerves  to  be 
a  settled  fact5.  He  would  not  adopt  the  belief  in  a  muscular 
coat  of  the  gall-bladder6.  With  regard  to  the  protrusion  of  the 
eyes  in  the  case  of  persons  beheaded,  he  drew  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  phenomenon  was  not,  as  in  the  case  of  those  who 
have  been  hanged,  caused  entirely  by  congestion7.  On  the 
opportunity  of  a  communication  On  a  ram  which  gives  milk8, 
he  expressed  himself  on  the  presence  of  milk  in  the  breasts  of 
men,  and  attempted  an  explanation. 

His  History  and  Description  of  the  Bones  of  the  Human 
Body9,  in  which  this  naturally  dry  subject  is  treated  in  the 
most  interesting  way  and  from  fresh  points  of  view,  will  always 
retain  an  enduring  value. 

His  Handbook  of  Comparative  Anatomy10  was  the  first  of 
its  kind,  not  only   in   Germany  but   throughout   the  learned 


1  Gott.  gel.  Anz.  1793,  st.  32,  s.  320. 

2  De  oculis  Leucozthiopum  et  iridis  motu.  1784.     Comm.  Vol.  vil.  pp.  29 — 62. 
Comp.  Gott.  gel.  Anz.  1784,  st.  175.     Med.  Bibliothek.  B.  11.  s.  537 — 47. 

3  Comment.  Vol.  vn.  1784,  p.  46.    Handbuch  der  vergl.  Anat.  Aufl.  3,  s.  401. 

4  Prolus.  anat.  de  sinibus  frontal.  1779.    His  thesis  on  becoming  ordinary  Pro- 
fessor.    Comp.  Gott.  gel.  Anz.  1779,  s.  913 — 916. 

5  Gott.  gel.  Anz.  1793,  st.  34,  s.  334. 

6  lb.  1806,  st.  135,  s.  1352. 

7  Abhandl.  der  phys.  med.  societ.  zu  Erlangen.  1810,  Th.  I.  s.  471. 

8  Hannover  Mag.  1787,  st.  48,  s.  753 — 762. 

9  First  :n  1786,  then  in  1806. 

10  First  in  1805. 

2—2 


20  LIFE   OF    BLUMENBACH. 

world.  Before  his  time  there  was  no  book  on  the  totality  of 
this  branch  of  learning ;  he  was  the  first  to  find  a  place  for  it  in 
the  circle  of  subjects  of  instruction.  One  of  his  earliest  com- 
munications was  upon  Alcyonelloe  in  the  Gottingen  ponds1. 
Then  he  furnished  a  running  comparison  between  the  warm 
and  cold-blooded  animals2,  and  afterwards  between  the  warm- 
blooded viviparous  and  oviparous  animals3.  Nor  can  we  pass 
over  in  silence  his  remarks  upon  the  structure  of  the  Orni- 
thorynchus4,  on  the  bill5  of  the  duck  and  toucan,  and  on  the 
sack  in  the  reindeer's  neck 6. 

Inasmuch  as  Blumenbach  regarded  physiology  as  the  true 
foundation  of  the  science  of  medicine,  it  is  not  difficult  to  per- 
ceive from  what  point  of  view  his  contributions  to  practical 
medicine  are  to  be  criticized :  besides,  he  let  slip  no  opportunity 
of  proving  his  sympathy  in  that  particular  direction.  Thus  he 
gave  his  opinions  on  the  frequency  of  ruptures  in  the  Alps7;  on 
nostalgia8,  on  melancholy9  and  suicide  in  Switzerland;  on  the 
expulsion  of  a  scolopendra  electrica10  from  the  nose;  and  on 
a  case  of  water  in  the  head  of  seventeen  years'  standing11.  He 
also  contributed  to  the  extension  of  the  science  of  medicine 
by  experiments12  with  gases  on  live  animals,  and  by  the  commu- 
nication13 of  a  new  sort  of  dragon's  blood  from  Botany  Bay  on 

1  Gott.  Mag.  1780,  s.  117 — 127. 

2  Specim.  physiol.  comp.  inter  animantia  calidi  etfrigidi  sanguinis,  1786.  Comm. 
Vol.  vin.  pp.  69 — 100. 

3  Spec.  phys.  comp.  int.  anim.  cal.  sang,  vivip.  et  ovip.  1788.  Comm.  Vol.  IX. 
pp.  108 — 129.  Comp.  Gott.  gel.  Anz.  1789,  st.  8,  s.  73 — 77.  In  this  treatise  he 
also  gave  his  views  upon  the  appearance  of  yellow  corpuscles  in  the  unimpregnated 
ovum  ;  on  the  formation  of  the  double  heart ;  on  the  period  when  the  ribs  are  pro- 
duced in  the  embryo. 

4  Be  Ornithorynchi  paradoxi  fabrica  observ.  qu&dam  anat.  Mem.  de  la  soc. 
med.  $  Emulation,  T.  iv.  Paris,  1779,  pp.  320—323.  Gott.  gel.  Anz.  1800,  s. 
609—612. 

5  Spec.  phys.  comp.  int.  anim.  ccd.  sang,  vivip.  et  ovip.  1789. 

6  Gott.  gel.  Anz.  1783,  st.  7,  s.  68. 

7  In  his  Medic.  Bibliothek.  B.  I.  s.  725. 

8  lb.  s.  732.     Comp.  Schlozer's  Correspondence,  Th.  III.  1778,  s.  231. 

9  Med.  Bib.  B.  11.  s.  163—173. 

10  Feuer-assel.  Comp.  J.  L.  Welge,  Diss,  de  moi'bis  sinuum  frontalium. 
Gotting.  1786,  4to.  §  iv.  p.  10. 

11  "iiber  den  sogennant  Wagler'schen."  Med.  Bibl.  B.  111.  s.  616 — 639. 

12  Med.  Bib.  B.  1.  s.  173. 

13  Contributions  to  the  Materia  Medica  from  the  University  Museum  of  Gottingen. 
lb.  B.  I.  s.  166 — 171. 


MARX.  21 

the  east  coast  of  New  Holland,  and  by  a  description  of  the 
true  Winter's  bark. 

Blumenbach's  reputation  as  a  learned  man  was  so  great, 
that  every  hint  of  his  was  considered  and  followed  up,  as  that 
On  the  best  methods  of  putting  together  collectanea  and  extracts*; 
and  his  works,  especially  his  handbooks,  stood  in  such  esteem, 
that  authors  and  booksellers2  alike  considered  a  preface  from 
him  as  the  best  recommendation  for  their  works.  In  this  way 
he  introduced  Cheselden's  Anatomy*,  Neergard's4  Comparative 
Anatomy  and  Physiology  of  the  Digestive  Organs,  and  Gilbert 
Blane's5  Elements  of  Medical  Logic. 

I  must  take  notice  here  of  one  branch  of  learning,  in  which 
Blumenbach  had  scarce  his  like,  I  mean  his  familiarity  with 
voyages  and  travels.  All  the  books  of  the  sort  in  the  library 
of  this  place  he  had  read  through  over  and  over  again,  and 
made  extracts  of,  and  prepared  a  triple  analysis,  namely,  one 
arranged  geographically,  a  chronological  and  an  alphabetical 
one.  To  this  occupation,  as  he  frequently  took  occasion  to 
mention,  he  owed  no  small  part  of  his  knowledge;  and  for  his 
researches  in  natural  history  and  ethnography  it  was  a  most 
solid  foundation. 

He  himself  had  made  but  few  long  journeys6  in  proportion, 
only  through  a  part  of  Switzerland7  and  Holland  to  England, 
or  rather  to  London8,  which  afterwards  he  used  to  say  was  to 
the  sixth  part  of  the  world;  and  a  diplomatical  one  to  Paris, 
in  order,  during  the  time  of  the  kingdom  of  Westphalia,   to 


1  lb.  B.  in.  s.  547, 

2  He  wrote  a  preface  to  Gmelin's  Geschlchte  der  thierisch.  u.  mineral,  gifte.  Er- 
furt, 1805. 

3  German  by  A.  F.  Wolf.     Gotting.  1789. 

4  Berlin,  1806.  In  the  preface  Blumenbach  speaks  of  the  influence  of  Com- 
parative Anatomy  on  the  philosophic  study  of  natural  history  in  general,  and  on 
the  physiology  of  the  human  body  and  the  medical  knowledge  of  beasts  in 
particular. 

5  Gottingen,  1819. 

6  When  he  wanted  to  take  a  journey  for  recreation,  he  liked  going  to  the 
widowed  Princess  Christiane  von  Waldeck  at  Arolsen,  who  had  proved  herself  very 
useful  to  him  ;  or  to  Pyrmont,  or  to  Gotha,  Rehburg,  Weimar,  and  Dresden. 

7  In  1783. 

8  In  1791 — 92. 


) 


22  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACH. 

propitiate  the  good  will  of  Napoleon  for  the  University,  on 
which  occasion  De  Lacepede  was  his  advocate  and  guide.  He 
kept  a  journal  on  his  travels,  in  which  he  made  short  notes 
of  all  that  was  worth  noticing.  Up  to  this  time  very  few  of 
these  very  multifarious  remarks  have  been  made  public1. 

He  published  a  translation  of  the  medical  observations  in 
the  second  part  of  Ives'  Travels2;  he  wrote  a  Preface  to  the  first 
part  of  the  Collection  of  Rare  Travels3,  and  a  Preface  and 
Eemarks  to  Volkmann's  translation  of  Bruce's  Travels*. 

It  is  not  perhaps  too  much  to  assert,  what  I  may  be  allowed 
to  say  here,  that  the  desire  which  was  aroused  in  many  most 
distinguished  men  to  undertake  great  expeditions  for  the  sake 
of  natural  history,  and  the  results,  which  have  accrued  in  con- 
sequence to  the  knowledge  of  the  earth  and  of  mankind,  were 
particularly  prompted  through  the  medium  of  Blumenbach. 
Hornemann5,  Alex,  von  Humboldt,  Langsdorf,  Seetzen,  Ront- 
gen,  Sibthorp,  Prince  Max  von  Neuwied,  were  and  are  his 
grateful  pupils. 

Amongst  the  unknown,  or,  at  all  events,  the  insufficiently 
appreciated  services  of  Blumenbach  to  literature  belong  his 
beyond  measure  numerous  reviews,  which  he  continued  to  write 
for  a  long  series  of  years,  not  only  in  the  Bibliotheh,  which 
he  edited  himself,  but  also  particularly  in  the  Gottingische 
gelehrte  Anzeige,  on  all  the  books  in  his  various  provinces.  His 
first  criticism  was  upon  Xenocrates,  On  the  Aliment  in  Aquatic 
Animals,  in  1773,  in  Walch's  Philological  Library6. 


1  Remarks  on  some  travels  in  Waldeck  collected  in  Schlozer's  Brief-wechsel, 
Tli.  in.  1778,  st.  16,  s.  229 — 237.  Then:  Some  Remarks  upon  Natural  History  on 
the  occasion  of  a  Swiss  journey.  In  Magaz.  fur  das  neueste  aus  der  Physilc,  B.  rv. 
st.  3,  1787,  s.  1;  B.  v.  st.  1,  1778,  s.  13. 

2  The  remaining  part  of  this  Voyage  to  India  was  translated  by  Dohm.     Leipz. 

1775- 

3  Memmingen,  1789. 

4  Leipz' g,  1 790,  in  five  volumes. 

5  On  July  2,  1794  Hornemann  first  of  all  expressed  a  wish  to  his  teacher 
to  travel  into  the  interior  of  Africa.  Zach's  Geogr.  Ephem.  B.  I.  Weimar,  1798, 
s.  116 — 120,  s.  368 — 371,  and  in  B.  III.  s.  193.  Blumenbaeh  gave  a  public  notice 
of  this  active  young  man  and  of  the  fortunate  completion  of  his  plan. 

fi  B.  n.  st.  6,  s.  533.  Blumenbach  corrected  and  added  to  the  edition  of  Xeno- 
crates irepi  ttjs  airo  tup  evvSpwv  Tpocprjs  by  Franz. 


MARX.  23 

He  himself  had  in  the  beginning  to  experience  how  unfairly 
and  carelessly  reviews  are  often  scribbled  off1.  He  always 
adhered  to  the  rule  of  separating  the  man  from  the  thing,  and 
tried  to  make  his  judgment  as  objective  as  possible,  and  not 
to  pervert  the  scientific  judgment-seat  with  which  he  was 
entrusted  to  gratifying  his  personal  likes  or  dislikes.  His 
reviews  may  be  known  by  their  convincing  brevity,  their  clear 
exposition  of  the  essential  points,  the  witticisms  scattered  here 
and  there,  and  the  instructive  observations  and  remarks  of 
the  writer. 

One  of  his  manuscript  observations  is  worthy  of  notice, 
which  I  found  in  a  pocket-book  that  he  once  allowed  me  to 
examine,  because  it  explains  to  some  extent  how  the  facility 
and  power  of  finishing  off  work  of  this  kind  became  in  a 
certain  sense  habitual  to  him.  It  is  as  follows:  'In  church, 
which  we  continually  attended,  I  was  always  obliged  whilst  at 
school  to  write  down  an  abstract  of  the  sermon.  This  has  been 
since  of  the  greatest  utility  to  me  in  my  reading,  extracting, 
reviewing,  and  in  many  matters  of  business,  &c,  for  it  has 
enabled  me  to  detect  the  essential  point  with  rapidity,  to 
exhibit  it,  and  briefly  to  express  it  again.' 

Although  Blumenbach  beyond  all  others  was  involved  in  few 
literary  feuds2,  and  it  did  not  easily  happen  that  any  of  his 
reviews  occasioned  him  any  complaint3  or  enmity,  still  he  could 
not  help  frequently  calling  things  by  their  right  names,  and 
displaying  false  celebrities  in  their  nakedness  *. 

And  now  we  must  turn  our  attention  from  Blumenbach  the 
author,  to  the  Gottingen  professor,  to  whose  lecture-rooms  youth 


1  When  his  Handbook  of  Natural  History  had  been  not  only  awkwardly  but 
inconsiderately  criticized,  he  wrote  his  On  a  literary  incident  worth  notice,  which 
unfortunately  is  no  rarity  in  Gbtt.  Mag.  1780,  s.  467 — 484. 

2  On  one  with  his  old  colleague  Meiners,  comp.  Beitr.  zur  Naturg.  Aufl.  r. 
1790,  Th.  1.  s.  62. 

3  His  criticism  6n  Kampf  s  new  method  of  curing  the  most  obstinate  disorders 
of  the  abdomen  {Med.  Bibl.  B.  rr.  st.  1),  was  however  taken  ill  by  him,  but  after- 
wards was  the  subject  of  open  thanks  to  Blumenbach,  in  the  second  edition  of  that 
book,  Leipz.  1786,  s.  366. 

4  As  in  the  review  of  Sander's  Travels.     Gbtt.  gel.  Anz.  1784,  st.  27. 


24  LIFE  OF   BLUMENBACH. 

and  age  alike  pressed,  in  order  to  receive  words  of  lasting 
instruction  from  the  wit  and  humour  which  overflowed  from 
his  mouth. 

The  undivided  approval,  which  was  paid  to  his  discourses, 
underwent  no  diminution  in  his  extreme  old  age,  and  he  gave 
up  teaching,  not  because  either  the  wish  or  the  power  failed 
him,  or  because  he  suffered  any  diminution  of  audience  or  sym- 
pathy, but  solely  in  accordance  with  the  entreaties  of  his  friends. 
He  knew  well  how  in  a  very  singular  and  inimitable  way  to 
unite  the  valuable  with  the  amusing,  the  relation  of  dry  facts 
and  scientific  deductions  with  wit  and  humour,  and  to  season 
them  with  keen  well-pointed  anecdotes.  Every  one  enjoyed  the 
lecture.  Grave  or  gay,  every  one  went  away  stimulated  and 
the  better  for  it. 

As  listeners  came  to  him  from  all  parts  of  the  world  and 
went  home  full  of  his  praises,  his  name  was  carried  into  coun- 
tries where  previously  German  literati  had  been  little  thought 
of.  With  a  letter  of  recommendation  from  Blumenbach,  a  man 
might  have  travelled  in  all  the  zones  of  the  earth. 

He  had  the  art  of  never  giving  too  much,  of  confining  him- 
-  self  to  the  principal  points,  and  of  deeply  impressing  what  was 
essential  by  well-varied  repetitions.  He  assisted  the  compre- 
hension by  appealing  to  the  senses  in  every  way;  by  outlines 
which  he  drew  with  chalk  on  a  board,  by  the  exhibition  of 
copies  and  preparations,  by  happy  quotations  of  well-known 
sayings.  He  laid  stress  on  the  fact,  that  from  him  might  be 
learnt  the  art  of  observing;  but  that  it  is  necessary,  accordino- 
to  circumstances,  to  listen,  smell,  and  taste. 

He  made  it  plain,  that  he  held  no  propositions  such  as  could 
be  written  out  prettily  on  law-paper;  his  subject  was  the  entire 
man,  his  whole  inner  activity  in  representation,  comparison,  and 
connection. 

The  means  he  employed  to  obtain  this  result  were  indeed 
manifold,  but  it  is  very  difficult  to  give  a  satisfactory  account  of 
them;  they  are  too  much  bound  up  with  his  peculiar  personal 
appearance.  One  must  have  heard  him  speak  himself,  with  the 
expressive  play  of  countenance,  the  remarkable  tone  of  voice, 


MARX.  25 

which  now  fell  upon  the  ear  in  sharp  abrupt  sentences,  now 
carried  your  senses  along  with  him  in  overwhelming  cadences, 
and  with  the  imposing  effect  with  which  he  knew  how,  to  some 
extent,  to  throw  life  into  the  natural  objects  before  him  and 
bring  them  into  unexpected  relations. 

I  could  give  many  examples1  of  his  numerous  clever  and 


1  For  the  sake  of  example  I  will  give  an  inkling  of  them.  He  wished  people 
would  accustom  themselves  to  get  a  clear  and  definite  notion  of  subjects,  and  to 
reproduce  the  whole  from  a  part,  for,  said  he,  "  I  caDnot  bring  everything  into  the 
lecture,  as  the  elephant  or  rhinoceros." 

He  tried  also  to  prevent  people  from  deriving  false  ideas  from  their  impressions 
and  observations :  viz.  "  If  you  wish  to  form  an  idea  of  the  lowest  depth  to  which 
men  have  descended  in  the  interior  of  the  earth,  pile  up  your  library  at  home,  your 
Corpus  Juris,  your  ecclesiastical  history,  and  medical  books,  until  you  have  put 
12,000  leaves,  that  is,  24,000  pages  one  upon  the  other.  And  how  far  do  you 
think  we  have  got  into  the  heart  of  the  earth  ?  just  so  far  as  the  first  and  second 
leaf  in  thickness.  And  yet  people  are  not  ashamed  to  speak  of  the  kernel  of  the 
earth.  When  the  poet  speaks  of  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  we  ought  to  translate 
'the  epidermis  of  the  earth.'" 

He  knew  his  audience  so  well,  that  if  he  wanted  to  get  anything,  he  felt  no 
necessity  for  making  long  manoeuvres,  still  less  for  finding  fault.  He  appealed  to 
the  sense  of  what  was  right  and  proper,  not  with  pathetic  demonstrations,  but 
cursorily,  as  by  an  electric  shock.  If,  for  instance,  he  saw  that  his  subjects  were 
handled  rudely  as  they  went  round,  he  called  out  with  an  intelligible  gesture ; 
"  They  are  best  laid  on  your  coat-lappet  or  on  cotton ;  but  I  know  one  word  is 
better  than  an  hundred-weight  of  cotton." 

Sometimes  he  was  fond  of  speaking  in  aphorisms,  leaving  the  connecting  links 
to  be  made  out  by  his  attentive  hearers,  though  he  always  stirred  up  and  set  in 
motion  the  most  apathetic  by  his  overflowing  humour.  Once,  for  instance,  when 
lecturing  on  natural  history,  he  told  the  story  how  they  shaved  a  bear,  and  gave 
him  out  as  a  new  sort  of  man.  "A  beast  in  Gottingen,  in  whom  Buffon  would 
have  discovered  a  good  deal  that  was  human : — it  showed  one  particular  trait  of 
modesty,  because  it  would  not  allow  its  stockings  to  be  taken  off.  Behind  the 
stove  in  the  Golden  Angel  was  the  creature  in  question  to  be  found,  clad  in  a  Hus- 
sar's coat  with  an  over-cloak.    The  breast  was  visible — of  a  most  inviting  colour. 

The  mouth  was  silent ;  large  claws  with  long  ruffles — a  Hussar  with  ruffles. That 

was  something  to  think  of. — Now  I'm  the  man  who  gives  the  lectures  here  on 
natural  history,  the  lecture-room  is  gone  mad; — you  show  me  this  evenino-  the 
beast  as  God  created  it,  or  rather  as  you  have  shaved  it,  or  I  shall  stand  for 
nothing,  for  it  is  no  laughing  matter  to  play  with  the  Professor  in  his  lecture-room. 
The  man's  hair  stood  up  with  fright,  like  spikes  :  later  in  the  day  Blumenbach  was 
present  at  its  evening  toilette.     The  waistcoat  had  been  nailed  to  it." 

Sometimes  he  did  not  disdain  to  say  a  word  of  fun  to  the  students :  viz. 
"Many  exegetists  think  that  the  whale  cast  out  the  prophet  Jonah,  because  where 
a  horse  can  find  a  place,  a  prophet  might  do  so  too.  Blumenbach  however  stands 
rather  by  the  opinion  of  Hermann  von  der  Hardt  in  Helmstadt,  who  has  written 
a  very  nasty  commentary  on  that  man  of  God ;  that  he  lodged  in  Nineveh  at  the 

Whale ;  that  his  cash  ran  out ;  the  landlord  would  give  him  no  more  credit he 

was  turned  out  of  the  club;  or — the  Whale  cast  him  out." 

Or;  "John  Hunter  used  to  inquire  whether  it  was  not  possible  for  men  to  be 
thrown  into  the  chrysalis  state : — that  would  be  good  for  the  conscription,  forced 
loans,  or  when  the  student  is  summoned;  'No,  no,  says  the  chambermaid,  our 
master  is  become  a  chrysalis.' " 


26  LIFE   OP   BLUMENBACH. 

humorous  illustrations,  but  I  should  be  afraid,  that  deprived  of 
the  spirit  of  his  pantomimic  representation,  and  unsupported 
by  his  cheerful  but  still  highly  imposing  delivery,  they  might 
easily  appear  in  a  false  light. 

It  might  sometimes  have  seemed  that  Blumenbach  attached 
too  much  value  to  the  singular  and  the  curious,  but  when  any 
one  came  to  look  into  the  matter  more  closely,  he  soon  became 
convinced,  that  though  what  was  extraordinary  attracted  him 
above  all  things,  still,  it  was  principally  because  it  had  remained 
unnoticed  by  others,  or  because  it  served  him  as  a  means, 
through  which  he  could  direct  the  attention  to  what  was  truly 
worth  knowing.  His  business  was  with  knowledge  and  expla- 
nation;  yet  he  knew  too  well  that  the  majority  of  men  must 
have  miracles  to  make  them  believe. 

In  literature  he  sometimes  mentioned  long-forgotten  and 
obsolete  works,  and  noticed  with  particular  emphasis  such  as 
were  not  to  be  found  in  the  royal  library  ;  but  all  that  was  only 
to  excite  the  love  of  learning,  and  keep  it  at  full  stretch.  Per- 
haps no  teacher  understood  so  well  as  he  how  to  instil  by  the 
way  a  lasting  interest  in  literature,  and  to  accompany  the  ac- 
quaintance with  the  best  and  most  select  with  opportune 
remarks. 

The  extraordinary  reputation  which  remained  to  the  famous 
teacher  in  full  strength  for  more  than  half  a  century  may 
partly  be  attributed  to  the  influence  of  authority,  which  was 
then  of  more  weight  than  it  is  now ;  partly  perhaps  to  the 
more  comprehensive  view  that  though  the  University  was  in 
other  ways  crowded  with  teachers,  he  had  no  rival  in  his  par- 
ticular province  ;  partly  that  he  in  all  his  outward  circumstances 
and  through  his  continuous  good  health  was  in  a  position  to 
concentrate  on  his  immediate  objects  all  the  materials  which 
stood  in  his  power ;  still  we  cannot  help  always  admiring  the 
greatness  of  his  personality,  and  the  wonderful  insight  and  con- 
sistency with  which  he  knew  how  to  keep  all  this  together. 
For  a  long  period  of  time  he  continued  to  be  the  chief  centre 
of  instruction  at  Gottingen. 

Not  only  did  fathers  send  their  sons,  but  grandfathers  their 


MARX.  27 

grandchildren,  in  order  that  these  might  hear  Blumenbach  as 
they  had  done  themselves,  and  so  participate  in  that  particular 
kind  of  learning,  which  had  remained  so  singularly  indelible  in 
their  recollection.  Many  first  heard  of  Gottingen  through  its 
connection  with  Blumenbach,  and  lighted  by  his  star,  journeyed 
to  the  place  of  his  operations. 

In  the  summer  of  1776  he  arranged  for  the  public  vivisec- 
tions and  physiological  experiments  on  living  animals  in  the 
great  theatre.  Also  in  1777  he  gave  there  public  readings  on 
the  natural  history  of  mankind.  In  the  same  year  he  gave 
lectures  on  the  dissection  of  the  domestic  animals  of  the  coun- 
try. Though  he  began  very  early  to  treat  upon  comparative 
osteology,  it  was  not  till  after  1785  that  he  gave  lessons  on 
comparative  anatomy  in  general.  For  a  long  time  he  delivered 
lectures  on  pathology,  after  Gaub,  on  the  history  of  authorities 
on  medicine  and  physiology,  and  at  last  in  the  winter  term  of 
1836-37  on  natural  history,  which  he  read  118  times. 

The  three  English  princes,  who  had  arrived  here  on  the  6th 
July  1785,  attended  the  course  on  natural  history  in  the  winter 
of  1786 1.  Nor  did  the  present  king  of  Bavaria,  then  crown- 
prince,  disdain  to  take  his  seat  on  the  allotted  benches,  and  in 
August,  1803,  Blumenbach  was  his  companion  in  theHarz  as  far 
as  Magdeburg.  This  same  royal  patron  of  the  sciences  never 
forgot  his  student's  time,  or  his  teacher  individually,  as  he 
proved  not  only  by  sending  him  valuable  presents,  especially 
the  skull  of  an  ancieot  Greek  and  his  order  of  merit,  but  par- 
ticularly by  this,  that  he  despatched  in  1829  the  present  Crown- 
prince  to  be  the  alumnus  of  the  Georgia  Augusta  and  of  Blu- 
menbach. When  our  king,  on  the  occasion  of  the  hundred- 
year  jubilee  feast  of  the  University,  honoured  us  with  his 
illustrious  presence,  he  did  not  omit  to  visit  his  old  preceptor 
in  the  house  which  he  had  so  often  entered  as  a  student. 

Blumenbach  was  a  born  professor ;  in  this  occupation  he 
sought  and   found   his   satisfaction    and  his  pride.     What   he 


1  With  which  agrees  the  passage  of  Heyne  (Opusc.  Vol.  xv.  p.  243),  "the 
royal  princes  of  Great  Britain  attended  the  lectures  of  some  of  the  Professors,  and 
were  seen  on  the  benches  of  the  audience." 


28  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACH. 

prompted  and  accomplished  in  that  capacity  is  seen  from  the 
history  of  the  literati  of  later  years ;  innumerable  are  those 
who  prize  him  as  their  teacher,  benefactor,  and  friend.  Who 
can  enumerate  the  dedications  in  great  and  small  books  which 
were  offered  to  him  from  far  and  near,  partly  out  of  gratitude, 
partly  as  expressions  of  praise  and  recognition  ?  Out  of  all  the 
great  number  of  dissertations  which  have  appeared  here,  the 
best  have  been  accomplished  with  and  through  him.  Read 
the  words  of  affection  and  love  in  the  elder  Sommerring's 
inaugural  dissertation  on  Blumenbach1,  which  has  since  become 
so  famous,  and  you  will  want  nothing  more. 

When  his  pupil  Rudolphi,  in  conjunction  with  Stieglitz  and 
Lodemann,  who  had  equally  been  instructed  by  him  in  science, 
canvassed  the  German  physicians,  in  order  to  celebrate  the  doc- 
tor's jubilee  of  their  great  teacher  in  a  worthy  manner,  all  to 
whom  he  had  been  a  leader  either  by  speech  or  writing  rose 
like  one  man,  and  perpetuated  the  recollection  of  the  event  with 
a  medal2,  and  by  the  foundation  of  a  travelling  scholarship3. 

The  naturalists  of  his  day  endeavoured  to  recognize  the  ser- 
vices of  the  Nestor  of  their  science  by  naming  after  him  plants, 
animals,  and  stones.  It  was  for  him  a  particular  pleasure,  that 
on  the  morning  of  the  day  of  his  doctor's  jubilee  (Sept.  18, 
1825),  his  colleague  Schrader  showed  him  a  drawing  of  the 
new  kind  of  plant,  Blumenbachia  insignis*. 


1  De  basi  Encephali.  Gott.  1778,  4_to.  And  Baldinger's  title  to  it:  Epitome  neu- 
rologice  pliysiologicopathologicw,  and  in  the  Curriculum  vitce  Sommerring,  p.  15: 
"  Exc.  Blumenbach  was  not  only  my  most  desirable  instructor  in  general  zoology, 
mineralogy,  physiology,  pathology,  the  particular  history  of  man,  and  in  relating 
the  traditions  of  medicine,  but  also  a  distinguished  patron,  who  deigned  to  treat  me 
as  a  friend.  Such  was  his  kindness  that  he  not  only  often  took  me  as  his  companion 
in  his  zoological  and  mineralogical  excursions,  but  also  in  his  vivisections  and  ex- 
periments, which  he  carried  on  at  his  own  expense  in  order  to  illustrate  publickly 
the  physiological  part  of  natural  history,  he  permitted  me  most  kindly  to  give  him 
my  personal  and  manual  assistance." 

a  The  dedication  runs:  Viro  illustri  Germaniae  decori  diem  semisecularem 
Physiophili  Germanici  lsete  gratulantur.  On  the  medal  are  drawn  an  European, 
Ethiopian,  and  Mongolian  skull  with  the  legend:  Naturae  interpreti,  ossa  loqui 
jubenti  Physiophili  Germanici.  d.  19  Sept.  1825.  [Wood-cuts  from  this  medal 
have  been  given  on  the  title-page.     Ed.] 

3  The  value  of  the  travelling  scholarship  was  600  gold  thalers.  Comp.  Gott. 
gel.  Am.  1829,  st.  73,  s.  721. 

4  Comp.   Comment.  Soc.  JR.  Sc.  Gott.  Voh   VI.  1828,  p.  91 — 138. — A   Blumeri- 


MARX.  29 

Although  the  confidence  of  the  world  in  the  learning  of  the 
aged  veteran  rested  on  firm  foundations,  still  notwithstanding 
that  he  never  left  off  continually  improving  it,  for  he  was 
always  putting  fresh  life  into  what  he  knew,  and  endeavouring 
to  add  new  matter  to  his  acquisitions.  In  his  pocket-book  we 
find  the  following  remark  made  in  later  days.  "  Although  I 
have  been  many  years  now  delivering  lectures,  still  up  to  this 
time  I  have  never  once  been  into  the  lecture-room  without 
having  prepared  myself  afresh,  and  specially  for  every  particu- 
lar hour,  because  I  know  from  experience  how  much  injury 
many  teachers  have  done  to  themselves,  by  considering  as 
unnecessary  these  perpetual  preparations  for  lectures,  which 
they  have  read  already  twenty  times  and  more." 

Blumenbach  never,  above  all,  allowed  himself  to  repose" 
upon  his  happy  natural  advantages,  but  was  always  endeavour- 
ing without  ceasing  to  procure  for  them  the  greatest  possible 
development.  Only  I  may  remark  here,  that  his  manner  of 
speaking  and  writing  never  grew  old,  but  on  the  contrary 
remained  interesting  and  in  many  respects  masterly,  and  was 
such  as  to  fix  the  attention  of  hearer  and  reader  in  a  remark- 
able way. 

It  is  worth  while  to  bring  into  notice  the  following  extract 
from  his  note-book,  which  is  intimately  connected  with  the 
solidity  and  repose  of  his  delivery.  "Amongst  the  rules  on 
which  my  father  most  strongly  insisted  in  our  education,  was 
one  especially,  that  when  we  had  once  commenced  a  sentence 
with  a  certain  form  of  construction  we  must  go  on  with  it,  and  try 
to  carry  it  out  completely,  and  we  were  never  allowed  to  begin 
over  again,  and  join  another  construction  on  to  the  first.  This  was 
afterwards  of  great  assistance  to  me  towards  an  easy  delivery." 

Blumenbach  not  only  developed  himself  into  a  most  superior 
teacher  by  natural  talent,  reflection  and  experience,  but  he  also 
possessed  both  by  practice  and  by  natural  advantages  the  gift, 
in  ordinary  conversation,  of  bringing  out  the  main  points  in  his 


hacliia  multifida  is  drawn  and  described  in  Curtis'  Botanical  Magazine,  Vol.  64, 
1837.     PI.  3599- 


30  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACH. 

answers  and  stories,  partly  by  short  terse  sentences,  partly  by 
unexpected  hints.  He  was  always  lucky  enough  to  hit  the  nail 
on  the  head,  to  bring  the  subject  into  a  fresh  position,  and  to 
attack  it  in  new  and  interesting  ways.  He  would  sometimes 
describe  reason  as  "the  desire  of  perfecting  oneself,  or  the 
determination  to  accommodate  oneself  to  circumstances,"  and 
his  manner  both  of  address  and  of  doing  business  was  a  standing 
commentary  on  this  definition. 

Generally  he  preferred  listening  to  speaking;  frequently  he 
would  only  let  fall  isolated  sentences,  leaving  people  to  guess 
at  the  connection;  he  avoided  direct  contradiction,  and  was 
pleased  when  his  meaning  was  understood,  without  his  having 
been  obliged  to  express  himself  in  so  many  words.  In  this  way 
he  spared  the  personal  feelings  of  others,  gladly  recognized 
assistance  from  without,  and  was  tender  to  human  weaknesses, 
especially  the  vanity  of  authorship1. 

Grammar  had  sometimes  to  give  way  in  his  cursory  dis- 
course for  his  immediate  objects.  In  other  respects  his  talk, 
just  like  above  all  his  style  and  delivery,  was  the  result  of  con- 
scious deliberation.  In  his  note-book  I  find  written  down  the 
following  remark  :  "  In  the  delivery  of  my  lectures,  as  in  my 
writings,  I  have  always  endeavoured  to  follow  Quintilian's 
pattern!  This  is  it.  CI2  tried  to  throw  in  some  brilliancy,  not 
for  the  sake  of  displaying  my  genius,  but  that  in  this  way  I 
might  more  readily  attract  youth  to  the  acquaintance  of  those 
things  which  are  considered  necessary  for  study.  For  it  seemed 
probable  that  if  the  lecture  had  anything  pleasant  in  it  they 

1  He  was  of  opinion  that  this  in  respect  of  opinions  upon  it,  might  fairly  stand 
upon  the  same  footing  as  personal  beauty.  Hence  he  used  to  remark  on  the 
latter:  "If  a  toad  could  speak  and  were  asked  which  was  the  loveliest  creature 
upon  God's  earth,  it  would  say  simpering,  that  modesty  forbad  it  to  give  a  real 
opinion  on  that  point." 

In  his  pronunciation  he  followed  ordinary  usage,  quoting  Horace,  '  quern  penes 
aibitrium  est,  et  jus,  et  norma  loquendi.'  He  used  Adelung  as  a  decisive  authority, 
and  that  dictionary  always  lay  by  the  side  of  his  table.  Purists  were  a  nuisance 
to  him.    To  call  granite  Jcornstein,  he  said,  made  him  shudder. 

He  always  tried  to  correct  the  improper  use  of  definite  words,  especially  with  a 
view  to  the  language  of  natural  history :  viz.  '  My  canary  bird  sings  beautifully.' 
'  To  hear  a  canary  bird  sing  I  would  go  ten  miles ;  but  perhaps  it  pipes."1  '  Yes,  pipes, 
sings.'     'Ah,  ah,  now  we  understand  each  other.' 

2  Instit.  orator.  1.  III.  c.  i.  Ludg.  Bat.  i7?o,  p.  ill. 


MARX.  3  L 

would  be  more  glad  to  learn;  whereas  a  dry  and  barren  mode 
of  teaching  would  probably  turn  their  minds  away,  and  grate 
rudely  against  ears  tender  by  nature.' " 

After  what  has  been  said  already  about  Blumenbach's  rela- 
tions to  the  outer  world,  it  seems  almost  superfluous  to  go  on 
mentioning  in  detail  how  numerous  and  honourable  his  con- 
nections with  that  world  became. 

It  might  be  sufficient  to  mention,  that  78  learned  societies 
elected  him  as  a  member.  There  was  scarcely  any  scientific 
body  of  reputation  in  the  wide  extent  of  cultivated  nations 
which  did  not  send  him  its  diploma  by  way  of  testifying  their 
respect. 

One  of  the  necessary  consequences  of  this  was  a  very  exten- 
sive correspondence,  and  though  much  of  the  correspondence 
between  him  and  distinguished  persons  has  already  been 
printed1,  there  must  still  remain,  on  the  other  hand,  a  great 
deal,  which  will  one  day  be  made  public.  Blumenbach  himself 
laid  the  greatest  stress  upon  his  correspondence  with  Haller, 
Camper  and  Bonnet,  and  considered  these  as  amongst  the 
fortunate  incidents  of  his  life2. 

He  was  made  Secretary  to  the  Physical  and  Mathematical 
branches  of  our  Society  in  1812,  and  in  1814  General  Secretary. 
In  this  capacity,  it  was  his  duty  to  keep  up  the  connection 
between  it  and  allied  institutions,  as  well  as  with  the  individuals 
who  belonged  to  it,  both  at  home  and  abroad;  to  prepare  the 
memorials  of  deceased  members,  and  to  compose  the  intro- 
ductions to  the  printed  volumes  of  our  Society.  We  are  all 
witnesses  of  the  zeal  and  devotion  with  which  he  fulfilled  these 


1  Viz.  with  Zach,  to  whom  particularly  he  gave  information  about  distant  tra- 
vellers. Allgem.  Geogr.  Ephem.  B.  n.  s.  66,  158.  B.  in.  s.  101.  With  Carl  Eren- 
bert  von  Moll  in  his  Mittheil.  aus  mein.  brief wechsel,  1829,  Abthl.  1.  s.  56 — 63, 
on  general  subjects  of  natural  history.  With  Johann  Heiiuich  Merk  in  his  Briefen, 
published  by  K.  Wagner,  Darmstadt,  1835,  Nos.  197,  218,  250,  principally  on 
primeval  bones. 

2  Medic.  Bibl.  B.  in.  s.  734.  These  entries  are  to  be  found  in  his  journal:  "1775, 
Nov.  1,  My  first  acquaintance  with  De  Luc;  1777,  Nov.  21,  with  G-.  Forster, 
1778,  in  summer,  with  Camper.  In  the  same  year  my  correspondence  with  Baron 
Asch  began,  1781  with  R.  Forster  in  Halle  ;  in  Bern,  1782,  my  acquaintance  and 
subsequent  correspondence  with  Bonnet ;  in  1786  my  correspondence  with  Banks." 


32  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACH. 

honourable  duties.  He  had  laid  down  himself  the  84th  year1 
as  the  natural  termination  of  human  life,  and  so  it  might  be 
regarded  as  one  of  his  many  peculiarities,  that  it  was  not  till 
his  88th  year  that  he  expressed  a  wish,  in  a  higher  quarter, 
to  be  relieved  of  that  office. 

There  are  still  some  of  his  official  relations  to  be  noticed, 
which  brought  him  into  manifold  connection  with  others,  and 
into  business  transactions  with  colleagues  and  magistrates, 
namely,  his  position  towards  the  Faculty,  the  Library,  and  the 
public  Natural  History  Collections.  In  all  these  different 
circles  it  may  be  said,  that  he  conducted  himself  to  universal 
satisfaction,  and  gave  proofs  in  every  detail  of  his  knowledge, 
his  experience,  his  forbearance  and  good  feeling. 

As  member  of  the  Faculty  of  Honours2,  he  distinguished 
himself  throughout  by  conscientiousness  in  delivering  the  judg- 
ments demanded  of  him,  by  giving  out  his  individual  state- 
ments of  the  prizes,  by  mild  and  moderate  examinations.  He 
did  neither  too  little  nor  too  much.  During  his  decanate  in 
1818  he  created  76  doctors,  the  greatest  number  since  the 
foundation  of  the  University.  He  fulfilled  that  office  with  all 
its  obligations  up  to  1835.  On  the  20th  Feb.  1826,  his  Pro- 
fessor's jubilee  was  celebrated.  Blumenbach  himself  considered 
it  a  remarkable  occurrence,  that  he  in  his  60th  year3  should  be 
already  not  only  the  senior  of  the  medical  faculty,  but  also  that 
of  the  whole  Senate.  He  showed  that  the  case  had  now  really 
occurred  which  Michaelis4  had  declared  was  scarcely  possible. 

As  member  of  the  Library  Committee  he  was  always  ready 
to  give  his  advice  and  influence  for  the  improvement  of  an 
institution  he  held  so  dear.     He  arranged5,  as  its  Director,  the 


1  Medic.  Bibl.  B.  III.  s.  181.  "The  goal  which  many  old  people  arrive  at, 
but  few  pass  by." 

2  In  1783  he  was  assessor;  in  1791  he  shared  the  post  with  Gmelin,  and  in 
1803,  after  his  death,  held  it  alone. 

3  When  Richter,  July  23,  1812,  had  died,  71  years  old. 

4  In  his  Raisonnement  uber  die  protest.  Universit.  Th.  n.  s.  343 :  "  The  senior 
of  a  whole  University  can  hardly  be  a  man  of  sixty  years,  but  generally  somewhat 
younger  or  older  than  80." 

3  Gott.  gel.  Anz.  1778,  st.  izi,  s.  986. 


MARX.  33 

University  Museum,  and  continued  to  overlook  it  to  extreme 
old  age,  when  he  could  no  more  attend  to  it  personally.  To 
his  name  also  it  was  owing  that  many  presents  were  sent  to  it 
from  far  and  near1. 

Blumenbach  never  undertook  the  office  of  Proctor  of  the 
University,  although  he  knew  as  well  as  anybody  else  how  to 
deal  properly  with  the  students,  and  to  remain  in  the  best 
understanding  possible  with  older  persons  and  with  his  supe- 
riors. Very  early  in  the  day  he  had  asked  it  as  a  favour  of  the 
Curator,  that  he  might  never  be  chosen  for  that  office.  His 
familiarity  with  the  older  conditions  of  discipline,  and  the  then 
unavoidable  disturbances  which  agitated  the  University,  and  his 
fear2  of  being  withdrawn  from  pure  scientific  activity  by  this 
official  business  determined  him  to  come  to  this  conclusion. 

But  this  refusal  did  not  prevent  him  from  doing  all  the 
services  in  his  power,  both  to  the  University  and  the  town, 
by  deputations  of  ail  kinds.  On  the  10th  June,  1802,  he  went 
with  Martens  to  Hanover,  and  on  the  5th  Nov.  1805,  to 
Cassel,  in  the  same  company,  to  visit  Mortier.  On  the  part  of 
the  higher  authorities  such  a  value  was  set  upon  these  two 
organs  of  the  University,  that  it  was  made  its  duty  never  to  put 
them  aside  on  any  important  occasion3. 


1  Cotnp.  Some  Notices  of  the  University  Museum  in  Annalcn  der  Braunschw. 
Lilneb.  Churlande.  Jahrg.  I.  j  787,  st.  3,  s.  84 — 99.  Jahrg.  11.  1788,  st.  1,  s.  25 — 35. 
In  his  sketches  of  subjects  of  natural  history,  he  always  mentions  where  the 
examples  quoted  were  to  be  found  in  our  Museum. 

2  In  his  journal  I  find  written  with  a  lead  pencil:  "From  the  year  when 
Ruhnken  was  made  Rector  Magnificus,  says  his  biographer  "Wyttenbach  (Ludg. 
B.  1799,  8vo.  p.  141),  he  became  lost  to  literary  pursuits." 

3  In  a  P.M.  of  the  University  and  School  department  at  Hanover  to  the 
University  d.  12  Jan.  1805:  "In  respect  of  the  business  which  under  the  present 
circumstances  are  to  be  seen  to  by  the  Privy  Councillor  von  Martens,  which  do 
not  ordinarily  belong  to  the  duties  of  Proctor,  it  will  continue  to  be  the  case,  and 
so  long  as  the  condition  of  things  renders  it  necessary,  that  all  and  every  communi- 
cation with  the  French  generals,  whatever  name  they  may  have,  shall  be  conducted 
by  Privy  Councillor  Martens,  or,  if  he  is  unable,  by  Privy  Councillor  Blumenbach, 
since  both  are  known  to  the  French  generals  through  the  University  deputations 
they  have  already  been  employed  upon.  In  consequence,  the  rules  hitherto  at- 
tended to  must  be  resumed,  according  to  which,  in  all  cases  where  it  is  necessary 
to  send  a  deputation  of  honour,  the  Proctor  of  the  day  does  not  go  himself,  but 
must  send  a  deputation,  and  that  must  consist,  when  there  is  no  necessity  for  its 
being  more  numerous,  of  Privy  Councillors  von  Martens  and  Blumenbach,  and  if  a 
more  numerous  one  be  sent,  then  these  two  must  always  be  members  of  it." 


34  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACH. 

On  the  28th  Aug.  1806,  Blumenbach  and  Martens  set  out 
for  Paris :  on  the  28th  Sept.  they  had  an  audience  of  the  Em- 
peror. On  the  30th  Oct.  1812,  Blumenbach  went,  as  deputy  of 
the  University,  with  Sartorius  to  Heiligenstadt,  to  the  head- 
quarters of  Bernadotte,  the  subsequent  King  of  Sweden. 

In  consequence  of  these  important  services,  combined  with 
his  other  academical  exertions,  the  town-magistrates  resolved  to 
give  him  a  most  unusual  proof  of  their  recognition  of  them : 
namely,  on  the  1st  March,  1824,  the  magistracy  of  the  town 
decreed  him  a  twenty  years'  exemption  from  the  municipal 
taxes  imposed  upon  his  house. 

With  respect  to  the  outer  appearance  and  personal  effect 
of  the  departed,  they  are  undoubtedly  still  fresh  in  our  me- 
mory. Still  perhaps  some  outlines  may  be  of  use  to  preserve 
them  fresh,  especially  since  in  his  last  years  he  lived  very  much 
retired  in  his  apartments,  and  so  many  had  very  little  oppor- 
tunity of  coming  in  contact  with  him. 

No  one  who  had  once  seen  or  conversed  with  Blumenbach 
could  easily  forget  him;  and  he  knew  how  to  make  himself 
valuable  to  every  one  who  lived  with  him.  Even  in  extreme 
old  age,  when  the  weight  of  years  had  bent  even  his  resisting 
back,  there  he  stood  and  sat,  as  if  cast  in  bronze,  in  every  look 
a  man.  Any  one  who  heard  the  stout  voice  with  which  he 
answered,  "  Come  in,"  to  a  knock  at  his  door ;  or  saw  the 
wonderful  play  of  muscles  in  his  expressive  face,  and  remarked 
in  any  interview  his  undisturbed  equanimity  and  collectedness, 
and  the  freshness  and  cheerfulness  of  his  spirit,  soon  knew  with 
whom  he  had  to  do. 

No  one  left  his  presence  without  receiving  either  an  in- 
structive narrative,  a  cheerful  story  of  old  times,  or  some 
weighty  hint.  He  understood  a  joke,  and  knew  how  to  return 
one.  If  any  one  let  slip  in  conversation  an  expression,  or  a 
suggestion,  which  was  wanting  in  due  consideration  or  respect, 
or  if  any  one  appeared  as  if  he  wanted  to  impose  upon  the  old 
man,  he  must  have  been  wonderfully  put  down,  when  he 
snatched  at  his  cap,  and  bared  his  snow-white  head,  with  the 


MARX.  35 

words,  "Old  Blumenbach  is  obliged  to  you."  I  cannot  leave 
untold  how  Astley  Cooper,  in  1839,  said  in  a  letter  of  recom- 
mendation, that  King  George  IV.  had  declared  that  he  had 
never  seen  so  imposing  a  man  as  Blumenbach. 

His  health  suffered  on  an  average  little  disturbance.  Blu- 
menbach refused  to  be  ill ;  he  had  no  time  for  it.  In  his  youth 
he  was  delicate,  and  was  liable  to  violent  bleedings  at  the  nose, 
and  even  to  spitting  blood;  but  by  taking  the  greatest  care, 
and  by  regularity  in  his  mode  of  life,  he  arrived  in  the  course 
of  years  to  a  very  sound  state  of  health.  He  declared  that  the 
occupying  himself  with  natural  history  had  done  him  this  good 
among  others,  that  he  could  sleep  like  a  marmot,  and  had 
acquired  the  digestion  of  an  ostrich.  Every  now  and  then  he 
suffered  from  dry  coughs,  inflammation  of  the  eyes,  or  lumbago, 
which  he  called  the  thorn  in  the  flesh.  If  he  found  it  impos- 
sible to  subdue  or  conceal  the  complaint,  he  went  to  a  phy- 
sician, and  followed  his  prescriptions  most  punctually.  Glad 
indeed  was  he  when  he  found  himself  relieved  of  the  incon- 
venience, and  thankfully  did  he  exclaim  with  Jesus  Sirach, 
"A  short  madness  is  the  best." 

Extreme  old  age  can  scarcely  avoid  bringing  with  it  some 
unpleasant  consequences,  but  altogether  the  still  intellectual 
old  man  enjoyed  sound  bodily  health.  After  he  had  got  over 
the  cold  days  in  the  middle  of  the  past  January  pretty  well,  he 
was  seized  at  the  commencement  of  the  mild  but  stormy 
weather  with  his  cough,  which  however  left  him  again.  Only 
the  old  annoyance,  of  not  being  able  conveniently  to  void  his 
phlegm,  drew  from  him  the  remark,  that  in  the  pathology  which 
he  possessed,  this  chapter  had  not  been  satisfactorily  accom- 
plished. 

On  Saturday  the  18th  Jan.  I  was  summoned  between  eight 
and  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  from  the  lecture  to  visit  him. 
He  had  chosen  to  get  out  of  bed,  but  had  been  unable  to  walk  or 
to  stand.  On  the  first  seizure  they  had  placed  him  in  his  arm- 
chair, close  to  the  stove,  and  covered  him  with  pillows.  When 
I  came  I  saw  what  I  had  never  before  remarked  in  him,  and 
what  immediately  filled  me  with  uneasiness ;  his  body  trembled 

3—2 


38  LIFE    OF    BLUMENBACH. 

all  over,  and  was  cold  to  the  touch ;  his  expression  was  altered ; 
his  pulse  was  irregular  in  the  highest  degree;  nothing  could 
enable  him  to  throw  off  his  dejection. 

Still  by  good  luck  this  threatening  storm  passed  away. 
The  remedies  which  were  applied  might  congratulate  them- 
selves on  a  happy  result.  When  I  saw  him  again  two  hours 
afterwards,  he  gave  me  his  hand,  he  had  recovered  his  usual 
expression,  and  the  natural  motions  seemed  to  have  suffered  no 
essential  interference. 

However  tranquillizing  this  might  appear,  still  there  was  the 
apprehension  that  so  lamentable  and  powerful  an  accident, 
which  had  proceeded  from  the  central  organ  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem, in  an  organism  which  had  hitherto  gone  on  working  with 
such  regularity,  might  only  too  easily  occur  again,  and  at  last 
bring  to  a  standstill  the  machine  which  was  kept  going  by  habit 
alone.  When  I  saw  him  again  at  5  o'clock  in  the  evening,  he 
stretched  out  his  arms  towards  me,  and  spoke  aloud;  still  I 
thought  that  he  felt  as  if  he  must  not  consider  the  circumstances 
as  so  trivial.  About  8  o'clock  I  found  him  in  a  sound  sleep, 
which  continued  throughout  the  night. 

Sunday  and  Monday  passed  off  well  enough,  and  he  spent 
them,  with  the  exception  of  his  siesta,  in  his  arm-chair.  When 
I  entered  his  room,  he  gave  me  so  loud  a  "  good  day,"  that,  ac- 
cording to  his  own  expression,  the  angels  in  heaven  might  have 
heard  him.  When  I  asked  him  how  he  was,  I  received  for 
answer,  "  Quite  in  the  old  way."  He  had  books  brought  to 
him  again,  read  them,  had  himself  read  to  at  intervals,  and  was 
particularly  cheerful.  But  I  could  only  share  this  happy  tone 
of  mind  by  constraint,  for  his  pulse  became  more  and  more 
irregular,  and  fainter,  and  when  he  spoke  I  missed  the  old  tone 
of  voice. 

On  Tuesday  one  might  still  have  been  deceived  as  to  his 
condition  on  the  first  glance,  because  when  I  asked  to  feel  his 
pulse,  he  thrust  out  his  arm  with  energy,  in  his  usual  way :  and 
he  showed  by  all  his  other  motions  that  the  power  of  the  will 
over  the  body  was  yet  entire.  This  was  the  first  time  that  he 
spent  the  whole  day  in  bed.     Still  in  the  evening  I  conversed 


MARX.  37 

with  him  upon  subjects  of  natural  history,  and  recounted  to  him 
some  bygone  passages  of  his  life,  at  which  the  expression  of  his 
face,  his  cheerful  humour,  and  many  a  subtle  remark  showed 
the  clearness  of  his  mind. 

Wednesday  morning,  the  22nd,  about  8  o'clock,  contrary  to 
his  previous  custom,  he  did  not  extend  his  hand  to  me  ;  still  he 
quickly  recognized  me,  and  was  as  friendly  as  usual.  On  my 
repeated  inquiry  whether  he  felt  anywhere  any  pain,  any 
oppression,  or  any  anxiety,  he  answered  straight  and  decided 
with  "  No,  nowhere  at  all."  The  only  thing  which  annoyed  him 
was,  that  he  could  not  expel  the  phlegm  from  the  windpipe. 
He  began  to  doze,  and  spoke  at  intervals  a  few  words  to  him- 
self;  but  when  a  question  was  put  to  him  he  always  gave  an 
answer.  As  I  was  going  away  he  said,  "Adieu,  dear  friend." 
These  were  the  last  words  which  I  heard  him  speak  plainly  and 
connectedly.  The  tone  of  his  voice  remained  good  till  midday. 
Dozing  and  feebleness  increased;  but  his  consciousness  re- 
mained undisturbed  till  evening,  and  when  I  asked  him  several 
times  if  I  should  give  him  something  stimulating,  he  opened 
his  eyes  readily,  and  fixed  them  hard.  At  half-past  8  I  could 
feel  no  pulse,  and  the  inspirations  were  numbered.  I  laid  my 
hand  upon  him  and  said,  "Adieu;"  but  the  dear  well-known 
voice,  which  had  so  often  heartily  responded  to  the  greeting, 
was  silent  for  ever.  Five  minutes  afterwards  he  was  in  another 
world. 

There  still  remain  some  isolated  strokes  to  be  given,  which 
may  help  to  the  better  comprehension  of  this  generous  and 
unusual  character,  who  retained  his  innate  harmony  even  in 
the  very  hour  of  departure. 

Blumenbach  never  shed  tears1.  After  a  heavy  domestic 
misfortune  I  found  him  collected,  reading  some  travels  of  natu- 


1  "Look  for  the  lachrymal  gland  after  my  death,"  he  said  sometimes,  "you  will 
find  none,"  or  "I  must  have  nerves  like  cords,  or  noneat  all."  The  dissection  never 
took  place.  It  would  have  been  most  interesting  in  many  respects  for  the  more 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  particular  parts  of  the  brain,  and  their  connection  with 
each  other,  the  comparison  of  the  skull,  the  windpipe  and  the  lungs,  with  the  well- 
known  symptoms  which  were  seen  during  the  life  of  the  old  man,  who  was 
remarkable  even  in  a  physical  point  of  view.      Still,  with  respect  even  to  the 


38  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACH. 

ral  history,  and  calling  my  attention  to  the  pictures  in  them. 
He  suffered  through  his  whole  organization,  yet  he  made  no 
complaint,  and  shed  no  tear,  but  tried  to  occupy  himself  as  far 
as  he  possibly  could. 

He  never  used  spectacles,  and  in  his  88th  year  read  with  ease 
the  smallest  letters  and  type.  His  handwriting  changed  remark- 
ably according  to  the  different  epochs  of  his  existence.  In  his 
youth  and  active  manhood  he  wrote  beautifully.  Then  he  was 
afflicted  with  a  difficulty  of  using  his  writing  finger,  and  after 
he  had  tried  hard  to  conquer  it  without  success,  he  accustomed 
himself  to  write  with  the  left  hand,  guiding  the  pen  with  the 
right.  For  this  purpose  he  used  a  swan's  quill,  and  the  thickest 
lead-pencil.  In  his  87th  year  however  he  again  attempted  to 
write  with  the  right  hand,  and  the  strokes  by  their  firmness 
and  clearness  recalled  the  best  performances  of  his  earlier  years. 
If  you  ever  got  him  to  talk  on  the  chapter  of  writing,  he  took 
care  never  to  forget  to  recommend  the  art  of  writing  handily  in 
your  pocket,  which  had  been  of  great  service  to  him  on  diplo- 
matic missions,  through  the  agency  of  a  short  thick  lead-pencil 
and  strong  parchment  paper. 

Blumenbach  was  a  man  of  the  watch,  which  always  lay 
beside  him.  No  one  could  be  more  punctual  than  he  was.  If 
any  one  expected  anything  from  him  to  no  purpose,  he  might  be 
quite  certain  that  it  had  not  been  forgotten,  but  that  he  had 
let  it  go,  because  he  considered  that  the  proper  thing  to  do. 

Immediately  after  he  had  got  up  in  the  morning  he  was 
frizzled  and  powdered,  according  to  the  old-fashioned  style,  and 
then  put  on  his  boots  and  kept  them  on  till  he  went  to  bed.  It 
took  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  get  him  at  last  to  use  slippers 
and  a  footstool.  Even  his  physician  scarcely  ever  saw  him  in 
his  night-shirt.  As  he  spent  the  whole  day  entirely  in  full 
dress,  so  also  he  scarcely  in  other  ways  indulged  himself  in  the 
slightest  relaxation.     He  had  a  sofa  for  visitors  in  his  study, 


peculiarities  mentioned,  it  must  be  considered  that  the  forms  hinted  at  were  easy 
to  be  seen,  and  as  normal  as  might  be ;  but  long-continued  design,  iron  will,  and 
custom,  which  had  almost  become  law,  had  made  their  influence  distinctly  tell 
upon  them. 


MARX.  39 

but  he  never  made  any  use  of  it  himself.  Only  on  one  single 
occasion,  when  he  was  ill  and  obliged  to  lay  up,  did  I  find  him 
upon  it.  He  pronounced  against  arm-chairs  for  a  long  time, 
and  said  there  ought  to  be  pricks  in  the  back  of  them  ;  and 
it  was  only  by  degrees  that  this  position  was  made  agreeable 
to  him. 

It  was  one  of  his  principles  never  to  sleep  in  the  day-time  ; 
only  in  his  very  last  years  did  he  allow  himself  a  siesta.  It  was 
his  opinion  that  a  man  ought  always  to  be  wakeful,  active,  and 
cheerful,  and  on  that  account  he  was  slow  to  understand  how 
he  sometimes  in  his  88th  year  went  off  into  a  doze  in  the  day- 
time, in  the  absence  of  any  outward  excitements. 

He  kept  himself  free  from  every  confining  habit ;  after 
allowing  himself  to  smoke  for  some  time,  he  gave  it  up  again, 
and  did  the  same  by  snuff-taking  too,  which  had  occupied  the 
place  of  the  other.  After  his  86th  year  I  saw  his  snuff-box  no 
more. 

Moderation  at  table  was  his  habit ;  he  always  took  exactly 
the  same  quantity.  He  used  to  tell  of  himself  that  he  had 
never  been  drunk1. 

With  respect  to  this  unusual  self-reliance  which  Blumen- 
bach  arrived  at  so  early,  and  which  he  retained  to  the  end,  it 
will  be  interesting  to  hear  his  own  account,  to  what  influence 
he  principally  ascribed  this  important  result.  It  stands  written 
in  his  journal.  "  My  parents,  among  other  wise  and  serviceable 
principles  of  education,  as  I  consider,  never  allowed  us  children 
to  know  that  they  had  any  possessions.  All  we  knew  was  this, 
that  everything  which  they  had  was  entirely  their  own  unen- 
cumbered property.  That  fortunate  ignorance  was  for  me  a 
mainspring  to  more  earnest  exertion  to  help  myself  on  alone, 
and  it  is  that  principally  which  has  made  of  me  an  useful  man. 
■How  many  unhappy  examples  there  are,  on  the  other  hand,  of 
young  people,  who  have  neglected  to  cultivate  their  natural 
capacities  solely  for  the  reason,   that  their  parents  have   too 


1  He  used  to  say  with  Johnson,   "Abstinence  is  an  easy  virtue,  temperance  a 
very  difficult  one." 


40  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACH. 

early  let  them  become  acquainted  with  the  lucrative  inherit- 
ance which  was  awaiting  them." 

Blumenbach  was  economical,  but  he  understood  also  how 
to  give.  He  knew  how  to  appreciate  the  value  of  money,  with- 
out at  the  same  time  setting  any  higher  consideration  upon  it. 
There  was  once  a  passage  in  his  note-book  which  some  time 
later  was  written  down :  "  However  singular  it  may  appear  to 
many,  still  it  is  literally  true,  that  up  to  the  date  at  which  I  am 
now  writing,  I  have  never  once  solicited  any  emolument, 
salary,  or  addition,  or  anything  else  of  the  kind  concerning 
myself,  but  have  received  everything  throughout  from  the 
Hanoverian  government,  from  my  first  appointment  up  to  the 
last  addition  allotted  to  me  in  the  summer  of  1813,  entirely 
from  free  gifts,  that  is,  without  any  exertion  of  my  own;  and  so 
also  under  the  kingdom  of  Westphalia." 

As  Blumenbach  himself  was  beyond  all  things  discreet, 
both  in  public  and  in  private  affairs,  so  also  he  expected  the 
same  from  those  he  associated  with.  He  had  no  objection  to  a 
piece  of  news,  especially  when  it  was  of  a  piquant  nature,  but 
beyond  that,  he  troubled  himself  little  about  the  concerns 
of  other  people.  He  used  to  say,  "  De  occultis  non  judicat 
ecclesia." 

If  any  one  complained  to  him  of  his  position,  and  solicited 
his  intercession,  he  would  encourage  him  with  the  saying, 
"  Lipsia  vult  expectari."  If  it  appeared  to  him  that  the  peti- 
tioner stepped  beyond  the  proper  bounds,  he  would  exclaim, 
"  I  shall  remember  you,"  and  with  these  words  the  negotiation 
would  be  closed. 

Blumenbach  was  always  himself,  never  distracted,  never  pre- 
occupied. Had  he  been  woke  up  in  the  middle  of  the  night 
and  questioned  upon  the  most  important  subjects,  he  would 
certainly  have  given  the  same  distinct  answer  as  at  midday. 
He  acted  according  to  definite  inner  determination.  He  acted 
or  declined  to  do  so  according  to  certain  rules  of  the  under- 
standing, which  became  at  last  a  sort  of  machinery  of  his 
character. 

He  was  never  wanting  in  attention  to  others,  and  he  had 


MARX.  41 

the  faculty  of  attaching  to  himself  in  a  subtle  way  men  of  all 
classes,  but  especially  superior  men.  It  was  his  plan  to  bring 
up  and,  as  it  were,  accidentally  to  allude  to  whatever  must 
necessarily  have  an  agreeable  effect,  and  to  stir  beforehand  all 
the  strings  in  harmony;  and  in  this  way  he  won  for  himself 
many  well-wishers,  and  knew  how  to  keep  them  when  they 
were  won.  Politeness  he  considered  as  a  duty,  and  he  knew 
very  well  how  to  use  it,  both  to  attract  people  and  to  keep 
them  at  a  distance. 

Not  only  did  he  closely  adhere  to  what  was  demanded  by 
custom,  and  all  the  observances  of  society  and  official  relations, 
but  his  attention  to  these  things  put  many  younger  men  to 
the  blush. 

Blumenbach  was  always  anxious  to  learn,  and  was  never 
idle  for  a  moment.  He  used  to  say,  he  only  knew  ennui  by 
reputation.  As  he  was  reckoned  the  great  curiosity  of  Gottin- 
gen,  and  scarcely  any  traveller  omitted  to  visit  him,  he  was 
kept  continually  on  the  stretch  through  the  quantity  of  fresh 
information.  To  this  also  contributed  his  unceasing  reading — 
in  the  evenings  he  preferred  to  be  read  to — and  his  unexampled 
memory,  which  he  was  always  trying  to  strengthen  by  taking 
memoranda.  He  often  used  to  laugh  at  the  perverted  manners 
of  certain  men  who  wanted  to  be  taken  for  clever,  and  com- 
plained about  their  bad  memory,  when  that  was  the  very  thing 
they  could  exercise  a  certain  power  over.  One  hears  people 
say,  "I  have  a  most  wretched  memory,"  but  never  "What  a 
miserable  judgment  I  have." 

It  will  serve  to  show  how  attentive  he  still  was  in  extreme 
old  age,  that  one  Wednesday  morning  when  the  Literary 
Notices  had  been  published,  and  in  one  of  the  Reviews,  without 
naming  him,  I  had  hinted  at  something  which  concerned  him, 
he  greeted  me  with  the  words,  "To-day  old  Blumenbach  has 
been  out-jockeyed." 

He  was  not  in  the  habit  of  speaking  his  opinion  or  his  ideas 
straight  out,  but  he  left  them  to  be  seen  through  a  hint,  or  only 
by  a  jest;  any  one  who  knew  his  way  of  speaking  wanted  no 
further  explanation. 


42  LIFE   OF    BLUMENBACH. 

He  was  not  one  of  those  who  received  everything  imme- 
diately as  true  and  certain1;  but  he  guarded  himself  and  also 
warned  others  against  carrying  their  scepticism  too  far.  He 
said  it  would  be  a  subject  for  a  very  acute  head  to  decide, 
whether  too  much  credulity  or  hyper-scepticism  had  done  the 
most  harm  to  science,  and  he  inclined  to  the  latter  opinion. 
He  considered  it  as  above  all  necessary,  on  every  assertion  to 
keep  in  view  the  individual  from  whom  it  proceeded2. 

He  always  found  fault  when  any  one  lost  himself  in  common 
figures  of  speech,  instead  of  seeing  the  way  clearly  to  the 
foundation  of  appearances  from  the  immediately  connected 
facts.  Thus  he  used  to  express  himself:  "The  lament,  that 
mankind  is  always  growing  weaker,  is  a  miserable  Jeremiad. 
Lay  upon  one  of  our  horses  the  horse-trappings  of  the  middle 
ages — it  will  be  crushed  under  them  as  a  pancake.  Yet  these 
drink  no  tea  or  coffee,  and  do  not  suffer  from  the  evil,  which 
has  been  given  us  by  America.     Habit  does  it  all." 

In  his  thought  as  in  his  action  all  was  considerate,  con- 
nected and  moderate. 

In  what  has  been  done  already,  an  attempt  has  been  made 


3  In  his  preface  to  the  Samml.  MerTciviird.  reisegesch.  Erst.  Th. ,  Memrningen, 
1789,  he  gives  some  words  of  warning  against  too  confident  a  belief  in  the  accounts 
of  travellers. 

3  This  lay  at  the  bottom  of  a  playfully  told  story.  "In  Moravia  on  a  sun- 
bright  day  there  was  a  thunder-clap,  and  stones  like  pigeons'  eggs  fell  from  the  sky. 
The  testimony  of  those  who  heard  it  is  remarkable,  as  a  specimen  of  what  often 
occurs  in  courts  of  law.  'Did  you  hear  the  noise?  what  did  you  think  it  was 
like?'  'Like  platoon-firing.'  'What  are  you?'  'Musketeer.'  '  Did  you  hear  it  ? ' 
'Yes.1  'And  what  did  you  think  of  it?'  'It  was  like  an  old  carriage  rolling  along 
the  street.'  'What  are  you?'  'Postilion.'  'And  you?'  'Yes.'  'What  did  you 
think  it  was  like?'  'Janissary  music'  'Have  you  ever  heard  Janissary  music? ' 
'Never  in  my  life,  but  I  think  it  must  sound  something  like  that.' " 

He  used  to  take  opportunities  of  showing  how  people  sometimes  propagate  an 
error  from  a  self-pleasing  delusion,  vi-5. : — "The  Hungarians  boast  that  on  their 
Tokay  grapes  you  will  often  find  grains  of  pure  gold.  All  is  not  gold,  which 
glitters.  Looked  at  more  closely  it  is  no  real  gold,  but  glittering  yellow  caterpil- 
lars' eggs." 

His  criticism  was  intelligible,  and  yet  was  more  subtle  and  instructive  than  the 
most  elaborate  exposition.  Thus,  "The  Sloth  can  never  be  brought  to  move  both 
feet  at  the  same  time.  When  it  goes  it  moves  first  one  foot,  stops  and  sighs  Ah! 
It  could  not  have  been  in  the  universal  menagerie  of  Mount  Ararat,  because  it 
lives  in  Brazil  only ;  if  it  had  had  to  come  from  Ararat  to  Brazil,  it  would  not 
have  been  there  yet." 


MARX.  43 

to  throw  off  a  silhouette  of  Blumenbach's  exertions  and  per- 
sonal appearance ;  in  conclusion,  I  may  be  allowed  to  give  some 
account  of  his  nearest  external  connections. 

His  father,  Henrich  Blumenbach,  was  first  of  all  private  tutor 
in  Leipzig,  and  in  1737  became  tutor  to  the  chancellor  of  Oppel 
in  Gotha,  and  in  the  same  year  was  made  professor  in  the 
school  there.  He  had  a  very  choice  library,  and  many  en- 
gravings and  maps.  For  Leipzig,  the  place  of  his  birth,  he  had 
such  a  preference,  that  when  his  son  went,  against  his  wishes, 
to  Gottingen,  he  alluded  in  a  school  prospectus  to  the  new 
University  as  the  quasi  modo  genita;  but  however  at  last  he 
changed,  and  later  in  the  day  ceased  to  refuse  it  the  well- 
merited  honour  of  being  the  Optimo  rnodo  genita. 

His  mother,  Charlotte  Elenore  Hedwig,  was  the  daughter 
of  Euddeus,  the  Vice-Chancellor  of  Gotha,  grand-daughter  of  the 
Jena  theologian;  she  died  in  1793,  sixty-eight  years  old.  The 
departed  left  behind  him,  in  his  journal,  this  remark  upon  her. 
"  A  woman  full  of  great  and  at  the  same  time  domestic  virtues, 
and  perfectly  faultless."  He  had  a  brother  who  died  in  the 
prime  of  life,  in  an  employment  at  Gotha,  and  his  sister  was  the 
wife  of  Professor  Voigt,  who  afterwards  came  to  Jena. 

In  17-59  Blumenbach  went  to  the  school  of  Michaelis.  In 
1768  he  delivered  an  address  on  two  occasions  :  on  the  Duke's 
birth-day,  and  the  marriage  of  the  then  Crown-prince. 

Amongst  the  interesting  men  in  Gotha,  to  whom  he  often 
went,  and  who  were  glad  to  see  him,  was  the  Vice-President 
Kliippel,  who  took  a  great  share  in  the  Gotha  Literary  Journal, 
which  began  to  appear  in  1774. 

On  the  12th  October,  1769,  Blumenbach,  then  seventeen 
years  old,  went  from  school  to  Jena,-  where  Baldinger  was  then 
Proctor,  principally  to  attend  the  lectures  of  the  then  famous 
Kaltschmidt ;  but  on  the  very  day  when  his  lectures  commenced, 
he  dropped  down  dead,  from  a  stroke  of  apoplexy,  at  the  wed- 
ding dance  of  one  of  his  friends.  In  his  place  at  Easter,  1770, 
Neubauer  came  to  Jena,  to  whom  Blumenbach  took  prodigi- 
ously, and  to  whom  he  was  very  grateful. 


44  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACH. 

After  he  had  studied  there  for  three  years,  he  felt  the 
necessity  of  getting  instruction  from  other  teachers,  and  soon 
made  his  choice,  in  consequence  of  the  renown  Gottingen  then 
enjoyed.  On  the  loth  October,  1772,  he  arrived  here;  on  the 
18th  September,  1775,  a  Sunday,  he  took  his  degree1;  and  on 
the  31st  October  he  began  to  read  his  first  lecture. 

For  his  learned  career  he  considered  it  the  greatest  of  good 
luck  that  he  came  to  Gottingen.  He  shared,  as  he  often 
remarked,  with  regard  to  a  learned  life  the  saying  of  Schlozer2: 
"  To  live  out  of  Gottingen  is  not  to  live  at  all." 

Nor  did  he  conceal  from  himself  that  the  fact  of  his  career 
coinciding  with  the  necessities  of  that  day,  and  his  personal 
position  to  influential  men,  had  had  an  important  influence  on 
the  recognition  of  his  labours3. 

By  his  marriage  (on  the  19th  Oct.  1778)  he  became  the 
brother-in-law  of  Heyne,  and  as  his  father-in-law  George 
Brandes,  and  afterwards  his  brother-in-law  Ernst  Brandes, 
managed  the  affairs  of  the  University,  we  can  see  partly  at 
least  how  Blumenbach  came  to  have  so  much  influence  in  it. 


1  His  sponsor  was  his  old  Jena  tutor  Baldinger,  who  in  the  meantime  had  been 
summoned  here,  and  who  on  that  occasion  had  written  his  thesis  De  malignitate  in 
morbis  ex  mente  Hifpocralis,  1775,  on  which  depended  Blumenbach's  career  in  life. 
According  to  him  Blumenbach  had  attended  the  following  lectures.  In  Jena : 
logic  with  Hennings ;  pure  mathematics  and  physics  with  Succow ;  botany,  physi- 
ology, pathology,  and  the  history  of  medicine  with  Baldinger;  anatomy,  surgery, 
and  midwifery  with  Neubauer;  practical  medicine  and  pathology  with  Nicolai; 
natural  history  and  archaeology  with  Walch;  German  antiquities  with  Miiller ; 
English  language  with  Tanner.  In  Gottingen:  on  the  power  of  medicine,  on  the 
nature  and  cure  of  diseases  with  Vogel;  pharmaceutical  chemistry  and  the  prepar- 
ation of  medicines,  the  art  of  prescribing  and  clinical  lectures  with  Baldinger; 
botany  and  materia  medica  with  Murray;  anatomy  and  midwifery  with  Wrisberg; 
pathology  and  ocular  diseases  with  Bichter ;  mineralogy  with  Kastner ;  history  of 
the  mammalia  with  Erxleben;  natural  history  with  Buttner;  on  the  odes  of  Horace 
with  Heyne ;  the  English  language  with  Dietz ;  the  Swedish  with  Schlozer. 

On  the  occasion  of  that  anniversary,  Heyne  said  (Opusc.  Vol.  II.  p.  215): 
"  Blumenbach,  from  whose  genius  and  learning  we  expect  something  very  great." 

2  In  his  life  written  by  Blumenbach  himself.     Gotting.  1802,  s.  197. 

3  He  had  early  made  a  mark  against  the  two  following  passages:  "It  makes  a 
great  difference  on  what  times  a  man's  peculiar  virtues  fall"  (Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  VII. 
29).  "Nor  can  any  one  have  so  splendid  a  genius  that  he  can  come  to  light 
without  material,  opportunity,  or  even  a  patron  and  some  one  to  recommend  him" 
(Plin.  Ep.  VI.  23). 


MARX.  45 

What  he  was  to  this  institution  of  learning  in  general, 
and  our  society  in  particular,  that  the  world  knows  well,  and 
history  will  not  forget.  In  our  tablets  of  memory  his  name 
will  always  endure,  and  his  recollection  will  always  renew  in 
us  the  picture  of  a  great  and-  beautiful  activity. 

He  who  like  him  has  satisfied  the  best  of  his  time,  he  has 
lived  for  all  time. 


MEMOIR    OF    BLUMENBACH 


BY 


M.    FLOUEENS1. 


Some  years  since  died  at  Gottingen  a  member  of  our  Academy, 
whose  great  works  have  rendered  him  famous,  and  whose  par- 
ticular works,  applied  to  the  new  study  of  man  himself,  have 
rendered  dear  to  humanity.  It  is  to  M.  Blumenbach  that  our 
age  owes  Anthropology.  The  history  of  mankind  had  been 
disfigured  by  errors  of  every  kind,  physical,  social  and  moral. 
A  sage  appeared.  He  contended  against  the  physical  errors; 
and,  by  so  doing,  destroyed  in  the  surest  manner  the  founda- 
tion of  all  the  others. 

John  Frederick  Blumenbach  was  born  at  Gotha,  in  1752. 
From  his  very  birth  nature  seemed  to  devote  him  to  education. 
His  father  was  professor  at  Gotha ;  his  mother  belonged  to  a 
family  at  Jena,  which  was  attached  to  the  universities. 

It  was  in  one  of  those  German  interiors,  where  the  love 
of  retirement,  the  necessity  of  study,  the  habits  of  an  honourable 
independence  reign  with  such  a  charm,  that  the  little  Blumen- 
bach first  saw  the  light.  A  brother,  a  sister,  a  father  studious 
and  grave,  a  mother  tender  and  enlightened,  formed  at  first 
all  his  world.  It  was  soon  observed  that  this  child,  surrounded 
by  such  soft  affections,  was  occupied  by  quite  a  dreamy 
curiosity.  It  played  but  little,  and  began  to  observe  very  early. 
It  endeavoured,  and  sometimes  with  great  ingenuity,  to  com- 
prehend or  to  explain  to  itself  the  structure  of  a  plant  or  an 
insect. 

Everything  is  taken  seriously  in  Germany,  even  the  earliest 
education  of  the  infant.     The  father  of  M.  Blumenbach,  who 

1  Mtmoires  de  VInstitut  de  France,  Tom.  xxi.  p.  i.    Paris.   1847. 

4 


50  LIFE  OF   BLUMENBACH. 

intended  him  for  education,  never  permitted  him,  even  from  the 
most  tender  age,  to  break  short  a  sentence  badly  commenced 
in  order  to  put  something  else  in  its  place.  The  sentence 
badly  commenced  had  to  be  finished.  The  child  had  to  get 
itself  out  of  the  little  difficulty  it  had  got  into.  In  this  way  it 
learnt  naturally,  without  effort,  or  rather  by  scarcely  appreciable 
efforts,  to  think  clearly  and  express  itself  with  precision. 

His  mother,  a  woman  of  elevated  spirit  and  noble  heart, 
inspired  him  with  ideas  of  glory.  The  soul  of  the  mother  is  the 
destiny  of  her  son.  These  first  impressions  have  never  ceased  to 
influence  the  whole  life  of  M.  Blumenbach.  Of  his  numerous 
writings  there  is  only  one  which  is  foreign  to  the  sciences,  and 
that  is  the  panegyric  of  his  mother.  He  ends  it  by  saying, 
"  She  had  all,  and  knew  how  to  cherish  all  the  family  virtues." 

To  return  to  the  child.  At  ten  years  old  he  already  took 
up  the  subject  of  comparative  osteology,  and  this  was  the  way. 
There  was  then  but  one  solitary  skeleton  in  the  town  of  Gotha. 
This  skeleton  belonged  to  a  doctor,  who  was  the  friend  of  the 
family  of  our  little  scholar,  who  often  told  afterwards  the  story 
of  the  many  visits  he  used  to  make,  during  which  he  took 
no  notice  of  the'  doctor,  but  a  great  deal  of  the  skeleton.  His 
visits  became,  by  little  and  little,  more  assiduous  and  more 
frequent.  He  came,  on  purpose,  when  his  old  friend  was  out ; 
and,  under  pretence  of  waiting  for  him,  spent  whole  hours  in 
looking  at  the  skeleton.  After  having  well  fixed  in  his  memory 
the  form  of  the  different  bones  and  their  relations,  he  conceived 
the  bold  idea  of  composing  a  copy.  For  this  purpose  he  made 
frequent  journeys  in  the  night  to  the  cemeteries.  But,  as  he 
was  determined  to  owe  nothing  except  to  chance,  he  soon  found 
out  that  he  would  have  to  content  himself  with  the  bones  of 
our  domestic  animals.  In  consequence,  he  directed  his  private 
researches  in  such  a  way  as  to  provide  himself  with  all  sorts  of 
that  kind  of  bones.  Then  he  carried  them  all  to  his  bed-room, 
concealed  them  as  well  as  he  could,  and  shut  himself  too  up 
there,  in  order  to  give  himself  up  at  his  leisure,  and  with  an 
enthusiasm  beyond  his  age,  to  the  studies  he  had  marked  out 
for  himself. 


FLOURENS.  51 

Unfortunately,  at  last  a  servant  discovered  the  child's 
secret  treasure ;  she  saw  that  ingenious  commencement  of  a 
human  skeleton,  and  cried  out  sacrilege  and  scandal.  Young 
Blumenbach,  all  in  tears,  ran  to  his  mother;  and  she,  under  the 
advice  of  the  good  doctor,  prudently  decided  that  the  precious 
collection  should  be  removed  into  one  of  the  lofts.  Such  was  the 
modest  beginning  of  the  famous  collection  whose  reputation 
has  become  universal. 

At  seventeen,  young  Blumenbach  quitted  his  family  for  the 
University  of  Jena.  There  he  found  Sommerring:  the  same 
age,  the  same  tastes,  the  same  passion  for  study,  which  already 
concealed  another,  that  for  fame.  They  soon  became  friends ; 
and  for  these  two  friends  everything  was  in  common,  library 
and  laboratory.  Blumenbach  lent  his  books;  Sommerring  lent 
his  anatomical  preparations.  In  their  confidential  intimacies 
they  often  allowed  themselves  to  give  way  to  their  illusions, 
predicting  for  one  another  the  first  rank  in  the  sciences  they 
cultivated.  Nor  were  they  deceived;  the  one  became  the  first 
naturalist,  the  other  the  first  anatomist  of  Germany. 

After  spending  three  years  at  Jena,  Blumenbach  went  to 
the  university  of  Gottingen,  then  famous  for  the  residence  of 
a  great  man,  the  great  "Haller,  one  of  the  grandest  geniuses 
science  has  ever  had;  a  first-rate  author,  poet,  profound  ana- 
tomist, a  botanist  equal  to  Linnaeus  in  his  way,  a  physiologist 
without  parallel,  and  of  an  erudition  almost  unlimited.  Haller 
indeed  had  left  the  place ;  but  his  reputation  was  everywhere. 
At  the  sight  of  reputation  the  cry  of  genius  is  always  the  same ; 
and  Blumenbach  said  with  Correggio,  "  I  too  am  a  painter." 

There  lived  then,  at  Gottingen,  an  old  professor,  forgotten 
by  the  students  and  very  oblivious  himself  of  delivering  lec- 
tures, but  in  other  respects  very  learned,  and,  besides,  the 
possessor  of  an  immense  collection,  remarkable  for  its  books 
of  geography,  philology,  voyages,  and  pictures  of  distant  nations. 
Young  Blumenbach,  who  was  already  dreaming  of  a  history 
of  man,  was  delighted  at  finding  materials  of  this  kind,  so  labori- 
ously and  diligently  brought  together.  He  foresaw  with  a 
singular  clearness  all  the  advantages  that  might  be  got  from  it. 

4—2 


52  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACH. 

He  listened  to  and  admired  the  old  professor;  and  let  him  go 
on  talking  for  a  whole  twelvemonth;  then,  rich  with  these 
treasures  of  erudition,  of  history,  and  continuous  studies  of  the 
physiognomy  of  peoples,  he  wrote  his  doctor's  dissertation  on 
The  Unity  of  Mankind. 

This  was  quite  a  new  way  of  opening  the  science  which  he 
was  destined  to  found  and  to  render  attractive.  He  com- 
menced from  that  time  his  anthropological  collection.  He  did 
more ;  he  got  the  University  to  buy  the  collections  of  his  old 
master,  he  became  their  conservator,  he  arranged  them;  and 
very  soon  brought  them  into  notice  by  the  great  instruction 
in  natural  history  he  added  to  them.  His  teaching  in  this  way 
marks  quite  an  epoch  in  the  studies  of  Germany. 

The  peculiar  genius  of  that  nation  is  well  known;  the 
genius  of  thought  governed  by  imagination;  devoted  at  once 
to  truth  and  to  systems;  brilliant,  and  rejoicing  in  elevated 
combinations,  bold,  surprising,  and,  if  I  may  use  the  expression, 
given  up  to  the  adventures  of  thought.  M.  Blumenbach  was  no 
exception  to  this  genius;  but  he  developed,  with  a  wonderful 
good  nature,  all  the  wisest  points  of  it. 

The  fifty  years  during  which  he  was  professor,  and,  if  I  may 
say  so,  a  kind  of  sovereign,  was,  for  natural  history  in  Germany, 
the  time  of  the  most  positive  and  the  soundest  study.  The 
day  of  systems  did  not  re-appear  till  he  was  gone;  and  when 
they  did,  although  recalled  to  life  by  a  man  of  astonishing 
vigour  of  mind1,  they  never  could  regain  the  empire  they  had 
lost.  They  had  to  deal  with  an  entirely  new  power.  The 
experimental  method  had  been  established.  The  great  revolu- 
tion which  has  made  the  modern  human  intellect  what  it  is 
had  been  effected. 

M.  Blumenbach  has  published  four  works  which  give  us 
pretty  well  the  whole  of  his  great  course  of  instruction :  the 
first,  on  The  Human  Species'1;  the  second,  on  Natural  History; 


1  M.   Oken.     I   speak  here  of  systems,    and  especially  of  the   philosophy   of 
nature,  only  in  reference  to  the  study  of  the  Animal  Kingdom. 

2  I  include,  under  this  head,  his  dissertation,    De  Generis  humani  varietate 
7iativa,  &c,  and  his  Decades  craniorum,  &c. 


FLOURENS.  53 

the  third,  on  Physiology ;  and  the  fourth,  on  Comparative 
A  natomy. 

To  form  a  proper  opinion  of  these  works,  it  is  necessary 
to  consider  the  time  when  they  appeared.  About  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  Buffon,  Linnaeus  and  Haller  had 
founded  modern  natural  history.  Towards  the  end  of  the 
century,  at  the  very  moment  when  science  lost  these  three 
great  men,  M.  Blumenbach  wrote  his  first  work1. 

The  glory  of  M.  Blumenbach  is  that  he  preceded  Cuvier. 
There  was  indeed  between  these  two  famous  men  more  than 
one  relation;  both  introduced  Comparative  Anatomy  into  their 
own  country,  both  created  a  new  science;  the  one,  Anthropo- 
logy; the  other,  the  science  of  Fossil  Anatomy:  both  con- 
ceived the  science  of  Animal  Organization  in  its  entirety;  but 
G.  Cuvier,  impelled  by  a  greater  bias  towards  abstract  combi- 
nations, did  more  to  display  a  method;  whilst  Blumenbach, 
guided  by  a  most  delicate  sensibility,  did  more  to  elucidate 
physiology. 

Everything  belonging  to  method  was  neglected  by  Blumen- 
bach; he  confined  himself  to  following  Linnaeus;  he  adopted 
from  him  almost  all  his  divisions  with  whatever  advantages  they 
had,  and  also  with  all  their  defects,  their  narrowness  of  study, 
and  their  caprice. 

In  Germany,  where  they  will  not  easily  admit  that  M.  Blu- 
menbach was  deficient  in  anything,  this  kind  of  forgetfulness 
with  which  that  great  intellect  treated  method  is  explained 
and  excused  by  his  deference  for  Linnasus,  the  master,  in  that 
way,  of  a  whole  century.  In  France,  where  greater  liberty  of 
speech  is  allowed,  without  going  beyond  the  bounds  of  respect, 
we  say,  plainly  enough,  that  Blumenbach  had  not  the  genius 
of  method;  a  genius  so  rare,  that  Aristotle  alone,  of  antiquity, 
possessed  it;  and  only  three  or  four  men  in  modern  times  have 


1  His  dissertation,  De  Generis  humani  varietate  nativa,  is  of  1775;  his  Manuel 
cVHistoire  Naturelle  is  of  1779;  ^s  Manuel  de  Physiologic,  of  1787;  his  works 
on  the  Animaux  a  sang  chaud  et  a  sang  froid,  on  the  A nimaux  a  sang  chaud 
irivipares  et  ovipares,  are  of  1786  and  1789;  his  first  Decas  craniorum,  of  1790;  his 
Anatomie  comparee,  of  1805. 


54  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACH. 

had  it  in  so  high  a   degree,  Linnseus,  the   two   Jussieu   and 
G.  Cuvier. 

All  the  writings  of  M.  Blumenbach  indicate  the  character 
and,  if  I  may  say  so,  the  stamp  of  the  physiologist.  In  his 
Comparative  Anatomy  he  arranges  his  facts  according  to  the 
organs,  which  is  pre-eminently  the  physiological  order.  In  the 
Physiology,  properly  so  called,  he  first  of  all  considers  the 
forces  of  life,  which  is  the  point  of  view  at  once  the  most 
elevated  and  the  most  essentially  peculiar  to  that  science. 
His  works  on  the  cold-blooded  and  hot-blooded  animals,  and  on 
the  hot-blooded  viviparous  and  oviparous  animals  are  a  true 
Comparative  Physiology,  and  that  too  at  an  epoch  when  the 
very  name  of  that  science  was  unknown1.  He  has  submitted 
the  great  question  of  the  formation  of  beings  to  the  most  pro- 
found researches2,  and  always  as  a  physiologist.  Facts  were  his 
study;  and  from  facts  he  tried  to  mount  up  to  the  force  which 
produced  them.  Nothing  is  more  famous  than  the  formative 
force  of  M.  Blumenbach3. 

Three  principal  ideas  about  the  formation  of  beings  have 
been  successively  in  vogue ;  the  idea  of  spontaneous  generation, 
which  was  the  idea,  or  rather  the  error,  of  all  antiquity;  the 
idea  of  the  pre-existence  of  germs,  conceived  by  Leibnitz,  and 
popularized  by  Bonnet;  and  the  idea  of  the  formative  force  of 
M.  Blumenbach.  No  doubt  the  new  idea  does  not  clear  up  the 
difficulty  any  more  than  the  two  others;  but  at  least  it  does 
not  add  to  it.  It  does  not  contradict  the  facts,  like  the  idea  of 
spontaneous  generation ;  nor  does  it  exact  of  the  mind  all  that 
mob  of  suppositions  and  concessions  which  is  demanded  by 
the  idea  of  the  pre-existence  of  germs*. 

The  formative  force  of  M.  Blumenbach  is  only  a  mode  of 
expressing  a  fact,  like  irritability  or  sensibility;  and  whatever 


1  I  consider  him  to  be  the  first  who  employed  in  his  works  the  terms  "cold- 
blooded" and  "hot-blooded  animals." 

2  And  through  them  he  made  the  beautiful  discovery  of  the  umbilical  membrane 
of  the  mammals. 

3  His  Nisus  formativus. 

4  The  Molecules  organiqucs  of  Buffon  are  only  the  pre-existing  germs  in  another 
form.     See  my  Hist,  des  travaux  et  des  idees  de  Buffon,  pp.  64,  72. 


FLOURENS.  55 

may  be  said  of  it,  is  not  more  obscure.  Every  original  force  is 
obscure  for  the  very  reason  that  it  is  original.  "The  first 
veil,"  says  Fontenelle,  "  which  covered  the  Isis  of  the  Egyptians 
has  been  lifted  a  long  time ;  a  second,  if  you  please,  has  been  so 
in  our  time;  a  third  never  will  be,  if  it  is  really  the  last1." 

Great  studies  absorb  those  who  pursue  them.  Blumenbach 
travelled  little.  His  labours  were  only  interrupted  by  some 
journeys  in  the  interior  of  his  country;  and  what  was  remark- 
able, these  very  journeys  were  of  just  as  much  use  to  natural 
history  as  his  works.  The  old  Germany,  with  its  old  chateaux, 
seemed  to  pay  no  homage  to  science ;  still  the  lords  of  these 
ancient  and  noble  mansions  had  long  since  made  it  a  business, 
and  almost  a  point  of  honour,  to  form  with  care  what  were 
called  Cabinets  of  Curiosities.  Their  successors,  attracted  by 
the  warlike  tastes  of  the  great  Frederick,  had  forgotten  these 
collections.  Blumenbach  came  and  reclaimed  these  treasures 
in  the  name  of  science,  and  everything  was  granted  to  him. 
Natural  history  began  everywhere  to  have  its  museums,  and  so 
had  civil  history;  and  all  this  was  due  to  what  Blumeabach 
used  to  call,  laughingly,  his  Voyages  of  Discovery. 

Of  all  these  collections,  the  most  peculiar  to  Blumenbach, 
the  most  important,  the  most  precious  at  least  for  its  object, 
was  his  collection  of  human  skulls;  an  admirable  monument  of 
sagacity,  labour  and  patience,  and  the  best  established  and 
surest  foundation  of  the  new  science,  which  interests  us  all 
to-day,  of  Anthropology.  Anthropology  sprung  from  a  great 
thought  of  Buffon.  Up  to  his  time  man  had  never  been 
studied,  except  as  an  individual;  Buffon  was  the  first  who, 
in  man,  studied  the  species2. 

After  Buffon  came  Camper.  Buffon  had  only  considered 
the  colour,  the  physiognomy,  the  exterior  traits,  the  superficial 
characteristics  of  peoples;  Camper,  more  of  an  anatomist,  con- 
sidered the  more  real  characteristics.  With  Camper  began  the 
study  of  skulls.     Camper  had  a  quick  apprehension,  and  was  as 


1  Panegyric  of  Ruysch. 

2  See  Hist,  des  travaux  et  des  idees  de  Buffon,  p.  164. 


56  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACH. 

ready  at  seizing  a  happy  view  as  prompt  to  abandon  it.  He 
compared  the  skull  of  the  European  with  that  of  the  negro ; 
the  skull  of  the  negro  with  that  of  the  orang-utan.;  he  struck 
out  the  idea  of  his  facial  angle,  and  very  soon  greatly  exagge- 
rated its  importance. 

Blumenbach  has  pointed  out  what  a  very  unsatisfactory 
and  incomplete  characteristic  the  facial  angle  is ;  he  has  shown 
that  we  must  compare  all  the  skull  and  all  the  face ;  he  has 
laid  down  rules  for  that  learned  and  perfect  comparison,  and 
was  the  first  to  deduce  that  division  which  is  almost  everywhere 
now  adopted,  of  the  human  species  into  five  races;  the 
European,  or  white  race;  the  Asiatic,  or  yellow;  the  African,  or 
black;  the  American,  or  red;  and  the  Malay. 

I  confess  at  once,  and  without  difficulty,  that  this  division 
of  races  is  not  perfect.  The  division  of  races  is  the  real  diffi- 
cult)7 of  the  day,  the  obscure  problem  of  Anthropology,  and  will 
be  so  for  a  long  time.  The  Malay  race  is  not  a  simple  or  a 
single  race1.  Precise  characteristics  have  been  sought,  but  not 
yet  found,  by  which  to  describe  the  American  race.  There  are 
three  principal  races,  of  which  all  the  others  are  only  varieties, 
or  sub-races;  I  mean  the  three  races  of  Europe,  Asia  and 
Africa.  But  the  idea,  the  grand  idea,  which  reigns  and  rules 
and  predominates  throughout  in  the  admirable  studies  of  Blu- 
menbach is  the  idea  of  the  unity  of  the  human  species,  or,  as 
it  has  also  been  expressed,  of  the  human  genus.  Blumenbach 
was  the  first  who  wrote  a  book  under  the  express  title  of  the 
Unity  of  the  Human  Genus1. 

The  Unity  of  Mankind  is  the  great  result  of  the  science  of 
Blumenbach,  and  the  great  result  of  all  natural  history.  Anti- 
quity never  had  any  but  the  most  confused  ideas  on  the 
physical  constitution  of  man.  Pliny  talks  seriously  of  peoples 
with  only  one  leg,  of  others  whose  eyes  were  on  their  shoulders, 


1  But  a  mixture  of  two  others,  the  Caucasian  and  the  Mongol. 

2  Blumenbach  says  Human  Genus.  We  now  say,  what  is  much  preferable, 
the  Human  Species.  The  use  of  these  two  words  is  no  longer  arbitrary.  The 
characteristic  of  genus  is  limited  fecundity  ;  the  characteristic  of  species  is  unlimit- 
ed fecundity.     See  Hist.  des.  t.  et  des  i.  de  Buff  on,  p.  177. 


FLOURENS.  57 

or  who  had  no  head,  &c.  In  the  sixteenth  century,  Eondelet, 
an  excellent  naturalist,  gravely  describes  sea-men,  who  live 
in  the  water,  and  have  scales  and  an  oozy  beard.  In  the 
eighteenth  century  Maupertuis  describes  the  Patagonians,  as 
giants  whose  ideas  ought  to  correspond  to  their  stature ;  but  as 
a  compensation,  for  the  credit  of  the  century,  Yoltaire  laughed 
at  Maupertuis.  Finally,  what  speaks  volumes,  Linnaeus,  the 
great  Linnaeus,  puts  into  the  same  family  man  and  the  orang- 
utan. The  homo  nocturnus,  the  homo  troglodytes,  the  homo 
sylvestris  of  Linnaeus  is,  in  fact,  the  orang-utan. 

To  raise  the  science  out  of  this  chaos,  Blumenbach  laid 
down  first  of  all  three  rules.  The  first  is,  to  draw  a  distinction 
everywhere  between  what  belongs  to  the  brute  and  what 
belongs  to  man.  A  profound  interval,  without  connexion, 
without  passage,  separates  the  human  species  from  all  others. 
No  other  species  comes  near  the  human  species;  no  genus  even, 
or  family.  The  human  species  stands  alone.  Guided  by  his 
facial  angle,  Camper  approximated  the  orang-utan  to  the  negro. 
He  saw  the  shape  of  the  skull1,  which  gives  an  apparent 
resemblance;  he  failed  to  see  the  capacity  of  the  skull,  which 
makes  the  real  difference.  In  form  nearly,  the  skull  of  the" 
negro  is  as  the  skull  of  the  European ;  the  capacity  of  the  two 
skulls  is  the  same.  And  what  is  much  more  essential,  their 
brain  is  absolutely  the  same.  And,  besides,  what  has  the  brain 
to  do  with  the  matter?  The  human  mind  is  one.  The  soul  is 
one.  In  spite  of  its  misfortunes,  the  African  race  has  had 
heroes  of  all  kinds.  Blumenbach,  who  has  collected  everything 
in  its  favour,  reckons  among  it  the  most  humane  and  the  bravest 
men;  authors,  learned  men  and  poets.  He  had  a  library 
entirely  composed  of  books  written  by  negroes.  Our  age  will 
doubtless  witness  the  end  of  an  odious  traffic.  Philanthropy, 
science,  politics,  that  is  true  politics,  all  join  in  attacking  it; 
humanity  will  not  be  without  its  crusades.  The  second  rule  of 
Blumenbach  is,  not  to  admit  any  fact  except  when  supported 


1  Or,  more  precisely,  the  form  and  prominence  of  the  upper  jaw.    See  Hist, 
t.  et  des  i.  de  Buffon,  p.  183. 


58  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACII. 

by  trustworthy  documents;  and  in  this  way,  everything  which 
is  puerile  and  exaggerated,  everything  which  is  legend,  will  be 
excluded  from  science.  The  third  rule  is  the  very  basis  of 
science.  Once  nothing  but  extremes  were  compared ;  Blumen- 
bach  laid  down  the  rule  not  to  pass  from  one  extreme  to  the 
other,  except  by  all  the  intermediate  terms  and  all  the  shades 
possible.  The  extreme  cases  seem  to  separate  the  human 
species  into  decided  races ;  the  graduated  shades,  the  continuous 
intermediate  terms  make  all  men  to  form  but  one  mankind. 

There  never  was  a  scholar,  author  or  philosopher,  who 
seemed  more  adapted  to  endow  us  with  the  admirable  science 
of  Anthropology.  Blumenbach  joined  to  vast  knowledge  a 
power  of  criticism  still  rarer  than  the  most  unbounded  eru- 
dition, and  much  more  precious;  he  had  that  art  which  dis- 
criminates and  judges ;  he  had  a  clear  sweep  of  view,  a  sure 
tact,  and  a  good  sense  not  easily  deceived.  He  knew  every- 
thing, and  had  read  everything;  histories,  chronicles,  relations, 
travels,  &c. ;  and  he  took  pleasure  in  saying,  that  it  was  from 
travels  that  he  had  received  the  most  instruction."  The  study  of 
man  is  founded  on  three  sciences,  besides  anthropology  properly 
so  called:  geography,  philology  and  history.  Geography  gives 
us  the  relations  of  races  to  climates;  history  teaches  us  to 
follow  the  migrations  of  peoples  and  their  intermixtures;  and 
when  once  they  have  been  mixed,  it  is  philology  which  teaches 
us  how  to  separate  them  again.  But  whatever  be  the  progress 
which  these  three  sciences  have  made  in  our  days,  none  has  yet 
arrived  at  the  original  and  certain  unity  of  man ;  each  foresees 
it  and  prophesies  it;  all  tend  in  that  direction;  thanks  to 
Blumenbach,  that  unity,  which  these  sciences  still  are  in  search 
of,  has  been  demonstrated  by  natural  history.  And  here  let  me 
speak  out,  without  being  afraid  of  exaggeration.  Voltaire  says 
of  Montesquieu,  that  he  restored  its  lost  rights  to  the  human 
race.  The  human  race  had  forgotten  its  original  unity,  and 
Blumenbach  restored  it. 

I  have  examined  the  principal  works  of  Blumenbach;  I 
mean  those  works  which  have  made  him  famous;  but  there  is 
another  I  cannot  omit,  a  work  very  different  from  those,  at 


FLOURENS.  59 

least,  in  the  form;  a  work  full  of  ideas,  and  one  of  the  most 
intellectual,  the  most  discriminating,  or,  to  speak  like  Descartes, 
the  most  sensible  that  have  ever  been  written  on  the  sciences. 
That  work  is  composed  of  two  little  volumes.  The  title  is  very 
simple,  that  is,  Contributions  to  Natural  History1.  The  true 
title  should  be,  The  Philosophy  of  Natural  History.  There 
Blumenbach  passes  in  review  all  the  philosophical  questions 
of  his  science;  the  question  of  the  original  unity  of  man,  the 
question  of  the  scale  of  beings,  that  of  innate  ideas,  that  of  the 
so-called  man  of  nature,  and  the  others.  The  author's  object 
is  to  point  out,  in  each  instance,  wjiere  the  truth  ends  and 
system  commences.  And  to  get  to  that  point,  there  is  no 
apparatus  of  learning,  no  long  ratiocination,  no  phrases ;  a  word, 
a  witty  sally,  an  anecdote  are  enough.  As  to  the  original  unity 
of  man,  he  says  it  was  an  honest  German  doctor,  who  not 
being  able  to  reconcile  the  different  colour  of  men  with  the  fact 
of  their  single  origin,  imagined,  in  order  to  settle  the  ques- 
tion, that  God  had  created  two  Adams,  one  white  and  the 
other  black.  As  to  the  scale  of  beings,  it  was  the  opinion  of 
an  English  naturalist,  who  proposed  to  establish  two,  in  order 
to  place  in  the  second  everything  that  could  find  no  place 
in  the  first.  As  to  innate  ideas  and  the  man  of  nature,  the 
following  are  the  facts.  Towards  the  middle  of  the  year  1724, 
there  was  found,  in  the  north  of  Germany,  near  a  village  called 
Hameln,  a  young  boy  quite  naked,  who  could  not  speak,  but 
eagerly  devoured  all  the  fruits  he  could  get  hold  of.  At  that 
time  the  dispute  about  innate  ideas  was  at  its  highest.  Imme- 
diately the  imagination  of  the  philosophers  was  excited.  The 
man  that  had  been  found  was  no  doubt  the  wild  man,  the  man 
of  nature;  and  the  man  of  nature  would  finally  resolve  the 
problem  of  innate  ideas.  The  Count  de  Zinzendorf,  who  was 
afterwards  the  founder  of  the  Moravian  brothers,  hastened  to 
ask  him  of  the  Elector  of  Hanover.  The  Elector  of  Hanover 
sent  him  to  England.  In  England  the  curiosity  was  as  great 
as  in  Germany.     Peter  de  Hameln,  as  the  young  savage  was 

1  [Edited  in  this  volume.     Ed.] 


60  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACH. 

called,  became  famous.  Dr  Arbuthnot  wrote  his  life.  After 
him  Lord  Monboddo  wrote  it  again;  and,  with  his  usual  en- 
thusiasm, proclaimed  the  young  savage  as  the  most  important 
discovery  of  the  age.  At  last,  M.  Blumenbach  wished  in  his 
turn  to  see  what  it  all  was ;  he  undertook  the  examination  of 
the  facts  as  a  philosopher,  but  as  a  calm  and  judicious  one;  and 
he  found  that  the  wild  man,  the  so-called  man  of  nature,  the 
most  important  discovery  of  the  age,  was  only  a  poor  child,  born 
dumb,  and  driven  from  the  paternal  roof  by  a  step-mother. 

It  will  be  seen  what  sort  of  book  it  is  I  am  speaking  about. 
The  tone  is  that  of  learned  and  delicate  raillery.  The  author 
rallies,  but  so  as  to  make  you  think.  It  is  the  ironical  philo- 
sophy of  Socrates,  or  at  least  what  Socrates  is  said  to  have  had, 
and  what  Voltaire  really  possessed.  He  who  has  read  that- 
book  has  the  whole  key  to  Blumenbach's  character.  He  will 
understand  the  charm  of  his  conversations,  the  success  of  his 
lessons,  and  his  vast  renown,  so  dear  to  all  those  who  ap- 
proached him.  Above  all,  he  will  have  the  secret  of  his  soul, 
born  essentially  for  that  general  virtue  defined  by  Montesquieu, 
the  love  of  all.  Even  in  this  book,  where  however  raillery  pre- 
dominates, as  soon  as  Blumenbach  touches  on  the  great  question 
of  the  unity  of  men,  he  jokes  no  more;  his  language  immedi- 
ately alters,  and  takes  naturally  the  tone  of  the  truest  sensibility. 
He  never  speaks  of  men,  or  of  any  men,  but  with  affection.""" 
According  indeed  to  his  doctrine,  all  men  are  born,  or  might 
have  been  born,  from  the  same  man.  He  calls  the  negroes 
our  black  brothers.  It  is  an  admirable  thing  that  science  seems 
to  add  to  Christian  charity,  or,  at  all  events,  to  extend  it,  and 
invent  what  may  be  called  human  charity.  The  word  Hu- 
manity has  its  whole  effect  in  Blumenbach  alone. 

I  have  already  said  that  Blumenbach,  always  wrapped  up  in 
his  great  works,  had  seldom  quitted  Germany.  Still  he  made 
two  journeys,  one  to  England  and  one  to  France.  In  these  two 
journeys  he  observed  everything,  but  all  as  a  naturalist.  This 
man,  who  had  passed  so  many  years  in  meditating  on  the  most 
important  questions,  on  the  highest  problems  of  natural  history, 
had  at  last  only  one  idea,  one  object,    one   all-powerful  pre- 


FLOURENS.  61 

occupation;  a  pre-occupation  so  strong  as  to  be  sometimes 
quite  ludicrous,  as  we  may  judge  from  the  two  instances  he 
used  to  relate  himself. 

Being  entertained  in  London  by  all  the  English  professors, 
they  one  evening  took  him  to  the  theatre.  The  actor  Kemble 
played  the  part  of  the  Moor  of  Venice.  Some  days  after, 
Kemble  met  Blumenbach  at  a  party,  and  said,  "M.  Blumen- 
bach,  how  did  you  think  I  succeeded  in  representing  the  cha- 
racter of  a  negro  ?"  "  Well  enough,  as  far  as  the  moral  character 
goes,"  said  our  naturalist,  and  then  added,  "  but  all  the  illusion 
was  destroyed  for  me  the  moment  you  opened  your  hand;  for 
you  had  on  black  gloves,  and  the  negroes  have  the  inside  of  the 
hand  of  a  flesh-colour."  Every  one  laughed  except  Blumen- 
bach; he  had  spoken  quite  in  earnest. 

After  the  peace  of  Tilsit,  the  town  of  Gottingen  was  included 
in  the  kingdom  of  Westphalia,  and  the  University  thought 
it  necessary  to  solicit  the  protection  of  the  great  Emperor. 
Blumenbach  was  chosen  as  a  deputy.  "  I  found,"  said  he,  "  all 
the  French  men  of  letters  as  eager  to  support  me  as  if  the 
question  had  been  the  preservation  of  a  French  institution; 
I  owed  to  that  generous  zeal  the  success  of  my  mission." 
Admitted,  at  last,  to  take  leave  in  solemn  audience,  he  attended 
in  an  antechamber  with  many  of  the  foreign  ambassadors. 
Napoleon  appeared ;  all  turned  their  attention  to  him  except 
Blumenbach  ;  for  how  could  he ?  "I  had,"  said  he,  " before  me 
the  ambassadors  of  Persia  and  Marocco,  of  two  nations  whom 
I  had  never  yet  seen." 

To  his  passion  for  natural  history  Blumenbach  joined  a 
passion  for  all  the  great  studies.  Erudition,  philosophy,  letters 
had  a  share  of  his  attention,  but  did  not  exhaust  it.  He  was  a 
good  man  of  business.  He  had,  in  a  high  degree,  that  delicate 
and  calm  judgment  which  business  demands.  More  than  once, 
when  charged  with  important  missions,  he  brought  them  to  an 
end  with  singular  good  fortune.  In  fact,  the  town  of  Gottingen 
decreed,  in  consideration  of  his  services,  that  his  property 
should  be  exempted  from  taxes.  Gottingen  indeed  ought  to 
have  been  grateful  to  him  in  every  way.     During  sixty  years 


62  LIFE   OF   BLUMENBACH. 

the  celebrity  of  the  man  of  learning  and  the  professor  was  the 
cause  of  its  prosperity.  His  name  alone  brought  there  a  crowd 
of  pupils ;  a  population  brilliant,  moving,  always  being  changed, 
always  young  and  always  learned.  Nothing  could  equal  the 
veneration  all  that  population  had  for  him.  Almost  all  those 
of  his  pupils  who  became  famous  dedicated  their  works  to  him ; 
and  these  dedications  were  not  the  mere  homage  of  admiration. 
A  touching  and  higher  sentiment  is  found  hi:  them,  and  what 
indeed  is  better  still,  an  affection  almost  filial.  What  more  can 
I  say?  M.  de  Humboldt  was  a  pupil  of  his1,  and  the  highest 
intellects  of  Germany,  the  Fichtes,  the  Kants,  the  Schellings 
have  interpreted  his  ideas2. 

In  private  life  Blumenbach  was  a  thorough  German,  good- 
natured,  frank,  open  and  mild  in  manner.  In  him  an  honest 
character  shone  throughout.  Essentially  a  man  of  good  sense, 
after  more  than  forty  years  spent  in  education,  he  wrote  these 
words:  "I  never  enter  the  amphitheatre  without  having  par- 
ticularly prepared  each  lesson,  for  I  know  that  many  professors 
have  lost  reputation  by  thinking  that  they  know  well  enough 
a  course  they  have  delivered  twenty  times."  He  worked  up  to 
the  end  of  his  life.  "  I  only  know  satiety  by  reputation,"  said 
he.  It  is  said  also  that  he  preferred  listening  to  speaking.  He 
was  prudent  in  everything.     As  La  Fontaine  says, 

"The  wise  know  how  to  manage  time  and  words." 

He  had  a  maxim  which  displays  his  character :  "  One  must 
know  how  to  attract  and  retain  by  indulgence." 

All  happiness  was  his;  a  great  reputation,  a  quiet  life, 
a  family  tenderly  beloved,  illustrious  pupils,  a  son  worthy  of 
his  name.  His  long  and  beautiful  old  age  was  surrounded 
with  the  most  touching  homages.  Every  anniversary,  which 
still  preserved  him  to  science,  was  celebrated  as  a  festival. 
Seventy-eight  learned  societies  elected  him  an  associate.  Me- 
dals were  struck  in  his  honour.     Prizes  were  instituted  in  his 


1  In  1786  he  had  the  honour  to  see  the  British  Princes  attend  his  lectures;  and 
in  1803,  the  King  of  Bavaria;  and  in  1829,  his  son,  the  now  Prince  Royal. 

2  Particularly  his  idea  of  a  formative  force. 


FLOURENS.  63 

name;  useful  foundations  still  exist  which  perpetuate  his  me- 
mory by  benefactions1.  This  universal  enthusiasm  made  no 
difference  in  him;  he  remained  always  good,  simple,  even 
familiar;  everything  in  him  was  natural;  no  pretension,  no 
affectation;  nothing  by  which  he  tried  to  distinguish  himself 
from  others.  "When  one  has  a  great  deal  of  merit,"  says  Fon- 
tenelle,  "  it  is  the  crown  of  all  to  be  like  the  rest  of  the  world." 

Blumenbach  died  on  the  22nd  Jan.  1840,  being  nearly  a 
century  old;  a  man  of  a  high  intellect,  an  almost  universal 
scholar,  philosopher  and  sage;  a  naturalist,  who  had  the  glory, 
or  rather  the  good  fortune,  of  making  natural  history  the  means 
of  proclaiming  the  noblest  and,  without  doubt,  the  highest 
truth  that  natural  history  ever  had  proclaimed,  The  Physical 
Unity,  and  through  the  physical  unity  the  moral  unity,  of  the 
human  race. 


1  In  1830,  the  friends  of  Blumenbach,  when  they  met  to  celebrate  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  his  doctorate,  conceived  the  idea  of  perpetuating  the  recollection  of 
the  day  so  memorable  for  science,  by  making  up  a  purse  of  5,000  dollars,  about 
£800,  of  which  the  interest  should  be  adjudged  every  three  years  by  way  of  prize, 
to  a  young  doctor,  to  be  both  physician  and  naturalist,  who  must  have  taken  his 
degree  in  a  German  university,  and  be,  says  the  deed,  young,  poor,  but  fit.  Blu- 
menbach himself  gave  out  the  prize  twice,  in  1833  and  in  1836;  after  his  death, 
it  is  to  be  adjudged  alternately  by  the  faculties  of  medicine  at  Gbttingen  and 
Berlin. 


DE    GENERIS    HUMANI    VARIETATE 
NATIVA 


ILLUSTKIS    EACULTATIS    MEDICO    CONSENSU 

PRO 

GRADU    DOCTORIS    MEDICINE 

DISPUTAVIT 

D.  XVI  SEPT.  M.DCC.LXXV 

H.    L.    Q.    S. 

JOANN.    FRIDER.   BLUMENBACH, 

GOTHANUS. 


GOETTINGAE : 

TYPIS   FRID.   ANDR.   ROSENBUSCHII. 

5 


NATURE  SPECIES,   RATIOQUE. 


CONTENTS. 


Introduction;  generation;  climate;  mode  of  life  and  aliment;  hybrid 
generation;  fertile  hybrids;  sterile  hybrids;  copulation  of  animals  of 
different  species,  barren;  on  Jumars;  no  human  hybrids;  difference 
between  man  and  other  animals;  mental  endowments;  instincts  of 
man  very  few  and  very  simple;  reason  the  property  of  man  alone; 
speech  the  same;  properties  of  the  human  body;  ei*ect  position;  two 
hands;  the  human  body  naked  and  defenceless;  laughter  and  tears; 
hymen;  menstruation;  other  differences  falsely  supposed;  internal 
structure  of  the  human  body;  the  brain  of  the  papio  mandril;  inter- 
maxillary bone ;  membrana  nictitans;  the  suspensory  ligament  of  the 
neck;  orang-utan  and  other  anthropomorphous  apes;  is  there  one  or 
more  species  of  mankind  1  one  species  alone ;  the  varieties  very  arbi- 
trary; division  of  mankind  into  four  varieties;  [note  from  edition  of 
1781,  containing  the  division  into  Jive] ;  observations  on  national 
differences;  variety  of  the  human  stature;  causes  of  this  variety, 
climate,  food,  &c;  colour  of  man;  causes  of  its  variety;  effect  of 
climate;  examples  from  other  organic  bodies;  effect  of  mode  of  life; 
various  colour  of  the  reticulum  in  apes;  black  men  become  white; 
white  men  black ;  mulattoes,  &c. ;  spotted  skin ;  different  shape  of 
skulls;  examples  of  the  first  variety;  the  second,  third,  and  fourth; 
conclusion;  physiognomy;  examples  of  the  first,  second,  third,  and 
fourth  variety;  difference  in  hair,  teeth,  feet,  breasts;  singularities 
of  pronunciation ;  artificial  varieties ;  circumcision;  castration;  beard- 
less Americans ;  other  mutilations ;  monstrous  ears ;  other  deformities ; 
paintings;  conclusion;  digression  on  albinism;  white  rabbits;  white 
mice;  diseased  whiteness  in  other  animals;  human  albinism ;  symp- 
toms of  the  disease;  unhealthy  whiteness ;  affection  of  the  eyes;  re- 
maining conditions  of  body ;  mental  condition ;  disease  known  to  the 
ancients;  recent  examples  from  the  world  at  large;  stories  of  the 
ancients  about  men  with  tails;  fictitious  ventrale  of  the  Hottentot 
women. 


EXPLANATION    OF    THE    PLATES. 


Plate  I.     Fig.  1.     Base  of  the  skull  of  a  Papio  mandril. 

A.  Posterior  lobes  of  the  brain.  B.  Anterior  lobes  of  the 
brain.  C.  Fossa  Sylvii.  D.  Cerebellum.  E.  Commence- 
ment of  the  spinal  marrow.  F.  Region  where  in  man  the  pyrami- 
dal and  olivary  bodies  are  inserted.  G.  Place  where  in  the  human 
brain  the  pons  Varolii  is  divided  by  a  fissure  from  the  medulla 
oblongata.       H.     Pons  Varolii. 

1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9.  Pairs  of  the  nerves  of  the  brain.  The 
mammillary  eminences,  infundibulum,  &c.  cannot  be  seen  in  conse- 
quence of  the  size  of  the  junction  of  the  optic  nerves. 

Plate  II.  Fig.  1 .  Vertebral  of  the  neck  of  the  same  Papio.  The 
bodies  of  the  vertebrae  descend  by  a  kind  of  scaly  processes  in  front 
downwards,  and  stand  upon  each  other  like  tiles. 

Fig.  2.  Fifth  and  sixth  vertebrae  of  the  neck  of  an  adult  man. 
In  these  the  bodies  are  parallel,  smooth,  and  disciform. 

Fig.  3.  Skin  from  the  forehead  of  the  Papio  mandril.  The 
varieties  and  diminution  of  the  blackness  in  the  reticulum  are  here 
shown. 

Fig.  4.     The  clitoris  of  an  Arabian  girl,  circumcised. 

Fig.  5.  A  callitrix,  or  some  other  tailed  ape  copied  from  Breyden- 
bactis  Travels.  This  has  been  made  more  and  more  human  by  succes- 
sive copyings  till  at  last  it  has  come  out  [in  Martini's  BufFon]  a  tailed 


ON  THE   NATURAL  VARIETY 


MANKIND. 


As  I  am  going  to  write  about  the  natural  variety  of  mankind,  I 
think  it  worth  while  to  begin  from  the  beginning,  that  is,  with 
the  process  of  generation  itself.  I  do  not  intend  to  put  forth 
a  system,  or  frame  hypotheses,  or  enter  into  the  intricacies  of  a 
labyrinth,  out  of  which  I  should  scarce  find  an  exit ;  or,  lastly, 
stir  up  cud  already  chewed  a  thousand  times.  Nor  am  I  one  to 
write  the  Iliad  after  Homer,  that  is  to  say,  the  universal  history 
of  generation  after  the  immortal  labours  of  the  great  Haller;  but 
to  spend  only  a  few  words  upon  a  matter,  which  may  be  con- 
sidered as  demonstrated  from  the  repeated  observations  and 
profound  judgment  of  the  most  learned  men,  and  which  will 
throw  some  light  on  my  subject. 

The  part  which  each  sex  takes  in  the  generation  of  the 
foetus,  and  which  of  the  two  has  the  greatest  influence  has  occu- 
pied the  principal  philosophers  and  physicians  for  many  thou- 
sand years.  It  was  reserved  at  last  for  the  profound  sagacity  of 
Haller,  to  be  the  first  who  was  bold  enough  to  break  open  the 
bars  of  nature's  doors,  and  to  unfold,  from  observing  the  incu- 
bation of  eggs,  so  often  investigated  before  by  eminent  men, 
that  great  mystery,  which  it  was  thought  could  be  explained 
by  nature  alone;  and  in  the  fewest  possible  words  I  must  here 
give  his  account  of  the  matter1.    A  close  dissection  of  impreg- 


1  I  use  almost  the  exact  words  of  the  illustrious  discoverer.     Opusc.  min.  n,  p. 
418.     Physiol.  T.  viii.      See  also  Bonnet,  Corps  Organises,  T.  p.  107. 


70  GENERATION. 

nated  eggs  shows  that  the  intestine  of  the  chick  is  so  of  a  piece 
with  the  envelopes  of  the  yolk  that  the  first  envelope  forms  the 
skin  of  the  foetus ;  the  second  envelope  forms  the  exterior  lining 
of  the  intestine  jointly  with  the  mesentery  and  the  peritonaeum 
of  the  foetus ;  the  third  is  the  covering  of  the  interior  intestine, 
and  is  produced  from  the  same  membrane  as  the  ventricle,  the 
oesophagus,  the  throat  and  the  mouth,  from  what  is  in  fact  the 
skin  and  the  epidermis  of  the  foetus:  that  the  yolk  takes  up 
the  arteries  from  the  mesenteries  of  the  chicken  itself.  It  follows 
from  this,  that  the  whole  egg  is  part  of  the  mother,  in  whom 
the  ovarium  lies  with  all  its  eggs  quite  perfect,  before  any  con- 
tact with  the  male  has  taken  place.  Then,  that  the  foetus  is 
part  of- the  egg,  or  at  all  events  is  joined  to  the  egg  by  an  in- 
separable bond,  for  the  yolk  (and  that  alone)  constitutes  the 
egg,  together  with  its  envelope,  whilst  it  is  in  the  mother,  but 
that  yoke  is  so  united  with  the  foetus  by  its  duct,  that  it  forms 
but  one  continuous  body.  Hence  it  is  proved,  by  direct  demon- 
stration, that  the  embryo  is  contained  in  the  maternal  egg,  and 
that  the  female  supplies  the  true  stamina  of  the  future  foetus. 
That  primeval  germ  would  lie  buried  as  it  were  in  eternal  slum- 
ber, were  it  not  aroused  by  the  access  and  stimulus  of  the  fertil- 
izing seed  of  the  male,  and  particularly  by  the  subtle  odour  of 
his  parts,  which  are  particularly  adapted  for  causing  irritation; 
and  then  it  breaks  forth  from  the  Graafian  follicle  in  which  it 
was  shut  up,  runs  through  the  canal,  and  in  this  way  comes  into 
the  womb ;  there  again  it  is  finally  unfolded  and  developed,  and 
changed  in  some  of  its  parts  by  the  influence  of  the  male,  comes 
out  like  its  parents.  It  leaves  a  manifest  trace  of  its  former 
habitation  in  the  ovarium,  in  the  shape  of  an  opaque  body, 
which  takes  its  place  \  The  offspring  at  last  brought  to  light, 
and  in  the  process  of  time  become  adult,  can  produce  like  with 
the  other  sex  of  its  species,  whose  posterity  ought  to  go  on  for 
ever  like  their  first  parents.     What  then  are  the  causes  of  the 


1  As  to  this  little  body,  which  was  also  illustrated  by  the  laboiirs  of  the  great 
Haller,  see  Hist,  de  FA  cad.  des  Sc.  de  Paris,  1753,  No.  vn.,  and  Physiol.  T.  vin. 
p.  30.  It  is  well  delineated  from  dissected  bodies  by  W.  Hunter,  Anatomia  Ukri 
Humani  Gravidi.     Birm.  1774,  Tab.  15,  29,  31. 


CLIMATE.  7 1 

contrary  event?  What  is  it  which  changes  the  course  of  gene- 
ration, and  now  produces  a  worse  and  now  a  better  progeny,  at 
all  events  widely  different  from  its  original  progenitors?  This 
it  will  be  our  business  to  answer  in  the  course  of  this  disserta- 
tion. But  in  order  not  to  break  the  thread  of  the  discussion,  it 
will  be  better  to  make  a  few  preliminary  observations. 

First  of  all  I  will  say  a  few  words  about  the  influence  of 
climate,  whose  effects  seem  so  great  that  distinguished  men 
have  thought  that  on  this  alone  depended  the  different  shapes, 
colour,  manners  and  institutions  of  men1.  There  are,  however, 
two  ways,  in  which  men  may  gather  experience  of  a  change  of 
climate,  both  of  which  are  to  our  purpose.  They  may  emigrate 
and  so  change  the  climate,  and  also  it  may  happen  that  the 
climate  of  their  native  country  may  sensibly  become  more  mild 
or  more  severe,  and  so  the  inhabitants  may  degenerate.  Several 
examples  of  each  kind  will  be  given  in  the  proper  place.  It 
will  be  sufficient  to  say  here  that  there  is  no  diversity  of  habit, 
which  may  not  be  produced  by  varieties  of  climate;  which  is 
extremely  apparent,  even  from  the  history  of  brute  animals. 
If  European  horses  are  transported  towards  the  east,  as  to 
Siberia,  China,  &c,  in  process  of  time  they,  as  it  were,  dwindle, 
and  become  much  smaller  in  body,  so  that  at  last  you  would 
scarcely  recognize  them  as  being  of  the  same  species.  Cattle, 
on  the  contrary,  whether  they  are  sent  to  the  Yakutan  penin- 
sula, or  Kamtshatka,  or  Archangel,  turn  out  taller  and  more 
robust,  and  the  same  thing  has  been  experienced  with  English 
sheep  in  Sweden. 

The  squirrels  on  the  river  Obi  are  larger  by  one  third  than 
those  which  are  found  at  Obdorsk2,  &c,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
difference  in  colour,  which  observation  shows  to  vary  with  still 
greater  facility.     But  that  the  climate  of  the  same  country  may 


1  Polyb.  T.  i.  p.  462,  ed.  Ernesti:  "for  through  this  cause  and  no  other  we 
differ  most  from  each  other  in  our  ethnical  and  universal  distinctions,  in  customs, 
in  shape,  and  colour,  and  in  most  of  our  institutions."  Comp.  besides,  Cardan  in 
Hipp.  De  aer.  aq.  et  loc.  p.  218,  who  goes  at  length  into  the  effects  of  climate  on 
human  bodies. 

2  Steller,  von  sonderb,  Meerthieren,  p.  41  sqq. 


72  MODE    OF   LIFE. 

undergo  a  change,  no  one  can  doubt,  who  -will  only  compare 
this  very  Germany  of  to-day  with  ancient  Germany,  or  our  own 
contemporaries  with  our  ancestors1.  There  was  a  time  when  the 
elk,  now  only  an  inhabitant  of  the  extreme  north,  was  common 
on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  and  when  that  very  river  was  so 
often  frozen  that  the  Gauls  themselves  used  to  offer  sacrifices 
to  prevent  its  affording  a  passage  to  our  ancestors,  their  neigh- 
bours; when  the  most  prodigious  forest  covered  almost  the 
whole  country,  and  when  there  were  no  vintages,  and  other 
very  good  reasons  of  the  same  kind,  which  will  account  for  our 
being  unable  to  find  the  huge  bodies  of  our  ancestors,  powerful 
only  for  attack,  their  fimi  limbs,  threatening  countenances,  and 
fierce  eyes,  in  the  Germans  of  our  age. 

Besides  the  climate  there  are  other  causes,  which  have  indeed 
an  influence  in  altering  bodies;  many  of  these  you  might  say 
depended,  however,  upon  the  climate  themselves,  but  there  are 
others  which  it  is  very  clear  have  nothing  to  do  with  it. 
Amongst  these  influences  above  all  we  must  set  down  the 
mode  of  life  and  of  bringing  up.  The  examples  of  domestic 
animals  are  trite,  which  manifestly  have  diverged  into  astonish- 
ing varieties,  and  almost  put  off  their  original  nature.  I  have 
mentioned  the  effect  climate  has  upon  horses,  and  we  shall 
now  see  how  they  are  affected  by  mode  of  life.  It  is  quite 
astonishing  how  wild  horses2  differ  from  our  geldings  by  their 
small  stature,  their  large  heads,  their  murrey  colour,  their 
shaggy  coats,  and  by  a  ferocity  of  disposition,  which  is  almost 
untameable,  so  that  they  seem  to  approach  almost  nearer  to  the 
ass  than  to  our  domestic  horses.  Indeed,  the  famous  Gmelin 
had  scarcely  any  hesitation  in  believing  that  the  tame  horse, 
the  wild  horse,  and  the  ass,  were  all  of  the  same  species,  and 
that  the  latter  had  by  circumstances  alone  degenerated  from 
the  tame  horse;  but  this  is  going  too  far,  because  the  ass  has 


1  Conring.  De  Germanic,  corp.  habitus  cr.iiqui  ac  novi  causis,  learnedly  according 
to  his  wont. 

2  Rzacynski,  h.  n.  Pol.  p.  217.     Pallas,  Rdsen,  I.  p.  211.       S.  C.  Gmelin,  Beis. 
I.  p.  44  sq.  fig. 


HYBRIDITY.  73 

certain  interior  organs  which  are  wanting  in  the  horse1,  and  the 
reverse  also  is  true.  However,  among  horses  certainly  wild, 
and  also  among  our  own,  we  may  perceive  a  great  difference  in 
strength  between  those  which  feed  upon  natural  pastures2,  and 
those  which  are  kept  in  stables.  For  example,  it  is  known  that 
a  colt,  if  it  is  born  in  a  feeding-ground  of  the  former  kind, 
within  half-an-hour  after  its  birth  will  run  after  its  dam 
seeking  food,  but  if  it  is  born  in  a  stable,  it  will  frequently 
lie  for  twenty-four  hours  and  more  on  the  ground,  before  it 
dares  to  stand  on  its  feet. 

As  yet  I  have  touched  on  two  causes  which  change  the 
form  of  animals,  climate  and  mode  of  life.  It  remains  to  speak 
of  the  third,  namely,  the  conjunction  of  different  species,  and 
the  hybrid  animals  thence  produced.  It  is  a  difficult  subject, 
although  after  the  labours  of  recent  authors3  I  may  treat  it 
briefly. 

There  are  three  cases  in  the  discussion  about  hybridity 
which  ought  to  be  clearly  distinguished.  First,  the  mere 
copulation  of  different  animals ;  secondly,  the  birth  of  offspring 
from  such  copulation;  and,  thirdly,  the  fertility  of  such  off- 
spring and  their  capacity  for  propagation. 

The  latter  case,  although  rare,  (and  that  by  the  providence 
of  the  Supreme  Being,  lest  new  species  should  be  multiplied 
indefinitely,)  I  would  admit  of  in  beings  closely  allied.  At  all 
events  there  are  many  testimonies  to  the  fertility  of  mules4. 
There  is  no  reason  for  doubting  that  hybrids  have  sprung  from 
the  union  of  the  fox  and  the  dog,  and  those  too  capable  of 
generation,  as  the  Spartan  dogs  or  alopekides  of  the  ancients. 


1  On  the  organs  of  the  voice,  Herissant,  Mem.  de  VAcad.  des  Sciences  de  Paris, 
1753,  Tab.  Qsq. 

2  As  the  Lippenses.    Conip.  J.  G.  Prizelius,  Vom  Senner  gestute,  1771,  8vo. 

3  Buffon  frequently  but  especially  on  the  degeneration  of  animals,  xiv.  p.  248, 
and  Suppl.  T.  in.  p.  1.  H.  S.  Reimar,  Natilrl.  Religion,  p.  411.  Gleiclien, 
Saamenthieren,  p.  24;  and  above  all  Haller,  Physiol,  vin.  pp.  8,  100. 

4  Aristot.  De  gen.  an.  11.  8,  says  they  can  only  be  conceived  at  a  certain 
time.  Varro,  De  re  rust.  11.  1,  27.  Columella,  VI.  37,  3.  Plin.  Vin.  44,  and 
Harduinus.  Barthii  A dversar.  42.  Bochart,  JTieroz.  1.  2,  20.  Recently  Rozier, 
Obs.  sur  la  phi/s.  1722.  Comp.  Gleichen,  I.  c.  p.  25.  Such  things  are  often  men- 
tioned among  the  prodigies  related  by  Livy  and  Obsequens. 


74  HYBRIDITY. 

There  is  still  at  Gottingen  the  daughter  of  a  fox  (from  which 
many  children  have  been  born)  which  was  impregnated  by  a 
domestic  dog;  and  in  it  you  may  still  recognize  the  smooth 
forehead  and  other  marks  of  the  ancestral  form.  The  experi- 
ments of  Sprenger1  prove  the  prolificacy  of  hybrid  birds. 

The  number  of  infertile  hybrids  is  so  copious  as  to  be  tire- 
some to  count.  Of  all  these,  mules,  so  far  as  we  know,  are  the 
most  ancient.  For  although  we  may  doubt  their  being  ante- 
diluvian2, nor  dare  ascribe  their  discovery  to  Anah3,  yet  their 
extreme  antiquity  appears  even  from  profane  authors4,  and 
almost  the  first  monuments  of  art5.  To  these  rarer  hybrids  may 
be  added  the  one  Linnseus  saw  from  the  copulation  of  the 
Capra  reversa  with  the  Capra  depressa6.  But  I  do  not  quite 
trust  Hesychius,  when  he  says  that  the  jackal  comes  from 
the  union  of  the  hycena  and  the  common  wolf7.  With  respect  to 
the  union  of  dogs  and  apes8,  and  the  hybrids  so  born,  I  still 
remain  in  doubt.  The  animals  seem  too  different ;  still  I  have 
known  two  instances,  where  bitches  are  said  to  have  been  im- 
pregnated by  male  apes,  to  which  I  should  think  it  wrong  to 
refuse  credit.  One  took  place  in  the  territory  of  Schwartzburg ; 
and  a  picture  of  this  hybrid,  carefully  drawn,  is  in  the  possession 
of  Buttner,  who  very  kindly  lent  it  to  me.  It  represents  a  dog, 
of  smaller  size  than  the  domestic  dog,  and  of  a  dirty  yellow 
colour ;  its  eyes,  ears,  and  hairy  collar  differed  from  the  common 
dog,  but  it  is  said  were  very  like  those  parts  in  the  father.  The 
other  instance  is  related  by  an  eye-witness,  worthy  of  all  belief, 
to  have  occurred  about  three  years  ago  at  Frankfort-on-the- 
Maine;  that  a  bitch  brought  forth  offspring  by  the  Simia  Diana 
of  Linnaeus,  in  ferocity,  disposition,  and  in  its  gibbous  habit 


1  Opusc.  Physico-math.  Hannov.  1753,  p.  27. 

2  Pererius,  on  Genesis,  T.  11.  p.  185,  discusses  at  length  the  question  if  the 
mule  entered  Noah's  ark  or  not  ? 

3  Genes,  c.  36,  v.  24.     Boehart,  I.  c.  at  length. 

4  Horn.  II.  B.  852,  who  derives  them  from  Enes. 

5  On  the  coffer  of  Cvpselis.     Heyne,  uber  den   hasten  des  Cyps.  p.  58,  circ. 
B.  c.  660. 

6  In  the  Clifford  menagerie.     Syst.  Nat.  ed.  xn.  p.  96. 

7  Boehart,  Hieroz.  I.  p.  832. 

8  Osbeck,  Ostindislc  Resa.  p.  99. 


HYBRID  IT  Y.  75 

and  long  tail,  exactly  like  its  father.  I  leave  this  business  to 
be  investigated  by  those  who,  perhaps,  may  have  an  opportunity 
of  more  accurately  observing  it;  for  the  difficulties  are  well 
known  which  occur  in  experiments  of  this  kind.  It  is  very 
hard  to  prevent  the  animals  upon  whom  the  experiment  is  to 
be  made  from  consorting  with  others,  and  at  the  same  time  not 
to  destroy  the  desire  of  copulation:  moreover,  if  offspring  have 
anything  peculiar  by  accident,  it  is  instantly  attributed  to  a 
diversity  of  parentage.  And  what  makes  me  suspicious  about 
these  things  is  this  especially,  that  I  have  seen  many  apes  of 
both  sexes  and  different  species  constantly  living  for  many 
years  in  the  midst  of  dogs,  also  of  different  sexes,  and  yet  never 
saw  anything  of  the  kind.  On  the  other  hand,  instances  of 
false  reports  are  very  common,  as  that  of  a  cat,  born  together 
with  two  puppies,  the  report  of  which  reached  this  neighbour- 
hood a  few  years  ago ;  but  when  it  was  properly  examined,  the 
little  creature  which  they  called  a  cat,  was  easily  recognized  by 
the  more  sagacious  as  a  puppy  slightly  deformed,  and  the  whole 
prodigy  became  a  joke.  Nor  can  I  otherwise  interpret 
Clauder's  account1  of  a  cat  being  impregnated  by  a  squirrel,  of 
whose  litter  one  is  said  to  have  been  like  the  father,  and  the 
rest  like  the  mother ;  and  other  stories  of  the  same  kind. 

From  all  this  we  must  carefully  separate  the  plainly  fruitless 
unions  of  animals  of  different  species.  I  will  allow  that  male 
brutes  when  burning  with  desire,  and  unable  to  obtain  females 
of  their  own  species,  may  sometimes  be  so  excited  by  others, 
whom  they  come  in  contact  with,  as  perchance  to  copulate  with 
them;  but  I  think  that  with  very  few,  and  those  only  very 
nearly  allied,  is  this  actually  successful,  and  in  most  cases  the 
attempt  is  ineffectual.  There  are,  however,  good  reasons  for 
refusing  to  believe  that  from  any  incongruous  attempt  of  this 
kind,  offspring  can  be  born  or  even  conceived.  Here  let  us 
consider  the  unequal  proportions  of  the  genital  organs  in  many 2 ; 
which  parts  are  providently  and  carefully  adapted  for  copulation 


Epli.  N.  C.  dec.  2.  ann.  ix.  p.  371. 
Haller,  Physiol,  viii.  p.  9, 


76  DOUBTFUL   CASES. 

in  either  sex  of  the  same  species;  but  in  distant  genera 
render  the  whole  thing  impossible,  or  at  all  events  very  difficult, 
and  certainly  unfit  for  the  purposes  of  conception.  Besides,  I 
do  not  see  according  to  what  laws  the  offspring  of  this  kind, 
coming  from  diverse  parents,  is  to  be  formed  in  the  womb, 
since  in  each  species  of  animals  there  are  certain  and  very 
definite  periods  for  the  gestation  and  pregnancy  of  the  mother, 
the  formation  and  progressive  development  of  the  foetus.  It 
will,  however,  be  worth  while  to  relate  some  instances  of  con- 
nexions of  this  kind  which  have  been  formed  contrary  to  nature. 

Of  all  these  the  most  paradoxical  seems  to  be  the  union  of 
a  rabbit  with  a  hen,  so  celebrated  by  Reaumur1;  but  on 
which  doubt  has  been  thrown  by  his  own  pupil  Buffon2,  Haller3, 
and  others;  indeed,  Buffon  could  not  even  succeed  in  raising  a 
progeny  from  the  hare  and  the  rabbit,  animals  so  nearly  allied, 
although  he  suspected  copulation  took  place.  That  illustrious 
philosopher  seems,  therefore,  correct  in  supposing  that  if  the 
rabbit  of  Reaumur  ever  did  tread  the  hen,  it  must  have  been 
done  from  extreme  lasciviousness,  and  had  there  been  no  hen 
the  animal  would  have  made  use  of  something  else  for  the  same 
purpose.  Meanwhile  there  are  other  evidences  to  this  remark- 
able fact.  Thus  my  revered  tutor  Biittner,  himself,  often  saw 
rabbits  treading  hens,  and  they  afterwards  laid  empty  eggs 
(liyponemia  or  zephyr ea  as  the  ancients  called  them). 

I  have  often  seen  a  rabbit  running  about  alone  amongst 
broods  of  fowls,  and  playing  with  and  imitating  them,  but  I 
never  could  observe  that  it  attempted  anything  more,  or  really 
had  connexion  with  them.  I  have  been  told  the  same  story 
about  a  house  dog  of  Matthew  Gesner,  who  they  say  also  used 
to  tread  hens.  I  am  not  much  surprised  at  this,  since  it  is  well 
known  that  dogs,  when  in  heat,  make  use  of  inanimate  things 
sometimes  in  order  to  effect  their  purpose.  It  is  said  that  the 
Gallus  calecuticus  has  been  known  to  tread  the  duck,  and  in  the 


1  Art  de  faire  eclorre  les  poulets,  T.  n.  p.  340. 

2  Hist.  Nat.  vi.  p.  303. 

3  I.  c.  and  in  Bonnet,  Corps  Organ.  11.  p.  214. 


JUMARS.  77 

same  way  that  the  drake  treads  the  hen,  and  that  chickens  of 
wonderful  forms  are  the  result1.  They  have  often  been  observed 
to  copulate.  There  is  still  in  the  town  a  drake  which  treads 
the  hens,  but  they  are  barren.  But  I  will  pass  over  many  in- 
stances of  this  sort  of  monstrous  and  fruitless  copulation,  since 
I  wish  to  say  a  little  about  the  jumars,  those  famous  hybrids 
from  two  clearly  different  species,  the  bovine  and  the  equine. 

I  do  not  know  whence  Buffon2  took  it,  that  Columella 
had  mentioned  jumars,  and  that  he  had  been  quoted  by  Con- 
rad Gesner.  I  cannot  find  either  the  mention  in  the  one, 
or  the  quotation  in  the  other.  On  the  contrary,  I  think  Gesner 
was  the  first  to  mention  jumars3.  For  I  cannot  take  notice 
here  of  the  filly  born  from  a  cow  at  Sinuessa  in  Livy4,  since  he 
speaks  of  it  as  a  most  unheard-of  prodigy.  But  Tigurinus 
Polyhistor  says  "that  he  once  heard  that  a  particular  kind  of 
mule  was  to  be  found  in  Gaul,  near  Grenoble,  which  was  sprang 
from  an  ass  and  a  bull,  and  called  in  the  vulgar  tongue  Jumar. 
And  in  the  Swiss  Alps  near  Coire,  in  the  Splugen  country,  he- 
had  heard  on  credible  testimony,  that  a  horse  had  been  born 
from  a  bull  and  a  mare5."  Jerome  Cardan,  a  contemporary  of 
Gesner,  has  also  mentioned  jumars,  and  says  they  have  superior 
teeth6,  and  are  very  strong  and  bold7.  After  him  Joh.  Baptist 
Porta  reports  that  he  himself  had  seen  at  Ferrara  an  animal  of 
this  kind,  in  shape  like  a  mule,  with  a  calf's  head,  two  protu- 
berances in  the  place  of  horns,  black  in  colour,  and  with  the 
eyes  of  a  bull8.  Things  of  this  kind  are  repeated  down  to  the 
time  of  John  Leger,  who  discourses  at  great  length9  about 
them,  and  also  gives  a  print  of  them10.     He  says  "that  jumars 


1  Physic.  Belustig.  p.  392.     Spallanzani  in  MemcAe  supra  i  muli.  p.  18. 

2  T.  xiv.  p.  248. 

3  Hist,  quadrup.  vivip.  pp.  19,  106,  and  799. 

4  Dec.  in.  1.  3. 

5  Comp.  Jac.  Rueff,  Dc  conceptu.  p.  48  a,  in  the  history  of  monsters. 

6  Contradic.  Medic.  I.  11.  tr.  vi.    Contract.  18,  p.  444. 

7  lb.  p.  448. 

8  Mag.  Nat.  1.  i.e.  9.     He  adds  that  they  were  common   in  some  parts  of 
France,  although  he  did  not  see  one  when  he  passed  through. 

9  P.  Zachias,  Quaest.  med.  legal.  T.  1.  p.  533,  from  a  mare  and  bull. 

10  Hist,  generate  des  Eglises  evangeliques  de  vallees  de  Piernont  ou  Vaudoises, 
Leyde,  1669,  p.  7,  and  in  Almanack  de  Gotha,  1^67,  p.  63. 


78  JUMARS. 

are  born  from  the  union  either  of  a  bull  and  a  mare,  or  a  bull 
and  an  ass:  the  former  are  taller,  and  called  Baf;  the  latter 
smaller,  and  Bif;  that  the  former  have  the  upper  jaw  evidently 
much  shorter  than  the  lower,  like  swine;  that  the  upper  teeth 
are  placed  further  back  than  the  lower,  to  the  distance  of  a 
thumb,  or  two  fingers.  In  the  latter,  the  Bif,  the  lower  jaw  is 
shorter  than  the  upper,  as  is  the  case  in  hares,  and  the  upper 
teeth  project  beyond  the  lower.  So  that  neither  kind  can  graze 
in  the  fields,  unless  the  grass  is  so  long,  that  they  can  crop  it 
with  the  tongue.  These  hybrids  are  exactly  like  an  ox  in  the 
head  and  tail,  and  the  places  for  horns  are  marked  by  small 
protuberances.  As  to  the  rest,  they  are  exactly  like  an  ass  or 
horse.  Their  strength  is  wonderful,  especially  compared  with 
their  small  body;  they  are  smaller  than  common  mules;  they 
eat  little  and  are  swift;  that  he  himself  went  in  one  day  18 
miles  among  the  mountains  with  a  jumar  of  this  kind,  and  that 
much  more  comfortably  than  he  could  have  done  with  a  horse." 

After  this  account  more  recent1  authorities  have  received 
others  in  good  faith,  and  report  that  jumars  are  to  be  found 
elsewhere  besides  in  Piedmont;  according  to  Shaw2  at  Tunis 
and  Algiers,  according  to  Merolla3  at  Cape  Verde,  and  by  others 
in  Languedoc4. 

Naturalists  gradually  became  more  sceptical  of  the  fact  and 
were  disposed  to  dissect  this  kind  of  hybrid.  Reaumur5  met 
with  a  disappointment  and  so  did  Albinus,  who  had  ordered 
one  from  Africa,  which  perished  on  the  way.  Bourgelat,  the 
veterinary  surgeon,  was  afterwards  fortunate  enough  to  be  able 
to  dissect  a  jumar  in  the  theatre  of  Lyons6,  but  the  results 

1  Venette,  p.  324,  from  a  horse  and  cow.  It  was  reported  that  the  offspring  of 
an  ass  and  a  cow  had  cloven  hoofs.  Bourguet,  Lettres  philosophiques,  IV.  p.  160,  and 
from  a  bull  and  an  ass  Manuel  Lexique,  Paris,  1755.  Encyclop.  Paris.  T.  IX.  p. 
57.  B.  S.  Albinus  in  Prcelec.  physiol.  Msptis.  Still  more  recently  the  author  of 
the  book  Cours  d'hist.  nat.  ou  tableau  de  la  nature,  T.  1.  Paris,  1770,  nmo.  See 
Gleichen,  loc.  cit.  p.  29. 

2. Travels,  p.  239,  ed.  Oxf.,  1738,  there  called  Kumrah. 

3  Voyage  to  Congo  in  Churchill's  Collec.  T.  1.  p.  655. 

4  Diction.  Languedocien  Francois,  par  M.  I  Abbe  de  S...  a  Nimes,  1756,  8vo. 
p.  256. 

5  Mem.  sopra  i  muli,  p.  6. 

6  Avant-coureur,  1767,  No.  50  sq. 


JUMAES.  79 

of  his  labours  are  not  satisfactory,  because  he  seems  to  have 
trusted  too  much  to  report.  "  The  ventricle  was  in  shape  like 
that  of  the  horse,  but  much  larger.  The  jumar  had  altogether 
much  more  of  the  mare  than  of  the  bull,  both  as  to  its  external 
form,  and  its  interior  constitution,  especially  as  regards  the 
ventricle,  whose  singular  structure  in  the  bovine  genus,  on 
account  of  their  rumination,  is  well  known.  And  thus  the 
observation  of  those  physicians  stands  confirmed,  who  assert 
that  the  mother  has  a  larger  share  in  the  formation  of  the 
foetus  than  the  father."  The  consequence  therefore  of  this 
investigation  was  that  the  learned  knew  less  what  to  think 
than  ever1.  Afterwards  Buffon  had  two  jumars  dissected;  one 
from  the  Pyrenees,  the  other  from  Dauphine.  In  neither  of 
them  was  any  trace  of  a  bull  to  be  found2. 

All  this  however  was  not  enough  for  inquirers  into  natural 
history.  And  at  last,'  at  the  request  of  some  men  of  great  note, 
Bonnet,  namely,  and  Spallanzani,  Cardinal  delle  Lanze  had  two 
jumars3  dissected  by  a  skilful  hand,  and  ordered  anatomical 
plates  of  them  to  be  engraved.  It  is  very  clear  from  these 
efforts  that  the  pretended  jumar  is  nothing  more  than  a 
mere  hinny4  (bardeau).  The  larynx,  glottis,  ventricle,  biliary 
ducts,  are  all  specifically  equine  and  not  bovine. 

Thus  was  finally  proved  what  was  suspected  from  the  first 
by  the  great  Haller5.  I  myself  have  lately  seen  at  Cassel  quite 
closely  two  hinnies,  which  report  asserted  to  be  jumars.  They 
were  of  the  size  of  a  large  ass,   and  very  like  one  in  shape, 


1  Dictionn.  des  animaux,  T.  II.  p.  555.     Bomare,  Diet.  Nat.  T.  VI.  p.  174. 

2  I.  c. 

3  Bonnet  on  Spallanz.  ep.  Mem.  sopra  i  muli,  p.  n.  Encyclop.  par  De  Felice, 
T.  sxv.  p.  242. 

4  From  the  stallion  and  she-ass.  Varro,  Be  re  rust.  11.  8,  1.  Columella,  vi. 
37,  5.  Plin.  vili.  c.  xliv.  5.  Hesych.  "Hinny,  of  which  the  father  is  a  horse, 
and  the  mother  an  ass."  Smaller  than  the  mule,  very  patient  of  labour,  tail  like 
an  ass,  &c.  Linnaeus  evidently  transposed  the  terms  of  hinny  and  mule  in  Amcen. 
Acad.  vi.  p.  12,  gen.  wmbig. 

5  I.  c.  p.  9.  "This  seems  to  me  too  much,  nor  is  there  any  proportion  between 
the  pizzle  of  the  bull  and  the  vagina  of  the  mare."  The  same  difficulty  which  I 
suggested  above  occurs  here,  if  we  compare  the  novimestral  pregnancy  of  the  cow 
with  the  undecimestral  of  the  mare. 


80  HUMAN   HYBRIDS. 

black  in  colour,  with  horses'  teeth  in  each  jaw1;  no  vestige  of 
rumination,  &c. 

But  to  return  from  this  digression.  What  has  already 
been  said  serves  partly  to  show  the  difficulty  of  dealing 
with  the  accounts  of  hybrids  of  species  very  different  from 
each  other,  and  partly  as  some  sort  of  proof  of  development; 
and  will  afterwards  be  of  use  to  us  when  in  varieties  alone 
it  will  help  to  show  that  the  greater  part  of  the  form  in 
animals  is  derived  from  the  mother,  and  very  little  from  the 
father. 

Let  me  say  only  a  very  few  words  about  those  human 
hybrids  which  credulous  antiquity  so  frequently  declared  to  be 
born  or  generated  from  brutes2,  but  to  which  not  only  physical 
arguments  but  also  moral  ones  of  the  greatest  importance 
forbid  us  to  attach  the  slightest  faith;  so  that  it  seems  ex- 
tremely likely  that  the  Supreme  Being  foresaw  these  disgusting 
kind  of  unions  and  took  care  to  render  them  futile. 

Those  points  which  ought  to  be  carefully  attended  to  in  any 
discussion  upon  hybrids,  and  which  I  took  notice  of  above3,  must 
not  be  neglected  here. 

That  men  have  very  wickedly  had  connexion  with  beasts 
seems  to  be  proved  by  several  passages  both  in  ancient4  and 
modern  writers5.     That  however  such  a  monstrous  connexion 


1  Comp.  also  BemerJc.  eines  reisend.  durch  Deutschland,  Frankr.  Engl.  u.  Holl. 
i  Th.  p.  6o  sq. 

2  Jac.  RuefF,  Parasus,  Aldrovandus,  Schenk,  Licetus,  and  other  compilers  of 
prodigies.  On  the  Swedish  girl  ravished  by  a  bear,  and  the  hero  she  gave  birth  to, 
see  Sax.  Gramm.  and  Olaus  Magnus.  (The  rage  of  bears  against  pregnant  women 
and  the  singular  remedy  for  it  perhaps  occasioned  this  fable.)  A  similar  story 
occurs  in  Vine,  le  Blanc,  Voyages,  p.  1 19  sq.  The  instances  in  the  writings  of  the 
ancients  have  been  studiously  collected  by  Fortun.  Fidelis,  De  relat.  Medic,  p.  493 
sq.      Storch,  KinderJcrankh.  I.  p.  16,  relates  some  more  recent  ones. 

3  P-  73- 

4  Plutarch  in  several  places  in  the  Symjiosia  and  the  Parallels.  "Virgil,  Eelog. 
III.  8.  That  Semiramis  carried  her  passion  for  a  horse  to  that  point  is  asserted  by 
Juba,  in  Pliny,  vxn.  c.  42. 

5  On  the  3000  Italian  auxiliaries  to  the  Due  de  Nemours,  in  1562,  who  were 
sent  into  Dauphine",  and  who  ravished  the  she-goats,  see  Bayle,  Diet.,  Art.  Batliyl- 
Ins,  T.  1.  p.  469.  Th.  Warton  on  Theocr.  Idyll.  (Oxford,  1770,  4to.),  1.  88.  p.  19. 
"I  have  heard  from  a  learned  friend,  that  when  he  was  travelling  in  Sicily,  and 
was  accurately  investigating  the  ancient  monuments  and  the  manners  of  the  people, 
that  one  of  the  usual  points  of  confession  which  the  priests  were  in  the  habit  of 


MENTAL   ENDOWMENTS.  81 

has  any  where  ever  been  fruitful  there  is  no  well-established 
instance  to  prove.  Indeed  those  things  which  are  related  of 
the  intercourse  of  Indian  women  with  the  larger  apes  and  of 
their  anthropomorphous  offspring1  seem  dubious  and  fabulous 
even  to  James  Bontius2,  who  is  in  other  respects  sufficiently  cre- 
dulous. And  even  if  it  be  granted  that  the  lascivious  male  apes 
attack  women,  any  idea  of  progeny  resulting  cannot  be  enter- 
tained for  a  moment,  since  those  very  travellers  relate  that 
the  women  perish  miserably  in  the  brutal  embraces  of  their 
ravishers3. 

I  now  leave  this  disgusting  theme,  and  all  the  more 
willingly,  because  I  must  draw  near  our  goal;  but  still  a  few 
words  must  be  said  upon  the  actual  ways  in  which  man  differs 
from  other  animals,  before  we  investigate  the  varieties  of  men 
amongst  themselves.  The  theme  is  indeed  a  most  fruitful  and 
admirable  one,  but  the  narrow  limits  of  this  book  do  not 
permit  me  to  linger  long  over  it,  and  it  is  necessary  in  this 
place  to  dismiss  it  in  a  few  words;  although  the  slender  matter 
which  I  have  got  together  on  this  interesting  subject,  I  will 
gladly  promise  to  give  elsewhere  to  the  public. 

I  think  I  shall  here  perform  my  duty  best,  if  I  first  say 
a  little  about  the  endowments  of  the  mind,  and  then  about 
the  bodily  structure.  Not  indeed  that  these  two  points  have 
apparently  the  slightest  relation  to  each  other.  For  it  would 
clearly  be  impossible  to  draw  any  inference  from  comparing 
the  organic  structure  of  animals  with  the  human  body,  as  to 
their  respective  mental  faculties:  which  will  easily  appear  to 
any  one  who  compares  an  elephant  or  a  horse  with  an  ape 
(which  Reines*  calls  the   copy  of  a  man,   or  even  a  man  as 

examining  the  Sicilian  herdsmen  who  spent  a  solitary  life  upon  the  mountains 
about,  was  whether  they  had  anything  to  do  with  their  sows." 

It  is  said  that  the  organs  of  the  Manatis  are  so  like  those  of  women  that  the 
Arabs  copulate  with  them.  Comp.  Michaelis,  Frag,  an  die  nach  Arab,  reisenden, 
p.  115. 

1  See  Zucchelli,  Relat.  dl  Congo,  p.  148. 

2  Hist.  Nat.  et  Med.  Ind.  v.  c.  32.  "Let  boys  believe  who  have  not  yet  to 
shave." 

3  Comp.  Wieland's  elegant  dissertation  on  this  point  against  Rousseau,  Beytr. 
zur  geh.  gesch.  des  M.  V.  u.  H.  II.  p.  50. 

4  Var.  lect.  p.  69. 

6 


82  INSTINCTS. 

regards  the  structure  of  the  face,  the  fyopav  and  the  motions  of 
the  limbs). 

As  to  the.  discussions,  which  in  this  age  particularly,  have 
stirred  up  so  many  barren  disputes  about  the  mind,  the  reason, 
and  the  speech,  &c.  of  brutes,  they  do  not  seem  to  me  to  be 
really  so  difficult  or  confused,  if  a  man  have  only  a  moderate 
familiarity  with  the  habits  of  animals,  some  knowledge  of  the 
physiology  of  the  human  body,  and  be  sufficiently  free  from 
prejudices. 

Man  then  alone  is  destitute  of  what  are  called  instincts,  that 
is,  certain  congenital  faculties  for  protecting  himself  from,  exter- 
nal injury,  and  for  seeking  nutritious  food,  &c.  All  his  instincts 
are  artificial  (Jcunst-triebe),  and  of  the  others  there  are  only  the 
smallest  traces  to  be  seen.  Mankind  therefore  would  be  very 
wretched  were  it  not  preserved  by  the  use  of  reason,  of  which 
other  animals  are  plainly  destitute.  I  am  sure  they  are  only 
endowed  with  innate  or  common  and  truly  material  sense  (which 
is  not  wanting  either  to  man),  especially  after  comparing  every- 
thing which  I  have  read1  upon  the  rational  mind  of  animals  with 
their  mode  of  life  and  actions,  and  what  perhaps  is  the  most 
important  speculation,  and  demands  most  attention,  with  the 
phenomena  of  death,  which  are  very  much  like  both  in  animals 
and  men2.  Instinct  always  remains  the  same,  and  is  not  advanc- 
ed by  cultivation,  nor  is  it  smaller  or  weaker  in  the  young 
animal  than  in  the  adult.  Reason,  on  the  contrary,  may  be 
compared  to  a  developing  germ,  which  in  the  process  of  time, 
and  by  the  accession  of  a  social  life  and  other  external  circum- 
stances, is  as  it  were  developed,  formed,  and  cultivated.  The 
bullock  feels  its  strength  so  much  as  to  threaten,  though  its 
weapons  of  offence  do  not  yet  exist ; 

Before  his  horns  adorn  the  calf,  they're  there, 

All  weaponless  he  butts,  and  furious  beats  the  air3; 

1  Very  recently  in  Deutscli.  Merleur.  t 775,  September,  October. 

2  Cardan,  De  subtil.  1.  xi.  p.  551,  T.  in.  Oper.  "Man  is  no  more  an  animal, 
than  an  animal  is  a  plant.  For  if  an  animal,  although  it  is  nourished  and 
lives,  does  not  deserve  the  name  of  a  plant,  nor  is  entirely  a  plant,  because  it  has  a 
life  which  feels  over  and  above  the  plant,  since  man  has  a  rnind  over  and  above  the 
animal,  he  ceases  to  be  an  animal,"  &c. 

3  Lucret.  v.  1033.     Comp.  Reimar,  Trieb.  der  th.  p.  202. 


REASON.  83 

whence  unless  from  some  interior  sensation  ?  To  man,  on  the 
contrary,  nothing  of  the  kind  happens.  He  is  born  naked  and 
weaponless,  furnished  with  no  instinct,  entirely  dependent  on 
society  and  education.  This  excites  the  flame  of  reason  by  de- 
grees, which  at  last  shows  itself  capable  of  happily  supplying,  by 
itself,  all  the  defects  in  which  animals  seem  to  have  the  advan- 
tage over  men.  Man  brought  up  amongst  the  beasts,  destitute 
of  intercourse  with  man,  comes  out  a  beast.  The  contrary  how- 
ever never  occurs  to  beasts  which  live  with  man.  Neither  the  i 
beavers,  nor  the  seals,  who  live  in  company,  nor  the  domestic 
animals  who  enjoy  our  familiar  society,  come  out  endowed  with 
reason. 

From  what  has  been  said,  the  direct  difference  between  the 
voice  and  speech  of  animals  is  plain1,  since  we  consider  that  man 
alone  ought  to  be  held  to  possess  speech2,  or  the  voice  of  reason, 
and  beasts  only  the  language  of  the  affections.  In  process  of 
time,  the  mind  becomes  developed,  and  finds  out  how  to  express 
its  ideas  with  the  tongue.  Young  children  give  names  to  those 
they  love,  which  is  the  case  with  no  animal,  although  they  can 
distinguish  their  master  and  those  familiar  to  them  well  enough. 
Those  stories  are  utterly  undeserving  of  attention  which  the  old 
travellers  related  about  the  language  of  certain  distant  nations, 
who  they  said  were  endowed  with  nothing  but  an  inarticulate 
and,  as  it  were,  brutish  voice.  It  is  indeed  beyond  all  doubt 
that  the  fiercest  nations,  the  Californians,  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  &c.  have  a  peculiar  sort  of  speech,  and 
plenty  of  definite  words,  and  that  animals  on  the  contrary, 
whether  they  be  like  man  in  structure,  as  the  famous  orang- 
utan is3,  or  approach  man  in  intelligence,  to  use  the  words  of 
Pliny  about  the  elephant,  are  destitute  of  speech,  and  can  only 


—\ 


1  Count  de  Gebelin  says  elegantly  in  Plan  general  du  monde  primitif,  p.  io, 
"Language  is  twofold:  that  of  the  sentiments  and  of  the  ideas.  _  The  first  is 
common  both  to  man  and  the  animals,  though  much  more  perfect  in  the  former. 
The  second  is  absolutely  peculiar  to  man,  for  it  can  only  be  adapted  to  him,  inas- 
much as  it  answers  to  the  operations  to  which  he  alone  of  all  the  beings  who  inhabit 
the  earth  can  elevate  himself." 

2  Hence  some  of  the  Rabbins  not  inaptly  call  man  the  speaking  animal. 

3  Th.  Bowrey,  Malayo  Dictionary,  London,  1701,  4to.  Ott.  Fr.  v.  d.  Grbben, 
Guineische  reiseleschr.  p.  3 1 . 

6—2 


4 


* 


84  ERECT   POSITION. 

emit  a  few  and  those  equivocal  sounds.  That  speech  is  the  work 
of  reason  alone,  appears  from  this,  that  other  animals,  although 
they  have  nearly  the  same  organs  of  voice  as  man,  are  entirely 
destitute  of  it1. 

If  now  any  one  casts  an  eye  on  the  human  body,  it  would  cer- 
tainly be  more  easy  to  distinguish  man  from  every  other  animal 
at  the  very  first  glance,  than  to  lay  down  any  fixed  criterion2  by 
which  he  differs  from  the  rest.  It  would  seem  as  if  the  Supreme 
Power  had  avoided  giving  any  distinct  and  persistent  characters 
to  the  human  body,  just  in  exactly  the  same  proportion  as  this 
its  highest  master-piece  far  excels  all  other  animals  in  its  noblest 
part,  which  is  reason. 

But  it  will  be  worth  while  to  reckon  up,  one  by  one,  a  few  of 
those  things  which  seem  peculiar  to  our  bodies.  First  of  all  I 
would  speak  of  the  erect  position  of  man,  which  I  cannot  leave 
untouched  because  of  the  recent  paradoxes  of  P.  Moscati3; 
although  it  is  very  tedious  to  serve  up,  and  as  it  were  to  chew 
over  again  a  matter  which  has  been  most  thoroughly  investi- 
gated, and  is  clearer  than  the  noon-day  sun.  It  is  true,  I  can 
believe  that  this  elegant  author,  who  is  in  other  ways  worthy  of 
all  praise,  composed  this  book  as  an  attempt  and  not  quite 
seriously,  partly  because  he  has  made  use  of  arguments  which 
you  would  scarcely  expect  to  find  from  a  man  not  only  acquaint- 
ed with  human  and  comparative  anatomy,  but  from  one  who 
constantly  appeals  to  both ;  and  partly  because  he  leaves  quite 
unnoticed  points  of  indisputably  great  importance  as  to  the 
bipedal  structure  of  man,  which  have  already  been  most  dili- 
gently handled  by  the  great  Galen4,  and  the  immortal  Barth. 
Eustachius5.     I  could  easily  allow  our  author6  that  there  is  little 


1  I  have  myself  found  the  uvula  in  apes,  and  the  other  parts  of  the  larynx 
exactly  like  those  in  man.     See  on  the  Pygmy,  Tyson,  p.  51. 

2  Linnaeus  could  discover  no  point  by  which  man  could  be  distinguished  from 
the  ape.     Prcef.  ad  Faun.  Suecic. 

3  Belle  corporee  differenze  essenziali,  chepassano  fra  la  struttura  de1  bruti,   c  la 
umana.     Milano,  1770. 

4  Especially  in  his  precious  boohs  De  usu  partium,  1.  in.  c.  1.  p.  125  sqq.,  c.  16. 
p.  193;  1.  xni.  c.  11.  p.  765,  ed.  Lugd.  1550,  i6mo. 

5  Throughout  the  Ostium  examen,  pp.  175—182,  ed.  Venet.  1564,  4to. 

6  P-  34- 


BIPEDAL   WALK.  85 

weight  in  those  common  arguments  for  the  erect  position  of 
man,  deduced  from  the  position  of  the  great  occipital  foramen  \ 
the  proportion  of  the  feet  to  the  hands,  the  mammas,  the  chest2, 
and  the  shape  of  the  shoulder-blade  ;  although  there  remain  the 
greater  difficulties  of  the  parts  which  so  wonderfully  prove  that 
the  walk  should  be  bipedal.     I  say  nothing  of  the  apex  of  the 
heart  and  its  direction  in  the  embryos  of  man  and  the  brutes ; 
this  indeed  our  author3  mentions,  but  yet  explains  in  such  a  way 
that  he  seems  to  give  a  handle  to  the  opposite  opinion.      I  say 
nothing  of  that  powerful  argument  deduced  from  the  movement 
of  the  head  and  its  connexion  with  the  first  cervical  vertebrae, 
and  I  omit  it  the  more  readily,  because  of  that  elaborate  work 
of  Eustachius  on  the  point4,  which  I  should  have  to  transcribe 
almost  in  its  integrity.     The  pelvis  alone,  and  the  construction 
of  the  feet  would  easily  bring  over  to  my  view  those  in  other 
respects  acquainted  with  anatomy,  if  they  would  compare  even 
cursorily  the  composition  of  the  bones  of  the  quadrupeds  with 
those  of  man.     Let  any  one  look  at  the  broad  flanks  of  the 
human  skeleton,  ending  below  in  a  narrow  hip,  the  short  pelvis 
largely  dilated  above  but  narrowed  below  so  as  to  open  an 
escape  for  the  foetus,  yet  carefully  provide  for  the  prolapsus  of 
the  womb,  and  then  compare  these  things  with  the  oblong  right- 
angled  and  almost  cylindrical  pelvis  of  quadrupeds  with  their 
wide  hip,  and  their  outwardly  curved  ischiatic  prominences; 
lastly,  let  him  observe  the  construction  of  the  glutei  muscles, 
and  the  connexion  of  the  muscles  of  the  leg  in  man  and  the 
brutes,  and  then  let  him  say  if  he  thinks  it  probable  that  they 
can  have  the  same  mode  of  locomotion.     Let  any  one  make  the 
experiment  on  some  fresh  animal  skeleton,  or  at  least  let  him 
look  at  Goiter's  picture5  of  the  erect  skeleton  of  a  fox,  going  along 
in  the  most  ridiculous  manner  on  its  hind-feet,  and  then  let  him 
imagine  a  human  skeleton  resting  upon  its  arms  and  feet,  and 

1  Daubenton,  Sur  les  differences  de  la  situation  du  grand  trou  occipital  dans 
I'homme  et  dans  les  animaux.    Mem.  de  VAcad.  des  Sc.  de  Paris,  1764,  p.  568. 

2  See  Eustach.  I,  c.  p.  175. 

3  P.  26. 

4  I.  c.  p.  234  sq. 

5  Scelet.  animal.  Norib.  1575,  fol.  mag.  Tab.  II. 


86  HANDS. 

he  will  not  but  see  that  a  bipedal  brute  and  a  quadrupedal  man 
would  equally  pass  for  prodigies.  Inseparable  also  from  the 
general  consideration  of  the  pelvis  is  that  other  proof  derived 
from  the  acetabulum,  and  the  head  and  neck  of  the  thigh-bone. 
And  that  this  neck  is  oblong  in  man,  and  goes  downwards  with 
a  sensible  obliquity,  but  is  short  in  brutes,  even  in  apes,  and 
nearly  horizontal;  and  the  head  more  obliquely  articulated  with 
the  hip;  so  the  whole  structure  of  the  bones  of  the  feet,  the  thick 
calcaneum  of  man,  the  juncture  of  the  ancle  with  the  sole  of  the 
foot,  which  in  man  too  is  oblong  and  broader,  and  many  other 
things  of  the  kind  which  point  in  this  direction,  disagreeably 
trite  and  too  well  known  to  students  of  anatomy,  but  difficult  to 
be  understood  by  those  unacquainted  with  medicine.  For  which 
reason  I  think  it  would  be  foolish  to  say  much  about  them, 
especially  as  I  have  indicated  the  sources  to  which  those  should 
go  who  want  still  more  proofs  of  so  easy  a  matter. 

Another  property  of  man  comes  directly  from  the  foregoing, 
namely,  his  two  hands,  which  I  consider  belong  to  mankind 
alone;  whereas  apes,  on  the  contrary,  must  either  have  four  or 
none  at  all,  of  which  the  great  toe  being  separated  from  the  other 
fingers  of  the  feet  serves  the  same  purposes  which  the  thumbs 
do  in  the  hands.  This  is  so  certain,  that  on  that  account  alone 
the  foetus  said  by  Robinet1  to  be  that  of  a  pongo,  must  certainly 
be  considered  a  human  embryo,  even  if  no  notice  be  taken  of  the 
other  proportions  of  the  bodily  parts,  and  the  whole  structure 
which  is  entirely  human.  Halm3  besides  Galen3  has  written 
expressly  on  the  admirable  formation  of  the  human  hand. 

All  these  things  therefore  being  duly  weighed,  I  am  induced  to 
consider  even  that  famous  animal  the  orang-utan  as  a  quadruped. 
I  know  indeed  that  several  authors  of  voyages  have  said  a  good 
deal  about  him,  and  given  him  out  as  a  biped.  The  reasons 
which  induce  me  to  come  to  a  different  conclusion,  besides  the 
tendency  of  many  travellers  to  exaggerate  a  little  what  is  extra- 


1  Essais  de  la  nature  qui  ap])rcnd  a  f aire  Vhomme,  Tab.  ix.  p.  155. 

B  J.  F.  Hahn,  De  manu  hominem  a  brutis  dislinguente,  Lips.  1719,  8vo. 

3  I.  c. 


WILD    MEN.  87 

ordinary,  are  the  following;  in  the  first  place,  some  who  have 
described  these  animals  have  said  only  that  it  frequently1  goes 
on  its  hinder  feet,  which  at  least  excites  a  suspicion,  that  they 
do  go  on  all  fours  like  other  animals :  moreover,  many  are  de- 
picted in  the  plates  as  leaning  upon  a  club,  after  the  fashion  of 
dancing  bears2.  The  palm  of  their  hands  is  as  deeply  furrowed, 
and  marked  with  folds  and  slits  as  the  soles  of  their  feet3. 
The  depressed  and  receding  heel-bones  prevent  their  walking 
firmly.  If  you  examine  them  more  closely,  the  elongated  pelvis, 
and  especially  the  muscle  called  elevator  claviculce4, make  it  highly 
probable  that  a  quadrupedal  gait  is  natural  to  this  animal.  The 
instance  of  the  long-armed  ape  is  favourable  to  the  same  opinion5. 
Man  therefore  is  the  only  biped,  unless  any  one  likes  to  put  for- 
ward the  manati,  birds,  (especially  penguins,)  or  the  lizard 
Siren.  The  example  of  those  unfortunate  creatures  who, 
according  to  accounts,  have  been  here  and  there  brought  up 
amongst  wild  beasts,  goes  no  way  to  show  that  the  erect  posi- 
tion is  not  natural  to  man.  Hard  necessity,  perhaps  too  imita- 
tion, taught  these  wretches  to  go  on  their  hands  and  feet  at  the 
same  time  that  they  were  obliged  to  creep  through  woods  and 
fruit-bearing  copses,  and  even  into  the  dens  and  receptacles  of 
wild  beasts;  nor  is  it  quite  certain  that  it  was  the  case  with  all. 
The  Hessian  boy6  found  amongst  the  wolves  sometimes  only 
walked  as  a  quadruped;  the  girl  of  Zell7,  and  the  girl  of 
Champagne8,  and  the  boy  of  Hameln9  went  upright.  And  the 
argument  deduced  from  the  first  crawlings  of  infants  is  much 
weaker  still,  since  it  must  be  very  well  known  to  any  one  who 
has  observed  them,  that  they  scarcely  ever  crawl  as  quadru- 
peds,  but  rather   squat  upon  their   buttocks,  rest  upon  their 

1  Leguat,  T.  II.  p.  95 — souvent — Tulp.  1.  in.  c.  56 — multoties. 

2  Tyson,  Edwards,  Buffon.  The  orang-utan  which  I  saw  myself  alive  at  Jena 
in  1 7  70  could  not  go  on  its  hinder  feet  without  the  assistance  of  a  stick,  nor  walk 
about  easily  at  all. 

3  Le  Cat,  Traite  du  mouvement  musculaire,  Tab.  1. 

4  Tyson,  Anat.  ofapygmy,  figs.  3,  12,  p.  87.   Opusc.   London,  1751. 

5  Homo  lar.  Linn. 

6  Dilich.  Hessische  Chronicle.  P.  11.  p.  187. 

7  Bresl.  Samml.  January  1718,  August  and  October  1722. 

8  Hist.  oVune  fille  sauvage,  &c.  Paris,  1761,  i2mo. 

9  Bresl.  Samml.  December,  1725. 


88  MAN    DEFENCELESS. 

hands1,  and  as  it  were  row  with  their  feet.  Pliny2  therefore  was 
not  quite  correct  when  he  said  that  the  first  promise  of  strength 
and  the  first  gift  of  life  was  to  make  a  man  like  a  quadruped. 

As  to  those  who  make  out  the  erect  position  to  be  the 
fomenter  of  disorders,  they  must  forget  both  veterinary  practice 
and  the  diseases3  which  we  find  afflict  both  wretched  men  and 
fierce  quadrupeds. 

Besides  his  erect  position  and  his  two  hands  there  are  some 
other  things  to  be  considered  which  also  seem  peculiar  to  man. 
Of  all  animals  he  alone  seems  to  be  placed  on  the  earth  alto- 
gether naked  and  defenceless,  since  he  has  neither  powerful 
teeth,  nor  horns,  nor  talons,  nor  a  shaggy  hide,  nor  any  other 
protection.  It  is  no  use  objecting  that  there  are  other  animals 
equally  unprovided;  something  will  always  be  found  which 
keeps  them  protected  to  some  extent4.  He  is  usually  without 
hair,  whereas  the  quadrupeds  which  expose  their  body  to  the 
heavens  and  the  seasons  are  provided  either  with  a  shaggy  hide, 
or  a  thick  skin,  or  shells,  or  scales,  or  spikes.  Few  parts  of  a 
man's  body  can  be  called  hairy5,  and  his  back  is  nearly  bare, 
which  is  certainly  another  argument  for  the  erect  position  of 
man.  His  teeth  all  on  a  level,  round,  smooth,  and  perfectly 
regular,  are  in  one  word  so  constructed,  that  it  is  clear  from  the 
first  glance,  they  were  given  to  man  principally  to  chew  his  food 
with,  partly  also  for  speech,  and  in  no  wise  as  weapons  of 
attack6.  Even  the  teeth  of  apes  differ  greatly  in  form  from 
those  of  men.     Their  canines  are  longer,  sharper,  and  more  dis- 


1  Thus  the  boy  of  Hameln.     Bresl.  Samml.  I.  c. 

2  vii.  I.  T.  I.  p.  369,  ed.  Hard. 

3  See  the  hypochondriac  tumors  of  the  juvenis  hibemus  in  Tulp.  IV.  10. 

4  The  polypus  has  scarcely  any  enemies,  and  when  it  is  accidentally  wounded 
fresh  animals  of  its  own  species  are  the  result  of  the  excrescence. 

5  The  instances  of  hairy  men  are  no  objection,  and  I  am  inclined  to  consider 
them  as  prodigies.  The  hairy  family  of  the  Canary  Islands,  in  Aldrovandus, 
Monstr.  hist.  p.  16  sqq.,  even  if  we  can  trust  a  generally  credulous  author,  are  no 
more  to  be  wondered  at  than  the  six-fingered  families.  Comp.  Zahn,  Specul. 
physico-math.  hist.  T.  III.  p.  70.  I  recollect  myself  that  the  back  of  that  man- 
eating  shepherd,  who  was  executed  in  1772,  at  Berck,  near  Jena,  when  he  had 
been  fastened  to  the  wheel  for  some  weeks  and  exposed  to  the  weather,  and  his 
clothes  fell  off,  appeared  completely  covered  with  shaggy  hair. 

6  Man  is  an  animal  mild  and  soft,  whose  strength  and  power  consist  more  in 
wisdom  than  in  force  of  body.     Eustach.  De  dentibus,  p.  m.  85. 


LAUGHTER  AND   TEARS.  89 

tant  from  their  neighbours  :  the  molars  deeply  incisive,  bristling 
as  it  were  with  enormous  tusks.  Besides  the  teeth,  man  is 
marked  out  as  a  gentle  and  unarmed  being,  by  the  small  bone 
which  is  covered  by  the  lips,  by  which  also  he  is  distinguished 
from  the  apes  and  the  other  beasts  like  him. 

It  has  been  disputed  whether  brutes  have  the  same  affec- 
tions1 of  the  mind  as  man.  This  is  a  very  difficult  question,  if 
we  examine  the  ways  in  which  men  express  joy  and  sorrow,  and 
especially  laughter  and  tears.  That  animals  can  cry  is  certain, 
since  they  have  organs2  exactly  like  those  in  man  for  weeping; 
but  we  must  go  deeper  and  enquire  whether  they  do  so  in  con- 
sequence of  feeling  sorrow.  It  is  said  to  be  so  with  some 
animals,  as  the  orang-utan3,  the  sloth4,  seals5,  the  horse6,  the 
stag7,  the  turtle8,  the  tortoise9,  &c.  The  narrative  of  Steller, 
amongst  others,  deserves  certainly  great  credit ;  so  that  it  is 
probable  that  weeping  from  sadness  is  common  to  animals  and 
man.  About  laughter  as  the  effect  of  joy  there  seems  more 
doubt.  Some  animals  have  peculiar  ways  of  expressing10  tran- 
quillity or  joy,  but  I  do  not  think  that  a  change  in  the  muscles 
of  the  face11,  or  the  utterance  of  cacchination,  has  been  observed 
in  any  other  animal  but  man.  The  croaking  of  apes,  or  the 
cries  of  the  sloth,  have  no  more  to  do  with  this  than  the  barking 
of  dogs,  or  the  songs  of  birds,  as  the  indications  of  joy. 

Women  have  something  peculiar,  which  seems  to  be  denied 
to  all  other  animals,  even  if  they  remain  untouched ;  I  mean  the 
hymen,  which  has  been  granted  to  woman-kind  perhaps  much 
more  for  moral  reasons12,  than  because  it  has  any  physical  uses. 

1  On  this  point,  see  Moscati,  I.  c.  p.  38. 

2  Bertin,  Sur  le  sac  nasal  ou  lacrymal  de  plusieurs  especes  d'animaux.  Mem.  de 
Par.  1766,  p.  281. 

3  Bontius,  1.  v.  c.  32.  Le  Cat,  I.  c.  p.  35.  But  this  good  man  seems  to  allow 
too  much  to  the  ape,  in  his  endeavour  to  make  out  that  there  is  an  almost  imper- 
ceptible transition  from  man  to  the  rest  of  the  animals. 

4  Artedi  in  descr.  Mus.  Sebce,  1.  p.  53. 

5  Steller,  v.  sonderb.  meerth.  p.  140. 

6  Schneider,  de  Catarrho,  p.  371. 

7  Some  look  on  these  tears  as  dirt,  osseous  concretion,  &c. 

8  Quiqueran,  Laud,  provinc.  p.  36. 

9  Ligon,  Barbad.  p.  36. 

10  The  wagging  of  the  dog's  tail,  the  peculiar  purring  of  cats,  &c. 

11  James  Parson,  Human  Physiognomy  explained,  p.  73. 

12  Read  the  great  Haller,  Physiol.  1.  xxvin.  p.  97. 


90  MENSTEUATION. 

I  am  inclined  to  allow  the  menstrual  flux  to  the  females  of 
human  kind  alone1.  There  are  some  who  say  that  some  other 
animals  of  that  sex  have  also  their  menstrual  excretions2,  and 
Buffon3  has  particularly  asserted  this  of  many  apes.  The  whole 
point  depends  upon  the  notion  of  a  periodic  flux,  which,  if  pro- 
perly considered,  will  scarcely  be  allowed  to  apes.  I  have  care- 
fully observed  many  female  apes  of  more  than  one  species,  and 
that  for  many  years,  in  the  menagerie  of  Biittner,  yet  I  cannot 
undertake  to  say  that  they  have  menstrual  excretions.  Mean- 
while it  is  certain  that  they  are  afflicted  with  hoemorrhages  of 
the  womb,  which  however  do  not  occur  at  any  fixed  period,  but 
sometimes  after  one  week,  and  sometimes  after  three  or  more, 
return  in  the  same  ape,  which  otherwise  is  enjoying  good  health; 
in  some  however  it  never  appears  at  all. 

These  two  things  then,  the  hymen  and  periodical  menstru- 
ation, I  consider  as  peculiar  to  mankind4.  As  to  the  clitoris  and 
the  nymphse5,  there  is  no  doubt  that  other  animals  also  have 
them  too;  and  in  some  the  clitoris  appears  very  large  and 
almost  enormous.  The  hymen,  the  guardian  of  chastity,  is 
adapted  to  man  who  is  alone  endowed  with  reason ;  but  the 
clitoris,  the  obscene  organ  of  brute  pleasure,  is  given  to  beasts 
also.  A  few  examples  are  enough :  in  the  papio  mandril  (Simia 
maimonides  Linn.)  which  I  dissected  last  winter,  I  observed  the 
clitoris  of  half-an-ounce  in  weight,  swelling,  wrapped  in  a  loose 
prepuce,  and  so  prominent  that  it  might  easily  have  made  an 
incautious  observer  think  the  animal  was  an  hermaphrodite,  and 
all  the  more  because  a  little  fold,  which  was  visible  in  the  apex 
of  the  member  and  impervious,  increased  the  general  resem- 
blance to  the  virile  gland.  The  nymphce  seemed  worn  down,  or 
had  coalesced  with  the  callous  and  gaping  lips  of  the  pudendum. 
And  I  have  observed  those  as  well  as  the  clitoris  distinctly  in  a 
Mongoz  Lemur,  which  I  myself  saw  alive  last  summer  at  Gottin- 

1  Thus  Plinius,  vn.  15.  p.  m.  T.  I.  p.  382.     Solinus  ex  Democrito,  1.  p.  m.  6. 

2  See  in  Haller,  I.  c.  p.  137. 

3  T.  xiv.  XV.  frequently. 

4  As  to  some  of  the  old  wives'  stories  about  some  nations  of  America,  who  are 
said  not  to  menstruate,  at  this  time  of  day  they  want  no  refutation. 

5  It  is  doubted  by  Linnaeus,  Syst.  Nat.  ed.  XII.  p.  33. 


INTERNAL   STRUCTURE.  91 

gen.  The  Didactylus  ignavus  of  the  Koyal  Museum  has  a  very- 
round  clitoris  between  the  swelling  lips  of  the  pudendum.  But 
the  great  Haller  has  collected  many  instances  \  These  therefore 
are  some  of  the  points  which  are  peculiar  to  mankind  and  which 
can  be  easily  distinguished  without  any  very  delicate  anatomy. 
I  leave  out  others,  as  the  immobility  of  the  ears2,  or  the  hairs  of 
either  eye-brow3,  which  were  formerly  attributed  to  man  alone. 

A  very  extensive  and  at  the  same  time  a  very  pleasant  field 
would  be  open  to  us,  if  we  could  now  investigate  the  internal 
structure  of  the  human  body,  in  so  far  as  it  differs  plainly  from 
the  structure  of  other  animals.  But  the  limits  of  this  our  book 
do  not  allow  us  to  wander  so  far.  It  is  therefore  the  business 
of  those  who  want  information  on  these  points  to  go  to  the 
authors  of  comparative  anatomy,  and,  above  all,  to  those  who 
have  dissected  carefully  the  animals  which  are  most  like  man; 
amongst  whom  it  will  be  sufficient  to  mention  Eustachius4, 
Coiter5,  Biolanis,  and  Tyson7.  Let  them  study  those  who  think 
that  perhaps  the  orang-utan  and  some  other  apes  are  not  so 
much  unlike  man,  but  that  they  may  be  considered  as  of  the 
same  species,  or,  at  all  events,  as  animals  very  closely  allied  to 
man.  It  is  now  my  present  intention  to  select  a  few  points 
from  many,  and  reckon  them  up  briefly. 

As  the  brain,  the  most  noble  entrail  of  the  animal  body,  for 
numberless  reasons  which  everybody  knows,  demands  particular 
attention  beyond  all  other  parts,  men  of  the  greatest  reputation 
have  laboured8  on  its  comparative  anatomy  and  have  stirred  up 
others9,  when  there  was   an  opportunity,  to  similar   labours. 


1  I.  c.  p.  80.  Besides  these  is  the  perforated  clitoris  leading  in  the  urinal 
bladder  of  the  Coocang  Lemur  (tardigrad  Linn.  But  it  seems  best  with  Parkinson 
to  give  it  the  name  of  its  country)  in  Daubenton,  T.  XIII.  p.  -217,  Tab.  XXXI.  fig.  4. 
Can  it  be  likely  that  this  was  an  abnormal  accident  ? 

2  Aristot.  Be  part.  anim.  11.  ii. 

3  Penault.  Hist,  des  anim.  P.  in.  p.  112.  ed.  Paris,  1732.  He  saw  it  in  the 
elephant,  the  ostrich,  the  vulture.  I  have  seen  things  very  like  the  human  ones  in 
many  apes. 

4  Frequently.  s  Principal,  corp.  Ii.  part.  tab.  Norib.  1575.  fol.  maj. 
G  Jo.  Biol.  Jo.  fil.  Osteologia  simice,  Par.  1614.  8vo.  7  Op.  cit. 

8  Sam.  Collin's  Comparative  Anatomy.     Haller,  Physiol.  T.  iv.  and  Op.  Minor. 
T.  ill. 
"•  9  Haller,  Physiol.  T.  v.  p.  529. 


92  BEAIN   OF   THE    APE. 

Recollecting  this,  as  I  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  dissect 
apes,  last  winter,  of  more  than  one  kind,  I  have,  above  all, 
investigated  their  brains,  and  I  exhibit  as  a  specimen  the  base 
of  one1.  It  is  the  brain  of  that  very  mandril  I  was  just  speak- 
ing of.  Cut  off  at  the  great  occipital  foramen,  and  taken  out 
of  the  skull,  it  weighed  three  ounces  and  one  drachm,  whilst 
the  rest  of  the  body  of  the  ape  weighed  eight  common  pounds 
and  a  half.  The  principal  points  in  which  its  base  differs  from 
the  human  organ  are  these.  The  two  anterior  lobes  of  the 
brain  are  almost  entirely  unified.  The  cerebellum  is  large  in 
proportion  to  the  brain,  more  than  is  the  case  with  the  pygmy. 
The  pons  varolii  is  separated  from  the  medulla  oblongata  by  no 
apparent  fissure,  but  is  joined  on,  and  down  continuously  with 
it.  Not  a  vestige  of  the  pyramidal  or  olivary  bodies,  as  is  also 
the  case  in  the  pygmy.  The  medulla  oblongata  much  thicker 
than  in  the  man  or  the  pygmy.  The  second  pair  of  nerves 
which  were  united  in  one  great  mass  and  then  again  divided 
at  the  very  entrance  of  the  orbits,  was  cut  off  before  the  sepa- 
ration. No  rete  mirabile.  I  omit  other  things  of  less  import- 
ance, which  any  one  who  is  skilled  in  anatomy  will  easily 
recognize ;  and  I  can  assure  such  an  one  that  the  figure  is 
most  accurately  drawn2. 

I  have  subjoined  to  the  brain  the  skull  of  the  same  papio, 
in  which,  besides  the  deeper  orbits,  the  thickness  of  the  zygomata, 
the  widely  divergent  teeth,  the  immense  canines,  and  other 
things  of  smaller  importance,  that  peculiar  bone  in  which  the 
incisors  are  set  deserves  particular  attention.  This  man  is  with- 
out, although  all  the  apes  and  most  of  the  other  mammals3 
have  it.  I  doubted  whether  it  was  to  be  found  in  the  orang-utan; 
since  in  the  figures  of  Tyson4  and  Daubenton5  the  skulls  were 
not  drawn  in  such  a  way  that  the  sutures  could  be  well  distin- 

1  PL  i.  %.  i. 

2  Compare  with  my  figure  the  brain  of  Tyson's  pygmy,  fig.  13,  and  that  most 
elegant  chart  by  Haller  of  the  base  of  the  human  brain,  Fasc.  vil.  Tab.  I.  To  make 
the  comparison  easier,  I  have  preserved  the  same  lettering,  by  which  in  Haller's 
chart  the  parts  of  the  brain  are  marked. 

3  The  Myrmecophaga  didactyla,  whose  skull  I  have,  does  not  possess  it. 

4  I.  c.  fig.  5. 

5  Mem.  de  Par.  1764,  Tab.  XVI.  fig.  2. 


SKULL   OF  THE   APE.  93 

guished1:  nor  did  the  English  author  speak  precisely  about 
it2 :  but  Fr.  Gabr.  Sulzer  has  settled  the  point,  for  he  kindly 
writes  me  word  that  Camper,  a  great  authority,  has  dissected 
animals  of  this  kind,  and  found  this  bone  in  them.  Another 
difference  flows  from  this  singular  structure,  namely,  in  the 
bone  of  the  nose,  which  is  double  in  the  human  head,  and 
nearly  of  a  rhomboidal  figure,  whereas  it  is  seen  to  be  single  in 
the  apes,  and  also  triangular,  which  however,  like  the  other 
things  which  may  be  observed  in  this  figure,  are  very  patent, 
and  will  easily  be  seen  by  those  who  know  anything  of  osteology, 
and  therefore  do  not  want  any  further  explanation. 

Amongst  other  differences  between  the  human  body  and 
that  of  the  beasts  there  are  some  which  are  better  known, 
and  may  be  briefly  touched  upon.  As,  for  example,  the  mem- 
brana  nictitans,  periojjhthalmium,  or  third  eyelid,  which  Haller3 
says  is  in  man  a  very  slight  imitation  of  the  organ  in  animals, 
although  in  animals  also  according  to  their  class  and  order, 
their  mode  of  life,  and  their  size,  it  differs  much  in  position  and 
constitution4. 

Besides  this,  the  bulbous  or  suspensory  muscle  of  the  eye  is 
common  to  nearly  all5  quadrupeds,  and  so  is  the  suspensory  liga- 
ment of  the  neck,  which  is  said  to  be  wanting  in  man  and  the 
apes  alone6.     This  white  and  tendonous  part  which  is  known  to 


1  The  figure  of  the  skeleton  of  the  long-handed  ape  in  Buffon,  T.  xiv.  Tab.  vr, 
has  the  same  fault ;  and  even  Coiter,  who  is  famous  in  other  things,  has  omitted  to 
mark  this  bone  in  the  skeleton  of  the  tailed  ape,  the  figure  of  which  is  added  to  in 
the  book  and  place  already  quoted.  Still  it  is  most  distinctly  visible  in  the  skulls 
of  five  different  kinds  of  apes  which  I  have  before  me. 

2  P.  65.  "In  a  monkey  I  observed  that  peculiar  suture  Piolan  mentions,  but 
did  not  find  it  in  the  Pygmie,  only  in  the  palate  of  the  Pygmie  I  observed  a 
suture,  not  from  the  dens  caninus,  as  was  in  the  monkey,  but  from  the  second  of 
the  dentes  incisores." 

3  Physiol.  T.  v.  p.  328,  where  there  are  a  good  many  interesting  things  about 
this  membrane.  There  is  a  good  deal  about  it  also  in  Peter  Tarrarrani,  Cose  anato- 
miche  in  Atti  de  ftsico-critici  di  Siena,  T.  in.  p.  115.  De  Pauw.  Eecherch.  philos. 
sur  les  Americ.  T.  n.  p.  70 n. 

4  In  some  I  certainly  found  a  few  traces,  as  in  the  Lemur  Mongoz.  It  is  small 
too  in  the  apes. 

5  It  is  wanting  in  Tyson's  orang-utan,  p.  85.  Andr.  Vesalius  had  falsely  and 
obstinately  assigned  it  to  man.  Comp.  Haller,  I.  c.  p.  421.  Douglass  Schreiberi, 
p.  40. 

6  Linnaeus,  Syst.  Nat.  ed.  xir.  T.  1.  p.  48. 


94  VERTEBRAE   OF   THE   APE. 

everybody,  and  is  called  by  my  countrymen,  haarwachs;  by  the 
English1,  pack  wax,  taxwax,  fixfax  and  whiteleather ;  by  the 
Belgians2,  vast,  &c.  is  inserted  for  the  purpose  of  sustaining  the 
head  and  neck  of  quadrupeds3.  But  although  man  shares  the 
absence  of  this  with  the  apes,  yet  it  by  no  means  follows  that 
apes  are  meant  to  walk  upright,  since  in  them  the  subtle 
structure  of  the  vertebras  of  the  neck,  and  in  man  the  peculiar 
bipedal  walk,  supply  the  defect  of  this  ligament.  The  whole 
point  about  the  bodies  of  these  vertebras  is  best  explained 
by  a  comparison  of  these  bones  themselves,  as  they  appear 
in  the  skeleton  of  the  man  and  the  ape,  and  for  this  reason 
I  have  had  engraved  the  whole  construction  of  the  vertebras  of 
the  neck  in  the  same  papio 4  (PI.  II.  fig.  1),  the  base  of  whose 
brain  and  whose  skull  we  have  just  seen,  because  in  that  it 
may  be  seen  as  clearly  as  possible  why  he  scarcely  ever  goes 
on  two  feet.  I  have  subjoined  the  fifth  and  sixth  vertebras 
of  the  human  neck  (PI.  n.  fig.  2).  In  these  the  bodies  are 
nearly  parallel,  and  almost  disciform,  whereas  in  the  ape  they 
descend  by  a  sort  of  scaly  process  in  front,  and  one  is  placed 
upon  and  dove-tailed  into  the  other.  So  it  can  easily  be  made 
plain  by  experiment  that  the  vertebras  in  these  animals  sup- 
port each  other,  and  serve  to  sustain  the  head,  which  could  not 
be  done  with  man  if  placed  in  a  quadrupedal  position,  on  ac- 
count of  the  smooth  surfaces  of  the  body  of  the  vertebras,  for  so 
it  would  be  excessively  difficult  to  sustain  the  mass  of  the  very 
heavy  human  head,  which  would  more  and  more  collapse  and 
subside  by  its  own  weight. 

I  have  selected  a  few  out  of  many  points  in  which  man  differs 
most  clearly  from  the  other  animals.  I  have  said  that  there  are 
many  which  go  to  demonstrate  his  natural  position  to  be  an  erect 
one,  and  to  separate  him  fairly  from  the  apes,  especially  from  the 
orang-utan.      I  have  been  induced  to  do   this  because  of  the 


1  Allen  Mullen,  Anatomical  Account  of  the  Eleph.  p.  14.    Ray,  Wisdom  of  God, 
pp.  261,  338,  and  Synops.  quadrupedum,  p.  136.     Derham,  Physico-theol.  p.  3-24. 

2  Vesal.  De  corp.  hum.  fabr.  p.  361. 

3  La  Fosse,  Cours  d'Hippiatrique,  Tab.  xi  a. 

4  It  would  have  been  tedious  to  transcribe  from  Eustachius  and  Goiter  all  the 
other  points  in  which  the  vertebrae  of  the  apes  diverge  from  those  of  man. 


OEANG-UTAN.  95 

opinions  lately  expressed  by  some  famous  men1,  who  however 
are  ill-instructed  in  natural  history  and  anatomy,  but  who  are 
not  ashamed  to  say  that  this  ape  is  very  nearly  allied,  and  indeed 
of  the  same  species  with  themselves. 

I  do  not  think  this  opinion  deserves  any  lengthened  refuta- 
tion for  those  who  are  adepts  in  the  matter;  but  it  will  clearly 
not  be  foreign  to  our  purpose  if  I  say  a  few  words  about  the 
orang-utan  himself.  After  the  labours  of  Buffon  and  others  it  is 
not  worth  while  to  spend  any  time  on  his  habits  and  mode  of 
life2.  But  it  would  be  worth  while  if  the  species  were  a  little 
more  accurately  defined.  For  although  this  remarkable  animal 
has  very  seldom  been  seen  in  Europe,  and  few  authentic  repre- 
sentations of  it  exist,  still  such  as  they  are  they  differ  so  much 
from  each  other  that  they  can  in  no  way  be  considered  as  belong- 
ing to  one  and  the  same  species.  I  shall  pass  by  the  delineations 
which  are  manifestly  fictitious,  or  carelessly  drawn,  such  as  those 
of  Bontius,  Neuhof,  Jiirgen  Andersen,  Jo.  Jac.  Saar,  and  Franc. 
Leguat;  and  examine  more  closely  the  authentic  ones  alone. 
These  are  those  of  Tulp,  Tyson,  Edwards,  Scotin3,  Le  Cat,  and 
Buffon,  which  when  they  are  compared  together  manifestly 
differ  very  much  both  in  form  and  size.  Recent  authors  have 
deduced  from  this  a  variety  of  species,  and  have  called  one  the 
larger,  and  the  other  the  smaller  orang-utan.  I  do  not  however 
place  much  trust  in  this  distinction.  Some  of  the  specimens 
which  have  been  brought  to  Europe  were  very  young,  and  there 
were  indications  which,  considering  that  they  all  died  prema- 
turely4, forbid  us  to  come  to  any  conclusion  as  to  their  size.  Still 

1  Cours  cVhist.  not.  T.  i.  That  good  citizen  of  Geneva  Sur  Vinegalite  parmi  les 
homines,  p.  157  n.  The  Origin  and  Progress  of  Language,  Vol.  I.  pp.  175,  289.  Hist, 
of  Jamaica,  Vol.  11.  p.  363,  Lond.  1774,  4to. 

2  I  shall  only  remark  on  the  name  orang-utan,  that  it  is  incorrectly  translated 
"wild  man,"  homo  sylvestris.  Man  in  Malay  is  Manusia,  but  the  word  oran  is 
applied  not  only  to  man,  but  also  to  the  elephant,  whom  the  Indians  think  is 
sensible.  Blittner,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  this  observation,  translates  it 
intelligent  being. 

3  Scotin's  animal,  Chimpansi,  brought  by  H.  Howe,  master  of  the  ship  Speaker, 
from  Angola  to  London,  in  Aug.  1738,  was  figured  separately  by  Sloane,  and 
repeated  in  Nova  acta  erud.  Lips.  Sept.  1739,  Tab.  v.  p.  564.  Linn.  Anthrop.  Am. 
ac.  Vol.  VI.  Hauber,  Bibl.  magica,  s.  35.  Le  Cat,  above.  The  others  are  well 
known. 

4  The  one  Buffon  saw  was  two  years  old.    Tyson's  had  not  yet  cut  all  its  teeth. 


96  OBANG-UTAN. 

the  habit  of  their  whole  body  and  the  conformation  of  its  parts 
seem  to  me  much  more  justly  to  constitute  them  into  species. 
I  may  be  allowed  therefore  to  admit  at  least  two  species,  and 
in  order  that  names  may  not  be  unnecessarily  multiplied,  I  shall 
give  them  some  which  occur  in  Linnaeus,  one  which  has  been 
improperly  appended  to  man  by  that  illustrious  author,  the  other 
to  the  first  species  of  apes.     Let  there  be  then, — 

1.  Simia  troglodytes  or  Chimpansi;  represented  by  Tulp 
and  Scotin,  macrocephalous,  sinewy,  hairy  on  the  back  of  its 
body  alone ;  the  front,  except  the  shoulders,  being  bare. 

2.  Satyrus  or  Orang-utan  of  Tyson,  Edwards,  Le  Cat,  and 
BufFon ;  rather  slender,  with  small  head,  clothed  with  thick  hair, 
the  hairs  of  the  arm  and  fore-arm  being  in  opposite  directions. 
Such  was  the  male  which  I  mentioned  having  seen  alive  at  Jena. 
It  came  very  near  to  the  figure  of  Tyson,  and  at  the  first  glance 
was  most  unmistakeably  different  from  the  Simia  sylvanus,  &c. 
I  made  a  drawing  at  that  time  of  this  rare  animal,  but  I  regret 
that  I  neglected  to  measure  its  parts  more  accurately. 

These  are  the  observations  made  partly  by  myself,  and  partly 
by  my  first  preceptor  in  natural  history,  I.  E.  Im.  Walch.  The 
stature  was  that  of  a  boy  about  ten  years  old,  colour  brown, 
face  sufficiently  human,  the  fingers  of  the  hands  and  feet  rather 
long,  the  thumb  yidely  separated,  the  calves  more  fleshy  than 
in  other  apes,  the  scrotum  pendulous  almost  square,  rather 
white,  the  penis  small  like  Tyson's  figure.  It  was  so  much  in 
the  habit  of  leaning  on  a  stick,  that  though  it  could  stand  and 
walk  on  two  feet,  most  persons  would  attribute  that  way  of 
walking  to  the  effect  of  education.  The  same  might  be  said  of 
his  way  of  drinking  and  eating,  in  which  actions  he  used  spoon 
and  cup.     He  showed  a  great  desire  for  the  other  sex. 

Linnaeus  doubted  whether  the  animals  which  we  have 
divided  into  two  species,  but  which  in  his  opinion  were  only 
varieties,  differed  in  anything  more  than  in  sex.  It  is  quite  true 
that  those  represented  by  Tulp  and  Scotin  were  females,  and  the 
others  males ;  but  still  the  silence  of  travellers  and  eye-witnesses 
like  Bontius  and  Th.  Bowrey,  on  any  different  form  in  the  sexes, 
convinces  me  that  besides  the  difference  of  sex  there  must  also 


SIMIA   LONGIMANA.  97 

be  a  variety  of  species.  I  cannot  dismiss  these  animals  without 
mentioning  two  points,  of  which  one  is  concerned  with  a  singu- 
lar character  of  them  which  has  been  generally  neglected,  and 
the  other  regards  their  native  country.  I  owe  the  knowledge  of 
the  former  character  to  my  great  friend  Sulzer,  who  repeated  to 
me  the  words  of  Camper,  who,  I  just  mentioned,  dissected  these 
Satyvi  himself,  "that  in  the  front  hands  of  these  animals  the 
nails  of  the  thumbs  were  wanting."  There  are  indeed  nails  in  the 
plates  of  Tyson,  Edwards,  and  Le  Cat;  but  that  singular  and 
paradoxical  character  might  very  easily  have  been  unnoticed ;  nor 
did  I  pay  any  attention  myself  to  the  nails  of  the  Jena  satyr. 
Was  this  a  third  species?  that  I  cannot  decide.  The  other 
point  that  remains  to  be  mentioned  is  as  to  the  native  country 
of  both  species  (chimpansi  and  orang-utan).  By  almost  all  zoo- 
logical writers  the  torrid  zone  of  the  ancient  world  is  given  out 
as  their  native  country.  Bancroft 1  however  relates  a  report  of  the 
inhabitants,  that  the  orang-utan  may  also  be  found  in  the  thick 
woods  of  Guiana.  This  account  deserves  further  attention,  but 
there  is  this  against  it,  that  the  author  adds  that  the  animal  has 
not  yet  been  seen  by  Europeans  resident  there. 

There  is  another  animal  nearly  allied  to  the  Troglodyte  and 
the  Satyr,  which  is  the  Simia  longimana  {Homo  Lar,  Linn.,  Gib- 
bon, Buff),  an  animal  exactly  like  man,  if  you  look  at  its  face: 
but  differing  from  almost  all  other  animals  if  you  consider  the 
enormous  length  of  its  anterior  feet.  They  are  indeed  represented 
as  somewhat  shorter  in  the  figure  of  the  Bengalese  ape,  which 
is  inserted  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions2,  and  taken  for  the 
S.  longimana,  which  however  is  clearly  drawn  by  the  hand  of 
no  artist,  as  is  shown  by  the  unequal  length  of  either  fore  arm, 
and  by  other  particulars. 

Enough  then  has  been  said  about  the  Troglodyte  and  Satyr. 
And  now  we  must  come  more  closely  to  the  principal  argument 
of  our  dissertation,  which  is  concerned  with  this  question;  Are 


1  Nat.  Hist,  of  Guiana,  p.  1 30. 

2  Vol.  lix.  P.  1.  for  1769,  p.  71,  Tab.  ill.,  of  either  sex.  The  female  is 
repeated  in  Gent.  Mag.  1770,  September,  p.  402.  Comp.  Pennant,  Synops.  of 
Quadr.  p.  100. 


98  PLURALITY   OF  SPECIES. 

men,  and  have  the  men  of  all  times  and  of  every  race  been  of  one 
and  the  same,  or  clearly  of  more  than  one  species'}  A  question 
much  discussed  in  these  days,  but  so  far  as  I  know,  seldom 
expressly  treated  of. 

Ill-feeling,  negligence,  and  the  love  of  novelty  have  induced 
persons  to  take  up  the  latter  opinion.  The  idea  of  the  plurality 
of  human  species  has  found  particular  favour1  with  those  who 
made  it  their  business  to  throw  doubt  on  the  accuracy  of  Scrip- 
ture. For  on  the  first  discovery  of  the  Ethiopians,  or  the  beard- 
less inhabitants  of  America,  it  was  much  easier  to  pronounce 
them  different  species 2  than  to  inquire  into  the  structure  of  the 
human  body,  to  consult  the  numerous  anatomical  authors  and 
travellers,  and  carefully  to  weigh  their  good  faith  or  carelessness, 
to  compare  parallel  examples  from  the  universal  circuit  of  natural 
history,  and  then  at  last  to  come  to  an  opinion,  and  investigate 
the  causes  of  the  variety.  For  such  is  the  subtlety  of  the 
human  intellect,  and  such  the  rush  for  novelty,  that  many  would 
rather  accept  a  new,  though  insufficiently  considered  opinion, 
than  subscribe  to  ancient  truths  which  have  been  commonly 
accepted  for  thousands  of  years. 

I  have  endeavoured  to  keep  free  of  all  these  mistakes;  I 
have  written  this  book  quite  unprejudiced,  and  I  have  desired 
nothing  so  much  as  that  the  arguments  which  I  have  brought 
forward  for  the  unity  of  the  human  species,  and  for  its  mere 
varieties,  may  seem  as  satisfactory  to  my  learned  and  candid 
readers  as  they  do  to  myself. 

For  although  there  seems  to  be  so  great  a  difference  between 
widely  separate  nations,  that  you  might  easily  take  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  the  Greenlanders,  and  the  Cir- 
cassians for  so  many  different  species  of  man,  yet  when  the 
matter  is  thoroughly  considered,  you  see  that  all  do  so  run  into 
one  another,  and  that  one  variety  of  mankind  does  so  sensibly 

1  Simon  Tyssot  de  Patot,  Voyages  et  aventures  de  Jaques  Masse,  T.  i.  p.  36. 
Bazin  (Voltaire),  Philosophie  de  I'histoire,  p.  45.  Idem  in  Quest,  sur  VEncyclop. 
T.  iv.  p.  112,  T.  vii.  p.  98,  179,  is  completely  refuted  by  Haller.  Brief  en  uber 
einige  Einwiirfe  noch  lebend.  Freigeister  wider  die  Offenh.  I.  Th.  pp.  102,  184,  196. 

2  Of  this  opinion  were  Griffith  Hughes,  Nat.  Hist,  of  Barbadoes,  p.  14.  Henry 
Home,  Sketches  of  the  History  of  Man,  Vol.  I.  p.  12. 


CLASSIFICATIONS.  99 

pass  into  the  other,  that  you  cannot  mark  out  the  limits  between 
them. 

Very  arbitrary  indeed  both  in  number  and  definition  have 
been  the  varieties  of  mankind  accepted  by  eminent  men.  Lin- 
naeus 1  allotted  four  classes  of  inhabitants  to  the  four  quarters  of 
the  globe  respectively.  Oliver  Goldsmith2  reckons  six.  I  have 
followed  Linnaeus  in  the  number,  but  have  denned  my  varieties 
by  other  boundaries.  The  first  and  most  important  to  us  (which 
is  also  the  primitive  one)  is  that  of  Europe,  Asia  this  side  of  the 
Ganges,  and  all  the  country  situated  to  the  north  of  the  Amoor, 
together  with  that  part  of  North  America,  which  is  nearest  both 
in  position3  and  character  of  the  inhabitants.  Though  the  men  of 
these  countries  seem  to  differ  very  much  amongst  each  other  in 
form  and  colour,  still  when  they  are  looked  at  as  a  whole  they 
seem  to  agree  in  many  things  with  ourselves.  The  second  in- 
cludes that  part  of  Asia  beyond  the  Ganges,  and  below  the  river 
Amoor,  which  looks  towards  the  south,  together  with  the  islands, 
and  the  greater  part  of  those  countries  which  are  now  called 
Australian.  Men  of  dark  colour,  snub  noses,  with  winking  eye- 
lids drawn  outwards  at  the  corners,  scanty,  and  stiff  hair.  Africa 
makes  up  the  third.  There  remains  finally,  for  the  fourth,  the 
rest  of  America,  except  so  much  of  the  North  as  was  included 
in  the  first  variety4. 

It  will  easily  appear  from  the  progress  of  this  dissertation  in 

1  Syst.  Nat.  p.  29.  s  Hist,  of  the  Earth,  Vol.  11.  p.  an. 

3  Comp.  besides  the  English  terraqueous  globes,  which  by  the  liberality  of  our 
queen  the  university  library  possesses,  and  the  Swedish  ones  of  Akerman,  a  copy 
of  which  is  due  to  the  kindness  of  J.  Andr.  Murray,  the  maps  of  D'Anville, 
Stahlin,  and  Engel,  and  the  more  recent  labours  of  de  Vaugondy,  Sur  les  pays  de 
VAsie  et  de  VAmerique  situes  au  Nord  de  la  mer  du  Sud.  Par.  1774,  4-to. 

4  [  33-  Mankind  divided  into  five  varieties.  Formerly  in  the  first  edition  of 
this  work  I  divided  all  mankind  into  four  varieties ;  but  after  I  had  more  accu- 
rately investigated  the  different  nations  of  Eastern  Asia  and  America,  and,  so  to 
speak,  looked  at  them  more  closely,  I  was  compelled  to  give  up  that  division,  and 
to  place  in  its  stead  the  following  five  varieties,  as  more  consonant  to  nature. 

The  first  of  these  and  the  largest,  which  is  also  the  primeval  one,  embraces  the 
whole  of  Europe,  including  the  Lapps,  whom  I  cannot  in  any  way  separate  from 
the  rest  of  the  Europeans,  when  their  appearance  and  their  language  bear  such 
testimony  to  their  Finnish  origin;  and  that  western  part  of  Asia  which  lies 
towards  us,  this  side  of  the  Obi,  the  Caspian  sea,  mount  Taurus  and  the  Ganges ; 
also  northern  Africa,  and  lastly,  in  America,  the  Greenlanders  and  the  Esquimaux, 
for  I  see  in  these  people  a  wonderful  difference  from  the  other  inhabitants  of 
America;  and,  unless  I  am  altogether  deceived,  I  think  they  must  be  derived  from 

7—2 


100  FOUR  VARIETIES. 

which  of  the  four  varieties  most  discrepancies  are  still  to  be 
found,  and  on  the  contrary,  that  many  in  other  varieties  have 
some  points  in  common,  or  in  some  anomalous  way  differ  from 
the  rest  of  their  neighbours.  Still  it  will  be  found  serviceable 
to  the  memory  to  have  constituted  certain  classes  into  which  the 
men  of  our  planet  may  be  divided ;  and  this  I  hope  I  have  not 
altogether  failed  in  doing,  since  for  the  reason  I  have  given 
before  I  have  tried  this  and  that,  but  found  them  less  satisfac- 
tory. Now  I  mean  to  go  over  one  by  one  the  points  in  which 
man  seems  to  differ  from  man  by  the  natural  conformation  of  his 
body  and  in  appearance,  and  I  will  investigate  as  far  as  I  can 
the  causes  which  tend  to  produce  that  variety. 

First  of  all  I  shall  speak  of  the  whole  bodily  constitution, 
stature,  and  colour,  and  then  I  shall  go  on  to  the  particular 
structure  and  proportion  of  individual  parts.  It  will  then  be  ne- 
cessary carefully  to  distinguish  those  points  which  are  due  to  art 
alone,  and  finally,  though  with  reluctance,  I  shall  touch  upon 

the  Finns.  All  these  nations  regarded  as  a  whole  are  white  in  colour,  and,  if 
compared  with  the  rest,  beautiful  in  form. 

The  second  variety  comprises  that  of  the  rest  of  Asia,  which  lies  beyond  the 
Ganges,  and  the  part  lying  beyond  the  Caspian  Sea  and  the  river  Obi  towards 
Nova  Zembla.  The  inhabitants  of  this  country  are  distinguished  by  being  of 
brownish  colour,  more  or  less  verging  to  the  olive,  straight  face,  narrow  eye-lids, 
and  scanty  hair.  This  whole  variety  may  be  sub-divided  into  two  races,  northern 
and  southern ;  of  which  one  may  embrace  China,  the  Corea,  the  kingdoms  of 
Tonkin,  Pegu,  Siam,  and  Ava,  using  rather  monosyllabic  languages,  and  distin- 
guished for  depravity  and  perfidiousness  of  spirit  and  of  manners;  and  the  other 
the  nations  of  northern  Asia,  the  Ostiaks,  and  the  other  Siberians,  the  Tunguses, 
the  Mantchoos,  the  Tartars,  the  Calmucks,  and  the  Japanese. 

The  third  variety  comprises  what  remains  of  Africa,  besides  that  northern  part 
which  I  have  already  mentioned.  Black  men,  muscular,  with  prominent  upper 
jaws,  swelling  lips,  turned  up  nose,  very  black  curly  hair. 

The  fourth  comprises  the  rest  of  America,  whose  inhabitants  are  distinguished 
by  their  copper  colour,  their  thin  habit  of  body,  and  scanty  hair. 

Finally,  the  new  southern  world  makes  up  the  fifth,  with  which,  unless  I  am 
mistaken,  the  Sunda,  the  Molucca,  and  the  Philippine  Islands  should  be  reckoned ; 
the  men  throughout  being  of  a  very  deep  brown  colour,  with  broad  nose,  and  thick 
hair.  Those  who  inhabit  the  Pacific  Archipelago  are  divided  again  by  John  Reinh. 
Forster1  into  two  tribes.  One  made  up  of  the  Otaheitans,  the  New  Zealanders, 
gnd  the  inhabitants  of  the  Friendly  Isles,  the  Society,  Easter  Island,  and  the 
Marquesas,  &c,  men  of  elegant  appearance  and  mild  disposition;  whereas  the 
others  who  inhabit  New  Caledonia,  Tanna,  and  the  New  Hebrides,  &c,  are 
blacker,  more  curly,  and  in  disposition  more  distrustful  and  ferocious.  Edit. 
1781,  pp.  51,  52. — This  is  the  first  sketch  of  the  still  famous  division  of  mankind 
by  Blumenbach :  the  well-known  terms  Caucasian,  &c.  will  be  found  in  the  third 
ed.  below. —  Ed.] 

1  Observations,  p.  228. 


EFFECT   OF  CLIMATE.  101 

nosology  and  practical  medicine,  both  which  chapters  recent 
authors  have  tried  to  obtrude  into  natural  history,  but  which 
I  shall  endeavour  to  vindicate  for  and  restore  to  pathology. 

The  first  three  things  I  mean  to  discuss,  the  whole  bodily 
constitution,  the  stature,  and  the  colour,  are  owing  almost  en- 
tirely to  climate  alone.  I  must  be  brief  on  the  first  of  these 
points,  since  I  have  had  no  opportunity  of  exercising  my  personal 
observation  on  the  matter,  and  but  few  and  scanty  traces  are  to 
be  gathered  from  authors.  That  in  hot  countries  bodies  become 
drier  and  heavier;  in  cold  and  wet  ones  softer,  more  full  of 
juice  and  spongy,  is  easily  noticed.  It  has  long  since  been 
noticed  by  W.  Cavendish,  Marquis  of  Newcastle,  that  the  bones 
of  the  wild  horse  have  very  small  cavities,  and  those  of  the 
Frisian  horses  much  larger  ones1,  &c.  This  was  confirmed  by 
the  elegant  experiments  of  Kersting,  a  physician  of  Cassel,  and 
a  most  skilled  in  the  treatment  of  animals.  He  observed2, 
amongst  other  things,  that  the  bones  of  an  Arab  horse,  of  six 
years  old,  when  subjected  to  the  same  degree  of  heat,  were  dis- 
solved with  much  more  difficulty  in  the  machine  of  Papinus  than 
those  of  a  Frisian  of  the  same  age.  It  is  very  likely  that  similar 
differences  would  be  observed  in  the  bones  of  men  born  in 
different  countries,  although  observations  are  wanting,  and  con- 
clusions drawn  from  a  few  facts  are  unsatisfactory.  Here  and 
there  indeed  we  find  bones  of  Ethiopians3  which  are  thick,  com- 
pact, and  hard;  but  I  should  be  unwilling  to  attribute  these 
properties  to  every  skeleton  coming  from  hot  countries,  since 
other  instances  occur  of  skulls  of  Ethiopians,  about  which  the 
same  remark  has  not  been  made4.  The  differences  moroever  are 
very  great  between  the  skulls  of  Europeans  of  the  same  country 
and  the  same  age,  which  seem  to  depend,  amongst  other  things, 

1  Gen.  Syst.  of  Horsemanship.  [The  passage  alluded  to  stands  thus  in  the  edi- 
tion of  1743,  Vol.  I.  p.  21.  "I  have  experienced  this  difference  between  the  bone 
of  the  leg  of  a  Barbary  horse,  and  one  from  Flanders,  that  the  cavity  of  the  bone 
in  the  one  shall  hardly  admit  of  a  straw  whilst  you  may  thrust  your  finger  into 
that  of  the  other." — Ed.] 

2  Horses'  bones  are  much  more  easily  dissolved  than  those  of  mules,  and  asses' 
with  still  greater  difficulty. 

3  B.  S.  Albini,  Supellex  Rav.  n.  xxix.     P.  Paaw,  Prim.  Anat.  p.  29. 

4  In  the  Leg.  Rav.  n.  xiii.  and  n.  xxi,  it  is  said  that  the  bones  of  the  Malabar 
women  are  very  thin.  See  also  J.  Beni.  de  Fischer,  Be  modo  quo  ossa  se  vicin. 
accomm.  part.,  L.B.  1743,  Tab.  in. 


102  STATURE. 

principally  upon  the  mode  of  life  \  Perhaps  the  same  is  the 
case  as  to  the  sutures,  which  Arrian2  says  the  heads  of  the 
Ethiopians  are  without,  and  Herodotus3  says  the  same  of  the 
Persian  skulls  after  the  battle  of  Platsea.  The  observation 
about  the  whole  habit  of  the  body,  that  the  northern4  nations 
are  more  sinewy  and  square,  and  the  southern5  more  elegant, 
seems  more  reliable. 

I  go  on  to  the  human  stature.  It  is  an  old  opinion,  that  in 
very  ancient  times  men  were  much  larger  and  taller,  and  that 
they  degenerate  and  diminish  in  size  even  now,  that  children 
are  now  born  smaller  than  their  parents,  and  all  the  things  of 
this  kind  which  the  old  poets6  and  philosophers7  have  said  to 
discredit  their  own  times. 

But  although  this  may  be  going  too  far,  still  we  must  allow 
something  to  climate,  so  far  as  that  itself  is  altered  by  the  lapse 
of  time.  The  soil  itself  becomes  milder,  so  that  it  may  at  last 
make  its  men  less  gigantic  and  less  fierce.  We  have  already 
spoken  of  an  example  of  this  change  in  our  own  Germany. 
But  the  idea  that  these  differences  of  bodies  in  ancient  and 
modern  times  have  been  enormous,  is  refuted  by  the  mummies 
of  Egypt,  the  fossil  human  skeletons 8,  the  sarcophagi,  and  a 
thousand  other  proofs. 

Nor  do  a  few  skulls  conspicuous  for  their  age  and  size9,  scat- 


1  J.  B.  Com.  a  Covolo,  Be  met.  duor.  oss.  ped.  in  quad,  aliquot,  Bonon.  1765,  p.  7. 

2  &ppa<pees  Keipakai.   Arato. 

3  Csel.  Bhodig.  Lect.  Ant.  ~s.ni.  a 8.  p.  501.  ed.  Froben. 

4  For  the  Lapps  and  Finns,  Leem,  Lules,  Hogstrom,  Calmuchs,  Pallas, 
Greenlanders,  Crantz,  &c. 

5  For  New  Zealand,  New  Holland,  &c.  see  S.  Parkinson.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  island  of  Mallicolo,  lately  visited  by  Forster,  are  remarkable  for  their  slender 
arms  and  feet,  as  I  have  been  kindly  told  by  G.  C.  Lichtenberg  since  his  return 
from  England. 

6  Homer  says  repeatedly  that  Tydides,  Hector,  Ajax,  Telamon,  &c.  (whose 
gigantic  knee-cap  Pausanias  describes  as  being  shown  long  afterwards)  were  much 
more  strong  and  large  than  the  men  of  his  day,  oiol  vvv  j3poTol  ei<ri  Ajid  he  has 
been  imitated  in  this  by  Virgil,  who  represents  Turnus  as  equally  large,  not  to  be 
compared  with  '  Such  human  forms  as  earth  produces  now.' 

7  Plin.  vii.  c.  16.  Solin.  v.  Comp.  more  upon  this  point  J.  S.  Elsholtz, 
Anthropom.  p.  31,  ed.  1663. 

8  There  is  in  the  Museum  of  our  University  a  fossil  skull  tolerably  complete,  of 
the  greatest  antiquity,  the  bones  of  the  head  very  thick,  but  neither  in  magnitude 
nor  form  differing  from  a  common  skull. 

9  Fabricius  Hildan.  Filrtreffl.  nutz  und  nothw.  d.  anat.  Bern.  1624,  p.  209.  Head 
of  March.  Dietzmann  killed  at  Leipzig,  1307.     Glafey,  Saechss.  Kemhist.     Head 


TEMPERATURE.  103 

tered  about  here  and  there,  prove  anything  more  than  those  solid 
ones  destitute  of  sutures,  about  which  I  was  lately  speaking. 
Some,  it  is  clear,  are  diseased1.  But  as  to  the  bones  which  cre- 
dulous antiquity  showed  as  those  of  giants,  they  have  long 
since  been  restored  to  elephants  and  whales 2.  The  investigation 
of  the  causes  which  in  our  days  make  the  men  of  one  country 
tall  and  another  short  is  more  subtle.  The  principal  one  seems 
to  be  the  degree  of  cold  or  heat.  The  latter  obstructs  the 
increase  of  organic  bodies,  whilst  the  former  adds  to  them 
and  promotes  their  growth.  It  would  be  tedious  even  to  touch 
upon  a  thing  so  well  known  and  so  much  confirmed  in  both  king- 
doms, were  it  not  that  in  our  time  men  have  come  forward,  and 
with  the  greatest  confidence  have  presumed  to  think  otherwise 3. 
Experience  teaches  that  both  plants  and  animals  are  smaller  in 
northern  countries  than  in  southern;  why  should  not  the  same 
law  hold  good  as  to  mankind?  Linnaeus  long  ago  remarked  in 
his  Flora  Lapponica*,  that  alpine  plants  commonly  reached 
twice  as  great  an  altitude  out  of  the  Alps.  And  the  same  thing 
may  be  observed  frequently  in  those"  plants,  some  specimens  of 
which  are  kept  in  a  conservatory,  while  others  stand  out  in  a 
garden,  of  which  the  former  come  out  much  larger  and  taller 
than  the  others. 

I  have  before  me  the  most  splendid  specimens  in  a  collection 
of  plants  from  Labrador  and  Greenland,  chosen  by  Brasen5, 
which  I  owe  to  the  liberality  of  my  great  friend,  J.  Sam.  Lieber- 
kiihn,  in  which  the  common  ones  are  almost  all  smaller  than 
those  which  are  obtained  in  Germany;    and  in  some,  as  the 

of  Henry  of  Austria  in  the  famous  bury ing-p  lace  of  Koenigsfeld.  Faesi,  Erdb.  der 
eidgen.  I. 

1  Fossil  head  of  Rheims.  Dargenville,  Oryct.  T.  1 7,  f.  3,  two  osseous  heads  Leg. 
rav.  in  Albin.  p.  4. 

2  J.  Wallis,  Antiq.  of  Northumberland.  Dom.  Gagliardi,  An.  Oss.  p.  103. 
Even  Felix  Plater,  who  was  the  best  lecturer  of  his  day  in  all  Europe,  suffered  him- 
self to  be  led  into  error  by  the  bones  dug  up  at  Lucerne  in  1577,  an£l  after  careful 
comparison  gave  them  out  as  those  of  a  human  giant,  06s.  Med.  1.  in.  Wagner, 
Hist.  Nat.  Helv.  p.  149:  but  they  have  lately  been  proved  to  be  elephant's  bones. 
Erhl.  der  Gemald  auf  die  Kapellbr.  zu  Lucem.  This  is  also  the  case  with  the  ribs 
of  the  Hun  in  the  church  of  Gottingen. 

3  As  Henr.  Home,  loc.  cit.  p.  12.  It  is  in  vain  to  asctibe  to  the  climate  the  loio 
stature  of  the  Esquimaux,  &c. 

4  Prolegom.  xvi.  8.     Comp.  Arwid  Ehrenmalm,  Asehle,  p.  386. 

5  The  same  observation  has  been  made  by  Haller,  Hist.  Stirp.  Helv.  II.  p.  317. 


104  EXAMPLES. 

Rhodiola  rosea,  which  are  common  to  both  those  regions  of 
America,  although  their  native  soil  is  so  near,  yet  the  same 
difference  is  observed  that  the  specimens  from  Labrador  are 
somewhat  larger  than  those  from  Greenland. 

The  same  is  the  case  with  animals.  The  Greenland  foxes 
are  smaller  than  those  of  the  temperate  zone1.  The  Swedish 
and  Scotch  horses  are  low  and  small,  and  in  the  coldest  part 
of  North  Wales  so  little  as  scarcely  to  exceed  dogs  in  size2.  It  is 
however  useless  to  bring  a  long  string  of  examples  about  a  thing 
so  evident,  when  the  difference  of  a  few  degrees  in  so  many 
countries  exhibits  clearly  the  same  difference.  Thus,  Henry 
Ellis8  observed  in  Hudson's  Strait,  on  its  southern  coasts,  trees 
and  men  of  fair  size;  at  6i°  shrubs  only,  and  that  the  men 
became  smaller  by  little  and  little,  and  at  last  at  6y°  that  not  a 
vestige  of  either  was  to  be  seen.  And  likewise  Murray,  within 
the  limits  of  a  few  degrees,  and  in  Gotha  alone,  declared  he 
could  observe  so  well,  that  whilst  he  was  travelling,  although  he 
took  no  notice  of  the  mile-stones,  yet  he  could  easily  distinguish 
the  different  provinces  by  the  difference  of  the  inhabitants  and 
of  the  animals.  In  Scania4  the  men  are  tall  of  stature  and  bony, 
the  horses  and  cattle  large,  &c. :  in  Smaland  they  become  sensi- 
bly smaller,  and  the  cattle  are  active  but  little,  which  at  last 
in  Ostrogothia  strikes  the  eye  more  and  more. 

The  same  thing  may  be  observed  in  the  opposite  part  of  the 
world,  almost  under  the  same  degrees,  towards  the  antarctic  cir- 
cle. One  example  will  suffice,  taken  from  the  most  southern 
part  of  America,  and  compared  with  those  European  nations  we 
have  just  been  speaking  of.  The  bodies  of  the  notorious  Pata- 
gonians  answer  to  the  lofty  stature  of  the  Scandinavians.  A 
credulous  antiquity  indeed  invented  fabulous  stories  of  their 
enormous  size5.     But  in  the  progress  of  time,  after  Patagonia 


1  Cranz,  Hist.  v.  Gr.  p.  97.  2  Th.  Birch,  Hist,  of  ike  Royal  Soc.  in.  p.  ifi. 

3   Toy.  to  Hudson's  Bay,  p.  256.  4  Comp.  Linn.  Fauna  Suecica,  p.  1. 

5  Comp.  de  Brosses,  I.  p.  193 ;  11.  beg.  &c.  De  Pauw,  I.  c.  1.  p.  281,  and  Hist. 
gen.  de  VAs.  Afr.  et  Ameri.  par  M.  L.  A.  R.  Vol.  xm.  Par.  1755,  p.  50.  Thos. 
Falkner,  Descr.  of  Patagonia,  p.  126,  "The  Patagonians,  or  Puelches,  are  a  large- 
bodied  people ;  but  I  never  heard  of  that  gigantic  race,  which  others  have  men- 
tioned, though  I  have  seen  persons  of  all  the  different  tribes  of  southern  Indians." 


COLOUR.  105 

had  often  been  visited  by  Europeans,  the  inhabitants,  like  that 
famous  dog  of  Gellert,  became  sensibly  smaller,  until  at  last  in 
our  own  days  they  retained  indeed  a  sufficiently  large  stature, 
but  were  happily  deprived  of  their  gigantic  form.  If  you  go 
down  from  them  towards  the  south,  you  will  find  much  smaller 
men  in  the  cold  land  of  Terra  del  Fuego1,  who  must  be  compared 
to  the  Smalands  and  the  Ostrogoths,  and  by  that  example  you 
will  again  see  how  nature  is  always  like  itself  even  in  the  most 
widely  separated  regions. 

But  besides  the  climate,  there  are  other  causes  which  exercise 
influence  upon  stature.  Already,  at  first,  I  alluded  to  the  mode 
of  life2,  and  it  would  be  easy  to  bring  here  copious  examples 
taken  from  the  vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms,  in  which  the 
difference  of  nutrition  may  be  detected  by  the  greater  or  smaller 
stature.  But  these  things  are  too  well  known  already,  and  so 
many  experiments  of  the  kind  have  been  made  on  Swiss  cows, 
Frisian  horses,  &c,  that  I  may  easily  pass  over  any  proofs  of  this 
point.  I  omit  also  the  causes  of  smaller  importance  which 
change  the  stature  of  organic  bodies,  which  have  been  already 
most  diligently  handled  by  Haller3,  and  I  hasten  to  the  last  of 
those  things  which  must  be  considered  in  the  variety  of  mankind, 
that  is,  colour. 

There  seems  to  be  so  great  a  difference  between  the  Ethiop- 
ian, the  white,  and  the  red  American,  that  it  is  not  wonderful, 
if  men  even  of  great  reputation  have  considered  them  as  forming 
different  species  of  mankind.  But  although  the  discussion  of 
this  subject  seems  particularly  to  belong  to  our  business,  still  so 
many  important  things  have  been  said  about  the  seat  and  the 
causes  of  this  diversity  of  colour,  by  eminent  men,  that  a  good- 
sized  volume  would  scarcely  contain  them ;  so  that  it  is  necessary 
for  me  to  be  brief  in  this  matter,  and  only  to  mention  those 
things  which  the  industry  of  learned  men  has  placed  beyond 
all  doubt     The  skin  of  man  and  of  most  animals  consists  of 


1  Sydney  Parkinson,  p.  7,  PL  1.  11.      "None  of  them  seemed  above  five  feet 
ten  inches  high." 

2  p.  73.  3  Physiol.  1.  xxx.  s.  1,  §  16. 


106  CAUSE   OF   COLOUR. 

three  parts;  the  external  epidermis,  or  cuticle;  the  reticulum 
mucosum,  called  from  its  discoverer  the  Malphigian ;  and  lastly, 
the  inner,  or  corium.  The  middle  of  these,  which  very  much 
resembles  the  external,  so  that  by  many  it  is  considered  as 
another  scale  of  it,  is  evidently  more  spongy,  thick,  and  black 
in  the  Ethiopians ;  and  in  them,  as  in  the  rest  of  men,  is  the 
primary  seat  of  the  diversity  of  colour.  For  in  all  the  corium  is 
white,  excepting  where,  here  and  there,  it  is  slightly  coloured  by 
the  adhering  reticulum;  but  the  epidermis  seems  to  shade  off  into 
the  same  colour  as  the  reticulum,  yet  still  so,  that  being  diaphan- 
ous1 like  a  plate  of  horn,  it  appears  even  in  black  men,  if  pro- 
perly separated,  to  be  scarcely  grey;  and  therefore  can  have 
little  if  any  influence  on  the  diversity  of  the  colour  of  men. 

The  seat  of  colour  is  pretty  clear,  but  for  a  very  long  time 
back  there  have  been  many  and  great  disputes  about  the  causes 
of  it,  especially  in  the  Ethiopians.  Some  think  it  to  be  a  sign  of 
the  curse  of  Cain2  or  Cham3,  and  their  posterity;  others4  have 
brought  forward  other  hypotheses,  amongst  which  the  bile  played 
the  most  prominent  part,  and  this  was  particularly  advocated  by 
Peter  Barrere5,  following  D.  Santorini6.  Although  this  view 
has  been  opposed  by  many7,  I  do  not  think  it  ought  altogether 
to  be  neglected.  The  instances  of  persons  affected  with  jaundice, 
or  chlorosis,  of  the  fish  mullet8,  and  moreover  the  black  bile9  of 
the  Ethiopians,  are  all  the  less  open  to  doubt,  since  more  recent 
authors10  have  observed  the  blood  to  be  black,  and  the  brain  and 
the  spinal  marrow  to  be  of  an  ashy  colour;  and  the  phlegm  of 


1  If  the  epidermis  were  less  thin  and  not  so  transparent,  perhaps  it  would  seem 
just  as  dark  as  the  reticulum;  Jo.  Fanton,  Diss.  VII.  Anat.  pr.  renov.  Taurini, 
1 741,  8vo.  p.  27. 

2  A  recent  supporter  of  this  opinion  is  the  learned  Sam.  Engel  in  Ess.  sur  cette 
question  quand  el  comm.  VAmer.  a.  t.  elle  ete  peuplee,  T.  IV.  p.  96. 

3  Mem.  de  Trevoux,  T.  lxxiv.  p.  1155. 

4  B.  S.  Albinus  has  collected  many  in  Be  sede  et  causa  color,  ceth.  et  cet.  horn. 
L.  B.  1737,  with  the  beautifully  coloured  plates  of  that  capital  artist,  J.  Ladmiral. 

5  Diss,  sur  la  cause  phys.  de  la  couleur  des  negres.  Paris,  1741,  i2mo.  Comp. 
Diet.  Encycl.  by  De  Felice,  T.  xxx.  p.  199. 

6  Obs.  Anat.  p.  1.  7  Le  Cat,  De  la  coul.  de  lapeau  hum.  p.  72. 
8  Santorini,  I.  c.  9  Barrere,  I.  c. 

10  Meckel,  Mem.  de  Deri.  1753,  1757.  The  lice  of  the  negroes  are  black,  Long. 
II.  p.  35^. 


COLOUE.  107 

the  northern  nations  and  other  things  of  this  kind  seem  to  add 
weight  to  this  opinion.  But  amongst  all  other  causes  of  their 
blackness,  climate,  and  the  influence  of  the  soil,  and  the  tempe- 
rature, together  with  the  mode  of  life,  have  the  greatest  influ- 
ence. This  is  the  old  opinion  of  Aristotle,  Alexander,  Strabo, 
and  others1,  and  one  which  we  will  try  and  confirm  by  instances 
and  arguments  brought  forward  separately. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  there  is  an  almost  insensible  and  in- 
definable transition  from  the  pure  white  skin  of  the  German 
lady  through  the  yellow,  the  red,  and  the  dark  nations,  to  the 
Ethiopian  of  the  very  deepest  black,  and  we  may  observe  this, 
as  we  said  just  now  in  the  case  of  stature,  in  the  space  of  a  few 
degrees  of  latitude.  Spain  offers  some  trite  examples ;  it  is  well 
known  that  the  Biscayan  women  are  a  shining  white,  the  inha- 
bitants of  Granada  on  the  contrary  dark,  to  such  an  extent  that 
in  this  region  the  pictures  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  other  saints 
are  painted  of  the  same  colour2.  Those  who  live  upon  the 
northern  bank  of  the  river  Senegal  are  of  ashy  colour  and 
small  body;  but  those  beyond  are  black,  of  tall  stature  and 
robust,  as  if  in  that  part  of  the  world  one  district  was  green,  and 
the  other  burnt  up3.  And  the  same  thing  was  observed  by  some 
learned  Frenchmen  on  the  Cordilleras,  that  those  who  live  im- 
mediately under  the  mountains  towards  the  west,  and  exposed 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  seem  almost  as  white  as  Europeans, 
whereas  on  the  contrary,  the  inhabitants  of  the  opposite  side, 
who  are  exposed  to  constant  burning  winds,  are  like  the  rest  of 
the  Americans,  copper-coloured4. 

It  is  an  old  observation  of  Vitruvius5  and  Pliny6  that  the 
northern  nations  are  white,  and  this  is  clearly  enough  shown  by 
many  instances  of  other  animals  and  plants.     For  partly  the 


1  Csel.  Bhodig.  Lect.  Ant.  IX.  15,  p.  439,  ed.  Aid.     Comp.  Macrob.  in  Somn. 
Scip.  p.  128,  ed.  H.  Steph.  0,181,0$  ex  aidoj  et  coif/. 

2  Comp.  a  scale  of  colour  in  Mem.  cle  Trev.  I.  c.  p.  n  90. 

3  Hier.  Cardanus,  De  subtilit.  L.  XI.  T.  in.  Oper.  p.  555. 

4  Bouguer,  Voyage  a  Perou.     Mem.  de  VAcad.  des  Sc.  de  Paris,  1744,  p.  274. 

5  In  the  north  are  to  be  found  nations  of  white  colour,  p.  104,  ed.  De  Laert, 

6  On  the  opposite  and  icy  side  of  the  world  are  nations  of  white  skin,  T.  1. 
p.  in,  ed.  Hard. 


108  COLOUE. 

flowers1  of  plants,  like  the  animals  of  the  northern  regions,  are 
white,  though  they  produce  other  colours  in  more  southern  lati- 
tudes ;  and  partly  in  the  more  temperate  zones  animals  only  be- 
come white  in  winter,  and  in  spring  put  on  again  their  own  natural 
colour.  Of  the  former  we  have  instances  in  the  wolves2,  dogs3, 
hares4,  cattle3,  crows6,  the  chaffinch7,  &c,  of  the  latter  in  the  er- 
mines8, the  squirrels9,  hares10,  the  ptarmigan11,  the  Corsican  dog12. 
All  of  us  are  born  nearly  red,  and  at  last  in  progress  of  time  the 
skin  of  the  Ethiopian  infants  turns  to  black13,  and  ours  to  white, 
whereas  in  the  American  the  primitive  red  colour  remains,  except- 
ing so  far  as  that  by  change  of  climate  and  the  effects  of  their  mode 
of  life  those  colours  sensibly  change,  and  as  it  were  degenerate. 
It  is  scarce  worth  while  to  notice  the  well-known  difference 
which  occurs  in  the  inhabitants  of  one  and  the  same  country, 
whose  skin  varies  wonderfully  in  colour,  according  to  the  kind  of 
life  that  they  lead.  The  face  of  the  working  man  or  the  artizan, 
exposed  to  the  force  of  the  sun  and  the  weather,  differs  as  much 
from  the  cheeks  of  a  delicate  female,  as  the  man  himself  does 
from  the  dark  American,  and  he  again  from  the  Ethiopian. 
Anatomists  not  unfrequently  fall  in  with  the  corpses  of  the  lowest 
sort  of  men,  whose  reticulum  comes  much  nearer  to  the  black- 
ness of  the  Ethiopians  than  to  the  brilliancy  of  the  higher  class 
of  European.  Such  an  European,  blacker  than  an  Ethiop,  was 
dissected  by  Chr.  Gottl.  Ludwig14;  a  very  dark  reticulum  has 
been  observed  by  Giinz15,  and  very  frequently  by  many  others16; 


1  Comp.  Murray,  Proclr.  Stirp.  Goett.  p.  18,  who  instances  the  Campanula  de- 
currens,  the  common  primrose,  &c. 

2  Cranz,  Groenl.  p.  97.  3  lb.  p.  100.  4  lb.  p.  95. 

5  Ehrenmalm,  I.  c.  p.  342,   "  The  further  you  go  towards  the  north,  the  more 
frequently  do  animals  of  that  kind  occur." 

6  Jo.  Nich.  Pechlin,  Be  habilu  et  colore  JEthiopum.     Kilon.  1677,  8vo.  p.  141. 

7  Frisch,  Gesch.  der  Vogel.     Fasc.  1. 

8  Wagner,  Hist.  nat.  Helv.  p.  180.    Linn.  Faun.  Suec.  p.  7.    I  myself  have  seen 
specimens  in  our  own  neighbourhood. 

9  Linn.  I.  c.  p.  13.     I  have  known  too  some  caught  near  Jena. 

10  lb.  p.  10.     Jetze,  Monogr.  Liib.  1749,  8vo. 

11  Cranz,  I.  c.  p.  10 1.  12  Linn.  Syst.  Nat.  Append. 

13  Albinus,  I.  c.  p.  12.     Comp.  Camper,  Dem.  A  nat.  Path.  1.  p.  1. 

14  Ep.  ad  Holler.  Script.  Vol.  1.  p.  393.  15  On  Hippoc.  Be  humor,  p.  140. 
16  Franc,   de  Eiet,   Be  tact.  org.  in  coll.     Haller,  T.  iv.  p.   10.     See  Haller, 

Physiol.  T.  v.  p.  18. 


COLOUE   OP   APES.  109 

and  I  recollect  that  I  myself  dissected  at  Jena  a  man's  corpse  of 
this  kind,  whose  whole  skin  was  brown,  and  in  some  parts,  as  in 
the  scrotum,  almost  black ;  for  it  is  well  known  that  some  parts 
of  the  human  body  become  more  black  than  others,  as,  for  ex- 
ample, the  genitals  of  either  sex,  the  tips  of  the  breasts,  and 
other  parts  which  easily  verge  towards  a  dark  colour.  Haller  ob- 
served in  the  groin  of  a  woman  the  reticulum  so  black1  that  it  did 
not  seem  to  differ  much  from  that  of  an  Ethiopian;  one  as  dark 
in  the  groin  of  a  man  was  in  the  possession  of  B.  S.  Albinus ;  and 
it  is  so  common  an  occurrence  in  a  woman's  breast,  that  I  cannot 
be  enough  astonished  that  eminent  men  have  been  found  to 
reckon  the  dark  teats  of  the  Samoyeds  as  prodigies2,  and  there- 
fore to  consider  that  nation  as  a  particular  species  of  man3. 

Such  a  diversity  of  the  reticulum  is  seen  in  other  animals 
also,  and  especially  in  the  face  of  the  Papio  mandril,  a  part  of 
which  I  have  therefore  had  engraved,  (PL  n.  fig.  3.)  There  is 
a  region  of  the  upper  part  of  the  eyelids,  of  the  root  of  the  nose, 
and  of  the  eye-brows,  in  which  you  may  observe  almost  every 
variety  of  reticulum;  the  nose  is  plainly  black,  and  also  the  part 
where  the  eye-brows  are  inserted ;  but  that  part  which  is  lower 
and  more  on  the  outside  is  sensibly  brown,  and  at  length 
towards  the  outer  corners  of  the  eyes  becomes  pale.  Not  indeed 
that  I  have  found  this  blackness  of  the  nose  equally  intense  in 
all  the  specimens  of  this  ape  which  I  have  seen,  since  in  apes,  as 
in  man  and  in  other  animals,  the  greatest  variety  of  colour 
occurs  in  the  reticulum.  In  two  specimens  of  the  Simla  cyno- 
molgus  the  tint  of  the  face  was  not  very  different  from  that  of  an 
Ethiopian  or  a  dark  European;  and  this  difference  is  so  well 
known  and  so  common  throughout  the  animal  kingdom,  espe- 
cially in  the  domestic  quadrupeds,  but  above  all  in  the  vegetable 4 


1  l.  c.  Abr.  Kaav.  Boerh.  Perspir.  Hipp.  p.  1 1 ;  so  dark  in  the  pudenda,  that 
you  would  not  believe  the  skin  to  be  that  of  an  European. 

2  Mem.  sur  les  Samojedes  et  les  Lappons,  1762,  8vo.  p.  44. 

3  Lord  Kames,  I.  c. 

4  Two  hundred  years  ago  it  was  only  the  yellow  tulip  which  was  known 
in  Europe ;  but  what  a  variety  of  different  coloured  ones  horticulturists  are 
now  acquainted  with !  See  Haller,  on  the  subject  of  the  varieties  of  man.  Bibl. 
raisonnee,  1744. 


110  COLOUR. 

kingdom,  that  I  can  scarcely  take  notice  of  it,  but  prefer  to  re- 
turn at  once  to  man. 

We  see  white  men  in  a  lower  class  rendered  brown  by  a  hard 
life;  and  it  is  equally  certain  that  men  of  southern  regions 
become  whiter  when  they  are  less  exposed  to  the  effects  of 
the  weather  and  the  sun.  We  have  the  most  copious  accounts 
by  travellers  of  the  inhabitants  of  Guzerat1,  of  the  Malabar 
coast2,  of  the  Caffres3,  of  the  Canadians4,  and  the  Otaheitans5. 
But  besides  their  mode  of  life,  old  age  and  the  change  of  country 
have  an  influence  in  making  the  Ethiopians  more  white.  For 
when  the  Ethiopians  begin  to  approach  their  seventieth  year, 
the  reticulum  sensibly  loses  its  dark  colour,  so  that  at  last  the 
bulbs  come  out  yellow6,  and  the  hair  and  beard  are  grey  like 
other  nations ;  and  if  the  young  Ethiopian  infants  are  brought 
into  colder  climates,  it  is  certain  that  they  lose  a  sensible  quan- 
tity of  their  blackness7,  and  their  colour  begins  to  verge  more 
and  more  towards  brown. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  apparent  that  when  white  men  re- 
side a  considerable  time  in  the  torrid  zones  they  become  brown, 
and  sensibly  verge  towards  black  with  much  greater  facility. 

1  J.  Schreyer,  Oslind.  reis.  p.  121. 

2  Tranquebar  Miss.  Ber.  22.  Contin.  p.  896.  The  more  they  dwell  towards 
the  north,  and  the  more  agreeable  the  race  is,  the  more  their  black  colour  changes 
into  brown,  red,  and  yellow.  The  people  of  Barar  are  for  the  most  part  very 
black,  and  for  the  whole  day  long  they  work  and  are  burnt  up  in  sweat  and  dust 
by  the  rays  of  the  sun.  The  better  class  of  people  do  not  go  so  much  into  the  sun, 
and  consequently  they  are  not  so  black,  &c.     Comp.  30.     Contin.  p.  660. 

3  Muller.     Linn.  Syst.  Nat.  I.  p.  95. 

4  Sir  Francis  Eoberval  in  Hakluyt,  Vol.  in.  p.  242.  "The  savages  of  Canada 
are  very  white,  but  they  are  all  naked,  and  if  they  were  apparelled  as  the  French 
are  they  would  be  white  and  as  fayre.  But  they  paint  themselves  for  feare  of  heat 
and  sunne  burning."  "Those  who  are  painted  and  who  wear  clothes,  become  so 
delicate  in  colour  that  they  would  be  more  readily  taken  for  Spaniards  than  for 
Indians."     La  Houtan,  I.  ep.  16. 

5  Hawkes worth,  II.  p.    187. 

6  Willi.  J.  Muller,  Fetu,  p.  279.     Mich.  Hemmersam,  Westind.  Reisen,  p.  38. 

7  The  Colchians  in  the  time  of  Herodotus  were  still  black  and  had  curly  hair, 
p.  125,  ed.  Gronov.  Leo  Afric.  P.  I.  s.  3.  L.  M.  A.  a  most  competent  judge,  says 
in  his  Instit.  Physiolog.  Patav.  1773,  8vo.  p.  194  :  'A  cobbler  of  this  nation  is  still 
living  at  Venice,  whose  blackness  after  a  long  lapse  of  years  (for  he  came  a  boy  to 
this  country)  has  so  sensibly  diminished  that  he  looks  as  if  suffering  slightly  from 
jaundice."  And  I  myself  have  seen  a  mulatto  woman  born  from  an  Ethiopian 
father  and  a  white  mother  near  Grotha,  who  in  her  very  earliest  infancy  was  suffici- 
ently dark;- but  in  progress  of  time  has  so  degenerated  from  her  native  colour,  that 
she  now  only  retains  a  sort  of  cherry  or  yellow  tint  of  skin. 


COLOUK.  Ill 

The  Spaniards  who  dwell  under  the  equator  in  the  new  world 
have  so  much  degenerated  towards  the  native  colour  of  the  soil, 
that  it  has  seemed  very  probable  to  eminent  men1,  that  had  they 
not  taken  care  to  preserve  their  paternal  constitution  by  inter- 
marrying with  Europeans,  but  had  chosen  to  follow  the  same 
kind  of  life  as  the  American  nations,  in  a  short  time  they  would 
have  fallen  into  almost  the  same  coloration,  which  we  see  in  the 
natives  of  South  America.  An  Englishman  who  had  spent  only 
three  years  with  the  Virginians,  became  exactly  like  them  in 
colour,  and  Smith 2,  his  countryman,  could  only  recognize  him  by 
his  language.  A  colony  of  Portuguese,  who  were  carried  to 
Africa3  in  the  fifteenth  century,  can  scarcely  now  be  distinguished 
from  the  aborigines.  .  The  French,  whether  they  emigrate  to 
Africa  or  America,  are  invariably  tinged  with  the  brown  colour 
of  those  countries4.  I  do  not  adduce  here  the  numerous  exam- 
ples of  Europeans  who  have  become  unnaturally  black  in  their 
own  country5,  or  have  brought  forth  black  children6,  nor  of 
Ethiopians  who  have  been,  at  all  events  in  some  parts  of  their 
bodies,  suddenly  turned  white7,  since  all  these  cases  seem  to  in- 
clude something  diseased  or  morbid. 

As  by  the  climate  so  also  by  the  mode  of  life  the  colours  of 
the  body  are  seen  to  be  changed.  And  this  appears  most  clearly 
in  the  unions  of  people  of  different  tints,  in  which  cases  the 
most  distinct  and  contrary  colours  so  degenerate,  that  white  men 
may  sensibly  pass  and  be  changed  into  black,  and  the  contrary. 
The  hybrid  offspring  (if  we  may  use  that  word)  are  distin- 
guished by  particular  names;  in  using  which,  however,  the 
authors  of  travels  vary  so  much,  that  it  seemed  to  me  worth 
while  to  collect  as  many  of  these  synonyms  as  I  could,  to  reduce 
them  into  grades  of  descending  affinity,  and  exhibit  them  in 
a  synoptic  form. 


1  Mitchell,  Philos.  Transact,  n.  474.  2  Hist.  Virgin,  p.  116. 

3  Rech.  sur  les  Americ.  1.  p.  186.  4  Mem.  de  Trevoux,  I.e.  p.  1169. 

5  Many  instances  are  collected  by  Le  Cat,  Coul.  de  lapeau,  p.  130. 

6  Cash  Bhodig.  1.  c.  p.  776.  Froben,  Le  Cat,  p.  109.  A  black  princess  was  born 
to  the  queen  of  Louis  XIV.  M6m.  de  Trevoux,  I.  c.  p.  1168.  Abr.  Kaav.  Boerh. 
impet.  fac.  p.  354. 

7  Le  Cat,  p.  100.     Frank,  Philos.  Tr.  Vol.  LI.  Part  I.  p.  176. 


112  HYBRIDS. 

1.  The  offspring  of  a  black  man  and  a  white  woman,  or 
the  reverse,  is  called  Mulatto1,  Mollaka2,  Melatta;  by  the 
Italians,  Bertin,  Creole  and  Criole3;  by  the  inhabitans  of  Ma- 
labar, Mestico*.  The  offspring  of  an  American  man  and  an 
European  woman,  Mameluck5,  and  Metif6. 

2.  The  offspring  of  an  European  male  with  a  Mulatto 
female  is  called  Terceron7,  Castigo8.  The  son  of  an  European 
female  from  a  Metif  is  called  a  Quarter oon9.  The  offspring  of 
two  Mulattoes  is  called  Casque10;  and  of  blacks  and  Mulattoes, 
Griffs11. 

3.  A  Terceron  female  and  an  European  produce  quaterons12, 
postigos13.  But  the  American  quarteroon  (who  is  of  the  same 
degree  as  the  black  Terceron)  produces  from  an  European 
octavoonsu. 

4.  The  offspring  of  a  quateroon  male  and  a  white  female, 
a  quinteroon15;  the  child  of  an  European  woman  with  an  Ame- 
rican octavoon  is  called  by  the  Spaniards  Puchuela16. 

It  is  plain  therefore  that  the  traces  of  blackness  are  pro- 
pagated to  great-grandchildren ;  but  they  do  not  keep  completely 

1  Hist,  of  Jamaica,  II.  p.  260.  Aublet,  Plantes  de  la  Guiane  Francoise,  T.  II. 
p.  122,  App. 

2  Hemmersam,  I.  C.  p.  36. 

3  Thomas  Hyde  on  Abr.  Perizol.  Cosmograph.  p.  99,  ed.  Oxon.  1691,  4to. 

4  Christ.  Langhan's  Ostind.  Reise.  p.  216.  Tranquebar  Miss.  Ber.  Cont.  33,  p. 
919.     Mestizo  Lusitan.  that  is,  of  mixed  race. 

5  Hist,  de  VAc.  des  Sc.  de  Paris,  1724,  p.  18. 

6  Labat,  Voy.  aax  Isles  de  VAmer.  11.  p.  132.  Recherch.  sur  les  Amer.  I.  p.  199. 
Newly-born  metifs  are  distinguished  by  the  colour  of  the  genitals  from  true  blacks, 
for  it  is  well  known  that  those  parts  are  black  even  in  the  Ethiopian  foetus.  Phil. 
Terrain,  Sur  V  oeconomie  animale,  Part  I.  p.  180.  This  author  calls  the  offspring 
of  the  black  male  and  the  Indian  female  Kahougle,  and  the  offspring  of  these  and 
the  whites  Mulattos,  p.  179^ 

7  Hist,  of  Jamaica,  I.  c. 

8  Langhan's  Tranqu.  Ber.  1.  c.  Castigo,  de  boa  casta,  of  a  good  stock. 

9  De  Pauw,  I.  c.  10  Comment.  Paris.  I.  c. 

11  lb.  p.  17.  It  is  plain  that  the  offspring  of  a  Mestico  and  a  Malabar  woman 
are  black.  Relat.  Tranqueb.  I.  c.  Those  from  a  Mulatto  are  called  Sambo  in  Hist, 
of  Jamaica,  I.  c.  p.  26 t,  and  the  offspring  of  these  and  blacks  become  blacks  again. 

12  Hist,  of  Jam.  1.  c.  p.  260. 

13  Langhan's  Rel.  Tranq.  I.  c.  Postico  means  adopted:  thus  cabello  postico,  false 
hair. 

14  De  Pauw,  I.  c.  p.  200. 

15  Hist,  of  Jam.  I.  c.  The  children  of  Postigos  and  whites  are  clearly  white. 
Tranqu.  Ber.  I.  c.  According  to  the  author  of  the  Hist,  of  Jamaica  the  children 
of  a  quinteroon  and  a  white  man  become  white. 

16  De  Pauw,  I.  c. 


SPOTTED   SKIN.  113 

the  degrees  we  have  just  noticed,  for  twins  sometimes  are  born  of 
different  colours;  such  as  Fermin1  says  came  from  an  Ethiopian 
woman,  of  which  the  male  was  a  mulatto,  but  the  female,  like 
the  mother,  an  intense  black.  And  from  all  these  cases,  this 
is  clearly  proved,  which  I  have  been  endeavouring  by  what  has 
been  said  to  demonstrate,  that  colour,  whatever  be  its  cause,  be 
it  bile,  or  the  influence  of  the  sun,  the  air,  or  the  climate,  is, 
at  all  events,  an  adventitious  and  easily  changeable  thing,  and 
can  never  constitute  a  diversity  of  species. 

A  great  deal  of  weight  has  attached  to  this  opinion  in  con- 
sequence of  the  well-known  examples  of  those  men,  whose 
reticulum  has  been  conspicuously  variegated  And  spotted  with 
different  colours.  Lamothe2  has  described  very  carefully  a  boy 
of  this  kind  from  the  Antilles.  Labat3  saw  the  wife  of  a 
Grifole  like  this,  a  native  of  Cayenne,  and  in  other  respects 
handsome.  Chr.  D.  Schreber4  has  collected  many  examples;  and 
I  myself  had  lately  an  opportunity  of  seeing  an  instance  of  this 
sort  of  variegated  skin.  One  of  my  friends,  a  physician,  has  a 
reticulum  of  almost  a  purple  colour,  and  distinctly  marked  with 
very  white  spots,  of  different  sizes,  but  equal  in  other  respects, 
and  similar  to  the  most  shining  skin.  And  on  the  back  of  his 
right  hand  there  were  five  white  spots  of  the  same  kind,  of  which 
each  was  almost  equal  to  a  thumb's  breadth  in  diameter,  inter- 
spersed with  numerous  smaller  ones.  This  phenomenon  very 
seldom  occurs  in  men;  but  is  very  common  in  animals,  espe- 
cially in  the  reticulum  of  quadrupeds.  The  throats  of  rams,  for 
example,  are  frequently  so  variegated,  that  you  may  observe  in 
them  the  greatest  similarity,  both  to  the  black  skin  of  the 
Ethiop  and  the  white  skin  of  the  European.  I  have  examined 
many  flocks  of  sheep  in  their  pastures  with  this  object,  and 
I  think  I  have  observed,  that  the  greater  or  smaller  number  of 
black  spots  in  the  jaws  answer  to  the  greater  or  smaller  quan- 
tity of  black  wool  on  the  animals  themselves. 


1  1.  c.  p.  178.  2  Hamb.  Mag.  xix.  p.  400. 

3  Toy.  en  Esp.  et  en  Ital.  I.  p.  1 76.  ' 

4  Saeugthiere,  p.  15.     I  shall  speak  below  about  the  spotting  of  the  skin,  from 
disease,  which  must  be  clearly  distinguished  from  the  instances  in  the  text. 

8 


114  SKULLS. 

I  will  say  no  more  of  colour ;  and  now,  having  disposed  of  all 
the*  general  varieties  of  the  whole  human  body,  I  will  go  on  to 
the  diversity  of  the  separate  parts  and  members;  and  will  make 
a  beginning'  with  the  head  and  its  conformation.  In  the  same 
way  that  it  is  always  the  case  that  there  is  the  greatest  possible 
difference  between  the  skeleton  of  the  embryo  and  the  adult, 
so  above  all,  the  bones  of  the  skull  differ  to  such  an  extent 
in  both,  that  you  would  scarcely  recognize  them  as  parts  of  the 
same  body.  For  the  bones  which,  in  the  adult,  constitute  a 
very  solid  case,  and  the  hardest  possible  receptacle  of  what 
is  at  once  the  softest  and  noblest  entrail,  in  the  embryo  appear 
only  as  thin  but  broad  scales,  "  which,"  to  use  the  wTords  of 
Goiter1,  "are  just  fastened  together  by  soft,  broad,  loose  and 
flaccid  bonds,  sutures  and  commissures."  Now  the  skull  of  the 
infant  is  wet  and  soft  clay,  and  fit  to  be  moulded  into  many 
forms  before  it  is  perfectly  solidified,  so  that  if  you  consider  the 
innumerable  and  simultaneous  external  and  adventitious  causes 
in  operation,  you  will  no  longer  be  able  to  wonder  that  the 
forms  of  skulls  in  adults  should  be  different.  But  since  for 
a  considerable  period  of  time  singular  shapes  of  the  head  have 
belonged  to  particular  nations,'  and  peculiar  skulls  have  been 
shaped  out,  in  some  of  them  certainly  by  artificial  means,  it 
will  be  our  business  to  look  at  these  things  a  little  more  care- 
fully, and  to  consider  how  far  they  constitute  different  varieties 
of  the  human  race.  For,  although  I  only  intend  to  reckon 
up  in  a  passing  way  those  differences  of  the  human  body  which 
are  due  to  art  alone,  still  I  intend  to  treat  now  a  little  more  at 
length  upon  that  part  of  the  argument  which  has  to  do  with 
skulls,  since  things  very  nearly  allied  may  be  conveniently 
embraced  and  handled  at  the  same  time.  Claudius  Galen2,  be- 
sides the  common  and  symmetrical  skull3,  had  already  described 
other  skulls,  which  in  some  of  their  parts  manifestly  differed 

1  De  feet.  hum.  et  inf.  oss.  p.  59. 

2  De  usu  part.  1.  ix.  p.  m.  544  and  De  oss.  v.  1.  Ph.  Ingrassiee  in  h.  1.  Comm. 
Panormi,  1603,  fol.  p.  68,  fig.  1—4. 

3  See  the  dimensions  and  definitions  of  these  in  Alb.  Diirer,  von  menschl.  pro- 
port.  Pol.  P.  and  Q.  ed.  1528.  Elsholz.  I.  c.  p.  5.5,  Petr.  Lauremberg,  Pasicompse, 
p.  62,  ed.  1634. 


SKULLS.  115 

from  the  common  structure;  and  Andrew  Vesalius1  and  Barth. 
Eustachius2  endeavoured  to  draw  figures  of  them.  But  the  forms 
of  these  skulls  seem  to  be  so  arbitrary  and  so  monstrous,  that 
they  are  of  little  or  no  use  to  us  at  present,  and  seem  rather 
to  belong  to  some  morbid  constitutions  of  the  bones  than  to 
any  natural  varieties  of  heads.  Let  us  follow  nature  herself, 
and  we  shall  reckon  up  the  various  shapes  of  the  head  in  the 
various  nations,  according  to  the  four  varieties  of  mankind 
which  we  constituted. 

To  begin  with  Germany  itself,  Vesalius3  says  that  its  inhabit- 
ants are  generally  remarkable  for  having  the  occiput  compressed 
and  the  head  wide ;  and  gives  as  a  reason  that  infants  in  their 
cradles  generally  sleep  on  their  backs,  and  besides  being  wrapped 
in  swaddling-clothes,  generally  have  their  hands  tied  to  their 
sides.  This  author  also  saw  in  the  cemeteries  of  Styria  and 
Carinthia  wonderfully  different  skulls,  which  from  their  extraor- 
dinary shape  seemed  to  be  sports  of  nature4.  Lauremberg5  says 
the  female  inhabitants  of  Hamburg  of  his  day  were  long- 
headed, because  they  by  ligaments  and  a  foolish  practice  were 
accustomed  to  elongate  the  head  from  the  birth.  The  Belgians 
are  said  to  have  their  skulls  more  oblong6  than  other  nations, 
because  the  mothers  permit  their  infants  to  sleep  wrapped  up  in 
swaddling-clothes  very  much  on  the  side  and  the  temples7;  but 
however  the  description  of  a  Batavian  skull  by  De  Fischer  does 
not  answer  to  this8,  who  praises  in  it  the  bones  of  the  skull  for 
being  but  little  depressed  around  the  sides,  and  making  there 
almost  an  equal  arch.      Albinus9  declares  that  the  skulls  of  the 


1  De  corp.  hum.  fair.  p.  21,  ed.  1555. 

2  Tab.  XLVI.  f.  10,  15,  17,  a  little  less  monstrous  than  the  figures  of  Vesalius 
and  Ingrassias.  The  worst  of  all  are  in  Matth.  Meriani,  Viv.  ic.  part.  corp.  hum. 
inC.  Bauhin,  Th.  Anat.  L.  111.  T.  1.     Comp.  Bertini,  Osteolog.  at  the  end  of  Part  11. 

3  I.  c.  p.  23,  and  in  Put.  Apol.  exam.  (Gabr.  Cuneus),  p.  838,  Operum.  Insfeldt 
says  the  shape  of  the  German  skull  is  half-way  between  the  oblong  of  the  Belgians 
and  the  round  skull  of  the  Turks.     De  lus.  nat.  L.  B.  1772,  p.  20. 

4  Observ.  Fallop.  exam.  p.  76S,  ed.  B.  S.  Albini. 

5  I.  c.  p.  63.  6  Insfeldt,  I.  c.  7  Vesalius,  I.  c. 

8  J.  B.  de  Fischer,  De  moclo  quo  ossa  se  vicinis  accommodant  portions.  L.  B.  1 743, 
4to.  Tab.  in.  A  reversed  copy  is  given  by  J.  Casp.  Lavater,  Physiognom.  Fragm. 
Vol.  11.  p.  159,  Tab.  B.  fig.  1. 

9  lnd.  leg.  Par.  p.  2. 


116  HIPPOCEATES. 

English,  the  Spanish,  and  French,  are  without  any  peculiarity  of 
structure  at  all;  and  he  is  in  most  respects  a  very  accurate 
observer  of  varieties  of  that  kind.  Christopher  Pfiug  informed 
Vesalius  that  the  skulls  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Styrian  Alps 
were  of  a  singular  shape.  The  same  Yesalius  is  of  opinion  that 
the  heads  of  the  Genoese,  and  still  more  of  the  Greeks  and  the 
Turks,  are  nearly  of  the  shape  of  a  sphere,  and  that  it  is  done 
through  the  care  of  the  midwives  when  they  bring  their  assist- 
ance, and  sometimes  through  the  great  solicitude  of  the  mothers1. 
There  is  a  passage  in  Hippocrates2  about  the  skulls  of  the 
Scythians,  which  is  most  worthy  of  notice.  He  says  that  after 
they  had  applied  artificial  means  for  a  very  long  period  in 
shaping  their  heads,  at  last  a  kind  of  natural  degeneration  had 
taken  place,  so  that  in  his  day  there  was  no  more  necessity  for 
manual  pressure  to  arrive  at  the  end  in  view,  but  that  the  skulls 
grew  up  to  be  elongated  of  their  own  accord.  And  this  kind  of 
thing  should  be  examined  in  other  varieties  of  mankind,  espe- 
cially as  to  form  and  colour,  and  their  various  causes,  climate, 
&c.,  which  in  the  progress  of  time  become  hereditary  and  con- 
stant, although  they  may  have  owed  their  first  origin  to  adven- 
titious causes.  The  nations  towards  our  north  have  generally 
flatter  faces3.  Eber.  Rosen  is,  so  far  as  I  know,  the  only  writer 
who  says  that  the  Lapps  of  Lulah  can,  for  the  most  part  by  the 
face  being  broad  above4,  attenuated  below,  with  the  cheeks 
falling  in,  and  terminated  in  a  long  chin,  be  distinguished  from 
the  other  Scandinavians5.  J.  B.  de  Fischer6  has  published  a 
drawing  of  a  Calmuck's  skull,  and  it  is  ugly,  and  nearly  ap- 


1  Z.  c.  But  I  do  not  see  how  Winkelmann  (Gesch.  der  Kunst  des  Alterth.  T.  I. 
p.  24)  can  use  this  passage  of  Vesalius  to  prove  the  influence  of  a  more  favourable 
climate  and  sky,  when  the  Brussels  anatomist  attributes  it  to  art  alone.  Moreover 
those  skulls  of  the  Turks  which  ai-e  preserved  in  the  Royal  Museum  are  much  less 
oval,  and  of  much  less  elegant  shape  than  the  common  heads  of  our  countrymen : 
and  therefore  a  man  so  learned  in  his  art  ought  to  have  said  less  about  their 
beauty. 

2  De  aer.  aqu.  et  loc.  35. 

3  Goldsmith,  I.  c.  p.  214. 

4  The  jaws  of  the  skull  of  a  Malabar  woman  are  also  narrow.     Leg.  Rav.  p.  3. 

5  De  Medic.  Lappon.  Lulens.  Lond.  Goth.  1 751.  Engraved  in  Hall.  Coll.  disp. 
pract.  iv. 

6  I.  c.  p.  24,  Tab.  I.     Insfeldt,  I.  c.  also  calls  the  head  of  the  Calmuck  square. 


SKULLS.  117 

proaches  a  square  in  shape,  and  in  many  ways  testifies  to  barba- 
rism. But  this  single  example  shows  how  unfair  it  is  to  draw 
conclusions  as  to  the  conformation  of  a  whole  race  from  one  or 
two  specimens.  For  Pallas1  describes  the  Calmucks  as  men  of  a 
symmetrical,  beautiful,  and  even  round  appearance,  so  that  he 
says  their  girls  would  find  admirers  in  cultivated  Europe.  Nor 
do  the  said  skulls  answer  to  the  two  very  accurate  representa- 
tions of  that  Calmuck,  a  boy  of  eleven  years  old,  who  lately 
came  from  Russia  with  the  court  of  Darmstadt,  drawings  of 
whom  I  received  from  Carlsruhe.  They  represent  a  young  man 
of  handsome  shape,  lofty  forehead  and  eye-brows;  and  whose 
face  agrees  in  this  respect  with  the  description  of  Pallas,  and 
diverges  from  the  skull  in  question,  that  the  mouth  makes  nearly 
an  equilateral  triangle  with  the  eyes  furthest  from  it,  which  brings 
out  the  head  round  instead  of  square.  Passing  from  the  most 
north-easterly  part  of  Asia  by  the  Anadirski  Archipelago  into 
North  America,  we  come  to  the  tribes  whose  name  is  derived 
from  the  singular  form  of  their  heads2.  Either  I  am  very  much 
mistaken,  or  it  is  a  skull  of  this  sort  which  has  been  described 
by  Winslow3,  and  engraved  by  him.  With  its  very  protracted 
occiput,  its  somewhat  fiat  forehead,  the  shape  of  the  orbits,  and 
other  aberrations  of  that  sort  from  the  common  structure,  it  seems 
to  present  some  similarity  to  the  skull  of  a  dog.  We  know  at 
present  too  little  of  the  history  of  that  country  and  its  inhabit- 
ants to  be  able  to  add  the  cause  of  that  singular  conformation: 
but  whatever  it  be,  it  seems  that  it  must  rather  be  in  the  mode 
of  life,  since  the  same  peculiarity  is  observed  sometimes  in  the 
skulls  of  Europeans.  I  myself  have  in  my  possession  a  skull, 
very  ancient,  dug  out  last  summer  from  the  city  cemetery,  which 
is  as  like  that  American  in  the  points  I  have  mentioned4,  and  in 
every  thing  else,  as  one  egg  is  to  another. 


1  Reis.  I.  pp.  307,  311. 

2  Tetes-plates,  or  plats  cotes  de  chiens.     De  Vaugondy,  1.  c.  p.  27,  lat.  650,  long. 
1 750.     Engel,  Tab.  Am.  Boreal. 

3  Mem.  de  VAc.  des  Sc.  de  Paris,  1)22,  p.  323,  Tab.  16.      It  is  said  to  have 
been  found  in  Hond-Eyland,  lat.  780,  long.  3100. 

4  It  measures  six  Paris  inches  and  more  from  the  apex  of  the  nasal  bone  to  the 
extreme  bulging  part  of  the  occipital  bone ;  but  only  four  in  diameter  from  the 


118  ESQUIMAUX. 

Finally,  as  to  the  inhabitants  of  Greenland,  and  of  Labrador, 
the  former  we  are  told  by  Cranz1,  and  the  latter  by  Henry  Ellis2, 
are  longheaded  and  have  flat  faces.  But  I  am  afraid  that  the 
accounts  of  these  most  trustworthy  men  have  been  badly  under- 
stood by  many,  who  have  thence  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
these  nations  are  badly  formed  and  almost  monstrous  in  shape3. 
Cranz  himself  says  that  a  great  many  Greenlanders  are  to  be 
found  with  faces  so  oblong  that  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish  them 
from  Europeans4;  but  as  to  the  Esquimaux,  I  am  led  to  a  contrary 
opinion  by  some  very  accurate  drawings  of  three  inhabitants  of 
Labrador,  which  have  lately  come  into  my  possession,  and  are 
painted  in  colours  with  great  care  by  that  excellent  artist  J. 
Swertner,  from  copies  sent  by  the  Hernnhut  Brothers,  who  have 
an  establishment  there.  One  is  a  male;  and  the  two  females, 
according  to  the  custom  of  their  nation,  are  clad  with  immense 
greaves,  nearly  reaching  to  their  hips,  and  one  of  them  carries  a 
child  in  her  right  sandal5;  all  however  are  of  a  reasonably  sym- 
metrical and  well-proportioned  form.  The  face  of  the  male  is 
rather  flat,  and  the  nose  but  little  prominent,  though  by  no 
means  turned  up,  the  body  square,  and  the  head  large,  so  as  to 
be  equal  to  the  sixth  part  of  his  whole  height;  but  the  women 
are  taller,  and  are  seven  of  their  own  heads  in  length6;  and  if 
you  except  their  colour7,  which  verges  towards  brown,  are  in 
other  respects  of  good  appearance. 

Let  us  turn  to  Asia,  and  look  at  our  second  variety,  which 
dwells  beyond  the  Ganges,  and  on  the  Islands,  &c.     The  first 


condyloid  apophyses  of  the  foramen  magnum  to  the  top  of  the  head :  the  foramen 
magnum  is  placed  rather  towards  the  front,  and  so  the  occiput  is  longer,  and  the 
bones  of  the  head  descend  in  a  more  acute  angle  towards  the  base  of  the  skull  than 
in  Winslow's  example ;  and  so  in  that  it  resembles  the  skull  of  Cowper's  skeleton. 
Myot.  reform,  fig.  xviii. 

1  Hist,  of  Greenl.  p.  179. 

a  Voy.  to  Hudson's  Bay,  p.  132. 

3  Henr.  Home,  I.  c.  Bufi'on,  T.  ill.  p.  485. 

4  This  is  confirmed  by  the  pictures  of  the  Greenlanders  made  after  the  life  by 
Adam  Olearius,  Gottorf  Kunstk.  Tab.  nr.  F.  1 — 3. 

5  Cranz,  Fortsetz.  p.  310.     Ellis,  p.  136. 

c  They  are  placed  by  Alb.  Diirer  in  his  tables  between  Al  and  Br. 
7  Which  is  caused  by  their  mode  of  life.     Cranz,  Fortsetz.  1.  c.     Comp.  with 
Hist.  p.  178. 


SECOND    VARIETY.  119 

thing  we  see  are  the  Aracant  on  the  Ganges,  who  flatten  the 
foreheads  of  the  newly-born  with  sheets  of  lead. 

After  these,  going  up  to  the  Amur  (Sahalien  ula),  the 
northern  termination  of  this  variety,  come  the  Chinese,  who, 
unless  I  am  wrong,  are  less  content  than  any  other  of  the  inha- 
bitants of  this  world,  with  the  natural  conformation  of  their 
body,  and  therefore  use  so  many  artificial  means  to  distort  it, 
and  squeeze  it,  that  they  differ  from  almost  all  other  men  in 
most  parts  of  their  bodies.  Their  heads  are  usually  oval,  their 
faces  flat,  their  eyes  narrow,  drawn  up  towards  the  external 
corners,  their  noses  small,  and  all  their  other  peculiarities  of 
this  kind  are  well  known  from  the  numerous  pictures  of  them, 
and  from  their  china  and  pottery  figures.  Those  Chinese 
whom  Btittner  saw  at  London  were  exactly  of  this  kind,  and  so 
also  was  the  great  botanist  Whang-at-tong  (the  yellow  man  of 
the  East),  whose  acquaintance  was  made  there  by  Lichtenberg. 
But  these  artificial  ways  of  moulding  the  head  seem  to  have 
more  to  do  with  the  soft  parts  of  the  face  than  the  bony  struc- 
ture, for  Daubenton1  reckons  up  many  skulls  of  the  Chinese  and 
Tartars,  and  declares  that  they  differ  in  no  way  from  the  ordi- 
nary skulls  of  Europeans.  The  other  nations  of  this  variety 
looked  at  as  a  whole  answer  to  those  characters  which  I  laid 
down  above  as  belonging  to  them. 

The  New  Hollanders  make  such  a  transition  to  the  third 
variety,  that  we  perceive  a  sensible  progress  in  going  from  the 
New  Zealanders  through  the  Otaheitans  to  the  fourth.  The 
inhabitants  of  the  Island  Mallicolo2,  whom  I  was  just  speaking 
of,  differ  from  their  neighbours  by  the  strange  form  of  head,  in 
which  late  travellers  assure  us  they  approach  nearest  to  the 
figure  of  apes3.     I  do  not  see  anything  remarkable  in  the  skulls 

1  Descr.  du  Cab.  da  roi,  Vol.  xrv.  n.  m.ccg.xxxix. 

2  It  is  situated  with  Tanna  and  New  Caledonia  in  150  S.  L.,  and  is  nearly  as 
many  degrees  from  the  east  coast  of  New  Holland. 

3  I  hope  it  will  be  agreeable  to  my  readers  if  I  append  a  short  description  of 
these  men,  taken  from  the  account  of  the  younger  Forster,  and  communicated  to 
me  by  Lichtenberg.  '•' Contrary  to  all  expectation,  we  found  the  inhabitants  dif- 
fering in  everything  from  all  the  other  people  we  had  hitherto  seen  in  the  Southern 
Ocean.  They  were  of  small  stature,  rarely  exceeding  5  ft.  4  in.  Their  limbs  were 
slender,  and  ill-shaped;  their  colour  blackish-brown,  which  was  made  more  intense 


120  THIRD   VARIETY. 

of  the  remaining  inhabitants  of  the  Pacific  Ocean ;  and  so  we  will 
go  on  to  the  third  variety  of  mankind,  that  is,  the  African 
nations,  about  whom  we  may  be  brief,  since  what  there  is  to  be 
said  about  their  skulls  is  of  small  importance.  Those  skulls  of 
mummies  which  I  have  seen  are  of  round  and  spherical,  but  still 
of  elegant  and  symmetrical  form. 

The  head  of  an  Ethiop  from  the  southern  part  of  Africa  has 
been  carefully  described  by  J.  Beni  de  Fischer,  as  I  quoted 
above1.  Broader  in  the  upper  region,  suddenly  narrowed,  sharp- 
ened from  the  front  towards  the  middle  of  the  frontal  bone  and 
over  the  eyes,  and  widely  stretched  out  below  these,  and  very 
globular  behind,  he  says  that  in  its  whole  periphery  it  comes  to 
be  nearly  of  a  triangular  shape.  And  yet  this  description  is 
scarcely  satisfactory  when  I  compare  it  with  the  Ethiopians  that 
I  have  seen  myself  and  carefully  examined,  or  with  that  skull  of 
Peter  Pauw2;  for  this  latter,  if  you  except  the  large  occiput  and 
the  narrow  orbits,  has  very  little  resemblance  to  the  description 
and  very  accurate  engraving  of  Fischer. 

There  remains  the  fourth  variety  of  the  human  race  belong- 
ing to  America3,  except  that  part  we  have  just  been  speaking  of. 
The  same  thing  may  be  said  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  quarter, 
which  I  have  just  observed  about  the  Chinese,  that  they  take 
great  pains,  and  employ  artificial  means,  to  distort  the  natural 
form  of  their  bodies  into  some  other.  This  is  especially  the  case 
with  the  head;  and  the  most  numerous  evidences  of  the  wonder- 
ful ways  in  which  they  compress  it  are  to  be  found  in  the  stories 
of  travellers ;  but  still  we  are  deficient  in  any  accurate  examina- 


in  the  face,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  body,  by  a  black  pigment.  Their  head  was 
singularly  formed,  for  it  receded  more  from  the  root  of  the  nose  than  other  men's, 
and  presented  such  a  resemblance  to  that  of  the  ape,  that  with  one  accord  we  all 
expressed  our  astonishment  at  it.  Their  noses  and  lips  did  not  seem  more  mis- 
shapen than  those  of  other  nations  of  the  Southern  Ocean.  The  hair  of  their  head 
was  black,  curly,  and  woolly;  their  beard  thick  and  long,  and  less  like  wool. 
They  gird  the  abdomen  with  a  rope  so  tightly,  that  it  seems  nearly  divided  into 
two  parts.  So  far  as  we  saw  they  had  no  other  covering,  except  in  one  place :  but 
this  had  so  little  the  effect  of  concealing  what  other  nations  try  to  hide,  that  it 
made  it  only  still  more  conspicuous." 

1  I.  c.  Tab.  nr.  pp.  24,  16.     Is  it  the  same  in  Legal.  Rav,  n.  sin.    Insfeldt  I.  c. 
The  head  of  the  Ethiopians  approaches  the  triangular  shape. 

2  Primit.  Anat.  p.  29.  3  Recherch.  pkilos.  sur  les  Amer.  I.  p.  146. 


FOURTH    VARIETY.  121 

tions  of  skulls  of  this  kind,  nor  is  it  sufficiently  clear  in  what 
parts  of  the  head  the  greatest  change  takes  place.  J.  Cardan1 
said  that  the  heads  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  old  Portus  Provin- 
cise  were  square,  and  deficient  in  the  occiput.  Hunauld2  has 
exhibited  the  skull  of  a  Carib,  but  it  has  been  either  so  care- 
lessly engraved,  or  is  so  misshapen,  that  I  should  prefer  to  con- 
sider it  as  a  monstrosity,  than  to  believe  such  to  be  the  osseous 
conformation  of  a  whole  nation.  The  enormous  bones  of  the 
nose,  the  little  holes  which  give  an  exit  to  the  nerves  and 
arteries  of  the  same  size  as  the  external  auditory  canal,  the 
angular  and  large-lobed  zygoma,  the  upper  jaw  deeply  incised 
for  the  matrices  of  the  teeth,  and  other  things  of  this  sort,  excite 
a  suspicion  that  this  drawing  was  done  in  a  hurry3.  Finally,  as 
to  North  America,  Charlevoix  describes  the  heads  of  one  of  the 
Canadian  nations  as  globular,  and  the  other  as  flat4. 

So  much  then  about  the  shape  of  skulls.  From  what  has 
been  said  I  trust  that  it  is  more  than  sufficiently  clear,  that 
almost  all  the  diversity  of  the  form  of  the  head  in  different 
nations  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  mode  of  life  and  to  art: 
although  I  should  very  willingly  admit  the  position  of  Hippocra- 
tes, that  with  the  progress  of  time  art  may  degenerate  into  a 
second  nature,  since  it  has  a  very  considerable  influence  in  all 
the  other  variations  of  mankind. 

The  physiognomy  and  the  peculiar  lineaments  of  the  whole 
countenance  in  different  nations  opens  up  a  very  vast  and  agree- 
able field.  In  many  they  are  sufficiently  settled,  and  are  such 
faithful  exponents  of  the  climate  and  the  mode  of  life,  that  even 
after  many  generations  spent  in  a  foreign  climate  they  can  still 
be  recognized.  But,  besides  other  reasons,  the  want  of  suffi- 
ciently faithful  and  accurately  delineated  pictures  forbids  me  to 
wander  in  that  direction.  I  took  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  com- 
pare pictures  drawn  from  the  life  of  more  remote  and,  at  pre- 
sent, little  known  nations ;  but  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  very 


1  De  rer.  variet.  1.  viii.  c.  xliii.  p.  162.  T.  ill.  Oper.  Cap.  Maragnon,  Brasil. 

2  Mem.  de  VAc.  des  Sc.  de  Paris,  1740.  p.  373.  Tab.  16.  fig.  1. 

3  Hist,  de  la  nouvelle  France,  in.  pp.  187,  324.     Algonquins.     Tetes  de  Boule. 

4  lb.  p.  323.     Flat  heads  :  each  a  work  of  art. 


122  PHYSIOGNOMY. 

few;  and  there  are  not  many  authors  of  travels  whose  pictures, 
so  far  as  regards  the  likenesses  of  nations,  can  be  trusted.  If 
you  except  the  vast  work  of  the  brothers  De  Bry,  the  first 
editions  of  the  travels  of  Cornelius  Le  Brun,  the  Tartary  of  Nic. 
Witsen,  the  diary  of  Sydney  Parkinson,  and  the  voyages  of  Cook 
himself,  and  except  some  genuine  representations  scattered  about 
here  and  there  in  various  books,  especially  in  the  work  of 
S.  E.  Lavater  on  physiognomy,  there  are  many  nations  of  whom 
you  can  find  no  trustworthy  pictures. 

Meanwhile,  it  will  be  enough  to  bring  forward  a  few  ex- 
amples, of  which  the  Jewish  race  presents  the  most  notorious 
and  least  deceptive,  which  can  easily  be  recognized  everywhere 
by  their  eyes  alone,  which  breathe  of  the  East.  The  Vallones, 
though  they  have  lived  among  the  Swedes  for  many  years,  still 
preserve  the  lineaments  of  the  face,  which  are  peculiar  to  them, 
and  by  which  they  can  be  distinguished  at  the  first  glance  from 
the  aborigines1.  The  clear  and  open  countenance  of  the  Swiss, 
the  cheerful  one  of  the  young  Savoyards,  the  manly  and  serious 
Turks2,  the  simple  and  guileless  look  of  the  nations  of  the 
extreme  north3,  can  easily  be  distinguished,  even  by  those  least 
skilled  in  physiognomy. 

The  matter  is  a  little  more  difficult  in  some  nations  of  the 
south,  especially  in  the  west  of  Europe,  who,  it  has  been  ob- 
served by  some  eminent  men,  from  some  reason  or  other,  are 
cheerful  and  sanguine  in  youth,  but,  as  manhood  advances,  be- 
come more  morose,  and  inclined  to  be  of  a  melancholy  tem- 
perament4. In  our  other  varieties  the  lineaments  of  the  face 
are  very  much  more  persistent.  To  say  nothing  of  the  Chinese, 
who  I  have  mentioned  make  their  heads  so  much  out  of  shape 
that  it  would  be  hazardous  to  say  how  much  in  them  is  to 

1  Clas  Alstrbmer  Om  den  fin-ulliga  far-aveln.     Stock.  1770.  8vo.  p.  76. 

2  Russel,  Aleppo.     Niebuhr,  Reis.  &c. 

3  Saraojed.  Le  Brun,  Voy.  Amst.  1718.  f.  n.  7,  8,  and  p.  9.  The  Tartars  of 
Siberia,  ib.  p.  104.  The  Ostiaks,  p.  112.  The  Greenlanders  in  Olear.  I.e.  The 
Esquimaux  in  our  pictures  approach  very  much  to  the  Samojed.  Le  Brun,  n.  7 
and  8. 

4  Boerhaave,  Prod,  inpropr.  inst.  s.  879.  "The  Italians,  Portuguese,  and  Spanish 
are  vivacious  and  playful  up  to  the  eighteenth  year :  after  the  thirtieth  year  they 
all  become  sad,  morose,  melancholy,  and  subject  to  haemorrhages." 


AFRICANS.  123 

be  referred  to  nature  and  how  much  to  art,  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Pacific  Ocean  retain  evident  examples  of  persistent  physio- 
gnomy. Every  one,  for  instance,  will  recognize  the  fierce  and 
savage  countenance  of  the  New-Hollanders  and  New-Zealanders 
by  looking  at  the  magnificent  plates  of  Parkinson1,  whereas  the 
Otaheitans,  on  the  contrary,  looked  at  as  a  whole,  seem  to  be 
of  a  milder  disposition,  as  also  the  many  pictures2  of  them  by 
the  same  well-known  author  testify3. 

Although  almost  all  the  nations  of  Africa  are  sufficiently  dis- 
tinguished by  persistent  and  peculiar  lineaments  of  face,  still  the 
ancient  Egyptians,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  south  of  Africa, 
differ  very  much  by  their  singular  physiognomy  from  the  rest, 
both  of  the  Africans  and  of  mankind.  All  the  monuments  of  the 
old  art  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  from  the  statue  of  Memnon  down 
to  the  pottery  seals  which  are  found  with  the  mummies,  show 
likenesses  very  similar,  and  all  closely  resembling  each  other. 
The  face  is  somewhat  long,  but  by  no  means  emaciated,  the  nose 
prominent,  broad  towards  the  nostrils,  and  ending  in  a  sharpish 
lobe,  and  finally  the  mouth  small,  girdled  with  swelling  lips,  all  of 
which  are  most  positive  and  unmistakeable  signs  of  the  Egyp- 
tian head.  The  appearance  of  the  Ethiopians  is  so  well  known 
that  it  would  be  superfluous  to  say  much  on  that  point.  Their 
depressed  nose,  which  has  been  attributed  by  some  to  art4,  most 
recent  authors,  and  those  eye-witnesses,  have  shown  to  be  due 
to  nature5,  and  the  two  Ethiopian  foetuses  preserved  in  the 
Royal  Museum  are  exactly  like  the  figures  of  Ruysch6  and 
Seba7,  and  answer  to  this  description.  For  although  the  nose 
in  almost  all  human  embryos  is  depressed,  still  the  Ethiopians 


1  PI.  XVII.  XXIII.  xxviii.  &c.  2  PI.  VIII. 

3  When  their  faces  are  seen  in  profile,  they  are  very  distinct  from  the  smooth 
and  equable  countenance  of  the  Chinese,  through  their  distinctly  prominent  nose, 
lips,  and  chin,  &c.  This  was  often  observed  in  the  men  of  both  nations  by  Lich- 
tenberg,  who  knew  the  Chinese  I  was  speaking  of  and  the  Otaheitan  O-mai  (which 
is  commonly,  but  wrongly  made  a  trisyllable  O-mai-a)  at  London,  and  has  often 
wondered  at  the  diversity  of  their  faces. 

4  Hemmersam,  p.  37.  5  Miiller,  Fetu,  p.  31. 

6  Thes.  Anat.  in.  t.  1.  The  forehead  is  more  narrow  than  in  any  other  foetus, 
as  is  shewn  by  one  of  the  specimens  in  the  Royal  Museum. 

7  Thes.  T.  1.  Tab.  cxi.  f.  2. 


124  HAIK. 

of  whom  we  are  speaking  have  their  noses,  or  interstices  (to 
use  the  expression  of  Isidore)  so  expanded,  that  even  setting 
aside  the  swelling  lips,  any  one  could  tell  the  nation  from  them 
alone. 

A  few  variations  of  the  human  body  remain  besides  those 
which  I  think  should  be  attributed  to  art  alone,  and  which 
have  to  do  with  the  peculiar  formation  of  members  and  parts. 
The  hair  varies  very  much  amongst  most  men,  both  in  colour 
and  form,  but  in  some  nations  is  of  a  constant  character.  And 
as  it  is  said  to  be  universal  that  white  colours  obtain  more  in 
the  north,  and  brown  in  the  south,  so  black  hair  and  black  eyes 
seem  to  be  usual  in  the  torrid  zones,  and  light  hair  with  blue 
eyes  in  the  colder  regions1.  But,  beyond  all,  the  hair  of  the 
Ethiopians  is  conspicuous  for  its  intense  black  and  its  singular 
woolliness,  which  however  is  no  more  congenital  with  them  than 
the  colour  of  their  skin,  but  both  have  been  contracted,  as 
we  have  seen,  by  the  progress  of  time  and  the  heat  of  the  sun2. 
For  the  Ethiopian  foetus,  I  mentioned,  is  covered  with  light 
brown  straight  hairs,  which  scarcely  differ  from  the  down  of  the 
European  embryo;  so  that  it  is  probable  that  the  tint  of  the 
skin  and  the  hair  are  changed  sensibly  at  the  same  time.  I 
have  already  observed  that  the  Ethiopians  get  paler  in  old  age, 
and  that  their  hair  also  grows  white;  and  it  is  a  well-known 
thing,  that  in  other  men,  in  proportion  as  their  skin  is  brown, 
so  are  the  genitals  covered  with  curly  hair.  We  are  also  told 
in  his  last  work,  by  D.  Antonius  de  Ulloa3,  that  the  Ethiopians 
of  Darien  have  hair,  though  black,  still  straight.  Others  too 
have  declared,  and  I  myself  have  often  observed,  that  the  struc- 
ture of  the  Ethiopian  hair  is  the  same  as  that  of  other  men, 
and  the  bulb  of  it  as  white. 

Many  authors  tell  us  that  the  feet  of  the  Ethiopians  are 
badly   formed,    in  more   than  one  way.      The   author   of  the 


1  Avicenna,  Canon.  L.  I.  Fen.  I.  v.  Haller,  Elem.  Physiol.  T.  v.  p.  36. 

2  Csel.  Rhodigin.  1.  c.  p.  440,  ed.  Aid.     For  dried-up  hair  is  turned  black  and 
bent. 

3  Nolicias  Americanas.    Madrid,  1722.  4to.     Enlretenim.  xvil.  p.  305. 


SPLAY   FEET.  125 

Moretum  (said  to  be  Virgil)  reckons  up  their  many  defects  as 
follows1: 

With  legs  so  thin,  and  feet  so  widely  splayed, 
The  wrinkled  heels  perpetual  slits  betrayed. 

And  Hier.  Mercurialis  agrees  with  him,  for  he  says  that  these 
slits  in  the  feet  are  endemic  to  the  Ethiopians2.  Another 
passage  worthy  of  notice  is  to  be  found  in  Petronius3,  which,  as 
Heyne4  tells  us,  refers  to  the  Ethiopian  slaves,  like  those  we 
call  negroes.  Csel.  Rhodiginus5  says  that  the  Egyptians  and 
Ethiopians  have  splay  feet,  &c,  which,  however,  do  not  seem 
to  be  by  any  means  common  to  entire  nations;  for  Albert 
Durer6,  after  speaking  of  these  deformities  in  the  feet  of  the 
Ethiopians,  adds  that  he  has  seen  many  well  and  symmetri- 
cally formed;  nor  was  I  able  to  observe  anything  of  this  kind 
in  the  Ethiopians  I  have  seen  myself. 

That  the  breasts  of  the  Ethiopian7  and  other8  southern 
women  are  pendulous  and  contracted,  from  their  mode  of  life 
and  habits  of  lactation,  wants  scarcely  any  testimony  adduced. 
To  those  mutations  of  the  human  body  which  are  occasioned 
by  the  mode  of  life,  we  may  also  add  those  wdiich  owe  their 
origin  to  the  difference  of  languages,  and  which  are  sometimes 
to  be  found  in  the  very  organs  of  speech.  To  attribute  this 
difference,  with  J.  Senebier9,  to  the  influence  of  heat  or  cold, 
is  forbidden  by  a  slight  comparison  of  neighbouring  languages. 
Who  could  possibly  attribute  to  the  climate  the  fact  that  the 
Ephraimites  said  Sibolet  instead  of  Schibolet;  that  the  Chinese 
cannot  pronounce  the  letters  R  and  D;  or  the  Spaniards  the  final 
M,  or  the  inhabitants  of  the  Marquesas  and  the  Greenlanders 
of  Kamtschadale  Tsch  and  ks.     But  the  prodigious  labours  of 


1  V.  35.  2  Be  decorat.  p.  103. 

3  c.  102.  "Can  we  fill  our  lips  with  an  ugly  swelling?  can  we  crisp  our  hair 
with  an  iron  ?  and  mark  our  forehead  with  scars  ?  and  distend  our  shanks  into  a 
curve?  and  draw  our  heels  down  to  the  earth?  and  change  our  beard  into  a  foreign 
fashion? " 

4  Ad  Moreti,  I.  c.  5  I.  c.  ed.  Aid. 

6  I.e.  Fol.  T.  111.  7  Fermin,  (Econ.  Anim.  p.  117. 

8  Hottentots.  Kolben,  Vorgeb.  de  g.  H.  p.  474.  The  inhabitants  of  Horn 
Island  in  Le  Make,  and  Schouten  in  Dalrymple's  Collect.  T.  II.  p.  5S. 

9  L 'Art  d 'observer.     Genev.  1775,  8vo.  T.  11.  p.  227. 


126  MUTILATIONS. 

Biittner  on  this  point  forbid  me  to  be  more  prolix  on  the  matter, 
for  he  has  collected  with  incredible  labour  all  that  relates  to 
the  subject,  and  will  very  soon  give  it  to  the  press. 

I  pass  on  to  those  things  which,  besides  the  shape  of  the 
head,  are  apt  to  be  changed  by  the  aid  of  art  in  the  other  parts 
of  the  body  amongst  various  nations.  And  first  of  all  I  mean  to 
speak  of  mutilations,  where  members  and  parts  of  the  body  are 
cut  or  torn  out,  &c.  The  Scriptures,  and  the  stories  of  Hero- 
dotus1 about  the  Colchians,  the  Egyptians  and  the  Ethiopians, 
and  the  wide  extent  of  the  practice2,  all  prove  that  circumcision 
is  exceedingly  ancient.  Nor  is  it  confined  entirely  to  the 
stronger  sex,  for  amongst  many  oriental  people  it  is  applied  to 
the  weaker  sex,  and  that  part  of  their  pudenda  which  answers3 
to  the  prepuce  of  the  virile  member  is  cut  off;  of  which  cere- 
mony copious  testimony  both  from  ancient  and  modern  writers 
has  been  collected  by  Mart.  Schurigius4  and  Theod.  Tronchin5. 
It  will  be  enough  for  us  at  present  to  give  our  readers  a  draw- 
ing (PI.  II.  fig.  4)  of  the  genitals  of  a  circumcised  girl  of 
eighteen  years  old,  which  I  owe  to  the  kindness  of  Niebuhr, 
who  has  also  allowed  me  to  give  it  to  the  public.  When  that 
famous  company  went  to  travel  in  Asia,  one  of  the  questions 
proposed  to  them  was  about  this  circumcision  of  both  sexes6; 
and  this  illustrious  man7,  who  was  the  sole  survivor  of  the  ex- 
pedition, settled  this,  as  well  as  almost  all  the  others;  so  much 
so  as  to  bring  back  this  drawing  I  am  speaking  of,  which  the 
Great  artist,  G.  W.  Baurenfeind,  had  taken  from  the  life.  In  it 
you  can  see  the  body  itself  of  the  clitoris,  bare  and  deprived  of 
its  prepuce,  hanging  from  the  upper  commissure  of  the  labia, 

1  pp.  102.  125.  ed.  Gron. 

2  The  negroes  of  Angola.  Hughes,  Barbad.  p.  14.  The  Otaheitans.  Eeinh. 
Forster,  I.  c.  p.  269. 

3  So  also  P.  Bellon,  Obs.  1.  ill.  c.  28;  although  he  adds  obscurely,  that  the  part 
which  is  in  Greek  called  hymenea  is  in  Latin  alae.  Thevenot  says  they  do  not 
spare  even  these  alee  or  wings.  Toy.  1.  II.  c.  74.  However  the  Greek  words  for 
these  parts  are  often  confounded:  see  their  genuine  explanations  in  H.  Stephani 
Diction.  Med.  pp.  536,  and  599,  and  Joach.  Caraerarius,  Comment,  utriusq.  linguce, 

V-  359- 

4  Muliebr.  pp.  116,  142.     Parthenol.  p.  379. 

5  Diss,  de  Cliloride,  p.  m.  75. 

0  Michaelis,  Freigm.  p.  155.  7  Besclir.  v.  Arab.  p.  77. 


MUTILATIONS.  127 

under  the  pubis,  which  is  abraded,  and  below  it  lie  the  orifices 
of  the  urethra,  and  the  vagina:  if  perchance  some  may  think 
these  things  are  not  particularly  well  done,  they  must  excuse 
the  haste  of  the  draughtsman1. 

Eunuchs  have  not  so  much  to  do  with  the  matter  in  hand,  as 
monorchides,  one  of  whose  testicles  is  extracted  during  infancy. 
First,  this  custom  prevails  amongst  the  Hottentots,  who  gene- 
rally in  the  eighth,  and  sometimes,  if  we  can  trust  Kolben2,  in 
the  eighteenth  year,  are  made  monorchides.  They  suppose  it 
makes  them  run  quicker;  but  travellers  remark  that  at  the 
same  time  it  affects  their  fertility3.  The  Swiss  peasants  not 
unfrequently  undergo  the  like  loss  of  a  testicle,  that  being  the 
way  in  which  the  neighbours  used  to  cure  ruptures4. 

To  mutilations  I  refer  the  custom  of  eradicating  the  hair  in 
different  parts  of  the  body  practised  by  some  nations.  Thus 
the  Burats  keep  only  the  hair  below  the  chin,  and  pluck  out 
the  rest5:  the  Turks  destroy6  by  various  unguents  the  hair  in 
every  part  of  the  body  except  on  the  head  and  the  beard :  the 
Otaheitans  eradicate7  the  hairs  under  the  armpit;  and  almost 
all  the  people  of  America  extirpate  the  beard,  which  gave  rise 
to  the  old  idea8,  that  the  Americans  were  naturally  beardless. 
But  this  story  scarcely  needs  refutation.  Lionel  Wafer9  ex- 
pressly says  about  the  inhabitants  of  Darien,  that  they  would 
have  beards  if  they  did  not  pluck  them  out :  and  there  is  still 
a  little  beard  in  our  picture  of  the  male  Esquimaux,  though 
the  rest  of  his  face  is  smooth10.  I  say  nothing  of  the  artificial 
sharpening  of  the  teeth  "  amongst  others,  and  other  mutilations 


1  Eeschr.  v.  Arab.  p.  80.     Baurenfeind  designed  it  after  nature,  but  with  an 
unsteady  hand. 

2  p.  147.  3  J.  Schreyer,  p.  34. 

4  See  Haller,  adv.    Buff.  Operum  min.  T.  nr.  p.  183. 

5  Le  Brun,  Voy.  p.  120.     Memoire  sur  les  Samojedes,  p.  39. 

6  Leonh.  Rauwolf,  Raiss.  p.  31.     Buff.  T.  III.  p.  438. 

7  Hawkesworth,  T.  II.  p.  188. 

8  Repeated  lately  in  Recherch.  sur  les  Americains,  T.  I.  p.  37.    Quest,  sur  VEn- 
cycl.  T.  vii.  p.  98. 

9  Isthm.  of  Africa,  p.  106. 

10  The  bearded  race  of  the  Esquimaux.     Charlevoix,  III.  p.  179.     A  bearded 
inhabitant  of  Tierra  del  Fuego.   Parkinson,  Vol.  I.  Thus  from  all  parts  of  America. 

11  Ethiopians.     Hemmersam,  p.  37. 


128  DISFIGUREMENTS. 

of  equally  little  importance.  First  of  all,  I  refer  to  deformities 
those  enormous  and  pendulous  ears,  which  from  a  very  long 
time  have  been  so  much  in  favour  among  many  nations,  so  as 
to  give  a  foundation  to  the  old  story  about  the  Scythian  popu- 
lations in  Pontus,  that  they  have  such  large  ears  that  they  can 
cover  their  whole  bodies  with  them1.  We  have  certain  in- 
formation about  the  inhabitants  of  Malabar,  of  C.  Comorin2, 
Benares,  the  Moluccas3,  and  Mallicolo4,  that  they  use  various 
artifices  to  make  their  ears  as  large  as  possible,  and  truly  mon- 
strous. The  picture  of  a  man  of  the  south  in  Corn.  Le  Brun 
represents  them  as  disfigured  in  a  wonderful  way5.  We  are 
told  by  some  English  travellers  in  southern  countries  how  the 
New  Zealanders  studiously  prolong  the  prepuce  of  the  penis6. 
The  immense  nails  of  the  Chinese7  are  well  known.  The 
custom  of  making  women  thin  by  a  particular  diet  is  very 
ancient,  and  has  prevailed  amongst  the  most  refined  nations8, 
so  politeness  and  respect  forbid  us  to  class  it,  with  Linnaeus9 
amongst  deformities.  Though  the  use  of  pigments  and  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  paint  does  not  change  the  shapes  of  the  mem- 
bers themselves,  yet  it  is  so  constant  in  some  nations,  that 
it  would  clearly  be  wrong  to  leave  it  untouched.  Some  merely 
smear  their  skin  with  pigments,  whilst  others  first  of  all  prick 
it  with  a  needle,  and  then  rub  the  colours  in,  which  in  this 
way  adhere  most  tenaciously.  Both  customs  have  prevailed 
amongst  the  most  remote  and  different  nations.  The  Kana- 
gystse10,  the  Californians",  the  Turks12,  the  inhabitants  of  the 
island  of  Santa  Croce13,  and  Mallicolo,  of  New  Holland14,  and 


1  Plin.  iv.  13,  vn.  2.     Pompon.  Mela,  1.  in.  cle  Hisp.  et  Sept.  insulis. 

2  Schreyer,  p.  117. 

3  Maximil.  Transylv.  in  Zahn,  Spec.  T.  III.  p.  69. 

4  They  perforate  them  with  reeds.  5  n.  197. 

6  Hawkesworth,  Vol.  in.  p.  50.  7  01.  Toree,  p.  69. 

8  Chserea  in  Terence,  Eunuch.  II.  3.  21. 

9  Syst.  Nat.  xn.  1.  p.  29. 

10  In  the  Kad-jak  islands  of  the  Olutorian  archipelago.    Staehlir-,  I.  c  p.  32. 

11  Begert,  p.  109. 

12  Rauwolf,  Russel,  Niebuhr,  in  either  work. 

13  Intensely  black.     Alvaro  Mendana  de  Neyra  in  Dalrymple,  Vol.  I.  p.  78. 

14  Parkinson,   PI.  XXVII.     The  abdomen  and  the  legs  distinguished  by   white 
bands. 


WILD   MEN.  129 

Cape  Verde1,  paint  themselves2.  We  know  that  the  Tungus3, 
the  Tschuktschi4,  the  Arabians5,  the  Esquimaux6,  the  New-Zea- 
landers7,  the  Otaheitans8,  and  many  nations  over  all  America9 
draw  designs  in  the  skin  with  a  needle,  or  what  we  call  tattoo 
themselves. 

And  this  is  pretty  well  all  that  I  have  to  tell  about  the 
variations  of  the  human  body,  and  its  members,  whether  oc- 
casioned by  climate,  or  mode  of  life,  or  diverse  unions,  or  finally, 
by  artificial  means.  Any  one  will  easily  see  that  our  discussion 
has  been  about  the  varieties  of  whole  nations,  and  that  we  have 
nothing  to  do  with  those  peculiarities  which  happen  acciden- 
tally to  one  or  two  individuals;  and  therefore  I  am  quite  justi- 
fied in  making  no  mention  here  of  those  unfortunate  children, 
who  have  been  now  and  then  found  amongst  wild  beasts ;  and 
all  the  more  because  everything  which  is  known  of  those  in- 
stances has  been  diligently  collected  and  dealt  with  in  a  regular 
way  by  the  industry  of  some  famous  men10.  Their  more  im- 
portant, and  more  noble  part,  that  is  reason,  remains  unculti- 
vated; but  hard  necessity  has  so  perverted  their  human  nature, 
that  I  should  be  inclined  to  refer  these  anthropomorphous 
creatures,  who  are  so  like  beasts,  to  the  homines  monstrosi  of 
Linnaeus. 


1  In  Hue.    Groben,  p.  19. 

2  On  the  ancient  Picts,  see  Martini  on  Buff.  Allg.  Nat.  Gesch.  VI.  p.  258. 

3  La  Russie  ouverte,  Petersb.  1774,  fol.  Fasc.  1.  Tab.  V.  Coloured  plates.  Le 
Brun,  p.  118.    J.  G.  Gmelin,  Reis.  1.  p.  77,  11.  p.  647. 

4  Krascheninikof,  Kamtschaika,   Part  11.  p.  152, 

5  Niebuhr,  Reis.  1.  Tab.  lix.     An  Arabian  woman  of  Tehama. 

6  The  women  in  ray  plate  are  depicted  with  a  double  row  of  punctures  on  the 
frontal  arch,  and  a  single  one  under  the  lower  lip. 

7  Parkinson,  PI.  XVI.  sxi.  xxin.  8  lb.  PI.  vn. 

9  At  length,  John  de  Laet.  adv.  Hug.  Grot,  de  Orig.  Gewb.  Americ.  Amst.  1643, 
8vo.  p.  204.  Canadians  in  Mus.  Kirch,  ed.  Battame.  Rom.  1773,  fol.  Part  1. 
Tab.  I.  11.  col.  plates.  In  Tierra  del  Fuego,  Parkins.  PL  I.  Instances  of  ancient 
tribes  are  collected  by  Ph.  Cluver,  German,  antiques,  p.  129. 

10  For  ancient  instances  see  ^lian.  v.  h.  1.  xn.  c.  42.  Alex,  ab  Alex.  Genial, 
dier.  L  IL  c.  31.  Herodot.  1.  1.  has  doubts  about  Cyrus.  Liyy,  1.  1.  c.  4,  about 
Romulus  and  Remus.  Pliny  defends  the  story,  viii.  15,  xv.  18,  and  Plutarch 
Romul.  c.  11.     On  the  child  of  Gargoris  by  his  daughter  see  Justin.  L  xliv.  c.  4. 

Among  recent  authors  see  for  a  well-written  collection  of  histories,  Henr.  Conr. 
Kcenig,  Sched.  de  horn,  inter  feras  educat.  statu  not.  solitario,  Hanover,  1730,  4to. 
Ph.  Henr.  Boeder,  de  Statu  Animar.  Hom.fer.  Argent.  1756,  4k).  Linn.  Anthropom. 
T.  VI.  Amcenit.  ac.  p.  65,  and  Sys.  Nat.  1.  c.  p.  28,  at  length  Martini,  I.  c.  p.  263. 

9 


130  ALBINISM. 

The  diseases  to  which  the  human  body  is  subject  would 
appear  to  be  much  less  to  our  purpose  than  even  the  wild  state 
of  these  children ;  and  yet  I  am  unwillingly  compelled  to  in- 
trude here  upon  pathology,  because  of  the  recent  mistakes  of 
some  famous  men,  who  have  not  hesitated  to  consider  the  af- 
flicted persons  about  whom  I  am  going  to  speak,  not  only  as  a 
peculiar  species  of  the  human  race,  but  even  as  the  same  with 
the  apes.  There  is  a  disorder  affecting  both  the  skin  and  the 
eyes  at  the  same  time1,  which  sometimes  occurs  amongst  men 
of  the  most  different  nations,  and  amongst  some  kinds  of  quad- 
rupeds, and  birds.  As  we  saw  above  that  the  whiteness  of 
organized  bodies  was  due  to  cold,  so  now  we  have  to  consider 
another  kind  of  diseased  whiteness  which  does  not  depend  upon 
cold.  It  seems  to  be  found  in  plants2  also,  but  is  more  fre- 
quently observed,  and  appears  with  stronger  and  more  remark- 
able symptoms  in  animals,  whose  skin  and  hair,  or  whose 
feathers  and  quills,  become  of  an  unnaturally  chalky,  or  milky 
hair,  and  their  eyes  grey,  or  reddish.  In  some  few  genera  this 
singular  condition  seems  to  become  a  second  nature,  so  that 
they  produce  offspring  like  themselves,  and  the  same  colour  is 
preserved  to  all  generations;  in  most  however  instances  of  this 
sort  seem  scattered  and  anomalous ;  they  spring  from  parents  of 
the  usual  colour,  and  very  often  have  offspring  like  them  again, 
or  at  all  events  the  case  is  confined  within  the  limits  of  a  few 
families. 

Of  the  first  sort  the  best  known  examples  are  white  rabbits, 
which  are  called,  not  inaptly,  by  Nic.  le  Cat3,  the  leuccethiops  of 
their  kind.  Their  fur  is  always  a  constant  snowy  white,  whilst 
their  eyes  are  rosy  or  red,  but  in  other  rabbits  grey  or  black. 
They  are  deficient  in  that  black  pigment  which  lines  internally 


1  I  am  surprised  to  see  that  some  eminent  men  so  far  differ  from  me  as  to  deny 
this  leuccethiopia  to  be  a  disease,  and  go  so  far  as  to  confound  it  with  that  natural 
whiteness  which  comes  to  animals  in  the  winter ;  which  I  should  scarcely  have  ex- 
pected from  men  skilled  in  physiology,  and  who  must  be  aware  of  the  great  impor- 
tance of  the  black  pigment  which  is  drawn  over  the  internal  parts  of  the  eye,  and 
is  entirely  deficient  in  this  disorder. 

2  Hyacinths,  roses,  &c.  change  anomalously  their  native  colour  into  white. 

3  Coul.  de  la  peau,  p.  55. 


OP  ANIMALS.  131 

the  eyes  of  all  the  mammalia,  the  birds,  the  amphibious  animals, 
many  of  the  fishes,  and  even  insects,  and  whose  seat  is  to  be 
found  in  the  cellular  web  which  lines  the  choroidal  membrane,  and 
the  uvea,  &c.  That  this  blackness  is  of  the  greatest  consequence 
towards  sound  and  good  vision  is  proved,  besides  other  ways,  by 
the  weak  eye-sight  of  those  animals  in  whom,  as  in  the  white 
rabbit,  that  pigment  is  entirely  wanting,  or  even  in  some  consider- 
able proportion1.  For  even  those  animals  in  whom  the  tapetum 
is  blue  or  green  are  less  able  to  bear  a  clear  and  noonday  light, 
in  proportion  as  they  have  that  part  larger  or  more  conspicuous; 
as  may  be  observed  in  the  cat  and  other  animals  whose  habits 
are  nocturnal.  But  yet  in  them  the  external  side  of  the 
choroid,  and  whatever  internal  part  there  is  besides  the  tape- 
tum, is  covered  with  the  usual  blackness,  of  which  however  not 
a  vestige  appears  in  the  rabbits  we  are  speaking  of.  Hence  an 
immense  quantity  of  vessels,  if  they  are  turgid  with  blood,  seem 
to  be  transparent  with  a  sort  of  rosy  or  auburn  colour  through 
the  pupil  and  in  the  iris;  but  this  beautiful  rosy  hue  perishes 
if  the  bulb  of  the  eye  is  taken  away  from  the  orbit  and  the 
blood  flows  out ;  and  it  remains,  if  you  first  of  all  replenish  the 
same  vessels  with  dull-red  suet.  The  pupil  is,  as  in  all  the 
animals  of  which  we  shall  speak,  very  large,  even  after  death ; 
the  iris,  if  cut  off  from  the  vessels,  white,  and  barely  fibrous; 
which,  if  it  is  the  case  with  the  iris  of  other  animals,  clearly 
shows  that  the  absence  of  circular  fibres  is  connected  with  this 
deficiency  of  extraneous  pigment:  its  vessels  are  beautifully 
curved;  so  also  the  folds  of  the  ciliary  processes,  if  the  injection 
has  been  properly  performed,  &c.  As  this  defect  of  the  eyes 
is  so  common  to  this  kind  of  rabbits,  that  their  females,  when 
embraced  by  black  or  grey  males,  produce  offspring  with  white 
and  red  eyes,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  if  they  become  easily 
accustomed  to  the  light,  and  able  to  endure  the  glare  of  day. 

The  nature  of  white  mice  is  otherwise  compounded,  for 
although  they  preserve  for  many  generations  the  snowy  colour 
of  their  fur,  and  the  red  colour  of  their  eyes,  so  far,  like  rabbits, 

1  Tke  choroid  grows  pale  in  old  men. 

9—2 


132  ALBINOS. 

they  still  remain  to  an  extreme  degree  avoiders  of  the  light1. 
There  is  here  at  Gottingen  a  bakehouse,  in  which  white  mice 
are  not  unfrequently  caught,  many  of  which  I  have  seen  alive ; 
and,  if  a  light  was  brought  to  the  hole,  they  would  instantly  hide 
themselves  in  the  cotton  which  was  put  for  them,  but  in  the 
twilight,  or  when  the  season  was  cloudy,  they  used  to  run  freely 
about. 

Besides  rabbits  and  mice  there  are  other  animals  in  which 
this  variety  of  hair  and  feathers  and  eyes  is  sometimes,  though 
rarely,  to  be  seen.  Amongst  horses2  such  sometimes  occur; 
which  however  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  breed  peculiar 
to  Denmark;  for  although  these  have  white  hair,  yet  their 
hoofs  and  eyes  are  black,  and,  according  to  the  observations 
of  Kersting,  they  have  also  the  rete  Malpighianum  brown. 

I  myself  have  seen  white  dogs  with  red  eyes ;  a  hamster  of 
the  same  sort  I  owe  to  the  liberality  of  Sulz;  and  such  a 
squirrel  was  kept  living  by  J.  J.  Wagner3. 

Amongst  birds,  white  varieties  are  known  to  occur  in 
Canary-birds,  parrots  and  cocks,  and  very  seldom,  but  occa- 
sionally, in  crows. 

Finally,  as  to  men  who  suffer  from  this  defect,  the  accounts 
of  them  have  been  by  some  recent  authors  so  deformed,  and  so 
mixed  up  with  fables,  that  we  may  easily  pardon  those  who 
have  allowed  themselves  to  be  deceived,  and  have  not  hesitated 
to  make  out  of  them  a  particular  species  of  mankind.  It  will 
therefore  be  our  business  to  separate  the  stories  from  the  truth, 
to  show  that  the  disease,  so  far  from  forming  a  species,  does  not 
even  form  a  peculiar  variety  of  mankind ;  to  narrate  its 
symptoms  in  detail;  and  to  show  that  it  was  known  to  the 
ancients,  and  has  spread  over  almost  all  the  world. 

The  other  immense  merits  of  Linnseus,  and  my  own  respect 
for  so  great  a  man,  forbid  me  to  say  much  about  his  great 
mistake,  repeated  in  so  many  editions4  of  his  magnificent  work, 
and  which  other  learned  men  declare  was  put  forth  in  all  good 

1  Physical,  belustig.  14  st.  p.  439. 

2  Edm.  Chapman,  de  Leucceth.  in  fine. 

3  Hist.  Nat.  Helvet.  p.  185.  4  S.  N.  xn.  p.  33. 


LUSCITIO.  133 

faith,  especially  after  the  severe  censures  of  Buffon1  and  Pauw*. 
It  will  be  sufficient  to  sum  it  up  in  a  few  words :  that  the 
attributes  of  apes  are  there  mixed  up  with  those  of  men — for 
a  body  less  than  ours  by  half,  eyes  deep  in  their  orbit,  joined 
to  the  membrana  nictitans,  and  a  lateral  vision  at  the  same  time 
on  both  sides3,  the  fingers  of  the  hand  touching  the  knees  when 
in  an  erect  position,  the  wrinkled  skin  of  the  pubis*,  and  finally, 
the  whispering  tongue  and  those  arrogant  conceits,  the  hope 
of  future  dominion,  Sc.  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  highest 
work  of  the  Supreme  Being,  but  must  be  relegated  to  the 
region  of  fable. 

There  is  a  disease  of  the  human  body,  for  the  most  part 
congenital,  exactly  like  that  which  I  have  shown  to  attack 
certain  animals ;  it  is,  however,  different  in  this,  that  it  plays 
with  the  symptoms,  and  now  attacks  man  lightly,  and  now 
severely;  in  some  countries  it  is  rare,  in  others  more  frequent 
and  endemic;  here  it  is  propagated  in  families,  there  it  seizes 
people  capriciously  and  individually.  It  affects  the  skin  and 
the  eyes  at  the  same  time,  and  therefore  seems  referable  either 
to  tetter  or  to  luscitio5:  that  it  is  related  to  both,  will  be  plain 
from  an  enumeration  of  the  symptoms.  As  to  the  skin,  or 
rather  the  cuticle,  which  is  the  principal  seat  of  disease,  in 
this  disease  it  is  affected  in  more  than  one  way;  it  is  indeed 
always  of  a  diseased  whiteness,  and  the  hair6  or  groin  are  co- 
loured in  the  same  way;  but  the  nature  of  the  epiderm  itself 
undergoes  all  sorts  of  mutations,  though  it  is  not  always  entirely 


1  T.  xiv.  2  Rech.  sur  les  Am.  T.  n.  p.  69. 

3  Dalin.  Am.  Acad.  T.  vi.  p.  74.  4  lb.  p.  73. 

5  Luscitio:  a  complaint  of  the  eyes,  when  the  sight  is  better  in  the  evening  than 
at  mid-day.  Festus.  In  the  same  sense  Hippocrates  uses  the  vvKTaXwirlas. 
Prorrh.  II.  Galen,  Isag.  Plin.  1.  xxvm.  c.  11,  and  Theod.  Priscian,  1.  1.  c.  ro. 
Varro,  on  the  contrary,  calls  those  luscitiosi  who  cannot  see  in  the  evening :  and 
.ZEtius,  Paveus,  Actuarius,  and  Orirasius  call  those  vvKraXwirts  who  see  during 
the  day,  but  not  so  well  when  the  sun  sets,  and  at  night  not  at  all.  See  more 
about  this  confusion  of  terms  in  H.  Stephan.  Diet.  Med.  p.  418.  Ann.  Foes,  CEcon. 
ffippocr.  p.  263.  Tr.  Taurmann  on  Plaut.  Mil.  in.  52,  and  Jo.  Harduin  on  Plin. 
I.  c.  p.  471.  E.  Aug.  Vogel  follows  Hippocr.  de  cogn.  et  cur.  c.  h.  aff.  p.  475, 
where  the  nuctalopia  of  the  ancients  is  said  to  be  blindness  by  day  (Hemeralopia 
of  the  moderns),  and  the  hemeralopia  of  the  ancients  {nuctalopia  of  the  moderns) 
is  said  to  be  the  periodical  blindness  which  comes  on  at  twilight. 

6  See  Actuar.  1.  n.,  w.  8iayv.  iraOuv,  c.  23. 


134  SKIN   DISEASES. 

affected,  but,  in  rare  cases,  the  places  are  scattered  over  the 
surface  of  the  body.  Those,  however,  who  are  ill  in  this  way 
must  be  carefully  separated  from  those  men  who  have  the  rete 
parti-coloured,  and  of  whom  I  have  spoken  above1.  In  the 
disease  of  which  I  am  now  speaking,  it  has  been  observed  in 
the  East  Indies,  by  Rudolph2,  that  the  spots  are  rough  and  can 
be  distinguished  by  the  touch  from  the  rest  of  the  skin. 
Strahlenberg3  and  John  Bell4  report  that  parti-coloured  persons 
of  this  kind  are  found  amongst  the  Tartars;  and  the  accounts 
of  Hall5  describe  the  Malabars  as  marked  by  large  spots  of 
the  same  kind,  of  a  yellowish  white,  and  make  the  disorder 
something  like  leprosy.  Closely  allied  to  this  sort  of  disease  is 
that  in  which  the  skin  of  the  body  becomes  white,  with  spots  of 
another  colour,  as  yellow6,  scattered  over  it7,  or  where  the  colour 
is  a  mixture  of  red  and  white3,  or  where  the  face  at  least 
retains  its  natural  redness9. 

In  most  cases  however,  the  whole  skin,  though  not  in  the 
same  way,  becomes  white.  For  in  many,  little  or  nothing  at 
all  in  the  epidermis  is  changed,  except  the  colour,  so  that  in 
other  respects  there  is  no  symptom  of  any  disease  at  all.  Such 
are  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  isthmus  of  Darien,  most 
carefully  described  by  Lionel  Wafer10,  who  are  said  to  be  covered 
with  a  copious,  though  thin  and  snowy  down.  Like  this  also 
was  a  beautiful  woman  from  the  neighbouring  island  of  Ternata, 
whom  Le  Brun11  says  was  a  concubine  of  the  king  of  Bantam; 
and  also  a  boy  of  five  years  old,  shown  to  the  Academy  of  Paris12. 
The  English  poet13  speaks  of  another,  lately  shown  in  London, 

1  p.  5.  2  Schreber,  Saeugth.  p.  15. 

3  In  Siberia,  Nordostl.  Bur.  u.  Asia,  p.  121. 

4  Zulims.    See  Bell's  Travels  from  Petersb.  to  diverse  parts  of  Asia,  Glasg.  1763, 
4to.  T.  I.  p.  89.     He  attributes  it  to  scurvy. 

5  Tranqueb.  Miss.   Ber.   Contin.  XXI.  p.  741.      So   also   horses   may  be   seen 
spotted  black  and  white. 

6  Like  freckles.  7  Tranqueb.  Ber.  Contin.  cvi.  p.  1232. 

8  lb.  Contin.  XLVI.  p.  1239. 

9  Oliv.  Goldsmith,  Hist,  of  the  Earth,  T.  11.  p.  241.     Whether  the  Otaheitan  in 
Parkinson,  p.  27,  was  of  this  kind  I  dare  not  decide. 

10  p.  107.  "  p.  353- 

12  Hist,  de  VAc   des  Sci.   1744,  n.  V.  p.  12.      "Voltaire,  Melang.  T.  in.  p.  326. 
Maupertuis,  Venus  physique,  p.  147. 

13  Goldsmith,  I.  c. 


LEPROSY.  135 

with  a  skin  like  that  of  an  European.  In  many,  however,  the 
epidermis  too  is  scabby.  I  read  the  same  about  a  Tamul 
schoolmaster,  whose  skin  as  it  were  came  off  in  scales,  and  be- 
came almost  of  a  red  colour1.  The  disease  is  called  the  white 
leprosy,  in  Malabar  Wonkuschtam  or  Wenkuschtam2.  Allied  to 
this  also  is  the  crusted  leprosy  of  some  inhabitants  of  Paraguay, 
recalling  the  scales  of  fish,  painless,  and  in  no  ways  affecting 
the  general  health3.  The  white  Ethiopians  too  are  made 
lepers  by  Ludolph4,  and  so  are  the  inhabitants  of  Guinea  by 
Isaac  Voss5.  I  myself  have  been  acquainted  for  many  years 
with  a  Saxon  youth,  whose  whole  skin,  not  excepting  even  his 
face  and  the  palms  of  the  hands,  was  rough  with  white,  and 
as  it  were  calcareous  scales,  which  appeared  red  through  the 
numerous  interstices,  and  as  it  were  fissures,  of  the  crust. 
Sometimes  these  scales  peeled  off,  and  then  the  limbs  looked 
redder ;  but  new  ones  instantly  grew  up.  The  groin  was  white ; 
the  hair  and  the  eye-brows,  if  I  recollect  right,  of  a  mouse 
colour.  For  those  hairs  do  not,  like  that  on  the  groin,  keep 
the  same  colour  in  this  disease,  but  vary  in  the  most  capricious 
way.  Most  have  white6,  soft  hair,  exactly  like  goats'  wool7. 
Nor  in  these  is  the  colour  constant,  but  as  they  grow  older 
is  often  changed  into  rosy8.  Voss9  attributes  red  and  yellow 
hair  to  his  Leucoethiopians :  the  hair  was  yellow  in  the  Malabar 
family10,  golden  in  the  Manilla  girl  of  G.  Jos.  Camelli11. 

So  much  about  one  phase  of  our  disorder,  which  occurs 
with  tetter :  the  other  phase,  as  I  have  said,  affects  the  eyes, 
and  belongs  to  luscitio,  yet  it  is  wonderful  how  the  symptoms 
of  it  differ.     In  many  the  eyelids  become  turgid,  winking12;  the 


1  Gottl.  Anast.  Freylinghausen,  nenere  Missions  Geschichte,  8  st.  p.  1071. 

2  Tranqueb.  M.  B.  Cont.  cvi.  p.  1233  not. 

3  Lettres  edifiantes,  Rec.  sxv.  p.  122.  4  Hist.  JEtliio%}ica,  I.  c.  14  §  32. 

5  De  Nili  et  alior.  fiuv.  origine,  p.  68. 

6  See  de  Groben,  I.  c.     Wafer,  p.  108.      Tranqueb.  Miss.  Ber.   Contin.  xlii. 
C.  VI.  &c. 

7  lb.  Goldsmith,  I.  c.     "  The  hair  was  white  and  woolly,  and  very  unlike  any 
thing  I  had  seen  before." 

8  Tranqueb.  M.  B.  Cont.  CVI.  p.  1283  not.  9  I.  c. 

10  Miss.  Ber.  Cont.  en.  p.  637. 

11  Philos.  Trails,  n.  307,  p.  2268.  12  Le  Brun,  I.  c. 


136  EYES. 

eyes  of  the  inhabitants  of  Darien  open  in  a  crescent  shape1; 
all  blink  during  the  day,  which  is  also  sometimes  the  case  with 
people  in  good  health,  and  even  with  the  foetus,  according  to 
the  observation  of  Wrisperg2,  when  the  light  is  too  strong.  It 
was  also  observed  in  that  youth  whose  epidermis  I  lately  de- 
scribed, that  this  inconvenience  was  with  him  at  its  height  during 
winter,  when  he  could  not  endure  the  brightness  of  the  snow, 
so  that  he  stood  in  fear  even  of  ice.  In  some  the  iris  is  in 
perpetual  motion,  and  the  pupils  so  unquiet  that  they  can 
never  distinguish  minute  objects,  as  letters3.  The  colours  of 
the  iris  and  choroid  are  various,  but  all  rather  pale,  so  that 
less  light  is  absorbed,  and  the  retina  all  the  more  affected. 

In  some  the  eyes  are  rosy,  as  in  the  animals  we  mentioned. 
I  have  myself  known  such,  two  sons  and  the  daughter  of  a 
French  peasant4.  Maupertuis  and  Voltaire  differ  in  their  de- 
scription of  the  eyes  of  1744  Leuccethiopians  who  were  seen  at 
Paris ;  for  one  calls  them  rosy,  the  other  sky-coloured.  They 
may  however  be  reconciled  if  we  follow  Fontenelle5,  who  says 
that  the  iris,  &c.  appears  red  in  a  certain  position  of  the  eyes  only. 
The  man  that  Goldsmith  saw  had  red  eyes.  Sky-coloured  eyes 
are  not  however  uncommon  in  this  disease.  For  as  this  colour 
always  denotes  weak  vision,  according  to  Avicenna  and  Averroes, 
as  quoted  by  Hermann  Conring6,  so  especially  it  often  occurs 
in  our  nuctalopes.  The  young  man  I  knew  had  sky-coloured 
eyes.  And  those  Malabars  who  suffer  from  white  leprosy  com- 
bined with  luscitio,  have  eyes  of  a  similar  colour7 ;  and  so  also 
those  who  are  said  to  exist  in  the  kingdom  of  Loango8.  Dap- 
per says  they  have  grey  eyes.  I  am  not  quite  sure  whether 
this  is  the  disease  under  which  the  family  of  Jerome  Cardan 

1  Wafer,  p.  108.  "Their  eyelids  bend  and  open  in  an  oblong  figure,  pointing 
downward  at  the  corners,  and  forming  an  arch  or  figure  of  a  crescent  with  the 
points  downwards.  From  hence,  and  from  their  seeing  so  clear  as  they  do  in  a 
moon-shiny  night,  we  used  to  call  them  moon-eyed." 

2  De  vitafet.  hum.  dijudic.  in  Nor.  Comm.  Soc.  R.  Sc.  Gotting.  T.  in.  p.  179. 

3  Miss.  JBer.  Cont.  xlvi.  p.  1240. 

4  In  the  parish  of  Champniers,  one-and-a-half  leagues  from  Civray,  1763,  were 
still  alive. 

5  I.  c.  Hist.  Ac.  Par.  6  De  hab.  Germ. 

7  Tranq.  Miss.  Her.  Cont.  en.  p.  637,  and  cvi.  p.  1283. 

8  Voss.  1.  c.  p.  68. 


ALBINOS.  137 

laboured.  For  he  says,  in  his  own  life1,  "my  father  was  red, 
and  had  white  eyes,  and  saw  by  night ; "  and  again,  "  my  eldest 
son  had  eyes  exactly  like  him;"  and  again,  about  the  same 
child2,  "like  my  father,  with  small,  white  eyes,  which  were 
never  at  rest;"  and  elsewhere  about  himself3:  "In  my  early 
youth,  immediately  I  awoke,  though  in  extreme  darkness,  I 
saw  everything  exactly  as  if  it  had  been  bright  day-light :  but 
in  a  short  time  I  lost  this  power.  Even  now  I  can  see  a  little, 
but  not  so  as  to  discern  anything." 

Let  so  much  suffice  about  external  condition  of  the  skin 
and  eyes  in  those  suffering  under  this  disorder.  There  is  still 
a  little  to  be  said  about  the  rest  of  the  constitution  of  then- 
body.  In  the  first  place,  it  does  not  follow  that  they  all  are 
either  foul  or  dirty.  We  are  told  that  many  of  them  belong  to 
the  court  of  the  king  of  Loango4.  Certainly  another  was  the 
mistress  of  the  king  of  Bantam5,  and  such  a  woman  of  Malabar6 
married  an  European  soldier.  She  is  described  as  of  square  body 
and  round  cheeks.  And  they  seem  at  all  events  strong  enough 
to  do  their  business  by  night.  In  fact,  it  is  said  that  they  make 
hostile  incursions  into  the  neighbouring  countries  by  night7,  and 
that  the  Portuguese  have  carried  off  others  from  Guinea  to 
Brazil,  to  make  them  work  in  the  gold  mines :  this  certainly 
would  be  a  kind  of  life  in  which  nactalopia  would  be  of  some  use. 

Others  seem  to  be  of  weak  and  feeble  constitution.  So 
Wafer  speaks  of  the  inhabitants  of  Darien8.  The  French  of  the 
parish  of  Champniers  can  scarcely  stand  being  in  the  open  air. 
The  Malabars  certainly  cannot  endure  long  journeys9,  and  are 
speedily  fatigued10  with  the  wind  and  the  heat".  The  brightness 
of  the  sun  makes  their  eyes  water12,  but  they  see  pretty  well  in 
cloudy  weather13. 


I  p.  m.  7.  2  p.  70. 

3  Be  rer.  variet.  1.  VIII.  c.  XLIII.  p.  161,  T.  III.  Operum. 

4  Vossius,  I.  c.  s  Le  Brun,  I.  c. 

6  Miss.  Ber.  Cont.  cvi.  p.  \i 82. 

7  De  Grbben,  1.  c.     Georg.  Agricola,  de  Anim.  subterr.    They  are  driven  away 
by  burning  funeral  piles,  because  they  cannot  bear  the  lights. 

8  "A  weak  people  in  comparison  of  the  other." 

9  Freylinghausen,  I.  c.  10  Miss.  Ber.  Cont.  xxvi.  p.  151. 

II  lb.  and  Freylingh.  I.  c.  12  Wafer.  13  Freylinghausen. 


138  KNOWN  TO  THE  ANCIENTS. 

Examples  prove  that  the  mind  and  the  intellectual  faculties 
are  in  no  respect  affected  by  this  disorder,  but  may  remain 
perfectly  sound.  The  young  man  I  have  so  often  spoken  of, 
was  well  instructed  in  more  than  one  of  what  they  call  the 
polite  sciences.  I  have  mentioned  the  schoolmaster  of  Malabar, 
who  was  clever  at  writing  poetry.  And  if  you  like,  you  may 
consider  Cardan  a  great  luminary  of  art. 

These  then  are  the  phenomena  and  symptoms  of  the  dis- 
ease. It  still  remains  to  be  proved  that  it  attacks  nations  at 
all  times  and  in  all  places,  and  that  it  partly  belongs  to  the 
endemic,  and  partly  to  the  sporadic  diseases.  In  both  ways  it 
was  long  since  known  to  the  ancients.  A  sporadic  instance  of 
it  gave  a  handle  to  the  Roman  story  which,  under  the  title  of 
Ethiopics,  has  been  handed  down  to  us  by  Heliodorus.  King 
Hydaspes,  it  appears,  hesitates  to  acknowledge  his  daughter 
Charicles  as  his  own,  when  she  suddenly  laid  claim  to  him,  be- 
cause he  and  his  wife  were  Ethiopians,  whilst  her  skin  was 
white.  But  Sisimithres,  the  advocate  of  Charicles,  who  had 
brought  her  up  from  infancy,  explains  the  whole  matter  to  the 
father :  "  she  too  was  white,"  says  he,  "  whom  I  brought  up ; 
besides,  the  lapse  of  time  agrees  with  the  present  age  of  the 
girl,  since  she  is  seventeen  years  old,  which  is  just  the  time 
the  child  was  exposed.  Moreover,  the  appearance  of  the  eyes 
bears  me  out ;  and  I  recognize  that  the  whole  aspect  of  the 
countenance,  and  the  beautiful  figure  which  I  now  see,  agrees 
with  that  which  I  then  saw1."  Perhaps  also  the  story  of  the 
female  child  Aristotle2  speaks  of  may  be  thus  explained, 
which  was  born  of  the  adulterous  connexion  of  a  Sicilian  woman 
with  an  iEthiop,  and  did  not  have  the  colour  of  her  father, 
but  in  process  of  time  gave  birth  to  a  son,  who  was  entirely 
black,  like  his  grandfather.  The  ancients  knew  this  disorder 
also  as  endemic,  so  that  they  gave  names  to  whole  nations  and 
regions  in  consequence.  It  seems  probable  that  Albania,  on 
the  confines  of  the   Caucasian  mountains  and  Armenia3,  had 


1  L.  x.  p.  477,  ed.  Bourdelot,  Paris,  1619,  8vo. 

2  Hist.  Anim.  1.  vn.  c.  6.  3  Plin.  1.  VI.  c.  13,  p.  311.  Hard. 


INSTANCES.  139 

its  name  from  this,  about  which  Isigonus  of  Nice1  speaks  thus: 
"  Some  are  born  there  with  grey  eyes,  white  from  early  child- 
hood, who  see  better  by  night  than  by  day2.  Another  nation 
of  this  kind  acquired  the  name  of  Leuccethiopes,  hence  trans- 
ferred to  all  who  suffer  from  this  disease.  They  are  mentioned 
by  Pomponius  Mela3,  Pliny4,  Ptolemy5,  and  Agathemerus6,  but 
are  not  noticed  by  Strabo,  Julius  Honorius7,  Ister  iEthicus8, 
the  anonymous  writer  of  Ravenna,  &c.  They  do  not  however 
agree  as  to  the  country  which  the  Leucoethiopes  are  said  to 
inhabit.  Mela  and  Pliny  place  them  with  the  Libyco-Egyptians, 
near  the  Libyan  sea.  Joh.  Reinhold,  in  the  plates  to  his  edition 
of  Mela,  about  long.  50°  N.  lat.  150.9  But  Ptolemy  says  the 
Leuccethiopes  live  under  Mount  Ryssa,  which,  according  to 
D'Anville,  is  the  name  for  Cape  Verde.  However  that  may  be, 
it  is  enough  for  our  purpose,  that  this  disease  was  not  unknown 
to  the  ancients. 

"We  have  seen  that  there  are  modern  instances  in  the  most 
different  and  widely  separated  jDarts  of  the  earth;  and  it  will 
be  worth  our  while  to  add  a  few  more,  and  in  a  few  words 
to  reckon  them  up  in  the  order  of  our  four  varieties.  I  have 
carefully  described  a  youth  of  our  own  Germany.  Edm.  Chap- 
man relates  that  instances  have  been  known  in  Spain  and 
France.  Nic.  Le  Cat  saw  some  children  born  at  Ratisbon. 
I  have  already  noticed  the  case  of  those  in  the  parish  of  Champ- 
niers,  and  what  Cardan  says  of  his  Italian  family.  G.  Agricola 
and  Olaus  Magnus  found  men  of  this  kind  in  Scandinavia. 
The  accounts  from  Tranquebar  tell  us  of  many  Malabars.  They 
are  contemptuously  called  there  kakerlacken™,  from  their  resem- 
blance to  the  eastern  moth,  which  is  a  parti-coloured  and  noc- 
turnal insect.     And  this  disorder  occurs  in  Labrador,  if  indeed 

1  Plin.  1.  viii.  c.  2,  p.  371. 

s  Comp.  Salmas.  ad  Solin.  c.  15,  and  Gellius,  Noct.  Att.  1.  IX.  c.  4. 

3  L.  1.  c.  4,  p.  12,  ed.  L.  B.  1743.  On  which  see  John  de  Watt.  Thus  they  call 
some  Ethiopians,  who  in  comparison  with  others  may  be  said  to  be  whitish,  neither 
altogether  white,  nor  altogether  black,  p.  155,  ed.  Bas.  1543. 

4  L.  v.  c.  8,  p.  252.     Hard. 

5  L.  IV.  c.  6,  p.  77,  ed.  Mich.  Serveti,  Lugd.  1541. 

6  Georg.  1.  1.  c.  5.  7  Excerpt,  cosmogr.  8  As  is  thought. 

9  Harduin  on  Plin.     In  the  desert  of  Sahara. 

10  Calkalaken,  Miss.  Ber.  cont.  cm.  p.  1283.     Kalkalatten,  cord.  oil.  p.  637. 


140  PATHOLOGY. 

the  Champagne  girl,  Le  Blanc,  belonged  to  the  Esquimaux,  as 
is  most  likely1. 

Leucoethiopians  (if  we  may  apply  the  old  term  to  them 
also)  of  the  second  variety  of  mankind  have  been  known  in 
the  islands  of  Java2,  Borneo3,  Manila4,  and  others  near 
Ternata,  and  in  New  Guinea5  and  Otaheite6.  Of  the  third 
variety,  are  found  instances  to  the  south  beyond  the  foun- 
tains of  the  Nile7,  and  towards  the  river  Senegal8,  whose 
mouth  lies  under  the  Eyssadian  promontory,  and  still  further 
south  in  Guinea9,  and  its  kingdom  of  Loango,  and,  finally,  in  the 
interior  of  Kaffraria10  and  the  island  of  Madagascar11.  The  fourth 
variety  can  produce  its  Blafards  on  the  isthmus  of  Darien,  in 
the  kingdom  of  Mexico12,  in  Tucuman,  and  Paraguay. 

But  our  digression  from  the  subject  of  natural  history  and 
the  varieties  of  mankind  to  pathology  and  diseases  has  been 
already  too  long.  Those  must  bear  the  blame  who  have''  con- 
founded men  suffering  under  disease  with  the  beasts,  which  the 
dignity  of  mankind  demanded  should  be  separated,  and  each 
referred  to  their  own  place. 

It  would  be  an  immense  and  irrelevant  labour,  if  I  were 
to  give  an  account  of  all  the  disorders  which,  according  to  the 
authors  of  medical  observations,  journals,  &c,  have  occurred 
in  the  human  body,  in  every  quarter,  contrary  to  nature.  The 
transition  from  hence  to  monsters  would  be  easy,  and  so  on  to 
general  nosology;  and  thus  the  divine  study  of  natural  history 
would  run  up  into  a  confused  and  formless  mass.  Let  us  leave 
therefore  unnoticed,  for  physiologists  and  pathologists,  the  black 
and  horny  epidermis  of  the  Italian  boy13,  or  the  Englishman14, 
and  others,  and  similar  peculiar  aberrations  from  the  natural 
condition.     Nor  have  we  anything  to  do  with  the  dire  disorder 

1  Hist,  d'une  jeune  fille  sauvage,  &c.     Par.    1761,   nmo.      Her  countrymen 
were  nuctalopes,  and  did  business  by  night,  &c,  and  she  had  luscitio,  p.  36,  &c. 

2  Leguat.  T.  11.  p.  136.  3  Voss.  4  Camelli,  I.  c. 
5  Voss.                 6  Hawkesworth,  Vol.  11.  p.  188.     Parkinson,  p.  27. 

7  Voss.  8  Chapman.  9  Groben,  Dondos.     Portug.  Albinos. 

10  Sim.  v.  d.  Stel  in  Tachart,  Siam,  p.  no. 

11  De  Cossigny  in  Hist,  de  I  Ac.  des  Sci.  1.  c.  12  lb. 

13  Stalf.  v.  d.  Wiel,  Obs.  cent.  11.  p.  376,  Tab.  11.  stab.  12,  fig.  1,  2,  3. 

14  The  porcupine  man.  G.  Edwards,  Gleanings  of  Natural  History,  Vol.  I.  p.  212. 


SATYKS.  141 

of  cretinism,  which  is  by  no  means  peculiar  to  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Vallais,  but  has  been  noticed  elsewhere1,  though  dis- 
torted here  and  there  by  wonderful  stories2. 

It  seems  almost  too  much  even  to  name  in  this  place  the 
centaurs,  sirens,  cynocephali,  satyrs,  pigmies3,  giants,  herma- 
phrodites, and  other  idle  creatures  of  that  kind.  Still,  I  con- 
sider it  necessary  to  spend  a  little  time  upon  the  men  with 
tails,  since  they  have  fallen  in  with  some  modern  patrons. 
There  is  an  old  story  about  the  islands  of  the  Satyrs  in  Pliny4, 
Ptolemy5,  and  Pausanias6,  and  often  repeated  afterwards  by 
Marco  Polo,  Munster  and  others,  that  men  exist  there  with 
shaggy  tails,  like  the  pictures  of  the  satyrs,  who  are  of  incre- 
dible swiftness,  &c.  "When  the  passages  in  these  writers  have 
been  compared,  it  seems  most  likely  that  these  islands  of  the 
Satyrs  answer  to  our  Borneo,  Celebes7,  &c,  and  that  the  tailed 
apes  have  been  taken  for  men.  But  a  new  story  about  men 
with  tails  to  be  found  here  and  there  has  made  much  more 
to  do.  For  partly,  it  is  said,  that  men  having  tails  are  found 
about  the  city  of  Turkestan8,  in  the  island  of  Formosa9,  Borneo10, 
Nicobar11,  &c;  partly  the  very  pictures  of  tailed  men  of  this  kind 
have  been  exhibited12.  But  upon  a  full  consideration  of  the 
matter,  there  is  much  which  leads  to  the  belief  that  the  whole 
story  is  founded  upon  the  fictions  I  have  spoken  of.  For,  as  to 
the  accounts  about  them,  many  of  them  manifestly  depend  upon 
the  narrations  of  others ;  and  they  who  say  they  have  themselves 
seen  tailed  men  of  this  kind  bear  no  very  good  reputation. 


1  Haller,  de  vento  Rupensi,  Nor.  Comm.  Goett.  T.  I.  p.  43. 

2  See  in  Guindant,  Variat.  de  la  nat.  dans  I'espece  hum.  Paris,  1771,  8vo.  in 
Encycl.  de  Par.  altered  in  ed.  De  Felice,  T.  xn.  p.  312. 

3  Comp.  the  book  of  Tyson  on  these  stories.  Apes  were  generally  palmed  upon 
travellers,  and  this  I  suspect  to  have  been  the  case  with  the  Madagascar  pigmies  of 
Commerson,  in  De  la  Lande.     See  Rozder,  06s.  Sept.  1775. 

4  1.  VI.  vil.  c.  1.  p.m.  374.  5  1.  vi.  c.  11.  6  In  Attica. 

7  See  after  Tyson,  Jo.  Caverhill,  On  the  knowledge  of  the  ancients  in  the  East 
Indies.  Phil.  Trans.  Vol.  lvii.  p.  172. 

8  Pet.  Rytschkov.  Orenburg.  Topogr.  T.  11.  p.  34. 

9  J.  Ott.  Helbig.  Eph.  N.  C.  Dec.  L.  ann.  IX.  p.  456.  Hesse,  Ost.  ind.  diar. 
p.  1 1 6. 

10  Will.  Harvey,  de  Gen.  p.  194,  ed.  oper.  Lond.  1766. 

11  Nils  Matthsson  Kbping,  Resa,  ed.  4to.     Wasteras,  1759,  8vo,  p.  131. 

12  Martini  on  Buff.  aUg.  nat.  Gesch.  T.  vi.  p.  44.  Tab.  II.  der  geschwanzte  Mensch. 


DE 


GENEEIS    HUMANI 
VARIETATE    NATIVA. 


EDITIO    TERTIA. 


PR^MISSA  EST  EPISTOLA 
AD    VIEUM    PERILLUSTREM 

JOSEPHUM    BANKS,    BARONETUM, 

KEGIiE   SOCIETAT1S  LONDINI  PIUESIDEM. 


AUCTORE 

JO.  FRID.  BLUMENBACH,   M.D. 


EIYSDEJI   EOCIETATIS   SODALI. 


GOTTINGLE : 

APUD  VANDENHOEK  ET  RUPRECHT. 
1795. 

10 


Non   Jdc   Centauros,   non   Gorgonas,    Harpyci3que 
Iavenies;  homiuem   pagina  nostra  sapit, 

Maktial,  Lib.  X.  Epigr.  4. 


-i 


CONTENTS. 

Letter  to  Sir  Josepli  Banks. 

Index  of  the  anthropological  collection  of  the  author,  which  he 
used  in  illustrating  this  new  edition,  viz. 

I.  Skulls  of  different  races. 

II.  Very  characteristic  foetuses  of  the  middle  and  the  two 
extreme  varieties. 

III.  Hair  and  hairs  of  different  races. 

IV.  Anatomical  preparations. 

V.  Collection  of  pictures. 
Explanation  of  the  plates. 

SECTION  I. 

ON   THE  DIFFERENCE   BETWEEN   MAN   AND    OTHER   ANIMALS. 

Difficulty  of  the  question ;  order  of  discussion ;  external  conform- 
ation ;  erect  position ;  proved  natural  to  man ;  broad  and  flat  pelvis ; 
relation  of  the  soft  parts  to  the  human  pelvis;  the  hymen,  nymphse, 
and  clitoris ;  man  a  bimanous  animal ;  apes  and  kindred  animals 
quadrumanous ;  properties  of  the  human  teeth ;  other  peculiarities  of 
man;  internal  peculiarities;  internal  parts  which  man  has  not; 
intermaxillary  bone;  difference  of  internal  parts;  functional  pecu- 
liarities of  man;  mental  peculiarities,  laughter  and  tears;  diseases 
peculiar  to  man;  recapitulation  of  differences  falsely  ascribed  to  man. 

SECTION  II. 

ON   THE   CAUSES   AND   WAYS   BY   WHICH   ANIMALS   DEGENERATE 
UNIVERSALLY. 

Object  of  this  undertaking;  what  is  species;  application  to  the 
question  of  human  species,  or  varieties;  how  the  primitive  species 
degenerates  into  varieties;  phenomena  of  degeneration  in  animals; 

10—2 


148  CONTENTS. 

colour,  hair;  stature;  proportion;  form  of  the  skull;  causes  of  de- 
generation; formative  force;  climate;  aliment;  mode  of  life; 
hybridity;  diseased  hereditary  dispositions;  mutilations;  are  they 
propagated?  cautions  to  be  observed  in  investigating  degeneration. 


SECTION  III. 

ON   THE   CAUSES   AND   WAYS    IN   WHICH    MANKIND    HAVE    DEGENERATED 
IN    PARTICULAK. 

Order  of  discussion;  seat  of  colour;  varieties  of  racial  colour; 
causes  of  this  variety;  further  illustration  of  causes;  Creoles;  mulat- 
toes;  dark  skin  with  white  spots;  singular  mutations  of  colour; 
other  properties  of  racial  skin;  agreement  of  hair  and  skin;  varieties 
of  racial  hair;  agreement  of  the  iris  with  the  hair;  colours  of  the 
eye;  racial  face;  varieties  of  racial  face;  causes  thereof;  racial  form 
of  skulls;  facial  line  of  Camper;  remarks;  norma  verticalis ;  racial 
varieties  of  skulls ;  causes  of  the  same ;  racial  varieties  of  teeth,  and 
causes;  other  racial  varieties;  ears;  breasts;  genitals;  legs;  feet  and 
hands;  varieties  of  stature;  Patagonians;  Quimos;  causes  of  racial 
stature;  fabulous  varieties  of  mankind;  story  of  tailed  nations jj 
diseased  variety;  epilogue. 


SECTION  IY. 

FIVE   PRINCIPAL   VARIETIES   OF   MANKIND,    ONE   SPECIES. 

Varieties  of  mankind  run  into  one  another;  five  principal  varie- 
ties; characteristics  and  limits;  Caucasian;  Mongolian;  Ethiopian; 
American;  Malay;  divisions  of  other  authors;  remarks  on  the  Cau- 
casian, &c;  conclusion. 


INTRODUCTORY   LETTER 


SIR    JOSEPH    BANKS. 


There  are  many  reasons,  illustrious  Sir,  why  I  ought  to 
offer  and  dedicate  to  you  this  book,  whatever  it  may  be  worth. 

For  besides  my  wish  to  express  some  time  or  other  my 
sense  of  gratitude  for  the  innumerable  favours  you  have  con- 
ferred upon  me,  from  the  time  I  came  to  have  a  nearer  ac- 
quaintance with  you;  this  very  edition  of  my  book,  which  now 
comes  out  with  fresh  care  bestowed  upon  it,  owes  in  great  part 
to  your  liberality  the  splendid  additions  and  the  very  remark- 
able ornaments  in  which  it  excels  the  former  ones.  For  many 
years  past  you  have  spared  neither  pains  nor  expense  to 
Enrich  my  collection  of  the  skulls  of  different  nations  with  those 
specimens  I  was  so  anxious  above  all  to  obtain,  I  mean  of 
Americans,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  islands  of  the  Southern 
Ocean.  And  besides,  when  I  visited  London  about  three  years 
ago,  with  the  same  generous  liberality  with  which  you  extended 
the  use  of  your  nursery  to  our  Gaertner,  and  other  riches  of  your 
museum  to  others,  you  gave  me  in  my  turn  the  unrestricted 
use  of  all  the  collections  of  treasures  relating  to  the  study  of 
Anthropology,  in  which  your  library  abounds  ;  I  mean  the  pic- 
tures, and  the  drawings,  &c.  taken  by  the  best  artists  from  the 
life  itself.  So  I  have  been  able  to  get  copies  of  them  and  to 
describe  whatever  I  liked,  and  at  last,  assisted  by  so  many  new 
and  important  additions,  to  proceed  to  the  recasting  of  my 
book,  and  am  bold  enough  to  say,  now  it  has  been  amplified  in 


c 


150  LINN-EUP. 

so  many  ways,  without  incurring  any  suspicion  of  boasting,  that 
it  has  been  polished  and  perfected  as  far  as  its  nature  permits. 

Accept  then  graciously  this  little  work,  which  is  so  much  in 
fact  your  own;  and  I  hope  that  in  this  way  it  will  not  be  dis- 
pleasing to  you  because  it  treats  of  a  part  of  natural  history, 
which  though  second  to  no  other  in  importance,  still  has  most 
surprisingly  been  above  all  others  the  longest  neglected  and 
uncultivated. 

It  is  one  of  the  merits  of  the  immortal  Linnaeus,  that  more 
than  sixty  years  ago,  in  the  first  edition  of  his  Systema  Naturae, 
he  was  the  first,  as  far  as  I  know,  of  writers  on  natural  history, 
who  attempted  to  arrange  mankind  in  certain  varieties  according 
to  their  external  characters;  and  that  with  sufficient  accuracy, 
considering  that  then  only  four  parts  of  the  terraqueous  globe 
and  its  inhabitants  were  known. 

But  after  your  three-years'  voyage  round  the  world,  illustri- 
ous Sir,  when  a  more  accurate  knowledge  of  the  nations  who 
are  dispersed  far  and  wide  over  the  islands  of  the  Southern 
Ocean  had  been  obtained  by  the  cultivators  of  natural  history 
and  anthropology,  it  became  very  clear  that  the  Linnse an  di- 
vision of  mankind  could  no  longer  be  adhered  to;  for  which 
reason  I,  in  this  little  work,  ceased  like  others  to  follow  that 
illustrious  man,  and  had  no  hesitation  in  arranging  the  varieties 
of  man  according  to  the  truth  of  nature,  the  knowledge  of 
which  we  owe  principally  to  your  industry  and  most  careful 
observation. 

Indeed  though  the  general  method  of  Linnaeus,  of  arranging 
the  mammalia  according  to  their  mode  of  dentition,  was  very 
convenient  at  the  time  he  founded  it,  yet  now  after  so  many 
and  such  important  species  of  this  class  have  been  discovered, 
I  think  that  it  will  be  useful  and  profitable  to  the  students  of 
zoology,  to  give  it  up  as  very  imperfect  and  liable  to  vast 
exceptions,  and  to  substitute  for  that  artificial  system  one  more 
natural,  deduced  from  the  universal  characteristics  of  the  mam- 
malia. 

I  am  indeed  very  much  opposed  to  the  opinions  of  those, 
who,  especially  of  late,  have  amused  their  ingenuity  so  much 


CHAIN   OF   NATURE.  151 

with  what  they  call  the  continuity  or  gradation  of  nature ;  and 
have  sought  for  a  proof  of  the  wisdom  of  the  Creator,  and  the 
perfection  of  the  creation  in  the  idea,  as  they  say,  that  nature 
takes  no  leaps,  and  that  the  natural  productions  of  the  three 
kingdoms  of  nature,  as  far  as  regards  their  external  conforma- 
tion, follow  one  upon  another  like  the  steps  in  a  scale,  or  like 
points  and  joinings  in  a  chain.  But  those  who  examine  the 
matter  without  prejudice,  and  seriously,  see  clearly  that  even 
in  the  animal  kingdom  there  are  whole  classes  on  the  one  hand, 
as  that  of  birds,  or  genera,  as  that  of  cuttle-fish,  which  can  only 
be  joined  on  to  the  neighbouring  divisions  in  those  kinds  of 
plans  of  the  gradation  of  natural  productions  but  indifferently 
and  by  a  kind  of  violence.  And  on  the  other  hand,  that  there 
are  genera  of  animals,  as  silkworms,  in  which  there  is  so  great 
a  difference  in  the  appearance  of  either  sex,  that  if  you  wanted 
to  refer  them  to  a  scale  of  that  kind,  it  would  be  necessary  to 
separate  the  males  as  far  as  possible  from  their  females,  and  to 
place  the  different  sexes  of  the  same  species  in  the  most  diffe- 
rent places  possible. 

And  in  this  kind  of  systems,  so  far  from  their  being  filled 
up,  there  are  large  gaps  where  the  natural  kingdoms  are  very 
plainly  separated  one  from  another.  There  are  other  things 
of  this  kind;  and  so  although  after  due  consideration  of  these 
things,  I  cannot  altogether  recognize  so  much  weight  and  im- 
portance in  this  doctrine  of  the  gradation  of  nature,  as  is  com- 
monly ascribed  to  it  by  the  physico-theologians,  still  I  will 
allow  this  to  belong  to  both  these  metaphorical  and  allegorical 
amusements,  that  they  do  not  throw  any  obstacle  in  facilitating 
the  method  of  the  study  of  natural  history. 

For  they  make  as  it  were  the  basis  of  every  natural  system, 
the  way  in  which  things  rank  according  to  their  universal  con- 
dition, and  the  greatest  number  of  external  qualities  in  which 
they  coincide  with  each  other,  whereas  the  artificial  systems,  on 
the  contrary,  recognize  single  characters  only  as  the  foundation 
of  their  arrangement. 

And  when  I  found  it  was  beyond  all  doubt  that  a  natural 
system  of  that  kind  was  preferable  to  an  artificial  one,  because 


152  NATURAL  ORDERS. 

it  is  of  such  use  in  sharpening  the  judgment  and  assisting  the 
memory,  I  applied  myself  all  the  more  to  bring  the  class  of 
mammalia  into  the  scope  of  a  natural  system  of  that  kind, 
especially  as  that  artificial  one  of  Linnseus,  deduced  from  com- 
parison of  the  teeth,  in  consequence  of  the  accession  of  so  many 
recently  detected  species  in  these  times,  came  every  day  to  be 
encumbered  with  more  troublesome  anomalies  and  exceptions. 
So  that,  for  example,  just  to  say  a  few  words  on  this  point, 
we  now  are  acquainted  with  two  species  of  rhinoceros,  in 
their  habit  as  like  as  possible  to  each  other,  but  so  different 
in  their  dentition,  that  if  we  were  now  obliged  to  follow  the 
Linnsean  system,  we  should  have  to  refer  one  species  to  the 
Belluce,  and  the  other  to  the  Olires.  And  in  like  manner  it 
would  be  necessary  to  remove  the  Ethiopian  boar,  which  is 
destitute  of  the  primary  teeth,  from  the  other  Belluce  and  place 
it  among  the  Bruta  of  Linnaeus.  I  say  nothing  of  that  African 
Myrmecophaga  dentata  which,  according  to  the  idea  of  Linnseus, 
would  have  to  be  separated  from  the  genus  edentata,  or  of  some 
of  the  Lemures  (the  indri  and  laniger)  which,  on  account 
of  the  anomalies  of  their  dentition,  would  have  to  be  sepa- 
rated from  the  Linnsean  genus  of  Lemures.  No  one  will  deny 
that  this  confusion  threw  the  greatest  possible  obstacles  in 
the  way  of  the  study  of  zoology,  and  I  have  tried  to  remedy  it 
by  constructing  the  following  ten  natural  orders  of  mammalia, 
a  statement  of  which  I  may  here  subjoin,  because  I  shall  fre- 
quently make  mention  of  them  in  the  present  work. 

I.  Bimanus.  in.     Bradypoda. 

1.  Homo.  6.     Bradypus. 

II.  Quadrumana.  7.     Myrmecophaga. 

2.  Simia.  8.     Manis. 

3.  Papio.  9.     Tatu\ 

4.  Cercopithecus.  iv.     Chiroptera. 

5.  Lemur.  10.     Vespertilio. 

1  I  am  very  far  indeed  from  that  itch  for  innovation  which  afflicts  so  many  of 
the  moderns,  who  take  a  wonderful  delight  in  giving  new  names  to  the  natural 
productions  which  have  already  received  names  very  well  known  to  all;  for  this 
kind  of  playing  at  onomatopeia  has  been  a  great  misfortune  to  the  study  of  natural 


NATUEAL   ORDERS. 


153 


V.     Glires. 

11.  Sciurus. 

12.  Olis. 

13.  Mus. 

14.  Marmota. 

15.  Cavia. 

16.  Lepus. 

17.  Jaculus. 

18.  Castor. 

19.  Hystrix. 
VI.     Ferae. 

20.  Erinaceus. 

21.  Sorex. 

22.  Ta^a. 

23.  Didelphis. 

24.  Viverra. 

25.  Mustela. 

26.  Lutra. 

27.  PAoca. 

28.  J/eZes. 

29.  C/mts. 

30.  Canis. 

31.  J». 


VII.     Solidungula. 

32.  Equus. 
viii.     Pecora. 

33.  Camelus. 

34.  Capra. 

35.  Antilope. 

36.  5o5. 

37.  Gw-a/o. 

38.  Cervus. 

39.  Moschus. 
IX.     Belluae. 

40.  #ws. 

41.  Tapir. 

42.  Elephas. 

43.  Rhinoceros. 

44.  Hippopotamus. 

45.  Trichecus. 
X.     Cetacea. 

46.  Monodon. 

47.  Balama. 

48.  Physeter. 

49.  Delphinus. 


history.  So  I  have  very  seldom  deserted  the  terminology  of  Linnaeus  in  the 
systematic  names  of  the  mammalia,  and  then  most  unwillingly,  and  only  when  the 
name  adopted  by  that  learned  man  evidently  involved  an  erroneous  and  false 
notion.  So,  for  example,  I  have  restored  to  the  armadilloes  the  native  generic 
name  of  Tatu,  for  the  Linnaean  Dasypus  had  nothing  to  justify  it.  We  all  know 
this  name  is  Greek,  and  denotes  an  animal  remarkable  for  its  hairy  feet,  and  so 
was  given  by  the  ancients  to  the  hare  and  the  rabbit,  because  in  them  above  all 
others  the  palms  and  soles  are  most  hairy,  whereas  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  men- 
tion how  very  different  in  habit  the  armour-bearing  animals  in  the  new  world  are 
from  the  rabbit.  And  so  in  the  genus  of  bats,  I  think  the  name  of  vampyre  should 
be  restored  to  that  species  of  South  America  which  Linnteus  called  spectrum,  and 
gave  on  the  contrary  the  title  of  vampyre  to  that  bat  of  the  East  Indies  and  of  the 
islands  of  the  Southern  Ocean,  which  is  commonly  called  the  flying  dog.  But  now 
it  is  known  that  the  word  vampyre  means  blood-sucker,  and  therefore  is  particularly 
applicable  to  that  American  bat,  which  is  on  this  account  very  obnoxious  to  other 
animals  and  especially  to  man :  but  does  not  apply  at  all  to  the  other  one  I  men- 
tioned, namely,  the  canine,  which  is  entirely  frugivorous,  and  never,  as  far  as  I 
know,  sucks  the  blood  of  other  animals. 


154  CONCLUSION. 

These  with  everything  else,  where  in  the  work  of  which 
this  is  the  preface,  I  have  on  many  points  departed  in  opinion 
from  others,  I  submit  to  your  judgment,  illustrious  Sir,  with 
equal  respect  and  confidence,  to  you  under  whose  most  dignified 
and  worthy  presidency  the  Royal  Society  of  Science  rejoices  to 
be,  whose  golden  motto  from  its  infancy  has  been,  'Nullius  in 
verba.' 

Farewell,  illustrious  Sir,  and  be  gracious  to  your  most 
devoted  servant. 

Dated  from  the  University  of  the  Georgia  Augusta,  April 
11,  1795. 


155 


INDEX   OF   THE   AUTHOR'S   ANTHROPOLOGICAL 

MATERIALS,   WHICH    HE    MADE    MOST    USE 

OF  IN  ILLUSTRATING  THIS  EDITION. 

There  are  three  special  reasons  why  I  have  thought  it  worth 
while  to  insert  here  this  index. 

First,  that  my  learned  and  candid  readers  may  know  the  quan- 
tity and  the  quality  of  the  assistance  taken  from  nature  itself,  with 
which  I  have  succeeded  at  last  in  publishing  this  book. 

Secondly,  that  a  testimony  of  my  gratitude  may  remain  for  the 
noble  munificence  which  my  patrons  and  friends  have  thus  far  shown 
in  enriching  my  materials  for  the  extension  of  anthropological 
studies. 

Lastly,  that  what  I  am  still  in  want  of  may  be  known,  which 
those  same  friends  may  further  enrich  me  with,  if  they  have  a  good 
opportunity  and  are  still  so  disposed. 

SKULLS  OF  DIFFERENT  NATIONS. 

Of  this  collection,  which  in  number  and  variety  is,  so  far  as  I 
know,  unique  in  its  kind,  since  the  similar  collections  of  Camper  and 
John  Hunter  cannot  in  these  respects  be  compared  to  it,  I  have  pub- 
lished a  selection,  which  I  have  described  most  fully  in  three  decades, 
and  illustrated  with  the  most  accurate  engravings,  and  there  I  have 
given  an  account  of  the  time  and  the  way  in  which  each  skull  came 
into  my  possession.  And  I  always  keep  together  with  these  trea- 
sures a  collection  of  autograph  letters,  by  which  documentary  evi- 
dence the  genuine  history  of  each  is  preserved.  Those  which  seem  to 
be  in  any  way  doubtful  or  ambiguous,  I  put  in  a  separate  place. 

A.  Five  very  choice  examples  of  the  principal  varieties  of  man- 
kind. 

(a)     The  middle,  or  Caucasian  variety. 

1.     A  Georgian  woman,  PI.  in.  Fig.  2,  PI.  IV.  Fig.  3  (Dec 
cranior.  illustr.  in.  Tab.  xxi.),  a  gift  of  de  Asch. 


156  COLLECTION. 

Then  the  two  extreme,  or  (b)  Mongolian  and  (c)  Ethiopic  varie- 
ties. 

2.  A  Reindeer  Tungus,  PL  in.  Fig.  1,  PL  iv.  Fig.  2  (Dec. 
ii.  Tab.  xvi.),  a  gift  of  de  Asch. 

3.  A  female  African  of  Guinea,  PL  in.  Fig.  3,  PL  I  v. 
Fig.  5  (Dec.  n.  Tab.  xix.),  a  gift  of  Steph.  Jo.  Van  Geuns, 
Professor  at  Utrecht. 

Lastly,  the  two  intermediate  varieties, 
(d)    The  American,     (e)    The  Malay. 

4.  A  Carib  chief  from  the  Isle  of  St  Vincent,  PL  iv. 
Fig.  2  (Dec.  i.  Tab.  x.),  a  gift  of  Sir  Joseph  Banks, 
Bart. 

5.  An  Otaheitan,  PL  iv.  Fig.  4  (Dec.  in.  Tab.  xxvi.),  from 
the  same. 

B.     Five  other  specimens  selected  in  the  same  way. 

(a)  The  Caucasian  variety. 

6.  Natolian  of  Tocat,  gift  of  de  Asch. 

(b)  Mongolian. 

7.  Chinese  or  Dalirian  Tungus  (Dec.  ill.  Tab.  xxni.),  from 
the  same. 

(c)  Ethiopian. 

8.  Ethiop.  (Dec.  i.  PI.  8),  from  Michael.,  aulic-counsellor 
of  Hesse-Cassel,  and  Professor  of  Marburg. 

(d)  American. 

9.  Indian  of  North  America  (Dec.  I.  Tab.  ix.),  from  the  same. 

(e)  Malay. 

10.  New  Hollander  (Dec.  in.  Tab.  xxvil),  from  Banks. 
For  the  demonstration  of  the  7wrma  verticalis,  s.  61. 

Caucasian  variety. 

11.  Tartar  of  Kazan  (Dec.  n.  Tab.  xn.),  gift  of  de  Asch. 

Mongolian. 

12.  Y"acutan  (Dec.  n.  Tab.  xv.),  de  Asch. 

Ethiopian. 

13.  Ethiopian.     Sommerring,    aulic-counsellor,    and    Prof. 
Mogunt. 


COLLECTION.  157 

Three  other  specimens  by  which,  although  they  are  partly  deformed 
on  purpose  and  partly  by  disease,  the  norma  verticalis  still  ia 
well  elucidated. 

14.  Caucasian.     Turk,  de  Asch. 

15.  Mongolian.     Calmuck  (Dec.  II.  Tab.  xiv.),  de  Asch. 

16.  Ethiopian.     Ethiop.  (Dec.  ii.  Tab.  xvn.),  de  Asch. 

Three  skulls  of  infants,  clearly  demonstrating  the  norma  verticalis. 

17.  Caucasian.     Jewish  girl  (Dec.  in.  Tab.  xxvin.). 

18.  Mongolian.    Burat  girl  (Dec.  in.  Tab.  xxix.),  de  Asch. 

19.  Ethiopian.      New-born   Ethiop.    (Dec.  III.    Tab.  xxx.), 
Billmann,  Cassel  surgeon. 

Specimens  remarkable  for  the  manifest  transitions  by  which  they 
connect  the  different  varieties  of  mankind.  These  hold  a  mid- 
dle place  between  the  Caucasian  and  Mongolian. 

20.  Skull  of  a  Cossack  of  the  Don  (Dec.  I.  Tab.  iv.),  de  Asch. 

21.  Kirgis-Cossack  (Dec.  II.  Tab.  xin.),  de  Asch. 

22.  Another  of  the  same,  de  Asch. 

These  between  the  Caucasian  and  Ethiopian. 

23.  Egyptian  mummy  (Dec.  I.  Tab.  i.). 

24.  Genuine  Zingari  (Dec.  n.  Tab.  n.),  Pataki,  physician  of 
Claudinopolis. 

These  between  the  Mongolian  and  American. 

25.  26.     Esquimaux  (Dec.  in.  Tabb.  xxiv.  xxv.),  Jo.  Loretz. 

Skulls  deformed  by  particular  arts  in  infancy. 

27.  Macrocephalic,   probably   Tartar     (Dec.    I.    Tab.   in.), 
de  Asch. 

28.  Carib  female  (Dec.  in.  Tab.  xx.),  Banks. 

Remaining  cranial  collection. 

29.  German. 

30.  Female  German. 

31.  Young  Jew. 

32.  Old  Jew. 

33.  Dutch.     Wolff,  Utrecht  physician. 

34.  Frenchman.     Sommerring. 

35.  Italian,     de  Asch. 


158  COLLECTION. 

36.  Italian,  Venetian.     Michaelis,  camp-physician  of  Han- 
over. 

37.  Lombard.     lb. 

38.  Ancient  Roman  prsetorian  soldier.    Card.  Steph.  Borgia. 

39.  Lithuanian  of  Sarmatia.     de  Asch. 

40.  Calvaria   of  ancient    Cimbrian.       Bozenhard,  imperial 
consul  general  in  Denmark. 

41.  42.     Finn,     de  Asch. 

43.  Female  Finn. 

44.  Russian  Zingari. 

45.  Russian  youth1. 

46.  Russian  old  man. 

47.  48,  49,  50,  51.     Russians  of  Muscovy. 

52.  Female  of  Muscovy. 

53.  Russian  of  Swenigorod. 

54.  Old  Russian  youth. 

55.  Russian  of  Wenewski. 

56. Romanoff. 

57. Ribno. 

58. Ribnisci. 

59.  Kostroman. 

60.  Female  of  Krasno.     de  Asch. 

61.  Russian  of  Nyschenovogorod. 

62.  Kursk. 

63.  Orlov. 

64.  Tartar  of  Orenburg. 

65.  Tartar  (probably  of  Kazan). 
GG,  67,  68.     Tatars. 

69.  Tschuwasch. 

70.  Lesghi. 

71.  Georgian. 

72.  73,  74.     Female  Turk. 

75,  76,  77,  78,  79,  80.     Calmucks  of  Orenburg  (76,  Dec.  i. 
Tab.  v.). 

81.  Creole  Ethiopian  from  New  York.    Michaelis,  Marburg. 

82.  Ethiopian  of  Congo  (Dec.  n.  Tab.  xviii.),  de  Asch. 

1  The  very  remarkable  series  of  Ruthenian  skulls  from  No.  45  to  No.  63 
shews  great  diversity,  but  always  more  or  less  approaches  the  Mongolian,  and  is 
doubtless  the  product  of  mixed  marriages. 


COLLECTION.  159 

II. 

Foetuses  remarkably  characteristic  of  the  middle  and  the  two 
extreme  Varieties. 

Caucasian  variety,  German  twins  of  either  sex,  remarkable  for 
their  extreme  beauty,  four  months  old. 

Mongolian.  Calmuck  of  Orenburg,  female,  third  month.  From 
D.  Kosegarten. 

Ethiopian,  Male  Ethiopian,  fifth  month.  Meyer,  chief  physician, 
Hanover. 

III. 

Hair  and  Hairs  of  different  Nations. 

Although  at  first  sight  these  things  may  seem  too  minute,  still 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  a  collection  of  this  kind,  when  very  varied, 
is  of  considerable  use  for  accurate  anthropological  studies.  I  have 
here  specimens  of  all  the  five  principal  varieties  of  mankind;  some 
of  them  are  sufficiently  remarkable,  about  which  I  shall  speak 
below  ;  as  the  piebald  hair  of  the  negress,  variegated  with  white 
spots,  whom  I  saw  at  London,  &c. 

IV. 

Anatomical  Preparations. 

The  greater  part  of  these  belong  to  the  natural  history  of  the 
Ethiopians.  I  have  made  copious  mention  of  them  in  various  parts 
of  the  book. 

V. 

Collection  of  Pictures  of  different  Nations,  carefully 
taken  from  the  life  by  the  first  artists. 

It  is  clear  that  a  collection  of  this  kind,  especially  whenever  it 
is  invariably  compared  with  such  a  collection  of  skulls  as  I  have 
been  giving  an  account  of,  is  one  of  the  first,  principal,  and  authen- 
tic sources  of  anthropological  studies;  and  so  for  the  last  twenty 
years  I  have  taken  an  immense  deal  of  trouble  to  collect  a  quantity 
of  such  drawings,  taken  from  life,  and  what  is  very  important,  by 
good  artists.  There  is  indeed  a  large  quantity  of  similar  drawings 
in  the  books  of  travels  and  voyages;  but  when  they  are  critically 


160  COLLECTION, 

examined,  very  few  are  found  which  you  can  trust1.  When  we  leave 
the  representations  of  Corn,  de  Bruin  in  his  Persian  and  Indian  tra- 
vels, and  the  second  voyage  of  the  immortal  Cook,  illustrated  by  his 
own  descriptions,  and  plates  drawn  by  Hodges,  we  shall  soon  find 
that  in  almost  all  the  others  the  plates,  however  splendid  they  may 
be,  when  we  examine  them  closely,  and  compare  them  with  genuine 
representations,  or  with  nature,  are  scarcely  of  any  use  for  the  natu- 
ral history  of  mankind.  It  is  necessary,  therefore,  for  this  object 
to  bring  together  all  the  extant  representations  of  foreign  races,  and 
the  engravings,  as  well  those  edited  separately  as  those  scattered  up 
and  down  in  books,  and  also  the  very  drawings  made  by  the  artist's 
own  hand.  I  have  collected  a  considerable  quantity  of  them,  amongst 
which  are  particularly  conspicuous  the  figures  of  Wenc.  Hollar,  a 
great  artist  in  this  line,  which  are  drawn  in  aqua  fortis,  and  also 
the  splendid  plates  of  some  modern  English  engravers ;  to  mention 
them  singly  would  transgress  the  limits  of  an  index.  I  will  only 
give  a  list  of  some  of  the  most  remarkable  of  those  which  are  done 
by  the  hand. 

Caucasian  variety. 

1.  Turkish  woman;  drawn  with  red  chalk  from  the  life  at  Ber- 
lin, by  Dan.  Chodowiecki,  who  gave  it  me  with  his  autograph. 

2.  Hindostan  woman;  drawn  by  an  Indian  painter  with  won- 
derful refinement  and  accuracy:  given  to  me  at  London  by  Sam. 
Lysons. 

Mongolian  variety. 

3.  Cossim  Ali  Khan,  formerly  nawab  of  Bengal,  who  after- 
wards became  a  Mohammedan  faquir  at  Delhi.  Drawn  in  colours 
by  a  Mohammedan  painter,  a  Moor.  It  was  given  to  me  with  the 
following  one  by  Braun,  now  deceased,  formerly  British  resident  at 
Berne,  and  once  a  colonel  in  India. 

4.  The  wife  of  the  last  Mogul  Emperor,  Shah  Allum,  who 
died  1790;  also  drawn  by  an  artistic  hand2. 

5.  Portrait  of  Feodor  Irvanowitsch,  a  Calmuck,  by  himself; 
drawn  in  black  chalk  by  his  own  hand,  with  incomparable  skill  and 

1  Comp.  a  passage  to  this  effect  in  Volney,  Humes,  ou  meditation  sur  les  r&volv.' 
tions  des  empires,  p.  349. 

2  I  have  ascribed  these  to  the  Mongolian  variety,  having  regard  to  the  origin 
of  the  present  rulers  of  India,  although  from  obvious  causes  they  come  very  near 
the  Hindostanee  in  appearance. 


COLLECTION.  161 

taste,  and  a  most  exact  likeness.  Done  at  Rome,  where  he  studied 
painting  with  the  greatest  success.  This  handsome  present  was  sent 
me  from  Rome  by  Tatter,  of  the  private  British  embassy. 

6.  Two  Chinese  sailors.  Painted  at  Vienna.  A  gift  from  Nic. 
Jos.  de  Jacquin,  councillor  of  the  imperial  mint. 

7.  Ettuiack,  an  Esquimaux  magician;  brought  to  London  in 
1773  from  the  coast  of  Labrador.  This,  as  well  as  the  following 
picture,  according  to  the  autograph  of  Nathan.  Dance  in  Banks' 
museum,  was  most  carefully  painted  by  the  famous  London  painter, 
G.  Hunnemann. 

8.  Esquimaux  woman,  by  name  Caubvic  (which  in  the  language 
of  those  barbarians  means  a  blind  bear) ;  she  was  brought  with 
Ettuiack  to  London  by  Cartwright. 

Ethiopian. 

9.  Hottentot  female  of  Amaqui.  This,  with  the  following  one, 
comes  from  the  collection  of  Banks. 

10.  Boschman,  with  wife  and  child. 

11.  Hottentot  female.  This  portrait  and  the  four  succeeding 
ones  were  drawn  from  the  life  at  the  Oape  of  Good  Hope,  and  sent  to 
the  Emperor  Joseph  II.  at  Vienna.  Most  cai-eful  copies  given  me 
by  de  Jacquin. 

12.  Karmup,  Hottentot  female  of  Namaqui. 

13.  Kosjo,  Hottentot  female  of  Gonaga,  on  the  borders  of 
Caffraria. 

14.  Koba,  Caffir  chief. 

15.  Puseka,  his  daughter. 

American. 

1 6.  An  inhabitant  of  Tierra  del  FuegOj  from  Magellan's  straits. 

17.  Female  of  the  same  tribe. 

Malay. 

18.  Two  New  Zealanders. 

19.  New  Zealand  chief. 

20.  Two  youths  of  the  same  nation. 

All  these,  as  well  as  the  Fuegians,  are  taken  from  the  collection 
made  by  Sir  Joseph  Banks  in  his  voyage. 


11 


1 62  PLATES. 


EXPLANATION   OF  THE  PLATES. 

Plate  III. 
A  synoptic  arrangement  to  illustrate  the  norma  verticalis. 
Fig.  1  answers  to  fig.  1  of  PL  IV. 

Fig.  2  fig.  3  

Fig.  3   fig.  5   

Plate  IV. 

Fire  very  select  skulls  of  my  collection,  to  demonstrate  the  diver- 
sity of  the  five  principal  human  races. 

Fig.  1.  A  Tungus,  one  of  those  commonly  called  the  Reindeer 
Tungus.  His  name  was  Tschewin  Amureew,  of  the  family  of  Gilge- 
girsk.  He  lived  about  350  versts  from  the  city  Bargus;  and  cut  his 
own  thi'oat  in  1791.  Schilling,  the  head  army-surgeon,  was  sent  thence 
by  Werchnelldinski,  to  make  a  legal  inquiry  as  to  the  cause  of  his 
death;  he  brought  back  the  skull  with  his  own  hand,  and  gave  it  to 
Baron  de  Asch. 

Fig.  2.  The  head  of  a  Carib  chief,  who  died  at  St.  Vincent  eight 
years  ago,  and  whose  bones,  at  the  request  of  Banks,  were  dug  up 
there  by  Anderson,  the  head  of  the  royal  garden  in  that  island. 

Fig.  3.  A  young  Georgian  female,  made  captive  in  the  last 
Turkish  war  by  the  Russians,  and  brought  to  Muscovy.  There  she 
died  suddenly,  and  an  examination  was  made  of  the  cause  of  death 
by  Hiltebrandt,  the  most  learned  anatomical  professor  in  Russia. 
He  carefully  preserved  the  skull  for  the  extreme  elegance  of  its 
shape,  and  sent  it  to  St  Petersburg  to  de  Asch. 

Fig.  4.  The  skull  of  a  Tahitian  female,  brought  at  the  request 
of  Banks  by  the  brave  and  energetic  Captain  Bligh,  on  his  return 
from  his  famous  voyage,  during  which  he  transported  with  the  greatest 
success  stocks  of  the  bread-fruit  tree  from  the  Society  Islands  to  the 
East  Indies. 

Fig.  5.  An  Ethiopian  female  of  Guinea;  the  concubine  of  a 
Dutchman,  who  died  at  Amsterdam  in  her  28th  year.  She  was  dis- 
sected by  Steph.  Jo.  Van  Geuns,  the  learned  professor  at  Utrecht. 


SECTION   I. 

OF  THE   DIFFERENCE   OF   MAN   FROM   OTHER  ANIMALS. 


1.  Difficulty  of  the  subject.  He  who  means  to  write  about 
the  variety  of  mankind,  and  to  describe  the  points  in  which  the 
races  of  men  differ  from  each  other  in  bodily  constitution,  must 
first  of  all  investigate  those  differences  which  separate  man  him- 
self from  the  rest  of  the  animals.  The  same  thing  occurs  here 
which  we  often  see  happen  in  the  study  of  natural  history,  and 
especially  of  zoology,  that  it  is  much  easier  to  distinguish  any 
species  from  its  congeners  at  the  first  glance  by  a  sort  of  divina- 
tion of  the  senses,  than  to  give  an  account  of,  or  express  in 
words  those  distinctive  characters  themselves.  Thus  we  find  it 
very  easy  to  distinguish  the  rat  from  the  domestic  mouse,  or 
the  rabbit  from  the  hare,  but  difficult  to  lay  down  the  charac- 
teristic marks  on  which  that  diversity,  which  we  all  feel,  de- 
pends. This  difficulty  of  our  present  subject  has  been  candidly 
and  publicly  confessed  by  the  great  authorities  of  the  science ;  _ — 
so  much  so  that  the  immortal  Linnaeus,  a  man  quite  created 
for  investigating  the  characteristics  of  the  works  of  nature,  and 
arranging  them  in  systematic  order,  says,  in  the  preface  of  his 
Fauna  Suecica,  "  that  it  is  a  matter  for  the  most  arduous  in- 
vestigation to  enunciate  in  what  the  peculiar  and  specific  dif- 
ference of  man  consists ;"  nay  more,  he  confesses  "  that  up  to 
the  present  he  has  been  unable  to  discover  any  character,  by 
which  man  can  be  distinguished  from  the  ape;"  and  in  his 
Systema  Naturae,  he  gives  it  as  his  opinion,  "  that  it  is  won- 
derful how  little  the  most  foolish  ape  differs  from  the  wisest 

11—2 


164  ERECT   POSITION. 

man,  so  that  we  have  still  to  seek  for  that  measurer  of  nature, 
who  is  to  define  their  boundaries ;"  finally,  he  did  not  attribute 
to  man  any  generic  or  specific  character,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
ranked  the  long-handed  ape  as  his  congener. 

2.  Order  of  treatment.  Meanwhile  I  may  be  allowed  to 
enumerate  the  points,  in  which,  if  I  have  any  powers  of  obser- 
vation, man  differs  from  other  animals,  and  I  mean  to  treat  the 
subject  thus: 

First,  I  shall  enumerate  those  things  which  affect  the  ex- 
ternal  conformation  of  the  human  body. 

Secondly,  those  which  affect  the  internal  conformation. 
Thirdly,  the  functions  of  the  animal  economy. 
Fourthly,  the  endowments  of  the  mind. 
Fifthly,  I  mean  to  add  a   few  words  about  the  disorders 
peculiar  to  man. 

And  sixthly,  I  shall  reckon  up  those  points,  in  which 
man  is  commonly,  but  wrongly,  thought  to  differ  from  the 
brutes. 

3.  External  conformation.  Under  this  head  I  place  some 
characters,  which,  although  they  are  closely  connected  with  the 
structure  of  the  skeleton,  yet  are  shown  by  the  external  habit 
of  body,  which  depends  upon  it ;  and  then  the  subsequent  cha- 
racters, especially  if  they  are  looked  at  collectively,  seem  to 
suffice  for  a  definition  of  mankind : 

(A)  The  erect  position; 

(B)  The  broad,  flat  pelvis; 

(C)  The  two  hands; 

(D)  The  regular  and  close  set  rows  of  teeth. 

To  these  heads  all  the  other  peculiarities  which  the  human 
body  exhibits,  may  be  easily  referred;  and  now  let  us  examine 
them  one  by  one. 

4.  The  erect  position.  Here  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  prove 
two  points :  first,  whether  the  erect  position  is  natural  to  man ; 
secondly,  whether  it  is  peculiar  to  man  (of  which  below,  s.  10). 


WILD   MEN.  16o 

The  former  is  evident  d,  priori,  as  they  say,  from  the  very 
structure  of  the  human  body;  and  a  posteriori  from  the  unani- 
mous concurrence  of  all  the  nations  of  all  time  that  we  are 
acquainted  with.  It  is  no  more  necessary  to  spend  any  time  on 
this,  than  on  the  argument  to  the  contrary,  which  some  are  in 
the  habit  of  bringing  from  the  instances  of  infants  who  have 
been  brought  up  among  wild  beasts,  and  found  to  go  on  all- 
fours.  Those  who  look  carefully  at  the  matter  will  easily  see 
that  no  condition  can  be  conceived  more  different  to  that  which 
nature  has  designed  for  man,  than  that  of  those  wretched  chil- 
dren alluded  to;  for  we  might  just  as  well  take  some  monstrous 
birth  as  the  normal  idea  of  human  conformation,  as  take  ad- 
vantage of  those  wild  children  to  demonstrate  the  natural 
method  of  man's  gait  and  life.  Indeed,  if  we  look  a  little  more 
closely  into  these  stories  of  wild  children,  it  is  more  likely  to 
turn  out  in  the  instances  which  are  the  most  authentic,  and 
placed  beyond  all  doubt,  as  that  of  our  famous  Peter  of  Hameln ' 
(Peter  the  wild  boy,  Juvenis  Hannoveranus  Linn.),  ofTKe^girl  of 
Champagne2,  the  Pyrensean  wild  man3,  and  of  others,  that  these 
wretches  used  to  walk  upright ;  but  in  the  stories  of  the  others 
who  are  commonly  said  to  go  on  all-fours,  as  the  Juvenis  ovinus 
Hibernus  Linn.,  there  are  many  things  which  make  the  story 
very  doubtful,  and  of  but  indifferent  credit4;  so  that  the  Homo 
sapiens  ferus  of  Linnaeus  (Syst.  Nat.  ed.  12,  Tom.  I.  p.  28) 
seems  no  more  entitled  to  the  epithet  of  four-footed  than  that 
of  shagsfv. 


1  Comp.  particularly  Voigt,  Magazinfur  Physih  und  Naturgesch.  T.  iv.  Part  in. 
p.  91,  and  also  Monboddo,  Antient  Metaphysics,  Vol.  ur.  Lond.  1784,  pp.  57,  367. 
How  much  importance  the  Scotch  philosopher  attaches  to  Peter  of  Hameln  is 
proved  amongst  other  passages  by  the  following:  "this  phenomenon  is  more  extra- 
ordinary, I  think,  than  the  new  planet,  or  than  if  we  were  to  discover  30,000  more 
fixed  stars,  besides  those  lately  discovered." 

3  (De  la  Condamine)  Histoire  cVunejeumfille  sauvage.     Paris,  1761,  nmo. 

3  Comp.  Leroy,  Sur  V exploitation  de  la  nature  dans  les  Pyrenees.  Lond.  1776, 
4to.  p.  8. 

4  [Blumenbach's  note  here  consists  of  extracts  from  the  account  of  this  Juvenis 
Hibernus  by  Tulp  :  but  as  that  author  is  rare,  I  give  instead  the  whole  account  at 
length.  "The  most  acute  sense  of  hearing  would  have  been  deceived  by  that 
genuine  bleating  which  was  heard  by  many  others  as  well  as  myself  to  proceed 
from  that  Irish  youth,  who  was  brought  up  from  infancy  among  sheep,  and  whom 
therefore  it  will  be  here  worth  while  to  describe  exactly  as  he  was.     There  was 


166  MAN    A   BIPED. 

5.  Man's  structure  proves  that  he  was  made  upright  by 
nature.  It  is  irksome  and  tedious  to  go  a  long  way  about  to 
demonstrate  a  thing  so  manifest  and  evident  of  itself ;  but  that 
pair  of  learned  men,  P.  Moscati  the  Italian,  and  A.  Schrage1 
the  Belgian,  who  have  patronized  the  opposite  paradox,  prevent 
my  leaving  it  quite  alone.  Still  it  will  be  enough  to  touch  on 
a  few  points  out  of  many. 

The  length  of  his  legs,  in  proportion  to  his  trunk  and  his 
arms,  show,  at  the  first  glance,  that  man  was  intended  to  be 
upright  by  nature.  For,  although  I  cannot  agree  with  Dau- 
benton,  who  thinks2  that  no  animal  besides  man  has  such 
large  hind  feet,  which  are  equal  in  length  to  the  breadth  of 
his  trunk  and  head;  for  this  is  negatived  by  the  examples  of 
several  mammals,  as  the  Simia  lar  and  the  Jerboa  Capensis ; 
still  it  is  plain  to  every  one,  that  man  is  so  made  that  he  can 
in  no  wise  go  on  all-fours;  for  even  infants  crawl  by  resting 
on  their  knees,  although  at  that  tender  age  the  legs  are  smaller 
in  the  proportion  we  spoke  of  than  in  adults. 

It   is  not   however  the    length    only,   but   the   remarkable 

brought  to  Amsterdam,  and  exposed  to  the  eyes  of  all,  a  youth  of  sixteen  years, 
who,  being  lost  perhaps  by  his  parents  and  brought  up  from  his  cradle  amongst 
the  wild  sheep  in  Ireland,  had  acquired  a  sort  of  ovine  nature.  He  was  rapid  in 
body,  nimble  of  foot,  of  fierce  countenance,  firm  flesh,  scorched  skin,  rigid  limbs, 
with  retreating  and  depressed  forehead,  but  convex  and  knotty  occiput,  rude,  rash, 
ignorant  of  fear,  and  destitute  of  all  softness.  In  other  respects  sound,  and  in 
good  health.  Being  without  human  voice  he  bleated  like  a  sheep,  and  being 
averse  to  the  food  and  drink  that  we  are  accustomed  to,  he  chewed  grass  only  and 
hay,  and  that  with  the  same  choice  as  the  most  particular  sheep.  Turning  in  the 
same  way  every  mouthful  round,  and  taking  account  of  each  blade  separately,  he 
made  his  selection,  and  tasted  now  only  this,  and  now  only  that,  as  they  seemed 
more  grateful,  and  more  agreeable  to  his  sense  of  smell  and  taste. 

"He  had  lived  on  rough  mountains  and  in  desert  places,  himself  equally  fierce 
and  untamed,  delighting  in  caves  and  pathless  and  inaccessible  dens.  He  was  ac- 
customed to  spend  all  his  time  in  the  open  air,  and  to  put  up  equally  with  winter 
and  summer.  He  kept  as  far  as  he  could  away  from  the  lures  of  huntsmen,  but 
at  last  fell  into  their  nets,  although  he  fled  over  uneven  rocks,  and  precipitous 
cliffs,  and  threw  himself  most  boldly  into  thorny  brakes  and  sharp  jungles,  in 
which  being  at  last  entangled  he  fell  into  the  power  of  the  huntsman.  His  appear- 
ance was  more  that  of  a  wild  beast  than  a  man ;  and  though  kept  in  restraint,  and 
compelled  to  live  among  men,  most  unwillingly,  and  only  after  a  long  time  did  he 
put  off  his  wild  character. 

"  His  throat  was  large  and  broad,  his  tongue  as  it  were  fastened  to  his  palate." 
Tulp.  06s.  Med.  1.  IV.  c.  io,  5th  ed.  p.  296.     Ludg.  Bat.  1716,  t2iqo.     Ed.] 

1  See  Verhandeling  over  cle  Longteering  in  the  journal  called  GeneesNatuur-en- 
Huishoud-kwndige  Jaarboelen,  T.  ill.  Part  I.  p.  32. 

3  Memoires  de  VAcad.  des  Sciences  de  Paris,  1764,  p.  569. 


MAN   A    BIPED.  1G7 

strength  of  the  legs  compared  with  the  more  delicate  arms, 
which  clearly  shows  that  the  former  are  intended  by  nature  for 
the  sole  purpose  of  supporting  the  body.  This  is  particularly 
made  manifest  by  a  fact  derived  from  osteogeny,  namely,  that 
in  the  new-born  infant  the  tarsal  bones,  and  especially  the 
heel-bone,  ossify  much  quicker,  and  become  perfect  much 
sooner  than  the  carpal.  This  is  a  natural  provision,  because 
the  little  hands  have  no  necessity  for  exercising  any  force  in 
the  first  years  of  life,  whereas  the  feet  have  to  be  ready  to  sup- 
port the  body,  and  provide  for  the  erect  gait  towards  the  end 
of  the  first  year.  I  say  nothing  of  the  powerful  muscles  of  the 
calf  of  the  leg,  especially  of  the  gastrocnemii  interni,  though 
these  are  made  so  strong  and  so  prominent  by  nature  to  keep 
man  upright,  that,  on  that  account,  Aristotle,  with  the  old 
anthropologists,  thought  that  true  calves  should  be  ascribed  to 
man  alone. 

The  whole  construction  of  the  chest  shows  that  man  cannot 
in  any.  way  walk  like  the  quadrupeds.  For  in  the  long-legged 
beasts  the  chest  adheres  to  the  sides  as  if  squeezed  forwards  in 
a  keel-like  shape,  and  they  have  no  collar-bone,  so  that  the  feet 
can  more  easily  converge  towards  one  another  from  each  side, 
and  in  that  way  sustain  the  weight  of  the  body  more  easily  and 
more  firmly.  Besides,  quadrupeds  are  provided  either  with 
a  longer  breast-bone,  or  with  a  larger  number  of  ribs,  descending 
nearer  to  the  cristse  ilei,  in  order  to  sustain  the  viscera  in  the 
horizontal  line  of  the  trunk.  But  all  these  things  are  different 
in  man,  the  biped.  His  chest  is  more  flattened  throughout, 
his  shoulders  are  widely  divaricated  by  the  insertions  of  the 
shoulder-blades,  his  sternum  is  short,  his  abdomen  more  desti- 
tute of  bony  supports  than  is  the  case  with  those  animals  we 
were  speaking  of;  and  there  are  things  of  the  same  kind  which 
cannot  escape  any  one  who  compares  with  the  human  skeleton 
even  a  few  of  the  quadrupeds,  especially  the  long-legged  ones. 
All  these  considerations  show  how  ill  adapted  the  human 
frame  is  to  a  quadrupedal  walk,  and  that  it  cannot  be  any- 
thing else  to  him  but  unsteady,  trembling,  and  very  irksome 
and  fatiguing. 


168  PELVIS. 

6.  The  broad  and  flat  human  pelvis.  What  has  been  said 
gains  particularly  additional  weight  from  the  consideration  of 
the  human  pelvis,  whose  clearly  peculiar  conformation  again 
affords  a  diagnostic  character  by  which  man  is  made  wonder- 
fully to  differ  from  the  anthropomorphous  apes,  and  most 
manifestly  and  most  decidedly  from  all  and  singular  the  other 
mammals. 

Although  it  may  seem  an  affected  paradox,  yet  the  assertion, 
that  a  genuine  pelvis  is  only  to  be  found  in  the  human  skeleton 
might  be  defended.  I  mean  that  peculiar  conjunction  of  the 
os  innominatum  with  the  sacrum  and  coccyx,  which  gives  the 
appearance  of  a  pelvis,  or  basin  j  for  it  is  surprising  how  far  the 
elongated  ribs  of  the  rest  of  the  mammals  differ  from  this 
basin-shaped  formation.  The  termination  of  the  ribs  in  the 
Simia  satyrus  and  the  elephant  seem  to  come  a  little  nearer 
the  shape  of  the  human  pelvis  than  in  other  mammals  whose 
skeletons  I  have  examined.  Still,  in  front  the  length  is  greater 
than  the  breadth,  and  behind  they  exhibit  a  very  greatly 
elongated  synchondrosis  of  the  groin ;  and  in  both  that  resem- 
blance to  a  basin  which  we  spoke  of  is  very  much  wanting, 
which  is  so  conspicuous-  in  man  alone,  in  the  expansion  of  the 
bones  of  the  ilium  over .  the  linea  innominata,  and  in  the 
delicacy  of  the  synchrondrosis,  and  also  in  the  curvature  of  the 
os  sacrum  from  the  promontory  and  in  the  direction  of  the 
vertebrae  of  the  coccyx  towards  the  front. 

7.  The  relation  of  the  adjoining  soft  parts  to  the  form  of 
the  human  pelvis.  The  hinder  face  of  the  pelvis  gives  the 
foundation  to  the  glutsei  muscles,  of  which  the  outermost  or 
larger  exceed  in  thickness  all  other  muscles  of  the  body,  and 
being  concealed  by  a  remarkable  stratum  of  fat  from  the 
buttocks.  Their  fleshy,  useful,  and  semicircular  amplitude,  in 
which  the  podex  is  hidden,  form,  not  only  in  the  opinion  of  the 
classical  authors  of  natural  history,  such  as  Aristotle1  and  Buffon2, 


1  De  partib.  animalium,  IV.  io. 

2  Hist.  Nat.  T.  II.  p.  544.     "Buttocks  belong  to  the  human  species  alone." 


VAGINA.  169 

but  also  of  the  best  physiologists,  as  Galen1  and  Haller2,  the 
principal  character  in  which  man  especially  differs  from  the 
apes,  who  are  manifestly  destitute  of  fundament. 

Moreover,  in  consequence  of  that  curvature  of  the  os  sacrum 
and  the  coccyx  we  mentioned,  depends  particularly  the  never- 
to-be-forgotten  direction  of  the  interior  genital  members  of  the 
female,  and  of  the  vagina  also,  the  axis  of  which  declines  much 
more  in  front  than  in  other  female  mammals  from  what  is 
commonly  called  the  axis  of  the  pelvis.  This  makes,  it  is  true, 
parturition  more  difficult,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  admirably 
guards  against  many  other  inconveniences,  to  which,  especially 
during  pregnancy,  the  woman,  from  her  erect  position,  would 
be  exposed. 

It  is  in  consequence  of  this  same  direction  of  the  vagina, 
that  in  mankind  the  weaker  sex  is  not,  like  the  females  of 
brutes,  retromingent.  And  also  because  in  animals  (as  far  as 
we  know  at  present)  the  opening  of  the  urethra  does  not 
terminate  as  in  woman,  between  the  exact  lips  of  the  puden- 
dum, but  opens  backwards  into  the  vagina  itself,  as  I  have 
observed  in  these  same  anthropomorphous  animals,  the  Papio 
maimon  and  the  Simia  cynomolgus,  which  I  have  anatomically 
dissected. 

And,  according  to  this  same  direction  of  the  female  vagina, 
that  question  must  be  settled  which  has  been  often  discussed 
from  the  time  of  Lucretius,  what  position  is  most  convenient 
to  man  for  copulation? 

"  How  best  to  prolongate  the  soft  delight?" 

For  although  man  may  perform  this  ceremony  in  more  ways 
than  one,  and  this  variety  of  worship  has  been  considered  by 
the   low  Latinists  as  one  of  the  things   in   which   he    differs 


1  De  usu  partium,  xv.  8.  Spigel,  De  humani  corporis  fabrica,  p.  9,  has  cleverly 
elaborated  the  physico-theological  theory  of  this  prerogative.  "Man  alone  of  all 
animals  can  sit  conveniently,  since  he  has  large  and  fleshy  buttocks,  which  serve 
for  a  seat  and  cushion,  when  his  stomach  is  full,  in  order  that  he  may  sit  without 
annoyance,  and  easily  apply  his  mind  to  reflection  on  divine  subjects." 

2  De  corp.  hum.  functionibus,  T.  I.  p.  57.  "Nor  are  the  apes  distinguished 
from  men  by  any  mark  easier  than  by  this." 


170  HYMEN. 

from  brutes,   still   physical  causes  sometimes  interfere   to   in- 
duce him  to  copulate1 

"Like  beasts  or  quadrupeds  are  used  to  do." 

Still  the  proportion  of  the  virile  member  to  the  vagina  seems 
better  adapted  for  the  usual  mode  of  venery3. 

8.  Remarks  on  the  hymen,  nymphce,  and  clitoris.  In  order 
to  finish  at  one  and  the  same  time  all  those  delicate  matters 
which  belong  to  the  female  part  of  mankind,  I  must  here  throw 
in  something  about  the  hymen,  which  little  membrane,  so  far  as  I 
know,  has  hitherto  been  found  in  no  other  animal.  Though  I 
have  examined  the  females  of  apes  and  papios  with  that  view,  I 
have  never  been  able  to  find  any  vestige  of  it,  or  any  remains 
changed  into  the  carunculce  myrtiformes;  nor  was  I  more 
successful  with  the  female  elephant  which  was  led  about  Ger- 
many many  years  ago,  whose  genitals  I  particularly  examined, 
because  I  had  been  told  that  Trendelnburg,  a  famous  physician 
of  that  day  at  Lubeck,  had  observed  some  kind  of  hymen  in 
that  beast.  This  little  appendage  to  the  female  body  is  all 
the  more  remarkable,  because  I  cannot  imagine  that  any  physi- 
cal utility  attaches  to  it.  At  the  same  time  I  am  not  much 
satisfied  with  the  conjectures  the  physiologists  offer  as  to  the 
purpose  of  the  hymen ;  and  least  of  all  with  what  Haller  rather 
weakly  suggests,  "  since  it  is  found  in  mankind  alone,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  this  sign  of  virginity  was  given  for  moral 
ends." 


1  Comp.  Carpi  (Berengarius),  Commentaria  super  anatomia  Mundini,  p.  13. 
"Man  of  all  animals  copulates  by  embraces  and  caresses  in  different  positions,  and 
is  detestable  for  this,  because  he  is  more  wicked  and  voluptuous  and  diabolical 
than  rational." 

2  Kasrnpf.  Enchiridium  Mediaim,  p.  181. 

3  When  I  was  at  London  two  years  ago,  I  looked  over  the  vast  treasury  of 
engravings  preserved  in  the  library  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain ;  and  was  particu- 
larly struck  with  and  most  carefully  studied  that  famous  volume  of  drawings  re- 
lating both  to  human  and  comparative  anatomy,  etched  by  the  great  painter  Leon- 
ardo da  Vinci.  Amongst  them  I  observed  particularly  that  remarkable  and,  in  its 
way,  unique  representation  of  the  copulation  of  a  man  with  a  woman,  in  which  the 
trunk  of  each  is  so  exposed  to  view,  that  the  relation  I  hinted  at,  of  the  genital 
member  when  in  a  state  of  tension  to  the  direction  of  the  vagina,  is  made  quite 
plain.  I  am  indebted  for  a  most  accurate  copy  of  this  very  clever  print  to  the 
kindness  of  that  most  amiable  man  and  excellent  artist,  John  Chamberlaine,  librarian 
of  that  Royal  collection. 


MAN   BIMANOUS.  171 

Linnaeus  seems  to  have  been  in  doubt  whether  the  females 
of  other  kinds  besides  women  are  endowed  with  the  nymphas 
and  the  clitoris.  But  I  have  proved  myself  that  neither  of 
those  parts  is  peculiar  to  mankind.  I  have,  following  many 
other  most  competent  witnesses,  clearly  observed  the  clitoris 
in  many  sorts  of  mammals  of  different  orders,  and  frequently 
have  found  it  very  large  as  in  the  Papio  maimon  and  the 
Lemur  tardigradus;  but  most  prodigious  of  all,  about  the 
size  of  a  fish,  in  a  specimen  of  the  Balwna  hoops  about 
fifty-two  feet  in  length,  which  I  carefully  examined  when  it 
was  thrown  on  the  shore  in  Dec.  1791,  near  Sandfurt  in 
Holland.  As  to  the  nymphse,  I  have  found  them  exactly 
like  human  ones  in  a  Lemur  Mongoz,  which  I  kept  alive 
myself  for  many  years. 

9.  Man  a  bimanous  animal.  From  what  has  been  so  far 
said  about  the  erect  stature  of  man  follows  that  highest  pre- 
rogative of  his  external  conformation,  namely,  the  freest  use  of 
two  most  perfect  hands.  By  this  conformation  he  so  much  ex- 
cels the  rest  of  the  animals,  as  to  have  given  rise  to  that  old 
saying  of  Anaxagoras,  which  has  been  cooked  up  again  in  our 
time  by  Helvetius,  "that  he  thought  man  was  the  wisest  ani- 
mal, because  he  was  furnished  with  hands."  This  is  rather  too 
paradoxical :  the  assertion  of  Aristotle  seems  nearer  the  real 
truth,  "that  man  alone  has  hands,  which  are  real  hands." 
For  in  the  anthropomorphous  apes  themselves,  the  principal 
feature  of  the  hands,  I  mean  the  thumb,  is  short  in  pro- 
portion, and  almost  nailless,  and  to  use  the  expression  of 
the  famous  Eustachius,  quite  ridiculous:  so  that  it  is  true 
that  no  other  hand,  except  the  human  hand,  deserves  the 
appellation  of  the  organ  of  organs,  with  which  the  same 
Stagyrite  glorifies  it. 

10.  Apes  and  the  allied  animals  are  quadrumanous.  Apes 
and  the  other  animals,  which  are  commonly  called  anthropo- 
morphous, of  the  genera  of  Papiones,  Cercopitheci  and  Lemures, 
ought  not  in  reality  to  be  called  either  bipeds  or  quadrupeds, 
but  Quadrumana.  For  their  hind  feet  are  furnished  with  a 
second  genuine  thumb,  not  with  the  great  toe,  which  is  given 


172  APE   QUADRUMANOUS. 

to  the  biped,  man,  alone1;  indeed  their  feet  deserve  the  name 
of  hands  more  than  their  anterior  extremities,  since  it  is  plain 
that  they  are  adapted  for  purposes  of  prehension ;  and  one  kind 
of  cercopithecus  (G  paniscus)  is  endowed  with  a  thumb,  which 
is  wanting  in  the  anterior  hands ;  but  it  has  never  been  ob- 
served of  any  quadrumanous  animal,  that  it  is  destitute  of  the 
thumb  of  the  hind-hands. 

Hence  too  it  will  be  easy  to  settle  the  dispute  which  has 
been  raised  about  the  Simia  satyrus  and  other  anthropomor- 
phous apes,  namely,  whether  it  is  natural  for  them  in  their 
own  woods  to  go  as  bipeds,  or  as  quadrupeds.  Neither  one 
nor  the  other.  For  since  the  hands  are  not  meant  for  walking 
upon,  but  for  prehension,  it  is  at  once  plain,  that  nature  has 
designed  these  animals  to  spend  their  lives  principally  in  trees. 
These  they  climb,  on  these  they  seek  for  their  food,  and  so 
they  want  one  pair  of  hands  to  support  them,  and  the  other 
pair  to  pluck  fruits  with,  and  other  things  of  the  kind ;  and 
for  the  same  end  nature  has  provided  many  of  the  cercopitheci, 
who  are  furnished  with  but  imperfect  hands,  with  a  prehensile 
tail,  in  order  that  they  may  have  a  more  secure  hold  upon 
trees. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  point  out  that  it  is  the  result  of 
art  and  discipline  if  any  apes  are  ever  seen  to  walk  erect,  and  is 
plain  from  any  drawings  of  the  Simia  satyrus2,  which  have  been 
taken  carefully  from  the  life,  how  inconvenient  and  unnatural 
that  affected  position  of  theirs  is,  in  which  they  are  made  to 
lean  with  their  fore-hands  on  a  stick,  their  hind-hands  meanwhile 
being  collected  in  an  unmeaning  way  into  a  fist3.  Nor  have 
I  ever  come  across  any  example  of  an  ape,  or  any  other  mam- 
mal except  man,  who  can,  like  him,  preserve  an  equilibrium 


1  That  extraordinary  lover  of  paradoxes,  Robinet  (T.  v.  De  la  nature,  Tab.  9), 
exhibits  the  drawing  of  an  embryo,  which  he  gives  out  for  that  of  the  Simia  satyr- 
us: although  it  is  plain  at  the  first  glance  from  the  feet  alone,  which  are  furnished 
with  a  great  toe,  not  a  thumb,  that  it  is  a  human  foetus. 

2  See  for  example  the  monograph  of  Vosmaer. 

3  Linnaeus  therefore  was  mistaken  when  he  said,  "that  there  were  apes  which 
walked  with  body  erect  on  two  feet  like  man,  and  who  reminded  one  of  the  human 
species  by  the  use  they  made  of  their  feet  and  hands." 


DENTITION.  173 

when  standing  erect  on  one  leg  at  a  time.     Hence  it  is  clear 

that  the  erect  posture,  as  we  find  it  to  be  naturally  convenient 

to  man,  so  also  is  it  peculiar  to  him.     Thus 

"  Mankind  alone  can  lift  the  head  on  high 
And  stand  with  trunk  erect." 

11.  Properties  of  the  human  teeth.  The  teeth  of  man  are 
more  regular  than  those  of  any  other  mammals.  The  lower 
incisors  are  more  erect,  which  I  reckon  amongst  the  distinctive 
characters  of  the  human  body.  The  laniarii  are  neither  too 
prominent,  nor  set  too  far  back,  but  joined  in  the  same  line 
with  their  neighbours.  The  molars  have  singularly  round  ob- 
tuse crowns,  by  which  they  most  clearly  differ  from  the  molar 
teeth  of  the  Simla  satyrus  and  the  S.  longimana,  and  all  the 
other  species  of  this  genus  whose  skulls  I  have  examined. 
Finally,  the  mandibles  of  man  are  distinguished  by  three  cha- 
racters :  by  their  excessive  shortness;  the  prominence  of  the 
chin,  which  corresponds  with  the  erect  incisors;  but,  above  all, 
by  the  singular  shape,  direction,  and  junction  of  the  condyles 
with  the  temporal  bones,  which  certainly  differ  from  the  jaws 
of  all  other  animals  I  am  acquainted  with,  and  which  clearly 
prove  that  man  is  destined  by  nature  for  all  kinds  of  food,  or  is 
an  animal  truly  omnivorous, 

12.  Other  things  which  seem  peculiar  to  the  exterior  of  man, 
as  his  hairless  body,  &c.  I  shall  say  nothing  about  some  points 
of  less  importance  which  are  frequently  classed  among  the  dis- 
tinctive characters  of  man,  such  as  the  lobe  of  the  ear,  the 
swelling  of  the  lips,  especially  the  under  one,  and  other  things 
of  that  kind.  But  I  must  dispose  in  a  few  words  of  the  glassy 
smoothness  of  the  human  body,  and  inquire  how  far  it  can  be 
included  among  the  diagnostic  signs  by  which  man  differs  from 
other  mammals,  who  are  in  some  way  like  him.  Linnaeus  in- 
deed asserts,  "  that  there  are  some  regions  where  there  are  apes 
less  hairy  than  man;"  but  I  candidly  confess  that  I  have 
hitherto  made  fruitless  inquiries  as  to  whereabouts  these  apes 
may  be.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  proved  by  the  unanimous  con- 
sent of  all  travellers  who  are  worthy  of  credit,  and  by  the  spe- 
cimens of  those  animals  which  have'  been   seen  frequently  in 


174  SHAGGY   MEN. 

Europe,  that  those  anthropomorphous  apes  which  are  usually 
included  under  the  common  Malay  name  of  Orang-utan,  and 
which  are  indigenous  to  Angola  as  well  as  to  Borneo,  and  also 
the  S.  longimana,  are  naturally  much  more  shaggy  than  man: 
insomuch  that  those  which  are  not  even  adult,  and  have  deli- 
cate health,  still  are  more  hairy  than  man.  Though  this  po- 
sition is  beyond  all  doubt,  yet  it  is  the  fact  that  men  have  been 
observed  everywhere,  and  especially  in  some  of  the  islands  of 
the  Pacific  ocean,  remarkable  for  their  shaggy  bodies;  but  accu- 
rate descriptions  of  them  are  still  wanting. 

The  first  mention  of  them  occurs  in  the  nautical  expeditions 
of  the  famous  Spangberg1,  who,  on  his  return  to  Kamschatka 
from  the  coast  of  Japan,  relates  that  he  found  a  nation  of  this 
kind  on  the  most  southern  of  the  Kurile  islands2  (lat.  43°  50'). 
Anomalous  individuals  of  the  same  kind  were  observed,  but 
only  here  and  there,  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  islands  of 
Tanna,  Mallicollo,  and  New  Caledonia,  by  J.  R  Forster3.  There 
is  a  report  of  a  similar  race  in  Sumatra4,  which  is  said  to  in- 
habit the  interior  of  the  island,  and  is  called  Orang-gugu.  As, 
however,  man  is  in  general  conspicuous  for  his  smooth  and  even 
skin,  so,  on  the  other  hand,  some  particular  parts  of  the  human 
body  seem  to  be  more  hairy  than  in  brute  animals,  as  the  groin 
and  the  arm -pit,  which  characteristic  has  accordingly  been 
ranked  among  those  peculiar  to  man. 

13.  Remarkable  properties  of  the  human  body  as  to  its  in- 
ternal fabric.  Having  mentioned  what  was  necessary  about  the 
absolute  properties  of  the  external  human  body,  we  are  now 
brought  to  another  point  of  the  discussion,  that  is,  his  internal 
fabric;  about  which  however  our  narrow  limits  compel  us  to 
follow  Neoptolemus,  and  philosophize  in  a  very  few  words.  It 
will  be  necessary  to  divide  this  discussion  into  two  heads;  first, 


1  Miiller's  Sammlung  Russischer  geschichte,  T.  in.  p.  174. 

2  Beyond  doubt  Nadigsda  island,  about  whose  inhabitants,  though  only  by 
hearsay,  the  companion  of  the  great  Cook,  James  King,  received  the  same  story. 
Voyage  to  the  Northern  Hemisphere,  T.  in.  p.  377. 

3  See  his  Bemerkungen  auf  seiner  reise  um  die  Welt.  p.  218. 

4  Marsden,  the  classical  author  on  that  island,  tells  us  what  he  heard  about 
them.     Hist,  of  Sumatra,  p.  35  n. 


INTEENAL   PAETS.  175 

by  investigating  those  things  which  man  alone,  or  only  a  few- 
other  animals  with  him,  has  not  got ;  secondly,  those  things 
which  are  peculiar  to  him. 

14.  Internal  parts  which  man  is  without.  Those  parts 
which  are  found  in  mammals,  and  especially  in  the  domestic 
ones,  were  once,  when  the  opportunities  of  dissecting  human 
corpses  were  rare  or  were  entirely  neglected  with  the  taste 
for  dissection,  generally  almost  all  attributed  to  man.  Thus, 
for  example,  the  panniculus  carnosus  or  subcutaneous  muscle, 
which  was  wrongly  ascribed  to  him  by  Galen  and  his  followers, 
and  even  by  the  restorer  of  human  anatomy  himself,  I  mean 
Vesalius,  who  was  an  acute  critic  of  the  mistakes  of  Galen,  was 
properly  denied  to  him  by  Nicolas  of  Steno,  and  ascribed  to 
brute  animals  alone. 

The  rete  mirabile  arteriosum,  which  was  also  reckoned  by 
Galen  amongst  the  parts  of  the  human  body,  was  demonstrated 
to  be  wanting  in  man  by  Vesalius,  following  Berengarius  of  Carpi. 

The  musculus  oculi  suspensorius  s.  bulbosus  s.  septimus,  with 
which  the  four-footed  mammals  are  furnished,  was  first  shown 
to  be  wanting  in  man  according  to  the  plan  of  nature  by 
Fallopius.  It  has  lately  been  found  out  that  the  human  foetus 
has  no  allantoid  membrane,  which  is  common  to  almost  every 
other  mammal. 

I  say  nothing  of  other  parts  which  though  found  in  but  few 
genera  of  brute  animals,  nevertheless  have  been  sometimes 
falsely  attributed  to  man,  as  the  so-called  pancreas  aselli,  ductus 
hepaticystici,  corpus  Highmorianum,  &c.  or  those  which  are  be- 
stowed on  some  orders  of  mammals  alone,  but  are  so  manifestly 
denied  to  man,  that  no  one  would  readily  attribute  them  to  him ; 
among  which  I  mean  the  membrana  nictitans  (which  for  the 
sake  of  the  order  of  discussion  I  thought  it  better  to  mention 
here,  although  it  rather  belongs  to  the  external  parts)  and  the 
ligamentum  suspensorium  colli,  and  all  other  things  of  that  kind. 
Man  shares  the  foramen  incisivum  behind  the  upper  primary 
teeth  with  the  quadrupeds,  but  it  is  smaller  in  proportion  and 
simple,  whereas  in  most  of  the  other  mammals  it  is  double,  and 
in  many  of  vast  size. 


176  INTERMAXILLARY   BONE. 

15.  The  intermaxillary  hone.  An  account  of  this  remark- 
able bone  is  given  separately  for  more  reasons  than  one.  The 
bones  of  the  upper  jaw  which  in  man  are  contiguous  to  each 
other,  and  keep  all  and  each  of  the  upper  teeth  fixed  in  their 
place,  in  brutes  are  separated  from  one  another  by  a  singular 
third  bone  shaped  like  a  wedge  inserted  between  them.  This 
bone  is  called  by  Haller  the  os  incisivum,  because  the  upper 
incisors  (where  there  are  any)  are  fitted  in  it.  As  however  it  is 
also  found  in  those  mammals  who  are  destitute  of  such  teeth, 
as  cattle,  the  elephant,  the  two-horned  African  rhinoceros,  or 
those  which  belong  to  the  Edentata,  as  the  anteaters  and  the 
Balsenge,  I  think  it  had  better  be  called  the  os  intermaxillare1. 
In  some  this  bone  is  one  and  indivisible;  but  in  many  bipartite, 
and  in  all  distinguished  by  its  own  sutures  from  the  neighbour- 
ing bones  of  the  skull ;  one,  the  facial,  generally  extending  in 
both  directions  along  the  nose  to  the  extreme  sockets  of  the 
incisors,  the  other,  the  palatine,  running  in  a  curved  direction 
from  those  sockets  to  the  foramina  palatina. 

When,  therefore,  Camper  brings  forward  the  want  of  this 
bone  as  one  of  the  principal  characters  by  which  man  differs 
from  other  mammals,  a  double  question  arises ;  First,  Is  man 
really  without  it  ?  secondly,  Are  all  the  rest  of  the  mammals 
provided  with  it  ?  It  was  about  two  centuries  and  a  half  ago 
when  this  question  first  gave  scope  to  a  most  bitter  dispute 
between  anatomists.  Galen  indeed  has  reckoned  the  sutures 
of  what  we  have  called  the  intermaxillary  bone  among  the 
others  of  the  skull,  but  Vesalius  made  use  of  this  argument 
besides  many  others,  to  show  that  Galen  had  composed  his 
osteological  hand-book,  which  had  so  long  been  accepted  as  law, 
not  from  the  skeleton  of  a  man,  but  from  that  of  an  ape.  It 
was  thought  after  the  vain  attempts  of  Jac.  Sylvius  to  vindi- 
cate2 his  Galen  by  the  most  wretched  excuses,  that  this  whole 


1  It  is  called  by  the  famous  zootomists  Vitet  and  Vicq.  d'Azyr  os  maxillare 
inferius;  and  by  Blair,  in  his  osteography  of  the  elephant,  os  palati. 

'2  He  so  twists  about  in  endeavouring  to  save  his  divine  Galen,  that  at  last  he 
drops  down  to  this  excuse,  that  although  men  of  the  present  day  have  no  inter- 
maxillary bone,  yet  at  the  time  of  Galen  they  might  have  had  one ;  and  so  this  is 


INTERMAXILLARY   BONE.  177 

question  was  completely  put  an  end  to,  when  beyond  all 
expectation  even  in  our  own  time,  Vicq  d'Azyr  has  attempted 
to  demonstrate  an  analogy  between  the  human  and  animal 
constitution  as  far  as  the  os  intermaxillare  goes,  as  if  it  were 
quite  a  new  thing1.  The  only  vestige  of  similitude  on  which 
that  analogy  rests,  namely,  the  semilunar  fissure,  which  may 
be  seen  in  the  maxillary  bones  of  the  human  foetus,  and  of 
infants,  in  a  transverse  direction  behind  the  sockets  of  the 
incisors,  and  which  sometimes  remains  even  in  adults,  has  long 
been  very  well  known2.  It  was,  however,  well  pointed  out  more 
than  two  hundred  years  ago  according  to  natural  truth  by  the 
sagacious  Fallopius3,  that  the  fissure  in  question  was  ill  desig- 
nated by  the  term  suture.  It  is  not  necessary  to  mention  that 
the  facial  side  of  the  maxillary  bones  in  the  human  skull  is 
marked  by  no  fissure,  or  even  suture,  of  this  kind,  though  it 
is  conspicuously  so  in  apes4. 

As  to  the  other  question,  whether  man  is  the  only  mammal 
who  is  destitute  of  the  intermaxillary  bone,  I  must  equally 
confess,  that  I  have  in  vain  sought  for  it  in  many  skulls  of  the 
Quadrumana.  The  sutures  which  would  indicate  this  bone  are 
wanting  in  the  skeleton  of  the  dead  female  Cercopiihecus  which 
is  preserved  in  the  museum  of  the  University,  whose  skull 
in  other  ways  shows  the  remaining  sutures  well  enough.  Nor 
did  I  find  them  either  in  another  skeleton  of  the  same  species, 
belonging  to  Billmann,  the  clever  surgeon  of  Cassel,  which  how- 
ever was  old  at  the  time  of  death  and  has  many  of  the  sutures 
obliterated,  so  that  from  this  single  specimen  it  would  have 
been  impossible  to  come  to  any  conclusion. 


do  reason  for  attacking  the  prince  of  anatomists — "but  there  are  some  natural 
obstructions,  which  have  taken  possession  of  our  bodies  from  intemperance  in  diet 
and  venery,  and  from  immoderate  vice." 

1  Memoires  de  VAcad.  des  Sciences  de  Paris,  1780. 

2  See  the  figures  of  Vesalius  and  Coiter. 

3  "I  do  not  agree,"  says  he,  "with  those  who  give  out  publicly  that  they  have 
found  out  a  suture  under  the  palate  attached  in  a  transverse  direction  to  either 
canine,  which  is  plain  in  boys,  but  so  obliterated  in  adults,  that  no  vestige  of  it 
remains.  For  I  consider  this  to  be  rather  an  indentation  than  a  suture,  since  it 
does  not  separate  one  bone  from  another,  nor  show  on  the  outside." 

4  Eustachius,  Tab.  Anat.  46,  fig.  2. 

12 


178  INTERMAXILLARY   BONE. 

But  I  am  acquainted  with  a  third  specimen  of  the  same 
Cercopithecus,  for  the  knowledge  of  which  I  am  indebted  to  my 
friend  Schacht,  the  worthy  Professor  of  Harderovich,  and  in  this 
too  that  bone  is  absent.  So  that  it  seems  scarcely  worth  while 
to  inquire  about  the  presence  or  absence  of  this  bone  in  any 
other  specimens  of  this  animal.  In  the  ugly  skeleton  of  that 
truly  vast  anthropomorphous  ape  from  the  island  of  Borneo, 
which  I  have  examined  carefully  over  and  over  again  in  the 
collection  of  Natural  History  belonging  to  the  Prince  of  Orange 
at  the  Hague,  I  did  not  see  the  smallest  vestige  of  those 
sutures;  but  that  this  ape  was  full  grown  is  proved  not  only  by 
the  general  condition  of  the  skeleton,  but  also  by  the  coalition 
of  most  of  the  sutures  of  the  skull1. 

Such,  however,  is  not  the  case  with  the  skull  of  a  younger 
anthro]3omorphous  animal  of  the  same  kind,  the  remains  of 
whose  skeleton  I  dissected  at  London  in  the  British  Museum. 
An  old  label  yet  attached  to  it  informs  us  that  it  belongs  to  the 
ape  they  call  orang-utan,  and  was  brought  from  the  island  of 
Sumatra,  by  the  captain  of  the  ship  '  Aprice.'  In  this  skull  not 
a  shadow  of  the  sutures  of  the  intermaxillary  bone  was  to 
be  found,  although  the  remains  of  all  the  others  are  without 
exception  still  apparent.  Neither  did  Tyson  find  them  in  his 
Angolese  Satyr,  nor  does  the  figure  in  Daubenton  of  the  skull 
of  a  similar  animal,  from  the  same  locality,  exhibit  them.  How- 
ever then  this  may  be,  it  is  certain,  what  may  also  be  held  a 
character  of  man,  that  in  the  skulls  of  the  apes  I  have  been 
speaking  of,  the  jaws  are  very  prominent  and  projected  forward 
as  in  the  other  mammals. 

16.  Differences  between  some  internal  parts  of  man  and 
those  of  other  animals.  It  must  be  seen  at  once  that  we  can 
only  speak  here  of  a  few  of  these  differences,  and  those  the  most 
remarkable.  To  begin  with  the  head,  besides  some  things  of 
less  moment,  man  has,  as  it  seems,  the  smallest  crystalline  lens 


1  I  wonder  Camper  should  be  of  the  opposite  opinion,  for  he  says  that  this  is 
the  skeleton  of  an  anthropomorphous  ape  not  yet  adult.  Naturgeschichte  des  Orang- 
utang,  p.  146. 


ARENULJi.  179 

(the  cetacea  excepted)  in  proportion,  and  it  is  less  convex  in  the 
adult  than  in  other  animals;  the  large  occipital  foramen  is  placed 
more  forward  than  in  quadrupeds \  and  there  are  other  things  of 
the  same  kind.  The  mass  of  the  brain  is  the  largest  of  all, 
not  indeed  (according  to  the  opinion  which  has  prevailed  from 
the  time  of  Aristotle)  in  proportion  to  the  whole  body,  but, 
according  to  the  able  observation  of  Sommerring,  when  account 
is  taken  of  the  slenderness  of  the  nerves  which  issue  from  it2. 
For  if  the  whole  nervous  system  was  divided  from  a  physiolo- 
gical point  of  view  into  two  parts,  one,  the  nervous  part  properly 
so  called,  which  embraces  the  nerves  themselves  and  that  por- 
tion both  of  the  brain  and  the  spinal  marrow  which  lies  close  to 
their  commencement;  and  the  other,  or  sensorial  part,  which 
lies  nearer  the  knot  where  the  functions  begin  to  coincide  with 
the  faculties  of  the  mind,  we  should  find  that  man  has  much 
the  largest  share  of  that  nobler  sensorial  part. 

That  too  is  equally  remarkable,  the  knowledge  of  which  we 
also  owe  to  the  sagacity  and  acuteness  of  Sommerring,  that  the 
arenulce  of  the  pineal  gland  so  often  already  observed  by  others, 
are  so  constantly  and  perpetually  found  in  human  brains,  from 
the  fourteenth  year  of  age  upwards,  that  they  also  deserve  to 
be  reckoned  amongst  the  peculiarities  of  man3.  Once  only,  in 
the  pineal  gland  of  a  stag,  did  he  find  similar  arenulse.  And  if 
they  are  ever  really  absent  in  the  encephalon  of  an  adult  man, 
it  certainly  must  be  considered  a  very  rare  anomaly.  One  in- 
stance of  this  absence  I  owe  to  the  famous  physiologist  of 
Padua,  L,  M.  A.  Caldani,  who  writes  me  word,  that  out  of  four 
human  brains  which  he  examined  in  1786  with  that  object, 
there  was  only  one,  and  that  of  an  old  man,  in  which  no  vestige 
of  a  pineal  arenula  was  to  be  found. 

The  position  of  the  heart  is  peculiar  to  man,  and  is  said  to 
be  in  the  chest,  because  that  entrail  does  not  rest  as  in  quadru- 

1  Daubenton,  Memoires  de  I' 'Acad,  des  Sc.  de  Paris,  1764. 

2  See  his  Diss,  de  basi  Encephali.  Gotting.  1778.  lb.  Tiber  die  Korperliche  Ver- 
schiedenheit  des  Negers  vom  Europaer,  and  Ebel  (J.  G-.),  Observations  neurolog.  ex 
anatome  comparata,  Frankf.  ad  Viad.  1788. 

3  Sommerring,  De  capillis  vel  prope  vel  intra  glandulam  pinealerti  sitis.  Mogunt. 
1785.     A  figure  is  given  in  Diss,  de  decussatione  nervorum  opticorum,  ib.  1786. 

12—2 


180  MUCOUS   MEMBRANE. 

peds  upon  the  sternum,  but  in  accordance  with  the  erect  posi- 
tion, on  the  diaphragm.  Its  base  too  is  not  as  in  them  at  right 
angles  to  the  head,  but  to  the  vertebrae  of  the  chest,  like  the 
tip  of  the  left  breast,  and  hence  in  them  the  heart  lies  right  and 
left,  whereas  in  man  it  rather  has  a  front  and  back.  Scarcely 
any  other  mammals  beside  man  have  the  pericardium  adhering 
to  the  diaphragm.  The  alimentary  canal  is  just  as  perfect  as 
it  ought  to  be  in  an  omnivorous  animal.  You  might  say  man. 
resembled  the  carnivores  in  the  structure  of  the  ventricle,  and 
the  shortness  of  the  blind  intestine;  on  the  other  hand,  he  is 
different  from  the  herbivores  in  the  length  of  the  thin  intestine, 
and  its  great  diversity  from  the  thick  one;  in  the  bulbous 
colon;  in  the  absence  of  the  sebaceous  glands  which  secrete 
smell  behind  the  anus.  The  muliebria  too  are  different  in 
man  besides  what  has  been  already  mentioned,  in  the  singular 
parenchyma  of  the  womb;  and  the  early  foetus  is  remarkable 
for  the  texture  of  the  placentum,  the  length  of  the  umbilical 
funnel  and  the  singular  umbilical  vein.  So  far  as  I  know,  the 
hitherto  enigmatical  vesicula  umbilicalis  is  peculiar  to  the  young 
human  embryo;  and  I  have  mentioned  elsewhere1,  that  it  is 
common  and  natural  to  every  human  foetus  about  the  fourth 
month  after  conception,  where  I  also  have  said  something  about 
the  analogy  it  bears  to  the  yolk-like  bag  of  the  chicken  during 
incubation. 

17.  Peculiarities  of  man,  in  respect  of  the  functions  of 
animal  economy.  Here  especial  mention  must  be  made  of  the 
peculiar  tenderness  and  delicate  softness  of  the  human  tela 
mucosa,  or  cellulosa,  as  it  is  commonly  called.  It  is  well  known 
that  there  is  a  most  remarkable  difference  in  the  different 
genera  and  species  of  animals  as  regards  the  substance  of  this 
tissue;  that  of  eels  being  very  tenacious,  that  of  the  herring 
being  very  tender:  and  so  it  was  long  since  observed  by  our 
Zinn,  a  most  eagle-eyed  anatomist,  that  man,  other  things  being 
equal,  had  beyond  all  other  mammals  the  most  delicate  and 
subtle  cellular  substance. 

1  Comment.  Soc.  Reg.  Sclent.  Gbttmg.  T.  ix.  p.  116. 


MAN   COSMOPOLITE.  181 

I  am  either  very  much  mistaken,  or  the  softness  of  that 
envelope  is  to  be  counted  amongst  the  chief  prerogatives  by 
which  man  excels  the  rest  of  the  animals.  For  as  this  mem- 
brane is  on  the  one  side  diffused  over  all  parts  of  the  body 
from  the  corium  to  its  inmost  marrow,  and  is  interwoven  like  a 
chain  with  all  and  every  part  of  the  whole  machine,  and  on  the 
other  is  the  seat  of  that  most  universal  of  all  vital  forces,  con- 
tractility, next  to  which  the  dynamic  power  called  after  Stahl 
seems  to  come,  I  am  thoroughly  persuaded  that  to  the  flexible 
softness  of  this  mucous  membrane  in  man  is  owing  his  power 
of  accustoming  himself  more  than  every  other  mammal  to  every 
climate,  and  being  able  to  live  in  every  region  under  the  sun. 
As  then  nature  has  made  man  omnivorous  in  the  matter  of 
food  as  we  have  seen,  so  in  respect  of  habitation  it  has  intended 
him  to  dwell  in  every  country  and  climate  (iravrohaTrov) :  and  so 
his  body  has  been  composed  of  a  most  delicate  mucous  compo- 
sition, that  he  may  adapt  and  accommodate  himself  more 
easily  to  the  multifarious  effects  of  different  climates. 

To  this  aptitude  for  accommodation  admirably  answers  that 
other  physiological  property  of  man,  namely,  his  slow  growth, 
long  infancy  and  late  puberty.  In  no  other  mammal  does  the 
skull  unite  or  the  teeth  appear  so  late;  no  other  animal  is 
so  long  learning  to  stand  upon  its  feet,  or  in  arriving  at  its  full 
stature,  or  so  late  in  coming  to  the  exercise  of  the  sexual 
functions.  In  another  point  of  view  no  other  animal,  consider- 
ing the  moderate  size  of  his  body,  has  allotted  him  by  nature 
so  protracted  a  term  of  life1.  This  incidental  mention  of  his 
stature  recalls  to  my  mind  that  other  singular  property  which, 
as  far  as  I  know,  has  been  observed  in  no  other  animal,  and 
which  depends  upon  his  erect  position,  namely,  that  his  height 


1  It  is  scarcely  possible  to  define  the  natural  duration  of  human  life,  though 
we  may  consider  it  to  be  the  more  common  and,  as  it  were,  ordinary  goal  of  pro- 
tracted old  age.  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  what  I  have  learnt  from  a  careful  com- 
parison of  many  tables,  that  a  considerable  number  in  proportion  of  European  old 
men  attain  the  age  of  84,  whilst  few  survive  it.  Account  therefore  being  taken  of 
human  longevity,  and  comparing  it  with  the  duration  of  the  lives  of  other  mam- 
mals, it  is  at  once  seen  what  a  prerogative  is  bestowed  upon  man  under  that  name, 
or  at  all  events  that  his  long  infancy  is  compensated  for  with  interest. 


182  MENSTRUATION. 

in  the  morning  exceeds  by  somewhat  more  than  a  finger's 
breadth  his  height  in  the  evening1. 

There  are  also  some  particulars  to  be  mentioned  about  the 
sexual  functions.  Man  has  everywhere  no  particular  time  of 
year,  as  the  brutes,  in  which  he  desires  to  copulate2.  To  men 
alone  is  conceded  the  prerogative  of  nocturnal  pollutions,  which 
I  am  inclined  to  consider  as  natural  excretions  of  the  healthy 
man,  to  the  intent  that  he  may  be  thereby  freed  from  the 
annoyance  and  stimulus  of  superfluous  semen  when  it  is  suitable 
to  him  on  account  of  his  temperament  or  constitution.  The 
menstrual  flux,  on  the  other  hand,  is  not  less  peculiar  to  women, 
and  is  more  universal  and  common  to  all,  so  that  I  think  Pliny 
was  right  in  calling  woman  the  only  menstruating  animal.  I 
am  indeed  aware  that  a  flux  of  the  same  kind  has  been  fre- 
quently attributed  by  authors  to  other  female  animals,  especially 
those  of  the  quadrumanous  order ;  thus,  for  example,  the  Simia 
Diana  is  said  to  menstruate  from  the  tip  of  its  tail,  &c.  But 
for  twenty  years  I  have  had  opportunities  of  seeing  female  apes 
and  papios,  &c.  in  menageries,  or  in  travelling  caravans,  and 
have  made  inquiries  about  this  subject.  I  often  found  that  one 
or  other  of  them  sometimes  suffered  from  uterine  haemorrhages, 
but  that  they  occurred  at  no  regular  period.  Such  was  the 
assertion  of  the  more  honest  keepers,  who  looked  on  it  as  a  kind 
of  diseased  affection  contrary  to  nature,  and  most  of  them  can- 
didly confessed,  that  they  generally  gave  it  out  for  a  menstruous 
flux,  in  order  to  excite  the  astonishment  of  the  mob.  As  to  the 
fabulous  stories  of  credulous  antiquity  about  whole  nations 
whose  women  are  destitute  of  the  menstruous  flux,  I  shall 
briefly  speak  of  them  in  another  place. 

18.  Faculties  of  the  mind  which  are  peculiar  to  man.  All 
with  one  voice  declare  that  here  is  the  highest  and  best  pre- 


1  This  was  first  observed  in  1724  by  an  English  clergyman,  Wasse.  Pliilos. 
Trans.  T.  xxxiii. 

2  Unless  you  like  to  believe  Augustine  Nipho,  who  in  his  singular  book  on 
love  (which  he  dedicated  to  Joan  of  Aragon,  famous  for  her  extreme  beauty), 
discusses  the  reasons  which  cause  "women  to  be  more  lustful  and  amorous  in 
summer,  but  men  on  the  other  hand  in  winter." 


REASON.  183 

rogative  of  man,  the  use  of  reason.  But  when  any  one  inquires 
more  particularly  what  these  words  mean,  we  must  needs 
wonder  how  many  different  reasons  about  the  meaning  of  reason 
are  entertained  by  the  most  reasonable  philosophers.  Some 
think  it  is  altogether  a  quite  unique  and  peculiar  faculty  of 
man,  others  but  the  elevated  and  very  superior  grade  of  a 
faculty,  of  which  only  slight  vestiges  are  to  be  found  in  the  soul 
of  brutes.  Some  look  upon  it  as  the  union  of  all  and  singular 
the  highest  faculties  of  man;  others  a  particular  direction  of 
the  faculties  of  the  human  mind,  &c. 

'It  is  not  ours  to  settle  such  disputes.' 

I  trust  to  resolve  the  question  more  briefly  and  safely,  h  pos- 
teriori as  they  say,  by  considering  it  as  that-derogative  of  man 
which  makes  him  lord  and  master  of  the  rest  of  the  aninialsi. 
That  he  has  this  kind  of  dominion  is  obvious.  It  is  also  equally 
plain  that  the  cause  of  this  dominion  does  not  reside  in  his 
bodily  strength.  It  must  therefore  be  referred  exclusively  to 
the  gifts  of  the  mind  and  their  superiority.  And  these  gifts 
in  which  man  so  far  surpasses  the  rest  of  the  animals,  of  what- 
ever disposition  and  nature  they  may  be,  we  will  call  reason. 
Nature,  as  we  have  seen,  has  made  man  so  as  to  be  omnivorous 
and  an  inhabitant  of  the  whole  world.  But  this  unlimited 
liberty  of  diet  and  locality,  according  to  the  almost  infinite 
variety  of  climate,  soil  and  other  circumstances,  brings  with  it 
also  multifarious  wants  which  cannot  be  met  or  remedied  in 
one  way  alone.  His  Creator  has  therefore  fortified  him  with 
the  power  of  reason  and  invention,  in  order  that  he  may  accom- 
modate himself  to  those  conditions.  Hence,  even  from  the 
most  ancient  times,  by  the  wisest  nations,  this  chief  power  of 
man,  that  is,  the  genius  of  invention,  has  been  celebrated  with 
divine  honours.  Thoth,  for  example,  by  the  Egyptians,  Hermes 
by  the  Greeks.     Thus,  to  compress  a  good  deal  in  a  few  words, 


1  "Whoever  thou  art  who  unjustly  depreciate  the  lot  of  mau,  think  what  gifts 
our  parent  has  bestowed  upon  us,  what  much  more  powerful  animals  we  put  under 
our  yoke,  what  much  fleeter  animals  we  capture,  and  how  there  is  nothing  mortal 
which  is  not  put  under  our  stroke." — Seneca. 


184  LANGUAGE. 

man  has  made  tools  for  himself,  and  so  Franklin  has  acutely 
denned  him  as  a  tool-making  animal;  thus  he  has  prepared  for 
himself  arms  and  weapons;  thus  he  has  found  out  ways  of 
eliciting  fire;  and  thus,  in  order  that  one  man  may  use  the 
advantages  and  assistance  of  another,  he  has  invented  language, 
which  again  must  be  considered  as  one  of  the  things  peculiar  to 
man1,  since  it  is  not  like  the  sounds  of  animals,  conventional, 
but,  as  the  arbitrary  variety  of  languages  proves,  has  been 
invented  and  turned  to  use  by  him2. 

19.  Something  about  laughter  and  tears.  Besides  that  other 
manifestation  of  the  mind  I  have  just  spoken  of,  I  mean  lan- 
guage, two  others  must  be  mentioned,  about  which  there  has 
hitherto  been  less  doubt,  whether,  like  speech,  they  are  the 
property  of  man  alone,  since  they  have  not  been  invented  by, 
but  are  as  it  were  congenital  to  him,  and  do  not  so  much  be- 
long to  the  use  of  reason,  as  to  the  passions  of  the  mind;  I 
mean,  laughter,  the  companion  of  cheerfulness,  and  tears, 

'The  better  part  of  all  our  senses.' 

It  is  well  known  that  many  animals  secrete  tears,  besides 
man.  But  it  is  a  question  whether  they  weep  from  sorrow. 
Competent  witnesses  assert  it  of  some;  as  Steller3  of  the  Phoca 
ursina,  and  Pallas4  of  camels.  It  seems  however  more  doubtful 
whether  brute  animals  display  pleasure  by  laughter,  although 
many  instances  are  given  in  authors.  Le  Cat,  for  example, 
asserts  that  he  had  seen  the  Satyrus  Angolensis  both  weeping 
and  laughing5. 

1  The  subtleties  of  the  old  and  more  recent  schoolmen  on  the  language  of  brutes 
are  infinite.  As  a  specimen  it  will  be  enough  to  cite  Albertus  called  Magnus,  who 
allows  language  to  one  anthropomorphous  ape,  I  mean  the  pygmreus,  besides  man, 
yet  not  without  a  memorable  restriction.  "The  pygmy  speaks  although  it  is  an 
animal  destitute  of  reason,  hut  cannot  discourse,  nor  make  use  of  abstract  terms, 
but  its  words  are  rather  directed  to  the  concrete  things  about  which  it  speaks." 

2  Hobbes  long  since  perceived  that  man  had  himself  invented  language  (about 
which  the,  in  other  respects,  most  accurate  Sussmilch  still  doubts  in  our  days); 
"the  most  noble  and  profitable  invention  of  all  other  was  that  of  speech,  whereby 
men  declare  their  thoughts  one  to  another  for  mutual  utility  and  conversation  ; 
without  which  there  had  been  amongst  men  neither  commonwealth,  nor  society,  no 
more  than  amongst  lions,  bears  and  wolves." — Leviathan,  p.  12,  ed.  1 65 1. 

3  Nov.  Comment.  Acad.  Scienti.  Petropolit.  T.  11.  p.  353. 

4  Nachrichten  uber  die  Mongolischen  Vdlkerschaften,  T.  1.  p.  177. 
6  Traite  de  V Existence  du  fiuide  des  nerfs,  p.  35. 


DISEASES.  185 

20.  The  most  note-worthy  diseases  peculiar  to  man.  Al- 
though these  pathological  affections  seem  at  first  sight  to  have 
very  little  to  do  with  the  natural  history  of  man,  still  I  may 
be  allowed  to  spend  a  few  words  in  borrowing  a  summary  of 
the  principal  diseases,  which  are  also  peculiar  to  man,  especially 
as  these  phenomena,  which  are  against  nature  and  peculiar  to 
him,  depend  on  the  temperament  and  constitution  of  his  body, 
and  his  animal  economy;  and  may  with  the  same  justice  be 
noticed  here,  as  the  diseases  of  some  animals  peculiar  to  them 
are  recounted  in  their  natural  history,  as  the  Lues  bovilla,  the 
Coryza  maligna  of  horses,  or  the  voluntary  madness  which  seems 
so  frequent  in  dogs,  &c.  It  will  be  understood  that  we  shall 
only  speak  here  of  the  most  remarkable  disorders,  and  that 
even  those  few,  chosen  out  of  many  others,  are  not  yet  placed 
beyond  all  doubt,  since  the  nosology  of  brutes,  if  we  once  leave 
aside  our  few  domestic  animals,  is  almost  entirely  uncultivated 
on  account  of  its  grave  and  partly  insuperable  difficulties.  Still 
we  may  enumerate  the  following  diseases  as  being  with  great 
probability  some  of  those  peculiar  to  mankind : — 

Yery  nearly  all  the  eruptive  fevers;  or  at  all  events  par- 
ticularly among  them, 

Variola1,  Miliaria, 

Morbilli,  Petechia?, 

Scarlatina,  Pestis. 

Amongst  the  haemorrhages ; 
Epistaxis  (?), 
Hsemorrh  oides, 
Menorrhagia. 

Amongst  the  nervous  affections; 
Hypochondriasis, 
Hysteria. 


1  Some  years  ago  I  was  informed  by  letter  by  the  famous  doctor  Jansen  of 
Amsterdam,  that  an  ape  there  had  contracted  a  local  ulcer  from  some  eruptive 
contagion,  but  no  fever  of  that  kind. 


186  DISEASES. 

Disorders  of  the  mind,  properly  so  called,  as  Melancholia, 
Nostalgia,  &c.  and  perhaps  Satyriasis  and  Nymphomania. 

Cretinismus. 
Of  the  cachectic  disorders; 
Rhachitis  (?), 
Scrofula  (?), 
Lues  Venerea, 
Pellagra, 
Lepra  and  Elephantiasis. 

Of  the  local  disorders ; 

Amenorrhoea, 

Cancer  (?), 

Clavus, 

Hernia  congenita  (?). 

The  various  sorts  of  Prolajjsus,  as  that  of  the  vesica  urinaria 
inversa,  of  which  we  owe  a  very  accurate  notice  to  the  sagacity 
of  the  famous  Bonn1. 

Herpes  (?), 

Tinea  capitis. 

I  am  doubtful  whether  I  ought  to  include  here  the  intes- 
tinal worms  of  man  and  two  species  of  the  genus  pedicula,  ob- 
served in  no  other  mammal,  as  far  as  I  know,  but  him.  I  say 
nothing  of  those  disorders  which,  though  not  peculiar  to  man, 
are  far  more  frequent  in  him  than  in  other  animals ;  such  as 
tooth-ache,  miscarriage,  abortions,  difficult  parturition,  &c. 

21.  Short  list  of  those  things,  in  ivhich  it  is  commonly, 
though  wrongly  thought,  that  man  differs  from  the  brutes.  Most 
of  these  points  have  been  referred  to  above  as  opportunities 
occurred.  Those  which  are  left  shall  be  briefly  recounted. 
Such,  for  example,  is  the  proximity  of  the  eyes,  whereas,  in 


1  I  think  the  reason  why  this  remarkable  defect  in  conformation  has  been  so 
observed  in  human  infants,  but  not,  as  far  as  I  know,  in  the  foetus  of  any  other 
mammal,  is  to  be  sought  for  in  the  narrower  proportionate  synchondrosis  of  the 
pubis  in  man,  that  singular  and,  as  it  were,  bipartite  fissure,  which  also  has  been 
so  accurately  investigated  by  Bonn.  See  Roose,  Diss,  de  nativo  vesicce  urinaria 
inversce  prolapsu.     Gotting.  1793,  4to,  with  engravings. 


FALSE   DIFFERENCES.  187 

the  apes,  the  eyes  are  much  closer  together  than  in  man.  The 
lashes  in  either  eye-lid,  which  have  been  furnished  not  only  to 
man,  but  to  many  other  quadrumanous  animals,  and  even  to 
the  elephant.  The  Simia  rostrata  has  a  more  prominent  nose 
than  man1.  The  ears  are  not  immoveable  in  all  men,  nor  are 
they  moveable  in  all  the  rest  of  the  mammals.  For  example, 
the  Myrmecophagce  must  be  excepted.  The  organ  of  touch  is 
common  to  most  of  the  quadrumana  with  man;  and  so  is  the 
uvula.  I  am  ashamed  to  mention  some  things  which  are  too 
worthless,  as  eructation,  which  has  been  reckoned  one  of  the 
prerogatives  of  man2;  and  that  man  cannot,  like  brutes,  be 
fattened3,  and  other  stuff  of  the  same  kind. 


1  Buffon,  Hist,  des  quadrupedes.     Suppl.  T.  vn.  Tab.  it.  11. 

2  ^Emilianus,  De  ruminantibus,  p.  50.  "As  man  alone  walks  upright,  so  he 
alone,  out  of  so  many  animals,  can  eruct ;  for  as  the  breath  is  light  it  seeks  a 
higher  region,  and,  by  a  sort  of  natural  impetus,  is  carried  to  the  top." 

3  Lorry  in  Hist,  de  la  Societe  de  Medicine,  a.  1779. 


SECTION  II. 

OF   THE    CAUSES    AND  WAYS    BY   WHICH    THE    SPECIES    OF 
ANIMALS   DEGENERATE   IN   GENERAL. 


22.  Subject  proposed.  Hitherto  we  have  investigated  those 
things  in  which  man  differs  from  the  rest  of  the  animals.  Now 
we  come  nearer  to  the  primary  object  of  the  whole  treatise,  for 
we  are  to  inquire  of  what  kind  and  how  great  is  the  natural 
diversity  which  separates  the  races  and  the  multifarious  nations 
of  men;  and  to  consider  whether  the  origin  of  this  diversity 
can  be  traced  to  degeneration,  or  whether  it  is  not  so  great  as 
to  compel  us  rather  to  conclude  that  there  is  more  than  one 
original  species  of  man.  Before  this  can  be  done,  there  are 
two  questions  which  must  be  considered:  First,  what  is  species 
in  zoology?  Secondly,  how  in  general  a  primordial  species  may 
degenerate  into  varieties?  and  now  of  each  separately. 

23.  What  is  species?  We  say  that  animals  belong  to  one 
and  the  same  species,  if  they  agree  so  well  in  form  and  consti- 
tution, that  those  things  in  which  they  do  differ  may  have 
arisen  from  degeneration.  We  say  that  those,  on  the  other 
hand,  are  of  different  species,  whose  essential  difference  is  such 
as  cannot  be  explained  by  the  known  sources  of  degeneration, 
if  I  may  be  allowed  to  use  such  a  word.  So  far  well  in  the 
abstract,  as  they  say.  Now  we  come  to  the  real  difficulty, 
which  is  to  set  forth  the  characters  by  which,  in  the  natural 
tvorld,  we  may  distinguish  mere  varieties  from  genuine  species. 

The  immortal  Kay,  in  the  last  century,  long  before  Buffon, 
thought  those  animals  should  be  referred  to  the  same  species, 


SPECIES.  189 

which  copulate  together,  and  have  a  fertile  progeny.  But,  as 
in  the  domestic  animals  which  man  has  subdued,  this  character 
seemed  ambiguous  and  uncertain,  on  account  of  the  enslaved 
life  they  lead;  in  the  beginning  of  this  century,  the  sagacious 
Frisch  restricted  it  to  wild  animals  alone,  and  declared  that 
those  were  of  the  same  species,  who  copulate  in  a  natural  state1. 

But  it  must  be  confessed  that,  even  with  this  limitation,  we 
make  but  little  progress.  For,  in  the  first  place,  what  very 
little  chance  is  there  of  bringing  so  many  wild  animals,  espe- 
cially the  exotic  ones,  about  which  it  is  of  the  greatest  possible 
interest  for  us  to  know  whether  they  are  to  be  considered  as 
mere  varieties,  or  as  different  species,  to  that  test  of  copulation? 
especially  if  their  native  countries  are  widely  apart;  as  is  the 
case  with  the  Satyrus  Angolensis  (Chimpanzee)  and  that  of  the 
island  of  Borneo  (Orang-utan). 

Then  it  is  universally  the  case  that  the  obscurity  and  doubt 
is  much  smaller,  and  of  much  less  importance,  in  the  case  of 
wild  animals  on  the  point  in  question,  than  of  those  very  ani- 
mals which  are  excluded  by  this  argument,  that  is,  the  domestic. 
Here,  in  truth,  is  the  great  difficulty.  Hence  the  wonderful 
differences  of  opinion  about,  for  example,  the  common  dog, 
whose  races  you  see  are  by  some  referred  to  many  primitive 
species;  by  others  are  considered  as  mere  degenerated  varieties 
from  that  stock  which  is  called  the  domestic  dog  (Chien  de 
berger) ;  again,  there  are  others  who  think  that  all  these  varie- 
ties are  derived  from  the  jackal;  and,  finally,  others  contend 
that  the  latter,  together  with  all  the  domestic  dogs  and  their 
varieties,  are  descended  from  the  wolf,  and  so  forth. 

As  then  the  principle  sought  to  be  deduced  from  copulation 
is  not  sufficient  to  define  the  idea  of  species  and  its  difference 


1  "When  beasts  by  nature  copulate  with  each  other,  it  is  an  unfailing  sign  that 
they  are  of  the  same  species."  Btrthout  van  Berchem  fil.  has  lately  adopted  the 
same  test  of  species,  "if  animals  mix  when  in  a  natural  state."  But  he  makes  no 
mention  of  Frisch,  or  even  of  Ray,  nay,  he  says,  "M.  de  Buffon,  who  was  the 
first  to  abandon  the  little-to-be-depended-upon  distinctions  of  the  nomenclators, 
was  also  the  first  to  make  it  understood  that  copulation  was  the  best  criterion  for 
ascertaining  species."  See  Mem.  de  ta  Societe  dcs  Sciences  Physiques  de  Lausanne, 
T.  ii.  p.  49. 


190  VARIETIES. 

from  variety,  so  neither  are  the  other  things  which  are  adduced 
with  this  object,  for  example,  the  constancy  of  any  character. 
Thus  the  snowy  colour  and  the  red  pupils  of  the  white  variety 
of  rabbit  are  as  constant  as  any  specific  character  could  pos- 
sibly be.  So  that  I  almost  despair  of  being  able  to  deduce  any 
notion  of  species  in  the  study  of  zoology,  except  from  analogy 
and  resemblance.  I  see,  for  example,  that  the  molar  teeth  of 
the  African  elephant  differ  most  wonderfully  in  their  conforma- 
tion from  those  of  the  Asiatic.  I  do  not  know  whether  these 
elephants,  which  come  from  such  different  parts  of  the  world, 
have  ever  copulated  together;  nor  do  I  know  any  more  how 
constant  this  conformation  of  the  teeth  may  be  in  each.  But 
since,  so  far  in  all  the  specimens  which  I  have  seen,  I  have  ob- 
served the  same  difference;  and  since  I  have  never  known  any 
example  of  molar  teeth  so  changed  by  mere  degeneration,  I 
conjecture  from  analogy  that  those  elephants  are  not  to  be 
considered  as  mere  varieties,  but  must  be  held  to  be  different 
species. 

The  ferret,  on  the  contrary,  does  not  seem  to  me  a  separate 
species,  but  must  be  considered  as  a  mere  variety  of  the  pole- 
cat, not  so  much  because  I  have  known  them  copulate  together, 
as  because  the  former  has  red  pupils,  and  from  all  analogy  I 
consider  that  those  mammals  in  whom  the  internal  eye  is  desti- 
tute of  the  dark  pigment,  must  be  held  to  be  mere  varieties 
which  have  degenerated  from  their  original  stocks. 

24.  Application  of  what  has  been  said  to  the  question 
whether  we  should  divide  mankind  into  varieties  or  species. 
It  is  easily  manifest  whither  what  we  have  hitherto  said  has 
been  tending.  We  have  no  other  way,  but  that  of  analogy,  by 
which  we  are  likely  to  arrive  at  a  solution  of  the  problem  above 
proposed.  But  as  we  enter  upon  this  path,  we  ought  always  to 
have  before  our  eyes  the  two  golden  rules  which  the  great 
Newton  has  laid  down  for  philosophizing.  First,  That  the  same 
causes  should  be  assigned  to  account  for  natural  effects  of  the 
same  hind.  We  must  therefore  assign  the  same  causes  for  the 
bodily  diversity  of  the  races  of  mankind  to  which  we  assign 
a  similar  diversity  of  body  in  the  other  domestic  animals  which 


DEGENERATION.  191 

are  widely  scattered  over  the  world.  Secondly,  That  we  ought 
not  to  admit  more  causes  of  natural  things  than  what  are 
sufficient  to  explain  the  phenomena.  If  therefore  it  shall  appear 
that  the  causes  of  degeneration  are  sufficient  to  explain  the 
phenomena  of  the  corporeal  diversity  of  mankind,  we  ought  not 
to  admit  anything  else  deduced  from  the  idea  of  the  plurality 
of  human  species. 

25.  How  does  the  primitive  species  degenerate  into  varieties'! 
As  we  are  now  about  to  treat  of  the  modes  of  degeneration,  I 
hope  best  to  consult  perspicuity  in  dealing  with  the  subject  if 
I  arrange  it  again  under  two  heads;  of  which  the  first  will 
briefly  relate  the  principal  phenomena  of  the  degeneration  of 
brute  animals;  and  the  second  will  inquire  into  the  causes  of 
this  degeneration.  This  being  done,  it  will  be  easier  in  the 
following  section  to  compare  the  phenomena  of  variety  in  man- 
kind as  well  with  those  phenomena  of  degeneration  in  brute 
animals  as  with  the  causes  of  them. 

26.  Principal  phenomena  of  the  degeneration  of  brute  ani- 
mals. A  few  instances,  and  those  taken  from  the  warm-blooded 
animals  alone,  and  also  as  far  as  possible  from  the  mammals 
which  are  most  like  man  in  their  corporeal  economy,  will  be 
enough  to  show  that  there  is  no  native  variety  in  mankind 
which  may  not  be  observed  to  arise  amongst  other  animals 
as  a  mere  variety  and  by  degeneration.  But  it  is  better  to  go 
over  these  things  in  separate  chapters. 

27.  Colour.  Thus  in  the  way  of  colour,  the  pigs  in  Nor- 
mandy are  all  white;  in  Savoy,  black;  in  Bavaria1,  chesnut. 
The  Pecus  bubulum  in  Hungary  generally  varies  from  white  to 
grey ;  in  Franconia  they  are  red,  &c.  In  Corsica  the  dogs  and 
horses  are  beautifully  spotted.  In  Normandy,  the  peacocks  are 
black;  ours,  on  the  other  hand,  are  generally  white.  On  the 
Guinea  coast,  the  birds,  especially  of  the  hen  tribe2,  and  the 
dogs,  are  black  like  the  aborigines;  and,  what  is  particularly 
remarkable,  the  Guinea  dog  (which  Linnseus  calls  G.  jEgyptius, 


1  Comp.  Voigt,  Magazin.  T.  vi.  P.  i.  p.  io. 

2  See  Dan.  Beeckman's  Voyage  to  and  from  Borneo,  Lond.  17x8,  8vo.  p.  14. 


192  HAIR. 

I  do  not  know  why)  is,  like  the  men  of  that  climate,  distin- 
guished for  the  velvety  softness  of  his  smooth  skin,  and  the 
great  and  nearly  specific  cutaneous  perspiration1. 

28.  Texture  of  the  hair.  As  to  the  texture  of  hair,  what 
a  difference  is  there  not,  I  ask,  in  the  wool  alone  of  the  sheep 
of  different  climates,  from  the  tender  Tibetan  up  to  the  thick 
and  almost  stiff  Ethiopian?  Or  in  the  bristles  of  the  sow, 
which  are  so  soft  in  those  of  Normandy,  that  they  are  not 
fit  for  scouring-brushes  ?  And  what  a  difference  there  is,  in  this 
respect,  between  the  boar  and  the  domestic  sow,  especially  as  to 
the  short  wool  which  grows  between  the  bristles1.  How  remark- 
able too  is  the  effect  of  every  region  of  the  globe  upon  the  hair 
of  more  than  one  kind  of  the  domestic  mammals,  as  the  effect 
of  the  climate  of  Galatia  on  the  bearded  cattle  of  Angora,  and 
on  the  rabbits  and  cats,  who  are  so  conspicuous  for  their  woolly 
softness  and  the  extraordinary  length  and  generally  snowy 
whiteness  of  their  coats. 

29.  Stature.  As  to  stature  the  difference  between  the 
Patagonian  and  the  Laplander  is  much  smaller  than  what  is 
observed  everywhere  in  other  domestic  animals  of  different 
parts  of  the  world.  Thus  pigs,  when  transported  to  Cuba  from 
Europe,  grow  to  double  their  natural  size2.  So  also  do  cows 
when  transported  to  Paraguay3. 

30.  Figure  and  proportion  of  parts.  As  to  the  proportion  of 
parts,  what  a  great  difference  there  is  between  the  horses  of 
Arabia  or  Syria  and  of  northern  Germany ;  between  the  thick- 
footed  cows  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  the  thin-footed  ones 
of  England!  The  hinder  legs  of  the  sows  of  Normandy  are 
much  higher  than  the  front  legs,  &c.  The  cows  in  some  parts 
of  England  and  Ireland  have  no  horns  at  all4;  in  Sicily,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  have  very  large  ones;  but  I  must  not  say 
anything  of  the  vast  horns  of  the  Abyssinian  oxen,  which  Sir 
Joseph  Banks  showed  me,  for  they,  if  we  are  to  trust  Bruce, 


1  Pechlin,  De  Habitu  et  Colore  jEthiopum,  Kilon.  1677,  8vo.  p.  56. 

2  "Voigt,  Magazin.  I.  c. 

3  F.  Saver.  Clavigero,  Storia  Antica  del  Messico,  T.  iv.  p.  142. 

4  Comp.  also  Hippocrates,  De  aeribus,  aquis,  et  locis,  s.  44. 


DEGENERATION.  193 

ought  rather  to  be  referred  to  some  morbific  disposition.  We 
may  however  mention  here  the  Ovis  polycerata;  and  as  to  the 
variety  of  hoofs,  there  are  whole  races  of  sows  with  solid  and 
?vith  three-cloven  hoofs1.  As  to  some  other  parts,  we  have 
sheep  with  broad  tails;  the  fringes  of  the  crested  canary  (what 
>ur  people  call  Jcapp.  vdgel)  and  other  things  of  this  kind. 

31.  Above  all,  the  shape  of  the  skull.  The  shape  has  been 
)bserved  to  differ  everywhere  in  the  varieties  of  mankind;  but 
til  this  difference  is  not  a  whit  greater,  if  indeed  it  can  be 
:ompared  to  that  which  may  be  observed  amongst  the  different 
■aces  of  other  domestic  animals.  The  skull  of  the  Ethiopian 
loes  not  differ  more  from  that  of  the  European  than  that  of  the 
lomestic  sow  from  the  osseous  head  of  the  boar;  or  than  the 
lead  of  the  Neapolitan  horse,  which  is  called  from  its  shape 
am-heaclecl,  from  that  of  the  Hungarian  horse,  which  the 
earned  know  well  is  conspicuous  for  its  singular  lowness  and 
he  size  of  its  inferior  jaw.  In  the  urus,  the  progenitor  of  our 
lomestic  race  of  bulls,  according  to  the  observations  of  Camper, 
rery  large  fovese  lacrymales  are  visible;  which,  on  the  contrary, 
,re  entirely  obsolete  in  our  country  cattle.  I  say  nothing  of 
hat  manifestly  monstrous  degeneration  of  skull  in  the  variety 
»f  hen  they  call  the  Paduan2. 

32.  Causes  of  degeneration.  Animal  life  supposes  two  facul- 
ies,  depending  upon  the  vital  forces  as  primary  conditions  and 
trinciples  of  all  and  singular  its  functions;  the  one,  namely,  of  so 
eceiving  the  force  of  the  stimuli  which  act  upon  the  body  that 
he  parts  are  affected  by  it ;  the  other  of  so  reacting  from  this 
ffection  that  the  living  motions  of  the  body  are  in  this  way  set 
a  action  and  perfected.  So  there  is  no  motion  in  the  animal 
lachine  without  a  preliminary  stimulus  and  a  consequent  re- 
ction.  These  are  the  hinges  on  which  all  the  physiology  of 
he  animal  economy  turns.  And  these  are  the  fountains  from 
fhich,  just  as  the  business  itself  of  generation,  so  also  the  causes 


1  "Voigt,  Magazin,  I.  c. 

2  Pallas,  spicileg.  zoologic.  fasc.  IV.  p.  11,  and  Sandifort,  MusSum  Anatom.  Acad, 
igd.  Batav.  T.  i.  p.  306. 

13 


194  FOKMATIVE   FORCE. 

of  degeneration  flow ;  but  in  order  to  make  this  clear  to  those 
even  who  know  but  little  of  physiology,  it  will  be  as  well  to 
premise  with  a  few  words  from  that  science. 

33.  Formative  force.  I  have  in  another  place  professedly, 
and  in  a  separate  book  devoted  to  this  subject,  endeavoured  to 
show  that  the  vulgar  system  of  evolution,  as  it  is  called 
(according  to  which  it  is  taught  that  no  animal  or  plant  is 
generated,  but  that  all  individual  organic  bodies  were  at  the 
very  earliest  dawn  of  creation  already  formed  in  the  shape  of 
undeveloped  germs  and  are  now  being  only  successively  evolved), 
answers  neither  to  the  phenomena  themselves  of  nature,  nor  to 
sound  philosophic  reasoning.  But  on  the  contrary,  by  properly 
joining  together  the  two  principles  which  explain  the  nature 
of  organic  bodies,  that  is  the  physico-mechanical  with  the 
teleological,  we  are  conducted  both  by  the  phenomena  of  gene- 
ration, and  by  sound  reasoning,  to  lay  down  this  proposition : 
That  the  genital  liquid  is  only  the  shapeless  material  of  organic 
bodies,  composed  of  the  innate  matter  of  the  inorganic  king- 
dom, but  differing  in  the  force  it  shows,  according  to  the  phe- 
nomena; by  which  its  first  business  is  under  certain  circum- 
stances of  maturation,  mixture,  place,  &c.  to  put  on  the  form 
destined  and  determined  by  them;  and  afterwards  through  the 
perpetual  function  of  nutrition  to  preserve  it,  and  if  by  chance 
it  should  be  mutilated,  as  far  as  lies  in  its  power  to  restore 
it  by  reproduction. 

Let  me  be  allowed  to  distinguish  this  energy,  so  as  to  pre- 
vent its  being  confused  with  the  other  kinds  of  vital  force, 
or  with  the  vague  and  undefined  words  of  the  ancients,  the 
plastic  force,  &c.  by  the  name  of  the  formative  force  (ivisus 
formativus) ;  by  which  name  I  wish  to  designate  not  so  much 
the  cause  as  some  kind  of  perpetual  and  invariably  consistent 
effect,  deduced  a  posteriori,  as  they  say,  from  the  very  constancy 
and  universality  of  phenomena.  Just  in  the  same  way  as  we 
use  the  name  of  attraction  or  gravity  to  denote  certain  forces, 
the  causes  of  which  however  still  remain  hid,  as  they  say,  in 
Cimmerian  darkness. 

As  then  other  vital  forces,  when  they  are  excited  by  their 


ITS  ACTION.  195 

appointed  and  proper  stimuli,  become  active  and  ready  for  re- 
action, so  also  the  formative  force  is  excited  by  the  stimuli 
which  belong  to  it,  that  is,  by  the  kindling  of  heat  in  the  egg 
during  the  process  of  incubation.  But  as  other  vital  forces,  as 
contractility,  irritability,  &c.  put  themselves  out  only  by  the 
mode  of  motion,  this,  on  the  other  hand,  of  which  we  are  talk- 
ing; manifests  itself  by  increase,  and  by  giving  a  determinate 
form  to  matter;  by  which  it  happens  that  every  plant  and 
every  animal  propagates  its  species  in  its  offspring  (either  im- 
mediately, or  gradually  by  the  successive  access  and  change  of 
other  stimuli,  through  metamorphosis). 

Now  the  ^  way  in  which  the  formative  force  may  sometimes 
turn  aside  from  its  determined  direction  and  plan  is  principally 
in  three  forms.  First,  by  the  production  of  monsters ;  then  by 
hybrid  generation  through  the  mixture  of  the  genital  liquid  of 
different  species;  finally,-  by  degeneration  into  varieties,  pro- 
perly so  called.  The  production  of  monsters,  by  which,  whether 
through  some  disturbance  and  as  it  were  mistake  of  the  forma- 
tive force,  or  even  through  accidental  or  adventitious  circum- 
stances, as  by  external  pressure,  &c.  a  structure  manifestly 
faulty  and.  unnaturally  deformed  is  intruded  upon  organic 
bodies,  has  nothing  to  do  with  our  present  purpose.  Nor  is 
this  the  place  to  consider  hybrids  sprung  from  the  commingling 
of  the  generation  of  different  species,  since  by  a  most  wise  law 
of  nature  (by  which  the  infinite  confusion  of  specific  forms  is 
guarded  against)  hybrids  of  this  kind,  especially  in  the  animal 
kingdom,  scarcely  ever  occur  except  through  the  interference  of 
man:  and  then  they  are  almost  invariably  sterile,  so  as  to  be 
unable  to  propagate  any  further  their  new  ambiguous  shape 
sprung  from  anomalous  venery. 

Still,  meanwhile,  this  subject  we  are  now  discussing  may 
be  illustrated  by  the  history  of  hybrids  sprung  from  different 
species;  partly  on  account  of  their  analogy  with  those  hybrids 
which  spring  from  different  varieties,  of  which  we  shall  speak 
by  and  by;  partly,  because,  like  everything  else,  they  go  as 
proofs  to  refute  that  theory  about  the  evolution  of  pre-formed 
germs,  and  to  display  clearly  the  power  and  efficacy  of  the  for- 

13—2 


196  CLIMATE. 

mative  force;  a  consideration,  which  will  escape  no  one  who 
rightly  appreciates  those  well-known  and  very  remarkable  ex- 
periments, in  which,  in  the  very  rare  instances  of  prolific  hy- 
brids, when  their  fecundation  has  been  frequently  repeated  for 
many  generations  by  the  aid  of  the  male  seed  of  the  same  spe- 
cies, that  new  appearance  of  hybrid  posterity  has  so  sensibly 
deflected  from  the  maternal  form  as  more  and  more  to  pass 
into  the  paternal  form  of  the  other  species,  and  so,  finally,  the 
former  seems  to  become  quite  transmuted  into  the  latter,  by  a 
sort  of  arbitrary  metamorphosis1. 

But  the  mixture  of  specifically  different  generation,  al- 
though it  cannot  overturn,  or  as  it  were  suffocate,  all  the 
excitability  of  the  formative  force,  still  can  impart  to  it  a 
singular  and  anomalous  direction.  And  so  it  happens  that  the 
continuous  action,  carried  on  for  several  series  of  generations 
of  some  peculiar  stimuli  in  organic  bodies,  again  has  great  in- 
fluence in  sensibly  diverting  the  formative  force  from  its  accus- 
tomed path,  which  deflection  is  the  most  bountiful  source  of 
degeneration,  and  the  mother  of  varieties  properly  so  called. 
So  now  let  us  go  to  work  and  examine  one  by  one  the  chief  of 
these  stimuli. 

34.  Climate.  That  the  power  of  climate  must  be  almost 
infinite,  as  on  all  organic  bodies,  so  especially  on  warm-blooded 
animals,  will  quickly  appear  to  any  one  who  considers  first,  by 
how  intimate  and  how  constant  a  bond  these  animals  are 
bound  while  alive  to  the  action  of  the  atmospheric  air  in  which 
they  dwell.  Besides,  how  wonderfully  this  air  (which  was  once 
held  to  be  a  simple  element  of  itself)  is  made  up  of  what  they 
call  multifarious  elements,  such  as  gasiform  constituents,  the 
accessories  of  light,  heat,  electricity,  &c.  Then  of  what  differ- 
ent proportions  of  these  matters  does  it  not  consist,  and  in 
consequence  of  this  variety  how  different  must  be  the  atmo- 
spheric action  on  those  we  call  animals!     Especially  when  we 


1  Kolreuter.  Third  account  of  the  news  of  some  experiments  relating  to  the 
sex  of  plants,  &c,  p.  51,  s.  24,  with  the  title,  "An  entirely  complete  change  of 
one  kind  of  plant  into  another." 


CLIMATE.  197 

throw  in  the  consideration  of  so  many  other  things,  by  whose 
accession  climates  differ  so  much,  as  the  position  of  countries 
in  respect  of  the  zones  of  the  globe,  the  elevation  of  the  soil, 
mountains,  the  vicinity  of  the  sea  or  lakes  and  rivers,  the  cus- 
tomary winds,  and  innumerable  other  things  of  this  kind. 

This  air,  then,  which  those  we  call  animals  suck  in  by 
breathing  from  the  time  of  birth,  modified  so  greatly  by  the 
variety  of  climates,  is  decomposed  in  their  lungs  as  it  were  in  a 
living  laboratory.  Part  of  what  they  inhale  is  distributed  with 
the  arterial  blood  over  the  whole  body;  but  as  a  balance  to 
another  portion  of  this  point,  elements  are  liberated,  which  are 
partly  deposited  on  the  peripheral  integuments  of  the  body,  and 
partly  are  carried  back  by  the  flow  of  venous  blood  to  the  re- 
spiratory organs;  hence  arise  the  various  modifications  of  the 
blood  itself,  and  the  remarkable  influxes  of  these  humours,  es- 
pecially of  fat,  bile,  &c.  into  the  secretions.  Hence  finally  the 
action  of  all  these  things  as  so  many  stimuli  on  a  living  solid, 
and  hence  the  resulting  reaction  as  well  of  this  thus  affected 
solid,  as  what  especially  belongs  to  our  discussion,  the  direction 
and  determination  of  the  formative  force.  This  great  and  per- 
petual influence  of  climate  on  the  animal  economy  and  the 
habit  and  conformation  of  the  body,  although  there  has  been  no 
time  when  it  has  not  attracted  the  attention  of  good  observers, 
has  in  our  own  time  above  all  been  illustrated  and  confirmed  by 
the  great  advance  that  has  been  made  in  chemistry,  and  by  a 
deeper  study  of  physiology.  Still  it  is  always  a  difficult  and 
arduous  thing,  in  the  discussion  of  these  varieties,  to  settle 
what  is  to  be  attributed  exclusively  to  climate,  what  rather 
to  other  causes  of  degeneration,  and  finally  to  the  joint  action 
of  both.  Meanwhile  I  will  bring  forward  one  or  two  instances 
of  degeneration  which  seem  most  clearly  to  be  derived  from  the 
effects  of  climate.  For  example,  the  white  colour  of  many 
animals  in  northern  regions,  which  have  other  colours  in  the 
temperate  zones.  Instances  are,  those  of  wolves,  hares,  cattle, 
falcons,  crows,  blackbirds,  thrushes,  chaffinches,  &c.  That  this 
whiteness  must  be  attributed  to  cold,  we  learn  from  the  analogy 
of  animals   of  the   same  kind  who,  under   the  same  climate 


198  DIET. 

during  winter,  change  their  summer  colour  into  white  or 
grey;  as  weasels  and  ermines,  hares,  squirrels,  reindeer,  the 
ptarmigan,  snow-bunting,  and  others1.  So  also  I  am  more 
inclined  to  attribute  to  climate  that  snowy  fleece  so  con- 
spicuous for  its  silky  softness  of  some  of  the  animals  of  Angora 
than  to  the  kind  of  diet,  because  that  is  shared  by  those  who 
feed  on  all  sorts  of  different  things,  by  the  carnivorous,  as  the 
cat  for  example,  equally  with  the  herbivorous  ruminants,  as 
goats,  &c. 

Such  too  seems  to  be  the  explanation  of  the  coally  blackness 
which  under  some  districts  of  the  torrid  zone,  as  on  the  coasts 
of  Guinea,  animals  of  different  orders,  mammalia  as  well  as 
birds,  are  seen  to  put  on  with  the  colour  of  the  Ethiopians 
(s.  27).  And  it  is  above  all  worthy  of  remark  that  this  Ethiopic 
blackness,  just  like  that  Syrian  whiteness,  although  the  animals 
may  be  transported  into  regions  of  a  very  different  climate,  is 
still  preserved  permanently  for  many  series  of  generations.  Nor 
is  the  power  and  influence  of  climate  on  the  stature  of  organic 
bodies  at  all  inferior ;  since  cold  obstructs  their  increase,  which, 
on  the  contrary  is  manifestly  augmented  and  promoted  by  heat. 
Thus  the  horses  of  Scotland,  or  cold  North  Wales,  are  small ;  in 
Scandinavia  the  horses  and  the  cattle,  like  the  indigenous  races, 
are  of  tall  and  stalwart  stature ;  in  Smaland  they  are  sensibly 
smaller,  and  in  the  north  of  East  Gothland  are  in  proportion 
smallest  of  all. 

35.  Diet.  It  seems  extremely  probable,  what  has  been 
demonstrated  principally  by  the  sagacity  of  G.  Fordyce,  that 
the  primary  elements,  as  they  are  called,  of  every  kind  of 
alimentary  substance,  whether  it  be  taken  from  the  animal  or 
the  vegetable  kingdom,  are  the  same.  Hence  the  same  sort  of 
chyle,  and  universally  the  same  kind  of  blood,  is  elaborated  by 
all  the  multifarious  warm-blooded  animals,  carnivorous  as  well 
as  herbivorous,  out  of  the  most  different  kinds  of  nourishment, 
if  only  it  has  been  properly  submitted  to  the  organs  of  diges- 


1  Comp.  besides  others,  Linnaeus,  in  Flora  Lapponica,  p.  55,  352,  ed.  Smith. 


MODE   OF   LIFE.  199 

tion.  Still,  however  much  this  may  appear  to  be  true,  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  the  innumerable  adventitious  qualities  of  different 
matters  of  food,  have  had  great  power  in  changing  the  natures 
and  properties  of  animals;  to'  prove  which  a  few  instances  will 
be  enough. 

Singing  birds  show  that  there  is  some  specific  power  in  some 
kinds  of  food  to  change  the  colour  of  animals;  especially  some 
sorts  of  larks  and  finches,  which  it  has  been  proved,  if  they 
are  fed  upon  hemp  seed  alone,  sensibly  grow  black.  The 
African  sheep  when  transported  to  England  is  a  proof  how 
wonderfully,  when  the  diet  is  changed,  the  texture  of  the  hairs 
will  change  also;  for  its  wool  which  is  common  by  nature,  and 
stiff  like  the  hair  of  a  camel,  after  it  has  been  fed  one  year  upon 
English  pastures  becomes  of  a  most  magnificent  delicacy1.  The 
influence  food  has  towards  changing  the  stature  and  the  pro- 
portions, is  plain  from,  the  comparison  of  domestic  animals. 
Horses  which  in  marshy  countries  (called  in  the  vernacular 
Maschldnder)  live  upon  rich  food,  as  the  Frisian  especially,  grow 
large ;  whereas,  on  the  contrary,  in  rocky  and  stony  countries, 
such  as  those  of  (Eland,  or  on  dry  heathy  soils,  they  remain 
stunted.  Thus  it  is  surprising  how  fat  and  bellied  horses  be- 
come on  a  fat  soil,  though  their  legs  become  shorter  in  propor- 
tion. But  when  they  are  fed  upon  drier  grass,  as,  for  example, 
the  Cape  grass,  they  secrete  less  fat,  but  are  remarkable  for 
their  strong  and  fleshy  legs ;  to  say  nothing  of  the  multifarious 
diversities  of  the  taste  and  weight  of  flesh,  which  again  depend 
upon  the  variety  of  diet. 

36.  Mode  of  life.  When  I  speak  of  the  kind  of  life  as 
a  cause  of  degeneration,  I  include  under  that  head  all  those 
points  besides  climate  and  diet  which  so  far  have  to  do  with  the 
natural  economy  of  animals,  that  when_they_act  Jong  and  con- 
tinuously upon  the  saine  condition  of  body  they  are  at  length 
strong  enough  to  change  it  to  some  extent.  The  principal  of 
these  are  cultivation  and  the  fora^fj3ustom,  whose  power  and 


1  Comp.  Jam.  Bates  On  the  Literal  Doctrine  of  Original  Sin,  Load.  1766,  8vo. 
p.  224. 


200  HYBEIDITT. 

influence  are  again  so  manifestly  conspicuous  in  our  domestic 
animals. 

Consider,  for  instance,  the  vast  difference  which  separates 
the    conformation   and    the    proportions    of   the   parts    of  the 
generous  horse  trained  in  the  school,  and  the  wild  horse,  which 
they  call  a  wild  beast.     The  latter,  when  it  fights  with  others 
bites  rather  than  kicks;  the  former,  on  the  other  hand,  when 
bridled. and  armed  with  iron  feet,  prefers  to  attack  his  enemy 
with  them,  and  almost  unlearns  to  bite.     Many  kinds  of  mam- 
mals when  subdued  by   man   show  by  the  hanging   of  their 
tails  and  the  lapping  of  their  ears  a  spirit  tamed  and  subdued 
by  slavery.     In  many  the  very  corporeal  functions  of  secretion, 
generation,  &c.  are  changed  in  a  wonderful  way.     In  the  do- 
mestic pig,  for  example,  the  adipose  membrane  appears  in  a 
vast  mass,  which  is  quite  wanting  in  the  boar,  whose  tender  and 
as  it  were  woolly  hairs,  on  the  contrary,  inserted  between  the 
bristles,  sensibly  disappear  in   that   domestic  variety.     These 
domestic  animals  are  much  more  liable  to  monstrous  births  than 
their  wild  aborigines;  and  also  to  troops  of  new  diseases,  and 
especially  to  new  kinds  of  worms  of  which  no  vestige  is  to  be 
found  in  their  wild  and  original  variety;  the  truth  of  which 
assertion,  though  paradoxical,  is  not  to  be -invalidated,  as  may 
be  proved  by  the  instance  of  the  Hydas  iniercutis,  called,  in  the 
vernacular,  Finnen,  Ital.  Lazaroli1.     I  place   under  this  head 
also  stunted  stature  from  premature  and  unseasonable  venery, 
and  everything  of  that  kind. 

37.  Hybrid  generation.  So  much  for  the  triple  sources  of 
degeneration  which  only  by  long  and  daily  action,  continued 
through  many  series  of  generations,  are  sufficiently  strong, 
slowly,  and  by  little  and  little,  to  change  the  primeval  character 
of  animals  and  produce  varieties.  But  the  case  is  different,  and 
a  new  character  is  imparted  to  the  immediate  offspring,  when 
different  varieties  of  this   kind,  sprung   at  length  from  those 


1  Malpighii  Opera  Posthuma,  p.  84,  ed.  Lond.  1697,  fol. — -so  J.  A.  E.  Goeze, 
Discovery;  that  the  hydatids  in  swine's  Jlesh  are  no  rjlander  disease,  but  true  bladder- 
worms.     8vo.  Hal.  1784. 


HYBRIDITY.  201 

causes,  come  to  copulate  together,  for  thus  they  give  rise  to 
a  hybrid  offspring,  like  neither  parent  altogether,  but  partici- 
pating in  the  form  of  each,  and  being  as  it  were  a  mean  be- 
tween the  two.  Hybrid  is  the  name  commonly  given  to  the 
offspring  of  parents  of  manifestly  different  species,  as  mules 
sprung  from  the  horse  and  ass,  or  birds  from  the  union  of  the 
crested  canary  with  the  linnet.  But  this  is  not  the  place  for 
us  to  speak  of  these,  for  there  is  no  account  to  be  taken  of  them 
in  varieties  of  the  human  race.  Not  indeed  that  horrid  stories 
are  wanting  of  the  union  of  men  with  brutes,  when  either  men 
have  had  to  do  with  the  females  of  beasts  (whether  carried 
away  by  unbridled  lust1,  or  from  some  mad  idea  of  continence2, 
or  because  they  expected  some  medicinal  aid  from  this  sort  of 
crime3),  or  when  we  are  told  that  women  have  been  made  use 
of  by  male  brutes  (whether  that  has  happened  through  any 
violent  rape4,  or  because  women  have  solicited  them  in  the 
madness  of  lust5,  or  have  prostituted  themselves  from  religious 
superstition6),  still  we  have  never  known  any  instance  related 
on  good  authority  of  any  such  connexion  being  fruitful,  or  that 


1  Comp.  Th.  Warton  on  Theocriti  Idyll.  I.  88,  p.  19.  "I  have  been  told  by  a 
certain  learned  friend,  that  when  he  was  travelling  in  Sicily  and  investigating 
closely  not  only  the  ancient  monuments  but  also  the  manners  of  the  people,  that 
even  their  own  priests  used  to  ask  the  shepherds,  who  spend  a  solitary  life  in  the 
Sicilian  mountains,  as  a  matter  of  course  among  the  articles  of  confession,  whether 
they  had  had  anything  to  do  with  the  she-goats. J' 

2  See  Mart,  a  Baumgarten  Equ.  Grerm.  Travels  in  Egypt,  Arabia,  &c.  p.  73. 
"As  we  went  out  of  Alkan,  in  Egypt,  we  came  to  a  village  called  Belbes,  where 
we  joined  a  caravan  going  to  Damascus.  There  we  saw  a  Saracenic  saint,  sitting 
<n  the  heaps  of  sand,  as  naked  as  he  came  out  of  his  mother's  womb.  We  heard 
this  saint  whom  we  saw  in  that  place  publicly  praised  above  all  things ;  that  he 
was  a  holy  man,  divine  and  perfect  beyond  all  measure,  because  he  never  had  any 
connexion  with  women  or  boys,  but  only  with  asses  and  mules." 

3  With  this  object  Pallas  says  that  when  the  Persians  suffer  from  hip-gout  they 
copulate  with  the  onagra.     Neue  Nordische  beytrdge,  P.  II.  p.  38. 

4  Baboons;  Comp.  Ph.  Phillips's  Travels  in  Guinea  in  Churchill's  Collection  of 
Voyages,  T.  VI.  p.  211.  "  Here  are  a  vast  number  of  overgrown  large  baboons, 
some  as  big  as  a  large  mastiff  dog,  which  go  in  droves  of  50  and  100  together,  and 
are  very  dangerous  to  be  met  with,  especially  by  women,  who,  I  have  been  credi- 
bly assured,  they  have  often  seized  upon,  ravished,  and  in  that  kind  abused  one 
after  anothef,  till  they  have  killed  them." 

5  Thus  Steller  says  that  the  women  of  Kamtschatka  formerly  copulated  with 
dogs.     jBeschreibung  Von  Kamtschatka,  p.  289. 

6  As  the  women  of  Mendes  with  the  sacred  goat;  on  which  singular  custom  see 
a  copious  dissertation  by  D'Hancarville,  Eecherchcs  sur  Vorigine  des  A  rts  de  la  Grece, 
T.  1.  p.  320. 


202  HEEEDITY. 

any  hybrid  has  ever  been  produced  from  the  horrid  union  of 
beast  and  man.  But  we  have  only  to  do  with  those  hybrids 
which  spring  from  the  intercourse  of  different  varieties  of  one 
and  the  same  species,  as  when,  for  example,  the  green  canary 
bird  is  paired  with  the  white  variety,  &c,  which  connexion  has  a 
wonderful  effect  in  changing  the  colour  and  conformation  of  the 
new  progeny  which  results  therefrom;  so  that  this  is  often 
applied  with  the  greatest  advantage  in  the  impregnation  of 
domestic  animals  for  the  purpose  of  improving  and  ennobling 
the  offspring,  especially  in  the  case  of  horses  and  sheep. 

38.  Hereditary  peculiarities  of  animals  from  diseased  tem- 
perament. An  hereditary  disposition  to  disease  would  seem  at 
first  sight  rather  to  belong  to  the  pathology  than  to  the  natural 
history  of  animals.  But  when  the  matter  is  more  carefully 
looked  into,  it  is  plain  that  in  more  ways  than  one  it  has  some- 
thing to  do  with  those  causes  of  degeneration  we  are  concerned 
with.  For,  in  the  first  place,  some  external  qualities  of  animals, 
although  according  to  common  ideas  they  are  never  referred 
to  a  truly  diseased  constitution,  still  seem  to  come  very  nearly 
to  that,  since  they  are  for  the  most  part  found  in  conjunction 
with  an  unnaturally  weak  affection.  I  include  among  these,  for 
example,  that  peculiar  whiteness  of  some  animals,  which  the 
wise  Yerulam  long  ago  called  the  colour  of  defect.  We  learn 
by  the  example  of  the  Hungarian  oxen,  whose  woolly  skin  only 
comes  after  castration,  that  we  may  frequently  recognize  as 
a  cause  the  vicious  constitution  and  defect  of  the  corporeal 
economy.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  proved  by  the  instances  of 
the  Angora  cats  and  dogs,  that  morbid  symptoms  follow  extra- 
ordinary whiteness  of  that  kind,  for  it  is  a  common  observation 
that  those  animals  are  almost  always  hard  of  hearing. 

It  is  also  the  case  that  some  genuine  diseases  when  the 
animal  nature  has  been  as  it  were  used  to  them  for  a  long 
series  of  generations  seem  to  get  sensibly  milder  and  milder 
and  less  inconvenient,  so  that  at  last  they  can  scarcely  be  con- 
sidered more  than  a  diseased  affection.  An  example  is  afforded 
by  that  vicious  species  of  whiteness  which,  when  united  to  a 
deficiency  of  the  black  pigment  which  lines  the  internal  eye  of 


MUTILATIONS.  203 

hot-blooded  animals,  is  known  by  the  name  of  leucsethiopia. 
This  when  it  seizes  sporadically  one  or  other  of  a  family  (for 
it  is  always  a  congenital  affection)  exhibits  plainly  the  symp- 
toms of  cachexia,  which  everywhere  comes  very  near  to  a 
leprous  constitution.  But  in  other  cases  when  it  has  been  esta- 
blished by  a  sort  of  hereditary  right  for  many  generations,  it 
becomes  a  second  nature,  so  that  in  the  white  variety  of  rab- 
bits not  a  vestige  remains  of  the  original  morbific  affection, 
the  existence  of  which  however  is  determined  by  the  analogy 
of  other  animals  which  have  anomalously  white  pupils  and  red 
eyes.  The  ferret  has  been  considered  by  some  zoologists  as  a 
peculiar  species  of  the  genus  Mustela,  whereas,  unless  I  am 
altogether  deceived,  it  is  as  I  have  said  above  (s.  23)  a  mere 
variety  of  the  pole-cat,  and  that  of  diseased  origin  through 
leucsethiopia. 

39.  Problem  proposed.  Can  mutilations  and  other  artifices 
give  a  commencement  to  native  varieties  of  animals  ?  It  is  dis- 
puted whether  deformities  or  mutilations,  effected  upon  animals 
either  by  accident  or  advisedly,  especially  in  those  cases  where 
they  have  been  repeated  for  many  series  of  generations,  can  at 
length  in  progress  of  time  terminate  in  a  sort  of  second  nature, 
so  that  what  before  was  done  by  art  now  degenerates  into  a 
congenital  conformation.  Some1  have  asserted  this,  whilst 
others2  on  the  contrary  have  denied  it.  Those  who  are  for  the 
affirmative  point  to  the  examples  of  the  young  of  different 
kinds  of  animals,  dogs  and  cats  for  example,  which  are  born 
without  tails  or  ears  after  those  parts  have  been  cut  off  from 
their  parents,  as  is  proved  by  credible  witnesses.  And  of  boys 
among  circumcised  nations  who  are  frequently  born  naturally 
apellce3;  and  of  scars  which  parents  bear  from  wounds,  whose 
marks  afterwards  are  congenital  in  the  infants.  Buffon,  indeed, 
went  so  far  as  to  derive  from  the  same  source  the  peculiar 
characters  of  some  animals,  as  the  callosities  on  the  breast  and 


1  Hippocrates  and  Aristotle.    And  very  recently  Kliigel,  in  Tom.  I.  of  the  Ency- 
clopedia, p.  541,  ed.  2nd. 

2  See  Kant,  in  Berliner  Monatsschrift,  1785,  T.  vi.  p.  400. 

3  Voigt,  Magazin,  T.  vr.  P.  1.  p.  22,  and  P.  iv.  p.  40. 


204  DEGENERATION. 

legs  of  camels,  or  the  bald  scurfy  forehead  of  the  rook  (Corvus 
frugilegus).  Those  who  do  not  allow  these  last  instances  will 
not  unwisely  reject  this  opinion  of  Buffon,  as  what  is  called  a 
petitio  principii;  but  the  other  instances  we  spoke  of  they 
will  think  should  rather  be  attributed  to  chance. 

I  have  not  at  present  adopted  as  my  own  either  the  affirma- 
tive or  the  negative  of  these  opinions ;  I  would  willingly  give 
my  suffrage  with  those  on  the  negative  side,  if  they  could  ex- 
plain why  peculiarities  of  the  same  sort  of  conformation, 
which  are  first  made  intentionally  or  accidentally,  cannot  in 
any  way  be  handed  down  to  descendants,  when  we  see  that 
other  marks  of  race  which  have  come  into  existence  from 
other  causes  which  up  to  the  present  time  are  unknown,  especi- 
ally in  the  face,  as  noses,  lips,  and  eye-brows  are  universally 
propagated  in  families  for  few  or  many  generations  with  less  or 
greater  constancy,  just  in  the  same  way  as  organic1  disorders, 
as  deficiencies  of  speech  and  pronunciation,  and  such  like  ; 
unless  perhaps  they  prefer  saying  that  all  these  occur  also  by 
chance. 

40.  Some  considerations  to  be  observed  in  the  examination 
of  the  causes  of  degeneration.  Many  of  the  causes  of  degene- 
ration we  have  already  spoken  of  are  so  very  clear,  and  so  placed 
beyond  all  possibility  of  doubt,  that  most  phenomena  of  dege- 
neration above  enumerated  may  by  an  easy  process  be  undoubt- 
edly referred  to  them,  as  effects  to  their  causes.  But  on  the 
other  hand  even  in  that  very  way  there  is  frequently  such  a 
concurrence  or  such  a  conflicting  opposition  of  many  of  them; 
such  a  diverse  and  multifarious  proneness  of  organic  bodies  to 
degeneration,  or  reaction  from  it ;  and  besides,  these  causes 
have  such  effects  upon  these  bodies  according  as  they  act  im- 
mediately (so  to  speak)  or  otherwise ;  and  finally,  such  is  the 
difference  of  these  effects  by  which  they  are  preserved  unim- 
paired by  a  sort  of  tenacious  constancy  through  long  series  of 
generations,  or  by  some  power  of  change  withdraw  themselves 


1  A  remarkable  instance  is  related  by  Hacquet  in  the  Magazin  of  Voigt  jut=t 
cited*  T.  vi.  P.  iv.  p.  34. 


CONCLUSIONS.  205 

again  in  a  short  space  of  time,  that  in  consequence  of  this  diver- 
sified and  various  relation  there  is  need  of  the  greatest  caution 
in  the  examination  of  varieties. 

Let  me  then,  if  only  for  the  benefit  of  the  student,  at  the 
end  of  this  discourse,  before  we  pass  to  the  varieties  of  men 
themselves,  lay  down  some  maxims  of  caution  at  least,  as  corol- 
laries to  be  carefully  borne  in  mind  in  the  discussion  we  are 
entering  upon : 

1.  The  more  causes  of  degeneration  which  act  in  conjunc- 
tion, and  the  longer  they  act  upon  the  same  species  of  animals, 
the  more  palpably  that  species  may  fall  off  from  its  primeval 
conformation.  Now  no  animal  can  be  compared  to  man  in  this 
respect,  for  he  is  omnivorous,  and  dwells  in  every  climate,  and 
is  far  more  domesticated  and  far  more  advanced  from  his  first 
beginnings  than  any  other  animal ;  and  so  on  him  the  united 
force  of  climate,  diet,  and  mode  of  life  must  have  acted  for  a 
very  long  time. 

2.  On  the  other  hand  an  otherwise  sufficiently  powerful 
cause  of  degeneration  may  be  changed  and  debilitated  by  the 
accession  of  other  conditions,  especially  if  they  are  as  it  were 
opposed  to  it.  Hence  everywhere  in  various  regions  of  the 
terraqueous  globe,  even  those  which  lie  in  the  same  geographi- 
cal latitude,  still  a  very  different  temperature  of  the  air  and 
an  equally  different  and  generally  a  contrary  effect  on  the  con- 
dition of  animals  may  be  observed,  according  as  they  differ  in 
the  circumstances  of  a  higher  or  lower  position,  proximity  to 
the  sea,  or  marshes,  or  mountains,  or  woods,  or  of  a  cloudy  or 
serene  sky,  or  some  peculiar  character  of  soil,  or  other  circum- 
stances of  that  kind. 

3.  Sometimes  a  remarkable  phenomenon  of  degeneration 
ought  to  be  referred  not  so  much  to  the  immediate,  as  to  the 
mediate,  more  remote,  and  at  the  first  glance  concealed  influ- 
ence of  some  cause.  Hence  the  darker  colour  of  peoples  is 
not  to  be  derived  solely  from  the  direct  action  of  the  sun  upon 
the  skin,  but  also  from  its  more  remote,  as  its  powerful  influ- 
ence upon  the  functions  of  the  liver. 

4.  Mutations  which  spring  from  the  mediate  influence  of 


206  CONCLUSIONS. 

causes  of  this  sort  seem  to  strike  root  all  the  deeper,  and  so  to 
be  all  the  more  tenaciously  propagated  to  following  generations. 
Hence,  if  I  mistake  not,  we  are  to  look  for  the  reason  why  the 
brown  colour  of  skin  contracted  in  the  torrid  zone  will  last 
longer  in  another  climate  than  the  white  colour  of  northern 
animals  if  they  are  transported  towards  the  south. 

5.  Finally,  the  mediate  influences  of  those  sort  of  causes 
may  lie  hid  and  be  at  such  a  distance,  that  it  may  be  impossible 
even  to  conjecture  what  they  are,  and  hence  we  shall  have  to 
refer  the  enigmatical  phenomena  of  degeneration  to  them,  as  to 
their  fountains.  Thus,  without  doubt,  we  must  refer  to  mediate 
causes  of  this  kind,  which  still  escape  our  observation,  the 
racial  and  constant  forms  of  skulls,  the  racial  colour  of  eyes, 
&c. 


SECTION  III. 

ON  THE  CAUSES  AND  WAYS   BY  WHICH  MANKIND  HAS  DEGENE- 
BATED,   AS  A  SPECIES. 


41.  Order  of  proceeding.  Now  let  us  come  to  the  matter  in 
hand,  and  let  us  apply  what  we  have  hitherto  been  demonstrat- 
ing about  the  ways  in  and  the  causes  by  which  animals  in 
general  degenerate,  to  the  native  variety  of  mankind,  so  as  to 
enumerate  one  by  one  the  modes  of  degenerating,  and  allot  to 
each  the  particular  cause  to  which  it  is  to  be  referred.  We 
must  begin  with  the  colour  of  the  skin,  which  although  it 
sometimes  deceives,  still  is  a  much  more  constant  character,  and 
more  generally  transmitted  than  the  others1,  and  which  most 
clearly  appears  in  hybrid  progeny  sprung  from .  the  union  of 
varieties  of  different  colour  composed  of  the  tint  of  either  pa- 
rent. Besides,  it  has  a  great  connection  with  the  colour  of  the 
hair  and  the  iris,  and  a  great  relation  to  the  temperament  of 
men:  and,  moreover,  it  especially  strikes  everywhere  the  eyes 
even  of  the  most  ignorant. 

42.  Seat  of  the  colour  of  the  skin.  The  mucous,  commonly 
called  the  cellular  membrane,  about  whose  most  important 
function  in  the  economy  of  the  human  body  we  have  spoken 
above,  affords  as  it  were  a  foundation  to  the  whole  machine.  It 
is  interwoven  with  almost  all  parts  alike,  even  to  the  marrow  of 
the  bones,  and  is  collected  on  the  outermost  surface  of  the  body 


Kant,  in  Berliner  Monatsschrift,  1785,  T.  vi.  p.  391,  and  in  Teutschen  Merkur, 
i,  P.  1.  p.  48. 


208  SKIN. 

into  a  thick  white  universal  integument,  called  the  corium.  By 
this  the  rest  of  the  body  is  surrounded  and  included;  and 
above  all  it  is  penetrated  by  a  most  enormous  apparatus  of 
cutaneous  nerves,  lymphatic  veins,  and  finally  with  a  most  close 
and  subtle  net  of  sanguiferous  vessels. 

The  nerves  communicate  sensation  to  the  corium,  so  as  to 
make  it  the  organ  of  touch,  and  as  it  were  the  sentinel  of  the 
whole  body.     The  lymphatic  veins  make  this  same  corium  the 
instrument  of  absorption  and  inhalation.     But  the  sanguiferous 
vessels  have  most  to  do  with  the  subject  under  discussion,  as 
being  the  constituent  parts  of  the  common  integuments  of  the 
body,  and  equally  with  the  lungs  and  the  alimentary  canal  make 
up  the  great  purifier  and  chemical  laboratory  of  the  human 
machine ;  whose  surfaces,  as  will  soon  be  seen,  have  a  good  deal 
to  do  with  giving  its  colour  to  the  skin.     The  corium  is  lined 
with  a  very  tender  mucus,  which  from  the  erroneous  description 
of  its  discoverer,  is  called  the  reticulum  Malpighii:  this  affords 
a  sort  of  glutinous  bond,  by  which  the  most  external  stratum  of 
the  integuments,  the  epidermis,  or  cuticle,  stretching  over  and 
protecting  the  surface  of  the  body,  and  which  in  the  born  man 
is  exposed  immediately  to  the  atmospheric  air,  adheres  to  the 
corium.     The  reticulum,  just   like  the  epidermis,  is   a   most 
simple  structure,  entirely  destitute  of  nerves  and  vessels,  differ- 
ing both  of  them  as  much  as  possible  from  the  nature  of  the 
corium.     They  agree  themselves  in  more  than  one  way,  so  that 
it  seems  most  probable  that  these  similar  parts  are  allied,  or 
that  the  exterior  cuticle  draws  its  origin  in  some  way  from  its 
substratum,  the  reticulum.     Besides,  each  of  these  allied  strata 
of  integuments  so  make  up  the  seat  of  colour,  that  in  clear-com- 
plexioned  men,  where  they  are  stained  with  no  pigment,  they 
permit  the  natural  roseate  whiteness  of  the  corium  to  be  seen 
through :  and  in  brown  or  coloured  men,  although  the  principal 
cutaneous  pigment  may  adhere  to  the  Malpighian  reticulum, 
although  the  epidermis  may  be  paler,  still  it  will  manifestly 
partake  of  its  tint.     The  darker  the  reticulum  the  thicker  it  is, 
and  the  more  it   approaches   the  appearance  of  a  membrane 
peculiar  to  itself;  the  more  transparent  it  is  on  the  contrary 


COLOUR.  209 

the  more  tender  it  becomes,  and  only  appears  to  have  the  con- 
stitution of  a  diffused  mucus. 

43.  Racial  varieties  of  colour.  Although  the  colour  of  the 
human  skin  seems  to  play  in  numberless  ways  between  the 
snowy  whiteness  of  the  European  girl  and  the  deepest  black  of 
the  Ethiopian  woman  of  Senegambia1 ;  and  though  not  one  of 
these  phases  is  common  either  to  all  men  of  the  same  nation, 
or  so  peculiar  to  any  nation,  but  what  it  sometimes  occurs  in 
others,  though  greatly  different  in  other  respects ;  still,  in  gene- 
ral, all  the  varieties  of  national  colour  seem  to  be  most  referable 
to  the  five  following  classes. 

1.  The  white  colour  holds  the  first  place,  such  as  is  that  of 
most  European  peoples.  The  redness  of  the  cheeks  in  this 
variety  is  almost  peculiar  to  it :  at  all  events  it  is  but  seldom  to 
be  seen  in  the  rest. 

2.  The  second  is  the  yellow,  olive-tinge,  a  sort  of  colour 
half-way  between  grains  of  wheat  and  cooked  oranges,  or  the 
dry  and  exsiccated  rind  of  lemons :  very  usual  in  the  Mongolian 
nations. 

3.  The  copper  colour  (Fr.  bronze)  or  dark  orange,  or  a  sort 
of  iron,  not  unlike  the  bruised  bark  of  cinnamon  or  tanner's 
bark:  peculiar  almost  to  the  Americans. 

4.  Tawny  (Fr.  basane),  midway  between  the  colour  of  fresh 
mahogany  and  di'ied  pinks  or  chesnuts :  common  to  the  Malay 
race  and  the  men  of  the  Southern  Archipelago. 

5.  Lastly,  the  tawny-black,  up  to  almost  a  pitchy  blackness 
(jet-black),  principally  seen  in  some  Ethiopian  nations.  Though 
this  tawny  blackness  is  by  no  means  peculiar  to  the  Ethiopians, 
but  is  to  be  found  added  to  the  principal  colour  of  the  skin  in 
others  of  the  most    different    and    the    most  widely-separated 


1  The  indefinite  and  arbitrary  sense  in  which  most  authors  use  the  names  of 
colours  has  caused  vast  difficulty  in  all  the  study  of  natural  history:  and  will  cer- 
tainly be  particularly  troublesome  in  this  anthropological  disquisition.  That  I  may 
not  be  accused  of  the  same  fault,  I  must  give  notice  that  I  am  far  from  considering 
such  words  for  example  as  the  English  yellow  and  olive  tinge,  &c.  which  I  have  sub- 
joined to  each  of  the  five  principal  colours  which  I  have  distinguished,  as  genuine 
synonyms.  All  I  wanted  to  do  was  to  show  that  these  words  had  been  used  by 
different  authors,  and  those  classical  ones,  in  denoting  the  national  colour  of  one 
and  the  same  race. 

14 


210  CAUSES. 

varieties  of  mankind:  as  in  the  Brazilians,  the  Californians1, 
the  Indians,  and  the  islanders  of  the  Southern  Ocean,  where, 
for  instance,  the  New  Caledonians  in  this  respect  make  an 
insensible  transition  from  the  tawny  colour  of  the  Otaheitans, 
through  the  chesnut-coloured  inhabitants  of  the  island  of 
Tongatabu,  to  the  tawny-black  of  the  New  Hollanders. 

44.  Causes  of  this  variety.  The  seat  of  the  colour  of  the 
skin  has  now  been  placed  beyond  all  doubt.  The  division  of 
the  varieties  of  colour,  and  their  distribution,  seem  sufficiently 
plain  and  perspicuous.  But  to  dig  out  the  causes  of  this  variety 
is  the  task  and  the  trouble.  Authors  have  laboured  most  in 
endeavouiing  to  explain  the  colour  of  the  Ethiopians,  which 
above  all  other  national  colours  from  the  most  remote  period 
has  struck  the  eyes  of  Europeans,  and  excited  their  minds  to 
inquire.  Nor  is  it  surprising  that  with  that  object  all  sorts  of 
hypotheses  should  be  elaborated,  which,  however,  I  pass  by 
unnoticed,  as  being  sufficiently  known'2,  and  already  explained 
all  together  by  others3,  and  shall  go  into  the  details  of  that 
opinion  alone,  which,  unless  I  am  much  mistaken,  seems  to 
come  nearest  the  truth.     I  think,  myself,  the  proximate  cause 

1  On  the  Brazilians  comp.  G.  Forster  on  Wilson's  Nachrichten  von  den  Pelew 
Tnseln,  p.  36.     On  the  Californians,  Begert,  Nachrichten  von  Californien,  p.  89. 

3  Buffon  attributes  most  to  climate.  Hist.  Naturelle,  T.  III.  p.  526.  Zimmer- 
mann,  Geograph.  Geschichte  cles  Menschen,  T.  I.  p.  77.  Abb.  Nauton  in  Journal 
de  Physique,  T.  xviii.  Sept.  1781.  P.  Barrere  to  bile.  Diss,  sur  la  cause  physique 
de  la  Couleur  des  Negres,  Perpig.  1741,  nmo.  To  the  blood  besides  others  especially 
Th.  Towns  in  Philus.  Trans.  T.  X.  p.  398,  who  also  has  doubts  about  the  power  of 
the  sun  to  dye  the  skin  of  the  Ethiopians.  To  part  of  the  globules  of  the  blood 
adhering  to  the  skin  the  author  of  the  medical  question  of  Paris,  an  opinion  sup- 
ported on  more  than  one  occasion,  as  by  Des  Moles  in  1742,  and  by  Mounier  in 
1775.  Kant  in  Enge!,  Philos.  filr  die  Welt,  P.  11.  p.  151,  to  the  abundance  of 
iron  in  the  blood  of  the  Ethiopians,  precipitated  by  the  transpiration  of  phosphoric 
acid  on  the  rete  mucosum.  I  say  nothing  of  a  sort  of  mixture  of  nervous 
juice  and  some  secret  liquid  in  the  nervous  and  arterial  paps  of  the  integuments  by 
which  Le  Cat,  who  was  a  great  physiologist  as  far  as  dreaming  went,  imagined 
that  he  had  explained  the  blackness  of  the  Ethiopians,  in  his  Traite  de  la  Couleur 
de  la  Peau  Humaine,  Amst.  1765,  8vo  ,  or  the  elongated  fibres  in  the  aborigines  of 
Nubia,  the  dissolution  of  the  red  blood,  the  evaporation  of  the  serum,  and  the 
fixed  saline  particles  of  the  blood,  remaining  oily  and  fat  in  the  skin,  by  all  of 
which  Attumonelli,  Elementi  di  Fisioloyia  Medica,  Neap.  1787,  T.  1.  p.  140,  tries 
to  explain  the  same  thing. 

3  Thus  the  opinions  of  the  ancients  have  been  collected  by  B.  S.  Albinus,  Be 
sede  et  causa  Coloris  JSthiopwn,  Ludg.  Batav.  1737,  4to.  Those  of  the  moderns 
by  Haller,  Element.  Physiolog.  T.  v.  p.  20.  A  heap  of  authors  are  cited  by  Kriiniz, 
Hamhurgisch  Magazin,  T.  XIX.  p.  379. 


COLOUR.  211 

of  the  adust  or  tawny  colour  of  the  external  integuments  of  the 
skin,  is  to  be  looked  for  in  the  abundance  of  the  carbon  in  the 
human  body,  which,  when  it  is  excreted  with  the  hydrogen 
through  the  corium,  and  precipitated  by  the  contact  of  the 
atmospheric  oxygen,  becomes  imbedded  in  the  Malpighian 
mucus.  Hence  it  is  well  known  that  the  national  colour  of 
their  skin  is  not_congenital  even  to  the  Ethiopians  themselves, 
but  is  acquired  by  the  access  of  the  external  air  after  birth 
and  after  the  intercourse  with  the  mother,  by  which  the  foetus 
was  nourished,  has  been  taken  away. 

Besides  this,  the  action  of  the  sanguineous  vessels  of  the 
corium  seems  necessary  as  well  for  secreting  as  for  storing  up 
the  carbon.  For  if  this  is  disturbed  or  comes  to  a  stop,  an 
unnatural  and  diseased  colour  is  everywhere  brought  upon  the 
skin  in  dark  men  just  as  much  as  in  Ethiopians.  But  on 
the  other  hand,  although  in  a  white  skin  that  action  of  the 
corium  may  be  stimulated,  ephelides  and  spots  of  tawny  colour 
occur,  and  sometimes  it  is  found  that  it  puts  on  an  Ethiopic 
blackness. 

Generally  carbon  seems  to  be  in  greater  quantity  in  the 
atrabilious  ;  for  the  connexion  of  the  manufactory  of  the  bile  with 
the  common  integuments,  and  those  which  belong  to  them,  as  the 
hair,  is  plain  :  indeed  both  organs,  that  is,  the  liver  and  the 
skin,  must  be  considered  as  by  far  the  principal  and  mutually 
co-operating  purifiers  of  the  mass  of  the  blood. 

Then  there  is  the  vast  influence  of  climate  upon  the  action 
of  the  liver,  which  in  tropical  countries  is  wonderfully  excited 
and  increased  by  the  solar  heat.  Hence  the  various  kinds  of 
bilious  and  endemic  disorders  in  the  tropics.  Hence  also  the 
temperament  of  most  inhabitants  of  tropical  countries  is  cho- 
leric and  prone  to  anger.  Hence  also,  what  was  first  observed 
by  physicians1,  the  bilious  constitution  and  habit  of  Europeans 
who  dwell  in  India,  and  especially  in  the  children  which  are 
born  there.  But  there  is  no  other  climate,  in  the  vehemence 
and  duration  of  the  heat,  or  in  the  peculiar  chemical  constitu- 

1  De  Haen,  Prcelectioncs  in  Boerhavii  Institut.  Patholoyieas,  T.  n.  p.  155. 

14—2 


212  COLOUK. 

ents  that  make  up  the  atmosphere  there,  such  as  particular 
winds,  and  rains,  which  can  be  compared  to  that  burning  and 
scorching  climate  which  is  to  be  found  on  the  wet  and  marshy 
regions  both  of  eastern  and  western  Africa  under  the  torrid  zone. 
Now  the  aboriginal  Ethiopians  have  been  for  a  long  time  and 
for  many  series  of  generations  exposed  to  the  action  of  that 
climate,  since  they  must  without  doubt  be  ranked  amongst  the 
most  ancient  nations  of  the  world1.  So  we  must  not  be  sur- 
prised if  they  propagate  unadulterated,  even  under  another 
climate  to  succeeding  generations,  the  same  disposition  which 
has  spread  such  deep  and  perennial  roots  in  their  ancestors 
from  the  most  distant  antiquity.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  from 
this  tenacity  and  constancy  of  the  constitution  of  the  Ethio- 
pians, this  comes  out  all  the  clearer,  that  such  a  power  can 
only  be  contracted  after  a  long  series  of  generations,  and  so  it 
must  be  considered  as  a  miracle,  and  against  all  natural  law,  if 
it  be  true,  what  we  find  frequently  related  that  the  present 
descendants  of  some  Portuguese  colonists  who  emigrated  to 
Guinea  in  the  15th  century,  have  in  so  short  an  interval  of 
time,  only  through  the  influence  of  the  climate2,  been  able  to 
contract  the  Ethiopian  habit  of  body. 

45.  Final  exposition  of  the  causes  of  the  colour  of  the  skin. 
What  I  have  summarily  and  succinctly  already  laid  down  about 
the  causes  of  the  colour  of  the  skin  is  strongly  corroborated, 
on  more  accurate  inquiry,  by  all  sorts  of  arguments  answering 
most  accurately  to  each  other,  and  taken  from  actual  observa- 
tion of  human  nature. 

"We  have  discovered  from  the  antiphlogistic  chemistry  of 
the  French3  that  carbon  belongs  to  the  radical  elements  of  the 

1  Those  who  like  may  consult  three  very  learned  works :  Jac.  Bryant,  New 
System  of  Ancient  Mythology,  Vol.  I. ;  Ja.  Bruce,  Journey  to  the  Discovery  of  the 
Sources  of  the  Nile,  Vol.  I.,  and  Sir  W.  Jones,  Diss,  in  Asiatic  Researches,  Vols.  n. 
and  III. 

2  We  all  know  that  black  men  have  been  found  at  the  Gambia  descended  from 
the  original  Portuguese.  But  it  seems  most  probable  that  their  blackness  has  been 
derived  principally  from  the  union  of  men  with  the  indigenous  Ethiopian  women, 
for  this  reason,  that  European  women  when  taken  directly  from  their  own  country 
to  Guinea  can  very  seldom  preserve  life  there  ;  for  the  effect  of  the  climate  is  such 
as  to  produce  very  copious  menstruation,  which  almost  always  in  a  short  space  of 
time  ends  in  fatal  hsemorrhages  of  the  uterus. 

3  See  Girtauner,  Anfangsgriinde  der  Antiphlogistischen  Chimie,  p.  202. 


COLOUR.  213 

animal  body,  and  is  also  the  cause  of  dark  colour,  whether  it  be 
yellow,  tawny,  or  blackish.  In  order  that  the  animal  economy 
may  not  be  disturbed  and  endangered  by  a  redundancy  of  this 
substance  various  emunctories  have  been  provided,  in  which 
the  liver  and  the  skin  occupy  by  no  means  the  lowest  place. 
Pathology,  here  as  elsewhere  so  often  the  instructor  of  phy- 
siology, shows  together  with  the  phenomena  just  mentioned, 
the  co-operation  of  the  functions  of  the  bile  with  the  common 
integuments.  For  although  I  do  not  wish  to  insist  too  much 
on  the  analogy  of  jaundice  with  national  tints  of  the  skin,  still 
there  are  various  peculiar  phenomena  which  deserve  attention, 
common  to  those  suffering  under  the  regius  morbus,  and  the 
nations  of  colour  (so  to  speak)  to  which  I  refer,  the  fact  of  the 
albuminous  part  of  the  eye  being  tinged  with  yellow,  a  thing 
common  to  tawny  nations  and  specially  to  the  Indians1,  the 
Americans2,  and  the  Ethiopians3.  Besides  it  not  unfrequently 
happens  with  jaundiced  persons,  according  to  the  varieties  of  the 
disease,  that  the  skin,  even  after  the  disorder  has  been  re- 
moved, remains  always  tinged  with  a  different  shade,  very  like 
the  skin  of  coloured  nations4.  Nor  are  examples  wanting  of  a 
genuine  sooty  blackness  being  sometimes  deposited  in  atra- 
bilious disorders  by  a  sort  of  true  metamorphosis  of  the  skin5. 
And  from  the  affinity  of  the  bile  with  fat6  it  is  clear  that  this 
sort  of  cherry  tint  has  been  observed  in  tawny  peoples7.  Hence, 
unless  I  am  mistaken,  we  must  look  for  the  reason  why  nations 


1  I  myself  have  often  observed  this  in  those  on  this  side  the  Ganges.  On  those 
beyond  the  Gauges  see  De  la  Loubere  in  Descript.  du  Royaume  de  Siam,  T.  i. 
p.  81.     On  the  Nicobars,  Nic.  Fontana  in  Asiatic  Researches,  Vol.  in.  p.  151. 

2  On  the  Caribbees  see  Rochefort,  Histoire  Naturelle  des  Antilles,  p.  383. 

3  Sommerring,  l/ber  die  Korperliche  verschiedenheit  des  Negers  vom  Ruropder,  p.  1 1 . 

4  See  Strack,  Observations  de  Febribus  Inter  mittentibus,  1.  in.  c.  2,  de  ictero  ex 
Febre  Intermittente.  "I  have  seen,"  says  he,  p.  194,  "from  such  a  jaundice  that 
an  olive -coloured  skin,  just  like  that  of  Asiatics,  has  remained  in  the  children. 
Another  person  has  become  almost  as  black  as  an  Indian  from  fever.  The  whole 
body  of  another  has  preserved  a  black  complexion,  as  if  he  had  been  born  from  an 
Indian  father  and  an  European  mother  ;  but  like  such  he  had  the  soles  of  his  feet 
and  the  palms  of  his  hands  white,"  &c. 

5  Lorry,  De  Melancholia,  T.  1.  p.  273. 

6  Fourcroy,  Philosophic  Chimique,  p.  III. 

7  Observed  in  the  Ethiopians  by  J.  Fr.  Meckel,  Histoire  de  V Academic  des 
Sciences  de  Berlin,  1753,  p.  92,  and  by  Sommerring,  I.  c.  p.  43. 


214  COLO  UK. 

who  feed  copiously  on  animal  oil  not  only  smell  of  it,  but  also 
contract  a  dark  colour  of  skin1;  while  the  more  elegant  Ota- 
heitans  on  the  contrary,  who  try  to  be  of  a  pale  colour,  live 
every  year  for  some  months  on  the  bread-fruit  alone,  to  the  use 
of  which  they  attribute  great  virtue  in  whitening  the  skin2 ; 
although  part  of  that  effect  must  be  attributed  to  the  fact  that 
during  the  same  period  they  remain  at  home,  covered  with 
clothes,  and  never  go  out.  How  great  an  influence  abstinence 
from  the  free  and  open  air  has  in  giving  whiteness  to  the  skin, 
our  own  experience  teaches  us  every  year,  when  in  spring  very 
elegant  and  delicate  women  show  a  most  brilliant  whiteness  of 
skin,  contracted  by  the  indoor  life  of  winter.  Whilst  those  who 
are  less  careful  in  this  way,  after  they  have  exposed  themselves 
freely  to  the  summer  sun  and  air,  lose  that  vernal  beauty 
before  the  arrival  of  the  next  autumn,  and  become  sensibly 
browner3. 

If  then  under  one  and  the  same  climate  the  mere  difference 
of  the  annual  seasons  has  such  influence  in  changing  the  colour 
of  the  skin4,  is  there  anything  surprising  in  the  fact  that  climates, 
in  the  sense  defined  above  (s.  34),  according  to  their  diversity 


1  Cranz,  Historie  von  Grbnland,  T.  I.  p.  1 78,  attributes  the  tawny  skin  of  the 
Greenlanders  to  their  particularly  oily  diet.  Sloane  declares,  Voyage  to  Jamaica, 
Vol.  1.  Introd.  p.  18,  and  Vol.  11.  p.  331,  that  the  skin  of  Europeans  in  the  East 
Indies  becomes  yellow  from  copious  meals  of  dishes  prepared  from  the  calipash 
of  turtles. 

2  See  the  account  of  the  surgeon  Anderson  in  Cook's  Voyage  to  the  Northern 
Hemisphere,  Vol.  11.  p.  147. 

3  From  the  cloud  of  witnesses  who  have  observed  the  same  well-known  effect 
of  the  mode  of  life  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  I  will  quote  only  one,  Poiret,  about 
the  Moors  in  Voyage  en  Barbarie,  p.  31.  "The  Moors  are  by  no  means  naturally 
black,  spite  of  the  proverb,  though  many  writers  think  so;  they  are  born  white 
and  remain  white  all  their  lives,  when  their  business  does  not  expose  them  to  the 
heat  of  the  sun.  In  the  towns  the  women  are  of  such  a  brilliant  whiteness  that 
they  eclipse  most  Europeans;  but  the  Mauritanian  mountaineers,  burnt  unceasingly 
by  the  sun  and  always  half-naked,  become,  even  from  infancy,  of  a  brown  colour, 
which  comes  very  near  to  that  of  soot." 

4  A  few  examples  out  of  many  will  suffice.  We  know  the  Biscayan  women 
are  of  a  brilliant  white,  those  of  Granada  on  the  contrary  brownish,  so  that  in  this 
southern  province  the  pictures  of  the  Virgin  Mary  are  painted  of  the  same  national 
colour  as  is  observed  by  01.  Toree,  Reise  nach  Surate,  p.  9.  We  are  told  expressly 
about  the  Malabars,  that  their  black  colour  approaches  nearer  to  tawny  and  yellow 
the  further  they  dwell  towards  the  north,  in  Tranquebarischen  Missions- Berichten, 
Contin.  XXII.  p.  896.  The  Ethiopians  on  the  north  shore  of  the  Senegal  are  tawny, 
on  the  south,  black.  See  with  others  Barbot  in  Churchill's  Collection  of  Voyages, 
T.  v.  p.  34. 


CEEOLES.  2 1 5 

should  have  the  greatest  and  most  permanent  influence  over 
national  colour :  everywhere  within  the  limits  of  a  few  degrees 
of  geographical  latitude,  and  still  more  when  a  multifarious 
concourse  of  the  causes1  above-mentioned  has  occurred  even 
under  the  same  latitude,  a  manifest  difference  in  the  colour  of 
the  inhabitants  may  be  observed-2. 

46.  Creoles.  The  same  power  of  affecting  colour,  about 
which  we  are  speaking,  is  shown  very  clearly  in  Creoles,  under 
which  name  (so  frequently  improperly  confounded  even  by  good 
authors3  with  the  word  Mulattos)  in  a  narrower  sense4  wTe  un- 
derstand those  men  born  indeed  either  in  the  East  or  the  West5 
Indies,  but  of  European  parents.  In  these  the  face  and  colour  are 
so  constant  and  impossible  to  be  mistaken,  breathing  as  it  were 
of  the  south,  and  particularly  besides  the  hair  and  the  almost 
burning  eyes,  that  the  most  brilliant  in  other  respects  and  most 
beautiful  women  may  easily  be  distinguished  by  those  peculiar 
characters  from  others,  even  their  relatives,  if  these  are  born  in 
Europe6.     Nor  does  this  appear  only  in  Europeans,  but  also  in 


1  Marsden,  History  of  Sumatra,  p.  43,  notices  the  effect  of  sea-air  upon  tlie 
skin,  and  so  Wallis  in  Hawkesworth's  Collection  of  Voyages,  Vol.  I.  p.  260.  Harts- 
ink,  that  of  woods,  Beschryving  van  Guinea,  T.  I.  p.  9.  Bouguer  of  mountains, 
Figure  de  la  Terre,  Intr.  p.  101,  de  Pinto  of  the  altitude  of  the  country,  in  Robert- 
son's Hist,  of  America,  "Vol.  11.  p.  403. 

2  On  this  point  Zimruermann  has  some  deep  and  learned  remarks  when  discus- 
sing the  problem  why  we  do  not  find  Ethiopians  in  America  also  in  equatorial 
regions.     Geograph.  geschichte  des  Mensclien,  T.  1.  p.  86. 

3  As  Thomas  Hyde  in  the  notes  to  Abr.  Peritsol,  Itinera  mundi,  in  XJgolini, 
Thesaurus  Anliquitatum  Sacrarum,  T.  VII.  p.  141. 

4  This  word  originated  with  the  Ethiopian  slaves  transported  in  the  sixteenth 
century  to  the  mints  in  America,  who  first  of  all  called  their  own  children  who 
were  born  there,  Criollos  and  Criollas:  this  name  was  afterwards  borrowed  from  the 
Spaniards,  and  imposed  upon  their  children  born  in  the  new  world.  See  Garcilasso, 
Del  Origen  de  los  Incas,  p.  m.  255.  Now  this  word  has  been  extended  in  the  East 
Indies  to  the  domestic  animals  which  are  not  indigenous  in  America,  but  have 
been  transplanted  there  by  Europeans.  Oldendorp,  Geschichte  der  Mission  auf  den 
Caraib.  Jnseln,  T.  1.  p.  232. 

5  On  these  Creoles  of  the  Antilles,  see  the  curious  and  elaborate  works  of  Gir- 
tanner,  iibcr  die  Franzosische  Revolution,  T.  I.  p.  60 — 72,  2nd  ed. 

6  Hawkesworth's  Collection  of  Voyages,  T.  ill.  p.  m.  374.  "If  two  natives  of 
England  marry  in  their  own  country  and  afterwards  remove  to  our  settlements  in 
the  West  Indies,  the  children  that  are  conceived  and  born  there  will  have  the  com- 
plexion and  cast  of  countenance  that  distinguish  the  Creole ;  if  they  return,  the 
children  conceived  and  born  afterwrards  will  have  no  such  characteristics,"  &c. 


216  MULATTOS. 

Asiatics  who  are  born  in  the  East  Indies  from  Persian  or  Mon- 
golian parents  who  have  emigrated  there  \ 

47.  Mulattos,  &c.  Remarkable  too  is  the  constancy  with 
which  offspring  born  from  parents  of  different  colours  present  a 
middle  tint  made  up  as  it  were  from  that  of  either  parent.  For 
although  we  read  everywhere  of  single  specimens  of  hybrid  in- 
fants born  from  the  union  (s.  37)  of  different  varieties  of  this  sort, 
who  have  been  of  the  colour  of  one  or  other  parent  alone2;  still, 
generally  speaking,  the  course  of  this  mixture  is  so  consistently 
hereditary,  that  we  may  suspect  the  accuracy  of  James  Bruce 
about  the  Ethiopians  of  some  countries  in  the  kingdom  of 
Tigre,  who  keep  their  black  colour  unadulterated,  although 
some  of  the  parents  were  of  one  colour  and  some  of  another; 
or  about  the  Arabians,  who  beget  white  children  with  the  female 
Ethiopians  like  the  father  alone3.  But  as  the  hybrids  of 
this  sort  of  origin  from  parents  of  various  colours  are  distin- 
guished by  particular  names,  it  will  be  worth  while  to  exhibit 
them  here  arranged  in  synoptical  order. 

A.  Tine  first  generation.  The  offspring  of  Europeans  and 
Ethiopians  are  called  Mulattos*.  Of  Europeans  and  Indians, 
Mestizos5.  Of  Europeans  and  Americans  also  Mestizos8  or 
Mestinde7,  or  Metifs8,  or  Mamlucks9.  Of  Ethiopians  and 
Americans  Zambos10;  by  those  called  also  Mulattos11,  Lobos12, 
Curibocas  and  Kabicglos13.  All  these  present  an  appearance  and 
colour    compounded  of  either   parent,  and  that  more  or  less 


1  See  Hodges's  Travels  in  India,  p.  3. 

2  Comp.  Jac.  Parsons  in  Philos.  Trans,  "Vol.  LV.  p.  47. 

3  Journey  to  the  Sources  of  the  Nile,  Vol.  in.  p.  106,  and  Vol.  iv.  p.  470.  See 
the  remarks  of  Tychsen  at  T.  v.  p.  357. 

4  See  a  law-suit  which  turned  upon  the  habit  and  characters  of  mulattos  in 
Klein,  Annalen  der  Gesetzgebung  in  den  Preussischen  Staaten,  T.  VII.  p.  116. 

5  See  the  figure  of  the  Cingalese  Mestizo  in  de  Bruin,  Reizen  over  Moskovie, 
p.  m.  358,  and  of  the  Ternatese  though  less  remarkable  in  Valentyn,  Oud  en  Nieuw 
Oost-Indien,  T.  1.  P.  2,  p.  18. 

6  Garcilasso,  " Por  dezir  que  somos  mezelados  de  ambas  Nasciones." 

7  Twiss'  Travels  through  Portugal  and  Spam,  p.  332,  from  pictures  seen  by 
him  at  Malaga. 

8  Labat,  Voyage  aux  isles  de  V Amerique,  T.  11.  p.  132. 

9  De  Hauterive,  Hist,  de  I'Acad.  des  Sc.  de  Paris,  1724,  p.  18. 

10  Gily,  Storia  Americana,  T.  IV.  p.  320.  u  Garcilasso,  I.  c. 

12  Twiss,  I.  c.  13  Marcgrav,  Tractatus  Brasilia?,  p.  12. 


MULATTOS.  217 

brownish  or  muddy,  with  scarcely  any  redness  visible  in  the 
cheeks.  The  hair  of  Mulattos  is  generally  curly,  that  of  the 
rest  straight,  of  almost  all  black ;  the  iris  of  the  eye  is  brown. 

B.  The  second  generation.  Mulattos  forming  unions  with 
each  other  produce  Gasquas1;  Europeans  and  Mulattos  Ter- 
cerons2, which  others  call  Quarterons3,  others  Moriscos4  and 
Mestizos5.  The  countenance  and  hair  of  all  is  that  of  Europeans, 
the  skin  very  lightly  stained  with  a  brownish  tint,  and  the 
cheeks  ruddy.  The  lips  of  the  female  mouth  and  pudenda 
violet  coloured;  the  scrotum  of  the  male  blackish.  The  Ethi- 
opians with  the  Mulattos  produce  Griffs6,  called  by  others 
Zambo  Mulattos'1,  and  by  others  Cabros8.  The  Europeans  with 
the  Indian  Mestizos,  Castissi9.  Those  born  of  Europeans  and 
American  Mestizos  are  called  Qtiarterons10  or  Quatralvi11,  and  by 
the  Spaniards  also  Castissi12.  Those  born  of  the  Americans 
themselves  and  their  Mestizos  are  called  Tresalvi13.  Those  of 
the  Americans  and  the  Mulattos  are  also  called  Mestizos14. 
Those  of  Europeans  and  Zambos  or  Lobos  of  the  first  generation 
are  called  indifferently  Mulattos15.  Those  of  the  Americans  and 
these  same  Zambos  or  Lobos  Zambaigi16.  The  progeny  of  the 
Zambos  or  Lobos  themselves  are  called  contemptuously  by  the 
Spaniards  Gholos17. 

C.  The  third  generation.  Some  call  those  who  are  born  of 
Europeans  and  Tercerons  Quaterons18,  others  Ochavons19,  or 
Octavons,  and  the  Spaniards  Alvinos20.     In  these  it  is  asserted 

I  De  Hauterive,  I.  c.  2  Long,  History  of  Jamaica,  T.  n.  p.  260. 
3  Aublet,  Histoire  des  Plantes  de  la  Guiane,  T.  11.  App.  p.  122.         4  Twiss. 

3  Moreton's  Manners  and  Customs  in  the  West  India  Islands,  p.  123. 
6  De  Hauterive,  I.  c.  7  Hist,  of  Jamaica,  I.  c. 

8  Bomare,  Dictionnaire  d'Histoire  Naturelle,  ed.  4,  T.  ix.  Art.  Negre. 

9  Tranqueoarische  Missions- Bericlite,  Contin.  xxxiii.  p.  919. 

10  Gumilk,  Orinoco  Jllustrado,  T.  1.  p.  83. 

II  Garcilasso,  I.  c,  "to  show  that  they  are  one-fourth  Indian,  and  three-fourths 
Spanish.1'  12  Twiss. 

13  Garcilasso,  "to  show  that  they  are  three  parts  Indian  and  one  part  Spanish." 

14  Hist,  of  Jamaica. 

15  Ferrain,  Sur  VGEcon.  Animale,  T.  1.  p.  179.  16  Twiss. 

17  Garcilasso,  "Cholo  is  a  word  of  the  islands  of  Barlovento,  meaning  the  same 
as  Dog;  and  the  Spaniards  use  it  by  way  of  contempt  or  reproach." 

18  History  of  Jamaica.     The  offspring  of  Quaterons  of  this  kind  from  Tercerons 
of  the  second  generation  are  called  Tente-enel-cyre. 

19  Gumilla,  I.  c.  p.  86.  20  Twiss. 


218  VARIEGATION. 

by  the  most  acute  observers  that  no  trace  of  their  Ethiopian 
origin  can  be  found1.  Those  of  Mulattos  and  Tercerons  Salta- 
tras2.  Of  Europeans  and  Castissi,  Postissi3.  Of  Europeans  and 
American  Quarterons  of  the  second  generation  Octavons*.  Of 
Quarterons  and  American  Mestizos  of  the  first  generation, 
Coyotas5.  Of  Griffs  and  Zambo  Mulattos  with  Zambos  of  the 
first  generation  Giveros6.  Of  Zambaigis  and  Mulattos  Cam- 
bujos7.  There  are  those  who  extend  even  into  the  fourth  gene- 
ration this  kind  of  pedigree,  and  say  that  those  born  from 
Europeans  from  Quarterons  of  the  third  generation  are  called 
Quinterons8,  in  Spanish  Puchuelas9,  but  this  name  is  also 
applied  to  those  who  are  born  of  Europeans  and  American 
Octavons10.  But  that  the  slightest  permanent  vestige  of  their 
mixed  origin11  is  to  be  found  in  productions  like  these,  after  what 
we  have  been  told  by  most  credible  eye-witnesses  about  the 
men  of  the  third  generation,  that  as  to  colour  and  constitution 
they  are  exactly  like  the  aboriginal  Europeans,  is  a  thing  that 
seems  almost  incredible. 

48.  Brown  skin  variegated  with  white  spots.  "What  I  said 
above  (s.  44)  about  the  action  of  the  sanguiferous  vessels  of 
the  corium  in  excreting  the  carbon,  which  is  afterwards  pre- 
cipitated by  the  addition  of  oxygen,  is  singularly  confirmed  by 
the  instances  of  dark-coloured  men,  especially  Ethiopians, 
wrhose  skin,  and  that  too  not  always  from  their  first  tender 
infancy 12,  is  distinguished  by  spots  of  a  snowy  whiteness  (Fr.  ne- 
g 'res-pies;  Eng.  piebald  negroes). 

I  saw  an  Ethiopian  of  this  kind  at  London,  by  name  John 
Richardson,  a  servant  of  T.  Clarke,  who  exhibited  there  (in 
Exeter  Change),  live  exotic  animals  as  shows  and  also  for  sale. 

1  Aublet.  2  Hist,  of  Jamaica.         3  Tranquelarische  Missions- Berichte,  I.  c. 

4  Gumilla,  I.  c.  p.  1 3.  5  Twiss.  6  History  of  Jamaica. 

7  Twiss.  8  Hist,  of  Jamaica. 

9  Gumilla,  p.  86.  ">  Id.  p.  83. 

11  Thus  those  born  from  the  Coyotes  of  the  third  generation  and  the  Americans 
are  called  Hamizos;  from  the  Cambujos  and  Mulattos,  Albarassados ;  finally, 
Twiss,  whom  I  have  so  often  quoted  before,  calls  those  born  from  the  last  and 
Mulattos,  Barzinos. 

12  W.  Byrd,  in  Philos.  Trans  Vol.  xix.  p.  781,  mentions  the  instance  of  an 
Ethiopian  boy  in  whom  the  spots  did  not  appear  till  his  fourth  year,  and  in  process 
of  time  began  to  increase  in  size. 


INSTANCES.  210 

The  young  man  was  perfectly  black  except  in  the  umbilical  and 
epigastric  region  of  the  abdomen,  and  in  the  middle  part  of 
either  leg,  that  is  the  knees,  with  the  adjoining  regions  of  the 
thigh  and  the  tibia,  which  were  remarkable  for  a  most  brilliant 
and  snowy  whiteness,  and  were  themselves  again  distinguished 
by  black  scattered  spots,  like  those  of  a  panther.  His  hair  was 
also  parti-coloured.  For  the  middle  part  of  his  sinciput  de- 
scending in  an  acute  angle  from  the  vertex  towards  the  fore- 
head was  white,  not  however  like  the  regions  of  the  skin  we  have 
been  speaking  of,  but  a  little  snowy  with  a  tinge  of  yellow. 
The  rest  of  the  hair  was,  as  is, usually  the  case  with  Ethiopians, 
curly;  and  this  curliness  still  continues  unaltered  up  to  this 
time,  in  a  specimen  of  each  kind  of  hair  which  I  obtained  from 
the  man  himself  more  than  two  years  ago.  I  had  also  a  picture 
taken  of  the  man,  which  on  comparison  with  three  others 
equally  of  Ethiopians,  which  I  have  by  me,  a  boy  and  two  girls, 
shows  that  in  all,  the  regions  of  the  abdomen  and  legs  were 
more  or  less  white,  but  that  the  hands  and  feet,  that  is,  those 
parts  which  with  the  groin  are  the  first  to  grow  black  in  new- 
born Ethiopians,  were  perfectly  tawny,  and  that  in  all  the 
disposition  of  the  white  regions  was  thoroughly  symmetrical. 
The  gums,  to  go  on  to  that  also,  in  the  man  I  saw,  the  tongue 
and  all  the  jaws,  were  of  an  equable  and  beautiful  red. 

Both  the  parents  of  the  man  I  am  speaking  of,  as  of  all  the 
other  spotted  Ethiopians1  of  whom  I  have  found  descriptions,  were 
perfectly  black,  so  that  the  conjecture  of  Buffon  seems  badly 
founded  when  he  attributes  such  offspring  to  the  union  of  Ethio- 
pians and  Leucsethiopian  women,  when  suffering  under  a  dis- 
eased affection  of  the  skin  and  the  eyes,  about  which  I  shall 
take  an  opportunity  of  speaking  more  particularly  below. 

Care  must  always  be  taken  that  the  spots  we  are  speaking 
about,  and  which  can  only  be  distinguished  by  a  snowy  white- 


1  See  a  print  of  a  girl  of  this  kind  in  Buffon,  Suppl.  T.  IV.  Tab.  2,  p.  565. 
This,  unless  I  am  mistaken,  is  the  same  which  has  been  described  at  length  by 
Gumilla,  Orinoco  Illustrado,  T.  1.  p.  109.  Other  instances  of  this  kind  of  Ethio- 
pians are  found  in  La  Mothe,  Bibliotheque  Impartiale,  Apr.  1752.  See  D.  Morgan 
in  Transactions  of  the  Philosophical  Society  at  Philadelphia,  Vol,  II.  p.  392. 


220  SKIN. 

ness  from  the  rest  of  the  skin,  the  epidermis  being  in  other 
respects  unaffected,  be  not  improperly  confounded  with  those 
by  which  the  whole  integument  is  covered,  which  are  to  be 
recognized  not  so  much  by  a  different  colour  as  by  a  degrada- 
tion of  the  texture  of  the  corium  itself,  which  becomes  rough, 
and  as  it  were  scaly  or  scurvy.  Writers  have  observed  this 
kind  of  cutaneous  disorder  particularly  amongst  the  Malabars1, 
and  the  Tschulymik  Tartars'2.  But  these  snowy,  equable  and 
smooth  spots  which  only  occur  in  a  disordered  action  of  the 
smallest  vessels  of  the  corium,  are  by  no  means  confined  to 
the  Ethiopians,  but  sometimes  occur  amongst  our  own  peo- 
ple. I  have  myself  had  the  opportunity  of  observing  two  in- 
stances of  this  kind  in  German  men,  one  a  young  man,  the 
other  more  than  sixty  years  old.  The  skin  of  each  was  brown- 
ish, studded  here  and  there  with  very  white  spots  of  different 
sizes.  In  neither  were  these  congenital,  but  had  appeared  sud- 
denly and  spontaneously  in  one  during  infancy,  in  the  other  in 
manhood. 

49.  Similar  remarkable  mutations  of  the  colour  of  the  skin. 
As  these  instances  I  have  just  been  mentioning  seem  to  demon- 
strate the  power  of  the  smaller  vessels  of  the  corium  in  modi- 
fying the  colour  of  the  skin ;  so  there  are  other  phenomena 
which  often  occur,  and  point  in  this  direction,  by  which,  unless 
I  am  much  mistaken,  those  conjectures  I  made  above  (s.  44,  45) 
about  the  abundance  of  carbon,  and  the  impressions  of  the  Mal- 
pighian  mucus  being  as  it  were  the  proximate  cause  of  that 
colour,  are  well  illustrated. 

Above  all  others  I  shall  consider  in  this  place  the  singular 
change  of  colour  so  often  observed  in  European  women3,  in  some 

1  Tranquebarische  Missions- Berichte,  Cont.  xxi.  p.  741,  compare  the  disorder  to 
leprosy. 

2  See  Strahlenberg,  Nord-ostlich  Europa  und  Asien,  p.  166,  who  suspects  them 
to  be  the  same  Tartar  horde  which  went  under  the  name  of  Piegaja  or  Pestraja  orda. 
J.  G-.  Gmelin  attributes  it  to  disease,  Reise  durch  Sibirien,  pref.  T.  II.  and  J.  Bell 
to  some  scorbutic  affection,  Travels  from  St  Petersburg  to  diverse  parts  of  Asia,  Vol. 
I.  p.  218. 

3  "  In  many  women  the  under  part  of  the  body  (the  abdomen)  and  the  rings 
about  the  breasts  (that  is  the  teats)  when  they  are  ill,  become  quite  black." 
Camper,  Klein  Schrift,  T.  1.  P.  I.  p.  47.     "In  our  own  time  a  Bimilar  metamor- 


BLACKNESS.  221 

of  whom,  and  those  in  other  respects  particularly  white,  at  the 
time  of  pregnancy  a  larger  or  smaller  number  of  the  parts  of 
the  body  are  darkened  with  a  coaly  blackness,  which  however 
gradually  disappears  again  after  child-birth,  when  the  original 
clearness  is  restored  to  the  body.  The  solution  of  this  puz- 
zling problem  is  to  be  found  in  the  application  of  modern  che- 
mistry to  the  physiology  of  pregnancy.  When  the  woman  is  not 
pregnant  the  moderate  portion  of  carbon  of  her  own  body  is 
easily  excreted  by  superfluous  cutaneous  perspiration  ;  but  in  a 
pregnant  woman,  besides  her  own  share,  another  quantity 
accrues  from  the  foetus,  which  immersed  in  ammonial  liquid 
does  not  as  yet  breathe.  Thus  the  blood  of  the  mother  be- 
comes too  much  laden  with  the  carbon  arising  from  two  human 
bodies  joined  as  it  were  in  one,  so  that  all  of  it  cannot  as 
usual  be  excreted  with  the  perspiration  of  the  mother  :  so  part 
of  it  is  precipitated  in  the  Malpighian  mucus,  and  there  re- 
mains, tinging  the  skin,  until  the  child  being  delivered,  the 
original  equilibrium  between  the  carbon  of  her  own  body  and 
the  perspiring  vessels  of  the  skin  is  restored;  and  the  epider- 
mis, which  with  the  mucus  lying  under  it  is  constantly  de- 
stroyed by  degrees  and  again  renewed  at  last,  recovers  its 
natural  whiteness. 

In  different  circumstances  the  same  reason  seems  to  hold 
good  in  so  many  instances  of  Europeans,  in  whom  the  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  body  are  unnaturally  affected  by  a  smoky 
blackness  ;  since  here  also  it  may  be  referred  to  a  congestion  of 
carbon.  Thus,  for  instance,  a  similar  blackness  is  observable  in 
women  who  never  menstruate1.     So  also  in  other  atrabilious 


ptosis  has  been  renewed  annually  in  the  person  of  a  lady  of  distinction,  of  a  good 
complexion,  and  a  very  white  skin.  As  soon  as  she  was  pregnant,  she  began  to 
get  brown,  and  towards  the  end  of  her  time  she  became  a  true  negress.  After  her 
deliveries  the  black  colour  disappeared  little  by  little,  her  original  whiteness  re- 
turned, and  her  progeny  had  no  trace  of  blackness."  Bomare,  I.e.  Art.  Negre.  Le 
Cat,  I.  c.  in  many  places  ;  for  ex.  p.  141.  "A  peasant  of  the  environs  of  Paris,  a 
nurse  by  profession,  had  the  belly  regularly  quite  black  at  every  pregnancy,  and 
that  colour  disappeared  after  delivery."  "  Another  always  had  the  left  leg  black 
on  those  occasions,"  &c.  So  also  Lorry,  De  Melancholia,  T.  I.  p.  298,  &c. 
1  Comp.  Jas.  Yonge  in  Philosoph.  Trans.  Vol,  xxvi.  p.  425. 


222  SKIN. 

men1,  especially  of  the  lowest  sort,  and  those  who  suffer  from 
cachexia  caused  by  want  and  dirt.  This  is  often  the  case  too  in 
scurvy2,  &c.  On  the  other  hand  we  know  by  experience  that 
the  blackness  of  the  Ethiopians  is  not  so  constant  but  what  it 
sometimes  is  rendered  paler,  or  even  changed  quite  into  a  white 
colour.  It  has  been  recorded  that  Ethiopians,  when  they  have 
changed  their  climate  in  early  infancy'  and  from  that  time 
forward  have  inhabited  a  temperate  zone,  have  gone  on  getting 
paler  by  degrees3.  The  same  thing  happens  also  somewhat 
quicker  to  the  same  negroes  when  they  suffer  under  severe 
disorders4.  Many  instances  also  are  to  be  found  where,  apart 
from  any  particular  state  of  health,  the  natural  blackness  of 
the  Ethiopian  skin  has  sensibly  and  spontaneously  been  changed 
into  a  whiteness,  such  as  that  of  Europeans5. 

50.  Some  other  national  properties  of  skin.  Besides  colour, 
other  singular  qualities  are  often  attributed  to  the  skin  of 
some  nations,  about  which  I  must  say  a  few  words  at  all 
events.  Amongst  these  there  is  that  smoothness  and  softness 
of  skin  which  has  been  compared  to  silk,  and  has  been  noticed 


1  I  have  in  my  anatomical  collection  a  specimen  of  the  integuments  of  the 
abdomen  of  a  beggar  who  died  here  some  years  ago,  which  does  not  yield  at  all  in 
blackness  to  the  skin  of  the  Ethiop.  Others  too  have  shown  many  instances  of 
that  kind  in  Europeans.  See  for  ex.  Haller,  Element.  Physiol.  T.  V.  p.  iS. 
Ludwig,  Epistolce  ad  Hallerum  scriptce,  T.  I.  p.  393.  De  Pdet,  De  organo 
tactus,  p.  13.  Albinus,  De  seele  et  caussa  colons  j-Ethiopum,  p.  9.  Klinkosch,  De 
cuticula,  p.  46.  Sommerring,  Vber  die  lorperl.  vcrschiedenheit  des  Negers  vom 
Em-opder,  p.  48.  Comp.  Loschge  in  Naturforscher,  P.  XSIU.  p.  2 14.  ib.  P.  XVI. 
p.  170,  for  the  description  of  some  brown  (Diutkelbraun)  spots  of  different  size, 
some  of  the  diameter  of  a  span,  observed  in  a  man  then  sixty  years  old,  in  whom 
they  appeared  when  young  during  a  quartan  fever. 

2  Comp.  besides  others,  Jo.  Narborough's  Voyage  to  the  Straits  of  Magellan, 
p.  m.  64.  "Their  legs  and  thighs  are  turned  as  black,  as  a  hat,"  &c.  So  also 
Phillip's  Voyage  to  Botany  Bay,  p.  229. 

3  "  There  is  a  cobbler  of  this  nation  still  living  at  Venice,  whose  blackness, 
after  a  great  many  years,  (for  he  came  to  this  country  a  boy)  has  so  sensibly 
diminished,  that  he  seems  like  one  suffering  from  a  slight  jaundice."  Caldan, 
Jnstitut.  Physiol,  p.  15  f,  ed.  1786.  Comp.  also  Pechlin,  De  habit u  et  colore 
JEthiopum,  p.  128,  and  Oldendorp,  T.  I.  p.  406. 

4  "  I  have  seen  them  of  so  light  a  colour  that  it  was  difficult  to  distinguish 
them  from  a  white  man  of  a  bad  complexion."  Labat,  Relation  d'Afrigue  occiden- 
talc,  T.  ir.  p.  260.     And  Klinkosch,  /.  c.  p.  48. 

3  Comp.  Jas.  Bate  in  Philosoph.  Trans.  Vol.  LI.  P.  I.  p.  175. 


HA1E.  2-23 

by  writers  in  many  nations,  as  the  Caribs1,  the  Ethiopian2,  the 
Otaheitans3  and  even  the  Turks4.  It  is  clear  that  in  all  these 
it  depends  either  upon  a  more  tender  epidermis,  or  a  thicker 
stratum  of  the  Malpighian  mucus.  The  cause  of  the  coldness 
to  the  touch  which  has  been  observed  in  the  skin  of  various 
nations  of  Africa5  and  the  East  Indies6  seems  different,  and 
must  be  referred  rather  to  the  chemical  affinities  of  the  body 
and  the  atmospheric  elements.  Here  also  is  to  be  considered 
that  insensible  perspiration  of  Sanctorius,  which  is  accompa- 
nied in  some  nations  with  a  peculiar  smell,  as  in  the  Caribs7, 
Ethiopians8,  and  others  ;  in  the  same  way  that  in  some  varieties 
of  domestic  animals,  as  among  dogs,  the  Egyptian,  among  horses, 
those  of  a  reddish- white  are  well  known  to  have  a  specific  and 
peculiar  perspiration9. 

51.  Consensus  of  the  hair  and  shin.  As  the  hair,  especially 
that  of  the  head,  is  generated  and  nourished  by  the  common 
integuments,  so  it  has  invariably  a  great  and  multifarious 
agreement  with  them.  Hence,  those  variegated  Ethiopians  we 
spoke  of  have  also  hair  of  different  colour.  Men  whose  white 
skin  is  marked  with  ephelitic  spots  have  red  hair10.     Besides, 


1  "  Their  flesh  is  very  dark  and  soft ;  when  you  touch  their  skin,  it  feels  like 
satin."  Biet,  Voyage  de  la  France  Equinoxiale,  p.  352. 

2  Pechiin,  I.  c.  p.  54,  and  Sommerring,  I.  c.  p.  45. 

3  "Their  skin  is  most  delicately  smooth  and  soft."  Hawkes.  Coll.  T.  II.  p.  m. 
1S7. 

+  "  The  wife  of  every  labourer  or  rustic  in  Asia  (Turkey)  has  a  skin  so  soft  that 
you  seem  to  touch  a  fine  velvet."  Belon,  Obs.  p.  m.  198. 

5  Bruce's  Voyage  to  the  Sources  of  the  Nile,  T.  11.  p.  552,  T.  iv.  p.  471  and 
489. 

6  On  the  Indians  see  Kant  in  Engel,  Philosophic  fur  die  Welt,  P.  II.  p.  154. 
On  the  inhabitants  of  Sumatra,  Marsden,  p.  41. 

7  "They  all  have  a  strong  and  disagreeable  smell.  I  know  nothing  which  can 
give  an  idea  of  it.  When  anything  smells  like  it,  they  say  in  the  Antilles,  'a  smell 
of  Carib,'  which  shows  the  difficulty  of  expressing  it."  Thibault  de  Charwalon, 
Voyage  a  la  Martinique,  p.  44. 

8  Comp.  Schotte  On  the  synochus  atrabiliosa,  p.  104.     Hist,  of  Jamaica,  11.  pp. 

35*>  425. 

9  So  Pausanias  in  his  Phocica  tells  us  that  the  Ozolians,  an  indigenous  people, 
of  Locris,  smelt  disgustingly  on  account_of  something  in  the  air.  Comp.  Lavater, 
Physiognom.  Fragmente,  T.  iv.  p.  268.  And  J.  F.  Ackerman,  De  discrimine 
sexuum  proeter  genitalia,  p.  10. 

10  Among  ourselves  the  thing  is  very  common.  It  has  been  observed  also  among 
the  most  distant  nations;  as  in  the  island  Otaha  of  the  Pacific  ocean.  See  J.  R.- 
Forster,  Bemerhungen  auf  seiner  reise  um  die  welt,  p.   205.     Many  inhabitants  of 


224  HATR. 

there  is  a  remarkable  correspondence  of  the  hair  with  the 
whole  constitution  and  temperament  of  the  body.  .This,  too, 
we  learn  from  pathological  phenomena,  such  for  example  as 
that  those  who  have  yellow  hair  (blondins),  in  consequence  of 
the  tenderer  and  more  impressible  cellular  texture,  break  out 
more  easily  in  rashes  and  similar  eruptions ;  whilst  those  who 
have  black  hair  are  almost  always  of  a  costive  and  atrabilious 
temperament,  so  much  so  that  it  has  long  since  been  observed 
that  far  the  greater  number  of  men  in  mad  hospitals  and  jails 
have  black  hair. 

52.  Principal  national  varieties  of  hair.  In  general,  the 
national  diversity  of  hair  seems  capable  of  being  reduced  to 
four  principal  varieties : 

1.  The  first  of  a  brownish  or  nutty  colour  (cendre),  shading 
off  on  the  one  side  into  yellow,  on  the  other  into  black  :  soft, 
long,  and  undulating.  Common  in  the  nations  of  temperate 
Europe ;  formerly  particularly  famous  among  the  inhabitants 
of  ancient  Germany  \ 

2.  The  second,  black,  stiff,  straight,  and  scanty  ;  such  as  is 
common  to  the  Mongolian  and  American  nations. 

3.  The  third,  black,  soft,  in  locks,  thick  and  exuberant ; 
such  as  the  inhabitants  of  most  of  the  islands  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean  exhibit. 

4.  The  fourth,  black  and  curly,  which  is  generally  compared 
to  the  wool  of  sheep ;  common  to  the  Ethiopians. 

Thus,  a  general  division  of  this  kind  may  be  made,  which 
is  not  without  its  use.  That  it  is  no  more  a  purely  natural 
division  than  other  divisions  of  the  national  varieties  of  human 
races,  is  not  necessary  to  dwell  upon  here.  This  I  will  show, 
though  it  is  quite  unnecessary,  by  one  or  two  arguments, 
namely,  that  curliness  is  not  peculiar  to  the  Ethiopians,  nor 
blackness  to  the  three  varieties  I  put  in  the  last  place.     Some 


Timur  are  of  a  copper  colour  with  red  hair  ;  see  Van  Hogendorp  in  Verhandelingen 
van  het  Bataviaasch  Genootschap,   T.   I.  p.  m.   319.     Marcgrav  saw  an  African 
woman  with  an  undoubted  red  skin  and  red  hair,  Tractatus  Brasilia,  p.  12. 
1  Conring,  De  habitus  corporum  Germanicorum  antiqui  ac  novi  causis,  p.  85. 


EYES.  225 

races  of  Ethiopians  are  found  with  long  hair1 ;  other  copper- 
coloured  nations  again  have  curly  hair2,  like  that  of  the  Ethio- 
pians. There  are  others,  the  New  Hollanders,  whose  hair,  as  I 
see  from  the  specimens  I  have  in  hand,  holds  so  perfectly  the 
middle  place  between  the  curliness  of  the  Ethiopians  and  the 
locks  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  islands  in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  that 
a  wonderful  difference  of  opinion  is  to  be  found  in  the  ac- 
counts of  expeditions  from  the  first  Dutch  ones  of  the  last 
century  to  the  very  latest  of  the  English,  as  to  which  variety  of 
hair  it  should  be  considered  to  belong.  As  to  the  various 
colour  of  hairs,  occurring  amongst  those  nations  also,  who  gene- 
rally have  black  hair,  it  is  sufficient  to  cite  good  witnesses,  who 
say  that  red  hair  is  frequently  found  in  the  three  other  varieties 
I  reckoned  besides  the  first. 

53.  The  iris  of  the  eye  conforms  to  the  colour  of  the  hair. 
We  have  seen  that  the  hair  coincides  with  the  common  integu- 
ments of  the  body.  Aristotle3  had,  however,  long  ago  taught 
that  the  colour  of  the  eyes  followed  that  of  the  skin.  Those 
whose  colour  was  white  had  grey  eyes ;  black,  black  eyes. 
Thus  very  often  amongst  ourselves  new-born  infants  have  grey 
eyes  and  light  hair,  which  afterwards  in  those  who  become  dark 
(brunet),  is  slowly  and  as  it  were  simultaneously  darkened  also. 
In  old  men  as  the  hair  grows  white  the  pigment  of  the  internal 
eye  loses  much  of  its  usual  dark  colour.  In  the  Leuccethiopians, 
about  whom  I  shall  speak  more  particularly  below,  as  the  hair 
passes  from  a  yellowish  tinge  to  white,  so  the  pigment  of  the 
eye  is  clearly  nothing,  and  hence  a  pale  rosy  kind  of  iris. 

It  is  remarkable  that  in  no  case  at  all  is  there  any  variation 
in  the  eyes  of  animals,  except  in  those  who  vary  in  the  colour 
of  their  skin  and  hair,  as  we  know  to  be  the  case  not  only  in 
men  and  horses,  which  was  the  opinion  of  the  ancients,  but  also 


1  Comp.  Bruce  on  the  Gallas,  Journey,  &c.  Vol.  II.  p.  214.  As  to  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  kingdom  of  Bornou,  Proceedings  of  the  Association,  p.  m.  ■201. 

2  The  inhabitants  of  the  Duke  of  York's  Island  not  far  from  the  New  Ireland 
of  the  Southern  Ocean.  See  J.  Hunter's  Historical  Journal  of  the  Transactions  at 
Port  Jackson,  &c.  p.  233  :  "  they  are  of  a  light  copper  colour,  the  hair  is  woolly." 

3  Problemat.  s.  10.  p.  416,  ed.  Casaub. 

15 


226  PHYSIOGNOMY. 

in  other  principally  domestic  animals.  Very  often  also  the  iris 
is  variegated  with  more  than  one  colour  in  those  animals  whose 
skin  is  variegated.  This  was  first  observed  in  parti-coloured 
dogs1.  I  have  noticed  something  like  it  in  sheep  and  horses, 
but  in  no  animal  so  plainly  as  in  rabbits.  Grey  rabbits  who 
have  kept  their  natural  wild  colour  have  the  iris  quite  black, 
whereas  the  parti-coloured  ones,  whose  skin  is  spotted  with 
black  and  white,  have  the  iris  manifestly  spotted  in  the  same 
way.  Those  which  are  quite  white,  and  like  Leucsethiopians, 
have,  as  is  well  known,  the  iris  of  a  pale  red. 

54.  Principal  colours  of  eyes.  Aristotle,  whom  I  just  quoted, 
divided  well  the  primary  colours  of  the  iris  of  the  human  eye 
into  three;  first,  blue;  second,  dark  orange,  called  goats'  eyes 
(yeux  de  chevres2) ;  third,  dark  brown.  All  these  three  as  they 
occur  everywhere  in  individuals  of  one  and  the  same  nation,  so 
also  are  they  to  be  noticed  as  more  constant  and  as  it  were 
racial  in  different  families  of  the  same  continent  within  the 
limits  of  a  few  degrees  of  geographical  latitude.  Hence  Linngeus3 
attributes  those  among  the  Swedish  population  to  the  Gothic 
race,  who  have  white  hair,  with  the  iris  of  the  eye  of  a  dark- 
blue  colour ;  to  the  Finnic,  those  with  yellow  hair  and  dark  iris ; 
to  the  Lapp,  finally,  those  with  black  hair  and  blackish  iris.  Blue 
eyes  equally  with  yellow  hair  were  formerly  considered  as  natu- 
ral characteristics  of  the  ancient  Germans.  But  they  are  found 
everywhere  amongst  the  most  widely  separated  nations*.  The 
very  black  irides  of  the  Ethiopians  are  such  that,  especially  in  liv- 
ing subjects,  they  cannot  be  distinguished,  excepting  when  very 
close,  from  the  pupil  itself5. 

55.  National  face.     I  now  turn  naturally  enough  from  the 


1  Comp.  Molinelli  in  Commentar.  instituti  Bonon.  T.  III.  p.  -28 1. 

2  There  is  a  middle  colour  between  grey  and  orange  of  a  strange  greenish  tint, 
and  as  it  were  grass  green,  which  is  to  be  seen  in  men  who  have  fiery  hair,  and  skin 
much  spotted  with  freckles.  Comp.  that  singular  book  Portius,  Sim.  De  coloribus 
oculorum,  Florentii,    1550,  4to. 

3  Fauna  Suecica,  p.  1. 

4  I  have  collected  the  instances  in  my  notes  to  J.  Bruce,  Eeise  zv,  den  quellen  des 
Nils.  T.  v.  p.  239. 

5  Thus  must  be  understood  the  words  of  J.  G.  Walter,  De  venis  oculi,  p.  23, 
'•  The  Ethiopian  has  no  iris,"  &c. 


VARIETIES.    '  227 

eyes  to  the  rest  of  the  face,  the  diversities  of  which  are  all  over 
the  world  so  great  and  so  remarkable  in  individuals  that  it  is 
little  short  of  a  miracle  to  find  even  two  who  cannot  be  distin- 
guished from  each  other,  and  are,  as  they  say,  cast  in  the  same 
mould.  Besides  it  is  certain  that  this  difference  of  faces  may  be 
observed  not  only  in  Europeans  but  also  among  barbarous  na- 
tions1. Yet,  however  true  all  this  may  be,  it  is  not  the  less 
undoubtedly  a  fact  that  every  different  variety  of  mankind  (and 
everywhere,  even  in  the  inhabitants  of  single  provinces2)  all  over 
the  world  has  a  racial  face  peculiar  to  each  of  them  by  which  it 
may  be  easily  distinguished  from  the  remaining  varieties. 

56.  Racial  varieties  of  the  face.  I  have  made  an  attempt, 
after  assiduously  comparing  a  quantity  of  prints  of  foreigners 
made  for  me  from  the  life  by  skilled  artists,  and  after  seeing 
myself  a  great  number  of  men  in  the  markets  which  are  prin- 
cipally frequented  by  foreigners,  to  reduce  these  racial  varieties 
of  the  face  into  certain  classes.  And  unless  I  am  much  mis- 
taken, although  open  to  particular  exceptions,  still  they  will 
come  close  to  natural  truth  if  they  are  reduced  in  the  following 
way  to  five,  as  models  and  principal  forms  of  the  other  diversi- 
ties of  small  moment : 

1st.  Face  oval,  straight,  the  parts  moderately  marked. 
The  forehead  smooth.  Nose  narrow,  slightly  hooked,  or  at  all 
events  somewhat  high.  The  jugal  bones  in  no  way  prominent. 
Mouth  small,  lips  (especially  the  lower)  gently  pronounced. 
Chin  full,  round.     In  general  that  kind  of  face,  which,  accord- 


1  Thus  on  the  aborigines  of  the  Friendly  Islands  that  most  sagacious  observer, 
W.  Anderson:  "their  features  are  very  various,  in  so  much  that  it  is  scarcely 
possible  to  fix  on  any  general  likeness  by  which  to  characterize  them,  unless  it  be 
a  fulness  at  the  point  of  the  nose,  which  is  very  common.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
we  met  with  hundreds  of  truly  European  faces,  and  many  genuine  Roman  noses 
amongst  them."  Cook's  last  voyage,  Vol.  I.  p.  380.  Other  instances  of  this  kind 
observed  amongst  Ethiopians  and  Americans  will  be  spoken  of  below.  On  the 
other  hand  the  similarity  of  individual  Europeans  with  the  Ethiopians  or  Mon- 
golians is  so  common  as  to  have  passed  into  a  proverb. 

2  On  this  point  Libavius,  an  author  by  no  means  to  be  despised,  says  two 
hundred  years  ago:  "The  aspect  of  the  Thuringians  is  one  thing;  that  of  the 
Saxons  another ;  and  that  of  the  Suevi  another,  and  nearly  every  village  has  its 
own,  so  that  if  you  chose  to  study  the  subject,  you  could  nearly  tell  a  man's  country 
by  his  appearance." 

15—2 


228  PHYSIOGNOMY. 

ing  to  our  opinion  of  symmetry,  we  think  becoming  and  beauti- 
ful. This  same  kind  of  face  constitutes,  as  it  were,  a -.medium 
which  may  fall  off  by  degeneration  into  two  exactly  opposite 
extremes,  of  which  the  one  displays  a  wide  and  the  other  an 
elongated  face.  Each  of  these  two  includes  again  two  different 
varieties,  which  can  best  be  distinguished  from  each  other  when 
seen  in  profile.  For  then  one  of  these  varieties  shows  the  nose 
and  the  remaining  parts  somewhat  indistinct,  and,  as  it  were, 
running  into  one  another.  In  the  other  they  appear  deeper,  so 
to  say,  cut  out,  and,  as  it  were,  projecting  angularly.  Thus  we 
come  to  form  the  four  remaining  varieties  besides  that  first 
mean  type. 

A.  One  pair  with  the  face  developed  in  width: — 

2nd.  Face  wide,  at  the  same  time  flat  and  depressed;  the 
parts,  therefore,  indistinct  and  running  into  one  another.  In- 
terspace between  the  eyes,  or  glabella,  smooth,  very  wide. 
Nose  flattened.  Cheeks  usually  rounded,  projecting  outwards. 
Opening  of  the  eyelids  narrow,  linear  (yeux  brides).  Chin, 
somewhat  prominent.  This  is  the  countenance  common  to  the 
Mongolian  nations  (the  Tartar  face  from  the  common  figure  of 
speech  which  we  shall  touch  on  below,  confounding  the  Tartars 
with  the  Mongolians). 

3rd.  Face  also  wide  and  cheeks  prominent,  though  not  fiat 
or  depressed,  but  the  parts  when  seen  in  profile  more  worked 
and,  as  it  were,  deeply  cut  out.  Forehead  low.  Eyes  deeply 
set.  Nose  somewhat  turned  up,  but  prominent.  This  is  the 
face  of  most  Americans. 

B.  Pair  of  varieties  of  the  face  elongated  below  : — 

4th.  Narrow  face,  prominent  below.  Forehead  short,  wrinkled. 
Eyes  very  prominent  (d  fieur-de-tete).  Nose  thick  and  half 
confused  with  the  extended  cheeks  (le  nez  epate).  Lips  (espe- 
cially the  upper)  full  and  swelling.  Jaws  stretched  out.  Chin 
falling  back.     This  is  the  Guinea  face. 

5th.  Face  less  narrow,  somewhat  prominent  below,  when 
seen  in  profile  the  parts  more  projecting  and  distinct  from  each 
other.     Nose  full,  somewhat  broad,  as  it  were  diffuse,  end  thick 


causes.  229 

(bottled).  Mouth  large.  This  is  the  face  of  the  Malay,  especi- 
ally of  the  inhabitants  of  the  islands  of  the  Southern  Ocean. 

57.  Causes  of  the  racial  face.  First  of  all,  notice  must  be 
taken  that  I  am  not  going  to  speak  here  of  the  countenance, 
taken  in  a  physiognomical  sense,  {look,  expression,)  as  an  index 
of  the  temperament,  which  is  however  itself  sometimes  racial, 
and  peculiar  to  some  nations,  and  may  be  derived  from  a 
common  source.  In  that  way  it  is  probable  that  to  their  diet 
you  may  attribute  the  placid  countenance  of  the  abstemious 
Brahmins  and  Banyans  of  India,  and  the  atrocious  aspect,  on  the 
other  hand,  of  the  man-eating  Botocudos1  of  Brazil;  or  you  may 
instance  religion  by  the  examples  of  the  pious  and  devoted 
countenance  by  which  especially  the  softer  sex  is  distinguished 
in  some  countries  of  southern  Europe  (in  the  vernacular  Ma- 
donna faces) ;  or  cultivation  and  luxury,  in  which  the  soft  and 
effeminate  Otaheitans  so  much  excel  the  manly  and  powerful 
New  Zealanders. 

But  our  business  is  with  the  causes  of  the  racial  face,  that 
is,  of  the  countenance  itself  and  the  proportion  and  direction  of 
its  parts,  all  of  which  we  see  to  be  peculiar  and  characteristic  to 
the  different  varieties  of  mankind.  The  mere  discussion,  how- 
ever, of  these  causes  is  overwhelmed  with  such  difficulties  that 
we  can  only  follow  probable  conjectures.  I.  am  persuaded, 
myself,  that  climate  is  the  principal  cause  of  the  racial  face,  on 
three  grounds  especially;  1st,  we  see  the  racial  face  so  univer- 
sal in  some  populations  under  a  particular  climate,  and  always 
exactly  the  same  in  men  of  different  classes  and  modes  of  life, 
that  it  can  scarcely  be  referred  to  any  other  cause.  There  are 
the  Chinese,  for  example,  amongst  whom  a  sort  of  flattened  face 
is  just  as  characteristic  as  a  symmetrical  and  particular  beauty 
is  common  amongst  us  Europeans  to  the  English  and  inhabit- 
ants of  Majorca2. 

2nd.  Unless  I  am  mistaken  there  are  instances  of  peoples 
who  after  they  have  changed  their  localities  and  have  migrated 

1  I  owe  my  account  of  this  most  ferocious  and  anthropophagous  race  to  two 
Portuguese  Brazilians,  de  Camara  and  d'Andrada. 

2  MSmoires  du  Cardinal  de  Retz,  T.  III.  p.  343. 


230  INSTANCES. 

elsewhere,  in  process  of  time  have  changed  also  their  original 
form  of  countenance  for  a  new  one,  peculiar  to  the  new  climate. 
Thus  the  Yakutes  have  been  referred  to  a  Tartar  origin  by  most 
authors  on  northern  antiquities.  Careful  eye-witnesses  assert 
that  now  their  face  is  Mongolian,  and  I  myself  see  it  plainly  in 
the  skull  of  a  Yakute,  with  which  the  munificence  of  Baron  von 
Asch_  has  enriched  my  anthropological  collection1.  Something 
of  the  same  kind  will  be  observed  below  about  the  Americans  of 
either  coldest  zone  (s.  88).  I  have  already  shown  that  the  Creoles 
sprung  from  English  parents  and  ancestors  in  the  Antilles,  have 
finally  exchanged  to  some  extent  the  native  British  countenance 
for  one  more  like  the  aborigines  of  America,  and  have  acquired 
their  deep-set  eyes  and  their  more  prominent  cheeks 2. 

Egypt,  however,  and  India  this  side  the  Ganges  afford  us 
the  clearest  examples  of  all.  For  as  this  peninsula  has  been 
frequently  subdued  by  the  most  different  nations,  because  the 
first  conquerors  becoming  effeminated  by  living  in  such  a  soft 
climate  were  at  last  conquered  by  other  and  stronger  northern 
nations  who  came  after  them,  so  also  their  appearance  seems  as 
it  were  to  have  accommodated  itself  to  the  new  climate.  In 
fact,  we  only  know  the  racial  aspect  of  the  old  possessors  of 
India  and  their  manifest  characteristics  from  the  most  ancient 
works  of  Indian  art,  I  mean  those  stupendous  statues,  which 
are  carved  out  in  a  wonderful  way  in  the  subterranean  temples 
of  the  islands  of  Salsette  and  Elephanta,  wonderful  copies  of 
which  I  saw  at  London,  both  in  the  British  Museum,  as  amongst 
the  antiquarian  treasures  of  the  polished  C.  Townley3.  The 
more  modern  conquerors  of  India,  that  is,  the  Mongolians,  have 
lost  much  of  their  original  features  under  a  new  climate,  and 
approached  nearer  the  Indian  type,  of  which  I  have  had  ocular 
experience  from  the  Indian  pictures  shown  me  by  John  Walsh, 
a  most  learned  man  on  Indian  antiquity. 

As  to  the  racial  face  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  I  am  much 
surprised  that  some  famous  archaeologists,  and  those  most  learned 


1  Decas  craniorum  altera,  p.  n. 

2  History  of  Jamaica,  Vol.  II.  p.  261. 

3  Archceologia,  Vol.  vn.  Tab.  25,  26,  27. 


CHANGES.  231 

in  Egyptian  art,  have  been  able  to  attribute  one  and  the  same 
common  countenance  to  all  alike1 ;  when  a  careful  contempla- 
tion and  comparison  of  these  monuments  has  easily  taught  me 
to  distinguish  three  sorts  of  face  amongst  them.  The  first  like 
the  Ethiopian ;  the  second  the  Indian ;  and  the  third,  into  which 
both  of  the  others  have  by  the  progress  of  time  and  the  effect  of 
the  specific  and  peculiar  climate  of  Egypt  degenerated,  spongy 
and  flaccid  in  appearance,  with  short  chin,  and  somewhat  pro- 
minent eyes2. 

3rd.  We  see  nations  which  are  reputed  to  be  but  colonies  of 
one  and  the  same  stock  have  contracted  in  different  climates 
different  racial  faces.  Thus  the  Hungarians  are  considered  to 
be  of  the  same  primitive  stock  as  the  Lapps3.  The  latter  living 
in  the  furthest  North  have  acquired  the  face  so  peculiar  to  the 
most  northern  nations,  whereas  the  former  living  in  the  tempe- 
rate zone,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Greece  and  Turkey,  have 
gained  a  more  elegant  form  of  face. 

Every  one  knows  that  much  in  all  these  cases  must  be  attri- 
buted to  the  marriages  between  different  nations,  and  I  myself 
intend  soon  to  say  something  about  their  influence  in  changing 
the  racial  face.  Still  it  seems  most  probable  that  the  influence 
of  climate  alone  is  very  great  on  this  point,  especially  when  we 
add  what  was  noticed  above  about  the  causes  and  ways  in  which 
brute  animals  degenerate. 

To  find  out  the  reason  why  one  climate  turns  out  this  and 
another  that  kind  of  racial  face  seems  extremely  difficult;  yet 
most  sagacious  men  have  made  the  attempt  when  endeavouring 
to  explain  the  face  of  different  nations ;  as  Kant_upon  the  Mon- 
golian4   and    Volney   upon   the    Ethiopian5.       That    accessory 


1  Winkehnann,  Description  des  pierres  gravies  de  Stosch.  p.  10,  and  elsewhere. 
D'Hancarville,  Recherches  sur  Vorigine  des  arts  de  la  Grece,  Tom.  I.  p.  300. 

2  I  have  said  more  about  this  triple  character  of  the  ancient  art  of  Egyptian 
monuments  in  Philosoph.  Trans.   1794,  P.  II.  p.   191. 

3  Comp.  01.  Rudbeck,  Jun.,  Analogia  lingua,  Finnonicce  cum  Ungarica,  at  the 
end  of  Specim.  usus  linguce  Gothicce,  Upsal.  1717,  4to,  p.  77  ;  and  amongst  other 
recent  writers,  J.  Hager,  Neue  Beweise  der  verwandtschsaft  der  Hungarn  mit  den 
Lapplandern,  Wien,  1794,  8vo. 

4  In  Engel,  Philosoph.  fur  die  Welt,  T.  II.  p.  146. 

5  Voyage  en  Syrie  et  en  Egypte,  T.  1.  p.  74.     "In  fact  T  see  that  the  face  of  the 


232  CAUSES. 

causes  sometimes  endemical  to  peculiar  climates,  such  as  con- 
stant clouds  of  gnats,  may  do  something  towards  contracting  the 
natural  face  of  the  inhabitants,  may  be  gathered  from  the 
observation  of  Dampier  about  the  inhabitants  of  the  south  of 
New  Holland1. 

I  am  not  sure  whether  the  opinion  of  our  Leibnitz  about  the 
similitude  of  nations  to  the  indigenous  animals  of  the  country 
is  to  be  interpreted  as  referring  to  the  influence  of  climate  on 
the  conformation  of  man  and  brute  animals  alike ;  as  it  seems 
that  the  Lapps  recall  the  face  of  the  bear,  the  Negroes  of  the 
ape,  of  which  also  the  people  of  the  extreme  East  likewise 
partake2. 

Besides  the  climate  we  find  it  stated  that  the  kind  of  life 
sometimes  contributes  to  the  racial  form  of  face,  as  in  the 
instance  of  the  Ethiopians,  whose  thick  nose  and  swelling  lips 
are  always  attributed  to  the  way  in  which,  whilst  in  their 
infancy,  they  are  generally  carried  on  the  backs  of  their  mothers, 
who  give  them  suck  whilst  they  pound  millet,  or  during  their 
hard  and  heavy  tasks3. 


Negroes  indicates  exactly  that  state  of  contraction  which  seizes  our  own  counte- 
nance, when  it  is  struck  by  the  light  and  a  strong  reflection  of  heat.  Then  the  eye- 
brow frowns;  the  cheek  bones  become  elevated,  the  eyelid  closes,  the  mouth  is 
pinched  up.  Cannot  this  contraction  which  is  perpetually  taking  place  in  the  bare 
and  warm  country  of  the  Negroes,  become  the  peculiar  characteristic  of  their 
faces  ? " 

1  "Their  eyelids  are  always  half -closed  to  prevent  the  gnats  getting  into  their 
eyes.  Hence  it  happens,  that  being  incommoded  by  these  insects  from  their 
infancy,  they  never  open  their  eyes  like  other  people."  T.  II.  p.  169. 

2  Feller,  Otium  Hanoveranum,  p.  150.  I  will  add  here,  on  account  of  the 
resemblance  of  the  argument,  a  passage  from  Marsden,  History  of  Sumatra,  p.  173  : 
"  Some  writer  has  remarked  that  a  resemblance  is  usually  found  between  the  dis- 
position and  qualities  of  the  beasts  proper  to  any  country,  and  those  of  the  in- 
digenous inhabitants  of  the  human  species,  where  an  intercourse  with  foreigners 
has  not  destroyed  the  genuineness  of  their  character.  The  Malay  may  be  compared 
to  the  buffalo  and  the  tiger.  In  his  domestic  state  he  is  indolent,  stubborn,  and 
voluptuous  as  the  former,  and  in  his  adventurous  life,  he  is  insidious,  blood-thirsty 
and  rapacious  as  the  latter.  Thus  the  Arab  is  said  to  resemble  his  camel,  and  the 
placid  Gentoo  his  cow." 

3  Comp.  besides  many  others,  Barbot  in  Churchill's  Collection  of  Voyages,  Vol.  v. 
p.  36.  "The  wives  of  the  better  sort  of  men  being  put  to  no  such  hard  labour  as 
the  meaner,  it  has  been  observed  that  their  children  have  not  generally  such  flat 
noses  as  the  others  ;  whence  it  may  be  inferred  that  the  noses  of  these  poor  infants 
are  flattened  by  being  so  long  carried  about  on  their  mothers'  backs,  because  they 
must  be  continually  beating  on  them  when  the  motion  of  their  arms  or  bodies  is 


INSTANCES.  233 

In  various  barbarous  nations  also,  such  as  the  Ethiopians1, 
the  Brazilians2,  Caribs3,  the  Sumatrans4,  and  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Society  Islands  in  the  Southern  Ocean5,  it  is  placed  beyond 
all  doubt  by  the  testimony  of  eye-witnesses  most  worthy  of 
credit  that  considerable  force  is  used  to  depress  and,  as  it  were, 
subdue  into  shape  the  noses  of  the  new-born  infants ;  although 
perhaps  it  is  going  too  far  in  what  they  say  about  the  bones  of 
the  nose  being  broken  or  dislocated  in  this  way6. 

It  is  however  scarcely  necessary  to  recollect  that  the  natural 
conformation  of  the  nose  can  only  be  exaggerated  by  this 
violent  and  long  continued  compression  of  the  nose  when  soft, 
but  can  in  no  wise  be  made  thus  originally,  since  it  is  well 
known  that  the  racial  face  may  be  recognized  even  in  abor- 
tions. 

Finally,  these  kinds  of  racial  face  just  like  the  colour  of  the 
skin,  become  mingled,  and  as  it  were  run  together  in  the  off- 
spring from  the  unions,  of  different  varieties  of  mankind,  so  that 
the  children  present  a  countenance  which  is  a  mean  between 
either  parent.  Hence  the  mixed  appearance  of  the  Mulattos ; 
hence  the  progeny  of  the  Cossacks7  and  the  Kirghis8  becomes 
sensibly  deformed  by  marriages  with  the  Calmucks,  whereas 
the  offspring  of  the  Nogay  Tartars  is  rendered  more  beautiful 
through  unions  with  the  Georgians9. 

The  ancient  Germans10  gave  formerly  instances  of  the  un- 
adulterated countenance  of  nations  unaffected  by  any  union  with 
any  other  nation,  and  to-day  the  genuine  Zingari,  inhabitants 


anything  violent ;  especially  when  they  are  beating  or  pounding  their  millet  every 
morning,  which  is  the  constant  task  of  the  women  of  inferior  rank." 

1  Besides  a  forest  of  other  evidence  see  Report  of  the  Lords  of  the  Committee  of 
Council  for  the  Consideration  of  the  Slave  Trade,  1789,  fol.  P.  1.  fol.  0.  ib. 

2  Lery,  Voyage  en  la  terre  du  Bresil,  p.  m.  98,  265. 

3  De  la  Borde,  Relation  des  Caraibes,  in  the  smaller  collection  of  M.  Thevenot, 
Paris,  1674,  4to,  p.  29. 

4  Marsden,  History  of  Sumatra,  p.  38. 

5  J.  P.  Forster,  BemerJcungen  auf  seiner  reise  um  die  Welt,  pp.  482,  516. 

6  Comp.  Kolbe,  Beschreibung  des  vorgebiirges  der  guten  Hoffnung,  p.  567. 

7  Decas  craniorum  prima,  p.  18. 

8  Decas  craniorum  altera,  p.  8. 

9  Peyssonel,  Sur  le  commerce  de  la  Mer  Noire,  T.  I.  p.  177. 

10  Tacitus,  De  moribus  Germanorum,  c.  4. 


234      .  SKULLS. 

of  Transylvania1  do  the  same ;  and  above  all  the  nation  of  the 
Jews,  who,  under  every  climate,  remain  the  same  as  far  as  the 
fundamental  configuration  of  face  goes2,  remarkable  for  a  racial 
character  almost  universal,  which  can  be  distinguished  at  the 
first  glance  even  by  those  little  skilled  in  physiognomy,  although 
it  is  difficult  to  limit  and  express  by  words3. 

58.  Racial  form  of  skulls.  That  there  is  an  intimate  rela- 
tion between  the  external  face  and  its  osseous  substratum  is  so 
manifest4,  that  even  a  blind  man,  if  he  has  any  idea  of  the  vast 
difference  by  which  the  Mongolian  face  differs  from  the  Ethio- 
pian, can  undoubtedly,  by  the  mere  touch,  at  once  distinguish 
the  skull  of  the  Calmuck  from  that  of  the  Negro.  Nor  would 
you  persuade  even  the  most  ignorant  person  to  bend  over  the 
head  of  one  or  other  of  them  as  he  might  over  those  after  whose 
models  the  divine  works  of  ancient  Greece  were  sculptured. 
This,  I  say,  is  clear  and  evident  so  far  as  the  general  habit  goes. 

But  it  might  have  been  expected  that  a  more  careful  anato- 
mical investigation  of  genuine  skulls5  of  different  nations  would 
throw  a  good  deal  of  light  upon  the  study  of  the  variety  of  man- 
kind; because  when  stripped  of  the  soft  and  changeable  parts 
they  exhibit  the  firm  and  stable  foundation  of  the  head,  and  can 
be  conveniently  handled  and  examined,  and  considered  under 

different  aspects  and  compared  together.     It is  clear  from  a 

comparison  of  this  kind  that  the  forms  of  skulls  take  all  sorts  of 


1  Decas  crardorum  altera,  p.  3. 

2  Hence  it  is  generally  considered  as  the  highest  proof  of  the  art  of  the  Dutch 
engraver,  Bernh.  Picart,  that  in  his  well-known  work,  Ceremonies  et  coutHmes 
religieuses,  he  has  represented  an  immense  number  of  Jews,  as  far  as  the  lineaments 
of  the  face  go,  each  differing  from  one  another,  yet  all  bearing  the  racial  character, 
and  most  clearly  distinguished  from  the  men  intermingled  with  them  of  other 
nations. 

3  The  great  artist  Benj.  West,  President  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Arts,  with 
whom  I  conversed  about  the  racial  face  of  the  Jews,  thought  that  it  above  all 
others  had  something  particularly  goat-like  about  it,  which  he  was  of  opinion  lay 
not  so  much  in  the  hooked  nose  as  in  the  transit  and  conflux  of  the  septum  which 
separates  the  nostrils  from  the  middle  of  the  upper  lip. 

4  Comp.  Sir  Thos.  Brown's  Discourse  of  the  Sepulchral  Urns  found  in  Norfolk, 
p.  m.  13.  This  sagacious  author  was  the  first,  as  far  as  I  know,  who  attended  to  the 
racial  form  of  the  Ethiopian  skull:  "it  is  hard  to  be  deceived  in  the  distinction  of 
Negro  skulls." 

5  The  rules  and  criteria  which  I  use  for  this  object  in  forming  an  opinion  upon 
skulls  are  laid  clown  in  my  Decas  prima  collectionis  craniorum,  p.  5. 


CAMPE1J.  285 

license  in  individuals,  just  as  the  colour  of  skins  and  other 
varieties  of  the  same  kind,  one  running  as  it  were  into  the  other 
by  all  sorts  of  shades,  gradually  and  insensibly :  but  that  still,  in 
general,  there  is  in  them  a  constancy  of  characteristics  which 
cannot  be  denied,  and  is  indeed  remarkable,  which  has  a  great 
deal  to  do  with  the  racial  habit,  and  which  answers  most  accu- 
rately to  the  nations  and  their  peculiar  physiognomy.  That 
constancy  has  induced  some  eminent  anatomists  from  the  time 
of  Andr.  Spigel1  to  set  up  a  certain  rule  of  dimensions  to  which 
as  to  a  scale  the  varieties  of  skulls  might  be  referred  and 
ranked;  amongst  which,  above  all  others,  the  facial  line  of  the 
ingenious  Camper  deserves  special  mention2. 

59.  Facial  line  of  Camper.  He  imagined,  on  placing  a 
skull  in  profile,  two  right  lines  intersecting  each  other.  The 
first  was  to  be  a  horizontal  line  drawn  through  the  external 
auditory  meatus  and  the  bottom  of  the  nostrils.  The  second 
was  to  touch  that  part  of  the  frontal  bone  above  the  nose,  and 
then  to  be  produced  to  the  extreme  alveolar  limbus  of  the  upper 
jaw.  By  the  angle  which  the  intersection  of  these  two  lines 
would  make,  this  distinguished  man  thought  that  he  could 
determine  the  difference  of  skulls  as  well  in  brute  animals  as  in 
the  different  nations  of  mankind. 

60.  Remarks  upon  it.  But,  if  I  am  correct,  this  rule  con- 
tains more  than  one  error.  First:  what  indeed  is  plain  from 
those  varieties  of  the  racial  face  I  was  speaking  of  (s.  56),  this 
universal  facial  line  at  the  best  can  only  be  adapted  to  those 
varieties  of  mankind  which  differ  from  each  other  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  jaws,  but  by  no  means  to  those  who,  in  exactly  the 
contrary  way,  are  more  remarkable  for  their  lateral  differences. 

Secondly :  it  very  often  happens  that  the  skulls  of  the  most 
different  nations,  who  are  separated  as  they  say  by  the  whole 
heaven  from  one  another,  have  still  one  and  the  same  direction 
of  the  facial  line :  and  on  the  other  hand  many  skulls  of  one  and 
the  same  race,  agreeing  entirely  with  a  common  disposition,  have 


1  De  corporis  humani  fabrica,  p.  m.  1 7. 

2  See  Kleinere  schriften,  T.  I.  P.  1.  p.  15,  and  Naturgeschichte  des  Orang-utan, 
pp.  181,  212  ;  and  his  separate  book,  Uber  den  naliirlichen  unterschieddtr  gcsicfdsziigc, 
Sec. 


236  NOEMA  VEETICALIS. 

a  facial  line  as  different  as  possible.  We  can  form  but  a  poor 
opinion  of  skulls  when  seen  in  profile  alone,  unless  at  the  same 
time  account  be  taken  of  their  breadth.  Thus  as  I  now  write  I 
have  before  me  a  pair  of  skulls,  viz. :  an  Ethiopian  of  Congo ', 
and  a  Lithuanian  of  Sarmatia2.  Both  have  almost  exactly  the 
same  facial  line ;  yet  their  construction  is  as  different  as  possible 
if  you  compare  the  narrow  and,  as  it  were,  keeled  head  of  the 
Ethiopian  with  the  square  head  of  the  Sarmatian.  On  the 
other  hand,  I  have  two  Ethiopian  skulls  in  my  possession,  differ- 
ing in  the  most  astonishing  manner  from  each  other  as  to  their 
facial  line3,  yet  in  both,  if  looked  at  in  front,  the  narrow  and, 
as  it  were,  squeezed-up  skulls,  the  compressed  forehead,  &c. 
sufficiently  testify  to  their  Ethiopian  origin. 

Thirdly,  and  finally,  Camper  himself,  in  the  plates  appended 
to  his  work,  has  made  such  an  arbitrary  and  uncertain  use  of 
his  two  normal  lines,  has  so  often  varied  the  points  of  contact 
according  to  which  he  has  drawn  them,  and  upon  which  all 
their  value  and  trustworthiness  depends,  as  to  make  a  tacit  con- 
fession that  he  himself  is  uncertain,  and  hesitates  in  the  applica- 
tion of  them. 

61.  Vertical  scale  for  defining  the  racial  characters  of  skulls. 
The  more  my  daily  experience  and,  as  it  were,  my  familiarity 
with  my  collection  of  skulls  of  different  nations  increases,  so 
much  the  more  impossible  do  I  find  it  to  reduce  these  racial 
varieties — when  such  differences  occur  in  the  proportion  and 
direction  of  the  parts  of  the  truly  many-formed  skull,  all  hav- 
ing more  or  less  to  do  with  the  racial  character — to  the  mea- 
surements and  angles  of  any  single  scale.  That  view  of  the 
skull  however  seems  to  be  preferable  for  the  diagnosis  which  is 
our  business  that  presents  together  at  one  glance  the  most  and 
the  principal  parts  best  adapted  for  a  comparison  of  racial 
characters.  With  this  object  I  have  found  after  many  experi- 
ments that  position  answer  best  in  which  skulls  are  seen  from 
above  and  from  behind,  placed  in  a  row  on  the  same  plane,  with 


1  Decas  wan.  altera,  Tab.  18.  J  Decas  tertia,  Tab.  22. 

3  Decas  prima,  Tabb.  7,  8. 


SKULLS.  237 

the  malar  bones  directed  towards  the  same  horizontal  line 
jointly  with  the  inferior  maxillaries.  Then  all  that  most  con- 
duces to  the  racial  character  of  skulls,  whether  it  be  the  direc- 
tion of  the  jaws,  or  the  cheekbones,  the  breadth  or  narrowness 
of  the  skull,  the  advancing  or  receding  outline  of  the  forehead, 
&c.  strikes  the  eye  so  distinctly  at  one  glance,  that  it  is  not  out 
of  the  way  to  call  that  view  the  vertical  scale  {norma  verticalis). 
The  meaning  and  use  of  this  will  easily  be  seen  by  an  exami- 
nation of  Plate  in.,  which  represents,  by  way  of  specimen,  three 
skulls  disposed  in  the  order  mentioned.  The  middle  one  (fig.  2) 
is  a  very  symmetrical  and  beautiful  one  of  a  Georgian  female ; 
on  either  side  are  two  skulls  differing  from  it  in  the  most 
opposite  way.  The  one  (fig.  3)  elongated  in  front,  and  as  it 
were  keeled,  is  that  of  an  Ethiopian  female  of  Guinea ;  the 
other  (fig.  4)  dilated  outwardly  toward  the  sides,  and  as  it  were 
flattened,  is  that  of  a  Reindeer  Tungus. 

-  In  the  first,  the  margin  of  the  orbits,  the  beautifully  nar- 
rowed malar  bones,  and  the  mandibles  themselves  under  the 
bones,  are  concealed  by  the  periphery  of  the  moderately  ex- 
panded forehead ;  in  the  second,  the  maxillary  bones  are  com- 
pressed laterally,  and  project ;  and  in  the  third,  the  malar  bones, 
placed  in  nearly  the  same  horizontal  plane  with  the  little  bones 
of  the  nose  and  the  glabella,  project  enormously,  and  rise  on 
each  side. 

62.  Racial  varieties  of  skulls.  All  the  diversities  in  the 
skulls  of  different  nations,  just  like  those  of  the  racial  face  we 
enumerated  above,  seem  capable  of  reduction  also  to  five  prin- 
cipal varieties ;  of  which  specimens  selected  out  of  many  are 
exhibited  in  Plate  iv. 

1.  That  in  the  middle  is  beautifully  symmetrical,  some- 
what globular ;  the  forehead  moderately  expanded,  the  malar 
bones  somewhat  narrow,  nowhere  projecting,  sloping  down 
behind  from  the  malar  process  of  the  frontal  bone ;  the  alveolar 
ridge  somewhat  round  ;  the  primary  teeth  of  each  jaw  perpen- 
dicular. As  a  specimen  (Plate  iv.  fig.  3)  I  have  given  a  most 
beautiful  skull  of  a  Georgian  female.  This  beautiful  form  of 
skull  comes  between  two  extremes  :  of  which  one  has 


238  SKULLS. 

2.  The  head  almost  square,  the  malar  bones  projecting  out- 
wards ;  the  glabella  and  the  little  bones  of  the  flattened  nose 
lying  in  almost  the  same  horizontal  plane  with  the  malar 
bones  :  scarcely  any  supraciliary  ridge ;  narrow  nostrils ;  the 
fossa  malaris  only  gently  curved ;  the  alveolar  ridge  obtusely 
arched  in  front ;  the  chin  slightly  prominent.  This  form  of 
skull  is  peculiar  to  the  Mongolian  nations.  PL  IV.  fig.  1,  gives 
one  of  this  kind,  of  a  Reindeer  Tungus. 

The  other  extreme 

3.  Has  the  head  narrow ;  laterally  compressed ;  the  fore- 
head knotty  and  uneven  ;  the  malar  bones  projecting  forwards  ; 
nostrils  ample;  the  fossa  malaris  deeply  winding  behind  the 
infraorbital  foramen;  the  jaws  projecting;  the  alveolar  margin 
narrow,  elongated,  and  very  elliptical ;  the  primary  upper  teeth 
slanting ;  the  lower  jaw  large  and  strong ;  the  head  generally 
thick  and  heavy,  common  to  the  Negro,  such  as  (Plate  IV.  fig.  5) 
of  an  Ethiopian  female  of  Guinea.  Finally,  the  two  following 
varieties  are  intermediate  between  the  first  and  those  two  ex- 
tremes, for  example  : 

4.  That  with  broader  cheeks  but  more  arched  and  rounded 
than  in  the  Mongolian  variety,  not  as  in  this  stretched  out  on 
each  side  and  angular ;  the  orbits  generally  deep ;  the  form  of 
the  forehead  and  vertex  frequently  artificially  distorted  ;  the 
skull  usually  light.  This  is  the  American  variety.  PI.  IV.  fig.  2 
is  the  head  of  a  Carib  chief  from  the  island  of  St  Vincent. 

5.  The  calvaria  moderately  narrowed ;  forehead  slightly 
swelling  ;  cheek  bones  by  no  means  prominent ;  upper  jawbone 
somewhat  prominent ;  the  parietal  bones  extending  laterally. 
Common  to  the  Malay  race  throughout  the  Southern  Ocean. 
A  specimen  in  PI.  IV.  fig.  4,  the  skull  of  an  Otaheitan.  This 
racial  form  of  the  skull  is  so  universally  constant  that  it  may 
be  observed  even  in  the  skulls  of  young  infants.  Thus  I  pos- 
sess the  skull  of  a  Burat  infant1  with  very  manifest  Mongolian 
characters ;  and  another  of  a  newly-born  Negro2  as  manifestly 
Ethiopian. 

1  Decas  tertia,  Tab.  29.  2  lb.  30. 


causes.  239 

63.  Causes  of  the  racial  variety  of  skulls.  The  bones  of 
all  parts  of  the  human  body  alike  are  very  solid,  and  particu- 
larly firm,  so  that  they  may  adhere  together  as  foundations  and 
props  to  the  other  solid  parts ;  still  it  is  clear  from  pathological 
phenomena  and  physiological  experiments  that  they  are  not  less 
liable  to  perpetual  mutations  than  the  soft  parts  of  the  body.  The 
elements  of  the  bones,  although  imperceptibly  so,  are  in  a  conti- 
nual sort  of  flux  and  reflux ;  and  fresh  secretions  from  the  red 
stream  of  the  blood  are  deposited  in  their  place,  and  at  last 
solidify  and  repair  the  loss.  By  this  continual  permutation  of 
the  osseous  material,  which  is  perpetually  going  on  from  the  first 
formation  of  the  bones,  it  results  that  these  accommodate  them- 
selves to  the  neighbouring  parts,  and  are  to  some  extent  formed 
and  modelled  by  their  action. 

This  is  most  particularly  evident  from  the  configuration  of 
the  skull  in  advanced  age.  For  then  the  internal  basis  of  the 
skull  gives,  as  it  were,  a  sort  of  cast  of  the  lobes  and  convolu- 
tions of  the  brain  to  which  it  was  fitted.  The  exterior  osseous 
face  gives  unmistakeable  marks  as  well  of  the  action  of  the 
muscles  as  of  the  whole  countenance,  whose  general  appearance 
and  character  may  very  easily  be  divined  from  the  skull  when 
stripped  of  flesh.  So,  if  it  is  true,  and  it  seems  very  true  indeed, 
that  the  influence  of  climate  on  the  racial  face  is  great,  it  is 
ab  once  clear  that  the  same  cause  must  have  a  great  though  an 
indirect  share  in  forming  the  racial  character  of  the  skuU, 
especially  as  regards  the  bones  of  the  face  itself. 

Besides  this  principal  cause,  it  seems  to  me  very  probable 
that  others  also  are  accessory,  as  the  violent  and  long-continued 
pressure,  in  having  an  effect  upon  these  facial  bones.  My  col- 
lection rejoices,  owing  to  the  liberality  of  the  illustrious  Banks, 
in  the  very  rare  skull  of  a  New  Hollander1  from  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Botany  Bay,  conspicuous  beyond  all  others  for  the 
singular  smoothness  of  the  upper  jaw,  where  the  upper  teeth 
and  the  canines  are  inserted.  But  it  is  now  known  that  those 
barbarians  have  a  paradoxical  custom  of  perforating  the  septum 

1  Decas  tertia,  Tab.  27. 


240  ARTIFICES. 

of  the  nose  with  a  piece  of  wood  inserted  crosswise,  and  of  so 
stopping  up  their  nostrils  with  a  sort  of  peg  that  they  cannot 
breathe  except  through  the  open  mouth.  It  seems  credible,  there- 
fore, that  this  smoothness  may  have  been  gradually  effected  by 
the  perpetual  pressure  of  this  transverse  insertion.  It  is,  however, 
much  more  often  the  case  that  the  smooth  bones  of  the  calvaria 
suffer  through  constant  pressure  a  peculiar  and  everywhere  the 
same  sort  of  change  towards  the  racial  conformation,  whether 
it  be  induced  by  the  common  method  which  obtains  in  some 
nations  of  treating  infants  in  the  cradle,  or  by  some  more  violent 
manual  application,  long  and  carefully  continued.  Hence 
Vesalius  said,  that  in  his  day  the  Germans  were  generally  re- 
markable for  having  the  occiput  compressed  and  the  head  broad, 
because  the  children  were  always  placed  on  their  backs  in  the 
cradle.  But  he  attributed  more  oblong  heads  to  the  Belgians, 
because  their  mothers  wrapped  up  the  male  infants  in  swaddling- 
clothes,  and  made  them  sleep  as  much  as  possible  on  their 
sides  and  temples. 

Hence  also  the  wild  Americans  from  South  Carolina  as  far 
as  New  Mexico  are  remarkable  for  having  depressed  calvaria, 
which  the  infants  contract  from  their  low  position  in  the  cradle, 
in  which  their  head  and  the  weight  of  their  whole  body 
reposes  immovably  in  a  small  bag  filled  with  sand1.  As  to 
other  artifices,  such  as  the  pressure  of  the  hands,  and  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  head  of  newly-born  infants  by  bands  or  other  in- 
struments into  some  racial  form,  they,  it  is  well  known,  have 
been  in  use  equally  amongst  the  most  ancient  races  as  those  of 
to-day,    amongst   ourselves    as    in   the   most   remote    nations2. 


1  See  Adair's  History  of  the  North  American  Indians,  p.  9  :  "  they  fix  the  tender 
infant  on  a  kind  of  cradle,  where  his  feet  are  tilted,  above  a  foot  higher  than  a 
horizontal  position; — his  head  bends  back  into  a  hole,  made  on  purpose  to  receive 
it,  where  he  bears  the  chief  part  of  his  weight  on  the  crown  of  the  head,  upon  a 
small  bag  of  sand,  without  being  in  the  least  able  to  move  himself.  By  this  pres- 
sure, and  their  thus  flattening  the  crown  of  the  head,  they  consequently  make 
their  heads  thick  and  their  faces  broad." 

2  "The  way  in  which  the  Author  of  our  being  has  shaped'our  heads  does  not 
suit  us;  we  must  have  them  modelled  from  without  by  mid  wives  and  from  within 
by  philosophers. — The  Caribs  are  more  fortunate  by  half  than  ourselves."  J.  J. 
Rousseau,  Emile,  T.  I.  p.  m.  19. 


DEFORMATIONS.  241 

Indeed  we  find  it  stated  that  solemn  rites  of  this  kind  take 
place  even  now,  or  at  all  events  did  recently  among  the  inha- 
bitants of  some  provinces  of  Germany1,  as  well  as  amongst  the 
Belgians2,  the  Gauls3,  some  of  the  Italians*,  the  islanders  of  the 
Grecian  archipelago5,  the  Turks6,  the  ancient  Sigynnes7,  and  the 
Macrocephali  on  the  Euxine  sea8,  the  Sumatrans9  of  to-day, 
and  the  Nicobars10,  but  especially  amongst  different  people  of 
America,  such  as  the  inhabitants  of  Nootka  Sound11,  the  Shac- 
tas12,  an  indigenous  race  of  Georgia,  the  Waxsaws  of  Carolina13, 
the  Caribs14,  the  Peruvians15,  and  the  free  Ethiopians  of  the 
Antilles16.  Strange  to  say  there  have  been  lately  some  authors 
who  have  dared  to  throw  doubts  upon  the  whole  of  this  arti- 
ficial habit  of  moulding  the  heads  of  infants17.  Yet  it  is  a 
thing  proved  by  the  unanimous  testimony  of  many  eye-wit- 
nesses; from  which  a  name  has  been  given  to  several  nations 


1  On  the  Varisci  of  to-day,  see  J.  C.  G.  Ackermann  in  Baldinger,  Neuen 
Magazin  fur  Aerzte,  T.  II.  p.  506.  On  the  Hambuighians  of  his  day,  see  Laurem- 
berg,  Pasicompse,  p.  63. 

2  Spigel,  De  Hwmani  Corporis  Fabrica,  p.  17. 

3  On  the  Parisians,  see  Andry,  Orthopedie,  T.  II.  p.  3. 

4  On  the  Genoese,  see  Vesalius,  De  Cory.  Hum.  Fabrica,  p.  m.  23.  Spigel,  I.e. 

5  My  dear  old  pupil,  Philites,  M.  D.  of  Epirus,  an  eye-witness,  told  me  per- 
sonally about  the  Chians. 

6  Baron  de  Asch  informed  me  in  a  letter  dated  the  20th  July,  1 788,  that  the 
midwives  of  Constantinople  generally  inquire  of  the  mother,  after  the  birth,  what 
form  she  would  like  to  have  given  to  the  head  of  the  newly-born  infant  ?  and  that 
the  Asiatics  prefer  that,  which  is  produced  by  a  bandage  passed  over  the  forehead 
and  tied  tight  round  the  occiput,  because  they  think  that  in  that  way  the  red 
coverings  they  use  for  the  head  are  made  to  sit  better.  Comp.  Decas  Craniorum 
■prima,  PI.  2. 

7  Strabo,  1.  xi.  p.  358,  ed.  Casaub. 

8  Hippocrates,  De  aeribus,  aquis,  et  locis,  ed.  Charter.  T.  VI.  p.  206. 

9  Marsden,  Hist,  of  Sumatra,  p.  38. 

50  Nic.  Fontana  in  Asiatic  Researches,  Vol.  ill.  p.  151. 

11  Meares'  Voyages,  p.  249. 

12  Adair,  I.  c.  pp.  8,  284.     Comp.  Decas  Craniorum  prima,  PL  9, 

13  Lawson's  History  of  Carolina,  p.  33. 

14  Oviedo,  Historia  General  de  las  Indias,  Sevilla,  1535,  fol.  p.  256.  Raymond 
Breton,  Dictionnaire  Caraibe-Frangois,  Auxerre,  1665,  8vo,  pp.  58,  92,  145,  289. 
Comp.  Decas  Craniorum  prima,  PI.  10,  and  the  plates  appended  to  this  work,  PI. 
iv.  fig.  2.     Decas  secunda,  PI.  20. 

15  Torquemada,  Monarchia  Yndiana,  Sevill.  16 15,  fol.  T.  III.  p.  623.  De 
Ulloa,  Relacion  del  viage  para  medir  algunos  grados  de  meridiano,  Madr.  1 748,  fol. 
T.  11.  p.  533. 

16  Thibault  de  Chanvalon,   Voyage  a,  la,  Martinique,  p.  39. 

17  See  Haller,  Camper,  Sabatier,  &c. 

16 


242  MACEOCEPHALI. 

both  of  North1  and  South2  America.  Two  hundred  years  ago 
Ave  know  it  was  forbidden  to  the  barbarians  of  the  new  world 
by  the  councils  of  the  Spanish  clergy3.  We  have  the  particular 
points  of  each  method  most  accurately  described,  and  the 
machines  and  bands4  by  which  they  impress  upon  the  flexible 
infant  calvaria  a  form  they  like  through  a  daily  continuous 
and  uniform  pressure  kept  up  for  many  years.  And  finally,  the 
heads  of  these  very  barbarians,  which  have  been  brought  to 
Europe  and  long  since  represented  in  prints3,  exactly  and  in 
every  point  answer  to  all  these  things.  Although  however  the 
fact  itself  is  beyond  all  doubt,  still  there  is  some  question  about 
what  we  read  has  often  been  asserted  from  the  times  of  Hip- 
pocrates, that  peculiar  forms  of  the  skull  of  this  sort,  though 
formed  first  on  purpose  and  by  artifice,  when  they  have  been  kept 
up  and  repeated  for  a  long  series  of  generations,  become  at  last 
in  process  of  time  to  be  a  sort  of  hereditary  prerogative  and 
congenital,  and  finally  a  second  nature.  There  is  to  be  found 
in  that  golden  little  treatise  of  Hippocrates  On  Air,  Water,  and 
Soil,  a  celebrated  passage  about  the  Macrocephali,  a  nation 
living  near  the  Euxine  sea,  about  whom  he  speaks  first  and 
almost  chiefly,  because  no  other  nation  at  all  was  known  to 
have  heads  like  theirs.  He  says,  that  in  the  beginning  custom 
was  the   reason  of  their   having   such   long   heads,    but   that 


1  "  The  name  of  Omaguas  in  the  Peruvian  language,  like  that  of  Cambevas, 
which  is  given  them  by  the  Portuguese  of  Para,  in  the  Brazilian,  means  Flat-head  ; 
in  fact,  these  people  have  the  strange  custom  of  pressing  the  heads  of  their  children 
as  soon  as  they  are  born,  between  two  planks,  and  of  causing  them  to  take  the 
strange  shape  which  is  the  result,  to  make  them  more  like  the  full  moon,  as  they 
say."  Dela  Condamine  in  Mem.  de  VAcad.  des  Sciences  de  Paris,  1745.  p.  427. 

2  Bullet-heads  and  Fiat-heads.  Comp.  Charlevoix,  llistoire  de  la  Nuuvelle 
France,  T.  III.  pp.  187,  323. 

3  Jos.  Saenz  de  Aguirre,  Collectio  max.  concil.  omnium  Hispanice  et  novi  orbis, 
ed.  2,  Rom.  1755,  fol.  T.  vr.  p.  204,  where  in  the  history  of  the  synod  of  the 
third  diocese  of  Lima,  July  17,  1585,  is  the  decree  that  the  Indians  are  not  to 
shape  the  heads  of  their  children  in  moulds.  "  Being  desirous  entirely  to  extirpate 
the  abuse  and  superstition  under  which  the  Indians  everywhere  impress  certain 
shapes  on  the  beads  of  their  children,  which  they  themselves  call  Caito,  Oma 
Opalta,  we  order  and  enjoin,"  &C.  various  punishments  for  the  delinquents,  as 
that  a  woman  who  has  done  so  "shall  attend  the  instruction  for  ten  successive 
days,  morning  and  evening,  for  the  first  ofR-nce  ;  for  the  second,  twenty,"  &c. 

4  Comp.  the  careful  pictures  of  the  bands  of  this  sort  made  use  of  bj^  the  Caribs 
in  Journal  de  Physique,  Aug.  T791,  p.  132. 

5  In  Mem.  de  VAcad.  des  Sc.  de  Paris,  1740,  PI.  16,  f.g.  1. 


DENTITION.  243 

afterwards  nature  had  acted  in  concert  with  custom.  It  was 
thought  the  most  honourable  thing  among  the  Macrocephali 
to  have  the  head  as  long  as  possible.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  the  custom  ;  when  an  infant  of  theirs  was  just  born,  its 
head  being  like  wax,  or  wet  and  soft  clay,  they  pinched  it 
as  soon  as  possible  with  their  hands,  and  modulated  it  so  as  to 
compel  it  to  increase  in  length,  and  besides,  confined  it  with 
bands,  and  tied  it  round  with  proper  contrivances,  so  as  to 
prevent  the  head  becoming  round  and  make  it  increase  in 
length.  This  custom  had  at  length  effected  the  production  of 
heads  of  this  kind,  and  in  process  of  time  they  had  been  pro- 
duced naturally,  so  that  it  was  no  longer  necessary  to  use  this 
custom  for  that  purpose.  The  old  man  of  Cos  endeavours  to  ex- 
plain the  cause  of  this  singular  phenomenon  by  his  celebrated 
hypothesis  of  generation,  which  is  not  very  different  from  that 
of  Buffon :  his  idea  was  that  the  genital  liquid  proceeded  and  was 
as  it  were  elaborated  from  all  the  members  of  the  body;  and  so 
the  forms  of  the  parts,  of  which  moulds,  so  to  speak,  were  thus 
taken,  conduced  to  the  formation  of  the  foetus.  Hence  it  hap- 
pened that  bald  men  produced  bald  children;  grey  men,  grey; 
and  macrocephali,  long-headed.  Something  of  the  same  kind 
has  been  lately  reported  of  other  nations,  the  Peruvians1  and 
Genoese2  for  example.  I  leave  this  matter  however  in  the 
abstract  just  as  it  is,  and  shall  only  refer  to  what  I  said  above 
(s.  39)  on  the  occasion  of  other  similar  phenomena, 

64.  Some  racial  varieties  of  dentition,  and  their  causes. 
Some  varieties  of  teeth  generally  closely  accompany  the  forms 
of  skulls,  as  has  been  observed  in  some  nations.  Thus,  as  long 
ago  as  1779,  I  observed  a  singular  anomaly  of  the  primary 
teeth  both  in  the  fragment  of  a  mummified  Egyptian,  as  in  the 
entire  skull  of  a  mummy3;  for  the  coronas  are  not  shaped  for 
incision,  or  furnished  with  a  delicate  edge,  but  are  thick  and  like 
truncated  cones,  and  the  coronas  of  the  canines  cannot  be  dis- 


1  On  the  inhabitants  of  the  province  of  Porto  Vecchio  see  Cardanus,  Be  Rerum 
Varietate,  T.  in.  p.  162,  ed.  Sponii. 

2  J.  C.  Scaliger,  Comment,  in  Theophr..  de  Causis  Plantarum,  p.  287. 

3  Decas  Craniorum  prima,  PI.  r. 

16—2 


244  MUMMIES. 

tinguished  from  their  neighbours  excepting  by  position.  This 
same  singular  conformation  has  been  noticed  also  in  other 
mummies  ;  as  in  a  mummy  at  Cambridge1,  and  Cassel2 ;  some- 
thing of  the  same  kind  also  at  Stuttgard3 :  and  I  myself,  when 
I  was  in  London  two  years  ago,  found  exactly  the  same  sort  of 
incisors  in  a  young  mummy,  which  its  possessor,  J.  Symmons, 
very  kindly  allowed  me  to  unrol4.  Although  it  is  scarcely  neces- 
sary to  observe  that  during  such  a  series  of  ages  as  the  custom 
of  preserving  corpses  prevailed  in  Egypt,  and  under  the  vicis- 
situdes of  the  lords  of  its  soil  and  its  inhabitants,  a  very  great 
diversity  must  necessarily  be  found  between  mummies  and 
their  skulls,  and  that  no  sane  person  could  ever  expect  to  find 
in  all  mummies  the  same  extraordinary  form  of  teeth  I  was 
speaking  of.  The  variety  is  however  remarkable  and  perhaps 
may  sometimes  be  of  utility  as  a  distinctive  character,  by  which 
the  mummies  of  one  age  or  race  may  be  distinguished  from 
those  of  another.  It  would  be  difficult  to  discover  the  causes  of 
this  peculiar  conformation  :  but  it  seems  very  likely  that  it  is  in 
great  part  to  be  attributed  to  the  kind  of  diet,  which  we  are 
expressly  told  by  Diodorus  Siculus,  was  of  a  rustic  sort  amongst 
the  ancient  Egyptians,  and  consisted  of  cabbages  and  roots. 
Hence  the  teeth  became  much  worn ;  and  when  teeth  are 
worn  or  flattened  purposely  it  has  been  observed  that  they 
increase  in  thickness,  in  the  case  both  of  men6  and  brutes6. 
Considerable  weight  is  added  to  this  conjecture  from  the  obser- 
vation of  Winslow7,  who  noticed  a  similar  remarkable  thickness 
of  the  incisors,  and  the  like  similarity  to  the  molars,  in  the  skull 
of  a  Greenland er  taken  from  the  Island  of  Dogs8,  and  attributed 

1  Middleton,  Monumenta  Antiquitatis,  Opera,  T.  IV.  p.  170.  "All  the  teeth 
are  still  found  firmly  adhering  to  the  upper  jaw;  what  however  is  singular,  ami 
may  be  considered  almost  a  prodigy,  is  that  the  anterior  incisors  are  not  acute,  and 
adapted  for  cutting,  but  are  broad  and  flat,  just  like  the  molars. " 

2  Comp.  the  account  by  Brickmann,  the  head  physician  of  Brunswick,  of  that 
mummy.     Brunswick,  1782,  4 to. 

3  Storr,  Proclr.  methodi  Mammalium,  Tubing.  1780,  4to,  p.  24. 

4  Philosoph.  Trans.  1794,  Part  11.  p.  184. 

5  Birch's  History  of  the  Royal  Society,  T.  iv.  p.  3. 

6  On  the  ivory  tusks  of  elephants,  see  Tranquebarische  Missions-Berichic, 
Contin.  cvi. 

7  Mem.  de  VAcad.  des  Sc.  de  Paris,  1722,  p.  323. 

8  Hond-Eyland.     "  Tuis  island,  lying  in  Disko  Strait  on  the  coast  of  south 


ESQUIMAUX.  245 

it  to  the  fact  that  those  barbarians  live  on  raw  flesh1.  This 
observation  is  also  supported  by  the  thick  and  wonderfully 
worn  teeth  in  two  Esquimaux  skulls  which  have  lately  come  to 
me  from  the  colony  of  Nam  in  Labrador2.  It  is  well  known 
that  the  Esquimaux  and  the  Greenlanders  belong  to  one  and 
the  same  stock,  and  their  racial  name  is  commonly  derived  from 
their  habit  of  eating  raw  flesh.  What  several  authors  have 
related  about  the  teeth  of  the  Calmucks3,  that  they  are  very 
long  and  separated  by  large  interstices,  I  find  at  last  has  been 
taken  originally,  and  then  not  quite  accurately,  from  the  ac- 
count of  Yvo,  a  priest  of  Narbonne,  originally  written  in  1243, 
and  afterwards  garbled  by  many,  nor  does  it  agree  with  the 
modern  Mongolian  skulls  which  I  now  have  in  my  collection. 
Finally,  other  racial  peculiarities  of  the  teeth  are  due  exclu- 
sively to  artifice,  as  in  some  groups  of  negroes  who  by  filing  their 
teeth  sharpen  them  like  saws4 ;  or,  as  in  some  Malay  nations,  who 
remove  a  great  part  of  the  enamel  of  the  teeth0,  or  cut  furrows 


Greenland,  is  so  well  known,  and  so  clearly  laid  down  in  all  good  geographical 
maps  of  that  country  from  the  time  of  Zorgdrager,  that  I  must  confess  I  cannot 
understand  what  Camper  meant  when  he  went  so  far  as  to  accuse  Winslow  of 
ignorance,  and  to  correct  him  according  to  Hlibner's  geography,  in  which  forsooth 
the  Island  of  Dogs  is  relegated  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  under  the  tropic  of  Capricorn. 
Did  he  not  know  that  this  southern  island  was  described  by  its  discoverer  Schouten 
in  1616,  in  his  well-known  journey,  as  being  altogether  uninhabited,  and,  so  far  as 
I  know,  from  that  time  forth  never  visited  again  by  any  European?  Whereas 
that  northern  land  from  which  Winslow  received  his  skull  is  frequented  by  number- 
less Europeans  engaged  in  the  wha^-fishery." 

1  "The  incisors  are  short,"  says  Winslow,  "large  behind  and  flat,  instead  of 
being  cutting,  and  are  more  like  molars  than  incisors.  M.  Riecke  (the  finder  of 
the  skull)  tells  me  that  the  inhabitants  of  that  island  eat  flesh  quite  raw.  They 
make  many  extraordinary  movements  with  the  jaw,  and  many  grimaces  in  chewing 
and -swallowing.  It  was  chiefly  the  sight  of  this  which  induced  M.  Riecke  to  look 
for  the  corpses  of  these  islanders  to  see  if  their  jaws  and  their  teeth  li  d  any  peculiar 
conformation." 

2  Comp.  Buffon,  Erxleben,  &c. 

3  Van  Lisckoten,  Schipvaert  naer  Oost,  Part  I.  p.  m.  60.  Von  der  Groben, 
Guineische  Reisebeschreibung,  pp.  51,  94.  Barbot  in  Churchill's  Collections  of  Voyages, 
Vol.  v.  pp.  139,  143,  385.  Schotte  in  Philosoph.  Trans.  Vol.  lxxiii.  Parti,  p.  92. 
Report  of  the  Lords  of  the  Committee  of  Council  for  the  consideration  of  the  Slave 
Trade,  fots.  L  and  M. 

4  1  am  surprised  that  some  famous  authors,  as  Romer  and  Niebuhr,  have  taken 
this  artificial  deformation  of  the  teeth  for  a  natural  disposition.  See  Romer, 
Uf ferreting  om  Kysten  Guinea,  p.  21.  Niebuhr,  Diss,  in  Deutsche  Museum,  1787, 
Part  I.  p.  425. 

5  On  the  Philippines  of  Maginda,  see  Forrest,  Voyage  to  New  Guinea,  p.  237. 
On  the  Sumatrans,  Marsden,  p.  46. 


246  .  EARS. 

in  it1,  &c.  I  have  seen  something  of  the  same  kind  myself  in 
some  Chinese  from  Java,  who  had  carefully  and  regularly 
destroyed  with  a  whetstone  the  same  substance  from  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  primary  teeth. 

65.  Some  other  racial  varieties  in  respect  to  particular  parts 
of  the  body.  Thus  far  we  have  investigated  the  chief  varieties 
of  different  nations,  which  are  observable  either  in  their  colour 
(as  that  of  their  skin,  hair,  or  eyes)  or  in  their  countenance  and 
form  of  the  skull.  Some  few  things  still  remain  to  be  observed 
respecting  other  parts  of  the  body,  which  although  certainly  of 
less  importance  can  by  no  means  be  passed  over  unnoticed,  and 
so  I  may  say  a  little  of  each  of  them  in  a  few  words.  And 
although  it  would  be  impossible  to  explain  with  equal  clearness 
the  causes  and  reasons  of  them  all,  still  there  is  nothing  so  sin- 
gular or  so  enigmatical  but  what  may  be  rendered  more  easy  of 
comprehension  by  comparing  with  analogous  phenomena  such 
observations  as  we  have  compiled  in  the  section  above  on  the 
brute  animals. 

66.  Ears.  It  is  known  to  antiquarians  that  many  of  the  idols 
of  ancient  Egypt,  both  of  bronze  and  pottery,  or  those  cut  out 
of  different  kinds  of  stones  or  sycamore  wood,  and  finally  those 
painted  on  the  sarcophagi,  are  remarkable  for  having  the  ears 
too  high  up.  A  recent  author2  has  summarily  been  pleased  to 
attribute  this  to  the  fault  of  the  artists,  unskilled  in  the  art  of 
drawing.  But  I  cannot  quite  give  my  adhesion  to  this  view, 
because  of  the  elaborate  art  and  taste  with  which  I  see  many  of 
them  are  executed,  and  also  because  I  have  observed  it  particu- 
larly in  those  which  have  an  Indian  cast  of  countenance3;  and  a 
similar  collocation  is  to  be  found  in  genuine  pictures  of  Indians, 
which  have  been  executed  with  the  greatest  care.  Altogether 
however  this  diversity  is  no  greater  than  what  we  see  every- 
where in  varieties  of  domestic  animals,  especially  in  horses  and 
pigs,  in  the  position  and  collocation  of  the  ears,  especially  inas- 
much as,  if  we  take  into  consideration  in  these  same  Egyptians 

1  On  the  Javanese,  Hawkesworth,  Vol.  III.  p.  349. 

2  JRecherches  Philosophiques  sur  les  Egyptiens,  T.  1.  p.  211. 

3  Philosoph.  Trans.  1794,  Part  II.  p.  191,  Plate  16,  fig.  2. 


BREASTS.  2 17 

and  Indians  the  inclination  of  the  aperture  of  the  eyelids,  from 
the  root  of  the  nose  towards  the  ears,  we  shall  find  that  the 
elevation  of  the  ears  depends  upon  the  way  in  which  the  head 
is  carried,  the  occiput  being  elevated,  and  the  chin  depressed. 
We  find  also,  not  only  from  passages  in  the  ancient  authors,  but 
also  from  ancient  representations,  that  the  ears  of  the  aboriginal 
Batavians  were  remarkable  for  their  form  and  position1.  So 
also  the  ears  of  the  Biscayans  were  remarkable  for  their  size2. 

It_is  well  known _thai__in  _barbarous  nations  the  ears  often 
stand  out  a  good  deal  from  the  head,  and  are  moveable;  and  in 
many  races,  especially  of  the  East  Indies  and  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
the  lobe  of  the  ear  is  enlarged  and  prodigiously  elongated  by 
various  artifices.  This  absurd  custom  has  no  doubt  given  rise 
to  the  exaggerated  stories  of  ancient  writers  about  the  enormous 
ears  of  certain  races. 

67.  Breasts.  There  is  a  cloud  of  witnesses  to  prove  that  the 
breasts  of  the  females  in  some  nations,  especially  of  Africa3  and 
some  Islands  of  the  Pacific  Ocean4,  are  very  long  and  pendulous. 
Meanwhile  I  must  observe  first,  that  their  proportions  have 
been  exaggerated  beyond  the  truth;  and  also  that  this  conform- 
ation is  not  common  to  all  the  women  of  the  same  race.  Even 
in  the  Islands  of  the  Southern  Ocean5  many  women,  and  also 
many  Ethiopians6  every  day  in  the  European  markets,  are  to  be 


1  Smetius  has  some  drawings  of  them  in  A  ntiquitates  Ncomagenses,  p.  70,  and 
Cannegieter,  De  Britteriburgo,  Matribus  Briitis,  &c.  p.  144. 

2  See  Countess  d'Aunoy,  Relation  du  Voyage  aVEspagne,  T.  I.  p.  m.  23.  Dieze 
in  his  notes  to  Puente,  Reise  durch  Spanien,  T.  ir.  p.  271,  vindicates  the  authority 
of  this  deserving  work. 

3  Coinp.  about  the  Ethiopians,  Fermin,  Sur  V Economic  Animale,  T.  1.  p.  117. 
About  the  Hottentots,  Kolbe,  p.  474. 

4  See  the  inhabitants  of  Horn  Island  in  Schouten  in  Dalrymple's  Collection, 
Vol.  11.  p.  58. 

0  See  the  assertion  of  Towrson  in  Hakluyt's  Collection,  T.  11.  p.  26,  about  the 
negroes  of  the  Isle  of  St  Vincent.  "  Divers  of  the  women  have  such  exceeding 
long  breasts,  that  some  of  them  will  lay  the  same  upon  the  ground  and  lie  downe 
by  them."  And  of  Bruce,  about  the  breasts  of  the  Shangalla,  which  in  some  of 
them  hang  down  almost  to  the  knees.  Reise  nach  den  Quellen  des  Nils,  T.  II.  p. 
546.  Nor  have  I  any  greater  faith  in  the  story  of  Mentzel  about  the  tobacco- 
pouches  made  out  of  the  breasts  of  Hottentot  women,  and  sold  in  great  quantity  at 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Besc/ireibung  des  Vorgebirge  der  gutcn  Hoffnwng,  T.  II. 
P-  564. 

"  J.  R.  Forster,  Eemerhungen,  &c.  p.  242. 


243  BREASTS. 

seen,  who  are  remarkable  for  the  extreme  beauty  of  their 
breasts.  Besides,  this  excessive  size  is  by  no  means  peculiar  to 
barbarous  nations  alone,  but  has  been  observed  frequently  in 
Europeans,  as  amongst  the  Irish1,  and  up  to  this  day  amongst 
the  Morlachians2.  It  seems  the  principal  reason  is  to  be  looked 
for  in  the  way  the  mother  gives  suck  to  the  infant  attached  to 
its  back,  and  partly  because  lactation  is  kept  up  long,  sometimes 
for  years.  And  we  read  too  that  the  breasts  are  often  artifi- 
cially elongated  amongst  nations,  who  reckon  that  feature  a 
beauty3. 

Other  nations  are  conspicuous  for  the  size  and  turgescence  of 
the  breasts,  like  the  Egyptians.     Juvenal  long  ago  said, 

"Or  breasts  at  Meroe  big  as  good-sized  babes," 

as  if  speaking  of  a  thing  common  and  well  known  to  all.  And  not 
only  the  women,  but  also  the  men  in  Egypt,  are  said  to  be  very 
large-breasted4.  Amongst  European  nations  the  Portuguese 
women  have  very  large  breasts5,  whilst  those  of  the  Spanish  on 
the  contrary  are  thin  and  small;  and  in  the  last  century  especi- 
ally they  took  pains  to  compress  them  and  obstruct  their 
growth6.  That  by  taking  pains  the  circumference  of  the  breasts 
can  be  increased  is  indubitable.  How  far,  moreover,  precocious 
venery  may  operate  in  that  direction  is  shown  by  the  remark- 
able instances  amongst  the  immature  and  girlish  prostitutes  who 
flock  to  London,  especially  from  the  neighbouring  suburbs,  and 
offering  themselves  for  hire,  wander  about  the  streets  by  night 
in  great  numbers.. 

1  Lithgow's  Rare  Adventures  and  Painefull  Peregrinations,  p.  m.  433.  "I  saw 
in  Ireland's  North  parts  women  travayling  the  way,  or  toyling  at  borne,  carry 
their  infants  about  their  neckes,  and  laying  the  dugges  over  their  shoulders,  would 
give  sucke  to  the  babes  behinde  their  backes,  without  taking  them  in  their  armes; 
such  kind  of  breasts,  me  thinketh,  were  very  fit,  to  be  made  money  bags  for  East 
or  West  Indian  me.  chants,  being  more  than  halfe  a  yard  long,  and  as  well  wrought 
as  any  tanner,  in  the  like  charge,  could  ever  mollitie  such  leather." 

2  Fortis,  Viaggio  in  Dalmazia,  T.  1.  p.  St. 

3  On  the  inhabitants  of  the  coast  of  Western  Africa,  between  the  white  pro- 
montory and  the  river  Senegal,  see  Cadamosto  in  Ramusio,  T.  I.  p.  m.  100.  Comp. 
Lamiral,  L 'Afrique  et  le  peuph  Afrieain,  Paris,  1789,  8vo,  p.  45.  "In  Senegal 
the  young  girls  study  to  make  their  breasts  depend,  in  order  that  they  may  be 
thought  women,  and  treated  with  more  respect." 

4  Alpinus,  Historia  Naturalis  jEgypti,  T.  1.  p.  14. 

5  I  have  this  from  Abildgaard,  just  returned  from  a  journey  in  Portugal. 
*  Countess  d'Aunoy,  I.  c.  T.  n.  p.  128. 


GENITALS.  249 

68.  Genitals.  Linnseus  says  in  the  prolegomena  of  his  Sys- 
tema  Naturce,  "that  a  too  minute  inspection  of  the  genitals  is 
abominable  and  disagreeable."  It  is  evident  however  by  the 
terminology  of  his  conchylia  that  in  process  of  time  he  came  to 
think  otherwise,  and  above  all  we  find  it  so  from  the  Venus 
Dione,  depicted  by  him  in  a  sufficiently  licentious  meta- 
phorical style.  The  shade  therefore  of  this  illustrious  man 
will  no  doubt  pardon  me  if  I  enumerate  here  shortly  what 
seem  to  me  worthy  of  mention  about  some  racial  varieties  of 
the  genitals. 

It  is  generally  said  that  the  penis  in  the  Negro  is  very  large. 
And  this  assertion  is  so  far  borne  out  by  the  remarkable  geni- 
tory  apparatus  of  an  ^Ethiopian  which  I  have  in  my  anatomical 
collection.  Whether  this  prerogative  be  constant  and  peculiar 
to  the  nation  I  do  not  know1.  It  is  said  that  women  when 
eager  for  venery  prefer  the  embraces  of  Negroes  to  those  of 
other  men2.  On  the  other  hand,  that  Ethiopian3  and  Mulatto4 
women  are  particularly  sought  out  by  Europeans.  The  cause  of 
this  preference  may  be  various,  but  I  do  not  know  what  it  is. 
Perhaps  they  resemble  the  Mongolian5  women  and  those  of 
some  American  tribes6,  about  whom  we  are  told  that  the  muli- 
ebria  remain  small,  not  only  after  marriage  but  even  after  child- 
bearing.  Steller7  attributes  the  contrary  character  to  the 
pudenda  of  the  Kamtschadales.  He  also  says  that  many  of  them 
are  remarkable  for  long  and  protruding  nymphse;  which  some 
say  in  Hottentot  women  come  to  be  appendages  like  fingers8. 
But  this  sinus  pudoris,  as  Linnseus  called  it,  seems  rather  to 


1  The  same  was  said  of  the  northern  Scotch,  who  do  not  wear  trowsers,  by- 
Faust,  Wie  de  Geschlechtstrieb  der  Menschen  in  Ordung  zu  bringen,  p.  52.  I  have 
shown  however  on  the  weightiest  testimony  that  this  assertion  is  incorrect,  in 
Medicinische  Bibliothec.  T.  III.  p.  413. 

2  Saar,  Ostindische  Kriegsdien&te,  p.  m.  45. 

3  Chanvalon,  Voyage  a  la  Martinique,  p.  6r.  Sparrmann,  Reise  nach  dem  Vor- 
gebirge  der  guten  Hoffnung,  p.  72. 

4  De  Werken  van  W.  V.  Focquenbrach,  T.  II.  p.  421. 

6  Georgi,  Beschreibung  aller  Nationen  des  Russischen  Reichs,  Part  II.  p.  220. 

6  Vespucci,  Lettera  a  Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  p.  no,  ed.  Bandini.  Riolani  fil.  An- 
ihropographia,  p.  m.  306. 

7  Beschreibung  von  Kamtschailca,  p.  299. 

8  Comp.  W.  ten  Rhyne,  De  Promonforio  bonce  Spei,  Scafus.  1686,  Svo,  p.  33. 


250  LEGS. 

consist  in  the  elongation  of  the  labia  themselves1,  which  is  said 
to  be  due  to  artifice2;  and  has  given  a  handle  for  that  story 
about  the  skinny  ventrale,  which  credulous  authors  have  thought 
hung  down  from  the  abdomen3  and  concealed  the  pudenda  of 
these  women4. 

69.  Legs.  Some  difference  in  the  proportion  and  appear- 
ance of  the  legs  is  known  to  exist  in  certain  nations.  Thus  the 
Indians  are  remarkable  for  the  length  of  their  legs5,  the  Mongo- 
lians on  the  other  hand  for  their  shortness6.  The  Irish  women 
are  said  to  have  very  large  thighs7.  The  legs  of  the  New  Zea- 
landers  are  so  thick  as  to  appear  cedematous8.  Others  tell  us  that 
these  antipodes  of  ours  have  those  same  legs  crooked  and  de- 
formed, and  that  such  evils  are  contracted  from  the  position  in 
which  they  usually  sit9.  Bandy  legs  however  are  very  common 
amongst  the  Calmucks,  and  are  ascribed  as  well  to  the  kind  of 
cradles  their  children  have,  as  to  the  fact  that  they  are  accus- 
tomed to  be  on  horseback  from  tender  youth10.  The  feet  of  the 
Tierra  del  Fuegians11,  who  are  called  by  De  Bougainville13  Pes- 
cheras,  are  described  as  being  remarkably  deformed. 

That,  the,  populations. jof  Africa,  however,  are  those  in  which 
deformities -of. -the  .legs  and  feet  are  racial,  has  been  noticedjby 
the  ancients,  especially  in  the  case  of  the  Egyptians13,  the  Ethi- 

1  Hawkeswortli's  Collection,  T.  III.  p.  m.  388.  I  owe  to  the  liberality  of  Sir 
Jos.  Bankes  several  drawings  of  this  Sinus pudoris  taken  from  nature  at  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope.  In  one  of  them  the  labia  are  so  elongated  that  they  measure  six 
inches  and  a  half  Rhine-land  measure. 

2  Le  Vaillant,  Voyage  dans  VInterieur  de  I'Afrique,  pp.  3,  371. 

3  See  a  print  in  P.  Leguat,   Voyage  et  A  rentiers,  T.  11.  Plate  13. 

4  Voltaire  makes  use  of  this  fabulous  ventrale,  with  other  arguments  of  the  same 
weight,  to  prove  that  the  Hottentots  cannot  be  referred  to  the  same  species  of  man 
as  Europeans.     Lettres  d'Amabed,  Oper.  T.  XLV.  p.  m.  224. 

5  De  la  Boullaye-le-Gouz,  Voyages  et  Observations,  p.  153.  Kant  in  Engel, 
Philosoph  ficr  die  Welt,  T.  11.  p.  155. 

8  Yvo  Narbonensis  in  Matthew  Paris,  Historia  Major,  ed.  Wats.  p.  530. 

7  Twiss'  Tour  in  Ireland,  p.  39. 

8  Monneron  in  de  la  Borde,  Histoire  de  la  Mer  du  Sud,  T.  11.  p.  97. 

9  G.  Forster's  Voyage  round  the  World,  Vol.  11.  p.  480. 

10  Pallas,  Ueber  die  Mongolischen  Volkcrschaften,  T.  I.  p.  98. 

11  J.  R.  Forster,  Bemerkungen,  p.  525.  "The  feet  bear  no  proportion  to  the 
upper  limbs:  the  shanks  are  thin,  the  legs  crooked,  the  knees  bent  outwards,  the 
toes  turned  inwards. 

12  Voyage  autour  du  Monde,  p.  147.  "  We  called  them  Pecherais,  because  that 
was  the  first  word  they  pronounced  on  meeting  us,  and  which  they  repeated  with- 
out stopping." 

13  Aristotle,  Problemata,  5.  14,  p.  431,  ed.  Casaub. 


FEET.  251 

opians1,  and  the  negro  slaves2.  In  the  legs  of  black  slaves  of 
our  day  three  defects  are  to  be  seen,  attributed  to  three  differ- 
ent causes;  bandy  legs3  (fr.  jambes  cambrees) ;  disagreeable  thick- 
ness4; and  the  chinks  and  fissures  in  which  they  are  said  fre- 
quently to  open3.  The  crookedness  appears  to  be  due  principally 
from  the  posture  in  which  the  infants  whilst  sucking  are 
obliged  to  hold  tight  by  the  knees  to  the  mother's  back6.  Some 
deformities  of  this  kind  may  also  be  traced  to  morbific  causes7. 
The  thickness  of  the  feet  (unless  this  too  is  to  be  referred  to 
pathological  causes)  is  most  probably  brought  about  by  severe 
and  continuous  labour.  Finally,  there  is  scarcely  any  reason  to 
doubt  but  what  the  fissures  into  which  the  thick  epidermis  of 
the  Ethiopians  is  liable  to  break  out,  especially  in  the  sole  of  the 
foot,  are  due  to  their  sandy  soil8. 

70.  Feet  and  hands.  Lastly,  good  observers  have  remarked 
that  the  hands  and  feet  of  some  nations  are  of  singularly  small 
proportions.  This  is  said  of  the  Indians9,  the  Chinese10,  the 
Kamtschadales11,  the  Esquimaux13,  the  Peruvians13,  New  Hol- 
landers14 and  Hottentots15.     That  artifice  has  a  arood  deal  to  do 


1  Virgil,  Moretum,  35.     Comp.  Heyne's  Notes,  T.  iv.  Op.  Virgil. 

2  Petronii  Satyricon,  c.  102. 

3  Somruerring,  Ueber  die  Korperliche  Verschiedenheit  des  Negers,  &c.  p.  40. 
Chanvalon,  Voyage  a  la  Martinique,  p.  58.  "  That  form  of  the  legs  is  sufficiently 
common  also  among  the  Americans,  but  sometimes  less  observable  than  amongst 
the  negroes." 

4  Alb.  Diirer,  Von  Menschlicher  Proportion,  fol.  T.  111.  ed.  1528. 
Ramsay,  On  the  Treatment  and  Conversion  of  African  Slaves,  p.  217. 

5  1  received  in  Jan.  1789  the  fresh  right  leg,  perfectly  sound  in  other  respects, 
of  an  Ethiopian  who  had  just  died  at  Cassel,  part  of  which  I  still  have  in  my 
anatomical  collection  :  the  epidermis  of  the  sole  of  the  foot  is  wonderfully  thick, 
wrinkled,  and  gaping  in  many  divided  flakes. 

6  Chanvalon,  I.e. 

7  Fr.  Allamand  in  Nova  Acta  Academioz  Naturce  Curiosorum,  T.  iv.  p.  89. 

8  See  Hier.  Mercurialis,  De  decoratione,  p.  m.  103. 

9  "It  has  been  observed  of  the  arms  of  the  Hindoos  frequently  brought  to 
England,  that  the  gripe  of  the  sabre  is  too  small  for  most  European  hands." 
Hodges,  Travels  in  India,  p.  3. 

10  Dampier,  Suite  de  Voyage  autour  du,  Monde,  p.  100.  De  la  Barbinais,  Voyage 
autour  du  Monde,  T.  11.  p.  62.     Osbeck's  Ostindisk  Jiesa,  p.  171. 

11  Steller,  I.  c. 

12  H.  Ellis,  Cranz,  &c.  and  lately  the  famous  astronomer  Wales,  in  Philosoph. 
Trans.  Vol.  lx.  p.  109,  and  Curtis,  lb.  Vol.  lxiv.  p.  383. 

13  De  Ulloa,  Nachrichten,  &c.  T.  11.  p.  92. 

14  Watkin  Tench's  Account  of  the  Settlement  at  Port  Jackson,  p.  179. 

15  Sparrmann,  I.  c.  p.  172. 


252  STATURE. 

with  this  we  know  from  the  ostrich  feet  of  the  Chinese  women. 
But  it  seems  very  likely  that  the  mode  of  life1  and  poor  sort 
of  diet2  may  also  be  to  blame. 

71.  Racial  varieties  in  respect  of  stature.  Having  now 
despatched  what  seems  most  worthy  of  remark  about  the  rela- 
tive proportion  and  conformation  of  particular  parts,  it  seems 
proper  to  investigate  briefly  the  varieties  of  the  entire  stature. 
This  chapter  of  anthropological  discussion  has  been  handed 
down  to  us  deformed  almost  entirely  by  fables,  hyperbolical 
over-layers,  and  misinterpretation.  These  have,  however,  in 
our  day  been  in  a  great  part  so  refuted  and  explained,  and  re- 
duced to  their  genuine  sources,  that  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to 
mention  them  further,  much  less  discuss  them  over  again  with 
fresh  attention. 

Thus  it  has  been  shown  that  under  the  Ethiopian  pigmies 
of  the  ancients  nothing  else  was  intended  but  a  symbolical 
signification  of  the  degrees  in  the  Nilometer.  Thus  the  enor- 
mous bones  dug  up  everywhere  in  our  own  country,  which  pre- 
judiced opinion  formerly  attributed  to  giants,  have  been  restored 
to  the  beasts  by  a  more  careful  osteological  study3.  On  the 
contrary,  all  the  relics  which  have  survived  to  our  day,  and  the 
ancient  furniture  from  which  we  may  estimate  the  stature  of 
ancient  races,  as  mummies,  bones,  and  especially  the  human 


1  "An  (American)  Indian  man  is  small  in  the  hand  and  wrist,  for  the  same 
reason  for  which  a  sailor  is  large  and  strong  in  the  arms  and  shoulders,  and  a 
porter  in  the  legs  and  thighs."  Jefferson  in  Morse's  American  Uwiv  rsal  Geogra- 
phy, Vol.  l.  p.  87. 

2  See  Tench,  from  the  observations  of  the  Governor  of  the  Cape :  "  Colonel 
Gordon  told  me  that  it  indicated  poverty  and  inadequacy  of  living.  He  instanced 
to  me  the  Hottentots  and  Caffres;  the  former  fare  poorly,  and  have  small  hands 
and  feet;  the  Caffres,  their  neighbours,  live  plenteously,  and  have  very  large  ones." 

3  It  is  strange  that  in  late  times  Buffon  could  have  attributed  many  fossil  bones 
of  this  kind,  dug  up  at  different  times  and  places,  to  giants,  in  the  5th  Vol.  of  the 
supplement  of  his  classical  work:  such  as  those  which  in  1577  were  dug  up  near 
Lucerne  and  preserved  up  to  the  pres  nt  day  in  the  court-house  of  that  city,  where 
I  have  seen  them  myself,  and  recognised  them  at  the  first  glance  to  belong  to  an 
elephant.  That  most  deserving  physician,  and  even  learned  anatomist,  Felix  Plater, 
at  the  time  when  those  geognostic  monuments  were  dug  up,  measured  them  and 
examined  them  mcst  carefully,  and  declared  with  the  utmost  confidence  that  they 
belonged  to  a  human  giant  i  7  feet  in  length,  and  had  made  a  wonderful  colossal 
picture  of  a  human  skeleton  of  that  magnitude,  which  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the 
Jesuit's  College  at  Lucerne  ;  a  memorable  example  of  the  power  of  prejudice  against 
the  very  evidence  of  the  senses,  when  once  it  has  struck  root  in  the  mind. 


PATAGONIANS.  253 

teeth  found  in  urns  and  sepulchres1,  armour,  &c,  tend  to  the 
conviction  that  those  nations  by  no  means  surpassed  men  of  the 
present  day  in  stature.  Amongst  these  also  there  is  an  indis- 
putable racial  diversity.  Amongst  European  races  the  Scandi- 
navians and  some  of  the  Swiss,  as  the  Suitens,  are  tall :  the 
Lapps  short.  In  the  new  world  the  Abipones  are  large  in  size, 
the  Esquimaux  shorter :  but  neither  more  than  moderately  so. 
Altogether  there  is  no  variety  in  respect  of  stature  so  great 
amongst  nations  of  the  present  day,  but  what  may  be  easily 
explained  by  the  common  modes  of  degeneration,  and  the 
analogous  phenomena  which  may  be  observed  in  other  mam- 
mals. There  are,  however,  two  varieties  of  this  kind  which 
must  be  treated  separately,  of  which  it  is  said  that  even  in 
these  present  times  one  differs  greatly  in  excess,  and  the  other 
by  defect,  from  the  common  stature  of  mankind. 

72.  Patagonians.  There  is  at  the  extremity  of  the  conti- 
nent of  South  America,  towards  the  north-east,  a  nation,  which 
from  the  time  of  Magellan's  voyage  has  been  known  to 
Europeans,  who  invented  for  them  the  composite  name  of 
Patagonians,  because  they  thought  them  related  to  their  neigh- 
bours the  Choni,  and  that  their  feet,  which  they  used  to  wrap 
in  the  skins  of  the  guanaco,  were  like  the  shaggy  feet  of  brutes, 
called  in  Spanish  patas.  Their  proper  and  indigenous  name, 
however,  is  Tehueletse.  These  people,  then  commonly  called 
Patagonians,  Antom  Pigafetta,  the  companion  of  Magellan  in 
his  voyage,  was  the  first  in  his  account  to  pretend  were  giants 
double  the  size  of  Europeans2.  From  that  time  on  for  two 
centuries  and  a  half  the  stories  about  the  expeditions  under- 
taken by  the  Europeans  in  that  part  of  the  new  world  are  so 
repugnant  to  each  other,  and  so  contradictory  and  so  wonder- 
fully inconsistent  as  far  as  their  notices  of  the  Patagonians, 
that,  once  for  all,  they  may  serve  as  a  warning  to  us  to  be 


1  I  owe  to  the  liberality  of  Bozenhard,  imperial  consul-general  in  Denmark, 
the  calvaria  and  other  bones  of  a  man  of  advanced  age  found  not  long  ago  in  a  very- 
ancient  Cimbrian  tomb,  in  proportions  and  size  yielding  nothing  to  the  common 
stature  of  our  countrymen. 

2  See  his  Yiaggio  atorno  il  mondo,  in  Ramusio,  T.  I.  ed.  4,  p.  353.  • 


254  PATAGONIANS. 

cautious  and  diffident  .in  trusting  the  accounts  of  travellers.  I 
give  in  a  note  a  decade  of  authors1,  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
are  interested  in  examining  and  comparing  these  different 
accounts,  and  the  opinions  of  anthropologists  about  them.  It 
will  be  sufficient  for  us  at  present  to  put  forth  those  results 
which  seem  most  like  the  truth,  after  weighing  and  duly  criticis- 
ing everj'-thing. 

It  is  then  a  race  of  men  by  no  means  of  gigantic  height,  but 
conspicuous  for  tall  bodies  and  a  very  muscular  and  knotty 
habit2.  To  define  their  exact  stature  amidst  such  a  quantity  of 
ambiguous  stories  would  be  impossible.  From  the  evidence  of 
the  best  witnesses,  however,  it  seems  scarcely  to  exceed  six  feet 
and  a  half  of  English  measure;  and  this  is  the  less  to  be 
thought  prodigious,  since  it  has  long  been  known  that  other 
indigenous  races  of  America  (especially  in  the  South)  are  very 
tall.  It  is  very  probably  the  case  with  thenf  what  Tacitus  tells 
us  about  the  ancient  Germans,  that  they  never  mix  with  any 
other  nation  in  marriage,  and  preserve  their  race  peculiar, 
unadulterated,  and  always  like  itself.  They  are  Nomads,  like 
the  people  of  Tierra  del  Fuego,  and  the  other  wandering  nations 
of  South  America;  and  thence  it  is  not  surprising  if  they  have  not 
always  appeared  to  be  men  of  the  same  lofty  stature  to  the 
Europeans  who  have  approached  the  same  coasts  indeed  of  that 
country,  but  at  different  times. 

It  is  not  difficult,  on  the  other  hand,  to  understand  how  the 
story  of  the  Patagonian  giants  arose.  First,  that  old  tradition 
about  the  giants  of  the  old  world  preoccupied  all  minds,  and  so 
those  travellers  in  the  new  world  who  were  on  the  look  out  for 


1  Buffon,  Histoire  Naturelle,  T.  in.  and  Svppl.  T.  v.  De  Brosses,  Histoire  des 
Navigations  aux  terres  Australes,  T.  I.  De  Pauw,  Recherches  sur  les  Americains, 
T.  I.  Ortega,  Viage  del  Comand.  Byron  al  rededor  del  mimdo,  traduc.  del 
Jngles.  Robertson's  History  of  America,  Vol.  I.  Ziramermami,  Geographische 
Geschichte  des  Menschen,  T.  I.  J.  R.  Foster,  Bemerhungen.  Comp.  Carli  Rubbi, 
Lettere  Americane,  T.  i.  Pennant,  Of  the  Patagonians.  Relacion  del  ultimo  viage 
al  Estrecho  de  Magallanes  en  1785,  y  86. 

2  Such  they  are  unanimously  described  by  the  most  credible  eye-witnesses. 
Such  too  were  those  who  towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  were  brought 
to  Spain ;  the  sole  and  only  Patagonians,  as  far  as  I  know,  whom  Europe  has  ever 
seen.  Van  Linschoten,  a  great  and  truly  classical  traveller,  saw  these  very  ones  at 
Seville,  and  says  of  them :   "they  were  of  good  stature  and  -with  large  muscles,"  &c. 


quimos.  255 

prodigies,  reverted  to  that  when  they  found  men  who  were  in 
reality  tall  and  muscular,  and  tombs  of  wonderful  length1,  and 
every  where  in  them  bones  of  a  large  size2.  The  Spaniards  too 
might  also  have  had  the  design  of  deterring  the  other  nations 
of  Europe  from  navigating  the  Straits  of  Magellan  by  stories  of 
this  kind3.  And  in  others  blind  fear,  and  the  desire  of  boasting, 
such  as  even  in  the  present  century  has  induced  the  author  of  a 
Dutch  account  of  the  voyage  of  Hoggewein,  to  give  out  the 
inhabitants  of  Easter  Island  in  the  Pacific  Ocean  as  giants  of 
twelve  feet  high*. 

73.  Quimos.  There  was  an  old  story  which  even  in  the  last 
century  was  exposed  by  the  classical  writer  Stephen  Flacourt  as 
a  fictitious  invention,  that  there  existed  in  the  inner  mountains 
of  the  Island  of  Madagascar  a  nation,  pigmy  in  stature,  but  of  a 
very  warlike  spirit,  and  which  afflicted  the  other  inhabitants  by 
its  sudden  invasions.     They  were  called  Quimos  or  Kimos. 

This  story  has  lately  found  defenders  in  our  time,  in  the 
pilot  Modave,  and  the  famous  botanist  Commerson.  But  if  you 
take  away  all  that  is  mere  hearsay  in  their  accounts,  and  their 
discrepancies,  which  are  not  few,  all  that  remains  will  be  that  the 
pilot  bought  a  certain  small  servant  maid,  who  was  sold  to  him 


1  Comp.  Ed.  Brown's  Travels,  p.  m.  50.  "Mr  Wood,  who  has  made  very  accu- 
rate maps  of  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  &c.  told  me,  that  he  had  seen  divers  graves 
in  the  southern  parts  of  America  near  four  yards  long,  which  surprised  him  the 
more,  because  he  had  never  seen  any  American  that  was  two  yards  high,  and 
therefore  he  opened  one  of  these  long  sepulchres  from  one  end  to  the  other,  and 
found  in  it  a  man  and'a  woman,  so  placed,  that  the  woman's  head  lay  at  the  man's 
feet,  and  so  might  reasonably  require  a  tomb  of  near  that  length." 

2  Of  horses  in  fact,  whose  skeletons  they  place  near  the  tombs  of  their  relations. 
See  Falkner,  Beschreibung  von  Patagonien,  p.  m.  149.  A  most  ancient  custom 
everywhere,  and  which  has  prevailed  amongst  the  most  different  nations,  of  en- 
tombing the  horses  of  warriors  together  with  them,  gave  afterwards  a  handle  to  the 
idea  that  the  horses'  bones  were  those  of  giants.  Thus  horses'  bones  are  found  in 
the  oldest  sepulchres  of  Siberia:  see  J.  Gmelin,  Reisen,  T.  III.  p.  313.  Even  in 
the  sarcophagi  of  Christian  knights,  buried  in  churches,  during  what  are  called  the 
middle  ages,  besides  their  own  arms  and  bones,  those  of  horses  also  are  found.  See 
Dorville,  Sicula,  p.  148. 

3  See  John  Winter  in  Halduyt's  Collection,  Vol.  III.  p.  751.  Sir  J.  Nar- 
borough's  Voyage  to  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  p.  m.  90. 

4  See  Anon,  Tweejaarige  Reyz  random  de  wereld.  Dordr.  1728,  4to.  Much 
more  trustworthy  and  accurate,  on- the  other  hand,  is  Behrens  (by  profession  a 
confectioner),  who  was  in  the  same  voyage,  in  Reise  durch  die  Sud-Lander  unci 
urn  die  Welt,  Francof.  1737,  8vo,  where,  p.  87,  he  calls  the  inhabitants  of  Easter 
Island,  then  first  discovered,  only  "  well-built,  with  strong  limbs." 


256  causes. 

for  a  Quimo,  pale  in  colour,  with  pendulous  breasts,  and  remark- 
able for  the  length  of  her  arms,  which  reached  nearly  to  the 
knees.  Baron  de  Clugny,  moreover,  who  spent  nearly  one 
whole  month  in  the  same  ship  with  this  identical  pigmy,  clearly 
showed  that  she  was  only  a  dwarf  of  bad  conformation  and 
diseased  constitution,  macrocephalous,  stupid,  and  an  utterer  of 
confused  sounds;  from  all  which  circumstances  I  am  persuaded 
that  her  malady  should  be  referred  to  Cretinism,  since  these 
symptoms  occur  in  Cretins ;  and  the  length  of  the  arms  has  been 
noticed  in  many  of  them,  and  particularly  in  those  of  Salzburg, 
in  express  words,  by  observers.  On  the  other  hand  Sonnerat 
has  ingeniously  explained  the  whole  tradition  as  if  it  was  to  be 
understood  about  the  Zaphe-Racquimusi,  that  is,  the  six  chiefs 
of  the  race  who  inhabit  Manatana,  a  province  of  that  Island, 
which  chiefs  are  descended  from  an  ancestor  who  was  very 
small;  a  fact  expressed  by  that  barbarous  word1. 

74.  Causes  of  Racial  Stature.  We  must  allow  then  that 
there  is  no  entire  nation  of  giants  or  pigmies.  But  the  racial 
variety  of  stature  which  we  touched  upon  above  (s.  71)  seems_fco 
be_confined  within  smaller  limits  in  proportion  than  those  which 
have  been  everywhere  observed  in  the  case  of  other  domestic 
animals  (s.  29) ;  and  this  will  easily  be  understood  by  a  consi- 
deration of  what  has  been  said  about  the  causes  of  degeneration. 
That  climate  has  something  to  do  with  it,  besides  many  other 
proofs,  is  seen  from  a  comparison  of  the  Laplanders  with  the 
Hungarians,  who  are  two  colonies  from  one  race,  but  have 
reached  a  very  different  stature  under  a  different  climate. 
Physiology  also  clearly  shows  the  great  influence  of  diet  in 
augmenting  or  diminishing  the  stature.  Hence  the  tall  bodies 
of  the  nobles  of  Otaheite  is  ascribed  to  the  more  generous  diet 
they  indulge  in2. 


1  Pallas  seeme  to  have  deduced  the  origin  of  the  Quimos  from  some  hybrid 
generation.  See  his  Observations  sur  la  formation  des  montagnes,  p.  14,  where 
on  the  origin  of  the  Ethiopians  he  says: — ''We  need  not  have  recourse  in  this 
case  to  any  improper  connection  of  the  human  species,  which  seems  to  have  been 
the  case  in  the  production  of  the  long-armed  mountaineers  or  Quimos  of  Mada- 
gascar." 

2  See  J.  R.  Forster,  Bemerhingen,  p.  m.  236. 


FABULOUS   NATIONS.  257 

On  the  other  hand  we  are  told  that  the  stature  of  some  bar- 
barous nations  has  diminished  sensibly  for  a  series  of  generations 
after  they  have  accustomed  themselves  to  the  abtise  of  aqua- 
vitas  and  ardent  spirits1. 

Here  also  mention  ought  to  be  made  of  the  period  of  puberty, 
which  differs  in  different  nations,  and  has  a  good  deal  to  do  with 
the  racial  stature,  since  those  who  remain  longest  before  arriving 
at  puberty,  by  this  constancy  (as  Csesar  long  since  observed  of 
the  ancient  Germans)  increase  their  stature:  whereas  the  best 
authors  have  with  one  voice  observed  that  under  every  sort  of 
climate  and  place  premature  venery  is  injurious  to  procerity  of 
body2.  Nations  preserve  their  peculiar  stature  when  they 
mingle  least  with  the  immigrants  and  strangers  of  other  races: 
as  on  the  other  hand  racial  stature  is  altered  after  a  series  of 
generations  when  they  have  been  mingled  in  union  with  other 
nations  of  a  different  size 3.  Lastly,  we  learn  from  indisputable 
instances  of  families  remarkable  for  height  or  shortness  that  the 
influence  of  the  ancestral  constitution  is  great  as  to  the  stature 
of  the  offspring. 

75.  Fabulous  varieties  of  mankind.  Infinite  in  number 
are  the  stories  we  have  received  from  the  time  of  Herodotus 
downwards,  from  all  sorts  of  sources,  principally  from  Aristeus, 
Ctesias,  and  Megasthenes,  and  which  the  Cosmographists  have 
told  us  about  nations  of  monstrous  appearance,  such  as  the 
Arimaspi,  with  only  one  eye;  the  Cynamolgi,  with  dogs'  heads; 
the  Monosceles,  with  only  one  leg;  the  wild  men  of  the  Imaus, 
with  their  feet  fronting  the  back  part  of  the  legs,  &c.4  It  is  not 
my  business  to  spend  any  time  upon  these  things  here  ;  though 
the  investigation  of  these  matters  brings  both  pleasure  and 
profit ;  for  that  is  equally  true  of  anthropology  which  prevails  in 

1  On  the  barbarians  of  Hudson's  Bay  see  H.  Ellis,  Reise  nach  Hudson's  Meer- 
husen,  p.  201.  TJmfreville,  Ueber  den  gegenwartigen  zustand  der  Hudsonsbay, 
p.  21. 

2  Comp.  besides  others  on  the  Kamtschadales,  Behra  in  Cook's  Voyage  to  the 
Northern  Hemispherr,  Vol.  in.  p.  372.  On  the  Otaheitans,  Cook  in  Hawkesworth's 
Collection,  Vol.  II.  p.  m.  187.     On  the  Sumatrans,  Marsden,  p.  41. 

3  Maupertuis,  Venus  Physique,  p.m.  131. 

4  Comp.  J.  A.  Fabricius,  Diss,  de  hominiMis  orbis  nostri  incolis,  &c.  Hamb. 
172 1,  4to. 

17 


258  TAILED   MEN. 

every  other  department  of  natural  history,  that  scarcely  any 
story,  however  absurd  and  foolish,  has  ever  been  told  in  it, 
which  does  not  contain  some  foundation  of  truth,  but  perverted 
by  hyperbolical  exaggeration  or  misinterpretation1.  I  mean  to 
touch  here  upon  only  one  instance  out  of  this  crowd  of  prodigies, 
that  is,  the  often  repeated  story  of  nations  with  tails,  as  being 
one  which  we  have  been  told  of  again  and  again  by  all  sorts  of 
authors  of  all  sorts  of  times2. 

76.  Reports  of  nations  with  tails.  First  Pliny,  then  Pausa- 
nias,  make  mention  of  the  tailed  men  of  India:  then  in  the 
middle  ages  their  existence  was  asserted  by  the  Nubian  Geogra- 
pher, the  Venetian  Marco  Polo,  and  others;  lastly,  in  more 
recent  times  many  writers  of  travels  have  brought  back  similar 
reports  about  the  various  tailed  islanders  of  the  Indian  Archipe- 
lago3; others  about  people  of  the  same  kind  in  some  province  of 
Russia4;  and  others  other  stories5. 

Proper  consideration  however  will  easily  show  that  very  little 
weight  is  to  be  attached  to  these  assertions.  Many  authors 
have  derived  their  information  entirely  from  hearsay.  Then 
again  it  cannot  be  denied  that  many  of  their  witnesses  who 
boast  of  having  seen  the  thing  themselves  are  undoubtedly  of 
very  dubious  repute6.  Moreover  the  stories  themselves  on  this 
point  differ  very  suspiciously  from  each  other7.     On  the  other 


1  Thus  Heyne  has  traced  the  fabulous  stories  about  the  hermaphrodites  of 
Florida  to  their  genuine  sources  in   Comment.  Soc.  Reg.  Sclent.  Gottingens.  T.  I. 

P-  39- 

*  The  most  recent  patron  and  asserter  of  men  with  tails  is  Monboddo,  in  both 
his  works,  The  Origin  and  Progress  of  Language,  Vol.  i.  p.  324,  and  Ancient 
Metaphysics,  Vol.  in.  p.  250. 

3  Besides  the  authors  cited  by  and  by,  see  Harvey,  De  Gcneratione  Animalium, 
p.  m.  10,  about  the  inhabitants  of  Borneo. 

4  Rytschkow,  Orenburgische  Topographie,  T.  II.  p.  34.  Falk,  Beytrdge  zur 
Kcnntniss  des  Russischen  Reichs,  T.  in.  p.  525. 

5  On  the  island  of  Tierra  del  Fuego  see  the  geographical  tables  in  Alons. 
d'Ovaglie,  Relasione  del  Regno  di  Hie,  Rom.  1646,  fol. 

6  On  the  Nicobars  see,  full  of  the  most  foolish  stories,  Bes~krifning  om  en  Resa 
genom  Asia,  Africa,  <kc.  af.  N.  Matthss.  Koping  (Skeps-Lieut.),  p.m.  131:  which 
however  Linnaeus  calls  a  most  trustworthy  account  in  his  letters  to  Monboddo,  Of 
the  Origin  of  Language,  I.  c.  Dav.  Tappe,  15-Jahrige  ostindische  Reisebeschreibung, 
p.  49,  on  the  Sumatrans. 

7  Comp.  about  the  tailed  Formosans  a  triad  of  witnesses  who  call  themselves 
eye-witnesses  :  J.  Strauss,  J.  0.  Helbig,  and  El.  Hesse.  The  first  s.iys,  Reisen, 
p.  m.  32,  "  A  Formosan  from  the  south  side  of  the  Island  with  a  tail  a  good  foot 


LEUCCETHIOPIA.  259 

hand  the  boldest  and  most  careful  explorers  of  those  countries 
are  either  silent  about  that  monstrous  prodigy;  or  relying  on 
the  authority  of  the  inhabitants  plainly  declare  it  a  lying  fiction1. 
And  finally,  some  expressly  tell  us  what  it  is  that  has  given  rise 
to  this  erroneous  report ;  viz. :  either  a  pendulous  addition  to  the 
clothes  of  the  back2;  or  some  tailed  anthropomorphous  apes3. 
So  that  not  one  single  instance  of  a  tailed  race  can  be  proved  by 
the  consent  of  any  number  of  trustworthy  eye-witnesses,  nay, 
not  even  of  a  single  family  remarkable  for  such,  a  monstrous 
anomaly;  whilst  instances  of  monstrosities  in  families,  in  which, 
for  example,  six  fingers  have  been  hereditary  for  generations,  are 
very  well  known.  As  to  individuals,  who  are  here  and  there  to 
be  seen  amongst  Europeans,  remarkable  for  a  monstrous  excres- 
cence of  the  os  coccygis,  it  is  at  once  understood  that  we  do  not 
mean  to  say  anything  of  them  here,  any  more  than  of  number- 
less other  monstrous  productions. 

77.  Racial  variety  from  morbific  affection.  I  have  spoken 
above  on  the  subject  of  the  morbific  disorders  which  so  change 
the  appearance  and  even  the  colour  of  animals,  that  when  that  is 
propagated  by  hereditary  causes  for  a  long  series  of  generations  it 
shades  sensibly  away  into  a  sort  of  second  nature,  and  in  some 
species  of  animals  gives  rise  to  peculiar  and  constant  varieties. 
We  have  cited  the  well-known  examples  of  the  white  variety  of 
the  domestic  mouse  and  the  rabbit,  whose  snowy  fur  and  rosy 
pupils  are  most  certainly  due  to  a  morbific  affection,  in  fact  to 
leuccethiopia.  The  same  kind  of  affection  is  frequently  seen  in 
mankind.  Still  only  sporadically,  certainly  nowhere  is  it  so 
frequent  and  so  constant  as  in  the  brute  animals  just  spoken 
of;  for  in  them  it  degenerates  into  a  particular  and  copious 
variety.     Still,  even  human  leucoathiopia  must  be  spoken  of, 

long,  and  all  covered  with  rough  hair."  The  second  in  Ephem.  Naturce  Curiosor. 
Dec.  r.  ann.  IX.  p.  456,  "bare  tails  like  those  of  pigs."  The  third,  Ostindisck, 
Reisebeschreibung,  p.  m.  ■216:  "Among  our  other  slaves  at  the  mine  we  had  also 
a  female  slave  who  like  a  brute  beast  was  disfigured  behind  with  a  short  stump 
or  goat's  tail." 

1  Thus  about  the  Philippines,  Le  Gentil,  Voy.  dans  les  mers  de  VInde.  T.  11.  p.  52. 

2  Nic.  Fontana  On  the  Nicobar  Isles,  in  Asiatic  Researches,  Vol.  III.  p.  151. 

3  [I  have  omitted  here  a  long  note  which  repeats  what  was  said  before  (p.  142) 
about  the  figure  represented  in  PI.  2.     Ed.] 

17—2 


260  LEUCXETHIOPIA. 

though  briefly.  Briefly,  I  say,  both  because  in  man  it  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  constitute  a  particular  variety,  and  also 
because  it  would  be  tedious  to  repeat  those  things  which  I  have 
in  another  place  said  about  this  remarkable  disorder1. 

78.  Human  leucosthiojna.  The  affection  must  be  considered 
cachectic,  which  is  plain  from  two  pathological  and  constant 
symptoms.  One  of  these  consists  in  a  singular  colour  of  the 
skin,  a  sickly  white  partly  shading  into  an  unnatural  redness, 
very  often  presenting  the  appearance  of  a  slight  leprosy2 ;  and 
also  in  an  anomalous  whiteness  of  the  hair  and  groin,  not  silver 
white  as  in  old  men,  nor  nicely  yellowish,  verging  to  cinericial, 
as  may  be  seen  in  many  of  our  own  countrymen,  who  are  there- 
fore called  yellow  (fr.  blondins),  but  rather  straw-coloured,  or 
cream-coloured.  The  other  affects  the  organs  of  sight,  and 
deprives  them  of  their  dark  pigment  which  in  sound  eyes  lines 
some  of  the  internal  membranes,  and  is  destined  for  the  absorp- 
tion of  the  excess  of  light,  a  thing  of  the  utmost  importance  for 
good  and  clear  vision.  Hence  the  iris  of  the  eye  of  a  leucoethiop 
is  of  a  pale  rose,  and  half  transparent:  the  pupil  is  bright  and 
of  a  more  intense  red,  like  a  sardonyx  or  carbuncle  of  a  pale 
colour. 

These  two  symptoms  occur  united  with  a  singular  con- 
stancy, so  that,  as  far  as  I  know,  that  peculiar  redness  of  the 
eye  is  never  seen  alone,  or  without  that  false  whiteness  of  the 
hair  on  the  head  and  elsewhere.  It  is  not,  however,  to  be 
wondered  at  if  the  redness  of  the  pupils  has  not  always  been 
noticed  by  observers,  since  the  other  symptoms  we  have  spoken 
of  strike  the  eye  more,  and  the  leuccethiopians  not  being  able  to 
endure  the  light  have  a  habit  of  constantly  winking  the  eye- 
lids. 

The  disease  is  always  congenital;  never,  so  far  as  I  know, 
being  contracted  after  birth.  Always  incurable;  for  there  is 
no  single  known  instance  of  the  black  pigment  being  ever 
added  to  the  eyes  after  birth.     It  is  very  often  hereditary;  for 

1  Commentut.  Soc.  Reg.  Scientiar.  Gottingens.  T.  vil.  p.  29,  and  Medichiische 
Bibliothek,  T.  n.  p.  537. 

2  Comp.  Hawkesworth's  Collection,  Vol.  11.  p.  m.  188. 


LEUCCETIIIOPIA.  261 

it  is  false  what  has  been  said  by  some  that  leuccethiopians  are 
sterile  or  incapable  of  generating  or  conceiving.  Generally,  all 
the  accounts  we  have  of  this  remarkable  disorder  are  wonder- 
fully deformed  with  errors  of  all  sorts.  Thus  some  have  doubted 
whether  leucoethiopia  ought  to  be  considered  as  a  true  morbific 
affection;  others  have  foolishly  confounded  it  with  cretinism, 
others  with  the  history  of  the  Simla  satyrus;  others  have 
rashly  asserted  that  this  affection  is  only  to  be  seen  within  the 
tropics.  For  although  it  was  no  doubt  first  observed  amongst 
the  Ethiopians,  for  the  reason  that  in  a  black  nation  this  white- 
ness of  the  skin  and  hair  would  necessarily  strike  most  every 
one's  eye,  and  hence  the  name  of  leuccethiopians  (fr.  negres  hlancs) 
was  given  to  those  suffering  under  that  malady  (who  are  called 
in  the  East  Indies  contemptuously  by  the  Batavians  Kackerl- 
acken,  after  a  light-shunning  insect,  by  the  Spaniards  Albinos, 
the  French  Blafards,  &c.) ;  it  is  so  far  from  being  the  case  that 
it  occurs  only  amongst  the  negroes,  or  even  only  in  the  torrid 
zone,  that  on  the  contrary  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that 
there  is  no  variety  of  mankind,  no  part  of  the  world  which  is 
unfit  for  the  manifestation  of  that  disease. 

Sixteen  examples  of  leuccethiopians  have  already  come  under 
my  notice  born  in  different  provinces  of  Germany1.  Then  in 
the  rest  of  Europe  some  among  the  Danes2,  the  English3,  the 
Irish4,  the  French5,  the  Swiss6,  the  Italians7,  the  islanders  of  the 
Archipelago8,  the  Hungarians9.     Then  out  of  Europe  amongst 

1  An  account  of  many  is  given  in  Medicinisclie  Bibliothek,  T.  nr.  p.  161. 

2  lb.  p.  170. 

3  Benj.  Duddell's  Supplement  to  his  Treatise  on  the  Diseases  of  the  Homy-coat, 
Lond.  1 736,  8vo,  p.  19 ;  and  Jo.  Hunter,  On  certain  Parts  of  the  Animal  Economy, 
p.  206. 

4  C.  Perceval  in  Transactions  of  the  Irish  Academy,  Vol.  iv.  p.  97. 

5  Le  Cat,  De  la  Couleur  de  la  peau  Humaine,  p.  103. 

6  Medicinisclie  Bibliothek,  T.  1.  p.  54.5. 

7  About  the  Savoyards  whom  I  have  described  myself,  see  Saussure,  Voyages 
dans  les  Alpes,  T.  IV.  p.  m.  303.  Bourguet  makes  mention  of  a  Venetian  in  Lettres 
Philosophiques  sur  la  formation  des  sels,  p.  163.  Buzzi  dissected  a  Milanese,  see 
his  Dissertazione  sopra  una  Varieta  Particolare  d'Ubmini  Bianchi  Eliofobi,  Mediol. 
1 784,  4to.    Jo.  Hawkins  informed  me  that  he  saw  a  similar  girl  at  Home. 

8  From  the  account  of  the  same  John  Hawkins,  my  friend  whom  I  have  just 
quoted,  who  saw  two  twin-brothers,  leuccethiopians,  about  twelve  years  old  in  his 
first  journey  to  the  Archipelago  and  the  seas  in  the  island  of  Cyprus,  natives  of 
Larnica. 

9  Mich.  Klein,  Natur.  seltenheiten  von  Ungarn.  Presb.  1778,  8vo,  p.  15. 


262  IN   ANIMALS. 

the  Arabians1,  the  Malabars2,  Madagascar^3,  Caffres4,  Negroes5 
(as  well  those  born  in  Africa  itself  as  amongst  the  Ethiopian 
Creoles  of  the  new  world).  Then  amongst  the  Americans  of  the 
Isthmus  of  Darien6,  and  Brazil7.  Finally,  amongst  the  bar- 
barous islanders  of  the  Indian  and  Pacific  Oceans;  as  in  Su- 
matra8, Bali9,  Amboyna10,  Manilla11,  New  Guinea12,  the 
Friendly13  and  Society  Islands14. 

Moreover,  this  affection  of  which  we  are  speaking  is  by  no 
means  peculiar  to  mankind,  but  has  been  observed  in  many 
other  warm-blooded  animals  of  both  classes.  Of  the  mammals, 
besides  the  common  instances  of  the  rabbits,  the  mice,  the 
weasels  and  horses  (in  which  four  kinds  of  animals  this  affection 
in  process  of  time  seems  to  have  become  a  sort  of  second  nature), 
instances  of  apes15  have  been  reported  to  me,  squirrels16,  rats17, 
hamsters18,  guinea-pigs 1Sf,  moles20,  opossums21,  martins22,  wea- 
sels23, and  goats  a4.  Amongst  birds,  crows25,  thrushes26,  canary- 
birds,  partridges27,  hens  and  peacocks.     It  is  remarkable  that 


1  Ledyard  in  Proceedings  of  the  African  Association,  p.  45. 

2  Tranquebarische  Missions-berichte,  Contin.  xlvi.  p.  1239. 

3  Cossigny  in  Histoire  de  VAcad.  des  Sc.  de  Paris,  a.  1744,  p.  13. 
*  De  la  Nux,  lb.  a.  1760,  p.  17. 

0  Out  of  the  crowd  of  eye-witnesses  it  will  be  enough  to  quote  three :  Oliv. 
Goldsmith,  History  of  the  Earth,  Vol.  II.  p.  240.  Buffon,  Supplement  a  F  Histoire 
Naturelle,  T.  iv.  p.  559,  and  Arthand  in  Journal  de  Physique,  Oct.  1789. 

6  Wafer's  Description  of  the  Isthmus  of  America,  ed.  2,  p.  107. 

7  De  Pinto  in  Robertson,  History  of  America,  Vol.  11.  p.  405. 

8  Van  Speren  in  Verhandelingen  van  het  Bataviaasch  Genootschap,  T.  I.  p.  314. 

9  Id.  I.  c.  with  a  plate. 

10  Valentyn,  Beschryving  van  Amboina,  T.  II.  p.  146. 

11  Camelli  in  Philosophical  Transactions,  Vol.  xxv.  p.  2268. 

12  Argensola,  Conquista  de  las  islas  Malucas,  p.  71. 

13  Cook's  Voyages  to  the  Northern  Hemisphere,  Vol.  1.  p.  381. 

14  Hawkesworth's  Collection,  Vol.  11.  p.  99  and  188. 

13  Sir  R.  Clayton  in  Memoirs  of  the  Soc.  of  Manchester,  Vol.  in.  p.  270. 

16  Wagner,  Histor.  Natur.  Helvetian,  p.  185.  Gunner  on  Leein,  De  Lappo- 
nibus  Finmarchice,  p.  207. 

17  Gesner,  De  quadrupedibus,  p.  829. 

18  The  author  (Sulzer)  of  the  Classical  Monograph  on  the  hamster  gave  me  one 
of  this  kind. 

19  Boddaert,  NatuurLundige  Beschouiving  der  Dieren,  T.  I.  p.  210. 

20  lb.  21  lbt 

22  Kramer,  Elench.  Animalium  Austr.  p.  312.  23  Boddaert,.  I.  c. 

24  Themel  in  Obererzgebilrgisches  Journal,  Freyberg,  1748,  8vo,  P.  I.  p.  47. 
2d  From  the  account  of  my  friend  Sulzer. 

26  Jo.  Hunter,  On  certain  Parts  of  the  Animal  Economy,  p.  204. 

27  Buffon,  Histoire  Naturelle  des  Oiseaux,  T.  n.  p.  146. 


EPILOGUE.  263 

not  a  single  example,  so  far  as  I  know,  of  this  affection  has 
been  observed  in  any  cold-blooded  animal. 

79.  Epilogue  to  this  section.  Let  so  much  suffice  about  the 
causes  and  ways  in  which  mankind  degenerates  into  varieties 
in  respect  of  colour,  structure,  proportion,  and  stature.  In  this 
enumeration  I  have  left  untouched  no  point  that  I  know  of 
which  can  in  any  way  help  to  unravel  the  famous  question  about 
the  unity  or  plurality  of  the  species  of  man.  We  shall  see  in 
the  following  section,  after  this  general  discussion,  how  that 
species  is  in  reality  composed  according  to  nature. 


SECTION  IV. 

FIVE  PRINCIPAL  VARIETIES   OF  MANKIND,   ONE   SPECIES. 


80.  Innumerable  varieties  of  mankind  run  into  one  another 
by  insensible  degrees.  We  have  now  completed  a  universal  sur- 
vey of  the  genuine  varieties  of  mankind.  And  as,  on  the  one 
hand,  we  have  not  found  a  single  one  which  does  not  (as  is 
shown  in  the  last  section  but  one)  even  among  other  warm- 
blooded animals,  especially  the  domestic  ones,  very  plainly,  and 
in  a  very  remarkable  way,  take  place  as  it  were  under  our  eyes, 
and  deduce  its  origin  from  manifest  causes  of  degeneration ; 
so,  on  the  other  hand  (as  is  shown  in  the  last  section),  no 
variety  exists,  whether  of  colour,  countenance,  or  stature,  &c,  so 
singular  as  not  to  be  connected  with  others  of  the  same  kind 
by  such  an  imperceptible  transition,  that  it  is  very  clear  they 
are  all  related,  or  only  differ  from  each  other  in  degree. 

81.  Five  principal  varieties  of  mankind  may  be  reckoned. 
As,  however,  even  among  these  arbitrary  kinds  of  divisions,  one 
is  said  to  be  better  and  preferable  to  another  ;  after  a  long  and 
attentive  consideration,  all  mankind,  as  far  as  it  is  at  present 
known  to  us,  seems  to  me  as  if  it  may  best,  according  to  natural 
truth,  be  divided  into  the  five  following  varieties ;  which  may 
be  designated  and  distinguished  from  each  other  by  the  names 
Caucasian,  Mongolian,  Ethiopian,  American,  and  Malay.  I  have 
allotted  the  first  place  to  the  Caucasian,  for  the  reasons  given 
below,  which  make  me  esteem  it  the  primeval  one.  This  diverges 
in  both  directions  into  two,  most  remote  and  very  different  from 
each  other ;  on  the  one  side,  namely,  into  the  Ethiopian,  and  on 
the  other  into  the  Mongolian.  The  remaining  two  occupy  the 
intermediate  positions  between  that   primeval  one  and  these 


FIVE    VARIETIES.  265 

two  extreme  varieties ;  that  is,  the  American  between  the  Cau- 
casian and  Mongolian  ;  the  Malay  between  the  same  Caucasian  / 
and  Ethiopian. 

82.  Characters  and  limits  of  these  varieties.  In  the  follow- 
ing notes  and  descriptions  these  five  varieties  must  be  generally 
defined.  To  this  enumeration,  however,  I  must  prefix  a  double 
warning ;  first,  that  on  account  of  the  multifarious  diversity 
of  the  characters,  according  to  their  degrees,  one  or  two  alone 
are  not  sufficient,  but  we  must  take  several  joined  together ; 
and  then  that  this  union  of  characters  is  not  so  constant  but 
what  it  is  liable  to  innumerable  exceptions  in  all  and  singular 
of  these  varieties.  Still  this  enumeration  is  so  conceived  as  to 
give  a  sufficiently  plain  and  perspicuous  notion  of  them  in 
general. 

Caucasian  variety.  Colour  white,  cheeks  rosy  (s.  43);  hair 
brown  or  chestnut-coloured  (s.  52) ;  head  subglobular  (s.  62) ;  face 
oval,  straight,  its  parts  moderately  defined,  forehead  smooth, 
nose  narrow,  slightly  hooked,  mouth  small  (s.  56).  The  primary 
teeth  placed  perpendicularly  to  each  jaw  (s.  62) ;  the  lips  (espe- 
cially the  lower  one)  moderately  open,  the  chin  full  and 
rounded  (s.  56).  In  general,  that  kind  of  appearance  which, 
according  to  our  opinion  of  symmetry,  we  consider  most  handsome 
and  becoming.  To  this  first  variety  belong  the  inhabitants  of 
Europe  (except  the  Lapps  and  the  remaining  descendants  of 
the  Finns)  and  those  of  Eastern  Asia,  as  far  as  the  river  Obi, 
the  Caspian  Sea  and  the  Ganges;  and  lastly,  those  of  Northern 
Africa. 

Mongolian  variety.  Colour  yellow  (s.  43) ;  hair  black,  stiff, 
straight  and  scanty  (s.  52);  head  almost  square  (s.  62);  face 
broad,  at  the  same  time  flat  and  depressed,  the  parts  therefore 
less  distinct,  as  it  were  running  into  one  another;  glabella  flat, 
very  broad;  nose  small,  apish;  cheeks  usually  globular,  promi- 
nent outwardly ;  the  opening  of  the  eyelids  narrow,  linear ;  chin 
slightly  prominent  (s.  56).  This  variety  comprehends  the  re- 
maining inhabitants  of  Asia  (except  the  Malays  on  the  extre- 
mity of  the  trans-Gangetic  peninsula)  and  the  Finnish  popula- 
tions of  the  cold  part  of  Europe,  the  Lapps,  &c.  and  the  race  of 


266  OTHER   DIVISIONS. 

Esquimaux,  so  widely  diffused  over  North  America,  from  Beh- 
ring's  straits  to  the  inhabited  extremity  of  Greenland. 

Ethiopian  variety.  Colour  black  (s.  43) ;  hair  black  and 
curly  (s.  52) ;  head  narrow,  compressed  at  the  sides  (s.  62) ; 
forehead  knotty,  uneven;  malar  bones  protruding  outwards; 
eyes  very  prominent;  nose  thick,  mixed  up  as  it  were  with  the 
wide  jaws  (s.  56);  alveolar  edge  narrow,  elongated  in  front;  the 
upper  primaries  obliquely  prominent  (s.  62);  the  lips  (espe- 
cially the  upper)  very  puffy;  chin  retreating  (s.  56).  Many  are 
bandy-legged  (s.  69).  To  this  variety  belong  all  the  Africans, 
except  those  of  the  north. 

American  variety.  Copper-coloured  (s.  43) ;  hair  black,  stiff, 
straight  and  scanty  (s.  52);  forehead  short;  eyes  set  very  deep; 
nose  somewhat  apish,  but  prominent ;  the  face  invariably  broad, 
with  cheeks  prominent,  but  not  flat  or  depressed;  its  parts,  if 
seen  in  profile,  very  distinct,  and  as  it  were  deeply  chiselled 
(s.  56) ;  the  shape  of  the  forehead  and  head  in  many  artificially 
distorted.  This  variety  comprehends  the  inhabitants  of  Ame- 
rica except  the  Esquimaux. 

Malay  variety.  Tawny-coloured  (s.  43) ;  hair  black,  soft, 
curly,  thick  and  plentiful  (s.  52);  head  moderately  narrowed; 
forehead  slightly  swelling  (s.  62);  nose  full,  rather  wide,  as  it 
were  diffuse,  end  thick;  mouth  large  (s.  56),  upper  jaw  some- 
what prominent  with  the  parts  of  the  face  when  seen  in  profile, 
sufficiently  prominent  and  distinct  from  each  other  (s.  56). 
This  last  variety  ^  includes  the  islanders  of  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
together  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  Marianne,  the  Philippine, 
the  Molucca  and  the  Sunda  Islands,  and  of  the  Malayan  pen- 
insula. 

83.  Divisions  of  the  varieties  of  mankind  by  other  authors. 
It  seems  but  fair  to  give  briefly  the  opinions  of  other  authors 
also,  who  have  divided  mankind  into  varieties,  so  that  the 
reader  may  compare  them  more  easily  together,  and  weigh 
them,  and  choose  which  of  them  he  likes  best.  The  first  per- 
son, as  far  as  I  know,  who  made  an  attempt  of  this  kind  was  a 
certain  anonymous  writer  who  towards  the  end  of  the  last 
century  divided  mankind  into  four  races;    that  is,   first,  one 


LINN^US.  2G7 

of  all  Europe,  Lapland  alone  excepted,  and  Southern  Asia, 
Northern  Africa,  and  the  whole  of  America;  secondly,  that 
of  the  rest  of  Africa ;  thirdly,  that  of  the  rest  of  Asia  with  the 
islands  towards  the  east;  fourthly,  the  Lapps1.  Leibnitz  di- 
vided the  men  of  our  continent  into  four  classes.  Two  extremes, 
the  Laplanders  and  the  Ethiopians ;  and  as  many  intermediates, 
one  eastern  (Mongolian),  one  western  (as  the  European)2. 

Linnseus,  following  common  geography,  divided  men  into 
(1)  the  red  American,  (2)  the  white  European,  (3)  the  dark 
Asiatic,  and  (4)  the  black  Negro3.  Buffon  distinguished  six  varie- 
ties of  man :  (1)  Lapp  or  polar,  (2)  Tartar  (by  which  name  ac- 
cording to  ordinary  language  he  meant  the  Mongolian),  (3)  south 
Asian,  (4)  European,  (5)  Ethiopian,  (6)  American4. 

Amongst  those  who  reckoned  three  primitive  nations  of 
mankind  answering  to  the  number  of  the  sons  of  Noah,  Governor 
Pownall  is  first  entitled  to  praise,  who,  as  far  as  I  know,  was  also 
the  first  to  pay  attention  to  the  racial  form  of  skull  as  connected 
with  this  subject.  He  divided  these  stocks  into  white,  red  and 
black.  In  the  middle  one  he  comprised  both  the  Mongolians 
and  Americans,  as  agreeing,  besides  other  characters,  in  the  con- 
figuration of  their  skulls  and  the  appearance  of  their  hair5. 
Abbe  de  la  Croix  divides  man  into  white  and  black.  The 
former  again  into  white,  properly  so  called,  brown  (bruns), 
yellow  (jaundtres),  and  olive-coloured6. 

Kant  derives  four  varieties  from  dark-brown  Autochthones : 
the  white  one  of  northern  Europe,  the  copper-coloured  Ame- 
rican, the  black  one  of  Senegambia,  the  olive-coloured  Indian7. 
John  Hunter  reckons  seven  varieties:  (1)  of  black  men,  that  is, 


1  Journal  des  Scavans,  a.  1684,  P-  133-  Comp.  Bob.  de  Vaugondy,  fil.  Nouvcl 
Atlas portatif,  Paris,  1778,  4to,  PI.  4. 

2  In  Feller  in  Otium  Hanover anum,  p.  159. 

3  After  the  year  1735,  in  all  the  editions  of  his  immortal  work.  Gmelin  has 
added  to  the  last  edition,  brought  out  by  himself,  my  division,  T.  I.  p.  23. 

4  These  six  varieties  have  been  beautifully  described,  and  in  fact  painted  as  it 
were  by  the  glowing  brush  of  Haller,  in  his  classical  work,  Ideen  zur  philosophie 
der  geschichte  der  menschheit,  T.  n.  p.  m.  4 — 68. 

5  Comp.  A  New  Collection  of  Voyages,  &c.  Lond.  1767,  8vo,  Vol.  11.  p.  273. 

6  See  Geographie  moderne,  T.  I.  p.  62,  ed.  5,  and  Vaugondy,  I.  c.  PI.  3. 

7  Both  in  Engel,  Philosoph.  fur  die  Welt.  T.  II.  and  in  Berliner  monatsschrift, 
1785,  T.  vi. 


268  HUNTER. 

Ethiopians,  Papuans,  &c;  (2)  the  blackish  inhabitants  of  Mauri- 
tania and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope;  (3)  the  copper-coloured  of 
eastern  India;  (4)  the  red  Americans;  (5)  the  tawny,  as  Tartars, 
Arabs,  Persians,  Chinese,  &c;  (6)  brownish,  as  the  southern 
Europeans,  Spaniards,  &c,  Turks,  Abyssinians,  Samoiedes  and 
Lapps ;  (7)  white,  as  the  remaining  Europeans,  the  Georgians, 
Mingrelians  and  Kabardinski1. 

Zimmermann  is  amongst  those  who  place  the  aborigines  of 
mankind  in  the  elevated  Scythico-Asiatic  plain,  near  the  sources 
of  the  Indus,  Ganges  and  Obi  rivers;  and  thence  deduces  the 
varieties  of  Europe  (1),  northern  Asia,  and  the  great  part  of 
North  America  (2),  Arabia,  Iudia,  and  the  Indian  Archipe- 
lago (3),  Asia  to  the  north-east,  China,  Corea,  &c.  (4).  He  is 
of  opinion  that  the  Ethiopians  deduce  their  origin  from  either 
the  first  or  the  third  of  these  varieties2. 

Meiners  refers  all  nations  to  two  stocks:  (1)  handsome, 
(2)  ugly ;  the  first  white,  the  latter  dark.  He  includes  in  the 
handsome  stock  the  Celts,  Sarmatians,  and  oriental  nations. 
The  ugly  stock  embraces  all  the  rest  of  mankind3.  Kliigel 
distinguishes  four  stocks :  (1)  the  primitive,  autochthones  of  that 
elevated  Asiatic  plain  we  were  speaking  of,  from  which  he 
derives  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  rest  of  Asia,  the  whole  of 
Europe,  the  extreme  north  of  America,  and  northern  Africa; 
(2)  the  Negroes ;  (3)  the  Americans,  except  those  of  the  extreme 
north ;  (4)  the  Islanders  of  the  southern  ocean4.  Metzger  makes 
two  principal  varieties  as  extremes:  (1)  the  white  man  native 
of  Europe,  of  the  northern  parts  of  Asia,  America  and  Africa ; 
(2)  the  black,  or  Ethiopian,  of  the  rest  of  Africa.  The  transition 
between  the  two  is  made  by  the  rest  of  the  Asiatics,  the  in- 
habitants of  South  America,  and  the  Islanders  of  the  southern 
ocean5. 

84.     Notes  on  the  five  varieties  of  Mankind.     But  we  must 


1  Disput.  de  hominum  varietatibus,  Edinb.  1775,  p.  9. 

2  In  that  very  copious  work  Geographische  geschichte  des  Menschen,  &c.  T.  1. 

3  See  his  Grundriss  der  Geschichte  der  menschheit,  ed.  1.     Lemgov.  1793,  8vo. 

4  See  his  Encyclopiidie,  T.  1.  p.  523,  ed.  2. 

5  See  his  Physiologic  in  Apihorismen,  p.  5. 


CAUCASIAN   VARIETY.  269 

return  to  our  pentad  of  the  varieties  of  mankind.  I  have  indi- 
cated separately  all  and  each  of  the  characters  which  I  attribute 
to  them  in  the  sections  above.  Now,  I  will  string  together,  at 
the  end  of  my  little  work,  as  a  finish,  some  scattered  notes  which 
belong  to  each  of  them  in  general. 

85.  Caucasian  variety.  I  have  taken  the  name  of  this  variety 
from  Mount  Caucasus,  both  because  its  neighbourhood,  and  es- 
pecially its  southern  slope,  produces  the  most  beautiful  race  of 
men,  I  mean  the  Georgian1;  and  because  all  physiological  rea- 
sons converge  to  this,  that  in  that  region,  if  anywhere,  it  seems 
we  ought  with  the  greatest  probability  to  place  the  autochthones 
of  mankind.  For  in  the  first  place,  that  stock  displays,  as  we 
have  seen  (s.  62),  the  most  beautiful  form  of  the  skull,  from  which, 
as  from  a  mean  and  primeval  type,  the  others  diverge  by  most 
easy  gradations  on  both  sides  to  the  two  ultimate  extremes  (that 
is,  on  the  one  side  the  Mongolian,  on  the  other  the  Ethiopian). 
Besides,  it  is  white  in  colour,  which  we  may  fairly  assume  to 
have  been  the  primitive  colour  of  mankind,  since,  as  we  have 
shown  above  (s.  45),  it  is  very  easy  for  -that  to  degenerate  into 
brown,  but  very  much  more  difficult  for  dark  to  become  white, 
when  the  secretion  and  precipitation  of  this  carbonaceous  pig- 
ment (s.  44)  has  once  deeply  struck  root. 

86.  Mongolian  variety.  This  is  the  same  as  what  was  for- 
merly called,  though  in  a  vague  and  ambiguous  way,  the  Tartar 
variety2;  which  denomination  has  given  rise  to  wonderful  mis- 
takes in  the  study  of  the  varieties  of  mankind  which  we  are  now 
busy  about.  So  that  Buffon  and  his  followers,  seduced  by  that 
title,  have  erroneously  transferred  to  the  genuine  Tartars,  who 


1  From  a  cloud  of  eye  witnesses  it  is  enough  to  quote  one  classical  one, 
Jo.  Chardin,  T.  I.  p.  m.  171.  "The  blood  of  Georgia  is  the  best  of  the  East,  and 
perhaps  in  the  world.  I  have  not  observed  a  single  ugly  face  in  that  country,  in 
either  sex ;  but  I  have  seen  angelical  ones.  1ST ature  has  there  lavished  upon  the 
women  beauties  which  are  not  to  be  seen  elsewhere.  I  consider  it  to  be  impossible 
to  look  at  them  without  loving  them.  It  would  be  impossible  to  paint  more  charm- 
ing visages,  or  better  figures,  than  those  of  the  Georgians." 

2  On  the  origin  of  this  erroneous  confusion,  by  which  the  name  of  Tartars 
began  to  be  transferred  to  the  Mongolian  nations,  compare  J.  Eberh.  Fischer, 
C'onjecturce  de  gente  et  nomine  Tatarorum  in  his  Quastiones  Petropolitwnce,  p.  46,  and 
his  Sibirische  Geschickte,  T.  1.  p.  28,  142. 


270  ETHIOPIAN    VARIETY. 

beyond  a  doubt  belong  to  our  first  variety,  the  racial  characters 
of  the  Mongols,  borrowed  from  ancient  authors1,  who  described 
them  under  the  name  of  Tartars. 

But  the  Tartars  shade  away  through  the  Kirghis  and  the 
neighbouring  races  into  the  Mongols,  in  the  same  way  as  these 
may  be  said  to  pass  through  the  Tibetans2  to  the  Indians, 
through  the  Esquimaux  to  the  Americans,  and  also  in  a  sort  of 
way  through  the  Philippine  Islanders3  to  the  men  of  the  Malay 
variety. 

87.  Ethiopian  variety.  This  variety,  principally  because  it 
is  so  different  in  colour  from  our  own,  has  induced  many  to  con- 
sider it,  with  the  witty,  but  badly  instructed  in  physiology,  Vol- 
taire, as  a  peculiar  species  of  mankind.  But  it  is  not  necessary 
for  me  to  spend  any  time  here  upon  refuting  this  opinion,  when 
it  has  so  clearly  been  shown  above  that  there  is  no  single 
character  so  peculiar  and  so  universal  among  the  Ethiopians, 
but  what  it  may  be  observed  on  the  one  hand  everywhere  in  other 
varieties  of  men4 ;  and  on  the  other  that  many  Negroes  are  seen 


1  The  original  source,  from  which  the  description  of  the  Mongols  which  has 
been  so  often  repeated,  and  which  has  been  copied  as  if  that  of  Tartars  by  so 
many  authors  on  natural  history,  I  have  found  in  the  letter  of  a  certain  Yvo,  a 
churchman  of  Narbonne,  dated  at  Vienna  in  1243,  and  sent  to  Griraldus,  arch- 
bishop of  Bordeaux,  and  inserted  by  his  contemporary  Matthew  Paris,  the 
English  monk  of  St  Albans,  in  what  is  called  his  Historic/,  Major,  p.  530,  ed.  Lond. 
1686,  fol.  This  letter  of  Yvo  is  about  the  terrible  devastations  of  that  inhuman 
nation  called  the  Tartars,  and  he  speaks  of  them  in  the  following  words :  "The 
Tartars  have  hard  and  strong  breasts,  thin  and  pale  faces,  stiff  and  upright  cheek- 
bones, short  and  twisted  noses,  chins  prominent  and  sharp,  the  upper  jaw  low 
and  deep,  the  teeth  long  and  few,  the  eyebrows  reaching  from  the  hair  of  the  head 
to  the  nose,  the  eyes  black  and  unsettled,  the  countenance  one-sided  and  fierce, 
the  extremities  bony  and  nervous,  the  legs  also  big,  but  the  calf-bones  short,  tie 
stature  however  the  same  as  our  own ;  for  what  is  wanting  in  the  legs,  is  made  up 
for  in  the  upper  part  of  the  body." 

2  Thus,  at  least,  I  consider  myself  entitled  to  conclude  from  the  pictures  of  the 
Tibetans,  painted  from  nature  by  the  great  artist  Kettle,  and  shown  me  by  Warren 
Hastings. 

3  The  Indian  from  the  Philippine  Islands,  whom  I  saw  alive  in  London  at 
Alex.  Dalrymple's,  was  in  appearance  exactly  this  sort  of  middle  man. 

4  There  is  only  one  thing  I  should  like  to  add  to  what  has  been  more  copiously 
discussed  about  this  point  in  the  section  above,  that  the  sort  of  powder-like  soot 
which  can  be  distinguished  in  the  skin  of  black  n  en,  can  by  no  means,  as  some 
authors  think,  be  peculiar  to  the  Malpighian  mucus  of  the  Ethiopians,  because  I 
have  perfectly  observed  the  same  thing,  although  more  scattered  and  less  equally 
distributed,  in  so  many  of  those  Indian  sailors  who  are  called  Lascars.  In  one 
Indian  woman,  a  native  of  Bombay,  who  is  a  servant  in  my  household,  I  can  see 


AMERICAN    VARIETY.  271 

to  be  without  each.  And  besides  there  is  no  character  which 
does  not  shade  away  by  insensible  gradation  from  this  variety  of 
mankind  to  its  neighbours,  which  is  clear  to  every  one  who  has 
carefully  considered  the  difference  between  a  few  stocks  of  this 
variety,  such  as  the  Foulahs,  the  Wolufs,  and  Mandingos,  and 
how  by  these  shades  of  difference  they  pass  away  into  the 
Moors  and  Arabs. 

The  assertion  that  is  jnade  about  the  Ethiopians,  that  they 
come  nearer  the  apes  than  other  men,  I  willingly  allow  so  far  as 
this,  that  it  is  in  the  same  way  that  the  solid-hoofed  (s.  30) 
variety  of  the  domestic  sow  may  be  said  to  come  nearer  to  the 
horse  than  other  sows.  But  how  little  weight  is  for  the  most 
part  to  be  attached  to  this  sort  of  comparison  is  clear  from  this, 
that  there  is  scarcely  any  other  out  of  the  principal  varieties  of 
mankind,  of  which  one  nation  or  other,  and  that  too  by  careful 
observers,  has  not  been  compared,  as  far  as  the  face  goes,  with 
the  apes ;  as  we  find .  said  in  express  words  of  the  Lapps 1,  the 
Esquimaux2,  the  Caaiguas  of  South  America3,  and  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  Island  Mallicollo4. 

88.  American  variety.  It  is  astonishing  and  humiliating 
what  quantities  of  fables  were  formerly  spread  about  the  racial 
characters  of  this  variety.  Some  have  denied  beards  to  the  men5, 
others    menstruation    to   the  women6.     Some  have  attributed 


as  time  goes  on,  the  same  blackness  in  the  face  and  arms  gradually  vanish,  though 
in  other  respects  the  precipitated  carbon  remains  unaltered,  of  a  chesnut  colour, 
effused  under  the  epidermis. 

1  Thus  Regnard  concludes  his  description  of  the  Lapps  in  these  words :  "  Such 
is  the  description  of  that  little  man  they  call  the  Laplander,  and  I  may  say  that 
there  is  no  animal,  after  the  ape,  which  so  nearly  approaches  the  man."  (Euvres, 
T.  I.  p.  71. 

2  When  the  Esquimaux  Attuioch,  whose  picture  taken  from  the  life  I  owe  to 
Sir  Joseph  Banks,  saw  an  ape  in  London  for  the  first  time,  he  asked  his  companion 
Cartwright  in  astonishment,  ''Is  that  an  Esquimaux?"  and  he  adds  in  his 
account,  "I  must  confess,  that  both  the  colour  and  contour  of  the  countenance 
had  considerable  resemblauce  to  the  people  of  their  nation." 

3  "As  like  apes  as  men,"  says  Nic.  del  Techo  of  them,  Relatione  cle  Caaigua- 
rum  gente,  p.  m.  34. 

4  Of  these,  J.  R.  Forster  says  in  his  Bcmerkungen,  p.  217,  "The  inhabitants 
of  the  island  Mallicollo  appear  to  have  a  nearer  relationship  to  the  apes  than  any 
I  have  ever  seen." 

5  See  De  Pauw  in  Rechcrches philosophiques  sur  les  Americains,  T.  1.  p.  37. 
c  See  Schurigius,  Parthenologia,  p.  200. 


272  BEARDLESS   NATIONS. 

one  and  the  same  colour1  to  each  and  all  the  Americans ; 
others  a  perfectly  similar  countenance  to  all  of  them2.  It  has 
been  so  clearly  demonstrated  now  by  the  unanimous  consent  of 
accurate  and  truthful  observers,  that  the  Americans  are  not 
naturally  beardless,  that  I  am  almost  ashamed  of  the  unneces- 
sary trouble  I  formerly  took  to  get  together  a  heap  of  testi- 
mony3, by  which  it  is  proved  that  not  only  throughout  the 
whole  of  America,  from  the  Esquimaux  downwards  to  the  inha- 
bitants of  Tierra  del  Fuego,  are  there  groups  of  inhabitants  who 
cherish  a  beard ;  but  also  it  is  quite  undeniable  as  to  the  other 
beardless  ones  that  they  eradicate  and  pluck  out  their  own  by 
artifice  and  on  purpose,  in  the  same  way  as  has  been  customary 
among  so  many  other  nations,  the  Mongolians 4  for  example,  and 
the  Malays5.  We  all  know  that  the  beard  of  the  Americans  is 
thin  and  scanty,  as  is  also  the  case  with  so  many  Mongolian 
nations.  They  ought  therefore  no  more  to  be  called  beardless, 
than  men  with  scanty  hair  to  be  called  bald.  Those  therefore 
who  thought  the  Americans  were  naturally  beardless  fell  into 
the  same  error  as  that  which  induced  the  ancients  to  suppose 
and  persuade  others,  that  the  birds  of  paradise,  from  whose 
corpses  the  feet  are  often  cut  off,  were  naturally  destitute  of 
feet. 

The  fabulous  report  that  the  American  women  have  no  men- 
struation, seems  to  have  had  its  origin  in  this,  that  the  Euro- 
peans when  they  discovered  the  new  world,  although  they  saw 
numbers  of  the  female  inhabitants  almost  entirely  naked,  never 
seem  to  have  observed  in  them  the  stains  of  that  excretion. 
For  this  it  seems  likely  that  there  were  two  reasons;  first,  that 


1  See  Home  in  Sketches  of  the  History  of  Man,  Vol.  I.  p.  13. 

2  Comp.  Robertson's  History  of  America,  Vol.  11.  p.  m.  404. 

3  I  cited  a  few  out  of  many  others  some  years  ago  in  Gottingisch.  Magazin,  2d 
year,  P.  vi.  p.  419. 

4  See  besides  many  others  J.  G.  Gmelin,  Reise  clurch  Sibirien,  T.  II.  p.  125. 
"  It  is  very  difficult  to  find  amongst  the  Tungus,  or  any  of  these  people,  a  beard. 
For  as  soon  as  one  appears,  they  pull  the  hair  out,  and  at  last  bring  it  to  this  that 
there  is  nothing  more  spring  up." 

5  Comp.  on  the  Sumatrans,  Marsden ;  on  the  Magindans,  Forrest ;  on  the 
Pelew  Islanders,  Wilson ;  on  the  Papuans,  Carteret ;  on  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Navigator's  group,  Bougainville,  &c. 

6  Lery,   Voyage  faict  en  le  terrc  clu  Bresil,  p.  in.  270. 


colour  273 

amongst  those  nations  of  America,  the  women  during  menstru- 
ation are,  by  a  fortunate  prejudice,  considered  as  poisonous,  and 
are  prohibited  from  social  intercourse,  and  for  so  long  enjoy  a 
beneficial  repose  in  the  more  secluded  huts  far  from  the  view 
of  men1;  secondly,  because,  as  Las  been  noticed2,  they  are  so 
commendably  clean  in  their  bodies,  and  the  commissure  of  their 
legs  so  conduces  to  modesty,  that  no  vestiges  of  the  catamenia 
ever  strike  the  eye. 

As  to  the  colour  of  the  skin  of  this  variety,  on  the  one  hand 
it  has  been  observed  above,  that  it  is  by  no  means  so  constant  as 
not  in  many  cases  to  shade  away  into  black  (s.  43) ;  and  on  the 
other,  that  it  is  easily  seen,  from  the  nature  of  the  American  cli- 
mate3, and  the  laws  of  degeneration  when  applied  to  the  ex- 
tremely probable  origin  of  the  Americans  from  northern  Asia4, 
why  they  are  not  liable  to  such  great  diversities  of  colour,  as  the 
other  descendants  of  Asiatic  autochthones,  who  peopled  the 
ancient  world.  The  same  reason  holds  good  as  to  the  appear- 
ance of  the  Americans.  Careful  eye-witnesses  long  ago  laughed 
at  the  foolish,  or  possibly  facetious  hyperbole  of  some,  who 
asserted  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  new  world  were  so  exactly 
alike,  that  when  a  man  had  seen  one,  he  could  say  that  he  had 
seen  all5,  &c.  It  is,  on  the  contrary,  proved  by  the  finished 
drawings  of  Americans  by  the  best  artists,  and  by  the  testimony 
of  the  most  trustworthy  eye-witnesses,  that  in  this  variety  of 
mankind,  as  in  ether?,  countenances  of  all  sorts  occur6:  although 


1  Comp.  Sagard,  Voyage  du  pays  des  Rurons,  p.  78. 

2  Van  Berkel's  Reisen  nach  JR.  de  Berbice  und  Surinam,  p.  46. 

3  Zimmermann,  Geograph'sche  (oeschiclde  des  menschen,  T.  I.  p.  87. 

4  Kant,  in  Teuttschen  Mercur,  a.  1788,  T.  i.  p.  119. 

5  See  Molina,  Sulla  storia  nafurale  del  Chili,  p.  336.  "  I  laugh  in  my  sleeve 
when  I  read  in  certain  modern  writers,  supposed  to  be  diligent  observers,  that  all 
the  Americans  have  the  same  appearance,  and  that  wh<_n  a  man  has  seen  one,  he 
may  say  that  he  has  seen  them  all.  Such  authors  allow  themselves  to  be  too 
easily  deceived  by  certain  vague  appearances  of  similarity  which  have  to  do  for  the 
most  pait  with  colour,  and  which  vanish  as  soon  as  ever  the  individuals  of  one 
nation  are  confronted  with  -those  of  another.  A  Chilian  does  not  differ  less  in 
aspect  from  a  Peruvian,  than  an  Italian  from  a  German.  I  have  seen  myself 
Paraguayanos,  Cujanos,  and  Magellanos,  all  of  whom  have  their  peculiar  lineaments 
which  are  easily  distinguished  from  those  of  the  others." 

6  Thus,  to  bring  a  few  examples  from  South  America  alone,  Nic.  del  Techo 
describes  the  Caaiguas  with  apish  nostrils :  Mart.  Dubrizhoffer  says  that  the  neigh- 

18 


274  PHYSIOGNOMY. 

in  general  that  sort  of  racial  conformation  may  be  considered  as 
properly  belonging  to  them  which  we  attributed  to  them  above 
(s.  56).  It  was  justly  observed  by  the  first  Europeans1  who 
visited  the  new  continent,  that  the  Americans  came  very  near  to 
the  Mongolians,  which  adds  fresh  weight  to  the  very  probable 
opinion  that  the  Americans  came  from  northern  Asia,  and 
derived  their  origin  from  the  Mongolian  nation.  It  is  probable 
that  migrations  of  that  kind  took  place  at  different  times,  after 
considerable  intervals,  according  as  various  physical,  geological, 
or  political  catastrophes  gave  occasion  to  them;  and  hence,  if 
any  place  is  allowed  for  conjecture  in  these  investigations,  the 
reason  may  probably  be  derived,  why  the  Esquimaux  have  still 
much  more  of  the  Mongolian  appearance2  about  them  than  the 
rest  of  the  Americans:  partly,  because  the  catastrophe  which 
drove  them  from  northern  Asia  must  be  much  more  recent,  and 
so  they  are  a  much  later  arrival3;  and  partly  because  the  climate 
of  the  new  country,  which  they  now  inhabit,  is  much  more  homo- 
geneous with  that  of  their  original  country.  In  fact,  unless  I  am 
much  mistaken,  we  must  attribute  to  the  same  influence  I  men- 
tioned above  (s.  57),  which  the  climate  has  in  preserving  or 
restoring  the  racial  appearance,  the  fact  that  the  inhabitants  of 
the  cold  southern  extremity  of  South  America,  as  the  barbarous 
inhabitants  of  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  seem  to  come  nearer, 
and  as  it  were  fall  back,  to  the  original  Mongolian  countenance4. 


bouring  AVipones,  on  the  contrary,  are  often  remarkable  for  aquiline  noses:  Ulloa 
attributes  a  narrow  and  hooked  nose  to  the  Peruvians ;  Molina,  one  somewhat 
broad  to  the  Chilians ;  G.  Forster,  one  very  depressed  to  the  islanders  of  Tierra  del 
Fuego. 

1  Lettere  di  Amer.  Vespucci,  p.  9,  ed.  Bandini.  "They  are  not  very  hand- 
some, because  their  faces  are  wide,  'which  makes  them  like  Tartars." 

2  Tiiis  I  see  most  clearly  both  in  two  Esquimaux  skulls  from  Nain,  a  colony  of 
Labrador,  which  adorn  my  collection,  and  in  the  pictures  of  these  barbarians 
taken  from  the  life  by  good  artists,  which  I  owe  to  the  liberality  of  Sir  J.  Banks. 

3  The  paradox  of  Kobertson,  who  derived  the  Esquimaux  from  the  Normans, 
in  his  History  of  America,  Vol.  II.  p.  40,  scarcely  deserves  a  refutation  at  this 
time. 

4  Thus  that  classical  Argonaut  and  capital  eye-witness  and  observer,  Linschot, 
compares  the  inhabitants  of  the  strait  of  Magellan  whom  he  saw,  in  physiognomy, 
appearance,  colour,  hair  and  beard,  to  the  Samoiedes,  with  whom  he  was  very  well 
acquainted  through  his  famous  journey  to  the  strait  of  Nassovitch,  in  his  notes 
to  Acosta,  p.  46  b. 


MALAY.  275 

89.  The  Malay  variety.  As  the  Americans  in  respect  of 
racial  appearance  hold  as  it  were  a  j)lace  between  the  medial 
variety  of  mankind,  which  we  called  the  Caucasian,  and  one  of 
the  two  extremes,  that  is  the  Mongolian ;  so  the  Malay  variety 
makes  the  transition  from  that  medial  variety  to  the  other  ex- 
treme, namely,  the  Ethiopian.  I  wish  to  call  it  the  Malay, 
because  the  majority  of  the  men  of  this  variety,  especially  those 
who  inhabit  the  Indian  islands  close  to  the  Malacca  peninsula, 
as  well  as  the  Sandwich,  the  Society,  and  the  Friendly  Islanders, 
and  also  the  Malambi  of  Madagascar  down  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Easter  Island,  use  the  Malay  idiom1. 

Meanwhile  even  these  differ  so  much  between  themselves 
through  various  degrees  of  beauty  and  other  corporeal  attributes, 
that  there  are  some  who  divide  the  Otaheitans  themselves  into 
two  distinct  races2;  the  first  paler  in  colour,  of  lofty  stature, 
with  face  which  can  scarcely  be  distinguished  from  that  of  the 
European ;  the  second,  on  the  other  hand,  of  moderate  stature, 
colour,  and  face  little  different  from  that  of  Mulattos,  curly 
hair,  &c. 3  ,  This  last  race  then  comes  very  near  those  men  who 
inhabit  the  islands  more  to  the  south  in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  of 
whom  the  inhabitants  of  the  New  Hebrides  in  particular  come 
sensibly  near  the  Papuans  and  New  Hollanders,  who  finally  on 
their  part  graduate  away  so  insensibly  towards  the  Ethiopian 
variety,  that,  if  it  was  thought  convenient,  they  might  not 
unfairly  be  classed  with  them,  in  that  distribution  of  the  varie- 
ties we  were  talking  about. 

90.  Conclusion.  Thus  too  there  is  with  this  that  insensible 
transition  by  which  as  we  saw  the  other  varieties  also  run  toge- 
ther, and  which,  compared  with  what  was  discussed  in  the  earlier 


1  Sir  J.  Banks  first  of  all  showed  this  in  Hawkesworth's  Collection,  Vol.  III. 
P-  373>  then  after  him  Bryant  in  Cook's  Voyage  to  the  Northern  Hemisphere,  Vol. 
III.  App.  No.  2,  p.  528,  and  Marsden  in  Archceologia,  Vol.  VI.  p.  154. 

2  See  Bougainville  in  Voyage  autour  du  Monde,  p.  213. 

3  Thus  long  ago  the  immortal  De  Quiros,  who  first  discovered  the  Society 
Islands,  accurately  distinguished  these  varieties  among  the  inhabitants  of  the 
islands  in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  when  he  called  some  white,  and  compared  some  to 
the  Mulattos,  and  some  to  the  Ethiopians.  See  Dalrymple,  Collection  of  Voy- 
ages to  the  South  Pacific  Ocean,  Vol.  1.  p.  164. 

18—2 


276  CONCLUSION. 

sections  of  the  book,  about  the  causes  and  ways  of  degeneration, 
and  the  analogous  phenomena  of  degeneration  in  the  other 
domestic  animals,  brings  us  to  that  conclusion,  which  seems  to 
flow  spontaneously  from  physiological  principles  applied  by  the 
aid  of  critical  zoology  to  the  natural  history  of  mankind;  which 
is,  That  no  doubt  can  any  longer  remain  but  that  we  are  with 
great  probability  right  in  referring  all  and  singular  as  many 
varieties  of  man  as  are  at  present  known  to  one  and  the  same 
species. 


BEYTRAGE 


ZUR 


NATURGESCHICHTE, 


VON 


JOH.    FR.   BLUMENBACH, 

PROP.    ZU   GOTT.   XJND  KONIGL.   GEOSSBBIT.   HOFEATH. 


ERSTER  THEIL,   ZWEYTE  AUSGABE. 


GOTTINGEN: 
BEY  HEINRICH  DIETERICH.    1806. 


CONTENTS. 


1.  On  Mutability  in  the  Creation. 

II.  A  Glance  into  the  Primitive  World. 

III.  A  Preaclamite    Primitive   World  has  already  lived  out  its 

existence. 

IV.  Remodelling  of  the  Primitive  World. 

V.  Changes  in  the  present  Creation. 

VI.  Degeneration  of  Organized  Bodies. 

VII.  Especially  in  the  Domestic  Animals. 

VIII.  Degeneration  of  the  most  perfect  of  all  domestic  animals — 
Man. 

IX.  A  very  peculiar  physiological  singularity  of  the  Human  Body. 

X.  Something  tranquillizing  on  a  common  family  concern. 

XI.  On  Anthropological  Collections. 

XII.  Division  of  Mankind  intone  principal  Races. 

XIII.  On  the  Negro  in  particular. 

XIV.  On  the  Kakerlacken. 

Appendices. 

1  On  the  Gradation  in  Nature. 

2.  On  the  Succession  of  different  Earth-catastrophes. 

3.  On  the  so-called  Objects  of  Design. 


CONTRIBUTIONS   TO   NATURAL   HISTORY, 

BY 

J.    F.  BLUMENBACH. 


PART  THE  FIRST. 


On  Mutability  in  the  Creation. 

"  YES,  that's  the  way  of  the  world/'  says  Voltaire ;  "  we  can't  get 
any  more  purple,  for  the  Murex  has  long  since  been  extermi- 
nated. The  poor  little  shell  must  have  been  eaten  up  by  some 
other  larger  animals."  "God  forbid,"  answer  the  physico-theolo- 
gians;  "it  is  impossible  that  Providence  can  allow  of  the  extinc- 
tion of  a  species1."  Thus  says  the  noble  village  pastor  of  Savoy 
in  Emilie,  "  There  is  no  creature  in  the  universe  that  may  not 
equally  be  looked  upon  as  the  common  centre  of  all  the  rest." 
And,  says  another  in  addition,  "  There  is  no  one,  so  to  say,  which 
is  not  that  for  all  the  rest  of  the  creation,  which  the  head  of 
Phidias  was  for  the  shield  of  his  artificial  Minerva,  which  could 
not  be  removed  without  the  whole  of  the  great  work  falling  to 
pieces." 

"  Rather  than  that,"  says  Linnseus,  "  let  nature  create  new 
sorts.  Thus  not  far  from  Upsala,  on  the  island  Sodra-Gaesskiaeret, 


1  See  Pennant's  History  of  Quadrupeds,  "Vol.  I.  p.  161.  "  Providence  main- 
tains and  continues  every  created  species;  and  we  have  as  much  assurance,  that  no 
race  of  animals  will  any  more  cease  while  the  earth  remaineth,  than  seed-time  and 
harvest,  cold  and  heat,  summer  and  winter,  day  or  night," 


282  EXTINCT   SPECIES. 

a  new  plant  has  appeared,  the  Peloria,  that  is  undoubtedly  a 
sort  of  new  creation."  "  Ah,"  they  answer,  "  nature  is  an  old 
hen,  which  will  certainly  lay  nothing  more  fresh  at  this  time  of 
day."  "Certainly  not,"  decides  Haller;  "and  such  errors  should 
be  denounced,  because  they  will  be  eagerly  snapped  up  by  the 
atheists,  who  will  be  only  too  glad  to  demonstrate  the  instability 
of  nature  as  well  by  the  appearance  of  new  species,  as  by  the 
pretended  extermination  of  old  kinds.  And  this  must  not 
be;  for  if  order  in  the  physical  world  comes  to  an  end,  so  also 
will  order  in  the  moral  world,  and  at  last  it  is  all  over  with  all 
religion." 

If  I  may  presume  to  put  in  a  word  here  myself,  my  opinion 
is  that  on  all  sides  too  much  has  been  made  of  the  matter.  The 
murex  exists  up  to  the  present  day  just  as  much  as  in  the  time 
of  the  old  Phoenicians  and  Greeks ; — the  peloria  is  a  monstrous 
freak  of  nature,  and  no  new  particular  independent  species. 
Nature  is  made  common,  but  is  not  exactly  an  old  hen, —  and  the 
creation  is  something  more  solid  than  that  statue  of  Minerva, 
— and  it  will  not  go  to  pieces  even  if  one  species  of  creatures 
dies  out,  or  another  is  newly  created, — and  it  is  more  than  merely 
probable,  that  both  cases  have  happened  before  now, — and  all 
this  without  the  slightest  danger  to  order,  either  in  the  physical 
or  in  the  moral  world,  or  for  religion  in  general.  For  my  own 
part  it  is  exactly  in  these  things  that  I  find  the  guidance  of 
a  higher  hand  most  unmistakeable ;  so  that  in  spite  of  this 
recognized  instability  of  nature,  the  creation  continues  going  on 
its  quiet  way ;  and  on  that  very  account  it  is  my  opinion  that  it 
is  well  worth  the  trouble,  after  such  an  immense  deal  has  been 
written  upon  the  pretended  unchangeableness  of  the  creation, 
just  once  to  recollect  on  the  other  hand  the  proofs  of  the  great 
alterations  in  it.  To  do  this  I  shall  be  obliged  to  go  some  way 
about. 


fossils.  283 


II. 

A  Peep  into  the  Primitive  World. 

Every  paving- stone  in  Gottingen  is  a  proof  that  species,  or 
rather  whole  genera,  of  creatures  must  have  disappeared.  Our 
limestone  swarms  likewise  with  numerous  kinds  of  lapidified 
marine  creatures,  among  which,  as  far  as  I  know,  there  is  only- 
one  single  species  that  so  much  resembles  any  one  of  the  pre- 
sent kinds,  that  it  may  be  considered  as  the  original  of  it ; 
and  this  is  that  j>articular  kind  of  the  Terebratulse  in  the  Medi- 
terranean and  Atlantic  waters,  which  from  their  appearance 
have  received  the  name  of  the  cock  and  hen1.  For  one  of 
the  two  delicate  bellied  shells  rises  behind  over  the  other  at  the 
junction,  and  so  when  it  is  seen  in  profile  it  has  some  resem- 
blance to  a  cock  which  is  treading  a  hen. 

Amongst  the  quite  countless  host  of  other  lapidified  marine 
creatures,  who  have  found  their  grave  in  our  soils,  there  are  no 
doubt  many  (as  amongst  the  Mytilites,  Chamites,  Pectinites, 
&c.)  to  which  most  naturalists  attribute  as  many  distinct  origi- 
nals, but  I  have  very  often  compared,  in  these  instances,  the 
petrifaction2  with  the  pretended  original,  and  it  is  not  my  fault 
if  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  both  are  unmistakeably 
specifically  distinct  from  each  other3. 

In  a  very  great  number  of  the  remaining  lapidifi cations  of 
this  country  the  forms  differ  so  very  surprisingly  from  all 
creatures  now  known,  that  I  hope  no  one  will  in  future  really 


1  Anomia  Vilrea.  Chemnitz's  Conclujlicn-cabinet,  B.  viii.  Tab.  Lssvur.  fig. 
-07—709. 

2  [Three  words  are  employed  somewhat  loosely  by  Blumenbach  :  versteinerung, 
petrefact,  fossil:  I  have  translated  them,  la/pidificaiion,  petrifaction,  and  fossil 
respectively. — Ed.] 

3  Nearly  the  only,  but  therefore  all  the  more  important,  use  of  the  knowledge 
of  lapidifications,  is  the  solution  which  the  history  of  the  changes  of  the  earth's 
surface  derives  from  it;  but  unfortunately  to  arrive  at  this  requires  the  most  ex- 
treme accuracy  of  observation,  especially  when  we  come  to  the  comparison  of  pe- 
trifactions with  their  pretended  originals.  Want  of  accuracy  in  this  has  already 
produced  the  most  extraordinary  cosmogonical  errors. 


284  AMMONITES. 

try  to  reckon  them  amongst  these  last1.  I  will  mention  two 
genera  only  out  of  all,  the  Belemnites2  and  the  Ammonites, 
of  both  of  which  I  have  before  me  all  sorts  of  different  species 
from  most  of  the  countries  of  Europe,  and  even  from  Asia,  and 
which  will  also  most  likely  be  found  in  the  other  parts  of  the 
world,  the  islands  of  the  fifth  part  excepted3.  At  present  they 
reckon  about  200  different  sj>ecies  of  the  Ammonite  genus; 
and  I  do  not  think  this  is  an  exaggeration4,  although  I  have 
never  considered  it  worth  while  to  count  them  up  advisedly. 
No  true  representative  of  any  one  of  these  200  species  has 
yet  been  found  in  the  existing  creation.  It  is  plain  also  from 
observing  well-preserved  Ammonites,  that  notwithstanding  some 
are  of  quite  colossal  size,  they  must  have  been  very  slender- 
shelled,  light,  and  unattached  conchylia,  and  could  not  have 
lived,  as  was  at  first  suggested  as  an  evasion,  sunk  in  the  depths 
of  our  seas.  And  as  we  now,  by  the  great  voyages  through 
which  the  king5  has  caused  the  larger  portion  of  the  fifth  part 
of  the  world  to  be  discovered,  and  the  boundaries  of  our  earth 
to  be  ascertained,  are  coming  to  be  better  acquainted  with  the 


1  Superintendent  Schrbter  considers  it  as  one  of  the  chief  uses  -which  we  derive 
from  the  study  of  petrifications,  that  they  help  us  to  fill  up  the  gaps  in  the  grada- 
tion of  nature.  "  Without  them,"  says  he,  in  the  3rd  Vol.  of  his  Einleitung  in  die 
Geschickle  der  Steine,  &c,  s.  94,  "  we  should  find  the  most  wonderful  gaps  in  this 
gradation  and  chain  of  nature,  which  are  fortunately  filled  up  for  us  hy  means  of  the 
science  of  lapidifications."  If  we  found  this  remark  in  any  other  writer,  we  should 
consider  it  as  something  witty  upon  the  asserted  gradation  of  nature  with  regard 
to  the  generation  of  her  creatures ;  for  all  this  can  only  mean  that  what  the  Creator 
has  not  given  us  in  natura,  at  least  He  has  had  cast  in  effigy  for  the  assistance  of 
the  physico-theilogians  and  their  allegorical  images  of  chains  and  links  in  His 
creation.     On  this  I  will  say  a  little  more  in  the  additions,  at  the  end  of  this  part. 

2  Belemnites  are  even  still  some  of  the  commonest  of  lapidifications.  The 
Chevalier  D'  Hancarviile,  Eecherches  sur  Vorigine  des  Arts  de  la  Gre.ce,  B.  1.  s.  2, — an 
unparalleled  book — gives  as  a  reason  why  we  do  not  find  them  in  still  larger  numbers 
- — that  so  many  of  them  were  shot  away,  if  we  can  trust  his  assertion,  in  the  child- 
hood of  mankind.  For,  says  he,  "  before  they  used  copper  or  iron  to  arm  the 
points  of  their  darts  with,  they  used  to  employ  these  Belemnites.  The  Arundel 
marbles  place  the  epoch  of  the  discovery  of  iron  in  the  year  87  after  the  arrival  of 
Cadmus  in  Greece.  Before  that  epoch  the  spears  of  the  Greeks  were  necessarily 
armed  with  these  Belemnites,  the  name  of  which  has  been  handed  down  to  our 
time,  and  shows  the  use." 

3  J.  R.  Forster,  Bemerkungen  auf  seiner  reise  um  die  Welt,  s.  19. 

4  In  the  Breslauer  Sammlungen  of  1725,  it  is  stated  that  the  zealous  and  saga- 
cious collector  of  petrifactions,  Rosinus  of  Munden,  had  already  collected  over  300 
sorts  of  Ammonites. 

6  George  III. 


TREADAMIT1SM.  285 

ocean  than  the  firm  land  of  our  planet,  we  must  consequently 
give  up  the  hope  that  the  representatives  of  these  widely  scat- 
tered animals,  like  thousands  of  other  fossils,  are  still  living, 
sunk  in  our  oceans. 


III. 

An  old  Preadamite  Creation  has  already  lived  out  its  existence. 

Putting  all  these  things  together,  in  my  opinion  it  becomes 
more  than  merely  probable  that  not  only  one  or  more  species,  but 
a  whole  organized  preadamite  creation  has  disappeared  from  the 
face  of  our  planet.  Out  of  all  existing  theories  of  the  earth 
with  which  I  am  acquainted,  there  is  no  single  one  by  which  the 
instantly  apparent  peculiarities  of  the  petrifactions  in  our  cal- 
careous strata  can  be  brought  into  any  order.  But  they  will  be 
at  once  easily  explained,  as  soon  as  it  is  understood,  as  I  have 
said,  that  our  earth  has  already  suffered  a  complete  revolution, 
and  experienced  one  last  da,y.  It  is  plain  that  other  so-called 
cosmogonical  phenomena,  as,  for  instance,  the  quantity  of  fossil 
bones  of  the  elephant,  rhinoceros,  and  other  animals  of  the 
present  earth,  which  have  been  dug  up  in  this  country,  and 
more  of  the  same  kind,  must  unfortunately  be  accurately  sepa- 
rated and  divided  from  that  complete  revolution.  This  it  is,  if 
I  mistake  not,  which  has  till  now  always  been  the  rock  on  which 
even  the  most  sagacious  theories  of  the  earth  have  foundered, 
so  soon  as  they  have  endeavoured  to  refer  all  these  phenomena, 
which  are  so  different  from  one  another,  to  one  single  common 
revolution,  and  to  explain  all  by  one  and  the  same  catastrophe1. 
A  naturalist,  who  is  as  sagacious  as  amiable,  has  recently 
attempted  to  connect  the  origin  of  those  fossil  bones  found  in 


1  In  opposition  to  this  view,  I  have  in  the  Specimen  Archceologice  Telluris,  &c. 
Gbtt.  1803,  4to,  endeavoured  to  explain  the  old  history  of  our  planet,  and  especially 
the  nature,  and  also  in  general  the  sequences  of  the  totally  different  catastrophes  it 
has  gone  through,  by  which  the  numerous  fossil  remains  of  former  organic  creations 
have  come  into  their  present  positions,  principally  by  a  critical  comparison  of  these 
fossils  with  the  organized  bodies  of  the  present  creation.  Of  these  also  a  word  be- 
low, in  the  additions,  at  the  end  of  this  part. 


286  -  FOSSILS. 

this  country  belonging  to  foreign  land-animals  and  the  actual 
lapidificatioris  of  the  marine  creatures  in  our  calcareous  strata 
in  this  way  with  each  other,  by  supposing  that  the  present 
position  of  those  land-animals  is  not  their  original  home,  but 
that  after  their  death  they  fell  into  rivers,  and  so  by  degrees 
were  huddled  together  by  the  currents  on  the  existing  floor  of 
the  sea.  But  those  localities,  at  all  events  where  I  myself  have 
examined  the  position  of  the  large  exotic  bones,  are  very  diffi- 
cult to  reconcile  with  that  hypothesis.  Thus,  for  instance,  I  have 
myself  examined  at  Burgtonna,  in  Gotha,  the  bed  of  both  the 
elephants  which  were  dug  up  there  in  1695  and  1799,  and  found 
that  it  was  so  completely  made  up  of  strong  layers  of  marl, 
which  were  so  full  of  small,  delicate,  and  for  the  most  part 
uninjured  land  and  river  shells  and  the  like,  that  I  consider  it 
is  quite  impossible  this  bed  could  ever  have  been  the  floor  of 
the  sea;  but  that  most  likely  the  elephants,  rhinoceroses,  and 
tortoises,  of  all  of  which  I  have  got  together1  instructive  speci- 
mens for  my  collection  from  the  Tonna  marl-strata,  must  have 
been  naturalized  at  one  time  in  that  country,  no  one  knows  how 
long  after  the  supposed  general  revolution.  This  general  revo- 
lution, from  which  may  be  dated  the  countless  extinct  organized 
creatures  in  the  calcareous  strata,  is  again  quite  different  from 
the  subsequent  later  oue,  which  must  have  occurred  when  the 
earth  was  remodelled2. 


1  Corap.  Hofr.  Voigt,  Ueber  Einige  Physicalisclie  merJavurdi'gkeiten  der  gegend 
von  Burgtonna  im  Herzogthum  Gotha  in  his  Magazin  fur  Phydk  und  Naturge- 
schichte,  B.  in.  st.  4. 

2  There  was  a  time  when  the  origin  of  all  petrifactions,  and  the  general  revolu- 
tion of  the  earth  itself,  was  deduced  from  the  Noachian  deluge.  But,  as  one  of 
the  most  sagacious  and  also  certainly  one  of  the  most  orthodox  theologians,  R. 
Walsh,  has  assured  me,  we  are  far  from  doing  the  slightest  violence  to  the  authority 
of  Holy  Scripture,  when  we  deny  the  universality  of  the  flood  of  Noah ;  and  in 
like  manner,  I  cannot  for  my  own  part  form  any  satisfactory  idea,  after  what  I 
gather  from  the  history  of  animals  themselves,  about  the  universality  of  that 
deluge.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  pilgrimage  which  the  sloth  (an  animal  which  takes 
a  whole  hour  in  crawling  six  feet)  must  in  that  case  have  performed  from  Ararat  to 
South  America,  is  always  a  little  incomprehensible.  We  are  obliged,  with  St 
Augustine,  to  call  in  the  assistance  of  the  angels,  \x\iojussu  Dei  she  permissu,  as  he 
expresses  himself,  first  of  all  collected  all  the  animal  kingdom  in  the  ark,  and  then 
distributed  them  again  ad  locum  inde,  in  the  distant  islands  and  quarters  of  the 
globe. 


CREATION.  287 

IV. 

Remodelling  of  the  Primitive  World. 

After  therefore  that  organic  creation  in  the  Preadamite 
primitive  epoch  of  our  planet  had  fulfilled  its  purpose,  it  was 
destroyed  by  a  general  catastrophe  of  its  surface  or  shell,  which 
probably  lay  in  ruins  some  time,  until  it  was  put  together  again, 
enlivened  with  a  fresh  vegetation,  and  vivified  with  a  new 
animal  creation.  In  order  that  it  might  provide  such  a  harvest, 
the  Creator  took  care  to  allow  in  general  powers  of  nature  to 
bring  forth  the  new  organic  kingdoms,  similar  to  those  which 
had  fulfilled  that  object  in  the  primitive  world.  Only  the  for- 
mative force  having  to  deal  with  materials,  which  must  of  course 
have  been  much  changed  by  such  a  general  revolution,  was  com- 
pelled to  take  a  direction  differing  more  or  less  from  the  old  one 
in  the  production  of  new  species1. 

So  that  we  naturally  find  very  few  creatures  in  the  present 
creation  which  are  exactly  like  the  lapidifications  of  the  primi- 
tive world,  as,  for  instance,  the  shell-fish  of  the  Atlantic  and  the 
Terebratula  mentioned  above  of  our  calcareous  rocks  of  the  pre- 
sent day.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  quantities  of  such  petri- 
factions which  appear  like  the  present  organic  bodies,  and 
therefore,  as  I  have  said  already,  on  a  mere  hasty  comparison 
are  often  taken  to  be  identical  with  them,  but  which  upon 
closer  inspection  present  most  unmistakeable  differences  in  their 
formation,  and  may  serve  as  an  example  how  the  formative 
force  in  these  two  creations  has  acted  in  a  similar,  but  not 
exactly  in  the  same  way.  As  to  the  possible  objection,  that  this 
difference  might  also  have  been  occasioned  solely  by  degenera- 
tion acting  for  a  long  series  of  thousands  of  years,  it  can  be  very 


1  So  that  the  formative  power  of  nature  in  these  remodellings  partly  reproduces 
again  creatures  of  a  similar  type  to  those  of  the  old  world,  which  however  in  by  far 
the  greatest  number  of  instances  have  put  on  forms  more  applicable  to  others  in 
the  new  order  of  things,  so  that  in  the  new  creatures  the  laws  of  the  formative 
force  have  been  somewhat  modified,  as  Lucretius  expresses  himself: 

'  quod  potuit,  nequeat  ;  possit,  quod  non  tulit  ar.te.' 


288  MUTATIONS. 

easily  refuted  by  those  examples  in  which  the  difference  between 
fossil  and  recent  shells,  which  are  sufficiently  like  each  other 
in' general,  is  still  of  that  quality  that  it  unfortunately  cannot 
be  considered  either  as  a  consequence  of  degeneration,  or  as  an 
accidental  monstrosity,  but  can  hardly  be  considered  as  anything 
else  than  an  altered  direction  of  the  formative  forcer  To  give 
one  example  out  of  many.  In  the  North  Sea  there  is  a  shell, 
whose  pretty  house  is  generally  known  under  the  name  of 
Murex  despectus;  and  at  Harwich  on  the  coast  of  Essex  there  is 
found  a  fossil  shell,  which  in  its  general  habit  has  so  strong  a 
resemblance  to  that  Murex,  that  at  the  first  glance  one  might  be 
mistaken  for  the  other.  But,  in  the  recent  species,  as  usually 
happens,  the  twistings  are  to  the  right;  whereas,  on  the  contrary, 
in  the  fossil  species  the  twists  are  exactly  the  other  way,  to  the 
left1;  and  it  is  just  as  contrary  to  experience  to  find  the  fossil 
Murex  marked  to  the  right  as  the  recent  Murex  to  the  left. 
Such  a  thing  is  not  a  consequence  of  degeneration,  but  a 
remodelling  through  an  altered  direction  of  the  formative  force. 


V. 

Mutations  in  the  Existing  Citation. 

According  to  all  probability  therefore  a  whole  creation  of 
organized  bodies  has  already  become  extinct,  and  has  been  suc- 
ceeded by  a  new  one.  So  much  variation  is  however  to  be 
observed,  or,  as  Haller  called  it,  but  falsely,  instability  of  nature, 
even  in  this  new  one,  that  a  person  might  easily,  a  priori  as  they 
say,  embrace  the  idea  in  this  too  of  the  extinction  of  whole  spe- 
cies, and  the  fresh  appearance  of  others,  even  if  both  these 
observations  were  not  made  more  than  merely  probable  by 
actual  data. 


1  See  a  pair  of  instances  of  this  singular  fossil,  Murex  contrarius,  from  my  col- 
lection, in  the  second  part  of  the  Abhildungen  Nuturhidorischer  Gegensiande.  G-ott. 
1 797,  Tab.  xx. 


PIMPLE- WORM.  289 

Thus  there  was  still  to  be  found  in  the  time  of  our  fathers, 
on  the  Isle  of  France  and  on  some  of  the  small  neighbouring 
islands,  but  in  no  other  place  in  the  world,  so  far  as  is  known,  a 
species  of  large,  plump,  lazy  land-birds,  whose  flesh  is  repulsive, 
the  Dodos1',  whose  locality  was  circumscribed,  because  they 
could  fly  no  better  than  the  Cassowary.  But  according  to  the 
account  of  M.  Morel,  who  instituted  a  search  with  that  view 
at  the  very  place  itself,  this  bird  has  ceased  now  to  exist.  It 
has  been  exterminated  out  and  out.  This  is  no  more  incompre- 
hensible or  improbable  than  that  the  last  wolf  in  Scotland,  as  is 
known  to  have  been  the  case,  should  have  been  shot  in  1680, 
although  a  hundred  years  before  great  wolf-hunts  used  to  be 
held.  Just  in  the  same  way,  but  somewhat  earlier  in  England, 
and  thirty  years  later  in  Ireland,  these  beasts  of  prey  were 
destroyed  also.  Thus  plainly  neither  the  fauna  nor  the  flora 
(as  these  lists  of  indigenous  beasts  and  plants  are  called)  of  a 
country  remain  always  the  same.  Creatures  enough  die  away 
in  a  locality,  and  fresh  ones  again  become  naturalized  and  spread 
themselves.  It  may  be  by  design,  as  the  carp  which  has  now 
been  artificially  naturalized  in  many  northern  countries;  or 
accidentally,  as  the  rats  of  the  old  world  have  managed  to 
engraft  themselves  on  the  new.  So  there  is  nothing  contradic- 
tory in  the  idea  that  also  once  in  the  universal  flora  or  fauna  of 
the  creation  (but  especially  in  the  latter),  as  we  have  said,  a 
species  may  have  become  extinct;  and  on  the  other  hand  a 
fresh  one  may  likewise  be  sometimes  very  easily  created  sub- 
sequently. 

The  pimple-worm2  in  pigs,  which  Malpighi  was  the  first  to 
discover,  is  quite  as  real  and  perfect  an  animal  in  its  kind  as  man 
and  the  elephant  in  theirs.  But,  as  is  well  known,  this  animal  is 
only  found  in  tame  swine,  and  never  in  any  way  in  the  wild  pig, 
from  which  however  the  former  is  descended.  It  would  seem 
therefore  that  this  worm  was  no  more  created  at  the  same  time 


3  Dldus  ineptus.  See  Abbildungen  Naturhistorischer  Gegenstdnde  Part  iv. 
GStt.  1799,  Tab.  xxxv. 

2  Hydatis  finna.  See  Abbildungen  Naturhistorischer  Gegenstdnde  a.  a.  0.  Tab. 
39- 

19 


290  DEGENERATION. 

as  the  original  stock  of  the  hog  than,  according  to  probability, 
the  allied  species  of  the  bladder  worms,  which  have  been  lately 
discovered,  just  like  those  hydatids,  in  the  flesh  and  among  the 
entrails  in  human  bodies,  which  must,  needs  have  been  created 
after  the  original  parents  of  mankind.  How  indeed  this  subse- 
quent creation  took  place,  that  I  can  no  more  say  than  how  in 
early  times  the  first  spermatic  animalcule  came  into  being ;  that 
however  they  were  subsequently  created  seems  to  me  undeniable, 
and  I  lay  that  to  the  account  of  the  great  mutability  in  nature, 
and  this  great  mutability  itself  to  the  active  and  wise  determi- 
nation of  the  Creator. 

How  very  limited  would  be  even  the  sphere  of  man's  opera- 
tions without  this  capacity  for  variation  in  nature  through  the 
labour  he  may  himself  bestow  upon  it.  Is  it  not  precisely 
through  this  attribute  that  he  becomes  really  the  lord  and 
master  of  the  rest  of  the  creation  ?  To  see  how  much  may  be 
done  in  this  way  let  a  man  only  consider  the  astonishing  altera- 
tions which  since  the  discovery  of  the  New  World  have  recipro- 
cally been  caused  and  been  experienced  by  it  and  the  Old. 


VI. 

The  degeneration  of  organized  bodies. 

The  degeneration  of  animals  and  plants  from  their  original 
stocks  into  varieties  also  belongs  to  the  astonishing  experiences 
of  variability  in  creation.  In  the  middle  of  the  16th  century 
the  only  tulip  known  in  Europe  was  the  common  yellow  one. 
Two  hundred  years  later  no  kind  of  flower  had  a  more  pas- 
sionate admirer  than  these,  of  which  the  then  Margrave  of 
Baden- Durlach  collected  no  less  than  three  thousand  specimens 
of  different  varieties1.  It  is  not  much  longer  since  the  first 
wild  green  canary  bird  was  brought  from  its  home  to  Europe, 
yet  these  creatures  have  long  since  branched  out  into  every  sort 
of  variety,  not  only  of  colour  but  also  of  appearance  itself. 


1  Bi'Motk.  Eaisonnee,  T.  sssiv.  p.  •284. 


DOMESTIC   ANIMALS.  291 

The  origin  of  this  degeneration  has  been  sought  principally 
in  the  influence  of  climate,  aliment,  and  mode  of  life;  and  cer- 
tainly many  effects  of  these  three  things  in  degeneration  appear 
unmistakeable.  Thus,  taken  altogether,  growth  is  retarded  by 
cold,  and  the  particular  climate  of  this  or  that  part  of  the  world 
will  have  certain  manifest  operations  on  the  organized  bodies 
which  are  indigenous  to  it.  As  in  Syria,  many  kinds  of 
mammals  have  astonishingly  long  and  silken  hair.  Of  course 
very  often  some  of  the  principal  effects  which  are  ascribed  to 
degeneration  either  run  into  and  destroy  one  another,  or  one  may 
equally  counteract  the  other  and  take  away  its  effect ;  so  that 
no  decided  opinion  can  be  arrived  at  on  many  of  the  phenomena 
of  degeneration.  Enough  that  the  phenomena  themselves  must 
be  held  as  unmistakeable  consequences  of  the  variability  of 
nature. 


VII. 

In  domestic  animals  especially. 

The  effects  of  degeneration  must  naturally  have  operated  in 
the  most  profound  and  various  way  on  those  domestic  animals 
which  man  has  for  so  many  generations  kept  in  subjection  to 
himself,  to  such  an  extent  that  they  propagate  in  that  con- 
dition, and  with  whom  it  is  not,  as  in  the  case  of  elephants, 
necessary  to  catch  every  individual  in  the  wilderness ;  and 
which  also  can  inhabit  foreign  climates,  and  are  not,  like  the 
reindeer,  confined  within  a  narrow  fatherland. 

The  common  domestic  hog  is  the  best  example  of  all,  and  I 
select  it  the  more  readily  because  the  pedigree  of  this  animal 
is  far  less  dubious  than  that  of  many  others.  The  dog  dege- 
nerates in  many  ways,  even  under  our  very  eyes,  but  it  is  not 
completely  made  out,  and  would  be  very  difficult  completely  to 
make  out,  whether  all  dogs  are  only  varieties  of  one  and  the 
same  species  or  not.  Many  great  naturalists  have  avowedly 
considered  the  shepherd's  dog  as  the  common  original  stock 
of  all  the  others.     Others  have  put  the  wolf,  the  jackal,  and  the 

19—2 


292  HOGS. 

dog  together.  Others,  again,  think  it  not  improbable  that  we 
ought  to  assume  more  than  one  original  stock  amongst  dogs 
themselves.  In  my  opinion  there  is  a  great  deal  to  be  said  for 
the  last  idea.  Not  only  have  we  a  great  difference  of  appear- 
ance in  dogs  in  and  of  themselves;  but  they  must  be  very  much 
changed  during  the  long  thousands  of  years  since  man  brought 
up  this  animal  more  than  any  other  in  closer  intimacy  with 
himself,  and  partly  transplanted  it  along  with  him  into  foreign 
climates,  so  that  perhaps  the  original  wild1  dog  can  no  more 
be  found.  And  this  seems  to  me  a  ground  for  assuming  that 
there  is  more  than  one  original  race  of  dogs,  because  many, 
as  the  badger-dog,  have  a  build  so  marked,  and  so  appropriate 
for  particular  purposes,  that  I  should  find  it  very  difficult  to 
persuade  myself  that  this  astonishing  figure  was  an  accidental 
consequence  of  degeneration,  and  must  not  rather  be  considered 
as  an  original  purposed  construction  to  meet  a  deliberate  object 
of  design2. 

In  the  hog,  again,  the  power  of  mere  degeneration  is  much 
more  clearly  visible.  So  far  as  I  know,  no  naturalist  has  carried 
his  scepticism  so  far  as  to  doubt  that  our  domestic  hog  is 
descended  from  the  wild  boar,  and  besides  this  is  one  of  the 
beasts  which  was  utterly  unknown  in  America  before  the 
arrival  of  the  Spaniards,  and  was  first  transplanted  there  from 
Europe.  Meanwhile,  notwithstanding  the  short  space  of  time 
which  is  incontrovertibly  pi'oved  by  documents,  some  of  these 
swine  which  have  been  transplanted  into  that  part  of  the  world 
have  degenerated  in  the  most  astonishing  way  into  the  most 
extraordinary  varieties.  Those  which  were  brought  from  Spain 
in  1509  to  the  West  India  island  Cubagua,  which  was  then 


1  The  difference  between  being  wild  originally  and  becoming  wild  must  be  most 
carefully  observed  during  investigations  of  this  kind.  Thus  in  both  worlds  we  have 
immense  numbers  of  horses  which  have  become  wild ;  but  no  one  is  acquainted 
with  the  original  wild  horse.  Thus  even  in  the  beginning  of  the  past  century  wild 
goats  and  also  wild  corn  were  to  be  found  on  the  little  island  of  Juan  Fernandez 
(the  solitary  abode  for  four  years  of  poor  Selkirk,  whose  true  history  De  Foe  has 
worked  up  in  his  Robinson  Crusoe) ;  but  neither  of  these  belonged  originally  to  the 
country  any  more  than  the  wild  monkeys  which  have  propagated  themselves  even 
up  to  the  present  time  on  the  rock  of  G-ibraltar. 

3  See  the  additions  at  the  end  of  this  Part. 


DEGENERATION.  293 

famous  everywhere  for  its  pearl  fisheries,  degenerated  into  an 
extraordinary  race,  with  toes  which  were  half  a  span  long1. 
Those  in  Cuba  became  more  than  twice  as  large  again  as  their 
European  progenitors2. 

This  was  not  the  way  in  which  in  the  old  world  the  tame 
hog  degenerated  from  the  wild  hog;  but  rather  in  its  covering, 
especially  with  respect  to  the  woolly  hair  between  the  bristles ; 
in  the  strikingly  different  form  of  the  skull;  in  the  whole 
growth,  &c.  How  endless  again  is  the  difference  in  the  varie- 
ties of  the  domestic  hog  itself;  that  of  Piedmont  being  almost 
without  exception  black ;  that  of  Bavaria  reddish  brown ;  that 
of  Normandy  white,  &c.  How  different  is  the  breed  of  the 
English  hog,  with  its  curved  back  and  pendent  belly,  from  that 
of  the  north  of  France,  which  is  easily  distinguished  from  the 
former  by  its  elevated  croup  and  its  down-hanging  head,  and 
both  again  from  the  German  hog.  Hogs  with  undivided  hoofs 
are  to  be  found  gregarious  both  in  Hungary  and  Sweden,  and 
were  known  long  ago  to  Aristotle,  to  say  nothing  of  other  more 
remarkable  varieties. 


VIII 

Degeneration  of  Man,  the  most  perfect  of  all  domestic  Animals. 

But  what  is  the  reason  that  the  hog  degenerates  so  particu- 
larly ?  why  so  much  more  than  any  other  domestic  animal  ? 
The  solution  of  this  problem  flows  directly  from  what  has  been 
said  above.  For  the  very  reason  that  it  is  just  this  animal  which 
is  more  exposed  than  any  other  to  the  causes  of  degeneration. 
No  other  of  our  commonly  called  domestic  animals  has  experi- 
enced such  a  manifold  influence  of  climate  as  the  hog;  for  no 
other  has  been  so  widely  scattered  as  this  over  the  five  parts  of 
the  world.     None  has  been  subjected  so  much  to  the  operation 


1  Herrera,  Hechos  de  los  Castellanos  en  las  Islas  de  Tierra  Firme  del  Mar  Occam, 
Vol.  I.  p.  239,  Madrid,  1601. 

2  Clavigero,  Storia  Antica  del  Messico,  T.  IV.  p.  145. 


294  DOMESTICATION. 

of  variety  of  aliment;  for  no  animal  is  so  omnivorous  as  the 
hog,  &c.  There  is  only  one  domestic  animal  besides  (domestic 
in  the  true  sense,  if  not  in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of  this 
word1)  that  also  surpasses  all  others  in  these  respects,  and  that 
is  man.  The  difference  between  him  and  other  domestic  ani- 
mals is  only  this,  that  they  are  not  so  completely  born  to 
domestication  as  he  is,  having  been  created  by  nature  immedi- 
ately a  domestic  animal.  The  exact  original  wild  condition  of 
most  of  the  domestic  animals  is  known.  But  no  one  knows 
the  exact  original  wild  condition  of  man2.  There  is  none,  for 
nature  has  limited  him  in  no  wise,  but  has  created  him  for  every 
mode  of  life,  for  every  climate,  and  every  sort  of  aliment,  and 
has  set  before  him  the  whole  world  as  his  own  and  given  him 
both  organic  kingdoms  for  his  aliment..  But  the  consequence 
of  this  is  that  there  is  no  second  animal  besides  him  in  the 
creation  upon  whose  solidum  vivum  so  endless  a  quantity  of 
various  stimuli3,  and  therefore  so  endless  a  quantity  of  concur- 
ring causes  of  degeneration,  must  needs  operate. 


IX. 

A  very  peculiar  physiological  singularity  of  the  human  body. 

In  order  to  receive  those  stimuli  the  solidum  vivum  has  been 
prepared  by  the  forces  of  life  which  reside  within  it,  whose 
diverse  although  still  concurring  kinds  I  have  in  another  place 
endeavoured  to  set  out  and  distinguish  more  precisely*.    Amongst 


1  Even  however  in  the  common  acceptation  of  the  word  man  has  heen  before 
now  considered  a  domestic  animal.  De  Luc  says  that  a  very  profound  psychologist 
of  his  acquaintance  could  find  so  little  connection  between  the  limited  power  of 
man's  comprehension  and  the  circumference  and  depth  of  his  actual  knowledge, 
that  there  must  have  been  in  the  primitive  world  a  class  of  higher  existences  on 
earth,  to  whom  man  acted  as  a  sort  of  domestic  animal  and  have  so  received  great 
benefit  from  the  then  lord  of  the  creation. 

2  More  particularly  on  this  in  Part  II. 

3  I  make  use  of  both  these  words  of  art  which  are  universally  accepted  in  the 
physiology  of  organized  bodies  and  have  an  universally  understood  meaning  with- 
out turning  them  into  German,   since  they,  as  well  as  the  words  organized  bodies 

hemselves,  would  certainly  lose  in  clearness  by  translation. 

4  Jnstitut.  Physiolog.  s.  IV. 


CONTRAOTILITf.  295 

these,  by  far  the  most  common,  and  which  predominates  in  both 
kingdoms  of  organized  creatures,  is  contractility,  which  is  very 
nearly  the  same  thing  that  Stahl,  one  of  the  most  profound 
physiologists,  spoke  of  under  the  not  sufficiently  distinct  name 
of  tone,  or,  after  the  Leiden  school,  actuosity. 

The  locality  of  this  commonest  of  vital  forces  is  the  mucous 
membrane,  (commonly,  but  improperly  called  the  cellular  tissue,) 
which  constitutes  the  foundation  of  almost  the  whole  of  an 
organized  body.  Thus  in  a  human  body,  except  the  enamel  of 
the  teeth  and  some  of  the  outermost  coverings  of  the  skin,  all 
the  remaining  parts  consist  principally  of  the  mucous  mem- 
brane, saturated,  so  to  say,  and  incorporated  with  other  sub- 
stances. Besides,  the  mucous  membrane  is  the  first  organic 
substance  which  nature  forms  out  of  inorganic  saps.  Thus  the 
plastic  lymph  which  is  squeezed  out  by  inflammations  of  the 
lungs  is  first  turned  into  loose  mucous  membrane,  and  this 
again  into  the  so-called  pseudo-membranes  with  true  blood- 
vessels, &c.  The  greater  or  smaller  compactness  of  the  mucous 
membrane  however  itself  differs  exceedingly  in  the  different 
periods  of  life,  and  also  according  to  the  specific  diversity  of  the 
species  of  organized  bodies.  In  the  eel,  for  instance,  it  is  infinitely 
finer  than  in  the  trout.  It  has  been  observed,  and  that  long 
ago,  by  sagacious  zootomists,  for  instance,  our  own  Zinn,  that 
man,  in  comparison  with  other  creatures,  which  are  most  nearly 
allied  to  him  in  respect  of  bodily  economy,  namely  the  rest  of 
the  mammals,  has,  ceteris  paribus,  the  finest  and  most  com- 
pact mucous  membrane.  Let  it  be  well  understood  ceteris 
paribus,  for  we  must  not  compare  an  old  gipsy  with  an  unborn 
lamb. 

This  exceptional  compactness  of  the  mucous  membrane  and 
the  consequent  superior  quality  of  the  commonest  vital  force  is, 
as  it  seems  to  me,  one  of  the  most  distinctive  and  greatest  pri- 
vileges of  man.  It  is  exactly  this  privilege  by  which  he  is 
enabled  to  arrive  at  his  greatest  object,  the  habitation  of  the 
whole  earth,  just  in  the  same  way  as  the  various  kinds  of  corn, 
through  their  delicate  and  compact  cellular  texture,  are  better 
enabled  to  thrive  in  the  most  different  climates  than  the  stronger 


296  ORANG-UTAN. 

cedars  and  oaks.  In  proportion  as  this  exceptionally  compact 
membrane  is  in  man,  as  I  have  said,  the  first  and  most  impor- 
tant factory  of  the  formative  force,  it  will  be  easily  understood 
from  all  these  things  taken  together,  how  in  consequence  man 
is  exposed  in  the  formation  of  his  body  and  its  parts  to  all  sorts 
of  degeneration  into  varieties.  It  is  not  improbable  moreover 
that  this  is  the  reason  why  the  hog  exactly  like  man  can  live  in 
the  most  different  climates,  and  also  exactly  like  him  degene- 
rates in  manifold  ways.  At  all  events  there  are  many  remarkable 
singularities  in  both  creatures  with  respect  to  their  mucous 
membrane,  as  appears  most  strikingly  in  the  peculiar  skin 
(corkcm),  whieh  at  bottom  is  nothing  else  than  the  mucous  mem- 
brane of  the  outer  surface  of  the  body  indurated  and  penetrated 
with  nerves  and  vessels.  Perhaps  here  too  may  be  found  the 
reason  of  the  similarity  which  has  so  often  been  asserted  since 
the  time  of  Galen  between  the  taste  of  man's  and  hog's  flesh. 
As  to  the  reason  why,  on  the  other  hand,  both  creatures  differ 
so  much  from  one  another  in  a  thousand  other  ways  besides 
their  bodily  structure,  no  one  will  ask,  who  knows  anything  from 
physiology  of  the  strikingly  peculiar  privileges  by  which  man, 
especially  with  respect  to  the  other  noble  kind  of  vital  powers, 
the  reaction  of  the  sensorium,  &c,  is  elevated  above  all  the  rest 
of  the  animal  creation. 


X. 
Something  tranquillizing  on  a  common  family  concern. 

There  have  been  persons  who  have  most  earnestly  protested 
against  their  own  noble  selves  being  placed  in  a  natural  system 
in  one  common  species  with  Negroes  and  Hottentots.  And 
again,  there  have  been  other  people  who  have  had  no  compunc- 
tion in  declaring  themselves  and  the  orang-utan  to  be  creatures 
of  one  and  the  same  species.  Thus  the  renowned  philosopher 
and  downright  caprice-monger  Lord  Monboddo  says  in  blunt 
words,  "the  orang-utans  are  proved  to  be  of  our  species  by 
marks  of  humanity  that  I  think  are  incontestable." 


AXIOMS.  297 

On  the  other  hand,  another,  but  not  quite  so  straightforward 
a  caprice-monger,  the  world-renowned  fire-philosopher  Theo- 
phrastus  Paracelsus  Bombastus,  cannot  comprehend  how  all  men 
can  belong  to  one  and  the  same  original  stock,  and  contrived  on 
paper  for  the  solution  of  this  difficulty  his  two  Adams. 

Perhaps,  however,  it  will  contribute  something  to  the  tran- 
quillization  of  many  upon  this  common  family  affair,  if  I  name 
three  philosophers  of  quite  a  different  kind,  who  however  much 
they  may  have  differed  otherwise  in  many  of  their  ideas,  still 
were  completely  of  accord  with  each  other  on  this  point ;  possi- 
bly because  it  is  a  question  which  belongs  to  natural  history, 
and  all  three  were  the  greatest  naturalists  whom  the  world  has 
lately  lost — Haller,  Linnasus,  and  Buffon — all  these  three  consi- 
dered man  different  by  a  whole  world  from  the  orang-utan,  and 
on  the  other  hand  all  true  men,  Europeans,  Negroes,  &c,  as 
mere  varieties  of  one  and  the  same  original  species.  It '  will 
however  be  very  likely  of  much  more  service  to  most  of  my 
readers,  if  instead  of  these  three  names  I  give  the  three  principal 
rules  which  I  have  always  followed,  as  I  have  reason  to  think, 
with  the  greatest  advantage  in  my  investigations  on  this  subject, 
and  through  which  I  have  fortunately  escaped  many  an  other- 
wise sufficiently  common,  but  false  conclusion. 

I.  In  these  investigations  we  must  have  principally  before 
our  eyes  the  physiology  of  organized  bodies.  We  must  not 
remain  attentive  merely  to  man,  and  act  as  if  he  was  the  only 
organized  body  in  nature;  and  must  expect  to  find  some  differ- 
ences in  his  species  which  are  strange  and  puzzling,  without  for- 
getting that  all  these  differences  are  not  a  whit  more  surprising 
or  unusual  than  those  by  which  so  many  other  species  of  organ- 
ized bodies,  equally  degenerate  under  our  eyes. 

II.  Neither  must  we  take  merely  one  pair  of  the  races  of 
man  which  stand  strikingly  in  opposition  to  each  other,  and  put 
these  one  against  the  other,  omitting  all  the  intermediate  races, 
which  make  up  the  connection  between  them.  We  must  never 
forget  that  there  is  not  a  single  one  of  the  bodily  differences  in 
any  one  variety  of  man,  which  does  not  run  into  some  of  the 
others  by  such  endless  shades  of  all  sorts,  that  the  naturalist  or 


298  COLLECTIONS. 

physiologist  has  yet  to  be  born,  who  can  with  any  grounds  of 
certainty  attempt  to  lay  down  any  fixed  bounds  between  these 
shades,  and  consequently  between  their  two  extremes. 

III.  Inasmuch  as  no  firm  steps  can  be  taken  in  the  deter- 
mination of  the  varieties  in  mankind,  any  more  than  in  the  rest 
of  natural  history,  without  actual  knowledge,  I  have  laid  down 
for  myself  as  the  third  principal  rule  for  a  considerable  number 
of  years,  since  I  busied  myself  with  these  investigations,  to  make 
use  of  everything,  so  as  to  provide  myself  always  more  and  more 
supports  in  this  behalf  out  of  nature  itself.  For  all  the  accounts 
on  that  point  which  one  adopts,  even  with  the  most  critical 
judgment  possible,  from  others,  are  in  reality,  for  the  truth- 
seeking  investigator  of  nature,  nothing  more  and  nothing  fur- 
ther than  a  kind  of  symbolical  writing,  which  he  can  only  so  far 
subscribe  to  with  a  good  conscience,  as  they  actually  coincide 
with  the  open  book  of  nature.  And  in  order  to  pass  an  opinion 
upon  that,  he  must  make  himself  as  well  read  and  through  that 
gather  as  much  experience  as  possible  in  this  book;  and  this  is 
what  I  have  always  endeavoured  to  do  to  the  best  of  my  ability 
in  my  studies  on  the  natural  history  of  mankind.  The  result  of 
this  earnest  labour  has  surpassed  all  my  original  expectations, 
so  that  I  now  find  myself  in  possession  of  a  collection  for  the 
natural  history  of  mankind,  which  was  the  first  regular  and 
instructive,  and  complete  one,  and  so  far  as  I  know  remains  still 
the  only  one  of  its  kind. 


XL 

On  Anthropological  Collections. 

It  seems  above  everything  else  hard  to  understand  how  it  is 
that  considering  the  zeal  with  which  natural  history  has  been 
cultivated  at  all  times  amongst  all  scientifically  civilized  nations, 
the  naturalist  was  so  very  late  in  finding  out  that  man  also  is  a 
natural  product,  and  consequently  ought  at  least  as  much  as 
any  other  to  be  handled  from  the  point  of  natural  history 
according  to  the  difference  of  race,  bodily  and  national  peculiar- 


COLLECTIONS.  299 

ities,  &c.  Already  in  the  last  century  the  great  collectors  of 
writings  on  natural  history, — Gesner,  Aldrovandus,  Jonston,  and 
Ray, — in  their  numerous,  and  also  voluminous,  and  always  clas- 
sical works,  embraced  the  history  of  all  the  three  natural  king- 
doms ;  everything  in  fact,  with  the  single  and  solitary  exception 
of  the  natural  history  of  man  himself.  And,  if  I  am  not  mis- 
taken, it  was  no  naturalist  by  profession,  but  a  mathematician 
in  Upsala,  Harald  Waller,  who  was  the  first  that  finally  in  the 
beginning  of  the  last  century  attempted  to  fill  up  this  void 
which  had  for  such  a  wonderful  length  of  time  remained  open  in 
a  writing1,  which  was  a  large  one  for  those  days,  and  which 
forms  quite  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  natural  history. 

It  is  not,  however,  less  astonishing  that  still  for  many  decades 
of  years  after  this,  the  natural  history  collectors,  though  in 
other  matters  their  boundless  acquisitiveness  not  only  degene- 
rated into  luxury,  but  very  often  into  folly,  still,  in  order  to  fill 
their  cabinets,  preferred  making  incursions  all  over  the  creation, 
rather  than  into  that  department  which  could  assist  the  natural 
history  of  mankind  and  his  varieties 2.  It  is  of  course  easily  seen 
that  the  construction  of  such  a  regular  and  instructive  appara- 
tus for  this  department  is  implicated  with  incomparably  greater 
difficulties  than  in  most  other  departments  of  natural  collections. 
That,  however,  these  are  not  insuperable  when  the  collector 
shows  zeal  and  perseverance,  and  can  obtain  the  active  co-ope- 
ration of  men  who  have  opportunities  of  helping  him  in  his 
object,  is  shown  by  the  most  remarkable  portion  of  my  anthro- 
pological collection,  I  mean  the  skulls  of  foreign  nations. 


1  De  Varia  Hominum.  Forma  Externa,  1705,  4to.  After  him  came  in  1721  the 
never-to-be-forgotten  polyhistor  of  Hamburg,  J.  A.  Fabricius,  with  his  Diss. 
critica  de  hominibus  orbis  nostri  incolis,  specie  et  ortu  avito  inter  se  non  differentibus. 

2  What  perverted  and  extraordinary  notions,  even  till  lately,  distinguished 
naturalists  had  of  what  ought  to  be  comprised  in  such  a  natural-historical  or 
anthropological  collection,  maybe  seen  from  the  following  passage  in-Bomare's 
Diction.  T.  vi.  p.  633,  1791,  where  he  is  saying  what  a  cabinet  of  natural  history 
ought  to  possess.  "The  cupboard  which  contains  the  history  of  man,  consists  of 
an  entire  myology,  a  separate  head  preserved,  a  brain,  the  parts  of  generation  of 
either  sex,  a  neurology,  an  osteology,  embryos  of  every  age  with  their  after-birtb, 
monstrous  productions,  and  an  Egyptian  mummy.  There  should  also  be  some 
nice  pieces  of  anatomy  represented  in  wax  and  wood,  and  some  stony  concretions 
taken  from  the  human  body." 


300  DEDUCTIONS. 

There  are  two  questions  which  have  often  been  put  to  me 
on  the  sight  of  these  skulls,  namely,  what  utility  can  be  made  of 
this  collection?  and  then  how  can  any  one  be  certain  of  the 
genuineness  of  the  foreign  skulls  ?  These  questions  are  so 
natural  and  so  reasonable,  that  the  answers  to  them  may  pro- 
perly find  a  place  here. 

1.  This  collection  has  amongst  other  things  been  useful  to 
me  in  determining  the  principal  corporeal  characteristics  of 
humanity,  which  it  is  my  opinion  I  have  found  to  consist  in  the 
prominent  chin  and  the  consequently  resulting  upright  position 
of  the  under  front  teeth.  In  the  animals  there  is  scarcely  a  par- 
ticular chin  which  can  be  considered  as  comparable  to  that  of 
man:  and  in  those  men  who,  as  is  often  said,  seem  to  have 
something  apish  in  their  countenance,  this  generally  resides  in 
a  deeply- retreating  chin.  The  upper  front  teeth  have  indeed  in 
many  nations  of  different  races  a  more  or  less  oblique  direction, 
whereas,  on  the  other  hand,  the  under  ones  in  all  that  are  known 
to  me  stand  up  vertically. 

2.  Also  for  the  determination  of  the  really  most  beautiful 
form  of  skull,  which  in  my  beautiful  typical  head  of  a  young 
Georgian  female  always  of  itself  attracts  every  eye,  however 
little  observant. 

3.  As  a  leading  argument  for  the  identity  of  mankind  in 
general,  since  here  also  the  boundless  passages  between  the  two 
extremes  in  the  physical  scale  of  nations,  from  the  Calmuck  to 
the  Negro,  join  unobservedly  into  each  other. 

4.  Then  also  as  an  evidence  of  the  natural  division  of  the 
whole  species  into  the  five  principal  races  of  which  I  shall  speak 
in  the  next  section. 

5.  Of  the  mixture  of  these  races  with  each  other,  which  is 
as  clearly  expressed  in  the  skulls  of  the  Cossacks,  Kirghis,  &c, 
as  anywhere  in  the  Mulattos. 

6.  For  the  refutation  of  many  erroneous  conclusions  as  to 
the  pretended  similarity  of  structure,  and  consequently  of  rela- 
tionship between  distant  nations,  as  between  the  old  Egyptians 
and  the  Chinese,  or  between  these  and  the  Hottentots,  &c. 

7.  On  the  other  hand,  for  a  nearer  conclusion  on  the  pro- 


DEDUCTIONS.  301 

bable  parentage  of  puzzling  populations,  as  of  the  old  Guanches 
of  the  Fortunate  Islands  from  the  Libyan  stock  of  the  old 
Egyptians. 

8.  For  this  is  learnt  from  "a  comparison  of  the  mummy 
skulls  with  the  Egyptian  works  of  art,  that  they  distinguish 
three  sorts  of  national  characters,  which  differ  very  decidedly 
from  one  another,  of  which  one  is  most  like  the  Abyssinians, 
another  the  Hindoos,  and  the  third  the  Berbers,  or  ancient 
Libyans. 

9.  This  collection  also  helps  to  explain  many  physiologi- 
cal and  national  peculiarities,  as  the  extremely  wide  passages  in 
the  nostrils  of  the  keen-scented  Negroes  and  North  American 
Indians. 

10.  And  also,  as  an  example  of  what  has  been  lately  dis- 
puted in  some  quarters,  of  the  constantly  enduring  shapeless- 
ness  which  many  savage  tribes,  as,  for  instance,  the  Caribs  and 
the  Choctaws  artificially  infix  upon  the  heads  of  their  chil- 
dren by  continual  pressing  and  binding.  Of  the  various  other 
interesting  ideas  which  the  inspection  of  this  collection  of  skulls 
calls  up,  I  can  only  think  of  the  truly  melancholy  one — that  it 
contains  so  many  relics  of  former  respectable  tribes,  who  have 
been  from  time  to  time,  and  now  are,  almost  entirely  destroyed 
by  their  conquerors,  just  as  the  Caribs  of  the  West  India 
Islands,  the  Guanches  of  the  Canary  Islands,  &c.  who  have  suf- 
fered the  same  fate  as  some  useful  varieties  of  domestic 
animals,  such  as  the  great  Irish  hound,  and  the  St  Bernard's 
dog,  which  seem  now  to  be  exterminated  from  the  creation. 

As  to  the  other  of  the  two  questions  mentioned  above,  it  will 
be  most  easily  answered  by  this  fact,  that  every  skull  is  num- 
bered, and  has  its  own  particular  description  in  a  special  col- 
lection of  the  incidents  belonging  thereto,  which  contains  all  the 
certificates  of  them,  and  the  original  letters,  notices,  and  a 
comparison  with  copies,  like  portraits1,  of  which  I  myself  have 


1  Of  the  value  of  such  really  portrait-like  and  characteristic  representations 
(with  which  unfortunately  their  rarity  stands  in  exact  proportion)  for  comparison 
with  the  skulls,  I  can  give  one  example  out  of  many.     Twelve  years  ago  I  re- 


302  FIVE   EACES. 

collected  a  rare  apparatus,  and  also  with  the  characteristic  de- 
scriptions of  the  most  exact  writers  of  natural  history,  and  of 
travellers:  in  short  everything  that  makes  up  complete  war- 
ranties, as  they  have  been  used  in  the  Decades  which  have 
been  composed  from  this  collection.  Besides  this,  care  has 
been  taken  in  the  mode  of  arrangement,  that  where  it  was 
possible  to  obtain  more  than  one  skull  of  any  savage  nations, 
these,  at  all  events,  should  stand  side  by  side  together,  in  order 
to  show  at  the  first  glance  the  persistent  resemblance  with  which 
the  heads  of  each  one  of  those  peoples  who  have  mingled  only 
with  each  other,  so  far  as  concerns  their  national  character, 
seem  to  be  all  cast  in  one  mould.  They  are  in  this  way  so 
easy  and  so  securely  distinguished  and  recognized,  that  it  is 
to  be  hoped  no  one  at  the  sight  of  this  collection  will  be  in  the 
condition  of  the  Cynic  Menippus1  after  his  suicide,  who,  on 
his  arrival  in  the  nether  world,  said  of  the  skulls  which  were 
collected,  that  forsooth  they  all  looked  exactly  alike,  and  who 
was  too  obtuse  to  pick  Out  even  that  of  the  beautiful  Helena 
from  the  others. 


XII. 

Division  of  Mankind  into  Five  'principal  Races. 

To  return  again  to  the  three  rules  laid  down  above,  which 
have  given  rise  to  this  digression.  After  many  a  year's  indus- 
trious observance  of  them  I  have  arrived  at  no  new  strikinsr 


ceived  from  Labrador  the  skull  of  an  Esquimaux,  and  afterwards  through  the 
kindness  of  Sir  Jos.  Banks  a  masterly  likeness  of  Mycock,  a  deceased  Esqui- 
maux woman,  who  was  known  in  1795,  through  the  missionary  reports  of  the 
evangelical  brotherhood.  She  had  been  in  London  in  1796,  when  Sir  Jos.  had  this 
speaking  likeness  of  the  size  of  life  painted  by  the  famous  portrait  painter  John 
Russell.  The  resemblance  between  the  remarkable  character  of  this  picture  with 
that  skull  strikes  every  observant  eye  that  compares  them  together.  In  order  to 
prove  it  to  the  unobservant,  I  have  had  the  circumference  of  that  skull,  and  also 
that  of  the  picture  drawn  by  means  of  a  glass  plate,  and  then  traced  from  that  on 
two  leaves,  and  when  these  two  are  held  exactly  upon  one  another  against  the 
light,  the  two  drawings  in  all  their  parts  cover  each  other  like  a  pair  of  equally 
large  and  equiangular  triangles. 

1  In  Lucian's  Dialogues  of  the  Dead. 


FIVE   RACES.  303 

discovery,  but  what  must  be  just  as  satisfactory  a  conclusion  to 
me,  the  conviction  of  an  old  truth  in  natural  history,  on  which 
doubt  has  been  recently  cast  in  some  quarters.  I  have  en- 
deavoured particularly  to  depend  upon  sensible  experience,  and 
where  I  could  not  avail  myself  of  this,  on  the  accounts  of  active 
and  trustworthy  witnesses,  and  after  all  that  I  have  thus  learnt 
about  the  bodily  differences  in  mankind,  and  all  the  com- 
parisons thus  made  with  the  bodily  differences  in  other  species 
of  organized  beings,  especially  in  the  case  of  the  domestic  animals, 
I  have  found  no  single  difference  in  the  former  which  may  not 
also  be  observed  in  many  of  the  latter,  and  that  too  as  an  un- 
mistakeable  consequence  of  degeneration.  Consequently  I  do 
not  see  the  slightest  shadow  of  reason  why  I,  looking  at  the 
matter  from  a  physiological  and  scientific  point  of  view,  should 
have  any  doubt  whatever  that  all  nations,  under  all  known 
climates,  belong  to  one  and  exactly  the  same  common  species. 

Still,  in  the  same  way  as  we  classify  races  and  degenerations 
of  horses  and  poultry,  of  pinks  and  tulips,  so  also,  in  addition, 
must  we  class  the  varieties  of  mankind  which  exist  within  their 
common  original  stock.  Only  this,  that  as  all  the  differences  in 
mankind,  however  surprising  they  may  be  at  the  first  glance, 
seem,  upon  a  nearer  inspection,  to  run  into  one  another  by 
unnoticed  passages  and  intermediate  shades;  no  other  very 
definite  boundaries  can  be  drawn  between  these  varieties, 
especially  if,  as  is  but  fair,  respect  is  had  not  only  to  one  or  the 
other,  but  also  to  the  peculiarities  of  a  natural  system,  de- 
pendent upon  all  bodily  indications  alike.  Meanwhile,  so  far 
as  I  have  made  myself  acquainted  with  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  according  to  my  opinion,  they  may  be  most  naturally 
divided  into  these  five  principal  races: 

1.  The  Caucasian1  race.  The  Europeans,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Lapps,  and  the  rest  of  the  true  Finns,  and  the 
western  Asiatics  this  side  the  Obi,  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  the 
Ganges   along  with  the  people  of  North  Africa.     In  one  word, 


1  [These  well-known  terms  do  not  occur  in   the  first   edition   (1790)   of  this 
treatise  :  but  were  first  used  in  the  third  ed.  of  Be  generis  hum.  &c.  in  1 795-    Ed.] 


304  FIVE   RACES. 

the  inhabitants  nearly  of  the  world  known  to  the  ancient 
Greeks  and  Romans.  They  are  more  or  less  white  in  colour, 
with  red  cheeks,  and,  according  to  the  European  conception  of 
beauty  in  the  countenance  and  shape  of  the  skull,  the  most 
handsome  of  men. 

2.  The  Mongolian.  The  remaining  Asiatics,  except  the 
Malays,  with  the  Lapps  in  Europe,  and  the  Esquimaux  in  the 
north  of  America,  from  Behring's  Straits  to  Labrador  and  Green- 
land. They  are  for  the  most  part  of  a  wheaten  yellow,  with 
scanty,  straight,  black  hair,  and  have  flat  faces  with  laterally 
projecting  cheek-bones,  and  narrowly  slit  eyelids. 

3.  The  Ethiopian.  The  rest  of  the  Africans,  more  or  less 
black,  generally  with  curly  hair,  jaw-bones  projecting  forwards, 
puffy  lips,  and  snub  noses. 

4.  The  American.  The  rest  of  the  Americans;  generally 
tan-coloured,  or  like  molten  copper,  with  long  straight  hair, 
and  broad,  but  not  withal  flat  face,  but  with  strongly  distinc- 
tive marks. 

5.  The  Malay.  The  South-sea  islanders,  or  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  fifth  part  of  the  world,  back  again  to  the  East 
Indies,  including  the  Malays,  properly  so  called.  They  are 
generally  of  brownish  colour  (from  clear  mahogany  to  the  very 
deepest  chestnut),  with  thick  black  ringleted  hair,  broad  nose, 
and  large  mouth. 

Each  of  these  five  principal  races  contains  besides  one  or 
more  nations  which  are  distinguished  by  their  more  or  less 
striking  structure  from  the  rest  of  those  of  the  same  division. 
Thus  the  Hindoos  might  be  separated  as  particular  sub-varieties 
from  the  Caucasian;  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  from  the  Mon- 
golian; the  Hottentots  from  the  Ethiopian;  so  also  the  North 
American  Indians  from  those  in  the  southern  half  of  the  new 
world;  and  the  black  Papuans  in  New  Holland,  &c.  from  the 
brown  Otaheitans  and  other  islanders  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 


THE    NEGRO.  305 

XIII. 

Of  the  Negro  in  particular. 

"  God's  image  he  too,"  as  Fuller  says,  "  although  made  out 
of  ebony."  This  has  been  doubted  sometimes,  and,  on  the 
contrary,  it  has  been  asserted  that  the  negroes  are  specifically 
different  in  their  bodily  structure  from  other  men,  and  must 
also  be  placed  considerably  in  the  rear,  from  the  condition  of 
their  obtuse  mental  capacities.  Personal  observation,  com- 
bined with  the  accounts  of  trustworthy  and  unprejudiced  wit- 
nesses, has,  however,  long  since  convinced  me  of  the  want  of 
foundation  in  both  these  assertions.  But  I  need  not  repeat 
everything  which  I  have  elsewhere  publicly  expressed  in  oppo- 
sition to  those  views ;  though  there  are  one  or  two  points  I 
cannot  leave  quite  untouched1.  I  am  acquainted  with  no  single 
distinctive  bodily  character  which  is  at  once  peculiar  to  the 
negro,  and  which  cannot  be  found  to  exist  in  many  other  and 
distant  nations;  none  which  is  in  like  way  common  to  the 
negro,  and  in  which  they  do  not  again  come  into  contact  with 
other  nations  through  imperceptible  passages,  just  as  every 
other  variety  of  man  runs  into  the  neighbouring  populations. 

The  colour  of  the  skin  they  share  more  or  less  with  the  inha- 
bitants of  Madagascar,  New  Guinea,  and  New  Holland.  And 
there  are  imperceptible  shades,  up  from  the  blackest  negroes  in 
North  Guinea  to  the  Moors :  amongst  whom  many,  especially  the 
women,  according  to  the  assurance  of  Shaw,  have  the  very  whit- 
est skin  that  it  is  possible  to  imagine.  The  curly  woolly 
hair  is  well  known  not  to  be  common  to  all  the  negroes,  for 
Barbot  says,  even  of  those  in  Nigritia  itself,  that  some  have 
curly  and  some  have  straight  hair;  and  Ulloa  says  just  the 
same  of  the  negroes  in  Spanish  America.      Secondly,  this  so- 


1  A  quantity  of  the  most  instructive  remarks  on  this  point,  taken  from  nature 
itself,  is  to  be  found  in  the  praiseworthy  Dr  Th.  Winterbottom's  Classical  Account 
of  the  Native  Africans  in  the  Neighbourhood  of  Sierra  Leone,  where  the  author 
of  this  classical  work  spent  four  years  as  physician  to  the  colony. 

20 


306  THE   NEGRO. 

called  woolly  hair  is  very  far  from  being  peculiar  to  the  negroes, 
for  it  is  found  in  many  people  of  the  fifth  race,  as  in  the 
Ygolotes  in  the  Philippines,  in  the  inhabitants  of  Charlotte 
Island  and  Yan  Diemen's  Land,  and  also  in  many  of  the  third 
variety,  who,  however,  are  not  reckoned  as  negroes.  Many 
Abyssinians  have  it,  as  the  famous  Abba  Gregorius,  whose 
handsome  likeness,  which  Heiss  engraved  in  1691,  after  Yon 
Sand,  I  have  before  me1.  Sparrmann  also  says  of  the  Hotten- 
tots, that  their  hair  is  more  like  wool  than  that  of  the  negroes 
themselves;  and  this  I  find  confirmed  by  the  pictures*  of  Hot- 
tentots and  Kaffirs,  which  many  years  ago  were  forwarded  with 
some  transplanted  plants  from  the  Cape  to  Joseph  II.,  and  of 
which  I  have  obtained  exact  copies,  through  the  kindness  of 
Counsellor  von  Jacquin.  As  to  the  physiognomy  of  the  negro, 
the  difference  no  doubt  is  astonishing  if  you  put  an  ugly  negro 
(and  there  are  ugly  negroes  as  well  as  ugly  Europeans) 
exactly  opposite  the  Greek  ideal.  But  this  is  precisely  to 
offend  against  one  of  the  rules  given  above.  If,  on  the  con- 
trary, one  investigates  the  transitional  forms  in  this  case  also, 
the  striking  contrast  between  the  two  very  different  extremes 
vanishes  away;  and,  of  course,  there  must  be  extremes  here 
as  well  as  in  the  case  of  other  creatures  which  degenerate  into 
all  sorts  of  races  and  varieties. 

I  can,  on  the  contrary,  declare  that  amongst  the  negroes  and 
negresses  whoni  I  have  been  able  to  observe  attentively,  and 
I  have  seen  no  small  number  of  them,  as  in  the  portrait-like 
drawings  and  profiles  of  others,  and  in  the  seven  skulls  of  adult 
negroes  which  are  in  my  collection,  and  in  the  others  which 
have  come  under  my  notice,  or  of  which  I  have  drawings  and 
engravings  before  me,  it  is  with  difficulty  that  two  can  be  found 
who  are  completely  like  each  other  in  form ;  but  all  are  more 
or  less  different  from  one  another,  and  through  all  sorts  of 
gradations  run  imperceptibly  into  the  appearance  of  men  of 
other  kinds  up  to  the  most  pleasing  conformation.     Of  this  sort 


1  "  He  had  curly  hair  like  other  Ethiopians,"  says  his  friend  Ludolph  in  the 
description  which  he  gives  of  him. 


THE   NEGRO.  307 

was  a  female  Creole,  with  whom  I  conversed  in  Yverdun,  at  the 
house  of  the  Chevalier  Treytorrens,  who  had  brought  her  from 
St  Domingo,  and  both  whose  parents  were  of  Congo.  Such 
a  countenance — even  in  the  nose  and  the  somewhat  thick  lips — 
was  so  far  from  being  surprising,  that  if  one  could  have  set  aside 
the  disagreeable  skin,  the  same  features  with  a  white  skin  must 
have  universally  pleased,  just  as  Le  Maire  says  in  his  travels 
through  Senegal  and  Gambia,  that  there  are  negresses,  who, 
abstraction  being  made  of  the  colour,  are  as  well  formed  as  our 
European  ladies.  So  also  Adanson,  that  accurate  naturalist, 
asserts  the  same  of  the  Senegambia  negresses ;  "  they  have 
beautiful  eyes,  small  mouth  and  lips,  and  well-proportioned  fea- 
tures :  some,  too,  are  found  of  perfect  beauty1 ;  they  are  full  of 
vivacity,  and  have  especially  an  easy,  free  and  agreeable  pre- 
sence." Now  this  was  exactly  the  case  with  the  negress  of 
Yverdun,  and  with  several  other  negresses  and  negroes,  whose 
closer  acquaintance  I  have  since  that  had  the  opportunity  of 
making,  and  who  have  equally  convinced  me  of  the  truth  of 
what  so  many  unsuspected  witnesses  have  assured  me  about 
the  good  disposition  and  faculties  of  these  our  black  brethren ; 
namely,  that  in  those  respects  as  well  as  in  natural  tenderness  of 
heart2,  they  can  scarcely  be  considered  inferior  to  any  other  race 
of  mankind  taken  altogether3.  I  say  quite  deliberately,  taken 
altogether,  and  natural  tenderness  of  heart,  which  has- never 
been  benumbed  or  extirpated  on  board  the  transport  vessels  or 
on  the  West  India  sugar  plantations  by  the  brutality  of  their 
white  executioners.  For  these  last  must  be  nearly  as  much 
without  head  as  without  heart,  if  after  such  treatment  they  still 

1  "  Of  a  perfect  beauty." 

2  "The  mildness  of  the  Negro  character,"  says  Lucas,  the  famous  African 
traveller,  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  African  Association. 

3  Listen  to  one  guarantee  for  all,  our  own  incomparable  Niebuhr:  "The 
principal  characteristic  of  the  negro  is,  especially  when  he  is  reasonably  treated, 
honesty  towards  his  masters  and  benefactors.  Mohammedan  merchants  in  Cairo, 
Jeddah,  Surat,  and  other  cities,  are  glad  to  buy  boys  of  this  kind;  they  have  them 
taught  writing  and  arithmetic,  carry  on  their  extensive  business  almost  entirely 
through  negro  slaves,  and  send  them  to  establish  business  places  in  foreign 
countries.  I  asked  one  of  these  merchants,  How  he  could  trust  a  slave  with  whole 
cargoes  of  goods?  and  was  told  in  reply,  'My  negro  is  true  to  me ;  but  if  I  were 
to  conduct  my  business  entirely  by  white  men,  I  should  have  to  take  care  that 
they  did  not  run  off  with  my  property.'  " 

20—2 


308  THE   NEGRO. 

expect  to  find  true  attachment  and  love  from  these  poor  mis- 
managed slaves.  That  excellent  observer  of  nature,  Aublet,  in 
his  true  and  masterly  description  of  the  natural  goodness  of 
the  negro's  character,  rests  upon  the  confessions  of  the  Europeans 
who  have  been  in  captivity  amongst  the  Algerines,  and  have 
openly  admitted  that  in  that  position  they  felt  just  as  ill  dis- 
posed and  just  as  hostile  to  their  then  masters,  as  a  negro  in 
like  case  could  possibly  feel  towards  his  master  in  the  colonies. 
On  the  other  hand,  I  have  daily  for  a  long  time  had  an  honest 
negress  before  my  eyes,  of  whom  I  often  said  in  my  mind,  what 
Wieland's  Democritus  says  of  his  good,  soft-hearted,  curly-locked 
black,  and  what  has  also  been  so  frequently  asserted  by  other 
unprejudiced  observers  of  uncorrupted  blacks,  and  amongst 
others  very  recently  with  true  and  warm  gratitude  by  the  stout 
Mungo  Park,  that  it  is  not  worth  while  to  scrape  together  here 
the  proofs  of  these  facts1 . 

At  the  same  time  it  will  not  be  a,t  all  superfluous  to  point 
out  here  some  not  so  well  known  though  remarkable  examples 
of  the  perfectibility  of  the  mental  faculties  and  the  talents  of 
the  negro,  which  of  course  will  not  come  unexpectedly  upon 
any  one  who  has  perused  the  accounts  of  the  most  credible 
travellers  about  the  natural  disposition  of  the  negro.  Thus  the 
classical  Barbot,  in  his  great  work  on  Guinea,  expresses  himself 
as  follows :  "  The  blacks  have  for  the  most  part  head  and  under- 
standing enough :  they  comprehend  easily  and  correctly,  and 
their  memory  is  of  a  tenacity  almost  incomprehensible ;  for  even 
when  they  can  neither  read  nor  write,  they  still  remain  in  their 
place  amidst  the  greatest  bustle  of  business  and  traffic,  and 
seldom  go  wrong." — "  Since  they  have  been  so  often  deceived  by 
Europeans,  they  now  stand  carefully  on  their  guard  in  traffic 
and  exchange  with  them,  carefully  examine  all  our  wares,  piece 


1  Many  speaking  examples  of  the  real  gratitude,  and  above  all  of  the  humane 
character,  and  also  of  the  excellent  capacities  of  our  black  brethren,  are  to  be  found 
in  the  following  three  works,  whose  meritorious  authors  were  long  in  the  West 
Indies,  and  are  amongst  the  most  capable  and  unprejudiced  observers  of  the  Negro  ; 
Oldendorp's  Geschichte  der  Mission  der  evangelischen  Brilder  auf.  S.  Thomas,  &c. 
1777;  Ramsay's  Essay  on  the  Treatment  and  Conversion  of  African  Slaves,  1784  ; 
Nisbett's  Capacity  of  Negroes  for  Religious  and  Moral  Improvement,  1789. 


THE    NEGRO.  309 

by  piece,  whether  they  are  of  the  samples  bargained  for  in 
quality  and  quantity;  whether  the  cloths  and  stuffs  are  lasting, 
whether  they  were  dyed  in  Haarlem  or  Leyden,  &c."..."  in  short, 
they  try  everything  with  as  much  prudence  and  cunning  as  any 
European  man  of  business  whatever  can  do."  Their  aptitude 
for  learning  all  sorts  of  fine  handy-work  is  well  known.  It  is 
estimated  that  nine-tenths  of  the  ordinary  craftsmen  in  the 
West  Indies  are  negroes1. 

With  respect  to  their  talents  for  music,  there  is  no  necessity 
for  me  to  call  attention  to  the  instances  in  which  negroes  have 
earned  so  much  by  them  in  America,  that  they  have  been  able 
to  purchase  their  freedom  for  large  sums,  since  there  is  no  want 
of  examples  in  Europe  itself  of  blacks,  who  have  shown  them- 
selves true  virtuosos.  The  negro  Freidig  was  well  known  in 
Vienna  as  a  masterly  concertist  on  the  viol  and  the  violin,  and 
also  as  a  capital  draughtsman,  who  had  educated  himself  at  the 
academy  there  under  Schmutzer.  As  examples  of  the  capacity 
of  the  negro  for  mathematical  and  physical  sciences,  I  need  only 
mention  the  Russian  colonel  of  artillery,  Hannibal,  and  the 
negro  Lislet,  of  the  Isle  of  France,  who  on  account  of  his  su- 
perior meteorological  observations  and  trigonometrical  measure- 
ments, was  appointed  their  correspondent  by  the  Paris  Academy 
of  Sciences. 

Dr  Rush  of  Philadeiphia  is  at  work  upon  a  history  of  the 
negro,  Fuller,  in  Maryland,  who  has  lately  become  so  famous 
through  his  extraordinary  capacity  for  calculation.  In  order  to 
test  him  on  this  point,  he  was  asked  in  company  how  many 
seconds  a  man  would  have  lived  who  was  seventy  years  and  so 
many  months,  &c.  old.  In  a  minute  and  a  half  Fuller  gave 
the  number.  Others  then  calculated  it,  but  the  result  was  not 
the  same.  "  Have  you  not  forgotten,"  said  the  negro,  "  to  bring 
into  account  the  days  of  the  leap-years?"      These  were  then 


1  On  the  exceptional  still  for  art,  "of  the  soft  and  benevolent"  negroes  in 
Houssa  or  Soudan  in  the  interior  of  Africa,  see  our  Hornemarm's  Tagebuch  seiner 
reise  von  Cairo  bis  Murzuk.  This  book  gives  us  much  important  information  upon 
the  condition  of  the  soil  and  population  of  this  remarkable  part  of  the  earth,  which 
no  European  before  him  had  visited. 


310  THE  NEGRO. 

aided,  and  the  two  calculations  coincided  exactly.  I  possess 
some  annuals  of  a  Philadelphian  calendar,  which  a  negro  there, 
Benj.  Bannaker,  had  calculated,  who  had  acquired  his  astro- 
nomical knowledge  without  oral  instruction,  entirely  through 
private  study  of  Ferguson's  works  and  our  Tob.  Mayer's  tables1, 
&c.  Boerhaave,  de  Haen,  and  Dr  Bush2  have  given  the  most 
decided  proofs  of  the  uncommon  insight  which  negroes  have  into 
practical  medicine.  Negroes  have  also  been  known  to  make 
very  excellent  surgeons.  And  the  beautiful  negress  of  Yverdun, 
whom  I  mentioned,  is  known  far  and  wide  in  French  Switzer- 
land as  an  excellent  midwife,  of  sound  skill,  and  of  a  delicate 
and  well-experienced  hand.  I  omit  the  Wesleyan  Methodist 
preacher,  Madox,  and  also  the  two  negroes  who  lately  -  died 
in  London,  Ignatius  Sancho  and  Gustavus  Vasa,  of  whom  the 
former,  a  great  favourite  both  of  Garrick  and  Sterne,  was  known 
to  me  by  correspondence3;  and  the  latter,  whom  I  knew  per- 
sonally, has  made  himself  a  name  by  his  interesting  autobio- 
graphy4 ;  and  also  many  other  negroes  and  negresses  who  have 
distinguished  themselves  by  their  talents  for  poetry.  I  possess 
English,  Dutch,  and  Latin  poems  by  several  of  these  latter, 
amongst  which  however  above  all,  those  of  Phillis  Wheatley 
of  Boston,  who  is  justly  famous  for  them,  deserve  mention 
here5. 


1  J.  M'Henry,  of  Baltimore,  has  printed  biographical  accounts  of  this  man, 
and,  as  he  expresses  himself,  regards  "this  negro  as  a  new  proof  that  mental 
faculties  bear  no  relation  to  the  colour  of  the  skin." 

2  This  philosophic  physician  writes  of  an  excellent  negro  who  to  my  knowledge 
is  still  living,  to  Dr  Derham  in  New  Orleans:  "I  have  conversed  with  him  upon 
most  of  the  acute  and  epidemic  diseases  of  the  country  where  he  lives,  and  was 
pleased  to  find  him  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  modern  simple  mode  of  practice 
in  those  diseases.  I  expected  to  have  suggested  some  new  medicines  to  him,  but 
he  suggested  many  more  to  me.  He  is  very  modest  and  engaging  in  his  manners, 
and  does  business  to  the  amount  of  3000  dollars  a  year." 

3  Letters  of  the  late  Ignatius  Sancho,  an  African,  third  ed.  London,  1784,  8vo, 
with  the  beautifully  engraved  likeness  by  Bartolozzi,  after  Gainsborough's  picture. 

4  The  Interesting  Narrative  of  the  Life  of  Olandah  Equians,  or  Gustavus  Vasa, 
written  by  himself ',  third  ed.  London,  1791,  8vo;  in  German,  Gottingen,  1792,  8vo. 

5  Poems  on  Various  Subjects,  Religious  and  Moral,  by  Phillis  Wheatley,  Negro 
Servant  to  Mr  John  Wheatley  of  Boston,  1773,  8vo.  A  collection  which  scarcely 
any  one  who  has  any  taste  for  poetry  could  read  without  pleasure.  Some  particu- 
larly beautiful  selections  from  them  are  to  be  found  in  the  famous  prize  essay  of  the 
worthy  Clarkson,  On  the  Slavery  and  Commerce  of  the  Human  Species. 


THE    NEGEO.  311 

There  are  still  two  negroes  who  have  got  some  reputation 
as  authors,  and  whose  works  I  possess,  whom  I  may  mention. 
Our  Hollmann,  when  he  was  still  professor  at  Wittenberg, 
created  in  1731  the  negro,  Ant.Wilh.  Amo,  Doctor  of  Philosophy. 
He  had  shown  great  merit  both  in  writing  and  teaching ;  and  I 
have  two  treatises  by  him,  of  which  one  especially  shows  a  most 
unexpected  and  well-digested  course  of  reading  in  the  best 
physiological  works  of  that  day1.  In  an  account  of  Amo's  life, 
which  on  that  occasion  was  printed  in  the  name  of  the  University 
Senate,  great  praise  is  allotted  to  his  exceptional  uprightness, 
his  capacity,  his  industry,  and  his  learning.  It  says  of  his 
philosophical  lectures :  "  he  studied  the  opinions  both  of  the 
ancieDts  and  moderns;  he  selected  the  best,  and  explained  his 
selections"  clearly  and  at  full  length."  It  was  in  his  fortieth 
year  that  the  negro  Jac.  Elisa  Joh.  Capitein  studied  theology 
at  Leyden ;  he  had  been  kidnapped  when  a  boy  of  eight  years 
old,  and  was  bought  by  a  slave-dealer  at  St  Andrew's  river,  and 
got  to  Holland  in  this  way  at  third-hand.  I  have  several  ser- 
mons2 and  poems  by  him,  which  I  will  leave  to  their  own 
merits ;  but  more  interesting  and  more  famous  is  his  Dissertatio 
jjolitico-theologica  de  servitute  libertati  Christianas  non  contraria, 
which  he  read  publicly  on  the  10th  March,  1742,  in  Leyden, 
and  of  which  I  have  a  translation  in  Dutch3,  of  which  again 
four  editions  were  struck  off,  one  immediately  after  the  other. 
Upon  this  he  was  ordained  preacher  at  Amsterdam  in  the  church 
d'Elmina,  whither  he  soon  afterwards  departed.  Professor  Brug- 
mans  of  Leyden,   who  procured  for  me   the  writings   of  this 


1  The  title  of  the  first  is,  Diss,  inaug.  PMlosoplcica  de  humance  mentis  dva- 
6ela  seu  sensionis  ac  facultatis  sentiendi  in  mente  humana  absentia,  et  earum  in  cor- 
pore  nostro  organico  ac  vivo  prcesentia,  auctore  Ant.  Guil.  Amo,  Guinea-Afro.  The 
other  is  entitled,  Disp.  philosophica  continens  ideam  distinctam  eorum  qua;  competunt 
vel  menti  vel  corpori  nostro  vivo  vel  organico. 

2  Uitgewrogte  Predikatien  ins  Gravenhage  en  t' 'Ouderkerk  aan  den  Amstel  gedaan 
door  Jac.  Elisa  Jo.  Capitein,  Africaansche  Moor,  beroepen  predicant  op  D  Elmina 
aan  net  Kasteel  St  George,  Amst.  1742,  4to. 

3  StaatJcundig-Godgeleerd  Onderzoekschrift  over  de  Slaverny,  als  niet  strydig  tegen 
de  Chrystelyke  Vryheid,  Leiden,  1742,  4 to,  with  the  beautifully  engraved  likeness 
of  the  author  by  F.  von  Bleyswyck.  Another  portrait  of  him,  after  P.  van  Dyck, 
has  been  given  by  me  in  the  first  part  of  the  Abbildungen  Naturhistorischer  Gegen- 
stdnde,  Tab.  5. 


S12  THE   NEGRO. 

ordained  negro,  sends  me  word  also  that  according  to  the  cir- 
cumstances there  are  two  stories  about  his  fate  there;  either 
namely  that  he  was  murdered,  or  that  he  went  back  to  his  own 
savage  countrymen,  and  exchanged  their  superstitions  and  mode 
of  life  for  what  he  had  learnt  in  Europe.  In  this  last  case,  his 
history  forms  a  pendent  to  that  of  the  Hottentot  who  was 
brought  up  in  Europe  and  civilized,  whose  similar  and  thorough 
patriotism  has  been  immortalized  by  Rousseau1.  Nor  is  this 
irresistible  attraction  to  the  ancestral  penates  at  all  events  a  bit 
more  strange  than  the  fact,  that,  as  is  known,  Europeans  enough, 
who  have  been  made  prisoners  of  war  by  the  North  American 
Indians,  or  even  by  the  Caribs  of  the  West  Indies,  when  these 
still  constituted  a  respectable  and  warlike  nation,  and  have 
lived  a  long  time  with  them  and  become  used  to  them,  have 
found  such  a  great  delight  in  this  wild  state  of  nature  as  to  lose 
all  desire  of  changing  it,  and  coming  back  to  their  own  country- 
men ;  nor  are  there  wanting  instances,  especially  among  the 
French  Canadians,  who  of  their  own  free-will  have  gone  over 
to  the  savages  there,  and  taken  up  the  same  kind  of  life  as 
they2. 

Finally,  I  am  of  opinion  that  after  all  these  numerous  in- 
stances I  have  brought  together  of  negroes  of  capacity,  it  would 
not  be  difficult  to  mention  entire  well-known  provinces  of  Eu- 
rope, from  out  of  which  you  would  not  easily  expect  to  obtain 
off-hand  such  good  authors,  poets,  philosophers,  and  correspond- 
ents of  the  Paris  Academy;  and  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  no 
so-called  savage  nation  known  under  the  sun  which  has  so  much 
distinguished  itself  by  such  examples  of  perfectibility  and  origi- 
nal capacity  for  scientific  culture,  and  thereby  attached  itself 
so  closely  to  the  most  civilized  nations  of  the  earth,  as  the  Negro. 


1  See  the  vignette  to  his  Discours  sur  Vinegalite  parmi  les  hommes. 

'  Lieut.  Paterson  speaks  of  a  German  at  the  Cape,  who  had  completely  come 
over  in  this  way  to  the  Hottentots,  and  had  then  already  lived  twenty  years  in  the 
midst  of  them,  and  was  entirely  naturalized  and  considered  as  one  of  them. 


ALBINOS.  313 

XIV. 

The  Kakerlacken. 

These  poor  sufferers  have  come  off  in  the  history  of  man 
not  a  bit  better  than  the  honest  negroes.  There  have  been 
sceptics  who  were  as  unwilling  to  recognize  the  Kakerlacken  for 
men  of  the  same  species  with  ourselves  as  the  Moors.  The  lat- 
ter were  too  black  for  them,  and  the  former  too  white.  In 
reality  the  examination  of  the  Kakerlacken  has  nothing  what- 
ever to  attach  it  to  the  domain  of  natural  history,  for  it  belongs 
to  pathology.  Meanwhile,  as  it  has  once  been  dragged  into  the 
former,  and  so  has  given  handle  to  many  wonderful  mistakes,  I 
think  I  may  go  so  far  as  to  say  a  few  words  about  them ;  and 
they  join  on  all  the  more  easily  to  the  former  section,  because 
their  history  was  originally  confounded  with  that  of  the  negroes. 

For  at  the  very  first  of  all  a  sort  of  men  was  remarked 
amongst  these  last,  who  were  distinguished  by  an  unusual 
whiteness  or  even  redness  of  skin,  and  by  hair  of  a  yellowish 
white  and  pale  red  eyes ;  and  of  course  these  singularities  would 
strike  people  more  in  negroes  than  in  white  men;  and  for  that 
reason  the  Kakerlacken  were  first  of  all  known  by  the  name  of 
Leuccethiopians.  But  just  about  the  end  of  the  last  century 
they  were  found  amongst  the  Americans  also,  and  very  shortly 
afterwards,  besides  these,  amongst  the  East  Indian  populations. 
Still  later  Cook  saw  some  on  Otaheite  and  the  Friendly  Islands ; 
and  now  at  last  it  is  clear- that  they  are  also  to  be  found  in 
Europe  itself,  and  that  too  in  greater  numbers  than  we  can  alto- 
gether desire.  Since  I  laid  before  the  Royal  Society  of  Sciences 
my  observations  on  those  two  well-known  Savoyards,  whom  I  had 
the  opportunity  of  examining  in  1783,  on  an  excursion  which  I 
made  in  company  with  the  younger  De  Luc,  from  Geneva  to 
Faucigny,  and  who  afterwards  went  for  some  years  to  London, 
where  they  were  described  by  the  directors  of  the  circus,  I  have 
received  accounts  of  a  round  dozen  of  other  Kakerlacken  who 
have  been  found  up  and  down  in  Germany  alone,  and  have  from 
most  of  them  specimens  of  their  own  quite  peculiar  hair.     It 


314  ALBINOS. 

seems  to  have  been  the  case  with  the  Kakerlacken  as  with  many 
other  wonders  of  nature,  that  they  have  been  for  a  long  time 
overlooked  in  many  countries,  because  they  were  considered  too 
great  rarities  to  be  expected.  In  one  word,  the  Kakerlacken 
occur  in  all  the  five  races  of  mankind. 

Besides,  this  singularity  is  not  peculiar  to  mankind  alone, 
but  shows  itself  also  just  as  much  in  other  warm-blooded 
animals,  as  in  mammals  and  in  birds.  Amongst  the  former,  we 
have  notoriously  the  white  rabbits  and  the  white  mice,  and 
amongst  the  latter  the  white  canary  birds.  On  the  other  hand, 
in  spite  of  all  the  researches  I  have  made  in  that  direction,  I 
have  not  been  able  to  find  any  single  example  of  Kakerlacken 
among  the  animals  with  red  cold  blood,  either  amongst  the  am- 
phibia or  fish.  That  above  all  I  consider  the  Kakerlacken  as 
diseased,  and  consequently  white  canaries,  &c.  the  same,  will  be 
strange  to  no  one  who  is  acquainted  with  their  constitution. 
Their  chief  symptom  consists  in  the  singular  colour  of  their 
eyes,  the  iris  of  which  is  a  pale  pink  colour,  and  the  pupils  of  the 
colour  of  a  dark  carnation,  or  very  much  like  blackberry  juice, 
whereas  in  a  sound  eye  these  last,  whatever  the  colour  of  the 
iris  may  be,  whether  blue  or  brown,  must  always  be  entirely 
black.  The  reason  of  that  redness  lies  in  a  total  want  of  that 
part  which  is  indispensable  to  clear  sight,  namely,  the  dark  brown 
mucus  which  is  spread  over  a  great  part  of  the  inner  apple  of 
the  eye,  in  order  to  absorb  the  superfluous  rays  of  light.  Conse- 
quently, the  Kakerlacken  through  this  deficiency  are  generally 
more  or  less  shy  of  light.  But  this  deficiency  of  the  black  pig- 
ment seems  always  to  be  only  a  symptom  of  an  universal 
cachexia,  which  in  human  Kakerlacken  finds  its  particular  ex- 
pression through  the  peculiar  aspect  of  the  skin  and  the  yellow- 
ish-white colour  of  the  hair ;  at  least  so  far  as  I  know,  no  one  has 
ever  observed  that  disease  of  the  eyes  without  this  quality  of 
skin  and  hair. 

The  disorder  is  invariably  congenital,  and  frequently  heredi- 
tary in  families.  It  seems  to  be  incurable ;  at  least  I  know  of 
no  case  in  which  the  symptoms  related  have  ever  been  got  rid  of 
by  any  single  Kakerlack.     On  the  causes  of  this  remarkable 


ALBINOS.  315 

disease  I  do  not  know  how  at  this  moment  to  say  anything  satis- 
factory; for  as  to  the  remark  that  an  otherwise  quick-seeing 
traveller,  Foucher  d'Obsonville,  has  made,  that  Leuccethiopians 
are  begotten  when  the  parents  are  taking  mercury  or  cinna- 
bar at  the  time,  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  it  correct  in  many  of 
the  cases  of  the  nations  mentioned,  and  in  many  of  the  animals 
among  whom  Kakerlacken  are  found,  even  if  the  whole  idea 
were  not  to  the  last  extent  extremely  improbable.  So  also  the 
old  assertion,  that  no  Leuccethiopian  of  either  sex  was  capable 
of  procreation,  is  completely  untrue.  De  Brue  has  already 
found  an  instance  in  which  a  Leucoethiopian  became  pregnant 
by  a  negro,  and  a  perfect  young  negro  was  born,  and  the  well- 
known  negro  Yasa,  in  his  above-mentioned  interesting  work, 
has  given  a  remarkable  account  of  a  Leucoethiopian  female,  who 
was  lately  married  in  England  to  an  European,  and  has  borne 
him  three  genuine  Mulattos  with  light  hair. 


APPENDIX  I.     To  p.  284  n. 

On  the  gradation  in  nature. 

Two  scientific  societies,  the  one  at  Rouen  and  the  other  at 
Haarlem,  have  lately  given  out  as  the  subject  for  a  prize,  Whe- 
ther the  asserted  gradation  in  nature  has  any  real  foundation  or 
not?  I  am  acquainted  with  only  one  essay  in  answer  to  this 
question  which  was  sent  in  to  the  last-mentioned  learned  society, 
whose  renowned  author,  our  worthy  Professor  De  Luc,  has 
handled  the  whole  subject  only  from  a  metaphysical  a  priori 
point  of  view,  and  even  in  this  way  comes  to  the  conclusion  that 
there  is  neither  continuity  nor  imperceptible  gradation  in  the 
creation,  and  that  the  harmony  of  the  creation  is  rather  sup- 
ported by  marked  differences,  having  sharply  defined  boundaries 
between  them.  On  the  other  hand,  I  long  ago1  pointed  out 
considerations  against  the  reality  of  the  structural  conceptions 
of  the  gradation  of  creatures  according  to  their  mere  exterior 

1  Handbiiclt,  dcr  Naiurgcscli.  p.  6,  7th  eel. 


S16  GRADATION. 

form,  and  against  the  very  well-meant,  but  at  the  bottom  very 
presumptuous  tendency  towards  this  idea,  which  is  found  in 
many  physico-theologians;  and  these  are  entirely  empirical, 
taken  from  natural  history  itself,  and  from  the  visible  constraint 
which,  in  all  the  various  essays  on  such  gradations,  is  done  to 
nature.  Who  does  not  feel  how  constrained  he  is  when  Bradley 
carries  up  his  scale  from  the  simplest  fossils  through  the  vegeta- 
ble and  animal  kingdom  up  to  man,  but  has  to  put  off  what  he 
cannot  readily  make  fit  into  this  scale  into  a  second,  by  which  he 
descends  on  the  other  side  again  from  that  elevation?  or,  when  in 
order  to  stand  fast  by  particular  passages  and  connecting  links, 
Vallisneri  brings  forward  the  analogy  of  grasshoppers  with  birds, 
Oehme  the  analogy  of  birds  with  house-flies  and  other  Dipterce, 
and  when  Bonnet  chooses  the  shield-lice  as  creatures  of  the 
transition  from  other  insects  to  the  tape-worm,  &c.  We  should 
find  it  much  easier  to  excuse  the  older  describers  of  nature, 
when,  deceived  by  the  great  resemblance  of  the  exterior,  they  lo- 
cated the  armadilloes  of  the  genus  Manis  with  the  lizards,  or  the 
sertularia,  and  above  all  the  corals,  with  the  cryptogamic  plants; 
since  with  certainly  quite  as  much  reason,  in  consequence  of  an 
extremely  superficial  view  of  an  outward  structure  very  nearly 
resembling  them,  many  even  phanogeramic  species  of  plants  out 
of  the  genera  Saxifraga,  Andromedce,  Aretice,  &c.  in  spite  of  all 
their  remaining  heterogeneity,  have  had  a  place  found  for  them 
on  the  ladder  close  to  the  large-leaved  moss. 

When  that  extraordinary  wonder-animal  of  the  fifth  part  of 
the  world,  the  Ornithorhynchus  paradoxus,  was  discovered,  many 
partisans  of  gradation  looked  upon  it  as  a  fresh  support  of  that 
theory,  whereas,  it  seems  to  me  much  rather  to  be  a  new  evi- 
dence against  its  reality.  It  seems  to  me  so  very  isolated  a 
creature  of  its  sort,  that  it  can  be  no  more  brought  into  the 
natural  arrangement  of  the  animal  kingdom  without  visible  con- 
straint, than  the  tortoises,  cuttle-fish,  &c,  or  than  many  genera 
of  plants,  as  the  Vitis,  Gissus,  &c.  in  that  of  the  vegetable  king- 
dom. Besides  this,  in  the  scale  of  Bonnet,  and  simple  ones  of 
that  kind,  the  transition  department  from  the  birds  to  the  quad- 
rupeds has  been  long  since  filled  up  by  the  bat ;  and  yet  it  would 


GRADATION.  317 

be  difficult  to  imagine  two  forms  of  mammals,  which  differ  more 
surprisingly  from  each  other,  and  which  must  therefore  in  any 
gradation  stand  further  apart  from  each  other,  than  those  of  the 
bat  and  the  ornithorhynchus. 

It  must  be  understood  that  all  that  has  been  said  here,  as  well 
as  what  was  suggested  above  (p.  283),  by  the  expressions  quoted 
from  an  otherwise  meritorious  writer  on  the  use  of  petrifactions, 
is  only  to  be  regarded  as  a  warning  against  the  misuse  of  the 
common  conception  of  gradation,  according  to  the  outward  form 
of  creatures  under  the  favourite  images  of  ladders  and  links: 
since,  on  the  other  hand,  the  very  greatest  use  may  be  made  of 
this  very  metaphorical  image  not  only  towards  the  exercise  of 
observation,  but  also  with  the  greatest  advantage  towards  the 
regular  use  of  a  natural  system  in  the  description  of  nature,  and 
also  for  the  most  advantageous  arrangement  of  natural  collec- 
tions.  Only  instead  of  the  partisans  of  this  gradation  acknow- 
ledging its  value  in  dividing  the  productions  of  nature  into 
kingdoms,  classes,  &c,  and  as  a  means  of  methodizing  study  and 
an  assistance  to  the  memory,  but  allowing  that  it  has  no  real 
existence  in  nature  itself;  exactly  the  opposite  seems  to  have  come 
of  those  structural  conceptions,  whose  unmistakeable  value  for 
the  science  of  method  cannot  be  denied,  but  which  are  so  very 
far  from  having  any  real  ground  in  nature  itself,  that  it  has  often 
happened  to  well-meaning  physico-theologians  that  "  they  have 
attributed  it  to  the  Creator  in  the  plan  of  His  creation,  and 
have  made  its  completeness  and  connexion  to  be  sought  for  in 
the  fact  that  nature,  as  the  expression  goes,  makes  no  leap, 
because  creatures  with  respect  to  their  outward  habit  can  be 
arranged  so  closely  in  gradation  one  with  another." 


APPENDIX   II.     To  p.  285. 
On  the  Succession  of  the  different  Earth-catastrophes. 

If  petrifactions  can  be  made  of  regular  use  for  the  archae- 
ology and  the  physical  geography  of  the  earth,   as  the  surest 


3 1  8  PETRIFACTIONS. 

documents  in  the  archives  of  nature  for  the  fruitful  history  of 
the  catastrophes  which  have  been  connected  with  our  planet 
since  its  creation,  the  study  of  them,  and  its  tendency,  demands 
as  well  a  thorough  critical  comparison  of  them  with  the  organized 
bodies  of  the  present  creation,  as  also  an  accurate  investigation 
of  their  different  localities,  and  their  geognostical  relations. 
The  first  important  and  instructive  result  which  is  immediately 
derived  from  this  two-fold  consideration  is,  that  the  lapidifica- 
tions  are  of  extremely  unequal  antiquity;  many,  as  the  still  fresh 
Salmo  arcticus  of  the  west  coast  of  Greenland,  which  is,  so  to 
speak,  merely  mummified  in  the  thin  clayish-marl  beds,  is  only 
of  yesterday  or  the  day  before,  in  comparison  with  the  thoroughly 
strange  and  puzzling  impressions  of  unknown  plants  which  are 
found  in  the  grau-wacke  strata  of  the  Harz  on  the  borders  of 
the  Gangberg  in  the  depths  of  the  earth,  and  which  belong  to 
the  very  oldest  evidences  of  an  organized  creation  on  our  planet. 
A  wider  examination  of  these  differently  made  fossils,  and  of 
their  equally  various  sort  of  condition,  brings  us  to  a  closer 
conclusion  as  to  the  oldest  history  of  the  body  of  this  earth,  and 
upon  the  sort  and  consequences  of  the  numerous  catastrophes 
it  has  gone  through,  and  through  which  its  crust  has  acquired 
its  present  appearance,  which  has  been  built  out  of  such  great 
convulsions.  It  is  therefore  my  opinion,  that  the  petrifactions 
may  be  arranged  off-hand,  according  to  their  different  antiquity, 
most  easily  in  three  principal  divisions.  First,  those  whose 
complete  similarity  with  still  existing  representatives,  as  well 
as  the  positions  they  are  found  in,  prove  that  they  must  be  com- 
paratively the  most  recent;  secondly,  those  far  older,  which 
have  not  indeed  similar  but  still  more  or  less  allied  analogues  to 
them  in  the  present  creation,  although  in  climates  very  distant 
from  those  which  contain  such  fossil  remains;  finally,  in  the 
third  place,  the  very  oldest  of  all,  consisting  for  the  most  part  of 
creatures  completely  unknown,  the  records  of  a  perfectly  strange 
creation  which  has  been  completely  destroyed.  These  three 
divisions  may  to  a  certain  extent  be  compared  to  the  three 
epochs  in  the  oldest  profane  writings  of  an  historical,  heroic,  and 
mythical  period. 


PETRIFACTIONS.  319 

The  first  of  these  divisions  comprises,  therefore,  the  rela- 
tively most  modern  lapidifications,  those  namely  which  seem  to 
have  been  occasioned  by  partial  local  revolutions  since  the  last 
general  catastrophe  which  our  planet  suffered;  and  conse- 
quently, nothing  but  those  whose  representatives  are  still  in 
existence,  and  which  are  closely  allied  to  the  fossil  remains  in 
the  same  country.  Amongst  them  I  reckon  the  uncommonly 
clear  casts  and  remains  from  all  six  classes  of  the  animal  king- 
dom, and  the  numerous  kinds  of  plants  which  are  to  be  found 
in,  and  have  made  famous,  the  stinking  slate-quarries  at  Oen- 
ingen  on  the  Bodensee.  When  I  travelled  in  that  country  I 
made  a  collection  of  them,  and  I  have  seen  still  more  in  other 
collections;  but  amongst  all,  which  I  have  myself  been  able 
to  examine  accurately,  I  have  unfortunately  found  nothing  ex- 
otic, nothing  which  might  not  be  referred  either  unmistakeably, 
or  at  all  events  with  the  greatest  probability,  to  the  fauna  and 
flora  of  that  present  country  and  its  waters. 

To  the  second  of  these  principal  divisions  belong  fossils  of 
quite  another  sort  and  far  higher  origin ;  namely,  the  now  innu- 
merable elephants,  rhinoceroses,  and  other  now  tropical  crea- 
tures found  in  this  country,  which  most  probably  must  have 
been  once  naturalized  here,  as  is  particularly  demonstrated  by 
the  enormously  large  dens  of  huge  species  of  bears  in  the 
famous  summits  of  the  Harz,  the  Fichtelberg,  in  the  Thuringian 
forest  and  on  the  Carpathians.  Everything  goes  to  show  that 
those  bears  came  alive  into  those  caves,  and  found  their  graves 
there.  But  there  are  also  found  in  these  caves  with  them 
bones  and  teeth  of  beasts  of  prey,  like  the  lions  and  hysenas 
of  the  present  earth,  of  which  I  have  specimens,  from  most  of 
the  dens  mentioned,  in  my  collection.  Consequently,  according 
to  all  probability  that  species  of  bears  was  also  a  tropical  one, 
just  as  bears  still  live  in  many  of  the  tropical  zones  of  the 
old  world;  and  as  those  bears  and  lions  are  found  in  positions 
where  it  would  be  difficult  for  them  to  have  been  floated  in  by 
any  current  after  death,  so  this  seems  very  unlikely  to  have 
happened  either  to  the  elephants  or  rhinoceroses.  Especially 
when  it  is  considered  that  quite  little  flocks  of  many  of  these 


320  PETRIFACTIONS. 

have  been  found  together,  as  the  five  individual  hippopotami 
on  the  hither  Harz,  whose  fossil  remains  have  been  determined 
and  described  with  a  master's  hand  by  our  meritorious  Holl- 
mann;  and  that  of  others,  as  of  the  two  elephants  from  Tonna, 
mentioned  above,  the  complete  skeletons  have  been  dug  out,  &c. 
And  finally,  all  this  derives  a  new  importance  from  another 
geological  phenomenon,  which  according  to  my  conviction  be- 
longs to  a  similar  division,  and  must  be  joined  in  close  connec- 
tion with  it;  I  mean  the  remains  of  tropical  animals  in  certain 
limestones.  Thus  in  the  calcareous  strata  of  Pappenheim  there 
have  been  found  amongst  so  many  other  tropical  creatures  a  kind 
of  Molluscan1  water-flea,  and  the  still  articulated  arm  bones  of  a 
species  of  bat,  very  much  like  the  flying-dog,  and  all  these  so  well 
preserved,  even  up  to  the  most  delicate  Indian  star-fishes,  so 
clear  and  in  such  perfection,  that  no  notion  can  remain  of  any 
transport  of  them  through  a  general  flood  from  the  southern 
hemisphere  here.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  quite  clear  that  those 
elephants,  rhinoceroses,  and  hysena-like  animals  must  once  have 
been  just  as  these  water-fleas,  star-fishes,  &c,  domesticated  in 
our  latitudes,  until  through  some  cause  which  we  cannot  now 
determine  with  any  certainty,  a  total  alteration  of  the  climate 
took  place,  which  occasioned  the  destruction  of  the  then  living 
generation  of  those  tropical  creatures,  as  of  many  other  genera 
and  species  of  organized  bodies  which  existed  along  with  them, 
of  which  in  the  present  creation  no  exactly  similar,  to  say 
nothing  of  specifically  like,  representatives  are  to  be  found :  as 
the  unknown  of  Ohio  among  great  land-animals,  and  amongst 
the  marine-animals  in  the  Pappenheim  slate-quarries,  so  many 
altogether  strange  species  of  crabs,  the  singular  hard-armed 
medusa  head,  and  many  others. 

This  revolution,  which  seems  to  have  been  merely  climatic, 
must  be  distinguished  from  those  earlier  and  much  more  forci- 
ble ones,  from  which  we  must  date  the  petrifactions  of  the  third 


1  [The  Pterodactylus,  a  reptile;  and  since  the  time  of  Blumenbaeh,  the  Archceo- 
jteryx  macrurvs,  a  longtaiied  bird.     Ed.] 


OBJECTS    OF   DESIGN.  321 

division,  the  oldest  of  all.  In  those  the  firm  crust  of  the  earth 
itself  suffered  such  powerful  shocks,  that  the  floors  of  the  pre- 
vious seas  of  the  primeval  world  began  to  cover  high*  mountains 
with  their  still  uninjured  shells;  and  on  the  other  hand,  the  pre- 
vious vegetation  of  the  land  was  buried  deep  under  the  present 
surface  of  the  sea.  It  is  at  once  observed  that  these  destructive 
catastrophes  themselves  were  again  of  more  than  one  sort,  and 
were  very  far  from  happening  all  at  the  same  time ;  although  it 
is  scarcely  possible  at  present  to  determine  with  any  certainty 
the  chronological  arrangement  of  the  successive  periods  in  which 
they  happened,  to  say  nothing  of  the  causes  of  them. 


APPENDIX  III.     To  p.  292. 

On  the  so-called  Objects  of  Design. 

Few  scientific  theories  have  been  supported  and  opposed 
with  such  incredible  prejudices  on  the  one  side  and  on  the  other, 
as  those  about  the  objects  of  design  of  the  Creator.  With  many 
indeed,  who  contested  this  point,  it  was  merely  a  question  of 
words,  whether  one  ought  to  speak  of  design  or  utility.  Others 
considered  the  whole  question  of  final  causes  as  entirely  useless ; 
and  Bacon's  bon-mot  is  well  known,  who  compared  it  to  a 
prudent  virgin,  who  weds  heaven,  and  consequently  produces 
nothing  for  the  world.  The  great  thinker  would  however  have 
come  to  a  different  conclusion  if  he  had  been  reminded  out  of 
the  literature  of  physiology  and  natural  history,  what  complete- 
ness in  these  important  sciences  and  what  useful  results  to  man- 
kind the  search  into  the  final  purposes  of  nature  has  produced. 
But  certainly  the  teleologists  have  laid  themselves  wonderfully 
open  by  anxiously  catching  at  those  things,  and  have  also  used 
great  force  to  them,  because  they  have  thought  themselves 
obliged  to  demonstrate  clearly  the  aim  and  object  of  every  dis- 
position of  nature,  especially  in  the  organic  creation.  Thus  the 
otherwise  praiseworthy  anatomist  Spigel  declares  that  the  reason 
why  in  man  that  part  on  which  he  sits  has  been  so  visibly  more 

21 


322  OBJECTS   OF   DESIGN. 

developed  than  in  any  other  animal  is,  that  people  may  have  a 
more  convenient  position  in  which  to  apply  themselves  to  higher 
thoughts1.  ^So  the  physico-theologians  thought  they  had  found 
a  perforated  disk  in  a  bee-like  insect  on  the  front  feet  of  the 
males,  and  were  not  behindhand  in  demonstrating  the  use  and 
object  of  this  structure.  Wise  nature  had  done  this,  they  said, 
in  order  that  the  pollen  of  the  flower  might  percolate  through 
the  creature,  and  in  that  way  the  fructification  of  plants  be 
provided  for;  and  from  that  hour  it  was  immediately  called  the 
sieve-bee  {Spheoc  cribrarta).  It  is  very  creditable  to  a  clergy- 
man, Goze  of  Quedlinburg,  who  has  in  every  way  won  great 
renown  in  natural  history,  that  he  has  refuted  this  mistake  out 
of  nature  herself,  and  has  shown  that  the  disks  on  the  feet  of 
these  insects  are  not  penetrated;  and  consequently  this  wise 
object  which  was  with  good  intentions  attributed  to  the 
Creator  will  not  stand. 

Others,  sometimes,  on  the  contrary,  have  doubted  the  reality 
of  any  arrangement  in  nature  for  the  very  reason  that  they  can- 
not find  in  it  any  design  of  the  Creator.  When  I  pointed  out  to 
my  never-to-be-forgotten  friend  Camper,  that,  in  nature,  contrary 
to  every  common  opinion,  the  tadpoles  of  the  pipa  of  Surinam  were 
regularly  tailed,  he  was  disposed  at  first  to  consider2  the  instance 
I  showed  him  as  an  unnatural  monstrosity,  because  he  could  not 
understand  of  what  use  this  fin-tail  could  be  to  these  little  crea- 
tures who  sit  nestled  on  the  back  of  their  mothers.  Others, 
again,  have  swept  the  whole  road  quite  clean,  and  completely 
denied  all  design  in  the  creation.  Not  many  years  ago  a  distin- 
guished member  of  the  then  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Paris 


1  "Man  alone  of  all  animals  sits  comfortably,  because  he  has  larger  fleshy 
buttocks,  and  these  were  given  him  as  a  support  and  a  cushion,  so  that  when  his 
stomach  was  full,  he  could  sit  without  inconvenience,  and  apply  his  mind  more 
readily  to  reflection  upon  divine  matters." — "There  was  however  a  respectable 
English  clergyman  of  another  opinion,  who  amongst  other  suggestions  as  to  the 
delicate  and  particular  propriety  of  conduct  which  should  be  observed  in  church, 
used  to  urge  very  zealously  that  the  psalms  should  be  sung  standing,  because  it 
was  impossible  they  could  come  right  from  the  heart  in  a  sitting  posture:"  see 
Remarks  on  the  Public  Service  of  the  Church,  with  some  Directions  for  our  Behaviour 
there,  highly  proper  to  be  understood  by  People  of  all  Ranks  and  Ages,  Lond.  1768, 
8vo. 

2  Comment.  Soc.  Reg.  Scicnt.  Gotting.,  T.  ix.  p.  119. 


OBJECTS   OF    DESIGN.  323 

declared  that  it  was  as  ridiculous  to  suppose  that  the  eye  was 
made  to  see  with-1,  as  to  assert  that  stones  were  appointed  for  the 
purpose  of  breaking  a  man's  head.  This  however,  please  God, 
will  scarcely  be  satisfactory  to  any  one  who  has  ever  had  the 
opportunity  of  comparing  the  interior  structure  of  any  animal 
which  is  remarkable  for  striking  singularities  in  its  mode  of  life 
and  functions,  and  can  in  this  way  persuade  himself  from  nature 
itself  most  incontrovertibly  of  this  pre-established  harmony,  as  it 
may  easily  be  called,  between  the  purposed  structure  of  crea- 
tures and  their  mode  of  life.  It  would  be  difficult  for  anyone 
who  is  well  acquainted  with  the  natural  history  of  the  mole  or 
the  seal,  and  will  consider  with  some  little  reflection  the  skele- 
ton and  muscular  system  of  the  former,  and  the  peculiarities  of 
the  circulation  and  the  organs  of  sense  of  the  latter,  to  allow 
himself  seriously  to  utter  such  an  expression  as  the  one  men- 
tioned above.  The  hundredfold  proofs  which  may  be  deduced 
from  comparative  anatomy  deprive  the  weak  superficialities  of 
some  ancient  sophists,  who  supposed  that  the  animal  structure 
was  not  ordained  for  its  functions,  but  that  the  occupations  of 
animals  were  only  the  mere  consequence  of  their  organization, 
of  the  last  shadow  of  speciousness.  Thus  the  production  of  so 
many  mere  temporary  organs  which  only  exist  in  the  animal 
economy  for  transitory  and  extremely  limited  purposes,  and 
which  all  the  same  are  as  good  as  those  which  are  most  durable 
in  all  the  rest  of  the  structure  of  those  animals  in  which  they 
are  found,  are  wonderfully  adapted  to  their  mode  of  life.  Thus, 
to  produce  only  one  instance  of  the  kind,  in  the  hedgehog,  which 
rolls  itself  up  in  defence  with  such  great  muscular  power,  even 
the  unborn  foetuses  are  completely  furnished  with  one  of  these 
powerful  springs,  most  accurately  arranged,  but  which  is  after- 
wards in  its  way  an  after-birth2  quite  anomalously  deformed, 
thick,  and  solid,  under  which  the  tender  immature  creature  rests 


1  Thus  said  Lucretius  long  ago : 

"Lumina  ne  facias  oculorum  clara  creata 
Prospicere  ut  possimus,"  &c. 

2  I  have  given  representations  of  thi3  highly  remarkable  part  in  my  Handhuch 
der  vcrgleichenden  Anatomie,  Tab.  8. 

21 2 


324  OBJECTS   OP    DESIGN. 

as  under  a  shield,  in  order  to  be  as  completely  as  possible  pro- 
tected, on  any  powerful  constriction  of  the  pregnant  mother, 
against  the  dangerous  consequences  of  that  strong  grasp  from 
which  its  abdomen  and  entrails  might  thereby  suffer. 


BEYTRAGE 


ZUE 


NATURGESCHICHTE, 


VON 


JOH.  FR.  BLUMENBACH, 


PROP.   ZU   GOTTINGEN. 


Z WETTER  THEIL. 


GOTTINGEN : 
BEY  HEINRICH  DIETERICH,  1811. 


CONTENTS. 


I. 

On  the  Homo  Sapiens  Ferus  Linn . :  and  particularly  of  Wild 
Peter  of  Hameln. 

How  Wild  Peter  was  found  and  brought  prisoner  to  Hameln  ; 
what  happened  to  "Wild  Peter  in  Hameln  ;  Peter  arrives  in  England, 
and  now  becomes  famous;  Peter's  origin;  Peter's  life  and  conduct 
in  England;  mistaken  accounts  by  the  biographers  of  Peter ;  genuine 
sources  for  Peter's  history  ;  Peter  compared  with  other  so-called  wild 
children ;  neither  Peter,  nor  any  other  Homo  sapiens  ferus  of  Linnseus, 
can  serve  as  a  specimen  of  the  original  man  of  nature  :  no  originally 
wild  condition  of  nature  is  to  be  attributed  to  Man,  who  is  born 
a  domestic  animal. 


II. 

On  Egyptian  Mummies. 
[Inedited,  see  Pref] 


CONTRIBUTIONS   TO   NATURAL   HISTORY 


J.   F.   BLUMENBACH. 


PART  THE  SECOND. 


I. 

How  Wild  Peter  was  found  and  brought  prisoner  to  Hameln. 

On  Friday,  July  27th,  1724,  at  the  time  of  hay-harvest,  Jurgen 
Meyer,  a  townsman  of  Hameln,  met,  by  a  stile  in  his  field, 
not  far  from  Helpensen,  with  a  naked,  brownish,  black-haired 
creature,  who  was  running  up  and  down,  and  was  about  the  size 
of  a  boy  of  twelve  years  old.  It  uttered  no  human  sound,  but 
was  happily  enticed,  by  its  astonished  discoverer  showing  it  two 
apples  in  his  hand,  into  the  town,  and  entrapped  within  the 
Bridge-gate.  There  it  was  at  first  received  by  a  mob  of  street 
boys,  but  was  very  soon  afterwards  placed  for  safe  custody  in 
the  Hospital  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  order  of  the  Burgomaster 
Severin. 

II. 

What  happened  to  Wild  Peter  in  Hameln. 

Peter — that  was  the  name  given  him  on  his  first  ap- 
pearance in  Hameln  by  the  street-boys,  and  he  retained  it  up 
to  quite  old  age — Peter  showed  himself  rather  brutish  in  the 
first  weeks  of  his  captivity;  seeking  to  get  out  at  doors  and 


330  WILD  PETER. 

windows,  resting  now  and  then  upon  his  knees  and  elbows,  and 
rolling  himself  from  side  to  side  on  his  straw  bed  until  he  fell 
asleep.  He  did  not  like  bread  at  first,  but  he  eagerly  peeled 
green  sticks,  and  chewed  the  peel  for  the  juice,  as  he  also  did 
vegetables,  grass,  and  bean-shells.  By  degrees  he  grew  tamer 
and  cleaner,  so  he  was  allowed  to  go  about  the  town  and  pay 
visits.  When  anything  was  offered  him  to  eat,  he  first  smelt 
it,  and  then  either  put  it  in  his  mouth,  or  laid  it  aside  with  a 
shake  of  the  head.  In  the  same  way  he  would  smell  people's 
hands,  and  then  strike  his  breast  if  pleased,  or  if  otherwise 
shake  his  head.  When  he  particularly  liked  anything,  as 
green  beans,  peas,  turnips,  mulberries,  fruit,  and  particularly 
onions  and  hazel-nuts,  he  indicated  his  satisfaction  by  striking 
repeatedly  on  his  chest.  Just  when  he  was  found  by  Jiirgen 
Meyer  he  had  caught  some  birds,  and  eagerly  dismembered 
them. 

When  his  first  shoes  were  put  on  him  he  was  unable  to 
walk  in  them,  but  appeared  glad  when  he  could  go  about  again 
bare-footed.  He  was  just  as  little  pleased  with  any  covering 
on  his  head,  and  extremely  enjoyed  throwing  his  hat  or  cap  into 
the  water  and  seeing  it  swim.  He  first  of  all  became  used 
to  go  with  clothes  on,  after  they  had  tried  him  with  a  linen 
kilt.  In  other  respects  he  appeared  of  quite  a  sanguine  tem- 
perament, and  liked  hearing  music;  and  his  hearing  and  smell 
were  particularly  acute.  Whenever  he  wanted  to  get  any- 
thing he  kissed  his  hands,  or  even  the  ground. 

After  some  time  Peter  was  put  out  to  board  with  a  cloth - 
maker.  He  adhered  to  this  man  with  true  attachment,  and 
was  accompanied  by  him  when  he  went  from  thence,  in 
Oct.  1725,  to  Zell,  into  the  hospital  there,  situated  by  the  House 
of  Correction ;  but  about  Advent  in  the  same  year  King 
George  I.  sent  for  him  to  Hanover. 


WILD    PETER.  331 

III. 

Peter  arrives  in  England,  and  now  becomes  famous. 

In  Feb.  1726,  Peter,  under  the  safeguard  of  a  royal  servant, 
by  name  Rautenberg,  was  brought  from  Hanover  to  London ; 
and  with  his  arrival  there  began  his  since  so  widely-spread 
celebrity.  This  was  the  very  time  when  the  controversy  about 
the  existence  of  innate  ideas  was  being  carried  on  with  the 
greatest  vivacity  and  warmth  on  both  sides.  Peter  seemed  the 
much-wished-for  subject  for  determining  the  question.  A  genial 
fellow,  Count  Zinzendorf,  who  afterwards  became  so  famous 
as  the  restorer  and  Ordinary  of  the  Evangelical  Brotherhood,  as 
early  as  the  beginning  of  1726,  made  an  application  in  London, 
to  the  Countess  of  Schaumburg-Lippe,  for  her  interest,  that 
Peter  might  be  entrusted,  to  his  charge,  in  order  that  he  might 
watch  the  developement  of  his  innate  ideas;  but  he  received 
for  answer  that  the  king  had  made  a  present  of  him  to  the 
then  Princess  of  Wales,  afterwards  Queen  Caroline,  well  known 
as  one  of  the  most  enlightened  princesses  of  any  age;  and  that 
she  had  confided  him  in  trust  to  Dr  Arbuthnot,  the  intimate 
friend  of  Pope  and  Swift,  and  the  famous  collaborator  of  Gul- 
liver's Travels,  still  for  the  purpose  of  investigating  the  innate 
ideas  of  Wild  Peter. 

Swift  himself  has  immortalized  him,  in  his  humorous  pro- 
duction, It  cannot  rain,  but  it  pours1.  Linnseus  gave  him  a 
niche  in  the  Systema  Naturae,  under  the  title  of  Juvenis  Han- 
noveranus:  and  Buffon,  de  Pauw,  and  J.  J.  Rousseau,  have 
extolled  him  as  a  specimen  of  the  true  natural  man.  Still 
more  recently  he  has  found  an  enthusiastic  biographer  in  the 
famous  Monboddo,  who  declares  his  appearance  to  be  more 
remarkable  than  the  discovery  of  Uranus,  or  than  if  astrono- 
mers, to  the  catalogue  of  stars  already  known,  had  added  thirty 
thousand  new  ones2. 

1  [Or,  London  strewed  with  Rarities,  Ed.] 

2  "I  consider  his  history  as  a  brief  chronicle  or  abstract  of  the  history  of  the 
progress  of  human  nature,  from  the  mere  animal  to  the  first  stage  of  civilized  life." 
Ancient  Metaphysics,  Vol.  m.  p.  57, 


332  WILD  PETER. 

IV. 

Peter  s  Origin. 

It  is  a  pity,  after  all  the  importance  which  the  great  people 
attached  to  Wild  Peter,  that  two  little  circumstances  in  the 
history  of  his  discovery  should  be  left  out  of  sight,  or  neglected ; 
which  I  will  here  repeat,  as  far  as  possible,  from  the  earliest 
original  documents,  which  I  have  before  me.  First,  when  Peter 
was,  as  I  said,  met  with  by  the  townsman  of  Hameln,  the  small 
fragment  of  a  torn  shirt  was  still  fastened  with  string  about 
his  neck.  Secondly,  the  singularly  superior  whiteness  of  his 
thighs  compared  to  his  legs,  at  his  first  entry  into  the  town, 
occasioned  and  confirmed  the  remark  of  a  townswoman,  that 
the  child  must  have  worn  breeches,  but  no  stockings.  Thirdly, 
upon  closer  examination,  the  tongue  was  found  unusually  thick, 
and  little  capable  of  motion,  so  that  an  army  surgeon  at  Ha- 
meln thought  of  attempting  an  operation  to  set  it  free,  but 
did  not  perform  it.  Fourthly,  some  boatmen  related,  that  as 
they  were  descending  in  their  boat  from  Poll,  in  the  summer, 
they  had  seen  at  different  times  a  poor  naked  child  on  the 
banks  of  the  Weser,  and  had  given  him  a  piece  of  bread. 
Fifthly,  it  was  soon  ascertained,  that  Kriiger,  a  widower  of 
Luchtringen,  between  Holzminden  and  Hoxter,  in  Paderborn, 
had  had  a  dumb  child  which  had  run  away  into  the  woods,  in 
1723,  and  had  been  found  again  in  the  following  year,  quite  in 
a  different  place;  but  meanwhile  his  father  had  married  a 
second  time,  and  so  he  was  shortly  afterwards  thrust  out  again 
by  his  new  step-mother. 

V. 

Peter's  Life  and  Conduct  in  London. 

Dr  Arbuthnot  soon  found  out  that  no  instructive  discoveries 
in  psychology  or  anthropology  were  to  be  expected  from  this 
imbecile  boy;  and  so,  after  two  months,  at  the  request  of  the 


WILD   PETER.  333 

philosophic  physician,  a  sufficient  pension  was  settled  upon  him, 
and  he  was  placed  first  with  a  chamber- woman  of  the  Queen, 
and  then  with  a  farmer  in  Hertfordshire,  where  at  last  he 
ended  his  vegetatory  existence  as  a  kind  of  very  old  child, 
in  Feb.  1785. 

Peter  was  of  middle  size,  but  when  grown  up  of  fresh 
robust  appearance,  and  strong  muscular  developement ;  his 
physiognomy  was  by  no  means  so  stupid;  he  had  a  respectable 
beard,  and  soon  accustomed  himself  to  a  mixed  diet  of  flesh, 
&c,  but  retained  all  his  life  his  early  love  for  onions.  As 
he  grew  older  he  became  more  moderate  in  his  eating,  since  in 
the  first  year  of  his  captivity  he  took  enough  for  two  men. 
He  relished  a  glass  of  brandy,  he  liked  the  fire,  but  he  showed 
all  his  life  the  most  perfect  indifference  for  money,  and  what 
proves,  above  all,  the  more  than  brutish  and  invincible  stupidity 
of  Peter,  just  as  complete  an  indifference  for  the  other  sex. 

Whenever  bad  weather  came  on,  he  was  always  ill-tempered 
and  sad.  He  was  never  able  to  speak  properly.  Peter,  hi 
scho,  and  qui  ca  (by  the  two  last  words  meaning  to  express 
the  names  of  his  two  benefactors,  King  George  and  Queen  Caro- 
line), were  the  plainest  of  the  few  articulate  sounds  he  was 
ever  known  to  produce.  He  seemed  to  have  a  taste  for  music, 
and  would  hum  over  with  satisfaction  tunes  of  all  kinds  which 
he  had  often  heard :  and  when  an  instrument  was  played,  he 
would  hop  about  with  great  delight  until  he  was  quite  tired. 
No  one,  however,  ever  saw  him  laugh — that  cheerful  prero- 
gative of  mankind.  In  other  respects  he  conducted  himself  as 
a  good-natured,  harmless,  and  obedient  creature,  so  that  he 
could  be  employed  in  all  sorts  of  little  domestic  offices  in  the 
kitchen,  or  in  the  field.  But  they  could  not  leave  him  alone  to 
his  own  devices  in  these  matters ;  for  once  when  he  was  left 
alone  by  a  cart  of  dung,  which  he  had  just  been  helping  to 
load,  he  immediately  on  the  same  spot  began  diligently  to  un- 
load it  again. 

He  probably  lost  himself  several  times  in  the  neighbour- 
hood during  the  first  ten  years  of  his  residence  in  England ; 
but  at  all  events  one  day,  in  1746,  he  unwittingly  strayed  a 


334  WILD  PETER. 

long  way,  and  at  last  got  as  far  as  Norfolk,  where  he  was 
brought  before  a  justice  of  the  peace  as  the  suspicious  Unknown 
— this  was  at  the  time  when  there  was  a  look-out  for  the 
supposed  emissaries  of  the  Pretender.  As  he  did  not  speak,  he 
was  committed  for  the  moment  to  the  great  prison-house  in 
Norwich  for  safe  custody.  A  great  fire  broke  out  there  on 
that  very  night,  so  that  the  prison  was  opened  as  soon 
as  possible,  and  the  detained  were  let  out.  When  after 
the  first  fright  the  prisoners  were  counted  up,  the  most  im- 
portant of  them  all  was  missing,  the  dumb  Unknown.  A 
warder  rushed  through  the  flames  of  the  wide  prison,  and  found 
Peter  sitting  quietly  at  the  back  in  his  corner ;  he  was  enjoy- 
ing the  illumination  and  the  agreeable  warmth,  and  it  was  not 
without  difficulty  that  he  could  be  dragged  forth  :  and  soon 
afterwards,  from  the  advertisements  for  lost  things,  he  was  re- 
cognized as  the  innocent  Peter,  and  forwarded  to  his  farmer 
again.  Briefly,  as  an  end  to  the  tale,  this  pretended  ideal  of 
pure  human  nature,  to  which  later  sophists  have  elevated  the 
wild  Peter,  was  altogether  nothing  more  than  a  dumb  imbecile 
idiot. 

VI. 

Mistaken  accounts  by  the  biographers  of  Peter. 

Meanwhile  the  history  of  this  idiot  is  always  remarkable,  as 
a  striking  example  of  the  uncertainty  of  human  testimony  and 
historical  credibility.  For  it  is  surprising  how  divergent  and 
partly  contradictory  are  even  the  first  contemporary  accounts  of 
the  circumstances  of  his  appearance  in  Hameln.  No  two 
stories  agree  in  the  year,  season,  or  place  where  and  when  he 
was  found  by  the  townsman  of  Hameln,  and  brought  into  the  city. 
The  later  printed  stories  are  utterly  wrong ;  how  he  was  found 
by  King  George  I.  when  hunting  at  Herrenhausen,  or,  accord- 
ing to  others,  on  the  Harz  ;  how  it  was  necessary  to  cut  down 
the  tree,  on  the  top  of  which  he  had  taken  refuge,  in  order  to 
get  at  him ;  how  his  body  was  covered  with  hair,  and  that  he 
ran  upon  all-fours  ;  how  he  jumped  about  trees  like  a  squirrel; 


WILD    PETER.  335 

how  he  was  very  clever  in  getting  the  baits  out  of  wolves' 
traps ;  how  he  was  carried  over  to  England  in  an  iron  cage ; 
how  he  learnt  to  speak  in  nine  months  at  the  Queen's  court ; 
how  he  was  baptized  by  Dr  Arbuthnot,  and  soon  after  died,  &c. 


VII. 

Genuine  sources  for  Peters  history. 

I  have  critically  examined  everything  that  there  is  in  print1 
about  Wild  Peter,  and  collected  besides  other  accounts  of  the 
history  of  his  discovery.  The  chief  of  these  is  a  particular 
manuscript  account  by  Severin,  the  Burgomaster  of  Hameln 
already  mentioned,  which  he  despatched  in  Feb.  1726  to  the 
minister  at  Hanover,  and  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  the 
kindness  of  the  most  worthy  master  of  the  head  school  in 
Hameln,  Avenarius.  There  are,  besides,  numerous  national 
chronicles,  and  the  unprinted  collections  of  the  chamberlain 
Redeker  in  the  town-house  of  Hanover.  With  respect  to  his 
later  mode  of  life  in  England,  besides  what  I  found  out  there 
myself,  many  of  my  friends  there,  such  as  the  ambassadors  of 
Hanover,  Dr  Dornford  and  M.  Craufurd,  have  communicated  to 
me  accurate  accounts,  which  they  themselves  got  together  in 
Hertfordshire  itself,  and  which  I  have  made  use  of. 

As  to  the  likenesses  of  Peter  which  are  in  existence,  I  possess 
two  masterly  engravings,  which,  I  am  assured,  bear  a  close 
resemblance  to  him.     The  one  is  a  great  sheet,  in  a  dark  style, 


1  Lcipziger  Zeitungen  von  gel.  Sachen,  1725,  No.  104,  1726,  Nos.  17,  6r,  88. 

Breslauer  Sammlungen,  Vol.  xxxiv.  Dec.  1725,  p.  659,  Vol.  xxxvi.  Ap.  1726, 
p.  506. 

Zuverlassige  nachricht  von  dem  bei  Hameln  gefundenen  wildern  knaben.  Wobei 
dessen  seltsame  figur  in  Kupfer  gestochen  befindlich,  1726,  4to. 

Spangenberg's  Leben  des  Gr.  Zinzendorff,  n.  B.  p.  380. 

Swift's  Works,  Vol.  ill.  P.  I,  p.  132,  ed.  1755,  4to. 

Ein  brief  des  Hamelschen  Burgemeisters  Palm,  v.  1741,  in  C.  F.  Fein's  Entlare- 
ter  Fabel  vom  Ausgange  der  Hamelschen  Kinder,  Hanov.  1749,  4to,  p.  36. 

Gentleman's  Mag.  Vol.  xxr.  1751,  p.  522,  Vol.  lv.  17S5,  P.  1.  pp.  113,  236, 
P.  ir.  p.  851. 

Monboddo,  Ancient  Metaphysics,  Vol.  ill.  Lond.  1784,  4to,  pp.  57,  367. 

[Comp.  Peter  the  Wild  Boy.  An  enquiry  how  the  Wild  Youth  lately  taken 
in  the  woods  near  Hanover,  &c.  &c.    nmo.  Lond. — A  copy  in  the  Brit.  Mns.   Ed.] 


336  WILD   PETER. 

by  Val.  Green,  from  the  picture  by  P.  Falconet;  it  represents 
him  as  sitting,  a  full-length  figure,  in  about  his  fiftieth  year, 
and  was  painted  at  London  in  1767,  when  he  was  presented  to 
the  king.  The  other  is  by  Bartolozzi,  after  the  three-quarter 
figure  painted  by  J.  Alefounder  three  years  before  Peter's  death, 
quite  a  well-looking  old  man,  whom  any  one  who  knew  no 
better,  might  suppose  to  be  more  cunning  than  he  looked. 


VIII. 

Peter  compared  with  other  so-called  wild  children. 

I  It  seems,  perhaps,  well  worth  the  pains  once  for  all  to  exa- 
mine and  settle  critically  the  accounts  of  poor  Peter,  who  has 
been  considered  of  so  much  importance  by  so  many  of  our 
greatest  naturalists,  sophists,  &c. ;  principally,  because  this  is  the 
first  story  which  can  be  set  forth  according  to  the  real  facts : 
for  all  the  other  instances  of  so-called  wild  children,  almost 
without  exception,  are  mixed  up  with  so  many  beyond  mea- 
sure extraordinary  and  astonishing  untruths  or  contradictions, 
that  their  credibility  has  become  in  consequence  highly  pro- 
blematical altogether. 

Taking  those  instances  only,  which  Linnseus  has  set  out  in 
his  rubric  on  the  Homo  sapiens  Ferus,  and  with  which  he  has 
introduced  his  Sy  sterna  Naturae;  his  Juvenis  ovinus  Hibernus,  who 
when  sixteen  years  old  was  carried  about  as  a  show  in  Holland, 
where  he  was  described  by  the  elder  Tulp1,  even  entirely  accord- 
ing to  that  account  was  an  imbecile,  dumb,  and  also  outwardly 
deformed  creature,  but  which  could  hardly  have  grown  up  from 
the  cradle  among  wild  sheep  in  Ireland,  because  they  exist  no 
more  there  than  anywhere  else.  That  he  eat  grass  and  hay 
at  Amsterdam  in  the  presence  of  astonished  beholders,  is,  I 
think,  just  as  credible,  as  that  the  pretended  South-sea  Islander 
from  Tanna,  who  some  years  ago  was  carried  round  at  harvests 

1  Obs.  Med.  lib.  iv.  c.  x.  p.  296,  fifth  ed.  L.B.  1716. 


WILD    MEN.  337 

time  and  fairs,  used  to  munch  stones.  Besides  the  extraordi- 
nary description,  which  that  otherwise  so  worthy  Burgomaster 
of  Amsterdam  gives  us  of  this  boy,  and  also  the  fact,  that  so  far 
as  I  know,  no  contemporary  or  even  more  recent  author  upon 
the  natural  history  of  Ireland,  alludes  to  him  even  by  a  single 
word,  makes  me  extremely  suspicious  on  the  matter ;  and  at  all 
events,  I  do  not  think  it  worth  the  attention  which  has  been 
bestowed  upon  it  by  our  own  Schlozer  and  Herder. 

As  to  the  Juvenis  bovinus  Bambergensis  of  Linnaeus,  so  far 
as  I  know,  we  have  no  other  testimony,  except  wdiat  we  are  told 
by  the  worthy  Ph.  Camerarius,  who  says1,  that  this  Bamberg 
savage,  who  at  that  time  had  entered  into  the  condition  of  holy 
matrimony,  informed  him  that  he  had  been  brought  up  on  the 
neighbouring  hills  by  the  cows. 

More  precise,  but  still  more  suspicious,  is  the  account  of  the 
eight  years  old  Juvenis  lupinus  Uessensis  of  13M  (not  1554,  as 
Linnaeus2  and  all  his  copyists  give  out),  who  celebrated  the  good 
reception  which  he  had  met  with  from  the  wolves  when  they 
had  carried  him  off  about  five  years  before.  They  had  made  him 
a  soft  nest  of  leaves,  laid  all  round  him,  and  kept  him  warm, 
brought  him  a  share  of  their  spoil3,  &a 

Much  also  must,  at  all  events,  be  subtracted  from  the 
Juvenis  ursinus  Lithuanus  ;  as,  for  instance,  what  we  are 
assured  by  the  authority,  the  imaginative  Connor,  in  his  Medi- 
cina  Mystica  sen  de  Miracidis*,  that  it  is  nothing  uncommon 
in  Poland  for  a  bear  giving  suck,  if  it  happens  to  find  a  child, 
to  take  it  to  its  lair,  and  bring  it  up  from  its  own  breast. 
Many  instances  indeed  are  given  by  the  elder  Joh.  Dan.  Geyer, 
in  his  monograph  On  the  Lithuanian  Bear-men;  one  Polack 
bear-man  in  particular  of  about  eight  or  nine  years  old,  whom 


1  Oper.  horar.  subsecivar.  Cent.  i.  p.  343,  ed.  1602. 

2  [In  the  tenth  ed.  Linnaeus  wrote,  1 344 :  the  5  in  the  twelfth  ed.  is  probably 
therefore  a  misprint.  Blumenbach  seems  to  me  always  inclined  to  bear  hard  upon 
Linnaeus.     Ed.]     . 

3  Additiones  ad  Lambert.  Schafnaburg.  Appositce  ab  ErpJiesfordensi  monacho 
anon,  in  Pistorii  scripi.  rer.  a  Germ,  gestar.  Frf.  1613.  fol.  p.  264. 

4  p.  133,  ed.  1699.  Comp.  the  History  of  Poland,  Lond.  1698,  8vo.  Vol.  I. 
p.  342:  where  a  little  Polack  is  represented  in  a  respectable  copperplate,  as  he 
sucked  the  old  bear-mother  between  two  young  bears. 

22 


338  WILD    MEN. 

King  John  III.  met  with,  and  had  baptized  ;  and  who  was 
made  fife-player  to  the  militia,  notwithstanding  that  he  pre- 
ferred going  on  four  feet  instead  of  two1. 

It  is  said  of  the  Puella  Transisilana2  that  she  was  about 
eighteen  years  old,  when,  in  the  winter  of  1717,  she  was  caught 
in  a  net  on  a  search-hunt  organized  for  that  purpose  by  one 
thousand  Krauenburg  peasants.  She  was  quite  naked  except 
for  a  scanty  straw  apron,  her  skin  had  become  hard  and  black, 
but  in  a  little  time  after  her  capture  it  fell  off,  and  upon  that 
a  beautiful  fresh  skin  came  to  light,  &c.  (I  have  kept  quite 
close  to  the  account  of  the  witnesses.) 

In  other  respects  this  wild  girl  was  very  friendly,  and  of 
good  cheerful  temper,  an.d  was  stolen  from  her  parents  when 
a  little  child  in  May,  1700, 

The  Puella  Campanica,  as  she  was  called  by  Linnseus,  or 
MadUe*  le  Blanc,  according  to  her  French  biographers3,  who 
considered  her  as  an  Esquimaux  girl  sent  to  France,  was  first 
of  all  observed  in  the  water,  where  two  girls  about  the  size 
of  children  of  ten  years  old,  and  armed  with  clubs,  swam  about 
and  ducked  in  and  out  like  water-hens.  They  soon  quarrelled 
about  a  chaplet  of  roses,  which  they  found  ;  one  of  them  was 
struck  on  the  head  by  the  other,  but  she  immediately  bound 
up  the  wound  with  a  plaster  made  out  of  a  frog's  skin  tied 
with  a  strip  of  bark.  Since  then,  however,  she  was  seen  no 
more,  but  Mad116,  le  Blanc,  the  victress,  covered  only  with  rags 
and  skins,  and  with  a  gourd-bottle  instead  of  a  bonnet  on  her 
head,  was  entrapped  into  a  neighbouring  &c. 

Johannes  Leodicensis  was,  according  to  the  account  of  the 
credulous  Digby4  a  peasant  youth  of  Liege,  who  ran  away  for 


1  [ "  A  man  of  credit  assured  me,  that  there  was  found  in  Denmark,  a  young- 
man  of  about  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  old,,  who  lived  in  the  woods  with  the  bears, 
and  who  could  not  be  distinguished  from  them  but  by  his  shape.  They  took  him, 
and  learned  him  to  speak;  he  said  then,  he  could  remember  nothing-  but  only  since 
the  time  they  took  him  from  amongst  the  bears."  Life  of  Vanini,  Anon.  17 14.    Ed.] 

2  Bresl.  Samml.  sxn.  s.  437. 

3  Hist.  cVune  jeune  fille  so/wage,  Par.  1755,  8vo. 

4  In  Tivo  Treatises,  in  the  one  of  which  the  nature  of  Bodies  in  the  other  the 
nature  of  Mans  sou'.e  is  looked  into.     Paris,  1644,  fol.  p.  247. 


WILD    MEN.  339 

fear  when  the  soldiers  plundered  his  village  into  the  forest  of 
Ardennes,  and  lodged  there  for  many  years,  and  lived  upon 
roots,  wild  pears,  and  acorns. 

There  still  remain,  what  are  called  by  Linnaeus,  Pueri 
Pyrenaici  of  1719,  on  whose  traces  however  I  have  not  yet 
been  able  to  come  again1.  Meanwhile,  what  I  have  here  set 
down  about  the  others  will,  I  hope,  tend  to  give  the  proper 
value  to  those  wonderful  and  various  stories  about  these  pre- 
tended men  of  nature  in  a  philosophic  natural  history  of 
mankind. 


IX. 

Neither  Peter  nor  any  other  Homo  sapiens  ferus  of  Linnanis  can 
serve  as  a  Specimen  of  the  original  Man  of  Nature. 

If  we  make  a  fair  deduction  from  the  really  too  tasteless 
fictions  in  those  stories,  and  let  the  rest  pass  muster  ever  so 
indulgently,  still  it  will  be  at  once  seen,  that  these  were  alto- 
gether unnatural  deformed  creatures,  and  yet,  what  also  goes 
very  much  to  show  how  abnormal  they  were,  no  two  of  them 
were  at  all  like  each  other,  according  to  any  critical  com- 
parison of  the  accounts  we  have  of  them.  Taken  altogether, 
they  were  very  unmanlike,  but  each  in  his  own  way,  according 
to  the  standard  of  his  own  individual  wants,  imperfections,  and 
unnatural  properties.  Only  in  this  were  they  like  each  other, 
that  contrary  to  the  instinct  of  nature,  they  lived  alone,  sepa- 
rated from  the  society  of  men,  wandering  about  here  and 
there;  a  condition,  whose  opposition  to  what  is  natural  has 
been  already  compared  by  Voltaire  to  that  of  a  lost  solitary 
bee2. 


1  [But  see  Antient  Metaphysics,  Vol.  IV.  pp.  37,  38,  and  the  Spanish  work, 
Semanario  Ervdito,  of   1788,  there  referred  to.    Ed.] 

2  "  If  one  meets  with  a  wandering  bee,  ought  one  to  conclude  that  the  bee  is  in 
a  state  of  pure  nature,  and  that  those  who  work  in  company  in  the  hive  have 
degenerated?"  Comp.  also  Filangieri,  Scienza  della  leyislazione,  T.  I.  p.  64, 
second  ed. 

22—2 


340  MAN   DOMESTIC. 


X. 

Above   all  no  originally    Wild  Condition  of  Nature   is   to   be 
attributed  to  Man,  who  is  bom  a  domestic  animal. 

Man  is  a  domestic  animal1.  But  in  order  that  other 
animals  might  be  made  domestic  about  him,  individuals  of 
their  species  were  first  of  all  torn  from  their  wild  condition, 
and  made  to  live  under  cover,  and  become  tame ;  whereas  he 
on  the  contrary  was  born  and  appointed  by  nature  the  most 
completely  domesticated  animal.  Other  domestic  animals  were 
first  brought  to  that  state  of  perfection  through  him.  He  is 
the  only  one  who  brought  himself  to  perfection. 

But  whilst  so  many  other  domestic  animals,  as  cats, 
goats,  &c.  when  they  by  accident  return  to  the  wilderness, 
very  soon  degenerate  into  the  natural  condition  of  the  wild 
species ;  so  on  the  other  hand,  as  I  have  said,  all  those  so- 
called  wild  children  in  their  other  behaviour,  and  nature,  &c, 
strikingly  differed  one  from  another,  for  the  very  reason  that 
they  had  no  originally  wild  species  to  degenerate  into,  for 
such  a  race  of  mankind,  which  is  the  most  perfect  of  all 
sorts  of  domestic  animals  that  have  been  created,  no  where 
exists,  nor  is  there  any  position,  any  mode  of  life,  or  even 
climate  which  would  be  suitable  for  it. 


1  Comp.  Part  I.  s.  VIII. 


GOTTINGISCHE 


GELEHRTE     ANZEIGEN. 


177   STUCK. 
DEN   4   NOVEMBEE,    1833, 


GOTTINGEN. 


REMARKS 

ON  AN 

HIPPOCRATIC  MACROCEPHALUS, 

BY 

J.  F.  BLUMENBACH1. 


The  lecture  delivered  by  the  Chief  Physician-Royal,  Blumen- 
bach,  in  the  sitting  of  the  Royal  Society,  of  the  3rd  August, 
consisted  of  a  Spicilegium  observationum  de  generis  humani  va- 
rietate  nativa,  a  subject,  that  since  his  inaugural  dissertation 
which  appeared  under  this  title  nearly  sixty  years  ago,  the  author 
has  always  taken  pleasure  in  working  at.  It  was  only  some- 
thing on  the  national  characteristics  of  the  three  chief  races 
among  the  five,  into  which  he  had  thought  it  most  according 
to  nature  to  divide  mankind.  Therefore,  first  of  the  Caucasian 
stem,  or  middle  race  ;  and  of  its  two  extremes,  which  are 
secondly,  the  Ethiopian,  and  thirdly,  the  Mongolian. 

Of  the  first  race  we  have  but  one  skull,  but  that  of  the  very 
greatest  interest.  An  old  Hippocratic  macrocephalus  from  the 
Black  Sea,  exactly  answering  to  the  description  given  by  the 
father  of  medicine  in  his  golden  treatise  On  air,  water,  and  soil. 
Blumenbach  owed  this  present  for  his  rich  collection  of  national 
skulls  to  the  kindness  of  the  excellent  and  much  travelled 
physician  of  Augsburg,  Dr  Stephan,  who,  at  the  very  time  when 
the  Russian  Government  had  the  ancient  funeral  mounds  of  the 
kings  of  the  Bosphorus  opened,  which  exist  on  the  water-shed 
of  the  steppe  hills  in  the  vicinity  of  Kertch  (the  Panticapseum 
of  the  ancients)  happened  to  be  there,  and  obtained  the  skull  in 

1  Gotting.  gelchrte  Anzcig.  177  st.  B.  11.  s.  1761. 


344  MACROCEPHALUS. 

question.  This  exactly  resembles  in  shape  the  others  which 
were  found  there  with  it.  On  account  of  the  great  age  of  the 
burial  place  it  was  very  rotten  and  fragile.  This  was  also  the 
case  with  the  other  skulls,  which  were  laid  by  him  previously 
before  the  Royal  Society,  of  old  Greeks,  Germans,  Cimbrians, 
Tschudis,  &c.  which  have  been  described  in  their  Transactions. 
The  striking  characteristic  of  the  Tauric  Macrocephalus,  of 
which  we  are  now  speaking,  displays  itself  in  a  high,  but  not 
much  vaulted  forehead :  the  parietal  bones  on  the  other  hand 
being  exceedingly  high,  quite  macrocephalic.  The  sagittal 
suture,  as  well  as  the  other  two  principal  sutures  of  the  occiput 
were  quite  obliterated. 

Secondly,  of  the  Ethiopian  race,  which  indeed  at  the  first 
glance  contrasts  so  forcibly  with  the  others  that  one  can  easily 
understand  the  exclamation  of  the  naturalist  Pliny:  "Who 
would  have  believed  in  an  Ethiopian  before  he  had  seen  him?" 
Almost  exactly  at  the  same  time  as  that  ancient  long-headed 
skull  Blumenbach  received  from  his  old  friend  and  pupil,  Kauf- 
mann,  the  court  physician  of  Hanover,  something  of  just  as 
great  importance  to  him  for  his  collection,  although  of  quite 
another  kind.  It  was  the  fresh  clean  head  of  a  negro  boy  from 
Congo,  who  had  died  unfortunately  in  his  fifteenth  year,  and 
who  might  be  considered  as  the  most  perfect  ideal  of  this  race 
of  man.  This  gave  the  author  of  the  lecture  an  opportunity 
of  passing  a  critical  review  upon  many  of  the  to  a  great  extent 
groundless  assertions  on  the  bodily  peculiarities  of  the  negro, 
which  he  refuted  by  the  exhibition  of  preparations.  Amongst 
these  were  some  embryos,  and  this  gave  him  an  opportunity 
of  saying  something  also  on  the  third  principal  race, 

The  Mongolian :  not,  indeed,  upon  the  character  of  their  skulls, 
of  which  Blumenbach,  through  the  kindness  of  the  never-to-be- 
forgotten  Baron  von  Asch,  possesses  a  most  instructive  series; 
but  only  to  contrast  with  those  unborn  negroes  the  foetus  of  a 
female  Calmuck  three  months  old,  already  possessed  of  the  ex- 
pressive national  physiognomy,  displaying,  namely,  that  striking 
oblique  direction  of  the  bifurcation  of  the  eyelids  towards  the 
root  of  the  nose.  Bl. 


NACHRICHTEN 


YON   DER   G.  A.  UNIVERSITAT   UND   DER   KONIGL. 

GESELLSCHAFT   DER  WISSENSCHAFTEN 

ZU   GOTTINGEN. 


OCTOBER  6.  NO.   14.  1856. 


TJNIVERSITAT. 

DIB    ANTHROPOLOGISCHE    SAMMLUNG    DES 
PHYSIOLOGISCHEN  INSTITUTE. 


GOTTINGEN. 


ON 

THE  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  COLLECTION  OF  THE 
PHYSIOLOGICAL  INSTITUTE  OF  GOTTINGEN, 

BY 

PROFESSOR  RUDOLPH  WAGNER. 


When  after  the  death  of  the  respected  Blumenbach  (Jan.  22, 
1840)  the  undersigned  received  his  summons  to  this  University, 
and  entered  upon  his  present  post  in  the  autumn  of  1840,  the 
collection  of  the  venerable  naturalist  had  previously  by  the  care  of 
the  Curatorium  been  purchased  from  the  heirs,  and  the  greater 
part  of  it  had  already  been  incorporated  in  the  Academical 
Institute.  The  most  valuable_part  of  it  was  undeniably—the 
cojlection  of  skulls,  which  Blumenbach,  supported  by  pupils 
of  his  scattered  over  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  other  numerous 
donors,  had  been  collecting  zealously  for  his  whole  life,  and 
which  it  is  well  known  had  served  him  as  the  principal  founda- 
tion for  his  investigations  on  the  natural  history  of  mankind. 
Together  with  the  Craniological  Collection  there  was  ranked  a 
more  extensive  body  of  materials  for  completing  the  knowledge 
of  the  different  accompanying  conditions  of  form  and  structure 
in  respect  of  Ethnology,  and  for  illustrating  the  Lectures  on  the 
General  Natural  History  of  Mankind. 

Already,  in  1795,  Blumenbach  had  given  a  sketch  of  this,  as 
well  of  the  Craniological  Collection,  which  he  incorporated  with 
the  third  edition  of  his  famous  treatise  De  generis  humani  varie- 
tate  nativa,  under  the  title  Index  suppellectilis  anthropological 


348  MUSEUM. 

auctoris,  qua  in  adornanda  nova  hacce  editione  maxime  usus  est. 
He  divided  the  apparatus  into  five  parts.  The  first  division 
comprised  the  eighty-two  race-skulls  then  existing  in  his  Col- 
lection, separately  detailed,  and  of  which  he  had  already 
represented  thirty  in  the  three  first  Decades  of  his  Decades 
craniorum.  Blumenbach  here  remarked  that  his  craniological 
collection  was  unique  of  its  kind,  and  that  the  richest  museums 
of  that  sort  then  in  Europe,  namely,  the  anatomical  collections 
of  John  Hunter  and  Peter  Camper  could  not  be  compared  with 
it.  The  other  divisions  of  the  so-called  anthropological  collection 
consisted  of  anatomical  preparations,  specimens  of  the  skin  and 
hair  of  different  nations,  and  some  embryos;  then,  very  good 
drawings,  especially  some  by  the  hand,  paintings,  also  engrav- 
ings, and  besides  excellent  portraits  of  distinguished  individuals 
of  different  nations  of  our  planet,  executed  in  water-colours,  oil, 
and  crayons. 

All  this  material  was  handed  over  by  the  heirs  to  the  Uni- 
versity, and  likewise  most  of  the  original  manuscripts  of  Blu- 
menbach's  works  on  general  natural  history,  and  upon  the  races 
of  man :  they  were  first  of  all  deposited  in  the  rooms  of  the 
academical  museum  allotted  to  me,  until  the  erection  of  the 
physiological  institute  in  which  the  whole  collection  was  ar- 
ranged in  the  year  1842;  where  it  remains  in  its  entirety  under 
the  name  of  the  Blumenbachian  Anthropological  Museum, 
in  lasting  remembrance  of  that  highly  deserving  man.  At 
present  it  fills  two  rooms.  In  the  first  room  are  the  skulls,  ar- 
ranged in  cabinets  on  the  walls ;  outside  which  in  like  manner 
stand  a  collection  of  plaster  casts;  and  in  the  middle  are  some 
mummies:  whilst  the  other  room  contains  the  remaining  objects, 
especially  the  portraits.  From  what  Blumenbach  himself  left 
we  have  245  whole  skulls  and  fragments,  and  an  Egyptian  and 
Guanche  mummy. 

So  far  as  my  means  and  the  great  difficulty  of  making  acqui- 
sitions in  an  inland  country,  have  permitted,  I  have  endeavoured  to 
make  the  Collection  still  more  complete.  But  up  to  the  present 
time  I  have  been  only  moderately  successful.  By  purchase  we 
have  obtained  some  interesting  mummies  and  skulls  from  Peru, 


MUSEUM.  349 

which  Dr  von  Tschudi  had  collected;  and  I  have  lately  received 
as  a  legacy  from  Professor  de  Fremery  in  Utrecht  some  skulls 
and  the  skeleton  of  a  negro.  H.  M.  King  Louis  of  Bavaria, 
liberal  as  he  had  already  shown  himself  in  donations  to  Blu- 
mcnbach,  sent  us  some  years  ago  seven  in  part  very  well  pre- 
served skulls  from  an  old  cemetery  at  Nordendorf  on  the  Lech 
(probably  of  the  second  and  third  century),  which  were  found 
on  the  occasion  of  making  the  railroad.  His  Highness  the  Graf 
von  Gortz  Schlitz,  who  as  a  pupil  of  our  high  school  had  always 
kept  up  a  friendly  recollection  of  it,  sent  us  five  old  Peruvian 
skulls,  which  he  had  dug  up  himself  on  the  spot,  and  in  the 
place,  on  his  voyage  round  the  world.  Professor  Carl  Schmidt 
of  Dorpat,  likewise  a  pupil  of  the  Georgia  Augusta,  presented  us 
with  two  Lett  skulls ;  Professor  Bidder,  of  Dorpat,  added  to  them 
an  Esthonian  skull.  To  my  brother,  Dr  Moritz  Wagner,  we 
owe  two  skulls  from  the  Crimea  and  a  Greek  skull.  In  this 
way,  and  by  some  recently  prepared  skulls,  some  of  them  mur- 
derers for  example,  the  number  of  skulls  and  fragments  of  skulls 
has  reached  310. 

The  want  of  skeletons  has  always  been  very  great ;  the  few 
left  behind  by  Blumenbach  were  very  defective  and  useless. 
Now  the  Collection  possesses  several  Europeans  of  different  ages, 
and  a  well-prepared  negro  skeleton. 

Besides  the  Egyptian  and  Guanche  mummies  we  have  three 
Peruvian  mummies.  Some  mummified  heads,  for  example  one 
of  a  New  Zealander,  some  negro  heads  in  spirits  of  wine,  &c. 

As  for  the  Craniological  Collection,  it  can  no  longer  pass 
for  the  richest  existing.  That  of  Morton,  which  is  now  in 
Philadelphia,  is  already  much  richer.  Still  it  has  much  that 
is  interesting,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  following  summary, 
in  which,  for  the  most  part,  I  follow  the  old  arrangement  of 
Blumenbach. 


350 


MUSEUM. 


A.    Peoples  of  the  Old  World. 


I.     Caucasian  Races  (Indo- Atlantic  peoples). 


2  Indian. 

1  Icelander. 

1  Persian. 

1  Norwegian. 

3  Georgian. 

8  Hollander. 

1  Lesghi. 

1  Wend. 

1  Armenian. 

1  Bohemian. 

4  Gipsy. 

3  Hungarian. 

5  Greek. 

1  Pole. 

6  Turk 

4  Lithuanian. 

7  Italian. 

1  Esthonian. 

1  Old  Etruscan. 

2  Slavonian. 

5  Old  Roman. 

2  Galician. 

6  French. 

22  Russian. 

1  Lotharingian. 

5  Cossack. 

1  Burgundian. 

3  Finns. 

1  Spaniard. 

4  Lapps. 

3  English. 

2  Old  Tschudi. 

1  Irish. 

1  Bulgarian. 

5  Scot. 

4  Jew. 

1  Hebridean. 

4  Egyptian  mummy  skulls. 

1  Dane. 

The  remainder  German. 

II.     Mongolian  Races  (Asiatic  nations). 


10  Tartar. 

7  Calmuck. 
2  Baschkir. 
1  Samoiede.  - 
1  Kamtschatdale. 
1  Tschuvasch. 


1  Korak. 

2  Tungus. 
1  Yakute. 

1  Burat. 

2  Burman. 
9  Chinese. 


MUSEUM.  351 


III.     Woolly-haired  African  Nations  (Ethiopian  race). 

16  Negro  skulls.  1  Hottentot. 

1  Mulatto.  1  Bushman. 

1  Kafir. 


B.    Peoples  of  the  New  Woeld. 

IV.     Americans. 

3  Esquimaux.  1  Mexican. 

4  Greenlanders.  3  Schitgaganen. 
1  Kornager  from  Kadjak.  2  Algonquin. 

1  Illinois.  1  Iroquois. 

4  From  Missouri.  1  Modern  Peruvian. 

2  From  Columbia  River  (ar-  8  Chincha- Peruvian     (some 

tificially  flattened).  artif.  deformed). 

2  Carib  (one  artificially  flat-  1  Ature. 

tened).,  1  Botocudo. 

1  Huanca   (Peru,   artif.    de-  6  Brazilian. 

formed).  1  From  Guiana. 

V.     Malays  and  South-Sea  Islanders. 

6  Javanese.  1  From  Otaheite. 

3  From  Bali.  2  Nukuhiva. 

2  From  Celebes.  2  From  New  Holland. 

1  Mestizo  from  Celebes.  1  Papuan. 

2  From  Madeira. 

The  remaining  skulls  have  reference  to  congenital  depar- 
tures from  the  ordinary  form,  or  pathological  alterations,  as 
microcephaly,  hydrocephalus,  &c. 

In  the  original  collection  the  plastic  representation  of  the 
outward  forms  of  races  was  limited  to  one  bust  of  a  negro  and 
one  of  a  Botocudo,  both  moreover  of  indifferent  workmanship. 


352  MUSEUM. 

Much  credit  is  due  to  Professor  von  Launitz  of  Frankfort  for 
his  exertions  in  promoting  this  abo^e  all  important,  but  very 
much  neglected  means  of  forwarding  the  knowledge  of  the 
natural  history  of  mankind  by  the  aid  of  plaster-casts.  He 
has  executed  a  new  though  even  now  unfortunately  small 
series  of  race-busts  with  great  fidelity  to  nature  and  artistic 
handling,  from  individuals  who  came  in  his  way  at  Frankfort. 

I  have  obtained  some  beautiful  casts  for  our  collection  of 
busts  executed  by  Herr  von  Launitz.     They  are  as  follows  : 

Benjamin  Gattegna,  Constantinopolitan  Jew. 

Grossman,  Jew. 

Muhamed,  Bedouin. 

Hassan,  Nubian. 

Abdallah,  Negro. 

Zeno  Orego,  bearded  negro  from  Guadaloupe. 

Native  North-American. 

Chinese. 

Cast  from  the  head  of  a  Chinese. 

A  Gipsy  Girl. 

Model  of  the  face  of  an  Hungarian,  by  Fr.  Kusthardt, 
done  by  a  young  sculptor  of  Gottingen. 

A  Phrenological  Collection,  based  upon  genuine  busts  after 
the  life,  is  now  for  the  first  time  in  process  of  being  made. 
The  above-named  young  artist,  Fr.  Kusthardt,  has  already 
got  some  materials  together  for  it.  There  is  no  department 
so  much  in  want  of  critically  selected  materials  as  this,  which 
has  been  so  seldom  treated  scientifically. 

Another  kind  of  collection,  which  is  now  equally  for  the 
first  time  projected,  would  be  that  of  the  form  of  the  fore- 
heads in  different  individuals.  A  number  of  foreheads  with 
the  form  preserved  as  much  as  possible  is  ready  collected, 
and  it  seems  that  a  careful  comparison  of  the  foreheads  of 
different  individuals  might  really  lead  to  very  interesting 
results,  on  which  perhaps  I  may  say  more  at  another  oppor- 
tunity. Unfortunately  no  one  in  Europe  appears  as  yet  to 
have  thought  of  making  a  collection  of  race-foreheads  of  any 


MUSEUM,  353 

size,    though    this    must   be   an  important  business   for  the 
future. 

I  have  also  endeavoured  to  promote  the  collection  of  repre- 
sentations of  different  nations  and  tried  to  complete  it,  and 
consequently  have  had  the  necessity  of  instruction  or  education 
especially  before  my  eyes. 

With  the  interest,  which  very  lately  the  natural  history 
of  Ethnography  has  excited,  in  consequence  of  the  noto- 
rious disputes  about  the  origin  of  mankind,  I  became  par- 
ticularly alive  to  the  necessity  of  anthropological  collections 
of  that  sort.  Much  lies  scattered  in  private  collections  in 
Holland  and  England,  and  a  fresh  youthful  vigour  which  would 
give  itself  up  with  zeal  and  a  spirit  of  investigation  to  this 
task,  and  study  the  museums  in  Europe  and  North  America 
with  this  object,  might  bring  interesting  results  to  light.  I 
had  in  earlier  years  proposed  to  myself  the  task  at  some  time 
or  other  of  editing  an  anatomy  of  the  races  and  nations  of 
man,  and  looked  upon  my  natural  history  of  mankind,  pub- 
lished twenty-six  years  ago,  as  a  juvenile  prelude.  But  the 
difficulties,  first  of  getting  together  sufficient  materials  and 
then  of  inspecting  with  that  object  all  the  public  and  private 
collections  in  Europe  were  so  great,  that  I  have  long  since  been 
obliged  to  give  up  this  plan,  especially  since  my  health  has 
for  some  years  past  begun  to  fail  me.  The  preservation  and 
enlarging  of  the  Blumenbachian  Museum,  and  the  utilization 
of  the  same  partly  for  the  purposes  of  instruction  and  partly 
for  foreign  inquirers,  I  have  considered  incumbent  on  me  as 
a  positive  duty.  In  general,  however,  the  furtherance  of  anato- 
mical, physiological  and  zoological  investigation  in  the  last 
ten  years  has  been  turned  so  much  in  other  directions,  that  the 
Collection  has  been  used  less  than  I  could  have  wished  both  by 
native  and  foreign  students,  and  in  fact  has  only  been  honoured 
with  an  ordinary  inspection.  I  have,  however,  pleasure  in  men- 
tioning these  gentlemen  :  Henle,  Huschke,  Van  der  Hoeven, 
Retzius,  Tourtual,  Yon  Tschudi,  and  Andr.  Wagner,  who,  some- 
times in  my  company,  and  sometimes  alone,  have  gone  through 

23 


354  MUSEUM. 

our  Collection,  and  in  part  have  made  public  use  of  it  for  their 
own  inquiries. 

The  notice  given  of  it  now  is  perhaps  sufficient  to  attract 
anew  the  attention  of  foreign  inquirers  to  our  little  museum. 
It  seems  scarcely  necessary  to  remark  that  our  material  is  much 
too  scanty  for  any  extended  questions  upon  the  individuality 
and  affinity  of  the  nations  of  our  planet.  We  must  have  not 
single,  but  hundreds  of  skulls  of  one  and  the  same  nation,  to 
settle  certain  questions.  Bhimenbach,  with  the  eye  of  genius, 
though  from  very  slender  materials,  early  drew  the  ground 
lines,  and  accurately  recognized  the  typical  differences.  We 
have  only  got  beyond  Blumenbach's  investigations  and  results 
in  some  particulars,  and  on  the  whole  not  much  and  not  essen- 
tially. The  longer  we  busy  ourselves  about  the  subject,  the 
more  again  and  again  we  shall  have  to  come  back  to  the 
ground-plan  and  the  divisions  of  Blumenbach.  Still  here  I 
must  mention  above  all  as  to  the  present  time  the  works  of 
the  famous  Retzius1  in  Stockholm,  who  has  himself  got  toge- 
ther a  great  apparatus,  and  must  be  considered  at  present 
as  by  far  the  greatest  proficient  in  scientific  ethnology. 

With .  respect  to  our  Collection  I  may  remark,  that  its 
greatest  wealth  and  value  consists  in  the  skulls  of  Asiatic 
(Mongolian)  nations,  which — perhaps  with  the  exception  of 
that  of  St  Petersburgh — are  still  probably  very  uncommon 
in  all  collections.  Nearly  all  these  skulls  came  from  a  grateful 
pupil  of  Blumenbach,  whom  he  often  mentions,  the  imperial 
physician,  Dr  von  Asch,  in  St  Petersburgh.  Notwithstanding 
my  narrow  means  and  small  opportunity  for  acquisition,  I  have 
especially  laboured  to  enlarge  the  series  of  particular  nations. 
From  this  point  of  view  the  Negro,  the  Peruvian,  and  the 
Chinese  skulls  present  a  particular  interest.  With  a  special 
view  to  that  object,  viz.  the  bringing  together  large  numbers 
of  skulls  of  one  and  the  same  people,  I  am  anxious  for  assistance 


1  [The  anthropological  works  of  Eetzius  (now  deceased),  have  been  collected, 
and  are  in  process  of  translation  for  the  Society  by  A.  Higgins,  Esq.     Ed.] 


MUSEUM.  355 

from  foreign  inquirers  as  well  as  from  naturalists,  and  grateful 
should  I  be  in  this  respect  for  such  support  as  has  lately  been 
given  me  by  Herr  Professor  Schroder  van  der  Kolk,  of  Utrecht. 
Especially,  however,  should  I  be  thankful  for  the  acquisition 
of  information  about  well-formed  foreheads  of  known  individuals 
amongst  the  nations  of  Europe,  or  the  foreign  races  of  man. 


R.  WAGNER. 


GoTTINGEN, 

Sept.  1 6,  1856. 


23—2 


DISPUTATIO    INAUGURALIS 

QU^EDAM  DE   HOMINUM  VARIETATLBUS, 
ET  HARUM  CAUSIS  EXPONENS, 

QUAM  ANNUENTE   SUMMO   NUMINE    EX   AUCTORITATE 
REVERENDI    ADMODUM    VIRI 

GULIELMI  ROBERTSON,   S.S.T.P. 

ACADEMIC:   EDINBURGEN.E   BR.EFECTI  ; 

NECNON  AMPLISSIMI    SENATUS  ACADEMICI   CONSENSU   ET 

NOBILISSIMiE   FACULTATIS   MEDICO   DECRETO 

PRO  GRADU  DOCTORIS, 

SUMMISQUE  IN  MEDICTNA  HONORIBUS   ET   PRIVILEGIIS, 

RITE  ET  LEGITIME  CONSEQUENDIS ;    ERUDITORUM 

EXAMINI  SUBJICIT 


JOANNES  HUNTER, 

SCOTO-BRITANNUS,   SOOIET.  MED.   SOO.  HON. 


"  The  spacious  West, 
And  all  the  teeming  regions  of  the  South, 
Hold  not  a  quarry,  to  the  curious  flight 
Of  knowledge,  half  so  tempting  or  so  fair 
As  man  to  man." 

Akenside. 


PBID.    ID.    JUNII,    HORA    LOOOQUE    SOLITIS. 


EDINBUEGI : 
APUD    BALFOUR    ET    SMELLIE, 

ACADEMIC  TYPOGRAPHOS. 

M.DCC.LXXV. 


AN    INAUGURAL    DISSERTATION, 


JOHN  HUNTER,  M.D.  F.RS.1 


It  is  not  necessary  for  me  when  going  to  write  about  the 
varieties  of  man,  and  the  causes  of  them,  to  try  and  prove  the 
importance  of  the  subject.  Much  has  been  written  by  many 
about  animated  beings,  nature,  and  the  gods ;  and  there  are 
and  have  been  those,  who  have  attempted  to  gauge  the  strength 
and  faculties  of  the  human  mind.  But  nothing  has  yet  been 
written  clearly  by  any  writer  upon  the  matters  which  regard  the 


1  Many  persons,  amongst  others,  J.  A.  Meigs  of  Philadelphia,  have  been  under 
the  idea  (see  Nott  and  Gliddon,  Indigenous  Races  of  Man,  p.  216),  deceived  by  the 
similarity  of  name,  that  this  treatise  is  the  production  of  the  celebrated  surgeon 
John  Hunter.  A  consideration  of  the  date  1775,  would  have  been  quite  enough  to 
prove  the  contrary,  nor  does  the  Hunter  appear  at  any  time  to  have  taken  the 
degree  of  M.D.  Not  much  is  known  about  the  author.  He  was  a  physician  to 
the  army,  and  wrote  some  papers  on  the  health  of  the  service,  which  are  to  be 
found  in  the  medical  journals.  The  principal  interest  attaching  to  this  treatise 
arises  from  the  fact  that  it  appeared  in  the  very  same  year,  and  a  month  or  two 
before  the  more  famous  work  of  Blumenbach  on  the  same  subject.  It  is  very 
inferior  in  its  mode  of  treating  the  subject  to  the  effort  of  the  German  naturalist ; 
nor  does  the  author  seem  to  have  prosecuted  his  researches  further  in  this  direction. 
Still  anthropology  has  progressed  so  very  little,  that  some  parts  of  it  are  quite  on  a 
level  with  the  science  of  the  present  day,  and  it  may  still  be  read  with  interest. 
The  original  has  become  very  rare,  though  four  copies  are  to  be  found  in  the  British 
Museum;  but  it  has  been  thought  that  a  translation  would  be  acceptable  to  many 
who  might  not  care  to  wade  through  .the  Latin  of  a  modern  physician. 


360  DIFFERENT    SPECIES. 

external  appearance  of  man,  his  countenance,  his  colour,  the 
dimensions  of  his  body,  and  other  similar  topics.  Yet  it  cannot 
be  denied  for  a  moment  that  many  diversities  and  anomalies 
do  exist  among  men.  Do  not  those  who  spring  from  the  same 
race,  and  are  born  of  the  same  parents,  differ  from  each  other 
in  temperament,  health,  strength,  stature,  colour,  form,  and 
above  all,  in  disposition  and  power  of  mind?  And  a  greater 
difference  is  found  between  those  who  live  in  different  climates, 
and  inhabit  widely- separated  regions  of  the  earth,  very  diverse 
from  each  other.  Others  differ  also  by  being  of  a  white  or 
black  colour,  of  a  handsome  or  ugly  body,  by  softness  of  dis- 
position or  the  reverse,  and  by  polished  or  rude  manners.  Such 
important  discrepancies,  so  well  known  to  all,  supply  a  mass  of 
materials  quite  sufficient  for  philosophers,  and  those  who  inves.- 
tigate  nature,  to  employ  themselves  upon.  Many1  who  have 
considered  these  questions,  and  endeavoured  to  ascertain  their 
causes,  have  thought  them  too  great  to  be  ascribed  to  natural 
causes,  but  that  they  should  be  referred  to  the  will  of  the 
Governor  of  all  things,  the  supreme  Law  of  nature,  as  if  He  had 
in  the  beginning  marked  out  men  by  so  many  diverse  distinc- 
tions. Now  if  we  take  up  this  mode  of  philosophizing,  and 
attribute  everything  for  which  we  can  give  no  reason  to  the 
Divine  interference,  we  shut  the  door  and  stop  up  all  the  sources 
from  which  all  those  things  spring  which  adorn  life,  promote 
the  arts,  and  finally  increase  the  force  and  the  faculties  of  the 
human  mind.  And  therefore  it  is  worth  while  first  of  all  to 
inquire  what  amount  of  proof  there  may  be  for  the  opinion  of 
those  who  impute  all  diversities  to  the  Deity,  and  therefore 
imagine  man  to  consist  of  different  species. 

Those  who  believe  in  the  diversity  of  species  contend  that 
the  diversities  are  such  that  they  cannot  be  explained  in  any 
other  way,  whether  by  climate  or  other  external  causes.  What, 
they  ask,  is  the  cause  of  the  copper  colour  and  the  beardless 
chin  of  the  Americans?  or  of  the  black  teats  of  the  Samoide 


1  Sketches  of  the  History  of  Man,  Vol.  I.  Sk.  L 


REASONS.  361 

women  ?  of  the  black  colour  and  thick  lips  of  the  Africans  ?  of 
the  swelling  pudenda  of  the  female  inhabitants  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope?  What  man  has  ever  explained  these  and  similar 
things?  So  they  affirm  these  things  cannot  be  explained,  but 
must  be  attributed  to  God1. 

How  much  this  superstition,  which  refers  everything  that 
seems  to  us  inexplicable,  to  the  Divine  hand  and  the  will  of 
God,  stands  in  the  way  of  science,  has  been  said  above. 

Besides  these  diversities  which  it  is  true  we  cannot  explain, 
there  occur  others  equally  inexplicable,  where  the  notion  of 
a  diversity  of  species  cannot  be  entertained.  Who  has  ever 
explained  the  high  cheek-bones  of  the  Scotch?  No  one  ;  but  is 
that  a  reason  for  considering  them  a  different  species?  Nor 
has  any  explanation  ever  yet  been  given  for  the  blue  eyes  of 
the  Goths2.  And  are  they  then  of  a  different  species?  By  this 
mode  of  reasoning,  it  would  follow  that  there  are  different 
species  in  the  same  family. 

In  order  to  prove  diversity  of  species,  writers  have  had 
recourse  even  to  the  mental  faculties3.  This  one  is  brave ;  that 
man  timid.  How  then  can  they  be  of  the  same  species  ?  This 
man  receives  strangers  with  pleasure ;  that  one  keeps  them 
off  as  much  as  ever  he  can.  Are  they  therefore  of  the  same 
species'? 

If  this  were  so,  and  discrepancies  of  this  kind  were  accepted 
for  signs  and  certain  proofs  of  diversities  of  species,  would  not 
different  species  be  produced  in  almost  every  single  family? 
Could  it  not  be  said  of  the  same  man  at  different  times  that  he 
in  like  "way  was  of  a  different  species  from  himself? 

Those  who  defend  this  opinion  of  the  diversity  of  species, 
not  content  with  these  arguments,  seek  out  others  from  the 
Final  Cause.  For  inasmuch  as  the  regions  inhabited  by  man 
are  excessively  different  in  climate,  soil,  heat,  and  innumerable 
other  points,  therefore  they  believe  that  different  species  of 


1  Sketches  of  the  History  of  Man,  Vol.  i.  p.  12. 
2  Linn.  Fauna  Suecica,  p.  1.  3  Sk.  of  the  Hist,  of  Man,  Vol.  1.  p.  15. 


362  RESULTS. 

men  were  necessarily  accommodated  to  different  regions1, 
But  who  can  say  that  it  is  not  more  agreeable  to  perfect  wis- 
dom to  have  given  to  different  animals  that  kind  of  nature, 
by  which  they  could  easily  accommodate  themselves  to  what- 
ever might  happen,  than  to  have  created  a  fresh  species  adapted 
to  each  change  of  external  circumstances? 

This  question  has  with  justice  been  most  fiercely  agitated, 
for  it  is  by  no  means  one  of  mere  curiosity.  For  if  it  be 
allowed  that  men  are  of  different  species,  then  they  must  be 
so  considered  in  medical,  natural,  civil,  and  theological  dis- 
quisitions, and  lastly,  in  all  works  which  treat  of  man  ;  and 
whatever  might  be  said  of  one  species,  might  possibly  be  most 
erroneously  predicated  of  another. 

For  if  it  were  so,  it  would  be  incredible  that  the  Wisdom 
which  framed  the  universe  should  have  created  different  species, 
distinguished  only  by  colour,  or  thick  lips,  or  a  depressed  nose, 
and  not  of  a  different  nature,  and  intended  for  some  particular 
end.  So,  whatever  learned  men  have  written  about  one  species, 
which  has  been  applied  to  another,  falls  to  the  ground ;  and 
the  sources  of  reasoning,  from  which  it  has  often  been  thought 
that  truth  is  derived,  that  is  the  comparisons  made  between 
various  nations,  are  altogether  sealed  up.  But  what  are  we 
to  think  of  those,  who,  although  they  consider  men  to  vary 
in  species,  nevertheless  persist  in  discoursing  of  man,  as  if  he 
were  always  in  all  regions  and  in  every  place  the  same  ? 

There*is  another  error  which  must  be  noticed  here.  Whilst 
authors  dispute  in  this  way  with  each  other  about  species,  they 
do  not  explain  what  sense  they  attach  to  that  word.  The  defi- 
nition given  by  Ray,  and  adopted  by  Buffo n,  they  reject  as 
refuted,  but  they  give  no  other  in  its  place.  And  yet,  without 
in  any  way  denning  species,  they  go  on  to  pronounce  the 
species  of  men  to  be  different.  But  this  is  surely  quite  un- 
justifiable, unless  the  meaning  of  the  word  species  is  first  of  all 
explained. 

As  this  is  the  case,  in  order  that  others  may  not  make  the 

i  Sketches  of  the  History  of  Man,  Vol.  I.  p.  10. 


SPECIES.  363 

same  objection  to  us,  pray  accept  our  definition  of  the  word 
species,  and  our  idea  of  the  way  in  which  these  notions  are  con- 
ceived in  the  mind. 

As  all  our  ideas  of  everything  arise  from  nature,  and  its 
contemplation,  so  from  the  same  source,  and  not  from  the 
dogmas  of  the  schools,  or  the  disquisitions  of  logic,  is  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  species  to  be  deduced.  Whoever  looks  round 
the  earth,  will  find  it  full  of  animals,  everywhere  offering  them- 
selves to  his  eyes,  and  will  find  amongst  some  of  them  an 
almost  perfect  resemblance,  and  a  very  strong  affinity,  but 
amongst  more,  the  greatest  possible  difference.  He  who  ex- 
amines this  diversity  or  congruity,  will  quickly  come  to  distri- 
bute animals  into  various  classes,  according  to  their  various 
likenesses  or  unlikenesses.  And  since  nature,  as  they  say, 
makes  no  leaps,  it  frequently  happens,  that  animals  are  at  the 
same  time  so  like  and  so  unlike  each  other,  that  it  is  sometimes 
doubtful  to  which  class  any  particular  one  should  be  referred. 

What  is  to  be  the  rule,  or  criterion  for  deciding  this  ?  If 
any  two  animals,  whose  likeness  to  each  other  is  not  quite  per- 
fect enough  to  compel  one  to  assign  them  to  the  same  species, 
produce  an  offspring  which  is  either  at  once  like,  or  afterwards 
becomes  like  either  parent ;  then  however  they  may  differ  from 
each  other  in  many  points,  yet  they  must  be  considered  to  be 
of  the  same  species.  And  with  these  preliminary  observations, 
this  is  the  way  in  which  I  think  species  should  be  defined. 

A  class  of  animals,  of  which  the  members  procreate  with 
each  other,  and  the  offspring  of  which  also  procreate  other 
animals,  which  are  either  like  their  class,  or  afterwards  be- 
come so. 

This  definition  of  species  may  be  conveniently  illustrated  by 
taking  an  instance  from  man,  about  whom  our  business  now  is. 
Take,  of  all  who  bear  the  name  of  man,  a  man  and  a  woman 
most  widely  different  from  each  other;  let  the  one  be  a  most  beau- 
tiful Circassian  woman  and  the  other  an  African  born  in  Guinea, 
as  black  and  ugly  as  possible.  Take,  moreover,  as  you  certainly 
may,  the  males  and  females  sprung  from  this  pair,  and  join 
the  children  of  the  latter  in  marriage  with  their  maternal  race, 


364  HTBRIDITY. 

and  the  children  of  the  former  with  the  paternal,  and  then, 
if  after  several  generations  the  offspring  of  the  female  becomes 
in  all  things  to  resemble  the  mother,  and  the  offspring  of  the 
male  the  father,  we  may  come  to  the  definite  conclusion  that 
the  parents  were  of  the  same  species.  That  this  is  a  fact,  is 
proved  every  day  by  the  unions  of  the  black  and  the  white. 
And  if  any  one  denies  the  truth  of  this  definition,  what  order, 
what  certainty  does  he  leave  in  the  animal  kingdom  ?  One 
species  may  change  into  another.  The  ox  may  become  a  horse, 
the  ape  a  man.  And  if  reason  and  common  sense  did  not 
revolt  from  such  absurd  and  monstrous  positions,  some  would 
eagerly  declare  that  such  things  might  take  place.  Let  a  man 
look  round  the  world,  and  contemplate  nature.  What  does  he 
find  ?  Does  the  varied  appearance  of  things  supply  any  proofs 
by  which  such  a  notion  can  be  confirmed  ?  Have  not  the 
classes  of  animals  always  remained  distinct  up  to  this  time  ? 
and  why  should  they  not  remain  so  for  ever?  A  lawless  and 
blind  wish  has  often  desired  the  existence  of  such  mutations, 
and  even  of  new  genera,  if  it  were  possible.  And  many  have  tried 
very  hard  to  bring  about  something  of  the  kind,  but  no  one  has 
yet  succeeded  in  making  a  new  species,  or  turning  one  into 
another.  From  all  which  we  may  conclude  that  each  and 
every  species  of  animals  has  been  circumscribed  within  fixed 
boundaries  from  the  beginning  by  Divine  Wisdom ;  and  no 
desire,  like  those  which  are  contrary  to  the  laws  of  nature,  is 
strong  enough  to  cause  nature's  divisions,  that  is,  her  animals 
to  be  commingled,  or  disordered.  And  in  truth,  about  most 
animals  there  is  no  doubt,  because  they  are  distinguished  at 
the  first  glance,  by  external  appearance,  and  manifest  tokens ; 
and  the  sole  contention  is  about  man,  and  a  few  other  species, 
principally  of  the  domestic  animals.  As  to  these  there  are  two 
reasons,  why  writers  have  had  doubts  about  them.  First,  be- 
cause every  variety  and  aberration  from  the  general  order  takes 
place  before  our  eyes,  and  is  most  easily  observed.  The 
second  and  more  powerful  reason  is,  because  animals,  placed 
under  our  care,  entirely  contrary  to  their  instincts,  and  sub- 
jected to  duties  and  modes  of  life  which  do  not  at  all  suit 


dogs.  365 

them,  for  this  reason  especially,  and  all  the  more,  the  more 
care  we  take  of  them,  become  altered1. 

The  varieties  of  dogs  seem  almost  infinite ;  for  they  pass 
their  lives  with  men,  suffer  like  them,  and  share  their  sports 
and  their  hearths.  If  any  one  should  say  that  the  varieties 
of  dogs  indicate  a  diversity  of  species,  would  it  not  be  the 
same  thing  as  to  affirm  that  the  dog  can  carry  different  species 
at  the  same  time  in  its  womb  ?  For  it  is  common  enough 
for  a  bitch  to  bring  forth  in  the  same  litter  varieties  of 
whelps,  which  varieties  such  persons  would  call  species.  And  to 
those  who  think  what  they  call  the  different  and  permanent 
orders  of  dogs  are  of  great  weight  in  proving  them  to  be  of 
different  species,  we  may  answer  that  no  such  orders  are  per- 
manent and  constant  without  the  careful  interference  of  man. 
Who  does  not  know  how  difficult  it  is  to  produce  the  Cants 
Gallicus  (Grains  Linn.)  or  the  Cams  Odorus  (Sagaoc  Linn1)  ? 

For  these  reasons,  my  opinion  is  that  men  must  be  held  to 
be  of  the  same  species.  And  as  in  the  vegetable  kingdom,  the 
same  species  sometimes  comprehends  many  varieties,  which  all 
depend  upon  the  climate,  the  soil,  and  cultivation,  so  to  use  the 
language  of  botanists,  the  diversities  of  men  are  to  be  con- 
sidered as  varieties  of  the  same  species,  and,  in  the  same  way, 
to  be  deduced  from  natural  causes. 

No  one  can  be  ignorant  how  much  influence  events  have  in 
affecting  and  changing  men.  On  these  depend  almost  all  dis- 
orders, and  the  numerous  changes  in  the  human  body.  To  ex- 
plain properly  their  effects  and  the  varieties  of  the  human  spe- 
cies, and  to  show  clearly  how  they  take  place,  not  only  is  an 
intimate  knowledge  of  human  nature  required,  as  far  as  regards 
its  motions  and  mutations,  and  its  increase  and  decrease,  but 
also  a  deep  knowledge  is  necessary  of  all  things  which  can  affect 
man,  so  far  as  regards  their  qualities,  and  mode  of  action.  For 
to  give  an  explanation  of  how  two  bodies  act  upon  each  other, 
the  nature  of  each  must  be  understood.  Who  possesses  this 
science?    Who  has  explained  the  nature  of  the  human  body? 

1  Buffon,  Vol.  XII.  p.  192;  Paris,  1770,  iamo. 


• 


366  coloue. 

Who  has  investigated  the  powers  of  nature?  No  one.  Many 
things  are  obscure,  which  can  only  be  brought  to  light  by  great 
labour,  and  the  united  powers  of  many  men  in  a  long  space  of 
time.  Thus  it  will  easily  be  understood  how  difficult  is  the  task 
I  have  imposed  upon  myself.  I  approach  it,  however,  not  from 
any  love  of  writing,  but  from  a  sort  of  necessity.  And  so  far 
from  being  sorry,  I  shall  be  glad,  if,  as  I  may  hope,  these  my 
endeavours  will  call  away  able  men,  especially  at  this  time, 
when  natural  history  is  so  flourishing,  from  shells  and  butter- 
flies, to  studies  worthy  of  man. 

In  order  that  I  may  conduct  my  work  on  some  plan,  I  have 
thought  it  best  to  divide  it  into  four  parts ;  in  the  first  of  which 
I  shall  treat  of  the  colour  of  men ;  in  the  second,  of  stature  and 
form ;  in  the  third,  of  the  excess  or  defect  of  parts,  or  other  dif- 
ferences; and  in  the  fourth,  of  the  mental  faculties.  These 
chapters  will  comprise  almost  everything  which  all  the  curious 
investigators  of  this  planet  have  seen  and  told. 


Chapter  I. 

Of  Colour. 

The  varieties  of  colour  are  wonderful.  Thus  in  men  we  meet 
with  white,  black,  brown,  copper-colour;  lastly,  all  shades  be- 
tween white  and  black,  some  having  one,  and  others  another. 
And  in  order  to  show  this  more  clearly,  I  have  subjoined  a  table 
of  the  colours  of  man,  as  they  differ  according  to  race,  which  I 
put  forward,  not  as  an  absolutely  correct  history  of  colours,  but 
only  as  an  example  and  specimen  of  varieties. 

Table  of  Colours. 

Black.  Africans  under  the  direct  rays  of  the  Sun. 

Inhabitants  of  New  Guinea,  and  of  New 
Batavia. 


TABLE   OF   COLOURS. 


367 


Sub-black. 


Copper-coloured. 

Red. 

Brown. 


Light  brown. 


The  Moors  of  Northern  Africa. 
The  Hottentots,  dwelling  towards  the  south 
of  the  Continent. 

The  East-Indians1. 

Americans2. 

Tartars. 

Persians. 

Arabs. 

Africans  dwelling  on  the  Mediterranean  Sea. 

Chinese3. 

Southern  Europeans. 

Sicilians. 

Abyssinians. 

Spanish. 

Turks  and  others. 

Samoeides  and  Laplanders. 

Almost  all  the  remaining  Europeans,  as 

Swedes. 

Danes. 

English. 

Germans. 

Poles  and  others. 

Kabardinski4. 

Georgians. 

Mingrelians5. 

What  is  the  cause  of  such  different  colours?  To  this  the 
answer  is  difficult.  Yet  many  philosophers  have  attempted  to 
discover  it.     Those  who  borrow  their  philosophy  from  Scripture, 


White. 


1  These  although  they  vary  in  colour,  as  being  a  little  darker  or  lighter,  all  more 
or  less  approach  a  copper  colour. 

2  This  colour  scarcely  differs  from  copper.    Those  who  inhabit  the  Northern  part 
of  America  are  so  much  whiter,  that  they  nearly  lose  the  red  colour  altogether. 

3  The  Chinese  are  of  all  colours  between  brown  and  white;  in  the  south,  brown; 
towards  the  north,  white. 

4  Buffon,  Tom.  v.  p.  20. 

5  Perhaps  we  ought  to  put  here  the  inhabitants  of  some  of  the  islands  in  the 
great  Pacific  Ocean, 


368  SEAT   OF   COLOUR. 

and  explain  by  it  all  the  works  of  nature,  consider  Cain  as  the 
father  of  the  blacks,  and  deduce  all  the  middle  grades  of  colour 
from  the  various  mixtures  of  white  and  black  with  each  other1. 
And  yet  about  this  point  some  stand  out  very  stoutly  for  Ham2, 
while  even  Ishmael3  has  his  supporters.  Some  take  refuge  in 
other  causes,  as  the  heat  of  the  sun,  thick  vapours4,  and  the 
vicinity  of  scorching  sands.  It  is  not  my  intention  either  to 
support  or  refute  these  opinions,  but  rather  to  deduce  my  con- 
clusion from  matters  of  fact. 

The  seat  of  colour  is  without  controversy  in  the  skin,  though 
it  is  not  diffused  throughout  that  organ,  but  only  occupies6 
that  part  which  is  called  the  cuticle,  which  is  made  up  of  the 
epidermis  and  the  reticulum ;  and  of  these  two,  resides  princi- 
pally in  the  latter.  In  the  blacks  the  cuticle  is  thicker  and 
harder  than  in  the  whites  to  this  extent,  that  in  the  latter  the 
reticulum  is  a  sort  of  thin  mucus,  and  in  the  latter  a  thick 
membrane6.  The  transparent  epidermis  of  the  whites  has  the 
appearance  of  a  very  thin  slice  of  horn :  their  reticulum  is  not 
very  different  from  coagulated  mucus,  and  the  epidermis  seems 
to  consist  of  the  same,  hardened.  And  some  teach7  that  this  is 
its  real  form  and  material.  But  although  anatomists  are  by  no 
means  agreed  on  this  point,  and  it  is  not  for  me  to  settle  the 
matter,  I  am  obliged,  from  the  nature  of  my  subject,  to  say  a 
few  words  about  it. 

In  the  whites,  the  parts  under  the  skin,  or  rather  the  cuti- 
cle, which  change  colour,  cause  the  colour  of  the  body  to  be 
changed,  on  account  of  the  transparency  of  the  cuticle.  In 
jaundice  the  skin  becomes  yellow,  because  the  blood  is  tinged 
with  bile ;  and  the  rush  of  more  blood  than  usual  into  the  ves- 
sels of  the  face  causes  blushing.  And  a  kind  of  typhus,  nearly 
peculiar  to  the  West  Indies,  is  called  the  yellow  fever,  because 
from  the  congestion  of  yellow  serum  in  the  vessels  of  the  skin 


1  Essai  sur  la  Populat.  de  VAme'rique,  Tom.  rv.  liv.  7.  c.  19. 

2  Id.  cap.  13.  3  Spectacle  de  la  Nature. 
4  La  Bibliotheque  impartiale,  Tom.  v.  Mars  et  Avril,  p.  227. 

6  Albinus,  de  Colore  JEthiopum,  p.  6.  6  Haller,  Physiolog.  T.  v.  p.  7. 

7  lb.  p.  19. 


BLACKNESS.  369 

this  becomes  yellow.  Moreover,  if  pigments  are  applied  inside 
the  epidermis,  they  stamp  on  it  so  permanent  a  colour,  that  it 
remains  to  the  end  of  life.  If  gunpowder  is  burnt  into  the 
skin,  who  does  not  know  how  long  it  remains  there?  And  in 
some  such  fashion  many  barbarous  nations1,  like  our  ancestors2, 
used  to  paint  and  mark  their  skin  with  various  figures,  for  the 
sake  of  ornament. 

Hence  we  may  draw  these  conclusions.  First,  the  cuticle 
must  have  no  vessels,  or  at  all  events  extremely  few.  For,  if 
it  were  furnished  with  only  a  few  more  vessels,  it  would  admit 
bile  mixed  with  blood  to  its  innermost  parts  and  furthest  re- 
cesses, and  then  what  would  stand  in  the  way  of  yellowness 
remaining  in  it  a  long  time,  like  any  other  colour  caused  by 
pigments?  Moreover,  the  fact  of  the  condition  of  the  pig- 
ment when  coloured  being  fixed,  shows  that  it  consists  of  parts 
which  are  very  permanent,  and  therefore  are  furnished  with 
very  few,  if  any,  vessels.  Writers  do  not  attribute  bones  to 
those  parts  of  the  body  which  abound  in  vessels;  yet  these 
parts,  when  stained  with  any  colour,  do  not  cease  to  change  all 
their  particles,  until  they  have  recovered  their  original  tint. 
Hence  we  may  conclude  for  certain  that  the  cuticle  is  furnished 
with  very  few,  if  any,  vessels,  and  that  its  component  parts 
scarcely  ever  change. 

So  much  being  premised  about  colour,  and  the  structure  of 
its  seat,  we  must  investigate  the  causes  of  it,  and,  first  of  all,  of 
blackness.  And  perhaps  it  will  be  worth  while  to  begin  by  in- 
quiring into  the  causes  of  the  change  of  colour  in  the  regions  of 
the  epidermis  and  the  reticulum;  and  this  all  the  more,  because 
nature,  in  its  simplicity,  generally  uses  the  same  means  to  effect 
the  same  ends. 

Air,  dirt,  and  the  heat  of  the  sun,  the  transparency  of  the 
cuticle  being  destroyed,  give  it  a  brown  colour,  and  at  the  same 
time  make  it  harder. 

He  who  wishes  to  have  his  hands  shining  and  white  will 
not  find  it  enough  to  protect  them  from  the  sun  and  the  heat, 

1  Hawkesworth's  Voyages,  Vol.  n.  p.  191.      2  Caesar,  Comment.  Lib.  V.  cap.  z. 

24 


370  CAUSES. 

but  must  also  keep  them  from  the  air,  as  is  well  known  to 
women,  who  use  gloves  at  all  times.  Besides,  the  colour  of 
the  face  is  never  so  fair  as  in  other  parts  of  the  body  which 
are  always  covered,  although  it  be  never  exposed  to  the  sun. 

Those  who  have  to  work  hard  at  manual  labour,  never  have 
white  hands.  Gunpowder,  as  has  been  said,  when  introduced 
below  the  epidermis,  makes  the  colour  black.  Dirt  and  pig- 
ments can  do  the  same  thing,  though  in  a  minor  degree.  And 
this  seems  to  be  confirmed  by  the  use  of  washes,  with  which 
the  blacks  besmear  themselves,  so  as  to  make  themselves 
blacker. 

The  heat  of  the  sun  is  the  most  powerful  cause. :  Its  force 
is  shown  if  you  expose  to  it  the  whitest  possible  face,  for  it  will 
lose  all  its  whiteness  in  one  day,  and  come  out  brown  or  red. 
It  is  particularly  efficacious  in  the  summer  on  red-haired  per- 
sons with  light  skin ;  and  can  affect  the  whole  skin  with  brown 
spots,  but  especially  the  hands  and  face,  because  they  are  most 
exposed  to  it,  which  Linnaeus1  makes  a  disorder,  and  calls 
Uphelides.  Nor  is  there  any  doubt,  that  if  the  heat  were  kept 
up  long  enough,  the  whole  skin  would  become  of  the  same 
brown  colour. 

If  then  these  causes,  the  air,  namely,  and  the  heat  of  the 
sun,  can  cause  such  changes  in  these  regions  where,  by  means  of 
houses  and  clothes,  we  are  so  much  protected  from  them,  at  all 
events  we  need  not  be  surprised  that  greater  blackness  is 
thereby  effected  in  much  hotter  regions  where  men  are  exposed 
naked  to  a  burning  sun  at  almost  all  times. 

But  besides  the  heat  of  the  sun,  and  the  effects  of  the  air, 
where  any  one  is  exposed  to  it,  other  causes  bring  on  greater 
blackness  like  that  of  the  Africans. 

The  parts  of  the  cuticle  are  very  rarely  changed,  as  was  said 
before,  and  all  the  more  rarely  the  thicker  it  is.  And,  there- 
fore, when  the  same  particles  are  exposed  for  a  long  time  to 
great  heat,  the  effect  is  great,  that  is,  much  blackness  is  neces- 
sarily sub-introduced.     And,  moreover,  it  is  certain  that  pig- 

1  Amcenit.  Academ.  Vol.  vi.  p.  483. 


SUN  AND  AIR.  371 

merits  can  do  much  to  increase  this,  by  which,  as  has  been 
said,  their  bodies  are  rendered  blacker,  or,  as  they  think,  more 
beautiful. 

The  cuticle  of  the  blacks  is  said  to  be  thicker  and  less 
transparent  than  that  of  the  whites,  and  therefore,  when  the 
causes  of  blackness  are  induced,  will  also  be  blacker ;  if  indeed 
that  want  of  transparency  has  the  effect  of  putting  more  par- 
ticles in  the  way  of  the  influences  which  produce  blackness. 
For  all,  who  are  skilled  in  optics,  know  well,  that  transparent 
and  coloured  plates  make  colour  more  vivid  and  more  intense, 
the  more  of  them  there  are  which  are  put  one  above  the  other : 
because  the  rays  of  light  transmitted  by  the  one  are  reflected 
by  the  other,  and  the  brightness  of  colour  is  always  in  propor- 
tion to  the  number  of  reflected  rays.  But  when  the  colour  of 
the  plates  is  that  of  blackness,  which  consists  of  the  absence  of 
light,  the  rays  which  are  not  suffocated  by  one  are  effaced  by 
the  other,  and  so,  the  light  being  neither  transmitted  nor 
reflected,  black  colour  is  produced.  If,  indeed,  it  be  asked  how 
it  is  that  the  cuticle  of  the  blacks  is  less  transparent  than  that 
of  the  whites,  although  I  cannot  perfectly  explain  it,  I  will 
and  illustrate  it  in  a  few  words. 

The  action  of  the  sun  and  the  air  is  a  sort  of  stimulus  to 
our  bodies,  and  therefore  acts  according  to  those  laws  which 
regulate  stimulants.  The  effect  of  this  stimulant,  burning  and 
irritating  the  skin,  is  to  render  it  harder  and  thicker,  as  is  the 
case  with  the  hands  of  labourers,  and  with  the  use  of  all  parts 
of  the  body  which  are  affected  by  stimulants.  In  the  same 
way  the  air  and  the  rays  of  the  sun,  by  their  stimulating  action, 
render  the  skin  less  transparent.  The  efficient  cause,  wThy  the 
skin  becomes  thicker,  is  clear,  and  the  way  in  which  it  is  made 
thick,  whether  by  the  sun  or  by  other  irritating  subjects,  is 
pretty  much  the  same.  The  irritation  of  the  parts  brings  with 
it  a  larger  influx  of  humours,  and  increases  the  action  of  the 
vessels,  which  are  used  in  their  increment  or  reparation.  And 
as  the  continuous  action  of  the  sun,  and  other  influences  which 
stimulate  the  skin,  display  a  great  resemblance  of  action,  so 
the  progress  of  the  acting  power  is  the  same  in  either  case. 

24—2 


372  PROOFS. 

Stimulants  and  irritants,  when  first  applied  to  a  yet  tender  skin, 
cause  the  appearance  of  many  pimples;  but  after  a  certain 
lapse  of  time,  it  becomes  harder,  thicker,  and  at  last  callous, 
and  can  never  afterwards  be  inflated  into  pimples  by  the  same 
causes.  And  in  like  manner,  although  the  rays  of  a  southern 
sun  burn  our  bodies,  and  cause  many  pimples  to  rise  on  the 
skin,  still  bodies  accustomed  to  those  regions,  or  those  who 
have  always  been  in  the  way  of  it,  are  not  affected  in  the  same 
manner. 

The  fact  therefore  of  the  skin  being  made  thicker  by  the 
intemperance  of  the  climate  and  the  heat  of  the  sun,  and 
blacker  by  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun  and  by  pigments,  proves 
our  whole  theory  of  colour. 

We  must  next  inquire  how  far  the  explanation  we  have 
given  is  supported  by  facts,  and  how  far  it  goes  towards  ex- 
plaining facts. 

Since  all  blacks  are  born  white1,  and  remain  so  for  some 
little  time,  it  is  clear  from  this  that  the  sun  and  the  air  are 
necessary  agents  in  turning  the  skin  to  a  black  colour.  And 
this  is  proved  besides  by  the  fact,  that  when  blisterings  and 
burnings  are  applied  to  the  bodies  of  the  blacks,  they  change 
such  parts  so  into  white,  that  the  black  colour  is  not  brought 
back  to  the  body  for  some  days2.  Those  parts  of  the  body  too 
which  are  most  protected,  and  defended  from  the  sun  and  the 
air,  do  not  lose  their  original  white  colour,  as  is  observed  in 
those  blacks  who  have  the  gland  covered  with  the  prepuce3. 
All  the  nations  which  dwell  within  the  torrid  zone  have  their 
colour  more  and  more  verging  towards  black.  This  almost 
universal  fact  doubtless  tends  to  support  the  opinion  given 
above.  But  that  such  is  not  the  fact  is  objected  by  some, 
because  there  are  no  small  number  of  white  people  in  the 
torrid  zone4.  And  although  I  cannot  deny  this,  still  it  is  quite 
plain  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  torrid  zone  are  blacker  than 


1  Hist.  Generate  des  Voyages,  par  M.  l'Abbe  Prevost,  Tom.  iv.  p.  590. 
lb.  Tom.  nr.  p.  1 163. 

3  Hist,  de  V  Academic  des  Sciences,  An.  1702,  p.  32. 

4  Essai  sur  la  Popidation  de  VAmerique,  Tom.  iv.  liv.  7,  c.  14. 


CLIMATE.  373 

any  others,  and  that  almost  all  are  of  a  dark  colour  approaching 
to  black. 

However,  since  the  cause  of  blackness,  as  we  give  it,  is  by  no 
means  simple,  and  does  not  entirely  depend  upon  a  nearer 
or  greater  distance  from  the  Equator,  and  since  when  one  or 
other  of  the  efficient  causes  is  absent,  the  whole  effect  ceases, 
it  will  not  be  foreign  to  our  purpose,  if  we  inquire  whether  the 
fact  of  the  whiter  populations  of  the  torrid  zone  goes  to  refute 
or  confirm  what  we  have  advanced. 

To  render  our  labours  lighter,  some  general  observations 
may  be  premised. 

The  heat  is  not  always  found  less  or  greater  in  exact 
proportion  to  the  distance  of  the  respective  regions  from  the 
Equator. 

Islands  are  not  so  hot  as  continents,  on  account  of  the 
vapours  which  rise  from  the  sea,  and  of  the  winds  which  are 
constantly  blowing  from  it,  both  of  which  tend  to  refrigerate 
the  soil. 

Mountainous  countries,  or  countries  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
mountains,  greatly  temper  the  heat.  The  reason  of  this  will  be 
given  immediately. 

Besides,  the  wind,  sometimes  by  increasing,  sometimes  by 
diminishing  them,  variously  affects  heat  and  cold :  coming  from 
hot  countries  burnt  up  by  the  sun  it  brings  heat ;  blowing  from 
snowy  and  cold  mountains,  cold. 

Finally,  in  places  where  the  heat  is  the  same,  the  same 
colour  is  not  always  the  result ;  for  the  different  mode  of  life 
has  a  great  influence  in  changing  it. 

I  will  illustrate  these  observations  by  a  few  examples.  As 
to  the  first  point :  many  islands  enjoy  a  very  temperate  climate, 
and  particularly  those  which  are  situate  furthest  from  conti- 
nents1. How  far  their  inhabitants  preserve  their  whiteness 
may  be  learnt  from  the  instance  of  those  who  inhabit  the 
islands  of  the  Southern,  or  great  Pacific  ocean2.  Almost  all  the 
East  Indies,   as  they  verge  towards  the   south,  split   up  into 

1  Hawkesworth's  Voyages,  Vol.  it.  p.  246.  2  lb.  Vol.  ir.  p.  187. 


374  HEAT. 

islands  or  peninsulas ;  which  partly  explains  why  the  colour 
found  there  is  copper  or  brown,  and  not  black. 

As  to  the  other  observation :  the  Abyssinians,  although 
placed  under  the  Equator,  still  are  white.  In  that  country 
the  mercury  never  stands  above  twenty  finger-breadths  high  in 
the  barometer ;  whence  it  appears  that  Abyssinia  is  perhaps 
the  highest  part  of  the  world  inhabited  by  man,  at  least  two 
miles  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  No  one,  who  has  ever  been 
up  a  mountain,  is  unaware  how  much  such  an  altitude  will 
lessen  the  heat.  Thus  some  mountains  of  America,  though 
placed  exactly  under  the  Equator,  are  covered  the  whole  year 
with  deep  snow  and  ice.  Even  the  highest  point  of  Etna  is 
covered  with  perpetual  snow1.  That  altitude  therefore  mo- 
derates heat  is  a  fact,  and  is  proved  by  these  examples,  nor 
is  the  explanation  difficult.  And  although  I  cannot  go  into  the 
matter  at  full  length,  yet  I  will  say  a  few  words  about  it. 

Heat  is  caused  by  the  rays  of  the  sun,  when  they  fall  either 
directly  or  by  refraction  upon  anything.  But  it  is  not  found 
to  be  the  same  in  every  substance,  on  which  the  rays  happen 
to  fall :  as  when  they  fall  on  a  transparent  body,  they  do  not 
cause  the  same  heat  as  when  they  fall  on  an  opaque  one. 
This  is  most  clearly  shown  by  the  fact,  that  when  the  focus 
of  a  concave  metal  mirror,  opposed  to  the  sun's  rays,  is  thrown 
upon  water,  it  does  not  boil,  or  show  any  sense  of  heat ; 
although  if  copper,  or  any  other  metal,  is  opposed  to  the  mirror, 
it  liquefies,  or  evaporates,  in  a  moment.  And  since  in  the 
passage  of  light  through  a  transparent  body,  a  smaller  quantity 
of  heat  is  thrown  out,  in  proportion  to  the  thinness  or  trans- 
parency of  the  body,  but  the  air  is  more  rarefied  as  it  is  higher 
above  the  earth ;  so  it  on  that  account  transmits  light  more 
easily,  and  almost  without  any  obstacle.  For  light  seems  to 
cause  the  more  heat  in  proportion  to  the  obstacles  to  its  pro- 
gress.    But  enough  has  been  said  on  this  point. 

How  much  influence  the  wind  has  in  altering  heat,  may  be 
seen  from  the  instance  of  America,  where,  when  the  north  wind 

1  Brydon's  Letters,  Vol.  I.  Lett.  to. 


MODE   OF   LIFE.  375 

blows,  the  cold  becomes  so  great  that  in  one  night  the  rivers 
become  frozen  and  unnavigable.  The  same  thing  is  shown  in 
Africa,  where  the  winds,  sweeping  over  and  rolling  about  burn- 
ing sands  for  many  miles,  stir  up  an  almost  intolerable  heat. 

I  will  now  point  out  the  effects  of  the  mode  of  life.  Those 
who  are  always  clothed,  and  generally  live  in-doors,  are  seldom 
exposed  to  the  causes  which  produce  a  change  of  colour,  and  so 
retain  their  whiteness.  This  happens  to  Europeans  who  in- 
habit hot  countries,  who  retain  their  original  mode  of  life,  and 
continue  to  wear  their  clothes;  whereas  the  aborigines1  are 
always  naked,  and  exposed  to  the  force  of  the  sun  and  the 
winds.  But  if  any  of  them  never  do  expose  themselves  to  the 
air  and  the  sun,  as  often  happens  to  the  women2,  they  come  off 
better  in  the  way  of  colour  than  the  rest. 

As  to  the  objection,  that  white  men  are  to  be  found  in 
hot  regions,  where  the  observations  above  collected  glo  not 
explain  their  whiteness  in  any  way,  and  that  it  is  a  fact, 
that  in  Abyssinia,  and  in  the  islands  of  Java  and  Madagascar3, 
white  ajid  black  men  are  found  together,  that  must  be 
explained  otherwise.  For  it  must  be  observed  that  these  black 
and  white  men  are  of  different  origin,  and  differ  not  only  in 
colour  but  in  mode  of  living,  and  in  many  other  external 
circumstances.  For  it  is  certain,  and  has  been  discovered,  that 
those  differences  have  not  crept  in  among  those  who  have 
always  inhabited  those  countries  from  the  beginning,  but  have 
come  from  elsewhere  out  of  countries  whose  temperature  was 
more  favourable  to  whiteness  or  blackness,  with  the  original 
inhabitants  of  such  regions.  And  let  no  one  suppose  this  can 
be  contradicted.  For  so  far  their  similarity  is  of  importance, 
because  you  can  easily  in  consequence  of  it  trace  the  origin 
of  individuals  to  some  neighbouring  nation ;  and  thus  you  may 
gather  that  the  black  inhabitants  of  Abyssinia  came  thither 
from  other  neighbouring  parts  of  Africa.     And  in  the  same  way 


1  Hist.  Gen.  des  Voyages,  par  M.  l'Abb£  Prevost,  Tom.  iv.  p.  411. 

2  Buffon,  Hist.  Naturelle,  Tom.  V.  pp.  40,  49,  70,  82,  90,  &c. 

3  lb.  pp.  42,  160. 


376  DIFFERENT   HABITS. 

people  as  black  as  the  Africans  and  as  white  as  the  Europeans 
inhabit  the  islands  of  the  great  Pacific  ocean1:  of  whom  the 
former  have  without  doubt  emigrated  from  the  countries  called 
New  Guinea ;  and  the  latter,  as  is  likely,  from  those  tracts 
of  Asia  which  trend  more  towards  the  north. 

It  may  still  be  objected  to  my  view,  that  two  nations, 
differing  at  the  outset,  when  they  come  to  inhabit  the  same 
regions,  although  they  are  exposed  to  the  same  external  causes, 
still  remain  different.  But  on  this  point  two  things  are  to  be 
considered,  namely,  that  different  nations  by  no  means  live 
in  the  same,  but,  on  the  contrary,  in  very  different  ways.  And 
it  is  by  no  means  necessary  to  have  causes  so  strong,  or  influ- 
ences so  energetic,  to  preserve  an  effect  when  it  is  once  done, 
as  to  produce  the  same  originally.  In  this  way,  although  in 
the  islands  of  the  Pacific  ocean  above  mentioned,  the  heat 
of  the  sun  cannot  change  the  colour  from  white  to  black ;  yet 
when  that  is  once  done,  it  can  keep  it  so. 

Brown  colour,  diverging  from  white,  is  by  no  means  con- 
fined to  the  torrid  zone ;  for  the  men  of  northern  Europe 
and  Asia,  where  cold  and  frost  and  snow  reign  in  perpetual 
junction,  are  of  a  brown  colour2.  They  lead  a  most  wretched 
life ;  their  food  consists  of  fish  and  wild  beasts.  For  bread,  they 
dig  up  roots  out  of  the  earth.  In  winter  they  hide  in  hovels, 
except  when  compelled  to  go  out  by  hunger.  They  construct 
their  hovels  under  the  earth,  which  is  necessary,  on  account  of 
the  intolerable  cold.  This  mode  of  life  is  no  doubt  very  unfavour- 
able towards  causing  or  preserving  whiteness.  And  whilst  they 
are  catching  fish,  or  hunting  wild  beasts,  they  must  needs  be 
a  great  deal  exposed  to  the  intemperance  of  the  air.  And  this 
inclemency  of  the  air  and  constant  fish-diet  have  the  greatest 
possible  influence  in  making  the  skin  harder  and  thicker ;  and 
living  in  dwellings  always  filled  with  smoke  is  certainly  no 
remedy.  This  is  an  example  of  how  far  the  severity  of  a 
climate  may  of  itself  go  to  change  the  colour. 

1  Hawkes.  Voyages,  Vol.  I.  p.  568,  Vol.  II.  p.  178. 

2  Hist.  Gen.  cles  Toy.  par  M.  l'Abb£  Prevost,  Vol.  xix.  p.  65. 


STATURE   AND   FORM.  377 

So  much  then  I  have  to  say  about  colour,  in  general  terms, 
it  is  true,  because  the  limits  of  this  little  treatise  did  not 
permit  me  to  speak  more  fully  or  copiously :  still,  I  hope  there 
is  enough  to  tend  somewhat  towards  the  explanation  of  colour 
in  all  instances. 


Chap.  II. 

Of  Stature  and  Form. 

The  differences  of  human  stature  are  far  from  being  small. 
The  inhabitants  of  some  part  of  South  America  grow  to  a  height 
of  seven  feet1;  whilst  the  inhabitants  of  the  frigid  zone  scarcely 
attain  the  height  of  four  or  five  feet2.  The  islands  called 
Huaheine  and  Marianne  produce  men  of  six  or  even  seven  feet 
high3;  on  the  other  hand,  the  inhabitants  of  the  promontory 
of  South  America,  called  Cape  Horn,  are  of  small  stature4. 
But  why  should  I  say  more,  when  one  sees  almost  always 
one  and  the  same  country  producing  men  of  all  kinds  of 
heights'?     What  is  the  reason  of  this? 

The  way  in  which  aliment  is  taken  up  into  our  bodies 
has  scarcely  yet  been  thoroughly  investigated,  nor  are  the  laws 
found  out  by  which  they  grow.  But  although  such  is  the  case, 
still,  until  some  greater  light  is  thrown  on  the  matter,  I  may  be 
allowed  to  say  what  I  think  is  true,  or  at  least  probable. 

Growth  seems  to  be  due  to  the  action  of  the  heart,  by  whose 
renewed  pulsations  our  fibres  are  rendered  longer,  and  are  am- 
plified, and  directed  to  all  parts.  This  is  illustrated  by  the  un- 
folding of  the  whole  human  body,  and  especially  of  the  womb. 
But  the  action  of  the  heart  is  not  a  cause  of  itself;  nor  do  men 
and  plants  share  the  same  nature.  The  latter  have  no  power 
of  locomotion,  and  merely  increase  and  grow  to  a  certain  height ; 


1  Hawkesworth's  Toy.  Vol.  I.  p.  31. 

2  Hist.  Gen.  des  Voy.  par  l'Abb^  Prevost,  Tom.  xix.  p.  65. 

3  Hawkesworth,  Vol.  11.  p.  254.     Buffon,  Tom.  v.  p.  52. 

4  Hawkes.  Vol.  1.  p.  391. 


378  CAUSES. 

but  it  is  different  with  man,  who  can  scarcely  come  to  perfec- 
tion without  movement  and  action.  The  action  and  movement 
of  the  body  must  therefore  be  conjoined  with  the  reiterated 
pulsations  of  the  heart,  which  increase,  by  a  sort  of  distention, 
all  our  parts,  both  in  length  and  size.  How  extremely  impor- 
tant this  cause  is  will  be  clear  to  every  one,  who  has  observed 
the  singular  increase  of  every  part  when  much  exercised,  the 
very  unnatural  size  which  comes,  as  in  many  tumours,  from 
distracting  causes,  and  that  well-known  increase  of  the  ears, 
which  is  caused  by  earrings  of  great  weight1;  increase,  therefore, 
will  be  in  proportion  to  the  actions  of  the  heart  and  the  mo- 
tions of  the  body.  But  though  these  may  be  perpetually  con- 
tinued, the  body  does  not  go  on  for  ever  increasing,  because 
the  great  rigidity  which  is  the  effect  of  the  action  of  the  mus- 
cular fibres  puts  an  end  sometimes  not  only  to  increase,  but  to 
life  itself.  That  this  rigidity  depends  upon  the  amount  of 
action  is  proved  by  this,  that  if  any  one,  when  young,  uses 
immoderate  exercise,  he  scarcely  ever  attains  the  full  size  of  a 
man;  and  those  who  are  obliged  always  to  labour,  and  to  lead 
a  hard  life,  do  not  arrive  at  old  age,  or  even  the  confines  of  it, 
but  perish  before  their  time;  and  though  early  in  years,  still 
with  the  appearance  and  constitution  of  old  men.  In  this  way 
the  causes  of  growth  come  at  last  to  neutralize  themselves. 

This,  then,  being  the  immediate  cause  of  man's  growth,  that 
is  to  say,  the  action  of  the  heart  and  the  movement  of  the 
body,  and  the  rigidity  of  the  parts  the  cause  of  the  stoppage  of 
that  effect,  we  must  now  find  out  what  are  the  remote  external 
causes  which  affect  the  proximate  one,  and  explain  the  varieties 
of  human  stature. 

Of  these  the  principal  are  climate,  food,  exercise,  and  labour. 

Climate  acts  either  by  heat  or  cold. 

Heat,  which  is  almost  the  origin  of  many  animals,  is  neces- 
sary to  all  growing  bodies;  and  in  ourselves,  if  it  is  not  the 
cause  of  motion  and  sense,  at  all  events  these  faculties  to  some 
extent,  and  our  other  actions,  cannot  be  deprived  of  it  for  a 

1  Buffon,  Tom.  VI.  p.  34.    Dampier,  Vol.  1.  p.  32.    Hawkeswortb,  Vol.  1.  p.  311. 


HEAT   AND    COLD.  379 

moment  without  injury.  By  stimulating  the  heart,  it  greatly 
increases  the  sharpness  of  all  our  senses,  and  the  mobility  of  the 
human  body.  Hence  the  inhabitants  of  warm  regions  very 
soon  reach  their  full  size,  and  those  who  are  unrestrained  in 
every  way  arrive  at  maturity  much  later  than  those  who  live  in 
warm  regions.  In  the  eighth,  ninth,  or  tenth  year,  women  be- 
come menstruous,  in  the  twelfth  the  men  are  fit  for  venery1; 
whereas  in  cold  regions,  the  menses  do  not  appear  before  the 
fourteenth,  sixteenth,  and  sometimes  the  twentieth  year:  nor 
are  they  fit  for  marriage  before  the  eighteenth  or  sometimes  the 
twentieth  year.  Heat  too  does  not  seem  able  to  increase  the 
human  body,  or  diminish  it  much ;  for  both  in  hot  and  in  tem- 
perate countries,  small  and  large  men  are  equally  produced. 
And  if  it  has  anything  to  do  with  growth,  it  would  seem  as  if  it 
would  be  more  likely  to  diminish  it,  because  that  violent  action 
of  the  heart,  and  great  movement  of  the  body,  on  one  side 
make  the  increase  rapid,  and  on  the  other,  at.  the  same  time, 
accelerate  the  rigidity,  or  rather  the  firmness  of  the  fibres.  And 
in  fact,  the  inhabitants  of  hot  countries  generally  yield  in  sta- 
ture to  those  of  the  temperate  zone. 

Cold,  the  exact  opposite  of  heat,  or  to  speak  more  accurate- 
ly, the  absence  of  heat2,  the  force  in  which  it  consists  abating, 
by  diminishing  all  motions  and  all  irritability,  and  blunting 
every  stimulus,  tends  to  lessen  the  size  of  the  body.  In  all 
very  cold  regions,  torpor  is  induced;  the  action  of  the  body, 
especially  in  infants,  is  small:  and  therefore  little  adapted  to 
extend  or  increase  it.  So  that  almost  all  the  increase  of  the 
body  is  carried  on  by  the  action  of  the  heart.  For  which  reason, 
since  the  effect  of  action  and  exercise  is  to  make  the  body  beau- 
tiful and  elegant,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  if  the  men  in  very 
cold  countries  are  neither  tall  nor  elegant.  And  this  is  con- 
firmed by  the  observations  of  writers  about  the  inhabitants  of 
Greenland,  and  other  parts  of  Northern  Europe  and  Asia3. 
Cold,  as  it  confines  all  other  things  in  nature,  so  it  does  our 


1  Buffon,  Tom.  v.  p.  60.  2  Prcelect.,  Dr.  Black,  Prof.  Chem. 

3  Buffon,  Tom.  v.  p.  3. 


380  BODILY   EXEECISE. 

bodies,  but  not  in  the  same  way,  that  is,  not  by  taking  away 
the  heat.  For  its  principal  action  is  on  the  fibres  which  serve 
for  sense  and  motion,  which  are  in  consequence  compelled  to 
contract  themselves  more ;  for  the  heat  of  the  human  body  is 
almost  exactly  the  same  in  all  countries,  however  different  the 
climate  may  be  :  that  constriction,  therefore,  will  stand  in  the 
way  of  every  force  which  tends  to  increase  the  parts  of  our 
bodies  in  length  or  breadth.  The  contrary  relaxation,  which 
comes  from  heat,  and  about  which  I  meant  to  speak,  when  I 
was  speaking  about  heat  as  a  cause  of  rapid  growth,  produces 
also  this  effect,  by  acting  on  the  fibres  of  motion. 

Exercise  and  labour  must  both  be  treated  of  under  the  title 
of  corporeal  motion;  for  they  both  consist  in  the  action  of  the 
body,  and  only  differ  in  this,  that  volition  can  command  the 
former,  but  the  latter  demands  the  use  of  reason. 

Bodily  motion  may  be  violent,  moderate,  or  slight. 
Violent  action,  by  the  stiffness  which  follows  too  frequent 
exertion,  and  the  exhaustion  of  the  vital  force,  retards  and  im- 
pedes the  growth.  Slight  motion,  or  rest,  does  not  impart  suf- 
ficient strength  to  the  organs  to  enable  them  to  fulfil  their 
functions ;  nor  can  it  endow  the  body  with  that  firmness,  or  the 
limbs  with  that  solidity,  which  action  alone  can  produce.  But 
it  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  those  results  of  motion  and  rest 
take  place  most  in  tender  years  before  use  and  custom  have 
formed  the  body,  which  is  then  still  unchanged  by  the  powers 
of  nature.  For  labour  is  a  good  thing  for  adult  bodies,  or  rarely 
does  them  harm,  and  in  them  rest  may  create  or  increase  plethora. 
The  condition  of  artisans  as  far  as  their  stature  is  concerned, 
confirms,  unless  I  am  mistaken,  what  I  have  just  said.  They 
being  obliged  to  exercise  their  respective  occupations  from  in- 
fancy, pass  their  lives  in  work-shops.  Bowed  down  to  the 
ground,  and  crushed  with  toil,  they  turn  out  deformed,  almost 
dwarfs,  hunchbacked,  and  never  arrive  at  the  full  stature  or 
size  of  a  man;  so  that  those  lines  of  Martial  may  well  be  ap- 
plied to  them: 

Judged  by  his  head,  the  man  a  Hector  is, 
But  an  Astyanax  judged  by  his  phiz  ; — 


DIET.  381 

and  in  fact  they  generally  have  large  heads.  Those  who  inhabit 
countries  very  much  to  the  north  or  to  the  south1,  are  like 
them,  and  partly  from  the  same  cause,  because,  in  tender  years, 
both  have  too  much  repose. 

Between  these  extremes  a  mean,  or  moderate  exercise, 
which  is  the  principal  means  of  increasing  the  body,  should 
without  doubt  be  chosen.  But  what  is  moderate,  is  difficult  to 
define :  its  latitude,  to  use  the  words  of  those  who  lay  down 
rules  of  health,  may  be  so  great. 

I  now  pass  on  to  that  cause  which  has  the  greatest  influence 
in  augmenting  or  diminishing  the  stature  and  magnitude  of 
man,  I  mean  diet.  Food,  although  the  first  necessary  for 
human  life,  still  varies  much  in  the  quantity  which  is  con- 
venient for  sound  health,  being  one  amount  for  one,  another 
for  another.  When  it  is  scanty,  it  is  clear  small  stature  will  be 
the  result ;  for  the  body  cannot  grow  and  be  enlarged,  if  part 
of  the  material  necessary  for  supporting  it  be  taken  away. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  first  effect  of  frequent  and  ample  diet 
is  to  increase  the  body.  Every  herdsman  knows  of  how  much 
importance  food  is  towards  improving  cattle  and  other  beasts. 
Oxen  brought  forth  on  the  barren  mountains  and  plains  of 
Scotland,  and  afterwards  brought  up  in  the  more  fertile  fields 
of  England,  grow  to  double  the  size. 

But  there  are  diversities  not  only  in  the  quantity,  but  the 
quality  of  food.  Thus  flesh  and  vegetables  are  by  no  means  of 
the  same  importance  in  nourishing  the  human  body.  Some- 
times when  spices  are  added  to  some  aliments,  as  flesh,  wine, 
fish,  there  is  more  stimulus  in  them.  This  makes  the  increase 
more  rapid,  but,  in  such  a  way,  that  the  body  much  sooner 
decays,  worn  out  as  it  were  by  continual  stimulus.  Food  pre- 
pared partly  from  flesh,  partly  from  farinaceous  matters,  as  it 
can  be  digested  more  easily  than  any  other,  so  does  it  accelerate 
the  growth  more  than  any  other. 

So  much  for  the  causes  of  growth  treated  separately ;  now 
it  would  seem  that  I  ought  to  speak  about  them  in  conjunction, 

1  Buffou,  Tom.  v.  p.  3.     Hawkesworth,  Voyages,  Vol.  I.  pp.  391-2. 


382  DEFECT  AND   EXCESS. 

and  that  all  the  more,  because  in  almost  every  case  they  act  in 
conjunction.  But  since  the  limits  of  my  paper  forbid  me  to 
speak  of  that  subject,  and  to  apply  the  conclusions  to  the 
various  nations  of  men,  therefore  I  omit  them,  and  go  on  to  the 
next  point. 

I  must  now  speak  of  the  varieties  of  form.  They  are  in  fact 
as  numerous  as  men.  For  who  has  not  a  face,  form,  and  aspect 
of  countenance  peculiar  to  himself,  and  which  can  be  distin- 
guished from  all  others  ?  And  besides  these  which  every  one 
has  of  his  own,  signs  and  marks  peculiar  to  each  race  and 
nation  are  not  wanting ;  thus  a  depressed  nose,  thick  lips, 
small  or  large  eyes,  and  other  marks  common  to  thousands  of 
individuals,  distinguish  one  race  from  another.  What  are  the 
causes  of  this  ?  That  these  diversities  have  nothing  to  do  with 
diversity  of  species  is  clear  from  this,  that  this  same  depres- 
sion of  the  nose,  or  thickness  of  the  lips  is  frequently  to  be  seen 
amongst  ourselves.  Many1  attribute  the  depressed  nose  of  the 
Negroes  not  to  nature,  but  to  art ;  and,  allow  it  to  be  the  work 
of  art,  difficulties,  not  easy  to  be  overcome,  still  remain.  At 
least,  as  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  confess  that  I  cannot  under- 
stand how  the  forms  of  men  and  the  lineaments  of  the  face 
come  to  be  so  diverse  from  each  other  as  they  are.  But  when 
such  effects  have  once  been  produced,  I  shall  have  an  occasion 
of  showing,  when  I  come  to  treat  of  generation,  how  they  may 
be  retained. 


Chap.  III. 
On  the  defect  or  excess  of  parts  of  the  Human  Body. 

If  any  one  is  ready  to  trust  the  reports  of  writers,  he  would 
find  ample  material  on  this  subject  to  deal  with.    Thus  we  read 


1  Buffon,  Tom.  v.  p.  132.    Hist.  Gen.  des  Voy.  par  M.l'AbbsS  Prevost,  Tom.ni. 
P-  157- 


FABULOUS   STORIES.  383 

of  the  Arimaspi,  who  are  remarkable  for  having  but  one  eye, 
and  that  in  the  forehead;  of  the  Androgyni,  who  are  male  and 
female  joined  in  one ;  of  men  with  dogs'  heads,  and  men  who 
have  no  neck  and  carry  their  heads  on  their  shoulders1.  The 
stature  of  the  Patagonians,  which  a  few  years  ago,  as  we  used  to 
hear,  was  scarcely  set  so  low  as  twelve  feet,  has  now  been 
reduced  to  seven.  But  everybody  will  easily  see  that  all  these 
things  are  beyond  all  belief. 

And  even  those  who  tell  more  probable  stories  differ  in 
their  testimony  so  from  one  another,  one  denying  that  which 
another  says  he  has  seen,  ever  was  or  could  be  seen,  that  it 
becomes  quite  uncertain  which  we  ought  to  believe  most,  and 
which  not  at  all.  And  since  I  found  it  at  first  so  very  difficult 
to  decide  which  were  true  or  the  contrary,  I  selected  some 
of  the  more  reliable  and  better  examined  varieties  to  deal  with 
for  my  present  purpose.  I  am  not  therefore  going  to  inquire 
whether  there  are  any  men  furnished  with  legs  much  thicker 
than  others,  or  with  one  leg  much  thicker  than  the  other2,  or 
tails  as  some  still  believe8;  because  these  stories  are  not  con- 
firmed by  any  facts  or  observations  worthy  of  credit,  by  which 
we  might  find  a  way  to  explain,  or  propose  some  theory  about 
them. 

So  the  defects  or  excesses  about  which  our  business  is,  are 
of  this  kind ;  namely,  the  beardless  chin,  hanging  breasts,  or 
prominent  pudenda. 

The  beard  among  ourselves,  though  sometimes  more  scanty 
and  sometimes  thicker,  is  scarcely  ever  wanting  altogether.  So, 
as  to  those  nations,  to  whom  almost  all  the  writers  had  de- 
clared that  no  beard  was  given  by  nature,  in  most  cases  more 
recent  testimonies  show  that  the  beard  had  not  been  denied  by 
nature,  but  was  plucked  out  by  the  people  themselves4.     This 


1  C.  Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  Lib.  VII.  cap.  2. 

2  Buffon,  Vol.  v.  p.  64. 

3  Origin  and  Progress  of  Language,  Vol.  IV.  p.  259,  2nd  ed.  Edin.  1 774. 

4  Dampier,  Vol.  1.  p.  407.  Hist.  G'en.  des  Voy.  par  M.  l'Abbe  Prevost,  Tom. 
xviii.  p.  503.  Hawkesworth's  Voyages,  Vol.  I.  p.  608.  Buffon,  Tom.  v.  p.  204. 
Charlevoix,  ill.  p.  179. 


384  HAIE. 

therefore  is  no  more  a  defect,  than  the  long  beard  of  other 
nations  is  an  excess,  and  each  is  only  a  matter  of  custom. 

Nor  have  I  any  doubt  as  to  the  mammae,  but  what  their 
length  and  pendulosity1  among  some  nations  is  due  to  the 
peculiar  way  in  which  the  women  offer  milk  to  their  infants. 
For  if  a  part  becomes  bigger  than  all  others  by  distension  or 
distraction,  as  has  been  observed  above,  is  it  wonderful  that  the 
mammae,  which  we  are  now  talking  about,  when  flung  over  the 
shoulders,  and  very  eagerly  drawn  away  by  infants  desirous  of 
milk  should  become  longer  ? 

There  has  been  much  angry  discussion  about  the  pudenda  of 
the  women  of  the  extreme  south  of  Africa ;  some  declare  that 
they  are  furnished  with  a  ligament  stretched  under  the  natu- 
ralia,  whilst  others  contend  that  they  have  nothing  beyond  the 
ordinary  nature  of  women.  These  miracles,  or  rather  mon- 
strosities, if  they  exist  at  all,  seem  by  the  most  recent  testi- 
monies to  be  reduced  to  this,  that  in  that  country  the  nymphse 
are  a  little  more  turgid  and  prominent,  a  defect  the  less  to  be 
astonished  at  in  that  country,  because  it  is  certain  that  it  some- 
times occurs  in  this2. 

Differences  of  the  hair.  Hair  differs,  especially  in  colour: 
between  which  too  and  the  skin  there  seems  to  be  some  con- 
nexion. In  all  countries  black  hair  always  accompanies  a  dark 
colour  of  skin,  or  one  which  divez^ges  from  white.  And,  on  the 
other  hand,  red  or  white  hair  is  joined  with  white  skin.  And 
the  colour  of  both,  that  is  of  the  skin  and  the  hair,  seems  to 
depend  upon  the  same  causes,  that  is,  the  exposure  to  air  and 
heat.  A  proof  of  which  is  that  the  more  or  less  hair  is  exposed 
to  these  causes,  the  more  or  less  black  its  colour  is.  Thus  the 
hair  which  is  not  exposed  is  always  less  dark  than  what  is. 

As  to  the  texture  of  hair,  there  seems  to  be  a  great  differ- 
ence, for  that  of  some  is  soft  and  curly  like  wool,  and  that  of 
others  harsh  and  dense.  What  the  cause  of  this  may  be,  since 
physiologists  are  as  yet  by  no  means  agreed  as  to  the  nature 

1  Buffon,  Tom.  V.  pp.  4,  55.  s  Hawk.  Voy.  Vol.  III.  p.  792. 


DIFFERENCES.  385 

of  hair,  I  dare  not  give  any  decided  opinion,  and  must  be  con- 
tent with  one  or  two  conjectures. 

Since  the  hairs  are  situated  on  the  surface  of  the  body, 
therefore  whatever  affects  the  body,  affects  them;  besides  per- 
haps other  influences,  so  especially  does  the  conflux  thither  of 
humours;  and  in  this  way,  in  proportion  as  the  conflux  is 
greater  or  smaller,  so  is  their  increase  greater  or  less.  Hence, 
as  is  known  to  all  hair-cutters,  the  hairs  grow  more  in  summer 
than  in  winter.  And  this  may  be  observed  more  frequently  in 
the  case  of  the  beard.  Therefore  the  hair  grows  more  luxu- 
riously in  hot  countries  than  in  cold,  and  on  that  account  will 
be  thicker  and  stronger;  which,  in  fact,  happens  in  almost  all 
countries,  as  in  the  West  and  East  Indies. 

Still,  exceptions  to  this  are  not  wanting.  Thus  in  Africa, 
the  hottest  of  all  countries,  and  where  therefore  the  hair  ought 
to  be  thickest,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  scanty,  and  something  like 
wool.  This,  although  I  cannot  explain,  still  I  may  illustrate 
by  a  comparison.  In  many  cutaneous  disorders,  little  ulcers 
throw  out  a  great  deal  of  matter,  which  shows  that  there  is  a 
rush  of  humours  to  some  of  the  vessels  of  the  skin.  And  these 
sorts  of  disorders  are  often  cured  by  remedies  which  cause  per- 
spiration. How  is  this?  When  a  quantity  of  humour  is  ex- 
creted in  the  shape  of  sweat  through  healthy  vessels,  thus  the 
excess  is  averted  from  the  diseased  vessels.  And  thus  the  little 
ulcers,  which  before  were  moist,  become  dried  up,  and  crusts 
are  formed,  which  afterwards  fall  off,  and  then  show  the  sound 
skin  underneath.  In  this  way,  a  rush  towards  the  skin  being 
made  in  the  first  instance,  the  hairs  increase  in  growth;  and 
when  this  becomes  greater  and  greater,  and  the  humours  are 
more  easily  eliminated  through  the  vessels  of  perspiration  from 
the  body,  the  quantity  which  serves  to  make  the  hair  increase 
is  diminished,  and  the  attenuated  hairs  come  out  like  wool. 
What  seems  to  confirm  this  opinion  is,  that  in  the  negroes, 
whose  hair  is  like  wool,  the  bulbs  or  roots  of  the  hair  are  at- 
tenuated and  small1,  as  if  through  deficiency  of  nourishment: 

1  Haller,  El.  Pkysiolog.  Torn,  v.  p.  33. 

25 


386  GENERATION, 


and  it  is  only  in  the  case  of  those  who  inhabit  the  hottest  re- 
gions, or  who  are  born  elsewhere  from  the  natives  of  such,  that 
the  hair  becomes  almost  a  kind  of  wool. 


Chap.   17. 
On  Generation. 


Thus  the  causes  are  explained  which  change  the  colour,  in- 
duce a  large  or  small  stature,  and  affect  the  hair  and  other 
parts.  It  may  be  objected  that  they  are  in  no  respect  efficient 
causes,  and  that  men  are  to  be  distinguished  by  the  marks  and 
varieties  just  mentioned,  as  soon  as  they  are  born,  or  at  all 
events  that  such  appear,  long  before  they  can  be  attributed  to 
external  causes.  And  this  also,  no  doubt,  is  true.  And  how 
then  is  it  to  be  explained?  For  either  our  explanations  are 
idle  and  futile,  or  many  properties  which  have  been  acquired  by 
the  parent  are  transferred  to  the  offspring.  Are  they  then  so 
transferred?  It  would  certainly  seem  so.  Thus  the  father  be- 
gets a  son  like  himself  in  every  way  in  form  of  body,  expression 
of  countenance,  colour  of  hair,  and  sound  of  voice.  The  tem- 
perament too  descends  from  the  father  to  the  son.  So  also 
peculiar  marks  long  continue  to  distinguish  the  same  family  of 
men.  But  this  is  particularly  shown  by  the  history  of  disor- 
ders ;  of  which  there  are  instances  known  to  all  in  the  cases  of 
gout,  scrofula,  and  madness.  Again,  diarrhoea  and  unnatural 
dilatations  of  the  arch  of  the  aorta  long  infest  the  same 
family.  These  diseased  conditions  must  be  looked  on  in  the 
same  light  as  other  mutations  of  the  corporeal  condition.  And 
to  speak  of  both  from  the  same  point  of  view,  surely  that 
change  which  is  the  origin  of  the  production  of  black  skin  may- 
just  as  easily  be  communicated  by  the  parent  to  its  offspring, 
and  is  no  more  difficult  to  explain,  than  that  by  which  gout  is 
handed  down  in  the  same  way.     Nor  is  it  at  all  more  difficult 


HEREDITY.  387 

to  understand,  why  the  skin  begins  to  grow  black  a  certain 
time  after  birth,  than  why  some  years  afterwards  the  offspring 
of  scrofulous  parents  is  infested  with  ulcers. 

Still  all  the  same  it  is  a  fact  which  we  cannot  explain ;  and 
yet  there  is  no  manner  of  doubt  that  peculiarities  acquired  by 
men  do  descend  to  their  posterity. 

Thus  the  fact  being  once  established,  it  will  be  no  longer 
obscure  why  men  undergo,  from  the  causes  induced,  such  great 
changes  of  colour,  stature,  and  the  other  matters  we  have  men- 
tioned. The  black  colour  of  the  parent  may  become  blacker  in 
the  son,  if  he  is  exposed  to  the  same  external  influences,  and 
so  in  the  course  of  ages  may  approach  more  and  more  to  actual 
blackness ;  and  in  that  way  at  last  great  effects  may  flow  from 
causes  so  small  as  to  escape  our  notice,  if  each  generation  con- 
tributes something  to  increase  them. 

Why  one  form  of  appearance  and  countenance  becomes  per- 
manent in  one  nation,  and  one  in  another,  is  explained  by  this, 
that  parents  always  produce  offspring  like  themselves. 

It  would  however  be  difficult  to  say,  how  many  centuries  it 
takes  to  change  the  skin  from  white  to  black,  or  in  any  other 
way.  But  if  we  may  conjecture  at  all  from  the  sudden  effect  of 
the  sun  and  the  air  in  changing  the  skin,  a  long  time  is  not 
necessary.  But  that  Europeans  who  inhabit  hot  regions  do  not 
acquire  even  after  a  very  long  time  a  brown  or  black  colour, 
and  that  negroes  after  being  a  long  time  in  Europe  do  not  grow 
white,  may  be  for  this  reason ;  that  the  former  never  try  those 
modes  and  ways  of  life,  and  other  external  circumstances,  which 
we  have  said  are  so  powerful  in  effecting  change ;  and  if  they 
do  suffer  from  necessity  or  adverse  fortune,  then  they  do  change 
colour ' ;  and  that  the  latter  wretched  mortals  never  are  able  to 
enjoy  that  easy  kind  of  life,  by  which  whiteness  is  so  greatly 
brought  about. 

Moreover,  the  way  in  which  the  remote  causes  of  whiteness 
and  blackness  act  is  somewhat  different;  and  dark  colour  is 
much  more  easily  impressed,  and  much  longer  retained,  than 

1  ILtwks.  Vol.  in.  p.  751. 


388  GENERATION. 

clear  colour.  Thus  the  fierceness  of  one  day  of  sun  will  inflict 
a  greater  amount  of  brownness  than  can  be  effaced  by  fit  pre- 
cautions taken  for  a  long  time  to  get  rid  of  its  effects.  And  this 
observation,  in  the  way  that  those  who  after  having  acquired 
peculiar  marks  in  any  region  retain  them,  when  removed  to 
another,  may  be  applied  so  as  to  make  it  easy  to  understand 
how  blackness  may  still  remain  in  permanence  even  when  its 
causes  are  taken  away. 

Thus  then  the  question,  how  those  marks  which  distinguish 
individuals  may  be  transferred  by  parents  to  their  children, 
is  answered.  And  now  recurs  the  other,  how  those  marks 
differ  from  the  ones  which  are  not  so  transferred,  and  what 
is  the  reason  why  some  marks  peculiar  to  the  parent  are 
transferred,  and  others  are  not.  I  must  confess  this  is  one 
I  cannot  answer.  For  the  Creator  has  hidden  the  business 
of  generation  in  the  deepest  recesses  of  nature,  and  has  kept 
all  its  processes  sunk  and  overwhelmed  in  the  deepest  dark- 
ness, never  perhaps  to  be  brought  to  light.  And  therefore 
to  explain  things  depending  upon  such  a  cause  would  be  a 
vain  and  idle  undertaking. 

But,  although  this  may  be  so,  still  I  cannot  help  making 
mention  of  some  things  relating  to  generation,  which,  though 
wonderful,  are  nevertheless  true. 

White  men  are  sometimes  born  amongst  the  negroes1,  and 
I  have  no  doubt  that  other  whites  are  propagated  from  them. 

We  only  know  of  one  instance  of  a  black  being  born 
amongst  the  whites2;  and  according  to  the  account  of  James 
Lind,  a  clever  man,  a  physician,  and  an  investigator  of  facts, 
who  says  he  saw  it  with  his  own  eyes,  this  man  begot  a  son 
like  himself. 

I  indeed  am  unwilling  to  appear  to  compel  all  nature  to 
my  opinion;  but  these  observations,  as  they  show  that  diver- 
sity of  species  is  not  necessary  for  causing  blackness  of  colour, 


1  Hist.  Gen.  de  Voy.  par  M.  l'Abbe  Prevost,  Tom.  IV.  p.  590.     Hawks.  Vol.  11. 
p.  188.     Maupertuis,  Tom.  II.  p.  116. 

2  Phil.  Trans.  No.  424. 


MENTAL    VARIETIES.  389 

and  that  this  property,  Hke  others,  may  be  acquired  through 
external  circumstances,  and  so  descend  from  father  to  son, 
so  also  do  they  in  some  way  confirm  the  doctrine  about  colour 
I  have  laid  down. 

The  skin  of  those  white  men  amongst  the  negroes  is,  as 
it  were,  scurfy1;  that  is,  the  cuticle  peels  off  in  scales,  and  does 
not  remain  long  enough  to  become  quite  black.  The  skin 
of  the  black  man  among  the  whites,  as  also  that  of  his  son, 
was  thick  and  hard2,  which  fact  shows  that  thickness  has  a 
great  deal  to  do  with  causing  colour,  and  is  in  favour  of  my 
opinion. 


Chap.  V. 

On  the  Varieties  of  Mind. 

The  mental  varieties  seem  equal  to  and  sometimes  greater 
than  the  bodily  varieties  of  man.  And  on  this  point  I  meant 
to  say  little,  as  it  seems  to  be  part  of  our  subject. 

This  chapter  seems  as  if  it  ought  properly  to  be  divided 
into  two  parts  :  in  one  of  which  reason  and  prudence,  and  in 
the  other  manners,  should  be  dealt  with.  And,  in  order  that 
my  notion  may  be  more  easily  understood,  I  will  illustrate 
both  by  an  example  before  I  begin  to  deal  with  either.  If 
one  man  is  sharp,  and  of  an  acute  and  docile  genius,  and 
another  heavy,  stupid,  and  averse  to  all  discipline,  that  must 
be  referred  to  the  difference  of  reason  and  prudence.  But  if 
one  is  sanguine,  vivacious,  alert  and  happy,  and  his  opposite 
is  sad,  sorrowful  and  wretched,  we  call  that  an  affair  of  man- 
ners. 

In  the  former  division,  the  question  instantly  occurs  to 
the  mind,  What  is  the  cause  of  difference  ?  Is  it  to  be  referred 
to  God?  and  is  it  credible  that  a  Deity  who  is  just  and  equi- 

1  Hawk.  Vol.  n.  p.  1 88.  2  Phil.  Trans.  No.  424. 


390  NATUBAL   CAUSES. 

table  to  all  should  have  formed  men  so  different  in  mind,  as 
to  create  one  foolish,  another  wise ;  one  brave,  another  cow- 
ardly? Certainly  not,  in  my  opinion;  and  it  is  more  true  and 
more  equitable  to  attribute  to  natural  causes  the  differences 
of  mind  which  we  see. 

To  investigate  the  matter  briefly :  men's  minds  do  not 
seem  to  me  to  differ  so  much  by  the  fortune  of  birth  as  by 
the  use  and  exercise  of  reason,  and  the  faculties  of  the  mind 
come  out  smaller  or  greater  by  use,  almost  in  the  same  way 
as  those  of  the  body.  And  as  there  are  several  reasons  for 
this  exercise,  I  will  consider  them  under  three  heads  ;  position, 
education,  and  affections  of  the  mind. 

As  to  the  first ;  If  one  be  in  a  place  where  insuperable 
impediments,  or  none  at  all,  are  placed  in  the  way  of  action, 
in  the  first  case  he  gives  himself  up  to  despair,  in  the  other 
to  idleness,  and  equally  in  either  case  does  nothing.  And,  in 
fact,  the  Samoeides  and  the  negroes  seem  placed  in  similar 
circumstances.  If,  on  the  contrary,  all  the  necessaries  of  life 
are  uncertain  to  any  one  on  account  of  the  climate,  the  soil, 
or  some  other  reason,  what  does  he  do?  Instantly  he  struggles 
to  make  them  more  secure  by  art  and  industry.  He  looks  out 
for  cattle.  Hence  plenty,  and  with  that  offspring  increase. 
Fields  have  to  be  cultivated  to  provide  food,  and  now  abund- 
ance ensues.  And  as  you  will  say  the  desires  of  the  human 
mind  are  not  satisfied  with  this,  he  adds  comfort  to  necessaries; 
then  seeks  elegance,  and  lastly  luxury.  With  an  increasing 
cultivation  of  life,  arts  always,  and  often  sciences,  increase. 
Observe  the  man,  first  wild,  and  then  carried  to  the  highest 
pitch  of  cultivation  and  polish,  how  much  the  same  man  differs 
from  himself?  Look  back  upon  the  steps  by  which  he  has 
progressed.  In  no  two  successive  steps  can  a  greater  exercise 
of  reason  and  prudence  be  observed  than  in  the  Samoeide 
constructing  his  hut  below  the  earth  against  the  cold,  or  in 
the  negro  fabricating  an  umbrella  to  protect  himself  from 
the  heat. 

Besides,  sometimes  a  great  difference  is  seen  between  men 
placed  under  the  same  circumstances.     What  an  interval  be- 


EXERCISE.  391 

tween  Isaac  Newton  and  Bacon,  and  almost  all  their  contem- 
poraries !  And  yet  they  never  considered  that  they  were  pos- 
sessed of  any  particular  faculty,  which  others  had  not,  by  which 
they  could  comprehend  science.  They  observed  nature  more 
accurately,  and  reasoned  better  on  their  observations  than 
others.  That  was  not  a  natural  power,  but  acquired  only  by 
use  and  custom.  What  however  contributed  to  form  that  fortu- 
nate habit,  no  one  but  themselves  could  easily  say,  nor  is  it 
necessary  to  do  so  ; .  and  the  matter  is  so  subtle  a  one,  that  it 
might  easily  escape  themselves ;  since  we  see  every  day  that 
many  small  things  create  a  habit,  without  those  being  con- 
scious who  are  affected  by  it.  In  fact,  many  who  have  happily 
promoted  the  sciences  by  their  labour,  confess  that  they  were 
led  by  mere  accident  to  give  their  minds  up  to  it.  Since  then 
the  force  of  circumstances  is  so  powerful  to  excite  and  amplify 
the  reason,  so  also  the  affections  of  the  mind,  and  especially  the 
desires,  are  of  great  influence  towards  the  same  end. 

What  has  not  been  done  for  science  and  knowledge,  espe- 
cially in  the  government  and  administration  of  public  affairs, 
through  benevolence,  or  emulation,  or  envy,  ambition,  and  glory? 

No  one  doubts  the  important  part  that  education  and  dis- 
cipline play  in  forming  and  stimulating  the  mind.  But  that 
discipline  is  by  far  the  best,  which  not  only  delivers  precepts, 
but  also  exercises  the  faculties  of  the  mind,  and  compels  it  as  it 
were  to  anticipate  commands1.  So  also  the  teachers  of  youth 
stimulate  the  mind  to  learn  by  emulation,  curiosity,  blandish- 
ments, and  very  often  by  fear.  Which  influence  is  the  more 
powerful,  let  others  decide. 

Has  conformation  any  thing  to  do  with  the  increase  or  dimi- 
nution of  the  mental  faculties  ?  If  the  operations  of  the  mind 
do  not  altogether  depend  upon  the  nervous  system,  especially 
the  brain,  as  those  think  who  deny  that  the  mind  is  any- 
thing without  matter,  still  there  is  no  doubt  they  are  most 
intimately  connected  with  it,  and  vary  with  its  variations. 
This  is  proved  by  the  variations  of  the  mind  of  the  same  man, 

1  Eousseau,  Emil.  Liv.  III. 


392  BRAIN. 

according  as  he  is  in  health,  or  sickness;  sanguine,  or  depressed. 
When  the  skull  is  broken,  or  the  brain  suffers  compression,  he 
who  previously  gave  utterance  to  the  most  shrewd  observa- 
tions, now  seems  almost  destitute  of  reason  and  sense.  And 
who  ever  doubted,  from  these  instances,  that  when  the  condi- 
tion of  the  brain  is  changed,  the  mind  changes  also  ? 

It  is  a  question  also  whether  any  peculiar  condition  of  this 
brain,  affecting  the  mind,  can  be  handed  down  from  parent  to 
son?  It  has  been  said  above  that  temperament  at  all  events 
is  so  communicated.  But  different  temperaments  are  so  con- 
nected with  different  tones  and  conditions  of  mind,  that,  in 
common  parlance,  they  are  referred  to  mind  alone.  Therefore, 
if  certain  conditions  of  the  brain,  from  which  some  operations 
of  the  mind  proceed,  are  transmitted  by  the  accident  of  birth, 
what  is  to  prevent  the  peculiar  condition  of  that  part  of  the 
brain,  which  is  appropriated  to  reason,  being  transmitted  in  a 
similar  way  ?  And  this  will  appear  much  more  probable  to  one 
who  considers  that  a  diseased  condition,  like  that  of  madness, 
is  propagated  from  father  to  son  in  the  same  family  for  gene- 
rations. 

What  has  been  said  goes  then  to  show  that  something  must 
be  attributed  to  congenital  conformation  and  stamina,  but 
more  to  exertion,  so  far  as  calls  are  made  for  it  by  position, 
mental  affections,  and  education,  in  the  matter  of  reason  and 
prudence. 

Travellers  have  exaggerated  the  mental  varieties  far  beyond 
the  truth,  who  have  denied  good  qualities  to  the  inhabitants  of 
other  countries,  because  their  mode  of  life,  manners,  and  cus- 
toms have  been  excessively  different  from  their  own.  For  they 
have  never  considered,  that  when  the  Tartar  tames  his  horse, 
and  the  Indian  erects  his  wig-wam,  he  exhibits  the  same  inge- 
nuity which  an  European  general  does  in  manoeuvring  his 
army,  or  Inigo  Jones  in  building  a  palace. 

There  is  nothing  in  which  men  differ  so  much  as  in  their 
customs.     They  are  of  innumerable   origins.     Climate1,    soil2, 

1  Esprit  des  Lois,  Liv.  14,  15,  16,  17.  2  lb.  Liv.  18. 


customs.  393 

diet1,  occupations,  laws,  religion,  individual  men,  government, 
the  institution  of  monarchy,  or  a  republic2,  with  a  thousand 
other  things,  create  and  alter  their  customs  in  a  marvellous 
way. 

As  for  climate,  let  me  quote  the  words  of  a  distinguished 
man.  "  Under  the  extremes  of  heat  or  of  cold,  the  active  range 
of  the  human  soul  appears  to  be  limited,  and  men  are  of 
inferior  importance,  either  as  friends  or  as  enemies.  In  the 
one  extreme,  they  are  dull  and  slow,  moderate  in  their  desires, 
regular  and  pacific  in  their  manner  of  life ;  in  the  other,  they 
are  feverish  in  their  passions,  weak  in  their  judgments,  and 
addicted  by  temperament  to  animal  pleasure3." 

Many  instances  of  the  effects  which  come  from  the  causes 
mentioned  are  palpable,  but  my  time  does  not  allow  me  to 
mention  all.  And  therefore  I  shall  be  content  with  one  or 
two  examples,  which  clearly  show  how  much  influence  one  man 
may  have.  The  laws  and  customs  of  Lycurgus,  the  former 
being  taken  into  exile  along  with  him,  which  were  not  insti- 
tuted for  pleasure,  but  for  the  sake  of  public  and  private 
utility,  and  to  produce  an  austere  virtue,  lasted  for  the  space 
of  seven  hundred  years.  So  also  Peter,  justly  called  the  Great, 
Emperor  of  the  Russians,  who  bestowed  politeness  and  culti- 
vation on  a  nation  barbarous,  rude,  and  unheard  of,  or  neg- 
lected, and,  in  the  teeth  of  their  most  deep-seated  prejudices, 
adorned  them  with  customs,  amended  their  laws,  and  handed 
down  to  posterity  an  empire  which  is  an  object  of  fear  to 
one  nation  long  very  powerful,  and  of  suspicion  to  other 
peoples  and  nations,  is  another  splendid  instance  of  the  same 
thing. 

However  various  the  causes  may  be,  which  create  and  alter 
the  customs  of  men,  there  is  but  one  which  can  make  them 
lasting,  stable  and,  as  it  were,  eternal.  This  is  imitation,  the 
most  powerful  principle  in  man.  By  this  we  acquire  customs, 
manners,  and  almost  everything.     Sometimes  indeed  its  power 


1  Hist,  des  Indes,  Tom.  I.  p.  66.  2  lb.  Liv.  4,  5,  7. 

3  Ferguson's  Essay  on  the  History  of  Civil  Society,  P.  III.  s.  1. 


394  IMITATION. 

is  such  that  against  our  will  we  are  compelled  to  imitate  others. 
From  this  source  depends  the  resemblance  of  customs  in  the 
family,  the  city,  or  in  the  whole  nation.  This  was  well  known 
to  the  poet,  who  had  seen  through  the  whole  range  of  the 
human  mind.  "  Falstaff.  It  is  a  wonderful  thing  to  see  the 
semblable  coherence  of  his  men's  spirits  and  his :  they,  by 
observing  of  him,  do  bear  themselves  like  foolish  j  ustices :  he, 
by  conversing  with  them,  is  turned  into  a  justice-like  serving 
man.  Their  spirits  are  so  married  in  conjunction,  with  the 
participation  of  society,  that  they  flock  together  in  consent, 
like  so  many  wild  geese.  It  is  certain,  that  either  wise  bearing 
or  ignorant  carriage  is  caught,  as  men  take  diseases,  one  of 
another."     Shakespeare,  K.  Henry  IV. 

They  are  truly  few,  who  judge  for  themselves  what  customs 
are  right  or  wrong,  and  they  are  still  fewer  who,  whilst  they 
think  for  themselves,  and  differ  from  the  mob,  go  on  to  ac- 
commodate and  alter  their  customs  according  to  their  own 
opinions. 


INDEX  OF   SUBJECTS. 


Africans,  123,  361,  363 

Albiuos,  132 

Algonquins,  121 

Alopecides,  73 

Americans,  98,  120,  156,    161,  240, 

266,  271,  307,  361 
Ammonites,  284 
Amour,  skulls  on  the,  119 
Anthropological  Collections,  298, 347 
Ape  and  man,  distinction,  163 
Arctic  animals,  104 
Arenulse,  179 
Arimaspi,  257 
Ass,  78,  101 
Astyanax,  380 

Baf,  78 

Banks,  Sir  Joseph,  147 

Bardeau,  79 

Batavians,  115 

Belemnites,  284 

Belgians,  115 

Bertin,  112 

Bif,  78 

Bimana,  171 

Biography  of  Blumenbacb,  1 

Biscayan  women,  107 

Blackened  Europeans,  108 

Blacks,  371 

Borneo,  141 

Brain,  392 

Brain  of  ape,  92 

Breasts,  125,  247 

Bulbs  of  the  hair,  3S5 

Bull,  77 

Buttocks  in  man,  169 

Caffres,  110 
Cain,  368 
California,  83 
Callitrichus,  142 


Calmncks,  116 

Canadians,  110,  121 

Canis,  varieties  of,  365 

Cape  of  Good  Hope,  83,  98,  361 

Capra  reversa  and  depressa,  74 

Carib,  121    ' 

Carinthia,  115 

Carolina,  240 

Casque,  112 

Cat,  75 

Cattle,  acclimatization  of,  71 

Caucasian,  155 

Caucasians,  100,  255,  279,  303 

Cercopithecus,  177 

Chain  of  nature,  151 

Champagne,  87 

Chest,  167 

Chimpansi,  96,  97 

Chin,  383 

Chinese,  367 

Circassians,  98,  363 

Circumcision  of  female,  126 

Classification  of  man,  99 

Climate,  influence  of,  73,  196 

Clitoris,  90,  126,  170 

Coccyx,  142 

Colchian,  110 

Cold,  378 

Colour,  209 

Colour  in  man,  106,  367 

Colt,  modifications  in  the,  73 

Copulation,  75,  169,  182 

Cordilleras,  107 

Corium,  106 

Cow,  77 

Creation,  mutability  in,  280 

Creole,  112,215 

Criole,  112 

Customs,  392 

Cutaneous  disorders,  385 

Cuticle,  368,  369,  371 


396 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS. 


Cynamolgi,  257 

Darien,  inhabitants  of,  136 

Dauphine,  8.0 

Degeneration  of  brute  animals,  191, 

290 
Dentition,  243 
Design,  321,  324 
Diana  monkey,  74 
Didactylus  ignavus,  91 
Diet,  198 

Diseases  in  man,  130,  185 
Dodos,  289 
Dog,  73,  74 

Domestic  animals,  72,  291 
Duck,  76 

Ears,  128,  246 

Elevator  claviculse,  87 

Elk,  73 

Embryo,  development  of,  70 

Ephelis,  373 

Erect  position  of  man,  84,  164 

Esquimaux,  99 

Ethiopians,   98,  101,  120,   161,  267, 

270,  304 
Europeans,  101 
Exercise,  391 
Eye  of  rabbit,  131 
Eyes  of  man,  225 

Fabulous  varieties  of  man,  257 

Face,  varieties  of,  227 

Facial  line,  235 

Feet,  125,  253 

Filly,  birth  of  a,  77 

Final  causes,  361 

Fish  diet,  376 

Foetus,  69,  159 

Formative  force,  194 

Fox,  the,  73 

Gallus  calecuticus,  76 

Generation,  386,  388 

Generis  humani  varietate  nativa,  65 

Genital  liquid,  243 

Genital  organs,  75,  109,  247 

Genoese,  116 

Giants,  104 

Goats,  80 

Gottingen,  348 

Graafian  follicle,  70 

Granada,  107 

Greenlander,  98 

Greenlanders,  99,  118 


Griffs,  112 
Gunpowder,  370 
Guzerat,  110 

Hair  on  man,  124, 127, 159, 173,  192, 

224,  384 
Hairy  men,  88 
Ham,  368 
Hameln,  87 

Hands  of  man,  86,  159,  251 
Heart  of  man,  179,  377 
Heat  of  sun,  370,  374 
Hector,  380 
Hemeralopia,  133 
Hen,  76 

Hereditary  peculiarities,  203,  387 
Hessian  boy,  87 
Hinny,  79 

Hippocratic  macrocephalus,  343 
Hog,  292 

Homines  monstrosi,  129 
Homo  sapiens  ferus,  166,  336 
Horn,  Cape,  377 
Horses,  71,  72,  80,  101,  132,  199 
Hungarians,  231 
Huaheine,  377 
Hybridity,  73,  80,  112 
Hybrids,  195,  201 
Hymen,  89,  170 
Hyaena,  74 
Hyponemia,  76 

Imaus,  257 
Imitation,  394 
Instincts  of  man,  82 
Intelligent  negroes,  309 
Intermaxilliary  bone,  176 
Ishmael,  368 

Jackal,  74 
Jaundice,  368 
Jumars,  76 
Juvenis  bovinus,  337 

lupinus,  337 

ovinus,  336 

ursinus,  337 

Kakerlacken,  139,  313 

Labrador,  118 
Lapps,  99,  116,  231 
Languages,  difference  in,  125 
Laughter,  89,  184 
Legs,  250,  383 
Leprosy,  135 


INDEX    OF   SUBJECTS. 


397 


Leucoethiopians,  135,  139,  260,  314 
Life  of  Blumenbach,  1 
Linnaeus,  his  classification,  150 
Luscitio,  133 

Macrocephali,  241,  243 

Malabar,  110,  136,  137 

Malay,  156,  161,  266,  275,  304 

Malphigian  rete,  106 

Mameluck,  112 

Man,  degeneration  of,  293 

Man  and  ape,  distinction,  163 

Manates,  81 

Mandril,  92,  109 

Manual  labour,  370 

Mare,  77 

Marianne,  377 

Melatta,  112 

Membrana  nictitans,  93 

Menstrual  flux,  90,  192 

Mental  affections  of  brutes,  89,  389 

Mestico,  112 

Metif,  112 

Mice,  132 

Mollaka,  112 

Mongolian  variety,  265,  269 

Mongolians,  156,  304 

Monorchides,  127 

Monosceles,  257 

Morbific  affection,  259 

Mulattos,  112,  216 

Mules,  101 

Murex,  281,  288 

Musculus  oculi  suspensorius,  175 

Museum,  155 

Nails,  128 

Naked  condition  of  man,  88 

Natural  causes,  390 

Natural  sciences  in  Germany,  6 

Natural  varieties,  224 

Nature,  chain  of,  151 

Negroes,  9,  305 

New  Hollanders,  119,  239 

Nocturnal  pollutions,  182 

Norma  verticalis,  237 

NuKraXcoTre?,  133 

Nymphse,  90,  170 

Obi  river,  squirrels  on,  71 

Octavoon,  112 

Omaguas,  242 

Orang  utan,  83,  91,  94,  96,  97 


Orders,  natural,  152 
Otaheitans,  119 

Pacific  Ocean,  inhabitants  of,  123, 

367 
Packwax,  94 
Panniculus  carnosus,  175 
Papio,  92,  94 
Patagonians,  253 
Pathological  variation,  140 
Peloria,  282 

Pelvis  in  quadrupeds,  85 
■ in  man,  168 

in  negro,  249 

Pentagenist  classification    of   man, 

99,  302 
Periophthalmium,  93 
Persians,  101 
Peter  von  Iiameln,  9 
Pictures,  159 
Pigments,  128 
Pimple  worm,  289 
Pimples,  372 
Pineal  gland,  179 
Plates,  explanation  of,  68,  162 
Plurality  of  species,  98 
Pollutions,  nocturnal,  182 
Position  for  copulation,  169 
Posticos,  112 

Pre- Adamite  creation,  285 
Premaxillary  bone,  92 
Primitive  world,  283 
Puberty,  181 
Puella  Campanica,  338 

Transisilana,  338 

Pueri  Pyrenaici,  339 
Puppy,  a  deformed,  75 

Quaclrumana,  171 
Quarteroon,  112 
Quimos,  255 

Rabbit,  76 

Rabbits,  white,  130 

Racial  varieties  of  the  face,  227 

Rams,  throats  of,  113 

Reason,  182 

Rete  mirabile  arteriosum,  175 

Reticulum,  113 

Retromingency,  169 

Sacrum,  142 
Salmo  arcticus,  318 
Samoeides,  361 
Satyr,  97,  141 


398 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS. 


Scriptures,  accuracy  of  the,  89 
Scythians,  119 
Semiramis,  80 
Senegal,  107 

Senegambia  negresses,  307 
Sexes,  part  taken  by  in  the  genera- 
tion of  the  foetus,  69 
Sicilian  woman,  138 
Simia  cynomolgus,  109 

■  diana,  74 

longimana,  97 

■ Satyrus,  96 

■ troglodytes,  96 

Singing  birds,  199 

Sinuessa,  77 

Siren,  lizard,  87 

Skin,  208,  364 

Skin  diseases  of  man,  134 

Skulls,  101,  114,  234 

Spartan  dogs,  73 

Species,  188,  360 

Speech,  83 

Spotted  skin,  113 

Squirrels,  71,  75 

Stature,  102,  252,  256 

Styria,  115 

Sun  and  air,  371 

Supreme  Being,  providence  of  the,  73 

Swedish  girl  and  bear,  80 

Tailed  men,  142,  258 
Tails,  383 
Tarsal  bones,  167 
Tattooing,  129 


Tears,  184 

Teeth  of  man,  88,  173,  243 
Tehueletse,  253 
Tela  mucosa,  180 
Temperature,  103 
Terceron,  112 
Terebratula,  283 
Tetes  de  Boule,  121 
Throats  of  rams,  113 
Tierra  del  Fuego,  105 
Transmission,  386 
Troglodyte,  97 
Typhus  fever,  368 

Union  of  man  and  brutes,  201 
Unnatural  crimes,  201 

Vagina,  its  direction,  169 

Variegated  skin,  218 

Varieties  and  species,  190,  2C4,  H59 

Vertical  scale,  237 

Ventrale,  143 

Virginians,  110 

Vitruvius,  107 

White,  371 

Wild  children,  165 

Womb,  377 

Yellow  fever,  368 

Zell,  87 
Zephyrea,  76 


INDEX  OF  AUTHORS. 


Abildgaard,  248 

Ackermann,  223,  241 

Actuarius,  133 

Adair,  240,  241 

Adanson,  307 

Adelung,  30 

^Elian,  129 

vErnilianus,  187 

JStius,  133 

Agatliernerus,  139 

Agricola,  137,  139 

Aguirre,  242 

Albinns,  78,  101,  106,  115,  143,  210, 

222,  368 
Aldrovandus,  80,  143,  299 
Alefounder,  336 
Alexander,  107 
Allamand,  251 
Alpinus,  248 
Alstromer,  122 
Anaxagoras,  171 
Anderson,  227 
Anderson,  Jiirgen,  95 
Andry,  241 
Arbuthnot,  60,  335 
Argensola,  262 
Aristotle,  53,  73,  91,  106,   139,  178, 

179,  203,  250 
Arrian,  102 
Artedi,  19 
Arthand,  262 
Asch,  de,  156,157, 158,230,  241,  349, 

354 
Attuioch,  271 
Attumonelli,  210 
Averroes,  136 
Avicenna,  124,  136 
Aublet,  112,217,  £07 
Augustine,  S.  286 
Aunoy,  248 


Bacon,  321 

Baldinger,  4,  14,  15,  28,  43,  44 

Bancroft,  97 

Bankes,  250,  275 

Banks,  14,  31, 145, 149, 156, 161,  192, 

271,  274,  275,  302 
Barbinais,  251 
Barbot,  214,  232,  245,  305 
Barrere,  106,  210 
Barth,  73       - 
Bartolozzi,  310,  336 
Bate,  222 
Bates,  199 
Baulrin,  115,142 
Baumgartner,  2J1 
Baurenfiend,  126,  127 
Bayle,  80 
Bazin,  98 
Beeckman,  191 
Begert,  12S,  210 
Behm,  257 
Behrens,  255 
Bell,  134 
Bellon,  126 
Belon,  223 
Berchem,  188 
Berengarius,  175 
Berkel,  273 
Bernadotti,  34 
Bertin,  88,  115,  175 
Bidder,  349 
Biet,  223 

Billmann,  157,  177 
Birch,  104,  244 
Blair,  176 

Blanc,  Vincent  le,  £0 
Blanchard,  142 
Blane,  21 
Bleyswyck,  311 
Bligh,  162 


400 


INDEX   OF   AUTHORS. 


Blumenbach,  359 

Bochart,  73 

Boddaert,  262 

Boeder,  129 

Boerhaave,  108,  122,  308 

Bomare,  217,  221,  299 

Bonnet,  31,  54,  69,  78,  316 

Bontius,  81,  89 

Borde,  233 

Borgia,  158 

Born,  17 

Bougainville,  250,  272,  285 

Bouguer,  107,  215 

Boullay-le-Gouz,  250 

Bourguet,  78,  261 

Bouterwek,  16 

Bowrey,  83 

Bozenhard,  253 

Brandes,  46 

Brasen,  103 

Braun,  160 

Breton,  241 

Breydenbach,  148 

Brosses,  Des,  104,  254 

Brown,  234 

Bruce,  212,  223,  225,  226 

Brue,  315 

Bruin,  192 

Bruin,  De,  160,  216 

Brun,  Le,  122,  127,  128,  129,  135 

Bry,  De,  122 

Bryant,  212, 275 

Brydon,  374 

Buckman,  244 

Buddseus,  43 

Buffon,  53,  53,  76,  78,  87,90,  133, 
187,  189,  210,  218,  245,  252, 
254,  262,  277,  331,  362,  365, 
367,  375,  378,  381,  382,  383, 
384 

Euttner,4,  44,  73,  76,  119. 

Buzzi,  261 

Byrd,  218 

Cadamosto,  248 

Caesar,  369 

Caldani,  179,  222 

Camelli,  135,  140,  262 

Camerarius,  126 

Camper,  31,  55,  57,  97,  108, 176,220, 

235,  241,  245,  322,  348 
Cannegieter,  247 
Capetein,  311 
Cardan,  71,  77,  81,  107,  121,   136, 

138, 139,  243 


Carpi,  170 

Carteret,  272 

Cartwright,  161 

Cavendish,  101 

Caverhill,  141 

Chamberlaine,  170 

Chanvalon,  249,  251 

Chapman,  139 

Chardin,  269 

Charlevoix,  121,  127,  242,  383 

Chemnitz,  283 

Cheselden,  21 

Chodowiecki,  160 

Christ,  4 

Churchill,  78,  245 

Clarkson,  310 

Clauder,  75 

Clavigero,  192,  293 

Clayton,  262 

Clugny,  256 

Cluver,  129 

Goiter,   91,  114,  177 

Collin,  91 

Columella,  73,  77 

Commerson,  255 

Condamine,  165,  242 

Connor,  337 

Coming,  224 

Cook,  122,  160,  214,  257,  262,  313 

Correggio,  51 

Cossigny,  140,  262 

Covolo,  102 

Cranz,   102,   104,    108,    118,   214, 

251 
Craufurd,  335 
Crell,  16 
Croix,  dela,  267 
Cuneus,  115 
Curtis,  28 
Cuvier,  11,  53 

Dalrymple,  125,  247,  260,  275 
Dampier,  232,  251,  378,  383 
D'Anville,  99 
Dapper,  136 
D'Argenville,  103 
Daubenton,  85,  91,  178 
Defoe,  292 
Deluc,  293 
Derham,  98 
Descartes,  59 
D'Hancarville,  284 
Dietz,  44 
Dietzmann,  102 
Dieze,  247 


INDEX  OF   AUTHORS. 


401 


Digby,  338 

Dilich,  87 

Diodorus  Siculus,  24-1 

Dobrizhoffer,  273 

Doeveren,  143 

Dornford,  335 

Dorville,  255 

Duddell,  261 

Dttrer,  114,118,  125,251 

Dyck,  Von,  311 

Bbel,  179 

Edwards,  87,  97,  140 

Bhrenmalm,  103,  108 

Elliotson,  18 

Ellis,  104,  118,  251,257 

Elsholtz,  102,  114,142 

Engel,  99,  106,  117,  210,  230,  267 

Ernesti,  71 

Erxleben,  44,  245 

Eustachius,  85,  91,  115,  177 

Fabricius,  257,  299 

Falconet,  336 

Falk,  258 

Falkner,  104,  255 

Fallopia,  142,143,  175 

Fanton,  106 

Fein,  335 

Feller,  232,  267 

Ferguson,  393 

Fermin,  113,  125,  217,  247 

Festus,  133 

Fichte,  18,  62 

Fidel:  s,  80 

Filangieri,  339 

Fischer,  101,  115,  116,  120,  269 

Flourens,  47 

Focquenbrach,  249 

Foes,  133 

Fontaine,  62 

Fontana,  213,  241,  258 

Fontenelle,  55,  62,  136 

Fordyce,  198 

Forrest,  245, 272 

Forster,G.,  3 1,100,119, 174,  210,223, 

233,  247,  248,  250,  254,  256,  271, 

273,  284 
Forster,  R,  31 
Foucher  d'Obsonville,  315 
Fourcroy,  213. 
Franklin,  184 
Fremery,  349 
Freylinghausen,  137 
Frisch,  108,  189 


Fuller,  305 

Gaertner,,  149 

Gagliardi,  103 

Gainsborough,  310 

Galen,  86,  114,  133,  174,  176 

Garcilasso,  215,  216,  217 

Gebelia,  83 

Gentil,  257 

George  I.,  330,  334 

Georgi,  249 

Gesner,  76,  77,  143,  262,  299 

Geuns,  156,  162 

Geyer,  337 

Giesler,  4 

Gily,  216 

Girtanner,  212 

Glafey,  102 

Gleichen,  73 

Gmelin,21,  71,  129,  220,  255,  272 

Goethe,  18 

Goldsmith,  99,   116,    134,  135,  136, 

262 
Gorz  Schlitz,  349 
Gordon,  252 
Goze,  322 
Gregorius,  306 

Grbben,  83,  129,  135,  137,  245 
Grotius,  129 
Guindant,  141 
Gumilla,  218,  219,  220 
Gunz,  108 
Gunner,  262 

Hacquet,  204 

Haen,  210,  310 

Hager,  231 

Hahn,  86 

Hakluyt,  247 

Hall,  134 

Haller,  15,  31,  51,  53,  69,  73,  75,  76, 
78,  89,  91,  98,  103,  105,  108,  109, 
124,  127,  141,  170,  176,  210,  222, 
241,  267,  282,  297,  368,  385 

Hancarville,  201,  231 

Hard,  107 

Hardt,  25 

Harduin,  133,  139 

Hartsink,  215 

Harvey,  141,  258 

Hauber,  95 

Hauterive,  216,  217 

Hawkes,  223 

Hawkesworth,  127, 128, 140, 143, 215, 
246,  250,  259,  262,  275,  369,  373,. 
377,  381,  383,  384,  388 

26 


402 


INDEX    OF   AUTHORS, 


Hawkins,  259 

Heiss,  306 

Helbig,  141, 258 

Heliodorus,  138 

Helvetius,  171 

Hemmersam,  112,  123,  127 

Henle,  353 

Herder,  337 

Herissant,  73 

Herodotus,  102,  126,  129 

Herrera,  293 

Hesse,  258 

Hesychius,  79 

Heyne,  4,  27,  44,  73,  125,  251,  258 

Hildan,  102 

Hildebrant,  162 

Higgins,  354 

Hippocrates,  108,  116,  133,  192,  203, 

241,  242 
Hobbes,  184 
Hodges,  160,  216 
Hoeven,  353 
Hogendorp,  224 
Hogg,  11 
Hogstrom,  102 
Hollar,  160 
Hollmann,  310,  320 
Home,  98,  103,  118,272 
Honorius,  139 
Horace,  30 
Hornemann,  22 
Howe,  95 
Hughes,  98,  126 
Humboldt,  22 
Hunauld,  121 
Hunnemann,  161 
Hunter,  25,  259,  261,  262,  348 
Hunter,  Jo.,  357 
Hunter,  Jo.  (Gov.),  225 
Hunter,  W.,  70 
Hutton,  10 
Huschke,  533 
Hyde,  112,  215- 

Ingrassias,  114,  115 
Insfeldt,  116 
Isidore,  124 
Ister  iEthicus,  139 
Ives,  22 

Jacquin,  161 
Jansen,  185 
Jefferson,  252" 
Jetze,  1 


Johnson,  39 
Jones,  212 
Jonston,  299 
Jussieu,  54 

Ksempfer,  170 

Kaimes,  109 

Kaltschmidt,  43 

Kampf,  23 

Kant,  18,  62,  203,  207,  210,  223,  231, 

250,  267,  273 
Kastner,  44 
Kemble,  60 
Kersting,  101,  132 
Kettle,  270 
King,  174 
Klein,  216,  261 
Klinkosch,  222 
Kluger,  268 
Kluppel,  43 
Koenig,  129,  142 
K  ohler,  10 

Kolben,  125,  127,  223,  247 
Kolreuter,  196 
Konig,  142 
Kopiug,  141,  258 
Kramer,  262 
Krascheninikof,  129 
Kruger,  332 
Kruniz,  210 
Kusthardt,  352 

Labat,  112,  113,  216,  222 

Lacepede,  22 

L' Admiral,  106 

Laert,  107 

Laet,  129 

La  Fosse,  94 

Lamothe,  113 

Langhan,  112 

Langsdorff,  22 

Launitz,  352 

Lauremberg,  114,115 

Lavater,  115,  122,  223 

Lawson,  241 

Le  Brun,  134 

Le  Cat,  89,  95,  97,  106,  130, 139, 210, 

231,261 
Ledyard,  262 
Leem,  102 
Leger,  77 

Leguat,  87,  140,  250 
Leibnitz,  54 
Lenthe,  Von,  6 
Leonardo  da  Vinci,  170 


INDEX   OF  AUTHOKS. 


403 


Leroy,  165 

Lery,  232,  272 

Libavius,  227 

Licetus,  80 

Lichtenberg  and  Voigt,  9,  119' 

Lieberkiihn,  103 

Ligon,  89 

Lind,  3S8 

Link,  11 

Linnaeus,  13,  51,  54,  57,  73,  84,  90, 
93,  95,  98,  128,  129,  142,  150,  152, 
163,  165,  172,  173,  191,  198,  226, 
249,  258,  267,  281,  297,  331,  337, 
338,  361,  370 

Linschot,  274 

Linschoten,  254 

Lischoten,  Van,  245 

Lithgow,  248 

Livy,  73,  129 

Lodemann,  28 

Long,  106,  217 

Lorry,  187,  213,  221 

Loubert,  213 

Louis  of  Bavaria,  349 

Luc,  de,  10,  31,  313 

Ludwig,  108,  222 

Lucas,  307 

Lucian,  302 

Lucretius,  81,  287,  323 

Ludolph,  135,  306 

Lysons,  160 

Macrobius,  107 

Magellan,  253 

Maire,  Le,  307 

Malpighi,  200,  289 

Marcgrav,  216,  224 

Marsden,   174,  215,  223,  232,    241, 

245,  257,  272 
Martens,  33 
Martial,  146 
Martini,  129,  141,  142- 
Marx,  3 

Maupertuis,  134,  136,  257,  388 
Maximilian,  128 
Mayer,  16 
Meares,  241 
McHenry,  310 
Meckel,  213 
Meger,  159 
Meiners,  268 
Meigs,  359 
Mela,  139 
Meude,  16 
Menippus,  302 


Mentzel,  247 

Menz,  4 

Mercurialis,  125,  251 

Meriani,  115,  142,  143 

Merk,  31 

Merolla,  78 

Metzger,  268 

Meyer,  Jurgen,  329 

Michaelis,  32,  43,  80,  156,  15& 

Middleton,  244 

Modave,  255 

Moles,  210 

Molina,  273,  274 

Molinelli,  226 

Moll,  10,  31 

Monboddo,  60,  165,.  258,  295,  331, 

335 
Monneron,  250 
Montesquieu,  57,  60 
Moreton,  217 
Morel,  289 
Morgan,  219 
Morse,  252 
Morton,  349 
Moscati,  88,  166 
Mothe,  219 
Mullen,  94 
Muller,  44,  123,  174 
Murray,  99,  104,  108 
Mycock,  302 

Napoleon,  21,  60 

Narborough,  222,  252 

Naudin,  210 

Neergard,  21 

Neoptolenius,  174 

Neubauer,  43,  44 

Neuwild,  22 

Nicolai,  44 

Niebuhr,  122, 126,  128, 129;  245,  307 

Nipho,  182 

Nisbett,  308 

Nott  and  Gliddon,  359 

Nux,  de  la,  262 

Gbsequens,  73 
Oehme,  316 
Oken,  52 

Olaus  Magnus,  80,  136 
Oldendorp,  215,  222,  308 
Olearius,  118 
Oribasius,  133 
Ortega,  254 
Osbeck,  17,  25 
Osiander,  16 


404 


INDEX  OF   AUTHORS. 


Ovaglie,  258 
Oviedo,  241 

Pallas,  72,  102,  117,  184,  193,  201, 

250,  252 
Papinus,  101 
Parseus,  80 
Paris,  271 
Park    308 
Parkinson,   91,   102,  105,  122,  123, 

127,  128,  129,  134 
Parson,  J.,  89,  216 
Pataki,  157 
Paterson,  312 
Patot,  181 
Pausanias,  223,  258 

Pauw,  104,  112,  120,  133,  254,  271, 

331 
Paveus,  133 

Pechlin,  108,  192,  222,  223 
Penault,  91 
Pennant,  97,  254,  281 
Perceval,  261 
Pererius,  74 
Peter  the  Groat,  393 
Petronius,  125,  251 
Peyssonel,  232 
Pflug,  116 
Plater,  103,  252 
Philites,  241 
Phillips,  201 
Picart,  234 
Pinto,  215,  262 
Pistorius,  337 
Pliny,  14,  56,  73,  78,  83,  88,  90,  107, 

128,  129,  133,  138,  139,  141,  258, 
283 

Plutarch,  80 

Poiret,  214 

Pomponius  Mela,  128,  139 

Porta,  77 

Portius,  226 

Pownall,  267 

Prevost,  372,  376,  388 

Priscian,  133 

Prizelius,  73 

Ptolemy,  139,  141 

Puente,"  247 

Quintilian,  30 
Quiqueran,  89 
Quiros,  275 

Ramsay,  251,  308 


Rauwolf,  127,  128 

Ray,  94,  189,  299,  362 

Reaumur,  76 

Redeker,  335 

Regnard,  271 

Reimar,  73,  82 

Reinhold,  139 

Retzius,  353,  354 

Rhodiginus,  102,  107,  124,  125 

Rhyne,  249 

Richter,  16,  17,  44 

Riecke,  245 

Riet,  108,  222 

Riolan,  91,  249 

Robertson,  254,  272,  274 

Robinet,  86,  172 

Rochefort,  213 

Roggewein,  255 

Romer,  245 

Rondelet,  56 

Rontgen,  22 

Rosen,  116 

Rosinus,  284 

Rousseau,  81,  240,  312,  331,  391 

Rozier,  73 

Rubbi,  254 

Rudbeck,  231 

Rudolphi,  28,  134 

Rueff,  77,  80 

Ruhnken,  33 

Rush,  308,  310 

Russel,  122,  128,  302 

Ruysch,  123 

Rytschkow,  141,  258 

Rzacynski,  72 


Saar,  249 
Sabatier,  241 
Sagard,  273 
Sanders,  23 
Sandifort,  193 
Santorinus,  106 
Sartorius,  34 
Saussure,  261 
Saxo  Grammaticus,  80 
Scaliger,  243 
Schelling,  18,  62 
Schenk,  80 
Schilling,  162 
Schlozer,  22,  44,  337 
Schmidt,  349 
Schneider,  89 
Schotte,  223,  245 
Schouten,  247 


INDEX   OF   AUTHORS. 


405 


Schrage,  166 

Schreber,  113,  134 

Schreiber,  93 

Schreyer,  127,  128 

Schroder  van  der  Kolk,  355 

Schroter,  284 

Schurigius,  126,  271 

Scotin,  96 

Seba,  123 

Seetzen,  22 

Seneca,  13 

Severin,  335 

Shaw,  78,  305 

Sibthorp,  22 

Sickler,  14 

Sloane,  214 

Smetius,  247 

Socrates,  60 

Solinus,  90 

Somrnerring,  28,  51,  156,   157,    179, 

213,  222,  223,  251 
Spallanzani,  79 
Spanberg,  174 
Spangenberg,  335 
Sparrmann,  249,  251,  306 
Speren,  262 

Spigel,  169,  235,  241,  321 
Sprenger,  73 
Stahlin,  99 
Stel,  140 

Steller,  89,  184,  201,  231 
Steno,  Nicolas  of,  175 
Stephan,  133,  343 
Stieglitz,  28 
Storch,  80 
Storr,  244 

Strabo,  107,  139,  241 
Strack,  213 
Strahlenberg,  134,  220 
Strauss,  258 
Strom  eyer,  16 
Sulz,  132 

Sulzer,  93,  97,  262 
Swift,  331,  335 
Syrnnions,  244 


Taberranni,  143 
Tacitus,  233 
Tanner,  44 
Tappe,  258 
Tatter,  161 
Taumiann,  133 
Techo,  271,  273 
Tench,  251,  253 


Themel,  262 
Thevenot,  127 
Thibault,  223 

Thibault  de  Chanvalon,  241 
Tigurinus  Polyhistor,  77 
Toree,  214 
Torqnemada,  241 
Tourtual,  353 
Townley,  230 
Towns,  210 
Trendebiburg,  176 
Trithemius,  142 
Troja,  17 
Tronchin,  126 
Tschudi,  349,  353 
Tulp,  96,  165,  336 
Twiss,  216,  217,  250 
Tychsen,  216 

Tyson,  84,  87,  91,  92,  93,  95,  97,  141, 
178 

Ulloa,  124, 251,  273,  305 
Urnfreville,  257 

Yaillant,  250 

Valentyn,  216,  262 

Vallisneri,  316 

Varro,  73,  78 

Vasa,  315 

Vaugondy,  99,  117,  267 

Venette,  78 

Verulam,  202 

Vesalius,  93,  115,  116,  142,  175,  176, 

177,  240,  241 
Vesling,  143 
Vespucci,  249 
Vicq  d'Azyr,  176 
Virgil,  125,  251 
Vitet,  176 
Vitruvius,  107 
Vogel,  133 

Voigt,  9,  43,  165,  191,  203,  286 
Volknmn,  22 
Volney,  231 
Voltaire,  56, 57,60, 134, 136,  250, 270, 

281,  339 
Vosmaer,  172 
Vossius,  135,  137, 140 

Wafer,  127,  134, 135,  136,  137,  262 
Wagner,  K.,  31>  103,  108,  132,  262, 

347,  349 
Walch,  4,  22,  44,  96 
Waldeck,  21 
Waller,  299 

27 


406 


INDEX  OF  AUTHORS. 


Wallis,  103,  215 
Walsh,  230,  286 
Walter,  226 
Warton,  201 
Wasse,  182 
Wasteras,  141 
West,  234 

Whang-at-tong,  119 
Wheatley,  310 
Wieland,  81,  308 
Wilson,  210,  272 
Winckelniann,  116,  231 
Winslow,  117,  244,  245 
Winter,  255 
Winterbottom,  305 
Witsen,  122 
Wolff,  157 


Wreden,  16 
Wrisberg,  136 
Wyttenbach,  33 

Xenocrates,  22 

Yonge,  221 

Yvo,  245,  250,  270 

Zach,  31 

Zachias,  77 

Zahn,  88 

Zain,  180 

Zimmermann,  210,  215,  254,  268, 

273 
Zingendorf,  59,  331 
Zucchelli,  81 


THE   END. 


CAMBRIDGE  :    PRINTED   AT   THE   UNIVERSITY    TRESS. 


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TWELFTH     LIST 


FOUNDATION    FELLOWS 


,H%"0jj0l00ud  S>8t%zty  of  Stottiurir. 


(Corrected  to  January  17th,  1865.) 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL    SOCIETY    OF    LONDON. 


OFFICERS    AND    COUNCIL    FOR    1864. 


JAMES  HUNT,  Esq.,  Ph.D.,  F.S.A.,  F.E.S.L.,  Honorary  Foreign  Sec- 
retary of  the  Boyal  Society  of  Literature  of  Great  Britain,  Foreign 
Associate  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris,  Honorary  Fellow  of 
the  Ethnological  Society  of  London,  Corresponding  Member  of  the 
Upper  Hesse  Society  for  Natural  and  Medical  Science,  etc. 

3Jice=Prcsit(entg. 
CAPTAIN  BICHAED  F.  BUETON,  F.E.G.S.,  H.M.  Consul  at  Santos,  etc. 
J.    FEEDEEICK    COLLINGWOOD,    ESQ.,     F.E.S.L.,    F.G.S.,     Foreign 

Associate  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris. 
BEBTHOLD*  SEEMANN,   ESQ.,  Ph.D.,  F.L.S.,  F.E.G.S. 
THOMAS  BENDYSHE,  ESQ.,   M.A. 

Hottoratg  .Secretaries* 
GEOEGE  E.  EOBEETS,  ESQ.,  F.G.S.,  Foreign  Associate  of  the  Anthro- 
pological Society  of  Paris. 
WILLIAM    BOLLAEET,   ESQ.,    Corr.   Mem.   Univ.    Chile,   and    Ethno. 
Socs.  London  and  New  York. 

i^oitorarg  .foreign  Sccretarg. 

ALFEED    HIGGINS,    ESQ.,    Foreign   Associate  of   the  Anthropological 

Society  of  Paris. 

^Treasurer. 

EICHAED  STEPHEN  CHAENOCK,  ESQ.,  Ph.D.,  F.S.A.,  F.E.G.S., 

Foreign  Associate  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris. 

(JTcmttcil. 
HUGH  J.   C.   BEAYAN,   ESQ.,  F.E.G.S. 
S.  E.  B.  BOUVEEIE-PUSEY,  ESQ.,   F.E.S. 
CHAELES   HAECOUET   CHAMBEES,   ESQ.,  M.A. 
S.  EDWIN  COLLINGWOOD,  ESQ.,  F.Z.S. 
GEOEGE  DUNCAN  GIBB,  ESQ.,  M.A.,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  F.G.S. 
THE   VISCOUNT   MILTON,   F.E.G.S. 
GEOEGE    NOETH,  ESQ. 
L.   OWEN   PIKE,  ESQ.,  M.A. 
W.  WIN  WOOD  EEADE,  ESQ.,  F.E.G.S.,  Corr.  Mem.  Geographical  Society 

of  Paris. 
JAMES   EEDDIE,  ESQ. 
GEOEGE   FEEDEEICK  EOLPH,   ESQ. 

CHAELES  EOBEET   DES   EUFFIEEES,   ESQ.,  F.G.8.,   F.E.S. 
WILLIAM  TEAVEES,  ESQ.,  F.E.C.S.,  L.E.C.P. 
WILLIAM     SANDYS    WEIGHT    VAUX,   ESQ.,    M.A.,  F.S.A.,  F.E.S.L., 

President  of  the  Numismatic  Society  of  London. 

Curator,  HSLibvariart,  anfl  Assistant  Serrctarg* 

CHAELES   CAETEE  BLAKE,  ESQ.,  F.G.S.,  Foreign  Associate  of  the 

Anthropological  Society  of  Paris. 


TWELFTH      LIST 

OF    TIIK 

FOUNDATION     FELLOWS 

OF   THE 

ANTHROPOLOGICAL  SOCIETY  OF  LONDON. 


The  names  ivith  *  before  them  are  those  of  Fellows  who  have  com- 
pounded for  their  Annual  Subscription. 

^[   These  Fellows  have  contributed  Papers  to  the  Society. 
|  These  Fellows  are  Members  of  Council. 
|  These  Fellows  are  also  Local  Secretaries. 


a  Beckett,  Arthur  W.,  Esq.      17  King  Street,  S.  James's,  S.W. 

Adams,  Henry  John,  Esq.      14  Thornhill  Square,  N. 

Adlam,  William,  Esq.     Manor  Souse,  Chew  Magna,  Somerset. 

Aley,  Frederick  W.,  Esq.     8  Thurloe  Place,  South  Kensington,  W. 

Arden,  R.  E.,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  F.R.G.S..    Sunbury  Park,  Middlesex,  S.E. 

Armitage,  W.,  Esq.     Toionfield  House,  Altrincham. 

Armitstead,  T.  B.,  Esq. 

Arundell,  Rodolph,  Esq.    34  Upper  Montagu  Street,  Montagu  Square. 

Ash,  Charles  Frederick,  Esq.,  20  and  21  Upper  Thames  Street,  E.C. 

Ashbury,  John,  Esq.     9  Sussex  Place,  Hyde  Park  Gardens,  W. 

Atkinson,  Henry  George,  Esq.,  F.G.S.   18  Upper  Gloucester  Placed .W. 

Austin,  Richard,  Esq.     Pernambuco. 

Aitken,  Thomas,  Esq.,  M.D.,  Member  of  the  Anthropological  Society 

of  Paris.     District  Lunatic  Asylum,  Inverness. 
Airston,  William  Baird,  Esq.,  M.D.     S.  Andrew's,  Fife. 
Avery,  John  Gould,  Esq.     40  Belsize  Park,  N.W. 

*Babington,  C.  Cardale,  Esq.,  M.A.,  F.R.S.,  F.L.S.,  F.G.S. ,  Sec. 
Cambridge  Phil.  Soc,  Prof.  Botany,  Cambridge.  S.  John's 
College,  Cambridge. 

Babington,  William,  Esq.  Hulk  "Princess  Royal,"  Bonny  River, 
West  Coast  of  Africa. 

Baker,  Benson,  Esq.,  M.R.C.S.E.     6  Cross  Street,  Islington. 

Baker,  J.  P.,  Esq.,  M.R.C.S.     6  York  Place,  Portman  Square,  W. 

Barr,  W.  R.,  Esq.     Park  Mills,  Stockport. 

Barr,  Joseph  Henry,  Esq.,  M.R.C.S.     Ardwick  Green,  Manchester. 

Bartlett,  Edw.,  Esq.     8  King  William  Street,  E.C. 

Barton,  Alfred,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S.  31  Craven  Street,  Strand;  and 
Oriental  Club,  W. 

Beal,  The  Rev.  S.,  Chaplain  Royal  Marine  Artillery.  Fort  Cumber- 
land, Portsmouth. 

a  2 


4 

Beale,  John  S.,  Esq.     4  Partem  Road,  W. 

f  Beavan,  Hugh  J.  C,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S.     13  Blandford  Square,  Regents 
Park,  N.W;  and  Grafton  Club,  W. 

Beardsley,  Amos,  Esq.,  F.L.S.,  F.G.S.  The  Grange,  near  Ulver stone, 
Lancashire. 

Beddoe,  John,  Esq.,  M.D.,  F.E.S.,  Foreign  Associate  of  the  Anthro- 
pological Society  of  Paris.      Clifton. 

*f  \  Bendyshe,  Thos.,  Esq.,  M.A.  Vice-President.  88  Cambridge 
Street,  Pimlico,  S.W. 

Benson,  W.  F.  G.,  Esq.     South  Road,  Waterloo,  near  Liverpool. 

Bertram,  George,  Esq.     Sciennes  Street,  Edinburgh. 

Best,  the  Hon.  Capt.      Convict  Prison,  Princetoion,  Dartmoor,  Devon. 

Bingham,  H.  C,  Esq.      Wartnaby  Hall,  near  Melton  Moivbray. 

\  Blake,  Charles  Carter,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  Foreign  Associate  of 
the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris,  Member  of  the  Comite 
d'Archeologie  Americaine  de  France.  Curator,  Librarian,  and 
Assistant  Secretary.  4  S.  Martin's  Place,  W.C.;  and  6  Kings- 
wood  Place,  South  Lambeth,  S. 

Blakely,  T.  A.,  Capt.     84  Montpellier  Square,  S.W. 

Bledsoe,  A.  T.,  Esq.,  LL.D.     33  Argyll  Road,  Kensington,  W. 

Blonnt,  J.  Hillier,  Esq.,  M.D.     Bagshol,  Surrey. 

f  ^[Bollaert,  AVm.,  Esq.,  Corr.  Mem.  Ethno.  Socs.,  London,  New  York 
and  Univ.  Chile.  Honorary  Secretary.  21a  Hanover  Square,  W. 

Bond,  Walter  M.,  Esq.      The  Argory,  Moy,  Lreland. 

Bonney,  Rev.  T.  George,  M.A.,  F.G.S.     S.  John's  College,  Cambridge. 

Boase,  Henry  S.,Esq.,  M.D.,  F. II. S.,  F.G.S.    Claverhouse,  near  Dundee. 

\  Bosworth,  The  Rev.  Joseph,  D.D.,  Trin.  Coll.,  Cambridge,  and  of 
Christ  Church,  Oxford,  Prof.  Anglo-Saxon,  Dr.Phil.  of  Leyden, 
F.R.S.,  F.S.A.,  F.R.S.L.,  Corresponding  Member  of  the  Royal 
Institute  of  the  Netherlands,  etc.,  etc.  20  Beaumont  Square,  Oxford  ; 
and  Water  Stratford,  Buckingham. 

Boulton,  George,  Esq.      1  Gordon  Square,  W.C. 

f  ^[  Bouverie-Pusey,  S.  E.  B.,  Esq.,  F.E.S.     7  Green  Street,  W. 

Boreham,  W.  W.,  Esq.,  F.R.A.S.     Haverhill,  Suffolk, 

Boys,  Jacob,  Esq.      Grand  Parade,  Brighton. 

Brabrook,  E.  W,,  Esq.,  F.S.A.     3  Parliament  Street,  S.W. 

Braddon,  Henry,  Esq.     5  Dane's  Inn,  W.C. 

Brady,  Antonio,  Esq.,  F.G.S.     Maryland  Point,  Stratford,  Essex. 

Braggiotti,  George  M.,  Esq.  New  York.  (Care  of  Messrs.  Corpi 
and  Co.,  10  Austin  Friars.) 

Brainsford,  C,  Esq.,  M.D.     Haverhill,  Suffolk. 

Brinton,  John,  Esq.      The  Shrubbery,  Kidderminster. 

Brebner,  James,  Esq.,  Advocate.     20  Albyn  Place,  Aberdeen. 

Brickwood,  J.  S.,  Esq.      Claremont  House,  Tunbridge  Wells. 

Brodhurst,  Bernard  Edward,  Esq.,  F.R.C.S.     20  Grosvenor  St.,  W. 

Brooke,  His  Highness,  Rajah  Sir  James,  K.C.B.  Burraton,  Horra- 
bridge,  Devon. 

Brookes,  Henry,  Esq.     26  Great  Winchester  Street,  E.C. 


Brown,  Edward,  Esq.      Oak  Hill,  Snrbiton  Hill,  S. 
Brown,  E.  O.,  Esq.    Chemical  Department,  Royal  Arsenal,  Woolwich. 
Brown,    James    Roberts,    Esq.,    F. R.S.N. A.  Copenhagen.      Scaleby 
Lodge,  Camden  Road,  Holloway,  N. 

Bunkell,  Henry  Christopher,  Esq.     1  Penn  Road,  Caledonian  Road, 

Holloivay,  N. 
Burke,  John  S.,  Esq.     4  Queen  Square,  Westminster,  S.W. 
f  f  Burton,    Captain    Richard    Fenwick,    F.R.G.S.,    H.M.    Consul, 

Santos,    Brazil.     Vice-President.      34    Upper   Montagu   Street, 

Montagu  Square,  W. ;  and  Santos,  Brazil. 
Burton,  Samuel,  Esq.      Churchill  House,  Daventry. 
Butler,  Henry,  Esq.     Admiralty,  Somerset  House,  W.C. 
*Buxton,  Charles,  Esq.,  M.P.      7  Grosvenor  Crescent,  S.W. 
Byerley,  J.,  Esq.     Seacombe,  Cheshire. 
Byham,  George,  Esq.      War  Office,  Pall  Mall,  S.W. ;  and  Ealing, 

*Cabbell,  Benj.  Bond,  Esq.,  F.R.S.,  F.S.A.     52  Portland  Place,  W. 

Cameron,  Captain,  H.M.  Consul.     Massouah,  Abyssinia. 

Campbell,  Henry,  Esq.     6  Claremont  Gardens,  Glasgow. 

*  Campbell,  J.  Bangkok,  Siam.  (Care  of  Messrs.  Smith  and  Elder, 
Pall  Mall.) 

Campbell,  Montgomery,  Esq.  39a  Wigmore Street,  Cavendish Square,W . 

Cannon,  Thomas,  Esq.      13  Paternoster  Roto,  E.C. 

Caplin,  Dr.  J.  F.     9  York  Place,  Portman  Square,  W. 

Capper,  Charles,  Esq.     9  Mincing  Lane,  E.C. 

Cartwright,  Samuel,  Professor.     32  Old  Burlington  Street,  W. 

Carulla,  Facundo,  Esq.,  Honorary  Member  Manchester  Scientific 
Student's  Association.  (Care  of)  Messrs.  J.  Daglish  and  Co.,  Har- 
rington Street,  Liverpool ;  and  91  Paseo  de  Julio,  Buenos  Ayres. 

Cassell,  John,  Esq.     La  Belle  Sauvage  Yard,  Ludgate  Hill,  E.C. 

f  Chambers,  Charles  Harcourr,  Esq.,  M.A.     2  Chesham  Place,  S.W. 

Chambers,  William,  Esq.     Aberystwith. 

Charlton,  Henry,  Esq.     Birmingham. 

Chamberlin,  William,  Esq.     4  Hervey  Terrace,  Brighton. 

Chance,  F.,  Esq.,  M.D.     48  Eversfield  Place,  S.  Leonard's  on  Sea. 

t  H  Charnock,  Richard  Stephen,  Esq.,  Ph.D.,  F.S.A.,  F.R.G.S., 
F.R.S.S.A.,  Foreign  Associate  of  the  Anthropological  Society 
of  Paris,  Foundation  Member  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Northern 
Antiquaries,  Corresponding  Member  of  the  New  England  Historic- 
Genealogical  Society.  Treasurer.  4  S.  Martin's  Place,  W.C. ; 
8  Gray's  Inn  Square,  W.C;   and  30  The  Grove,  Hammersmith. 

Chignell,  Hendrick  Agnis,  Esq.     47  York  Road,  Brighton. 

Clare,  Rev.  Henry,  M.A.,  F.R.S.L.   Crossens,  North  Meots,  Ormskirk. 

Clarendon,  The  Right  Honourable  The  Earl  of,  K.G.,  G.C.B.,  F.R.S. 
Grosvenor  Crescent,  W. 

Clement,  William  James,  Esq.,  F.E.S.     The  Council  House,  Shrewsbury. 

Clerk,  Lieutenant- Colonel  H.,  R.A.     Royal  Arsenal,  Woolivich. 

Cock,  John,  Esq.,  jun.,  F.R.H.S.,  M.S. A.     South  Molton. 


Cockings,  W.  Spencer,  Esq.,  F.E.S. 

Coles,  Henry,  Esq.     Science  and  Art  Department,  Kensington,  W. 

Collier,  J.  Payne,  Esq.,  F.S.A.     Maidenhead. 

\  Collingwood,  J.  Frederick,  Esq.,  F.R.S.L.,  F.G.S.,  Foreign  Associate 

of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris.     Vice-President.     4  S. 

Martin's  Place,  W.C.;  and  54  Gloucester  Street,  Belgrave  Road,  S.W. 
f  Collingwood,  S.  Edwin,  Esq.,  F.Z.S.    26  Buckingham  Place,  Brighton. 
Cooke,  W.  Fothergill,  Esq.     Electric  Telegraph  Office,  London 
Cooper,  Sir  Daniel,  Bart.     20  Prince's  Terrace,  Vv7. 
.Cory,  W.,  Esq.     4  Gordon  Place,  W.C. 
Cossham,  Handel,  Esq.,  F.G.S.     Shorhvood  Lodge,  Bristol. 
Courtauld,  Samuel,  Esq.      Gosfield  Hall,  Essex. 
Cowell,  J.  Jermyn,  Esq.     41  Gloucester  Terrace,  Hyde  Park,  W. 
Cox,  J.  W.  Conrad,  Esq.,  B.A.     32  Westhourne  Place,  Eaton  Square; 

and  4  Grove  Hill,   Woodford,  N.E. 
Cox,  W.  T.,  Esq.      The  Hall,  Spornton,  Derby. 

*  Cozens,  J.  F.  W.,  Esq.     Larkbere  Lodge,  Clapham  Park,  S. 
Crassweller,    Henry  Valentine,    Esq.     133   Leighton   Road,  Kentish 

Town,  N.W. 
Critchett,  George,  Esq.      75  Harley  Street,  Cavendish  Square,  W. 
Crolly,  The  Rev.  J.  M.,  Ph.D.      Trimdon. 
Crowley,  Henry,  Esq.      Corporation  Street,  Manchester. 
Croxford,  George  Rayner,  Esq.     Forest  Gate,  Essex,  E. 

*  Cuthbert,  J.  R.;  Esq.      Chapel  Street,  Liverpool. 

Daniell,   Hurst,  Esq.     4  Highbury  Park  West,  Highbury  Hill,  N. 

Davey,  J.  G.,  Esq.,  M.D.       Northwoods,  near  Bristol. 

Davies,  F.  Drummond,  Esq.     Hare  Court,  Temple. 

^J  Davis,  J.  Barnard,  Esq.,  M.D.,  F.S.A.,  Foreign  Associate  of  the 

Anthropological  Society  of  Paris.     Shelton,  Staffordsldre. 
Dawson,  George,  Esq.,  M.A.,  F.G.S.    40  Belgrave  Road,  Birmingham. 
De  Home,  John,  Esq.     137  Offord  Road,  Barnsbury  Park,  London,  N. 
Dibley,  G.,  Esq.     72  Maiden  Road,  N.W. 
Dickinson,  Henry,  Esq.,  Colonial  Surgeon.      Ceylon. 

*  Dingle,  Rev.  John,  M.A.     Lanchester,  near  Durham. 
Dobson,  Thomas  J.,  Esq.     Kingston  upon  Hull. 

Donaldson,  Prof.  John,  Advocate.    Marchfield  House,  near  Edinburgh. 

Dowie,  James,  Esq.     Strand 

Drake,  Francis,  Esq.,  F.G.S.     Leicester. 

Driver,  H.,  Esq.      Windsor. 

Drummond,  John,  Esq.      The  Boyle  Court,  Gloucester. 

}DuChaillu,M.PaulBelloni,F.R.G.S.,  (care  of)  129  Mount  Street,  W. 

Duncan,  Peter  Martin,   M.B.,   F.G.S.,   Secretary  of  the   Geological 

Society  of  London.     8  Belmont,  Lee,  S.E. 
Du  Val,  C.  A.,  Esq.      Carlton  Grove,    Greenhays,  Manchester , 
Duggan,  J.  R.,  Esq.     42  Waiting  Street,  E.C. 


*Eassie,  William,   Esq.,   F.L.S.,   F.G.S.      11    Park  Road,   Regent's 

Park,  N.W. 
Eeles,  Charles  William,  Esq.,  R.N.     H.M.S  Victoria. 
Evans,    E.    Bickerton,    Esq.       Whitboume   Hall,    Doddenham,    near 

Worcester. 
Evans,  John,  Esq.,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S. ,  F.S.A.,  Secretary  to  the  Numis- 
matic Society  of  London.     Nash  Mills,  Hemel  Hempstead, 
Ewart,  William,  Esq.      United  University  Club,  S.W. 
Eyre,  Sir  Edward  John.   Governor  of  Jamaica.   King's  House,  Jamaica. 
J^Fairbank,    Frederick    Royston,   Esq.,  M.D.,    F.E.S.     S.   Man/ s 

Terrace,  Hulme,  Manchester. 
Farmer,  Edmund,  Esq.     80  Cheapside,  E.C. 
^jFarrar,  Rev.  Frederic  W.,  M.A.,  F.E.S.     Harrow,  N.W. 
Fearon,  Frederick,  Esq.     13  Pall  Mall,  S.W. ;  and  Maidenhead. 
Ferguson,   William,    Esq.,    F.L.S.,    F.G.S.     (Of    Kinnendy,    Ellon, 

Aberdeen.)     2  S.  Aidan's  Terrace,  Birkenhead. 
Firby,  Edwin  Foxton,  Esq.      Gravelthorpe,  near  Ripon,  Yorkshire. 
Firebrace,  Frederick,  Esq.,  Lieutenant  Royal  Engineers.     Shomcliffe. 
Fleming,  Captain,  3rd  Hussars.       Cavalry  Barracks,  Manchester. 
Flight,  Walter,  Esq.      Queenivood  College,  near  Stockbridge,  Hants. 
Forrester,  Joseph  James,  Esq.     6  S.  Helen's  Place,  E.C. 
Foster,  Balthazar  W.,  Esq.,  M.D.,  Professor  of  Anatomy  at  Queen's 

College,  Birmingham.    55  Calthorpe  Street,  Edgbaston,  Birmingham. 
Foster,  M.,  Esq.,  M.D.     Huntingdon. 

Fraser,  Adolphus  Alexander,  Esq.      War  Office,  Pall  Mall. 
Freeman,  Henry  Stanhope,  Esq.,  Governor  of  Lagos.    27  Bury  Street, 

S.  James's. 
Freme,  Major.     Army  and  Navy  Glnh,  St.  James's  Square,  S.W. 
Freuler,  H.  Albert,  Esq.,  M.D.     North  Street,  S.  Andrew's. 
Fuller,  Stephen  D.,  Esq.     1  Eaton  Place,  S.W. 
Furnell,  M.  C,  Esq.,  M.D.      Cochin,  Madras  Presidency. 

Garrett,  William  H.,  Esq.     98  Guildford  Street,  W.C. 
Gardner,  Charles  Henry,  Esq.    5  Clarendon  Villas,  Loughboro  Park,  S. 
Georgei,  Professor.     18  Wimpole  Street,  Cavendish  Square,  W. 
f^Gibb,     George    Duncan,     Esq.,     M.D.,     LL.D.,     M.A.,     F.G.S. 

19a  Portman  Street,  Portman  Square,  W. 
Gibson,  G.  S.,  Esq.      Saffron  Walden. 
Glaucopides,  Spyridon,  Esq.     7  Maitland  Park  Crescent,  Haverstock 

Hill,  N. 

Glennie,  J.  Stuart,  Esq.     6  Stone  Buildings,  Lincoln's  Inn,  E.C. 

Goadby,  Edwin,  Esq.     Loughborough,  Leicestershire. 

Gooch,  Thomas,  Esq.     63  London  Wall,  City. 

%\  Gore,  Richard  Thos.,  Esq.,  F.R.C.S.,  F.E.S.  6  Queen's  Square,  Bath. 

Gay,  David,  Esq.     74  Cheapside,  E.C. 

Green,  Sidney  Faithhorn,  Esq.     Montagu  House,  Eltham,  Kent. 

Gregor,  Rev.  Walter,  M.A.    Pitsligo  Manse,  Rosehearty,  Aberdeenshire. 

Gregory,  J.  R.,  Esq.     25  Golden  Square,  W. 


Grifhts,  James  Oliff,  Esq.     3  Middle  Temple  Lane,  E.C 
\  Guppy,  H.  F.  J.,  Esq.      Port  of  Spain,  Trinidad. 

Hall,  Hugh  F.,  Esq.     17  Dale  Street,  Liverpool. 

Hammond,  C.  D.,  Esq.,  M.D.      1 1  Charlotte  Street,  Bedford  Sq.,  W.C 

Hancock,  H.  J.  B.,  Esq.     Duke's  Hill,  Bagshol. 

Hardman,  William,  Esq.     Norbiton  Hall,  Kingston-on-Thames,  S.W. 

Harcourt,  Clarence,  Esq.  2  King's  Arms  Yard,  E.C;  and  Cliff 
Villa,  Ladywell,  Lewisham. 

Harland,  Charles  J.,  Esq.     Madeira  Place,  Torquay. 

Harlin,  Thomas,  Esq.     Brook  Street,  Kingston  on  Thames. 

Harris,  George,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  Registrar  of  the  Court  of  Bankruptcy, 
Manchester.     Cornbrook  Park,  Hulme,  Manchester. 

Haughton,  Richard,  Esq.     Ramsgate. 

Hawkins,  A.  G.,  Esq.     88  Bishopsgate  Street  Without,  E.C. 

Hay,  Major  W.  E.      16  Queen  Street,  Mayfair,  S.W. 

Healey,  Edward  C,  Esq.     Joldivynds,  near  Dorking,  Surrey. 

Heath,  the  Rev.  Dunbar  I.,  F.R.S.L.     Esher,  Surrey. 

Hepworth,  John  Mason,  Esq.,  J. P.     Ackioorth,  Yorkshire. 

Hewlett,  Alfred,  Esq.      The  Grange,  Coppull,  near  Wigan. 

Higgin,  James,  Esq.     Hopivood  Avenue,  Manchester. 

f  Higgins,  Alfred,  Esq.,  Foreign  Associate  of  the  Anthropological 
Society  of  Paris.  Honorary  Foreign  Secretary.  4  S.Martin's 
Place,  W.C;  and  26  Manchester  Street,  W. 

Hillier,  J.,  Esq.     Sandwich. 

Hobbs,  W.  G.  E.,  Esq.    The  Grammar  School,  Wareside,  Ware,  Herts. 

Hobler,  F.  H.,  Esq.     Chemical  Department,  Royal  Arsenal,  Woohvich. 

Hodge,  Thomas,  Esq.     South  Street,  S.  Andrew's. 

Hodgson,  B.  H.,  Esq.      The  Rangers,  Dursley. 

Holland,  Colonel  James.     24  Princes  Square,  Hyde  Park. 

Horton,  W.  I.  S.,  Esq.,  F.R.A.S.,  F.E.S.      Talbot  Villa,  Rugeley. 

Hotze,  Henry,  Esq.,  C.S.A.     17  Savile  Row,  W. 

Hudson,  Professor  F.,  F.C.S.      68  Corporation  Street,  Manchester. 

Hudson,  Henry,  Esq.,  M.D.      Glenville,  Fermoy,  Co.  Cork. 

Hunt,  Augustus  H.,  Esq.     Birtley  House,  Chester-le- Street. 

Hunt,  G.  S.  Lennox,  Esq.,  F.E.S. ,  H.B.M.  Consul.     Rio  de  Janeiro. 

f^fHunt,  James,  Esq.,  Ph.D.,  F.S.A.,  F.R.S.L.,  Honorary  Foreign 
Secretary  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Literature  of  Great  Britain, 
Foreign  Associate  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris,  Corr. 
Mem.  of  Upper  Hesse  Society  for  Natural  and  Medical  Science, 
Honorary  Fellow  of  the  Ethnological;  Society  of  London.  Pre- 
sident. 4  S.  Martin's  Place,  W.C;  35  Jermyn  Street,  S.W.;  and 
Ore  House,  near  Hastings. 

Hunt,  John,  Esq.     42  North  Parade,  Grantham. 
Hutchinson,  Jonathan,  Esq.,  F.R.CS.     4  Finsbury  Circus,  E.C. 
Hutchinson,  T.  J.,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S.,   F.R.S.L.,  F.E.S.,  Membre  Titu- 
laire  de  llnstitut  d'Afrique  a.  Paris,  Corresponding  Member  of  the 
Literary  and  Philosophic  Society  of  Liverpool.     H.B.M.  Consul  at 
Rosario,  Argentine  Confederation. 


9 

Ioannides,  A.,  Esq.,  M.D.     8  Chepstoio  Place,  Bayswater,  W. 
Izard,  Frederick  R.,  Esq.     141  High  Holborn. 

Jackson,  Henry,  Esq.,  F.E.S.     S.  James1  Roto,  Sheffield. 
Jackson,  H.  W.,  Esq.,  M.R.C.S.     Surrey  County  Asylum,  Tooting. 
Jackson,  J.  Hughlings,  Esq.,  M.D.,  M.R.C.P.,  Professor  of  Physiology 

at  the  London  Hospital  Medical  College.     5  Queen  Square,  Russell 

Square,  W.C. 
JJackson,  J.  W.,  Esq.     39  S.  George's  Road,  Glasgoio. 
Jacob,  Major- General  Le  Grand,  C.B.     Bonchurch,  Isle  of  Wight. 
Jardine,  Sir  William,  Bart.,  F.R.S.,  F.L.S.     Jar  dine  Hall,  Lockerby. 
Jarratt,  The  Rev.  John,  M.A.     North  Cave,  Brough,  Yorkshire. 
Jeffery,  William  S.,  Esq.     5  Regent  Street,  Pall  Mall,  S.W. 
Jellicoe,  Charles,  Esq.     23  Chester  Terrace,  Regent's  Park,  N.W. 
-Mennings,  William,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S.      13  Victoria  Street,  S.W. 
Jenyns,  The  Rev.  Leonard,  M.A.,  F.L.S.,  F.G.S.     Darlington  Place, 

Bathwick,  Bath. 
Jessopp,  The  Rev.  J.,  M.A.,  Head  Master  King  Edward  the  Sixth's 

School.      The  School  House,  Norwich. 
Johnson,  Henry,  Esq.     39  Crutched  Friars. 
Johnson,  Henry  James,  Esq.     8  Suffolk  Place,  S.W. 
Johnson,  Richard,  Esq.     Langton  Oaks,  Falloiofield. 
Jones,  J.  Pryce,  Esq.      Grove  Park  School,   Wrexham. 
Jones,  C.  Treasure,  Esq.,  H.M.  Consul,  Shanghae.    British  Consulate, 

Shanghae. 
Jones,  W.  T.,  Esq.     1  Montague  Place,  Kentish  Toion,  N.W. 

Kelly,  William,  Esq.     28  Rue  Neuve  Ghaussee,  Boidogne-sur-Mer. 
Kemm,  the  Rev.  William  Henry,  B.A.     Swanswick,  near  Bath. 
Kendall,  T.  M.,  Esq.     St.  Margaret"1 ' s  Place,  King's  Lynn,  Norfolk. 
Killick,  Joshua  Edward,  Esq.      187  Strand,  W.C. 
|King,  Kelburne,  Esq.,  M.D.,  Lecturer  on  Anatomy,  Hull ;   Presi- 

sident  of  the  Hull  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society.     27  George 

Street,  Hull. 
Kinlay,  W.  R.  H.,  Esq.,  F.R.S.E.     2  Neiu  Smithills,  Paisley. 

La  Barte,  Rev.  W.  W.,  M.A.     St.  John's  College,  Newbury  (Berks). 
*^[Laing,    Samuel,   Esq.,  F.G.S.      6    Kensington    Gardens    Terrace, 

Hyde  Park,  W. 
Lampray,  Thomas,  Esq.      Warrior  Lodge,  The  Grore,  Hammersmith. 
Lancaster,  John,  Esq.,  F.G.S.     Hindley  Hall,  near  Wigan. 
Land,  T.  A.  Augustus,  Esq.     Bryanston  Street,  Bryanston  Square. 
Langley,  J.  N.,  Esq.     Moivbray  Park,  Wolverhampton. 
Lawrence,  Edward,  Esq.     Brachmount,  Aigburth,  Liverpool. 
Lawrence,  Frederick,  Esq.      Essex  Court,  Temple,  E.C. 
W  Lee,  Rd.,  Esq.      Wilmot  House,  Leeds  Road,  Bradford,  Yorkshire. 

A3 


10 

Lees,  Samuel,  Esq.     Portland  Place,  Ashton-under- Lyne. 

Leitner,  G.  W.,  Esq.,  M.A.,  Ph.D.,  F.R.A.S.,  F.E.S.,  F.P.S.,  Pro- 
fessor  of  Arabic  and  Mohammedan  Law,  and  Dean  of  the  Oriental 
Section,  King's  College,  London;  Hon.  Member  and  Master  of  the 
Free  German  Hochstift ;  Examiner  in  Oriental  Languages  at  the 
College   of  Preceptors.      Government  College,  Lahore,  India. 

Levy,  W.  Hanks,  Esq.,  Director  of  the  Association  for  Promoting  the 
General  Welfare  of  the  Blind;   127  Euston  Road,  W.C. 

Lister,  John,  Esq.,  F.G.S.  28  Porchester  Terrace,  Baysioater ;  and 
Shebdon  Sail,  near  Halifax,  Yorkshire. 

Lockyer,  J.  Norman,  Esq.,  F.R.A.S.,  M.R.I.  War  Office,  Pall 
Mall,  S.W.  ;  and  24  Victoria  Road,  Finchley  Road,  N.W. 

Longman,  William,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  F.R.S.L.,  F.R.G.S.  36  Hyde  Park 
Square,  W. 

Lonsdale,  Henry,  Esq.,  M.D.      Carlisle. 

Lord,  Edward,  Esq.      Canal  Street  Works,  Todmorden. 

Lucas,  Thomas,  Esq.  Belvedere  Road,  Lambeth,  S.;  and  10  Hyde 
Park  Gardens,  W. 

Lucy,  W.  C,  Esq.,  F.G.S.     Claremont  House,  Gloucester. 

Lukis,  Rev.  W.  C.      Wath  Rectory,  Ripon. 

Luxmoore,  Coryndon  H.,  Esq.,  F.S.  A.    18  S.  John's  Wood  Park,  N.W. 

Lybbe,  Philip  Powys  Lybbe,  Esq.,  M.P.     88  S.  James's  Street. 


M 'Arthur,  Alexander  Mc,  Esq.     Raleigh  Hall,  Brixton  Rise. 
Macclelland,  James,  Esq.     73  Kensington  Gardens  Square,  Baysioater. 
JM'Donald,  William,  Esq.,  M.D.,  F.L.S.,  F.G.S.,  Professor  of  Civil 

and  Nat.  Hist,  in  the  University  of  St.  Andrew's.      St.  Andrew's. 
McCallum,  Arthur  E„  Esq,,  39th  Madras  Native  Infantry.     (Care  of) 

Messrs.  Stnith,  Elder,  and  Co.,  Pall  Mall,  S.W. 
McDonnell,  John,  Esq.,  F.C.S.L.     Clare  Villa,  Rathmines,  Dublin. 
McHenry,  George,  Esq.    (Care  of)  17  Savile  Row,  W. 
Mackenzie,  Kenneth  Robert  Henderson,  Esq.,  F.S. A.     Orford  House, 

Chisivick  Mall,  W. 
Mackinder,  Draper,  Esq.,  M.D.      Gainsborough. 
Mackintosh,  Charles  E.,  Esq.     New  Cross,  S.E. 
Macleay,  George,  Esq.,  F.L.S.     Hyde  Park  Gardens. 
McLeod,  Walter,  Esq.     Military  Hospital,  Chelsea,  S.W. 
Marsden,  Robert  C,  Esq.     14  Hanover  Terrace,  Regent's  Park,  N.W. 
Marshall,  George  W.,  Esq.,  L.L.B.     118  Jermyn  Street,  S.W. ;  and 

Neiv  University  Club,  S.  James's  Street,  S.W. 
Marshall,  Robert,  Esq.     Haverstock  Villa,  Haverstock  Hill,  N. 
Martin,   Sir  J.   Ranald,  F.R.S.      24    Upper  Brook  Street,  W.;    and 

Key  dell,  near  Homdean,  Hants. 
Martin,  John,  Esq.,  F.L.S.,  F.G.S.     Cambridge  House,  Portsmouth. 
Martindale,  N.,  Esq.      The  Lodge,  Clapham  Common,  S. 
Mathieson,  James,  Esq.     1a  Telegraph  Street,  Bank,  E.C.;    and  22 

Belitha  Villas,  Barnsbury  Park,  N. 


11 

Matthews,  Henry,  Esq.     30  Gower  Street,  W.C. 

Mayall,  J.  E.,  Esq.      The  Grove,  Pinner. 

Mayson,  John  S.,  Esq.      Oak  Hill,  near  Fallowfield,  Manchester. 

Medd,  William  H.,  Esq.      The  Mansion  House,  Stockport. 

Messenger,  Samuel,  Esq.     Birmingham. 

Michie,  Alexander,   Esq.,    F.R.G.S.     26  Austin  Friars,    E.C. ;    and 

Shanghae,  China.     (Care  of)  Messrs.  Smith,  Elder,  and  Go. 
Mill,  John,  Esq.      1  Foundling  Terrace,  W.C. ;  and  Gresham  House 

City,  E.C. 
Milligan,  Joseph,  Esq.,  M.D.,  F.G.S.,  F.L.S.      15  Northumberland 

Street,  Strand,  W.C;  and  Royal  Society  of  Tasmania,  Hobart  Town. 
Milner,  W.  R.,  Esq.      Wakefield. 

f*  Milton,  The  Right  Honourable  the  Lord  Viscount,  F.R.G.S. 
4  Grosvenor  Square,  W.C. 

Mirrlees,  J.  B.,  Esq.     Sauchiehall,  Glasgoiv. 

Mitchell,  Wm.  Hen.,  Esq.  Junior  Carlton  Club;  and  Hamp stead,  N.W. 

Mitchell,     William    Stephen,     Esq.      Gonville    and    Caius     College, 

Cambridge ;    New    Universitg    Club,  S.    James's   Street;    and    S. 

George's  Lodge,  Bath. 

Mivart,  St.  George  J.,  Esq.,  F.L.S. ,  M.R.I.  (Care  of)  Royal  Institu- 
tion, Albemarle  Street,  and  North  Bank,  N.W. 

Modeliar,  C.  Poorooshottum,  Esq.  33  Western  Villas,  Blomfield 
Road,  Padding  ton,  W. 

Monk,  Frederick  William,  Esq.     Faversham. 

Montgomerie,  F.  B.,  Esq.  2  Cleveland  Roto,  S.  James's,  S.W. ;  and 
Conservative  Club,  St.  James's  Street,  S.W. 

Moon,  the  Rev.  M.  A.     Cleator,  Whitehaven. 

Moore,   J.  Daniel,   Esq.,    M.D.,   F.L.S.       County  Lunatic  Asylum, 

Lancaster. 
Moore,  John,  Esq.     104  Bishopsgate  Street,  E.C. 
Moore,  George,  Esq.,  M.D.     Hartlepool. 
Morgan,  Fortescue  J.,  Esq.     High  Street,  Stamford. 
JMorris,  David,  Esq.,  F.S.A.     Market  Place,  Manchester. 
Morris,  J.  P.,  Esq.      Ulverstone. 

Morison,  J.  Cotter,  Esq.,  F.R.S.L.    7 For chester  Square,  Baysivater,W . 
Morshead,  Edward  John,  Esq.      War  Office,  Pall  Mall,  S.W. 
Mortimer,  John,  Esq.     Pippingham  Park,  Uckfield,  S. 
Mould,  The  Rev.  Joseph,  M.A.   16  Bernard  Street,  Russell  Sq.,  W.C. 
Mosheimer,  Joseph,  Esq.      10  Alexander  Square,  Brompton,  S.W.; 

and  11  Newton  Street,  Manchester. 
Muller,  Prof.  August.     Konigsberg,  Prussia. 

Murphy,  Edward  W.,  Esq.    41  Cumberland  Street,  Bryanstone  Sq.,  W. 
Musgrave,  John  George,  Esq.     Andover. 

Naoroji,  Dadabhai,  Esq.     32  Great  S.  Helen's,  E.C. 

Nash,  D.  W.,  Esq.     21  Bentinck  Street,  Manchester  Square. 

'I  Nesbitt,  George,  Esq.     4  St.  Nicholas  Buildings,  Newcastle-on-  Tyne. 


12 

Newmarch,    William,    Esq.,    F.L.S.       17    Palace    Gardens    Terrace, 

Notting  Hill,  W. 
Newnham,  The  Rev.  P.  H.,  M.A.    9  Belvedere  Terrace,  Tunbridge  Wells. 
Newton,  Henry,  Esq.      13  Hood  Street,  Neiccastle-  on-Tyne. 
Nicholson,  Sir  Charles,   Bart.,  D.C.L.,   LL.D.,  F.G.S.      19  Portland 

Place,  W.C. 
Nicholson,    John    Peede    Segrave    Carington,    Esq.       Castle   Home, 

Whittlesea,  Cambridgeshire. 
Noel,  The  Hon.  Roden.      Warlies,  Wallliam  Abbey. 
Noldwritt,  J.  S.,  Esq.     5  Water  Lane,  Tower  Street,  E.C. 
North,  Samuel  W.,  Esq.      York. 
f  North,  George,  Esq.     4  Dane's  Inn,  W.C. 

O'Connor,   Colonel   L.    Smyth,    Inspecting    Field    Officer.     Belfast; 

Union  Club,  Trafalgar  Square ;  and  United  Service  Club,  Pall  Mall, 

S.W. 
Ogston,  G.  H.,  Esq.     Mincing  Lane,  E.C. 
O'Sullivan,  The  Honourable  J.  L.  (of  New  York),  late  U.S.  Minister 

to  Portugal.      7  Park  Street,  Grosvenor  Square. 
Osborne,  Major  J.  W.  Willoughby,   C.B.,  F.G.S.     SeJwre  Residency, 

India.     (Care  of)  Messrs.  Grindlay  and  Co.,  55  Parliament  Street. 
Owen,  Robert  Briscoe,  Esq.,  M.D.,  F.L.S.     Haulfre,  Beaumaris. 
Owen,    H.    Burnard,    Esq.,   F.R.S.L.,   F.R.G.S.      72    Gower   Street, 

Bedford  Square,  W.C. 
Owen,  Captain  Samuel  R.  John,  P.H.  Ass.  King's  College,  London. 

113a  Strand. 

Packman,  J.  D.  V.,  Esq.,  F.L.S.     Braughing,  Ware,  Herts. 

X  Palmer,  S.,  Esq.,  M.D.,  F.S.A.     London  Road,  Neivbury. 

Parker,  J.  W.,  Esq.      Warren  Corner  House,  near  Farnham. 

Parnell,  John,  Esq.      Upper  Clapton,  S. 

Parry,  Dashwood  G.,  Esq.      Hope,  near  Wrexham. 

Peacock,    Edward,    Esq  ,    F.S.A.     Bottesford    Manor,    Lincolnshire. 

\  Peacock,  Thomas  Bevill,  Esq.,  M.D.     20  Finsbury  Circus,  E.C. 

Peiser,  John,  Esq.     Barnsfield  House,  Oxford  Street,  Manchester. 

jPengelly,  William,  Esq.,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S.     Lamoma,  Torquay. 

Perrin,  John  Beswick,  Esq.     Ivy  House,  Abram,  near  Wigan. 

Perry,  Gerald,  Esq.,  H.M.  Consul.     French  Guiana. 

Petherick,  Horace  W.,  Esq.     2  Denmark  Villas,  Wadron  End  Road, 

Croydon,  S. 
Piesse,  G.  W.  Septimus,  Esq.,  Ph.D.,  F.C.S.     Chiswick,  W. 
f^Pike,  Luke  Owen,  Esq.,  M.A.    25  Carlton  Villas,  Maida  Vale,  W. 
Pinkerton,  W.,  Esq.,  F.S.A.     Hounsloiv,  W. 
Plummer,  Charles.     21  Old  Square,  Lincoln' 's  Inn,   W.C. 
Prigg,  Henry,  Esq.,  jun.     Bury  St.  Edmunds. 
\  \  Pritchard,  William  T.,  Esq.     Spring  Hill,  Birmingham. 

Radcliffe,  John,  Esq.      Oldham. 

Rae,  James,  Esq.     32  Phillimore  Gardens,  Kensington,  W. 


13 

Ramsay,  A.,  jun.,  Esq.     45  Norland  Square,  Notting  Hill,  W. 

Rankin,  G,  C,  Esq.      Conservative  Club,  S.W. 

Ratcliff,     Charles,     Esq.,     F.L.S.,    F.S.A.,     F.G.S.,    F.E.S.       The 

Wyddringtons,  Edgbaston,  Birmingham. 
f^Reade,    William   Winwood,    Esq.,    F.R.G.S.,   Corr.   Mem.  Geo- 
graphical Society  of  Paris.      Conservative  Club,  S.W. 
\  ^[  Reddie,  James,  Esq.     The  Admiralty,  Somerset  House,  W.C. ;  and 

Bridge  House,  Hammersmith,  W. 
Renshaw,  Charles  J.,  Esq.,  M.D.     Ashton- on- Mersey,  Manchester. 
Ricardo,  M.,  Esq.     Brighton. 

Richards,  Franklin,  Esq.     12  Addison  Crescent,  Kensington,  W. 
Richards,  Colonel.      Wyndham  Clnb,  St.  James's. 
Richardson,  Charles,  Esq.     Almondsbury,  Bristol. 
Riddell,  H.  B.,  Esq.      The  Palace,  Maidstone. 
|  ^f  Roberts,    George    E.,    Esq.,    F.G.S.,    Foreign   Associate    of   the 

Anthropological    Society    of     Paris.        Honorary    Secretary. 

Geological  Society,    Somerset  House,    W.C;    7   Caversham   Road, 

N.W.;  and  5  Bull  Ring,  Kidderminster. 
Robertson,  Alexander,  Esq.      Chantrey  Parle,  Sheffield. 
Robertson,  D.  B.,  Esq.,  H.M.  Consul,  Canton.     Canton.     (Care  of 

Messrs.  Smith,  Elder,  and  Co.,  Pall  Mall.) 
Rock,  James,  Esq.,  jun.     St.  Leonard'' s-on-Sea. 
Rogers,  Alfred  S.,  Esq.,  L.D.S.     St.  John's  Street,  Manchester. 
f  Rolph,  George  Frederick,  Esq.,  M.A.C.R.      War  Office,  Pall  Mall, 

S.W. ;  and  10  Leinster  Square,  Bayswater. 
Roussillon,  The  Duke  of.      17  Weymouth  Street,  Portland  Place,  W. 
Routh,  E.  J.,  Esq.,  F.G.S.     8.  Peter's  College,  Cambridge. 
f  Ruffieres,  Charles  Robert  des,  Esq.,  F.G.S. ,  F.E.S.      Wilmot  Lodge, 

Rochester  Roto,  Camden  Town,  N.W. 
Ruskin,  V.,  Esq.  Northtoich,  Cheshire. 
Russell,  Captain  A.H.     Haioke's  Bay,  Napier,  New  Zealand. 

Sanders,  Alfred,  Esq.     22  Beaufort  Villas,  Brixton,  S. 

Saint  David's,   The  Right  Rev.  Connop  Thirlwall,   the  Lord  Bishop 

of,  President  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Literature!     Abergwyli  Palace, 

near  Carmarthen ;  and  1  Regent  Street,  W. 
St.  John,  Spencer,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S.     H.M.  Consul.     Hayti. 
Salmon,  William,  Esq.,  F.G.S.      Ulver stone. 
Salting,  William,  Esq.      13  King's  Bench  Walk,  Temple,  E.G. 
Sanderson,  Alfred  W.,  Esq.      16  Archibald  Street,  Boio,  E. 
\  «[f  Schvarcz,  Julius,  Esq.,  Ph.D.,  F.G.S.,  Corr.  Mem.  E.S.,  Member 

of  the  Hungarian  Academy  of  Sciences.    Stuhhveissenberg,  Hungary. 
Schwabe,  E.  S.,  Esq.     Rhodes  Terrace,  Manchester. 
Scott,  The  Rev.  Robert  S.,  M.A.      7  Beaufort  Terrace,  Cecil  Street, 

Manchester. 

Scott,  Wentworth  L.,  Esq.,  F.C.S.      12  Cornwall  Villas,  Bayswater. 
fSeemann,  Berthold,  Esq.,  Ph.D.,  F.L.S.,  F.R.G.S.,  Adjunct  Prte- 

sidii    of    the     Imperial    L.     C.    Academia    Naturae    Curiosorum. 

Vice-President.     22  Canonbury  Square,  Islington,  N. 


14 

Selwyn,  the  Reverend  William,  D.D.,  Canon  of  Ely,  Lady  Margaret's 

Reader  in  Theology,  Cambridge. 
Seymour,  George,  Esq.     94  Cambridge  Street,  Pimlico. 
Sharp,  Peter,  Esq.      Oakfield,  Ealing,  W. 

Sharp,  Samuel,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  F.G.S.     D  ailing  ton  Hall,  Northampton. 
Sharpe,  W.  J.,  Esq.     Beulah  Spa  Villa,  Norwood,  S. 
Shaw,  Alexander  Mackintosh,  Esq.     Clifford  Terrace,  Leicester  Street, 

Southport. 
Sheridan,  H.  B.,  Esq.,  M.P.     S.  Peter's,  Margate. 
^f  Shortt,  John,  Esq.,  M.D.,  Zillah  Surgeon.      Chingleput,  Madras. 
Shute,  Thomas  R.  G.,  Esq.      The  Rookery,   Watford. 
Skene,  J.  H.,  Esq.,  Her  Majesty's  Consul.     Aleppo. 
Skues,  Dr.  Mackenzie,  Surgeon  H.M.  109th  Regiment.     Aden. 
Silva-Ferro,   Don    Ramon   de,    F.G.S.,    F.R.G.S.,    Consul    for   the 

Republic  of  Chile.     21a  Hanover  Square,  W. 
St.  Clair,  George,  Esq.,  F.G.S. ,    F.E.S.     Banbury. 
Smith,  Abell,  Esq.      1  Great  George  Street,   Westminster,  S.W. 
Smith,  Sir  Andrew,  M.D.     51  Thurloe  Square,  W. 
Smith,    John,    Esq.,    F.E.S.      1    Great   George  Street,    Westminster, 

S.W. 
Smith,  Protheroe,  Esq.,  M.D.     25  Park  Street,  W. 
Smith,  Thomas,  Esq.,  M.D.     Portland  House,  Cheltenham. 
Smith,  T.  J.,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  F.C.S.     Hessle,  near  Hull. 
Smith,  W.,  Esq.     6  Stockport  Road,  Manchester. 

Smith,  Wm.  Nugent,  Esq.     Apsley  Lodge,  Wellington  Road,  Brighton. 
Smyth,  John,  Esq.,  jun.     Milltown,  Banbridge. 
Snell,    George   Blagrove,   Esq.      24  Lower  Calthorpe  Street,   Gray's 

Lnn  Road,  W.C. 
Solly,  Samuel,  Esq.,  F.R.C.S.     6  Savile  Roiv,  W. 
Southesk,   The  Right  Honourable  the   Earl   of,    F.R.S.      Kinnaird 

Castle,  Brechin,  N.B. 
Spark,  H.  K.,  Esq.      Colliery  Office,  Darlingtoti. 
Spencer,  W.  H.,  Esq.     High  Wycombe,  Bucks. 
Spencer,     Peter,     Esq.        Pendleton    Alum    Works,    Newton   Heath, 

Manchester. 
Spooner,  The  Rev.  Edward,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Ph.D.,  M.R.H.S.L.,  etc. 

The  Parsonage,  Brechin,  N.B. 

Spry,  Francis  R.,  Esq.,  Ph.L.     Ashford,  Hornsey,  N. 

;[Stanbridge,  W.  E.,  Esq.      Wombat,   Victoria,  Australia. 

*  Stanley,    The   Right   Honourable  the  Lord,  M.P.,    F.R.S.     23  S. 
James's  Square,  S.W. 

Stanley,  The  Hon.  John,  Lieut. -Col.      Guards'  Club,  Pall  Mall. 

Stenning,  Charles,  Esq.     4  Westbourne  Park  Place,  Bayswater,  W. 

Stevenson,  John,  Esq.     4  Brougham  Street,  Edinburgh. 

Stirrup,  Mark,  Esq.      3  Withington  Terrace,  Moss-side,  Manchester. 

Stone,  Alderman  D.  H.     33  Poultry,  E.C. 

Strachan,  John,  Esq.      1  Avondale  Place,  Glasgoiv. 


15 

Sturman,  Edward,  Esq.      Camden  House,  Sydenham  Parle. 
Sydenham,  D.,  Esq.     104  Edgivare  Road,  W. 

Tate,  A.  Norman,  Esq.     Ramsey,  Isle  of  Man. 

Taylor,  W.,  Esq.     High  Garrett,  Booking,  Essex. 

Taylor,  W.  E.,  Esq.     Millfield  House,  Enfield,  near  Accrington. 

Tenison,  E.  T.  Ryan,  Esq.,  M.D.    9  Keith  Terrace,  Shepherd's  Bush,  W. 

Thin,  Robert,  Esq.      13  Hill  Place,  Edinburgh. 

^Thompson,  F.,  Esq.     South  Parade,  Wakefield. 

Thompson,  Joseph,  Esq.     Beech  Grove,  Bowdon,  near  Manchester . 

Thurnam,  John,  Esq.,  M.D.,  F.S.A.,  F.E.S.     Devizes. 

Tinsley,  E.,  Esq.      Catherine  Street,  Strand. 

Travers,  S.  Smith,  Esq.     Swithin's  Lane,  E.C. 

f  Travers,     William,     Esq.,     F.R.C.S.,     L.R.C.P.       Charing     Cross 

Hospital,  W.C. 
Trevelyan,  Arthur,  Esq.,  J. P.      Teinholm,  Tranent,  N.B. 
Triibner,  Nicolas,  Esq.     60  Paternoster  Row,  E.C. 
Tuckett,  Charles,  Esq.,  jun.     British  Museum,  W.C. 
Tylor,  Edward  Burnet,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S.    Linden,  Wellington,  Somerset. 

j-Vaux,  William  Sandys  Wright,  Esq.,  M.A.,  F.S.A.,  F.  &  Hon.  Sec. 

R.S.L.,  Pres.  Numismatic  Society  of  London.     British  Museum, 

W.C. 
Vernon,  George  Venables,  Esq.,  F.R.A.S.,  M.B.M.S.,  Mem.  Met.  Soc. 

Scot.,  Mem.  de  la  Societe  Meteorologique  de  la  France.      Old  Traf- 

fiord,  Manchester. 

^[Wake,  Charles  Staniland,  Esq.     16  Oxford  Road,  Kilburn,  N.W. 

Walker,  Robert,  Esq.     42  Carnarvon  Street,  Glasgow. 

Walker,   Robert  Bruce    Napoleon,   Esq.      10  Miborne  Grove   West, 

Brompton. 
Walsh,  Sir  John  Benn,  Bart.,   M.P.     28  Berkeley  Square,  W. ;    and 

Carlton  Club,  Pall  Mall,  S.W. 
Walton,  J.  W.,  Esq.     21b  Savile  Roio,  W. 
Warwick,    Richard    Archer,    Esq.,   M.D.,    M.R.C.P.      5   Hill   Rise, 

Richmond,  S.W. 
Washbourn,   Buchanan,   Esq.,  M.D.,  M.R.C.P.,  F.S.S.     East   Gate 

House,  Gloucester. 
Waterfleld,  O.  F.,  Esq.      Temple  Grove,  East  Sheen,  S.W. 
Watson,  Samuel,  Esq.,  F.E.S.      12  Bouverie  Street,  E.C. 
Watts,  J.  King,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S.     St.  Ives,  Hunts. 
Westropp,  Hodder  M.,  Esq.     Rookhurst,  Monktown,  Cork. 
Whitehead,  J.  B.,  Esq.     Oakley  House,  Rawtenstall,  near  Manchester. 
Whitehead,  Peter  O.,  Esq.     Holly  House,  Rawtenstall. 
Whitehead,  Thomas  K.,  Esq.     Holly  Mount,  Raiotenstall. 
Wickes,  Henry  William,  Esq.     Pixfield,  Bromley,  Kent. 
Wickes,  Thomas  Haines,  Esq.     Pixfield,  Bromley,  Kent. 


16 

Williams,  Eric,  Esq.     Newton  Mouse,  Kensington,  W. 

Williams,  Thomas,  Esq.,  M.D.,  F.R.S.     Sioansea. 

Wilson,  William  Newton,  Esq.     144  High  Holborn,  E.C. 

Windus,  Commander,  A.  T.,  H.M.  late  Indian  Navy.    14  St.  James's 

Square. 
Witt,  George,  Esq.,  F.R.S.     22  Prince's  Terrace,  Hyde  Parle,  S.W. 
Wittich,  Prof.  von.     Konigsberg,  Prussia. 
Wollaston,  George,  Esq.     1  Barnepark  Terrace,  Teignmouth. 
Woodd,  Charles  H.  L.,  Esq.,  F.G.S.     Roslyn,  Hampstead,  N.W. 
Wood,  F.  Henry,  Esq.     Hollin  Hall,  near  Ripon,  Yorkshire. 
Wood,  the  Rev.  William  S.,  D.D.      The  School,  Oakham,  Rutland. 
Wright,  William  Cort,  Esq.      Whalley  Range,  Manchester. 

Yonge,  Robert,  Esq.,   F.L.S.,  Hon.  Mem.  York  Phil.   Soc.      Grey- 
stones,  Sheffield. 


HONORARY     FELLOWS. 

Agassiz,  M.  Louis,  Professor  of  Zoology  at  Yale  College,  Cambridge, 

Mass.,  U.S.,  For.  Mem.  G.S.      Cambridge,  Massachusets,  U.S. 
Boudin,   M.,   Medecin  en   Chef  de   FHopital    Militaire    St.   Martin. 

210  Rue  de  Rivoli,  Paris. 
^]  Broca,  M.  Paul,  Secretaire-general  a  la  Societe  d' Anthropologic  de 

Paris.      1  Rue  des  Saintsperes,  Paris. 
Baer,  Von,  M.  Carl  Ernst,  Foreign  Associate  of  the  Anthropological 

Society  of  Paris.     St.  Petersburg. 
Boucher    de   Crevecceur    de    Perthes,    M.,   Honorary  Fellow  of  the 

Anthropological  Society  of   Paris,  Foreign   Correspondent  of  the 

Geological  Society  of  London.     Abbeville. 
^JCarus,  Professor  C.  G.,  Comes  Palatinus,  President  of  the  Imperial 

L.  C.  Academia  Naturse  Curiosorum.     Dresden. 
Crawfurd,  John,   Esq.,   F.R.S.,    Vice-President  of  the  Ethnological 

Society  of  London,  F.R.G.S.,  etc.     Athenaeum  Club. 
Dareste,  M.  Camille,    Secretaire    de  la    Societe   d' Anthropologic  de 

Paris.     Rue  de  V  Abb aye,  Paris. 
Darwin,    Charles,     Esq.,    M.A.,     F.R.S. ,     F.L.S.,    F.G.S.       Down, 

Bromley,  Kent. 
Eckhard,  M.,  Professor  of  Physiology  at  the  University  of  Giessen. 

Giessen. 
Gratiolet,  M.  Pierre,  D.  M.  P.,  President  de  la  Societe  d'Anthropologie 

de  Paris.      15  Rue  Guy  Labrosse,  Paris. 
Kingsley,     The    Rev.     Charles,     M.A.,    F.L.S.,    F.G.S.,    Rector    of 

Eversley,    Professor  of  Modern  History  in  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge.    Eversley,  near  Winchfield,  Hants. 
Lartet,  M.  Edouard,  For.  Member  G.S.     15  Rue  Lacepede,  Paris. 
Lawrence,  Wm.,  Esq.,  F.R.S.,  F.R.C.S.     18,  Whitehall  Place,  S.W. 
Lucae,  Dr.  J.  C.  S.     Frankfort. 


n 

Lyell,  Sir  Charles,  Bart.,  D.C.L.,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  V.P.G.S.,  Eq.  Ord. 
Boruss.  "pour  le  merite,"  Hon.M. R.S.Ed.,  F.S.L.,  President 
of  the  British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science. 
53  Harley  Street,  W. 

Meigs,  Dr.  J.  Aitken,  Foreign  Associate  of  the  Anthropological 
Society  of  Paris.     Philadelphia. 

Milne-Edwards,  Dr.  Henry,  Member  of  the  Institute,  For.  Mem. 
R.S.,  For.  Mem.  G.S.,  Professor  of  Natural  History,  Jardin  des 
Plantes.     Paris. 

Nott,  Dr.  J.  C,  Foreign  Associate  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of 
Paris.     Mobile  ( Alabama,  C. S.A.J 

Owen,  Richard,  Esq.,  D.C.L.,  LL.D.,  F.R.C.S.E.,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S., 
F.L.S.,  Hon.  M.R.S.Ed.,  Hon.  F.R.  College  of  Surgeons  of  Ireland, 
Eq.  Ord.  Boruss.  "pour  le  merite,"  Foreign  Associate  of  the 
Anthropological  Society  of  Paris,  Chev.  Leg.  Hon.  Institut 
(Imp.  Acad.  Sci.)  Paris,  Director  of  the  Natural  History  Depart- 
ment, British  Museum.  British  Museum ;  and  Sheen  Lodge, 
Richmond  Park,  S.W. 

Pruner-Bey,  M.,  Vice-President  de  la  Societe  d' Anthropologic. 
28,  Place  St.  Victor,  Paris. 

Quatrefages,  M.  Alphonse  de,  Professor  of  Anthropology  in  the 
Museum  of  Natural  History,  Paris.    Rue  Geoffroy  St.  Hilaire,  Paris. 

Renan,  M.,  Membre  Honoraire  de  la  Societe  d' Anthropologic  55 
Rue  Madame,  Paris. 

Van  der  Hoeven,  Professor.     Leyden. 

Vogt,  Professor  Carl,  Professor  of  Natural  History.     Geneva. 

Wright,  Thomas,  Esq.,  M.A.,  F.S.A.,  Hon.  F.R.S.L.,  Corr.  Mem.  of 
the  Imperial  Academy  of  Paris,  Honorary  Secretary  of  the  Ethno- 
logical Society  of  London.     14  Sydney  Street,  Bromptoti,  S.W. 


CORRESPONDING-     MEMBERS. 

Briicke,  Dr.     Vienna. 

Buchner,  Dr.  Ludwig.     Darmstadt. 

^[Burgholzhausen,  Count  A.  F.  Marschall  von,  For.  Corr.  G.S.,  Cham- 

bellain  de  l'Empereur.     Wollzeil,  Vienna. 
Burmeister,  Hermann.     Buenos  Ayres. 
Buschmann,  Professor.     Berlin. 
Castelnau,  M.  de.     Paris. 
Dally,  Dr.  E.     Paris. 

Desnoyers,  M.  Jules,  For.  Corr.  G.S.     Paris. 
Dorn,  General  Bernard.     St.  Petersburg. 
D'Omalius  d'Halloy,  Professor,  For.  Mem.  G.S.     Brussels. 
Duhousset,  M.  le  Commandant.     (French  Army  in  the)  Atlas. 
Gervais,  M.  Dr.,  For.  Corr.  G.S.     Montpellier. 
Giglioli,  Professor.     Pavia. 
Gosse,  M.  A.  L.  (pere).     Geneva. 
Gosse,  M.  H.  J.     Geneva. 


18 

His.  Prof.     Basle. 

Hochstetter,  Professor  von.     Vienna. 

Hyrtl,  Professor,  Vienna. 

Kaup,  Professor,  Dr.,  For.  Corr.  G.S.     Darmstadt. 

Leuckart,  M.     Giessen. 

Martin -Magr on,  M.     26  Rue  Madame,  Paris. 

Moleschott,  Prof.     Turin. 

Morlot,  M.,  For.  Corr.  G.S.     Berne. 

Nicolucci,  Prof.     Naples. 

Pictet,  Prof.  F.  G.,  For.  Corr.  G.S.     Geneva. 

Pouchet,  George  M.     Rouen. 

Raimondy,  Professor.     Lima. 

Reichert,  M. 

Rickard,  Major  Francis  Ignacio,  F.G.S.,  F.C.S.     Argentine  Republic. 

21a  Hanover  Square. 
Riitimeyer,  Professor.     Basle. 
Scherzer,  Dr.  Carl  von.     Vienna. 
Schlagintweit,  Hermann  de.     Paris. 
Steinhauer,  Herr  Carl.     Copenhagen. 
Steenstrup,  Professor,  Dr.,  For.  Corr.  G.S.     Copenhagen. 
Thomsen,  Le  Chevalier.     Copenhagen. 
Uhde,  C.  W.  F.  Herr.     Berlin. 

Vibraye,  Marquis  de,  For.  Corr.  G.S.     Abbeville  and  Paris. 
Welcker,  Dr.  H.,  Professor.     Halle. 
"Wilson,  Professor  Daniel.     Toronto. 
"Worsaae,  Professor.     Copenhagen. 


LOCAL    SECEETAEIES    (GREAT    BRITAIN). 

Bedfordshire  Higham  Ferrars... Rev. W.  Monk,  M.A.,  F.S.A.,  F.R.A.S. 

Berkshire Newbury J.  Palmer,  Esq.,  M.D.,  P.A.S.L. 

Cheshire    Bebbington Craig  Gibson,  Esq.,  M.D. 

Devonshire  Torquay W.  Pengelly,  Esq.,    F.R.S.,   F.G.S., 

F.A.S.L.,  Lamorna,  nr.  Torquay. 

Dorsetshire Bradford  Abbas,     Professor  Buckman,  F.L.S.,  F.C.S. 

near  Sherborne. 

Poole   Frederick  Travers,  Esq. 

Wareham Charles  Groves,  Esq. 

Durham Stockton-on-Tees. .  .Dr.  Farquharson. 

Gloucestershire  ...Pendock,      near    Rev.  W.  S.  Symonds,  F.G.S. 

Tewkesbury. 
Hampshire     Isle  of  Wight Hyde  Pullen,  Esq. 

Kent   Chatham Rev.   H.   F.   Rivers,   M.A.,   Luton, 

near  Chatham. 

Lancashire   Liverpool W.  G.  Helsby,  Esq.,  Crosby  Green 

New  Derby. 


19 

Lancashire  Manchester Dr.  F.  Royston  Fairbank,  F.A.S.L., 

St.  Mary's  Terrace,  Hulme. 
David  Morris,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  Market 
Place. 

Northumberland... Alnwick  George  Tate,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  Secretary 

to  the  Berwickshire  Naturalists' 
Field  Club,  Corresponding  Mem- 
ber of  the  Soc.  of  Antiq.  Scotl. 

Newcastle    George  Nesbitt,  Esq.,  F.A.S.L.,  4  St. 

Nicholas  Buildings. 

Oxfordshire Oxford The   Rev.   Joseph   Bosworth,   D.D., 

F.R.S.,  F.S.A.,  20  Beaumont  Sq. 

Banbury George  St.Clair,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,F.A.S.L., 

F.E.S. 

Somersetshire Bath    R.  T.  Gore,  Esq  ,  F.A.S.L.,  F.R.C.S., 

6  Queen's  Square,  Bath. 

Staffordshire Wolverhampton  ...Charles  Alfred  Rolph,  Esq.,  Waterloo 

Road. 

Sussex    Blastings Thomas  Tate,  Esq.,  F.R.A.S.,  Essex 

Cottage,  Fairlight. 

Brighton S.  E.    Collingwood,   Esq.,   F.A.S.L.j 

47  York  Road. 

Warwickshire Birmingham  W.    T.    Pritchard,    Esq.,    F.R.G.S., 

F.A.S.L.,  Spring  Hill. 

Warwick The  Rev.  P.  B.  Brodie,  M.A.,  F.L.S., 

F.G.S.,The  Yicarage,  Rowington. 

Yorkshire Bradford R.  Lee,  Esq.,  F. A.S.L.,  Wilmot  House, 

Leeds  Road. 

Bull Kelburne  King,  Esq.,  M.D.,  F.A.S.L., 

27  George  Street,  Hull. 

Lanarkshire Glasgow  J.    W.    Jackson,    F.A.S.L.,    39    St. 

George's  Road,  Glasgow. 
Fifeshire St.  Andrew's  Prof.  W.  Macdonald,  F.L.S.,  F.G.S., 

F.A.S.L.,  Prof.  Civ.  &  Nat.  Hist,, 

St.  Andrew's. 
Hebrides  Islay    Hector   Maclean,    Esq.,   Ballygrant, 

Islay. 

Ulster    Belfast Brice  Smyth,  Esq.,  M.D.,  13  College 

Square. 

Connaught Galway    .....W.  King,  Esq.,  Professor  of  Geology, 

»  Queen's  College. 


LOCAL    SECRETAKIES    (ABKOAD). 

Africa  (West  Coast)  Du  Chaillu,  M.  Paul  Belloni,  F.A.S.L. 

(care  of  129  Mount  Street,  W.) 

Algeria Thomas  Callaway,  M.R.C.S.  (Exam.) 

1S44,  F.R.C.S.  (Exam.)  1847, 
Mem.  Fac.  Med.  Algeria  (Exam.) 
1862,  Mem.  Med.-Chir.  Soc.  Lond. 
Maison  Limozin,  Place  Besson, 
Algiers.  Care  of  Montague 
Gossett,Esq.,4  Coleman  St.,  City. 


20 

Argentine  Republic. Buenos  Ayres  ...Facundo  Carulla,  Esq.,  F.A.S.L. 

Austria Vienna    M.  Franciscus  Miklosich. 

Hungary Dr.  Julius  Schvarcz,  F.G.S.,  F.A.S.L,. 

Member  of  the  Hungarian  Acad. 
Sciences.     Stuhlweissenburg. 

Prague    < Dr.  Anton  Fritsch,  Director  of  the 

National  Museum  of  Bohemia. 

Belgium Brussels  M.  Octave  Delepierre. 

John  Jones,  Esq. 

Borneo   Sarawak Edward  Price  Houghton,  Esq.,  M.D., 

M.R.C.S. 

British  Columbia  Captain  Edward  Stamp. 

Canada  Montreal George  E.  Fenwick,  Esq.,  M.D. 

Labrador. The  Rev.  C.  Linder. 

Toronto    Professor  Hincks. 

China William  Lockhart,  Esq.,  M.R.C.S. 

A.  G.  Cross,  Esq.,  M.R.C.S. 

Ecuador J.  Spotswood  Wilson,  F.R.G.S. 

Egypt Alexandria J.  Stafford  Allen,  Esq. 

Cairo   Dr.  Theodor  Bilharz. 

France    Paris  Prof.  M.  Giraldes,  Prof,  de  Med.  a 

l'Hopital  des  Enfans  Trouvees. 

Nice Dr.  Edwin  Lee. 

Hesse  Darmstadt... Giessen    Dr.  Phoebus. 

Java    Batavia   .., Dr.  Wienecke. 

Cocoa  Islands J.  G.  C.  Ross,  Esq. 

Natal The  Rev.  H.  Callaway,  M.A. 

New  Zealand    Captain  A.  H.  Russell,  F.A.S.L. 

Nicaragua Commander  Bedford  Pirn,  R.N. 

Oude    G.  Jasper  Nicholls,  Esq.  (H.M.  In- 

dian   Civil    Service).      Treken- 
ning  House,  St.  Oolumb,  Cornw. 

Prussia  Bonn  Dr.  Schaafhausen. 

Queensland  George  T.  Hine,  Esq. 

George  W.  Brown,  Esq. 

Saxony    Leipsig    Dr.  Alfred  von  Kremer. 

Spain  Gibraltar-  Captain  Brome. 

United  States New  York  Captain  W.  Parker  Snow. 

San  Francisco  ...R.  Beverley  Cole,  Esq.,  M.A.,  M.D., 
Ph.D.,  Professor^  Obstetrics  and 
the  Diseases  of  Women  in  the 
University  of  the  Pacific. 

Sweden Stockholm    Dr.  Retzius. 

Gotland  Dr.  Gustaf  Lindstrom. 

Vancouver's  Island Edward  B.  Bogge,  Esq.,  R.N. 


&ntf)ttipoIofltcal  J^octetp  of  ^onUon, 

4,  ST.  MARTIN'S  PLACE,  TRAFALGAR  SQUARE. 


a^j  jHIS  SOCIETY  is  formed  with  the  object  of  promoting 
the  study  of  Anthropology  in  a  strictly  scientific  manner. 
It  proposes  to  study  Man  in  all  his  leading  aspects, 
physical,  mental,  and  historical ;  to  investigate  the  laws 
of  his  origin  and  progress ;  to  ascertain  his  place  in 
nature  and  his  relations  to  the  inferior  forms  of  life  ;  and 
to  attain  these  objects  by  patient  investigation,  careful  induction,  and 
the  encouragement  of  all  researches  tending  to  establish  a  cle  facto 
science  of  man.  No  Society  existing  in  this  country  has  proposed  to 
itself  these  aims,  and  the  establishment  of  this  Society,  therefore,  is  an 
effort  to  meet  an  obvious  want  of  the  times. 

This  it  is  proposed  to  do  : 

First.  By  holding  Meetings  for  the  reading  of  papers  and  the 
discussion  of  various  anthropological  questions. 

Second.  By  the  publication  of  reports  of  papers  and  abstracts  of 
discussions  in  the  form  of  a  Quarterly  Journal ;  and  also  by  the 
publication  of  the  principal  memoirs  read  before  the  Society,  in 
the  form  of  Transactions. 

Third.  By  the  appointment  of  Officers,  or  Local  Secretaries,  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  world,  to  collect  systematic  information.  It  will 
be  the  object  of  the  Society  to  indicate  the  class  of  facts  required, 
and  thus  tend  to  give  a  systematic  development  to  Anthropology. 

Fourth.  By  the  establishment  of  a  carefully  collected  and  reliable 
Museum,  and  a  good  reference  Library. 

Fifth.  By  the  publication  of  a  series  of  works  on  Anthropology  which 
will  tend  to  promote  the  objects  of  the  Society.  These  works  will 
generally  be  translations ;  but  original  works  Avill  also  be  admis- 
sible. 

Translations  of  the  following  works  are  now  ready.     The  following 
work  was  issued  for  1863. 

Dr.  Theodor  Waitz.  Anthropology  of  Primitive  Peoples.  First  Part.  Edited 
from  the  German  by  J.  Frederick  Collingwood,  Esq.,  F.R.S.L.,  F.G.S., 
V.P.  A.S.L.,  with  corrections  and  additions  by  the  Author.     Price  16s. 

The  following  works  were  issued  in  1864. 

Broca,  Dr.  Paul.     On  the  Phenomena  of  Hybridity  in  the  Genus  Homo.     Edited 

from  the  French  by  C.  Carter  Blake,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  F.  and  Assistant  Secretary 

A.S.L.    Price  5s. 
Pouchet,  Georges.     On  the  Plurality  of  the  Human  Pace.      Edited,  from  the 

French   (Second  Edition),   by  H.   J.  C.  Beavan,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S.,   F.A.S.L. 

Price  7s.  6d. 
Carl  Vogt.     Lectures  on  Man :  his  place  in  Creation  and  in  the  History  of  the 

Earth.    Edited  by  Dr.  James  Hunt,  F.S.A.,  F.R.S.L.,  Pres.  A.S.L.    Price  16s. 

B 


The  following  is  issued  in  the  first  part  of  the  year  1865. 

Blumenbach,  J.  F.,  The  Life,  and  Anthropological  Treatises,  of;  with  the 
Inaugural  Dissertation  of  Dr.  John  Hunter.  By  T.  Bendyshe,  Esq.,  M.A., 
V.P.  A.S.L.    Price  16s. 

The  publication  of  the  following  works  is  contemplated  : — 

Gastaldi,  Cavaliere  Bartolorneo.   New  Notes  on  Objects  of  High  Antiquity  found 

in  the  Turbaries   and  Marl  Beds   of  Italia.     Translated  from  the  Italian  by 

Charles  Harcourt  Chambers,  M.A.,  F.A.S.L. 
Betzius,  Professor.     The  Anthropological  Works  of.    Edited  by  A.  Higgins, 

Esq.,  Hon.  For.  Sec.  A.S.L. 
Gratiolet.      Memoire   sur  les   Plis   Cerebraux  de  l'Homme   et   des  Primates. 

4to,  Paris,  1855.    Edited  by  Dr.  Daniel  H.  Tuke. 
A.  de  Quatrefages.     Unite  de  l'Espece  Humaine.     Edited  by  G.  F.  Bolph, 

Esq.,  F.A.S.L.    8vo.    Paris,  1861. 
The  Anthropological  Papers  contained  in  the  Comptes  Bendus  des  Seances  de 

l'Academie  des  Sciences.    Edited  by  George  E.  Roberts,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  F.A.S.L. 
Dr.  Theodor  Waitz,  Professor  of  Philosophy   in  the  University  of  Marburg. 

Anthropologic  der  Naturvolker.     1861.     Second  part.     Edited  by  J.  Frederick 

Cohingwood,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  F.R.S.L.,  V.P.  A.S.L. 
Von  Baer,  Karl  Ernst,  The  Anthropological  Works  of. 

Gosse.     Memoire  sur  les  Deformations  Artificielles  du  Crane.     8vo.    Paris,  1855. 
Bory  de  St.  Vincent.     Essai  zoologique  sur  le  genre  humain.    2  vols.    Paris, 

3rd  ed.,  1836.    Edited  by  S.  E.  Bouverie-Pusey,  Esq.,  F.A.S.L.,  F.E.S. 
Crull.     Dissertatio  anthropologico-medica  de  Cranio,  ejusque  ad  faciem  ratione. 

8vo.     Groningen,  1810. 
Lucas,  Prosper,  Dr.    Traite  sur  l'heredite.    2  vols. 
An  Encyclopaedia  of  Anthropological  Science.    Edited  by  T.  Bendyshe,  Esq., 

M.A.,  V.P.  A.S.L.,  and  other  Contributors. 
Gobineau.    De  l'Inegalite  des  Races  Humaines. 

Sixth.  By  the  appointment,  from  time  to  time,  of  various  Committees 
authorised  to  report  to  the  Society  on  particular  topics  which  may 
be  referred  to  them ;  the  results  of  such  investigations  being  in 
all  cases  communicated  to  the  Society. 


OFFICERS    AND    COUNCIL    FOR    1865. 

President. 
James  Hunt,  Esq.,  Ph.D.,  F.S.A.,  F.R.S.L.,  Foreign  Associate  of  the  Anthropological 

Society  of  Paris,  etc. 

Vice-Presidents. 
Captain  Richard  F.  Burton,  H.M.  Consul  at  Santos,  etc. 
J.  Frederick  CoUingwood,  Esq.,  F.R.S.L.,  F.G.S.,  Foreign  Associate  of  the 

Anthropological  Society  of  Paris. 
Dr.  Berthold  Seemann,  F.L.S. 
T.  Bendyshe,  Esq.,  M.A. 

Honorary   Secretaries. 
George  E.  Roberts,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  Foreign  Associate  of  the  Anthropological  Society 

of  Paris. 
W.  Bollaert,  Esq.,  Corr.  Mem.  Univ.  Chile,  and  Ethnological  Socs.  London  &  New  York. 

Honorary    Foreign    Secretary. 
Alfred  Higgins,  Esq.,  Foreign  Associate  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris. 

Treasurer. 
Richaid  Stephen  Charnock,  Esq.,  Ph.D.,  F.S.A.,  F.R.G.S.,  Foreign  Associate  of  the 
Anthropological  Society  of  Paris. 


COUNCIL. 

Hugh  J.  C.  Beavan,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S. 
S.  E.  Bouverie-Pusey,  Esq.,  F.E.S. 
Charles  Harcourt  Chambers,  Esq.,  M.A. 
S.  Edwin  Collingwood,  Esq.,  F.Z.S. 
George  D.  Gibb,  Esq.,  M.A.,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  F.G.S.,  &c. 
Viscount  Milton,  F.R.G.S. 
George  North,  Esq. 
Luke  Owen  Pike,  Esq.,  M.A. 

W.  Winwood  Beade,  Esq.,  P.R.G.S.,  Corr.  Mem.  Geographical  Society  of  Paris. 
James  Reddie,  Esq. 
George  Frederick  Rblph,  Esq. 
C.  Robert  des  Ruffieres,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  F.E.S. 
William  Travers,  Esq.,  F.R.C.S. 

W.   S.  W.  Vaux,  Esq.  M.A.,  F.S.A.,  F.  and  Hon.  Sec.    R.S.L.,  President  of  the 
Numismatic  Society  of  London. 

Curator,  Librarian,  and  Assistant  Secretary. 
C.  Carter  Blake,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  Foreign  Associate  of  the  Anthropol.  Society  of  Paris,  etc. 

The  Terms  of  Membership  for  the  first  five  hundred  Fellows  (who 
will  be  called  Foundation  Fellows)  are  Two  Guineas  per  annum, 
which  will  entitle  every  Fellow  to  admission  to  the  Meetings,  one  copy 
of  the  Quarterly  Journal,  the  Memoirs  of  the  Society,  and  a  Volume 
(or  Volumes)  of  the  Translations  printed  by  the  Society.  Life  Mem- 
bers, Twenty  Guineas. 

Further  particulars  will  be  forwarded  on  application  to  the  Honorary 
Secretaries. 

The  following  papers  have  been  laid  before  the  Society  in  the  Session 
1864-5. 

C.  Carter  Blake,  Esq.,  F.G.S.  Report  on  the  Anthropological  Papers  read  at  the 
Bath  Meeting  of  the  British  Association. 

Captain  Burton,  V.P.A.S.L.    Notes  on  Certain  Facts  connected  with  the  Dahomans. 

W.  T.  Pritchard,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S.,  F.A.S.L.,  On  Viti  and  its  Inhabitants. 

W.  Bollaert,  Esq.,  On  the  Astronomy  of  the  Red  Man  of  the  New  World. 

Dr.  Barnard  Davis,  F.S.A.  The  Neanderthal  Skull;  its  peculiar  formation  considered 
anatomically. 

Samuel  Laing,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  On  the  Prehistoric  Remains  of  Caithness. 

George  E.  Roberts,  Esq.,  F.G.S. ,  Hon.  Sec.  A.S.L.,  On  the  Discovery  of  large 
Kistvaens  in  the  Muckle  Heog,  in  the  island  of  Unst,  Shetland,  containing  Urns  of 
Chloritic  Schist;  with  notes  upon  the  Human  Remains  by  C.  Carter  Blake,  Esq., 
F.G.S. 

George  E.  Roberts,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  Hon.  Sec.  A.S.L.,  On  Prehistoric  Hut  Circles. 

Dr.  Henry  Bird,  On  Remains  from  the  British  Tumuli  at  Cheltenham. 

E.  Sellon,  Esq.     On  the  Linga  Puja,  or  Phallic  Worship  of  India. 

W.  T.  Pritchard,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S.,  F.A.S.L.,  Notes  on  Certain  Anthropological  Matters 
connected  with  the  South  Sea  Islanders. 

Edward  Lund,  Esq.,  F.R.C.S.E.  (communicated  by  Dr.  F.  Royston  Fairbank, 
F.A.S.L.),  On  the  Discovery  of  Syphilis  in  a  Monkey  (Macacus  Svnicus). 

G.  D.  Gibb,  Esq.,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  F.G.S.,  On  the  Essential  Points  of  Difference  between 
the  Larynx  of  the  Negro  and  that  of  the  White  Man. 

T.  B.  Peacock,  Esq.,  M.D.,  F.R.C.P.,  On  the  Weight  of  the  Brain,  and  Capacity  of  the 

Cranial  Cavity  of  a  Negro. 
T.  B.  Peacock,  Esq.,  M.D.,  F.R.C.P.     On  a  Skull  exhumed  in  Bedfordshire. 
T.  Bendyshe,  Esq.,  M.A.,  V.P.A.S.L.,  On  the  Materials  for  Anthropological  Study. 


The  following  papers,  amongst  others,  will   also  be   read   during 
the  present  Session. 

John  Anderson-,  Esq.  (communicated  by  Geo.  E.  Roberts,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  Hon.  Sec. 
A.S.L.)  On  Further  Remains  from  Keiss,  near  Wick;  with  a  Note  on  the  Human 
Skull,  by  C.  Carter  Blake,  Esq.,  F.G.S. 

Colonel  Beauchamp  Walker,  On  the  Discovery  of  a  Kjokkenmodding  at  Newhaven; 
with  Notes  on  the  Animal  Remains,  by  C.  Carter  Blake,  Esq.,  P.G.S. 

J.  Hutchinson,  Esq.,  On  some  Human  Remains  from  Cowley. 

W.  T.  Pritchard,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S.,  F.A.S.L.,  On  the  Physical  and  Psychological  Charac- 
ters of  the  Viti  Islanders. 

K.  R.  H.  Mackenzie,  Esq.,  P.S.A.    Notes  on  Fetish  Worship  in  Egypt. 

Dr.  John  Shortt.  An  Account  of  some  rude  Tribes,  the  supposed  Aborigines  of 
Southern  India. 

Dr.  John  Shortt.     On  the  Leaf -wearing  Tribes  of  India. 

G.  Krefft,  Esq.    On  Australian  Skulls. 

W.  Bollaert,  Esq.,  Hon.  Sec.  A.S.L.,  On  the  Maya  Alphabet. 

Berth  old  Seemann,  Esq.,  Ph.D.,  V.P.A.S.L.,  On  the  Indians  of  San  Bias,  Panama. 

John  Beddoe,  Esq".,  M.D.,  F.A.S.L.,  On  the  Evidence  of  Phenomena  in  the  West  of 
England  to  the  Permanence  of  Ethnological  Types. 

J.  R.  Morris,  Esq.,  F.A.S.L.,  On  the  Hereditary  Transmission  of  an  Abnormity. 

T.  Bendyshe,  Esq.,  M.A.,  V.P.A.S.L.,  On  the  History  of  Anthropology. 

Geo.  E.  Roberts,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  Hon.  See.  A.S.L.,  On  the  Discovery  of  Bones  of  Bear, 
Megaceros,  and  other  Animals,  cut  and  sawn  by  flint  implements,  in  a  Gravel 
Deposit  at  Richmond,  Yorkshire. 

Sir  Charles  Nicholson,  Bart.,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  P.G.S.,  On  some  Remains  from  the 
Site  of  the  Ancient  Memphis. 

D.  W.  Nash,  Esq.,  On  Chambered  Tumuli. 

K.  R.  H.  Mackenzie,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  On  Monogeny  and  Polygeny. 

Dr.  Harley,  On  the  Poisoned  Arrows  of  Aboriginal  Man. 

C.  Robertson,  Esq.,  On  Astro-Mythology. 

Dr.  James  Hunt,  F.S.A.,  F.R.S.L.,  Pres.  A.S.L.,  On  the  Principles  of  Anthropological 
Classification. 

A.  Higgins,  Esq.,  Hon.  For.  Sec.  A.S.L.,  On  the  Orthographic  Delineation  of  the  Skull. 

W.  Bollaert,  Esq.,  Hon.  Sec.  A.S.L.,  Introduction  to  the  Anthropology  of  America. 

C.  Carter  Blake,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  F.A.S.L.,  On  the  Cranioscopy  of  South  American 
Nations. 

C.  Carter  Blake,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  F.A.S.L.,  On  the  Skeleton  of  a  South  American  Aborigen 
from  Mendoza. 

C  Carter  Blake,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  F.A.S.L.,  On  the  Form  of  the  Lower  Jaw  in  the  Races 
of  Mankind. 

E.  Burnet  Tylor,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S.,  F.A.S.L.,  On  some  British  Kjdkkenmoddings. 
Viscount  Milton,  F.R.G.S.,  On  Californian  Kjokkenmoddings. 

Dr.  Murie,  On  the  Stature  of  Tribes  inhabiting  the  Nile  Yalley. 

J.  F.  Collingwood,  Esq.,  F.R.S.L.,  F.G.S.,  Hon.  Sec.  A.S.L.,  On  Race-Antagonism. 

R.  S.  Charnock,  Esq.,  Ph.D.,  F.S.A.,  F.A.S.L.,  On  the  People  of  Andorra. 


PUBLICATIONS   OF   THE   ANTHROPOLOGICAL    SOCIETY. 
Now  Ready,  in  1  vol.,  8vo.,  pp.  400,  price  16s.,  cloth, 

"aitz's    Introduction    to    Anthropology. 

Edited,  from  the  First  Volume  of  Anthropologie  der  Naturvolker,  by 
J.  FREDERICK  COLLINGWOOD,  F.R  S.L.,  F.G.S.,  F.A.S.L.,  loreign  Associate 
of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris,  Vice-President  of  the  Anthropological 
Society  of  London. 

Extract  of  a  Letter  from  the  Author  to  the  Editor. 
"I  have  received  your  translation  of  the  first  volume  of  my  'Anthropologic  der 
Naturvolker,'  and  hasten  to  return  you  my  heartfelt  thanks  for  the  great  care  and 
assiduity  which  you  have  bestowed  on  the  task.  I  am  fully  cognisant  of  the 
great  difficulties  you  have  to  contend  with,  especially  as  my  style,  as  alluded  to 
in  your  preface,  possesses  many  peculiarities,  so  that  even  German  men  of 
science  consider  the  reading  of  my  books  rather  hard  work.  All  these  difficulties 
you  have  surmounted  with  the  greatest  skill,  so  as  to  render  my  work,  as  it 
appears  to  me,  into  very  pleasing,  readable  English." 


OPINIONS    OF    THE    PRESS. 


"A  more  felicitous  selection  could  not, 
we  conceive,  by  any  possibility  have  been 
made  than  the  very  one  which  has  re- 
sulted in  the  publication  of  the  book 
lying  hefore  us.  For  within  the  com- 
pass of  the  first  volume  of  Dr.  Waitz's 
Anthropologie  der  Naturvolker  is  com- 
pacted together  the  most  comprehen- 
sive and  exhaustive  survey  of  the  new 
science  yet  contributed,  we  believe,  in 
any  tongue  to  European  literature.  To 
the  English  public  generally,  however, 
it  is  a  book  almost  unknown,  saving  and 
excepting  alone  by  reputation.  Al- 
though merely  a  translation  from  the 
German,  therefore,  the  work  is  virtually, 
if  not  an  original  work,  a  perfectly  new 
work  to  the  mass  of  readers  in  this 
country.  So  far  as  this  same  rapidly 
executed  work  of  translation  can  be 
compared  and  collated  with  the  original, 
it  appears  to  be  a  version  singularly 
faithful  and  accurate. . .  .  The  book,  as  it 
now  appears,  is  a  work  of  especial  value, 
and  also  one  of  very  peculiar  interest. 
It  thoroughly  fulfils  its  design  of  afford- 
ing the  reader  of  it,  within  a  single 
volume,  the  very  hest  epitome  any- 
where to  be  found  of  what  is  the  actual 
'present  state'  of  anthropological  sci- 
ence in  Christendom.  Dr.  Waitz  takes 
a  far  wider  range  within  his  ken  than 
Prichard  and  Nott  and  Gliddon  com- 
hined."— The  Sun,  Dec.  14,  1803. 

"  The  volume  in  every  page  exhibits 
great  research  ;  it  ahounds  with  inter- 
esting speculation,  all  tending  the  right 
way,  and  the  information  it  presents  is 
happily  conveyed  in  a  popular  manner." 
— Morning  Advertiser,  Nov.  18,  1863. 


"  So  comprehensive  is  the  view  taken 
by  the  author  of  all  that  pertains  to 
man,thatamereenumeration  even  of  the 
leading  topics  of  the  work  is  beyond 
our  space,  and  we  must  content  our- 
selves with  recommending  its  perusal  to 
such  of  our  readers  as  are  interested  in 
the  subject,  with  the  assurance  that  it 
will  well  repay  the  trouble." — Weekly 
Dispatch,  Nov.  29,  1863. 

"This  handsomely  printed  volume 
discusses  at  great  length  and  with 
much  ability  the  question  as  to  the  races 
of  man.  ...  At  the  hands  of  Dr.  Waitz  it 
has  met  with  calm  consideration,  and  in 
its  English  dress  will  prove  both  inter- 
esting and  instructive.  It  displays 
great  research,  and  contains  a  large  ex- 
tent of  highly  interesting  matter." — 
Liverpool  Albion,  Nov.  9,  1863. 

"  From  such  a  bill  of  fare,  our  readers 
will  be  able  to  judge  that  the  work  is 
one  of  value  and  interest.  ...  It  is  of 
the  nature  of  a  review,  arriving  at  a 
comprehensive  and  proportional  esti- 
mate, rather  than  at  minute  accuracy 
of  detail,  such  as  may  he  sought  else- 
where in  each  department." — Medical 
Times,  Dec.  26,  1863. 

"  Crammed  as  full  of  hard  facts  as 
wellnigh  400  pages  of  large  8vo.  can 
contain  ;  all  these  facts  attested  by  foot- 
note authorities  marshalled  knee-deep 
at  the  bottom  of  every  page;  with  a  list 
of  contents  so  copious  as  to  eclipse 
everything  of  the  kind  in  any  recent 
scientific  volume,  and  yet  followed  hy 
an  index  more  minute  and  ample ;  this 
work  is  a  magazine  of  the  infant  science 
of  Man;  a  model  of  German  industry, 


PUBLICATIONS    OF    THE    ANTHROPOLOGICAL    SOCIETY. 


erudition,  and  philosophical  devotion  ; 
and  a  credit  to  the  Society  which  has 
sent  forth,  in  a  shape  so  serviceable, 
what  might  otherwise  have  proved  a 
tantalising  mass  of  learned  collectanea. 
.  .  .  We  have  perused  this  translated 
volume  with  alternate  wonder  and 
amazement  at  its  strange  assemblage 
of  facts,  its  curious  classifications,  its 
marvellous  revelations  of  human  pecu- 
liarities ;  and  we  do  not  hesitate  to  say 
that  more  food  for  speculation,  a  more 
cosmopolitan  and  comprehensive  glance 
over  all  the  developments  of  savage  and 
civilised  man  has  been  collected  here, 
than  could  have  been  dreamed  of  by  those 
who  may  not  have  given  it  a  perusal." — 
Dorset  County  C/irojzi'de,  Nov.  18, 1863. 

"  Dr.  Waitz  would  appear  to  have 
collected  together  all  the  authorities 
and  contradictory  statements  of  former 
writers.  .  .  .  The  present  work  will  be 
hailed  with  pleasure  by  all  who  are  in- 
terested in  the  study  of  anthropology, 
and  will,  it  is  hoped,  induce  a  more 
universal  acquaintance  with  the  sci- 
ence."— Observer,  Nov.  8,  1863. 

"  The  Anthropological  Society  of 
London  have  done  well  in  publishing 
a  translation  of  Dr.  Waitz's  Anthropo- 
logic der  Naturvolker,  of  which  this 
volume  is  the  first  instalment.  Dr. 
Waitz's  work  is  by  far  the  most  com- 
plete that  exists  on  the  subject  of 
which  it  treats.  It  is  the  fullest  col- 
lection of  facts,  interwoven  with,  and 
made  to  bear  upon,  all  the  theories 
(and  their  name  is  legion)  which  have 
been  advanced  in  explanation  of  the 
endless  diversities  and  resemblances 
that  exist  among  mankind.  Dr.  Waitz 
himself  is  wedded  to  no  particular 
theory,  and  in  this  volume,  at  least, 
advances  none,  but  he  points  out  with 
great  clearness  the  effects  that  may  be 
fairly  attributed  to  the  various  in- 
fluences, external  and  internal,  physical 
and  psychical,  which  affect  the  human 
form  and  national  character." — The 
Press,  Dec.  5,  1863. 

"  This  volume  will  help  to  put  the 
science  of  anthropology  in  a  proper 
light  before  the  scientific  men  of  this 
country.  Whatever  faults  we  may  have 
to  find  with  this  work,  we  feel  sure  that 
its  publication  marks  an  epoch  in  the 
study  of  anthropology  in  this  country. 
The  anthropologist  can  now  say  to  the 
inquirer,  Read  and  study  Waitz,  and 
London  :  Longman,  Geeen 


you  will  learn  all  that  science  has  yet  to 
reveal." — AnthropologicalReview^o.1^. 

"  The  Anthropological  Society  de- 
serve great  praise  for  the  energy  and 
activity  they  display  in  prosecuting 
their  object. .  .  .  We  find  in  this  volume 
a  fair  statement  and  discussion  of  the 
questions  bearing  on  the  unity  of  man 
as  a  species,  and  his  natural  condition 
He  gives  a  very  clear  account  of  the 
different  views  held  on  these  questions, 
and  a  full  collection  of  the  facts,  or 
supposed  facts,  by  which  they  are  sup- 
ported. The  chief  fault  of  the  book  is, 
indeed,  this  very  fulness  and  fairness  in 
collecting  all  that  can  be  said  on  both 
sides  of  a  question. . . .  We  must  regard 
the  work  as  a  valuable  addition  to  the 
books  on  this  subject  already  in  our 
language,  and  as  likely,  by  the  thought 
and  inquiry  it  must  suggest,  to  promote 
the  great  end  of  the  Society — a  truer  and 
higher  knowledge  of  man,  his  origin, 
nature,  and  destiny." — The  Scotsman, 
Dec.  7,  1863. 

"  We  need  hardly  say,  that  it  is  quite 
out  of  our  power  to  give  any  detailed 
account  of  this  volume.  It  is  itself  a 
volume  of  details.  Its  nature,  charac- 
ter, and  value,  may  be  gleaned  from 
the  criticism  bestowed  upon  it  by  the 
Anthropological  Society,  and  by  the 
fact  of  its  being  their  first  offering  to 
their  members.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  it  is  the  best  epitome  of  matters 
anthropological  now  contained  in  our 
language;  and  will  be  of  great  service 
to  the  student  as  a  book  of  reference." 
— British  Medical  Journal,  December 
26,1863. 

"  The  difficulties  which  a  reader 
experiences  who  studies  Waitz's  original 
German  version — difficulties  attendant 
on  the  involution  of  his  style,  and  the 
frequent  mistiness  of  his  forms  of 
expression — vanish  in  the  English 
edition,  which  also  differs  from  its 
German  prototype,  inasmuch  as  the 
embarrassing  references  which  Waitz 
intercalated  in  his  text  are  prudently 
cast  down  by  Mr.  Collingwood  to  the 
foot  of  the  page.  .  .  .  The  student  will 
but  have  to  read  it  through,  in  order  to 
feel  himself  endowed  with  an  enormous 
power  of  acquired  facts,  which,  if  he 
duly  assimilates,  will  enable  him  to 
wield  a  tremendous  weapon  in  contro- 
versy against  the  unskilled  anthropo- 
logist."— Reader,  November  7,  1863. 
and  Co.,  Paternoster  How. 


PUBLICATIONS    OF    THE    ANTHROPOLOGICAL    SOCIETY. 
Now  ready,  in  1  vol.  8vo,  pp.  134,  price  5s.,  cloth. 

n  the  Phenomena  of  Hybridity  in  the  Genus 


HOMO.  By  Dr.  PAUL  BROCA,  Secretaire  General  a  la  Societe 
d'Anthropologie  de  Pai-is.  Edited,  with  the  permission  of  the  Author,  by 
C.  CARTER  BLAKE,  F.G.S.,  F.A.S.L. 


OPINIONS     OF    THE    PRESS. 


"  Although  the  author  of  the  essay 
can  scarcely  be  supposed  to  have  satis- 
fied himself — much  less  to  have  satis- 
fied his  scientific  readers — that  he  has 
arrived  at  any  certain  and  well-ground- 
ed conclusion,  he  deserves  the  credit  of 
having  written  with  some  research  and 
acumen.  It  is  evident  that  the  writer 
of  the  book  has  a  strong  bias  to  the 
polygenist  theory  of  the  origin  of  man- 
kind, but  although  we  do  not  agree  with 
him  in  his  principal  deductions  and 
statements,  we  willingly  allow  his  work 
to  be  an  able  monograph  on  a  highly- 
interesting  and  curious  subject,  and  one 
that  will  well  repay  perusal." — Medical 
Times,  March  1864. 

"  While  we  find  fault  with  the  con- 
clusions at  which  M.  Broca  arrives,  we 
cannot  deny  that  he  has  given  to  the 
student  of  Anthropology  a  very  valuable 
collection  of  information  on  an  almost 
unexplored  subject.  We  have  only  to 
guard  ourselves  from  being  led  away  by 
the  specious  fallacies  of  his  reasoning, 
and  we  shall  find  before  us  a  wide  field 
of  thought  and  a  subject  of  enquiry  al- 
most inexhaustible.  We  need  only  add 
that  the  English  edition  has  been  pre- 
pared with  great  care,  and  reflects  ex- 
treme credit  upon  its  indefatigable 
editor."— Tablet,  June  4,  1864. 

"  This  is  a  work  on  a  very  abstruse 
and  much-debated  question,  and  the 
author  has  brought  to  bear  upon  its 
elucidation  a  vast  amount  of  scientific 
research,  being  the  results  of  observa- 
tions in  almost  every  part  of  the  world." 
—Observer,  April  10,  1864. 

"  It  is  wonderful  what  solid  and  valu- 
able information  has  been  here  com- 
pacted together  within  less  than   one 


hundred  pages  octavo.  Another  work 
of  very  considerable  value  has  thus 
been  added  to  the  list  of  publications 
now  commenced,  with  a  prospect,  let  us 
hope,  of  fast  multiplying  into  a  sub- 
stantial library,  under  the  auspices  and, 
more  than  that,  under  the  careful  su- 
pervision and  at  the  direct  instance  of 
the  Society  of  our  London  Anthropolo- 
gists."— Sun,  April  7th,  1864. 

"  As  a  statement  of  the  argument  on 
both  sides  of  a  subject  very  difficult  of 
investigation,  Dr.  Broca's  treatise  is 
most  acceptable,  although  we  are  by  no 
means  satisfied  that  he  has  entertained 
all  the  causes  which  may  be  concerned 
in  influencing  the  fertility  of  races,  inter 
se,  in  his  estimate." — London  Review, 
June  4,  1864. 

"  The  whole  subject  is  too  obscure  to 
warrant  us  in  advocating  either  the  one 
view  or  the  other ;  but  we  can  recom- 
mend those  who  wish  to  make  them- 
selves acquainted  with  the  present  state 
of  our  information  on  the  question  to 
study  the  able  treatise  before  us." — 
Scotsman,  June  25,  1864. 

"  It  may  be  stated  that  the  present 
volume  is  the  only  one  which  completely 
investigates  the  subject  of  human  hy- 
bridity  The  volume  is  an  addition 

to  scientific  lore ;  we  have  no  doubt  that 
the  members  of  our  various  learned 
societies  will  appreciate  its  worth,  and 
experience  the  same  pleasure  in  reading 
the  translation  which  Mr.  Blake  states 
he  received  when  he  first  perused  the 
original.  It  is  dedicated  as  a  testimony 
of  respect  and  friendship  to  Richard 
Owen,  F.R.S." — Morning  Advertiser, 
May  2, 1864. 


London :  Longman,  Geeen,  and  Co.,  Paternoster  Row. 


PUBLICATIONS    OF    THE    ANTHROPOLOGICAL    SOCIETY. 
Now  ready,  in  1  vol.  8vo,  pp.  172,  price  7s.  6d.  cloth, 

he    Plurality    of   the    Human    Race :     by 

GEOEGES  POUCHET,  M.D.,  Licentiate  of  Nat.  Science,  Corr.  Mem. 
Anthrop.  Soc.  of  London.  Translated  and  Edited  from  the  Second  Edition,  by 
HUGH  J.  C.  BEAVAN,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S.,  F.A.S.L.,  of  the  Middle  Temple, 
Barrister-at-Law. 


OPINIONS     OF 

"  This  book,  which  has  already  had 
considerable  success  in  France,  has 
been  translated  for  the  publishing  com- 
mittee of  the  Anthropological  Society 
of  London,  and  the  task  confided,  to 
Mr.  Beavan  has  been  accomplished  with 
care  and  intelligence.  It  is  probably 
the  first  work  of  the  kind  which  has 
ever  been  given  to  the  English  literary 
world  in  a  convenient  and  popular  form, 
and,  though  it  contains  many  peculiar 
thoughts  and  principles  widely  differing 
from  the  opinions  of  the  general  public, 
it  will  certainly  be  read  with  great  in- 
terest. There  is  much  clearness  and 
even  brilliancy  in  M.  Pouchet's  style, 
though  the  expressions  are  often  very 
peculiar,  but  all  will  admit  that  it  is  a 
well-considered  book,  and  full  of  im- 
portant matter." — Observer,Oot.  1, 1864. 

"  The  work  of  M.  Pouchet  is  very 
brief,  and  yet  it  is  full  of  interest,  and, 
in  the  course  of  some  couple  of  hundred 
pages,  discusses  all  the  more  prominent 
and  exciting  topics  in  the.  physical  his- 
tory of  man,  bringing  to  bear  upon  them 
much  curious  information,  and  throw- 
ing over  all  the  cbarm  of  a  most  plea- 
sant and  vigorous  style." — London  Re- 
view, Oct.  22,  1864. 

"  This  slender  volume,  which  professes 
to  teach  a  great  many  wonderful  things, 
is  one  of  the  publications  of  the  An- 
thropological Society.  It  is  the  work  of 
a  French  savant,  Dr.  Pouchet,  who,  like 
all  Frenchmen,  is  brilliant,  antithe- 
tical, confident,  and  superficial.  We 
have  neither  space  nor  time  to  enter 
here  into  the  controversy  which  this 
book  provokes,  but  merely  to  notice  the 
manner  in  which  it  has  been  translated 
and  edited  by  Mr.  Beavan.  Without 
having  the  original  by  us  for  the  pur- 
poses of  comparison,  we  can  see  that 
the  translation  is  cleverly  done,  and 
that  the  epigrammatic  terseness  of  the 
French  literary  style  is  admirably  pre- 
served in  the  translation.  The  editing 
consists  of  a  sufficient  supply  of  explan- 
atory foot-notes,  a  proof  that  the  work 
has  been  done  in  a  careful  scholarly 
manner,  and  not  with  that  haste  and 
slovenliness  which  disfigure  too  many 


THE     PRESS. 

To  those  who  take  an  interest  in  anthro- 
pological investigations  Mr.  Beavan's 
Pouchet  will  be  a  'handy -book'  of 
considerable  value." — United  Service, 
Gazette,  Nov.  19,  1861. 

"  Ranging  himself  in  the  ranks  of  be- 
lievers in  original  diversity  of  race,  M. 
Pouchet  here  reviews  the  evidence  for 
and  against  this  theory,  and  states  in 
his  Recapitulation  that '  Since  we  have 
found  that  man  is  comparable  in  all 
points  to  animals,  we  ought  to  seek  for 
him  and  for  them  a  common  origin, 
and  the  difficulty  of  admitting  an  initial 
miracle  has  led  us  to  the  idea  of  evolu- 
tion.' . .  .  The  work  is  published  for  the 
Anthropological  Society,  and  to  students 
of  that  science  it  will  be  welcome  and 
useful."  —  Weekly  Dispatch,  Oct.  23, 
1864. 

"  The  work,  from  its  largeness  of  il- 
lustration, cannot  but  interest  those 
who  may  nevertheless  protest  against 
the  writer's  conclusions  as  vigorously 
as  his  editor  feels  obliged  to  do." — 
Globe,  Oct.  31,  1864. 

"  This  work  is  published  by  'The  An- 
thropological Society,'  and  is  one  of 
those  remarkable  treatises  which  give 
rise  to  so  much  discussion  in  the  pre- 
sent times,  inasmuch  as  it  treats  of  the 
subject  of  the  development  of  the  hu- 
man family  from  more  than  one  source 
with  considerable  cleverness,  although 
not  with  arguments  sufficiently  forcible 
or  unanswerable  to  convince  those,  who 
are  resolved  to  adhere  to  the  simplicity 
of  the  Mosaic  definition.  That  there 
are  many  infidel  notions  expressed  in 
M.  Georges  Pouchet's  original  text,  the 
translator  does  not  hesitate  to  assert. 
Indeed,  he  is  frequently  at  the  pains  to 
demolish  their  fallacy,  and  expose  many 
other  faults  of  the  author,  discrimi- 
nating with  considerable  tact  between 
what  is  deserving  of  consideration  and 
what  is  manifestly  insidious  and  falla- 
cious. The  treatise  is  not  a  book  for 
the  multitude,  but  rather  for  the  learned 
and  scientific,  and  may  be  pronounced 
to  be  clever  and  dexterous  rather  than 
sound  and  convincing." — Bell's  Messen- 
ger, Oct.  8,  1804. 


of  our  translations  from  the  French. 

London :  Longman,  Gkeen,  and  Co.,  Paternoster  Row. 


PUBLICATIONS   OF   THE    ANTHROPOLOGICAL   SOCIETY. 
Now  ready,  id  1  vol.,  8vo,  pp.  510,  price  16s.,  clotb. 

ectures  on  Man ;  his  Place  in  Creation,  and 

IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  By  DR  CARL  VOGT, 
Professor  of  Natural  History  in  the  University  of  Geneva,  Foreign  Associate 
of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris.  Edited  by  JAMES  HUNT,  Ph.D., 
F.S.A.,  F.R.S.L.,  F.A.S.L.,  Foreign  Associate  of  the  Anthropological  Society 
of  Paris,  Honorary  Foreign  Secretary  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Literature  of 
Great  Britain,  and  President  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  London. 

PUBLICATIONS    OF    THE    ANTHROPOLOGICAL    SOCIETY. 


In  the  Press,  and  will  be  ready  in  a  few  days. 

MEMOIRS 

READ   BEFORE   THE 

ANTHROPOLOGICAL    SOCIETY   OF    LONDON, 

COMPRISING  THE   FOLLOWING  : — ■ 

I.  On    the   Negro's   Place   in   Nature.      By   James  Hunt,   Ph.D.,   F.S.A., 
F.R.S.L.,  F.A.S.L.,  President  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  London. 

II.  On  the  Weight  of  the  Brain  in  the  Negro.  By  Thomas  B.  Peacock, 
M.D.,  F.R.C.P.,  F.A.S.L. 

III.  Observations  on  the  Past  and  Present  Populations  of  the  New  World. 
By  W.  Bollaert,  Esq.,  F.A.S.L. 

IV.  On  the  Two  Principal  Forms  of  Ancient  British  and  Gaulish  Skulls. 
By  J.  Thurnah,  Esq.,  M.D.,  F.A.S.L.  (With  Lithographic  Plates  and 
Woodcuts.) 

V.  Introduction  to  the  Palaeography  of  America.  By  W.  Bollaert,  Esq., 
F.A.S.L. 

VI.  Viti  and  Its  Inhabitants.     By  W.  T.  Pritchard,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S.,  F.A.S.L. 

VII.  On  the  Astronomy  of  the  Red  Man  of  the  New  World.  By  W.  Bollaert, 
Esq.,  F.A.S.L. 

VIII.  The.  Neanderthal  Skull:    its  peculiar  formation  considered  anatomically. 
By  J.  Barnard  Davis,  M.D.,  F.S.A.,  F.A.S.L. 

IX.  On  the  Discovery  of  a  large  Kistvaen  in  the  Muckle  Heog,  in  the  Island  of 
Unst,  Shetland,  containing  Urns  of  Chloritic  Schist.  By  George  E. 
Roberts,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  Hon.  Sec.  A.S.L.  With  Notes  upon  the  Human 
Remains.   By  C.  Carter  Blake,  Esq.,  F.A.S.L.,  F.G.S.   With  two  Plates. 

X.  Notes  on  some  facts  connected  with  the  Dahomans.  By  Capt.  Richard 
F.  Burton,  V.P.A.S.L. 

XI.  On  Certain  Anthropological  Matters  connected  with  the  South  Sea 
Islanders.     By  W.  T.  Pritchard,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S.,  F.A.S.L. 

XII.  On  the  Linga  Puja,  or  Phallic  Worship  of  India.     By  E.  Sellon,  Esq. 

XIII.  The  History  of  Anthropology.     By  T.  Bendyshe,  Esq.,  M.A.,  V.P.A.S.L. 

XIV.  On  the  Differences  observable  between  the  Larynx  of  the  Negro  and  the 
White  Man.     By  George  Duncan  Gibb,  M.A.,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  F.G.S. 

London  :  Trubner  and  Co.,  60,  Paternoster  Row. 

C 


10 

PUBLICATIONS   OF   THE    ANTHROPOLOGICAL   SOCIETY. 
Published  this  day,  price  16s., 

T>  lumenbach  (J.  F.),  Lives  and  Anthropological 

-*-'  TREATISES  of,  including  the  De  Generis  Humani  Varietate  Nativa, 
and  the  Dissertatio  Inauguralis  of  Dr.  Jolm  Hunter.  Translated  and  Edited  by 
T.  Bendyshe,  V.P.A.S.L.,  Fellow  of  King's  College,  Cambridge. 

London  :  Longman  and  Co.,  Paternoster  Row. 
Price  6d., 

Introductory  Address  on  the  Study  of  Anthro- 

-"-  POLOGY,  delivered  before  the  Anthropological  Society  of  London,  February 
24th,  1863.  By  James  Hunt,  Ph.D.,  F.S.A.,  F.R.S.L.,  Foreign  Associate  of  the 
Anthropological  Society  of  Paris,  President  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of 
London. 

London  :  Teubner  and  Co.,  60,  Paternoster  Row. 
Price  6d., 

Annual  Address  to  the  Anthropological  Society 
OF  LONDON,  Jan.  5th,  1864.  By  JAMES  HUNT,  Ph.D.,  F.S.A., 
F.R.S.L.,  Foreign  Associate  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris,  President  of 
Lhe  Anthropological  Society  of  London. 

London  :  Teubner  and  Co.,  60,  Paternoster  Row. 


Price  is.,  pp.  60, 

On  the  Negro's  Place  in  Nature.  Read  before 
the  Anthropological  Society  of  London,  November  17th,  1863.  By  James 
Hunt,  Ph.D.,  F.S.A.,  F.R.S.L.,  Foreign  Associate  of  the  Anthropological  Society 
of  Paris,  President  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  London. 

London  :  Teubner  and  Co.,  60,  Paternoster  Row. 


To  be  published  in  a  few  days,  price   6d., 

Annual  Address  to  the  Anthropological  Society 
OF  LONDON,  January  3rd,  1865.  By  JAMES  .HUNT,  Ph.D.,  F.S.A., 
F.R.S.L.,  Foreign  Associate  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris,  President 
of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  London. 

London:  Teubner  and  Co.,  60,  Paternoster  Row. 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL     REVIEW. 


Journal  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  London. 


VOL.   I  NOW  READY,   PRICE   16s. 


CONTENTS. 


On  the  Study  of  Anthropology.    By  Dr.  James 

Hunt,  F.S.A.,  President  A.S.L. 
"Wild  Men  and  Beast  Children.     By  E.  Burnet 

Tylor,  F.A.S.L. 
On  the  Tribes  of  Loreto  in  Northern  Peru. 

By  Professor  Baimondy.   Translated  from 

the  Spanish  by  William  BoUaert,  F. A.S.L. 
A   Day  with   the  Fans.     By  Captain  R.  F. 

Burton,  H.M.   Consul  at   Fernando   Po, 

andV.P.A.S.L. 
On  the  Difference  between  Man  and  the  Lower 

Animals.  ByTheodorBischoff.  Translated 

from  the  German. 
Summary  of  the  Evidence  of  the  Antiquity 

of  Man.     By  Dr.  James  Hunt. 
Huxley  on  Man's  Place  in  Nature. 
Jackson  on  Ethnology  and  Phrenology. 
Lyell  on  the  Geological  Evidence  of  the  An- 
tiquity of  Man. 
Wilson's  Pre -historic  Man. 
Pauly's  Ethnographical  Account  of  the  Peoples 

of  Russia. 
Commixture  of  the  Races  of  Man.     By  John 

Crawford,  Esq.,  F.R.S. 
Burton's  Prairie  Traveller. 
Owen  on  the  Limbs  of  the  Gorilla. 
Man  and  Beast.     By  Anthropos  (C.    Carter 

Blake).  _ 
Dunn's  Medical  Psychology. 
Human  Remains  from  Moulin-Quignon.  By  A. 

Tylor,  Esq.,  T?.Gc.S.(With  an  IUMstraUcm.) 
Notes  of  a  Case  of  Microcephaly.     By  R.  T. 

Gore,  Esq,,  F.A.S.L. 
Notes   on  Sir  C.  Lyell' s  Antiquity  of  Man. 

By  John  Crawford,  Esq.,  F.R.S. 
Falconer  on  the  reputed  FossilMan  of  Abbeville 
Miscellanea  Anthropologica. 
Journal    of    the  Anthropological    Society   of 

London. 
On  the    Science    of    Laneroage.      By  R.    S. 

Charnock,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  F.A.S.L. 
Fergusson  on  the  Influence  of  Race  on  Art. 
On  the  Creation  of  Man  and  Substance  of  the 

Mind.    By  Prof.  Rudolph  Wagner. 
Pictet  on  the  Aryan  Race. 
Ethnological  Inquiries  and  Observations.     By 

the  late  Robert  Knox,  M.D. 
On  the  Application  of  the  Anatomical  Method 

to  the   Discrimination    of   Species.      By 

the  same. 
On  the  Deformations  of  the  Homan  Cranium, 

supposed  to  be  produced   by  Mechanical 

Means.     By  the  same. 
History  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Anthropo- 
logical  Society   of  Paris.     By  M.    Paul 

Broca,  Secretary- General. 
On  the  supposed  increasing  Prevalence  of  Dark 

Hair  in  England.    By  John  Beddoe,  M.D., 

F.A.S.L. 
The    Abbeville    Fossil    Jaw.      By  M.  A.   de 

Quatrefages.    Translated  by  G.  F.  Rolph, 

Esq. 
Miscellanea  Anthropologica. 


On  Cerebral  Physiology. 

Seemann  on  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Fiji  Islands. 
By  A.  A.  Fraser,  Esq.,  F.A.S.L. 

The  relation  of  Man  to  the  Inferior  Forms  of 
Animal  Life.  By  Charles  S.  Wake, 
Esq.,  F.A.S.L. 

Proceedings  of  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris 

Anthropology  at  the  British  Association: — 
Dr.  Hunt  on  Anthropological  Classifica- 
tion ;  Mr.  Carter  Blake  on  South  Ameri- 
can Cranioscopy ;  Dr.  Hunt  on  the  Negro ; 
Mr.  W.  Turner  on  Cranial  Deformities : 
Mr.  Duckworth  on  the  Human  Cranium 
from  A  miens ;  Professor  King  on  the 
Neanderthal  Skull ;  Dr.  Embleton  on  the 
Anatomy  of  a  Young  Chimpanzee ;  Mr. 
Carter  Blake  on  Syndactyly ;  Mr.  Roberts 
and  Professor  Busk  on  a  Kist ;  Mr. 
Crawford  on  the  Commixture  of  Man ; 
Dr.  Camps  on  Troops  in  India;  Dr. 
Murray  on  Instinctive  Actions;  Mr. 
Samuelson  on  Life  in  the  Atmosphere ; 
Mr.  Glaisher  on  the  Influence  of  High 
Altitudes  on  Man ;  Mr.  Hall  on  the  Social 
Life  of  the  Celts ;  Mr.  Petrie  on  the 
Antiquities  of  the  Orkneys  ;  Lord  Lovaine 
on  Lacustrian  Homan  Habitations ;  Pro- 
fessor Beete  Jokes  on  certain  Markings 
on  the  Horns  of  Megaceros  Hibernicos ; 
Mr.  Crawford  on  Sir  C.  Lyell's  Antiqoity 
of  Man ;  Professor  Phillips  on  the  An- 
tiquity of  Man ;  Mr.  Godwin-Aosten  on 
the  Alluvial  Accumulation  in  the  Valleys 
of  the  Somme  and  Ouse ;  Mr.  Wallace 
on  Man  in  the  Malay  Archipelago ;  Mutu 
Coomara  Swamy  on  the  Ethnology  of 
Ceylon;  Mr.  Crawfurd  on  the  Origin  of 
the  Gypsies ;  Mr.  Crawfurd  on  the  Celtic 
Languages ;  Mr.  Charnock  on  Celtic  Lan- 
guages ;  Personal  Recriminations  in  Sec- 
tion D ;    Concluding  Remarks. 

Waitz's  Introduction  to  Anthropology. 

Kingsley's  Water  Babies. 

Lunacy  and  Phrenology,  by  C.  Carter  Blake, 
Esq.,  F.G.S.,  F.A.S.L. 

The  Rival  Races ;  or,  the  Sons  of  Joel. 

Ramsay  on  Geology  and  Anthropology. 

Baruch  Spinoza. 

Anthropology  in  the  Nursery. 

Miscellanea  Anthropologica. 

Journal  of  the  Anthropological  Society  : 
Tylor  on  Human  Remains  from  Moulin- 
Quignon  ;  Schvarcz  on  Permanence  of 
Type;  Wake  on  Man  and  the  Lower 
Animals  ;  Bollaert  on  Populations  of  the 
New  World;  Marshall  on  Microcephaly; 
Busk  on  Homan  Remains  from  Chatham ; 
Bendyshe  on  Anglo-Saxon  Remains  from 
Barrington ;  Charnock  on  Science  of  Lan- 
guage; Winwood  Reade  on  Bush  Tribes 
of  Equatorial  Africa ;  General  Meeting  of 
the  Society;  Carter  Blake  on  Antiquity 
of  the  Human  Race. 


LONDON:  TRUBNER  &  CO.,  60,  PATERNOSTER  ROW. 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL      EEVIEW, 

AND 

Journal  of  tlie  Anthropological  Society  of  London, 


VOL.    II  NOW  READY,   PRICE   16s. 


CONTENTS. 


On  the  Human  Hair  as  a  Race-Character. 
By  Dr.  Pruner  Bey. 

Pott  on  the  Myths  of  the  Origin  of  Man  and 
Language. 

Italian  Anthropology. 

Ou  the  Scytho-Cimmerian  Languages. 

Notes  on  Scalping.     By  Richard  F.  Burton. 

Renan  on  the  Shemitic  Nations. 

Abnormal  Distortion  of  the  Wrist.  By  Charles 
H.  Chambers. 

Human  Remains  from  Lough  Gur,  County 
Limerick. 

Danish  Kitchen-middens.  By  Charles  H. 
Chambers. 

Miscellanea  Anthropologica. 

Inquiry  into  Consanguineous  Marriages  and 
Pure  Races.     By  Dr.  E.  Dally.  _ 

Peyrerius,  and  Theological  Criticism.  By 
Philalethes. 

Miscegenation. 

Anthropology  in  its  Connection  with  Che- 
mistry. 

Savage  Africa. 

Ethnology  and  Phrenology  as  an  Aid  to  the 
Biographer.     By  J.  W.  Jackson. 

Proceedings  of  the  Anthropological  Society 
of  Paris. 

Correspondence. 

Miscellanea  Anthropologica. 

On  the  Distinction  between  Man  and  Ani- 
mals.    By  Philalethes. 

On  the  Phenomena  of  Hybridity. 

Thoughts  and  Facts  contributing  to  the 
History  of  Man. 

On  the  Importance  of  Methodical  Classifica- 
tion in  American  Researches.  By  A. 
De  Bellecombe.  Translated  by  W.  H. 
Garrett,  Esq.,  F.A.S.L. 

Anthropotomy. 

Doyle's  Chronicle  of  England. 

Anthropological  Documents  of  the  State  of 
New  York.  By  George  E.  Roberts,  Esq., 
F.G.S.,Hon.  Sec.  A.S.L. 

Doherty's  Organic  Philosophy. 

Proceedings  of  the  Anthropological  Society 
of  Paris. 

The  Fossil  Man  of  Abbeville  again. 

Miscellanea  Anthropologica. 

Notes  on  Waitz's  Anthropology.  By  Captain 
R.F.  Burton,  V.P.A.S.L. 

Bain  on  the  Senses  and  the  Intellect. 

The  Gipsies  in  Egypt.  By  Alfred  vonKremer. 

On  the  Ideas  of  Species  and  Race  applied  to 
Man  and  Human  Society.  By  M.  Cournot. 

Slavery.     By  James  Reddie,  Esq.,  F.A.S.L. 

Anthropology  at  the  British  Association. 
a.d.  1864. 

Burton's  Mission  to  Dahome.  By  W.  Win- 
wood  Reade,  F.A.S.L.,  F.R.G.S. 

Miscellanea  Anthropologica. 


Journal  of  the  Anthropological  Society: 
Carter  Blake  on  the  Anthropological 
Papers  read  at  Newcastle  ;  G.  E.  Roberts 
and  Professor  Busk  on  the  Opening  of  a 
Kist  of  the  Stone  Age ;  Captain  Eustace 
W.  Jacob  on  Indian  Tribes  of  Vancouver's 
Island;  Dr.  James  Hunt  on  the  Negro's 
Place  in  Nature ;  C.  R.  Markham  on 
Quartz  Cutting  Instruments  from  Chan- 
duy  ;  G.  E.  Roberts  on  Mammalian  Bones 
from  Audley  End  ;  A.  Bryson  on  Arrow 
Heads  from  the  Bin  of  Cullen ;  Dr.  F.  R. 
Fairbank  on  Flint  Arrow  Heads  from 
Canada ;  Count  Oscar  Reichenbach  on 
the  Vitality  of  the  Negro  Race ;  General 
Meeting  of  the  Society ;  President's  An- 
nual Address ;  R.  Lee  on  the  Extinction 
of  Races  ;  T.  Bendyshe  on  the  Extinction 
of  Races;  Dr.  C.  G.  Cams  on  the  Con- 
struction of  the  Upper  Jaw  of  a  Green- 
lander;  C.  Carter  Blake's  Report  on  the 
same  subject;  Jas.  Reddie  on  Anthro- 
pological Desiderata;  Rev.  J.  M.  Joass 
on  some  Pre-historic  Dwellings  in  Ross- 
shire,  with  an  Introduction  by  George  E. 
Roberts  ;  C.  Carter  Blake  on  the  alleged 
Peculiar  Characters,  and  assumed  Anti- 
quity of  the  Human  Cranium  from  the 
Neanderthal ;  Alfred  R.  Wallace  on  the 
Origin  of  Human  Races,  etc. ;  Schlagint- 
weit  on  some  Ethnographical  Casts, 
etc. ;  Dr.  Shortt  on  the  Domber :  Pike 
on  the  Place  of  the  Science  of  Mind  and 
Language  in  the  Science  of  Man;  Guppy 
on  the  Capabilities  of  the  Negro  for 
Civilisation ;  Farrar  on  the  Universality 
of  Belief  in  God,  and  in  a  Future  State ; 
Farrar  on  Hybridity ;  Burton  and  Carter 
Blake  on  Skulls  from  Annabom  in  the 
West  African  Seas ;  Thurnam  on  the 
Two  Principal  forms  of  Crania  in  the 
Early  Britons ;  Bollaert  on  the  Palaeo- 
graphy of  the  New  World ;  Bendyshe 
on  the  Precautions  which  ought  to  have 
been  taken  to  ensure  the  health  of  British 
Troops  had  any  been  sent  to  Copen- 
hagen ;  Roberts  and  Bolton  on  the  Kirk- 
head  Cave,  near  Ulverstone ;  Blake  and 
Roberts  on  Human  Remains  from  Peter- 
borough ;  Bollaert  on  the  Alleged  Intro- 
duction of  Syphilis  from  the  New  World ; 
Gibb  on  Extreme  Hypertrophy  of  the 
Skull ;  Roberts  and  Carter  Blake  on  a 
Jaw  from  Buildwas  Abbey,  Salop ;  Carter 
Blake  on  Human  Remains  from  Kent's 
Hole,  Torquay ;  Carter  Blake  on  Human 
Remains  from  a  Bone  Cave  in  Brazil ; 
Broca  on  Skulls  from  the  Basque  Pro- 
vinces, and  from  a  Cave  of  the  Bronze 
Period  ;  Pusey  on  the  Negro  in  Relation 
to  Civilised  Society. 


LONDON  :    TRUBNER    &    CO.,    60,    PATERNOSTER    ROW. 


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