i f T 'h £^i CAUCA.SIA]>ir T^AEIETY LECTURES ON COMPARATIVE ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, ZOOLOGY, AND THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MAN. WILLIAM LAWRENCE, RR.S. SURGEON TO ST. BAItTHOI-OMEw's HOSPITAL. WITH TWELVE NEW ENGRAVINGS. (SicfytT) (Stiitian.—^ttrtatvptO. LONDON: JOHN TAYLOR, 1, RED LION STREET, HOLBORN. 184 0. CONTENTS. Page Dedication iii Explanation of the Plates ix LECTURE I. Introductory to the Course delivered in 1817. Reply to the Charges of Mr. Abernethy ; — Modern His- tory and Progress of Comparative Anatomy . . 1 LECTURE n. Introductory to the Course of 1818. The Cultivation of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy re- commended as Branches of general Knowledge, and as an interesting Department of Philosophy : their relation to various Questions in general Philosophy exemplified in the Gradations of Organization, and the Doctrine of final Causes. Examples of the Aid they are capable of affording to Geology and the Physical History of the Globe. Their Importance to Physiology, and consequently to the Scientific Study of Medicine. Objects of Inquiry in the Animal Kingdom, and Mode of Investigation ; Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology . . . .27 LECTURE III. On the Study of Physiology ; — the Aids and Illustrations to be derived from other Sciences, as Natural Philosophy, Mathematics, Chemistry. Study of the Physical Sciences recommended. Peculiar Characters of the vital Phe- nomena. Living Properties. Attempted Hypothetical Explanation of them. Comparative Anatomy ; its Ob- jects ; its Relations to Physiology exempUfied ' . 46 VI CONTENTS. LECTURE IV. Page Nature of Life; Methodical Arrangement of Living Beings; Species, Varieties, Genera, Orders, &c. Progressive Simi^lification of Organization, and of Functions. Intel- lectual Functions of the Brain, in the natural and dis- ordered State, explained on the same Principles as the offices of other Organs .64 On the Natural History of Man . . .82 CHAPTER I. Nature and Objects of the Inquiry ; and Mode of Investiga- tion ; the Subject hitherto neglected, and very erroneous notions consequently prevalent. Sources of Information. Anatomical Characters of the Monkey Tribe, and more particularly of the Orang-outang and Chimpanse. Specific Character of Man ib. SECTION I. Distinctions between Man and Animals, or Specific Characters of Man. CHAPTER II. The erect Attitude of Man, and consequent Peculiarities m the Structure of the lower Limbs, Thorax, Spine, and Pelvis 92 CHAPTER III. On the Upper Extremities ; Advantageous Construction of the Human Hand ; Man is two-handed ; the Monkey kind four-handed : on the Natural Attitude and Gait of Monkeys 106 CHAPTER IV. Comparison of the Human Head and Teeth to those of Animals . ... ... 114 CHAPTER V. Differences between Man and Animals in Stature, Propor- tions, and some other Points 125 CONTENTS. VII Page CHAPTER VI. Differences in the Structure of some internal Organs . .130 Peculiarities in the animal Economy of the human Species ; general Extension over the Globe ; Man naturally omni- vorous ; his long Infancy and slow Development: hence suited to the social State 139 CHAPTER VII. Faculties of the Mind ; Speech; Diseases; Recapitulation 156 SECTION II. On the Varieties of the Human Species. CHAPTER I. Statement of the Subject ; Mode of Investigation ; the Question cannot be settled from the Jewish Scriptures ; nor from other historical Records. The Meaning of Species and Variety in Zoology : Nature and Extent of Variation. Breeding as a Criterion of Species. Crite- rion of Analogy 165 CHAPTER II. On the Colour of the human Species. Structure of the Parts in which the Colour resides. Enumeration of the various Tints. Colour and Denominations of the mixed Breeds. Various Colours of Animals. Production of Varieties. Spotted Individuals. Other Properties of the Skin . . ...... 184 CHAPTER III. On the Hair, Beard, and Colour of the Iris . . . 208 CHAPTER IV. Differences of Features ; Forms of the Skull ; Teeth ; Attempted Explanations 220 Vm CONTENTS. Page CHAPTER V. Varieties in Figure, Proportions, aad Strength. The Ears ; Effects of Art upon them, and in other Parts of the Body. The Mammae. Organs of Generation. Fabulous Varieties ......... 267 CHAPTER VI. Difference of Stature. Origin and Transmission of Varie- ties in Form .293 CHAPTER Vn. Differences in the Animal Economy. Diseases. External Senses. Language 314 CHAPTER Vni. Differences in Moral and Intellectual Qualities . .324 CHAPTER IX. On the Causes of the Varieties of the Human Species . 343 CHAPTER X. Division of the Human Species into Five Varieties . . 376 Concluding Address 392 EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. The five first Figures, representing characteristic Portraits of the principal Races or Varieties of the Human Species, are copied from Engravings in the first Part of Blumenbach's Delinea- tions of Objects in Natural History. I. Caucasian Variety. Jusuf Aguiah Efendi, a Turk, for- merly Ambassador from the Porte at the Court of London. II. Mongolian Variety. Feodor Iwanowitsch, a Calmuck, sent when young by the Empress of Russia to the Here- ditary Princess of Baden, educated at Carlsruhe, and after- wards a celebrated Engraver in Rome. III. Ethiopian Variety. J. J. E. Capitein, a Negro, who received Holy Orders in Holland. IV. American Variety. Thayendaneega, a Chief of the Mohawks, or Si.x Nations, whose Statement respecting one of the physical Characters of his Countrymen is quoted from the Philosophical Transactions. V. Malay Variety. Omai, a Native of Ulietea, one of the Friendly Islands, brought to England in 1773, and carried back by Cook in his last Voyage. VI. Skull of a Georgian Woman. VII. SkuU of a Calmuck. VIII. SkuU of a Negro ; from a Specimen in the Collection of Mr. Abernethy. IX. Comparative View of the Georgian, Negro, and Tungoose Skulls, according to the Norma verticalis of Blu- menbach. X. SkuU of a Carib, from a Specimen in the Hunterian Collection. XI . Skull of a Carib with the Forehead artificiaUy flattened, from a Specimen belonging to Mr. Cline. XII. Comparative View of the Skull in young Subjects of the Caucasian, Mongolian, and Ethiojjian Varieties. MOZS^GOLIAK^ V^^PvIETY. />/, r-> (/ f _ /^ '/ W/.V • Cj/ ^/z -rr //f '// ' //, y ^ // fLaic 3. P, T H I O r I A X V A 11 I E T Y " y r'K r s:^^/^..: PLate ^. A .M E J< I C A:X ^' a 1{ I E T Y / /,iic M .A. L A Y V A 1{ I ]•: T Y . ; > <: fcr- V / / / /V,; \ r' LECTURES ON PHYSIOLOGY, ZOOLOGY, AND THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MAN. LECTURE I. INTRODUCTORY TO THE COURSE DELIVERED IN 1817, Reply to the Charges of Mr. Ahemelhy ; modern History and Progress of comparaiioc Anatomy. Gentlemen ! — I cannot presume to address you again in the character of Professor to this College, without first publicly clearing myself from a charge publicly made in this theatre ; — the charge of having perverted the honourable office, intrusted to me by this Court, to the very unworthy design of propagating opinions detrimental to society, and of endeavouring to enforce them for the purpose of loosening those restraints, on which the welfare of mankind depends.* * Physiological Lectures, exhibiting a general rieto of Mr. Hunter's Physiology, and of his Researches in comparalire Anatomy ; delirered before the Royal College o/5«)-gcriptinn, they were only meant as an innocent vehicle fur the more active ingredients. OF MR. ABERNETHY. 6 varieties of thought are as numerous, and as strongly marked, and as irreducible to one standard as those of bodily form : and that to quarrel with one, who thinks differently from ourselves, would be no less unreasonable than to be angry with him for having features unlike our own. , To fair argument and free discussion I shall never object, even if they should completely destroy my own opinions ; for my object is truth, not victory. But when argument is aban- doned, and its place supplied by an inquiry into motives, de- signs, and tendencies, the case is altered. If vanquished in fair discussion, I should have yielded quietly ; but it cannot have been expected that I would he still, and be trampled on, lecture after lecture ; cut and mangled with every weapon fair and foul ; assailed with appeals to the passions and prejudices, to the fears of the timid, the alarms of the ignorant and the bigoted : and this, too, when nothing is easier than to destroy the ill-con- structed fabric ; to crumble its very fragments to dust, and scatter them before the wind. It is alleged that there is a party of modern sceptics, co-ope- rating in the diffusion of these noxious opinions with a no less ten-ible band of French physiologists, for the purpose of demo- ralizing mankind ! Such is the general tenour of the accusation, independently of the modifications, by which it is worked up into separate counts, and of the rhetorical ornaments, by which it was embellished. Had the statement been general, I should not have appropriated it by entering on a defence ; — ^but have left that service to any volunteer of the sceptical party, which I know no more of, than I do of the man in the moon, and in whose existence I believe just as much. The quotation of my own words, however, rendered it impossible for me to shield myself under the pretext of uncertainty ; indeed, it particularized and fixed the accusation, for which no other tangible object could be discovered. The vague and indefinite expressions of sceptical party, modern sceptics, and other abusive terms, form too flimsy a veil to con- ceal the real object of this fierce attack ; while the pretended concern for important truths and principles, and the loud impu- tation of bad designs and evil tendencies, instead of decently covering, rather expose the nakedness of the feeUngs in which it originated. Perhaps ail the counts of this alarming indictment are not intended to apply to all tlae persons thus unexpectedly dragged B 2 4 KEPr,Y TO THE CHARGES to the bar of public oi)inion ; — 1)ut, as the prosecutor made no distinction in the shades of guilt, I must plead to the whole accusation ; — of propagating dangerous opinions, — and of doing so in concert with the French physiologists : — the French, who seem to be considered our natural enemies in science, as well as in politics. I plead not guilty ; and enter on my defence with a confident reliance on the candour and impartiality of the tribunal, before whom the cause is brought ; — a tribunal too enlightened to con- found the angry feelings and exaggerated expressions of con- troversy with the calm deductions of reason ; — and well able to appreciate this attempt at enlisting religion and morality on the side of self-love ; by which difference of opinion, at all times but too irritating to the human mind, receives the double aggra- vation, of real inability to persuade, and fancied right to con- demn. "Where, Gentlemen! shall we find proofs of this heavy charge, — of this design so hostile to the very elements and foundation of civil union ? What are the overt acts to prove this treason against society ? this compassing and imagining the destruction of moral restraint, and the grounds of mutual con- fidence ? What support can you discover for such imputations in the profession, pursuits, habits and character of those who are accused ? How will it promote their interests to endanger the very frame of society ? By what latitude and artifice of construction, by what ingenuity of explanation, can the mate- rials of such a charge be extracted from the discussion of an abstract physiological question ? from discourses first delivered in this theatre to an assembly of the whole profession, and since openly published to the whole world ? I need not remind you that such an accusation is repelled by every appearance, every proba])ility, and every presumption ; and that in opposition to these prima facie sources of distrust, it can only be esta- blished by the clearest and most unefjui\ ocal evidence : not by bold assertions and strained inferences — not by declamatory common-places on morals — nor by all the pangs and complaints of mortified self-love. A ])arty of modern scejitics ! — A sceptic is one Avho doubts ; — and if this party includes those who doubt, — or rather who do not doubt at all, — about the electro-chemical doctrine of life, I can have no objection to belong to so numerous and respect- able a body. The assent of the mind to any proposition cannot OF MR. ABERNETHY. O be forced ; it must depend on the weight of evidence and argu- ment. I cannot adopt this hypothesis until some proof or rea- soning of a very different nature from any hitherto produced shall be brought forwards. I declare most sincerely, that I never met with even the shadow of a proof, that the contraction of a muscle or the sensation of a nerve depended in any degree on electrical principles ; or that reflection, judgment, memory, arise out of changes similar in their causes or order to those we call chemical. On the other hand, I see the animal func- tions inseparable from the animal organs ; — first showing them- selves when they are first developed ; — coming to perfection as they are perfected ; — modified by their various aflfections : — de- caying as they decay ; and finally ceasing when they are destroyed. Examine the mind, the grand prerogative of man. Where is the mind of the fetus ? where that of the child just bom ? Do we not see it actually built up before our eyes by the actions of the five external senses, and of the gradually developed internal facal- ties ? Do we not trace it advancing by a slow progress through infancy and childhood, to the perfect expansion of its faculties in the adult ; — annihilated for a time by a blow on the head, or the shedding of a little blood in apoplexy ; — decaying as the body declines in old age; and finally reduced to an amount hardly perceptible, when the body, worn out by the mere exercise of the organs, reaches by the simple operation of natural decay that state of decrepitude most aptly termed second childhood ? Where then shaU we find proofs of the mind's independence on the bodily structure ? — of that mind, which, like the cor- poreal frame, is infantile in the child, manly in the adult, sick and debilitated in disease, frenzied or melancholy in the mad- man, enfeebled in the decline of life, doting in decrepitude^ and annihilated by death ? Take away from the mind of man, or from that of any other animal, the operations of the five external senses, and the func- tions of the brain, and what will be left behind ? That life then, or the assemblage of all the functions, is imme- diately dependent on organization, appears to me, physiologi- cally speaking, as clear as that the presence of the sun above the horizon causes the light of day ; and to suppose that we could have light wthout that luminary, would not be more un- reasonable than to conceive that life is independent of the animal body, in which the vital phenomena are observed b REPLY TO THE CHARGES I say, physiologically speaking ; and beg you to attend parti- cularly to this qualification > because the theological doctrine of the soul, and its separate existence, has nothing to do with this physiological question, but rests on a species of proof altogether different. These sublime dogmas could never have been brought to light by the labours of the anatomist and physiologist. An immaterial and spiritual being could not have been discovered amid the blood and filth of the dissecting-room ; and the very idea of resortin»g to this low and dirty source for a proof of so exalted and refined a truth, is an illustration of what we daily see, the powerful bias that professional habits and the exclusive contemplation of a particular subject, give even to the strongest minds, — an illustration of that esprit de metier, which led the honest currier in the threatened city to recommend a fortifica- tion of leather. When we reflect that the immortahty of the soul and a future state of rewards and punishments were fully recognised in all the religions of the ancient world, except the Jewish ; — and that they are equally so in all those of more modern time ; — when we consider, that this belief prevailed universally in the vast and populous regions of the East, for ages and ages before the period to which our remotest annals extend, and that it is firmly rooted in countries and nations, on which the sun of science has never yet shone, the demonstration that the anatomical and physiolo- gical researches of the last half century have not the most remote connexion with, or imaginable influence on, the proof of these great truths will be completed beyond the possibility of doubt or denial, in the estimation of every unprejudiced person. I do not enlarge on this point, because it is too obvious, and because divinity and morals, however excellent in their own time and place, do not exactly suit the theatre, audience, or subject of these Lectures. The greatest of the ancient philosophers said that the surest way of gaining admission into the temple of wisdom, was through the portal of doubt — and he declared that he knew only one thing — his own ignorance. Were Socrates to show his head above ground just now, he must conclude, either that he himself had completely mistaken the road to knowledge, or that his successors had accomplished the journey, and had penetrated into the sanctuary of the temple. For, in the modern philosophy, doubting is proscribed as the source of all mischief; and an overbearing dogmatism, even on the most abstruse and OF MR. ABERNETHY. 7 difficult questions, is held forth as a wser course than the modest confession of ignorance. When favourite speculations have been long indulged, and much pains have been bestowed on them, they are ^^e\ved with that parental partiahty, which cannot bear to hear of faults in the object of its attachment. Tlie mere doubt of an impartial obser\-er is offensive ; and the discovery of anything like a ble- mish in the darhng is not only ascribjed to an entire want of discrimination and judgment, but resented as an injury. The irritation rises higher, in proportion to the coolness of the object which excites it ; as Sir Anthony Absolute in the play, while swelling with rage, and boiling over with abuse on the persons around him, begins to damn them again with tenfold energy because they cannot keep their tempers, because they cannot be as cool as he is. By a curious inconsistency in the human mind, difference of opinion is more offensive and intolerable in proportion as the subject is of a more refined nature, and less susceptible of direct proof. Hence the rancorous mtolerance excited by the minute and almost evanescent shades of opinion that distinguish many religious sects. The quarrels of the Homoousians and the Ho- moiousians flUed the Roman empire for a long series of years with discord, faction, persecution, and civil war. Yet the point at issue, actually comprised in the -variation of a single diph- thong, is so minute as to be " scarcely visible to the nicest theological eye,"* and certainly, in reference to either faith or practice, is not a jot more imjwrtant than the controversy which divided the mighty empire of Lilliput, respecting the right end to break in eating an egg. Tis a pity we cannot find some convenient way of setthng these important controversies ; such as occurred to the traveller, who met with a people divided into two parties on the question whether they should walk into the temple of their deity with the right or the left leg foremost. Each side conceived the practice of the other to be impious ; the tra- veller recommended the obvious expedient, which in the heat of their quarrel they had overlooked, of jumping in wdth both legs together. The peculiar virulence of controversy, in all cases in which religion is supposed to be concerned, is so remarkable, as to have become proverbial : — the odium theologicum is the most con- centrated essence of animosity and rancour. Let us not then • Gibbon. 8 REPLY TO THE CHARGES open the fair garden of science to this ugly fiend ; let not her sweet cup be tainted by the most distant approach of his venomous breath. Is the cause of truth to be promoted by affixing injurious and party names to those who differ from us in these points of nice and curious speculation ? wlio cannot pursue the same track with ourselves through the airy regions of immaterial being, of which the only utility seems to consist in affording occupation to the organs of ideality and mysticism ? Is not this kind of abuse more likely, by moving the passions, to disturb the opera- tion of the judgment. The practice of calling names in argument has been chiefly resorted to by the fair sex, and in religious discussions ; in both cases, apparently, from a common cause — the weakness of the other means of attack and defence. The priests of former times used to rain a torrent of abusive epithets, as heretic, infrdel, atheist, and the Lord knows what, on all who had the audacity to differ from them in opinion. This ecclesiastical artillery has been so much used, as to have become in great measure unser- viceable : it is now found more noisy than destructive ; and the general discovery of its harmlessness has assisted, with the pro- gress of liberal ideas, to discountenance its employment in con- troversy, as poisoned weapons and other unfair advantages have been banished from honourable warfare. Sometimes however it frightens and stuns, if it does not dangerously wound ; and thus it silences antagonists, who could not easily have been over- come by weight of argument. It would have been praise enough to any doctrine, that it should explain the great mystery of life ; that it should solve the enigma, which has puzzled the ablest heads of all ages j — but this subtile and mobile vital fluid is brought forward with more ambitious pretensions, and it is not only designed to show the nature and operation of the cause, by which the vital phenomena are pro- duced, but to add a new sanction to the great principles of mo- rals and religion, and to eradicate all the selfish and bad pas- sions of our nature. An obscure hypothesis, which few have ever heard of, and fewer can comprehend, is to make us all good and virtuous, to impose a restraint upon vice stronger than Bow- street or the Old Bailey can apply ; and in all probability to con- vert the offices of Mr. Recorder and his assistant Mr. Ketch into sinecures.* • Let us siipiiose for a moment that the adoption of this hypothesis would really have all the efficacy that is pretended, it would then be desirable that OF MR. ABERNETHY. if What has been the effect of this great discovery on its author ? What are the first fruits of this new ethical power ? A series of Quixotic attacks on conspirators and parties as purely imaginary as the giants and castles encountered by the knight of La Mancha; of unfounded charges and angry invective, undisguised and glaring national partiality, unreasonable national antipathy, un- merited and unprovoked abuse of the writers of a whole nation, afford an overwhelming proof of its complete moral inefficacy. These magnificent designs are interrupted by a conspiring band of sceptics and French physiologists ; — by a nest of plotters brought forth aU at once on this green table, and threatening, in the noise and alarm which preceded their discovery, as well as in their utter insignificancy and harmlessness when discovered, to eclipse even the green bag conspiracy of another place. The foundations of morality undermined, and religion endangered Ijy a little discussion, and a little ridicule of the electro-chemical hypothesis of hfe ! Thus the possessor of a specific endeavours to frighten people by the most lively pictures of their danger ; that they may receive, with a higher opinion of its virtues and importance, his pretended infallible remedy. I shall not insult your understandings by formally proving that this physiological doctrine never has afforded, and never can afford, any support to religion or morals ; and that the great truths, so important to mankind, rest on a perfectly different, and far more solid foundation. If tliey could be endangered at aU by the discussions, with which we amuse ourselves, it would be by unsettling them from their natural and firm establishment in the natural feelings and propensities, in the common sense, in the mutual wants and relations of mankind, and erecting them anew on the artificial and rotten foundation of these unsubstantial speculations, or on the equally unsafe ground of abstruse metaphysical researches.* it should turn out to be true: but -would tliat afford any proof of the hypo- thesis ? If, in a disputed question, you tell me that I shall have a large estate, if I am convinced that you are in the right: undoubtedly I shall desire with all my heart to find that you are right : but I cannot be convinced of it, unless your arguments should be found satisfactory. In the same way, in tossing up for heads and tails, if I am to receive a guinea provided tails turn up, and a hundred if it should be heads, this difference does not at all increase the chances of the latter event, however it may operate on my wishes. • The profound, the virtuous, and fervently pious Pascal acknowledged, what all sound theologians maintain, that the immortality of the soul, the great truths of religion, and the fundamental principles of morals, cannot be flemonstrablv proved by mere reason ; and that revelation alone is capable of dissipating the uncertainties, which perplex those who inquire too curiously into the sources of these important principles. All will acknowledge that, as no other remedy can be so perfect and satisfactory as this, no other can be necessary, if we resort to this with tirm faith. How many persons could be found, whose belief in a Deity rests on the chain of reasoning in Clark's B 3 10 KEPLY TO THE CHARGES As to the charge itself, of bringing forward doctrines with any design hostile to the principles or opinions, on which the welfare of society depends ; or with any other intention, except that of displaying to you the impartial result of my own reflections and researches ; — I reply in one word ; — that it is false. I beg you, indeed, to observe, that I have only remarked on the opinions of others ; I have adduced none of my own. I profess an entire ignorance of the nature of the vital properties, except in so far as they are disclosed by experience ; and find my knowledge on this subject reduced to the simple result of observation, that certain phenomena occur in certain organic textures.* To the qiiestion, what opinions I would substitute in place of those to which I object, I answer, none. Ignorance is preferable to error : he is nearer to truth, who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong. And here I take the opportunity of protesting, in the strongest terms, — in behalf of the interests of science and of that free discussion, which is essential to its successful cultivation, — against the attempt to stifle impartial inquiry by an outcry of pernicious tendency ; and against perverting science and litera- ture, which naturally tend to bring mankind acquainted with each other, to the anti-social purposes of inflaming and pro- longing national prejudice and animosity. Letters have been called the tongue of the world ; and science may be regarded in the same light. They supply common objects of interest, in which the selfish and unsocial feelings are not called into action, and thus they promote new friendships among nations. Through Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God; or in Kant's Einzig mogliche Beweisgrund zu einer Demonstration des Daseyn Gottesf How many are there who have had perseverance enough to go through the chain of ar- gument in these works 1 If the close and profound reasoning and the meta- physical acuteness of Clark and Kant have been employed to little purpose on such a subject, what are we to expect from this pretended Hunterian theory of life? * The author of the Physiological Lectures entertains some peculiar vievre concerning the evidence, on which we are to rely in our physical researches, which probably furnish a clue to the peculiar results at which he has arrived. He " confides more in the eye of reason than in that of sense; and would rather form opinions from analogy, than from the imperfect evidence of sight." P. 203, where the expression is employed in discussing a question of fact. The same statement, in nearly the same words, occurs in several other places. From a comparison of these passages with each other, and with the leading doctrines of these lectures, I consider their meaning to be, that when the evidence of the senses is at variance with preconceived notions, or the con- structions, combinations, or other operations of the mental faculties, the author rejects the former and adheres to the latter. As the author must be the best judge of the relative value belonging to the evidence of his own senses and that of his fancy, imagination, and other internal powers, it is fair to presume that he has exercised a sound discretion in this very impor- tant determination. It is however rather unreasonable for him to expect that others should rely on the workings of his fancy in preference to the evidence of their own senses. OF Mil. AKER.NETHY. 11 them distant people become capable of conversing ; and losing by degrees tbe awkwardness of strangers, and the moroseness of suspicion, they learn to know and understand each other. Science, the partisan of no country, but the beneficent patroness of all, has liberally opened a temple where all may meet. She never inquires about the country or sect of those who seek admission : she never allots a higher or a lower place from exag- gerated national claims, or unfounded national antipathies. Her influence on the mind, like that of the sun on the chilled earth, has long been preparing it for higher cultivation, and further improvement. The philosopher of one country should not see an enemy in the philosopher of another : he should take his seat in the temple of science, and ask not who sits beside him. The savage notion of a natural enemy should be banished from this sanctuary, where all, from whatever qviarter, should be regarded as of one great family ; and being engaged in pursuits calculated to increase the general sum of hajjpiness, should never exercise intolerance towards each other, nor assume that right of arraign- ing the motives and designs of others, which belongs only to the Being who can penetrate the recesses of the human heart ; an assumption which is so well reprobated by our great poet : Let not this weak unkno'.ving hand Presume thy bults to throw ; And deal damnation round the land On each I judge chy fuc. In the introductory lecture* of last year, I attempted to sketch out to you the history of Comparative Anatomy ; to select the names of those who had been principally concerned in estabhsh- ing and advancing the science ; and to assign to each his pro- per Ghare of praise. At the same time that I found it a pleasing task to review the successive steps in the progress of so interest- ing a science, and to award the just tribute of our gratitude to so many useful labours, I thought it would be interesting and profitable to you to know to whose talents and to whose exer- tions zoology had been indebted. The space allotted to this historical review having been ne- cessarily short, the names of many were omitted ; and others were noticed more briefly than the number, extent, and impor- tance of their contributions to science would have deserved. This was particularly the case with many illustrious foreigners, towards some of whom I shall now make up for that neglect. The temple of science has not been raised to its present com- • See Introduction to ccmr arative Anatnmy and Phyiiology. 12 MODERN HISTORY, &C. manding height, or decorated with its beautiful proiwrtions and embellishments, by the exertions of any one country. If we obstinately shut our eyes to all that other nations have con- tributed, we shall survey only a few columns of the majestic fabric, and never rise to an adequate conception of the grandeur and beauty of the whole. Our insular situation, by restricting intercourse, has contributed to generate a contempt for foreigners, and an unreasonable notion of our own importance, which is often ludicrous ; always to be regretted ; and in many cases strong enough to resist all the weapons of ridicule. We should consider what we think of these national prejudices, when we observe them in others ; when we see the Turks summing up aU their contempt for their more polished neighbours, in the short but expressive phrase of Christian dogs ; and the Emperor of China accepting presents from the King of England, because it is a principle of the celestial empire to show indulgence and condescension towards petty states. Science requires an expanded mind, a view that embraces the universe. Instead of shutting himself up in an island, and abusing all the rest of mankind, the philosopher should make the world his country ; and should trample beneath his feet those prejudices, which the vulgar so fondly hug to their bosoms. He should sweep away from his mind the dust and cobwebs of all national partiality and enmity, which darken and distort the perceptions, and fetter the operations of intellect. If the love of science and liberal views are not sufficient to repress the noisy obtrusion of national claims, considerations of policy may furnish the motive. The country, which has really done the most for science, will certainly be the last to assert its preten- sions, and a readiness to allow the merits of others will be the most powerful means, next to modesty and diffidence, of recom- mending our own to attention. If we could come to the strange resolution of attending only to what has been done by Enghsh- men in comparative anatomy and zoology, we should have to go back in the science fifty years or more ; in short, to a state of comparative darkness. For such it must be deemed, if we excluded the strong light which has been thrown on these sub- jects from Italy, Germany, and France. The only parallel to such a proceeding is that affiarded by the Caliph Omar, in his sentence on the Alexandrian library. This ignorant fanatic devoted to the flames the intellectual treasure, accumulated by the taste, the learning, and the munificence of many kings, observing, that the books, if they agreed with the OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 13 Koran, were superfluous, and need not be preserved ; if they differed from it, impious, and ought to be destroyed. If this extraordinary kind of exclusion were realized, what would be the result ? A great national idol must be set up, and we should be compelled to bow down and worship it under the penalty of being thrown into the burning fiery furnace of offended national pride. At the first institution of the French Royal Academy of Sciences, towards the middle of the century before the last, some of its members occupied themselves with the very useful undertaking of observing and dissecting several animals, of de- scribing and illustrating them by figures. The value of their labours is sufficiently attested by their having been several times republished in various forms, and translated into Latin, English, and other languages. Being drawn entirely from observation, their histories will ever possess the value inseparable from faithful delineations of nature. They have described forty-seven animals, and represented their external figure and internal struc- ture, in ninety folio plates. As examples of their knowledge, it will be sufficient to mention, that you will find in their work an account of the cells in the camel's stomach, which hold the water, a point of structure and economy so strikingly suited to the parched and sandy regions of Asia and Africa, which these animals inhabit. All communication and comiuerce across these extensive wastes would be impossible, mthout a race of animals possessing that power of bearing the privation of water, which this structure confers. They describe the air-cells and the gastric glands of birds ; and the curious mechanism of the mem- brana nictitans or third eyelid. Of many animals we know little more, to the present day, than what they have told us. When we consider that the Royal Academy of Sciences, to whose members we owe these splendid and useful laljours, was founded by Louis XIV. and his minister Colbert ; when we review the long list of illustrious names which adorn the annals of that body, and bring together the almost numberless acces- sions to every branch of science, which have been the fruit of their exertions through the reign of their despotic founder, and his no less despotic successors down to the present time ; we are reluctantly compelled to acknowledge that the encouragement of this branch of human knowledge (the sciences) is not confined to free forms of government, and that there is nothing pecuUarly hostile to their progress, even in the most despotic. Absolute 14 MODERN HISTORY, &C. rulers indeed, so far from having any interest in shackling or impeding scientific or literary inquiries, have an obvious and strong motive for aiding and promoting them. . They aflford a safe and harmless employment to many active spirits, who might otherwise take a fancy to look into politics and laws ; to investigate the source, form, duties, and proceedings of govern- ments, and the rights of the governed. A wise despot wiH be glad to see such dangerous topics exchanged for inquiries into the history of a plant or animal, into the properties of a mineral or the form of a fossil ; into the uses of a piece of old Roman or Grecian crockery, or the appropriation of a mutilated statue to its rightful owner in some heathen goddery. Shutting out the human mind from some of its most interesting and impor- tant excursions, he will open every other path as widely as possible. "WTien the French Academicians discontinued their researches and pubhcations, the opportunities of zoological inquiry, which the royal menageries had afforded them, passed into the hands of BuFFON and Daubenton, who employed them with equal industry, and equal advantage to science. When the direction of the Jardin des Plantes was confided to Buffon, he formed the two-fold project, commensurate in boldness and magnificence with his own genius ; — that of assembhng select and well-ar- ranged specimens of all natural productions, to exhibit to man- kind the fertility and variety of nature ; — and the formation of a more durable monument, on which he proposed to engrave the history or annals of this admirable nature. The immensity of the design, which he was well aware of, did not discourage him from the attempt : it only excited him to extend his resources by calling in other aid. His discernment discovered the very qua- lities he wanted in the modest, patient, persevering, yet zealous Daubenton, who was born at the same place with himself, Montbar, in Burgundy, and with whom he had been acquainted from infancy. Destined by his father for the church, D.\ubkn- TON went to Paris to study theology, but he applied in secret to medicine, and particularly anatomy; and when his father's death allowed him to pm-sue the bent of his own inchnation, he adopted the medical profession, and began to practise it in his native place, when Biiffon invited him to Paris, and procured for him the situations of keeper and demonstrator of the cabinet of na- tural history. Their association presented the singular spectacle of two men with high yet different qualifications, uniting their efforts without impairing their energy, and combining the lights OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 15 they derived from various sources only to increase their inten- sify, and to throw them with greater effect on the objects they lx)th wished to illuminate. In the great work, so honourable to the country which gave it birth, containing the result of their associated labours, the share contributed by Daubexton is the internal and external description of one hundred and eighty-two animals, several of which had neither been observed nor described before by naturalists. The useful facts accumulated by him in the course of many years devoted to this undertaking, are pre- sented in a form so unpretending, that they are overpowered and thro^vn into the back-ground by the grand and imposing general ^aews, the beautiful particular descriptions, and the elo- quence at once majestic and captivating, of the French Pliny. So great were the care and accuracy of Daubenton, in re- gistering the facts which he observed, that, in spite of their num- ber, we can hardly detect an error. He admitted nothing, but what he saw himself, without indulging in those bold hypothesis, for which Buffon had so marked a predilection ; without even drawing those general conclusions, which might have 1)een most naturally deduced from his observations. Here perhaps his re- ser\'e was excessive; and it is in this respect Camper observed of him, that he did not know himself how many things he had discovered. The anatomical plates and descriptions of Daubenton are, in many instances, the most valuable part of the work which passes under the name of Buffon : and they will retain this value, as the sterling coin bearing the stamp of nature ever does; while the base metal of hypothesis and speculation, de- tected by a little wearing, is soon consigned to contempt and oblivion. Daubenton therefore, although the author of no work published in his own name (except some papers in the Me- moirs of the French Academy of Sciences), will ever be regarded as one of the first in that list of illustrious moderns, who have prosecuted the study of zoology with enlarged views and on proper principles. Camper and Pallas were cotemporary \vith Daubenton. Animated with the true feeling for nature, they devoted them- selves to her study with that enthusiasm which characterizes genius. The zoologists of Europe have assigned to them, with one accord, the highest rank in the temple of science ; and point them out with one consent as belonging to that small class, who have contributed signally to extend the boundaries of natural 16 MODERN HISTORY, &C. knowledge. Where will any sceptical opponent of their claims find justification of his dissent from the pubUc voice so strongly expressed in their favour ? Let him seek it in their works, and his doubts will soon be at an end. Although Camper occupied at different times the chairs of philosophy, anatomy, surgery, and medicine at Franeker, Am- sterdam, and Groningen ; — although he filled various civil situations, and wrote on many subjects in anatomy, midwifery, surgery, medicine, and the fine arts, he found leisure for his favourite pursuits. He collected a very valuable museum in comparative anatomy, made numerous dissections of rare and interesting animals, and delineated their structure in that simple but expressive style, in which he has given us the admirable engravings of the arm and pelvis. The air-ceUs in the bones of birds, their communications and uses, the organ of hearing in fishes and whales, the anatomy of the orang-outang, the ele- phant, the rein-deer, and the Surinam toad, the organs of the voice in monkeys, the head of the two-horned rhinoceros, and fossil osteology, are some of the subjects which he has success- fully illustrated.* No man entered the path of zoology with greater ardour, or pursued it with more perseverance anfl success, than Peter Simon Pallas, the son of a surgeon of Berlin. His whole life indeed was only a succession of labours devoted to the ex- tension of natural knowledge. In passing over the wide field of zoology, the student will see his name in all quarters ; and every whei'e as the index of some important discovery. Should he wish to survey any part of the territory more minutely, Pallas will be his safest guide. He published eighteen sepa- rate works, several of them bulky, and in many volumes ; and he contributed fifty-five papers to various learned societies-l" When the value of writings is so universally recognised, as in the case of a Haller and a Pallas, their numerical amount is a measure of the obligations under which science lies to their authors. He acquired very rapidly the learned, and the modem languages, and studied natural history, anatomy, physiology, and the other branches of the medical profession, under the best teachers that Germany and Holland afforded. His taste for zoology was strongly marked at the age of fifteen, when he • His various works are enumerated in the Notice de la Vie et des Ecrits de P. CamiieT, prefixed to the CEuvrcs, torn. i. + A short account of the life of Pallas has been published by his friend Rudolphi, in hia Beylrage zur Ant.n uj uiu^ie U7id allgemeitien JVaturgeschichte, 8vo. Berlin, 1812. It contains a complete catalogue of his numerous writings. OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 17 sketched out an arrangement of birds on his own notions, and made observations on the larvae of the lepidoptera, particularly ■ •with the view of determining whether they possess the sense of hearing, which he settled in the affirmative. His Inaugural Thesis, de Infestis viventibus intra viventia (that is, on animals which hve in the bodies of others), published in 1761, when he was nineteen years of age, is still read with information and pleasiu-e ; jJthough the important subject, on which it treats, has received so much additional light from the researches of subsequent naturalists. At the time of its appearance, this production of the young Pallas was much the best book for the information it contained, and the views it disclosed He proves in it from his own investigations, the \'itality of the hydatid ; and demonstrates the structure of the head of the tapeworm : he also shows the general objections to the Linnsean class vermes. For the piu-pose of prosecuting his favourite pursuits of zoology and comparative anatomy, he visited various parts of the continent, and England ; employing himself par- ticularly on the coasts in investigating the structure and habits of marine animals, many of which he has described. His Elen- chus Zoophytorum, a work both copious and profound, his Mis- cellanea Zoologica and Spicilegia Zoologiee, most rich repositories of information on various departments of our science, were pub- lished within a few years after his Inaugural Thesis. These valuable works fully justify the eulogium of the judicious and impartial Haller, who pronounces their author "one of the chief founders of comparative anatomy." Zoology had hitherto been to Pallas a kind of passion rather than an ordinary pursuit ; — he followed the impulse of his ardent feeling for nature, Avithout looking to ulterior objects. His zeal, talents, and information could not fail to attract atten- tion; and they pointed him out to the great Catharine, who seemed to feel for science a kind of manly love, and who pro- moted it like an empress, as a proper person for her truly grand design of exploring the vast regions that owned her sway, of describing the countries, their productions and inhabitants. His histories of these travels abound with information on all points ; I may particularly mention, in reference to our present suljject, his very interesting descriptions of the various native tribes, scattered over the immense regions of Asiatic Russia, and previously very imperfectly known, and his copious details in zoology. 18 MODERN HISTORY, &C. The fatigues of these travels impaired a constitution never very rohust, and a subsequent less extensive excursion in the southern regions of the Russian empire weakened it still further. Yet he afterwards published his Novce Species Quadrupedum e Glirium Ordine, the best monography we possess in the class mammalia, and distinguished by characters, which few natu- . rahsts have been able to impress on their writings. He not only accurately describes the animals, and their anatomy, but details their habits, and in many cases adds valuable physiolo- gical information on their temperature. After living some years in the Crimea, on estates given him by the Empress, he returned towards the close of his Hfe to Berlin ; where, for some months before the event, he was admo- nished by pain and increasing weakness of his approaching end. Like many professors of our art, he obstinately refused to take physic ; exhibiting that want of faith, which, whether or not it diminishes the chance of salvation, certainly amuses the pro- fane. He died as he Uved, engaged in zoological pursuits ; for his last occupation was that of arranging papers, and giving directions for a grand work he had been long preparing on the animals of the Russian empire ; destined to illustrate their structure and functions, as well as natural history. This,* or at least some portion of it, is printed, but I believe not yet published. Perhaps it is not necessary to insist on the merits of Haller in comparative anatomy, before an audience undoubtedly fami- liar with the works, and therefore fully able to appreciate the greatest ornament of our profession. I must however observe, that he saw the subject in its just light : he perceived clearly that the physiology of an organ could not be complete until its structure had been examined in every class of animals, until all its modifications and their effects had been noted. Hence each section of his immortal work contains a collection of all the facts then known respecting the structure of animals, as well as of man. At this favourable era, when the spirit of inquiry was awakened, and active minds in all parts of Europe were engaged in zoological and physiological investigations, Mr. Hunter com- menced his career. He enjoyed the great advantage of singu- lar importance to an uneducated and unlearned man, of being initiated in these pursuits by his brother, the most accomplished * jlnimalia Imperii Russici. Ruclolphi informs us, in his Life of Pallas, that he had seen the text of the lirst volume, and part of the second ; and gives some account of the object and contents of the woik. Beytrage, s. 55, u, folg. 01:' COMPARATIVE AXATOAIY. 19 and learned anatomist, and then the most acute physiologist of this or. any other country. From Dr. Wm. Hunter, who first taught him, and from the numerous able men brought up in the same school, Mr. Hunter learned in the shortest way whatever could be derived from books, and became acquainted with the labours and discoveries of all other countries.* Thus his genius was excited and in'vngorated, without being deadened by the toil of study ; refreshed by these supplies, it became capable of higher and stronger flights, and soared to an elevation, which we cannot estimate justly without taking into consideration the point of departure. Yet he never forgot that the physiologist is the minister and interpreter of nature : and however little con- versant he may have been with human works, no man ever consulted wth a more attentive and scrutinizing eye the book of nature, which always instructs, and never deceives us. His museum will teach us how he endeavoured to learn the struc- tiue, and the records of his observations and experiments will show how he ir quired into the actions of living beings. Such were the means in his opinion best calculated to unfold the nature of life ; the characters of which he has drawn, not with the wavering outline, and undefined forms of speculation, nor in the gaudy and delusive tints of hypothesis ; but with the firm touch, that real observation alone could give, and in the sober colouring of that nature, with which he was so well acquainted. He seldom ventured into the regions of speculation ; and the fruits of his excursions, when he did thus indulge himself, are not calculated to make us regret they were so few. They bear • The unrivalled opportunities of education and information enjoyed by Mr. Hunter are very properly stated by the autliur of the Phyiiologicul Lec- tures, p. 8. He surprises us afterwards by comparing him to Ferguson the astronomer, who became acquainted with the phenomena of the heavenly bodies, and constructed charts and instruments, while a shepherd's boy. In original instruction, in acquaintance with the most improved state of science, and with the labours of those by whom it had been thus advanced, the two individuals exhibited a complete contrast Instead of resemblance. The repre- sentation that Mr. Hunter was the first in this, or in any other country, who studied comparative anatomy and physiology extensively, in order to perfect the knowledge of our own animal economy [Physiol. Led. p. 5 and 201), seems to me as unfortunate, as the comparison of Hunter to Ferguson, Without mentioning Galen, whose labours, although he lived so many cen- turies ago, ought not to be forgotten ; without enumerating the long list of illustrious men, who devoted themselves with so much zeal and success to comparative anatomy and physiology in the 17th centurj-, whose names are connected with all the leading discoveries in those sciences, and whose works, occupying the sixth book of Haller's Bibliotheca Anal07nica, under the title of " Animalium Incisiones," contain many of the facts pul)lished as new by the moderns, the name of Harvey immediately suggests itself, as sufficient to refute this assertion. The researches of this great man on the circulation and generation., show that he was fully aware what assistance might be derived from the dissection and observation of animals in illustrating the structure and functions of man, and that he knew well how to avail himself of it. See Introduction to coinparative Anatomy atid Physiology, p. 41, et seq. 20 MODERN HISTORY, &C. indeed the marks of the common weakness of our nature, and remind us of the observation apphed to the theological writings of Sir Isaac Newton, that they afford to the rest of mankind a consolation and recompense for the superiority he displayed over them in other respects. I forbear any further disquisition of his merits, because they have already been sufficiently explained to you this year ; and particularly in reference to our present subject of comparative anatomy ; because too, the fre- quent repetition of the theme might lead you to entertain those doubts and suspicions, which uncommon earnestness and rei- terated recurrence often suggest, when they do not arise naturally out of the subject. Comparative anatomy is still pursued with great zeal in Ger- many, where literature and science are resuming that activity, which had experienced a short interruption from war; the favourite, but costly and destructive game of princes, and indeed of peojjle The structure, economy, and scientific classification of intes- tinal worms have been illustrated by several German naturalists, as Pallas, Block, Goeza, and Werner, whom I have already mentioned to you. The same subject has been again surveyed in aU its parts, and has received many new illustra- tions from Professor Rudolphi of BerUn; whose Entozoorum Historia, or History of internal Worms, besides much original matter, contains a complete collection of all that has been done on the' subject, and an arrangement of the genera and species, which is now universally followed ; it is indeed deservedly con- sidered the first authority on this subject. TiLESius, a German naturalist, who accompanied a late Russian voyager round the world, has delineated numerous animals, particularly of the marine kinds, in the atlas of Krus- enstern's Voyage.* Dr. Spix, a Bavarian, has published a foUo workf on the comparative osteology of the head, containing numerous plates, which are a good specimen of the new art of lithography or stone engraving. Professor Tiedemann of Landshut gained a prize oflfered by the French Institute for the best account of the organs of circu- lation in the echinodermata, and has just published his essay | • Reiseumdie Welt; Petersbur.L,'h. t Ceiihalogenesis, swe Cajiilis ossei Slnictura ; Munich. t Jlnatomie der Rohren-Hololliurie, des Foincranz-farhenen See-sterns, und des stei7i€rnen See-igeU ; folio, Landshut, 1816; with ten beautiful and ex- pressive engravings. OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 21 in folio, with several fine engravings, representing the whole anatomy of the holothuria, asterias, and echinus. This book, probably the only copy in the country; — and the work of Spix, are in the library of the Medical and Chirurgical Society. Many other publications in the various departments of zoology have appeared in Germany in the course of the past year. We may form some judgment of the taste for these pursuits, which exists in other countries, from the fact that Blumen- bach's Manual of Natural History has gone through nine edi- tions. It is indeed remarkable for it.s clear arrangement, and for the immense quantity of interesting and valuable informa- tion it contains condensed into a small compass. It is altoge- ther the best short elementary book on natural history in any language. This great zoologist has not only contributed many new ob- servations to the science, and enriched it with excellent ele- mentary works, but he has collected a very extensive and valuable museum for the illustration of comparative anatomy and zoology. A similar collection has been made by Soemm er- ring at Munich. Of the magnificent cabinet of natural history, belonging to the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, report speaks very highly : it seems to be unrivalled in the number, beauty, and arrangement of the specimens of the animal kingdom. Of the part which relates to comparative anatomy I have not met with any detailed account, except that the osteological department is peculiarly rich. I have great pleasure in hearing that a zoological collection has been begun at the British Museum, because without such aid, the study of the science must be prosecuted under great dif- ficulties, and must necessarily languish. This department is under the direction of Dr. Leach, whose zeal, abilities, and scientific knowledge are a suflicient assurance to us that nothing will be omitted, which the zealous devotion of an individual can accomplish. In the unrivalled library of Sir Joseph Banks, and in the more imcommon liberality with which it is opened to all who are engaged in scientific pursuits, the naturalists of this country enjoy an eminent advantage. The powerful and munificent patronage of this public-spirited individual is freely bestowed on all branches of science : it is not confined to the cold sanction of a bare assent, but takes the form of active and warm assist- 22 MODEUX HISTORY, &C. ance. in all scientific undertakings that promise to promote public utility. Zoology has been a favourite pursuit with him- self : the tie of a common ol)ject xmited him closely to Mr Hunter ; and he has ever shown a disposition to promote the views of this College respecting the museum, which entitles him to the particular gratitude of its members ; as his general cha- racter and conduct do to the warmest esteem and respect of all friends to science. The zoologists of France still exhibit that activity and acuie- ness, by which the science has been so much benefited, and by which it receives, every year, important acquisitions. Cuvibe has terminated his labours on the moUusca by the anatomy of the cuttle-fish tribe, and has pul)lished together, in one volume, with thirty-two beautifully engraved plates, containing a very large number of figures from his own drawings, the whole of his important researches on this department of the animal king- dom. Those %vho are acquainted with this admirable work ; who have appreciated the immense extent and variety of the researches on which it is founded, and the satisfactory clearness and accuracy both of all its details, and of the general conclu- sions and arrangements founded on them, will be astonished to hear that its author has executed a series of investigations equally extensive on the vei'tebral animals, the vermes, the zoophytes, on many insects and Crustacea. He has not published them in the same way ; but the preparations are deposited in the cabinet of comparative anatomy at the Jardin des Plantes, and will be employed ultimately in that great work on comparative anatomy, to which all the previous and apparently finished productions of this philosophical and accomplished zoologist, are regarded by himself merely as a kind of prelude ; although any one out of their great number would have raised its author to a distin- guished rank in the scientific world. This history and anatomy of the moUusca is not the only claim, which Cuvier has to our gratitude within the past year. His work on the animal kingdom, in four volumes octavo, ex- hibits a methodical and philosophical view of the science of zoology : it places before us a subject capable of engaging and satisfying an inquiring mind ; not a dry and uninteresting detail of names and forms, but the i)hilosophical principles of zoolo- gical arrangement, and the execution of those principles through all their details. It establishes the divisions and subdivisions of the living world through the whole of the vast scale, on the OF COMPARATIVE AXATOMY. 23 double basis of external and internal structure : it enumerates all the well-authenticated species, which are known with certainty to belong to each subdivision, and enters into some details on those kinds, which from their abundance in these climates, the advantages we derive, or the injuries we suffer from them, from singularities in their manners or economy, their extraordinary forms, beauty, or size, become objects of particular interest. Of the confidence which this work deserves as a representation of facts, in contradistinction from compilations the fruit of labours in the closet, we may form a judgment from this circumstance, that with the exception of such animals, as by their minuteness elude the researches of the anatomist, there are very few groupes of the rank of sub-genera mentioned in the book, of which the author cannot produce at least some considerable portion of the organs. In each division and each species we are referred to the best sources of information ; not by indiscriminate and accumulated quotations, which only increase and j)erpetuate confusion, but by the selection of those works and figures, in which the character of originaUty belongs ; in short, by weighing and not counting authorities. A very valuable catalogue of zoological authors is subjoined. Tliat it bears marks of haste, and does not in all parts corres- pond to what we expect from the most knowing and most learned (which are by no means synonymous epithets) of modern zoolo- gists, might well be expected when we consider the wide field it embraces, the multifarious pursuits, and the important political and civil duties of the author. Yet, it is not less valuable than indispensable to every zoologist, as the most perfect delineation of the actual state of the science, as the most authentic and worthy of confidence in its details, and from the enlightened discrimination and criticism employed in the selection of au- thorities. If any of my hearers have regarded zoology as an arausem.ent rather than a philosophical pursuit, as something calculated to employ light minds, or occupy hours of leisure and relaxation, I would recommend them to survey the distribution of animals presented in this work. They will find that the science, thus treated, is not only capable of affording an ample source of agree- able and interesting instruction and entertainment, but also, that, in exhilnting a methodical arrangement of a most copious and multifarious subject, it is a very useful exercise and disci- pline of the mind. This advantage, of distributing and classing 24 MODERN HISTORY, &C. a vast number of ideas, which belongs in a remarkable degree to natural history, has not yet been so much insisted on as it deserves. It exercises us in that important intellectual operation, which may be called method, or orderly distribution ; as the exact sciences train the mind to habits of close attention and strict reasoning. Natural history requires the most precise method or arrangement ; as geometry demands the most rigo- rous reasoning. When this art (if it may be so called) is once thoroughly acquired, it may be applied with great advantage to other objects. All discussions that require a classification of facts, all researches that are founded on an orderly distribution of the subject, are conducted on the same principles ; and young men, who have turned to this science as a matter of amusement, will be surprised to find how much a famiUarity with its processes will facilitate the unraveUing all complicated subjects. I do not enter into any details of the accessions, for which science is indebted to this illustrious naturalist, this great com- parative anatomist ; because the limits of a lecture would be insufficient. Neither do I mean to compare or contrast * his * One object of the Physiological Lectures was to contrast Mr. Hunter's knowledge of comparative anatomy with that of Cuvier. The field of living nature has been surveyed and cultivated by these two great men with very dift'erent views and olijects ; by the former, for the elucidation of physiology"; by the latter, for establishing the laws of zoology. It would have been inte- resting to show how the general course of proceeding, the mode of investiga- tion, the selection of objects, and the result, have been modifieil by this diversity of design ; and to point out the differences which are traceable to the original diversity of endowment and of education. Such a comparison requires a mind free from the national affections and antipathies, in which the author of the Lectures glories : it requires too, that an accurate parallel .should be drawn by the labours and discoveries of each, and that all their resijective ■writings should be well known. In the Lectures, there is no comparative statement of what these great men have accomplished ; and the author gives us to understand, that ofCuvier's numerous important works he is accjuamted onlj' with his Li-rtures on conqiaraiive Jlnalomy. Yet he does not abandon the design, but addresses his audience as Gentlemen of the Jury, comii.g for- wards as "a voluntary ailvocate in the cause of Hunter versus Cuvier and others," p. 16. In this mockery of a legal proceeding, he has unfortu- nately omitted every one of the cautions and regulations, which in the justly venerated forms of English judicial proceedings are designed to secure im- partial justice. Where is the enlightened jud^e indillerent to both parties? Where the impartial jury, any of whom may i)e challenged by the accused ? Where the advocate of tlie opposite i)arty 1 He soon gets sick of his trial ; does not even state the grievance complained of clearly ; adduces not a par- ticle of evidence ; but uniting in his own jjerson the characters of advocate, judge, and jury, and not hearing anything in behalf of the defendant, of course pronounces a verdict for his own client. Who the others are, com- bined in this charge with Cuvier, or what they have been guilty of, we are not informed. This hap])y thought of a trial is again introduced, and accom- panied with a complimentto British liberty (p. 334) : it was a singular period to select for such an eulogiuin, — for transplanting to the College of Surgeons the appeals to national vanity, which the increasing good sense and taste of tlie very galleries have nearly banished from the theatres. Having disposecl of Cuvier, the author makes very short work with Haller, Daubenton, Pallas, and Camper: thinking ajiparentlj-, that all merit allowed to them is so much clear loss to the object of his idohitry. Having shown how erroneous the opinion is, that our science owes any OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 25 merits witli those of any other individual : because I do not possess any gauge for the mind ; I have no phunmet for sound- ing the depth of intellect ; nor any common measure by which its relative amount can be determined, under the different varie- ties of exertion. I should not be able to vt^eigh genius against acquirements, or to decide whether the quantity of discovery in one were equal to its quality in another. I can only state my own opinion ; which is, that if it were necessary to point out any one man, as the chief contributor to the present state of zoology in general, and of comparative anatomy in particular, to desig- nate any individual to whom the modern progress of these •"ciences has been principally owing, I cannot doubt that the naturalists of Europe would pronounce an unanimous verdict for CUVIER. Yet perhaps they would not like to come to a decision in sucli a question, and would prefer returning a special statement, that should satisfy the claim i of all, without conferring an offensive pre-eminence on any one. They might probably pronounce that the French academicians, that IIedi, Valisnieri, Swammer- DAM, Lyonnet, Reaumur, Daubenton, and Haller, had cleared the ground, dug out and laid the foundation of the build- ing ; — that Camper, Pallas, Hunter, Poli, Blumenbach, and Cuvier, had raised the edifice; — while innumerable other artists, by finishing particular apartments, or executing decora- tions and embellisliments, had signally contributed, not only to the commodiousness and comfort, but to the general effect of the whole. These great men, though born in different countries, may be considered to have been united as contributors to one common end, the advancement of useful knowledge. In reviewing their labours, let us keep our attention fixed on this object, and not look aside at the national questions, which divide and disturb mankind. We expect from science that it should strengthen feelings of benevolence, and promote acts of charity; — not encourage controversy, and inflame national rivalry; — that it should draw more closely those bonds which unite men toge- ther ; and not add fresh power to the repulsive forces which already separate them too widely. great obligations to these in lividuals, and relying firmly on the ig:norance of his audience in respeci ti; dates, he arrives easiiy at t"::e conclusion, "that the great illuminatiun, which comparative anatuiny and physiology have of late received on the Continent, has in a considerable degree resulted from retlectcd light, originally emanating from materials which Mr. Hunter brought together, and from his bridiunt physiological discoveries." P. 61, C 26 MODERN HISTORY, &C. Lamarck is republishing in an enlarged form, his Natural History of the invertebral Animals ; and has already completed four volumes. Savigny has made some very interesting discoveries in the same division of the animal kingdom ; and has published them under the modest title of Memoirs on invertebral Animals ; of which two portions have already appeared. Mons. Blainville, who succeeds Cuvier in his lectures at the Jardin des Plantes, in the course of many years silently and steadily devoted under so able a teacher, to the study of natural history and comparative anatomy, has gained a most extensive stock of information on these subjects, and displays his thorough acquaintance both with their principles and details in numerous memoirs, chiefly contained in the Bulletin des Sciences, and other French collections. It is perhaps yet too soon to determine how these and similai- pursuits may be influenced by the recent political changes in France. Hitherto, however, science has not partaken in the triumph of legitimacy. Le Sueur, the fellow-traveller of Peron, who had long pro- mised a natural history of themedusce, to be illustrated by those inimitable delineations which he brought back from their voyage of discovery to the austral regions, has found himself unable to complete this undertaking, and is gone with many others, to the new world. If we cannot repress a sigh when we see men of peaceful pursuits thus torn from their native soil, and driven into foreign climes, let us rejoice, not only for them, but for all mankind, that such an asylum for the victims of power and op- pression exists ; that there is, not a spot, but a vast region of the earth, lavishly endowed with nature's fairest gifts, and exhi- biting at the same time the grand and animating spectacle of a country sacred to civil liberty ; where man may walk erect in the conscious dignity of independence, that "Lord of the lion heart and eagle eye," and enjoy full freedom of word- and action, without the permis- sion of those combinations or conspiracies of the mighty, which threaten to convert Europe into one great state prison. The numerous people, whose happiness and tranquillity are so eflfec- tually secured by the simple forms of a free government, are the growth of yesterday — at the same rate of progress, they may reach in our lives as gigantic a superiority over the worn-out i ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY, &C. 27 despotisms of the old world, as the physical features of Ame- rica, her colossal mountains, her mighty rivers, her forests, and her lakes, exhibit in comparison with those of Europe. LECTURE II. INTRODUCTORY TO THE COURSE OF 1818. The Cultivation of Zoology and c»mpara/ive Anatomy recommended as Branches of general Knowledge, and as an interesting Department of Philosophy ; — Their Relation to various Questions in general Philosophy exemjdijied in the Gradations of Organisation, and the Doctrine of final Causes ; — Examples of the Aid they are capable of rendering to Geology and the physical History of the Globe ; — Their importance to Physiology, and consequently to the scientific Study of Medicine ; — Objects of Inquiry in tiic Animal Kingdom, and .Mode of Investigation ; — Anatomy ; — Physiology ; — Pathology. Gentlemen ! — Ha\'ing the honour of appearing before you for the third time, as professor of anatomy and surgery, I deem it a proper opportunity to observe, that the comparative esti- mate I originally formed of the exigencies of this office, and of the means I could bring forward for the purpose of meeting them, which would, at all times, have deterred me from pre- senting myself as a candidate for such a trust, remains unaltered by my subsequent experience : or rather, that it has been con- firmed by the nearer contemplation of a subject so arduous and ample, as to require the industrious devotion and undivided energies of an active and vigorous mind ; and by the discovery of those deficiencies in knowledge, which the urgency of other avocations leaves me no hope of filling up. In pursuing the path which I have entered upon, I must, therefore, still rely on that indulgent consideration which I know that you are dis- posed to extend to all sincere efforts at promoting the grand objects entertained by the Coiut of this College ; — I mean the diffusion throughout our body, and particularly among its rising members, of a taste for all the auxiliary pursuits which are capable of lending to our profession, either essential aid or graceful ornament ; the cultivation of surgery as a science ; and the securing for its honourable practitioners that rank in society and that public regard, which are the just meed of liberal pur- suits directed to the attainment of useful public ends. As the riches of our collection are more calculated for the leisure and deliberate survey of a \dsit to the museum, than for the distant and hasty exhibitions of this theat/e, I shall preface the demonstrative part of the lectures by some general dis- C 2 28 ON THE STUDY OF Z00L03Y corn's es, which will be devoted to illustrate the aim and utiUty of zoology in general, and of comparative anatomy in particular ; their relations to physiology, and to the sciences more imme- diately connected with our practical pursuits ; and the general principles, which are to be kept in view in cultivating these branches of knowledge. If, in this course, I should enter on topics, which have been already brought under your review this season, my apology must be, that my arrangements were made before my worthy colleague had begun his lectures, and that amputation or dislocation of the parts in question would have been troublesome, if not painful operations His interesting disquisitions on various parts of comparative anatomy were not felt by me in the light of invasion or encroach- ment. The manor of living nature is so ample, that all may be allowed to sport on it freely; the most jealous proprietor cannot entertain any apprehension that the game will be exhausted, or even perceptibly thinned : to introduce anything like the spirit of game-laws into science, would, if possible, exceed the oppres- sive cruelty and intolerable abuses of that iniquitous and exe- crable code. Having alluded to the course of lectures just finished, I should not do justice to my own feelings, nor to the merits of my esteemed coadjutor,* if I did not sincerely thank him for the information I have received — if I did not state, that, in listening to those luminous and eloquent discourses, I felt a satisfaction in belonging to a profession, which could boast such an asso- ciate, and express a wish that a series of lectures, so honourable to the author and to the profession, should receive tliat diffusion by the press, which must be both useful and gratifying to the public. I KNOW no branch of knowledge more interesting to mankind m general, including all ages and descriptions, than the history of living beings, or, as we commonly call it, the natural history of animals ; of which comparative anatomy is the very life and essence. This pleasing subject occupies us at the very first dawn of reason, amusing our earliest infancy ; and supplies a fund of solid instiniction and rational entertainment to our riper years, and more developed faculties. In its boundless extent and variety are included matters within the comprehension of the slenderest and least cultivated understanding ; and others, • Aut. Carlisle, Esq. AND COMPARATIVE AXATOMY. 29 to which the strongest minds and most enlarged science are not more than adequate. The resemblance, which animals bear to ourselves in frame and actions, naturally leads us to ascribe to them our own feel^ ings, to fancy that they are susceptible of our pleasures and pains, actuated by our desires and aversions, and impelled by the same motives or springs of action ; and thus excites in the mind, even of the youngest and most unlearned, a sympathetic interest and a degree of ciuriosity, which are never felt in exa- mining inorganic nature, or in contemplating its phenomena. None of the exhibitions in a fair are more crowded by young and old, the ignorant and the learned, than the collections of foreign and curious animals; no books are more generally read, than descriptions of the form, actions, habits, instincts, and character of living creatures. The knowledge of living nature, which is well worthy of cul- tivation, as a subject of mere amusement, at once innocent and rational, and therefore suited to all ages, presents other and higher claims to our attention. The multiplied relations, which animals bear to our own species ; supplying our most urgent wants, aiding our greatest undertakings, and giving full effect to our faculties and exertions ; and the important part they fill in the creation, animating and enlivening every scene, and ofte^i changing the very face of nature, can hardly escape the notice of the most unreflecting, and can only be neglected by those, who are contented to remain ignorant of the most striking pheno- mena around them. I do not speak at present of the important bearings, which zoology has on the science of human organiza- tion and life, and consequently on the art of healing ; but con- sider it merely as a branch of general knowledge. What a multitude of quadrupeds, birds, and fishes afford occupation, either directly or indirectl)^ to the many savage tribes, who live almost entirely on the produce of the chase or the fishery, or to the sportsman, who seeks in these pursuits merely a healthy recreation ! What an interest is felt in obser\'ing and investigating the habits of these various beings, in comparing and contrasting their diversified endowments; in watching the force and activity of some, the address, the strata- gems, and the cunning of others, the wonderful instincts of all, and the curious relation between their habits and the respective situations they occupy ! What a number of the inhabitants of the earth, air, and 30 ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY waters, are sacrificed to furnish us with food! while from the same source, we derive a still larger portion of our clothing. The number of living creatures, whether beasts, birds, and fishes, or even reptiles, worms, and insects, consumed for food in the various regions of the earth, is prodigious. None, even the most disgusting, as locusts, beetles, maggots, spiders, entirely- escape. When we add to these what are destroyed to supply us with clothing, particularly with wool, silk, leather, fur, fea- thers ; with the means of procuring light, as oil, spermaceti, wax, tallow ; with various articles of medicine, as hartshorn, musk, castor, Spanish flies; with the materials of numerous useful and elegant arts, as cochineal, parchment, glue, isinglass, catgut, bone, ivory, mother-of-pearl, hair, bristles, whalebone, horn; — and what are killed for our sport and amusement, or through abuse, wantonness, and cruelty ; the catalogue will be of im- mense length ; and will amply justify Dr. Spurzheim in ha\ing marked out so considerable a tract, in his map of the human brain, for the abode of destructiveness, and its near neighbour and close ally, combativeness : — to say nothing of that circum- stance, which is almost pecuhar to our species, viz. their killing each other ;* — a practice so essentially characteristic of human nature, that it prevails in every region and climate, in every variety of man, and in every state of society, from the rudest tribe of savages to the most highly civiUzed empire ; except, indeed, among the Quakers, and one or two equally inconsi- derable sects, whose singular and narrow-minded refusal to follow the way of the world in so innocent a particular, has been treated with suitable scorn and ridicule by their more enhght- ened fellow Christians. f * Besides war, " the game," our poet calls it, " which, were their subjects wise, kings should not play at," but which, unluckilj-, subjects enjoy almost as much as kings, 1 may refer to the human sacritices, which either have been or are still practised in most parts of the world; and to cannibalism, which, having been much doubted and questioned, is now clearly proved to be still prevalent in many places. t In complimenting the Quakers for not having followed (he wavlike and destructive example "set before them by the rest of mankind, I ought not to have conveyed raj' praise in the ironical form of blame, becaiise irony is often misunderstood, even where we may think such a mistake almost impossible, as in the case of the good bishop, who declared himself highly pleased with Gulliver's Travels, but added, that the book contained some things which he had a difficulty in believing. To obviate the possibility of further misunder- standing, I lay aside irony, and state must seriously and sincerely, that, whe- ther I regard'them as a religious sect, or as a body of citizens ; — wliethcr I look to their private or public conduct, 1 hold the Quakcis in the highest respect. As Christians they entertain no unintelligible articles of faith ; they waste no time in splitting the hairs of theological controversy ; their singular and honourable distinction is practical Christianity, evinced in blameless lives, in renouncing all force and violence, in endeavouring to fulfil literally the Gospel precepts of peace and goodwill, in active benevolence, in unremitted AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 31 There are instances, in which whole tribes of human beings depend, for the supply of all their wants, on one or two species of animals. The Greenlander, and the Esquimaux of Labrador, placed in a region of almost constant snow and ice, where intense cold renders the soil incapable of producing any articles of human sustenance, are fed, clothed, and lodged from the seal. They pursue, indeed, the rein-deer, other land animals, and birds ; but seal-hunting is their grand occupation. The flesh and blood of the seal are their food ; the blubber or subcutaneous stratum of fat, affords them the means of procuring light and heat ; the bones and teeth are converted into weapons, instruments, and various ornaments ; the skin not only supplies them with cloth- ing, but with the coverings of their huts and canoes. TTie stomach, intestines, and bladder, when dried, are turned to many and various uses : in their nearly transparent dry state, they supply the place of glass in the windows ; they form bladders for their harpoons, arrows, nets, &c. ; when sewed together they make under garments, curtains, &c. ; and are employed in place of linen on many occasions. Thus every part of the animal is converted, by a kind of domestic anatomy, to useful purposes, even to the tendons, which, when split and dried, form excellent threads. To the pursuit of the seal, the canoes, instruments, weapons, clothing, education, and whole manner of life of the Greenlanders are adapted. As a plentiful supply of these animals enables them to dispense with every thing else, and as without these they could procure neither dwellings, clothes, nor food, it naturally follows that the great aim of education is to make the boys expert seal-hunters ; and that dexterity in this pursuit is the greatest praise that can be bestowed on the man.* The Laplanders and the Tungooses of north-eastern Asia, are equally indebted to the rein-deer ; the Tschutski, the north-west Ameri- cans, the Aleutians, and other neighbouring islanders, to the whale and walrus. The latter, as well as the Greenlanders, seem to have anticipated modern anatomists in accurately distinguish- ing the several anatomical textures, and ascertaining what BicnAT calls their "proprietes de tissue," or properties result- personal as well as pecuiiiavy co-operation in all measures calculated to dimi- nish the amount of human misery and suffering;, and to improve the condition of their fellow-creatures. These truly Christian merits would redeem much heavier sins than an adherence to the plain and simple garb, and the uncere- monious laiii^age of Georfje Fox and William Penn. • See the interesting; account of the Greenlanders in Crantz, Geschichte ron Gronland ; also E^ede, Description of Greenland ; Lond. 1818; of the Es- quimaux, in Ellis's Voyage to Hudson's Bay, p. 137, and following. 32 ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY ing from organization, in order to convert the various parts to the manifold purposes of their economical anatomy. They sur- prise us by manufacturing thread from the carcass of the great leviathan ; splitting the fibres of its cutaneous muscle (the panni- culus carnosus) into lengths of a hundred feet or more ; and preparing from it a double-threaded twine, which, in the united requisites of fineness and strength, vi^ill bear comparison with any productions of European industry. The flocks and herds, which are reared for food, and the various domesticated animals employed in agriculture, in carrying bur- dens, for draft, and in numberless other ways, are so useful and important, that their structure, economy, and diseases, have been carefully studied ; and these subjects have been found sufficient to occupy a particular class of persons. Indeed, without the dog, the horse, the sheep, the cow, the goat, the rein-deer, the camel, and the lama, many extensive regions of the globe would be uninhabitable; and others now covered with a numerous population, would be reduced almost to the condition of deserts. Comparative anatomy bears the same relation to the veterinary art, that human anatomy and physiology do to medicine. The pecuUarities in the organic structure and functions of particular genera or species lead to corresponding peculiarities in their diseases and derangements. Hence, a rational treatment of the disorders incidental to animals, presupposes a knowledge of the generic and specific characters of internal organization. It seems superfluous to adduce the digestion of the ruminant order, or other analogous instances, in illustration of a truth so evident in itself. Many animals are known to us as objects of alarm and terror, or of considerable though less serious annoyance. Some are directly formidable by their strength and ferocity, as beasts of prey ; others by their noxious properties, as venomous reptiles and insects. Some ravage our fields and gardens, destroying the various vegetable productions ; others attack our food and clothing. Some even perforate the planks of the largest ships, or the timbers of other submarine constructions. A more extensive field is opened to the philosopher in the structure and economy of animals ; in their analogies and differ- ences ; in the relation of their organization and functions to the circumstances in which they are placed, and in the modifications corresponding to the infinitely varied combinations of abode, surrounding element, food, mode of growth, and reproduction, &c. &c. AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 8S We see some sagacious and docile, capable of instruction, exhibiting mental phenomena analogous to our own — the germs or imperfect state of what, when more developed, is human in- tellect : — others are stupid, ferocious, and untameable. Some are mild, sociable, and gregarious ; others wild, savage, and solitary. Many surprise us by their curious instincts, as in pro- viding for the abode, defence, or food of themselves or their offspring ; by the unerring regularity with which each individual of the species, unaided by experience or instruction, obeys, as it were, the fixed law of destiny, in performing at stated periods the longest journeys, as in the migration of birds and fishes, or executes the most perfect and intricate constructions, exceeding the utmost exertions even of human skill and wisdom. Some have an acuteness of the external senses, particularly sight, hearing, and smelling, to which we are strangers : in some we are astonished by the force, in others by the celerity and variety of motion. Some live altogether on flesh, others on vegetable matters ; — some eat incessantly, as our common graminivorous quadrupeds; others are satisfied with a full meal once a day, as the beasts of prey; and others, as certain reptiles, will eat only once in several weeks, and can even support an abstinence of many months. To many animals, the interruption of respiration for a minute or two, is fatal ; some can go without breathing for an hour, for many hours, or for days ; and others pass months together without the exercise of this function, in a condition of inactivity and torpor hardly distinguishable from death. To many, a slight injury of some organ is fatal; some sur\ive the loss of the most important members, and even reproduce them ; some, when divided into two or more portions, have the power of forming an entire individual from each fragment. It is the business of the philosophical zoologist to observe closely all the circumstances of these interesting phenomena, and of many other analogous ones ; to trace their connection with the rest of the economy, and with the peculiar organization of each animal ; to compare together all the diversities and modi- fications ; and thus to arrive, if possible, at the rational theory, or just explication of their causes. The gradations of organization, and the final purposes con- templated by nature in the construction of her hving machines, — two interesting and much-agitated sulyects in the philosophy of natural history, — receive their only clear illustration and incon- c 3 34 ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY trovertible evidence from comparative anatomy. Many naturalists have pleased themselves with arranging the animal kingdom in a successive series according to external form ; and have fancied it a peculiar mark of wisdom and beauty in the creation, that there are no abrupt changes, no breaks in the arrangement, but the most gradual and gentle transition from link to link through- out the whole chain. These views will not bear the test of im- partial scrutiny, which soon destroys the belief in such a chain of beings, so far as the basis of external figure goes. On the other hand, the pursuits of zootomy, in unfolding the internal mechanism and its movements, display the most evident tran- sitions and gradations of organization and economy. We see classes and orders, as, for example, birds, and the testudines (the turtle and tortoise kinds,) which, by their external configuration, are quite insulated in the creation, connected in the most natural manner %vith others of quite diiFerent form, and united to them by the principle of internal resemblance. The four component parts of the upper extremity ; viz. the shoulder, arm, fore-arm, and hand, can he clearly shown to exist in the anterior extremities of all mammalia, however dissimilar they may appear on a superficial inspection, and however widely they may seem to deviate from the human structure. The ^ving8 of the bat, osteologically considered, are hands ; the bony stretchers of the cutaneous membrane being the digital phalanges extremely elongated. The dolphin, porpoise, and aU other whales have a fin on each side, just behind the head, consisting apparently of a single piece. But we find, under the integu- ments of this fin-like member, aU the bones of an anterior ex- tremity, flattened indeed, and hardly susceptible of motion on each other, but distinctly recognisable : there are a scapula, humerus, bones of the fore-arm, carpus, metacarpus, and five fingers. The fore-feet of the sea-otter, seal, walrus, and manati, form the connecting links between the anterior extremities of other mammalia, and the pectoral fins of the whale kind. The bones are so covered and connected by integuments, as to con- stitute a part adapted to swimming ; but these are much more developed than in the latter animal, and have free motion on each other. The bones of the wing of birds have a great and imexpected resemblance to those of the fore-feet of the mam- malia, and the fin-hke anterior member of the penguin, appli- cable only to swimming, contains within the integuments, the same bones as the wings of other birds, which execute the very difierent office of flight. AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 35 The same point is illustrated by another kind of cases in com- parative anatomy ; viz. the existence of certain parts, generally in an imperfect state, or, in the anatomical phrase, as rudi- ments, in some animals, where the function does not exist, and where the parts therefore are not employed. It seems as if a certain model or original type, adapted to the intended functions, had been fixed on as a pattern for the constmction of nearly allied and analogous beings ; and that this model had been ad- hered to, even in those cases, where some particular func- tion did not exist, and where consequently the coiTesponding organ was in reality unnecessary. The additional pelvic bones, which support the false belly or abdominal pouch of the mar- supial animals, are found in the males, as well as in the females, although the former have not the pouch. Several carnivorous animals have clavicular bones, connected merely to the muscles, and obviously incapable of serving, even in the smallest degree, those purposes for which true clavicles are added to the skeleton. The breasts and nipples of male animals are another example. The marsupial bones and the milk-secreting apparatus of female animals are appointments of organization manifestly designed to fulfil certain ends, and accomplishing very essential purposes in the economy. In the male sex they are neither subservient to use nor ornament ; and seem, to ouj* imperfect knowledge, to exemplify the prevalence, in animal organization, of a mechanical principle, of the adherence to a certain original vpe or model. Tlie olfactory nerves of the cetacea, in whom the blowing holes occupy the place of the nose, afford another instance, the more remarkable, as their existence has been generally denied, even by the greatest authorities in comparative anatomy. They consist in the porpoise of two white extremely slender filaments, which, although visible to the naked eye, cannot be distinctly recognised as nerves without a magnifying glass.* No subject has been more warmly contested than the doc- trine of final causes ; which, however, has suffered more from the ill-judged efforts of its friends, than from the attacks of its enemies. We can hardly conceive that any person, who did not • Treviranus, Biulogie, b. v. p. 342, tab. 4. Blainville and Jacubsou had already asserted the existence of olfactory nerves in the cetacea in the Bulletin dvs Sciences, 1815, p. 195. In the work quoted above, Treviranus describes a very singular deviation from the ordinary arrangement, as occurring in the mole. A branch of the superior maxillary nerve goes to the eye, and forms the retina, while the optic nerves, about the size of hairs, are entirely unconnected with each other, and cannot be traced to the eyes. Ihid. p. 341, tab. 3. 26 ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY feel a difficulty in believing that a watch was formed for the pur- pose of showing the hour, could seriously doubt that our stomachs were expressly constructed for digestion, our eyes for seeing, and the rest of our organs for the purposes which they so admirably fulfil. But one must be very fondly attached to final causes to persuade himself, as some have done, that the sea is salt to preserve it from putrefying ; that the tides of the ocean are designed to bring our vessels safely into port ; that stones are made to build houses with ; and silkworms created in China to turnish the belles and beaux of Europe with satins. It would be only one step farther to assert that sheep have been formed to be sheared and slaughtered ; legs to wear boots, and the nose for spectacles. Nothing, indeed, can be more truly unsatisfactory than the well-meant but worn-out complimentary effusions we are too often doomed to encounter, which, instead of evincing the wis- dom of the creation, show only the foUy of their authors ; or at least their misconceptions and short-sighted views. The physico- theologists seem to have considered it their duty to point out the end and purpose contemplated by the Creator in every natural arrangement : thus, they have sometimes fallen into the laughable absurdity of expatiating on the wisdom of certain provisions, which subsequent examination has proved not to exist at aU. ITie foot of an hymenopterous insect was described as being perforated in a certain part by minute holes ; — immediately a sufficient use was discovered for this structure. It was described as a no less elegant than wise provision for sifting the pollen of plants, and thus applying the fine fecundating powder to the female organs : and, from the supposed structure and use, the creature received the name of sphex cribraria. Unluckily for the comphment thus designed to nature, the part was afterwards discovered not to be perforated.* Others, again, have so firmly believed, not only the wisdom of creation, but their own insight into it, that they have called in question the existence of particular arrangements, because they could not discern the purposes to which they are subser- vient. Thus, when Blumenbach pointed out to Camper that the tadpoles of the Surinam toad (rana pipa) have tails,i* this great anatomist was disposed at first to deem the specimen • Blumenbach, Beytrage zur Naturgeschichte, \'. theil, p. 40, note. i Abbildungen naturhulorischer Oegaiutande i No. 36, AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 37 a monstrosity ; * because he could not comprehend for what purpose these strange beings, so curiously lodged in the dorsal cells of their mother, should have the smmming tail of the common tadpole. A distinguished English naturalist has argued that the fossil elephant bones must belong to some species still existing, because, says he, " Providence maintains and continues every created species ; and we have as much assurance, that no races of animals will any more cease, while the earth remaineth, than seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night." Unluckily for the credit of this gentleman's as- sumed acquaintance with the designs and schemes of Providence, we have the fullest evidence that many species and genera of animals have been annihilated. The philosophic naturalist, guided by comparative anatomy, discovers at every step striking peculiarities in the economy of animals, founded on corresponding arrangements of organiza- tion. We must take refuge either in verbal quibbles, or in an exaggerated and unreasonable scepticism, if we refuse to recog- nise in this relation between peculiarity of structure and func- tion those designs and adaptations of exalted power and wisdom, in testimony of which all nature cries aloud through aU her works. Many things are, indeed, at present inexplicable to us ; thus, we cannot conceive to what purpose the long, slender, and almost circular canine teeth of the upper jaw of the babyroussa are subservient; and the offices of many parts, even in the human body, are still hidden from us. But the ends or final purposes of the Creator will be placed in the strongest light by selecting any animal of marked pecuUarity in its economy, and comparing together its structure and mode of life. Let a person, who knows the natural history of the mole, attentively contem- plate its skeleton : if he should still withhold his behef in final purposes, he would probably coincide in opinion with a cele- brated member of the French Academy of Sciences, who declared that it was as absurd to suppose the eye intended for seeing, as to imagine that stones were created for breaking heads. I shall be contented with two other illustrations, which, although diflTerent from each other, are analogous in their pur- pose. The large cavities of birds, and the interior of their bones, are filled with air ; thus they are rendered hght and buoyant ; • Beytr. xur Naturg. p. 41, note. 38 ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY capable of raising themselves into the higher regions of the atmosphere, of sustaining themselves with little effort in this rare medium, and of cleaving the skies with wonderful celerity. Humboldt saw the enormous vulture of the Andes, the majestic Condor, dart suddenly from the bottom of the deepest valleys to a considerable height above the summit of Chimboraco, where the barometer must have been lower than ten inches.* He frequently observed it soaring at an elevation six times higher than that of the clouds in our atmosphere. This bird, which reaches the measure of fourteenf feet with the wings extended ; habitually prefers an elevation, at which the mercury of the barometer sinks to about sixteen inches. The mammalia, which live entirely or principally in the sea, as the whale kind, the walrus, the manati, and the seals, are rendered buoyant in this dense fluid by a thick stratum of fat laid OT'er the whole body under the skin. From this, which is called blubber, the whale and seal oil are extracted. The object of this structure in lightening these huge creatures, and facili- tating their motions, is obviously the same as that of the air-cells in birds in relation to the element they inhabit. A scientific acquaintance with the animal kingdom is not only valuable in its immediate reference to zoology and physiology, but it aids other sciences ; affording lights, which are not merely useful, but absolutely indispensable in examining and illustrating other departments of natural knowledge. An exemplification occurs in geology, or the science which treats of the physical construction of our globe. Certain rocks and earthy strata con- tain vast numbers of shells, exuviae of zoophytes, bones and teeth of large animals, besides other organic substances, in a fossil state. Considerable mountains and extensive districts are sometimes composed entirely of such animal remains. It is the business of the naturalist to compare these organic lemains of a former world with the corresponding objects in the present order of things; to determine their resemblances or differences; — whether they are of the same or of different species or genera ; to com- pare the productions of the different strata to each other, and to distinguish those, which have belonged to fresh, from those of • Nccuei! de Observations de Zonlogie ei d' Jnatoniie comparee. Essai sur I'Hist .ire naturpUe du Condor, p. 26, et suiv. pi. 8 et9. + Molina, Storia vaturalc di Chili, cap. 4; s. 5. This measure is assigned by Shaw to an individual described and figured by him : Musewn Lererianum V. 1, pi. 1. AND COAIPARATIVE ANATOMY. 39 salt water animals ; and lastly, to ascertain whether the organic fossils of each country are like the living animals of the same, or of difterent and remote regions and climates. Such investiga- tions require extensive and accurate information, an acquaintance both with the great outlines and minute details of nature, and belong therefore to an advanced stage of science. They have been commenced with zeal and industry by some of the greatest modern naturalists, and have led to highly interesting results. The bones of large quadrupeds, found in such numbers in almost aU the countries of the old and new continent, have been disco- vered to belong to species and even to genera entirely new to us. One of these, an elephant, specifically distinguishable from that of Asia and Africa, has been met with in most parts of Europe, in countries and climates, where no animal of the kind has ever been known in a living natural state, and in which the known species, inhabitants of the torrid zone, would be speedily de- stroyed. The fossil shells differ more or less from those of living species. In many places several successions of fresh and salt water strata are discovered, indicating successive revolutions in the earth's surface, under the action of causes differing from each other in their nature. The inferior layers, or the first in order of time, contain the remains most widely different from the animals of the living creation ; and, as we advance to the surface, there is a gradual approximation to our present species. These examinations have furnished almost the only accurate data for any reasonable conclusions respecting the number, nature, and progressive series of tiie changes which have affected the earth's surface ; — of the preadamitic revolutions of the globe ' and they suggest matter for curious speculation respecting the extinct races of animals, and the mode in which their place has been supplied by the actual species of living beings. The writings of CuviER, Brongniart, and Lamarck in France, and of Mr. Parkinson in this country, will give you the best informa- tion on this new kind of antiquarian research, on those authentic memorials of beings, whose living existence must be carried beyond the reach of history and tradition, beyond even the fabu- lous and heioic ages, and has been supposed, with considerable probability, to be of older date than the formation of the human race. Another important branch of the physical history of the globe belongs to zoology ; I mean the nature, origin, and j)rogress of the banks, reefs, and rocks of coral, and even the islands, which W ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY are perpetually arising and accumulating in the intertropical seas. These vast masses of calcareous matter are aggregated by the slow but incessant operations of countless millions of minute beings, so small and so simply organized, that they occupy the lowest rank of animal existence, and indeed have been recognised only in late times as falling within the boundaries of the animal kingdom. Their works commence in the fathomless depths of the ocean ; they rise towards the surface, forming sunken rocks, dangerous, and often fatal to navigators ; they reach the level of the water, and then extend in length and breadth. "When we see that banks are formed of miles in extent, that coasts are obstructed, harbours choked, and even new islands formed, the mind is con- founded by the contrast between the insignificance of the agents and the magnitude of the result. Other points of view, and other applications of zoology, will be disclosed as we proceed. More perhaps has been already said than was necessary to convince an enlightened audience that the Uving part of nature's works is highly worthy of attention, and that this study, connected as it is with so many useful, in- teresting, and important departments of knowledge, must be deemed an essential branch of liberal education. To these considerations, which recommend zoology, not only as a highly interesting, but essential branch of general know- ledge, many others may be added, enforcing the cultivation of comparative anatomy and physiology, more particularly on those who devote themselves to the improvement of medicine. The basis of our physiological principles is rendered broader and deeper, in proportion as our survey of living beings is more ex- tensive. The varieties of organization supply, in the investiga- tion of each function, the most important aids of analogy, com- parison, contrast, and various combination ; and the nature of the process receives at each step fresh elucidation. These en- larged views, which unfold to us the natural play of the animal mechanism, are our surest guide in the study of its deranged motions, an essential criterion for estimating the nature and de- gree of the deviation, and an important indication of the means by which it may be corrected. Thus, general anatomy and phy- siology furnish the principles, by which we are guided in our attempts to preserve health, to alleviate and remove disorder, and cure disease. On such researches, and such studies, on a foundation no less extensive than the whole empire of hving nature, the science of medicine must be established ; if, indeed. AXD COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 41 it be destined to occupy the rank of a science ; if its practical precepts, its curative efibrts, and its technical proceedings be grounded in, and derived from a knowledge of the corporeal mechanism, and a contemplation of its mode of action, from ob- servations of its deranged state, and of the course and order by which the return to health may be safely accomplished ; if, in short, it shall be permanently raised above its early state of an empirical and bhnd behef in the virtues of herbs, drugs, and plasters, or above its modern but equally deplorable con- dition of servile submission to the dogmas of schools and sects, or subjection to doctrines, parties, or authorities. I ap- peal to the illustrious founder of our collection, to his labours and his writings ; to that change in the state of surgery, which his exertions and his example have accomplished. Such achieve- ments by a single hand, hold out to us the brightest prospects and most encouraging anticipations of the ample harvest await- ing the united efforts of more numerous cultivators. From this quarter we must expect the future improvement of our profes- sion ; not from the addition of new medicines to a catalogue already too long ; not from fresh accessions to that mass of clinical observations, which lie unread on the shelves of our medical libraries. In investigating the nature of living beings, various objects of inquiry present themselves, and various modes of proceeding may be adopted. We may examine their structure ; the num- ber, form, size, relative position, and connexions of the organs, by the assemblage of which they are constructed : their tex- ture ; that is, the primary animal tissues, which compose the various organs, and their mode of union ; their elementary com- position ; or the number, nature, and combinations of the ele- ments into which they can be resolved : lastly, their Uving phe- nomena ; the vital properties with which all the primary tissues are endowed, the offices or functions executed by the organs, and the mutual influences and div'ersified dependencies, which, regula- ting the order and succession of these living operations, combine so many partial and subordinate motions into one beautiful and harmonious whole. It is the business of the anatomist to demonstrate the struc- ture, and unravel the texture of animal bodies ; their composi- tion falls within the department of the chemist, and their vital phenomena occupy the labours of the physiologist. Anatomy, therefore, teaches us the organization of animals, while physio- 42 ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY logy unfolds the nature of life. The third division forms a kind of border territory, lying between the domains of chemistry and physiology, alternately occupied and cultivated by both. Under the name of animal chemistry, it has received, of late years, a constantly increasing share of attention, and produced import- ant accessions to our knowledge of the composition and opera- tions of animal bodies. This branch of inquiry is much less advanced than that which concerns their structure ; and its progress is impeded by some peculiar difficulties. The primary textures are so intimately blended in all organs, that their complete separation seems im- possible. The cerebral and nervous medulla is every where interwoven and surrounded by cellular substance and vessels ; the muscular fibre with cellular substance, vessels, nerves, and fat ; the ceUular substance itself with vessels and fat. Hence arise doubts how far the results of experiment are to be attri- buted to one or the other ingredient ; so that we can seldom attain certainty, but must rest contented with probability. In many cases we do not even know the primary tissues. Are the stout sides of the uterus, or the beautiful and delicate moveable curtain of the iris, cellular or muscular, or does each contain some peculiar and not yet ascertained tissue ? In a great num- ber of living beings our senses are not even able to settle the question. Who can decide whether the soft, tender, and almost deliquescent body of the polype is made up of muscular fibres, or of cellular tissue ? By etymology and original acceptation, physiology means doctrine of nature, and is not very appro])riately applied to that limited division of natural science, which has for its object the various forms and phenomena of life, the conditions and laws under which this state exists, and the causes which are active in producing and maintaining it. A foreign writer * has proposed the more accurate term of Ijiology, or science of life. Life, using the word in its popular and general sense, which at the same time is the only rational and intelligible one, is merely the active state of the animal structure. It includes the notions of sensation, motions, and those ordinary attributes of living beings, which are obvious to common observation. It denotes what is apparent to our senses ; and cannot be applied • G. R. Treviranus of Bremen, wliose Biologie, oder Philosophie der leben- den A'atur fur NalurJ'orscher und Aerzte, in 5 vols. 8vo., but not yet finished, is a very interesting work, both for the i)hiIosophic plan on which it is founded, ai.d the original views with which it abounds. AND COMPARATlVrC AXATOMY, 43 to the offspring of metaphysical subtlet\', or immaterial abstrac- tions, without a complete departure from its original accepta- tion ; without obscuring and confusing what is other'nise clear and intelligible. The close connection between life and respiration has not escaped the notice of ordinar)' observers ; of those who were ignorant of anatomy and physiology. Hence the breath has been popularly deemed the mark of life. The Latin anima, or breadth (from the Greek o^/e/xos, wind), was also used to express the vital principle, the essence of life being supposed identical with the breath. But in the phrases aniinam efflare, exspirare, &c. the word seems to be used in its original sense. In the same way the Latin spiritus, or original of our spirit, from spire to breathe, means merely breath ; the same is the case with the Greek ni'fvfj.a ; and this is the original sensible object, out of which all the abstractions and fancies, all the verbal sophistry and metaphysical puzzles about spirit have proceeded. Anatomy and physiology should be cultivated together ; — we should combine observation of the function with examination of the organization. The subjects are often distinctly treated in books : let not, however, this unnatural separation lead you into the error of \dewing the vital manifestations as something inde- pendent of the organization, in which they occur. Bear in mind that every organ has its living phenomena and its use, and that the chief ultimate object, even of anatomy, is to learn the nature of the function : — on the other hand, that every action of a living being must have its organic apparatus. There is no digestion without an alimentary cavity ; no biliary secretion without some kind of liver ; no thought without a brain. To talk of hfe as independent of an animal body ; to speak of a function without reference to an approjniate organ, is physiolo- gically absurd. It is in opposition to. the evidence of our senses and rational faculties. It is looking for an eflFect without a cause. We might as reasonalily expect daylight while the sun is below the horizon. What should we think of abstracting elasticity, cohesion, gravity, and bestowing on them a separate existence from the bodies in whicli those properties are seen ? Haller, the father and founder of modern physiology, has furnished us the best example, both for the method of cultivating the subject, and of treating it in writing. He had devoted thirty years to the dissection of human bodies, and those of animals, and to observation and every variety of experimental research, before he began to compose his Elementa PhysiologicE. In this 44 ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY matchless work, a full anatomical description of every orgarl, drawn from his own dissections, precedes the history of its func- tions. I know no anatomical descriptions superior to these ; none deserving more implicit confidence. To regard this work as a mere register of opinions, has always appeared to me very unjust; it contains new and accurate information on almost every part of the subject. It is no slight proof of its merits, that although published in the middle of the last century, it remains the book of authority ; and particularly in this country, which is still destitute of original and standard works, in anatomy and physiology. In impressingupon your minds the close connection of anatomy and physiology, I do not mean to represent to you that the former teaches the latter. Strictly speaking, structure alone is learned by dissection : the vital properties of organic textures, and the functions of organs, are found out by observation. We have the most perfect anatomical knowledge of the spleen, thymus and thyroid gland ; but their offices in the animal economy are wholly unknown. What organ has been more carefully dissected and studied than the brain ? yet the respective offices of its various portions have not been discovered. Anatomy however unfolds facts, of which the knowledge is absolutely necessary in appreciating the results of observation. It affords the only clue capable of guiding us through the multi- plied and varied movements all going on together in the living microcosm, and of thus enabling us to discriminate the proper share of each organic apparatus. What kind of knowledge could the most ])atient and acute observer gain of the circulation, if he knew nothing about the structure of the heart, lungs, arteries, and veins ? What insight could he acquire into the changes of the food, and the nutrition of our bodies, if the alimentary canal, with its divisions and appendages, and the absorbing vessels, were unknown to him ? Just notions of the seat and nature of diseases, and of the operation of remedies, would be out of the question ; but what chance has a person, ignorant of the general construction of our frame, of escaping from the most absurd doc- trines and systems, and from the most jjernicious practical errors ? Anatomy, again, clears up doubtful points, and suggests topics of inquiry. It is a test and criterion of physiological explana- tions : if the latter are inconsistent with the anatomical facts, they must be rejected. That its aid is essential to physiology, may be proved by refer-* ring to what even the most acute men have written about the AND COMPAUATIVE ANATOMY. 45 animal economy, before anatomy had been cultivated. It is a mass of error and fiction, without the smallest pretence to the title of physiology. Anatomy and physiology are the groundwork of pathology, or the science of disease. Disease is a relative term, implying a comparison with a state of health, and presupposing a knowledge of that state. To anatomy, or, science of healthy structure, is opposed morbid anatomy, or science of diseased structure : to physiology, or doctmie of healthy functions, pathology, or doctrine of diseased manifestations. Morbid anatomy shows us the diseases ; patho- logy their external signs or symptoms. Often no change of structure is observable : the deviations from the healthy con- dition elude our means of inquiry. The organ is said to be func- tionally disordered. ITius we find that anatomy, physiology, morbid anatomy, and pathology, are mutually related and intimately connected. Although called separate sciences, they are, in truth, parts of one system ; and we must never lose sight of their mutual bearings. On the foundation of these four departments of knowledge or sci- ence, is raised the practice of medicine, or the healing art:— over- looking the artificial distinctions of physic, surgery, and so forth. But is all this knowledge necessary for a practitioner ? is it required that a physician or a surgeon should know anatomy natural and morbid, physiolog}', pathology ? To the science of medicine, and to its rational improvement and extension, it is necessary ; but by no means so to the mere routine of practice, and the very successful prosecution of the trade. Perhaps, in- deed, a firm faith in drugs and plasters, and a liberal adminis- tration of them, may be the surer road to popular success, if the remark addressed by a veteran practitioner to a young enthusiast in science be weU grounded: "Juvenis, tua doctrina non pro- mittit opes ; plebs amat remedia." A common sailor uses his glass without knowing the laws of optics, or even suspecting their existence. But, would Galileo have invented the telescope, and have given to mankind the power of penetrating into space, if he had been equally ignorant ; if he had been unacquainted with the action of various media, and of variously shaped surfaces on the rays of light ? An ordi- nary workman, of education and habits purely mechanical, con- structs the m^ost powerful astronomical instruments ; but it belongs only to a Hehschel or a La Place to improve these means, and to employ them so as to unfoid the structure of th? 46 ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. universe, and expound the lav/s which govern the motions of the heavenly bodies. I'he collection of this College was formed, and is now arranged, in conformity to the views just alluded to. The anatomical pre- parations exhibit the organs in the manner best calculated to elucidate their functions. To the rich and valuable series of healthy parts, there is added a parallel and equally extensive arrangement of morbid specimens. Mr. Hunter was the first in this country, who investigated disease in a strictly philosophic method ; bringing to bearflpn it the clear and steady lights of anatomy and physiology. He began by discarding all the doctrines of the schools, and resorted at once to nature. Instead of creeping timidly along the coast of truth, \\ ithin sight of precedent and authority, he boldly launched into the great ocean of discovery, steering by the polar star of observation, and trusting to the guidance of his own genius. His claim to the gratitude of English surgeons will be suffici- ciently established by comparing surgical science before his time with its present state ; and by contrasting, at the two periods, the relative rank of surgeons in public estimation. It would be foreign to my present purpose to pursue this topic : I shall therefore merely entreat you to bear it in mind ; and to remem- ber, that the true dignity of the profession, in which every indi- vidual member is a sharer, will be best promoted, not by partial privileges and arbitrary exclusions, not by anything which royal charters or legal enactments can bestow or withhold, but by that scientific cultivation and honourable practice, which constitute the only just claim to public esteem and confidence. It would be unnecessary for me to enter into further detail on a matter, which has been already brought before you with such forcible appeal to the best feelings of our nature, such display of elevated and honourable sentiments, and such felicity of expression, bv my ingenious, eloquent, and worthy colleague.* LECTURE III. On the Study of Physiology ; — The Aids and Illustrations to be derived from other Scii.nt:cs, as Natural Philosophy, Mathematics, Chemistry. — Study of the physical Sciences recommended. — Peculiar Character of the vital Phenomena. — Living Properties. — Attempted hypotlietical Explanations of them. — Com- parative Anatomy ; its Objects ; its Relations to Physiology exemplified. Dissection and the various auxiliary processes employed by the anatomist, are the only means of learning the structure of • Ant. Carlisle, Esq. ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. 47 living beings ; observation and experiment the only sources of our knowledge of life. These are the tests or criteria, on which we must depend, and to which we must always refer. No posi- tion respecting structure can be listened to unless it admits of verification by appeal to anatomy ; no physiological statement deserves attention, unless it be confirmed by observation. Is this then all ? Are the labours of so many celebrated men, the accumulated harvests of so many centuries, reduced to the mere results of dissection and observation ? It is so, in respect to real knowledge ; and it will be occupation enough to anato- mists and physiologists, for many ages, to cultivate these pur- suits The multitude and variety of organs in the human body, the complexity of their structure, the modifications incidental to each, and their mutual influences, otfer a most extensive field of investigation, requiring so much time and assiduity, so much caution and discrimination, that the qualities necessary to a successful pursuit of physiology cannot be often combined in one individual. When to man we add all the living beings, which fill every department of nature, and consider the diversities and new combinations, by which they are enabled to fulfil their various destinies, it will be hardly figurative to say that the objects of inquiry are infinite and inexhaustible. In this, as in most other subjects, the quantity of solid instruction is an inconsiderable fraction of the accumulated mass. A few grains of wheat are buried and lost amid heaps of chaff. For a few well-observed facts, rational deductions, and cautious generalisations, we have whole clouds of systems and doctrines, of speculations and fancies, built merely on the workings of the imagination, and the labours of the closet. In reference, however, to biology, or the science of life, I may observe, that descriptions of particular animals, and surveys of detached districts in the great kingdom of nature, are not so much wanted at present, as the assemblage and assortment of the facts already accumulated, and the employment of them by some v^igorous and comprehensive mind to furnish the funda- mental principles of the science of living nature. It is employ- ment, and not mere possession, that gives a value to intellectual as well as material wealth. We have had workmen enough to toil in the mine and the quarry ; they have raised and roughly fashioned an abundance of materials ; and we now only wait for 48 ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. the architect who shall be able to employ them in constructing a temple suitable in majesty and simplicity to the Divinity, whose shrine it is destined to contain. The parts of natural history having been cultivated in a detached manner, its doctrines were long in an insulated state ; unconnected to each other, like the pyramids in the deserts of Egypt ; as the number of detached parts increased, the neces- sity of a system was felt, to bind them together, however imperfectly, into something like a connected whole. After many unsuccessful attempts by his predecessors, LiNNEUS produced an arrangement of natural objects, which met with very general approbation and adoption. The efforts of naturalists were subsequently directed to the correction and extension of his system ; to the formation of arrangements for detached parts, in imitation of that which he had framed for the whole; and in the description of new genera and species. These efforts have been continued to the present day in a constantly increasing ratio; but, perhaps, without a due consideration whether any results of proportionate utility to mankind v/ere likely to reward so much pains and trouble. Some, indeed, and among them Linneus, were aware that all these artificial systems, without reference to higher objects, were almost lost labour; but they did not attempt to pursue those objects. The ultimate purpose of our researches in natural history is to pene- trate and lay open the secret springs, by which the great system of organization called nature, is maintained in perpetual acti- vity. Now, towards the accomplishment of this purpose, the artificial systems, on which so much labour has been bestowed, are hardly the first step. They do not exhibit the science, but an index, or register of nature ; which indeed has its recommen- dations of utility in other respects. The assemblage of the numerous facts, which are scattered through the works of natu- ralists, and their combination into a whole, with reference to the purpose just mentioned, and with a view to establishing the laws of life, would possess a much higher value than all the descriptions of new animals and plants, which teach us little more than that they have such or such appearances, and that they occur in this or that corner of the earth. If the science of life, and with it some of the most important departments of human knowledge, be destined to make any de- cided progress towards perfection, it must be by the road of ■ txperience, aided and enhghtened by general philosophy. The ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. 49 way, indeed, is in some parts difficult, and its length indefinite : but, whether we reach the end or not, our ver}' efforts, and the active state of mind they maintain, will be a sufficient recom- pense ; as the pleasure of the chase, and the healthy vigour it imparts, reward us, even when the game escapes. " The intellectual worth and dignity of man are measured, not by the truth which he possesses, or fancies that he possesses, but by the sincere and honest pains he has taken to discover truth. This it is that invigorates his mind ; and by exercising the mental springs, preserves them in full activity. Possession makes us quiet, indolent, jjroud. If the Deity held in his right hand all truth, and in liis left only the ever-active impulse, the fond desire, and longing after truth, coupled with the condition of constantly erring, and should offer me the choice ; I should humljly turn towards the left, and say. Father, give me this : pure truth is fit for thee alone."* Thus spoke a sage ; and his determination seems as whe as the famous choice of Hercules. In commencing the study of physiology, we are first led to inquire, whether living beings are subject to the same laws as inorganic bodies; wliether the vital processes can be explained on the same principles as the otlier phenomena of matter ; whe- ther, in short, the elucidations of the physical sciences are equally applicable to the sciences of life. That animals obey those general laws which regulate matter and motion in all other cases, that all their parts, as well as their entire masses, are subject to the influences of gravity, imj)ulse, and the like, is too obvious to be a subject of question. The jioint of inquiry is, whether the internal movements of the animal macliine are explicable by the laAvs of mechanics and hydraulics ; wlietlier, like these, they can be subjected to calculation; whether the changes of composition incessantly going on in all parts of the frame, can be assimilated to the operations of our laljoratories, or reduced to the laws of external chemistry ; whether any living phenomena can be so far likened to those of electricity, galvanism, magnetism, as to justify us in referring for their explanation to the same i)rinciples. In the beginning of the last century, the leading authorities in physiology, of whom Boerhaave may be mentioned as the head, supposed that all the functions of the living body, except the will, are carried on by mechanical movements, susceptible of rigid calculation, necessarily succeeding each other in the organs from the time that life commences. Those movements • Trcviranus, Biologic; b. 1, D 50 ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. he referred to an impulsive power in the heart, renewed by the influence of the nervous fluid brought from the brain. In this explanation the body is an hydraulic machine, in which the heart performs the ofliice of a piston : the beautiful construction and endless variety of the animal organization are reduced to an as- semblage of pipes, canals, levers, pulleys, and other mechanism. The treatises on physiology of this period, were filled with mathe- matical problems, long calculations, and algebraic formulae. This system maintained its ground for a long time, in defiance of observation and common sense. In palliation of what sti'ikes us now as so extravagantly erroneous, it must be observed, that many things in the animal economy admit of explanation on these principles. The structure and motions of the joints are purely mechanical ; and the degree of effect produced by the muscles of a limb, like the acting force of a moving power applied to a common lever, depends entirely on the relative situation of their tendino-is insertions to the centre of motion, and the relation which the course of their fibres bears to the axis of the moving bone. All these things may be exactly determined by calculation as the operation of common levers : but the con- traction of the living fibre, or original moving force, cannot be submitted to calculation, cannot be in the slightest degree elu- cidated by mechanics. The valves of the heart and blood-vessels act mechanically, and operate as well in the dead, as in the living body. ITie swelling of the veins of the lower limbs in the erect posture, and the turgescence of the same vessels in the head and neck, when they are held in a dependent attitude, will convince us that, although the blood flows through living canals, its motion is not withdrawn from the all-pervading influence of gravity. The transparent parts of the eye act on the rays of light ac- cording to the common laws of optics ; and bring them to a focus, so as to form an inverted picture of the object on the retina, just as well in the dead, as in the living organ, provided their trans- parency be unimpaired. The operation, however, of those natural laws, to which living, as well as other bodies are subject, is constantly modified in the former case, by the vital powers ; and this essential element in all mathematico-physiological considerations, is, by its very na- ture, fluctuating and indeterminate. Uncertainty in the condi- tions of a problem, whether in respect to their entire number, or to the quantity of each, is an original sin, for which no subse- ON THE STUDY OF PI1Y3I0I.0GT. 51 quent accuracy can atone ; and this character, belonging to all the circumstances of ahnost every case in the aniiuai ecunomy, not only effectually precludes all useful application of mathema- tics to physiology, but renders their employment a source of nothing but error and confusion. We can very seldom satisfy ourselves that all the data are before us ; and the precise amount of each cannot be determined in any instance : nay more, varia- tion and fluctuation are essential characters of all vital processes. The totally inconsistent results, at which different mathematical physiologists have arrived, in treating of the same functions, shows us that very little useful service can be looked for from this quarter. One estimated the force of the heart as equal to 180,000 lbs. ; another reduced it to 8oz. ; and both these con- clusions are deduced from reasonings clothed in all the imposing forms of the exact sciences. The circulation, in which a central impelling machine drives the blood through an arrangement of tubes, seems naturally to fall under the laws of hydraulics : and the course of the blood in its hving channels, no doubt, obeys the same laws that go- vern the transmission of fluids through inanimate canals. But, if we attempt to submit this intricate process to calculation, we are stopped at the very outset by discovering, that, of its nume- rous conditions, not one is ascertained with sufficient accoracy for our purpose. It would be necessary to know the amount of nervous influence on the heart and blood-vessels, the measure of active and passive power on the former organ, the quantity of blood arri\ang at and departing from it, the elastic and other properties of the vessels, their various capacities, the resistance of the column in the arteries and veins, the density and cohe- sion of the blood, and many other points : — and to knov,- all these with perfect accuracy. Even if all this were accomplished, the great number of elements entering into such a theory would conduct us to impracticable calculations. It would be the most complex case of a problem, which is extremely difficult of solu- tion in its simple state. The ablest geometricians, sensible of these difficulties, speak of the operations of living bodies with a modest caution, to which the bold calculations of some physio- logists form a striking contrast. They acknowledge that the springs of the animal frame are too numerous, too intricate, and too imperfectly known to be submitted, with any prospect of ad- vantage, to calculation ; that, in such complicated operations, experience is our only safe-guide, and inductions from numerous D 2 52 ox THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. facts the only sure supjiort of our reasonings. The most just calculations on such subjects can merely appreciate our igno- rance ; which may indeed be concealed, but cannot be removed, by the vain parade of a science foreign to medicine. If we define chemistry as the science which teaches us the composition of bodies, explaining the laws, according to which their elementary particles act on each other, when brought into contact, the combinations or separations which result from theijr affinities, and the circumstances which promote or obstruct the action of those affinities, we must allow that many of the animal processes exhibit to us chemical operations. Such are the changes wrought upon the food by the solvent juices of the stomach, and by the admixture of bile, pancreatic liquor, and intestinal secretions ; the new combinations, which the elements of the blood enter into in the glands, the membranes, and the skin, and in the texture of the various organs, so as to exhibit to us a new set of products ; the conversion of chyle and lymph into blood ; and the mutual action of this fluid and the atmos- phere in respiration. Chemical researches into the composition of the fluids and solids of the animal frame, and comparative examinations of them Tmder the differences of age, sex, climate, food, mode of life, and the various incidences of disease, have thrown great light both on the healthy and disordered actions of our frame ; particularly those inquiries which have been conducted with the advantages of the modern improvements in chemical science. Further benefit is to be expected from a continuance of thesje exertions ; and we can have no hesitation in admitting that many important points in physiology cannot be understood, the nature and result of many animal processes cannot be appre- ciated, by a person unacquainted with chemistry. Nor is the benefit confined to physiology; the kindred sciences, which have for their object the knowledge of disease, its preven- tion and cure, owe great and important obligations to modern chemistry. By unfolding the composition, and separating the various ingredients contained in an apparently homogeneous fluid, the urine, it has enabled us to form some conception of the important purposes executed by the kidney. By sho^ving the deviations which this animal fluid exhibits in various con- ditions of disease, it has elucidated the mechanism of many dis- ordered actions; and, by discovering what particular ingredients existed in undue proportion, it has suggested the means of rehef ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. 53 by the internal administration of suitable chemical remedies. Thus the modern views respecting the nature and treatment of calculous disorders are completely chemical ; and modern expe- rience fully substantiates the important truth, that alkahes and acids taken into the stomach affect the chemical constitution of the urinary secretion. But these views do not terminate here : the condition of the urine is an index of what is going forwards in the ahmentary canal, an outward and visible sign of the inward and hidden movements of the stomach, bowels, and other parts. These again are variously modified by the nature and quality of our food and drink, by the operation of our remedies, and by those obscure and mysterious, but incontestable influences of other parts, which are usually denominated sympathies. Thus, as the successive undulations of water spread wider and wider as they recede from the point first agitated, our chemical exami- nation of a single excretion, by virtue of the mutual influences which bind together all parts of our system, expands at last to considerations embracing the whole economy. For the theory of diabetes we are principally indebted to chemistry ; and we ought not to omit acknowledging the debt, because its amount has not been increased by the suggestion of an adequate remedy. With these strong facts before our eyes, and Avith the know- ledge that nature, however sportively various in unessential details, is generally uniform in the leading principles of the means by which she accomplishes similar purposes, may we not reason- ably expect that the action of many remedies will be traced here- after to chemical influence ? May we not hope that that dark corner of our science, the modus operandi of its remedial ad- ministrations, will receive light from this quarter? It is, however, in most cases, the result, and not the operation itself, that we learn from chemistry. By comparing the blood and the urine, we estimate the oflSce of the kidney ; but we know just as little as we did before of that wonderful and mysterious process, by which the capillaries of the gland transform blood into urine ; and when we see the capillaries of other parts con- \^rt this same blood into twenty other fluids or solids, we feel stiU more forcibly the striking contrast between these and the operations commonly called chemical, and the insufficiency of explanations grounded merely on the analogies of the latter changes. If a gland, a membrane, a muscle, or a bone, in their operations of secretion and nutrition, be chemical instruments. 54 ON THE STUDY OP PHYSIOLOGY. their analogy to those employed in our laboratories is so remote, as to be hardly perceptible. Of the attempt at explaining the sentient and contractile opera- tions of the nerves and muscles by chemical agencies, or at ro- solving life in general into a mere play of chemical affinities, I can only say that they appear to me injudicious. The ablest chemists, those who are most deeply versed in the operations, means, various applications, and extent of their science, are ex- tremely cautious in applying it to the explanation of vital pro- cesses. One of the most striking phenomena of living bodies is the exception which they offer to the laws of chemistry. Com- posed of matters extremely prone to decomposition, and sur- rounded by all the influences of heat, air, and moisture, which are very favourable to such change, they yet remain unaltered. Living bodies, as well as all dead ones, exhibit electrical phe- nomena under certain circumstances : but the contrast between tlie animal functions and electric operations is so obvious and fovcilile, that the attempts to assimilate them do not demand further notice. By the preceding observations, or by any subsequent ones, I would by no means discourage surgical students from the pur- suit of the physical sciences. I regard them, on the contrary, not merely as a desirable ornamental accompaniment, but as powerful and indispensable auxiliaries in physiological and me- dical researches. A close alliance between the science of living nature and physics and chemistry, cannot fail to be mutually advantageous. What we have principally to guard against, in our professional researches and studies, is the influence of partial and confined views, and of those favourite notions and specula- tions, which, like coloured glass, distort all things seen through their medium. Thus we have had a chemical sect, which could discern, in the beautifully varied appointments, and nice adapta- tions of animal structure, nothing but an assemblage of chemical instruments : a medico-mathematical doctrine, which explained all the phenomena of life by the sciences of number and magni- tude, by algebra, geometry, mechanics, and hydraulics ; and even a tribe of animists, who, finding that all the powers of inorganic nature had been invoked in vain, resorted to the world of spirits, and maintained that the soul is the only cause of life. It is amusing to observe the entire conviction and self-complacency, with which such systems are brought forward. The parable of Nathan the Wise is not confined in its application to matters of ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. 55 theological faith, — to the ardour with which wranghng sectaries dispute about their petty divisions and subdivisions of belief : each medical sect conceives itself in possession of the true ring ; yet probably they are all more or less counterfeit. If the seductive influence of favourite notions, and the dispro- portionate importance attached to particular sciences, have ope- rated so unfavourably on the doctrines of physiology and medi- cine, the remedy for the evil must be sought in more enlarged views and general knowledge. We cannot expect to discover the true relations of things, until we rise high enough to survey the whole field of science, to observe the connections of the various parts and their mutual influence. Besides the direct utility of the physical sciences in explaining many parts of the animal economy, they serve a collateral pur- pose, which recommends them strongly to the medical student. They have their foundation in experiment, as physiology and medicine have in obsei'vation ; the only difference being, that in the latter case we are obliged to take our subjects in all the com- plexity of their natural composition, while in the former it is in our power to regulate the conditions of the operation, and to reduce them, by successive analyses, to the greatest simplicity. The subsequent proceedings of physical science are governed by strict method, and guarded against error by the severe rules of inductive logic. The constant vigilance of these incorruptible sentinels protects the sanctuary from the incursions of extra- physical or metaphysical chimeras, and from the intrusion of immaterial agencies. Strengthened by this salutary discipline, and accustomed to close reasoning, the mind is well prepared for the study of living nature, clothed with a defensive armour, on which verbal and metaphysical puzzles, and the misplaced exertions of the imagination, will make no impression. Now, although certain parts of the animal economy obey the laws of mechanics, and others admit of illustration by the aid of chemistry, and thus far the living jirocesses come within the domain of the physical sciences, the main springs of the animal functions, the original moving forces, cannot be explained on these grounds. The powers of sensation and contraction, and the properties of the capillary vessels, belong peculiarly and e.x- clusively to living organic textures : they are eminently vital, and form the distinguishing character of living beings. We jearn them by observation, as we learn the properties of dead matter, and we know nothing more than the fact, that certain 56 ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. vital manifestations are connected with certain organic struc- tures.* * Since I delivered these Lectures, I have become acquainted with Dr. Brown's IrKjuiry into the Relation of Cause and Effect, third edition, 8vo. Edinburgh, .1818 ; a most instructive work, calculated to dispel much of the obscurity and confusion, by which both physical and metaphysical discussions have been perplexed and retarded, and to interest strongly all those who derive pleasure from perspicuous language and close reasoning. As it is ex- tremely important to possess clear notions of causation, of the relations ex- jjressedby the wurds cause, effect, property, quality, power, I subjoin an extract, in which these matters are mure satisfactorily explained than in any other book 1 have met with. " It is this mere relation of uniform antecedence, so important and so uni- versally believed, which ajjpears to me to constitute alt that can be philosophi- cally meant, in the words power or causation, to whatever objects, material or spiritual, the words may be applied. If events had succeeded each other in perfect irregularity, such terms never would have been invented ; but, when the successions are believed to be in regular order, the importance of this re- gularity to all our wishes, and plans, and actions, has of course led to the employment of terms significant of the most valuable distinction which we are physically able to make. We give the name ot cause to the object which we believe to be the invariable antecedent of a particular change ; we giv« Urn nasne oi effect reciprocally to that invariable consequent; and the rela- tion itself, when considered abstractedly, we denominate //ourr in the object that is the invariable antecedent — susceptibility in the object that exhibits, in its change, the invariable consequent. We say of lire, that it has the power of melting metals, and of metals that they are susceptible of fusion by fire, — that fire is the cause of the fusion, and the fusion the effect of the applicatiou of (ire ; but, in all this variety of words, we mean nothing more than our belief, that when a solid metal is subjected for a certain time to the application of a strong heat, it will begin afterwards to exist in that dili'erent state which is termed liquidity, — that, in all past time, in the same circumstances, it would have exhibited the same change, — and that it will continue to do so in the same circumstances in all future time. We speak of two appearances which raetala present ; one before the application of fire, and the other after it ; and a simple but universal relation of heat and the metallic substances, with respect to these two appearances, is jll that is expressed. " A cause, therefore, in the fullest definition which it philosophically admits, may be said to be, that which immediately precedes any chunge, and which, existing at any time in similar circumsta7ices, has been always, and will be always, immediately followed by a similar change. Priority in the sequence observed, and invariableness of antecedence in the past and future sequen- ces supposed, are the elements, and the only elements, combined in the notion of a cause. By a conversion of terms, we obtain a definition of the corre- lative effect ; axuX power, as I have before said, is only another word for ex- pressing abstractly and briefly the antecedence itself, and the invariableness of the relation. "The words property and quality admit of exactly the same definition; ex- pressing only a certain relation of invariable antecedence and consequence, in changes, that take place, on the presence of the substance to which they are ascribed. They are strictly synonymous with power ; or, at least, the only difference is, that pn-operty anil quality, as commonly used, comprehend botfi the 2'owers and suscejjtibilities of substance, the powers of producing changes, and the susceptibilities of being changed. We say equally, that it is a pro- perty or quality of water, to melt salt, and that it is one of its qualities or pro- perties to freeze or become solid, on the subtraction of a certain quantity of heat; but we do not commonly use the word power, in the latter of these cases, and say that water has the power of being frozen." — "Power, pro- perty, and quality, are, in the physical use of these terms, exactly synony- mous. Water has the power of melting salt ; — it is a property of water to melt salt; — it is a quality of water to melt salt : — all these varieties of expression signify precisely the same thing, — that, when water is poured upon salt, the solid will take the form of a liquid, and its particles be diffused in continued combination through the mass. Two parts of a sequence of physical events are before our mind ; the addition of water to salt, and the consequent lique- faction of what was before a crystalline solid. When we speak of all the qualities of a body, we consider it as existing in a variety of circumstances, and consider at the same time, all the changes that are, or may be, in these ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. 57 The only reason we have for asserting in any case that any property belongs to any substance, is the certainty or universality with which we find the substance and the property in question accompanying each other. Thus we say that gold is yellow, ductile, soluble in nitro-muriatic acid, because we have always found gold, when pure, to be so. We assert that living muscular fibres are irritable, living nervous fibres sensible, for the same reason. The evidence of the two propositions presents itself to my mind as unmarked by the faintest shade of diiference. Having found by experience that every thing we see has some cause of its existence, we are induced to ascribe the constant concomitance of a substance and its properties to some neces- sary connection between them : but, however strong the feeling may be, which leads us to believe in some more close bond, we can only trace, in this notion of necessary connection, the fact of certainty or universality of concurrence. Nothing more than this can be meant, when a necessary connection is asserted be- tween the properties of sensibility and irritability, and the struc- tures of living muscular and nervous fibres. This language does not explain how the thing takes place : it is merely a mode of stating the fact. To say that irritability is a property of living muscular fibres, is merely equivalent to the assertion, that such fibres have in all cases possessed the power of contraction. What then is the cause of irritability ? I do not know, and cannot conjecture. In physiology, as in the physical sciences, we quickly reach the boundaries of knowledge, whenever we attempt to penetrate the first causes of the phenomena. The most we can accom- cireumstanees, its immediate effects. Wlien we speak of all the qualities of a body, or all its properties, we mean nothing more, and we mean nothing less. Certain substances are conceived by us, and certain changes that take Slace in them, which, we believe, will be uniformly the same, as often as le substances of which we speak exist in circumstances that are exactly the same. " The powers, properties, or qualities of a substance, are not to be regarded, then, as anything superadded to the substance, or distinct from it. Tliey are only the substance itself, considered in relation to various changes, that take place, when it exists in peculiar circumstances," We cannot be surprised thit the author of the Physiological Lectures should have poured forth the full vials of his wrath on doctrines at once completely subverting all his airy structures of subtle fluids, mobile matters, &c. &c. considered as causes of vital actions, and so simple and logical, that any attempt at direct opposition by reasoning would be utterly hojjeless. He therefore boldly atfirms that "if they mean to insinuate that we have no knowledge of cause or cfl'ect beyond thit which results from mere observa- tion, they publish at the same time a libel on the human understanding, a pro- hibition t-o rational inquir}-, and a most severe satire on themselves."'?. 91. Unless the author should show, on some future occasion, what he has not even attempted on the present ; viz. what it is that the words cause and effect denote in addition to relative invariable antecedence and consequence this volley of hard words will only recoil on his own head. ' D 3 58 ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. plish is to make gradual conquests from the territories of igno- rance and doubt; and to leave under their dominion those objects only, which our reason has not reached, or is not able to reach. The great end of observation and experiment is to discover, among the various phenomena, those which are the most general. When these are well ascertained, they serve as principles, from which other facts may be deduced. The Newtonian theory of gravitation is a most splendid example. The only object of un- certainty, which then remains, is the first cause of a small num- ber of facts. The phenomena succeed each other, like the generations of men, in an order which we observe, but of which we can neither determine nor conceive the commencement. We follow the hnks of an endless chain ; and, by holding fast to it, we may ascend from one hnk to another; but the point of suspension is not within the reach of our feeble powers. To call life a property of organization would be unmeaning ; it would be nonsense. The primary or elementary animal structures are endued with vital properties ; their combinations compose the animal organs, in which, by means of the vital properties of the component elementary structures, the animal functions are carried on. The state of the animal, in which the continuance of these processes is evidenced by obvious external signs, is called life. Tlie striking differences between living and inorganic bodies, and the strong contrast of their respective properties, naturally excited curiosity respecting the causes of this diversity, and en- deavours to show the mode in which it was effected. Here we quit the path of observation, and wander into the regions of imagination and conjecture. It is the poetic ground of physio- logy ; but the union is unnatural, and, like other unnatural unions, unproductive. The fiction spoils the science, and the admixture of science is fatal to inspiration. The fictitious beings of poetry are generally interesting in themselves, and are brought forward to answer some useful purpose; but the genii and spirits of physiology are awkward and clumsy, and do nothing at last, which could not be accomplished just as well without them : they literally incumber us with their help. For those, who think it impossible that the living organic structures should have vital properties without some extrinsic aid ; — although they require no such assistance for the equally wonderful affinities of chemistry, for gravity, elasticity, or the other properties of matter, a great variety of explanations, suited to all tastes and comprehensions, has been provided. OF THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. 59 Some are contented with stating that the properties of life arise from a vital principle. This explanation has the merit of simplicity, whatever we may think of its profoundness : and it has the advantage of being transferable and equally applicable to any other subject. Some hold that an immaterial principle, and others, that a material, but invisible and very subtle agent is superadded to the obvious structure of the body, and enables it to exhibit vital phenomena. The former explanation will be of use to those who are conversant with, immaterial beings, and who understand how they are connected with and act on matter. But I know no description of persons likely to benefit by the latter. For subtle matter is still matter ; and if this fine stuff can possess vital properties, surely they may reside in a fabric which differs only in being a httle coarser. Mr. Hunter has a good substantial sort of living principle ; he seems to have had no taste for immaterial agents, or for subtle matters. His materia vitpe is something tangible ; he describes it as a substance like that of the brain, diffused all over the body, and entering into the composition of every part. He conceives even the blood to have its share.* We may smile at these fancies, without any disrespect to a name that we all revere, without any insensibility to the merits of a surgeon and physiologist, whose genius and labours have reflected honour on our profession and our country. If the father of poetry some- times falls asleep, a physiologist may be allowed to dream a little ; but they who are awake, need not shut their eyes, and endeavour to follow his example, need not exhibit another instance of the perverted taste, which led the disciples of an ancient philosopher to drink spinacii-juice, that they might look pale like their master. Plato made the vital principle to be an emanation of the anima mundi, or soul of the world ; an explanation, no doubt, * That the author of the Physiological Lectures should liave published two books, principally for the purpose of explaining, illustrating, and conlirmin^ Mr. Hunter's " "Theory of Life," withui.t showing us in either what that theory was, without a single citation or reference to identify this doctrine, thus boldly baptised with the name of Hunter, as the literary ofi'spring of its alleged parent, appears strange and suspicious. It is easily explained ; for this Hmtterian theory of life, which its real author so stoutly maintains to be not only probable and rational, but also verifiable, Is no wliert' to be found in the published writings of Mr. Hunter ; and does not even re-^emble the specu- lations on the same subject, which occur in the posthumous woi-k on the Blood, Lijlammation, SjC. part i. chap i. sec. 5, on the living Principle of the Blood. In perusing the writings of Mr. Hunter, we should always remember his unfortunate want ofeaily education, the difficulty he felt in conveying his notions clearly by words, a'nd the mutilation which his thoughts must have sulTered in passing though the press, both fromthecauses just mentioned, and from the revision and correction to which some of his writings were subjected. 60 ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. quite satisfactory to those who know what the soul of the world is, and how other souls emanate from it. The Brahmins of the East hold a similar notion : but they make the soul after death pass on into other bodies or into animals, according to its behaviour ; admitting, however, that those of the good are immediately re-absorbed into the Divnnity. Some of the Greeks adopted a distinct vital, sensitive, and rational principle in man. These are merely specimens; a few articles, as patterns, selected from a vast assortment. If you do not like either of them, there are plenty more to choose from. As these and a hundred other such hypothesis are all supported by equally good proof; which is neither more nor less, in each instance, than the thorough conviction of the inventor ; and, as they are inconsistent ^vith each other, and, therefore, mutually destruc- tive, we need not trouble ourselves further until their respective advocates can agree together in selecting some one for their patronage, and discarding the rest. For of these, as of the numerous religions in the world, only one can be true. What is comparative anatomy ? The expression is rather vague and indefinite. You naturally inquire what is compared? What is the object of comparison ? The structure of animals may be compared to that of man. To lay down the laws of the animal economy from facts furnished by the human subject only, would be like writing the natural history of our species from observing the inhabitants of a single town or village. Repeated observations and multiplied experiments on the various tribes of animated nature have cleared up many obscure and doubtfid phenomena in the economy of man : a continua- tion of this method will place physiology on the sohd basis of experience, and build up science on ground hitherto occupied by fancy and conjecture. The physiologist, who is conversant with natural history in general, is fortified against uncertain opinions, and the showy but flimsy textures of verbal sophistry. An hypothesis, which to others appears perfectly adequate to the object in view, is not convincing to him. He rises above the particular object to which it is accommodated, in order to appreciate its value ; as we ascend an eminence to gain a commanding view of a dis* trict, to distinguish its features, to ascertain the number and bearings of its parts, and their relations to the surrounding country. 1 ox THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. 61 There are three points of view, in which comparative anatomy has an important bearing on human physiology. In the infancy of science, physiology, such as it was, owed its origin to zootomy, which was practised by physicians and natu- ralists eighteen centuries before human dissections began. Tha Anatomia Partium Corporis humani of Mondini, written in the beginning of the fourteenth century, was the first compendium of.human anatomy composed from actual dissection. It is easy to show that even the osteology of Galen was not drawn from the human skeleton : and many parts of the body still bear names derived from animals, which names are in some instances not correctly applicable to the human structure ; for example, the epithets right and left as applied to the cavities of the heart Although human anatomy, after its first scientific development by Berengar of Carpi, was so quickly brought to a high pitch of perfection by the great triumvirate, Vesalius, Fal- LOPius, and Eustachius, yet the most important discoveries, those of greatest weight in physiology, considered as the basis of medicine, were made in animals. No period has been so fruitful in these discoveries, nor so distinguished in the literary history of our science, as the seventeenth century, in which the anatomy of brutes was most zealously cultivated, and most of the great anatomical facts were found out, which, by unveiling the hidden springs and movements of the animal machine, have furnished the principles, on which rational pathology and prac- tical medicine have been established. These con>parative researches render the most important ser- vice by affording a criterion in doubtful cases for determining the uses of parts ; which, as the main object of this fundamental medical science, has been well chosen by Galen for the title of his classical work on physiology. Hence Haller observes that the situation, figure, and size of parts ought to be learned from man ; their uses and motions must be drawn from animals. I shall adduce a few particulars for the purpose of exemplifying the preceding remarks. A serpent swallows an animal larger than itself, which fills its oesophagus, as well as stomach, and of which the digestion occupies several days or even "weeks. We open the reptile during this process, and find that part of the animal which remained in the oesophagus, sound and natviral, while the por- tion which had descended into the stomach, though still retain- ing its figvire, is semi-liquefied, reduced into so soft a state, as to break down under the slightest pressure. How effectually does 62 ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY this simple fact refute the notions of digestion being mechanical trituration; or solution by heat (for the animal is cold-blooded); or the effect of fermentation, or putrefaction, or coction ! The slow and languid motion of the blood in cold-blooded animals, has enabled us to demonstrate in them the circulation, which in man can only be proved by argument. Physiologists have been much perplexed to find out a common centre in the nervous system, in which all sensations may meet, and from which all acts of volition may emanate ; a central apartment for the superintendent of the human panopticon ; or. in its imposing Latin name, a sensorium commune. That there must be such a point they are well convinced, having satisfied themselves that the human mind is simple and indivisible, and therefore capable of dwelling only in one place. The pineal gland, the corpus caUosum, the pons Varolii, and other parts, have been successively suggested. Now, there are many orders of animals with sensation and volition, who have none of these parts. And this assumed unity of the sentient principle becomes very doubtful, when we see other animals, possessed of nervous systems, which, after being cut in two, form again two perfect animals. Is the immaterial principle divided by the knife, as well as the body ? The heart has been regarded by many physiologists as the prime mover in the animal machine ; — the origin of vital motion in the embryo, the chief agent in forming and maintaining the fabric, and the main-spring for keeping the whole machinery in action. There are whole classes of living beings, and some of complicated structure, which have no heart. Some have regarded the spleen as a spunge ; soaking up the blood when the stomach is empty, and allowing it to be squeezed out again by the pressure of this bag when distended. In many animals the spleen is neither cellular, nor so situated as to be compressible by the stomach. This is the case, generally speak- ing, with birds and reptiles. The office of conveying away fluids from the stomach has been assigned to it, making it a kind of waste-pipe to prevent the liquid contents of the digestive cistern from rising above a certain level. But it exists in reptiles and fishes, where neither the figure of the stomach, nor the known habits of the animals, m respect to food and digestion, admit of this explanation. In the camel, which retains the water in its stomach, and in the horse, where it passes very rapidly into the caecum, the spleen is as large as in other animals. In beasts of prey, which hardly ox THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. 63 drink at all, it is as large and cellular as in the herbivorous ruminant animals. Its size and its cells are particularly con- spicuous in the latter : yet the fluids which they swallow, go into the paunch, and not into the true digestive stomach. Although arguments from analogy are of great service in physiology, and other departments of natural history, although they throw light on obscure points, and give an interest to many discussions, their employment requires caution, and they should rather be resorted to for illustration than be relied on for direct proof. Organs corresponding in situation and name are not always constructed alike ; hence a part is sometimes employed in one class of animals for a different purpose from that which the instrument of the same name and of analogous position in the body executes in another. The gizzards of the gallinae have a prodigious triturating power ; and those, who first ascertained by experiment the extent of their power, were disposed to infer that digestion is effected in man by mechanical attrition. Now, the gizzard, although the corresponding part to our stomach, is in structure and action the instrument of mastication ; and, as birds have no teeth, it is the only instrument for dividing the hard grain on which they feed. Further inquiry shows, that even in this stomach, which is covered by a thick insensible cuticle, capable of bearing tlie friction of grain and siliceous pebbles, digestion is really effected, as in the stomach of man, by solution; the solvent juice being secreted by the large col- lection of glands at the cardiac end of the oesophagu.-?, and having an operation similar to that of the gastric fluid of quadrupeds. It has been argued, that the arteries of the mammalia must have a contractile power, because, in some worms Avithout a heart, these vessels carry on the ch-culation alone. The whole economy is too different in the two instances to admit of infe- rences from analogy ; the circulating apparatus, in particular, is formed on plans altogether different in the two cases ; and the structure and actions of the vessels of worms, are, in fact, very little known. Because the vesiculse seminales in some animals do not com- municate with the vasa deferentia, and therefore cannot receive the fluid secreted in the testicles, it has been inferred that they do not serve the purpose of reservoirs for the seminal secretion in man, where, however, they have so free a communication with the vasa deferentia, that any fluids pass into and even distend the former, before they go on into the urethra. The organic arrangement is different in the two instances ; and this diflerence 64 NATURE OF LIFE. leads us to expect a modification in the function, instead of authorising us to infer that the same office is executed in exactly the same manner in both cases. If we met with animals, in whom the cystic duct opened into the small intestines separately from the hepatic, shall we therefore infer that the human gall- bladder is not a receptacle for the hepatic bile ? Again, animals may be compared to each other. Each organ must be examined in all the gradations of living beings ; its modifications compared and surveyed in relation to the varieties of other parts, before a just notion of its functions can be formed. This kind of examination of the animal kingdom, leads to what may be called general anatomy, the basis of general physiology ; the objects of which are to determine the organization, and un- fold the vital laws of the whole system of living beings. In the physical sciences we have the power of insulating the various objects of our research ; of analysing them into their component elements, of subtracting these successively, and thus determining beforehand all the conditions of the problem we may be studying. It would be desirable to employ the same proceed- ing in natural history ; and it is resorted to, when the objects are sufficiently simple. But they are for the most part too com- plicated, and connected too closely by mutual influences. We cannot analyse an animal of the higher orders, and observe the simple result of each organ by itself; for, if we destroy one part, the motion of the whole machine is stopped. The phenomena come before us under conditions not regulated by our own choice; and in a state of complication requiring close attention and care- ful discrimination to search out and determine the precise share of each component part. In this difficulty, comparative observations afford some assist- ance. The animals of inferior classes are so many subjects of ex- periment ready prepared for us; where any organ maybe observed under every variety of simplicity and complication in its own structure : of existence alone, or in combination \vith others. LECTURE IV. Jfature of Life ; — Methodical Arrangement of living Beings ; Species, Varieties, Genera, Orders, Sjc. — Progressive Simplification of Organization, and of Funo- tions. — Intellectual Funciions of the Brain, in the natural and disordered State, explained on the same Principles as the Offices of other Organs. The notion of life is too complicated, embraces too many parti- culars, to admit of a short definition. It varies in the difllerent AKRAXGEMEXT OF ANIMALS. 65 kinds of animals, as tlieir structure and functions vary ; so that a description drawn from one would not be applicable to others differently situated in the animal series. If we include in the description those circumstances only, which are common to the whole animal kingdom, we must direct our view to beings of the most simple structure, where the phenomenon is reduced to its essential features, and these are not obscured or confused by accessary circumstances. The distinguishing characters of living beings will be found in their texture or organization ; in their component elements ; in their form ; in their pecuhar manifestations or phenomena j and in the limits, that is, in the origin and termination of their vital existence. Their bodyiscomposedof solids and fluids; the former arranged in fibres and laminae, so as to intercept spaces, which are occupied by the latter. The solids give the form to the body, and are con- tractile. The fluids are generally in motion. The component elements, of which nitrogen is a principal one, united in numbers of three, four, or more, easily pass into new combinations; and are, for the most part, readily convertible into fluid or gas. Such a kind of composition, and such an arrangement of the constituent parts, is called organization ; and, as the vital pheno- mena are only such motions as are consistent with these material arrangements, life, so far as our experience goes (and we have no other guide in these matters), is necessarily connected \nth organization. Life presupposes organization, as tlie movements of a watch presuppose the wheels, levers, and other mechanism of the instrument. The organization assumes certain definite forms in each kind of animals ; not merely in the external arrangement of the whole, but in each part, and in all the details of each. On this depends the kind of motion which each part can exercise ; the share which it is capable of contributing to the general vital move- ment ; which latter, or, in short, life, is the result of the mutual actions and re-actions of all parts. Living bodies exhibit a constant internal motion, in which we observe an uninterrupted admission and assimilation of new, and a correspondent separation and expulsion of old particles. The form remains the same, the component particles are continually changing. While this motion lasts, the body is said to be aUve ; when it has irrecoverably ceased, to be dead. The organic struc- 66 ARRANGEMENT OF ANIMALS. ture then yields to the chemical affinities of the surrounding agents, and is speedily destroyed. All living heings have, in the first place, formed part of a body like their own ; have been attached to a parent before the period of their independent existence. The new animal, while thus connected, is called a germ : its separation constitutes generation or birth. After this it increases in size according to certain fixed laws for each species and each part. The duration of existence is limited in all animals : after a longer or shorter period the vital movements are arrested, and their cessation or death seems to occur as a necessary consequence of life. Thus, then, absoqition, assimilation, exhalation, generation, and growth, are functions common to all living beings ; birth and death the universal limits of their existence ; a reticular con- tractile tissue, with fluids in its interstices, the general essence of their structure ; substances easily convertible into the state of liquid or gas, and combinations readily changing, the basis of their chemical composition. Fixed forms, perpetuated by genera- tion, distinguish their species, determine the combination of secondary functions peculiar to each, and assign to them their respective situations in the system of the imiverse. After forming this general notion of living beings, we proceed to examine the animal kingdom in detail. The first glance dis- covers to us an infinite variety of forms ; diversities so numerous, that the attempt to observe and register the whole seems almost hopeless. We find, however, that these forms, at first view so infinitely various, admit of being classed together, of being formed into groups, each of which is distinguished by certain essential characters. In the latter all the animals comprehended in each group agree ; while they differ from each other in parti- culars of minor importance. I have already mentioned that a fixed eternal form belongs to each animal, and that it is continued by generation. Certain forms, the same as those existing in the world at the present moment, have existed from time immemorial. Such, at least, is the result of the separate and combined proofs furnished by our own observation and experience respecting the laws of the animal kingdom, by the voice of tradition and of histor}^ by the remains of antiquity, and by every kind of collateral evidence. All the animals belonging to one of these forms constitute what zoologists call a species. This resemblance must not be AHRAXGEMENT OF ANIMALS. 67 understood in a rigorous sense ; for every being has its indivi- dual characters of size, figure, colour, proportions. In this sense the character of variety is stamped on all nature's works. She has made it a fundamental law, that no two of her produc- tions shall be exactly alike ; and this law is invariably obsen'ed through the whole creation. Each tree, each flower, each leaf, exemplifies it ; every animal has its individual character ; each human being has something distinguishing in form, pro- portions, countenance, gesture, voice ; in feelings, thought, and temper; its mental as well as corporeal physiognomy. This variety is the source of every thing beautiful and interesting in the external world ; the foundation of the whole moral fabric of the universe. I cannot help pointing out to you how strongly the voice of nature, so clearly expressed in this ob\'ious law, opposes all attempts at making mankind act or think alike. Yet the legis- lators and rulers of the world have persisted for centuries in endeavouring to reduce the opinions, the belief of their subjects, to certain fancied standards of perfection ; — to impress on human thought that dreary sameness, and dull monotony, which all the discipline and all the rigour of a religious sect have been hardly able to maintain in the outward garb of its followers. The mind, however, cannot be drilled, cannot be made to move at the word of command ; it scorns all shackles ; and rises with fresh energy from every new attempt to bind it down on this bed of Procrustes. All the oppression and persecution, all the bloodshed and miseiy, which the attempts to produce uniformity have occa- sioned, are, however, a less evil than the success of these mad efforts would be, were it possible for them to succeed in opposi- tion to the natural constitution of the human mind, to the general scheme and plain design of nature. The most powerful monarch of modern history, who exhibited the rare example of a voluntary retreat from the cares of empire, while still fully able to wield the sceptre, was rendered sensible of the extreme folly he had been guilty of in attempting to pro- duce uniformity of opinion among the numerous subjects of his extensive dominions, by finding himself imable to make even two watches go ahke, although every part of this simple mechanism was constructed, formed, and adjusted by himself. The dear experience and the candid confession of Charles V. were thrown away on his bigoted son ; who repeated on a still 68 ARRANGEMENT OF ANIMALS. grander scale, with fresh horrors and cruelties, the bloody expe- riment of dragooning his subjects into uniformity, only to instruct the world by a still more memorable failure. The increasing light of reason has destroyed many of these remnants of ignorance and barbarism ; but much remains to be done, before the final accomplishment of the grand purpose, which, however delayed, cannot be ultimately defeated ; I mean the complete emancipation of the mind, the destruction of all creeds and articles of faith, and the establishment of full freedom of opinion and belief. I cannot doubt that a day will arrive, when the attempts at enforcing uniformity of opinion will be deemed as irrational, and as little desirable, as to endeavour at producing sameness of face and stature.* In the mean time, no efforts capable of accelerating a consum- mation so beneficial to mankind should be omitted ; and I have therefore attempted to show you that, on this point, the analogies of natural history accord with the dictates of reason and the invariable instructions of experience. Certain external circumstances, as food, climate, mode of life, have the power of modifying the animal organization, so as to make it deviate from that of the parent. But this effect termi- nates in the individual. Thus, a fair Englishman, if exposed to tlie sun, becomes dark and swarthy in Bengal ; but his oftspring, if from an Englishwoman, are born just as fair as he himself was originally : and the children, after any number of genera- tions, that we have yet observed, are still born equally fair, provided there has been no intermixture of dark blood. Moreover, under certain circumstances, with which we are not well acquainted, a more important change of organization occurs. A new character springs up, and is propagated by generation : this constitutes a variety, in the language of naturalists. The number and degree of these variations are confined within nar- row limits ; they occur chiefly in the domesticated animals, and have not interfered with the transmission and continuation of those forms which constitute species. They will be more parti- cularly considered hereafter. • These opinions do not need the support of names, or I might cite Locke, in whose Letters on Toleration all the great principles on wliich the freedom of the human mind rests are fully developed, and unanswerably established. This may be called speculation, theory, or other bad names : I have therefore pleasure in referring to the authority of a practical statesman and enlightened magistrate. See Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, p. 261 — 270. Also the Appen- aix, No. 3, containing " An Act for establisliing religious Freedom pasieil in the Jhsemhly of Virginia in the heginning of the Year 178(5 ;" an admirable model, which has been perfectly successful, and hitherto adopted in uo other part of the world. ARRANGEMENT OF ANIMALS. 69 Proceeding, then, on the criterion of definite form, transmitted by generation, we may define a species as a collection of all the individuals which have descended one from the other, or from common parents, and of all those which resemble them as much as they resemble each other.* Thus, our first operation, in classifying the animal kingdom, consists in referring individuals to their species. The next brings together the species most nearly resembling each other, and forms them into groupes called genera. This presupposes a thorough knowledge of the animals ; because the species included under each genus should resemble each other more closely, than the species of any other genus. For example, the Hon, tiger, lynx, leopard, panther, cat species, with some others, compose the genus felis or cat. All these have a savage charac- ter, as they prey on living animals. For this purpose they are armed with powerful teeth, with great muscular strength in the jaws, neck, and limbs. They all have the tongue and glans penis covered with sharp, horny prickles ; and they are furnished with curved, sharp, and cutting nails or claws, which, by a peculiar mechanism, are retracted, so as not to press against the ground when the animal is not employing them. Thus the species in question all agree in the leading points of organization ; and they agree likewise in general habits and character. The common cat is the only one actually domesticated ; but the lion, tiger, and others, are easily tamed and rendered familiar to man, although their size and strength make them too dangerous foi playfellows ; and many admit of training, so that they can be employed in hunting. The genera are again formed into groupes called orders : thus the cow, sheep, goat, deer, antelope, camel, lama, and other genera, compose the order ruminantia. All these feed on vegetables, and submit their food to a double process of masti- cation, in reference to which the stomach possesses a very pecu- Uar and complicated structure. This vegetable diet and this process of rumination are connected with certain structures of teeth and jaws, with particular arrangements of the organs ot sensation and motion, and with certain general habits, which produce great similarity of character throughout the whole order. The different orders are again arranged into certain classes. Thus all the animals which are viviparous, and in which the • Cuvier, Begne Animal/ t. i. Introduction, p. 19. 70 ARRANGEMENT OF ANIMALS. young are nourished for a certain time by a secretion of the mother, are united into the class mammalia, or mammiferous animals ; so called from their mammae, or glandular organs, which secrete the fluid nutriment of the young. Lastly, the classes are assembled, on the same principle of resemblance, into provinces or departments of the animal kingdom. The mammalia, birds, fishes, and reptiles, constitute the DEPARTMENT vertebralia, or vertebral animals, — all of them possessing a vertebral column or spine, the most important piece of an internal articulated skeleton. A scheme of the animal kingdom, drawn out on these prin- ciples, is called a natural method or distribution, because the natural relations or resemblances of the objects comprised in it are the basis of its formation. To complete it, an accurate knowledge of the whole animated creation is necessary, so that it cannot be attempted, Avith any reasonable chance of success, except in an advanced state of the science. When such an arrangement has been properly executed ; that is, when the animals have been assigned to each division according to their resemblances of structure, so that the species of each genus are alike, and more like to each other, than to those of any other genus ; and when the same remark is true con- cerning the genera of each order, the orders of each class, and the classes of each department, it is an abridged expression of the whole science, the embodied result of all our knowledge con- cerning the structure and habits of animals. The place which any animal occupies, denotes all the leading circiimstances of its organization and economy, and expresses them in few words. We say, for example, that the dromedary belongs to the genus CAMELUs, order ruminantia, class mammalia, and depart- ment vertkbualia. To a person conversant with the prin- ciples of the arrangement, these four words convey a general notion of the animal, which would otherwise require a length- ened description The great utility of this scientific short-hand writing in abbreviating descriptions is too obvious to need illustration. It is absolutely indispensable when we come to delineate the structure and modifications of organs throughout the whole animal kingdom. The recent work of Cuvier, entitled, the " Animal Kingdom distributed according to its Organization,'" contains the most complete and accurate view of the subject. If we contemplate living beings arranged in one line, begin- SIMPLIFICATION OF ORGANIZATION. 71 ning with the most perfect, and continued downwards, we find a tolerably regular gradation from complicated to simple, through the whole series. At one end is man ; at the other an animated microscopic point, of which thousands are found in a single drop of fluid. Numberless gradations are placed between these ; so that, though the two ends of the chain are immea- surably remote, there is close approximation between any two links. This simplification or degradation of the organization is immediately perceptible on comparing together the four great departments* of the animal kingdom ; and it is equally so in each department. In the vehtebralia, we pass from man to the eel or serpent : in the mollusca, from the cuttle-fish to the barnacle or oyster; in the articulata, from the crab or lobster to the earth-worm or leech : in the radiata, from the star-fish or medusa to an animalcule of infusions. The same progression is observable in each class ; in the mammalia, for examjile, we descend from man to the whale or seal. A cursory general survey of the animal kingdom will show us the gradual steps by which this simplification of the organization is efi^ected. The internal articulated skeleton, on which the figure, motions, and other important properties of the vertebral animals, whicii possess it, so much depend, ends in the vertebral department. f In some fishes it is reduced to the state of cartilage ; and in others it is so soft, as hardly to afl^brd points sufficiently firm for support and motion. External memljers for locomotion do not exist in some vertebral animals, as serpents and certain fishes. The eyelids and lacrymal apparatus; the external ear and tympanum ; the organs of touch and taste ; the parts called cerebrum and cerebellum, do not extend beyond this depart- ment, nor do they exist in all the animals belonging to this division. The sympathetic nerve belongs only to the vertebral department.;]; • The primary division of the animal kingdom into the four department-i mentioned in the text, was propiised by Cuvier in the jlnnales du Museum d'Uist. Nat. t. 19. The reasons on u'lich the division is grounded, and the principal anatomical characters of tlie four departments, may be seen in the liesne Anunal, Introduction, p. 67, et suiv. t'Unless we consider as a skelet .n the curious and complicated arrangement of c^jnnected bony pieces in ine asterias ; where, however, the principal parts of the Ijony fabric are not applied, as in the vertebral animals, to the forma- tion of receptacles for the nervous system. t If the simple nervous structures in some animals of the lower orders should be regarded as a sympathetic nerve, it will not materially affect our 72 • SIMPLIFICATION OF ORGANIZATION. Tlie diaphragm ends with the mammalia ; so that the thorax and abdomen are not distinct in any other animals. The circulation is reduced in reptiles to the single state, and is carried on by one auricle and ventricle. Warmth of the blood — that is, a temperature of that fluid con- siderably elevated above the surrounding medium — belongs only to mammalia and birds ; and the red colour of the same fluid is confined, with one small exception, to the vertebral animals. Organs of voice end in reptiles .- not existing in fishes. Viviparous generation, with its attendant process of suckling the young, is confined to the mammalia : and is afterwards succeeded by the more simple oviparous form. Urinary organs end with the mammalia, many of which have no bladder, as birds, some fishes, and reptiles. The absorbent system terminates in the vertebral department; of which only the mammalia and I)irds possess lympiiatic glands The mollusca present an organization very much reduced in the numljer of its parts, and very imperfect in all respects, when compared to that of the ^-ertebral animals. They have no skeleton to lodge the nervous system, and for the centre of motions ; no separate receptacles for the various internal organs ; but the brain, nervous cord, and viscera, are all placed in a common cavity. In articulated animals the nervous system is reduced to a knotted cord, and the organs of sense are gradually extinguished The heart ceases in this department, and respiration also, as carried on by a particular organ. In the radiated de])artment the organs of circulation finally disappear; the heart having been before abolished. The ali- mentary apparatus is reduced to a simple bag with one opening. Finally, in the microsco])ic animalcules all special organs are at viewoftYie subject, so far as the simplification of the organization is con- cerned. Treviranus regards the knotted abdominal cord of insects and -worms as the vertebral ganglia of the sympathetic nerve united into a symmetrical ^vhole. To call it a spinal marrow he thinks incorrect. " Its situation on the abdominal instead of the dorsal aspect of the bodj-, points out a great dif- ference lietween it and the spiual marrow of the four vertebral classes. The spiders and iihalangia, -which in other respects are allied to other insects, have no such cord, but, like the mollusca, single ganglia, not jilaced in a straight direction one beliind the other. A true spinal marrow is only found in mammalia, birds, reptiles, and fishes." Biologie. b. v. p. 331, 332. " In this view, the representation that the great sympathetic nerve belongs only to rcd-bioodcd animals, must be deemed incorrect. This very nerve is fhemost general, the uriginnl of all nerves : but it is vaiiously moditied in the e able to say that it can see, hear, smell, taste, and feel, but cannot ])ossibly reflect, imagine, judge ? Who has appreciated them so exactly, as to be able to decide that it can execute the mental functions of an elephant, a dog, or an orang-outang, but cannot perform those of a Negro or a Hottentot ? To say that a thing of merely negative properties, that is, an immaterial substance, which is neither evidenced by any direct testimony, nor by any indirect proof from its effects, does exist, and can think, is qviite consistent in those who deny thought to animal structures, where we see it going on every day. If the mental processes be not the function of the brain, what is its office ? In animals, which possess only a small part of the human cerebral structure, sensation exists, and in many cases is more acute than in man. What employment shall we find for all that man possesses over and above this portion ; — for the large and prodigiously developed human hemispheres ? Are we to believe that these serve only to round the figure of the organ, or to fill the cranium ? It is necessary for you to form clear opinions on this subject, as it has immediate reference to an important branch of patho- logy. They who coasider the mental operations as acts of an immaterial being, and thus disconnect the sound state of the mind from organization, act very consistently in disjoining insanity also from the corporeal structure, and in representing it as a disease, not of the brain, but of the mind. Thus we come to disease of an immaterial being, for which, suitably enough, moral treatment has been recommended. < FUXCTIOXS OF THE BRAIX. 79 I firmly believe, on the contrary, that the various forms of insanity, that all the affections comprehended under the general term of mental derangement, are only evidences of cerebral affections : — disordered manifestations of those organs, whose healthy action produces the phenomena called mental! — in short, symptoms of diseased brain. These symptoms have the same relation to the brain, as vomiting, indigestion, heartburn, to the stomach; cough, asthma, to the lungs ; or any other deranged functions to their corres- ponding organs. If the bihary secretion be increased, diminished, suspended, or altered, we have no hesitation in referring to changes in the condition of the liver, as the immediate cause of these pheno mena. We explain the state of respiration, whether slow, hvir- ried, impeded by cough, spasm, &c. by the various conditions of the lungs, and other parts concerned in breathing. These expla- nations are deemed perfectly satisfactory. What should we think of a person, who told us that the organs have nothing to do with the business ; that colei'a, jaun- dice, hepatitis, are diseases of an immaterial hepatic being ; that asthma, cough, consumption, are affections of a subtle pul- monary matter, or that in both cases the disorder is not in bodily organs, but in a vital principle ? If such a statement would be deemed too absurd for any serious comment in the derangements of the liver, lungs, and other organic parts, how can it be received in the brain ? The very persons who use this language of diseases of the mind, speak and reason correctly respecting the other affections of the brain. When it is compressed by a piece of bone, or by effused blood or serum, and when all intellectual phenomena are more or less completely suspended, they do not say that the mind is squeezed, that the immaterial principle suffers pressure. For the ravings of delirium and frenzy, the excitation and sub- sequent stupor of intoxication, they find an adequate explanation in the state of the cerebral circulation, without fancying that the mind is delirious, mad, or drunk. In these cases the seat of the disease, the cause of the symp- toms, is too obvious to escape notice. In many forms of insa- nity the affection of the cerebral organization is less strongly marked, slower in its progress, but generally very recognisable, and abundantly sufficient to explain the diseased manifestations ; — to afford a material organic cause for the phenomena — for the 80 FUNCTIOXS OF THE BRAIPT, augmented or diminished energy, or the altered nature of the various feelings and intellectual faculties. I have examined after death the heads of many insane persons, and have hardly seen a single brain, which did not exhibit obvious marks of disease. In recent cases, loaded vessels, in- creased serous secretions : in all instances of longer duration, unequivocal signs of present or past increased action ; — blood- vessels apparently more numerous, membranes thickened and opaque, depositions of coagulable lymph forming adhesions or adventitious membranes, watery effusions, even abscesses. Add to this, that the insane often become paralytic, or are suddenly cut off by apoplexy. Sometimes, indeed, the mental phenomena are disturbed, wthout any visible deviation from the healthy structure of the brain ; as digestion or biliary secretion may be impaired or altered without any recognisable change of structure in the stomach or Uver. The brain, like other parts of this compli- cated machine, may be diseased sympathetically ; and we see it recover. Tlius we find the brain, like other parts, subject to what is called functional disorder ; but, although we cannot actually demonstrate the fact, we no more doubt that the material cause of the symptoms or external signs of disease is in this organ, than we do that impaired biliary secretion has its source in the liver, or faulty digestion in the stomach. The brain does not often come under the insj^ection of the anatomist, in such cases of functional disorder ; and I am convinced, from my own experience, that very few heads of persons dying deranged will be examined after death, %vithout showing diseased structure or evident signs of increased vascular activity. The effect of medical treatment completely corroborates these views. Indeed tliey, who talk of and believe in diseases of the mind, are too wise to put their trust in mental remedies. Argu- ments, syllogisms, discourses, sermons, have never yet restored any patient ; the moral jiharmacopceia is quite inefficient, and no real benefit can be conferred without vigorous medical treat- ment, which is as efficacious in these affections, as in the disease of any other organs. In thus drawng your attention to the physiology of the brain, I have been influenced, not merely by the intrinsic interest and importance of the subject, but by a wish to exempUfy the aid, which hiunan and comparative anatomy and physiology are FUNCTIONS OF THE BRAIN. 81 capable of affording each other, and to show how the data fur- nished by both tend to illustrate pathology. I have purposely avoided noticing those considerations of the tendency of certain physiological doctrines, which have sometimes been indus- triously mixed up with these disquisitions. In defence of a weak cause, and in failure of direct arguments, appeals to the passions and prejudices have been indulged, attempts have been made to fix public odium on the supporters of this or that opi- nion, and direct charges of bad motives and injurious conse- quences have been reinforced by all the arts of misrepresentation, insinuation, and inuendo. To discover truth, and to represent it in the clearest and most intelligible manner, seem to me the only proper objects of physiological, or indeed of any other inquiries. Free discussion is the surest way, not only to disclose and strengthen what is true, but to detect and expose what is fallacious. Let us not then pay so bad a compliment to truth, as to use in its defence foul blows and unlawful weapons. Its adversaries, if it has any, will be dispatched soon enough without the aid of the stiletto and the bowl. The argument against the expediency of divulging an opinion, although it may be true, from the possibility of its being per- verted, has been so much hackneyed, so often employed in the last resort by the defenders of all established abuses and errors, that every one, who is conversant with controversy, rejects it immediately as the sure mark of a bad cause, as the last refuge of retreating error. E 3 82 ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MAN. The foHowinj^ remarks on those parts of the natural history of our species, which admit of illustration from human and comparative anatomy and phy- siolo;^y, furmed twelve Lectures delivered after the three foregoing at the Royal College of Surgeons in the past summer (1818). They are here ar- ranged according to the natural divisions of the subject, without any refe- rence to the arbitrary distinctions of the particular Lectures,which are there- fore entirely omitted. CHAPTER I. Nature and Ohjpcts of the Inquiry ; and Mode of Investigation : the Subject nt- therto neglected, and very erroneous Notions consequently prevalent. — Sources of Information. — Anatomical Characters of the Monkey Tribe, and more parti~ eularly of the Orang-outang and Chimpanse : Specific Character of Man. Mirantur aliqui altitudiues montium, ingcntes ductus maris, altissimos lap- sus flurainum, et gyros siderum : — relincjuunt seipsos nee mirantur."— S. AUQUSTINUS. The natural history of man, in its most comprehensive sense, constitutes a subject of immense extent and of endless variety ; or rather includes several very important subjects, if we attempt to describe both the individual and the species. In a complete history of man, it would be necessary, in respect to the former, to relate the phenomena of his first production, to examine his anatomical structure, his bodily and intellectual functions, his propensities and feelings, his diseases ; and to pursue his pro- gress from the time of birth to the grave : in reference to the latter, to point out the circumstances that distinguish him from other animals, and to determine the precise degree and kind of resemblance or difference, of specific aflSnity or diversity between them and ourselves ; to compare or contrast with each other the various nations or tribes of human beings, to delineate the physical and moral characters of the people inhabiting the different portions of the globe, and to trace their progress from the first rudiments of civil society to the state at which they are now arrived. To write such a history of our species would demand a familiar acquaintance with nearly the whole circle of human knowledge, and a combination of the most opposite pur- suits and talents. This labour, much too extensive to be pro- perly executed by any individual, is divided into several sTibordinate branches. The anatomist and physiologist unfold the construction and uses of the corporeal mechanism; the ON THE NATUEAL HISTORY OF MAN. 83 surgeon and physician describe its diseases ; while the metaphy- sician and moralist employ themselves with those functions, which constitute the mind, and with the moral sentiments. Man in society, his progress in the various countries and ages of the world, his multiplication and extension, are the province of the historian and political economist. I design, on the present occasion, to consider man as an object of 7onlogy : — to describe him as a subject of the animal kingdom. I shall therefore first enumerate, and consider the distinctions between him and animals ; and shall then describe, and attempt to account for the j^rincipal differences between the various races of mankind. Although the questions, which now come before us in such a review of the subject, as I now speak of, are of very high interest and importance, and although the principles deri^'ed from these investigations throv/ a strong light on many dark points in meta- physics and morals, in legislation, history, antiquities, and the fine arts, we shall find that they have not been investigated with a corresponding degree of attention and perseverance. What climates, what degrees of heat and cold can man bear ? How is he able to endure all the diversified external influences of such various abodes ? Is he indebted for this privilege to the strength and flexibility of his organization, or to his mental functions, his reason, and the arts which he has thence derived ? Is he a species broadly and clearly distinguished from all others ; or is he specifically allied to the orang-outang and other mon- keys } What are his corporeal, what his mental distinctions ? Are the latter ditferent in kind, or only superior in degree to those of the higher animals ? Is there one species of men only, or are there many distinct ones ? VvTiat particulars of external form and inward structure characterize the several races r What relation is observed between the differences of structure and those of moral feeling, mental powers, capability of civilization, and actual progress in arts, sciences, literature, government ? How is man aflfected by the external influences of climate, food, way of life ? Are these, or any others, operating on beings ori- ginally alike, sufficient to account for all the diversities hitherto observed.; or must we suppose that several kinds of men were created originally, each for its own situation ? If we adopt the supposition of a single species, what Country did it first inhabit? and what was the ajipearance of the original man? Did he go erect, or on all fours ? was he a Patagonian, or an Esquimaux, a Negro, or a Georgian ? 84 ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MAN. Such are the inquiries that claim our attention in a zoological survey of the human species. To suppose that it is in my power to furnish satisfactory replies, would be a degree of pre- sumption which it is hardly necessary for me to disclaim. I mention them only as examples ; and I take the liberty of adding my firm conviction, that these and similar matters will never be cleared up except by those who are thoroughly acquainted with the anatomy and physiology of our frame, with comparative ana- tomy, with the principles of general physiology, and the ana- logies derivable from the whole extent of living nature. I shall be contented with having called your attention to a subject, which falls within the province of our own pursuits ; and with exhibiting specimens of the mode of proceeding, and the objects to be kept in view. The naturalhistory of man is, indeed, yet in its infancy ; so that a complete view of the subject could not be attempted. The description and arrangement of the various productions of the globe have occupied numerous observers in aU ages of the world ; and have engaged their attention so exclusively, that they have had no time to think of themselves. Every reptile, bird, insect, plant, even every mineral has had its historian, and been described with minute accuracy, while the human subject has been comparatively neglected. In a 'volu- minous work, now publishing in this country, entitled General Zoology, or Si/stematic Natural History, manis altogether omitted without notice or apology. Accurate, beautiful, and expensive engravings have been executed of most objects in natural his- tory, of insects, birds, plants : splendid and costly publications have been devoted to small and apparently insignificant depart- ments of this science, yet the different races of man have hardly in any instance been attentively investigated, described, or com- pared together : no one has approximated and surveyed in conjunction their structure and powers : no attempt has been made to delineate them, I will not say on a large and compre- hensive, but not even on a small and contracted scale; nobody has ever thought it worth while to bestow on a faithful delinea- tion of the several varieties of man one-tenth of the labour and expense which have been la\nshed again and again on birds of paradise, pigeons, parrots, humming-birds, beetles, spiders, and many other such objects. Even intelligent and scientific travel- lers have too often thrown away on dress, arms, ornaments, utensils, buildings, landscapes, and obscure antiquities, the iitmost luxury of engraving and embellishment, neglecting entirely the being, without reference to whom none of these ON THE NATURAL X£ISTORY OF MAN. 85 objects possess either value or interest. In many very expen- sive works one is disappointed at meeting in long succession with prints of costumes- — summer dresses and winter dresses, court and common dresses — the wearer in the mean time being entirely lost sight of.* The immortal historian of nature seems to have alluded to this strange neglect, in observing " quelqu' in- teret que nous ayons a nous connaitre nous memes, je ne sais si nous ne connaissons pas mieux tout ce qui n'est pas nous."t Indeed, whether we investigate the physical or the moral nature of man, we recognise at every step the Hmited extent of our knowledge, and are obliged to confess that ignorance, which a Rousseau and a Buffon have not been ashamed to avow : — " The most useful, and the least successfully cultivated of all human knowledge is that of man ; and the inscription X on the temple of Delphi contained a more important and difficult pre- cept than all the books of the moralists. "§ That the greatest ignorance has prevailed on this subject, even in modern times, and among men of distinguished learning and acuteness, is shown by the strange notion very strenuously asserted by Monboddo || and Rousseau, and firmly beheved by many, that man and the monkey, or at least the orang-outang, belong to the same species, and are no otherwise distinguished from each other, than by circumstances, which can be accounted for by the different physical and moral agencies, to which they have been exposed. The former of these writers even supposes that the human race once possessed tails ; and he says, " the orang-outangs are proved to be of our species by marks of huma- nity that I think are incontestable." A poor compliment to our species ; as any one wiU think, who may take the trouble of pay- ing a morning visit to the orang-outang at Exeter Change. Misled by his strange and fanciful notions of the unnatural condition of man in society, Rousseau has even applied the * Among the few works, in which we meet with characteristic delineations of the human species deserving confidence, may be mentioned. Voyages de C. Le Jiinn parla Moscuvie, enFerse, el mix Indes Orientals, 2 t. fol. Cook's Voyage towards the South Pole, and round the ff^orld, 2 v. 4to. 1777. Cook's Voyage to the Pacijic Ocean; 3 v. 4to. 1785: with folio Atlas, Both these contain numerous excellent representations of the human subject. Peron Voyage aux Terres Australcs, tom. 1, has the best figures of human heads yet published. There are numerous heads in Denon Voy. dans la Haute et Basse Egypte, pi. 104 — 112 : and some in the unrivalled Description de TEgypte; Etat moderne. A few other references will be found in the course of this work. t "Do la Nature del'Homme." Hist. A'at.\,'2. This great naturalist and eloquent writer must be excepted from the remarks in the text. He treats largely of man in the 2d and cid volumes of the Histoire Naturelle Generale et Particuliere. t ri/wOi ffeavTov. 5 Discours sur VInegalite; Preface. II On the Origin and Progress of Language, v. 1 : aniX^Ancient Metaphysict, V. 3. 86 ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MAN. observations of travellers concerning animals to man ; and if we think fit to believe with him, that he knew better what they saw than they did themselves, we may arrive at his conclusion con- cerning the existence of wild men in an insulated and solitary state similar to that of wild beasts.* The completely unsupported assertions of Monboddo and Rousseau only show that they were equally unacquainted with the structure and fimctions of men and monkeys, not conversant with zoology and physiolog)', and therefore entirely destitute of the principles, on which alone a sound judgment can be formed concerning the natural capabilities and destiny of animals, as well as the laws according to which certain changes of character, certain departures from the original stock, may take place. Mankind in general, the unlearned and the unscientific, do not commit the gross mistake of confounding together man and animals : this distinction, at least, so clear and obvious to common observation and unprejudiced common sense, is preserved in their short division of the animal kingdom into man and brutes. Other writers, who expatiate with vast delight on what they call the regular gradation or chain of beings, and discover great wisdom of the Creator, and great beauty of the creation, in the circumstance, that nature makes no leaps, but has connected the various objects of the three kingdoms together like the steps of a staircase, or the links of a chain, represent man only as a more perfect kind of monkey ; and condemn the poor African to the degrading situation of a connecting link between the superior races of mankind and the orang-outang. Such is the view ex- hibited by Mr. White, in his Account of the regular Gradation in Man, and in different Animals and Vegetables, and from the former to the latter ;\ where he distinctly asserts that "the orang- * "Toutes ces observations siiv les varietes que mille causes peuvent pro- duire et ont produit en effet dans I'espece humaine, me font douter si divers animaux semblables aux hommes, pris par des voyageurs pour des betes sans beaucoup d'examen ou a cause de quelcjiies ditlerences qu'ils remarquoient dans la conformation exterieure, ou seulement parce que ces animaux ne parloient pas, ne seroient point en effet de veritahles hummes sauvages, dont la race disjiersf e anciennement dans les bois n'avoit eu occasion de develop- per aucune de ses facultes viituelles, n'avoit acquis aucun de-jre de perfection, et se trouvoit encore dans I'etat primitif de nature." JJb. cit. t Besides the subject of gi'adation from man to animals and vegetables, this work includes observations on tlie varieties of organization in manl^ind, vhich the author accounts for by the supposition of sjiecies originally distinct, although he has omitted to fix the number and define the characters of those species. I expect to show hereafter that this opinion is entirely ungrounded. Mr. White indulges frequently in a looseness of expression and reasoning, ■w hich renders his meaning very obscure. When he compares Ihe JlJ'rican to the Eurojiemi, the statement is not very precise : bat when he brings in the ■^sialic, as if all the human beings in that immense region were marked with one and the same character, the language conveys to us either no definite sense, or one completely wrong. ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OP MAN. 87 outang has the person, the manner, and the actions of man" (p. 35) ; and that the Negro " seems to approach nearer to the brute creation than any other of the human species" (p. 42). If, by regular gradation, nothing more is meant than the variety of organization and its progressive simphfication from man through- out the animal kingdom, the truth is incontestable, and too obvious to require a quarto for its illustration or support. (Jn the contrary, if it be designed to assert identity of species between ourselves and monkeys, the position is quite imtenable. At all events, both the statements quoted above are more or less incorrect. That the Negro is more like a monkey than the European, cannot be denied as a general observation. But why is the Negro always selected for this comparison ? The New Hollander, the Calmuck, the native American, are not superior to the African,*!, and are as much like monkeys. Why then is the Negro alone to be depressed to a level with the brute ? to fill up the break in Mr. White's chain between the European and the monkey ? I do not hesitate to assert that the notion of specific identity between the African and orang-outang (on which point Mr. White's language is not suflficiently clear to enable me to decide what he means) is as false philosophically, as the moral and political consequences, to which it would lead are shocking and detestable. The human species has numerous distinctive marks, by which, under every circumstance of deficient or imperfect civilization, and every variety of country and race, it is separated by a l)road and clearly defined interval from all other animals, even of those species, which from their general resemblance to us have been called anthropo-morphous. It is only of late years, and principally through the labours, the lectures, and the excellent writings of Blumenbach,* that the natural history of man has begun to receive its due share of attention ; and I have no hesitation in asserting, that, whether we regard the intrinsic importance of the questions that arise, and their relation to the aflSnities, migrations, and history of nations, or advert merely to the pleasure of the research, no subject will be found more woithy of minute investigation. The * He chose the varieties of manlvindfor the subject of his inaugural thesis; Goetting. 1775, 4to. ; and afterwards published it under the title De Generis humani Farictale naliva, 12mo. of which the third and last edition appeared in 1795. See also his Decades Oraniorum diversarum Gentium illustrates; I — 5; Goetting. 1790 — 1808; his Beytrage zur Naturgeschiclite ; 1'. u. 2. theil, Gott. 1790 and 1811; his Handbuc/i der Naturgeschiclite; ed. 9, 1814; and his Abbildungcn Nalur-histurischer Gegcnstiinde ; more particularly 1'. heft. 88 ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MAN. example of Buffon * and Blumenbach has been followed by some others; asZiMMERMANN,t Meiners,! Soemmering,§ LuDWiG, II in Germany,'^ Hunter** and KAiMESff in Scotland; Smith H in America; and Dr. Prichard§§ in this country, whose clear statements, convincing reasoning, and verj' extensive information, stamp the highest value on his interesting work, and distinguish it very advantageously from most other productions on the same subject. LiNNEUs places man in the order priraates oi the class mam- malia, and has given him for companions the monkeys, lemurs, and bats ; of which the latter, at least, must be not a little sur- prised at finding themselves in such a situation and company. The characters of his order are, " Front teeth incisors ; the supe- rior, four ; parallel. Two pectoral mammae." The principles must be incorrect, which lead to such an approximation. As the monkey race approach the nearest to man, in stracture and actions, and their forms are so much hke the human, as to have procured for them the epithet anthropo-morjjJious, we must compare them to man, in order to find out the specific characters of the latter ; and we must institute this comparison particularly with those called orang-outangs. I shall have frequent occasion, in this part of the subject, to mention the latter animal ; it is therefore necessary to explain clearly what creature I mean to designate by that name ; and the more so, as two distinct species, and sometimes perhaps more, have been confounded under that * See note, p. 122. t Geosraphische Geschichte der Menschen, und der allgemein terhreiteten tier- fiissisimThieren, 3 v. 8vo. Leipsic, 1778—1783. t Grundriss der Geschichte der Menschhcit ; Lemgo, 1793. A short but in- terestinp; work ; particularly valuable from the very extensive erudition of the author; and from a copious catalogue of books, accompanied with short no- tices of their character. Gotlingisches historisches Magazin, 11 v. His work entitled Verschiedenheit der Menschen-naturen, which Thave not seen, contains, I believe, the detached essays and treatises of the Historisches Magazin collected together and arranged. i 'Uier die kSrpcrliche Verschiedenheit des Negers vom Europaer, 8vo. Frank- fort, 1785. II Grundriss der J^'aturgeschichte der Menschen Species ; Leipsic, 1796. IT Some other books have been published in Germany, with which I am not acquainted; viz., J. R. Forster and Klugel Mbildungen merlacurdiger Fiilker und Tliiere; Halle, 1793, 8vo. G. Forster und Sprengel Beytras,e zur Volker xmd L'dnderkunde. ** Dissi inaug. de HomiJium yarietatihus ; Edinb. 1775; and in Webster's Collection. Tt Sketches of the History of Man; 2 v. 8vo. Edinburgh. t% Essay on the Causes of the Variety of Complexion and Figure in the Hu7nan Species; Philadelphia; reprinted London, 1789. }} Disp. inaug. de Hominum Varietatibus ; Edin. 1808: greatlj- enlai'ged, and translated into English under the title, Bcsearches on the Physical History of Man; 8vo. 1813. CHAKACTERS OF THE MONKEY TRIHE. 8D common appellation. This is tlie case even with Linn e us, BuFFON, and Erxleben; m whom the mistake is easily accounted for by the rareness of the animals, both of which are very seldom seen in Europe. Blumenbach has pointed out and rectified the error, both in his Manual of Natural History, and in his Delineations of Objects in Natural History. All the simife, and the lemurs likewise, are quadrmnanous ; that is, they possess opposalile members, or thumbs on the hind, as well as on the fore limbs ; they have perfect cla\'icles ; perfect pronation and supination of the fore-arm ; long and flexible fingers and toes : hence they have the power of imitating many human actions ; hence, too, they are excellent climbers. On the other hand, they cannot easily stand or walk upright, because the foot rests on its outer edge, the heel does not touch the ground, and the narrowness of the pelvis renders the trunk un- steady. Consequently, they are neither biped, nor strictly quadruped. They resemble man in the general form of the cranium, and in the configuration of the brain ; of which, how- ever, the cerebral hemisjjheres are greatly reduced. Yhe face is turned forwards ; the optic axes are parallel ; the orbits com- plete, and separate from the temporal fosse. The nose is flat (hence the name simia, from simus, flat-nosed), and has a single triangidar os nasi. Tn this QUADRUMANOus order there is a constantly increasing deAiation from the human structure, by increased elongation of the muzzle, and advances to the quadruped attitude and pro- gression. They have the same number and kinds of teeth as man ; and an alimentary canal very much like the human. Their pectoral mammae and loose jjenis are other approximations. In so large a family as the monkeys we shall expect to meet with considerable varieties of form, and to find that the human character is strongly expressed in some, while others exhibit successive degrees of approximation towards the neighbouring animals. The division of orangs, which is the most strongly anthropo- morjihous, and includes the two simise confounded together under the names of orang-outang, pongo, jocko, barris, &c. and two others called gibbons (S. Lar, or long-armed monkey ; S. Leucisca, or wouwou), is characterized by the slight prominence of the jaws, so that they have a large facial angle ; by the want of tail ; by possessing an os hyoides, liver, and coecum hke the human : the latter part as an appendix vermiformis as in man. They have very long arms. 90 CHARACTERS OF THE MONKEY TRIBE.. The simia satyrus * is the true animal so much celebrated under the name of the orang-outang. f It is principally, if not solely, found on the great island of Borneo, whence it has been sometimes brought to us through Java. It is about three feet in height ; as the specimens conveyed hither have been young, we may suppose that it would reach to between three and four feet when grown up ; but none have been seen in Europe ex- ceeding three feet. The body is covered with strong reddish brown hair. The front of the head has a very human character, the forehead being large and high, and the facial angle conse- quently considerable : indeed, no animal approaches to man so nearly as this, in the form of the head and volume of the brain. The face is bluish or lead-coloured : there are no cheek pouches nor collosities of the buttocks. Two large membranous bags cover the front of the neck under the skin, and open into the larynx between the os hyoides and thyroid cartilage : a structure which spoils him from speaking. The thumb of the hind hand has no nail.| It is a mild and gentle animal, with some actions similar to ours, and some appearances of human feeling. It soon becomes attached, and imitates very quickly whatever we do. A state of captivity, in climates and with diet unfriendly to its nature, is not well calculated to develop its feelings and powers, or to lead to a just estimate of its faculties and intelligence. The reports of travellers concerning its immense strength and ferocity, its stature represented as equal or superior to that of man, its carrying off women and so forth, do not accord either with the size or the dispositions of the creature as observed in the examples brought into Europe. They must probably be referred partly to exaggeration and partly to the circumstance of * BlumenbacVi Ablildungen n. h. Gegenstande ; No. 12; the cranium, No. 52. The animal his been figured by Vosmaer, from a livius specimen at the Hague, from which engraving that of felumenbach is copied -. by Camper (who has also given a detailed anatomical description of it), with his usual hdelity and accu- racy, from a dead specimen preserved in spirits ; CEuvres d' Uistoire Nat. &c. planche 1, fig. 1 : fig. 2, 3, 4, and 5, of the same plate, are representations of the entire and bony head ; and most excellently, in a coloured engraving, by Mr. Abel, who brought one with him from Batavia, now Hlive in Exeter Change, and has given a very interesting description of him in his Narrative of a Journey in the Interior of China. T The import of this Malay term is wild man, or man of the woods. Drang means, in fact, rational creature ; and is applied to man, to the monkey la question, and to the elephant. i The absence of the nail was ascertained by Camper in seven out of eight specimens : the eighth had a very small nail on the thumb of the ria;ht foot only. CEuvres, i. p. 53, et suiv. The animal is represented by Edwardi* Gleanings nf JVatural History, i. pi. 213, p. 6 and 7, with nails ; and it was so figured in the proof of an engraving submitted to the inspection of Camper by Allamand ; Jhldilions au t. xv. de Buflbn, p. 73, pi. 11. On examining the ani- mals from which both these figures were taken, it was found that they had no nails : and the same is the case with that of Mr. Abel. Such is the way in ■which nature is often improved by artists who do not understand natural history. Camper, de I' Orang-outang, ch. i. \. 4. SPECIFIC CHARACTERS OF MAN. 91 Other large simiae (particularly the pongo * of Borneo) having been confounded with the true orang-outang. The simia troglodytesf is a native of Angola and Congo, ^yhere it is called by the natives chimpanse. It resembles the former in size ; but differs from it in being covered with black hair ; in having a lower forehead, and large ears ; and nails on the thumbs of the hind hands. It is very susceptible of education, and quickly learns to imitate human actions. This is the animal, of which Tyson % has given an excellent anatomical description, accompanied with very good engravings. In both these simise, the hair of the upper and fore arm takes opposite directions ; that is, it slants in each part of the limb towards the elbow. A more minute and accurate account of the propensities, feel- ings, and intellectual phenomena of both these creatures, is a great desideratum in that important branch of comparative, physiology, which relates to the functions of the brain. The peculiar characteristics of man appear to me so very strong, that I not only deem him a distinct species, but also put him into a separate order by himself. His physical and moral attributes place him at a much greater distance from all other orders of mammalia, than those are from each other respectively. The zoological statement of his principal characters follows. § Okder, bimanum (two-handed) ; genus, homo ; the species single, with several varieties hereafter enumerated. Characters J erect stature; two hands; teeth approximated and of equal length : the inferior incisors perpendicular. Prominent chin ; rational ; endowed with speech ; unarmed ; defenceless. Tliese circumstances are so obvious and so abundantly suf- ficient to characterize man, that the doubts and hesitation of Linneus in assigning a specific distinction, appear to us rather * In a memoir read before the Academy of Sciences, but not jet published, Cuvier has endeavoured to prove that this tremendous creature is only the adult S. Satyrus. They are both confined to the island of Borneo ; and they agree in the great length of the arms, and the prominence and stren"-th of the spinous processes of the cervical vertebra?. The skulls of both are in the Hunterian collection ; and are strongly contrasted to each other in the rela- tive proportions of the cranium and face, as well as in some other points. If these are merely the differences between the young and the fuil-^rownani- mal, 1 know no other example of such a metamorphosis in the animal king- dom. For the skull of the orang-outang, see the plate of Blumenbach already quoted ; for that of the pongo, Fischer Naturhisiorische FraaiiuiUe, tab. 3 & 4. 1 must, however, acknowledge that the head of the individual at Exeter Change comes much nearer to that of the pongo than either the cranium figured by Blumenbach, or that in the Hunterian collection ; and the resem- blance seems to me to increase with the animal's growth. t A good engraving from a living original is found in Le Cat Trailedu Fluids des \erfs ; it is copied by Blumenbacli Abbild. A". H. G. No. 11. X The Anatomy oj'a Fig'my, compared with that of a Monkey, an Ape, and a Mart. \ Blumenbach. Cuvier. 92 ERECT ATTITUDE PECULIAR TO MAN. incomprehensible. " Nullum characterem," he observes, " hac- tenus eruere potui, unde homo a simia internoscatur."* And he again states, in the Si/stema Natur(e,f " Mirum adeo parum difierre stultissimam simiam a sapientissimo homine, ut iste geodcetes naturae etiamnum quserendns, qui hos limitet." If these representations were correct, zoology would not deserve the rank of a science. The remainder of this work w\\\ be divided into two sections : the first, on the (corporeal and mental) differences between man and animals, or, in other words, on the specific character of man, will contain a detailed explanation of the particulars composing that character, a commentary on the short zoological statement, which immediately precedes, and an attempt to settle the ques- tion, whether man be a distinct species, or have a common origin ^vith, and specific affinity to any other animals : the second will be devoted to the different races of mankind, will contain an enumeration and discussion of the characters by which they are distinguished, and a full consideration of the question, whether they ought to be regarded as originally distinct species, or as varieties of one single species. SECTION I. DISTIXCTIONS BETWEEN MAN AND ANIMALS; OR SPECIFIC CHARACTERS OF MAN. CHAPTER II. The erect attitude of Man, and cotisequent Peculiarities in the Structure of the lower Limbs, 'Thorax, Spine, and Pelvis. In the external conformation of man we immediately remark his upright stature ; that majestic attitude, which announces his superiority over all the other inhabitants of the globe. He is the only being adapted by his organization to go erect. En- slaved to their senses, and partaking merely of physical enjoy- ments, other animals have their heads directed towards the earth : " Quae natura prona, atque ventri obedientia finxit." Man, whose more elevated nature is connected to surrounding objects by moral relations, who can pursue the concatenations of causes and effects, and embrace in his mind the system of the universe, boldly regards the heavens, and can direct his ♦ Fauna Suecica, Pief. + Ed. 12, p. 34, note. ERECT ATTITUDE PECULIAR TO MAX. 93 sight even into the starry regions : — the contrast, so finely expressed by the poet, is therefore quite correct in fact ; Pronaque cum spectent auimalia cetera terram, Os honiini sublime dedit ; c;elumque tueri Jussit ; ot erectos ad sideia tuUere vultus. I propose to prove that the erect stature is suited to the orga- nization of the human subject ; and that it is exclusively peculieir to man. It might appear a sufficient proof of the upright attitude and biped progression being natural to our species, that such has been the invariable practice of all nations in all ages of the world ; — that no people, no tribe, nor even any individual in a healthy condition, has been known to do otherwise. Yet even this has been contested ; and, as philosophers have not been wanting to argue that we were naturally furnished with tails, but, by some strange change or chance, had got rid of the degrading appendage ; so others have held that we were designed by nature to go on all fours;* justifying the acute remark, " Nihil tam absurdum esse, quod non ab aliquo philosopho dictum fuit." The chief support of this notion concerning the human sub- ject being naturally quadruped, has been derived from the exam- ples of wild men j that is, children lost in woods and growing up in a solitary state. Even Linneus has kindly taken them under his protection, and has provided a respectable situation for them in his Systema Naturce, under the head of " homo sapiens yerM5," to whom he assigns the epithets tetrapus, mutus, hirsutus. What is this homo ferus of Linneus ? How are we to con- sider these wild men ? In different countries of Europe a few indi\'iduals — and very few indeed are authentically recorded — have been met with in a solitary state ; — young persons, wan- dering alone in the woods, or mountainous regions. To unso- phisticated common sense they appear poor, half-witted, stupid beings, incapable of speech, with faculties very imperfectly developed, and therefore probably escaping from or abandoned by their parents or friends. But their case has been eagerly taken up and warmly defended by some philosophers, who employ them to exemplify natural man, — the original uncor- rupted creature — in opposition to those who have become vitiated and degenerate by civihzation. When presented to us in so * Moscati, von der kb'rperlichen wesentlichen Unterschiede zwisrhen dnr St>-uctur der Menschen und der Thiere ; Gotting. 1771. 8vo. Schrage, a Dutchman, in a Dutch journal, entitled Gencesnatuur-en Uuh- houd-kundige Jaarboeken. T. 3. p. 32. 94i KRECT ATTITUDE PECULIAR TO MAN. important a character, and with such high pretensions, it is necessary to inquire a little into the proofs of their pedigree and claims. Peter the wild boy, who lived many years in this county, is one of the most authentic cases ; and his biography will answer the purpose very well.* In July 1724, Jurgen Meyer, a towns- man of Hameln, met in his field with a : aked, brownish, black- haired boy, apparently about twelve years old, who uttered no sound, was enticed, by showing him two apples, into the town, and placed, for safe custody, in an hospital, by order of the burgo-master Severin. Peter — thus he was christened by the children on his first appearance in the town, and he went by the same to his death — behaved rather brutish at first ; seeking to get out at doors and windows, resting now and then on his knees and elbows, and roUing himself from side to side till he fell asleep. He did not like bread, but he eagerly peeled green sticks, and chewed the peel for the juice, as he also did vegeta- bles, grass, and bean-shells. He soon learned to conduct himself more properly, and was allowed to go about the town When anything was offered him to eat, he first smelt it, and then put it in his mouth, or laid it aside shaking his head. In the same way he would smell people's hands, and then strike his breast if pleased, or otherwise shake his head. When he particularly liked anything, as beans, peas, mulberries, fruit, and particularly onions and nuts, he indicated his satisfaction by striking repeatedly on his chest. When shoes were first given to him, he could not walk in them, and appeared happy in getting rid of them, and running about again barefooted. Covering the head was equally unplea- sant to him ; and he enjoyed greatly throwing his hat or cap into the Weser, and seeing it swim down. But he soon became accustomed to clothing. His hearing and smell were acute. In October 1725, he was sent for by George I. to Hanover; whence he was transmitted to London in the beginning of the following year, under the care of a king's messenger; and this was the foundation of his fame and fortune. Just at this time the controversy about the existence of innate ideas v/as at its height ; and Peter seemed the very subject for determining the question. Count Zinzendorf wished that he should be intrusted to his charge, that he might watch the * The following account is derived from Blumenbacli's Beytrage ztir Na- turscschichte, 'i theil. He has taken i^reat pains to make out, from original and cotem^Jorary documents, the trueliistory of this homo sajneiis /eras. ERECT ATTITUDE PECULIAR TO MAX. 95 development of his innate ideas : but the King had already placed him at the disposal of the Princess of Wales, the after- wards celebrated Queen Caroline, who confided the precious trust to Dr. Arbuthnot, still for the purpose of investigating his innate ideas. Swift has immortalized him in his humorous production. It cannot ruin but it pours ; or, London strewed with Rarities. LiNXEUs gave him a niche in the Systema Natures, under the denomination of " Juvenis Hanoveranus ;" Buffon, De Paauw, and J.J. Rousseau, have extolled him as the true child of nature, the genuine unsophisticated man. Monboddo* is still more enthusiastic, declaring his appearance to be a much more important occurrence than the discovery of the planet Uranus, or than if astronomers, to the catalogue of stars already known, had added thirty thousand new ones. Amidst these expectations and honours, a few circumstances were either unknown or overlooked, calculated to raise great doubts of Peter's fitness for such high destinies, and to pro- duce an unpleasant suspicion that he had not entirely escaped the contaminating infiuence of civiUzed life. When he was first met with, a small fragment of a shirt hung about his neck ; and the whiteness of his thighs, comjjared to his brown legs, proved that he must have worn breeches, but not stockings. His tongue was very large, and Uttle capable of motion, so that an army surgeon at Hameln thought of attempt- ing to set it free by cutting the frenum ; but did not perform the operation. Further, some boatmen, in descending the Weser, had seen at different points on the banks of the river, a poor naked boy, and given him something to eat ; and, lastly, it was ascertained that a widower at Liichtringen had had a dumb child, who, having been lost in the woods in 1723, returned home again ; but, on his father's second marriage, was driven out again by his step-mother. Dr. Arbuthnot soon found out that no brilliant discoveries in psychology or anthropolog}' couldbe expected from the case of this poor idiot : he was therefore placed with a farmer in Hert- fordshire, where he continued to live or rather vegetate till 1785. Peter was of a middle size, somewhat robust in appearance, and strong, and had a respectable beard. He took the ordinary mixed diet, retaining his early fondness for onions. He liked • " I consider his history as a brief chronicle or abstract of the historj- of the progress of liuman nature, from the mere animal to the first stage of civil- ized life." — Ancient Meta^jhysics, v. iii. p. 57. 96 ERECT ATTITUDE PECULIAR TO MAN. warmth ; and relished a glass of brandy. He always showed the most perfect indiiference to the other sex. He could not be taught to sjjeak : the plainest of the few arti- culate sounds he could utter were, Peter, ki sho, and qui ca, the two latter being attempts at pronouncing King George and Queen Caroline. He had a taste for music, and would hum over ■<^arious airs that he often heard ; when an instrumental performance took place, he would jump about with great delight till he was quite tired. He was deficient in one important privi- lege of our nature ; having never been seen to laugh. He was a harmless and obedient creature, and could be employed in httle domestic oflSces, or in the fields, but not without superintendence. Having been left to himself to throw up a load of dung into a cart, as soon as he had executed the task, he jumped up and set to work as dihgently to throw it al out again. Having, on one occasion, wandered away from home as far as Norfolk, at the time when great alarms existed about the Pretender and his emissaries, he was brought before ajustice of peace as a suspicious character, and making no answer to any interrogatories, was deemed contumacious, and sent to prison. A fire broke out in the night, when he was found sitting quietly in a corner, enjoying the light and warmth very much, and not at all willing to move. Such was this famous representative of unsophisticated human nature ! Although Peter was little capable of fiUing that high situa- tion, his history affords a striking and useful caution, by exhibiting the uncertainty of human testimony and historical evidence. No two accounts agree in the year, season, and place of his discovery ; and later printed histories contain serious nar- ratives of George I. having found him in hunting at Herren- hausen, or in the Harz ; that it was necessary to cut down the tree, in the top of which he had taken refuge ; that his body was covered with hair, and that he ran on all fours ; that he jumped about trees like a squirrel, knew how to get the bait out of traps placed for wolves ; that he was carried over to England in an iron cage, learned to speak in nine months at the court of the Uueen, was baptized at the house of Dr. Arbuthnot, and soon after died, &c. &c. Peter was as upright in his attitude, and as invariably biped, as any of ourselves ; and the same remark holds good of all the other authentic examples; as of the girl described by Con da- EKECT ATTITUDE PECULIAR TO MAN. 97 MINE,* a man found in the Pyrenees,f and the boyj met with near Aveyron, and brought to Paris soon after the revolution. On the other hand, where they have been described as going on all fours, suspicious circumstances occur in the narration, calcu- lated to throw discredit on the whole. Such is the case with LiNNEUs's juvenis ovinus Hibernus, taken from Tulpius, Observat. Medicar. lib. iv. cap. 9. He is said to have been brouglit up " inter oves sylvestres," and thence to have acquired " natura ovilla ;" he is described further as " ferox ac indomitus, \Tiltu truci," &c. An unprejudiced examination of all these cases, putting aside what is obviously exaggerated or fabulous, proves that they are merely instances of defective organization; mal-formed animals, incapable of speech, and exhibiting few and imperfect mental phenomena ; pathological specimens, therefore, rather than examples of human perfection. Nothing can be conceived more widely removed from the natural condition of man, than these half-witted beings ; and we might as rationally adopt any monstrous birth for a model of the human form, as set them up for a standard of the attitude, progression, or faculties of man. But, if these beings had been free from defect, if they had been well-formed, and capable of all human endowments, shoidd we deem them more natural for having been solitary ? should we not, on the contrary, be justified in regarding that insulated condition as a deviation from the scheme of nature, comparing it with Voltaire to the state of a bee, which has lost the hive ?§ Is the social rook or antelope more artificial or degenerate than the solitary eagle or lion ? If the erect attitude and biped progression be peculiar to man, the structure of the lower limbs which support his trunk, and of their muscles, which move it, must exhibit characters of form, size, and arrangement, which are met with in no other animals. The influence of this peculiarity will not be confined to the lower limbs ; it will also modify the pelvis, which is the basis of the trunk, receiving above the weight of the abdominal viscera, the thorax, upper limbs, and head, transmitting this weight to the lower limbs, and oflfering fixed points for their motions ; the upper limbs, which are not employed for support, but merely as • Histoire d'unejeunc Fille Sauragn, 12mo. Paris, 1761. 1- Leroy Exploitation de la Nature dans les Pyrenees ; 4to. 1776, p. 8. t Historical Account of the young Savage of Aveyron, 12mo. \ " Si Ton rencontre une abeiile errante, devra-t-on conciure qi:e oetto abeille est dans I'etat de pui'e nature, et que celles qui travaillent en soti^te dans la ruche ont dea<5n6r6 ?" F 98 ERECT ATTITUDE PECULIAR TO MAN. instruments of prehension ; the thorax, by which they are sepa- rated, and on which they rest; and the junction of the head M ith the vertebral column, on which the due support of this weighty mass, and the proper direction of the eyes, mouth, and face depend. The length and strength of the lower limbs, the great instru- ments of support and progression, are very striking, and quite peculiar to man. They are equal in length to the trunk and head together, which is not the case in any other animal, except- ing the kangaroo, jerboa, &c. where the principles of construction and the offices of these parts are quite different from the human. In all the monkey tribe, they fall very far short of this pro- portion ; even in the orang-outang and chimpanse they are short and weak, and manifestly inadequate to sustain the body erect. This circumstance alone effectually disqualifies the most manlike monkey from participating with man in that grand attribute ; and would of itself be a sufficient ground for specific distinction between the two beings. If the lower limbs of monkeys are weak, in comparison with the human, those of other animals, and particularly of true quadrupeds, are much more so : the short thigh-bone is almost concealed by the muscles of the body, and the rest of the limb is slender, and not covered by any great muscular masses. The disproportion in the respective lengths of our upper and lower limbs, clearly pomts out the different offices they are destined to execute. The superior length and power of the latter, so necessary for the various purposes connected with our erect attitude, make us altogether unfit for going on all fours, as will be immediately shown by a trial. In such an experiment, either the lower limbs must be thrown obliquely backwards, or the articulations held in a bent and very insecure position. Even children, before they can walk, in whom the lower limbs are comparatively shorter than in adults, crawl upon their knees, or else drag the lower extremities after them on the ground. To the long and powerful femur, to the strong tibia, to the broad articular surfaces which join these at the knee, no parallel can be met with in any animal. The breadth of the human pehds affords an ample basis of support for the trunk; and this receives a still further transverse enlargement by the length of the cervix femoris, another pecu- liarity of human organization. This long neck throws the body of the bone outwards, disengages its shaft from the hip-joint, ERECT ATTITUDE PECULIAR TO MAN. 99 and thus increases the extent of rotation. It gives the body- greater firmness in standing, without impeding progression, since the head of the bone, and not the body, is the centre of motion. If the thigh-bones possessed no neck, but were kept equally far aoart by increasing the distance between the cotyloid ca\-ities, the attitude of standing would be just as secure, the transverse base of support being still the same ; but progression would be impeded, as it actually is in the female, from the greater transverse diameter of the pelvis. Another character of the human femur, is the obliquity of its shaft, and superior length of the internal condyle, arising from the breadth of the pelvis, and length of the cervix, combined with the necessity for bringing its lower end perpendicularly under the pelvis, in reference to the secure support of the trunk The hue of direction of the human femur is perpendicular, the same as that of the trunk : its axis coincides with the centre of gravity of the body ; it is placed perpendicularly under the pelvis, and thus supports the trunk steadily. In all other animals it forms an angle \\'ith the spine ; and this is often even an acute one. It is obvious that the erect attitude must be extremely unsteady, and the difficulty of maintaining the body in equilibrjo very great in such an arrangement. When the vertebral column is raised perpendicularly in the orang-outang, the thigh-bones form an obtuse angle with it : the long arms preserve the balance, as they do hkewise in the gibbon (S. Lar.) The angle is in- creased in quadrupeds imder similar circumstances, and the efforts they make to remain upright on the hind feet are con- tinued with difficidty, more especially if not assisted by some other advantages of construction, as in the bear, for instance, by the length of the heel. The feet being the idtimate supports of the whole frame, and the primary agents of locomotion, are characterized by a com- bination of greater breadth, strength, and solidity, in proportion to the size of the body, than those of any animal. The whole surface of the tarsus, metatarsus, and toes, rests on the ground, and the os calcis forms a right angle with, the leg. The two last circumstances are seen in no other animal : even the simiae and the bear have the end of the os calcis raised, so that this bone begins to form an acute angle with the leg ; the dog, the cat, and other digitated quadrupeds, even the elephant himself, do not rest on the tarsus or carpus, but merely on the toes ; the cloVen-hoofed ruminants (bisulca) and the solipeda, touch the F 2 100 . ERECT ATTITUDE PECULIAR TO MAN. ground merely with the extremities of the third phalanges, and the OS caleis is raised nearly into a perpendicular position. Thus, as we depart from man, the foot is more and more contracted and elongated, the part serving for support reduced, and th(» angle of the heel-bone rendered more acute. The great size of the os caleis, and particularly the bulk and prominence of its posterior projection, to which the powerful muscles of the calf are affixed, correspond to its important office of supporting the back of the foot, and resisting force apjilied to the front of the body. This single bone is, therefore, an infallible characteristic of man ; and " Ex calce hominem." would probably be a safer rule than " Ex pede Herculem." The concavity of the sole is an arrangement rendered necessary by the whole surface resting flat on the ground. It provides room for the muscles, nerves, vessels, and tendons of the toes. It also assists the functions of the foot, by enabhng it to gain a kind of hold of the bodies on which it rests, and to accommodate itself to unequal surfaces, an advantage almost destroyed by the use of shoes, but eminently conspicuous in those people, whose feet are not cramped by artificial means of defence. The gradually increased breadth of the foot towards the front, the predominance of its solid and nearly immovable parts, the tarsus, and metatarsus, over the more flexible toes, the direction of the metatarsal bone supporting the great toe, its situation and want of mobility, are circumstances of strong contrast with the structure of the hand, plainly pointing out the former as orga- nised for strength and resistance, and adapted to increase the extent and solidity of its svipport. A further argument to the same effect may be drawn from the comparative progress of ossification in the two members. The bones of the tarsus, and particularly the os caleis, ossify at an earlier period, and advance more rapidly in their development, than those of the carpus : very little strength of hand is required in the first years of life, while the feet, at the end of twelve months, begin to be employed in sustaining the body, and advancing it by progressive motion. The lower limbs can be separated more widely in man, than I'n any animal, in consequence of the great breadth of the pelvis, and length of the cervix femoris. Thus we are enabled to derive the full advantage from those admirable instruments of support, the feet : an advantage, which may be estimated by observing the varied motions, the rapid changes and multiiilied combina- ERECT ATTITUDE PECULIAR TO MAN. 101 lions of movement, according to the probable direction of the expected impulse, in boxing, wrestling, and other similar feats of activity, in pushing, pulling, &c. &c. In all the particulars just described, we see a strong contrast between man, and the nearest or most anthropomorphous animals, even the monkey and orang-oUtang. In the latter, the cervix femoris is short, the thigh-bone straight, and its two con- dyles of equal length.* The foot rests on its outer edge, the lieel not touching the ground ; the tarsus is contracted, and the digital phalanges lengthened, so that in these respects it resembles a hand, f The peculiarities of the human pehas coincide with those of the lower limbs. The form of this part is very characteristic in man, and distinguishes him from the simiae, and indeed from all other mammalia. It might be asserted, that the human skeleton alone has a proper pelvis ; that is, such an incurvation of the sacrum and coccyx, and such an union of them with the ossa innominata, as forms a basin-\\ke cavity ; from which, the space included between the elongated ilia, and the straight sacrum and coccyx of monkeys, difler toto cselo. In the orang- outang, and the elephant, we find the nearest approach to the human formation. In the former,^ however, the upper part of the' ilium is narrow and elongated, stretching upwards in the direction of the spine, and its length exceeds its breadth ; so that the relations of these two dimensions are very different in man and this animal. § In the latter, the symphysis pubis is very deep ; and in both, there is neither that incurvation of the sacrum, from the promontory downwards, nor that direction of the coccyx forwards, which, with the broad horizontal expan- sion of the ilia, and the shallowness of the symphysis pubis, are peculiar to the human frame, and make it a broad and firm basis for the trunk, on which the weight of the abdominal contents, and particularly of the pregnant uterus, is supported, llie lower part of the sacrum and the os coccygis are turned forwards in man, and form the only firm bony resistance, in the inferior aperture of the pelvis, to the abdominal viscera, forced down- wards by the diaphragm and abdominal muscles. These bones • Tyson, fig. 5. t CEuvres de Camper, pi. II. fii?. 5 Jfe 6. Tyson, fg. cit. t Camper, CEuvres, pi. II. fig. 7. Tyson, fig 5. ? The height of the whole pelvis, from the tuber ischii to the crista of the ilium is . 7 in. 3 li. in man. 6 In. in the orang-outang. Its breadth, between the two anterior > 10 in. 6 li. in man. spines i U in. 6 li. ia the orang-outang. 102 ERECT ATTITUDE PECULIAR TO MAN. are straight in all other animals, because the weight of the viscera is ditFerently supported. Even in the orang-outang, the sacrum is Hat and contracted, and continued, together with the OS coccygis, in a straight line with the vertebral column. If the human sacrum and coccyx had been continued in a straight line with the spine, as those of the orang-outang and monkeys are, the mnominata remaining as at present, they would have projected beyond those bones, so as to disable us from sitting. The curve which they describe, in man only, obviates this incon- venience ; and allows the pelvis to rest securely in the sitting attitude on the broad and strong ischiatic tuberosities. The influence of this structure on the direction and functions of the vagina will be considered afterwards. The distribution, size, and offices of the muscular masses correspond to the organic arrangements of the skeleton. The lateral and posterior surfaces of the pelvis give origin to the po%verful glutei, of which the exterior (glutei magni), exceeding in size all other muscles in the body, and covered by a remark- able stratum of fat, form the buttocks, which, by their ample, fleshy, and convex protuberances, conceal the anus ; and are accounted both by the classical authors in natural history, as Aristotle and Buffon, and by the greatest physiologists, as Galen and Haller, as the chief character by which mart is distinguished from the buttockless simiae. " Les fesses," says the great historian of nature, " n'appartiennent qu'a I'espece humaine." The final cause of this prerogative has been assigned by an anatomist. " Solus homo ex omnibus animalibus com- mode sedet, cui carnosse et magnae nates contigere, et pro sub- sternaculo pulvinarique, tomento repleto, inserviimt, ut citra molestiam sedendo, cogitationibus rerum divinarum animum rectius applicare possit."* The use of the glutei, however, is not confined solely to what the pious Spigelius has imagined ; viz., the forming a cushion on which the body may be softly supported, for the purposes of divine cogitation ; but they are very important agents in ex- tending the pelvis on the thighs, and maintaining it in that state in the erect position of the trunk. In standing on both feet, the glutei magni fix the pelvis firmly behind, and coun- teract the natural tendency to fall forwards, which the weight of the head, the usual position of the upper limbs in front of the body, and the prominence of the abdominal viscera, impress • Spigelius de hum. Corp. Fab. p. 9, ERECT ATTITUDE PECULIAR TO MAN. 103 upon the trunk. Hence, the bulk and power of these very muscles in the human subject afford a clear proof that man was designed for the attitude on two feet. The other two glutei are not essentially concerned in the attitude of standing on both feet ; but they are the principal agents in supporting and balancing the trunk on one foot, by inclining the pelvis over the head of that thigh-bone, on which the body rests, so that the centre of gravity of the trunk may be in a line drawn through that lower extremity. In this case, their exertion counteracts the tendency of the trunk to fall on that side which is not sup- ported. These muscles are employed in a similar manner in progression : the gluteus magnus balances the pelvis, while one leg is carried before the other, and brought to the ground ; and the two others support the trunk laterally, while the limb of the opposite side is in the air. The gluteus magnus, which is the largest muscle of the human body, is so small and insignificant in animals, that it may be almost said not to exist. F. Cuvier observes of the orang-outang, " les fesses etoient presque nulles, ainsi que las moUets."* Tyson indeed asserts, of the chimpanse, that " our pygmie had buttock or nates, as we shall see in the myology, but not so much as in man."f However, in his apparently accurate figure X there is no trace of them. The extensors of the knee are much stronger in the human subject than in other mammalia ; as their two-fold opera- tion of extending the leg on the thigh, and of bringing the thigh forwards on the leg, forms a very essential part in the human mode of progression. The flexors of the knee are, on the contrary, stronger in animals ; and are inserted so much lower down in the ii])ia, even in the monkeys, than in the human subject, that the cord which they form, keeps the knee habitually bent, and almost prevents the perfect extension of the leg on the thigh. Where the thigh and leg thus form an angle, instead of being continued in a straight line, the support of the body on the hind legs must be very insecure. The extensor muscles of the ankle-joint, and chiefly those which form the calf of the leg, are the principal agents in pro- gression. Hence man is particularly characterized by the large- ness of his calves ; and no animal equals him in this respect. • Annales du Museum, v. 16. p. 47. The correctness of this remark is fully verified hy the orang-outang belonging to Mr. Abel. It has neither buttocks nor calves. T Anatomy of a Pygmie, ^.\i, J F. 2. lOi ERECT ATTITUDE PECULIAR TO MAN. By elevating the os calcis, they raise the whole body in the act of progression ; and, by extending the leg on the foot, they counteract that tendency, which the weight of tlie body has to bend the leg in standing. The muscles of the calves lift the heels, and thereby elevate the whole body, which is supported on the astragalus : the weight is thus maintained on the anterior part of the feet, and the individual is said to stand on tiptoes. If the foot of one side be lifted from the ground, and the opposite heel be raised by the calf of its own side, the whole body is then elevated by the muscles of one calf. When a person stands on tiptoe with a burden on the shoulders, or any other part of the trunk, the weight of this, as well as of the body, must be raised and supported by the muscles of the calf. In running, leaping, jumping in the air, dancing, &c., the projection of the body is accomplished by the same power. Aristoi.e, and others after him, have justly observed that calves of the legs can be ascribed to man only. The whole arrangement of the thorax corresponds to the erect attitude of man. It is flattened anteriorly, possesses a very broad sternum, is wide transversely, but shallow from before backwards. Its lateral width and inconsiderable depth from sternum to spine, not only throw the arms far apart, and thus give a more extensive range to their motions, but diminish that preponderance of the trunk towards the front, which, although it is unimportant in the horizontal, is very inconvenient in the erect attitude. Man is said to be the only animal, in which the transverse exceeds the antero-posterior diameter of the chest. Even in the simia satyrus the latter exceeds the former measure- ment.* The human sternum is short, as well as broad ; hence a large space is left between the front of the chest and the ])elvis, unpro- vided wth bony supports ; the weight of the viscera, which are sufficiently guarded by the abdominal muscles, is securely sus- tained below by the ample pelvis. Quadrupeds have a thorax compressed laterally, narrow and keelshaped on its sternal aspect, consequently deep from sternum to spine, but confined in the transverse dimension. This structure, with the absence of clavicles, allows the front legs to come near together, to fall perpendicularly under the front of the trunk, and support it with firmness and facihty. Their sternum is long and narrow, the ribs advance nearer to the * Camper, (Euvres, i. p. 115. ERECT ATTITUDE PECULIAR TO MAN. 105 crista of the os innominatum, and together with the stermim cover a large share of the abdomen, and support its viscera more effectually in the horizontcd position of the trunk. For the same purpose too, the ribs in many cases are more numerous than in man ; viz., thirty-two in the hyena, thirty-six in the horse, forty in the elephant, and forty-six in the unau (Brady- pus didactylus.) These, with other points, which cannot escape obsen^ation, when the skeleton of any rather long-legged quadruped is com- pared to that of man, show how unfit he is for the attitude on all fours, which in his case can never be otherwise than unsteady, irksome, and fatiguing in the highest degree. The spine of man presents some important peculiarities resulting from his characteristic attitude. One of these is its' very remarkable increase of size in the lumbar region ; an augmentation corresponding to that of the superincumbent weight, and to the magnitude of the efforts which this part has to sustain. The immense bulk of the sacrum,* far exceeding, in proportion to the rest of the body, that of any animal, is referable to the same cause, to the mode in which this weight is transmitted to the hip-bones, and thence to the lower limbs, and to the peculiar construction of the pelvis. The waving line -f of the column, arising from a series of alternate curves in opposite directions, is altogether peculiar to man ; it allows a proper distribution of tiie weight with respect to the centre of gravity, the line of which carried through the entire trunk must fall within the space covered by the feet, or by one foot when we support the body on one only. As this line passes through all the curves, motion is allowed in the upper regions without impairing the general equilibrium. The cervical vertebrae of the monkeys, including the satyrus^ and troglodytes,§ are remarkable for the length and prominence * In the chimpanse, says Tyson, "the os sacrum was nothing so dilated and spread, as 'tis in man ; but contracted and narrow, as 'tis in apes ; and very remarkably ditierent from the human skeleton." P. 69. t This is excellently represented in Albinus's plates of the skeleton ; par- ticularly in the side view, tab. iii. I refer to the original Leydeu edition of this incomparable work ; which, when the plates of the bones are added, con- stitutes the must accurate, useful, and splendid publication ever produced in aaatomy. Its merits cannot be estimated from the English editions. } " Les vertebres cervicales sont remarquables par la longueur extraordinaire des apophyses epineuses des six infdrieures ; mais surtout par celle du milieu." " Les apophyses paroissent avoir besoin de cette longueur dans I'orang, pour qu'il puisse tenir mieux sa teteen equilibre. Je ne counois aucun autre animal (lont les apophyses epineuses des verlebres oe)"vicales soient aussi longues, except6 le philandre d'Am^rique." Camper, CEuvres, i. l:iG. pi. 2. fig. 3. 5 tyson, p. 68. F 3 106 UPPER EXTREMITIES AND HANDS OF MAN. of the spinous processes ; a peculiarity probably connected with the support of the head, which preponderates in front in conse- quence of the elongation of the jaws and the retreat of the occi- pital condyles backwards.* I have explained how the lower extremities afford a sufficient base of support and solid columns to sustain the trunk, and how the same point is secured by the organic arrangements of the latter. The breadth of the human pelvis forms an ample basis for the body, and a firm point of action for the abdominal and other muscles, enabling them quickly to rectify the position of the parts above. In aU the digitated animals, the pelvis is so narrow, that the trunk resembles an inverted pyramid : there would be great difficulty in maintaining it in equilibrio, even if it were possible for the animal to assume the erect position. In those instances, where the pelvis is broader, as in the hoofed animals, the other conditions of the upright stature are absent. The bear, however, forms an exception to these observations, and may be taught to stand and walk erect, although the posture is manifestly irksome to the animal. When quadrupeds endeavour to support themselves on the hind extremities, as for the purpose of seizing any objects with the fore-feet, they rather sit down than assume the erect position ; for they rest on the thighs, as well as on the feet, and this can only be done, where the fore- part of the body is small, as in the simiae, squirrel, &c. In other cases the animal is obliged to support itself by the fore-feet also, as in the dog, cat, &c. CHAPTER III. On the upper Ettremiiies : Mvantageous Construction of the Human Hand : Man is two-handed, the Monkey kind four-handed: on the natural attitude and Gait of Monkeys. A CURSORY survey of the upper limbs will be sufficient to convince us that they are entirely unsuited to the office of sup- porting the body, and as well calculated for the uses to which we put them, of seizing and holding objects, and thereby executing, besides all the processes of the arts, a thousand minute but most serviceable actions of constant recurrence. There is a general resemblance of form throughout the upper and lower extremities : their principal divisions, the number and • This n;reat dt'veloimient of the cervical spines is most remarkable in the pongo, where the enormous bulk of the jaws corresponds to it. SeeAudebert, Uist A'at. des Singes ei Makis, fol. Planclie Anatomique 2, fig. 5. UPPER EXTREMITIES AND HANDS OF MAN. 107 form of the bones, and the construction of the articulations in each division, correspond very clearly; the essential varieties may all be referred to the principles of soUdity and resistance in the lower, of mobility in the upper, as leading purposes of the formation. A comparison of the arm, fore-arm, and hand, to the thigh, leg, and foot ; of the os innominatum to the scapula ; of the hip, knee, and ankle, to the shoulder, elbow, and wrist ; of the carpus, metacarpus, and fingers, to the tarsus, metatarsus, and toes ; will at once prove and illustrate this difference. The scapulae, placed at the posterior and lateral aspects of the trunk, are kept wide apart by the clav^cles : a line falling per- pendicularly from the shoulder, in the erect attitude of the body, would pass far behind the hip : thus the upper limbs are thrown outwards and backwards, and have a free range in their principal motions, which are in the anterior direction. The glenoid cavi- ties look outwards. The arms are widely separated above, and they diverge towards their opposite ends : the lower limbs, on the contrary, converge from above downwards. In true quad- rupeds, the clavicles are suppressed ; * the shoulder-blades brought forwards on the chest, and approximated to each other ; and the glenoid cavities are directed downwards. Consequently, the anterior or pectoral members fall perpendicularly under the front of the chest, and come still nearer together below than above. The deep cup of the os innominatum, and the powerful orbi- cular hgament of the hip, are strongly contrasted with the shallow glenoid cavity and weak capsule of the shovdder : the difference between the broad articular surfaces and very powerful hga- ments of the knee, and the strong joint of the ankle on one side, and the articulations of the elbow and WTist on the other, is equally striking. The leg and fore-arm resemble each other less than the thigh and arm ; in the fore-arm the parts are arranged favourably to mobihty ; in the leg, the object is to procure a firm and solid * It is stated, in the Physiological Lectures, p. 123, that " no animal, except the monkey, has a c-lavicle Uke that of man." Certainly none, without ex- cepting even the monkey, have either clavicles, or any other bones, exactly resemljling the human in all points ; but many, even of the mure common kinds, have clavicles equal to those of man in relative size and length, as well as in office. As the use of this bone is to maintain the shoulder at its proper distance from the front of the trunk, and to prevent the scapula in particular from coming forwards on the chest, it exists in all cases, where the pectoral members are employed, either principally, or in great part, in executing pur- poses foreign to support, such as holding objects, climbing, flying, digging, raking the ground. It will be sufficient to mention that the lemurs and bats, the squirrel, beaver, rat, porcupine, mole, ant-eater, hedgehog, shrew, and sloth, possess perfect clavicles. 108 UPPER EXTREMITIES AND HANDS OP MAN. support, which can transport the centre of gravity with ease and safety from one point to another. Of the two bones of the fore- arm, which are nearly equal in every respect, one rolls easily over the other, and the hand is articulated with the moveable bone. In the lower extremity these rolling motions would have introduced dangerous unsteadiness and insecurity. The foot therefore is articulated with the tibia, which corresponds to the ulna; and the fibula possesses no perceptible power of motion. The principal differences in the hand -and foot occur in the relation which the carpus and metacarpus, the tarsus and meta- tarsus — the solid or resisting portions — bear respectfully to the phalanges of the fingers and toes, the flexible portions of the members. The solid part of the hand is less developed, and has far less volume than the analogous part of the foot, on which the whole weight of the body in standing finally rests : the phalanges, on the contrary, which are the principal agents in executing the functions of the hand, are much longer and stronger than those of the toes, which are not so essential to station or progression. The three phalanges of the middle finger equal in length the length of the carpus and metacarpus toge- ther ; while the respective proportions of the tarsus and meta- tarsus and toes are about f and ^. The parts of the foot and hand are disposed inversely in respect to their importance. The posterior portion of the former, and the anterior of the latter, are of the most consequence, and possess the most remarkable characters. The functions of the hand render it necessary that its plane should be nearly continuous with that of the fore-arm ; otherwise the radius could not guide it so precisely to the objects in view. In the foot, the articulation is so disposed, that its posterior part offers a powerful lever for muscular agents, and a solid support for the mass above : it is formed by a single bone of the foot, which adds to its solidity. The metacarpus and metatarsus have a much greater similarity to each other ; the latter is the more solid, and offers this principal difference. The metatarsal bone of the great toe, by far the strongest of the whole, has scarcely any motion on the tarsus, and is parallel to the others ; while the corresponding boue of the thumb has a very considerable extent of motion, and is anterior to the rest of the metacarpus, supposing the palm to be turned directly for- wards. These remarkable differences are easily understood, when we consider that the great toe as one of the points on which the body is supported, requires solidity ; while the thumb. UPPER EXTREMITIES AND HANDS OF MAN. 109 being concerned in all the numerous and varied motions of tlie hand, must he organized for mobility. The human hands being terminated by long and flexible, members, of which only a small portion is covered by the flat nails, while the rest is furnished with a highly organized and very sensible integument, form admirable organs of touch and instruments of prehension. The animal kingdom exhibits no corresponding part so advantageously constructed in these respects. At the same time, the lateral attachment of the arms to the trunk, and the erect attitude, gives us the freest use of these admirable instruments. So greatly does man excel animals in the conformation of the hands, that Anaxagoras asserted what Helvetius has again brought forwards in our times, " that man is the %visest of animals, because he possesses hands." In such a view we can by no means coincide ; yet Aristotle is well justified in observing that man alone possesses hands really deser\'ing that name. Several mammalia have also hands, but much less complete, and less serviceable than that of the human subject, which, in comparison to them, was justly enough termed by the Stagyrite the organ of aU organs. The great superiority of the human hand arises from the size and sti"ength of the thumb, which can be brought into a state of opposition to the fingers, and is hence of the greatest use in enabling us to grasp spherical bodies, and take up any object in the hand, in giving a firm hold on whatever we seize, in executing all the mechanical processes of the arts, in writing, drawing, cutting, in short, in a thousand offices, which occur every moment of our lives, and which either could not be accomplished at all, if the thumb were absent, or would require the concurrence of both hands, instead of being done by one only. Hence it has been justly described by Albinus as a second hand, " manus parva majori adjutrix."* All the simioe possess hands ; but the most distinguishing part, the thumb, is slender, short, and weak, ev^en in the most anthropo-morphous : f regarded as an imitation of the human structure, it would almost justify the term applied to it by EusTACHius, ridiculous. The other fingers are elongated and slender. X * De Sceleto, p. 465. + The thumb of the orang-outang and chimpanse, besides being much smaller than the fingers, reaches only to the metacarpo-digital joint. Camper, (Euvres, pi. 2, fig. 5. F. Cuvier in the Annales du Museum, 1. 16, p. 4. Tyson, p. 12, fig. 5. i Simla; in general have nine bones in the carpus; and Camper found the 110 MONKEYS ARE QUADRUM ANGUS. Some animals, which have fingers sufficiently long and move- aLle for seizing and grasping objects, are obliged, by the want of a separate thumb, to hold them by means of the two fore- paws ; as the squirrel, rat, opossum, &c. Those which are moreover obliged to rest their fore-feet on the ground, as the dog and cat, can only hold objects by fixing them between the paw and the ground. Lastly, such as have the fingers united by integuments, or inclosed in hoofs, loose all power of prehension. The comparison, which I have already drawn between the construction of the hand and foot, having shown that the latter is merely calculated for support in man, we may state that he is two-handed and two-footed, or bimanous and biped. Monkeys, apes, and other anthropo-morphous animals can, in fact, be called neither bipeds nor quadrujjeds ; but they are quadrumanous, or four-handed.* They have opposable thumbs on the lower, as well as upper extremities ; and thus their feet are instruments of prehension as well as their hands. By a thumb we mean a member, not placed in a direction parallel to the fingers, but standing off from them laterally, enjoying separate motion, and therefore capable of being brought into opposition to them, as in grasping or prehension. A great toe, in its direction, articulation, and extent of motion, corres- ponds entirely to the other toes ; whereas the joints and mus- cles must be altogether different in a thumb. It is hardly necessary to point out how unfit the human feet are for all purposes of prehension : but the hind limbs of the simise really deserve the name of hands more than the front ; and are more advantageously constructed for holding. This hind thumb is so characteristic, that it is found in certain simise, which have either no fore-thumb or only a rudiment of it.f We may now answer the question, whether the orang-outang and other simise go erect, or on all fom-s : they do neither, but live chiefly in trees, for which they are admirably adapted l)y ninth bone in the orang-outang ; it was a sesamoid bone in the tendon of the abductor longus pollicis. OEuvres, 143. He found in the same animal a large sesamoid bone in the tendon of the popliteus ; ibid. 133. * Aristotle observed that the feet of monkeys resemble hands ; and Tyson, in describing the foot of the chimpans^ (S. troglodytes), says, " But this part, in the formation and its function too, being tiller a hand than a foot, for the distinguishing this sort of animals from others, I have thoufjht, whether it might not be recltoned and called rather quadrumanus than quadriipes ; i. e. a four-/iandnl, than a. four-footed atnmal," p. 13. t Mr. Geoffioy has placed together the simise thus circumstanced in a new genus, which he calls ateles (imperfect). Annale du Museum, t. 7 et 18. In the chamek ^ateles pentadactylus) there is a single phalanx, without a nail, and very slij^htly prominent. The coaita (S, pamscus L. Affiles paniscus Geofif.) has absolutely no visible thumb. NATURAL ATTITUDE AND GAIT OF MONKEYS. Ill having prehensile members, instruments for grasping and hold- ing, on both upper and lower extremities. Hence Cuvier calls them " les grimpeurs par excellence."* They live in trees, and find their food in them ; they can hang by one fore or hind leg, employing the remaining members in gathering fruit, or in other offices. Those which have less perfect hands, are furnished with prehensile tails, by which they can be more securely sup- ported in trees. It is hardly necessary to add, that when we see monkeys walk- ing erect, it must be ascribed to instruction and discipUne. The delineations of the orang-outang and chimpanse taken from the life, show how unnatural and inconvenient the erect posture is to them : they are drawn with the front hands leaning on a stick, while the posterior ones have the toes bent something like a clenched first.f The circumstances in the structure of the monkey kind, which render them unsuited for the erect attitude, have been already - in part explained : viz., the narrowness of the pelvis, the short and weak lower limbs, the angle formed by the thigh at its junction with the trunk, and that between the leg and thigh, small size of the muscles composing the buttocks and calves, and the slight prominence of the os calcis, which bone does not come to the ground. It may be added, that the exterior margin of the foot chiefly rests on the ground in the simiae ; which circumstance, while it leaves them a freer use of their thiunb and long toes in seizing the branches of trees, ren- ders the organ so much less adapted to support the body on level ground. The plantaris muscle, which is very fleshy in the monkey kind, instead of terminating, as it does in man, by insertion in the os calcis, passes over that bone into the sole, and is there connected ^vith the plantar aponeu- rosis and flexor perforatus, so that it may be regarded as making a part of both.^ In other quadrupeds it holds the place of the flexor perforatus, entering the foot over the os calcis. These arrangements are quite incompatible -with the erect attitude, as the tendon would be compressed, and its action • Leqons d' Anaiomie Compares, i.\, p. 493. From the agility, which the orang-outang at Exeter Change exhibits, in moving along the ropes suspended in his apartment, and swinging himself from one part to another, he seems strictly to deserve the denomination of a climbing animal. \ See Vosmaer's figure as copied by Blumenbach Jhhihl. n. h. Gegensiande No. 12. Tyson, fig. 1 & 2. The sitting attitude of Mr. Abel's figure, in which the extremities are all gathered up to the trunk, is much more natural than the erect position in which the monkey tribe are often represented. X Vioq D'Azyr, Discours sur I'Anatomie, (Euvres, t. 4, p. 149. 112 NATURAL ATTITUDE AND impeded, if the heel rested on the ground. The thumbs, both of the fore and hind hands, have no separate flexor longus in the monkeys, but receive tendons from the flexors of the other fingers.* Hence, the tlnimbs in these animals will generally be bent together with the other fingers ; and they are less capable of those actions, in which the motion of the thumb is combined with that of the fore and middle finger, a combination so im- portant in numerous delicate operations. It is rather singular, since persons have been found to con- tend that man ought to go on all fours, that there should have been others, who undertake to prove that the orang-outang, and the monkey tribe in general, have an organization suited to biped progression. Even Buffon states that one, which he saw, always went on two feet, and he ascribes the erect attitude to him without any hesitation. No doubt he can sustain this posture for some time, and in the unnatural condition of con- finement he may frequently sit : hence, perhaps, we may account for the numerous observations, in which he is said to go erect But the circumstances of structure already explained show clearly that he is not calcvilated, like man, for that attitude ; and we find, in some of the most authentic accounts, that he is said to have gone on all fours. Allamand, who saw a simia satyrus in Holland, gives the following account of its motions and attitudes : " Its usual attitude was sitting, with its thighs and knees raised ; it walked nearly in the same posture, its rump being very near the ground. I never saw it perfectly upright, except when it wished to reach something ; and even then its knees were always a little on the bend, and it tottered."t VosMAER, who has described the same individual, says, "this animal generally walked on all fours, like the other monkeys ; but it could, likewise, walk erect on its hind feet, and, provided with a stick, it would often support itself for a considerable time. However, it never used its feet flat on the ground, as a man would do, but bent backwards in such a manner, that it supported itself on the external edge of its hind feet, with the toes drawn inwards, which denotes a posture for climbing trees." J The testimony of Camper concerning one which lived for some time in the menagerie of the Stadtholder at Petit Loo, is to the same efi'ect : " L'orang vivant couroit a quatre pattes, et lorsqu'il se tenoit debout (ce qu'il fit le plus dans les premiers tems de son arrivee et lorsqu'il jouissoit encore de • See the work above quoted, t Buflfon, by Wood ; v. 10, p. 79. t Ibid. p. 84. GAIT OF M0XKEY3. 113 toute sa vigeur), il tenoit les genoux ploye's."* The description of the individual observed by F. Cuvier corroborates these observations : he climbed excellently, but walked as imperfectly. In the latter operation, he rested his closed hands on the ground, and dragged forv.-ards his hind parts. If one hand was held, he could walk on his feet : but then he supported himself by resting the other hand on the ground. The outer edge of the foot alone touched the ground ; and the toes were bent.f This description will apply in aU points to the orang-outang brought from Batavia by Mr. Abel;]; and a short observation of his customary attitudes and motions will convince any one that he is not organized for biped progression, nor capable of it, even for a short trial, without a troublesome and painful efibrt. The bent knees and general attitude of the figure represented l)y Tyson, show that the chimpanse is not a biped : " Being weak," says the author, " the better to support him I have given him a stick in his right hand."§ Several passages show, that the animal often went on all fours ; and thus confirm the representation given by the directors of the Sierra Leone com- pany ; II who say, in describing a young one, that " at first he crav/led on all fours ; always walking on the outside of his hands ; but, when grown larger, he endeavoured to go erect, supporting himself by a stick, which he carried in his hand." That the gibbon (S. Lar), another of the anthropomorphous simije, is not constructed for the erect attitude, appears from the testimony of Daubenton.^ It could go almost erect on the feet, but the legs and thighs were rather bent ; and some- times the hand touched the ground to support the reeling body : it was unsteady whenever it stopped in an upright posture, the heel only resting on the ground, and the sole being raised : it remained but a short time in this attitude, which appeared unnatural. No instance has ever been produced of a monkey, nor indeed of any animal, except man, which could support the body in equilibrio on one foot only. The causes of this prerogative of the human organization will be found in the breadth of his foot, in the resting of its entire surface on the ground, in the bony and muscular strength of the lower extremity, and the length of the cervix femoris. • CEurres, 1. 1, p. 60. + Annalns du Museum, v. 16, p. 49. t Narrative of a Journey in China, p. 322, and followin;;. \ P. 16, pi. 1. II l\ 164. V. Butlon. by Wood, v. 10, p. 80. 114 CHAEACTERS OF THE HUMAN HEAD. The foregoing considerations render it very clear that the erect stature is not only a necessary result of the human struc- ture ; but also that it is peculiar to man : and that the diiFerences in the form and arrangement of parts, derived from this source only, are abundantly sufficient to distinguish man by a wide interval from all other animals. The assertion of Linneus,* " dari simias erecto corpore binis aeque ac homo pedibus ince- dentes, et pedum et manuum ministerio humanam referentes speciem," is not only unsupported by any authentic testimony concerning animals of the monkey tribe, but directly contra- dicted by all the well-ascertained facts relating to those which most nearly resemble us in stature. CHAPTER IV. Comparison of the Human Head and Teeth to those of Animals. When we consider that the head affords a receptacle for the organ of the mind, that it lodges the principal external senses, as well as the instruments for procuring, receiving, masticating, and swallowing the food, and a considerable part of the appa- ratus employed in producing sound, we shall not be surprised at the striking differences in its construction, at those propoi- tional developments or contractions of its several parts, which determine the faculties and endowments of different animals, and their relative rank in the scale of nature. The most con- venient position for this important assemblage of organs — including the chief means by which we are connected, actively or passively, with the external world — must exhibit corres- ponding varieties. A situation is required, combining firm- ness of support with freedom of motion, a ready communication of the senses with their appropriate external objects, and a corresponding arrangement of the entrances to the respira- tory, digestive, and vocal cavities. The mode in which the entire mass is articulated and supported must therefore be varied according to the predominance or contraction of the various particular organs, as well as in conformity to the atti- tude of the animal, and the distribution of other parts, par- ticularly the upper limbs. As the proportions of its parts in the human subject indicate a predominance of the organ of thought, and reflection over the instruments employed in external sensation and the supply of merely animal wants, * Fauna Suecica ; Preefat. CHARACTERS OF THE HUMAN HEAD. 115 which places man at the top of the intellectual scale ; so the position of the whole, and the arrangement for its support and motion, are calculated, like all the details of organization hitherto examined, in reference to his peculiar distinction of the erect attitude. A very striking difference between man and all other animals consists in the relative proportions of the cranium and face ; which are indicated in a general but not very accurate manner, by the facial line. The organs, which occupy most of the face, are those of vision, smelling, and tasting, together with the instruments of mastication and deglutition. In proportion as these are more developed, the size of the face, compared to that of the cranium, is augmented. On the contrary, when the brain is large, the volume of the cranium is increased in proportion to that of the face. The nature and character of each living being must depend on the relative energy of its animal propensities and functions, its feelings, and mental powers : its leading traits will be derived from those which are most predominant. This is sufficiently evinced in the human species ; but the differences observable between one man and another are fewer and less strongly marked than those which occur betv/een animals of different species. The brain being the organ, by which the impressions on the external senses are combined and compared, in which aU the processes called intellectual are carried on, we shall find that animals partake in a greater degree, or at least approach more nearly to reason, in proportion as the mass of medullary sub- stance forming their brain exceeds that which constitutes the rest of the nervous system ; or, in other words, in proportion as the organ of the mind exceeds those of the senses. Since, then, the proportions of the cranium and face indicate those of the brain and of the principal external senses and instruments of mastication, we shall not be surprised to find that they point out to us, in great measure, the general character of animals, the degree of instinct and docility which they possess : — hence the study of these proportions is of high importance to the naturalist. Man combines by far the largest cranium with the smallest face : and animals deviate from these relations in proportion as they increase in stupidity and ferocity. One of the most simple (though often insufficient) methods of expressing the relative proportion of these parts is by the course of the facial Mne, and the amount of the facial angle. Sup- 116 CHARACTERS OP THE HUMAN HEAD. posing a skull to be observed in profile, in the position which it would have, when the occipital condyles are at rest in the arti- cular hollows of the atlas, in the erect attitude of the body, and neither incUned forwards nor backwards, a line drawn from the greatest projection of the forehead to that of the upper maxillary bone, follows the direction of the face, and is called the facial line : the angle, which this forms with a second line, continued' horizontally backwards, is the facial angle, and measures the relative prominence of the jaws and forehead.* In man only is the face placed perpendicularly under the front of the cranium ; so that the facial line is perpendicular : hence the angle formed between this line and the horizontal one above described is most open, or approaches most nearly to a right angle, in the human subject. The face of animals is placed in front of the cranium instead of under it : that cavity is so diminished in size, that its anterior expanded portion or forehead is soon lost, as we recede from man. Hence the facial line is oblique, and the facial angle is acute ; and it becomes more and more so as we descend in the scale from man : in several birds, most reptiles and fishes, it is lost altogether, as the cranium and face are completely on a level, and form parts of one hori- zontal line. The idea of stupidity is associated, even by the vulgar, with the elongation of the snout ; which necessarily lowers the facial line, or renders it more oblique : hence the crane and snipe have become proverbial. On the contrary, when the facial line is elevated by any cause, which does not increase the capacity of the cranium, as in the elephant and owl, by the cells which separate the two tables, the animal acquires a particular air of intelligence, and gains the credit of qualities which he does not in reality possess. Hence the latter animal has been selected as the emblem of the goddess of wisdom ; and the former is distinguished in the Malay language by a name which indicates an opinion that he participates with man in his most distin- guishing characteristic, the possession of reason. The invaluable remains of Grecian art show that the ancients were well acquainted .nth these circumstances. They were aware that an elevated facial hue, produced by a great develop- ment of the instrument of knowledge and reflection, and a corresponding contraction of the mouth, jaws, tongue, nose, • See Camper Kleinere Schriften; t. 1. pt. i. pag. 15. Hist. A'at. de I'Orans- outang ; Ch. vn ; pi. 1. fig. 3. Dissertation physique sur ks Differences reellet que firesentent les Traits du Fisage, SiC 4to. Utrecht, 1791. The course of the fionzontal line, and its point of contact witli the facial line, are b}- no means uniform in all the figures represented by Camper. CHARACTERS OF THE HUMAN HEAD. 117 indicated a noble and generous nature. Hence they have extended the facial angle to 90° in the representation of legis- lators, sages, poets, and others, on whom they wished to bestow the most august character. In the statues of their heroes and gods they have still further exaggerated the human and reduced the animal characteristics, extending the forehead over the face, so as to push the facial line beyond the perpendicular, and to make the angle lOQo. The facial angle* in the human subject varies from 65° to 850, speaking of the adult; for in the child it reaches 90°. The former is a near approach to the monkey race : the angle may be extended beyond the latter, as the Greeks have done in their representations of the Deity : here, however, 100° seem to be the ne plus ultra : beyond which the proportions of the head would appear deformed. That angle, according to Camper, consti- tutes the most beautifidf countenance ; and hence he supposes • Outline engravings of several human heads and skulls, as well as of a monkey, and an orang-outang, in profile, with the lines measuring their facial angles, are subjoined to Camper's Dissert, physique. Some are also given in Audebert, Hist. Nat. des Singes ; pi. anat. 2. The practical application of this measurement is much less extensively use- ful and important than Camper had imagined. It merely affurds a striking general view of the great characteiistic diilerenee between man and some ani- mals, without indicating lo us the diversities of the human species itself, and much less those of animMls. In many of the latter, indeed, it does not mea- sure the prominence i.f the brain, but that of the frontal sinuses or nose. In man and the quadrumanous animals, the sinuses are inconsiderable ; but in the carnivora, the pig kind, some ruminants, and particularly in the elephant, they are very lariie, and raise the facial line to a degree far beyond what the convexity of the brain would do. In the rodentia and the walrus the nose is very large, and throws back the cranium so that it offers no point for measure- ment in front. The following is a statement of the angle in certain animals, taken by drawing a line parallel to the floor of the nostrils, and another from the greatest prominence of the alveoli to the convexity of the cranium, without regarding the outline of the nose and face. /■Camper states it at 58° (Diss. phys. pi. 1, f. 2). Mr. Abel at 57" {Journey in China, p. 322;. vr „, „„»., c~a< In the skull, belonging to the Hunterian col- Young orang-outang - b- , ip^tion, when the facial line is drawn from the forehead, the angle 50° ; when from the V prominent superciliary ridge, BO''. • Mastiff — line drawn from the outer surface of the cranium - . - - . 30° , inner - - ... 41 Hare 30 Ram .......30 Hurse ....... 23 Cuvier, Leqotis d'Anat. comp. Lect. viii. art. 1. ■When the facial angles of the anthropo-morphous simia;, as above stated, are compared to those of some Negroes, as, for example, the skull delineated in pi. vii. which has an anijle of 65°, and that in Sandifort's Museum Acad. Zugduno-iiatavum, v. 1, which has nearly the same, we find this method in- sutticient, even to distinguish man and animals. An American monkey figured by Humboldt (simia melano-cephala) has as good a facial line as the generality of Negroes. Recue.il d'Obs. de Zool. et d' Anat. comp. i. pi. U9. He ascribes to it " facies nigra, anthropo-morpha, fero Jithiopis;" p. 317. + That these unnatural proportions may have been selected by the Grecian artists in order to convey the preternatural impressions associated with their Sapajou ----- 65 Guei.o" 57 Mandrill - - . - 42—30 Coat; 28 Pole-Ci>t 31 Pug-dog ..... 35 118 CHARACTERS OF THE HUMAN HEAD. the Greeks adopted it. " For," says he, " it is certain no such head was ever met with ; and I cannot conceive any such should have occurred among the Greeks, since neither the Egyptians, from whom they probably descended, nor the Persians, nor the Greeks themselves, ever exhibit such a formation on their medals, when they are representing the portrait of any real character. Hence the ancient model of beauty does not exist in nature, but is a thing of imaginary creation : it is what Win- KLEMANN calls beuu ideal." A vertical section of the head, in the longitudinal direction, shows us more completely the relative proportions of the cranium and face. In man the area of the section of the cranium is nearly four times as large as that of the face : the lower jaw not being included. It is, perhaps, about three times as large in the orang-ovitang ; twice as large in the sapajous ; and they are nearly equal in the baboons and the carnivorous animals, except- ing the dogs with short muzzles, such as the pug, where the cranium rather exceeds the face. In the hare and marmot the face exceeds the cranium by one-third, in the porcupine and ruminants by one-half, in the pig kind by a stiU greater propor- tion. The face is three times as large as the cranium in the hippopotamus, and nearly four times in the horse. The human and the brute face are not more strongly con- trasted in size, and in their relation to the cranium, than in general configuration, in the construction of individual parts, the motions and uses to which they are subservient. The latter is merely an instrument adapted to procure and prepare food, and often a weapon of offence and defence ; the former is an organ of expression, an outward index of what passes in the busy world within. The elongated and narrow jaws with these muscles, with their sharp cutting teeth, or strong pointed and formidable fangs, principally compose the face of the animal : the chin, lips, cheeks, eye-brows, and forehead, are either removed, or reduced to a size and form simply necessary for animal purposes. The nose is confounded with the upper jaw and lip: or, if more developed, is still applied to offices connected with procuring food. Thus we have a muzzle or snout rather than a face. In man, on the contrary, the animal organs, the jaws, and teeth, notion of supprior natures, and may have been well calculated to produce the intended effect, is what I can easily understand. But that proportions, which have never existed in nature, should yet constitute, in our estimation, the most beautiful (beau) countenance, appears to rae, in that unqualitied statement, either an uuraeaning proposition, or inconsistent with any reasonable sense of the word beautiful. CHARACTERS OF THE HUMAN HEAD 119 are reduced in size, and covered from view ; hence the mouth is extremely small, and neither used, nor capable of use, in directly talcing or seizing the aliment. The chin, lips, cheeks, bridge of the nose, eyelids, and eyebrows, receive a fulness of development, and free play of action, which is seen in no other animal. The constant motions of this finely-formed countenance correspond with the inward workings and emotions ; and are a most im- portant medium of influence and communication with our fellow-creatures ; — inviting and attracting them by its expan- sion in love, friendship, aflfection, and benevolent feelings ; warning and repelling by its fearful contraction in indignation, scorn, hatred, malice. When to the human face we add the ample and capacious forehead, the organization of the intellectual and moral being is perfect ; the contrast with all others, even of the manlike class, pointed and complete. How admirably do the positions of the face, in the erect attitude of man, and the prone posture of brutes, correspond to these striking diflferences in construction I The want of the intermaxillary bone has been assigned by Camper as one of the grand characteristics, which distinguish the human head from that of other animals. The superior maxillary bones of the human subject are united to each other, and contain the whole of the upper series of teeth : they are, however, separated in other mammalia by a third bone of a wedge shape, which contains the incisor teeth, and was therefore called os incisivum. Since, however, this bone is found where there are no incisor teeth, as in the horned rumi- nants, in the elephant, and the two -horned rhinoceros of Africa, and also where there are no teeth at all, as in the ant-eater and some of the whale kind, Blumexbach* has bestowed on it the more appropriate name of the os intermaxiUare. It is a single bone in some cases : in many others, composed of two sym- metrical portions. It is connected to the up])er jaw-bone by a facial suture, running from the side of the nose to the alveolar margin, and by a palatine suture passing transversely from the alveoli to the anterior palatine foramina. That man possesses nothing analogous to this intermaxillary bone of brutes is so clear, that we cannot easUy account for that excellent anatomist Vica D'AzYRf ha\'ing discovered any ana- logy in the human jaw to the structure of quadrupeds. The • De Generis humani Varietate nativa, p. 35. + Memoires de VAcad. des Sciences de Paris, 1780. 120 ARTICVLATION AND only ground for such an opinion is the small transverse fissure* in the palate behind the alveoli of the incisors, observable in the fetus and child, and sometimes tolerably distinct in the adult. But there is this very obvious and important distinction ; that no vestige of suture can ever be traced in the human subject between the alveoli, much less on the upper and anterior surface of the jaw : so that the similarity to the structure of the quad- ruped is very remote. That all mammalia, besides the human subject, possess this bone is not so decidedly ascertained, as that man has it not. BLUMENBACHf fouud uo tracc of it in the crania of some simise, although all the sutures were perfect ; yet it is seen in the head of the orang-outang (S. satyrus) figured by him, J as well as in that of Camper.§ On the contrary, in the head of a very anthropo-morphous simia in the museum of the College of Sur- geons, which seems to me to be the S. satyrus, not a vestige of the sutures separating this bone is to be seen, although the in- dividual must have been very young, as the ])ieces of the occi- pital bone are not yet consolidated. According to Tyson and Daubenton it is not found in the chimpanse. However the question may be decided, there can be no doubt that the crania of all the quadrumana, as well as of all other mammalia, are distinguished from the human skull by the com- parative size, great length, and projection of the jaws. The articulation of the head with the spine determines the mode of its support and extent of motion, the direction of the mouth, jaws, eyes, and rest of the face ; it must therefore vary according to the construction and relative magnitude of its parts, as well as to the ordinary attitude of the bodv. ITie position and direction of the great occipital foramen affords a * The fissure in question is more distinct in youni; than in old suhjects, and it is called by Blumenbach sulura incisiva {Beschreihung der Knochen). Al- though overlooked by several modern osteolos,'ists, it was obsei-ved and accu- rately described by the great anatomists of the sixteenth century, Vesalius, Fallopius, and Columbus. It is also mentioned by Riolan {Aiithropographia, p. (549). Galen has expressly enumerated an intermaxillary bone among the component parts of the human face ; and Vesalius very justly inferred from this, among many equally strilcing proofs, that the anatomical descriptions of that author, which had been universally received with the most implicit de- ference till that time, had not been drawn from the examination ol the human subject. This attempt to rescue mankind from error and prejudice drew upon him nothing but hatred and reproaches from his contemporaries, who were driven to the most absurd arguments in ileience of their idol Galen. One of them suggested that an intermaxillary bone, though not found now, might have belonged to the human structure in former times (Jac. Sylvii VejJulsio Calumniarum vcsant cujiisdam in Gah'num). + De Gen. hum. Var.7iat. sect. 1, 5 15. t Abbildungen n. h. Gegenstande, No. 52. 5 CEuvres, pi. 1, fig. 3. SUPPORT OF THE HEAT). 121 criterion of these differences.* The vertebral column being vertical in the human subject, affords a solid support for the head, which is placed nearly in equilibrio on its upper end. Hence the great occipital hole and the articular condyles are found almost in the centre of the basis cranii ; and if the vertical hue of the trunk and neck were continued upwards, it would pass through the top of the head. Consequently the weight of the latter is sustained almost entirely by the vertebral column. The head would be in a state of perfect equilibrium on the spine, in the erect attitude of our body, if the parts in front of the column exactly coimterbalanced those behind it. This, how- ever, is not the case.f The articular condyles are manifestly nearer to the occipital tuberosity than to the most prominent point of the jaws ; and thus the greater share of the weight is in front of the joint. Place the occipital condyles on any point of support, and the head will incline forwards, unless it be held in equilibrio by a force applied behind. The preponderance is greater when the lower jaw is added, and it is stiU further increased by the accession of the tongue, muscles, and other soft parts. The inclination of the head forwards is counteracted in the living body by the extensor muscles, and their constant exertion is necessary for maintaining the head in equilibrio on the verte- bral column. Whenever their contraction is suddenly suspended, as in a person falling asleep in the erect attitude with the head * Daubenton sur la Difference du grand Trou occipital dans I'Homme et dans les autres ArtimaHX ; Mem. de VJcad. des Sciences, 1764. + I am unfortunate enough to differ with the author of the Physiological Lectures, in matters of fact as much as in matters of opinion. To the following assertion I can only oppose the circumstances mentioned in the text. " The condyles are placed so exactly parallel to the centre of gravity, that when we sit upright, and go to sleep in that posture, the weight of the head has a tendency to preponderate eqnalhj in every direction, as we see in those who are dozin" in a carriage. Nay, their heads sometimes revolve in a circle, like the heaiT of harlequin on the stage." Lect. 3. The second e.xpression marked in italics cannot he taken literally; because inequality is essential to preponderance; and an equal preponderance in every direction, if we disregard the contradic- tion in terms, is just equivalent to no preponderance at all. If the author means to assert that the weight behind, exactly counterbalances that in front of the occipito-atloidal articulation, the easy trial of supporting a skull by the condyles will quickly show whether such a representation be correct or not. An analogous representation occurs in the same lecture respecting the dis- tribution of weight in the trunk of the body. " We know that in an upright posture the whole weight of the upper part of the body is so perfectly balanced on the base of the vertebral column, as to have an equal propensit3- to prepon- derate in every direction. ' ' The weight of the head, of the thoracic and abdominal viscera, and the or. dinary position of the upper limbs, carry the centre of gravity in front of tho spine. The tendency of the trunk to fall forwards is counteracted by the great extensor muscles of the loins and back. The hip-joints are carried forwards, and the feet prolonged in front of the ankle, m order to secure the body against the consequences of this preponderance in the anterior direction, the natural effect of which is seen by our falling forwards when muscular action is suddenly suspended iu fainting. G 122 ARTICULATION AND unsupported, that part, abandoned to .the force of gravity, immediately nods forwards. The greatest number, and by far the most powerful muscles are placed at the back of the head, and pass between the posterior surface of the vertebral column and the occipit. The recti postici, obliqui superiores, trachelomastoidei, complexi, splenii capitis and trapezii are balanced by few and inconsiderable mus- cles in front ; by the recti antici, recti laterales, and longi colli. Let a line be drawn according to the plane of the occipital foramen ; it will pass from the posterior edge along the surface of the condyles, and, if continued anteriorly, will come out just under the orbits. It forms, in short, almost a horizontal line, which intersects, nearly at right angles, the vertical line of the body and neck, when the head is held straight, without being inclined backwards or forwards. In this attitude, the face is in a vertical line, parallel to that of the body and neck ; and consequently the jaws hardly extend in front beyond the forehead. They are very short in comparison with those of most animals : for the length of the lower maxillary bone of man, measured from the chin to the posterior edge of the condyle, is only half the length of the whole head, as taken from the chin to the occiput ; and scarcely the ninth part of the height of the body from the anus to the vertex : and about the eighteenth part of the whole length of the body from the top of the head to the feet. This latter point of comparison is, how- ever, scarcely applicable to the subject ; inasmucli as there is hardly any animal but man, which has the hind legs as long as the trunk, neck, and head taken togetiier, and measured from the vertex to the pubes. The horizontal plane of the foramen magnum, its nearly cen- tral position in the basis of the skull, the support of the head by the spine, and the direction of the face forwards, are admirably suited to the erect attitude of man, and correspond to the absence of the ligamentum nvichse. If the human spine were placed horizontally, how could the weight of the head be sustained ? there is no adequate muscular power to support and elevate the heavy mass ; not to mention that it could not be carried suffi- ciently backwards on the spine, for the eyes to be directed for- wards ; and that, if lowered, the jaws would not come to the ground, as they do in animals, in consequence of their shortness, but the forehead or vertex would touch it.* • The absence of the rete mirabile, and of all analogous provision for mo- derating the influx of the blood into the brain, accords, with the other eircum- SUPPORT OF THE HEAD. 123 In most animals, the great occipital foramen is placed at the back of the head ; the jaws are considerably elongated ; the oc- ciput forms no projection beyond this opening, the plane of which is vertical, or at least very slightly inclined. Hence, the head is connected to the neck by its back part, instead of being articulated, as in man, by the middle of its basis ; and, instead of being in equilibrium on a perpendicular column placed under it, it hangs to the front of the neck, where its weight is sustained by the powerful cer\ical ligament.* This arrangement bestows on quadrupeds the power of using their jaws for seizing what is before them ; of elevating them to reach what may be above the head, although the l)ody be placed horizontally ; and of touch- ing the ground with the mouth, by depressing the head and neck as low as the feet. In several animals there is some dis- tance between the foramen magnum and the posterior extremity of the occiput ; but this interval is no where so considerable as in the human subject ; and in proportion as it is increased, does the direction of the occipital foramen approach more to the horizontal one. Animals of the monkey kind exhibit a closer resemblance of the human structure, in the position and direction of the occi- pital foramen, than any others. In the orang-outang it is twice as far from the jaws, as from the back of the head ;t and it is considerably inclined downwards, so that a line drawn in its level passes below the lower jaw, instead of going just under the orbit, as in man. The diiference in the direction of the foramen may be esti- mated, by noting the angle formed by the union of a hne drawn in the manner above-mentioned, according to the direction of stances enumerated above, in showing that man is entirely unfit for the atti- tude on all fours. * The ligamentum nuchae or suspensorium colh, which is confounded in the Physiological Lectures {"p. UG), witii the yellow liiaraents connecting the plates of the spinous processes, is affixed at one end of the spines of the cervical and dorsal vertebrae, and at the other to the middle of the occiput, between the two fossa; cerebelli. This thick and powerfnl Hsament affords a steady and conslant support to the head of quadrupeds, whicli would have otherwise needed an immense mass of muscles to sustain it. Such a structure is not re- quired in man, where, if this ligament can be said to e.xist at all, it is only as a weak and insigniftoant rudiment. I do not know how the oran^-outan" and other monkeys are circumstanced in this respect. Camper, however, states that the spinous processes of the cervical vertebras are very long in the oran"- outang {CEurres, i. p. 12G). And the same circumstance is stilf more remark- able -n the skeleton of the pongo of Batavia, whose enormous jaws and face must require the support of a suspensory ligament, probably attached in both animals to the cervical spines. Audebert, Hist. Nat. des Singes; pi. anat. 2. t The effect of this structure in throwing the centre of gravity forwards', and thus increasing the difficulty of maintaining the erect position, is particularly pointed out by Mr. Abel ; Joamey in China, p. 322. G 2 1 2-i> CHARACTERS OF THE HUMAN TEETH. the opening, with another line passing from the posterior edge of the foramen to the inferior margin of the orbit. Tliis angle is of 30 in man, and of 37° in the orang-outang ; 47° in the lemur. It is stiU greater in the dog ; and in the horse it is of 900 or a right angle, the plane of the opening being completely vertical. The distance of the foramen magnum from the front of the jaws and the posterior surface of the occiput may be in man respectively, as f and §, or even more nearly equal : the former is twice as great as the latter in the orang-outang ; while, in almost all other mammalia, the opening is at the very posterior aspect of the skull. The teeth of man are distinguished by being all of one length, and by the circumstance of their being arranged in an uniform unbroken series. The cuspidati are a little longer than the others at first ; but their sharp points are soon worn down to a level with the rest. In all animals the teeth of different classes differ in size and length, often very considerably ; and they are separated by more or less wde intervals : this is particularly the case with the teeth caUed canine, or cuspidati, which are long, prominent, and distinct from the neighbouring teeth : their not projecting beyond the rest, nor being separated from them by any interval, is, therefore, a very characteristic circumstance in the human structure Even in the simiae, whose masticatory apparatus most nearly resembles that of man, the cuspidati are longer, often very considerably longer than the other teeth ; and there are intervals in the series of each jaw to receive the cuspi- dati of the other. The inferior incisors are perpendicular ; the teeth, indeed, and the front of the jaw are placed in the same vertical line. In animals, these teeth slant backwards, and the jaw slopes back- wards directly from the alveoh ; so that the full prominent chin, so remarkable a feature in the face of our species, is found in no animal, not even in the orang-outang : it appears as if the part were cut off. The obtuse tubercles of the grinders are again very peculiar and characteristic : they are worthy of particular remark, be- cause, being the great instruments of dividing the food, they correspond to the kind of nourishment which the animal natu- rally takes. Their surface does not resemble the flat crowns with rising ridges of intermixed enamel belonging to our com- mon herbivorous animals : nor are they like the cutting an' STATURE, PROPORTIONS, &C. 125 tearing grinders of the carnivora. But they are well adapted to that mixed diet prepared by the arts of cookery, which man has always resorted to, when he could get it, and when his natural inclinations have not been thwarted by the interference of reli- gious scruples or prohibitions, nor opposed by his own whims and fancies. The lower jaw of man is distinguished by the prominence of the chin, a necessary consequence of the inferior incisors being perpendicular ; by its shortness,* and by the oblong convexity and obliquity of the condyles. CHAPfER V. Differences between Man and Animals in Stature, Proportions, and sorw other Points. The height of the whole body, and the proportion of its several parts, afford important points of comparison in examining the specific differences between man and the most anthropo- morphous simise. The difference of stature is remarkable : of the orang-outangs or chimpanses hitherto brought into Europe, none has been more than three feet high ; and most have been several inches under that height. The individual brought to England by Mr. Abel, and now at Exeter Change, is thirty-one inches. -f- Of eight seen by Camper | none exceeded two feet and a half (Rhynland measure) : from observing the state of the teeth, and progress of ossification, and estimating, according to the human subject, the additions which the stature might be expected to receive, he thinks that their adult height may be set down at four feet of the same measure. F. Cuvier§ makes it considerably less. Yet they are spoken of, on the faith of travellers, as being five or six feet high, or even more : what is said of their erect gait, and many other particulars, is probably of equal accuracy. Tyson's chimpanse, measured twenty-six inches from the vertex to the heel. || The great length of the upper limbs, the predominance of the • The length of the inferior maxilla is J of that of the trunk from the vertex to the anus, in the simia satyrus ; it is ^ in man. The elephant is equally remarkable with man for the shortness of the lower jaw, of which a considerable portion projects in front of the teeth. This can- not jiroperly be deemed a chin. The incisors and cuspidati do not exist in the lower jaw of this animal ; the projection in question is the part, which in other cases is occupied by those teeth. + Journey in China; 322. % Qiutres; I. 51. } .iiinales da Museum ; xvi. 51, jl Anat. of a Pygmie, 1.3. 126 CHARACTER OF MAN IN fore-arm over tlie upper arm, the shortness of the lower limba, and the great length of the hands and feet, are other striking characters of the monkey kind. The span of the extended arms in man equals the height of the body; it is nearly double that measure in the anthropo- morphous monkeys. Our upper arm is longer than the fore- arm by two or three inches ; in the last-mentioned animals tbe fore-arm is the longest. In us the hip-joint divides the body equally ; the lower extremity is less than half the height of the body in monkeys. The proportion of the hand and foot to the body is much greater in them than in us ; the excess arising from increase in the length of the phalanges. That all these circumstances are very suitable to the climbing habits of the monkey race, is too obvious to require particular elucidation. In the follo\ving table, I have arranged in parallel lines, the dimensions of some parts of a male skeleton, of the orang-outang measured by Camper, of that described by Mr. Abel, and of Tyson's chimpanse. Man. Simia Satyrus. Simla Tro- Inches. Camper. Abel. gludytes. The whole body from the j ^i vertex to the heel Upper extremity Lower Humerus Fore-arm (ulna) Hand Thumb Middle finger Femur Tibia Foot . Middle toe . Uncertain, but > less tlian . J 8i 4i 4i 20 16 j lOi 2i 30 24i , IG . 81 , 9 7 , li 3 7 7 7i Ulna Radius 6 7-10th3 17 13 5 5 5! H n 2i In a monkey of two feet two inches the humerus measured four and a quarter, the ulna five inches. The upper extremities of the pongo* of Borneo reach to the ankles, when the animal is erect : its ulna, in the College Museum, is 15j inches long; the whole height certainly not exceeding five feet. The man, whose gigantic skeleton is pre- served in the same ])lace, was eight feet four inches ; the ulna, however, is only 13f inches. The upper limbs of the gibbon touch the ground when the animal is erect. * Audebert, Ilist. ISSat. des Singes ; Planche anat. 2, fig. G. The short de- scription of this animal, which, from the enormous size and strength of his jaws, must be extremely furmidable, given by Wurmb in the second vol. of ihe Memuirs of the Batarnan Society in Dutch, is translated ia the work of Au- debert, pp. 'ii, 23. It is the first and only description we have of the animal, lUiflbn, who had never seen this creature, nor any part of it, gives tlie name of pongo to the orang-outang. STATURE, PROPORTIONS, &C. 127 Passing over some circumstances of less importance, ordinarily enumerated among the distinctive characters of man, as the lobules of the ear, the tumid lips, particularly the inferior, &c. I have a few remarks to make on the smoothness of the human integuments. " Dantur," says Linneus,* " alicubi terrarum, simiae minus quam homo pilosae ; " but he does not tell us in what part of the world they are to be found. The unanimous reports of all travellers, as well as the specimens of such animals exhibited in Europe, prove incontestably, that the manlike simiag, whether the orang-outang of Borneo, or chimpanse of Angola, as well as the long-armed monkey or gibbon, are widely different from the human subject in this respect. Although the indivi- duals brought into these countries have been under the adult age, and generally very sickly, their body has been in all cases universally hairy. We have, indeed, some accounts of people, particularly in the islands of the South Sea, remarkable for their hairiness ; but they are not completely satisfactory. Spangberg relates, that he found such a race in one of the southern Kurile islands Gat. 43° 50") on his return from Japan to Kamtschatka : f and J. R. Forster observed individual anomalous instances in the islands of Tanna, MallicoUo, and New Caledonia. X It was reported to Mr. Marsden, when inquiring concerning the aborigines of Sumatra, that there are two species living in the woods, with i>eculiar language ; one of these (called orang-gugu) was described as " differing but little in the use of speech from the orang-outang of Borneo, their bodies being covered with long hairs." § These accounts furnish no satisfactory proof that any race|| • Fauna Suecica ; prtrf. + Ritssisc/ier Geschichte ; T. III. p. 174. t " I observed several of these people (the Mallicollese), who were very- hairy all over the body, not excepting the back ; and this circumstance I also observed in Tanna and New Caledonia." Observations on a Voyage round the ff'orld, p. 243. That this hairiness is neither common to all the natives of the islands enumerated, nor even very frequent or remarkable in accidental cases, may be inferred from its not being at all noticed by Cook, who however de- scribes minutely the persons of these islanders. Voy. towards the South Pole, V. ii. pp. 34, 78, 118. { History of Sumatra, ed. 3, p. 41, note. II The skin, like other parts, is subject to occasional varieties of formation. Tlius patches of it are sometimes thickly covered with hair, like that on the head. Such accidental varieties, exaggerated by credulit}' and fraud, have given occasion to reports of persons having hides like animals. Buffon {Sup- plement, V. 4, p. 571), Wuusch {Kosmolugische Unterhaliungen, part 3), andLa- vater [Physiog. Fragm. part 4, p. 68,) have given figures and descriptions of A. M. Herriu:, a woman of Triers, said to have the skin of a deer, and shown in many parts of Europe. Soemmerring saw this person, and found the pe- culiarity to consist of numerous and large elevations of the skin, covered by thick and strong hairs. They were of the nature of the moles often seen on the face of very fair persons, and generally giving origin to hairs. He could not discover a single hair resembling that of a deer. Beschreibung einiger Miss- geburten, p. 34. 128 CHARACTERS OF MAN IiV of men exists with a skin differently organized or covered from what we are acquainted with. The smoothness and nakedness of the human integuments therefore form a sufficient diagnostic character of our species, as compared to the monkey, or any other nearly allied raammiferous animal ; and this circumstance, with the absence of all fur, s])ines, bristles, scales, &c. and the want of those natural ott'ensive weapons, fangs, talons, claws, &c. justify us in denominating the human body as naturally unarmed and defenceless. The deficiency is amply made up by the internal faculties, and the arts to which they give rise. While man is remarkable for the smoothness of his skin on the whole, some parts are even more covered with, hair than in animals, as for example, the pubes and axilla, which the ancients consequently regarded as peculiar characters of man. In comparing man^vith the anthropo-morphous simiaeitmust be noticed further, that one species (satyrus) has no nail on the thumb of the hind-hand ; and the other (troglodytes), according to Tyson, has thirteen ribs. Both of them have a sacrum composed of three pieces only, instead of five, as in the human subject. One at least (satyrus) has one or two large membraneous pouches on the front of the neck, under the platysma myoides, communicating with the cavity of the larynx, between the os hyoides and th}Toid cartilage, and capable of distention and evacuation at the will of the animal.* It has no ligamentum teres In the hip-joint, f It has a membraneous canal running along the spermatic cord from the abdomen to the tunica vaginalis, | as other monkeys and quadrupeds have ; but this does not exist in the cliimpanse. § The roof of the mouth is nearly black I venture to assert that the differences only, which have been just enumerated, without any others, would be amply sufficient to establish the distinction of species : that no example can be adduced of animals deviating so far from the original model of their structure as to exhibit varieties like those just enumerated ; and consequently that the differences in question can be accounted for only by referring the animals to species originally distinct. Tliere are some points, in which man has been erroneously supposed to differ from animals. Tlie approximation of the two eyes is not peculiar ; they are much nearer together in the simiae. • Camper, in Philos. Trans, v. 69, p. 139. CEuvres ; t. 1. De I'Orang, ch. ii. pi. ii. fig. 9 and 10, To the passage of the air in e.xpiration into these pouches. Cam per ascribes the want of power of the orang-outang to produce articulated sounds. T Camper, CEuvres, i. 153. t Iljid. 109. \ Tyson, p. 82. STATURE, PROPORTIONS, &C. 129 Many other mammalia, particularly among the quadrumana, have cilia in both eyelids : this is the case in the elephant. Although the prominent nose is a striking character of the human face, particularly in comparison with the monkeys, whose very name (simia, from simus) is derived from the flatness of this part, there is a species considerably surpassing man in the length of this feature ; — the long-nosed monkey, S. rostrata, or nasahs.* The external ears are not incapable of motion in all men ; nor are they moveable in all other mammalia ; in the ant-eaters, fov example. Many quadrumana have an organ of touch, and an uvala, as well as man. Again, there are some parts, which man alone, or with a few other mammaha, does not possess. Most of these, which are found chiefly in the domesticated kinds, were formerly attri- buted to man, when hvunan dissections, from want of opportuni- ties, were uncommon. The panniculus camosus; or thin subcutaneous stratum of muscular fibres covering the ventral and lateral parts of the trunk immediately under the skin, described by Galen and his followers, and even by Vesalius, the great restorer of anatomy and exposer of Galen's errors, as a part of the human body, does not exist in man, nor according to Tyson, in the chimpanse. It is found in the monkeys. The rete mirabile of the cerebral arteries, included by Galen among the parts of the human body, was shown by Vesalius not to belong to the human structure. The seventh or suspensory muscle of the eyeball, which is found in the four-footed mammalia, is not seen in man, as Fallopius observed : neither is the aUantois or membrana nictitans. That man has neither the ligamentum nuchse nor the inter- maxillary bone, has been already explained. The foramen incisivum is common to the human species with quadrupeds ; it is small and single in the former ; double and of considerable size in the latter. There are a few other parts, not found in many animals, and • Bufifon, Hist, des Quadrupedes ; Sitpplm.. t. vii. tab. 11, 12. The animal is also fit^uved hy Blumenhach, ^bhildunaen; No. 13 ; and by Pennant, Htitory of Quadrupeds, V. 2. p. 322, pi. 104 and 105, under the name of proboscis mon- key. The nostrils of this proboscis do not terminate, as in man, close to the upper Up ; but at the extremity of the prominence ; and the structure, ia other respects, differs essentially from that of the human nose. G 3 130 PECULIARITIES OP sometimes erroneously ascribed to man : such as the pancreas Asellii, hepatico-cystic ducts, corpus Highmori, &c. CHAPTER VI. Differences in the Structure of some internal Organs. The instrument of knowledge and reflection, the part by which we feel, perceive, judge, think, reason, the organ or organs connecting vis with the external world, and executing the moral and intellectual department in our economy, claim our first attention. In spite of metaphysical subtlety, of all the chimeras and fancies about immaterial agencies, ethereal fluids, and the like, and all the real or pretended alarms so carefully connected Avith this subject, the truth, that the phenomena of mind are to be regarded physiologically merely as the functions of the organic apparatus contained in the head, is proved by such over- whelming ondence, that physiologists and zoologists have been led, almost in spite of themselves, to show their belief in it, by the great attention they have paid to this part. The vast superiority of man over all other animals in the faculties of the mind, which may be truly considered as a generic distinction of the human subject — in my opmion a more unequivocal and important one than many of those, in com- pliance with which, diversity of genus and species is established in the animal kingdom — led physiologists at a very early period to seek for some corresponding diflTerence in the brains of man and animals. It has been asserted from remote times that the brain of man is larger than that of any animal ; and I know no exception to this assertion of Aristotle and Pliny besides the elej^hant : unless the larger cetacea should b^e as well supplied with brain, in proportion to their size, as the smaller. Certainly all the larger animals, with which we are more commonly acquainted, have brains absolutely smaller, and considerably so, than that of man. This, indeed, may be easily shown by a comparison of skulls ; by contrasting the compressed, narrow, elongated crania of brutes, hidden behind their enormous jaws and face, with the length, breadth, and ample vault of the human " cerebri taber- naculum,"* whose capacious globular expanse surmounts and covers the inconsiderable receptacles of the senses and ali- mentary apparatus. • Haller. INTERNAL STRUCTrRE BRAIN. 131 In later times the subject has been investigated in a different way ; — by comparing the proportion which the mass of the brain bears to the whole body. The result of this comparison in the more common and domestic animals was deemed so satisfactory, that, without prosecuting the inquiry further, a general propo- sition was laid down, that man has the largest brain in propor- tion to his body. More modern physiologists, however, in following up this comparative view in a greater number of ani- mcds, have been considerably perplexed at discovering many exceptions to the genersd jx)sition. They found that several mammalia, as the dolphin, seals, some quadrumana, and som.e animals of the mouse kind, equal the human subject, and that some small birds even exceed him in this respect.* As these latter obser\'ations entirely overturned the conclusion, which had been before generally admitted, Soemmerring has furnished us \vith another point of comparison ; viz. that of the * It cannot be a very satisfactory mode of proceeding to compare the bodj', of which the weight varies so considerably according to illness, emaciation, or embonpoint, with the brain, which is afFected by none of these circum- stances, and seems to remain constantly the same. Thus in the cat, the weight of the brain, compared to that of the body, has been stated as 1 to 156, by one anatomist ; as 1 to 82 by another ; that of the dog, as 1 to SO."}, 1 to 47, &c. The following numbers, taken principally from Haller {Element. Physiol, lib. x. sect. 1.) and Cuvier (Leqons d'.^nat. comp. Lee. i.x. art. 5,, will show that in the proportionate mass of his brain, man is surpassed only by a few small, slender, and lean animals. Child of 6 years, 2 lb. 284dr. ; or ^. Haller. Adult, a'j. Haller. From 2 lb. 3i oz. to 31b. 3|oz. Soemmerring. Orangs. Chimpans^, of 26 inches in height, 11 oz. 7 dr. Tyson. A proportion equal to the human. Gibbon (S. Lar. ), •^. Sapajous, or American monkej"s with prehensile tails. Saimiri (S. sciurea), ■^■, Sa'i (S. capucina), -^V; Ouistiti (S. jacchus), ■^• Coaita (S. paniscus), -^. Apes. — Malbrouc (S. faunus), -irg:; Callitriche (S. sabsea) and Patas {S. ru- bra), -^ ; (S. mona), -^ ; Mangahey (S. fulinigosa), -^• Baboons. — Macaque (S. cynomolgus), •^; Magot (S. sylvanus), xWo- Great Baboon (S. sphynx), tsT' Lemurs. — Mococo (L. catta), ^; Vari (L. macaco), -^^ Bat (V. noctula), •^; Mole, ■^; Bear, 5-g-j; Hedgehog, xFs' Fox, -jj^j; Wolf, -^w; Martin, 3-57; Ferret, -j-gg-. Beaver, 5^ ; Hare, -g^ ; Rabbit, -j-To 13^ > Water-rat, ^-5-4 ; Rat, ^e ' Mouse, ■^; Field-mouse,^- Wild Boar, ^-7-5- ; Domestic, -gx^ — 4-12 > Elephant, -^^ — 7 or 10 lb. Stag, 2^; Roebuck (young), -^ ; Sheep, 3^, yfe ; Ox, tTo' wko- Calf, -siv ; Horse, 7-^, TffTj ; Ass, 234* Dolphin (delphinus delphis), -j^, -jV' 'Fo' TS^ '< Porpoise (D. phocaena), ^. Birds.— Esig\e, s^; Falcon, yfe : Goose, awo (Haller); Duck, aTf; Cock, ^; Blackbird, 7 Pike, rsW ; Carp, tTo* 132 PECULIARITIES OP ratio, which the mass of the brain bears to the bulk of the ner^'es arising from it. Let us divide the brain into two parts ; that which is immediately connected with the sensorial extremities of the nerves, which receives their impressions, and is therefore devoted to those common wants and purposes, which may be considered as the seat of the mental phenomena. In proportion, then, as any animal possesses a larger share of the latter and more noble part ; that is, in proportion as the organ of reflection exceeds that of the external senses, may we expect to find the powers of the mind more diversified and more fully developed. In this point of view man is decidedly pre- eminent : although in his senses and common animal properties he holds only a middle rank, here he surpasses all other animals that have been hitherto investigated ; he is the first of living beings. "All the simise," says this accomplished anatomist, " for I have been fortunate enough to procure specimens of the four principal divisions, come after him. ; for, although the pro- portion of their brain to the body, particularly in the small species with prehensile tails, is equal to that of man, their very large eyes, ears, tongue, and jaws, require a much larger mass of brain than the corresponding parts in the human subject ; and if you remove this, the ratio of the brain to the body is much diminished.* " Animals of various kinds seem to me to possess a larger or smaller quantity of this superabundant portion of brain accord- ing to the degree of their sagacity and dociUty. The largest brain of a horse, which I possess, weighs one pound seven ounces ; the smallest human brain that I have met with in an adult, two pounds five ounces and a quarter. But the nerves in the basis of the horse's brain are ten times larger than in the other instance, although it weighs less by fourteen ounces and a quarter. " But we are not hastily to conclude that the human species have smaller nerves than any other animals. In order that my ideas may be better understood, I shall state the following imaginary case. Suppose the ball of the eye to require 600 nervous fibrils in one instance, and in another, half the size, 300 ; further, that the animal with 600 fibrils possesses a brain of seven, and that with 300 a brain of only five drams. To the latter we ought to ascribe the larger brain, and • Blumenbach has figured the brain of tlie ribbed-nose baboon or mandrill (papio mairaun) in the two first editions of his work, De Gen. Hum. Var. nat. tab. 1, fig. 1. The deviation from the human character in the size of the nerves is very striking. INTERNAL STRUCTURE BRAIN. i3o a more ample capacity of registering the impressions made on the organ of vision. For, allowing one dram of en- cephalon to 100 fibrils, the brain, which is absolutely the least, will have an overplus of two drams, while the larger has only one. That the eye, which is supplied with a double quantity of fibrils, may be a more perfect organ of sense, will be readily admitted : but that point is not connected with the present* question."* Independently of weight and size, Soemmerring observed fifteen visible material anatomical differences between the brain of the common tailless ape and that of man.f It must be acknowledged that the inquiries into the relative weight of the brain and the body, and the comparison between the former and the nerves connected with it, have not yet af- forded any precise and clear information respecting the diffe- rences between man and animals, nor on the grounds of the infi- nitely various faculties that distinguish different animals. It can hardly be expected that these matters wiU receive any clear elucidation, while we continue so ignorant as at present of the functions executed by the different parts of the encephalon. The basis of the position so much insisted on by Soemmer- ring is an assumption, that a certain bulk of nerve requires always the same proportion of brain for the execution of its office — a datum by no means self-evident. The comparison of the nerves to the brain in general is not satisfactory ; we should wish to know the relative proportions of the cerebrum, cerebel- lum, and medulla oblongata. The latter, indeed, is an impor- tant point, as most of the nerves are immediately connected with .it, few with the cerebrum, and none with the cerebellum, pro- perly so called. The most striking character of the human brain is the prodi- gious development of the cerebral hemispheres, to which no ani- mal, whatever ratio its whole encephalon may bear to its body, affords any prjrallel. J It is also the most perfect in the number and development of * Uc'ber die kurperliche Verschicdenheit des Nepers rom Europaer ; p. 63 67. See also the dissertation of the same &\iXhor Ve Basi Encppliali ; and J. G. Ebel Obs. neurol. ex Jlnat. comparata, p. 17; Fraucoi". ad Viadr. 1788; or in Ludwii; Scriptores neurologtci. t Ueber die kiirp. VeTsch. p. 77, note. X On this point I apprehend, from the following passage, that the Wenzels agree with what is stated in the text : " Homini pro ratione longe plus massse cerebri inesse, quam mammalibus, sive illam massa; cerebri partem, quae in interiore cerebro sitas, peculiariter formatas, sive individuas partes ambit, in nomine pro ratione majorem esse, quam in mammalibus. " De penitiori Struct, Cerebri Hominis et Brutorum, p, 369. 134 PECULIARITIES OF Its parts ; none being found in any animal, which man has not ; while several of those found in man are either reduced in size, or deficient in various animals. Hence it has been said, that by taking away, diminishing, or changing proportions, you might form, from the human brain, that of any animal : while, on the contrary, there is none from which you could in like manner construct the brain of man. It approaches the most nearly to the spherical figure. That the nerves are the smallest in proportion to the brain, has been already pointed out : the brain diminishes and the nerves in- crease from man downwards. In the foetus and child the nerves are proportionally larger than in the adult. The assertion that it has the largest cerebrum in proportion to the cerebellum * does not seem to be quite correct. It has, however, the largest cerebrum in proportion to the medulla ob- longata and spinalis t> with the single and indeed singular exception of the dolphin. It has the deepest and most numerous convolutions, appa- rently in consequence of its size, as the purpose of this structure seems to be that of affording a more extensive surface for the application of the vascular membrane, the pia mater. The con- volutions become fewer and shallower as the brain diminishes in size ; there are none in the rodentia ; none in very small brains It has the greatest quantity of medullary substance in propor- tion to the cortical. In the foetus the cortical is much more abundant than in the adult. SoEMM ERRING has sho\vn that that curious structure, the * The following numbers indicate the comparative weights of the cerebrum and cerebellum. Man . 1-9 S. Mona . 1-8 Beaver . . 1—3 Wild Boar . 1—7 Sai'miri . . 1-14 Dog . . 1—8 Rat . 1— 3i Cow . . . 1—9 Sai . . . 1— f; Cat . . . 1—6 Mouse . . 1—3 Slieep . . . 1—5 Magot . . 1—7 Mole . . l-4i Hare . , 1—6 Horse. . . 1—7 Baboon . 1—7 Cuvier, Leq. d'Anat. comp. ii. 153. The Wenzels, whose accuracy seems to deserve the greatest confidence, re- present some of these proportions differently. They have found the cere- brum, compared to the cerebellum, to be, in man, as 6-5^5^—8-5^; to 1 ; in the horse, 4i to 1 ; cow, 5 ^1 1 to 1 ; dog, 6^ to 1 ; cat, 4y5 to 1 ; mole, 3§ to 1 ; mouse, 6f to 1. Lib. cit. tab. iv. t The breadth of the medulla oblongata behind the pons Varolii, compared to the greatest breadth of the brain, is. In Man as 1—7 Simia sinica (Bonnet } -i_a Chinois) i ^~* S. Cynomolgus . . 1 — 5 Dog . . . 6— 11 or 3— 8 Cat. Rabbit Pig . . .Sheep . Roe. . . . 8-22 3— 8— 1—3 . . 5—7 . . 5—7 . . 1—3 Cow . . Calf . . Horse , . Dolphin . In the latter animal the breadth of the brain is twice its length : tion of which there is no other instance in the animal kingdom. . . 5-13 . . 2-^ . . 8-21 . . 1-13 -a proper ^ INTERNAL STRUCTURE BRAIN. 135 sandy or earthy matter of the pineal gland (acervnlus pinealis), belongs to the healthy natural state of the human brain, being found from the fourteenth year, and that it is almost con- fined to man *. He found it, however, once in the fallow-deer (cer\ais dama) ; and Malacakne f met with it in the goat. An instance communicated by Caldani, of an old man, in whose brain it was deficient, is regarded by Blumenbach X as a rare anomaly of structure §. The position of the heart in biped man differs from that which it holds in quadrupeds. Its oblique direction to the left side, its fiat surface resting on the diaphragm, and the firm attachment of its serous membrane to the tendinous centre of that muscle, present, in the former, a contrast to its straight situation in the middle of the chest, to its support on the sternum, and to the want of attachment between the pericardium and muscle, which are even separated by a distinct interval in the latter ; a contrast easUy explained by the differences in the form of the thorax, and • De LapilUs vcl prope vel intra Glandulam pinealem sitis ; Mogunt. 1785. t Eiicefalotomia d'alcuni Quadrupedi, p. 31. t De g. h. var. nat. p. 44. From the very accurate researches of the Wenzels, it appears that a deficiency of the acervulus is not so unfrequent as had been represented by Soemmerring ; and they found, on the other hand, that the latter excellent anatomist has not been correct in fixing the fourteenth year as the date of its earliest appearance ; they have met witli it from the age of seven. They mention six instances, in which thp acervulus did not exist. De peniliori Ulructura Cerebri Hominis et Brutorum, Tubingte, fol. 1812, p. 316. \ The human encephalon undergoes considerable changes after birth, in its entire mass. In the proportions of its parts, and in the texture and consistency of its substance. The gradual evolution of the mental faculties corresponds to these alterations; which, indeed, accord with the slow development of the human frame in other respects. The Wenzels have afibrded accurate infor- mation on some points. In an embrj'o of live months they found a brain of 720 grains ; cerebrum of 683; cerebellum of 37, which is a ratio of the former to tlie latter as 18^ to 1 : at eight montlis the numbers were 4960, 4610, 350, or, as 13^ to 1 : at the time of birth, as 6150, 5700, 450, or 12f to 1 : at three years, 15,340, 13,380, 1860, or 7-^ to 1 : at five years, 20,250, 17,760, 2490, or 7^^ to 1. From fifteen to eighty-eight the highest numbers occurred in a youth of the former age ; they were 24,420, 21,720, 2700, or Syl^ to 1. Tab. 3. Soemmerring observes, in the explanation of his Ijeautiful tabula buicos ence- ■phali, ]). 13, that the human brain has reached its full development at three years of age ; the Wenzels affirm that this is not the case till seven, when, they observe, " cerebrum hominis et quoad totum et quoad singulas jiartes abso- lutum esse videtur. " P. 247. If the perfect state of the brain be considered to include the proportionate development of parts, the entire size and weight, the consistence and cohesion of the mass, and the state of vascular supply characterizing the adult, we must fix as its era a much later period than the seventh year. 1 apprehend that the brain of animals will be found nearly perfect in its organization at the time of birth ; and, consequently, that a com- parison of man and animals in this point of view will disclose a remarkable point of distinetiou between them. The medullary striae of the fourth ventricle are not seen at birth : their appearance in the first year, and that of the acer- vulus in the seventh, are regarded by the Wenzels as great peculiarities of the human brain, since that of the mammalia exhibits no such development of new parts after birth. Cap. 27. This seems to me a confined and inadequate view of a point, which, iu its full extent, is of great importance. 136 PECULIARITIES OF in the respective attitudes in the two cases. The orangs (S. satyrus, troglodytes, and gibbon) have it placed as in man, and the pericardium attached to the diaphragm. In other simiae the apex only is a little inchned to the left, and touches the muscle. The curvature of the sacrum and os coccygis gives rise to the peculiar situation and direction of the sexual organs, and par- ticularly of the vagina of the human female. As these bones are extended in the same straight line with the spine in all other mammalia, the canal of the vagina follows the axis of the pelvis, lies nearly parallel to the spine, and has its external orifice directed downwards or backwards : the orifice of the urethra opens into the vagina itself. These arrangements fully explain to us why brutes discharge the urine behind, why they copu- late backwards, and why parturition is so easy with them. In these points of structure, the monkey kind agree with the mammalia in general, and differ from man. The axis of the vagina is directed downwards in them ; the urine is discharged within it (such, at least, Blumenbach* found to be the case in the papio maimon and the simia cynomolgus), and they are, consequently, retromingent and retro-copulant. Mr. Hunter, who had had opportunities of observing the process, informs us that " monkeys always copulate backwards . this is performed sometimes when the female is standing on all fours ; and at other times the male brings her between his thighs v/hen he is sitting, holding her with his fore-paws. "f Dr. Froriep, of Weimar, late physician to the King of Wurtemberg, informed me that he had often seen monkeys copulate in the extensive menagerie of that monarch ; and that they performed the process backwards ; the male supporting himself by the feet on the calves of the female, so that he did not touch the ground. The incurvation of the sacrum and coccyx turns the human • De g. h. var. nat. sect. i. 5 7. Tlie urethra does not, however, open within the vagina in the orang-outang. Camper mentions that the nymphaj of this animal were " corame r^unies ensemble," and that the urethra opened below them. Qiuvres, i. 102. According to Cuvier the female urethra always opens at the external orifiea of the vagina, and therefore holds the same situation in respect to this canal, in all animals. The canal exterior to this termination of the urethrahe calls I'u/r/i. It is a simple entrance of little depth in the human subject ; rather larger in the baboons, equal in length to the vagina itself in some other monkeys, as the sapajous, or even superior, as in the bear. Leq. d'Anat. comp. v. 128. On account of the great depth of the symphysis pubis in the orang-outang (two inches in an animal of little more than two feet, which is equal to its greatest depth in the tallest woman), the urethra of the orang-outang is evea longer than that of the human female. Camper, ut supra, p. 107. T Animal Economy, p, 136. INTERNAL STRUCTURE VAGINA, HYMEN. 137 vagina forwards, so that its axis cuts that of the pelvis nearly at right angles, and its anterior opening is turned forwards ; the urethra opens on its upper and front edge, not at all within the canal. Hence the human female differs from all other mam- malia * in not being retromingent and retro-copulant ; hence, too, although many inconveniences to which she would have been otherwise exposed, particularly during pregnancy, are obviated, parturition is rendered much more difficult, and a physical reason is found for that doom under which she labours, of bringing forth children in son-ow and in pain. Although it cannot be deemed an internal organ, this seems the fittest place for mentioning the hymen, an interesting part of the female structure in many respects, and therefore more noticed and investigated than so small a fold of skin would have seemed to deserve. The general opinion of its non- existence in the other mammalia besides man, and the circum- stance of its being found m women only at a particular period of life, and even then not universally, have led many anatomists to deny its existence altogether. The question, however, can be so easily settled by direct evidence, that we are surprised to find BuFFON still contesting the point. Though the opinion of this great naturalist is incorrect in point of fact, we cannot but admire the eloquence with which he inveighs against the dis- graceful opinions and practices which have prevailed on this subject.f It has been generally asserted that this little part is found * Probably the cetaoea may form an exception to this statement. Our atten- tion, however, is hardly extended to them in this comparison of man and animals. According to the representations of Sieller, the manati and the ursine seal (sea-cow and sea-bear) copulate in the human method. Nov. Comm. Acad. Sclent. Pelrvp. v. ii. pp. Z^b and 354. t " Les hommes, jalouxdes primaut^s en tout"cnre, ont toujours fait grand cas de tout ce qu'ils ont cru pouvoir posseder exclusivement et les premiers: c'est cette espece de folie, qui a fait un etre reel de la virginity des lilies. La virginity, qui est un etre moral, une vertu qui ne consiste que dans la puretO du coeur, est devenu un objet physique dont tons les hommes se sont occup^s; ils ont etabli sur cela des opinions, des usages, des ceremonies, des superstitions, etmfime des jugemens, et des peines ; les abus les plus illicites, les couturaes les plus Ueshonnetes ont etes autorisees ; on a soumis ^ I'examen des matrones ignorantes, et expose aux yeux de medecins prevenus les parties les plus secrC'tes de la nature, sans songer qu'une pareille indeeence est un attentat centre la virginite ; que c'est la violer que de chercher la reconnoitre ; que toute situation honteuse, tout etat indecent, dont une fiUe est obligee derougirinte- rieurement, est une vraie defloration. Je n'espdre pas reussir k detruire les pr^jug^s ridicules qu'on s'est formes sur ce sujet; les chuses, qui font plaisir a croirc, seront toujours crues, quelques vaines et quelques deraisonnables qu'elles puissent etre; cependant, cornme dans une histcire on rapporte nou seulement la suile des evenemens, et les circonstances des faits, mais aussi I'origine des opinions et des crreurs dominantes, j'ai cru que dans I'histoirede riiomrae, je ne pourrois me dispenser de parler de I'idule favorite a laiiuelle il sacrifie, d'examiner quelUs peuvent etre les raisous de son culte, etde recher- eher si la virginity est un etre rC'el, ou si ce n'est qu'une divinite fabuleuse." 188 PECULIAEITIES OF INTERNAL STRUCTURE, &C. only in the human subject. In the female orang-outang Cam- per* says that the hymen was not apparent, although the indmdual was very young. Blumenbach f informs us that he could neither find any trace of this part, nor those supposed remains of it called carunculae myrti-formes, in monkeys or baboons ; and that his search was equally fruitless in a female elephant, in which it had been reported that a hymen existed. CuviER,t on the contrary, represents that several mammalia have a distinct membranous fold at the entrance of the vagina, and others a decided contraction in the same situation. It is not so easy to explain the use or purpose of this mem- brane, as to establish the fact of its existence. This little fold has indeed completely puzzled the physico-theologists, who have as yet assigned no rational explanation of it. The moral pur- poses aUuded to by Haller § are quite unintelligible in our own species ; and are stiU more inapplicable to the case of brutes. The clitoris and the nymphse have been supposed peculiar to the human female, as weU as the hymen ; the latter, indeed, are generally absent in the mammalia, but Blumenbach || informs us tliat a lemur, which he kept alive for many years, had them very closely resembling the human. The clitoris seems to bo universally found in the mammalia : it is very large in the monkey kind, and in the carnivora; and Blumenbach ^ saw it of the size of a fist in a balasna hoops stranded on the coast of Holland. » (Ettrres, i. 102. r De s. h. rar. nat. Lect. i. { 8. it He states, on the authority of Stella, that the nurthern manati has a strong semilunar lol d al the orifioe of tlie vagina, contracting the entrance of tliat canal ; that the mare and ass have a similar structure ; and that in the ouistiti (simia jacchus) the marikina (S. rosalia), and the coaita (S. paniseus), there are two lateral similunar folds, leaving between them a perpendicular slit. In the otter, dog, cat, and ruminants, he found a constricted circle. In the brown bear there was a thick lip-like fold of the internal membrane, reducing the entrance of the vagina to a simple transverse slit ; and the liyeiia exhibited an aiialoi'ous structure. A young hyrax had a very distinct circular hymen. Lcq. a' Anal, comi: T. v. {>. 131, 132. ? " Vix tamen dubites, cum solo in homine sit repertus, etiam ad morales fines el esse concessum signum pudieitia;, quo et vitium illatum eogno&catur, et p\ira-virgo decas suum possit tueri, et ipse maritus de castitate sponsse facile convincatur, eo facilius, quod pra'terea in ilUbata virgine vagina angusta sit. Etsi eiiim possit fieri ut parvus, ut laxus sit hymen, atque prima venus ali- quando absque sanguine absolvatur, neque hymen rurapatur ; etsi artificio porro in parum pudica femina sanguis pussit elici ; etsi tenerae virgiues ali- quando etiam in altero coitu sanguinem reddunt, et menses tiuentes vaginam laxant ; tamen in universum debet prima venus cruenta esse, eoque signo pudor virgineus adseri, cum vix possit plena venus obtineri, quin superior margo partis majoris hymenis laceretur. Quare et JMusaicaj leges, et multo- rum po])ulorum consuetudo, hoc signum servatae castitatis et requirunt et ostentant, et do exemplis in virginibus etiam pene trigenariis certussum, quae insignem in prima veuere sanguinis jacturam suntpassa;. " Elvm, Fhydul, lib. ii8, sect. 2, \ 27. II Lib. cit. p. 21. IT Ibid. HUMAN AXIMAL ECONOMY. 139 CHAPTER VI. I'eculianlies in the animal Economy of the human Species; general Extension over the Globe; Man naturally omnivorous ; his long Infancy and slow Deve- lopment : — hence suited to the Social State. In the diversity of the regions, which he is capable of inhabiting, the lord of the creation holds the first place among animals. His frame and nature are stronger and more flexible than those of any other creature ; hence he can dweU in all situations on the surface of the globe. The neighbourhood of the pole, and the equator, high mountains and deep valleys, are occupied by him : his strong but pliant body l)ears cold, heat, moisture, light or heavy air ; he can thrive any where, and runs into less re- markable varieties than any other animals, which occupy so great a diversity of abodes : — a prerogative so singular, that it must not be overlooked. The situations occupied by our species in the present times extend as far as the known surface of the earth. The Green- lander and Esquimaux have reached between 70o and 80° of N. L. and Danish settlements have been formed in Greenland in the same high latitude. Three Russians lived between six and seven years on Spitzbergen between 77° and 7So N. L.* The Ne^ro Uves under the equator, and all America is inhabited even to Terra del Fuego. Thus we find that man can exist and pro- pagate his si>ecies in the hottest and coldest countries of the earth. The greatest natural cold ascertained by thermometrical mea- surement was that e.xperienced by the elder Gmelin in 1735, at Jeniseik : the mercury froze in the tliermometer.f The sparrows and jays were all killed. When Pallas was at Kras- noiarsk, the quicksilver also froze in tlie ball of the thermo- meter ; and a large mass of pure mercury froze in the open air.| Our own countrymen experienced apparently as severe a degree of cold on the Churchill River in Hudson's Bay. Brandy was frozen in the rooms where they had fires. § Yet the Canadian savages and the Esquimaux go to the chase in this temperature ; and the inhabitants of the countries visited by Gmelin and Pallas cannot remain in their houses all the winter. Even Europeans accustomed to warmer chmates, can undergo such cold as I have just mentioned, with impunity, if they take • Dr. Aikin on the .attempts to winter in high Nortliem Latitudes; Manchester Society's Memoirs; v. 1, p. 96, + Flora Sibirica; Pref. t Travels in Russia ; pi. 3. { Fhilos. Tram, No. 465. 140 PECULIARITIES IN THE exercise enough. The Danes have Uved in Greenland in 72° N. L. ; and the Dutch, under Heemskerk, wintered at Nova Zembla in 76° N. L. Some of them perished ; but those, who moved enough, and were in good health at first, withstood the dreadful cold, which the polar bear (ursus maritimus), apparently born for these climes, seems to have been incapable of support- ing : for their journal states, that, as soon as the sun sinks be- low the horizon, the cold is so intense that the bears are no longer seen, and the white fox (isatis, canis lagopus) alone braves the weather.* We have another example, in which three men remained between six and seA'en years in 78o N. L.f The power of the human body to withstand severe cold will appear in a more remarkable light when we observe what heat it is capable of bearing. Boerhaave asserted, that a tempe- rature of from 96° to 100° would be fatal to man. The mean temperature of Sierra Leone is 84° Fahr. : Messrs. Watt and Winterbottom saw the thermometer frequently at 100°, and even 102o and 103° (in the shade), at some distance from the coast.:^ Adanson saw it at lOS^o in the shade at Senegal in 17° N. L. : § and Buffon cites an instance of its being seen at 1172°- The country to the west of the great desert may be still hotter than Senegal, from the effect of the winds which have swept over the whole tract of its burning sands. When the sirocco blows in Sicily, the thermometer rises to 112°, according to Brydone. Dr. Chalmers observed a heat of 115° in South Carohna in the shade : || and Humboldt, of 110° to 115° in the Llanos or deserts near the Orinoco in South America.^ Thus man can support aU possible degrees of atmospherical heat and cold : he has an equal power of supporting varieties of pressure. The ordinary pressure of the air, at the level of the sea, may be reckoned at 32,325lbs. for the whole surface of the body, supposing the barometer at 30 inches. If we ascend to a height of 12,000 feet, of which elevation extensive tracts, inha- bited by thousands, are found in South America, the barometer stands at 20i inches, and the pressure is 21,750 lbs. Conda- * Voy. de la Comp. des Indes ; pi. LA short account of the voj-age is given by Mr. Barrow in his Chronological History of Foyagei: into the Arctic Regions; chap. ii. The polar bears disappeared, and the white foxes were seen in great numbers, as soon as the sun set : when it rose again, the foxes went away, and the bears returned. + Dr. Aikin, as above quoted. t Winterbottom's Accowit of the native Africans ; v. 1, p. Zi, 33. \ Voy. au Senegal. II On the TVeatlifer and Diseases of South Carolina. ii Tableau jihysique des HegioTis Equatoriales. HUMAN ANIMAL ECONOMY. 141 MINE and BouGUER, with their attendants, lived three weeks at a height of 2434 toises, or 14,604 French feet, where the ba- rometer stood at 15 in. 9 hnes, and the pressure must conse- quently have been 16,920 lbs.* In the Peruvian territory, ex- tensive plains occur possessing an altitude of 9000 feet ; and three-fifths of the vice-royalty of Mexico, comprehending the interior provinces, present a surface of half a million of square miles, which runs nearly level at an elevation between 6000 and 8000 feet. Mexico is 7-175, and Quito 9550 feet above the level of the sea. The hamlet of Antisana, 13,500 feet above that level, is the highest inliabited spot on the surface of our globe ; but Humboldt ascended Chimborago to 19,300 feet.f There are no mstances of men living under a pressure much greater than what has been mentioned : the depths to which the earth has been penetrated, in the operations of mining are trifling in this point of view. In diving, however, the body is subject to, and can bear, several atmospheres ; as, on the contrary, in balloons, men have ascended beyond any point of elevation on the sur- face of the earth, t and have consequently been exposed to a much more considerable diminution of the ordinary pressure than what I have stated above. As the physical capabilities of his frame enable man to occupy every variety of climate, soil, and situation, it follows of necessity, that he must be omnivorous, that is, capable of deriving suffi- cient nourishment and support from all kinds of food. The power of living in various situations would be rendered nugatory by restriction to one kind of diet. If it was the design of nature, that the dreary wastes of Lap- land, the naked and barren shores of the Icy Sea, the ice-bound coasts of Greenland and Labrador, and the frightful deserts of Terra del Fuego, should be not left entirely uninhabited, it is impossible to suppose that either a vegetable or even a mixed diet is necessary to human subsistence. IIow could roots, fruits, or other vegetable productions be procured, where the bosom of the earth is closed the greater part of the year, and its surface either covered with many feet of snow, or rendered impenetrable by frost of equal depth ? Experience shows us that the constant • Mem. de VAcad. des Sciences, annfe 1744; p. 262, 2G3. + Tableau phys. des Regions Equaloriales ; and Tableaux de la JVature. t The heis^ht of 23,040 feet above the level of the soa, reached by Mr. Gay Lussac ill his second ascent, although considerably higher than the summit of Chimboraco, may however he surpassed by some peaks of the Himmaleh mountains; if the recent suppositious concerning tneir altitude should Ihj hereafler verified. 142 MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. use of animal food alone is as natural and wholesome to the Esquimaux, the Samoiedes, the inhabitants of Terra del Fuego, &c &c. as the most careful admixture of vegetable and animal matters is to us. We even find that the Russians, who winter on Nova Zembla, are obliged to imitate the Samoiedes, by drink- ing fresh rein-deer blood, and eating raw flesh, in order to pre- serve their health. In the memoir already quoted. Dr. Aikin informs us, that these practices were found most conducive to health in those high northern latitudes. Hence, we shall be less surprised at finding men in certain situations living and enjoying health on what seem to us the most filthy and disgusting objects. The Greenlander and the inhabitant of the Archipelago between north-eastern Asia and north-western America, eat the whale, often without waiting for cookery. The former bury a seal, when they catch one, under the grass in summer, and the snow in winter, and eat the half-frozen, half-putrid flesh with as keen a relish as the European finds in hi-s greatest dainties. They drink the blood of the seal while warm, and eat dried herrings moistened with whale oil.* In the torrid zone, on the contrary, circvimstances arc very unfavourable to -raising and supporting those flocks and herds of domesticated animals, which would be necessary to supply the numerous population with animal food. The number, fierce- ness, and strength of beasts of prey, the periodical alternations of rains and inundations, with the long continued operation of a vertical sun, whose direct rays dry up all succulent vegetables and all fluids, are the principal and insurmountable obstacles. The deficient supply of flesh is most abundantly compensated by numerous and valuable vegetable presents ; by the cocoa-nut, the plantain, the banana, the sago-tree ; by the potatoe, yam, cassava, and other roots ; by maize, rice, and millet ; and by an infinite diversity of cooling and refreshing fruits. By these precious gifts, nature has pointed out to the natives of hot climates the most suitable kind of nourishment : here, accord- ingljr, a vegetable diet is found most grateful and salubrious, and animal food much less wholesome. In the temperate regions of the globe, all kinds of animal food can be easily procured, and nearly all descriptions of grain, roots, fruit, and other vegetable matters ; and, when taken in modera- tion, all afford wholesome nourishment. Here, therefore, man appears in his omnivorous character. As we pass from these • Cranz, Gesch. von Gronland. MAX NATURALLY OMXIVOROIIS. 143 middle climes towards the poles, animal matters are more and more exclusively taken ; towards the equator, cooling fruits and other produce of the earth constitute a greater share of human diet. The diversity of substances composing the catalogue of human aliments,* offers a strong contrast to the simple diet of most other animals, which, in their wild state, are confined to one kind of food, either animal or vegetable, and are often restricted to some very small part of either kingdom. Hence, it has been conceived, that man also ought to confine himself to one sort, that he probably did so in his natural state, and that the present variety in his bill of fare is the consequence of degeneration or departure from nature. The question of the natural food of man, has, therefore, been much agitated. The nature of an animal is only to be learned by an observa- tion of structure, actions, and habits. From the powerful fangs and jaws, the tremendous talons, the courage, and the vast mus- cular strength of the lion, and his constant practice of attacking living prey, we pronounce his nature to be ferocious, predatory, and carnivorous. From evidence of the same sort, we determine the nature of the hare to be mild, timid, and herbivorous. In a similar way we conclude man to be naturally omnivorous ; find- ing that he has instruments capable of procuring, masticating, and digesting all descriptions of food, and that he can subsist in health and strength on flesh or vegetables only, or on a mixture of both. • To this long list, -n-hich, already comprehending most of the substances in the two organic kingdoms of nature, so fully justifies us in dorioiiiinatingmaa an omnivorous animal, we have to add, on the authorit3' of recent trials in Germany, the wood of various trees. The ligneous fibres of the beech, birch, lime, poplar, elms, tir, and probably others, when dried, gronnd, and sifted, so as to form an impalpable powder like coarse flour, are not only capable of affording wholesome nourishment to man or animals, but even, with some admixtures, and some culinary skill, constitute verj- palatable articles of food. If cold water be poured on some wood flour, inclosed in a tine linen ba"-, it becomes milky, and considerable pressing or kneadino; is required to wash out from the flour all the starch-like matter it contains. Like starch, this matter slowly subsides in cold water ; and it forms, when boiled with water, a thick tenacious paste, which will firralv agglutinate the leaves of paste-board. The following publications have appeared on the subject, vtz. Oberlechner, .^rs fabricandi trumentum verum ; Salzburg, 1805. ff'ie kann man sich bey grosser Tkeuerung iind Hungersnoth o/ine Getreid gesundes Brod rersrhaffenl Salzburg, 1816. Autenrieth, Grmdliche Anleitung zur Brod-zuhereitung, cms Uolz; Stuttgard, 1817. The last work, by Professor Autenrieth of Tubingen, is analysed in the Salzhurgmedicinisch-chirurgische Zeitung, 1817, v. 3, No. 56. The bark of trees has been long occasionally used as a substitute, in times of scarcity, for other food. Professor Von Buch has described the prepara- tion and efl'ects of the Norwegian Barke Brod, which seems however a very imperfect and unwholesome kind of nutriment. — Travels through Norway and Lapland; p. 87. 144 MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. It is» alleged in reply, that man in society is artificial and degenerate ; and the object of inquiry is stated to be, vvhat does he feed on before civilization, in his original, unsophisticated condition ? Generally on animal food, the produce of the chase or the fishery ; because vegetable food cannot be obtaiiied in suflficient certainty and abundance, until something like settled habits of life have begun, until the arts, at least that of agricul- ture, have commenced. If the rudest barbarism be the most natural state of man, the New Hollanders and the inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land, are the most unexceptionable specimens ; raised, and but just raised, above the level of brutes. ITiese savages are very thinly scattered, in small numbers, and at wide intervals, along the coasts of the great austral continent ; and derive their support from the sea. They are not, however, pure icthyophagists, as they sometimes get a kangaroo, a bird, or a few roots, and sometimes the large larvae of an insect from the bark of the dwarf gum-tree (eucalyptus resinifera) : sometimes they mix their roots with ants, and their larvae into a paste.* The individuals, whom we send to New South Wales, are not the best specimens of our iron age, yet they are far beyond these children of nature, in physical and moral attributes. The Greenlanders, the Kurilian and Aleutian islanders, the wandering hordes of Asia, and the hunting tribes of North America, are, perhaps, too much civilized to be admitted as examples of natural man : they are aU carnivorous. If the practices of savage and barbarous people are to be the criterion, we must deem it natural to eat earth. " The Otto- maques," says Humboldt, f " on the banks of the Meta and the Orinoco, feed on a fat unctuous earth, or a species of pipe- clay, tinged with a little oxyd of iron. They collect this clay very carefully, distinguishing it by the taste : they knead it into balls of four or six inches in diameter, which they bake slightly before a slow fire. Whole stacks of such provision are seen piled up in their huts. These clods are soaked in water, when about to be used ; and each individual eats about a pound of the material every day. The only addition, which they occasionally make to this unnatural fare, consists in small fish, lizards, and fern-roots. The quantity of clay that the Otto- * Collins, Account of the English Colony in A'ew South JFales ; Appendix, No. 4. Their habitations, if that name be deemed applicable to a hole in a tree or rock, or to a piece of bark strippe/l from a sin;,'le tree, bent and laid on the ground ; and the rest of their domestic and social economy, as portrayed in the same work, are quite in unison with their bill of lare. + Tab. fihys, des Re<^ions equatoriales. MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. 145 raaques consume, and the greediness with which they devour it, seem to prove that it does more than distend their hungry stomachs, and that the organs of digestion have the power of extracting from it something convertible into animal substance." The same practice has been observed in other places.* . Is it a just point of view to regard the savage state exclusively as the state of nature ? Is civihzation to be considered as opposed to and incompatible with the nature of man ? A power of improvement, of advancement in arts and sciences, that is, the capability of civilization, or perfectibihty, as it has sometimes been called, is recognised in all human beings : its degree is very various in individuals and races. All have lived in society, which strongly tends to promote and assist the de- velopment of this power. Social Ufe and progressive civili- zation, instead of being unnatural to man, are therefore parts, and very valuable parts of his nature, as much as the erect stature and speech ; as much as ferocity and solitary life are the nature of predacious animals, or mildness and herding together are of many herbivorous ones. It is as much the nature of man to form societies, to build up pohtical associations, to cultivate arts and sciences, to spread himself over the globe, and avail himself of both organized kingdoms for his support, as it is that of the bee and ant to establish their communities, to gather honey and lay up pro^'isions, or that of any other animals to perform the actions by which they are respectively characterized. These considerations lead to the conclusion, that progressive advance and development, and the emplo}'ment of aU kinds of food, are as natural to man, as stationary uniformity and restric- tion to one species of aliment are to any animals. In discussing this question, we sometimes meet with posi- tions respecting the influence of animal or vegetable diet, on the development of the bodily and mental powers, which are quite unsupported by direct proof : and some have even sought for a support to their systems in the fictions of poetry. " The Pythagorean diet," says Buffon, " though extolled by ancient and modem philosophers, and even recommended by certain physicians, was never indicated by nature. If man were obliged to abstain totally from flesh, he would not, at least in * " I saw one man, whose stomach was already well lined, but who, in our presence, ate a piece of steatite, which was verj- soft, of a greenish colour, and twice as large as a man's fist. We afterwards saw a number of others eat of the same earth, which serves to allay the sensation of hunger by filling the stomach." Labillardiere, Voyage in search o/La Perouse, v. ii. 214. 146 MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. our climates, either exist or multiply. An entire abstinence from flesh can have no effect but to enfeeble nature. To pre- serve himself in proper plight, man requires not only the use of this solid nourishment, but even to vary it. To obtain com- plete vigour, he must choose that species of food, which is most agreeable to his constitution ; and, as he cannot preserve himself in a state of activity, but by procuring new sensations, he must give his senses their full stretch, and eat a variety of meats, to prevent the disgust arising from an uniformity of nourishment." We are told, on the other hand, that in the golden age man was as innocent as the dove ; his food was acorns, and his beverage pure water from the fountain. Finding every where abundant subsistence, he felt no anxieties, but lived inde- pendent, and always in peace both with his own species, and the other animals. But he no sooner forgot his native dignity, and sacrificed his liberty to the bonds of society, than war and the iron age succeeded that of gold and of peace. Cruelty and an insatiable appetite for flesh and blood were the first fruits of a depraved nature, the corruption of which was completed by the invention of manners, arts, and sciences. Either immediately, or remotely, all the physical and moral evil, by which indivi- duals are aflSicted, and society laid waste, arose from these carnivorous practices. Both these representations are contradicted by the only crite- rion in such questions, an appeal to experience. That animal food renders man strong and courageous, is fully disproved by the inhabitants of northern Europe and Asia, the Laplanders, Samoiedes, Ostiacs, Tungooses, Burats, and Kamtschadales, as well as by the Esquimaux in the northern, and the natives of Terra del Fuego in the southern extremity of America, which are the smallest, weakest, and least brave people of the globe, although they live almost entirely on flesh, and that often raw. Vegetable diet is as little connected with weakness and cowardice, as that of animal matters is with physical force and courage. That men can be perfectly nourished, and their bodily and mental capabilities be fully developed in any climates by a diet purely vegetable, admits of abundant proof from experience. In the periods of their greatest simplicity, manliness, and bra- very, the Greeks and Romans appear to have lived almost entirely on plain vegetable preparations ; indiflferent bread, fruits, and other produce of the earth, are the chief nourishment of the modern Italians, and of the mass of the population in most coun- MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. 147 tries of Europe : of those more immediately known to ourselves, the Irish and Scotch may be mentioned ; who are certainly not rendered weaker than their English fellow-subjects by their freer use of vegetable aliment. The Negroes, whose great bodily powers are well known, feed chiefly on vegetable sub- stances ; and the same is the case with the South Sea Islanders, whose agility and strength were so great, that the stoiitest and most expert English sailors had no chance with them in wrest- ling and boxing. The representations of the Pythagoreans respecting the noxious and debilitating effects of animal food, are, on the other hand, the mere offspring of imagination. We have not the shadow of a proof, unless we admit Ovid's Metamorphoses and other poetical compositions, that this state of innocence, of exalted temperance, of entire abstinence from flesh, of perfect tranquil- lity, of profound peace, ever existed, or that it is more than a fable, designed to convey moral instruction. If the experience of every individual were not sufficient to convince him that the use of animal food is quite consistent ^vith the greatest strength of body and most exalted energy of mind, this truth is pro- claimed by the voice of all history. A few hundreds of Euro- peans hold in bondage the vegetable-eating millions of the East. If the Romans in their earliest state employed a simple vege- table diet, their glorious career went on uninterruptedly after they had become more carnivorous : we see them winning their way, from a beginning so inconsiderable that it is lost in the obscurity of fable, to the empire of the world ; we see them, by the power of intellect, establishing that dominion, which they had acquired by the sword, and producing such compositions in poetry, oratory, philosophy, and history, as are at once the admiration and despair of succeeding ages ; we see our own countrymen rivalling them in arts and in arms, exhibiting no less signal bravery in the field and on the ocean, and displaying in a Milton and Shakspeare, in a Newton, Bacon, and Locke, in a Chatham, Erskine, and Fox, no less mental energy. Yet, with these proofs before their eyes, men are actually found, who would have us believe, on the faith of some insulated, exaggerated, and misrepresented facts, and still more miserable hypothesis, that the development, form, and powers of the body are impaired and lessened, and the intellectual and moral faculties injured and perverted, by animal food. On this subject of diet a question naturally presents itself, H 2 148 MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. whether man approaches most nearly to the carnivorous or herbivorous tribes in his structure ? What kind of food should we assign to him, if we judged from his organization merely, and the analogy it presents to that of other mammalia ? Physio- logists have usually represented that our species holds a middle rank, in the masticatory and digestive apparatus, between the flesh-eating and the herbivorous animals ; — a statement which seems rather to have been deduced from what we have learned by experience on this subject, than to resiilt fairly from an actual comparison of man and animals. The molar teeth, being the instruments employed in dividing and preparing the food, must exhibit, in figure and construction, a relation to the nature of the aliment. They rise, in the true carnivora, into sharp-pointed prominences ; and those of the lower shut within those of the upper jaw : when the series is viewed together, the general outline may be compared to the teeth of a saw. These animals are also furnished with long, pointed, and strong cuspidati or canine teeth, which are employed as weapons of oflFence and defence, and are very ser- viceable in seizing and lacerating their prey : they constitute in some animals, as the lion, tiger, &c. very formidable weapons. The herbivorous animals are not armed with these terrible canine teeth : their molares have broad flat surfaces, opposed in a vertical line to each other in the two jaws. Plates of enamel are intermixed with the bone of the tooth in the latter : and, as its sup'ferior hardness makes it wear less rapidly than the other textures of the teeth, it appears on the grinding surface in rising ridges, which must greatly increase the triturating effect. In carnivorous animals the enamel is confined altogether to the surface of the teeth. The articulation of the lower jaw differs in the two cases as much as the structure of the teeth. In the carnivora it can only move backwards and forwards ; all lateral motion being pre- cluded by rising edges of the glenoid cavity : in the herbivora it has, moreover, motion from side to side. Thus we observe, in the flesh-eaters, teeth calculated only for tearing, subservient, in part at least, to the procuring of food, as well as to purposes of defence, and an articulation of the lower jaw, that precludes all lateral motion. In those which hve on vegetables, the form of the teeth and the nature of the joint are calculated for the lateral or grinding motion. The former, having rudely torn and divided the food, swallow it in masses, while in the latter it MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. 149 undergoes considerable comminution before it is swallowed. The teeth of man have not the slightest resemblance to those of the carnivorous animals, except that their enamel is confined to the external surface. He possesses, indeed, teeth called canine, but they do not exceed the level of the others, and are obviously unsuited to the purposes which the corresponding teeth execute in carnivorous animals. The obtuse tubercles of the human molares have not the most remote resemblance to the pointed projections of these teeth in carnivorous animals : they are as clearly distinguished from the flat crowns with intermixed enamel of the herbivorous molares. In the freedom of lateral motion, however, the human inferior maxilla more nearly resembles that of the herbivora. The teeth and jaws of man are in all respects much more similar to those of monkeys, than of any other animals. A skull, apparently of the orang-outang, in the Museum of the College, has the first set of teeth : the number is the same as in man, and the form so closely similar, that they might easily be mistaken for human. In most other simise the canine teeth are much longer and stronger than in us ; and so far these animals have a more carnivorous character. The points and ridges of the molares in simiae are distinguished by their sharpness from the pecuhar obtuse tubercles of the human molares. The length and division of the alimentary canal are very dif- ferent according to the kind of food. In the proper carnivorous animals the canal is very short,* the large intestine cylindrical, and the caecum not larger than the rest. The form of the stomach and the disposition of its openings are calculated to allow a quick passage of the food. In the herbivora the whole canal is long ;f and there is either a complicated stomach, or a very large caecum and a sacculated colon : the stomach, even where simple, is so formed as to retain the food for a consi- derable time. In comparing the length of the intestines to that of the body m man, and in other animals, a difficulty arises on account of the legs, which are included in the measurement of the body in the former, and not in the latter. The great depth of the cranium in man makes a further addition to the length of body, and thereby * The length of the body, in a straight line from the snout to the anus, com- pared to that of the intestines, varies in the curnivora, according to Cuvier, from 1 : 3 to 1 : 5.8 ; excepting the hj-aena, where it is as 1 : 8.3. Leq. d'Anat. comp. iii. 450. t In the ruminantia the comparative lengths of the body and intestines vary between 1 : 11 and 1 : 28 : in the solipeda, between 1 : 8 and 1 ; 10. lb. 453, 454. 150 MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. diminishes the proportion which the intestine bears to it. As our legs are half the height of the body, that should be reduced one-half, when it is compared to that of animals measured from the head to the anus ; or the length of the intestines may be doubled. When allowance is made for this circumstance, man will be placed nearly on the same line with the monkey race, and will be removed to a considerable distance from the proper carnivora. Soemmerring* states that the intestinal canal of man varies from three to eight times the length of the body. In Tyson's chimpanse of twenty-six inches, the canal measured 159 inches, or about six times the length of the body.f In two sapajous and two monkeys the intestines were respectively 62 and 96 inches; as the body is said in all to have been about 14 inches from the head to the anus, its proportion to the intes- tines will be in the former as 1 : 4^, in the latter as 1 : 6i|.I From these as weU as other instances it is apparent that the comparative length of the alimentary canal in simiae is less than in man.§ The form of the stomach and caecum, and the structure of the whole canal, are very much alike in man and the monkey kind. The orangs (S. satyrus, troglodytes, and gibbon) have the appendix vermiformis, which the others want. Thus we find that, whether we consider the teeth and jaws, or the immediate instruments of digestion, the human structure closely resembles that of the simise ; aU of which, in their natural state, are completely herbivorous. || * De Corp. hum. Fab. t. vi. p. 200. t Anat. ofaPygmie, p. 32. X Memoires jiour servir a. I'Hist. nat. des Animaxix; 4to. part ii. p. 225. ? The body, from the snout to the anus, is to the intestines, in the Gibbon (S. Lar), as . 1- Sajou (Cercopithecus,) 1 — 6 Coaita (S. Paniscus) . 1—6.3 Patas (S. Patas) . . . 1—6.5 Callitriche (S. Saba;a) . 1—6 Malbrouk (S. Sinica) . . . 1—6 Macaque (S. Cynomolgus) . 1 — 6.7 Magot (Barbary Ape. S. Inuus, 1 — 5.4 Mandril Ribbed-nose Baboon, j , on S. Maimon . . . j 1— «-'5 Cuvier, Le<;. d'Anat. comp. iii. 448. If we take the measurement of Soemmerring, and double the length of the intestines, in consequence of the legs being included, the proportion will be in man from 1 : 6 to 1 : 16. If the valvulte conniventes are peculiar to man, this peculiarity will be equivalent to a considerable increase of length in the canal. * Mr. Abel's orang-outang appears to have naturally preferred fruit : he yielded on ship-board to the temptation of meat, and seems to have quickly become as carnivorous as his companions. " His food in Java was chiefly fruit, especially mangostans, of v/hich he was excessively fond. He also sucked eggs with voracity ; and often employed himself in seeking them. Oi. board ship his diet was of no definite kind. He ate readily all kinds of meat, and especially raw meat; was very fond of bread, but always preferred fruits when he could obtain them." Journey in China ; p. 325. At present (December, 1818) his diet is vegetable, both from his own choice, and because it agi-ees much best witli him. Of some species of South American simia>, it is inci- dentally mentioned by Humboldt, that they live on fruits ; Recueil d'Obs. de Zoologie, &c, p. 308, of the S. trivirgata ; p. 313, of the S. chiropotus ; p. 318, MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. 151 Man possesses a tolerably large caecum, and a cellular colon, which, I believe, are not found iu any carnivorous animal. I do not infer from these circumstances tlmt man is designed by nature to feed on vegetables, or that it would be more advantageous to him to adopt that diet. The hands and the arts of man procure for him the food, which carnivorous animals earn by their teeth. The processes of cookery bring what he eats into a diflferent state from that in which it is employed either by carnivorous or herbivorous animals. Hence the analogy in the modes of procuring and preparing food is too loose for us to place much confidence in the results of these comparative views. We must trust to experience alone for elucidating the great problem of diet ; its decision has been long ago pronounced, and wiU hardly now be reversed. It is again a different inquiry, which diet is on the whole most conducive to health and strength ? Which is best calculated to avert or remove disease ? Whether eiTors in quantity or quahty are most pernicious ? The solution of these and other analogous questions can only be expected from experimental investigation. Mankind are so averse to rehnquish their favourite indulgences, and to desert established habits, that we cannot entertain very sanguine expectations of any important discovery in this depart- ment : we must add to this, that there are many other causes affecting human health besides diet. Before venturing to draw any inference on a subject beset with so many obstacles, it would be necessary to observe the effects of a purely animal and a purely vegetable diet on several indi\dduals of different habits, pursuits, and modes of life ; to note their state, both bodily and mental ; and to learn the condition of two or three generations fed in the same manner. Recurring to the subject which has been already adverted to, —the extension of the great human family over the whole habit- able globe, — let us inquire a little into the causes of a pheno- menon, which so remarkably distinguishes man from all animals; — this power of existing and multipl}dng in every latitude, and in every variety of situation and climate. Does it arise from physical endowments, from any peculiar capabihties of the human organization ; — from strength and flexibility of the ani- of the S. melanocephala. It appears that some will occasionally take animal food, p. 320, and that the Titi (S. sciurea) will eat insects as well as fruits, p. 333. This little animal immediately distinguished, in some plates of natural historj', the insects on which it had been accustomed to prey, from other similar objects. 152 PECULIARITIES IN THE mal machinery ? or from the effects of human art and con- trivance in affording protection from extremes of heat and cold, from winds and rains, from vapours and exhalations, and the other destructive influences of local situation ? Is it, in short, the result of physical constitution, or of reason ? I think that both these causes are concerned ; — that the original source of an attribute, which so strikingly characterizes our species, is to be sought in the properties of the human frame ; and that this original power of the bodily fabric is assisted and fully developed by the mental prerogatives of man. In what way do the Greenlander, the Esquimaux, and the Canadian* employ remarkable talents or invention to protect themselves against the cold ? They brave the winter with open breast and uncovered limbs, and devour their whales and seals drest, raw, or putrid. The Negrof is healthy and strong under a vertical sun, with the soles of his feet bare on the burning sands. On the other hand, the fox, the beaver, the marmot, and the hamster, seek the shelter of dwellings, which they dig for themselves. In this comparison, in respect to protection from external influences, man enjoys no peculiar privilege. The mind, indeed, employs the excellent structure of the body, lifts man above the rest of the creation, accommodates him to all places, gives him iron, fire and arms, furs, and screens from the sun, &c. ; but with all this could never make him what he now is, the inhabitant of all climates, if he did not possess the most enduring and flexible corporeal frame. The lower animals, in general, have no defence against the evils of a new climate, but the force of nature. The arts of human ingenuity furnish a de- fence against the dangers that surround our species in every region. Accordingly, we see the same nation pass into all the climates of the earth ; reside whole winters near the pole ; plant colonies beneath the equator ; pursue their commerce, and es- tablish their factories in Africa, Asia, and America. They can equally Uve under a burning sky and on an ice-bound soil, and inhabit regions, where the hardiest animals cannot exist. Such * The Knisteneaux (situated north of the great lakes and Canada) often go to the chase in the severest frost, covered with ordinary slight clothing. Mackenzie, Travels in North America; Preliminary Hist, of the Fur Trade, p. 94. Two Indians f Americans) slept on the snow in an ordinary light dress, when the thermometer at sunrise was 40 below 0. The man suffered no in- convenience ; the boy had his feet frozen, but they were recovered by eold water. Lewis and Clark's Travels, 4to. p. 112. + The women and children on the coast of Sierra Leone wear nothing on their head, either in rain or sunshine. The mean heat is only 84° ; but the thermometer rises in the sun to 130 or 140. Winterbottom, (m the Native .'Africans, v. i. p. 38. HUMAN ANIMAL ECONOMY. 153 changes indeed ought not to be hazeu-ded suddenly and without precaution. The greatest evils that have arisen from change of climate, have been occasioned by the presumption of health, that refuses to use the necessary precautions, or by the neglect of ignorance, that knows not what precautions to use. But when changes are gradually and prudently effected, habit soon accommodates the constitution to a new situation, and human in- genuity discovers the means of guarding against the dangers of every season and of every climate. The superiority of man appears more striking, when we con- trast his universal extension with the narrow limits, to which other animals, even the most anthropo-morphous, are confined. The whole tribe of simise are nearly included within the tropics;* and no species has any considerable range even within these boundaries. No species is common to the old and the new world ; none, probably, to Asia and Africa. The orang-outang seems to be only found in the island of Borneo ; and the chim- panse in a district of Africa. The gibbon is peculiar to the East Indies ; and the proboscis monkey (simia rostrata) to the Sunda isles. The two most man-like monkeys (S. satyrus and troglodytes), inhabiting small districts of warm regions, are very inconsider- able species in number ; and thus offer a strong contrast to the thousand millions of the human species. They are subject to numerous diseases ; lose all their vivacity, strength, and natural character ; and perish, after lingering in a miserable way, when removed from their native abodes. An orang-outang brought to Paris, never recovered the exposure to cold in crossing the Pyrenees, and died at the age of fifteen months, with most of the viscera diseased and tuberculated.f The monkeys in general exist with difficulty in temperate countries, and can propagate only in warm climates. One which was impregnated in Eng- land, and attended with all possible care, brought forth a young one, which died immediately. t Probably the species could not be continued here, with all the aid of art, and it certainly could not be effected, if the animals were wild. When they are in- troduced into the north (indeed into the greater part) of Europe, and carefully managed in their food, temperature, &c. they die very quickly, and in almost all cases, of disease in the viscera, particularly the lungs. • The simia inuus, or Barbary ape^ has been transplanted from Africa to the rock of Gibraltar. T Jnnales du Museum, t. xvi. p. 53. t Hunter on the Animal Economy, p. 137« H 3 154 PECULIARITIES IN THE Other animals, as the polar bear, naturally constructed for cold, cannot subsist in warmer regions. The dog accompanies man every where ; but, with all the protection and assistance afforded by his master, degenerates, and undergoes remarkable changes, both of bodily structure and other properties, in very warm and very cold regions. Other circumstances in the human economy correspond with this power of adaptation ; such are the slow growth, long in- fancy, and late puberty of man. In no animal but man do the sutures of the cranium close, or the teeth come out at so late a period : none is so long before it can support the body on the legs, before it arrives at the complete adult stature and capacity for exercising the sexual functions. The long infancy of our species is compensated by proportionate longevity : no other of the mammalia, of coi-responding size, enjoys so long a life as man. As the duration of life is in proportion to the time spent in arriv- ing at the fuU growth, there is every reason to suppose that the monkeys fall very short of man in this respect ; in this climate they are cut off so quickly, that we cannot form a judgment. If we add to the foregoing circumstances, that man is not pro- vided by nature with means of defence, and, consequently, re- quires assistance ; and that his great distinctions, reason and speech, are only germs which are not developed by themselves, but are brought to maturity by extraneous assistance, cultivation and education, we shall infer that he is designed, by nature, for social union. Such a condition appears more consonant to the structure, properties, and functions of our frame, even if it were not supported by the concurring voice of actual experience in all ages and nations, than the imaginary and most absurdly named "state of nature" of some philosophers. Rousseau, the great apostle of this doctrine, informs us, in direct words, that the state of nature never has existed : and he sets aside all facts as foreign to the question. With these admissions before us, we are required to believe that we have degenerated from our natural state : that speech, society, arts, inventions, sciences, agriculture, commerce, property, civil government, and inequality of con- dition, have introduced all possible misery, and have debilitated our physical being ; that we should live in the woods scattered and solitary to get food enough, protect life by flight and force, satisfy our desires, and sleep. Buffon has reasoned so well on this subject, that I employ his words : " In this condition of nature, the first education requires an equal time as in the civi- HUMAN ANIAIAL ECONOMY. 155 lized state ; for in both, the infant is equally feeble and equally slow in its growth, and, consequently, demands the care of its parents during an equal period. In a word, if abandoned before the age of three years, it would infallibly perish. Now, this necessary and long-continued intercourse between mother and child is sufficient to communicate to it all that she possesses ; and though we should falsely suppose that a mother, in a state of nnture, possesses nothing, not even the faculty of speech, would not this long intercourse with her infant produce a lan- guage ? Hence, a state of pure nature, in which man is sup- posed neither to think nor speak, is imaginary, and never had an existence. This necessity of a long intercourse between parents and children produces society in the midst of a desert. Tlie family understand each other both by signs and sounds ; and this first ray of intelligence, when cherished, cultivated, and communicated, expands, in process of time, into the full splendour of reason and intellect. As this habitual intercourse could not subsist so long, without producing mutual signs and sounds, these, always repeated, and gradually engraven on the memory of the child, would became permanent expressions. Tlie catalogue of words, though short, forms a language, which will soon extend as the family augments, and will always follow, in its improvement, the progress of society. As soon as society begins to be formed, the education of the infant is no longer indi- vidual, since the parents communicate to it, not only what they derive from nature, but likewise what they have received from their progenitors, and from the society to which they belong. It is no longer a communication between detached individuals, which, as in the animals, would be limited to the transmission of simple faculties, but an institution of which the whole species participates, and whose produce constitutes the basis and bond of society."* The menstrual discharge is peculiar to women, and belongs to the whole sex in all countries : so that Pliny is right in regard- ing woman as the only "animal menstruale." " I know, indeed," says BLUMENBACH,f "that the same discharge has been as- cribed to other animals, particularly of the order quadrumana. I have carefully inquired about all the female monkeys, which I have seen for these twenty years, either in menageries or carried about for pubHc exhibition, and have found some of them liable to uterine haemorrhage which observed no period, and was • Buffon by Wood, vol. x, p. 30. + De g, h. var. nat. p. 51, note. 156 DISTIXCTIONS OF MAN regarded by the more intelligent keepers as a circumstance aris- ing from disease ; although they acknowledged, that, in order to excite the admiration of their visitors, they often represent it as a true menstruation." The celebration of the rites of Venus is not confined in man, as in animals, to a particular season of the year. CHAPTER VII. Faculties of the Mind ; Speech ; Diseases ; Recapitulation. All philosophers refer with one accord to the enjoyment of reason, as the chief and most important prerogative of the human species. If we inquire, however, more particularly into the meaning of this word, we shall be surprised to find what various senses different individuals affix to the same expression. Accord- ing to some, reason is a peculiar faculty of the mind, belonging exclusively to man : others consider it as a more enlarged and complete development of a power which exists, in a less degree, in other animals : some describe it as a combination of all the higher faculties of the mind ; while others assert that it is only a peculiar direction of them. " Non nostrimi inter hos tantas componere lites." The subject may, perhaps, be more shortly and safely dis- patched by considering it a posteriori. In order to acquire a clear and satisfactory notion of the mental nature of man and animals, it would be necessary for us to have as complete a knowledge of their internal movements, as we have of our own. But, as it is impossible to know what passes within them, or how to rank and estimate their sensations, in relation to those of man, we can only judge by comparing the effects which result from the natural operations of both. Let us, therefore, consider these effects ; and, while we ac- knowledge all the particular resemblances, we shall only examine some of the most general distinctions. The most stupid man is able to manage the most alert and sagacious animal; he governs it, and makes it subservient to his purposes. This he effects, not so much by bodily strength or address, as by the superiority of his intellectual nature. He compels the animal to obey him, by his power of projecting and acting in a systematic manner. The strongest and most sagacious animals have not the capacity of commanding the inferior tribes, or of reducing them to a state IN MENTAL FACULTIES. 157 of servitude. The stronger, indeed, devour the weaker : but this action impUes an urgent necessity only, and a voracious appetite ; qualities very different from that which produces a train of actions all directed to one common design. If animals be endowed with this faculty, why do not some of them assume the reins of government ofer others, and force them to furnish their food, to watch for them, and to reheve the sick or wounded ? But among animals there is no mark of subordination, nor the least trace of any of them being able to recognise or feel a supe- riority in his nature above that of other species. We should therefore conclude, that all animals are in this respect of the same nature, and that the nature of man is not only far superior, but likewise of a very different kind from that of the brute. Thrown on the surface of the globe, weak, naked and defence- less, man appeared created for inevitable destruction. Evils assailed him on very side ; the remedies remained hidden. But he had received from his Creator the gift of inventive genius, which enabled him to discover them. His exertions were roused by the various wants of food, clothing, and dwelUng, by the infinite variety of climate, soil, and other circumstances. Pater ipse colendi Haud facilem esse viam voluit ; primusque per artem Movit agros ; curis acuens mortalia corda. This prerogative of invention seemed so important in the earlier periods of society, that it has been honoured with divine worship, as. the Thoth of the Egyptians, the Hermes of the Greeks. " The first savages collected in the forests a few nourishing fruits, a few salutary roots, and thus supplied their most imme- diate wants. The first shepherds observed that the stars move in a regular course, and made use of them to guide their journies across the plains of the desert. Such was the origin of the mathematical and physical sciences. " Once convinced that it could combat nature by the means which she herself afforded, genius reposed no more ; it watched her without relaxation ; it incessantly made new conquests over her, all of them distinguished by some improvement in the situa- tion of our race. " From that time a succession of conducting minds, faithful depositaries of the attainments already made, constantly occupied in connecting them, in vivifying them by means of each other, have conducted us, in less than forty ages, from the first essays of rude observers, to the profound calculations of Newton and 158 DISTINCTIONS OF MAN La Place, to the learned classifications of Linneus and JussiEU. This precious inheritance, perpetually increasing, brought from Chaldea into Egj-pt, from Egypt into Greece, concealed during ages of disaster and of darkness, recovered in more fortunate times, unequally spread among the nations of Europe, has every where been followed by wealth and power ; the nations which have reaped it, are become the mistresses of the v/orld ; such, as have neglected it, are fallen into weakness and obscurity."* Man has made tools for assisting his labour ; and hence Franklin sagaciously defined him a " tool-making animal :" he has formed arms and weapons, he has devised various means of procuring fire. Lastly, " The most noble and profitable mvention of all others was that of speech ; whereby men declare their thoughts one to another for mutual utility and conversa- tion, without which there had been amongst men neither com- monwealth nor society, no more than amongst lions, bears, and wolves."f This is a most important characteristic of man, since it is not born with him, like the voices of animals, but has been framed and brought into use by himself, as the arbitrary variety of diflJerent languages incontestably proves. Man exhibits, by external signs, what passes within him ; he communicates his sentiments by words, and this sign is uni- versal. The savage and the civilized man have the same powers of utterance ; both speak naturally, and are equally understood. It is not owing, as some have imagined, to any defect in their organs, that animals are denied the faculty of speech. The tongue of a monkey is as perfect as that of a man : Camper asserts that the laryngeal pouch renders it impossible for the orang-outang to speak ; I do not clearly understand how this is ascertained ; but, allowing its truth, there are other monkeys, who have not this pouch, and yet cannot speak. Several animals may be taught to pronounce words, and even to repeat sentences ; which proves clearly that the want of speech is not owing to any defect in their organs ; but to make them conceive the ideas, which these words express, is beyond the power of art. They articulate and repeat hke an echo or machine. Language implies a train of thinking ; and for this reason brute animals are incapable of speech ; for, though their external • Cuvier, Rnflictions on the Progress of the Sciences, iic. read at the Royal Institute of France, April 24, 1816. + liobbes; Leviathan. IN MENTAL FACULTIES. 159 senses are not inferior to our own, and though we should allow some of them to possess a faint da^vni^g of comparison, reflection, and judgment, it is certain that the)' are unable to form that association of ideas, in which alone the essence of thought con- sists. The possession of speech, therefore, corresponds to the more numerous, diversified, and exalted intellectual and moral endow- ments of man, and is a necessary aid to their exercise and full development. The ruder faculties and simple feelin.gs of ani- mals do not require such assistance. The natural language of inarticulate sounds, gestures, and actions, suffices for their pur- poses. The wonderful discoveiy of alphabetical writing, and the invention of printing, complete the benefits derived from the noble prerogative of speech. With the operations of animals, who always perform the same work in the very same manner ; the execution of any individual being neither better nor worse than that of any other ; in whom the individual, at the end of some months, is what he will remain through life, and the species, after a thousand years, just what it was in the first year ; — contrast the results of human industry and invention, and the fruits of that perfectibility, which cha- racterizes both the species and the individual. By the intel- ligence of man the animals have been subdued, tamed, and reduced to slavery : by his labours marshes have been drained, rivers confined, their cataracts eflFaced, forests cleared, and the earth cultivated. By his reflection, time has been computed, space measured, the celestial motions recognised and repre- sented, the heavens and the earth compared. He has not merely executed, but has executed with the utmost accuracy, the apparently impracticable tasks assigned by the poet, (to wondrous creature ! mount where science guides ; Weigh air, measure earth, and calculate the tides. By human art, which is an emanation of science, mountains have been overcome, and the seas have been traversed ; the pilot pursuing his course on the ocean, with as much certainty, as if it had been traced for him by engineers, and finding at each moment the exact point of the globe on which he is, by means of astronomical tables. Thus nations have been united ; and a new world has been discovered, opening such a field for the unfettered and uncorrupted energies of our race, that the senses are confused, the mind dazzled, and judgment and cal- culation almost suspended by the grandeur and brightness of 160 DISTINCTIONS OF MAN the glorious and interminable prospects. The whole face of the earth at present exhibits the works of human power, which, though subordinate to that of nature, often exceeds, at least, so wonderfully seconds her operations, that, by the aid of man, her whole extent is unfolded, and she has gradually arrived at that point of perfection and magnificence in which we now behold her. In the point of view which I have just considered, man stands alone : his faculties, and what he has effected by them, place him at a wide interval from all animals ; at an interval which no animal hitherto known to us can fill up. The man-like monkey, the almost reasonable elephant, the docile dog, the sagacious beaver, the industrious bee, cannot be compared to him. In none of these instances is there any progress either in the indi- viduals or the species. In most of the feelings, of which other individuals of the species are the objects, and in aU which come under the deno- mination of moral sentiments, there is a marked difference between man and animals, and a decided inferiority of the latter. The attachment of the mother to the offspring, so long as its wants and feebleness require her aid and defence, seems as strong in the animal, as in the human being ; and bears equally in both the characters of actions termed instinctive. Its dura- tion is confined in the former case, even in social animals, to the period of helplessness ; and the animal instinct is not suc- ceeded, as in man, by that continued intercourse of affection and kind offices, and those endearing relations, which constitute the most exalted pleasures of human life. Of courage the animal kingdom offers many examples ; and the morahsts have celebrated the attachment of the dog to his master. It may be doubted whether we can find any instances of such feeling between animals themselves, excepting some cases of sexual unions. In general, they seem entirely destitute of sympathy with each other, indifferent to each other's suf- ferings or joys, and unmoved by the worst usage or acutest pangs of their fellows. Indeed, if we except some associated labours in the insect class, principally referring to the conti- nuation of the species, and securing a supply of food, and some joint operations of the male and female in the higher classes, animals seem entirely incapable of concert or co-operation for common purposes, of combining various exertions for the attainment of a common end. This appears to arise from the limited nature and extent of their knowing and reflecting IX MENTAL FACULTIES. 161 ])o\vers ; to which probably we must refer their incapability of conceiving moral relations. Laughter and weeping are natural signs in man of certain mental altections, and probably are also peculiar to him : ani- mals are not susceptible of the emotions or states of mind indi- cated by these external signs. That many animals besides man secrete tears is well known ; but whether they weep from grief is doubtful : yet respectable witnesses have represented that they do so. Steller states this of the phoca ursina ;* Pallas, of the camel ;t and Hum- boldt, of a small American monkey. | Whether any animals e.xpress mirth or satisfaction by laughter is more doubtful, to say nothing of the other causes of smiling or laughter in our species. The fact has been asserted, for instance, by Le Cat, who says that, he saw the chimpanse both laugh and weep.§ The orang-outang brought from Batavia by Mr. Abel certainly never laughs : his keeper informs me that he has seen him weep a few times. I have had occasion, in a previous lecture, 1| to advert to these striking zoological phenomena, and to explain at some length the views which I entertain respecting their nature and cause. I consider the differences between man and animals in propen- sities, feelings, and intellectual faculties, to be the result of the same cause as that which we assign for the variations in other functions, viz. difference of organization ; and that the supe- riority of man in rational endowments is not greater than the more exquisite, complicated, and perfectly developed structure of his brain, and particularly of his ample cerebral hemispheres, to which the rest of the animal kingdom offers no parallel, nor * Nov. Comm. Acad. Scient. Peirop. ii. 353. *' Tandem, cum nos cum catulis abituros videiet, simili more ut femella adeo largiter lacrymabat, ut totum pectus ad pedes usque lacrymis inundaret, quod et post gravia inflicta vulnera contingit ; vel post gravcm illatam injuriam, quam ulcisci nequit. Observavi phocas captas simili ratione lacryraari." t When the camel will not suckle its young, which is very rare, the Mongols and the Daurian Tungooses have recourse to an expedient cletailed by Pallas, in which they employ a plaintive melody imitating the voice of the young animal. This elicits copious tears from the old one, and completely excites its mateiTial feelings. Sammlungen histor. Nachrichten Ub. die Mongolischen Volkerschafien ; th. i. p. 177. X The Titi of the Orinoco ; sai'miri, Buffon, t. xv ; simia sciurea, Linneus. " Leur physionomie est celle d'un enfant; meme expression d'innocence, meme sourire raalin, meme rapidite dans le passage de la joie k la tristesse. Les Indiens affirment que cet animal pleurecommei'homme, lorsqu'il^prouve du chagrin ; et cette observation est tres exacte. Les grands yeux du singe se mouUlent de larmes &. I'instant meme qu'il marc^ue de la frayeur ou une vive inquietude." Recueil d' Observalio7is de Zoologie et d'Anatomte comparee; t. i, p. 333. } Fraite de V Existence du Fluide des JVcrfs ; p. 35. II Lect. IV. ; p. 60 and following. 162 DISTINCTIONS OF MAN even any near approximation, is sufficient to account for That the senses of man and other animals \n]l not explain all their varied and wonderful mental phenomena ; and that the supe- riority of man can by no means be deduced from any pre- eminence in this part of his construction, are truths too obvious to require further notice. Some modern inquirers have gone beyond this general state- ment, and have ventured to particularize, in the brains of ani- mals and of man, the oi'gan or residence of each propensity, feeling, and intellectual power. I cannot pronounce on the accuracy and completeness of the mental and cerebral survey executed by Messrs. Gall and Spurzheim ; nor pretend to judge of the exactness and fidelity with which the numerous positions are marked down in their very complete and well-filled map of the brain. They apjjeal to observation for the confirma- tion or refutation of their statements ; but my observations are not numerous or varied enough for these purposes. No one can refuse to them the merit of patient inquiry, careful observation, and unprejudiced reflection. They have performed the useful service of rescuing us from the trammels of doctrines and authorities, and directing our attention to nature. Her instruc- tions cannot deceive us : whether the views of Gall and Spurzheim may be verified or not, our labours in this direction must be productive, must bring with them collateral advantages. Hence they may be compared to the old man in the fable, who assured his sons, on his death-bed, that a treasure was hidden in his vineyard. They began immediately to dig over the whole ground in search of it ; and found, indeed, no treasure ; but the loosening of the soil, the destruction of the weeds, the admission of light and air, were sobeneficial to the vines, that the quantity and excellence of the ensuing crop were unprecedented. The diseases peculiar to man may be deemed a more fit sub- ject for pathology than natural history ; but, as these unnatural phenomena arise out of the natural organization and habit of the body, and the dispositions of the animal economy, they cannot be entirely passed over in this discussion. While the causes of disease in general are so obscure, and the exact series of phenomena has been ascertained in so few instances, it is hazardous to set down any particular affections as belonging exclusively to man ; other animals might be affected, if exposed to the same causes. Those in a wild state have very few and simple diseases, if any : domesticated ones I IN MENTAL FACULTIES. 163 have several ; and they are more numerous in proportion as the subjugation is more complete, and the way of life differs more widely from the natural one. The diseases of our more valuable domestic animals are sufficiently numerous to employ a parti- cular order of men ; and the horse alone has a distinct set to his own share. The miserable canary-birds seem to be equally in want of professional assistance ; for, in the list of disorders to which they are subject, we find inflammation of the bowels, asthma, epilepsy, chancres of the biU, and scabs.* In man, the most artificial of aU animals, the most exposed to all the circum- stances that can act unfavourably on his frame, diseases are the most numerous, and so abundant and diversified, as to exhaust the ingenuity of the nosologist, and fatigue the memory of the physician. Perhaps nosological catalogues would afford the most convincing argument that man has departed from the way of life to which nature had destined him ; unless, indeed, it should be contended that these afflictions are a necessary part of his nature ; — a distinction from animals, of which he will not be very likely to boast. The accumulation of numbers in large cities, the noxious eflFects of impure air, sedentary habits, and unwholesome employments ; — the excesses in diet, the luxurious food, the heating drinks, the monstrous rmxtures, and the pernicious seasonings, which stimulate and oppress the organs ; — the unnatural activity of the great cerebral circulation, excited by the double impulse of our luxurious habits, and undue mental exertions, of the violent passions which agitate and exhaust us, the anxiety, chagrin, a.nd vexation, from which few entirely escape, and then reacting on and disturbing the whole frame ; — the delicacy and sensibility to external influences caused by our heated rooms, warm clothing, inactivity, and other indulgencies, are so many fatal proofs that our most grievous ills are our own work, and might be obviated by a more simple and uniform way of life. Our associates of the animal kingdom do not escape the influence of such causes. Tlie mountain shepherd and his dog are equally hardy, and form an instructive contrast with a nervous and hysterical fine lady, and her lap-dog ; the extreme point of degeneracy and imbecility of v/hich each race is susceptible. The observations of Humboldt confirm the position, that individuals, whose bodies are strengthened by healthy habits in • Buffon by Wood ; v. xiv. p. 87. 16-i DISEASES PECULIAR TO MAN, respect to food, clothing, exercise, air, &c. are enabled to resist the causes which produce disease in other men. He paints to us the Indians of New Spain as a set of peacefid cultivators, accustomed to uniform nourishment, almost entirely of a vege- table nature, that of their maize and cereal gramina. " They* are hardly subject to any deformity. I never saw a hunch-backed Indian ; and it is extremely rare to see any who squint, or who are lame in the arm or leg. In the countries where the inha- bitants suflFer from the goitre, this affection of the thjToid gland is never observed among the Indians, and seldom among the Mestizoes."f He repeats the same testimony very strongly concerning various tribes in South America, as the Chaymas, Caribs, the Muyscas, and Peruvian Indians. J WiNTERBOTTOM § says, that he never saw, nor heard of, a case of hare-lip among the native Africans. But he adds, that Atkins mentions a case seen by himself. The compaiison of diseases is difficult, since the study of nosology in brutes must be exposed, by its very nature, to very serious obstacles. The diseases in the following list, derived from Blumenbach, may be considered in all probability as peculiar to man. Nearly all the exanthemata; at least variola,l| morbilli, scar- latina, miliaria, petechiae, pestis. Of the hemorrhagies, epistaxis ; hemorrhoides, menorrhagia. Nervous affections. Hypochondriasis ; hysteria ; mental af- fections properly so called, as mania, melancholia, nostalgia; properly also satyriasis, and nymidio-mania. Crelinismiis. Cachexire. Rachitis? scrofula ?1[ lues venerea. Podagra, lepra and elephantiasis. Local diseases. Amenorrhoea ? cancer ? chlorosis ; hernia congenita ? The various kinds of prolapsus, particularly that congenital one of the urinary bladder. Herpes ; tinea capitis. The two kinds of lice that infest our sjjccies, have not been found on any other animal. Whether the human intestinal worms are all distinct species, pecidiar to man, I do not know. I recapitulate the characters of man, discussed in the six pre- * Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain; v. i. p. 153. t The offspring of an Euiopeaa and an American. % Personal Narrative, iii. 233. \ Account of the A'ative Africans ; ii. 224. II A monkey at Amsterdam contracted a local ulcer from the contagion of small-pox, but had no fever. Blumenbach, De g. It. var. nal. p. 5'J. IT Monkeys perish in these climates of aflections very much resembling scrofula. The lymphatic glands, lungs, and other viscera are diseased ; usually tuberculatcd ; and the bones are often affected. VARIETIES OF THE II UMAX SPECIES. 165 ceding chapters, that the proofs of his constituting a distinct and separate species may be brought together in one view. 1. Smoothness of the skin, and want of natural offensive weapons, or means of defence. 2. Erect stature ; to which the conformation of the body in general, and that of the pelvis, lower limbs, and their muscles in particular, are accommodated. 3. Incurvation of the sacrum and os coccygis ; and consequent direction of the vagin I and urethra forwards. 4. Articulation of the head with the spinal column by the middle of its basis, and want of ligamentum nucha;. 5. Possession of two hands, and very perfect structure of the hand. 6. Great proportion of the cranium (cerebral cavitj-) to the face (receptacles of the senses and organs of mastication.) 7. Shortness of the lower jaw, and prominence of its mental portion. 8. Want of the intermaxillary bone. 9. Teeth all of equal length, and approximated: inferior incisors perpendicular. 10. Great development of the cerebral hemispheres. 11. Great mass of brain in pi'oportion to the size of the nerves connected with it. 1','. Greater number and development of mental faculties, whether intellectual or moral. 13. Speech. 14. Capability of inhabiting all climates and situations ; and of living on all kinds of food. 15. Slow growth ; long infancy ; late puberty. IG. Menstruation; exercise of the sexual functions not confined to particular seasons. SECTION II. ON THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. CHAPTER I. .^/alemenl of the Subject; Mode of Investigaliun; the Question cannot he settled from the Jeirish Saiptures ; nor from other historical Records. The Meaning oj .Species and l-'ariety in Zoology ; Aaturc and Extent of Variation. Breed- ing as a Criterion of Species. Criterion of Analogy. The differences which exist betv/een inhabitants of the diflferent regions of the globe, both in boldly formation and in the facul- ties of the mind, are so striking, that they must have attracted the notice even of superficial observers. With those forms, proportions, and colours, which we consider so beautiful in the fine figures of Greece, contrast the woolly hair, the flat nose, the thick lips, the retreating forehead and advancing jaws, and black skin of the Negro ; or the broad square face, narrow oblique eyes, beardless chin, coarse straight hair, and olive colour of the Calmuck. Compare the ruddy and sanguine European with the jet-black African, the red man of America, the yellow Mon- golian, or the brown South Sea Islander : the gigantic Pata- gonian, to the dwarfish Laplander ; the highly civilized nations of Europe, so conspicuous in arts, science, literature, in all that can strengthen and adorn society, or exalt and dignify human nature, to a troop of naked, shivering, and starved New Hoi- 166 VARIETIES OP THE HUMAN SPECIES. landers, a horde of filthy Hottentots, or the whole of the more or less barbarous tribes that cover nearly the entire continent of Africa. Are these all brethren ? have they descended from one stock ? or must we trace them to more than one ? and if so, how many Adams must we admit ? The phenomena are capable of solution in either of these ways : we may suppose that different kinds of men were ori- ginally created ; that the forms and properties, of which the contrast now strikes us so forcibly, were impressed at first on the respective races ; and consequently that the latter, as we now see them, must be referred to different original famihes, according to which supposition they will form, in the language of naturalists, different species. Or, we may suppose, that one kind of human beings only was formed in the first instance, and account for the diversity, which is now observable, by the agency of the various physical and moral causes to which they have been subsequently exposed ; in which case they will only form different vai ieties of the same species. The question belongs to the domain of natural history and physiology : we must be contented to proceed in our examina- tion in the slow and humble, but sure method of observation. It wiU be necessary to ascertain carefully all the differences that actually exist between the various races of men ; to compare these with the diversities observed among animals ; to apply to them all the lights, which human and comparative physiology can supply ; and to draw our inferences concerning their nature and causes, from all the direct information and aU the analogies, which these considerations may unfold. In the first place we must dismiss all arguments a priori, as entirely inapplicable to the subject. One philosopher tells us, that nature does nothing in vain ; that she would not give her- self the trouble to create several different stocks, when one family would be sufficient to colonise the world in a short space of time. Another, with equal speciousness, dilates on the absxir- dity of supposing that immense regions should remain for ages an unoccupied and dreary waste, while the offspring of a single pair was slowly extending over the face of the earth ; or that such an admirable variety of islands should display their charms in vain, till a shipwreck or some other casual occurrence might supply them with inhabitants. He shows how much more con- sonant to the wisdom and benevolence of the Deity it would be, for the earth to have teemed from the first moment of its pro- VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 167 duction, udth trees and fruits, and to have been occupied by all kinds of animals, suited to each soil and sky. I cannot too strongly reprobate such idle declamation, which, by Avithdraw- ing our attention from the right method of investigation, inevitably tends to perpetuate our ignorance of nature. Dr. PricHard, in his excellent inaugural discourse on this subject, has so well exposed the futihty of such arguments, that I have great pleasure in quoting his words. " Hsec quanquam satis speciosa videantur, omnia ut fit plerumque in hujusmodi argu- mentationibus fluxa et incerta sunt. Qui magna loquuntur, tanquam ipsi ex Dei concilio descendissent, neque ut humiles ministros, et naturae interpretes oportet, raro lumine quantulo- cunque ejus abdita illustrant. lUi quidem dixerunt quomodo mundum constituissent, si hoc eorum curationi fuisset com- missum ; sed qua rations re ipsa constitutus sit, talibus aus- piciis, et latet, et semper latebit." — p. 5. Most persons, when they first turn their attention to the sub- ject, and select for contemplation strongly marked specimens of the varieties of man, wiU be inchned to adopt the supposition of originally distinct species. This is the case with Voltaire,* who has recurred to the subject repeatedly in his various writings, and has expressed himself very positively, ridiculing the idea of referring such diflferent beings as the Negro, Euro- pean, African, Albino, &c. to the same original. " II n'est permis qu'a un aveugle de douter que les blancs, les Negres, les Albinos, les Hottentots, les Lappons, les Chinois, les Ameri- cains, soient des races entierement diflFerentes."'t- He says of the Negroes, " Leurs yeux ronds, leur nez epate, leurs levres toujours grosses, leurs oreilles difFe'remment figurees, la laine de leur tete, la mesure meme de leur intelligence, mattent entr'eux et les autres especes d'hommes des differences prodigieuses. Et ce qui demontre qu'ils ne doivent point cette difference a, leur climat, ces que des Negres et des Negresses transportes dans les pays les plus froids, y produisent toujours des animaux de leur espece, et que les mulatares ne sont qu'une race batarde d'un noir et d'une blanche, ou d'un blanc et d'une noire. "| To these, which are in truth well-founded remarks, although in favour of what I think will appear to be the wrong opinion on * Hisfoire de Russie sous Pierre le Grand; chap. i. Ussai sur les Mceurs, introduction ; and chap, cxlii. Dirtionnaire PhUosophique, art. Homme. Lettres d'Amahed, let. iv. Traile de Metaphysiqiic, chap, i In the place last quoted, he ^ives a short but lively and interesting sketch of the different races of men, and of the distinction between man and animals. t Ess. sur les Moeurs. J Ibid. 168 VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. the subject, he adds others of a less correct description ; enu- merating as proofs of distinct species, the beardlessness of the Americans, the black nipples of the Samoiede women, and " le tablier que la nature a donne aux Caffres, et dont la peau lache et moUe tombe du nombril sur les cuisses."* I am not surprised at the view which Voltaire has taken of the question ; for first appearances strongly favour his opi- nion. This witty and charming writer, who delights us with his various excellencies in so many departments of literature and philosophy, may be well excused for not having possessed sufficient zoological and physiological knowledge to guide his judgment on such a point. Indeed, the progress of science and discovery, and the more accurate accounts of various people procured by modern travellers, have given us advantages which he did not possess. We must not, however, follow his example in selecting two or three prominent contrasts, and considering them alone : such partial and insulated views cannot lead to any satisfactory results. It is necessary to examine, not only the more marked differences, but also the numerous gradations by which opposite extremes are in all cases connected and gradually brought together : it is also necessary to cast our view over the animal kingdom at large, and to compare with man the various living beings which more nearly resemble him. The whole pro- ceeding must be governed by the principles of general physiology. This disquisition will, perhaps, be deemed superfluous by those, who regard the Hebrew Scriptures as writings composed with the assistance of divine inspiration, and therefore commanding our implicit assent ; who receive, as a narrative of actual events, authenticated by the highest sanction, the account contained in Genesis of the formation of the world, the creation of man and animals, and their dispersion over the face of the globe. The Mosaic account does not, however, make it quite clear that the inhabitants of all the world descended from Adam and EvE.f Moreover, the entire or even partial inspiration of the • JSss. sur les Mceurs. + We are tuld, indeed, that " Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living." But in the first chapter of Genesis, we learn that God created man male and female ; and this seems to have been previously to the formation of Eve, which did not take place until after the garden of Eden had been prepared. A^ain, we learn in the fifth chapter of Genesis, that " in the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him ; male and female created he them ; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created." We find also that Cain, after slaying his brother, was married, although no daughters of Eve are mentioned before this time, " Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived, and bare Enoch. Indeed it i» said {ch. v. 4), that " the days of Adam, after VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 169 various writings comprehended in the Old Testament has been, and is doubted by many persons, including learned divines, and distinguished oriental and biblical scholars. The account of the creation and of subsequent events, has the allegorical figu- rative character common to eastern compositions ; and it is dis- tinguished among the cosmogonies by a simple grandeur and natural sublimity, as the rest of these wTitings are by appropriate beauties in their respective parts not inferior to those of any human compositions. To the grounds of doubt respecting inspiration, which arise from examination of the various narratives, from knowledge of the original and other oriental languages, and from the irrecon- cilable opposition between the passions and sentiments ascribed by the Deity to Moses, and that religion of peace and love un- folded by the Evangelists, I have only to add, that the represen- tations of all the animals being brought before Adam in the first instance,* and subsequently of their being all collected in the ark,f if we are to understand them as applied to the living inhabitants of the whole world, are zoologically impossible. The collection of living beings in one central point, and their gradual diflfusion over the whole globe, may not be greatly in- consistent with what we know of our own species, and of the few more common quadrupeds, which accompany us in our various migrations, and are able to sustain with us great varieties of climate, food, situation, and all external influences. But when we extend our survey to the rest of the mammalia, we find at all points abundant proofs of animals being confined to particular situations, and being so completely adapted by their structure and functions, by their whole organization, economy, and habits, to the local peculiarities of temperature, soil, food, &c. that they cannot subsist where these are no longer found. In proportion as our knowledge of species becomes more exact, he had begotten Seth, were eight hundred 3-cars, and he begat sons and daughters." This, it should seem, took place after the birth of Seth, and con- sequently long after Cain had his wife; for Seth was not born till after the death of Abel. If Cain had sisters iirior to that period, from amongst whom he might have taken a wife, Moses has not noticed them. • "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field." Gen. ii. 19, 20. + " And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thoa bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee ; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind ; two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive." Gen, vi. 19, 20. 170 VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. the j)roofs of this locahty are rendered stronger, and the examples of admirable conformity between the organic capabilities of animals and the circumstances of the regions which they in- habit, are multiplied and strengthened. The peculiar adaptation of the camel to the sandy deserts m which he is placed, strikes the most cursory observer. The herds of antelopes and other ruminant animals, and the great troops of solidungular quadrupeds, are not less suited to the boundless plains of Asia and Africa ; the vast assemblages of elk and buf- falo, to the uninhabited wilds of America ; the tiger to the jungles and the thickets of the East Indies ; and the troops of sapajous, with their prehensile tails, to the lofty forests of Guiana and Brazil. Even when the external circumstances are nearly alike, remote regions are occupied in most cases by distinct genera or species. The lion so common in Africa, is hardly found in Asia, while the tiger is peculiar to the latter ; the elephants and rhinoce- roses of these two quarters of the world are specifically distinct. The instances of America, New Holland, and some other islands, afford unanswerable arguments against the creation of all animals in one s})ot. None of the mammalia of the southern hemisphere, the torrid zone, or even the two northern temperate regions, are common to the two continents. When the Spaniards landed in the new world, they did not find a single animal they were acquainted with ; not one of the quadrupeds of Europe, Asia, or Africa. On the other hand, the puma,* the jaguar,t the tapir, the cabiai,! the llama,§ the vicugna,|| the sapajous, were creatures altogether new to them. No quadrupeds are found in both continents except such as dwell north of the Baltic in the old, and of Canada in the new world ; such, in short, as are capable of bearing the cold of those regions, where the two continents approximate to each other. Here, indeed, we must guard against the mistakes, which the inconsiderate appUcation of the same names to animals, really different, though more or less analogous to each other, might occasion. We read of American hons ; but the creature so called (the puma), although a carnivorous animal, is widely different * Couguar (Felis discolor, Linn). + Fells oncii L. American tiger; nearly a match in size and strength for the royal tiger ui Bengal. i Caviacapybara, L. i Camelus Llacma, L. the camel of Peru, and the only beast of burden in the country at the time of the Spanish conquest. The guanaco is the wild llama. tl Paco ; camelus vicuuna, L. producing tlie fine sott and fawa-coloured wool. VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 171 from the lion of Africa : American monkeys again form a very dis- tinct family, without any specific affinity to tliose of the old world. A similar phenomenon was again experienced in our own times on first exploring the coasts of New Holland and the adjacent isles. A dog was indeed found here, whether of the same species \vith those we are acquainted with, and introduced from the neighbouring islands, is not perhaps yet clearly ascertained. Tliis great southern continent contained no other mammiferous ani- mals previously known to naturalists ; but, on the contrary, it has furnished about forty species, altogether new ; of which the kangaroos, the phascolomys, * the dasyuri, the pe'rameles, the flying phalangers, f the ornithorhynchi, and the echidnse, have astonished zoologists by the novelty and singularity of their conformation, contrary to aU the rules hitherto established, and at variance with all their systems. X Even the island called Van Diemen's Land, although situated so near to New Hol- land, and in some degree connected to it by intervening islands, has its own peculiar species. § The orang-outang is found only on the island of Borneo ; and the makis are confined to that of Madagascar, while the neigh- bouring continent of Africa has none of them, but numerous monkeys instead. Even marine animals are confined to particular situations, although it might appear so probable a priori, that the waves and currents of the ocean would carry them into all situtions, and the medium in which they live seems so favourable for their transportation. Peron and Le Sueur assert that there is no well-known animal of the northern hemisphere, which is not spe- cifically distinct from every other equally well-knoivn of the southern; and that this is true even of those possessing the lowest and simplest organization. |1 * Wombat, Didelpliis ursina of Shaw. + Petaurus, Shaw. t Cuvier Re^ne animal ; on the order marsupiaux ; t. i. p. 169, et suiv. I " En etiet, tons les aniraaux, que nous avons reoueillis sur la terre de Diemen, et qu'on peut regarder eomme plus particulidrement propres au sol, tels que les mammifeies, les reptiles, &c. sont sp^cifiquement difler^ns des animaux de la Nouvelle Hollande ; la pltipart meme des espfices, quipeuplent ce continent, n'existent pas sur la grande ile qui I'avoisine." Peron Foya^c de Decouvertes aux 2'erres Australes ; v. ii. p. 165. II " Personne plus que nous, il est permis de le dire, n'a recueilli d'animaux de I'h^misphere Austral; nous les avons tous observes d^crits, et figurt^s sur les lieux : nous en avons rapportes plusieurs milliers d'espdces en Europe ; elles sont deposees dans le Museum d'histoire naturelle de Paris. Que Ton com- pare ces nombreux aniraaux avec ceux de notre hemisphere, le probleme sera bientot resolu, non seulcment pour les especes d'une or^'anization plus parfaite, niais encore pour toutes celles qui sont beaucoup ulus simples, et qui, sous ce rapport, sembleroient devoir etre nioins varices dans la nature. Qu'on exa- mine, nous ne dirons par les doris, les aplysies, les salpas, les nereides, les amphinomes, les amphitrites, et cette foule de mollusques et des vers plus I 2 172 VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES, If all the difficulties connected with the facts just recited, and U'ith the numerous analogous ones,* which every depart- ment of natural history could furnish, were removed, insur- mountable obstacles would still be found to this hypothesis of the whole globe having received its supply of animals from one quarter How could all living beings have been assembled in one climate, when many, as the white fox (isatis), the polar bear, the walrus, the manita, can exist only in the cold of the polar regions, while to others the warmth of the tropic is essential ? How could aU have been supplied with food in one spot, since many live entirely on vegetables produced only in certain dis- tricts ? How could many have passed from the point of assem- blage to their actual abode, over mountains, through deserts, and even across the seas? How could the polar bear, to whom the ice of the frozen regions is necessary, have traversed the torrid zone? If we are to believe that the original creation com- prehended only a male and female of each species, or that one pair only was rescued from an universal deluge, the contradic- tions are again increased. The carnivorous animals must have soon perished with hunger, or have annihilated most of the other species. Such an assumption, in short, is at variance with all our knowledge of living nature. Why should we embrace an hypo- thesis so full of contradictions ? — to give to an allegory a literal construction, and the character of revelation ; which is so much the less necessary here, because we do not follow the same rule in other points. The astronomer does not pourtray the hea- venly motions, or lay down the laws which govern them, accord- ing to the statements in the Jewish Scriptures ; nor does the geologist think it necessary to modify the results of experience according to the contents of the Mosaic writings. composes qui se sont suceessivement offerts h. notre observation ; qu'on de- scende jusqii'aux holothuries, aux achnies, aux b^roes, aux m(5duses ; qu'ou s'abaisse meme, si Ton veut jusqu'Jl ces eponges informes, que tout le monde s'accorde k re^'arder comme le dernier teime de la degradation, ou plutot de la simplicitil de I'organization animale; parmi cette multitude, pour ainsi dire effrayante, d'aniniaux antarctiques, on verra qu'il n'en est pas un suel qui se retrouvedans les mers boreales ; et de cet examenbien r^flechi, de cette lon- gue suite de compavaisons rigoureuses, on sera forcd de conclure, ainsi que nous avous dtl tious-memes le faire, ' qu'il n'est pas une seule espfece d'ani- maux marins bien connue, qui, veritable cosmopolite, soit indistinctement propre k toutes les parties du globe.' " — Notice sur les Habitations des Ani- maux marins ; in the Voyage aux Terres ^lustrales, I. ii. p. 348, 3-19. * Further illustrations of this important subject maj- be seen in Dr. Pri- chard's Researches on the Physical History of Man, chap. lii. sec. 2 and 3. Zim- mermann, Geographische Geschichte, &c. Rudolphi, Beylrdge zur Anthropologie und allgenieinen Naturgeschichte, No.iii. and in the paper of Peron and Le Sueur already quoted. VARIETIES OF THE HUMAX !?PECIES. 173 I conclude, then, that the subject is open for discussion ; and, at all events, if the descent of mankind from one stock can be proved independently of the Jewish books, the conclusion ^vill tend collaterally to establish the authority of these ancient records. It may still be inquired whether history affords no data for determining this great problem ; whether the earliest traditions and records may not enable us to trace the succession of the human race from its origin downwards, or whether we may not be able to follow back particular tribes or nations to the period of their first descent or establishment. "We soon find that these efforts are unavailing ; that neither the annals nor the traditions of any people reach back to the remote ages when the various ramifications o€ the original stock — if there were any such — separated from each other, and took possession of the different countries where they are now settled. We cannot trace the branches of any such family, nor point out the time and manner in which they divided and spread over the face of the globe. Even among the most enlightened people the period of authentic history is short, and every thing beyond that period is fabulous and obscure. The Jewish annals, in which it is not always easy to separate and . distinguish what ought to be received as literally true, although of very high antiquity, merely relate to the transactions of a small tribe and some of their neighbours. The Indian and Chinese, also very ancient, are equally confined. The phrase " Greecia mendax" has long ago afforded a caution against placing much reliance on the early traditions transmitted by the Greeks. In the introduction to his great work on language, Adelung* has summed up what history discloses to us on this subject ; and, as it has an important reference to the present object of inquiry, I hope the length of the extract will be excused. " Asia has been in all times regarded as the country where the human race had its beginning, received its first education, and from which its increase was spread over the rest of the globe. " Tracing the people up to tribes, and the tribes up to families, we are conducted at last, if not by history, at least by the tradi- tion of all old people, to a single pair, from which families, • Mithridates, oaer allgemeinc Sprachenkunde, See. 1'. Tli. Berlin, 1806. 2'. •3'. 4'. Th. von. J. S. Yater, Berlin, 1809—1817, a most important work in rela- tion to the history of our species, and the affinities and migrations of various tribes. 174 VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. tribes, and nations have been successively produced. Tlie question has been often asked, what was this first family, and the first people descending from it ? where was it settled ? and how has it extended so as to fill the four large divisions of the globe ? It is a question of fact, and must be answered from history. But history is silent ; her first books have been destroyed by lime, and the few lines preserved by Moses are rather calcu- lated to excite than satisfy our curiosity, " In the first feeble rays of its early dawn, which are faintly perceived about 2000 years before the commencement of our present chronology, the whole of Asia, and a part of Africa, are already occupied with a variety of greater and smaller nations, of various manners, rehgion, and language. The warlike struggle is already in full activity : here and there are polished states, V'ith various useful inventions, which must have required long time for their productions, development, and extension. The rest of the human race consists of wild hordes occupied merely with pastoral jmrsuits, hunting, and robbery ; thus a kind of slave-trade is seen in the time of Abraham. Soon after a few weak glimmerings of light discover to us Europe in a similar state of population, from the Don to the Pillars of Hercules ; here and there traces of culture, industry and commerce ; for instance, the amber trade -n the Baltic, at least in the time of Homer, and that of the British tin. All this is perceived in remote obscurit}-, where only a few points of light occasionally shoot across, to show us the germs of future history, which is still profoundly silent respecting the time end place of such events. Nothing is left for us but humbly to assume the garb of ignorance, to look round us in the great archives of nature, and see if there are any documents which may at least lead us to conjectures. Happily there are such. " Tlie present structure of the earth's surface teaches us, what Moses confirms, that it was formerly covered to a certain depth with water, which gradually lessened, from causes imknown to us, so that various spots became dry and habitable. The highest dry surface on the globe must, therefore, have been the earliest inhabited ; and here nature, or rather her Creator, wiW. have planted the first people, whose multiplication and extension must have followed the continual gradual decrease of the water. " We must fancy to ourselves this first tribe endowed with all human faculties, but not possessing all knowledge and expe- VARIETIES OF THE HL'MAX SPECIES. ] 75 rience, the subsequent acquisition of which is left to the natural operation of time and circumstances. As nature would not unnecessarily expose her first-!)orn and unexperienced son to conflicts and dangers, the place of his early abode would be so selected, tliat all his wants could be easily satisfied, and every thing essential to the pleasure of his existence, readily procured. He would be placed, in short, in a garden, or paradise. " Such a country is found in central Asia, between the 30th and 50th degrees of north latitude, and the 90th and 1 10th of east longitude (from FeiTo) : a spot which, in respect to its height, can only be compared to the lofty plain of Quito in South America. From this elevation, of which the great desert Gobi, or Shamo, is the vertical point, Asia sinks gradually towards all the four quarters. The great chains of mountains, running in various directions, arise from it, and contain the sources of the great rivers which traverse this division of the globe on all sides ; the Selinga, the Ob, the Lena, the Irtisch, and the Jenisey, in the north ; the Jaik, the Jihon, the Jemba, on the west ; the Amur and the Hoang-ho (or Yellow River), towards the east ; the Indus, Ganges, and Burrampooter, on the south. If the globe was ever covered ■ndth water, this great table land must first have becotne dry, and have appeared like an island in the watery expanse. The cold and barren desert of Gobi would not, indeed, have been a suitable abode for the first people ; but, on its southern declivity we find Thibet, separated by high mountains from the rest of the world, and containing within its boundaries all varieties of air and climate. If the severest cold prevails on its snowy mountains and glaciers, a perpetual summer reigns in its valleys and well-watered plains. This is the native abode of rice, the vine, pulse, fruit, and all other vegetable productions, from which man draws his nourishment. Here, too, all the animals are found wild which man has tamed for his use, and carried with him over the whole earth ; — the cow*, * To determine the original stock of our domestic animals is one of the most difficult undertakings in zoology. I know no data on which the ox-kind can be referred to any wild species in Asia. Cuvier has concluded, from a minute osteological inquiry, that tlie wild ox (nrus or bison of the ancients ; aurochs of the Germans), formerly found throughout the greater pari of temperate Europe, and still met with in the forests of Lithuania, of the Carpathian and Caucasian chains, is not, as most naturalists have supposed, the wild orii;inal of our cattle ; but that the characters of the latter are found in certain fossil crania ; whence he thinks it probable " that the primary race has been anni- hilated by civilization, like Ihat of the camel and dromedary." Des Animaux Jossiles, V. iv. ; Buminans Jossiles ; p. 51. 176 ZOOLOGICAL ACCEPTATION OF horse,* ass, f sheep, | goat, § camel, |1 pig, dog, If cat, and even the serviceable rein-deer,** his only attendant and friend in the icy deserts of the frozen polar regions. Close to Thibet, and just on the dechvity of the great central elevation, we find the charming region of Cashmire, where great elevation converts the southern heat into perpetual spring, and where nature has exerted all her powers to produce plants, animals, and man, in the highest perfection. No spot on the whole earth unites so m.any advantages ; in none could the human plant have succeeded so well without any care."tt This spot, therefore, seems to unite all the characters of paradise, and to be the most appropriate situation in Asia for the birth-place of the human race. Such is the general result of historical inquiry : it points out • Pallas Spicileg. Zool. fasc. xi. p. 5, note b. + Ibid, note c. t There are two or three wild species, nearly related to each other, whieh seem to have equal claims to be considered as the source of our sheep. Of these the argali found in the great mountains of Asia stiongly resembles the sheep. Pallas Spicileg. Zool. fasc. xi. tab. 1 and 2. \ The wild goat (ajgagrus) is met with in the mountains of Persia, where it has the name of paseng or pasan (whence the term pasahr, corrupted into be- zoar, applied to their iutestinal concretions), and probably elsewhere, even in the Alps of Europe. Cuvior, Menagerie de Museum, 8vo. v. ii. p. 177. The ibex (bouquetin) occupies the highest summits of the mountains of the old continent: that of Asia is described by Pallas, Sjjic. Zool. f. 11, p. 31, et seq. tab. iii. Another species inhabits the chain of Caucasus (capra Caucasica) ; Guldeustsedt, Comment. Petrop. 1779, pi. xvi, xvii. ll In opposition to the assertion of Buftbu, who represents that the entire race is reduced to slavery, and who strangely regards the callosities of its chest and limbs as the result of its servile labours. Pallas reports, on the faith of the Bucharian merchants, and of the wandering nomades of Asia, that na- tive wild camels are still found in the vast plains of the temperate part of this continent, and are distinguished from the domesticated animals by their supe- rior size, spirit, and swiftness. The northern confines of India, and the deserts between it and China, seem to be the native abode of the Bactrian camel, or that with two protuberances. The wild camels about the Balchasch Lake and Bogdo Mountain are probably produced from those which have been set at liberty by the Calmucks from religious motives. Fascie. xi. p. 4, note a. IT Pallas seems fully convinced that the jackal, " copiosissimum in universo oriente animal," is the source of our dogs, which he closely resembles in manners and disposition, being also very like some breeds in size and figure. " Homini facillime adsuescit, nunquam, uti lupus et vulpes cicurati, infidi animi signa edens, lususve cruentans ; canes non fugit, sed ardenter appetit, cum iisque colludit, ut plane nullum sit dubium cum iisdem generaturum, si tentetur experimentum. Vocem desiderii caninaj simillimam habet; homini Cauda eodem modo abblanditur, et in dorsum provolvi atque manibus demul- ceri aniat. Ipse quoque ululatus ejus, cum latratu canum ejulabundo magnam habet analogiam. Ergo dubium vix esse puto, hominis speciera, in eadeta cum lupo aureo climate naturaliter inquilinam, antiquitus hujus catulis cicu- latis domesticos sibi educasse canes, quorum naturalis instinctus jam homini, quem feri non multum timeut, amicus, et in venationem pronus erat. " Spicil. Zool. fasc. xi. p. 1, note. These opinions are confirmed by the statements of Guldenstajdt, who found the CEBCum and the teeth perfectly alike in the dog and jackal ; it is not so in the wolf. The jackal makes water sideways; " odorat anum alterius; co- ha;ret copula junctus." Nov. Comment. Petrop. v. 20, p. 459, tab. xi. ** The rein-deer is only known at present in the coldest regions. Adelung could not, I think, have any sutlicient authority for placing its origin in the region and climate which he here describes. ft Adelung; 1'. Theil. Einlcitung,-p.Z — 9 SPECIES AND VARIETY. 177 the East as the earliest or original seat of our specieti, the source of our domesticated animals, of our principal vegetable food, and the cradle of arts and sciences : but it does not fur- nish the means of deciding whether the globe has been peopled from one or more original stocks, nor enable us to trace satis- factorily the mode in which their dissemination has been accomplished. Before entering on the immediate object of this section, it is necessary to consider what is the precise acceptation of the terms species and varieties in zoology ; what constitutes a species, and how varieties arise out of it. Animals are characterized by fixed and definite external forms, which are transmitted and perpetuated by generation. The offspring of sexual unions is marked with all the bodily cha- racters of the parents. However strong the impulse may be, which leads to the continuation of the species, there seems to be an equally powerful aversion to intercourse with, those of other species. Hence in the wild state even the most nearly allied do not intermix, as the hare and rabbit ; the horse and ass ; the different kinds of mice, or of rats. Constant and permanent difference, therefore, is the essential notion conveyed by the word species ; and, provided it be invariably maintained, it is immaterial whether that difference be great or small. Thus the specific distinction between the black rat (mus rattus) and the brown or Norway rat (m. decumanus), or between the domestic mouse (m. musculus) and the field mouse (m. arvalis), is as perfect, as between either of these and the elephant. By the reproduction of the same characters, and the aversion to union with other species, uniformity is maintained ; and the lapse of ages produces no deviation from the original model. Animals are just the same now as at any, even the remotest period of our acquaintance with them. The zoological descrip- tions of Aristotle, composed twenty-two centuries ago, ap- ply in all points to the individuals of the present time ; and every incidental mention of animals, or allusion to their cha- racters and prop erties in the writings of historians, poets, fabu- lists, confirms this idendity of form and endowments. Every work of art, such as statues, paintings, sculptures ; and the actual relics in tombs, mummies, &c. all corroborate the proof.* • " I have carefully examined the figures of animals and birds engraven on the numerous obelisks brought from Eiiypt to ancient Rome. In the general character, which is all that can have been preserved, these representations perfectly resemble the originals, as we now set; them. My learned colleague, I 3 1 i S ZOOLOGICAL ACCEPTATION OF These remarks are chiefly apphcable to wild animals, which remain in places most congenial to their nature ; where the climate, seasons, air, soil, supply of food, correspond to their organization, economy, and wants. Some of these, however, are capable of enduring gi-eater diversity of situation than others ; and hence are exposed to considerable differences in various external agencies. " The wolf and the fox," says CuviER,* " are found from the torrid zone to high northern latitudes ; but, in this v/ide extent, the principal difference is a little more or less beauty in the fur. I have compared the crania of the northern and Egyptian foxes to those of France, and have found only individual differences. Wild animals, confined within narrow limits, particularly those of the carnivorous order, vary still less. A fuller mane is the only circumstance distinguish- ing the hyena of Persia from that of Morocco." Variations in the quantity and quality of food may cause some slight differences : thus the tusks of elephants, or the horns of the deer kind, may be larger or longer where the ali- ment is more abundant and nutritious. There are, however, many animals which are no longer in their natural wild state, having been domesticated or reduced to slavery by man. Here the original form is no longer strictly preserved. De\'iations take place in size, colour, form, propor- tions, and quahties ; and the degree of the effect will of course be measured by the intensity and duration of the cause. The degree of domestication is very various. In some cases the animals do not breed in servitude ; consequently each individual must be reduced from the original %vild state : here no variation occurs. The elephant affords an example. The rein-deer is confined within narrow limits as to temperature ; and, since it cannot be removed from these, it varies little. There are degrees of domestication, dependent probably on original capabihties of education. The cat, which is only par- tially enslaved, merely varies in the texture and colour of its fur ; and inconsiderably in size : but the skeleton of any tame cat differs from that of the wild in no essential point. The greatest differences are i^roduced when man regulates the Mr. Geoffroy St.Hilaive, collected numerous mummies of animals from the sepulchres and temples of Upper and Lower Egj^pt. He brought away cats, ibises, birds of prey, dogs, monkeys, crocodiles, and an o.\'s head embahned. There is no more difference between these relics and the animals we are now acquainted with, than between human mummies and the skeletons of tlie pre- sent day." — Cwv icT, Kccherches sur les Ossemcrts fossilcs ; i. Disc.prelm.T^.Hf). • Jhid. p. 75, SPECIES AND VARIETY. 179 sexual intercourse of animals : by selecting individuals to breed from, he can effect the most surprising changes in form and qualities, as the examples of the pig, sheep, horse, cow, and dog, wiU abundantly evince. The deviation has become at last so great, that the original stock from which the animals de- scended is doubtful. The herbivorous domestic animals, following us into all cli- mates, and governed by us in their food, labour, and external defence or protection, exhibit variations which, although appa- rently very considerable, are chiefly superficial. The size, the greater or less development, or entire want of horns, the nature of the hairy covering, and such other points, are the subjects of change. The skeleton, the form and connection of the bones, the teeth, are never altered. Tlie comparativ^ely imperfect deve- lopment of the tusks in the pig, and the consolidation of the toes, are the most striking effects produced in this class of animals. " The strongest marks of human influence are seen in the animals of which man has made the most complete conquest ; in the dog, who is so perfectly devoted to us, that he seems to have sacrificed to us his individual character, interest, and feel- ings. Carried by man all over the world, subjected to the action of the most powerful causes, and directed in sexual intercourse by the will of their master, the dogs vary in colour, in the quantity of hair, which is sometimes entirely lost ; in their nature and properties ; in size, which may differ as one to five in linear dimensions, or more than one to a hundred in the mass ; in the form of the ears, nose, tail ; in the height of the limbs ; in the development of the brain, and consequent form of the head, which may be slender, Avith elongated muzzle and flat forehead ; or short with convex forehead ; so that the apparent differences between a mastiff and a spaniel, a greyhound and a poodle, are greater than we find between any wild species of the same natural genus. Lastly, which is the maximum of variation hitherto known in the animal kingdom, there are races of dogs with an additional toe and corresponding metatarsal bone on the hind foot, as there are six-fingered families in the human species. Still, in all these variations, the relations of the bones remain the same, and the form of the teeth is never altered."* Thus we find that species must be taken in very different acceptations in wild and domestic animals ; that while all the beings included under the same species exhibit, in the former • Cuvier, Recherches sur les Ossemcns fosdles ; i. Disc, prelim, p. 78. 180 ZOOLOGICAL ACCEPTATION OF case, a close and rigorous resemblance, admitting at most of slight diversities in colour, fur, size, and development of some less important parts ; wider deviations are allowed in the latter, than are observed between some wild animals acknowledged to belong to different species. It may be stated, in the abstract, that all animals which differ in such points only as might arise in the natural course of de- generation, that is, from recognised causes of variation, belong to the same species ; while those different which cannot be ac- counted for on this supposition must lead us to class the ani- mals which exhibit them in different species. But the chief difficulty is to point out the characters by which, in actual prac- tice, mere varieties may be distinguished from genuine specific differences. The transmission of specific forms by generation, and the aversion to unions with those of other kinds, soon led naturalists to seek for a criterion of species in breeding.* They esta- blished the rule, that those animals which copulate together, and produce an offspring equally prolific with themselves, belong to one and the same species, ascribing the differences which may exist between them to adventitious causes. The high authority of BuFPON and Hunter, who adopted this opinion, occasioned the criterion of breeding to be very generally relied on. If we admit this, the question respecting the human species would be immediately solved. For all the races breed together, and their offspring is prolific, either with each other, or with any of the original races. Indeed, we know no difference in pro- ductiveness between such unions and those of the same race. This rule, however, involves a petitio principii, in assuming that animals of distinct species never produce together a prolific offspring. Generally, indeed, hybrid animals, or the offspring of any two species, are incapable of generation ; and this is a powerful additional provision for preserving unifonnity of spe- cies. There are, however, instances, both among the mammalia and birds, of individuals belonging to specieS universally held to be distinct, uniting and producing young, which were again prolific. That the mule can engender with the mare, and that the she-mule can conceive, was known to Aristotle. The circumstance is said to occur most frequently m warm countries ; * The principle lias not escaped common observation : it is expressed in the English word breed, and in the German gattung (species), whicn signifies copulation. SPECIES AND VARIETY. 181 but it has taken place in Scotland.* Buffon states that the offspring of the he-goat and ewe possesses perfect powers of reproduction. We might e.^jpect these animals, with the addi- tion also of the chamois (antilope rupicapra), to copulate together easily, because they are nearly of the same size, very similar in internal structure, accustomed to artificial domestic life, and to the society of each other from birth upwards. There is a similar facility in some birds belonging to the genera fringiUa, anas, and phasianus, where such unions are often fruitful, and produce prolific offspring. The cock and hen canary birds produce with the hen and cock siskin and goldfinch ;f the hen canary pro- duces with the cock chaffinch, bullfinch, yellow-hammer, and sparrow. The progeny in all these cases is prolific, and breeds not only with both the species from which they spring, but like%^dse with each other.J The common cock and the hen partridge, as well as the cock and the guinea hen,§ the pheasant and the hen,|| can produce together. Tlie anser cygnoides (Chinese goose) copulates readily m Russia with the common goose, and produces a hybrid but per- fectly prohfic offspring ; the race soon returns to the characters of the common goose, unless crossed again with the Chinese species.lT It is true that these unnatural unions take place in animals under the power of man, are accomijlished with the assistance of contrivance and stratagem, and generally require an attention to several preliminary circumstances ; it is also found, that, under artificial constraint and privation, unions of distinct spe- cies may take place without fecundation, as of the hare and bitch,** the bull and mare ;tt they prove, however, suflficiently that this affair of generation will not afford the criterion we are in search of. It was soon found that this rule of reproduction could not be applied to domesticated animals, on account of their unnatural way of life ; and hence Frisch, towards the beginning of the last century, confined it entirely to the wild ones. And here it is of little service : for how can we expect ever to bring toge- ther those wild species to ascertain the point, particularly when they inhabit different countries, as, for instance, the chimpanse * Buffon, by Wood, v. iv. p. 200—205. + Buffon, by Wood, v. xiv. p. 63, and following. j Ibid. p. 70. 5 Ih'd. V. xil. 61. II Pallas, Spicil. Zool. f. xi. p. 36, note ^ Ihid. Act. Acad. Scient. Petrop. 1780 ; p. 83, note ; p.SG. *• Pallas saw this in the instance of a tame hare kept with dogs. Smc. Zool. fasc. xi. p. 36, note, t+ Buffon, v. iv, p. 221, 182 ZOOLOGICAL ACCEPTATION OF of Angola and the orang-outang of Borneo ? Nor are there so many doubts about these, as about the domesticated animals, which are thus excluded. The different breeds of dogs, for example, are referred by some to different species ; and they are, indeed, sufficiently marked by distinctive permanent characters to warrant the opinion, if the constancy of such characters were a sufficient proof of difference in species. Others, again, refer them all to the shepherd's dog ; and others include all the dogs, the wolf, fox, and jackal, in one species. The dog and bitch produce with the male and female wolf, and with the dog and bitch fox ; and the offspring is prolific. Yet we cannot surely ascribe animals, which are marked in their wild state by such strong characters, of bodily formation, disposition, and habits, as the wolf, fox, and jackal, to one and the same species, without over- turning all the fundamental principles of zoology, however freely they may intermix, and however perfect the reproductive power may be in their offspring,* We may conclude, then, from a general review of the pre- ceding facts, that nature has provided, by the insurmountable barriers of instinctive aversion, of sterility in the hybrid offspring, and in the allotment of species to different parts of the earth, against any corruption or change of species in wild animals. We must therefore admit, for all the species which we know at present, as sufficiently distinct and constant, a distinct origin and common date. On the other hand, the fruitful intermix- ture which art has accomplished, of some of these species, will not justify us in ascribing to them identity of race or origin, when we see them in the natural wild state distinguished by constant characters from the type of the neighbouring species, and always producing an offspring marked by these characters. Since neither the principle of breeding, nor the constancy * Pallas entertains the opinion that our sheep, dogs, and perhaps poultry, are factitious beings, not des-cended from any siiitjlc wild original, but from a mixture of nearly allied prjmitive species, whose hybrid oifsprings have pos- sessed prolific powers. He observes that those domesticated animals, which either do not intermix with other species, or which produce with others un- prolitic progeny, are very little changed, however completely and anciently they ma}' have been brought under the dominion of man ; or at least are not so c!hanged as to cause any difiiculty respecting their origin. This is the case with the horse and ass in all climates; with the ox kind; with the pig; the camel and dromedary ; and the rein-deer. He refers our sheep to intermix- tures of the Siberian argali (ovisammon), theniouflonof CorsicaandSardinia, that of Africa (ovis tragelaphus Guv.), the wild goat of Persia (pasen^, the bezoar animal, capra ajgraap-us), the bouquetin (capra ibex), and the wild goat of Caucasus (capra Caucasital. The dog he considers to have proceeded from the jackal wolf, and fox. Memoire sur la f'aiiation des Aniinaiu:; Acta Acad. I'etroji. 1780. SPECIES AND VARIETY. 1S3 of particular characters, are sufficient in all cases to enable us to judgf! of species, and since these fail, jiarticularly in the domestic kinds, where their aid is principally required, we must resort at last to the criterion recommended by Blu- MENBACH, and draw our notions of species in zoology from analogy and probability. If we see two races of animals resem- bling each other in general, and differing only in certain respects, according with what we have observed in other instances, we refer them without hesitation to the same species, although the difierence should be so considerable, as to affect the whole external appearance. On the contrary, if the difference should be of a kind which has never arisen, within our experience of the animal kingdom, as a variety, we must pronounce them to bel<^g to distinct species, even although there should be, on the whole, a great general resemblance between the two. " I see," says this acute and judicious naturalist, " a remarkable difference between the Asiatic and African elephants in the structure of the molar teeth. Whether these inhabitants of such distant regions will ever be brought to copulate together, and whether this formation be universal, is uncertain : but it exists in all the specimens I have seen or heard of, and I know no example of molar teeth changed in such a manrer by dege- neration, or the action of adventitious causes : therefore I con- jecture, from analogy, that these elephants are not mere varieties, but truly different species. On the other hand, I hold the ferret (.mustela furo) to be only a variety of the pole-cat (m. putorius), not so much because they produce together, but because it has red pupils ; and the analogy of numerous other instances in- duces me to regard all the other mammalia, which are destitute of the colouring pigment of the eye, as varieties degenerated from their original stocks."* This method is the only satisfactory one of investigating the varieties of the human species. The diversities of physical and moral endowment which characterize the various races of man, must be analogous in their nature, causes, and origin, to those which are observed in the rest of tlie animal creation ; and must therefore be explained on the same principles. There is no point of difference between the several races of mankind, which has not been found to arise, in at least an equal degree, among other animals, as a mere variety, from the usual causes of degeneration. Our instances are drawn chiefly from • De Gen. hum. Var. nat. pp. 70, 71. lS4f VARIETIES OF COLOUR the domesticated kinds, which, by their association with man, lead an unnatural kind of life, are taken into new climates and situations, and exposed to various other circumstances, alto- gether different from their original destination. Hence they run into vai'ieties of form, size, proportions, colour, disposition, faculties, which, when they are established as permanent breeds, would be considered by a person uninformed on these subjects to be originally different species. Wild animals, on the con- trary, remaining constantly in the state for which they were originally framed, retain permanently their first character. Man cannot be called, in the ordinary sense of the term, a domesticated animal ; yet he is eminently domestic. Inhabiting every climate and soil, acted on by the greatest variety of external agencies, using every kind of food, and following every mode of life, he must be exposed still more than any animal to the causes of degeneration. I proceed to consider the circumstances in which the several races of men differ from each other, to compare them to the corresponding differences of animals, and to show that the par- ticular and general results of these inquiries lead us plainly to the conclusion, that the various races of human beings are only to be regarded as varieties of a single species. Whether this one species owes its origin to one pair, a male and a female, is a question which zoology does not possess the means of solving; a question which is of no more importance respecting our own species, than it woiild be in the case of the elephant, lion, or any other animal. CHAPTER n. On ike Colmir of the human Species. — Structure of the Parts in which the Colour resides. — Enumeration of the various Tints. — Colour and Denomination of the mixed Breeds. — Various Colours of Animals. — Production of Varieties. — Spotted individuals— Other Properties of the Skin. Although a general survey of organized bodies in both the animal and vegetable kingdom by no means leads us to regard colour as one of their most important distinctions, but, on the contrary, will soon con\ance us that it may undergo very signal changes without essential alterations of their nature ; and although this remark holds equally good of the human subject ; yet the different tints and shades of the skin, offering them- selves so immediately to observation, and forcing themselves, in a manner on the attention of the most incurious, have always L\ THE HUMAN SPECIES. 185 6€en regarded by the generality of mankind as the most charac- teristic attribute of the various races. These several hues form, indeed, very constant hereditary characters, clearly influenced by the colour of both parents in the mixed offspring of difierent varieties, and bearing a very close and nearly uniform relation to that of the hair and iris, as well as to the whole temperament of the individual. The skin, in which the colour of animals resides, is a more or less dense membrane covering the surface, and generally pro- portioned in thickness to the volume of the body ; serving the purpose of binding together and protecting the subjacent organs, of separating, under the form of sensible and insensible perspi- ration, a large quantity of excretory matter, the residue of digestion and nutrition, and of establishing the relations between the linng frame and surrounding objects. It is the sensitive Umit of the body, placed at the extremity of the organs, inces- santly exposed to external influences, and thus forming one great connexion between animal existence and that of surround- ing substances. Anatomical analysis resolves this apparently single envelop of our organs, commonly called skin, into two or more strata, technically termed the common integuments. Tlie most considerable and important of these, making up, indeed, the chief bulk of the skin, is the cutis vera, or true skin, dermis, corium, le corion Fr. ; — the part which, when prepared by the chemical process of tanning, constitutes leather. It is a comj)act and strong areolar tissue, composed of a dense fibrous substance, with numerous vacuities or intervals. The inter- texture of the fibrous or cellular tissue is close and compact on its external surface, so as to resemble the smooth continuity of a membrane ; more loose, with large areolae on the opposite or adhering aspect ; where the fibrous threads are lost in those of the subjacent cellular or adipous tissue. Immersion in water softens the skin by separating the fibres of its corion, and ren- dering their intervals more distinct : we then find that the areolae are not confined to the external surface, but are pro- longed into its substance, which is penetrated by them in its whole thickness. They serve for the passage of hairs, exhalants, and absorbents, as they come to the surface. The areolar tissue of the cutis is permeated in every direction by countless myriads of arterial and venous ramifications, of which the ultimate capillary divisions occupy the external or 186 VARIETIES OF COLOUR compact surface of the organ, and form a vascular network over the whole body, eluding our inqumes and defying calculation by the number and fineness of its tubes. In the glow of ex- ercise or the flush of shame, in the excitement of fever, or the eruption of measles, scarlatina, &c. these cutaneous vessels are filled with blood ; they may be injected with coloured fluids after death. Their ramifications are particularly numerous and subtle in those parts of the cutaneous organ which possess the most exquisite sensibility ; and where the surface is found, on minute examination, to be covered by numerous fine processes called papillffi or villi.* The absorbents of the skin seem nearly equal in number to its blood-vessels. Numerous nerves enter it in all parts, and distribute their largest ramifications in the situations occupied by the papillae. The colour of the cutis is uniform, or very nearly so, in all the A'arieties of the human race, and depends entirely on the state of its capillary blood-vessels. According as they are full or empty, it may vary (as we see in the white races) from a more or less florid red, constituting what artists call flesh-colour, to the waxy paleness of fainting or exhaustion from haemorrhage. Maceration in water makes its areolar tissue quite white ; and injection with sise coloured by vermillion gives it a deeper or lighter shade of red, according to the force employed. The cuticle or epidermis, the exterior layer of our common integuments, is the thin transparent or light grayish pellicle raised by a blister : in the natural state it adheres closely, almost inseparably, to the subjacent parts, and is accurately fitted to the cutis, having folds and lines corresponding to all the in-- equalities of that organ. It presents no traces of fibres, laminse, or cells ; it has no blood-vessels, absorbents, or nerves. There- fore, though perforated by the hairs, by the excretory tubes of cutaneous follicles, by the exhalant mouths of the capillaries, and possibly by absorbent orifices, it is incapable of sensation and all vital actions, extravascular, inorganic. It is a protecting sheath for the finely-organized and sensible skin, and serves the further purpose of preventing evaporation, by which that organ * The external vascular surface of the cutis, with its papillas or villi, seems to he what Bichat has described as a separate stratum, under the name of corps reticulaire (Jlnat. generate). I have never seen the distinction. My object, here, is not hovi'ever to describe the skin fully, but merely to consider it as the seat of colour. They why ivish for further information on the structure of the integuments may consult Dr. Rees' Cijclopcrdia, art. Integuments; and Dr. Gordon's &jste.m of Human Anatciny, book ii. chap, 4. IX THE HUMAN SPECIES. 187 would otherwise be inevitably dried. Thus the external surface of our livingr machine is in a manner dead ; and objects applied to it act on the cuticular nerves throupfh this insensible medium ^Tien preternaturally thickened, it destroys sensation ; if re- moved, as by blistering, the contact of bodies gives pain, but does not produce the appropriate impressions ot touch. The cuticle, as well as the cutis, is nearly the same in the white and the dark-coloured races ; it is, on the whole, darker in the latter than in the former, and possesses a grayish or brownish tint. If there are any other slight modifications, they have not yet been ascertained. A third and more delicate stratum, interposed between the epidermis and the true skin, and called the rete or reticulum Malpighii or mucosum, has been generally regarded as the seat of human colour ; — of all the diversified tints which characterizes the various races of men. The softness of its textuie, and its perforation by hairs, papillae, &c. account for the name rete mucosum. It is a black layer, about as thick as the cuticle itself, or even thicker in the Negro ; and darker coloured on its dermoid than on its cviticular surface. Putrefaction detaches it with the cuticle from the subjacent cutis ; its further progress resolves the soft tissue into a kind of unctuous slimy matter, readily washed away from the cuticle and skin. It is not easily sepa- rated from the former : indeed it is, under all circumstances, very difficult,* and where the skin is delicate quite impossible, to exhibit it detached, in any considerable portion, as a distinct membrane. It agrees with the cuticle in showing nothing like fibrous texture ; in being inorganic and extravascular. It dif- fuses itself in water, and communicates a turbid cloud to the fluid like that produced by the pigmentum nigrum of the eye ; then svibsides as an impalpable powder to the bottom. Thus the source of colour in the dark varieties of our species is satis- factorily ascertained. I have stated elsewhere that " the demonstration of this reticu- lar body is much less easy in the white races than in the Negro ; and mdeed very little seems to be known concerning its anatomy in the former ;" and further, " that it seems really to be a matter • Soemmerring experienced this difficulty; he says, "it cannot, without much trouble, be shown as a peculiar detaclied membrane ; and I could only succeed in the scrotum in exhibiting considerable portions of it as a separate, coherent, and independent membrane." Ueber die korperliche Verschiedenheit des J^'egers vom Europaer, pp. 45, 4'j. 188 VARIETIES OP COLOUR of doubt, whether in the white races there be any colouring matter in the exterior capillary system analogous to the black substance of the Negro, or whether the colour of their surface arise merely from that of the cutis and cuticle."* When the cuticle separates by putrefaction from the cutis, the surfaces are moistened by a putrid offensive fluid ; but I could never detach any thing like a distinct membrane, even in the smallest portion.f The late Dr. Gordon came to a similar conclusion from his investigation of the subject. "After the strictest examination, I have not been able to find any light-coloured rate mucosum, corresponding to this black one, in the inhabitants of Great Bri- tain, nor in those of other nations resembling them in colour. I have tried all the means usually said to be necessary for dis- covering it, and many others besides, but always without suc- cess : I am, therefore, disposed to deny the existence of any such membrane in white persons."! The differences between black and white men in the texture of the rete mucosum are distinctly noted by Blumenbach. He states that the native reddish white of the cutis shines through the transparent outer coverings in the white races, while in the dark the cutaneous pigment is seated in the rete mucosum, the epidermis, although pale, manifestly partaking of the tint. He adds, " Quo fuscius reticulem sit eo crassius quoque et propius ad membranulas sui generis speciem accedens ; quo pellucidius contra, eo tenerius, et non nisi difflui muci habitum pree se ferens."§ Ha ller || uses a similar contrast ; representing this part in the Negro as " involucrum, crassius quam in Europajis, et verse membranae simile, cum istis potius mucus sit coactus." There is, in the Hunterian collection, a portion of white skin with the cuticle turned down ; a small portion of a thin trans- parent pellicle has been subsequently separated from the cutis. A further examination, particularly in the skins of intermediate • Rees' Oyclopcpdia, art. Integuments. t Soemmerring remarks that he once found, in an European female, the outer covering of the cutis distinctly divisible into two lamellae ; and that he pre- serves a specimen of it in his collection. Veh. die korperliche Verschiedenneit, &c. p. 45. t System of Human Anatomy; v. i. p. 242. I cannot omit this opportunity of paying to my deceased friend the small but sincere tribute of my high respect, and deep regret for the loss which our science has sustained in his premature death. His abilities, acquirements, and zealous devotion to science, were well known. At an early age ho had distinguished himself as a teacher and a writer, and he set the useful example of appealing in all cases to nature, and admitting no statements which he had not personally verified. A brilliant and useful career was just opening before him : in the present state of anatomy in this kingdom, his labours would have been singularly useful. { De g. h. var, nal, sect, iii. \ 42, H Elem. physiol, lib. xii, sect, i. \ 11. I.V THE HUMAN SPECIES. 189 tints, will be required in order to settle the point. Although I cannot demonstrate rete mucosum in the European, I think that there must be under the cuticle some colouring matter: how can we otherwise account for the difference between the fair and the swarthy, or for the remarkable peculiarity of the Albino ?* The colours impressed on the skin in the operation of tattooing, which we see so frequently in our sailors, and of which the South Sea Islanders exhibit such remarkable and often very elegant spe- cimens, reside in the cutis, and are indelible, except by the removal or destruction of the part. Tlie cuticle does not partake in the effect, which therefore, for obAaous reasons, is brighter and more conspicuous when that integument has been removed. When we direct our attention to the very numerous colours and shades which the several varieties of the great human family exhibit, merely with the view of ascertaining with how many external modifications nature has been pleased to diversify the chef-d'oeuvre of the terrestrial creation, the subject, like all be- longing to man, has its attraction and interest. But the inves- tigation becomes much more important when it embraces the causes of these appearances, and the degree of force belonging to each ; when we inquire whether the colour of a people depends on the climate of their present or former abode, or on their de- scent ; whether that of children is influenced by the climate in which they are born, or by the blood of their parents ; whether it is a sure token of race and pedigree ; how many principal or leading colours we ought to assign to man as at present known; and whether any and what number of these are to be deemed original or primary. These points are yet undecided, and cer- tainly worthy of our attention. The very nature of language, the want of adequate expressions to denote the endless shades of colour, and the indeterminate- ness of those which are applied to various tints, create some difficulties in this part of the subject, by producing considerable discrepancies in the reports of travellers, which again are of • Camper seems to be influenced by similar arguments, rather than by direct anatomical evidence, in ascribing a rete mucosum to the white race^. " Credibile esse mihi videtur, omnes homines reticulo simili gaudere, quod, pro diversis regionibus, et in diversis hominibus non modo, secf in eodem, pro partium varietate, diversam superficiem naclum, album, fuscum, vel nigrum apparet. Praiparavi cutis portionem, e latere foemina; emortua) depromptam, cujus facies, et pectus nive erant candidiora, in qua reticulum intense fuscum est." Demonstrat. jlnatinn. paihul. lil). i. cap. 1. He repeats in the same page the common representation of the rete mucosum not bein" regenerated, and of cicatrices in blacks being therefore white. I nave had repeated opportunities of ascertauiiug" that this notion is altogether unfounded. 190 VARIETIES OF COLOUR course increased in many cases by haste and carelessness ; by superficial examination and loose choice of expressions. The same tribe will be very differently described, according to the comparison, which the observer makes between them and any model in his mind ; or according to the contrast they may pre- sent with the lighter, darker, or differently coloured people, whom he may have recently observed. The human skin is dyed with various tints of white, yellow, red, brown, black ; and it exhibits, in degree, every possible intermediate shade between the clear snowy whiteness of the most delicate European female, or of the Albino, and the deep ebony or jet black of a Goldcoast Negress. None of these gra- dations obtains so universally as to be found in all the indi- viduals of any particular nation, nor is so peculiar to any one people, as not to occur occasionally in other widely different ones : we may, however, refer the national varieties of colour, on the whole, with sufficient accuracy, to the five following princi- pal classes : — I. White, to which redness of the cheeks is almost wholly confined;* being observed, at all events, very rarely in the other varieties. It is seen in all the European nations, excepting the Laplanders ; in the western Asiatics, as the Turks, Georgians, Circassians, Mingrelians, Armenians, Persians, &c. ; and in the northern Africans. " It is only," says Humboldt, " in white men, that the instantaneous penetration of the dermoidal system by the blood can take place ; that slight change of the colour of the skin, which adds so powerful an expression to the emotion of the soul. ' How can those be trusted, who know not how to blush ?' says the European in his inveterate hatred to the Negro and the Indian. "t Yet in some very light examples of the brown and yellow * Capt. Cook observes of the Otaheiteans, that "their natural complexion is that kind of clear olive or brunette, which many people in Europe prefer to the finest white and red. In those, who are exposed to the wind .ind sun, it is considerably deepened; but in others, that live undershelter, especially in the superior class of women, it continues of its native hue, and the skin Is most delicately smooth and soft. They have no tint in the cheeks, which we dis- tinguish by the name of colour." Hawkesworth's Voyages, v. ii. p. 187. In the mountaineers of Rcotan, which he saw on the road from Tassisudon to Teshoo-Loomboo, and who seem to possess all the traits of the IWongolian race, Capt. Turner iiarticularly noticed the ruddiness of their countenances. Embassy to t/ie Court of the Teshoo Lama, p. 193. T Personal Narrative, v. ili. p. 229. Mr. Chappell says of the Esquimaux, that "the complexion is a dusky yellow, but some of the young women have a little colour bursting through this dark tint. ' ' Narraiive of a Voyage tu Iludsun's Bay, p. 58. IX THE HUMAN SPECIE'S. 191 varieties, blushing has been noticed ; as by Forster* in the fairest Otaheitean women; and by DAMPiERf in the Tun- quinese : " they are," he observes, " of a tawny Indian colour ; but, I think, the fairest and clearest I ever saw of that com- plexion : for you may perceive a blush or change of colour in some of their faces on any sudden surprise of passion, which I could never discern in any other Indians." Considerable variety, however, will be found to exist in the colour known by the general epithet white. That singular description of human beings called Albinos, possesses a skin of a peculiar reddish, or an unnatural white tint, with corresponding yellowish white or milk-white hair, and red, or at least very light blue or gray eyes. The cutaneous organ has sometimes a roughness, which has been construed as an approach to a degree of lepra. t The hair of all parts of the body is imnaturally white and soft ; it has not the snowy white- ness of old age, nor the elegant light yellow or fla.xen appear- ance of the fair-haired (]}londins, Fr.) German variety; but it is compared to that of milk or cream, or of a white horse. The eyebrows, eyelashes, beard, the hair of other parts, and often a soft down covering the whole body, are of the same colour. Tlie iris is of a pale rose colour, and the pupil intensely red : § these parts, in short, are exactly similar to the corresponding- ones in white rabbits and ferrets. || • Obserrations made on a f'oyage round the ll'orlrl; p. 229. He says that the complexion of the chiefs, or best formed race in Otaheite, is of a white tinctured with a brownish yellow, however not so strongly mixed, but that on the cheek of the fairest of the women you may easily distinguish a sxjreading blush." + Voyages, v. ii. p. 40. i Blumenbach has given an interesting description of two brothers who live in the vale of Chamouny. " Cutis eorum, pra^ter iniborem singularem, maxime in facie coiispicuum, prajprimis epidermide in niveos et tenellus furfures quasi fatiscente, niemorabiliserat. Capilliautem lana; caprina; simik's, turn recto et omnis intiexus experto decursu, tum insueto colore ex albosingularitertlaves- cente, erant iusi^nes. Quibus etiam cilia, et supercilia, et pubes tenella, cum mentum tum reliquum corpus obsidens, respondebant." De Oculis LeuccB- thiopum, et Iridis Motu, in Commentation. Keg. Soc. Scient. Goetling. ; v. vii. Dr. Winterbottom saw a white African woman with a remarkablj' coarse and wrinkled skin ; it was dry and harsh to the touch, and marked with deep furrows. It had a reddish tinge in parts exposed to the sun, being of a dirty white in other situations. Black spots, like freckles, of the size of a pea, were thickly scattered over the skin. Another tall and well-formed white NegX'O had a similar rough, harsh, and freckled skin. Another young white Negress had the skin of an unpleasant dead-looking white, and" pretty smooth," but beginning to assume a cracked appearance from the action of the sun. Account of the Nalire African.^, v. ii. pp. 1G7 — 170. In five or six seen by Cook at Otaheite, the skin was of a dead white, like the nos« of a white horse, scurfy, and covered with a white down ; they had white hair, beard, eyebrows, and eyelashes. Hawkesworth, Voyages ; v. 'ii. p. 188. ? " Oculi in universum cuniculorum alborum Oiculis perfecte similes : iride nempe tenella et fere pellucidula, valde mobili, quasi oscillante, et quse jam sub modica hice late expaudebatur; colore diluto, inter pallide violaceum et rubellum medio. Pupillis autem saturate rubicundis et fere rutilis, qualis succi rubi idaji intensior esse solet." Blumenbach in lib. rit, H Two .African Albinos were brought to France, and seen by Voltaire, who 192 VARIETIES OF COLOUR The characters of the Albino arise from a deficiency of the colouring principle, common to the skin, hair, and eyes. Thus the former has the hue, which its cellular and vascular contex- ture produces ; the hair is reduced to its simple organic ground- work ; and in the eyes, which are entirely destitute of pigmen- tum, the colour of the iris depends on the fine vessels which are so numerous in its composition, and that of the pupil on the still greater number of capillaries, which almost entirely form the choroid membrane. The close connection of these parts, in respect to theii co- lour, is e\idenced by the fact that neither is ever separately affected. The state of the eyes is the principal source of inconvenience. The absence of the black pigment, which has the important office of absorbing superfluous portions of light, renders the eye preternaturally sensible of this stimulus. Strong lights affect the organ painfully ; even the glare of open day is too much. Hence the eyelids are more or less closed ; the eyes are described as weak and tender ; and sometimes as affected with chronic lippitudo. These evils are balanced in some measure by supe- rior power of vision in twilight, dusk, or imperfect darkness. " Ad nocturnam quidem caliginem, non magis quidquam dis- cernere poterant ac alii homines. In crepusculo autem, et ad lunae debiliorem lucem, longe acutius ac vulgo possumus vide- bant. Fulgida vero lux, sive meridiana sereno caelo, sive can- delarum aliusve ignis, non quidem per se valde molestus ipsis ■\adebatur, verum plane inutihs ; cum quidem eandem sine gra- viore incommodo aut dolore perferre possent, non ahter autera has selected and shortly characterized their leading traits : " Leur blancheur n'est pa5 la notre; rien d'incarnat, nul melange de mane et de brun, c'est une couleur de linge, ou plutot de cire blanchie ; leurs eheveux, leurs sourcilssont de la plus belle et de la plus douce sole ; leurs 3-eux ne resseniblent en rien 3. ceuxdes autres hommes, mais ils approchent beaucoup des yeux de perdrix." Essai sur les Mceiirs, Introduction. They are also described by Buffon, Supple- ment, t. iv. p. 559. Pallas has minutely described a " Leucajthiopissa eles^antissima," -nhom he saw in London in 1761. " Sedecim tunc circiter annos nata, et a patre atque matre niirritis in Jamaica insula genita dicebatur, de quo tanto minus dubitari poterat, quum nihil hybrida; ex albo nigroque parente genitura? simile prse se ferret. Statura; erat minoris, artubus et collo turgidulis, cute san« guineo-phlegmatica- tinctura; Candida, labiis rubris et rubicundis genis vigens, vultu omnino .45thiopis, naso quassato, labiis tumidis, fronte brevi, circum- scriptione faciei subrotunda, notis variolarum sparsis cutem minus teneram distinguentibus. Oculorum irides neque rubri nee CEesii, sed griseo-lutescentis eraut coloris; neque visus nocturnus, sed tamen apertas liicis intolerantia, quam prsesertim post variolas ortam narrabant custodes. Cilia et supercilia p.iUide flava, et capillitium totura ejusdem quidem coloris (blond) pallide Havi, at penitus in densissimos circinnos crispatum, et duriusculam jEthiopis lanam ad amussim referens. Hebeti videbatur ingenio, et pudibunda spectatores admittebat ; sanissima CcEteroquin et egregia corporis proportione. Cognatos omne> nigerrimos .lEthiopes habuisse dicebatur. ' ' Nov loca aquarum Concelebrant, circum ripas, lonteisque, lacusque ; Et qua; pervolgant ncmova avia pervolitantes ; Horum >inum auodvis genevatini sumere perge ;, Invenies tameii inter se distare figuris. Kec ratione alia proles cognoscere matrem. Nee mater possit prolem ; quod posse videmus. Nee minus atque homines inter se nota cluere." — Lucret. L. ii. + De gen. human, var. nat. Sect. iii. } •56. DIFFERENCES OF FEATURES. 221 narrow and linear aperture of the eyelids extending towards the temples (yeux brides, Fr.), the internal angle of the eye de- pressed towards the nose, and the superior eyelid continued at that part into the inferior by a rounded sweep ; chin shghtly prominent. See Plate II. This is the face of the Mongolian tribes ; commonly called in Enghsh the Tartar face, from the confusion of the Tartars (Tatars) with the Mongols. 3. Face broad, but not flat and depressed, with prominent cheek-bones, and the parts when viewed in profile, as it were, more deeply and distinctly carved out. Short forehead, eyes deeply seated, nose flattish, but prominent. Such is the coun- tenance of most Americans. See Plate IV. 4. Narrow face projecting towards its lower part; narrow, slanting, and arched forehead; eyes prominent (afleurde tete) ; a thick nose, confused on either side with the projecting cheeks (nez epate) ; the lips, particularly the upper one, very thick ; the jaws prominent, and the chin retracted. — This is the coun- tenance of the Negro — the Guinea face. See Plate III. 5. The face not so narrow as in the preceding, rather pro- jecting downwards, with the different parts in a side-view rising more freely and distinctly. The nose rather full and broad, and thicker towards its apex (bottled-nosed). The mouth large. This is the face of the Malays, particularly of the South Sea Islanders. See Plate V. In his Abbildungen natur-historicher Gegenstande, p. i, Blu- MENBACH has given characteristic representations of these five varieties, engraved from accurate portraits of celebrated indivi- duals. These engravings have been copied for the present work,* as they render the subject much more intelligible than mere description. In features, as in colour, the different races are connected to each other by the most gentle gradations ; so that, although any two extremes, when contrasted, appear strikingly different, they are joined by numerous intermediate and very shghtly differing degrees ; and no formation is exhibited so constantly in all the individuals of one race, as not to admit of numerous exceptions. We see, indeed, an astonishing difference, when we place an ugly Negro (for there are such as well as ugly Europeans) against a specimen of the Grecian ideal model ; but, when we * See plate I. — V. Vignettes illustrating the same subject are introduced In the Beytrcige zur Naturgeschidde ; \< Theil. 222 DIFFERENCES OF FEATURES. trace the intermediate gradations, this striking diversity vanishes. " Of the Negroes of both sexes," says Blumencach, " whom I have attentively examined, in very considerable number, as well as in the portraits and profiles of others, and in the numerous Negro crania, which I possess, or have seen, there are not two completely resembling each other in their formation ; they pass by insensible gradations, into the forms of the other races, and approach to the other varieties even in their most pleasing modifications. A Creole whom I saw at Yverdun, born of parents from Congo, and brought from St. Domingo by the Chevalier Treytorrens, had a countenance, of which no part, not even the nose, and rather strongly marked lips, were very striking, much less displeasing; the same features \vith an European complexion would certainly have been generally agreeable."* The testimony of Le Maire, in his journey to Senegal and Gambia, is to the same effect ; that there are Negresses, except in colour, as handsome as European women. Vaillant says of the CafFre women, that setting aside the prejudice which operates against their colour, many might be accounted handsome, even in an European country. The accu- rate Adanson confirms this statement in his description of the Senegambians. " The women are equally well made with the men. Their skin is of the finest texture, and extremely soft. The eyes are black and large ; the mouth and lips small ; and all the features well proportioned. Several are perfectly beau- tiful. They have much vivacity, and an easy air, which is very pleasing.f The Jaloflfs, according to Mungo Park, have not the protu- berant lip nor flat nose of the African countenance. | We have also the testimony of another traveller, concerning this tribe, to the same eflTect : according to Moore,§ they have handsome features, and neither broad noses nor thick lips. Pigafetta j! states, that the Congo Negroes have not the thick lips of the Nubians, and that, except in colour, they are very like the Portuguese. Dampier, in his account of Natal, describes the natives as having curled hair, but a long face, well-proportioned nose, and agreeable countenance. The six Negro crania en- graved in the two first decades of Blumenbach, exhibit very * Beytriige zur Naturaeschichte ; 1' Th. p. 89. t Hisloire A'aturelle du Senegal, p. 23. X Travels into the Interior Districts of Africa; 8vo. edition, p. 23, The Foulahs also have pleasing features, p. 25. { Zimmeimann, Geograph. geschicnte, v. i. p. 99. II Relazione del Heame di Congo; Roma, p. 12. DIFFERENCES OF FEATURES. 223 clearly this diversity of character in the African race ; and prove, most unequivocally, that the variety among individuals is cer- tainly not less, but greater, than the difference between some of them and many Europeans.* The same observations hold good of the American race. The most accurate observers treat with contempt the hyperbolical assertion of some, that all the inhabitants of the new world have one and the same countenance, so that he who has seen one may say that he has seen all. " I cannot help smiling," says Molina, " when I read in certain modern authors, and those too accounted dihgent observers, that all the Americans have one cast of countenance, and then when you have seen one, you know the whole. These writers have been too much influenced by the deceptive appear- ances of resemblance, consisting chiefly in colour, which imme- diately disappear when we confront individuals of two nations. The difference between an inhabitant of Chili and a Peruvian is not less than between an Italian and a German. I have found the Indians of Paraguay, of the Straits of Magellan, and of other parts, most obviously and strikingly distinguished from each other by peculiar lineaments. "f We have further unexceptionable testimony to prove that the same variety of countenance is found in the Americans as in the other races ; although it generally follows the model above described. In South America only we have the Caaiguas with flat noses, observed by Nic. del Techo ; the neighbouring Abipons, of whom many individuals have aquiline noses, by Martin Dobrizhoffer ; the Peiu\'ians with narrow and aqui- line noses, by Ulloa ; the Chilese with rather a broad nose, by Molina ; and the islanders of Tierra del Fuego with a very de- pressed one, by G. FoRSTKR. The truth of this representation is most fully attested by Humboldt, whose accuracy and extensive opportunities entitle his observations to the most implicit deference. " In the faithful portrait, which an excellent observer, Mr. Volney, has drawn of the Canada Indians, we undoubtedly recognise the tribes scattered in the meadows of the Rio Apure and the Carony. The same style of feature exists, no doubt, in both Americas ; but those Europeans who have sailed on the great rivers Orinoco and Amazons, and have had occasion to see a * Decas Craniorum, p. 23 ; Decas altera, p. 13. t Storia naturale del Chili, p. 336. English Translation, 274, 275. 224 DIFFERENCES OF FEATURES. great number of tribes assembled under the monastical hierarchy in the missions, must have observed that the American race contains nations, whose features differ as essentially from one another, as the numerous varieties of the race of Caucasus, the Circassians, Moors, and Persians, differ from one another. The tall form of the Patagonians is again found by us, as it were, among the Caribs, who dwell, in the plains from the delta of the Orinoco, to the sources of the Rio Blanco. What a difference between the figure, physiognomy, and physical constitution of these Caribs, who ought to be accounted one of the most robust nations on the face of the earth, and are not to be confounded with the degenerate Zambos, formerly called Caribs of the island St. Vincent, and the squat bodies of the Chayma Indians of the province of Cumana ! What a difference of form between the Indians of Tlascala and the Lipans and the Chichimecs of the northern part of Mexico !"* An analogous variety of countenance has been noticed in the Friendly Islanders ; *' their features are very various, insomuch ihat it is scarcely possible to fix on any general likeness by v/hich to characterise 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.f Individuals in Europe often have the countenance exactly resembUng the Negro or Mongol face. From our survey of the countenance, we proceed, by a natural and easy transition, to a consideration of the bony head. It is suflficiently obvious that there must be a close connection between the external soft parts of the face, or the features, and the bony fabric, or mould, on which they are formed and sup- ported ; — that the size and configuration of the latter must determine those of the former.^ We might venture to aflSrm, that a blind man, if he knew the vast difference which exists between the face of a Calmuck and that of a Negro, would be able to distinguish their skulls by the mere touch ; nor could you persuade any person, however ignorant of the subject, that either of these belonged to a head similar to those from which • Political Essay, v. iv. p. 143. t Cook's Voy. to the Pacific ; i. 380. t I do not speak of the original formation, nor mean to assert that the par- ticular forms of the soft parts depend on those of the bones, as their cause ; for numerous phenomena rather tend to prove the reverse of that position, or that the soft parts influence the configuration of the bones. I only wish to point out the relation between them, and to state, that either being known, it will be easy to determine the other. FORMS OF THE SKULL. 'I'ZO the divine examples of the ancient Grecian sculpture were copied. Differences equally striking are found in the cavity of the cranium; of which the general capacity and particular forms depend entirely on the size and partial development of the brain. Hence our zoological study of man will be greatly assisted by carefully examining genuine specimens of the skulls of different nations ; which are easily prepared and preserved, may be conveniently handled and surveyed, considered in various points of view, and compared to each other. Such a comparison will show us that the form of the cranium differs no less than the colour of the skin, or other characters ; and that one kind of structure runs by gentle and almost inob- servable gradations into another : yet that there is, on the whole, an undeniable, nay, a very remarkable constancy of character in the crania of different nations, contributing very essentially to national peculiarities of form, and corresponding exactly to the features which characterize such nations. Hence anatomists have attempted to lay down some scale of dimen- sions, to which the various forms of the skull might be referred ; and by means of which they might be reduced into certain classes. With the exception of a few desultory observations, which are scattered through the works of different writers, Daubentox's paper, " Sur la Difference du grand Trou occipital dans r Homme et dans les autres Animaux," in the Memoirs of the Royal Aca- demy of Sciences for 1764, contains the first attempt at any general remarks on the subject : and this, indeed, is more im- portant in pointing out the differences between the human structure and that of animals, than in defining the characters of the skull in the different races of mankind. Camper has at- tempted a more general view, by means of his facial line and angle already described (see Chap. IV.) But what he has said cannot be considered even as approximating to a systematic ac- count of the national varieties of the skull. It is sufficiently obvious that his method is applicable to such varieties only as differ from each other in the size and prominence of the jaws, that it ^vill not at all exhibit the characters of those which vary in the opposite way, viz. in the greater or less breadth of the face, while the upper, posterior, and lateral aspects of the cranium are entirely disregarded. It often happens that crania of the most different nations, which differ toto cselo from each other on the whole, have the same facial line ; and, on the contrary, that skulls of the same nation, which agree in general character, L 3 226 FORMS OF THE SKULL. differ very much in the direction of this hne.* Camper could not, indeed, have fully explained this subject, because he had no sufficient collection of crania for the purpose. His Disserta- tion contains an engraving of a skull, which he calls that of a Calmuck, and adduces as a representative of all the natives of Asia. The characters of this skull are completely Negro ; and the very reverse of those which distinguish the Calmuck. Be- sides this he brings forward one Negro skull ; and these two are all that it contains except European heads. We are indebted to Blumenbach for the completest body of information on this subject, which he has been enabled to illustrate most successfully by an unrivalled collection of the crania of different nations from all parts of the globe. His admirable work on the varieties of the human species contains a short sketch of the various formations of the skull in different nations ; but he has treated the subject at greater length and with more minute detail in his Decades Craniorum, where the crania themselves are represented of their natural size. He states, that in the examination and classification of his immense collection, he finds it every day more and more diffi- cult, amidst such numerous differences in the proportion and direction of various parts, all of which contribute more or less to the national character, to reduce these to the measurements or angles of any single scale. Since, however, in distinguish ing the characters of the different crania, such a view will gain the preference to all others, as offers at one glance the most numerous and important points, and such as contribute especi- ally to the comparison of national characteristics, he has found by experience that to be the best adapted to this purpose, which is obtained by placing the different crania, with the zygomas perpendicular, on a table in a row, and contemplating them from behind. When skulls are thus arranged, those circumstances which contribute most to the formation of the national character, viz. the direction of the jaws and cheek-bones, the breadth or • The crania of a Negro and of a Pole, represented in tlie Decades of Blu menbach (Dec. altera; tab. x. : Dec. ieriia, t. xxii.), possess exactly the same facial line ; yet the general character of the two skulls is most opposite, when we compare the narrow and keel-shaped Ethiopian to the broad square form of the Lithuanian. There are, in the same work, two Negro crania of very different facial lines, which, when viewed in front, betray their Ethiopic origin most incontestably by thesame characters of a narrow and compressed cranium and arched forehead. In short, this criterion of the facial line, which I have already shown to be quite iusuflicient as a key to the intellectual rank of animals, is equally, if not more unserviceable, in its application to the varieties of man. FORMS OF THE SKULL. 227 narrowness of the head, the advancing or receding outline of the forehead, are all distinctly perceived at one view. This method of considering the bony head he calls norma verticalis. It is exhibited in the three figures of Plate IX., where three heads are represented in this point of view, in order to illustrate the subject. The middle of the three, distinguished by the sym- metry and beauty of aU its parts, is that of a Georgian female : the two outer ones are examples of heads differing from this in the opposites extremes. That on the left, elongated in front, is the head of a Negress ; the other, on the right, expanded late- rally, and flattened in front, is the cranium of a Tungoose from the north-east of Asia. The great expanse of the upper and anterior part of the cranium, hiding the face, characterizes the Georgian. In the Ethiopian, the narrow slanting forehead allows the face to come into view ; the cheeks and jaws are com- pressed laterally, and elongated in front. In the Tungoose, on the contrary, the maxillary, malar, and nasal bones are \videly expanded on either side ; and the two latter are on the same horizontal level %vith the glabella ;* the forehead being stiU low and slanting. In the first, or white variety of man, to which Blumenbach has given the epithet Caucasian, including the ancient and mo- dern inhabitants of Europe, the western Asiatics, or those on this side of the Caspian Sea, the rivers Ob and Ganges, and the northern Africans ; — in a word, nearly all the inhabitants of the world as known to the ancients, the skull presents the finest intellectual organization ; proportions indicating the greatest predominance of the rational faculties over the instruments of sense and of the common animal wants. The upper and front parts of the skull are more developed than in any other variety, and their ample swell completely hides the face, when we survey the head according to the norma verticalis. The facial line must, therefore, be nearly vertical ; and the facial angle nearly a right angle. The face is comparatively small, and its outlines rounded, without anything harsh or unpleasantly prominent. The cheek- bones are small, and do not stand out, but descend in a nearly straight line from the external angular process of the frontal bone. The alveolar margin of the jaws is rounded ; and the front teeth are perpendicular in both. The chin is full and prominent. Since this conformation is exhibited in the various nations of * The space between the frontal sinuses. 228 FOBMS OF THE SKULL: Europe, its leading traits must be familiar. As a specimen, I have selected from the third decade of Blumenbach's work the skull of a Georgian* woman, because it comes from a quar- ter near the supposed original seat of our race, and from a tribe celebrated for personal beauty. From the elegance and symmetry of its formation, it may be regarded as the model of a female head ; and is certainly far preferable in this point of view, to that of " The bending statue which enchants the world." Gall and Spurzheim judiciously observed that the head of the Venus was too small for an intellectual being; and that the goddess of Love was thus represented as an idiot. In this Georgian head the physical and moral attributes are well com- bined ; the personal charms, which enchant the senses, are joined to those rational endowments which command esteem and respect, and satisfy the judgment. The form of this head is of such distinguished elegance, that it attracts the attention of all who visit the collection in which it is contained. The vertical and frontal regions form a large and smooth convexity, which is a little flattened at the temples ; the forehead is high and broad, and carried forwards perpen- dicularly over the face. The cheek-bones are small, descend- ing from the outer side of the orbit, and gently turned back. The superciliary ridges run together at the root of the nose, and are smoothly continued into the bridge of that organ, which forms an elegant and finely-turned arch. The alveolar processes are softly rounded, and the chin is full and prominent. In the whole structure there is nothing rough or harsh ; nothing dis- agreeably projecting. Hence it occupies a middle place between the two opposite extremes, of the Mongolian variety, in which the face is flattened, and expanded laterally : and the Ethiopian, in which the forehead is contracted, and the jaws also are narrow and elongated anteriorly. Blumenbach observes that the form of this head corres- ponds exactly to that of the marble statue of a nymph in the collection of the late Mr. Townley, of which he possesses a plaster cast. It tends also to confirm the testimony of the nu- merous travellers, who have unanimously concurred in extolling the beauty of the inhabitants of Georgia and the neighbouring * Decas tertia ; No. xxi. The sixth plate of this work is copied from the figure of Blumenbach. The representations in the Tabulce Sceletiet Mttsculorum Hominis, and in the Tab. Ossium humanorum of Albinus, also exemplify the characters of this yaviety. CAUCASIAN VARIETY. 229 countries. The expressions of Chardin are so warm and animated, that I subjoin the original passage. " Le sang de Georgie est le plus beau de I'orient, et je puis dire du monde. Je n'ai pas remarque un visage laid en ce pais-la, parmi, I'un et I'autre sexe ; mais j'y en ai vu d'angeliques. La nature y a repandu sur la plupart des femmes des graces qu'on ne voit point ailleurs. Je tiens pour impossible de les regarder sans les aimer. L'on ne peut peindre de plus charmans visages, ni de plus belles tailles, que celles des Georgiennes."* The head of the Jewish girl engraved in Plate XII. exemplifies equally well the Caucasian formation. The characters above described belong to the following people, whether ancient or modern; ?jj^. the Syrians and Assyrians, Chaldeans, Medes, Persians,f Jews,t Egyptians, Georgians, Circassians, Mingrelians, Armenian s,§ Turks, || Arabs, Afghans, Hindoos of high cast, Gipsies,^ Tartars,** Moors and Berbers in Africa, Guanches in the Canary Islands, Greeks, Romans, ft and all the Europeans except the Laplarrders. The enumeration includes all the human races in which the intellectual endow- ments of man have shone forth in the greatest native vigour, have received the highest cultivation, and have produced the richest and most abimdant fruits in philosophy, science and art, in religion and morals, in poetry, eloquence, and the fine arts, in civilization and government ; in all that can dignify and en- noble the species. We cannot, therefore, wonder that they should in all cases have not merely vanquished, but held in per- manent subjection, aU the other races. Much uncertainty has prevailed respecting the physical cha- racters of the ancient Egyptians : and some have maintained the opinion that they were Negroes. :J;t The question is certainly • Foyages en Perse ; t. i. ■p. 111. Edition of 1735. t Bluraenbach, Dec. No. xxxiv. t Ibid. n. xxviii. and xxxv. i Ibid. xli. II Ibid. ii. H A genuine Transilvanian Gipsey ; ibid. xi. *• Ibid. xii. Sandifovt, Museum Acad. Lugduno-Bat. v. i. tab. 2. tt Roman praetorian soldier ; ibid, xxxii. {4: Volney seems to assume it as a settled point, that the ancient Egyptians were Negroes. " IIow are we astonished when we behold the present bar- barism and ignorance of the Copts, descended from the profound genius of the Egyptians, and the brilliant imagination of the Greeks ; when we reflect, that to the race of Negroes, at present our slaves, and the objects of our extreme contempt, we owe our arts, sciences, and the very use of speech ; and when we recollect that iu the midst of those nations who call themselves the friends of liberty and humanity, the most barbarous of slaveries is justified; and that it is even a problem, whether the understanding of Negroes be of the same species with that of white men ! " I'rarels in Syria and Egypt ; chap. vi. The researches of Meiners into the ancient authorities lead to the conclusion that there was a great conformity, both in bodily formation and in customs and in political institutions, between the Egyptians and Indians (Hindoos) ; 230 FORMS OF THE SKULL. interesting, particularly if it should appear that this opinion is well grounded. That a race ever devoted, within the period embraced by authentic history, to slavery, or to an independent existence not much better, and possessing, under the most favourable circumstances, only the rudiments of the common arts, and the most imperfect social institutions, should have accomplished in the remotest antiquity undertakings which astonish us even now by their grandeur, and prove so great a progress in civilization and social life, in arts and sciences ; that they should have subsequently lost all traces of this surprising progress, and never have exhibited the smallest approximation to such a pre-eminence in any other instance, would be a fact extremely difficult to explain. Egypt was venerated, even by antiquity, as the birthplace of the arts, and still retains innvimerable monuments of their former splendour, after so many ages of desolation. Her principal temples, and the palaces of her kings, still subsist, although the least ancient of them were constructed before the war of Troy With our present experience of the capacity of Negroes, and our knowledge of the state in which the whole race has remained for twenty centuries, can we deem it possible that they should have achieved such prodigies? that Homer, Lycurgus, Solon, Pythagoras, and Plato, should have resorted to Egypt to study the sciences, religion, and laws, discovered and framed by men with, black skin, woolly hair, and slanting forehead ? The situation of Egypt favours the notion of a mixed popula- tion, which may have flowed in at various times from different" quarters of Africa, Asia, and Europe. The Caucasian races of Arabia, Syria, and the surrounding parts, must have found their way into this fertile and flourish- and a less marked affinity between the former and the Ethiopians. But it is not clear what race of men was meant by that term. For the ancient historians speak of Negro Ethiopians, of another African Ethiopian race with longhair, and of Asiatic Ethiopians. De veterum Egyptiorum Origine; in Commentation. Reg. Soc. Scicnt. GoettiJig. v. 10. Dr. Prichatd has brought together, with great learning and industry, all the ancient testimonies that can illustrate this question ; and has examined and collated them so carefully, that nothing further can be expected from this quarter. The results are thus summed up : " We may consider the general result of the facts which we can collect concerning the physical characters of the Egyptians to be this ; that the national conhguration prevailing in the most ancient times was nearly the Negro form, with woolly hair. But that in a later age this character had become considerably modified and changed, and that a part of the population of Egypt resembfed the modern Hindoos. The general complexion was black, or a le.ist a very dusky hue." Researches into the Physical History of Man, p. 388. In the seventh and eighth chapters of this work the most extensive and learned researches are employed to prove the affinity between the Ancient Egyptians and Indians ; and to show that both were marked by the characters of the Negro race. CAUCASIAN VARIETY. 231 ing country : the Red Sea offers an easy medium of communi- cation both Avith Arabia and India ; while the freest access exists on the south and west to the Negroes and Berbers of Africa. Hence specimens of various races may be naturally expected to occur among the mummies ; and may have afforded models to the painter and sculptor. If, however, among the myriads of embalmed bodies, of the sculptured figures, which cover the walls of temples and palaces, and of other works of art, we should meet with one or two of Negro formation, are we thence to conclude that the original Egyptians were Negroes } or that men of the latter race possessed those distinguished powers ot knowledge and reflection, which the early history of this won- derful country compels us to assign to its ruling race ? Ought we not rather to draw our conclusions from the most prevalent forms, those which are most numerous and abundant in the oldest specimens ? If, among a profusion of mummies and figures, bearing the stamp of the Caucasian model, a few should occur with a little dash of the Negro character, may we not suppose the individuals who furnished the pattern of the latter to have been in Egypt, as they have been every where, slaves * to the race of nobler formation ? To give the new Negroes the glory of all the discoveries and achievements of this first eivihzed race, and overlook the more numerous individuals of different character, would be in opposition to the invariable tenour of our experience respecting human nature. In the course of his inquiries into the natural history of man, this subject attracted the attention of Blumenbach, who has been fortunate enough to procure the opportunity of examining several mummies. He gave an account of some of these in the Philosophical Transactions for 1794. Having afterwards met with another very perfect specimen, he published a more en- larged and detailed essay on the whole subject, in his Contribu- tions to Natural History, part ii. Goett. l'2mo. ISll. He expresses his surprise that professed and judicious anti- quaries, such as WiNKELMANN and D'Hancarville, should have ascribed one common character of national physiognomy to the ancient Egyptian works of art, and should have dispatched it shortly and decisively in two lines. " I think," he continues, " that we cannot fail to recognise at least three principal differences, which, indeed, like all varieties of formation, in our species, run together by numerous grada- * Slavery is coeval with our earliest records. See Gen, ix. 25, :^6 ; xii. 5. 232 FORAis OF THE sklll: tions, yet are marked, in their strongest forms, by very distinct characters. They are, the Ethiopian, the Indian, and one re- sembling the BeVbers or original inhabitants of the Barbary states." The first is marked by prominent jaws, thick lips, a broad flattened nose, and projecting eyes. Such, according to Led- YARD, VoLNEY, Larrey, and other competent authorities, are the characters of the modern Copts :* such, too, according to the best descriptions and delineations in Norden, Volney, Denon, and others, is the countenance of the great sphinx at Gizeh, and of many other ancient works of Egyptian art. The Egyptians themselves, according to the well-known passage of HERODOTUS,f had these characters; and LucianJ gives a similar description of a young Egyptian at Rome.§ Ethiopian form must be here understood in tnat wide accep- tation which we give to the expression Ethiopian race in the arrangement of the human species ; and not in the more marked but narrower sense of what the English call the true Guinea face. Indeed, the physiological characters of the Negro, taken in a general sense, are as loosely defined as his geographical description ; for, among Negroes, there are several who, in smoothness of the hair and general beauty of form, excel many Europeans. A complete contrast to this Ethiopian form is presented in the Hindoo-like character of other old remains, which consists of a long slender nose, long and narrow aperture of the eyelids, running upwards to the temple, ears placed high on the head, short and slender trunk, and long legs.|| The female figure on the back of Capt. Lethieullier's mummy in the British Museum, in a characteristic representation of this form, and ac- cords entirely with the well-known national make of the Hindoos. • The Copts, who are regarded as the descendants of the ancient Egyptians, have " a yellowish dusky complexion, which is neither Grecian nor Arabian ; they have all a puffed visage, swolneyes, flat noses, and thick lips ; in short, the exact countenance of a Mulatto." Volney, Travels in Syria and Egypt. I do not, however, find the Negro character expressed in the delineations of Copts, by Denon, Voyage dans la Haute et Basse Egypte ; pi. 105, No. ii. ; pi. 108, No. ii. and iii. ; nor in those of the great Descripition cle V Egypte; see Etat Moderne, vol. ii. Costumes and Portraits. Neither have I succeeded in discovering representations of Negroes among the almost numberless sculptures of the ancient buildings represented in both these works. The human figures are marked by traits of a form altogether different. t He argues that the Colchians must have been a colony of Egyptians, because they were ' ' fXiXayxpois koI ouA($TpiXfs"— black skinned and woolly haired. Lib. ii. t A'avisium, S. Vota, c. ii. k Blumenbach refers in a note to two figures with marked Negro form ; one is engraved as a vignette to the Preface of his C'ontrihuiions, part ii. ; and the otheris described by P. a S. Bartholomajo, inhis Mumiographia Obiciana, p. 51. II Such a head is represented in the title-page vignette. CAUCASIAN VARIETY. 283 A very competent judge, the learned P. a S. Bartholom^o, after carefully comparing together the various Egyptian works of art in the rich Italian collections, not only fully admits the justice of my threefold division, but particularly confirms the strong contrast between the Ethiopian formation and that Hin- doo character so well known to him from his long residence in Hindostan.* In accordance with this distinction, long smooth hair has been found in some mummies, and short curled hairf in others. Tlie third and commonest kind of form resembles neither of the foregoing, and is characterized by a pecuhar bloated habit, swoln and rather loose cheeks, short chin, large projecting eyes, and fleshy body. (See the vignette at the end of the Preface). I call this the Berber character, because the great analogies which constitute the surest basis for conclusions respecting the descent and affinities of people, viz. those of form, language, and agreament in customs of marked peculiarity, are here all united. J I proceed to an osteological examination of the mummy heads ; which, if performed with accuracy and discrimination, will sup- ply us with sure data, as far as they go. We shall find that the bodies thus preserved have the characters of the Caucasian variety, and we shall hardly discover, among a great multitude of examples, a single unequivocal instance of Negro formation. In his Decades Craniorwn, No. I. and XXXI., Blumenbach has represented two Egyptian skulls. The first bears no marks of Ethiopian origin, nor does the author assign to it any such characters. " In universum hujus cranii habitus eundem cha- racterem prae se ferre ^^detur, quern et ingentia ^Egyptiacae artis veteris opera spirant, non quidem elegantem et pulchellum, ast magnum." P. 13. The European or Caucasian character of the second is quite obvious ; yet, in the description, there appears a desire of fixing on it some mark of Negro descent. "Quod vero universum \'ultum attinet, diifert quidem ille satis luculenter a genuino isto Nigritarum, qui Anglis vulgo facies Guineensis audit ; jEthio- pici tamen aliquid spiral, ita ut proprius absit ab Habessinico, qualem curata icon exhibet, proxime autem ab eo, quern tot an- tiquissima iEgyptiacae artis monumenta prse se ferunt." The • "Stat ergo ea Veritas, prseter jEthiopicum vultum in Egypto, ejusque mumiis et monumentis, admittendum esse characterem quendam Indicum, qui Egjptiis non minus gentilitius et nativus est quam ^Ethiopicus." t For this fact Gryphius is quoted. % P. 130 137. 284 FORMS OF THE SKULL : Abyssinians, to whom a comparison is here made, are of Arab descent, and have all the characters of the Caucasian variety. SoEMMERRiNG describcs the head of four mummies which he has seen : two of them differed in no respects from the Euro- pean formation ; the third had the African character of a large space marked out for the temporal muscle ; no other proof of Negro descent is mentioned, and what is stated concerning the face rather contradicts the supposition : the characters of the fourth are not particularized. " Caput mumiae, quod Cassellis in museo servatur, nil fere ab Europaeo differt.* " Caput etiam mumiae in theatre anatomico Marpurgensi ser- vatum, cujus exacta delineatio ad manus est, nil a capite Euro- paeo deflectit. " Pulcherrima et optime servata, forsan virilis mumiae calvaria optimae aetatis, qua me Mieg, Professor Basileensis benevole donavit, quaeque olim in collectione F. Plateri fuit, distincte formam Africanam, alte progrediente vestigio insitionis musculi temporalis, repraesentat ; vertex non est compressus, neque ossa faciei robustiora sunt ossibus Europceorum. Densum ordinem integri pulchri dentes sistunt, non nisi inferiores incisores et canini oblique priora et inferiora versus attenuati sunt, pluri- mum vero medium incisorum par, brevioribus ea de causa coro- nis instructum. " Calvaria mumiae hominis senis confecti, ab eodem Mieg mihi data, ^Egyptiacam ossium faciei formam minus accurate repraesentat, verum dentes incisores exteriores inferiores, et dentes canini modo quem supra indicavi, se habent ; distant nimirum inter se, et in planum sunt attenuati."t Denon states of the female mummies, " que leurs cheveux etoient longs et lisses ; que le caractere de la tete de la plupart tenoit du beau style. Je rapportois une tete de vieille femme, qui e'toit aussi belle que celles des Sibylles de Michel Ange. "J The embalmed heads from the catacombs of Thebes (Quour- nah), engraved in the great French work, are of the finest European form, to which their abundant, long, and slightly flowing hair fully corresponds. There is a male head, with the broad and fully developed forehead, small perpendicular face, and all the contours of our best models. § " L'angle facial se • Bruckmann's Nachricht von ciner Mutme ; Brunswick, 1782, 4to. + De Corporis humani Fahrica; t. i. pp. 70, 71. % Voyage, \ Description de I'Egypte; Antiquities, t. ii. pi. 49. p. 252. CAUCASIAN VARIETY. 235 rapproche beaucop d'un angle droit ; et les dents incisives sont plantees verticalement, et non inclinees ni avancees, comme elles le seroient dans une tete de Negre." The nose is finely arched ; the jaws perpendicular; the movith and chin well formed. The front and profile views of a female head * are of the same cha- racter ; the face completely European, the hair copious, and disposed in small masses or locks, a httle turned. The same remarks are appUcable to another head,t of which a section is also exhibited. The skulls of four mummies in the possession of Dr. Leach, of the British Museum, and casts of three others, agree wth those just mentioned in exhibiting a formation not differing from the European, without any trait of Negro character. Lastly, so far as osteological proofs go, the question may be considered as comijletely decided by the strong evidence of CUVIER. " It is now clearly proved — yet it is necessary to repeat the truth, because the contrary error is still found in the newest v/orks — that neither the Gallas (who border on Abyssinia) nor the Bosjesmen, nor any race of Negroes, produced that cele- brated people who gave birth to the civihzation of ancient Egypt, and from whom we may say that the whole world has inherited the principles of its laws, sciences, and perhaps also the religion. " Bruce even imagines that the ancient Egyptians were Cushites, or woolly-haired Negroes ; he supposes them to have been alUed to the Shangallas of Abyssinia. " Now that we distinguish the several human races by the bones of the head, and that we possess so many of the ancient Egyptian embalmed bodies, it is easy to prove that, whatever may have been the hue of their skin, they belonged to the same race with ourselves ; that their cranium and brain were equally voluminous ; in a word, that they formed no exception to that cruel law, which seems to have doomed to eternal inferiority all the tribes of our species which are unfortunate enough to have a depressed and compressed cranium. " I present the head of a mummy, that the Academy may compare it to those of Europeans, Negroes, and Hottentots. It is detached from an entire skeleton, which I did not bring on account of its brittleness : but its comparison has furnished the same results. I have examined, in Paris, and in the various • Description de VUgyj^te; Antiquities, t. ii. pi. 50. t Ibid. pi. 51. 2S6 FORMS OF THE SKULL . collections of Europe, more than fifty heads of mummies, and not one amongst them presented the characters of the Negro or Hottentot."* By examination of the bony head we learn that the Guanches also, or the race which occupied the Canary Islands at the time of their first discovery by the Europeans in the fourteenth cen- tury, belonged to the Caucasian variety. The name Guanches signifies men or sons in their language. The Spaniards, who conquered them, represent them as a people of strength and courage, of powerful bodies and intelligent minds, advanced in social institutions, and of pure morals. They made the bravest resistance to their European invaders, who did not completely subject them until after a hundred and fifty years of repeated contests. They had a tradition of their descent from an ancient, great, and powerful people. We now know them, as we do the Egyptians, only by their mummies,t the race being completely extinct. The entire head, engraved in Blumenbach's fifth Decade, t offers no essential difference from the European form. The testimony of Cuvier is to the same effect. " I present to the Academy the head of a Guanche ; a specimen of that- race which inhabited the Canaries before they were conquered by the Spaniards. Some authors, believing the tales of Timaeus con- cerning the Atlantis, have regarded the Guanches as the wreck of the supposed Atlantic people. Their practice of preserving dead bodies in the mummy form might rather lead us to suspect some affinity to the ancient Egyptians. § However that may * Exlrait d' Ohserrations faitcs sm !e Cadarre d'une Femme conntie a Paris et a Londres sous le nom de Fenus Hottentotte. Memoires da Museum d'Uist. nat. t. iii. pp. 173, 174. t The body of which Blumenbach's engraving exhibits a head, appears to him to be that of a female. " When brought from its siibterranean abode en the island of Tenerifle to London, it was entirely and curiously sewed up iu goat skins, according to the usual practice of this ancient and aboriginal race. (See Viera Jvb/2C!a« de las Islas de Canaria; Glass's History of the Canary Islands ; Golbery Voyage en Jfrique ; i. p. 88 — 95. It was surprisingly dry, and perfectly inodorous, although the muscles and skin, the contents of* the head, thorax, and abdomen, in short, all the soft parts, had been preserved. So powerful had the process of exsiccation been, that the entire body weighed only seven pounds anci a half; although a female skeleton of the same stature, in its ordinary state of dryness, would weigh at least nine pounds." Dec. v. p. 7. i No. xlii. I Although the Guanches were separated from the Egyptians by the entire breadth of northern Africa, they not only resembled them in the singular practice of preserving the dead, which was intnisfed in both cases to the priests, and in some of the ornaments bestowed on the mummies, but also in language. From a vocabulary of the Tuariks, near Egypt, collected by Mr. Hornemann, Mr. Marsden traced an affinity between them and the Berbers or Numidians, with whose language it is well known that the small remains of the Guanche tongue agree. Blumenbaeh, loc. cit. p. 8. Adelung, Mithri- dates ; vol. iii. part, i. pp. 59, 60. CAUCASIAN VARIETY. 237 be, their head, like that of the Egyptian mummies, demon- strates their Caucasian origin.* The latter point is fully confirmed by tvv'o Guanche skulls in the possession of Dr. Leach. Tlie form of the cranium has not yet been sufficiently studied and observed to enable us to say that the several very different nations included under the Caucasian variety are or are not characterized by particular modifications of this cavity. There are, however, some peculiarities so striking, that they imme- diately attract notice. The completely globular form of the skull in the Turk is one of these : it is exemplified in an engraving of Blumenbach's first Decade,t corresponding exactly to a skull which I have seen. The cranium (properly so called) is perfectly globular ; the occiput can be hardly said to exist, as the foramen magnum is placed very near the posterior part of the basis cranii ; the forehead is broad, and the glabella prominent. The posterior part of the head is very high and broad. The proportions of the face are symmetrical and ele- gant. The alveolar part or the upper jaw-bone is singularly short ; not measuring more than the breadth of the little finger under the nose. The basis of the lower jaw is remarkable for its shortness : the facial line nearly vertical, so that the prepon- derance of the parts placed in front of the occipito-atloidal arti- culation is reduced as much as possible. Two other Turkish skulls in Blumenbach's possession have exactly the same shape ; which is very general in living Turks, and is always visible in good portraits of them. This peculiarity of form has been observed by several authors ; it is indeed so striking, that it could hardly have escaped observation. " It appears," says Vesalius, " that most nations have something peculiar in the form of the head. The crania of the Genoese, and still more remarkably those of the Greeks and Turks, are completely globular in their form. This shape, which they esteem elegant, and well adapted to their practice of enveloping the head in the folds of their turbans, is often produced by the midwives at the solicitation of the mothers. "J A corresponding statement to this account is given by Baron AsCH in a letter to Blumexbach. He says, that the mid- wives at Constantinople commonly inquire of the mother, after * Cuvier, loc. cit. SoemmerriBg mentions that the head of a Guanche mummy at Cassel has the Negro characters ; but enters into no further detail. De Corp. humani Fabric, t. i. p. 71. t No. ii. t De Corporis humani Fabrica ; p. 23, ed. of 1555. 288 FORMS OF THE SKULL . parturition, what form she would Mke to have given to the head of the child ; and that they generally prefer that which results from a tight circular bandage, as they think that their turbans sit better when the head has that round shape.* That the old women should have told such a story, and that the Baron should have believed them, is not surprising ; but it seems to me very extraordinary that a physiologist, and one well acquainted with nature, should have given credit to this old wife's tale. A single glance at his own engraving of this beau- tiful head, at the symmetrical and elegant formation of the whole fabric, the nice correspondence and adjustment of all parts, the perfect harmony between the cranium and face, and in all the details of each, demonstrate most unequivocally that it is a natural formation, and a very fine work of nature too. There is not the minutest vestige of artificial impression : and I can have no hesitation in asserting the impossibility of inducing by bandage, pressure, or artifice of any kind, such a form on a head of a different original configuration. In the passage already quoted, Vesalius goes on to observe " that the Germans had generally a flattened occiput and broad head, because the children are always laid on their backs in the cradles ; and that the Belgians have a more oblong form, because the children are allowed to sleep on their sides." These prac- tices account just as well for the German and Belgian forms, as the manoeuvres of the Constantinople midwives do for the sphe- rical skulls of the Turks. I have, however, seen German heads of a globular form ; remarkably high and broad behind ; re- sembling the Turkish cranium in this respect, and in the approximation of the great occipital foramen to the posterior part of the basis cranii. SoEMMERRiNG says that he finds no well-marked differences between the German, Swiss, French,t Swedish,! and Russian§ skulls in his collection ; except that the orbits are contracted in the Russian, their margins quadrangular, and the teeth small. In the skull of a Pole figured by Blumenbach, || the smallness of the orbits is a remarkable feature. That no striking difference has been discovered on comparing together one or two casual specimens of each of the nations above mentioned, does not authorize us to conclude that no differences exist. On the contrary, if the brain be the seat of * Blumenbach, Dec. i. p. 16. + Sandifort, Museu7n Acad. Lusd. Bat. v. i. tab. C. t Ibid. tab. 4. \ Ibid. t. 9. il Decad. iii. No. 23. MOXGOLIA.V VARIETY. 239 our intellectual and moral functions, which nobody at present seems to doubt ; and if the several propensities, sentiments and intellectual powers are the functions of certain parts of this organ, which is at least a probable doctrine ; we shall be much surprised to find that no distinctions are observable in the shape of the cranium between English, French, Germans, Italians, &c. The only mode of ascertaining the point satisfactorily would be to collect a considerable number of heads of each nation, or of accurate casts or portraits ; and to select, for this purpose, indi- viduals of genuine descent, whose organization has not been modified by foreign intermixture. My friend, Mr. George Lewis, whose quickness in distinguishing forms, and readiness and accuracy in portraying them to the very life, are well known, observed, in a tour through France and Germany, that the lower and anterior part of the cranium is larger in the French, the upper and anterior in the Germans ; and that the upper and posterior region is larger in the former than in the latter. He was always struck with the very fine forms of the skull in Itahans, which coincides completely with what I have seen of them in this country. Our decision, then, on this very interesting subject must be postponed at present, and await the result of more numerous and accurate comparisons. Into minuter diflferences, such as the high cheek-bones of the Scotch, the aquUine noses of the Jews and Armenians, &c. I do not propose to enter. In the four following varieties of the human race we observe, on comparing them to the Caucasian, a much less perfect de- velopment of the upper and anterior parts of the cranium, and very often a greater size of the face. This and similar observa- tions are to be taken in a general sense ; individual modifications are numerous in all the varieties, so that both the Caucasian and the dark-coloured divisions furnish examples of individuals, which exhibit in each case respectively, the characters of the other ; yet, in many of the dark races, a low, narrow, and re- treating forehead, is a very striking and general character. The second, or Mongolian variety, includes those Asiatics which do not come under the first division, and the inhabitants of the northern parts of America and Europe. The forehead is low and slanting, and the head altogether of a square form. The cheek-bones stand out widely on either side. The glabella and ossa nasi, which are flat and very small, are placed nearly on the same plane %vith the malar bones. There are scarcely any super- 240 FORMS OF THE SKULL : ciliary ridges. The entrance of the nose is narrow ; the malar fossa forms but a slight excavation. The alveolar edge of the jaws is obtusely arched in front ; the chin rather prominent. This formation is most strikingly exhibited in the Mongolian tribes, which are widely scattered over the continent of Asia, and which have generally, but erroneously, been included, with others of different origin and formation, under the name of Tartars (Tatars) ; whereas the last-mentioned tribes, properly so called, belong to the first division of the human race. The Cal- mucks and other Mongolian nations which overran the Saracen empire under Zenghis Khan, in the thirteenth century, and had entered Europe, are described in the Historia Major* of Mat- thew Paris, under the name of Tartars j whereas that appel- lation, or rather Tatars, properly belongs to the western Asiatics, who had been vanquished by the Mongols. The error, however, arising from this source has been propagated down to the present day, so that in the works of the most approved naturalists, as BuFFON and Erxleben, we find the characters of the Mon- golian race ascribed to what they call the Tartars. The mistake has not been detected, even by the most celebrated and classical modem historians ; for Dr. RoBERTSONf speaks of Zenghis as the Emperor of the Tartars. For the illustration of this variety I have selected from Blu- menbach's work (Dec. alter. No. 14) the engraving of a Cal- muck's skull, see Plate VII. ; and that of a Burat child, * London, 1686, fol. p. 530. The descnption is contained in a letter sent by an ecclesiastic from Vienna, in 1243, to his archbishop in France, and speaks " de horribili vastatione inhumanaj mentis, quam Tarfaros vocant. " These barba- rous hordes had at that time entered Hungary, and penetrated even to Vienna, His description of their corporeal characters corresponds to the portrait which, from Bufifon downwards, so many naturalists liave drawn of the Mongolian tribes, under the name of Tartars. " Habent autem Tartari pectora dura-et robusta, facics macras et pallidas, scapulas rigidas et erectas, nasos distortos et breves, menta pro^minentia et acuta, superiorom mandibulam humilem et profundam, denies longos et raros, palpebras a crinibus usque ad nasum pro- tensas, ocujos inconstanteset nigros, aspectus obliquos et torvos,extremilates ossosas et nervosas, crura cjuociue grossa, sed tibias breviores, statura tamen nobis ffiquales ; quod enim in tibiis deficit, in superiori corpore compensatur." Blumenlaach, from whose Second Dfcacle, p. 7, I have borrowed this quotation, observes " that the writer obviously speaks, not of the genuine Tatars, but of a people most widely diiferent from them, namely, the Mongols or Calmucks, whose oidy affinity to them consisted in the name by which then, and even now, the two races are improperly confounded. All the characters, therefore, which naturalists have assigned to the Tatars, belong to the totally diiferent Mongolian race. We know, on the contrary, that the Tatars are a handsome people, conspicuous for the beauty and symmetry of their countenance, as is evinced in the skull here represented, (No. 12), which presents a complete contrast to the Mongolian characters of several specimens in this collection." Further information on the origin of this confusion of oamcs ninv be procured from J. E. Fischer, Cu7ijecturcp de Gente et Nomine Tatarorutn, in his QxuBstionet Petropolitance ; also from his Sibil ische Geschichte, t. i. t History of America ; v. i. p. 4.5. KTHIOPIAN VARIETY. 241 Plate XII. The cranium is nearly globular; the face broad and flattened ; the forehead flat and wide ; the malar bones standing out laterally ; the orbits very large and open ; the su- perciliary arches elevated ; the general habit of the skull in a manner swoln (quasi inflatus et tumidus). " The whole character of this skull corresponds to the well- known Calmuck countenance, and agrees perfectly with the engraving of a Calmuck skull pubUshed by J. B. de Fischer;* but nothing can be more diflPerent from it than the figure f in Camper's posthumous work on the facial line, which he brings forward as a representation of a head of the same race, and con- siders as a type of the formation prevailing over all Asia, North America, and the numerous islands of the Pacific Ocean. Without noticing the latter opinion, which is contradicted by the slightest acquaintance with the native inhabitants of these various regions, I shall merely observe that I am well convinced that the skull in question belongs to that variety of the human race which is the most widely different from the Calmuck, viz. to the Negro. Although no national form is so constant as not to be exposed to many deviations, and hence we meet among Europeans with individuals approaching to the Negro or Mongol characters, yet the form of the Calmuck head is so completely contrary to that of the Negro, and the figure in question bears bo genuine and unequivocal an Ethiopian character, that I am convinced the excellent author must have been deceived, and consequently that his work, besides European, contains only two African skulls." X The head of a Yakut,§ from the remotest parts of Siberia, ex- hibits the same characters. A square face ; large orbits sepa- rated by a very considerable ethmoid bone ; the nasal bones small and running together above into a point. This is followed by the skull of aTungoose,]] of that descrip- tion which is called Rein-deer Tungooses. The face is flattened, and of great breadth across the cheeks ; the forehead depressed; the olfactory apparatus very considerable. The Decades of Blumenbach contain also figures of another Calmuck,'f[ of a Burat child** a year and a half old, of a Don Cossackjft a Daurian or Chinese Tungoose,|| and an ancient • Dissertatio osteologica de Modo quo Ossa se vicinis accommodant Partihiu. Lud!^. Bat. 1713, 4to. tab. 1. + Traite [jhysique des Differences reelles, S:c. ; tab. i. fig. 4 ; tab. iii. fig. 3. * Dec. alt. I), y, 10. \ Ibid. tab. 15. || Ibid. tab. 16. ^ Tab. 5. •• T. 39. ++ T. 4. xi T. 33. M 242 FORMS OF THE SKULL : inhabitant of southern Siberia,* all exemplifying, in a more or less marked manner, the characters of the Mongolian variety.f The same characters are strongly expressed in the skull of a Lapland female ; X and prove unequivocally that this race belongs to the Mongolian variety. The third or Ethiopian variety comprehends all the Africans which are not included within the first or Caucasian division ; aU of whom partake more or less of the well-known Negro form. The front of the head, including the forehead and face, is compressed laterally, and considerably elongated towards the front ; hence the length of the whole skull, from the teeth to to the occiput, is considerable. It forms, in this respect, the strongest contrast to that globular shape which some of the Cau- casian races present, and which is very remarkable in the Turk. The capacity of the cranium is reduced, particularly in its front part, where it appears as if the forehead had been sliced off. The face, on the contrary, is enlarged. " I measured," says Soemmerring, " several Negro, and nearly all my European crania, in order to compare the capacity of the respective cerebral cavities. I found in the former; 1st, That the measure taken by carrying a string from the root of the nose, along the middle of the forehead, and the sagittal suture, to the posterior edge of the foramen ovale, the length of the face being equal, was much shorter. 2ndly, That the hori- zontal circumference, measured by a string carried round the head above the eyebrows, and the superior edge of the temporal bone, was much less. 3dly, That neither the long diameter from the forehead to the occiput, nor any transverse diameter between the parietal or the temporal bones, is equal to the corresponding one in the European. "§ The frontal bone is shorter, and, as well as the parietal, less excavated and less capacious than in the European ; the tem- poral ridge mounts higher, and the space which it includes is * T. 33. This skull was taken from one of the very ancient burial-places which are found near the workings of old mines in the mountainous parts of Siberia, and are ascribed bv the natives to Tschuda; or barbarians. They are particularly described by Pallas, Meise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Rus- sischen Reichs; t. iii. p. 608 et seq. Neither history nor tradition has pre- served any memorials of the people whose remains and works are found in these situations. The lightness of the skull, from the entire loss of the animal substance, corresponds with this fact in proving the high antiquity of this race ; and its physical characters accord with those of the tribes who now occupy the same region, t A Calmuck skull of very characteristic form is represented inE. Sandifort Museum Jlcademicurn Ltidg, Bat. v. i. tab. 1. t Dec. Qluinta; tab. 43. \ Ueher die kiJrperliche Verschiedenhcit des JVegers des votn Europaer ; \ 50. ETHIOPIAN VARIETY. 243 much more considerable. The front of the skull seems com- pressed into a narrow keel-hke form between the two powerful temporal muscles, which rise nearly to the highest part of the head; and has a compressed figure, which is not equally marked in the entire head ; on account of the thickness of the muscles. Instead of the ample swell of the forehead and vertex, which rises between and completely surmounts the comparatively weak temporal muscles of the European, we often see only a small space left between the two temporal ridges in the Ethiopian. The foramen magnum is largei*, and hes farther back in the head : the other openings for the passage of the nerves are larger. The bony substance is denser and harder ; the sides of the skull thicker, and the whole weight consequently more con- siderable. The bony apparatus employed in mastication, and in forming receptacles for the organs of sense, is larger, stronger, and more advantageously constructed for powerful effect, than in the races where more extensive use of experience and reason, and greater civilization, supply the place of animal strength. If the bones of the face in the Negro were taken as a basis, and a cranium were added to them of the same relative magni- tude which it possesses in the European, a receptacle for the brain would be required much larger than in the latter case. However, we find it considerably smaller. Thus the intellectual part is lessened, the animal organs are enlarged: proportions are produced just opposite to those which are found in the Grecian ideal model. The facial angle of the skuR engraved in Plate VIII. is 65o. The narrow, low, and slanting forehead, and the elongation of the jaws into a kind of muzzle, give to this head an animal character, which cannot escape the most cursory examination. A similar head, with a similar facial angle, has been figured by Ed. Sandifort.* It is sufificiently obvious, that on a vertical anteroposterior section of the head, the area of the face will be more considerable in proportion to that of the cranium, in such a skull, than in the fine European forms. The larger and stronger jaws require more powerful muscles. The temporal fossil is much larger ; the ridge which bounds it rises higher on the skull, and is more strongly marked, than in the European. The thickness of the muscular mass may be estimated from the bony arch, wthin which it descends to the * Museum Acad. Litgd. Bat. t. i. tab. 3. M 2 244 FORMS OF THE SKULL : lower jaw. The zygoma is larger, stronger, and more capacious in the Negro ; the cheek-bones project remarkably, and are very strong, broad, and thick : hence they aflford space for the attachment of powerful masseters. The orbits, and particularly their external apertures, are capa- cious. Both entrances to the nose are more ample, the cavity itself considerably more capacious, the plates and windings of the ethmoid bone more complicated, the cribriform lamella more extensive, than in the European. The ossa nasi are flat and short, instead of forming the bridge-like convexity which we see in the European. They run together above into an acute angle, which makes them considerably resemble the single tri- angle nasal bone of the monkey. In the Negro skull engraved in Plate VIII., they are nearly consolidated together in their whole length. The superior maxillary l)one is remarkably prolonged in front ; its alveolar portion and the included incisor teeth are oblique, instead of being perpendicular, as in the European. The nasal spine at the entrance of the nose is either inconsiderable or entirely deficient. The palatine arch is longer and more elliptical. The alveolar edge of the lower jaw stands forward, like that of the upper ; and this part in both is narrow, elon- gated, and elliptical. The chin, instead of projecting equally with the teeth, as it does in the European, recedes considerably like that of the monkey. The preceding description of the Negro cranium must be taken in a general sense, with an allowance for exceptions and individual modifications. It is drawn from strongly-marked examples, and cannot therefore be received as universally and strictly applicable. We seldom meet with instances in which the animal character is so strongly portrayed as in the subject of the eighth plate. The depression, narrowness, and flatness of the forehead, the great size and projection of the jaws, are carried here to an extraordinary and very striking degree. Travellers inform us that several Africans diSer from the Euro- pean formation in little more than colour ; so that the peculiar construction of the head, on the faith of which some would class these people as a distinct species, is by no means a constant character. This diversity of form is abundantly proved by delineations of Africans executed by the best artists ; and is well illustrated ETHIOPIAN VARIETY. 245 by the engravings which Blumenbach has published of six African heads,* all differing from each other, and exhibiting as much variety as we see in Europeans. They vary considerably in the development and prominence of the forehead, in the size and arching of the nasal bones, in the projection of the jaws and teeth, the formation of the chin, and in other points ; and fuUy justify his conclusion, " genuinos iEthiopes, si craniorum for- mam spectes, non minus certe, imo vero magis passim inter seipsos ab invicem differre, quam nonnulli eorum a multorum Europaeorum capitis forma difFerunt."'t" The tribes in the south of Africa, that is, near the European colony at the Cape — the Hottentots, KafFers, Bosjesmen, &c. are not yet enough known to enable us to decide whether they ought to be arranged under the Ethiopian variety, or whether they belong to a difFerent type. Blumenbach has figured and described a skull in his last Decade ; I and, more recently, CuviER has published an account of a female head. In some points these two specimens differ from each other remarkably. In the male Bosjesman's head represented by Blumenbach, the cranium is less compressed than in the Negro. The orbits and cheek-bones are wide, the jaws not at aU prominent, the incisor teeth with their edveoli and chin in the same perpendi- cular line. The latter is remarkably narrow and sharp. The nasal bones are very small, and nearly in the same plane v.-ith the nasal processes of the superior maxillae. " The bony head of our female Bosjesman," says Cuvier, " presented a striking combination of the traits of the Negro with those of the Calmuck. In the Negro the mouth is pro- minent, the face and cranium compressed laterally: in the Cal- muck the jaws are flattened, and the face wide. In both, the bones of the nose are smaller and flatter than in the European. Our Bosjesman had the jaws more projecting than the Negro, the face wider than the Calmuck, and the nose flatter than either. In the latter respect particularly, her head came nearer to that of the monkey than any I ever saw. From these general arrangements many particular traits of structure result : the orbits are very wide in proportion to their height ; the entrance of the nostrils has a peculiar form ; the palate has a larger sur- face ; the incisor teeth are more oblique ; the temporal fossa more extensive, &c. " I also find that the occipital foramen is proportionally larger • Dec. prima; tab. 6, 7, 8. Dec. altera; tab. 17, 18, 19. + Dec. altera, p. 13. % Dec quitita, tab. 45. 246 FORMS OF THE SKULL : than in other heads ; which, acccording to the views of Soem MERRING, would indicate an inferior nature."* The characters of the Ethiopian variety, as observed in the genuine Negro tribes, may be thus summed up : 1 . Narrow and depressed forehead ; the entire cranium contracted anteriorly : the cavity less, both in its circumference and transverse measure- ments. 2. Occipital foramen and condyles placed farther back. 3. Large space for the temporal muscles. 4. Great development of the face. 5. Prominence of the jaws altogether, and pas- ticularly of their alveolar margins and teeth ; consequent obli- quity of the facial line. 6. Superior incisors slanting. 7. Chin receding. 8. Very large and strong zygomatic arch projecting towards the front. 9. Large nasal cavity. 10. Small and flat- tened ossa nasi, sometimes consolidated, and running into a point above. In all the particulars just enumerated, the Negro structure approximates unequivocally to that of the monkey. It not only differs from the Caucasian model, but is distinguished from it in two respects ; the intellectual characters are reduced, the animal features enlarged and exaggerated. In such a skull as that represented in the eighth plate, which indeed has been par- ticularly selected, because it is strongly characterized, no per- son, however little conversant with natural history or physio logy, could fail to recognise a decided approach to the animal form. This inferiority of organization is attended with corres- ponding inferiority of faculties ; which may be proved, not so much by the unfortunate beings who are degraded by slavery, as by every fact in the past history and present condition of Africa. I state these plain results of observation and experience with- out any fear that you will find in them either apology or excuse for Negro slavery. In the warm and long disputes on this sub- ject, both parties have contrived to be in the wrong in the ques- tion regarding the Negro faculties. The abolitionists have errred in denying a natural inferiority so clearly evinced by the con- curring evidences of anatomical structure and experience. But it was only an error of fact, and may be the more readily ex- cused as it was on the side of humanity. Tlieir opponents have committed the more serious moral mistake of perverting what should constitute a claim to kind- ness and indulgence into justification or palliation of the revolt- ing and antichristian practice of traflfic in human flesh; a prac- • Extrait d' Observations sur la Fentis Hottentotte : Mem. du Museum, pp. 270-7L ETHIOPIAN VARIETY, 247 tice branded with the double curse of equal degradation to the oppressor and the oppressed. This very argument, which has been used for defence, seems to me a tenfold aggravation of the enormity. Superior endowments, higher intellect, greater capa- city for knowledge, arts, and science, should be employed to extend the blessings of civilization, and multiply the enjoyments of social life ; not as a means of oppressing the weak and ignorant, of plunging those who are naturally low in the intel- lectual scale stiU more deeply into the abyss of barbarism. When we see a strong and well-armed person attack one equally powerful and well-prepared, we are indifferent as to the issue ; or we may look on with that interest which the qualities called forth by the contest are calculated to inspire. But, if the strong attack the weak, if the well-armed assail the defenceless, if the ingenuity, knowledge and skill, the superior arts and arms of civilized life are combined to rob the poor savage of his only valuable property, personal liberty, we turn from the scene with indignation and abhorrence. They who possess higher gifts should remember the condi- tion under which they are enjoyed : " From him to whom much is given, much will be expected." What a commentary on this text is furnished by Negro slavery, as carried on and permitted by religious nations, by Christian kings. Catholic majesties, defenders of the faith, &c. ! In the two following varieties the figure of the skiall is not so strongly characterized as in the three which have been already considered. They form, indeed, two intermediate gradations between the European and the Mongolian on one side, and the African on the other. The fourth, or American variety, includes all the Americans, excepting the inhabitants of the noi-thern parts of the continent, which I have placed in the Mongolian division. In this variety the cheeks are broad, but the malar bones are more rounded and arched than in the Mongolian ; and not ex- panded to such an extent on either side, nor possessing such an angular form. The forehead is small and low; the orbits deep ; and the nasal cavity, in many cases at least, very large. The entire bony apparatus of the face is in general much developed. Blumenbach has published several specimens, in which the characters just enumerated are exemplified. Tab. 9 is the head of a North American savage executed for murder at Philadelphia. It is remarkable for the flatness and depression of the ver-- 248 PORiMS OF THE SKULL ! tex, the development of the region above the ear, and the great size of the olfactory apparatus. Blumenbach considers that the latter circumstance explains the anecdotes related by travel- lers of their extraordinary acuteness in the sense of smelling The form of this skull entirely agrees with the engraved poi- traits of eight Cherokee Indians,* all of whom have prominent cheeks, and the upper part of the skull depressed. The head of an American from an Indian burial-place on the eastern bank of the Mississippi, about 40° north latitude, tab 38, presents a conformation approaching more to the Caucasian than to the Mongolian. In a race, of which the characters are intermediate between two others, we may reasonably expect that some individuals will approximate to one and some to the other variety. The Esquimaux f and the Greenlanders X form a transition from, the American to the Mongolian variety ; they have broad cheek-bones, large jaws and face, and small flattened nose. The size of the head altogether, and particularly the cranium, ia larger in the latter than in the former. The figures of Blumen- bach correspond to the best descriptions of these people, in which the largeness of their heads is noticed. The head of an ancient Aturian, brought by Humboldt § from the subterranean excavations in the granite rocks at the cataracts of the Orinoco in New Andalusia, exemplifies the low slanting forehead, as well as other points of the American for- mation. The entrance of the nose and the whole apparatus of * There is an engraving, by Basire, of seven ; Lond. 1730. Thayendaneoga, a chief of the Six Nations, is represented in an engraving by Smith, from a. painting by Romney, 1779. t Tab. 24 and 25 are engravings of two Esquimaux crania from the Danish colony of Nain oa the coast of Labrador. The strong characters of these crania, and the marked affinity which they exhibit to the Ameriian and Mon- golian races, concur with all accurate descriptions of the pbjsical character of the people in refuting the strange opinion of Robertson {Hist, of America; V. ii. p. 40,) that the Esquimaux are descendants from the Normans. Blumen- bach, Dec. iii. p-. 8 10. A similar skull from Ilond Eylapd (Dug's Island), rear Disko, in Baffin's Bay, is described by Winslow. Mem. de V Acad, des Sciences; 1722. t The heads of a Greenland man and woman are represented in tab. 36 and 37 : they came from the Daniah colony Godhavn, on the west coast of Green- land. " They are large, and the cranium in particular is ample, and elongated posteriorly. The bono is remarkably thin and light, in proportion to the size. The orbits are large ; the nasal bones long but very narrow." lb. Dec. iv. p. 13. { Blumenbach, Dec. v. tab. 46. In one of the cav.erns visited by this indefa- tigable and enlightened traveller, there were the remains of six hundred bodies, each of which was contained in a basket or bag. These remains consisted either of the bones alone, of their natural white colour, or reddened by annatto, or of the same preserved in the way of mummies, with a mixture of bitumen and leaves. There were, moreover, sarcophaguses of unbaked clay, five feet long and three wide, painted with figures of crocodiles, and full of bones. The situation of these cataracts is 5" 39' N. Lat, 50" W. Long, from Ferro. p. 14. AMERICAN VARIETY. 249 smelling are very large. The heads of a Brazilian man and woman * have the low forehead, broad face, and large nose of the American variety. In a general roundness of figure they agree with the descriptions of the natives of Brazil. The head of the man is very ingeniously and perfectly pre- served entire, in the state of mummy. It is not separated from » an entire embalmed body, but must have been cut oflF immediately after death, as the skin of the neck is equally drawn in all directions towards the foramen magnum, and fixed there by the bituminous matter employed in the process. The skin pre- serves that copper colour verging to black which distinguishes the Brazilians. The head is shaved round the vertex ; what is left on the top of the head, and about the ears, is short, strong, and of the deepest black. A thin beard appears on the upper lip and part of the chin. The orbits and mouth are filled with a bituminous mass. It hangs by a cotton string fixed to the mouth. The slit in the external ear is filled with portions of cotton. A sjjlendid ornament composed of the finest feathers of the red tantalus, the toucan, and the most briUiant parrots, covered the forehead. -f There is no American, nor indeed any other race, in which the forehead is so low as in the Caribs. And in order to exag- gerate a character, which they deemed beautiful, they had re- course to artificial means of flattening this region at the time when the bones are soft, and capable of yielding to artificial pressure. As the same character of a low forehead characterizes all the Americans in a greater or less degree, similar attempts to increase this natural defect have been made by other tribes, as well as the Caribs, in both North and South America. The tenth plate exhibits a skull belonging to the College Museum ; in which there are no evidences of any artificial cliange of figure, 'llie development of the anterior cerebral lobes must have been more imperfect in this indindual, than in any other example which I have seen. Setting aside Mhat we should term this natural defect, the organization is perfect. The bony sub- stance is dense, compact, and hard, and the entire skull con- sequently very heavy. The size of the head, (which is greater than the engraving) and the strong muscular impressions, cor- respond, as well as the hardness of the bone, with the accounts, which eye-witnesses have furnished, of the colossal stature and • Blumenbach, tab. 47, 48. t Dec. quinta, p. 15, IQ. II 3 250 FORMS OF THE SKULL : great strength of this race.* The frontal bone is rather pro- minent at the glabella; it continues nearly horizontally backwards from the orbits, rising a little towards the vertex. A slight convex protuberance on each side marks the situation of the anterior cerebral lobes. The temporal fossa is large, and the skull con- sequently not wide in its lateral measurement. Although thus contracted at its upper and fore part, the bony receptacle of the brain swells out below and behind into its usual size ; the fosse cerebelli are large. This singular formation is attended with a change in the dis- tribution and support of the weight. I have already mentioned that in the human head the parts in front of the occipital con- dyles are heavier than those behind ; so that the head falls for- ward when left to itself, and is only retained in equilibrio, in the erect posture, by muscular contraction. (See page 121.) In this Carib skull, however, the parts behind preponderates, and that very decidedly ; so that, I apprehend, the eyes must be habitually directed upwards ; which is the more probable, as the orbits, in some degree, look upwards, even when the zygomas are horizontal. The face is characterized by its great size and strength, and the marked development of all its parts. What the front of the skull has lost, seems compensated here. The nasal bones are not very small nor flat ; the cavity is ample ; the jaws and teeth powerful. The superior maxillary bone is very long from the orbit to the alveoh, and slopes regularly for- ward in this part. Another Carib skull in the College Museum coincides with this in the form of the forehead, in the direction of the eyes upwards, and in the preponderance of the parts placed behind the foramen magnum. The same character is seen in a skull engraved in the Journal eculiarity in the teeth of some Egyptian mummies, which first attracted" his notice on examining two specimens in the year 1779. The incisors, instead of possessing their ordinary thin cutting edges, were thick in their bodies, and resembled trun- cated cones ; the cuspidati were not pointed as is usual, but broad and flat on the masticating surface, and very similar to the neighbouring bicuspides. The same circumstances have been observed in other specimens, as in a mummy at Cambridge, described by Middleton ;t in another at Cassel ; X and in a third at Stuttgard. § Blumenbach observed a similar struc- ture in the head of a young mummy, which he opened in Lon- don ; 11 and in another which he received as a present from Mr. Turner of Cambridge.^ " There must," he observes, " be great differences in the crania of various mummies, when it is considered that the practice of embalming the body after death prevailed in Egypt for many ages, during which great vicis- situdes occurred in the government and inhabitants of the country ; consequently we cannot reasonably expect to find this formation of the teeth in every specimen. Yet it constitutes a singular variety, and deserves mention, as it may assist in dis- tinguishing the mummies of some particular age and nation. It would be difficult to assign a satisfactory cause for this pecu liarity ; yet we may not improbably ascribe it in great part to the kind of food taken by the Egyptians, which Diodorus Siculus expressly describes to have consisted of vegetables, roots, &c. Hence the teeth must have been worn down ; and it has been observed that these organs, when reduced by attri tion, or purposely diminished in length, grow thicker, both in man and animals."** * Von den Zdhnen der alien Mgyptier, und Ton den Mumien, in the Colling, Magazin der Wissensch. und Lttteralur. P. 1. 3e gen. hum. var. nal. sect. iii. { 64. Beytrdge zur Naturgeschichte, part ii. Ueier den Mgypiien Mumien, ? 11. + Monumenl. Jlntiq. in Works, v. iv. " Quod vero singulare et prodigii fere loco habendum (dentes), anterioros s. incisores, non acuti illi quidem atque ad incidendum apti, sed perinde ac maxillares lati plane atque obtusi sunt." J Bruckmann's A'achrichl von einer Mumie; Braunschweig. \ Blumenbach, Beylrcige ; partji. p. 98. n Philosophical Transactions, 1794, part ii. p. 184. 1 Dec. quarta Craniorutn, p. 4. •* De i;. h. var. not. sect. iii. t 61. J DIFFERENCES OF THE TEETH. 261 A similar formation of the teeth was noticed by Winslow* in the cranium of a Greenlander from the Isle of Dogs (Hond- Eyland), on the west coast of Greenland. " The incisors," says this anatomist, " are flat from before backwards, and short, instead of having a cutting edge ; hence they resemble grinders more than cutting teeth." " Mr. Riecke, who presented me with this cranium, said that the inhabitants of Hond-Eyland eat their meat raw." " They move their jaws in a very singular manner, and make several grimaces while chewing and swal- lowing. It was the observation of this spectacle that induced him to seek for an opportunity of discovering whether these islanders possessed any peculiarity of construction in their jaws or teeth." This account is confirmed by two Esquimaux crania f in the possession of Blumenbach, which exhibit the same worn appearance of the teeth. It is well known, he observes, that the Esquimaux are derived from the same race with the Green- landers, and that their name has its origin from their practice of eating raw flesh. A similar configuration from the inferior incisors was found in the head of the Guanche mummy figured in Blumenbach's Fifth Decade, tab. xlii. p. 8. I have seen the same configuration in the heads of Egyptian mummies, and in other instances, and am fully convinced that there is no real original diflference in the form of the teeth in these cases ; and that the obser\-ed peculiarity is entirely o^ving to the mechanical attrition which the teeth had experienced in all the examples. As the incisors are wedge-shaped, and increase gradually in thickness from their cutting-edge to the gums, when half worn away they lose their natural appearance of cutting-teeth, and resemble in form those found in the crania above-mentioned. If the teeth are naturally large and strong, the appearance wll be more marked. We cannot admit an original difference of form until it is proved by the exhibition of eatire teeth in which the enamel has not been worn away from the masticating surface. At all events, the notion that the teeth grow thicker in con- sequence of the attrition of their surfaces, is not admissible. No point is more clearly ascertained than that these organs have no powers of growth, or organic change, and that they experience no alteration, after appearing through the gum, but that of • Mem de VAcad. des Sciences de Paris; 1722, p. 323, + Dec. iorlia, tab. 24 and 25. 262 DIFFERENCES OF FEATURES AND SKULLS. mechanical wearing or chemical decay. That their substance possesses neither vessels nor nerves, is, I think, fully proved by what I have stated in another place.* The assertion of Buffon, Erxleben, and others, that the teeth of the Calmucks are longer and separated by wider in- tervals from each other, is contradicted by the specimens of their crania in the possession of Blumenbach. Certain colours and forms are given to the teeth artificially in some instances by way of ornament. Mr. Marsden f informs us, that the Sumatrans commu- nicate to the teeth a jetty blackness by the empyreumatic oil of the cocoa-nut shell ; and that they even abrade the enamel, that they may receive and retain the dye more perfectly. The very general practice among the Malays and Asiatic islanders, of chewing the Areka-nut, betel-leaf, and chunam or lime, X turns the teeth black, unless great pains are taken to pre- vent it, and covers them with a brownish black incrustation. From one or the other of these causes the teeth are blackened in the Javanese § the Birmans, |! Tunquinese, ^ and Buggesses.** Some Negro tribes file their teeth so as to make them conical and sharp-pointed; tt some file away their inner edges, Jt or notch •them ; §§ some even grind them away down to the gums. ||{| A more or less complete abrasion of the enamel is very com- mon among the Asiatic islanders.'ff^ The observations in the following chapter respecting the varieties of form in genei-al, include the subjects of national features and form of the skull. I shall only make a few remarks here on some attempts at explaining the latter subjects. Climate has generally been brought forwards as the cause of the varieties that distinguish man. It has been almost univer- sally represented as the source of differences in colour, and not * In Dr. Rees' Cyclopeedia, art. Cranium. t Hist, of Sumatra; ed. iii. p. 53. $ The practice is described particularly by Dampier, Voyaaes, v. i. p. 318 ; "It tastes rough in the mouth, and dyes the lips red, and tne teeth black; but it preserves them, and cleanscth the gums." See also v. ii. p. ."ji. \ Blumenbach, tab. 39. llawkesworth's Collection of Voyages, v. iii. pp. 286.— 347. Ij Symes, Embassy to Ava; v. ii. p. 335. IT D.ampier, v. ii. p. 41. ** Blumenbach, tab. 49. +t Churchill's Voyages, v. v. pp. 139, 143, 38rj. Philos. rmns. v. Ixxiii. p. 92. Winterbottom o?J the J^aiive Africans ; v. i. 104. The Sumatrans also do it: Marsden, p. 53. %% Tuckey's Narrative of a Voyage to the Congo, pp. 80—124. \\ Ibid. p. 210. nil Vancouver found in the natives of Trinidad Bay, on the north-west coast of America, that " all the teeth of both sexes were, by some process, ground uniformly down horizontally to the gums." v. ii. p. 217. It was also observed by Perouse, Voyage Round the World, v. ii. p. 138. Tilt In Magindanao ; Forrest, Voyage to Netv Guinea, p. 237 : in Celebes ; Blumenbach, Dec. v. tab. 49 : in Java, Hawkesworth, y, iii. p. 349. Blumen- bach, de g, h. var. nat, p. 231. DIFFERENCES OF FEATURES AND SKULLS. 263 much less depended on for solving the great problem of varie- ties of form. " The inquiry into the causes of difference of features is expose'd," says Blumenbach, "to such serious dif- ficulties, that we can only expect to arrive at a problem solution. That climate is the principal agent in producing difference of features is proved to my satisfaction by three arguments. "1. In the natives of certain regions a national countenancfc is so common and universal in persons of all conditions, that it can be referred to no other cause. The Chinese may serve as an example ; the characteristic flattened countenance being as general among them, as great symmetry and beauty are among the English and Majorcans. " 2. Unless I am greatly deceived, there are instances of people who, after leaving th&ir old abodes, have in progress of time assumed new features, corresponding to their new situa- tions. Thus the Yakuts are referred, by those who have inves- tigated northern antiquities, to the Tatar race : but their coun- tenance is now completely Mongolian, according to the reports of the most accurate observers, and to a Yakut skull in my collec- tion. Thus also it has been observed that the Creole offspring of European parents in the West India islands have, in some degree, exchanged their native British features for those cha- racteristic of the American aborigines, and have acquired their deeper eyes and higher cheeks." He adds, that the northern invaders, who have at different times entered India, have gra- dually assumed the character which the climate has impressed on the native Hindoos. " 3. Nations, which can be deemed only colonies of one and the same race, have acquired different characteristic countenances in different climates. It is now proved that the Hungarians and Laplanders come from one stock. The latter have acquired, in their northern abodes, the cast of countenance peculiar to the inhabitants of those cold regions ; while the former have assumed a more elegant formation in their milder seats near Greece and Turkey."* That so able a writer could find no better proofs in support of his opinion, only shows how completely unfounded that opinion is. The flat face of the Chinese not only extends throughout that vast empire, which covers nearly forty degrees of latitude, and seventy of longitude, but also over the neighbouring regions of • De g. h. var. nal. sect. iii. ? 57. 264; DIFFERENCES OF FEATURES AND SKULLS. central and northern Asia, the north of Europe, and of America ; over a very large portion of the globe, including every possible variety of heat and cold, elevation and lowness, moisture and dryness, wood, marsh, and plain. That European Creoles in the West Indies, in America, and in the East, have preserved their native features in all instances where no intermixture of blood has occurred, is proved by the uninterrupted experience of the Spaniards, Portuguese, and English, who have had foreign colonies, in climates most dif- ferent to their own, longer than any other nation. If the Yakuts, which are now decidedly Mongolian in their features, had originally the Caucasian formation, and if the northern invaders of India have assumed the Hindoo counte- nance, the change must have been effected by intermarriages. All who have visited India and attentively examined its various people, unanimously represent that the Afghauns and Mongols of pure blood are at this moment just as distinct in features from the Hindoos, as the parent races are in their original seats. Respecting the case of the Hungarians and Laplanders, if we admit their descent from one stock, which is probable, 1ft us next ascertain what the amount of the differences between them may be, and then inquire whether mixture with other races may not have produced these. Blumenbach proceeds to observe, that the intermixture of races has a great effect in modifying the natural countenance ; and that the ancient Germans, the modern Gipsies, and the Jews, afford examples of peculiar and distinctive casts of coun- tenance being preserved in every climate. These well-known facts are quite sufficient to overturn the hypothesis which refers the differences of features to climate ; and a short examination of the races in any part of the world wiU soon supply numerous additional ones. Indeed, I do not know a single well-established fact or sound argument in its favour.* Some have even attempted to show how climate might operate in producing national features. " En effet," says Volney, " j'observe que la figure des Negres represente precisement cet etat de contraction que prend notre visage lorsqu'il est frappe par la lumiere et une forte reverberation de chaleur. Alors le sourcil se fronce ; la pomme des joues s'eleve;"la paupiere se serre ; la bouche fait la moue. Cette contraction, qui a lieu • This subject will be resumed in the chapter on the causes of the varieties; of the human species. DIFFERE.NX'ES OF FEATURES AND SKULLS. 265 perpetuellement dansle pays nud et chaud desNegres, n'a-t-elle pas d\X devenir la caractere propre de leur figure ?"* Unfortu- nately for these speculations, the Negro features occur in numerous tribes spread over a great extent of country, with various climates, and in many instances where the heat is by no means excessive ; the character, too is permanent, after any number of generations, when the Negroes are taken into other climes. Again, the most opposite features occur under similar climates in different parts of the world. There are races ^A'ith flattened countenances as well as with narrow and elongated \'isages in hot countries. The whole notion is, however, so fan- ciful and so unphilosophic, that it hardly deserves serious atten- tion ; and I therefore regret to find that the idea is so far coun- tenanced by an instructive writer on this subject, that he speaks of the numerous gnats which annoy the New Hollanders as contributing to the formation of their peculiar physiognomy. The custom of carrying the children on the back has been referred to, in order to explain the flat nose and swoln lips of the Negro. In the violent motions required in their hard labour, as in beating or pounding millet, &c. the face of the young one is said to be constantly thumping against the back of the mother. This account is seriously quoted by Blumenbach. The testimonies concerning the employment of pressure, in order to flatten the nose, are so numerous and circumstantial, that we cannot doubt of the attempt being made. It is practised among the Negroes, Hottentots, Brasilians.f Sumatrans,^ and South Sea Islanders : § we have, however, no proof that the figure of the part is ever changed by such attempts ; while, on the contrary, it can be shown most clearly, that the well-kno^vn flatness of the nose is the natural formation of the organ in the Negro, and the notion of its being produced by pressure is justly ridiculed by that intelligent observer, Dr. Winter- bottom. II The children of African parents in Europe, America, • Voyage en Sgrie et Egypte, t. i. p. 74. + De Lery, Voyage en la Terre du Brhil; pp. 98 — 265. t MaTsden, Hiitory of Sumatra ; p. 44. j " The figure of the nose seems to have been an object worthy the attention of the midwives of Otaheite; and since they are of opinion that a broadsome- what flat nose is ornamental, they depress the nose immediately after the birth of the child, and repeat this action upon the child while it is still tender." " The women of the Hottentots squeeze the noses of their children flat with the thumb (Kolbe, Descrijition of the Cape of Good Hope ; i. 52) ; andiu Macassar they flatten the noses of the children, and repeat the operation several times every day, softening the nose at the same time with oil or warm water." Forster, Ohs. on a Voyage Round the World ; pp. .593,594. See also p. 556. |[. Account of the A'ailre Jjjricans ; i. p. 201. 266 DIFFERENCES OF FEATURES AND SKULLS. and other situations, where there are opportunities of kno\ving that no means are used to flatten the nose, resemble in all respects those born in Africa. Why, indeed, should artificial causes be adduced to account for the flatness of the part in so many dark-coloured races, rather than for its convexity and prominence in others ? Do not the various parts of the coun- tenance harmonize equally in both cases ? Would it improve a Negro or a Chinese face to introduce into it an aquiline nose ? In short, these flat noses have all the characters of natural con- struction about them, equally with those of a different figure, and exhibit none of the marks of violence and artificial change, which are seen in the foreheads of some Caribs. Moreover, the diversities extend so generally through the whole bony fabric of the head, and are observable in so many parts where external pressure coidd have no influence, not to mention that they consist, in many instances, of formations just the reverse of what pressure could eflfect, that we cannot have the smallest hesitation in rejecting entirely the notion of external influence, and ascribing them to native variety. This conclusion is con- firmed by the fact, that all the peculiarities of the Negro cranium exist in the foetus ; that the prominent jaws, flat nose, and all other characters, are found as strongly marked in the youngest embryo, as in the adult. " I examined," says Soemmerring, "a Negro embryo and a child only a few months old, and found the jaws as prominent, the lov/er part of the nose as broad and flat as in the parents. There was no vestige of any violence ; but the form of the nose was naturally different from that of white children. Camper* examined several years 'ago, with the same view, Negroes of various ages, including foetuses. He observed nothing parti- cular in the nose ; but he concluded that this organ will be less prominent, other circumstances remaining the same, when the parts below it come forwards, and that the lips must be larger and thicker in order to cover the teeth completely. " My friend Blumenbach asserts, from the examination of two Negro children in the Royal Museum at Gottingen, what BuFFON also maintained, that the flat noses are congenital, not artificial, and refers to the engravings of Ruvsch and Seba in * In his Lecture on the Origin and Colour of the Blacks, describing the fcetus of an Angola Negress, he says, " You see that the nose, the lips, the whole face, correspond completely to those of adult Africans ; j-ou may be convinced that the nose is not depressed after birth, but that an immature being like this has already every lineament of its race." Kleinere Schrijten; b. i. st. 1. p, 43. VARIETIES OF FIGURE, PROPORTION, &C. 267 confirmation of the same point. Loder possesses a Negro embryo of four or five months and a half, in which the pecuUar form of the nose and jaws is very plain." * These arguments receive a further confirmation from three of the crania engraved by Blumenbach f of a Jewish girl, five years old ; a Burat child, a year and a half; and a newly- born Negro ; in which the characters of the Caucasian, Mongolian, and Ethiopian varieties are as strongly represented as in the heads of adults. As these skulls are very characteristic, I have added an engraving of them to this work. (See Plate XII.) CHAPTER V. Varieties in Figure, Proportions, and Strength. — The Ears ; Effects of Jin upon them, and in other Parts of the Body. — The Mamma. — Organs of Gene- ration. — Fabulous Varieties. In consequence of the foramen magnum being placed further back in the head of the Negro than in that of the European (see p. 230), and of the head being consequently situated more fonvards on the vertebral column in the former than in the latter, the occiput of the Negro projects less behind the spine. Hence a line drawn from the posterior extremity of the skull along the nape of the neck, which dips in considerably under the head in the European, is nearly straight in the African, as if a part of the cranium had been sliced oflf. The hind head is still further reduced in the monkey kind. Artists have taken great pains to determine the proportions which the parts of the human body, the head, neck, trunk, and limbs, bear to each other ; and to discover the relative magni- tudes of these, which ought to be found in the best constructed frame ; in short, to fi.x a standard of perfection, or the model of beauty. If only one kind of form and one set of proportions were consistent with strength and activity, it would be worth while to pay some attention to these laborious efforts of painters and sculptors at establishing how many times the length of the head is contained in the whole body, in the trunk, the upper or lower limbs ; how many noses are in the head, &c. Even then, the strange method they have adopted, of measuring certain celebrated statues, seems as likely to accomplish the professed object of instructing us in natural proportions, as the academic t Ueher die korp. versch. \ 4. Ludwig gives a similar testimony respecting twoNegro embryos in his collection. Grundriss derJVaturgeschichte dermenschen Species, \ 148, p. 131. t Dec. altera, tab. 28, 29, 30. N 2 268 VARIETIES OF FIGURE : exercises of drawing old painted casts are to confer a power of representing living forms and attitudes. A little attention to nature, which is indeed too often neglected in learned investi- gations of proportions, and in academy studies, will convince us, that even in the same race individual varieties are endless in number and great in degree, without any diminution of strength and activity ; and that forms and relations very different from each other may yet be thought equally beautiful by those who venture to judge wthout knowing the proportions of the ancient statues. Still greater differences e.^ist between the several races of mankind ; insomuch, that if we adopt for the model of beauty the standard of proportions discovered in the Greek statues, a great part of the human race wUl be cut off, by its very organization, from all chance of participating in this endowment. When, however, we find that Hottentots and American savages will outrun wild animals in the chase, will pursue and hunt down even deer ; that they will accomplish long journeys on foot over the most difficult countries, where there is no path to direct, and every obstacle to obstruct their progress ; tbat the effeminate Hindoos, as we frequently call them, will keep \vp with horses, and perform astonishing journeys in a short time ; that the South Sea Islanders amuse themselves for hours together by smmming about in the strongest surf, which would instantly destroy a boat or vessel ; we shall be obliged to allow that the form and proportions to which we are most accustomed are not essential to bodily vigour and flexibi- lity of movement. Our own inferiority in these respects arises, I am aware, from want of exercise, not from organic deficiency. CiviUzed man is ignorant of his own powers : he is not sensible how much he is weakened by effeminacy, nor to what extent he might recover his native force by habitual and vigorous exercise of his frame. The body is described as broad, square, and robust; the extremities short and nervous ; and the shoulders high in the Mongolian tribes, which entered Europe in the thirteenth cen- tury. See p. 239. " The Calmucks," says Pallas, " are often very strong about the neck, but slender and thin in the limbs. You hardly ever see corpulent persons among the common people ; even those who are rich and of higher rank, living in indolence and abundance, do not become immoderately large ; while, on the contrary, numerous fat and unwieldly individuals are seen MONGOLtAXS NEGRO PELVIS. 269 among the Kirgises, and other Tataric pastoral tribes, who follow exactly the same mode of life." * Blumenbach possesses the entire skeleton of a Don Cos- sack, whose head, as exhibited in the fourth plate of his First Decade, is marked with the character of the Mongolian variety. The broad and flat face, the harsh muscular impressions and irregular outUnes of this skull, and the construction of the skeleton in general, correspond to the character which this race bears for strength and hardiness, and to the alarms which they generally create as enemies. " Habitus in totum horridus. Orbitae maxime profundag et latae, sed valde depressse. Narium apertura late patula." " Limbus plani semicircularis ubi a processu orbitaU externo ossis frontis sursum vergit, in acutum quasi jugum abiens ; anguli alarum maxillae inferioris fere monstrose extrorsum tractae, et masseterum insertione valde inaequales et quasi his- pidi. Crassities ossi occipitalis prope protuberantias enormis. Sed et textura ossium calvariae tam densa, ut hinc illinc casu detritae marmoris durissimi aut iaspidis politi in modum niteant. Hinc et pondus universi cranii ingens. Verum et reliqui sceleti partes capitis horridse conformationi respondent. Cylindrica V. c. ossa 2)raeter modum crassa et ponderosa. Pectoris os qua- tuor fere digitos transversos latitudine aequans, et quae sunt hujus generis alia, rude robur testantia." Mr. RoLLiN, the surgeon who sailed with La Perouse, has given us the measurements of the Chinese whom he saw at the Bale de Castries, on the east coast of China, in about 52° N. lat. and 141° E. long. ; and also those of the natives of the oppo- site great island of Tchoka, or Saghalien. MEN. TCHOKA. BAIB DE CASTRIES Ft. In. Lilies. Ft. In. Lines Ordinary stature 5 4 10 Circumference of the head . 1 10 4 1 9 Long diameter of the head . 9 8 9 Short diameter of the head . 5 8 5 4 Length of upper extremity . 2 1 6 2 1 Length of lower extremity . 2 8 2 6 Length of foot 9 5 9 Circumference of the chest 3 2 n Breadth of the chest . 1 1 4 11 * Sammlungen hist, nach iiher die 1 longu . Volkersch. 1 Th. ]). 08. ^t. In. 5 7 2 7 3 6 1 270 VARIETIES OF FIGURE: BATE DE MEN. TCHOKA. „.„ ,_„ CASTRIES Ft. In. Lines. Ft. In. Lines. Circumference of the pelvis . .260 230 Height of the vertebral column . 1 11 1 10 WOMEN. Circumference of the pelvis . ■ 2 21 0* The measures are French ; of which the foot is to that of England as 1.066 to 1.000. The trunk is more slender in the Negro ; particularly about the loins and pelvis : the dimensions of the latter cavity are con- siderably smaller than in the European, and the extremities in some instances longer. I found the following proportions in a full-grown African lad of seventeen. Length of the body (lying dead on a table) Length of the upper extremity Length of the lower extremity Breadth from shoulder to shoulder . Circumference of the pelvis, between the crista ilii and the great trochanter . . . . . . 2 1^ Breadth between the anterior superior spines of the ossa innominata ....... 8 The two latter measurements, in an Englishman of 5 feet 9 inches, were respectively 2 feet 11 inches, and lOh inches. In a Negro skeleton of 5 feet 7j inches, the measurement between the anterior superior spines was 8i inches. SoEMMERRiNG gives the follo\ving statement of compai'ative measures. " In my skeleton of a Negro, about twenty years old, the great diameter of the pelvis is . . . the small ...... In another of fourteen years the great diameter is . the small ...... In an European of sixteen years the great diameter is the small ...... In an old well-made European, inferior in stature to the negro of twenty years, the great .... the small ...... Camper t states that the great diameter of the pelvis, from * Perouse, Voyage Round the World; v. iii. p. 247. + Tramactionsof the Dutch Sudety at Rotterdam, i'o.'DxiiX.ch; v. i. In. Lines. 3 11^ 3 7^ 3 2 2 9 4 3 3 9 4 6 3 11" MONGOLIANS NEGRO PELVIS. 271 one OS innominatum to the other, was to the small diameter, from the sacrum to the symphysis pubis, in the Negi-o as . . . 39 to 27* European . . . 41 27 Yet the Negro was much taller than the European. The proportion in another European was as In Albinus's male skeleton In a female European skeleton In two others In the Farnese Hercules In the Antinous In the Apollo according to Albert Durer Venus de Medici The same slenderness of the trunk may be observed in some of the Indians ; it is at least apparent in the Lascars, who come to this country in the East India ships. Their legs also are long. There are no actual measurements of these. Mr. RoLLiN, to whom I have already referred, ascertained the proportions of the body in males and females at three dif- ferent points on the western coast of the American continent. The following are the results in French measures. f • Fun der Riirp. Verschied. pp. 34, 35. t Perouse's Voyage, v. iii. p. 22'> 44 to 28 66 43 49 28 44 28 48 34 40 34 36 28 35 20 46 34* VARIETIES OF FIGURE -5z 1 m SSz o ^ ;<7 k<^' \ ;-,Tj< D-^-^ S So pa Ol » i J. ■^ J3 .a .c Si o U c c MEN. a; 1—1 3 11 « ^ OJ f^ J 3 Common stature 5 1 5 2 6 5 3 Long diameter of the head, from tire superior angle of the occiput to the chin 8 4 9 9 5 Short ditto ; from the cen- tre of one parietal bone to the other . 5 5 4 5 6 Upper extremity; from the head of the humerus to the end of the middle finger .... 2 I 6 2 1 9 2 2 3 Lower ditto ; from the head of the femur to the heel 2 8 2 9 2 10 5 Length of the foot . 9 4 10 10 6 Breadth of the chest be- tween the shoulders 1 1 1 1 1 4 Breadth of the shoulders 1 4 8 1 7 I 7 5 Height of the vertebral co- lumn from the first ver- tebra to the sacrum 1 10 1 11 2 4 Circumference of the pelvis 2 4 4 2 6 8 2 7 5 WOMEN. Long diameter of the head 8 8 5 8 10 Short diameter of the head 4 11 5 3 5 5 Length of the upper extre- mity .... 2 7 2 1 2 1 6 Length of the lower extre- mity .... 2 5 2 2 6 2 6 8 Length of the foot . 8 8 6 8 9 Breadth of the chest 10 6 10 9 11 3 Breadth of the shoulders 1 2 1 2 8 1 3 3 Height of the vertebral co- lumn .... 1 8 1 8 6 1 8 9 (circumference of the pelvis 2 5 2 6 2 6 9 Breadth between the ante- rior superior spinous pro- cesses .... 8 8 5 8 10 SOUTH SEA ISLANDERS. 273 The fine forms, the uncommon symmetry, the great strength and activity of many trihes in the South Sea Islands, have been noticed by all who have had intercourse with them.* The attention of Langsdorff was particularly attracted by a youth named Mufau, twenty years of age, whom he saw at Nukahi- wah, one of the Marquesas Islands. His height was 6 feet 2 inches (Paris measure — between 6 feet 7 and 8 English) ; his figure and strength perfect : the following are the measures in French feet and inches, of various parts of his body ; from which those who are conversant with academic proportions will be able to decide whether his frame was rightly constructed or not. From the point of the shoulder to the tip of the longest finger ...... From the top of the skull to the chin . From the top of the skull to the navel . From the navel to the division of the thighs . From the division of the thighs to the sole of the Length of the foot Greatest breadth of ditto Breadth across the shoulders Circumference at the same part Breadth across the breast Circumference of the breast Circumference of the head round the forehead and above the ears Circumference of the abdomen about the spleen Circumference of the pelvis at the hip . Circumference of the upper part of the thigh Circumference of the calf .... Circumference of the ankle at its smallest part Circumference of the upper part of the arm . Circumference of the lower ditto . Circumference of the hand .... Circumference of the neck e In. Lines. 22 7 10 3U 10^ foot 38 12^- 5^ 19 2 40 15 42 Ll 28i 32 42 35 I7i 10 13^ 13i IH 16 Of ' The people of the Marquesas and Washington Islands excel in 1 alanty of features, and in colour, all the oi I beauty and grandeur of form, in regularity of features, and in colour, all the other South Sea Islanders. The men are almost all tall, robust, and well made. Few were so fat and unwieldy as the Otaheiteans, none so lean and meagre as the people of Easter Island. We did not see a single crippled or deformed person, but such general beauty and regularity of fomns, that it greatly excited our astonish- ment. Many of them might very well have been placed by the side of the most celebrated chef d'oeuvres of antiquity, and they would have lost nothing bj- the comparison." Langsdorfl's Voyages and Travels in various Parts of the fVorld; v. i. p. 108. T Voyages and Travels in various Parts of the World, p. 109. "We were N 3 274 DIFFERENCES IN BODILY STRENGTH. The natives of New Holland* and Van Diemen's Land f are small in stature, with long and slender limbs ; which seems to be owing in part to the bad quality and deficient quantity of their food (see p. 135). It is always of the least nutritious kind, and scarce ; and this scarcity is often aggravated to actual famine, under which the miserable natives are reduced to the appearance of spectres, t and probably often perish from inanition. With these differences in stature and proportions we may reasonably expect to find various degrees of bodily strength combined. The Spaniards, in their first intercourse with the new world, found the natives in general much feebler than themselves ; and the inability of the former to sustain the severe labour of the mines led to the introduction of African slaves, one of whom was equal to three or four Indians. § In engage- ments between troop and troop, or man and man, the Virgi- nians and Kentuckians have always shown themselves stronger than the American savages. || Hearne, Mackenzie, Pe- RousE, Lewis, Clarke, and others, have found the same inferiority of physical force in various parts of the North Ame- rican continent The testimony of Pallas respecting the Mongolian tribe of the Burats is very remarkable : " Their appearance is generally effeminate, and they are mostly so small in stature and weak, that five or six Burats are often unable to effect what a single Russian can accomplish. This want of power is not the only circumstance which proves, in the Burats and other Siberian nomadic people, that a mere animal diet is unnatural, and inca- pable of maintaining in perfection the physical prerogatives of our species. The bodies in all these people are remarkably light told," says Langsdorff, " that the chief of a neighbouring island, by name Upoa, with equally exact proportions as Mufau, was a head taller, so at least Roberts and Cabri both assured us : if they were correct, this man must be nearly seven Paris feet high." The vigour and activity of Mufau seem to have been equal to his stature ; " though he had never, till now, been on board an European ship, he ran up the mainmast many times together of his own accord, and throw himself from it« into the sea, to the great astonishment of the spectators. He had actually gone up one day with the intention of throw- ing himself from the topmost gallery ; but Captain Krusenstern called him iDack, and would not peimitit. It was impossible to see, without equal shudder- ing and astonishment, how he would spring from such an height, and balance himself in the air for some seconds, with his feet dawn up against his body, so as to keep his head up ; from the force of the fall, and the great weight of his body, be came with so violent a plunge into the water, that several seconds elapsed before he appeared again on the surface. " P. 170. * Collins, Account of the English Colon;/, &c. p. .553. Peron, Voyage de DScouvertes ; t. i. tab. 20. + Cook, Voyage to the Pacific ; v. i. p, 96. t Collins, lib. cil. Peron, v. i. p. 463, et suiv. ? Herrera, t)ec. i. Lib. ix. cap. 5. n Volney, Tableau des Etats-unis; t. i. p. 447. DIFFERENCES IN BODILY STRENGTH. 275 in comparison to their size. You can raise and hold up the chil- dren with one hand, when those of the Russian boors of the same age could only be hfted with both hands. Even adult Burats, compared to the Russians, are astonishingly light ; so that the horses, which are not indeed powerful, when tired by a Russian rider, recover themselves if a Burat takes his place."* In order to procure some exact comparative results on this point, Peron took with him on his voyage an instrument called a dynamometre, so constructed, as to indicate, on a dial-plate, the relative force individuals submitted to experiment. He directed his attention to the strength of the arms and of the loins, making trial with several individuals of each kind ; viz. twelve natives of Van Diemen's Land, seventeen of New Hol- land, fifty-six of the island of Timor, seventeen Frenchmen belonging to the expedition, and fourteen Englishmen in the colony of New South Wales. The following numbers express the mean result in each case ; but the details are all given in a tabular form in the original. 1. Van Diemen's Land 2. New Holland 3. Timor 4. French 5. English The highest numbers in the first and second class were respectively, 60 and 62 ; the lowest in the English trials, 63, and the highest 83, for the strength of the arms. In the power of the loins, the highest among the New Hollanders was 13, the lowest of the English 12.7, and the highest 21.3. These results offer the best answer to the declamations on the degeneracy of civilized man. The attribute of superior physical strength, so boldly assumed by the eulogists of the savage state, has never been questioned or doubted. Although we have been consoled for this supposed inferiority by an enume- ration of the many precious benefits derived from cixilization, it has always been felt as a somewhat degrading disadvantage. Bodily strength is a concomitant of good health, which is pro- duced and supported by a regular supply of wholesome and • Sammlunnen histor. JVachricki, pp. 171, 178. t Peron, Voyage, t. i. chap. xx. p. 446, et suiv. ; t. ii. Ackiitions and Come- Horn, p. 460, et suiv. STRENGTH Of the Arms. Kilogrammes. 50.6 of the Loins. Myriagrammes, 50.8 10.2 58.7 11.6 69.2 15.2 71.4 I6.3t 276 VARIETIES OF FIGURES AND PROPORTIOX, nutritious food, and by active occupation. The industrious and well-fed middle classes of a civilized community may therefore be reasonably expected to surpass, in this endowment, the mise- rable savages, who are never well fed, and too frequently depressed by absolute want and aU other privations. In the first Section, Chap. V., I have pointed out a diffe- rence between the structure of the human subject, and that of the monkey, in the relative length of the arm and fore-arm. The latter is always the shortest in man ; while the two are equal in our near neighbours, or the fore-arm is even the longest. The Negro holds, in this respect, a middle place, about equidistant from Europeans and monkeys. " I mea- sured," says Mr. White, " the arms of about fifty Negroes, men, women, and children, born in very different climates, and found the lower arm longer than in Europeans, in proportion to the upper arm, and to the height of the body. The first Negro on the list is one in the Lunatic Hospital at Liverpool, his fore- arm measures 12f * inches, and his stature is only 5 feet 10^ inches. I have measured a great number of white people, from that size up to 6 feet 4^ inches, and among them one who was said to have the longest arms of any man in England, but none of them had a fore-arm equal to that of the black lunatic. " I have measured the arms of a great number of European skeletons, and have found that the os humeri or iipper arm- exceeds in length the ulna, which is the longer bone of the fore- arm, by 2 or 3 inches ; in none by less than 2, in one by not less than 3^ inches. In my Negro skeleton the os humeri is only li inch longer than the ulna. In Dr. Tyson's pigmy the OS humeri and ulna were of the same length ; and in my skeleton of a common monkey the ulna is f of an inch longer than the os humeri. "f Of a Negro skeleton in the very valuable collection of Mr. Langstaff, the entire height is 5 feet 7^ inches : the humerus measures 12f inches, the ulna 11-|. In the individual men- tioned at p. 255, the upper arm was 13 inches, the ulna llf. The comparative results of several measurements are placed in succession in the following list. ' The ulna of the giant in the College Museum is only one inch longer than this See page 126. i- White on the Regular Gradation ; p, 52 and following. See also the tables, l>p. 45 and 46. NEGRO ARM AND FORE ARM LEGS. 277 Stature. Length of Lensth of ,. -"^ — — ^ 3s Humeri. Ulna. An Englishman I'eet Inches. Inches. Inches. 6 4^ 16 in Ditto 6 r \H 111 , Ditto 6 15 lit Ditto 5 9* 14 11 Ditto 5 7 125 10 Ditto 5 4i 12| IOtV Ditto 5 12i 91 Englishwoman . 5 4 13 9f Ditto 5 12i 8f European male skeleton . 5 8 13 91 Ditto .... 5 5 12i 10 A Negro at the Lunatic Hospital, Liverpool 5 lOi 15 121 Another from Virginia 5 54 13i 111 Another from the Gold Coast . 5 8 13 12i Another .... 5 12 10* Negro skeleton . 4 11 11 H Another .... 5 7* 121 114 A Lascar .... 5 4 121 104 Venus de Medici 5 13^ 9f Tyson's chimpanse (Simia troglodytes) . 2 2 54 54 Mr. Abel's orang-outang 2 7 9 10 Camper's ditto less than 30 84 9 Mr. White's monkey 2 1 2 4i 5 The legs of the Hindoos are said to be long, and those of tlie Mongolian nations short, as compared with those of our owm race. The ancients noticed that certain defects of form were very fre- quent in the legs of the Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Negro slaves. SoEMMERRiNG obscrves, that in the Negro the bones of the leg seemed pushed outwards under the femoral condyles, so that the knees appear rather further apart, and the feet are directed outwards. This is the case in both his Negro skeletons, and in more than twelve living Negroes whom he examined.* It is seen in the cast of the Negro belonging to the College Museum. The tibia and fibula are more convex in front than in Europeans, f The calves of the legs are very high, so as to * Von cler korperl. versch. ? 42. + Mr. White has represented the bones of the leg and foot of the Negro and European in a comparative view : On the Regular Gradation, pi. L 278 VARIETIES OF FIGURE : encroach upon the hams. Tlie feet and hands, but particularly the former, are flat : the os calcis, instead of being arched, is continued in nearly a straight line Avith the other bones of the foot, which is remarkably broad. " Both hands and feet termi- nate in beautiful but very long, and therefore almost ape-like, fingers and toes ; and they had all sesamoid bones, which are certainly rare in Europeans."* " The only peculiarities," ob- serves WiNTERBOTTOM,t " which struck me in the black hand and foot, were the largeness of the latter, the thinness of the hand, and the flexibility of the fingers and toes." Unseemly thickness of the legs is not uncommon among the Negroes ; and the feet exhibit numerous chinks and fissures, which, as they occur principally in the soles, must probably be referred to the eflfect of the burning sands. In the sole of a healthy Negro, who died at Cassel, Blumenbach found the epidermis "mirum in modum crassa, rimosa, et in multifidas lamellas dehiscens."J Peculiarities of form are traceable, in some instances, to par- ticular practices. " The only and very common defect ob- servable among the Calmucks (says Pallas) is curvature of the thighs and legs, arising from their sitting, even in the cradle, on a kind of saddle in a riding attitude, and being accus- tomed to riding as soon as they are able to go alone."§ The curvature of the legs, which is found not only in the Negroes, but in the Hindoos,|| Americans,^ and in many othei cases, arises from the practice of squatting ; that is, of resting the body on the lower limbs, the ankles and knees being bent to the utmost. The weight of the trunk in this attitude, which is painful and indeed insupportable to those who are not accus- tomed to it, rests on the back of the leg : hence the form of tha calf is spoiled by it. • Soemmerring has represented the bones of the leg and foot of the Negro and European in a comparative view. + Account of the Native Africans, v. ii. p. 257. X De g. h. var. nat. p. 246, note 6. ? Sammlungen, &c. Th. i. p. 98. II This curvature of the leg and deficiency of the calf are represented to me by that accomplished artist Mr. Daniel as the only faults in the Indian form ; which he describes as very far exceeding that of Europeans in elegance and fine proportions. IT Chanvalon , Voyage a la Martinique, p. 58. In the Pescherais of Tierra del Fuego, Forster observes that the lower limbs are by no means proportioned to the upper parts ; that the thighs are thin and lean, the legs bent, the knees large, and the toes turned inwards. Ohs. made on a Voyage Round the fVorld, p. 85i. Cook describes the natives of Nootka Sound as having small, ill-made, and crooked limbs, with large feet badly shaped, and projecting ankles. He ascribes these circumstances to their sitting so much on their hams and knees. Voyage to the Pac/Jic, v. ii. p, 303. Lewis and Clarke found broad, thick, flat feet, thick ankles, and crooked legs, in the Western American tribes generally, They ascribe the latter deformity to the universal practice of squatting, or sitting on the calves of their legs and heels. Travels, ch. 23. ELONGATION OF THE EARS. 279 Smallness of the hands and feet has been remarked by careful observers in many races. Thus it has been found, when the Hindoo sabres have been brought to England, that the gripe is too small for most European hands.* The Chinese were amused by the largeness and length of Mr. Abel's hands. He adds, " Those of all the Chinese, when compared to the hands of Europeans, are very small. When placed in mine, which are not excessively large, wrist against wrist, the ends of their fore-finger scarcely extended beyond the first joints of mine." t Mr. Chappell observes of the Esquimaux, that " the most surprising peculiarity of these people is the smallness of their hands and feet." X Humboldt says, that " the Chaymas, like almost all the native nations (of America) I have seen, have small slender hands." § Similar observations have been made respecting the New Hollanders and Hottentots. || I am not acquainted with any natural differences in the form or size of the ears, as characterizing the several races of men. It is well known that they stand off further from the head, and are in some degree moveable in savages ; also that the lobulus is enlarged and monstrously elongated by various artificial means in many instances. These practices may have given rise to the fables of some older writers concerning the enormous ears of certain people. In some instances a slit is made in the external ear, parallel to and near its circumference, and extending through almost its whole length. This is not only subservient to decoration by holding ornaments, but is also converted to the convenient purpose of receiving knives or other useful articles.*!! The Brasilians inserted gourds in the slits of their ears, increasing the size until the fist could be put through, and the ears reached the shoulders. When they prepare for battle, these ornamental appendages were fastened behind,** CoNDAMiNE and Ulloa saw the lobuli extended to four or • Hodges, Travels in India, p. 3. T Narrative of a Journey in the Interior of China, p. 91. t Aarrative of a Voyage to Hudson's Bay, p. 59. \ Personal Narrative, v. iii. p. 226. See also Ulloa, JVoticias Arriericaruu, V. ii. ; and Morse's American Geography, v. i. II Barrow's Southern Africa, v. i. p. 157. IT See Portrait of a New Zealander, in Hawkesworth's Collection of Voyages, V. iii. pi. 13. Also pi. 11 in the Atlas of Cook's Voyage to the Pacific, •• Souttey's History q/Brasil, v. i. pp. 135, 130, Cal, note 35. 280 VARIETIES OF FIGURE, &C. : five inches in length, so as to touch the shoulders in many cases. The perforations were seventeen or eighteen lines in diameter. * Similar practices prevail extensively in the Asiatic and South Sea Islands, where persons are seen with the lobuli reaching the shoulders, and having slits large enough for the hand to pass.f I shall shortly mention here some other modes of ornamental bodily embellishment, which have been practised chiefly among tribes in a more or less rude state. The flattening of the fore- head, the dying and' filing of the teeth, have been already noticed; See Chapter IV. Sect. II. The operation of tattooing, or puncturing and staining the skin, has prevailed in various degrees in most parts of the world ; but it has been adopted most extensively and generally in the South Sea Islands, where it is considered as highly orna- mental. The art is carried to its greatest perfection in the Washington or New Marquesas Islands ; where wealthy and powerful individuals are often covered with various designs from head to foot. % The elegance and symmetry of the tattooed figures are as much admired by them, as those of dress are by us. We may pardon their simplicity in attaching so much value to the multiplicity and arrangement of these punctures, when we consider that those satisfactory tests of personal merit, the stars, ribbons, and orders, of which more civilized men are so justly proud, are not yet known to them. " For performing the operation, the artist uses the ^ang-bone of a tropic-bird, phaeton ethereus, which is rendered jagged and pointed at the end like a comb, sometimes in the form of a crescent, sometimes in a straight line, and larger or smaller according to the figures he designs to make. Tliis instrument is fixed into a bamboo handle about as thick as the finger, with which the puncturer, by means of another cane, strikes so gently and dexterously, that it scarcely pierces through the skin. The principal strokes of the figures to be tattooed are first sketched upon the body with the same dye that is afterwards rubbed into the punctures, to serve as guides in the use of the instrument. The punctures being * Memoires de VAcad. des Sciences; 1745, p. 433. Travels in South America, V. i. p. 395. A similar account is given by Adair, Hist, of the North American Indians, p. 171. t Forster, 06s. ore a Voyage Round the JVorld, p. 592. A man at Tanna wore thirteen ear-rings of turtle-shell, an inch in diameter and three quarters of an inch broad. Cook's Voy. towards the South Pole, v. i. p. 290, pi. 40, 47, man and woman of Easter Island, with elongated lobuli. t LangsdorfTs Foyages and Travels, &c. v. i. chap. 5. The designs, which are symmetrically arranged, and show no inconsiderable taste, are exhibited in two plates, at pp. 119 — 122. See also Hawkesworth's CoZZec. 59. Their strict integvitj- and high sense of honour in commercial dealings, are confirmed by the testimony of Ulloa; Travels in South America, v. ii. p. 276. + Ibid. p. 291. AND INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. 829 In the savage tribes of North America we often meet with lofty sentiments of independence, ardent courage, and devoted friendship, which would sustain a comparison with the most splendid similar examples in the more highly gifted races Honourable and punctual fulfilment of treaties and compacts, patient endurance of toil, hunger, cold, and all kinds of hard- ships and privations, inflexible fortitude, and unshaken perse- verance in avenging insults or injuries according to their own pecuUar customs and feelings, show that they are not destitute of the more valuable moral qualities. The Mongolian people differ very much in their docility and moral character. While the empires of China and Japan prove that this race is susceptible of civilization, and of great advance- ment in the useful and even elegant arts of life, and exhibit the singular phenomenon of political and social institutions between two and three thousand years older than the Christian era, the fact of their having continued nearly stationary for so many centuries, marks an inferiority of nature and a limited capacity m comparison to that of the white races. When the Mongolian tribes of central Asia have been united under one leader, war and desolation have been the objects of the association. Unrelenting slaughter, without distinction of condition, age, or sex, and universal destruction have marked the progress of their conquests, unattended with any changes or institutions capable of benefiting the human race, unmingled with any acts of generosity, any kindness to the A'anquished, or the slightest symptoms of regard to the rights and hberties of raankmd. The progress of Attila, Zingis, and Tamerlane, like the deluge, the tornado, and the hurricane, involved every thing in one sweeping ruin. In all the points which have been just considered, the white races present a complete contrast to the dark-coloured inha- bitants of the globe. While the latter cover more than half the earth's surface, plunged in a state of barbarism in which the higher attributes of human nature seldom make their appear- ance, strangers to all the conveniences and pleasures of advanced social life, and deeming themselves happy in escaping the immediate perils of famine ; the former, at least in this quarter of the world, either never have been in so low a condition, or, by means of their higher endo\vments, have so quickly raised * See Mr. Jefferson's eloquent vindication of the North .-American savages from the degrading picture djawn of them by Buffon. A'otes on Virginia. S30 DIFFERENCES IN MORAL themselves from it, that we have no record of their existence as mere hunting or fishing tribes. In the oldest documents and traditions, which deserve any confidence, these nobler people are seen at least in the pastoral state, and in the exercise of agriculture, the practice of which is so ancient, that the remotest and darkest accounts have not preserved the name of the disco- verer, or the date of its introduction. No European people, therefore, have been in a condition comparable to that of the present dark-coloured races, within the reach of any history or tradition. The invention of arts and sciences in the East, and their sur- prising progress in Europe, are due to the white men. The comparatively national system of Heathenism contained in the Grecian mythology, with its elegant fables and allegories ; and the three religions, which exhibit the only worthy views of the Divinity, that is, Judaism, Christianity, and Mahometanism, all derive their birth from the same quarter. The Caucasian variety claims also the Persian Zoroaster ; and, if I mistake not, the founders of the religion of Bramah, who in the peninsula of India had signalized themselves by great advances in art and science in the very remotest antiquity. In the white races we meet, in full perfection, with true bravery, love of liberty, and other passions and virtues of great souls ; here only do these noble feelings exist in full intensity, while they are, at the same time, directed by superior know- ledge and reflection to the accomplishment of the grandest pur- poses. They alone have been as generous and mild towards the weak and the vanquished, as terrible to their enemies ; and have treated females with kindness, attention, and deference. Here alone are compassion and benevolence fully developed ; the feeling for the pains and distresses of others, and the active attempt to relieve them ; which, first exerted on our nearest connections, is extended to our countrymen in general, and embraces, ultimately, in its wishes and exertions, the interests of all mankind. The white nations alone have enjoyed free governments ; that is, not the lawless dominion of mere force, as in many barbarous tribes, but institutions recognising the equality of all in political rights, giving protection to the weak against the powerful, securing to all equal freedom of opinion and conscience, and administered according to laws framed with the consent of all. The spirit of liberty, the unconquerable energy of independence. AND INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. 831 the generous glow of patriotism have been known chiefly to those nobler organizations, in which the cerebral hemispheres have received their full development. The republics of Greece and Rome, of Italy in the middle ages, of Switzerland and Hol- land, the limited monarchy of England, and the United States of America, have shown us what the human race can effect, when animated by these sacred feelings ; without which nothing has been achieved truly great or permanently interesting. This is the charm that attaches us to the history, the laws, the insti- tutions, the literature of the free states of antiquity, and that enables us to study again and again, with, fresh pleasure, the lives and actions of their illustrious citizens. Even the more absolute forms of government have been conducted among the white races, with a respect to human nature, with a regard to law and to private rights, quite unkown to the pure despotisms, which seem to be the natural destiny of oiu- dark brethren. The monstrous faith of millions made for one has never been doubted or questioned in all the extensive regions occupied by human races with the anterior and superior parts of the cranium flattened and compressed. That these diversities are the offspring of natural differences, and not produced by external causes, is proA'ed by their univer- sality, whether in respect to time, place, or external influence. Some have found a convenient and ready solution in climate, but have not condescended to show, either by example or rea- soning, how climate can operate on the moral feelings and intel- lect, or that it has actually so operated in any instance. The native Americans are spread over that vast continent from the icy shores of the Arctic Ocean to the neighbourhood of the Antarctic Circle ; the Africans have a tolerably wide range in their quarter of the globe ; the Mongolian tribes cover a tract including every variety of climate from the coldest to the most warm. Yet, in such diversities of situation, the respective races exhibit only modifications of character. White people have distinguished themselves in all chmates ; ever}' where preserving their superiority. Two centuries have not assimilated the AnglcvAmericans to the Indian aborigines, nor prevented them from establishing in America the freest government in the world. A Washington and a Franklin prove that the noble qualities of the race have suffered no degeneracy by crossing the Atlantic. Accurate observers have found the hypothesis of chmate 332 DIFFERENCES IN MORAL equally unsatisfactory in other parts of the world. " The phi- losophy which refers exclusively to the physical influence of cUmate, this most remarkable phenomenon of the moral world, is altogether insufficient to satisfy the rational inquirer ; the holy spirit of hberty was cherished in Greece and its Syrian colonies by the same sun which warms the gross and ferocious supersti- tion of the Mahommedan zealot : the conquerors of half the world issued from the scorching deserts of Arabia, and obtained some of their earliest triumphs over one of the most gallant nations of Europe (Spain). " A remnant of the disciples of Zoroaster, flying from Mahommedan persecution, carried with them to the western coast of India the religion, the hardy habits, and athletic forms of the north of Persia ; and their posterity may at this day be contemplated in the Parsees of the English settlement at Bom- bay, with mental and bodily powers absolutely unimpaired after the residence of a thousand years in that burning chmate. Even the passive but ill-understood character of the Hindoos, e.xhi- biting few and unimportant shades of distinction, whether placed under the snows of Imaus, or the vertical sun of the torrid zone, has, in every part of these diversified climates, been occasionally roused to achievements of valour, and deeds of des- ])eration, not surpassed in the heroic ages of the western world. The reflections naturally arising from these facts are obviously sufficient to extinguish a flimsy and superficial hypothesis, which would measure the human mind by the scale of a Fahrenheit's thermometer."* White nations have kept up their character under every form of government. Science and literature have flourished in monarchies as well as in republics. Yet, let us never forget that the principal and the richest portion of our intellectual treasure consists of the literature and history of two nations of antiquity, whose astonishing superiority seems to have arisen principally from their having enjoyed freedom. The white nations may degenerate, as in the case of the Greeks and Romans ; but the qualities, which distinguished them in their proudest state, are still visible. The sena*e, the forum, and the capitol, which were trodden by SciPios, Brutuses, and Catos, by Pompey, C^sar, and Cicero, by Virgil, Horace, Livy, and Tacitus, have been long defiled by a vermin of priests and monks, of eunuchs and singers ■ the • Wilks, Hislarical Sketches of the South of India; v. i. pp. 33, 33. AND INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. 333 processions ana fooleries of a despicable superstition have suc- ceeded to the three hundred and twenty triumphs which gave to a small spot in Italy the command of the world, proclaiming conquests generally as beneficial to the conquered as glorious to the \'ictors. Italy altogether has groaned for centuries under the domestic fetters of monkery and priestcraft, and the still more galling yoke of foreign rule ; yet the classic ground has ever produced, and still continues to produce, men worthy of the race that realised and long maintained universal empire. What other people has sent forth, within the same period, or even in any wider range, men equal in force of genius and variety of excellence to the immortal names which Italy can boast even in her degradation; — to Dante, Petrarca, and Boccaccio; to Tasso, Ariosto, Metastasio, Alfieri ; to Galileo, Gassendi, and Torricelli; to Machiavel, Davila, Bentivoglio, and Guicciardini ; to Raphael, Michael Angelo, and a whole host of others ? The prerogatives of the white races may be equally distin- guished in the least advanced state of civilization. Compare the ancient Germans, as delineated by Tacitus and Caesar, with the savages of New Holland, with a horde of Hottentots, with a tribe of American Indians ; compare the ancient Spaniards, or Scandinavians, the Highland Scotch, or any Celtic people, to the African, American, or Mongolian tribes. A fair comparative experiment has been made of the white and red races in North America ; and no trial in natural philosophy has had a more xmequivocal and con'vincing result. The copper- coloured natives, although in all their original independence, have not advanced a single step in three hundred years ; neither example nor persuasion has induced them, except in very small number and few instances, to exchange the precarious supplies of the hunting and fishing state for agriculture and the other arts of settled life. A little ingenuity is manifested in making clothes, ornaments, arms ; and personal endurance of exertion, fatigue, and the cruelest torture, is carried to a great height. Even in war, in their eyes the first and most exalted of occu- pations, they show few traces of generous or honourable feel- ings. Bitter revenge and utter destruction are the motive and end. It is hardly necessary to draw the contrast. No English- man can be ignorant of the mighty empire founded by a handful of his countrymen in the wilds of America ; of its gigantic strides from the state of an insignificant colony, within forty 834 DIFFERENCES IN MORAL short years of independence, to the rank of a first-rate power. No friend of humanity can be a stranger to the glorious prospect, to the energies of freedom, which vivify this new country. No human being, who is interested in the progress of his species, can refuse his tribute of admiration to this new world, which has established itself without the prejudices of the old ; — where reli- gion is in all its fervour, without needing an alliance with the state to maintain it ; where the law commands by the respect which it inspires, without being enforced by any military power. The superiority of the whites is universally felt and readily acknowledged by the other races. The most intelligent Negro, whom Mr. Park* met with, after witnessing only such evidences of European skill and knowledge, as the English settlement of Pisania afforded, and being acquainted with two or three Eng- lishmen, would sometimes appear pensive, and exclaim with an involuntary sigh, " Black men are nothing !" The narratives of travellers abound with similar traits. This consciousness best explains the fact of the Negroes generally submitting quietly to their state of slavery in the European colonies. If the rela- tions and the proportions of the population were reversed, and the European slaves were five, six, eight, or ten times as nume- rous as their Negro masters, how long would such a state of things last ? When the blacks form any plots, although their natural apathy and unvarying countenance are favourable to concealment, they always fail, through treachery or precipitation in commencing operations, or are disconcerted by any resolute opposition, even from very inferior numbers. Some will probably explain in a different manner these remarkable phenomena of the moral and intellectual world, which I have just been considering ; they will attempt to prove that these strongly-marked varieties may have been produced, in races formed originally with equal capabilities, by the external influences of civilization, education, government, religion, and perhaps other causes. To assert uniformity of bodily structure over the whole world would be too repugnant to the testimony of the senses : equality of mental endowments seems to me hardly a less extravagant tenet. There have, however, been philosophers who even held that all men are born with equal powers ; and that education and other accidental circumstances make the only difference between the wisest and the weakest of mankind. • Travels into the Interior Districts of Africa; 8vo. edition, p. 336. AND INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. 335 That cmlization, government, and education act very power- fully on the human race, is too obvious to be doubted ; but the question relates to the capabiUty of cix-ilization. Why have the white races invariably, and without one exception, raised them- selves to, at least some considerable height in the scale of cul- tivation ; while the dark, on the contrary, have almost as universally continued in the savage or barbarous state ? If we suppose that at any remote era, all mankind, in all quarters of the globe, were in the latter condition, what are the accidental circumstances which have prevented all the coloured varieties of man from raising themselves, and at the same time have assisted the progress of all the others ? If the nations in the north and west of Europe, when first conquered by the Romans, should he allowed (contrary, however, to historical proof) to have been in a state of barbarism not superior to that of the present rude tribes of Asia, Africa, or America, why have they advanced uninterruptedly to their present exalted pitch of cul- ture, while the latter remain plunged in their original rudeness and ignorance ? I do not mean to assert that all individuals and all tribes of dark-coloured men are inferior in moral and intellectual endow- ments to all those of the white division. The same gradations and modifications of structure and properties exist here as in other parts. Certainly we can produce examples enough in Europe of beings not superior to Hottentots and New Hol- landers : and individuals of considerable talents and knowledge are met with in savage tribes. There may not be much dif- ference between the lowest European community and the highest in some dark variety of man. Examples of individuals and of small numbers will therefore prove Uttle in this matter. I am aware also that all the white races have not made those signal advances in knowledge and civilization, of which I have spoken as indicating their superior endo^vments. Their organi- zation makes them capable of such distinctions, if circumstances are favourable, or rather if no obstacles exist. In the dark races, on the contrary, inferior organization renders it vain to present opportunities, or to remove difficulties. Loss of liberty, bad government, oppressive laws, neglected education, bigotry, fanaticism, and intolerance in religion, will counteract the noblest gifts of nature, will plunge into ignorance, degradation, and weakness, nations capable of the highest cul- ture, of the most splendid, moral, and intellectual achievements. 336 DIFFERENCES IN MORAL Greece, Italy, and Spain bear melancholy testimony to this afflicting truth. Where are the brave republican Dutch, who first sustained a forty years' contest with Spain in the zenith of her power, when she could alarm all Europe by her ambitious schemes ; and who then contended with England for the domi- nion of the sea ? What causes the present feebleness of Turkey, %vhose very name is deemed almost synonymous with despotism and ignorance ? Careful observers can discern even in these victims of oppression and fanaticism, the germs of all the higher qualifications of our race, the evidences of those moral excel- lencies and intellectual powers, which require only a favourable opportunity to display themselves. It is generally allowed that the Turks are superior in natural qualifications to their con- querors the Russians, who enjoy over them the advantages of a government and religion * more favourable to the progress of knowledge and to individual security and happiness. Such are the results deducible from experience respecting the differences of moral feelings and intellectual power: having stated them strongly, I am anxious to express my decided opi- nion that these differences are not sufficient in any instance to warrant us in referring a particular race to an originally dif- ferent species. They are not greater in kind or degree than those which we see in many animals, as in horses, asses, mules, dogs, and cocks. I protest especially against the opinion, which either denies to the Africans the enjoyment of reason, or ascribes to the whole race propensities so vicious, malignant, and trea- cherous, as would degrade them even below the level of the brute. It can be proved most clearly, and the preceding obser- vations are sufficient for this purpose, that there is no circum- stance of bodily structure so peculiar to the Negro, as not to be found also in other far distant nations ; no character, which does not run into those of other races by the same insensible gradations as those which connect together all the varieties of mankind. I deem the moral and intellectual character of the * The unfavouraV)le influence of the Mahometan religion on intellectual culture has been exemplified by Mr. Fourier in the case of the Arabs. " If the Arabians, like the peoyle of the West, had possessed the inestimable advantage of a religion favourable to the arts and to useful knowledge, they would Viave cultivated and brought to perfection every branch of jihilosophy. At the commencement of their extraordinary career they were ingenious and polished; they made remarkable progress in poetry, architecture, medicine, geometry, natural history, and astronomy ; they preserved and transmitted to us many of those immortal works which were destined to aid the revival of learning in Europe. But the Mussulman religion was incompatible with this development of the mind ; the Arabs were exposed to the alternative of renouncmg their faith, or returning to the ignorance of their ancestors." Dcscriptiim de VE^yi'le, Prejacehistorique, p. 16. AXD INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. S37 Negro inferior, and decirledly so, to that of the European ; and, as this inferiority arises from a corresponding difference of orga- nization, I must regard it as his natural destiny : but I do not consider him more inferior than the other dark races. I can neither admit the reasoning nor perceive the humanity of those who, after tearing the African from his native soil, carrying him to the West Indies, and dooming him there to perpetual slavery and labour, complain that his understanding shovvs no signs of improvement, and that his temper and disposition are incor- rigibly perverse, faithless, and treacherous. Let us, however, observe him in a somewhat more favourable state than in those dreadful receptacles of human misery, the crowded decks of the slave-ship, or in the less openly shocking, but constrained and extorted, and therefore painful labours of the sugar plantation. That the Negroes behave to others according to the treatment they receive, may be easily gathered from the best sources of information. They have not, indeed, reached that subUme height, the beau ideal of morality, the returning good for evil, probably because their masters have not yet found leisure enough from the pursuit of riches to instil into them the true spirit of Christianity. " The feelings of the Negroes (says an accurate observer) are extremely acute. According to the manner in which they are treated, they are gay or melancholy, laborious or slothful, friends or enemies. When well fed, and not maltreated, they are contented, joyous, ready for every enio}Tnent ; and the satisfaction of their mind is painted in their countenance. But, when oppressed and abused, they grow peevish, and often die of melancholy. Of benefits and abuse they are extremely sensible, and against those who injure them they bear a mortal hatred. On the other hand, when they contract an affection to a master, there is no office, however hazardous, which they will not boldly execute, to demonstrate their zeal and attachment. They are naturally affectionate, and have an ardent love for their children, friends and countr}Tnen. The little they possess they freely distribute among the neces- sitous, without any other motive than that of pure compassion for the indigent."* The travels of Barrow, Le Vaillant, and Mungo Park, abound with anecdotes honourable to the moral character of the Africans, and prove that they betray no deficiency in the amiable quaUties of the heart. One of these gives us an interesting * Histoire des Antilles, p. 483, a 338 BIFFERENCES IN MORAL portrait of the chief of a tribe : " His countenance was strongly marked with the habit of reflection ; vigorous in his mental, and amiable in his personal qualities, Gaika was at once the friend and ruler of a happy people, who universally pronounced his name with transport, and blessed his abode as the seat of felicity." Some European kings might take a lesson from this savage. Mr. Barrow gives a picture, by no means unpleasing, of the Hottentots. Their indolence probably arises from the state of subjection in which they live ; as the wild Bosjesmen are parti- cularly active and cheerful. " They are a mild, quiet, and timid people ; perfectly harmless, honest, faithful ; and though extremely phlegmatic, they are kind and afl'ectionate to each other, and not incapable of strong attach- ments. A Hottentot would share his last morsel with his com- ])anions. They have little of that kind of art or cunning that savages generally possess. If accused of crimes, of which they have been guilty, they generally divulge the truth. They seldom quarrel among themselves, or make use of provoking language. Though naturally fearful, they will run into the face of danger if led on by their superiors. They suffer pain with patience. They are by no means deficient in talent." * "The Bosjesman, though in every respect a Hottentot, yet in his turn of mind differs very widely from those that live in the colony. In his disposition he is lively and cheerful ; in his person active. His talents are far above mediocrity ; and, averse to idle- ness, they are seldom without employment." f They are very fond of dancing, exhibit great industry and acuteness in their contrivances for catching game, and considerable mechanical skill in forming their baskets, mats, nets, arrows, &c. &c. % I see no reason to doubt that the Negro race, taken altogether, is equal to any in natural goodness of heart. It is consonant to our general experience of mankind, that the latter quality should be deadened or completely extinguished in the slaA'e-ship or plantation ; indeed, it is as little creditable to the heads as to the hearts of their white masters, to expect affection and fidelity from slaves after the treatment they too often experience. The acute and accurate Barbot, in his large work on Guinea, says, " The blacks have sufficient sense and understanding, their conceptions are quick and accurate, and their memory possesses extraordinary strength. For, although they can neither read nor write, they never fall into confusion or error in the greatest hurry • Travels in Southern Jfrica, v. i. p. 152. + Ih. p. 283. t lb. pp. 284—290. AND INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. 339 of business and traffic. Their experience of the knavery of Europeans has put them completely on their guard in transac- tions of exchange : they carefully examine all our goods, piece by piece, to ascertain if their quality and measure are correctly stated ; and show as much sagacity and clearness in aU these transactions, as any European tradesman could do." Of those imitative arts, in which perfection can be attained only in an improved state of society, it is natural to suppose that the Negroes can have little knowledge ; but the fabric and colours of the Guinea cloths are proofs of their native ingenuity ; and, that they are capable of learning all kinds of the more delicate manual labours, is proved by the fact, that nine-tenths of the artificers in the West Indies are Negroes. Many are expert carpenters, and some watchmakers. The drawings and busts executed by the wild Bosjesmen in the neighbourhood of the Cape are praised by Barrow* for their accuracy of outline and correctness of proportion. Negroes have been known to earn so much in America by their musical exertions, as to purchase their freedom with large sums. The younger Freidig in Vienna was an expert performer both on the violin and violincello ; he was also a capital drafts- man, and had made an excellent painting of himself. Mr. Edwards, t however, speaks very contemptuously of their musical talents in general : he says, " they prefer a loud and long-continued noise to the finest harmony ; and frequently con- sume the whole night in beating on a board with a stick." The capacity of the Negroes for the mathematical and physical sciences is proved by Hannibal, a colonel in the Russian artillery, and Lislet of the Isle of France, who was named a corresponding member of the French Academy of Sciences, on account of his excellent meteorological observations. Fuller of Maryland, was an extraordinary example of quickness in reckon- ing. Being asked in a company, for the purpose of trying his powers, how many seconds a person had hved who was seventy years and some months old, he gave the answer in a minute and a half. On reckoning it up after him, a different result was obtained : " Have not you forgotten the leap years ? " says the Negro. This omission was supplied, and the number then agreed with his answer.^ Boerhaave and De Haen have given the strongest testi- • Travels, &c. v. i. p. 239—307. t Hist, of the West Indies, v. ii. p. 102. t Stedman's Surinam; v. ii. p. 270. Tliis circumstance is related on the authority of Dr. Rush, as having happened in his presence. a2 340 DIFFERENCES IN MORAL mony that our black brethren possess no mean insight into prac- tical medicine ; and several have been known as very dexterous surgeons. A Negress of Yverdun is mentioned by Blumenbach as a celebrated midwife of real knowledge and an experienced hand. Omitting Madocks, a Methodist preacher, and not attempt- ing to envimerate all the Negroes who have written poems, I may mention . that Blumenbach possesses English, Dutch, and Latin poetry, by different Negroes. In 1734, A. W. Amo, an African, from the coast of Guinea, took the degree of Doctor at the university of Wittenberg ; and displayed according to Blumenbach, in two disputations, extensive and well-digested reading in the physiological books of the time.* Jac. Eliz. Joh. Capitein, who was bought by a slave- dealer when eight years old, studied theology at Leyden, and published several sermons and poems. His Dissertatio de Servi- tute Libertatl Christiance non contraria went through four editions very qviickly. He was ordained in Amsterdam, and went to Elmina on the Gold Coast, where he was either murdered, or exchanged for the life and faith of his countrymen those he had learned in Europe. Ignatius Sancho, and Gustavu.s Vasa, the former born in a slave-ship on its passage from Guinea to the West Indies, and the latter in the kingdom of Benin, have distinguished them- selves as literary characters in this country in modern times. Their works and lives are so well known, and so easily accessible, that it is only necessary to mention them. On reviewing these instances, which indeed must be received as exceptions to the general results of observation and experience respecting theNegro faculties, ImayobservewithBLUMENBACH, from whom some of them are borrowed, that entire and large provinces of Europe might be named, in which it would be diffi- cult to meet with such good writers, poets, philosophers, and correspondents of the French Academy. These insulated facts are not, however, adduced to prove that the African enjoys an equality of moral and intellectual attributes with the European race ; but merely to show, that of the dark-coloured people none have distinguished themselves by stronger proofs of capacity for literary and scientific cultivation, and consequently that none approach more nearly than the Negro to the polished nations of the globe. That the Ethiopian, taken altogether, is decidedly • Beytrcige zur Naturgeschichte ; Th. i. p. 98. AND INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. S-tl inferior to the Caucasian variety in the qualities of the heart and of the head, will be soon recognised by any one who atten- tively weighs the representations of all unprejudiced and disin- terested observers respecting the conduct, capabilities, and character of the Africans, whether in their own country, in the West Indies, or in America ; and the continuance of the whole race, for more than twenty centuries, in a condition which, in its best forms, is little elevated above absolute barbarism, must give to this conviction the clear hght and full force of demonstra- tion. I cannot therefore admit, without some restriction and explanation, the quaint but humane expression of the preacher who called the Negro " God's image, hke ourselves, though carved in ebony." As the external influences of climate, soil, situation ; of way of life, degree of civihzation, habits, customs, form of govern- ment, religion, education, are manifestly inadequate to account for the very m^arked differences which at all times, in all coun- tries, and under all circumstances, have characterized the white and the dark races, and the various sub-divisions of each, we must look deeper for their causes, and seek them in some circum- stances inseparably interwoven in the original constitution of man. In conformity with the views already explained respecting the mental part of our being, I refer the varieties of moral feel- ing, and of capacity for knowledge and reflection, to those diver- sities of cerebral organization, which are indicated by, and correspond to the differences in the shape of the skull. If the nobler attributes of m.an reside in the cerebral hemispheres ; if the prerogatives which lift him so much above the brute are satisfactorily accounted for by the superior development of those important parts ; the various degrees and kinds of moral feeling and of intellectual power may be consistently explained by the numerous and obvious differences of size in the various cerebral parts, besides which there may be peculiarities of internal orga- nization, not appreciable by our means of inquiry. Proceeding on these data, we shall find, in the comparison of the crania of the white and dark races, a sufficient explanation of the supe- riority constantly evinced by the former, and of the inferior subordinate let to which the latter have been irrevocably doomed. If examples can be adduced, either of nations having such a form of the brain and head, as that which characterizes the Caucasian variety of man, placed under favourable circumstances for the development of their moral and intellectual powers, and 842 DIFFERENCES AND QUALITIES. yet not advancing beyond the point which has been reached by the African or American tribes of the present time ; or of people, organized like the darlv varieties, and reaching, under any circum- stances, that degree of moral and intellectual cultivation which exist in the several polished countries of Europe, the preceding reasoning will be overturned : if no such instances can be brought forwards, the conclusion that the marked differences between the white and dark-coloured divisions of our species arise from original distinctions of organization, and not from adventitious circumstances remains unshaken. I cannot but respect the feelings of philanthropy, and the mo- tives of benevolence, which have prompted many of our country- men to exert themselves in behalf of the unenlightened and oppressed ; I cannot contemplate without admiration the heroic self-denial, and the generous devotion of those, who, foregoing the comforts, luxuries, and rational enjoyments of polished society, expose themselves to noxious climates and to all the perils of unknown countries, in order to win over the savage to the settled habits, the useful arts, and the various advantages of civilized life, to rescue him from the terrors of superstition, and bestow on him the inestimable blessings of mental culture and pure religion. But our expectations and exertions in this, as in other cases, must be limited by the natural capabilities of the subject. The retreating forehead and the depressed vertex of the dark varieties of man make me strongly doubt whether they are susceptible of these high destinies ; — whether they are capa- ble of fathoming the depths of science ; of understanding and appreciating the doctrines and the mysteries of our religion. These obstacles will, I fear, be too powerful for missionaries and Bible societies; for Bell and Lancaster schools. Variety of powers in the various races corresponds to the differences both in kind and degree, which characterize the individuals of each race ; indeed, to the general character of all nature, in which uniformity is most carefully avoided. To expect that the Americans or Africans can be raised by any culture to an equal height in moral sentiments and intellectual energy with Euro- peans, appears to me quite as unreasonable as it would be to hope that the bull-dog may equal the greyhound in speed ; that tlie latter may be taught to hunt by scent like the hound ; or that the mastiff may rival in talents and acquirements the sagacious and docile poodle. VARIETIES OF THE HC.MAX SPECIES. 343 CHAPTER IX. On the Causes nf the Varieties of the Human Species. Having examined the principal points in which the sevei-al tribes of the human species differ from each other ; namely, the colour and texture of the skin, hair, and iris, the features, the skull and brain, the forms and proportions of the body, the stature, the animal economy, the moral and intellectual powers, I proceed to inquire whether the diversities enumerated under these heads are to be considered as characteristic distinctions co- eval with the origin of the species, or as the result of subsequent variation ; and, in the event of the latter supposition being adopted, whether they are the effect of external physical and moral causes, or of native or congenital variety. The very nu- merous gradations, which we meet with, in each of the points above mentioned, are an almost insuperable objection to the notion of specific difference ; for all of them may be equally referred to original distinction of species ; yet if we admit this, the number of species would be overwhelming. On the other hand, the analogies drawn from the animal kingdom, and adduced under each head, nearly demonstrate that the character- istics of the various human tribes must be referred, like the cor- responding diversities in other animals, to variation. Again, I have incidentally brought forward several arguments to prove that external agencies, whether physical or moral, will not account for the bodily and mental difierences, which characterize the several tribes of mankind ; and that they must be accounted for by the breed or race.* This subject, however, requires fur- ther illustration. The causes which operate on the bodies of living animals either modify the individual, or alter the offspring. The former are of great importance in the history of animals, and produce considerable alterations in individuals ; but the latter are the most powerful, as they affect the species, and cause the diversi- ties of race. Great influence has at all times been ascribed to climate, which indeed has been commonly, but very loosely and indefinitely represented as the cause of most important modifi- cations in the human subject and in other animals. Differences of colour, stature, hair, features, and those of moral and intel- lectual character, have been alike referred to the action of this • See sect. ii. chap. ii. p. 203, and following ; chap. iv. p. 263, and following ; chap. vi. p. 301. 344 CAUSES OP THE VARIETIES mysterious cause ; without any attempt to show which of the circumstances in the numerous assemblage comprehended under the word climate produces the effect in question, or any indica- tion of the mode in which the point is accomplished. That the constitution of the atmosphere varies in respect to light and heat, moisture, and electricity; and that these variations, with those of elevation, soil, winds, vegetable productions, will operate decidedly on individuals, I do not mean to deny. While, however, we have no precise information on the kind or degree of influence attributable to such causes, we have abundance of proof that they are entirely inadequate to account for the differences between the various races of men. I shall state one or two changes which seem fairly referable to climate. The whitening (blanching or etiolation) of vegetables, when the sun's rays are excluded, demonstrates the influence of those rays on vegetable colours. Nor is the effect merely superficial : it extends to the texture of the plant, to the taste and other properties of its juices. Men much exposed to the sun and air, as peasants and sailors, acquire a deeper tint of colour than those who are more covered ; and the tanning of the skin by the summer sun in parts of the body exposed to it, as the face and hands, is a phenomenon completely analogous. The ruddy and tawny hues of those who live in the country, particularly of labourers in the open air, and the pale sallow countenances of the inhabitants of towns, of close and dark workshops and manufactories, owe their origin to the enjoyment or privation of sun and air. Hence, men of the same race are lighter or darker coloured according to the climate which they inhabit, at least in those parts which are uncovered. The native hue of the Moors is not darker than that of the Spaniards, of many French, and some English ; but their acquired tint is so much deeper, that we distinguish them instantly. How swarthy do the Euro- peans become who seek their fortunes under the tropic and equator, and have their skins parched by the burning suns of " Afric and of either Ind !" Mr. Edwards represents that the Creoles in the English West-Indian islands are taller than Europeans ; several being six feet four inches high ; and that their orbits are deeper.* It has been generally observed by travellers, that the Euro- pean population of the United States of North America is tall, and characterized by a pale and sallow countenance. The latter • History of the IVest Indies, v, ii. p. 11, OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 845 eiFect is commonly produced in natives of Europe when they become resident in warm cUmates. That both sexes arrive earlier at puberty, and that the mental powers of children are sooner developed in warm than in cold countries, are facts familiarly known. The prevalence of light colours in the animals of polar and cold regions may, perhaps, be ascribed to the influence of cli- mate ; the isatis or arctic fox, the polar bear, and the snow- bunting, are striking instances. The same character is also remarkable in some species, which are more dark-coloured in warmer situations. This opinion is strengthened by the ana- logy of those animals which change their colour in the same country, at the winter season, to white or gray, as the ermine (mustela erminea), and weasel (m. nivalis), the varying hare, squirrel, reindeer, white game (tetrao lagopus), and snov/-bunt- ing (emberiza nivalis).* Pallas observes, " that even in domestic animals, as horses and cows, the winter coat is of a lighter colour than the smoother covering which succeeds it in the spring. This difference is much more considerable in wild animals. I have shown instances of it in two kinds of ante- lope (saiga and gutturosa), in the musk animal (moschus mos- chifer), and in the equus hemionus. The Siberian roe, which is red in summer, becomes of a grayish white in winter ; wolves and the deer kind, particularly the elk and the reindeer, become light in the winter ; the sable (m. zibellina), and the martin (.ra. martes), are browner in summer than in winter. "f Although these phenomenon seem obviously connected with the state of atmospherical temperature, and hence the change of colovu-, which the squirrel and the mustela nivalis undergo in Sil)eria and Russia, does not take place in Germany ; X we do not understand the exact nature of the process by which it is effected ; and cold certainly appears not to be the direct cause. For the varying hare, though kept in warm rooms during the winter, gets its white winter covering only a little later than usual ;§ and in all the animals in which this kind of change takes place, the winter coat, which is more copious, close and downy, as v/ell as lighter coloured, is found already far advanced in the autumn, before the cold sets in. || • Linneus. Flora Lapponica ; ed. of Smith, pp. 35, 3.53. t Nova; Species Qtiadrupedum, p. 7. t Ihid. p. 6, note h. The ermine ehan^^es its colour in tlie winter in Ger- many ; but Pallas states, on the faith of autRcient testimony, that it does not undergo this c-hange in the more southern districts of Asia and Persia. § KoTCB Species Quadnipedum, p. 7. Hid, p. g^ Q 3 346 CAUSES OF THE VAKIETIES The coverings of animals, as well as their colour, seem to be modified in many cases by climate ; but as the body is naked in the human subject, and as the hair of the head cannot be regarded in the same light as the fur, wool, or hair which covers the bodies of animals generally, the analogies offered by the latter are not very directly applicable to the present subject. In cold regions the fur and feathers are thicker, and more copious, so as to form a much more effectual defence against the climate than the coarser and rarer textures which are seen in warm countries. The thick fleece of the dogs lately brought from Baffin's Bay, exemplifies this observation very completely. The wool of the sheep degenerates into a coarse hair in Africa ; where we meet also with dogs quite naked, with a smooth and soft skin. Whether the goat furnishing the wool from which the shawls of Cashmere are manufactured, is of the same species with that domesticated in Europe, and whether the prodigious difference between the hairy growth of the tu'o animals is due to diversity of climate, are points at present uncertain. Neither do we know whether the long and silky coat of the goat, cat, sheep, and rabbits of Angora can be accounted for by the operation of this cause : it is at least worthy of notice, that this quality of the hair should exist in so many animals of the same country. It continues when they are removed into other situations, and is transmitted to the offspring ; so that we may, probably, regard these as permanent breeds. It is well known that the qualities of the horse are inferior in France to those of neighbouring countries. According to Buf- FON, Spanish or Barbary horses, when the breed is not crossed, become French horses sometimes in the second generation, and always in the third.* Since the climate of England, which certainly does not approach more nearly to that of the original abode of this animal, than that of France, does not impede the development of its finest forms and most excellent qualities, we may, perhaps, with greater probability, refer the degeneracy of the French horses to neglect of the breed. We know that the greatest attention to this point is necessary, in order to prevent deterioration in form and spirit. Differences in food might be naturally expected to produce considerable corresponding modifications in the animal body. Singing birds, chiefly of the lark and finch kinds, are known to * Vol. iv. r- 106. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 347 become gradually black, if they are fed on hemp-seed only.* Horses fed on the fat marshy grounds of Friesland grow to a large size ; while, on stony soils or dry heaths, they remain dwarfish. Oxen become very large and fat in rich soils, but are distinguished by shortness of the legs ; while, in drier situa- tions, their whole bulk is less, and the limbs are stronger and more fleshy. The quantity of food has great influence on the bulk and state of health of the human subject ; but the quality seems to have less power ; and neither produces any of those differences which characterizes races. In all the changes which are produced in the bodies of animals by the action of e.xternal causes, the effect terminates in the individual ; the offspring is not in the slightest degree modified by them,f but is born with the original properties and consti- tution of the parents, and a susceptibility only of the same changes when exposed to the same causes. The change in the colour of the human skin, from exposure to sun and air, is ob^aously temporary ; for it is diminished and even removed, when the causes no longer act. The discoloura- tion, which we term tanning, or being sun-burnt, as well as the spots called freckles, are most incidental to fair skins, and dis- appear when the parts are covered, or no longer exposed to the sun. The children of the husbandman, or of the sailor, whose countenance bears the marks of other climes, are just as fair as those of the most delicate and pale inhabitants of a city : naj', the Moors, who have lived for ages under a burning sun, still have white children ; and the offspring of Europeans in the Indies have the original tint of their jirogenitors. Blumenbach has been led into a mistake on this point by an English author, J who asserts that Creoles are born with a different complexion and cast of countenance from the chil- dren of the same parents brought forth in Europe. In oppo- sition to this statement from one M'ho had not seen the facts, I place the aifthority of Long, a most respectable eye-witness, who, in his History of Jamaica, affirms, that "the children born in England have not, in general, loveher or more transparent • Der Naturforscher, pt. i. p. 1 ; pt. ix. p. 22. + When the foetus in utero has small-pox or syphilis, there is actual com- munication of disease by the fluids of the mother. This is a case altogether diflerent from those under consideration. Neither does hereditary predispo- sition to particular diseases prove that acquired conditions are transmitted to the offspring. There are natural varieties of organization, disposing diflerent individuals to different diseases on application of the same external causes. These natural varieties, like those of form, colour, and other obvious proper- ties, are continued to the children. t Hawkesworth, in Collecticm of Voyages, v. iii. p. 374. 848 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES skins than the offspring of white parents in Jamaica." The " austrum spirans vultus et color," which the above-mentioned acute and learned naturalist ascribes to the Creole, is merely the acquired effect of the climate, and not a character existing at birth. "Nothing," says Dr. Pritchard,* "seems to hold true more generally, than that all acquired conditions of body, whe- ther produced by art or accident, end with the life of the indi- vidual in whom they are produced. Many nations mould their bodies into unnatural forms ; the Indians flatten their foreheads ; the Chinese women reduce their feet to one-third of their natural dimensions ; savages elongate their ears ; many races cut away the prepuce. We frequently mutilate our domestic animals by removing the tail or ears, and our own species are often obliged by disease to submit to the loss of limbs. That no deformity, or mutilation of this kind is hereditary, is so plainly proved by every thing around us, that we must feel some surprise at the contrary opinion having gained any advocates. After the ope- ration of circumcision has prevailed for three or four thousand years, the Jews are still born with prepuces, and still obliged to submit to a painful rite. Docked horses and cropped dogs bring forth young with entire ears and tails. But for this salu- tary law, what a frightful spectacle would every race of animals exhibit ! The mischances of all preceding times would over- whelm us with their united weight, and the catalogue would be continually increasing, until the universe, instead of displaying a spectacle of beauty and pleasure, would be filled with maimed, imperfect, and monstrous shapes." It is obvious that the external influences just considered, even though we should allow to them a much greater influence on individuals than experience warrants us in admitting, v/ould be still entirely inadequate to account for those signal diversities, which constitute differences of race in animals. These can be explained only by two principles already mentioned ;f namely, the occasional production of an offspring with different charac- ters from those of the parents, as a native or congenital variety ; and the propagation of such varieties by generation. It is impos- sible, in the present state of physiological knowledge, to show how this is effected ; to explain why a gray rabbit or cat some- times brings forth at one birth, and from one father, yellow, black, white, and spotted young ; why a white sheep sometimes • Disp. inaug. t Sec pp. 203 aad fyllowing; 2D9 and following. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 349 has a black lamb ; or why the same parents at different times have leucaethiopic children, and others with the ordinary forma- tion and characters. The state of domestication, or the artificial mode of life, which they lead under the influence of man, is the most powerful cause of varieties in the animal kingdom. Wild animals, using always the same kind of food, being exposed to the action of the climate without artificial protection, choose, each of them, according to its nature, their zone and country. Instead of migrating and extending, like man, they continue in those places which are the most friendly to their constitutions. Hence, their nature undergoes no change ; their figure, colour, size, proportions, and properties, are unaltered ; and consequently there is no difficulty in determining their species. Nothing can form a stronger contrast to this uniformity of specific character than the numerous and marked varieties in those kinds which have been reduced by man. To trace back our domestic animals to their v/ild originals is in all cases difficult, in some impossible ; long slavery has so degraded their nature, that the primitive animal may be said to be lost, and a degenerated being, running into endless varieties, is substituted in its place. The wild ori- ginal of the sheep is even yet uncertain. Buffon conceived that he discovered it in the mouflon or argali (ovis ammon) : and Pallas, who had an opportunity of studying the latter animal, adds the weight of his highly respectable authority to the opinion of the French naturalist. Yet Blumenbach regards the argali as a distinct species. Should we allow the latter to be the parent of our sheep, and consequently admit that the differences are explicable by degeneration, no difficulty can any longer exist about the unity of the human species. An incomplete horn of the argali, in the Academical ^Museum at Gottingen, weighs nine pounds.* " Let us compare," says Buffon, " our pitiful sheep with the mouflon, from which they derived their origin. Tlie mouflon is a large animal. He is fleet as a stag, armed with horns and thick hoofs, covered with coarse hair, and dreads neither the inclemency of the sky nor the voracity of the wolf. He not only escapes from his enemies by the swiftness of his course, and scahng, %vith truly wonderful leaps, the most frightful preci- pices ; but he resists them by the strength of his body and the solidity of the arms with which his head and feet are fortified. • Blumenbach, Ilandhuch dor Js'aturgeschichie, p. Ill, note. 850 CAUSES OP THE VARIETIES How different from our sheep, which subsist with difficulty in flocks, who are unable to defend themselves by their numbers, who cannot endure the cold of our winters without shelter, and who would all perish if man withdrew his protection ! So com- pletely are the frame and capabilities of this animal degraded by his association with us, tiiat it is no longer able to subsist in a wild state, if turned loose, as the goat, pig, and cattle are. In the warm climates of Asia and Africa, the mouflon, who is the common parent of all the races of this species, appears to be less degenerated than in any other region. Though reduced to a domestic state, he has preserved his stature and his hair ; but the size of his horns is diminished. Of all domestic sheep, those of Senegal and India are the largest, and their nature has Buffered least degradation. The sheep of Barbary, Egypt, Arabia, Persia, Tartary, &c. hav^e undergone greater changes. In rela- tion to man, they are improved in some articles, and vitiated in others ; but with regard to nature, improvement, and degene- ration, are the same thing ; for they both imply an alteration of original constitution. Their coarse hair is changed into fine wool. Their tail, loaded with a mass of fat, and sometimes reaching the weight of forty jjounds, has acquired a magnitude so incommodious, that the animals trail it with pain. While swollen with superfluous matter, and adorned with a beautiful fleece, their strength, agility, magnitude, and arms are dimi- nished. These long-tailed sheep are half the size only of the mouflon. They can neither fly from danger, nor resist the enemy. To preserve and multiply the species, they require the constant care and support of man. The degeneration of the original species is still greater in our climates. Of all the quali- ties of the mouflon, our ewes and rams have retained nothing but a small portion of vivacity, which yields to the crook of the shepherd. Timidity, weakness, resignation, and stujsidity, are the only melancholy remains of their degraded nature."* Tlie pig-kind afford an instructive example, because their descent is more clearly made out than that of many other animals. The dog, indeed, degenerates before our eyes ; but it \\'ill hardly ever, perhaps, be satisfactorily ascertained whether there is one or more species. The extent of degeneration can be observed in the domestic swine ; because no naturalist has hitherto been sceptical enough to doubt whether they descended from the wild boar ; and they were certainly first introduced by * Buflon, by Wood, v. iv. p. 7. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 351 the Spaniards into the new world. The pigs conveyed in 1 509, from Spain to the West Indian island Cubagua, then celebrated for the pearl fishery, degenerated into a monstrous race with toes half a span long.* Those of Cuba became more than twice as large as their European progenitors.f How remarkably again have the domestic swine degenerated from the wild ones in the old world : in the loss of the soft do\vny hair from between the bristles, in the vast accumulation of fat under the skin, in the form of the cranium, in the figure and growth of the whole body. The varieties of the domestic animal too are very numerous : in Piedmont they are almost invariably black ; in Bavaria reddish- brown ; in Normandy white, &c. The breed in England, with straight back and large pendulous belly, is just the reverse of that in the north of France, with high convex spine and hanging head : and both are diflFerent from the German breed ; to say nothing of the solidungular race found in herds in Hungary and Sweden, and already known by Aristotle, and many other varieties. The ass, in its wild state, is remarkably swift and lively, and still continues so in his native Eastern abode. The original stock cf our poultry cannot be determined, nor can the varieties into which they have run be enumerated. No wild bird in our climates resembles the domestic cock ; the pheasant, grouse, and cock of the woods, are the only analogous kinds ; and it is uncertain whether these would intermix and have prolific progeny. They have constituted distinct and sepa- rate species from the earliest times, and they want the combs, spurs, and pendulous membranes of the gallinaceous tribes. X There are twentj^-nine varieties of canary-birds known by name, aU produced from the gray bird. § Most of the mammalia, which have been tamed by man, betray their subjugated state b.y having the ears and tail pendulous ; a condition of the former parts, which, I beheve, belongs to no wild animal. In many, the very functions of the body, as the secre- tions, generation, &c. are greatly changed. See the examples mentioned in Chap. VI. p. 304. Tlie application of these facts to the question concerning the human species is very obvious. If new characters are produced in the domesticated animals, because they have been taken from their primitive condition, and exposed to the operation of many, • Herrera, Hcchos de los Castellanos en las Islas, S(c. v. i. p. 239. + Clavigero, Storia antica del Messico, v. iv. p. 145. X Buffun, V. xii. i>, 112. \ Ibid, v. xir. p. 61. 352 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES to them unnatural causes ; if the pig is remarkable among these for the number and degree of its varieties, because it has been the most exposed to causes of degeneration ; we shall be at no loss to account for the diversities in man, who is, in the true, though not ordinary sense of the word, more of a domesticated animal than any other. We know the wild state of most of them, but we are ignorant of the natural wild condition to which man was destined. Probably there is no such state, because nature, having limited him in no respect, having fitted him for every kind of life, every climate, and every variety of food, has given him the whole earth for his abode, and both the organised kingdoms for his nourishment. Yet, in the wide range through which the scale of human cultivation extends, we may observe a contrast between the two extremities, analogous to that which is seen in the wild and tamed races of animals. Tlie savage may be compared to the former, which range the earth uncontrolled by man ; civilised people to the domesticated breeds of the same species, whose diversities, form, and colour are endless. "Whether we consider the several nations, or the individuals of each, bodily differences are much more numerous in the highly civilised Caucasian variety, than either of the other divisions of mankind. Such, then, are causes by which the varieties of man may be accounted for. Although I have acknowledged my entire igno- rance of the manner in which these operate, I have proved that they exist, and have shown by copious analogies, that they are sufficient to explain the phenomena. The tendency, under certain circumstances, to alterations of the original colour, form, and other properties of the body, and the law of transmission to the offspring, are the sources of varieties in man and animals, and thereby modify the species ; climate, food, way of life, in a word, all tbe physical and moral causes that surround us, act indeed powerfully on the individual, but do not change the offspring, except in the indirect manner just alluded to. We should, there- fore, openly violate the rules of philosophising, which direct us to assign the same causes for natural effects of the same kind, and not to admit more causes than are sufficient for explaining the phenomena, if we recurred, for the purpose of explaining the varieties of man, to the perfectly gratuitous assumption of originally different species, or called to our aid the operation of climate, and other external influences. Yet, if it be allowed that all men are of the same species, it does not foUow that they all descend from the same family. We OF THE HUMAN SPECIE^. 353 have no data for determining this point : it could indeed only be settled by a knowledge of facts, which have been long ago in- volved in the impenetrable darkness of antiquity. By the mo.st inteUigent and learned writers on the varieties of mankind, their production has been explained in a different maiiiicr from that which has been just attempted; they have solved the problem entirely by the operation of adventitious causes, such as climate, particularly the light and heat of the sun, food, and mode of life. These, it is said, acting on men originally alike, produce various bodily diversities, and affect the colour of the skin especially ; such alterations, transmitted to the offspring, and gradually increased through a long course of ages, are supposed to account sufficiently for all the differences observed at present in the inhabitants of the different regions of the globe. If we were disposed to submit, in this question, to authority, the number and celebrity of the philosophers,* who have contended for the influence of climate, and other physical and moral causes, would certainly compel our assent to theii opinions. Our respect for their talents and labours will be suf- ficiently marked if we enter into a closer examination of the arguments which they have adduced on this subject. That solar heat causes blackness of the skin is an ancient opinion, and must have appeared very probable, when the Negro natives of the torrid zone were the only black people known. " Ethiopas," says Pliny, " vicini sideris vapore torreri, adustis- que similes gigni, barba et capillo vibrato, non est dubium."f " The heat of the climate," says Buffon, " is the chief cause of blackness among the human species. When this heat is excessive, as in Senegal and Guinea, the men are perfectly black ; when it is a little less violent, the blackness is not so deep ; when it becomes somewhat temperate, as in Barbary, Mongoha, Arabia, &c. mankind are only brown ; and lastly, when it is alto- gether temperate, as in Europe and Asia, men are white. Some varieties, indeed, are produced by the mode of living. All the Ta- tars (Mongols) for example, are tawny; while the Europeans, who live under the same latitude, are white. This difference may safely be ascribed to the Tatars being always exposed to the air, to their having no cities or fixed habitations, to their sleeping • Amon? tliem are Buffon, Blumenbaih, Smith [Essay on the Causes of the Variety of Comidexion and Figure in the Human Species, Philadelpliia. ) Zimraer- mann ( Geogra/ihisi-he Ge&chiclite dcs Mcnschen., ^c.) ; and Forster {Ohservalions made during a Voyage round the JVorld; chaij. vi. sec. 3). The arguments of tliosp writers are very ably combated by Dr. Prichard in his Researches into the Physical History if Man. t Hist. Nat. lib. ii. 80. 354 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES constantly on the ground, and to their rough and savage nvan- ner of living. These circumstances are sufficient to render the Tatars more swarthy than the Europeans, who want nothing to make life easy and comfortable. Why are the Chinese fairer than the Tatars, though they resemljle them in every feature ? Because they are more jwlished ; because they live in towns, and practise every art to guard themselves against the injuries of the weather ; while the Tatars are perpetually exposed to the action of the sun and air. " Chmate may be regarded as the cause of the different colours of men : but food, though it has less influence than colour, greatly aflfects the form of our bodies. Coarse, unwholesome, and ill-prepared food makes the human species degenerate. AU those people who live miserably, are ugly and ill-made. Even in France, the country people are not so beautiful as those v/ho live in towns : and I have often remarked, that in those villages where the people are richer and better fed than in others, the men are likewise more handsome, and have better countenances. The air and the soil have great influence on the figures of men, beasts, and plants. " Upon the whole, every circumstance concurs in proving that mankind are not composed of species essentially different from each other ; that, on the contrary, there was originally but one species, which, after multiplying and spreading over the whole surface of the earth, has undergone various changes by the influence of climate, food, mode of living, epidemic diseases, and mixture of dissimilar individuals ; that, at first, these changes were not so conspicuous, and produced only individual varieties ; that these varieties became afterwards more specific, because they were rendered more general, more strongly marked, and more permanent, by the continual action of the same causes ; that they are transmitted from generation to generation, as de- formities or diseases pass from parents to children ; and that, lastly, as they were originally produced by a train of external and accidental causes, and have only been perpetuated by time, and the constant operation of these causes, it is probable that they will gradually disappear, or, at least, that they will differ from what they are at present, if the causes which produced them should cease, or if their operation should be varied by other cir- cumstances and combinations."* " In tracing the globe," says Smith, " from the pole to the • JVaiural Hintory, by Wood, v. iii. pp. 443 — 446. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 355 equator, we observe a gradation in the complexion, nearly in proportion to the latitude of the country. Immediately below the arctic circle, a high and sanguine colour prevails : from this you descend to the mixture of red and vi'hite : afterwards suc- ceed the brown, the olive, the tawny, and at length, the black, as you proceed to the line. The same distance from the sun, how- ever, does not, in every region, indicate the same temperature of climate. Some secondary causes must be taken into considera- tion, as correcting and limiting its influence. The elevation of the land, its vicinity to the sea, the nature of the soil, the state of cultivation, the course of winds, and many other circum- stances, enter into this view. Elevated and mountainous coun- tries are cool, in proportion to their altitude above the level of the sea," &c. &c.* Blumexbach informs us how climate operates in modifying the colour of the skin, but does not attempt to explain its effects on the stature, proportions, and other points. He states that the proximate cause of the dark colour of the integuments is an abundance of carbone, secreted by the skin with hydrogen, pre- cipitated and fixed in the rete mucosum by the contact of the atmospheric oxygen.f He observes further, that this abundance of carbone is most distinctly noticeable in persons of an antrabi- larious temperament ; which fact, together with many others, proves the intimate connection between the biliary and the cuta- neous organs ; that hot climates exert a very signal influence on the liver ; and thus that an imnatural state of the biliary secre- tion, produced by heat, and increased through many generations, causes the vessels of the skin to secrete that abundance of car- bone, which produces the black colour of the Negro. J If any one can believe that the Negroes and other dark people, whom we see in full health and vigour, and with every organic perfection, labour under a kind of habitual jaundice, he may think it worthwhile to inquire further into this assumed secre- tion and precipitation of carbone. It will then be necessary to explain how this jaundice is produced in the numerous dark races, which dwell in temperate chmates ; and why it does not occur in the white people who occupy hot countries. It cannot be supposed that men of undoubted talents and learning would take up these opinions without any foundation at all ; and accordingly we find that there is a slender mixture of truth in these statements.; but it is so enveloped in a thick cloud • Essay, pp. 8 — 10. + De gen. hum, tar. nat. p. 124. X Hid. pp. 126 137. 356 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES of error, and so concealed by misrepresentation and exaggera- tion, that we do not recognise it without difficulty. Tlie colour of Europeans nearly follows the geographical positions of coun- tries : this part of the world is occupied almost entirely by a white race, of which the individuals are fairer in cold latitudes, and more swarthy or sun-burnt in warm ones ; thus, the French may be darker than the English, the Spaniards than the French, and the Moors than the Spaniards. In the same way, where different parts of a country differ much in latitude and tempera- ture, the inhabitants may be browner in the south than in the north : thus the women of Granada are said to be more swarthy than those of Biscay, and the southern than the northern Chi- nese, &c. For a similar reason the same race may vary slightly in colour in different countries. The Jews, for example, are fairer in Britain and Germany, browner in France and Turkey, swarthy in Portugal and Spain, olive in Syria and Chaldea. An English sailor, who had been for some years in Nukahiwah, one of the Marquesas islands, had been so changed in colour, that he was scarcely to be distinguished from the natives.* These diversities are produced by the climate, as I have already explained. The effect goes off if the cause be removed : it ter- minates in the individual, and is never transmitted to the offspring, as I shall prove most incontrovertibly presently. Moreover the effect is confined to the parts of the body actu- ally exposed t-o the sun and air. Thos€, which remain covered, retain all their natural whiteness. Mr. Abel found this strikingly exemplified in his Chinese journey. " The dark copper colour of those who were naked, contrasted so strongly with the paleness of those who were clothed, that it was difficult to conceive such different hues could be the consequence of greater or less exposure to the same degree of solar and atmos- pheric influence : but all conjecture on this subject was set at rest by repeated illustrations of their effects. Several indivi- duals, who were naked only from their waist upwards, stripped themselves entirely for the purpose of going into the water, to obtain a nearer view of the embassy. When thus exposed, they appeared at a distance to have on a pair of light-coloured pan- taloons."f On a superficial view, again, we obser\'e that temperate Europe is occupied by a white race, and that the blacks, of whom we see and hear most, dwell chiefly vinder the burning sims and on • Laugsdorff's I'ayages, %c. v. i. p. 90. + A''arrative of a Journey, SjC. p. 78. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 357 the parched sands of Africa and Asia ; the numerous whites who live in hot, and the greater number of dark-coloured people who are found in cold countries, are not taken into the account of these imperfect and partial comparisons. I proceed to show that climate does not cause the diversities of mankind ; and in this consideration, my remarks are chiefly directed to the colour of the skin, as that is the part in which its operation has been regarded, by all the defenders of its influ- ence as the most unequivocal ; the reasoning, however, will apply in general to the other points of chfference, as well as to this. The uniform colour of all parts of the body is a strong argu- ment against those who ascribe the blackness of the Negro to the same cause as that which produces tanning in white people, namely, the sun's rays. The glans penis, the cavity of the axilla, the inside of the thigh, are just as black as any other parts ; indeed, the organs of generation, which are always covered, are among the blackest parts of the body. Neither is the peculiar colour of the Negro confined to the skin ; a smaU circle of the conjunctiva, round the cornea, is blackish, and the rest of the membrane has a yellowish brown tinge. The fat has a deep yellow colour, like bees-wax, at least in many of them, which may be distinguished by a very superficial inspection, from that of an European. The representation that the brain of the Negro is darker coloured than that of the white races, is not correct. The development of the black colour in the indi\'idual does not accord with the notion of its being produced by external causes. " Negro children," says Dr. Winterbottom, " are nearly as fair as Europeans at birth, and do not acquire their colour until several days have elapsed. The eyes of new-born Negro children are also of a light colour, and preserve somewhat of a bluish tinge for several days after birth." * Camper had an opportunity of observing the change in a Negro child born at Amsterdam. It was at first reddish, nearly like European children ; " on the third day the organs of genera- tion, the folds of skin round the nails, and the areolae of the breasts were quite black : the blackness extended over the whole body on the fifth and sixth days, and the boy, who was born in a close chamber in the winter, and well wrapped up, according to the custom of the country, in swaddhng-clothes, acquired the • Account of the Native Africans, v. i. st. i. p. 189. 858 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES native colour of his race over the whole body excepting the palms and soles, which are always paler, and almost white, in working Negroes."* On the other hand, a black state of the skin is sometimes partially produced in individuals of the white races. In the fairest women, towards the end of pregnancy, spots of a more or less deep black colour have been often observed ; they gradually disappear after parturition. " The dark colour of the skin," says White, " in some particular parts of the body, is not confined either to the torrid or frigid zones : for in England the nipple, the areola round the nipple, the pudenda, and the verge of the anus, are of a dark brown, and sometimes as black as in the Samoiede women. It is to be remarked that the colour of these parts grows darker in women at the full period of gestation. One morning I examined the breasts of twenty women in the lying-in hospital in Manchester, and found that nineteen of them had dark-coloured nipples ; some of them might be said to be black, and the areola round the nipple, from one inch to two inches and a half in diameter, was of the same colour." f Le Cat mentions a woman near Paris, in whom the abdomen became black at each pregnancy, and afterwards recovered its colour ; in another the same change occurred in the leg. J Camper dissected at Groningen a young woman who died in childbed ; her abdomen, and the areola round the nipples, were of a deep black. The face, arms, and legs were of a snowy whiteness. § The species of domestic fowls in the East Indies with black periosteum, affords a further proof that the operation of the sun's rays is not a necessary circumstance to the production of colour in animal bodies. If we take the trouble of examining the races in any particular division of the world, we shall quickly find that the opinion, which ascribes their distinguishing characters to climate must be given up ; that the same race inhabits the most diflferent regions, preserving in all an uniformity of character ; that dif- ferent races are found in the same countries, and that those, who have changed their native abodes for situations, in which, accord- ing to the hypothesis, they ought to have undergone a complete metamorphosis, still retain their original distinctions. In the north of Europe, as also in the north of Asia and • Kleinere Schriften, b. i. St. i. p. 44. + On the Regular Gradation, )}. 114. t Traitede la Couleur de la Peau humaine. \ Kleinere Schriften, v. i. st i. p. 47. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 859 America, that is, in countries nearest to the pole, in which, according to the opinion above stated, the whitest races ought to be found, we have very brown and black people : they are much darker coloured than any other Europeans. The Moors in Africa, and the Arabs of the desert, are born with a white skin, and continue fair unless adventitious causes are applied. But the Laplanders and Greenlanders, the Esquimaux, Samoiedes, Ostiacs, Tschutski, &c. who hardly ever feel a moderate heat from the rays of the sun, are very dark. They appear to be all of the same race, who have extended and multiplied along the coasts of the North Sea, in deserts, and under climates which could not be inhabited by other nations. They have broad large faces and flat noses, the olive or swarthy colour, and all the other colours of the Mongolian variety. It is curious to observe how easily the asserters of the power of climate in changing the human body get over an instance so fatal to their opinions : they tell us roundly that great cold has the same effect as great heat : " when the cold becomes extreme, it produces effects similar to those of violent heat. The Samoiedes, Laplanders, and natives of Greenland are very taAvny ; we are even assured that some of the Greenlanders are as black as the Africans ; thus the two extremes approach each other : great cold and great heat produce the same effect upon the skin, because each of these causes act by a quality common to both ; and this quality is the dryness of the air, which, perhaps, is equally great in extreme cold and extreme heat. Both cold and heat dry the skin, and give it that tawny hue which we find among the Lap- landers. Cold contracts all the productions of nature. The Laplanders, accordingly, who are perpetually exposed to aU the rigours of the frost, are the smallest of the human species."* If this reasoning should not convince us, there are other arguments in reserve. The state of society is said to have great effect on the conformation and colour of the body. The naked- ness of the savage, the filthy grease and paint ■with which he smears his body, his smoky hut, scanty diet, want of cleanliness, and the undrained and nncleared country which he inhabits, not only, according to Smith, darken his skin, but render it impossible that it ever should be fair.f On the other hand, the conveniences of clothing and lodging ; the plenty and healthful quality of food ; a country drained, cultivated, and freed from noxious effluvia ; improved ideas of beauty, the constant study • Buffon, V. iii. p. 443. See also Smith's Essay, t Essay, &c. pp. 48 — 53. 360 CAUSES OP THE VARIETIES of elegance, and the infinite arts for attaining it, even in per- sonal figure and appearance, give cultivated an immense ad* vantage over savage society in its attempts to counteract the influence of climate, and to beautify the human form.* What false notions must mankind have hitherto entertained on this subject ! We can no longer believe travellers, who tell us that the finest forms and the greatest activity are to be seen in savage tribes, and that no ill-formed individuals can be met with amongst them : and as little can we trust the testimony of our own senses, concerning the frequency of deformity and disease in civilized society ; since there are so many reasons why the former should be deformed, black, and ugly, and the latter well-pro])ortioned, fair, and handsome. Unluckily, however, this theory does not correspond with a few plain facts. Most of the modern European nations existed in a more or less complete state of barbarism within times of which we have the most authentic records : some of these were seen and described by philosophers ; yet the permanence of their characters is so remarkable after a greater progressive civilization than has happened in any other instance, that those descriptions are applicable with the greatest exactness to the same races of the present day. Instead, therefore, of accounting for the dark colour, peculiar features, and stature of the Greenlander, Lap- lander, and Samoiede, from their smoke, their dirt, their food, or the coldness of the climate, we can have no hesitation in ascribing them to the same cause that makes the Briton and the German of this day resemble the portraits of their ancestors, drawn by Caesar and Tacitus, viz. their descent from a race marked by the same characters as distinguish themselves. These tribes owe their origin to the Mongols, and retain in the north those marks of their descent, which we find so strongly expressed in the Chinese, under the widely different latitudes of the south. At the same time, the parent tribes live in the middle of Asia, equally removed from the former and the latter. " With slight exceptions," says Dr. Pritchard, " the dif- ferent countries of Europe are now occupied by the same nations that have occupied them since the date of our earliest authentic accounts. Conquests have been made by small numbers, so that the races have been little changed by this cause. Thus, when Clovis and his 30,000 Franks reduced the large and populous province of Gaul under their dominion, • Smith's Dssai/, p. 53, OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. S61 the bodily characters and the language of the conquerors were lost in those of the conquered. The nations which have inha- bited Europe for the last 2500 years, consist of three great races, distinguished from each other by their bodily formation, character, and language. " 1. The Celtic race, with black hair and eyes, and a white skin verging to brown, occupies the west of Europe : to this belong the ancient and modern inhabitants of France, Spain, Portugal, and the greatest part of Italy ; the ancient Britons, Welsh, Bretons, Irish, Scotch, and Manks. The resemblance of the Silures to the Iberi was noticed by Tacitus ; it is obvious to every observer in the present time ; nor is the obser- vation peculiar to the Welsh ; it holds good of aU -other Celtic nations. * Silurum colorati vultus, et torti plerumque crines, et posita contra Hispania, Iberos veteres trajecisse, easque sedes occupasse, fidem faciunt.' That black hair and a browner complexion belonged to aU the Celts, is not only proved by many direct observations, but also because the marks of the sanguine constitution were universally considered as the dis- tinction of the German race. " 2. The great German race, characterized by its blue eyes, yellow or reddish hair, fair and red skin, occupies the middle of Europe, and includes the Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders, Danes, ancient and modern Germans, Saxons and English, Caledonians or Pictge, and the Lowland Scotch, who have sprung from them, the inhabitants of the Low Countries; the Vandals and Goths, &c. Historical records, and the similarity of language and character both of body and mind, prove that all these people belong to the same race. " 3. The east of Europe contains the Sarmatian and Slavonic tribes, characterized by dark hair and eyes, and a darker skin than the German, with perhaps larger limbs than the Celts. To this division belong the Russians, Poles, Croats, Slavons, Bohemians, Bulgarians, Cossacks, and others who speak the Slavonic language."* He proceeds to show from Diodorus SicuLus, that the Sarmatians descended from the Medes, and were found on the banks of the Tanais, 700 years before the Christian era; by the authority of Herodotus, that they occu- pied the country between the Tanais and the Borysthenes, when Darius' Hystaspes invaded Syria; and from Clu- VERius, that the coasts of the Baltic, the banks of the Vistula, • Diss, inaug. de Variet. pp. 103—109. R o62 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES Prussia, and the country as far as the situation of the Finni and Venedi, were the ancient seats of the Sarmatians. Since then, a people of very different race have existed in the neighbour- hood of the Germans from the most remote times, how can we explain the diiFerences of the European nations, by the opera- tion of climate, by heat and cold ? How does the same sky cause the whiteness of the German and Swede, and the compa- ratively dark complexion of the Pole and Russian ? But these European races are found also in Asia and Africa All that part of the former region, which lies to the west of the river Ob, the Caspian Sea, and the Ganges ; all the north of Africa, Abyssinia, and perhaps other parts still farther south, on the east, are occupied by a race agreeing nearly in character with the Sarmatians and Celts. Thus it appears that, excepting the Germans, and the Lap- landers and Samoiedes,whomwe deem of Mongolian origin, the same native or congenital constitution prevails over the whole of Europe, the western parts of Asia, and the north of Africa. Black hair, dark eyes, and a white skin, tending rather to a brownish tint, than to the peculiar whiteness of the German tribes, belong to the French, Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, and all the Celts ; to the Russians, Poles, and others of Slavonic origin ; to the Tatars, commonly confounded with the Mongols, the Armenians, Persians, Circassians, and Georgians, the Turks, Greeks, Arabians, Abyssinians, Syi'ians, Jews, and the inhabi- tants of Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco. That climate cannot cause similarity of character in nations spread over fifty degrees of latitude, and that food, dress, state of civilization, peculiar customs, or other moral causes, are equally inefficacious in accounting for the phenomenon, when we consider how vari- ous in all these points the nations are in whom it occurs, will be allowed by every unprejudiced observer. The middle and northern parts of Asia, and most of its eastern portion, are occupied by tribes and nations, all of which possess the general characters of the Mongolian variety, although dis- tinguished from each other by such modifications as usually cha- racterize separate people. They are distinct in their conforma- tion from all other races, and diflfer from Europeans quite as decidedly as the Negroes. History points out as their original seat, the elevated central table-land of Asia, from which they have spread in various directions, according to circumstances, every where preserving their peculiar traits of organization OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 363 Tlie Mongols, Calmucks, and Burats, are three great divisions, of which ea'ch indudes many tribes, scattered over the middle of Asia, leading generally a pastoral life, sometimes practising agriculture, and devoted universally to the idolatrous lama-wor- ship. Their first distinct appearance in history is under the name of Huns (Hiong-nu of the Chinese) in the first century of the Christian era, when they were impelled towards the west by the progress of the Chinese power. Afterwards three great conquerors appeared among them at distant periods ; the most conspicuous that the world has ever seen, who made all Asia and Europe tremble, but happily, appeared and vanished like meteors ; because, though powerful in conquest and desolation, they knew not how to possess and govern. Attila, with his Huns, penetrated into the centre of Europe. Eight centuries later, Zingis or Dschingis Khan united not only the Mongo- lian but the Tataric tribes, and with this formidable mass reduced nearly all Asia. In two hundred years more, Timurleng or Tamerlane appeared, and rendered himself the terror of west ern Asia and India, which latter country has been ruled by his descendants until very modern times. The Mantchoos or Mand- shurs, the Maourians, Tungooses, Coreans, Kamtschatkans, and j)erhaps other tribes, on the east, the Yakuts, Samoiedes, Kir- gises, on the West, the people of Thibet and Bootan on the south, have a similar organization to that of the central tribes. The empires of China and Japan, the islands of Sagalien, Lew- chew, and Formosa, are peopled by races of analogous physical and moral characters. Short stature, olive-coloured skin, devia- ting into lighter yellow, coarse, straight, and perfectly black hair, broad flat face, high and broad cheek-bones, flat nose, oblique eyes, entire deficiency or smallness of beard, are the common traits of the numerous people spread over this immense portion of the globe. Besides this general agreement of the tribes occupying countries so distant and different from each other, it is important to observe that the Samoiedes, Kamtschat- kans, and others in the colder northern parts, are darker coloured than the Chinese, Tunquinese, and Cochin Chinese in the warm southern regions. "India," says Dr. Pritchard, "is inhabited by a mixed race, made up of the Aborigines, and of others, whom the pur- suits of war and conquest have at various times brought there. The religion of Bramah seems to have been introduced from the north ; and at later periods vast numbers of the Mongols R 2 364 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES have entered and conquered the country. These mixtures have effaced the peculiar characters of tlie original inhabitants, which we must, therefore, seek for in the islands, protected by their situation from such visits. The islands of the Indian Sea, as weU as those of the Pacific, contain two races of men, differ- ing in many respects. One of these approaches, and in some instances equals, the blackness of the Negro : the hair is curled and woolly, the body slender, the stature short, the disposition barbarous and cruel. The other is more like the Indians of the continent, has a fairer skin, larger limbs and stature, better pro- portions, and exhibits some marks of humanity and civilization. According to Forster, the former, who are Aborigines, have occupied the middle and mountainous parts of many islands, leaving the coasts and plains to the more recent colonists. They occupy the highest parts of the Moluccas, the Philippines, For- mosa, and Borneo ; all New Guinea, New Britain, New Ireland, and New Caledonia, Tanna, MaUicoUo, New Holland, and Van Diemen's Land. The more recent nation occupies Sumatra, and the other islands of the Indian Sea, Otaheite, and the So- ciety Islands, the Friendly Islands, Marquesas, Ladrones, Marian and CaroUne Islands, New Zealand, Sandwich, and Easter Islands. The language of aU the latter resembles the Malay, and there can be no doubt that they arise from that race, and have spread by their ships over these distant spots. The black people are every where barbarous, and, according to Forster, have languages not agreeing with each other. In neither can we perceive any traces of the influence of climate. The latter race, scattered in various parts of the vast island of New Holland, which has such variety of temperature, every where retains its black colour, although the chmate at the English settlement is not much unlike that of England ; and in Van Diemen's Land, extending to 45° south lat. (it is well understood that the cold is much more severe in the southern hemisphere, at an equal distance from the equator, than in the northern), they are of a deep black, and have curled hair like the Negroes."* The same observations are applicable to the Malay race. The inhabitants of Otaheite are very fair ; yellow hair is not unfre- quently seen amongst them : those of New Zealand, and of , Easter Island, twice as distant from the equator, are much darker. "The fairness of the Sumatrans," says Mr. MARSDEN,f • Disp. inaug. de Fariet. pp. 65 — 89. + History of Sumatra ; ed. iii. p. 46. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 365 " situated as they are under a perpendicular sun, where no season of the year affords an alternation of cold, is, I think, an irrefragable proof that the difference of colour in the different inhabitants of the earth is not the immediate effect of climate. The children of Europeans born in this island are as fair as those born in the country of their parents. I have obser\'ed the same of the second generation, when a mixture with the people of the country has been avoided. On the other hand, the off- spring and all the descendants of the Guinea and other African slaves imported there continue in the last instance as perfectly black as in the original stock." The foregoing statements authorize us in concluding, that in Asia, where we have countries \vith every variety of situation and temperature, at every distance from the equator, mountains, vaUeys, plains, islands, and continents, no effect of climate can be traced on the colour, or on any other characters of the human race. On the hypothesis, which assigns the varieties of mankind to the operation of climate as their cause, we should expect to find in Africa aU tribes under the equator of the most intensely black colour ; the tinge should become lighter and lighter as we pro- ceed thence towards the south, and the complexion ought to be white when we arrive at regions which enjoy an European cli- mate. This, however, is by no means the case. The Abyssi- nians on the east, with dark olive colour and long hair, are placed near the equator, and surrounded by Negroes. In the same part also, the Gallas, a great and barbarous nation, having according to Bruce, long black hair, and white skin verging to brown, occupy extensive regions under the equator itself. On the other hand, as we proceed from the equator towards the south, through tribes of Negroes, we find the black colour continue with undiminished intensity. It is known in the West Indies that the Congo Negroes, in the blackness of their skin and woolly hair, equal any race of Africans. Paterson assures us that the Kaffers within a few degrees of the Cape of Good Hope, where the climate is so far from being intolerably hot, that the com is often hurt by the winter frost, are of the deepest colour; and the same fact is familiarly known of the surrounding tribes. The island of Madagascar, which is cooled by the mild breezes of the Indian Ocean, and ought therefore to continue a white race, has two kinds of natives : one of olive colour with dark hair ; the other true Negroes. 366 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES The Hottentots, at one or two degrees from the deep black KafFers, are of a brownish-yellow colour : this distance can hardly account for the difference. When we consider how large an extent of Africa is occupied by the black woolly-haired Negroes, and that these regions vary in their latitude, their elevation, and every other point ; that they include sandy deserts, coasts, rivers, hills, valleys, and very great varieties of climate ; the conclusion that these adventitious circumstances do not influence the colour or other projierties of the race is irresistible It only remains for us to examine the continent of America, which, as it stretches uninterruptedly from the neighbourhood of the north pole to 55° south lat. and includes regions diversified in every possible way, affords the most ample opportunity for the development of all the changes that climate and position can produce : and to examine whether the facts ascertained con- cerning its inhabitants are more favourable to the hypothesis under consideration tban what we have observed in the other three divisions of the world. The reports of travellers are unanimous concerning the identity of general character in the whole American race : copper-coloured skin, long and straight black hair, and a certain cast of features, are said to belong to all the inhabitants of this extensive con- tinent. How remarkable this agreement is, may be collected from the statement sometimes made, that a person who has seen one may consider that he has seen all ; which, however, in its full extent, must be regarded as an exaggerated or partial view. The Esquimaux are not included in this account : their colour is more of the olive cast ; in which, as well as in other points, they betray their Mongolian origin. They retain in America the same characters which distinguish the Mongohan tribes and natives of the old continent. The most intelligent and accurate observers have informed us that nearly all the native tribes, whether of the northern, middle, or southern parts of America, have the skin of a more or less red tint ; and some of them expressly state that its lighter or darker shades are entirely uninfluenced by any of the causes connected with geographical position. "The Indians (Americans)," says Ulloa, "are of a copper colour, which, by the action of the sun and air, grows darker. I must remark that neither heat nor cold produces any sensible change of colour, so that the Indians of the Cordilleras of Peru OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 367 are easily confounded with those of the hottest plains ; and those who live under the line cannot be distinguished by the colour from those who inhabit the fortieth degrees of north and south latitude."* HEARNEf and Mackenzie J found the hunting tribes in the cold regions about Hudson's Bay, and thence to the Frozen Ocean, copper coloured and black haired. Lewis and Clarke § describe those on the Colombia and near its mouth as of the " usual copper-coloured brown of the North American tribes ; though rather lighter than that of the Indians of the Missouri, and the frontier of the United States.'' Wafer || andDAMPiERlf found the same tint in the Isthmus of Darien, Bouguer** and CoNDAMiNEft under the equator, StedmanJI and others in Brasil, Molina §§ in Chili, Wallis||1| and CookeH^ in Pata- gonia and Tierra del Fuego. Humboldt, whose extensive opportunities of observation and philosophic spirit give great weight to his statements, confirms these representations in the most ample manner. " The Indians of New Spain bear a general resemblance to those who inhabit Canada, Florida, Peru, and Brasil. They have the same swarthy and copper colour, flat and smooth hair, small beard, squat body, long eye, with the corner directed upwards towards the temples, prominent cheek-bones, thick lips, and an expression of gentleness in the mouth, strongly contrasted with a gloomy and severe look. The American race, after the Hyperborean*** race, is the least numerous; but it occupies the greatest space in the globe. Over a million and a half of square leagues, from the Tierra del Fuego islands to the river St. Lawrence and Bering's Straits, we are struck at the first glance with the general resemblance in the features of the inhabitants. We think we perceive that they all descend from the same stock, notwithstanding the enormous diversity of language that separates them from each other. However, when we reflect more seriously on this family likeness, after living • JVoticias Americanos; cap. xvii. p. 307, quoted iu Humboldt, Perso7ial Narrative, v. iii. 297. t Journey frovi Hudson'' s Bay to the Northern Oceari; ch. ix. p. 305. t Travels through the Continent ofA'orth America; prel. remarks, p. 92. ? Travels, 4to. p. 437. II Neto Foyage and Description, &c. p. 134. II Voyage round the World ; v. i. p. 7. ** Acad, des Sciences, 1744, p. 273. +t Acad, des Sciences, 1745, p. 418. tJ Travels in Surinam, v. i.ii. 335. ii Natural History of Chili, p. 274. Of the Araucaus ; Civil History, p. 54. I'll Hawkesworth's Collection of Voyages, v. i. 374. ^1i Ibid. v. ii. p. 55. *** The author probebly means tu include under this name the diminutive olive-coloured blac'k-haired people, of Mongolian formation, who occupy the high northern latitudes of both continents ; viz. the Esquimaux, Laplanders, Samoiedes, and Tungooses. 868 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES longer among the indigenous Americans, we discover that cele- brated travellers, who could only observe a few individuals on the coasts, have singularly exaggerated the analogy of form among the Americans. " Intellectual cultivation is what contributes most to diversify the features. In barbarous nations there is rather a physiognomy peculiar to the tribe or horde than to any individual. When we compare our domestic animals with those which inhabit our forests, we make the same observation. But an European, when he decides on the great resemblance among the copper-coloured races, is subject to a particular illusion. He is struck with a complexion so different from our own, and the uniformity of this complexion conceals from him for a long time the diversity of individvial features. The new colonist can at first hardly dis- tinguish from each other individuals of the native race, because his eyes are less fixed on the gentle melancholic or ferocious ex- pression of the countenance than on the red coppery colour, and dark, coarse, glossy, and luminous hair : so glossy, indeed, that we should believe it to be in a constant state of humectation. "The Indians of New Spain have a more swarthy complexion than the inhabitants of the warmest climates of South America. This fact is so much the more remarkable, as in the race of Caucasus, which may also be Ccilled the European Arab race, the people of the south have not so fair a skin as those of the north. Though many of the Asiatic nations, who inundated Europe in the sixth century, had a very dark complexion, it api)ears that the shades of colour observable among the white race, are less owing to their origin or mixture than to the local influence of the climate. This influence appears to have almost no effect on the Americans and Negroes. These races, in which there is abundant deposition of carburetted hydrogen in the corpus mucosum or reticulatum of Malpighi, resist in a singular manner the impressions of the ambient air. The Negroes of the mountains of Upper Guinea are not less black than those who live upon the coast. Tliere are, no doubt, tribes of a colour by no means deep among the Indians of the new con- tinent, whose complexion approaches to that of the Arabs or Moors. We found the people of the Rio Negro swarthier than those of the lower Orinoco, and yet the banks of the first of these rivers enjoy a much cooler climate than the more northern regions. In the forests of Guiana, especially near the sources of the Orinoco, are several tribes of a whitish complexion, the OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 869 Guaicas, Guaiaribs, the Ariguas, of whom several robust indi- viduals, exhibiting no symptom of the asthenical malady which characterizes Albinos, have the appearance of true Mestizos. Yet these tribes have never mingled with Europeans, and are surrounded by other tribes of a dark brown hue. The Indians in the torrid zone, who inhabit the most elevated plains of the Cordillera of the Andes, and those who, under the 45o south lat. live by fishing among the islands of the Archipelago of Chonos, have as coppery a complexion as those who under a burning climate cultivate bananas in the narrowest and deepest valleys of the equinoctial region. We must add, that the Indians of the mountains are clothed, and were so long before the con- quest ; while the Aborigines, who wander over the plains, go quite naked, and are consequently always exposed to the per- pendicular rays of the sun. I could never observe that in the same individual those parts of the body which were covered were less dark than those in contact with a warm and humid air. We every where perceive that the colour of the American depends very little on the local position in which we see him. " The Mexicans, as we have already observed, are more swarthy than the Indians of Quito and New Granada, who inhabit a cUmate completely analogous ; and we even see that the tribes dispersed to the north of the Rio Gila are less brown than those in the neighbourhood of the kingdom of Guatimala. This deep colour continues to the coast nearest to Asia. But under 54° 10' of north latitude, at Cloak Bay, in the midst of copper-coloured Indians, with small long eyes, there is a tribe with large eyes, European features, and a skin less dark than that of our peasantry."* How does it happen, that the same sun, which makes the African black, tinges the American of a copper colour ? and that the dark hue, which might possibly be produced by heat in the equatorial regions, should be found also in the cold and inhospitable tracts of Tierra del Fuego, and the most northern part of the continent ? The absence of white races can surely not be ascribed to the want of sufficiently cold climates. Bou- gainville found the thermometer, in the middle of summer, 54^0 in lat. 520 south ; and Messrs. Banks and Solandeu, and their attendants, had nearly perished all together from the cold in an excursion in Tierra del Fuego, in the middle of the summer. Two of the servants were actually lost.f • Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, v. i. pp. 140 — 145. t Hawkesworth's Collecticm, v. ii. c. 4. R 3 370 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES A very cursory survey of the globe will show us that the same regions have been occupied by men of different races, without any interchange of characters, in many instances, for several centuries. The Moors and Negroes are found together in Africa ; Europeans, Negroes, and Americans, in North and South America ; Celts, Germans, and Slavons in Europe, and even in the same kingdoms of Europe ; Mongols, Afghans, and Hindoos in India, &c. &c. The distinctions of these diiferent traces, except where they have been confused by intermarriages, is just as easy now as it has been in any time, of which we have authentic records. The permanency of the characters of any race when it has changed its original situation for a very different one, when it has passed into other climes, adopted new manners, and been exposed to the action of these causes for several generations, affords the most indisputable proof that these characteristics are not the offspring of such adventitious circumstances. From the numerous examples, in every race, which a slight knowledge of history will furnish, I shall select a few of the most striking. In the earliest times, to which our historical records ascend, the west of Europe was occupied by Celtic people with brownish white skin, dark hair and eyes ; the characters, in short, which are now visible in the Spaniards, most of the French, the native Welsh, the Manks, and the Highland Scotch. The German race, originally situated more to the north and east, have long ago obtained settlements by war and conquest in many of the countries previously peopled by the Celts ; but their light rosy skin, flaxen hair and blue eyes, are now, after nearly two thou- sand years, just as strongly contrasted with the very different traits of the Celtic character, in those situations and those fami- lies where the blood has remained pure, as they were originally. It was observed by C^sar, that the Germans had possessed themselves of the Belgic provinces of Gaul, and the contiguous southern parts of Britain.* That the Caledonians or Picts (Low- land Scotch), were a German people, is rightly represented by Tacitus, whose description of the natives occupying this island exhibits the same physical characters, which exist in the present day. " Habitus corporum varii : atque ex eo argu- menta ; namque rutilae Caledoniam habitantium comae, magni artus Germanicam originem adseverant. Silurum coloratJ Vultus, et torti plerumque crines, et posita contra Hispania, * DeBel. Gal. lib. ii. and v. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. S7l Iberos veteres trajecisse easque sedes occupasse fidem faciunt proximi Gallis, et similes sunt : seu durante originis vi, seu procurrentibus in diversa terris, positio caeli corporibus habitum dedit."*- Under the names of Saxons, Angles, Danes, and Normans, numerous supplies of Germans successively arrived in England, and gradually drove the original Celtic population into the most distant and inaccessible parts of the island. An exposure to the same climate for so many centuries has not approximated the physical characters of the more recent German to those of the older Celtic inhabitants in the smallest degree ; and both descriptions are equally unchanged after a progress from barbarism to the highest civilization. A similar perma- nence of the original distinctive characters is observable in France. " Among us," says Volney, " a lapse of nine hun- dred years has not effaced the discriminating marks which dis- tinguished the inhabitants of Gaul from the northern invaders, who, under Charles the Gross, settled themselves in our richest provinces. Travellers, who go ft-om Normandy to Den- mark, observe with astonishment the striking I'esemblance of the inhabitants of these two countries."t The Vandals X passed from Spain into Africa about the middle of the fifth century : their descendants may be still traced, according to Shaw § and Bruce, || in the mountains of Aurez, by their white and ruddy complexion and yellow hair. " Here I met," says the latter writer, " to my great astonishment, a tribe, who, if I cannot say they were fair like the English, were of a shade lighter than that of the inhabitants of any country to the southward of Britain. Their hair also was red, and their eyes blue." — " I imagine them to be a remnant of the Vandals. Procopius mentions a defeat of an army of this nation here, &c. They confessed their ancestors had been Christians." The change in the race produced by climate must be infinitely small, since it is not yet perceptible after a lapse of thirteen centuries. The establishments of the Europeans in Asia and America have now subsisted about three centuries. Vasquez de Gama landed at Calicut in 1498 ; and the Portuguese empire in India was founded in the beginning of the following century. Brazil was discovered and taken possession of by the same nation in the very first year of the sixteenth century. Towards the end • Aaricola, xi. t Travels in Syria and Egypt, v. i. ch. 6. X Gibbon ; Decline and Fall, c. 33. j Travels ch. iii. II Travels to Discover, &c. 8vo ed. Introduction, p. 35. 372 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES of fifteenth, and beginning of sixteenth century, Columbus, CoRTEZ, and Pizaruo subjugated for the Spaniards the West Indian islands, with the empires of Mexico and Peru. Sir Walter Raleigh planted an English colony in Virginia in 1584; and the French settlement of Canada has a rather late date. The colonists have, in no instance, approached to •the natives of these countries ; and their descendants, where the blood has been kept pure, have at this time, the same characters as Jiative Europeans. In the hotter situations, indeed, as in the warmer countries of Europe, the skin is swarthy in parts of the body which are not covered; but the children, at the time of birth, and women who are never exposed much to the sun's rays, have all their native whiteness. This observation admits of no exception : in the tint of the skin, the colour and other qualities of the hair, the features, the form of the cranium, the proportions and figure of the body, the European colonists retain all their original characters. The sanguine constitution, with its blue eyes, yellow hair, and fair skin, which is so remarkably diflferent from that of the natives, is nevertheless transmitted without the least alteration from generation to generation. Negroes have been introduced into the new world for nearly an equal length of time ; in the West Indian Islands, in the United States, in the various parts of Spanish America, they live under new climates, and have adopted new habits. Yet they have still woolly hair, black skins, fiat nose, thick lips, and all the other characters of their race. The inhabitants of Persia, of Turkey, of Arabia, of Egypt, and of Barbary,* may be regarded in great part as the same race of people, who, in the time of Mahomet and his succes- sors, extended their dominions by invading immense territories. In all these situations the skin retains its native fairness, unless the tint be changed by exposure to the sun ; and the children * Africa, north of the great desert, has been always inhabited by races of Caucasian formation. The original tribes, called Berbers or Brebers, have given the name of E;irbary to this division of the continent. We know but little of their peculiar physical characters ; which, however, probably were similar to those of the ancient Egyptians and Guanches (see p. 224). These Berbers, which constituted the people known to the Roman writers by the names of Libyans, Getuliaus, Numidians, Mauritanians, Garamentes, have received ascessious of Phoenicians (the Carthaginians), Greeks, Romans, Vandals and Arabians: The latter particularly entered the north of Africa in great numbers, destroying or driving away the original inhabitants. The general prevalence of Mahomet- anisni and of the Arabian language, testifies the impression which Ihey made on the country. The remnants of the aboriginal tribes are now principally found in the mountains. They may be traced, however, south of the great desert, and seem to form even considerable states between Tombuctoo and Upper Egypt ; where they preserve their distinctive characters in the same climates with the Negro race. OF THE IIUMAJi SPECIES. 373 are invariably fair " II n'y a femme de laboureur ou de paysan en Asie (Asia Minor; qui n'a le teint frais comme une rose, la peau delicate et blanche, si polie et si bien tendue, qu'il semble toucher du velours."* The Arabians are scorched by the heat of the sun» for most of them are either covered with a tattered shirt, 01 go entirely naked : La Boullaye informs us, that the Arabian women of the desert are born fair, but that their com- plexions are spoiled by being continually exposed to the sun.f Another traveller remarks that the Arabian princesses and ladies, whom he was permitted to see, were extremely handsome, beautiful, and fair, because they are always covered from the rays of the sun, but that the common women are very much blackened by the sun.J The Moors, who have lived in Africa since the seventh cen- tury, have not degenerated in their physical constitution from their x\rabian progenitors : the sun exerts its full influence on their skin, but their children are just as white as those born in Europe. They are by no means confined to the northern coast, but have penetrated, as the prevalence of the Mahometan religion attests, deeply into the interior : here they dwell in countries, of which the woolly-haired Negro is the native, but have not acquired, in six centuries of exposure to the same causes, any of his characters. The intelligent and accurate Shavi^ informs us that most of the Moorish women would be reckoned handsome even in Europe ; that the skin of their children is exceedingly fair and delicate ; and though the boys, by being exposed to the sun, soon grow swarthy, yet the girls, who keep more within doors, preserve their beauty till the age of thirty, when they commonly give over child-bearing. "Les Maures," says Poiret, " ne sont pas naturellement noirs, malgre le proverbe, et comme le pensent plusieurs ecrivains ; mais ils naissent blancs, et restent blancs toute leur xie, quand leurs travaux ne les exposent pas aux ardeurs du soleil. Dans les villes les femmes ont une Ijlancheur si eclatante, qu'elles eclipseroient la plupart de nos Europeennes ; mais les Mauresques montagnardes, sans cesse brulees par le soleil, et presque toujours a moitie nues, devien- nent, meme des I'enfance, d'une couleur brune qui approche beaucoup de celle de la suie."§ The testimony of Bruce is to the same effect That the swarthiness of the southern Europeans is merely the * Obs.de Pierre Belon, p. 1^. t Forages de La Boullaye le Gouz, p. 318. i F(jyageJ(nt par Ordre du lioi dans la Palestine, p. 2G0. \ Voy. en Barharie, torn. i. p. 31. 374 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES effect of the sun's action on the individual, whose children are born perfectly white, and continue so unless exposed to the operation of the climate, might be easily proved of the Spaniards and Portuguese, the Greeks, Turks, &c. ; but the fact is too well known to render this necessary. The Jews exhibit one of the most striking instances of na- tional formation, unaltered by the most various changes. They have been scattered, for ages, over the face of the whole earth ; but their peculiar religious opinions and practices have kept the race uncommonly pure ; accordingly their colour and their characteristic features are still the same under every diversity of climate and situation. The advocates for the power of climate have made very erro- neous representations respecting these people; asserting that their colour is everywhere modified by the situation they occupy. The Jews, like all the native people adjoining their original seats, have naturally a white skin and the other attributes of the Caucasian race. In hot countries they become brown by exposure, as an European does ; but they experience no other influence from climate. Their children are born fair ; and the countenance and other characters are every where preserved in remarkable purity, because their religion forbids all intermixture with other races. Dr. Buchanan met, on the coast of Mala- bar, with a tribe, who represented that their ancestors had mi- grated from Palestine after the destruction of the temple by Titus, and who have preserved their native colour and form amidst the black inhabitams of the country, excepting in in- stances, where they have intermarried with the Hindoos. Those of pure blood are called white Jews, in contradistinction from the others, who are termed black Jews.* Tlie foregoing facts sufficiently prove, that native differences in general, and particularly that of colour, do not depend on ex- traneous causes ; I have an observation or two to make on some other points. That the curled state of the hair in the African is not produced by heat, appears from its being found in many situations not remarkable for high temperature, as in the Mo- luccas, New Guinea, MallicoUo, Borneo, New Holland, and even in the cold regions of Van Dieraan's Land ; as well as from the hot regions of Asia and America being inhabited by long- haired races. The woolly appearance of the Negro hair is just opposite to • Christian Researches in Asia ; section, on the Jews. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 375 that which hot climates have been said to produce in the covering of sheep, in which it is represented that hair is produced instead of wool. When we contrast the hairy coat of the argaili or mouflon with the beautiful fleeces of our most beautiful sheep, we see a prodigious difference, which is probably owing more to cultivation and attention to breed than to climate. It does not appear, at least, that change of climate will convert the wool of an individual English sheej) into hair ; and it is equally incapable of conferring awoollycovering on the hairysheep. Dr.WRiGHT,* who hved many years in Jamaica, speaking of the opinion that the wool of sheep becomes more hairy in warm climates, says, that in the West India islands there is to be found a breed of sheep, the origin of which he has not yet been able to trace, that carry very thin fleeces of a coarse shaggy kind of wool ; which circumstance, he thinks, may naturally have given rise to the report. But he never observed a sheep that had been brought from England to carry wool of the same sort with those native sheep : on the contrary, though he has known them live there several years, these English sheep carried the same kind of close burly fleece that is common in England ; and, in as far as he could observe, it was equally free from hairs. The differences in stature, again, have been very confidently ascribed to adventitious causes. A temporate climate, pure air, copious food, tranquillity of mind, and healthy occupation, have been thought favourable to the full development of the human frame ; while e.xtreme cold, bad and unwholesome food, noxious air, and similar causes, have been thought capable of reducing the dimensions of the body below the ordinary standard. That these causes may have some effect on individuals I do not deny, although I believe that it is very slight : but the numerous ex- amples of large people in cold countries, and diminutive men in warm climes, induce me to deny altogether its operation on the race. The tall and large-limbed Patagonians, certain North American tribes, and some of the German races inhabit cold situations ; the Mongols, who are small in stature, live in warm countries. The facts and observations adduced in this section lead us manifestly to the following conclusions ; 1st. That the differences of physical organization and of moral and intellectual qualities, which characterize the several races of our species, are analogous in kind and degree to those which distinguish the breeds of the • Dr. Anderson on the Different kiyids of Sheep; appendix ii. 376 DIVISION OF THE HUMAN SPECIES domestic animals ; and must, therefore, be accounted for on the same principles. 2dly, That they are first produced, in both instances, as native or congenital varieties ; and then transmitted to the offspring in hereditary succession. 3dly, That of the circumstances which favour this disposition to the production of varieties in the animal kingdom, the most powerful is the state of domestication. 4thly, That external or adventitious causes, such as climate, situation, food, way of life, have considerable effect in altering the constitution of man and animals ; but that this effect, as well as that of art or accident, is confined to the indindual, not being transmitted by generation, and, therefore, not affecting the race. 5thly, That the human species, therefore, like that of the cow, sheep, horse, and pig, and others, is single ; and that all the differences which it exhibits, are to be regarded merely as varieties. If, in investigating the subject, we are satisfied vntli comparing the existing races of men to those of the domestic animals, and with bringing together the characteristic marks, on which the distinctions are grounded in the two cases, as I have done in several preceding chapters, we shall have no difficulty in arriving at the fifth conclusion. If, however, we should carry ourselves back, in imagination, to a supposed period, when mankind con- sisted of one race only, and endeavour to show how the numerous varieties, which now occupy the different parts of the earth, have arisen out of the common stock, and have become so distinct from each other, as we find them at present, we cannot arrive at so satisfactory a decision ; and we experience further embarrass- ment from the fact, that the races have been as distinctly marked, and as completely separated from the earliest peiiods, to which historical e\adence ascends, as they now are. The same remarks, in great measure, are true concerning anunals ; so that, on this ground, no difficulty prevents us from recognising the vmity of the human species, which is not equally applicable to them. CHAPTER X. Ditiiiun of the Human Species into Jive Varieties. After taking into consideration the principal circumstances which characterize the several races of man, and amving, by the proof that aU such distinctions are produced in a still greater degree among animals, chiefly of the domesticated kinds, from the ordinary sources of degeneration, at the conclusion that there INTO FIVE VARIETIES. 377 is only one species, it remains for me to inquire how many varie- ties ought to be recognised in this species, and to enumerate the characters by which they may be distinguished. As there is no circumstance, whether of corporeal structure, or of mental endow- ment, which does not pass by imperceivable gradations into the opposite character, rendering all those distinctions merely rela- tive, and reducing them to differences in degree, it is obvious that any arrangement of human varieties must be in great measure arbitrary. Our imperfect knowledge of several tribes constitutes another very serious difficulty. A complete and accurate arrangement cannot therefore be expected at present ; and it is more advisable to adopt a general one, which may answer the purposes of classifying the facts already known, and affording points of comparison in aid of future inquiry, than to attempt the details and minuter distinctions, for which we must depend on further investigation. I think it best to follow the distribution proposed by Blumen- BACH, although it is not free from objection ; and although the five varieties, under which he has arranged the several tribes of our species, ought rather to be regarded as principal divisions, each of them including several varieties. This acute and judicious naturahst divides the single species, which the genus Homo contains, into the Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, American, and Malay varieties. He regards the Caucasian as the primitive stock. It deviates into two extremes most remote and different from each other ; namely, the Mongo- lian on one side, and the Ethiopian on the other. The two other varieties hold the middle places between the Caucasian and the two extremes ; that is, the American comes in between the Cau- causian and Mongolian ; and the Malay between the Caucasian and Ethiopian. The following marks and descriptions will serve to define these five varieties. But it is necessary to observe, in the first place, that on account of the multifarious diversity and gradation of characters, one or two are not sufficient for determining the race, consequently, that an enumeration of several is required ; and, secondly, that even this combination of characters is subject to numerous exceptions in each variety. The migrations of the several races in quest of more eligible abodes, the changes of situation consequent on invasion, war, and conquest, and the intermarriages to which these lead, account for much of this uncertainty. Thus the Mongolian and Caucasian varieties have 378 DIVISION OF THE HUMAN SPECIES been much intermixed in Asia ; the latter and the Ethiopian in Africa. I. Caucasian Variety.* Characters. A white skin, either with a fair rosy tint, or inclining to brown ; red cheeks ; hair black, or of the various lighter colours, copious, soft, and gene- rally more or less curled or waving. Iri'des dark in those with brown skin, light (blue, gray, or greenish) in the fair or rosy complexioned. Large cranium with small face : the upper and anterior regions of the former particularly developed : and the latter falling perpendicularly under them. Face oval and straight, with features distinct from each other ; expanded fore- head, narrow and rather aquiline nose, and small mouth ; front teeth of both jaws perpendicular ; lips, particularly the lower, gently turned out ; chin full and rounded. Moral feelings and intellectual powers most energetic, and susceptible of the highest development and culture. It includes all the ancient and modern Europeans exce])t the Laplanders and the rest of the Finnish race ; the former and present inhabitants of Western Asia, as far as the river Ob, the Caspian Sea, and the Ganges ; that is, the Assyrians, Medes, and Chaldeans ; the Sarmatians, Scythians, and Parthians ; the Philistines, PhcEnicians, Jews, and the inhabitants of Syria generally ; the Tatars,t properly so called ; the several tribes actually occupying the chain of Caucasus ; the Georgians, Circas- sians, Mingrelians, Armenians; the Turks,;!: Persian3,§ Arabi-" ans,|l Afghauns,^ and Hindoos** of high cast; the northern • The name of this variety is derived from Mount Caucasus, because in its neighbourhood, and particularly towards the south, we meet with a very beautiful race of men, the Georgians ; see the quotation from Chardin, at p. 229 ; and because, so far as the imperfect lights of history and tradition extend, the original abode of the species seems to have been near the same quarter. + For an account of the people, to whom this name of Tatar has been applied at various periods of history, and of those to whom it is more strictly appli- cable, see Adelung's Mith'ridates, v. i. p. 453, and following. Portraits of Tatars are given by Com. le Brun, Voyage par la Moscovte, en Perse, S/c. ; v. i. pp. 97, 104. t Adelung, loc. cil. For portraits see Denon, Voyage, Ssc. ; pi. lOG, 107 : also Description de I'Egypte ; etat moderne, costumes en portraits, particularly V. ii. pi. 2. i Portraits in C. Le Brun, v. i. pi. 85 — 88. Representations of the ancient Persian form may be seen in the fragments of Persepolitan sculpture ; ibid. v. ii. pi. 138, 142 ; and in the plates of antiqiiities in Mr. Morier's Travels in Persia, II Denon, Voyage dans la Haute ct Basse Egypte ; pi. 104, 105, 109, 110, 112. V Some indifferent figures in Elphinstone s .Account of Cauhul serve to show the phj'sical traits. ** li\iQ\\ana.n's .Tourney from Madras, &c. Portrait of Krishner Rajah, curtor or sovereign of Mysore; and of Nandi Rajah, his maternal grandfather (Hindoos) : v. i. frontispiece, and p. (i7. Portraits of three sons of Tippoo Sultan (Mussulmen) ; v. iii. pi. 35, 36, 37. Our knowledge of the several tribes which occupy the great Indian peninsula, is not yet suliicicnt to enable us to class them satisfactorily. The crania of Hindoos, which I have seen, belong to the Caucasian type ; and the. great artist, Mr. W. Daniel, who has probably INTO FIVE VARIETIES. 379 Africans including not only those north of the Great Desert, but even some tribes placed in more southern regions ; the Egyp- tians,* AbyssinianSjt and Guanches. When these numerous races are assigned to one variety, their assemblage will not be understood to indicate that they are all ahke in physical and moral traits. The distribution of our species into five divisions must be regarded in a very general view ; and this general conformity is not inconsistent with A'arious and strongly marked modifications. The latter are more numerous in the Caucasian than in the other varieties ; perhaps from greater natural softness, delicacy, or flexibility of organization, concurring with the influence of more ancient and complete civili- zation. In surveying the distinctions of moral and intellectual endowments, we feel uncertain how much ought to be ascribed to original difference, and how much to the powerful influence of government, education, religion, and other analogous causes. I think, however, it will appear, that most of the virtues and talents which adorn and ennoble man, have existed from early times in a higher degree among the Celtic and German than among the Slavonic and Oriental people : while the latter have usually displayed a more sensual character than the former. Blumenbach is inclined to believe that the primitive form of the human race was that which belongs to the Caucasian variety, of which the most beautiful specimens are now exhibited by the Georgians, Turks, Greeks, and some Europeans. From the finely- formed skull of this race, as from a primitive configu- surveyed the country, the antiquities, and the people more extensively than any other person, and whose matchless drawings have made us so well ac- quainted with the prodigious architectural achievements of the natives, as well as with the scenery of India, has informed mo that the finest examples of such forms, both in features and general proportions, abound in India. He never saw any specimens of Negro characters either in countenance or hair ; although some tribes, as the Malabars, are very dark coloured. The sculptured repre- sentations of the human fonn in the oldest of their subterranean temples correspond to the physical traits of the modern Hindoos ; and this conformity was particularly noticed by Mr. Morier in the caves of Canarcli in Salsette. SecondJourney inPersia, p. 22. Thereare numerous varieties, as wemight expect in so extensive a region. Dubois informs us that the agriculturists are nearly as dark as Kaffers, while the Brahmans and those not exposed to the sun are comparatively light. He compares the hue of the Brahmans to copper, or rather a bright infusion of colTee. He adds, " I have seen people in the south of France as dusky as the greater number of Brahmans, and, perhaps, more so. Their women, who are still more sedentary, and less exposed to the rays of the sun, are still lighter in complexion than the males." Some wild hordes on the hills and forests of Malabar are less deei)ly tinged than any of the casts which have been mentioned. " In the woods of the Coorga country, there is one of those communities called Malay Koodieru, who do not yield in point of complexion to the Spaniards or Portuguese."— TJeicn/jZion of the Character, Manners, SfC. of the Peniile of India ; ch. xv. * Heads of Copts., Denon, pi. 10.3, 108. Figures of two fresco paintings in the sepulchres of Thebes ; Bruce, pi. 6, 7. Description de VEgypte ; etat moderne ; costumes et portraits. -^ Five portraits iu Bruce, pi. 2, 3. 380 DIVISION OF THE HUMAN SPECIES ration, the other forms descend by an easy and simple grada- tion, on the one hand to the Mongohan, and on the other to the Ethiopian variety. The greatest mental powers have been bestowed on this variety, so that they have discovered nearly all the arts and sciences ; indeed, almost our whole treasure of lite- rature and knowledge has been derived from the same quarter. These nations have the most intelligent and expressive counte- nance, and the most beautiful bodily proportions. They occupy the middle regions of the globe, while the extremities are filled by others. The most ancient and most early civilized nations have belonged to this division ; to which, also, according to the observation of Blumenbach, there is a disposition to return in the other races, as may be observed in the South Sea Islands, and in some parts of Africa ; while this does not easily deviate into the dark coloured varieties. If we admit the Caucasian to have been the primitive form of man, are we to suppose that the skin was rosy, the hair yellow or red, and the eyes blue, or that the former had a tendency to brown, and that both the latter were dark ? We can have little hesitation in adopting the latter opinion ; for those characters belong to all of this race except the Germans, which have occu- pied the more distant regions. In support of the opinion, that the original stock of the human species had the characters of the Caucasian variety, it may be stated that the part of Asia, which seems to have been the cradle of the race, has always been, and still is, inhabited by tribes of that formation, and that the inhabitants of Europe, in great part, may be traced back for their origin to the west of Asia. I think, however, that we have not the data necessary for establishing a satisfactory conclusion on this point. We cannot yet assume it as a point fully proved, that all the varieties of man have been produced from one and the same breed. II. The Mongolian Variety is characterized by olive colour, which in many cases is very light, and black eyes ; black, straight, strong, and thin hair ; little or no beard ; head of a square form, \vith small and low forehead ; broad and flattened face, mth the features running together ; the glabella flat and very broad ; nose small and flat ; rounded cheeks projecting externally ; narrow and linear aperture of the eyelids ; eyes placed very obliquely ; slight projection of the chin ; large ears ; thick Ups. The stature, particularly in the countries near the North Pole, is inferior to that of Europeans. INTO FIVE VARIETIES. 381 It includes the numerous more or less rude, and in great part Nomadic tribes, which occupy central and northern Asia ; as the Mongols, Calmucks, and Burats,* the Mantchoos or Mand- shursj Daourians, Tungooses, and Coreans : the Samoiedes.f Yn.kagirs, Coriacks, Tschutski, and Kamtschadales ; I the Chi- nese § and Japanese ; i| the inhabitants of Thibet and Bootan, those of Tungquin, Cochin China, Ava, Pegu, Cambodia, Laos, and Siam ; the Finnish races of northern Europe, as the Lap- landers ; and the tribes of Esquimaux extending over the nor- thern parts of America, from Bering's Strait to the extremity of Greenland. " The Calmucks, and all the Mongolian tribes," says Pallas, " are characterized by obliquity of the eyes, which are depressed towards the nose, and by the rounded internal angle of the eyelids ; by thin, black, and scarcely curved eyebrows ; by the nose, which is altogether small and flat, being particularly broad towards the forehead ; by high cheek-bones ; a round head and face. Black-brown irides, large and thick lips, short chin, white teeth remaining firm and sound even in advanced age, and large ears standing off from the head, are universal." " They are of middling size, and we see very few tall people amongst them ; the women are particularly small, and very delicately formed." % That the characters of the ancient Huns corresponded to this description, may be collected from the short l)ut expressive portrait, which Jornandes has drawn of Attila : " Forma brevis, lato pectore, capite grandiore, minutis oculis, rarus barba, canis aspersis, simo naso, teter colore, originis suEe signa restituens." Mr. Barrow says that "the Mantchoo Tatars are scarcely distinguishable from the Chinese by external appearances : the Chinese are rather taller, and of a more slender and delicate frame than the Tatars, who are in general short, thick, and robust. The small eye, elliptical at the end next the nose, is a predominating feature in the cast of both the Chinese and Tatar coimtenance, and they have the same high cheek-bones and pointed chins. The native colour, both of Chinese and Tatars, • The fijjures in the plates of Pallas, Histor. nachrichlen ilher die Mongol, F'olkenchajten.giyn some idea of the general characters of the Mongoliaa tribes, t Voyage de Corn. Le Brun, v. i. pi. 7, 8, and 9. t Cooli's Voyage to the Pacific; pi. 75 and 76. } Barrow's Travels in China; frontispiece, and p. 50. II LansdoriTs Voyages, %c. v. i. pi. 16, p. 316. T Pallas, Histor. nachricht. Th. i. pp. 98 and 99. 882 DIVISION OF THE HUMAN SPECIES seems to be that tint between a fair and a dark complexion, which we distinguish by the word branet or brunette ; and the shades of this complexion are deeper or lighter, according as they have been more or less exposed to the influence of climate. The women of the lower class, who labour in the fields, or who dwell in vessels, are almost invariably coarse, ill-featured, and of a deep or brown complexion, like that of the Hottentots. We saw women in China, though very few, who might pass for beauties even in Europe. A small black or dark brown eye, a short rounded nose, generally a little flattened, lips considerably thicker than in Europeans, and black hair, are universal." * Mr. Turner informs us that the people of Thibet have in- variably black hair, small black eyes with long pointed corners, as if extended by artificial means, eyelashes so thin as to be scarcely perceptible, and eyebrows but slightly shaded. Below the eyes is the broadest part of the face, which is rather flat, and narrows from the cheek-bones to the chin. Their skins are remarkably smooth, and most of them arrive at a very advanced age before they can boast ev^en the earliest rudiments of abeard. Their complexion is not so dark by many shades as that of the European Portuguese. "f The Esquimaux are formed on the Mongolian model, although they inhabit countries so different from the abodes of the origi- nal tribes of central Asia. " The male Esquimaux have rather a prepossessing physiogno- my, but with very high cheek-bones, broad foreheads, and small eyes, rather further apart than those of an European. The corners of their eyelids are drawn together so close, that none of the white is to be seen ; their mouths are wide, and their teeth wide and regular. The complexion is a dusky yellow, but some of the young women have a little colour bursting through this dark tint. The noses of the men are rather flattened, but those of the women are rather prominent. The males are, generally speaking, between five feet five inches, and five feet eight inches high, bony and broad-shouldered ; but do not appear to possess much muscular strength. The flesh of all the Esquimaux feels soft and flabby, which may be attributed to the nature of their food. But the most surprising peculiarity of this people is the sraallness of their hands and feet." J • Travph m China, pp. IS'i, 185. + .iccnunt of an Embassy lo the Cotirt of ilic Tcslioo Lama, pp. 84, 8j. He observed the same character of countenance in the Regent of Thibet (241,) in the i>erson second in rank, a Mantchoo Tatar (p. 247,) and in the mother of the new Lama (p. 336.) t Chappell's Narrative of a Foyage to Hudson's Bay, pp. 58, 59. INTO FIVE VARIETIES. 383 The same characters belong to the several tribes of Esqui- maux, which are scattered over the whole breadth of the Ame- rican continent. Humboldt* mentions the affinity of the languages at the two extreme points; and Dr. CLARKf has noticed the complete resemblance of the dresses, ornaments, weapons, &c. brought by Mr. Chappell from Hudson's Straits to those in a collection made by Commodore Billings in the north-west extremity of the continent. Similar descriptions might be quoted of the other people in- cluded under this variety. HI. In the Ethiopian Variety the skin and eyes are black ; the hair black and woolly ; the skull compressed laterally and elongated towards the front ; the forehead low, narrow, and slanting ; the cheek-bones are prominent ; the jaws narrow and projecting ; the upper front teeth oblique ; the chin recedes. The eyes are prominent ; the nose broad, thick, flat, and con- fused with the extended jaw ; the lips, and particularly the upper one, are thick. The knees turn in in many instances. All the natives of Africa, not excluded in the first variety, belong to this. The striking peculiarities of the African organization, and particularly the great diflference between its colour and our own, have led many persons to adopt the opinion of Voltaire, J who had not a sufficient knowledge of physiology and natural his- tory to determine the question, that the Africans belong to a distinct species. I have shown, in the preceding divisions of this article, that there is no one character so peculiar and com- mon to the Africans, but that it is found frequently in the other varieties, and that Negroes often want it ; also, that the cha- racters of this variety run by insensible gradations into those of the neighbouring races, as will be immediately perceived by comparing together different tribes of this race, as the Foulalis, Jaloffs, Mandingoes, Kaffers, and Hottentots, and carefully noting how in these gradational differences they approach to the Moors, New Hollanders, Arabians, Chinese, &c. Again, great stress has been laid on the fact, that the Negroes resemble more nearly than the Europeans, the monkey tribe the fear of being drawn into the family, even as distant relations, has, I believe, induced many to place our black brethren in distinct species ; while others have brought forward this ap- • Personal JVarratire, v. iii. p. 291. t Chappell's Voyage, S;c. Introductory Advertisement ; and Appendix E. t See the quotation of his opinion at p. 167. 884 DIVISION OF THE HUMAN SPECIES proximation to the simaei, with the view of degrading the African below the standard of the human species, and thereby palliating the cruel hardships under which he groans in the islands and continent of the new world. It is undoubtedly true, that in many of the points, wherein the Ethiopian differs from the Caucasian variety, it comes nearer to the monkeys, viz. in the greater size of the bones of the face, compared to those of the cranium ; the low and slanting fore- head ; the protuberance of the alveoli and teeth ; the recession of the chin ; the form of the ossa nasi ; the position of the fora- men magnum occipitale ; the outline of the union of the head and trunk ; the relative length of the humerus and ulna, &c. This resemblance is most unequivocally admitted by those who have minutely examined the anatomical structure of the Negro.* It appears to me, that this fact is not very important ; if there are varieties of bodily formation among mankind, some one of these must approach nearer to the organization of the monkey than the others ; but does this prove, that the variety in which the con- formity occurs, isless man than theothers; the solidungular variety of the common pig is more like the horse than other swine ; do we hence infer, that the nature of this animal in general is less porcine, or more like that of the horse, than that of other pigs ? The points of difference between the Negro and the European do not aflfect those important characters which separate man in general from the animal world : the erect attitude, the two hands, the slow development of the body, the use of reason, and con- sequent perfectability, are attributes common to both. That very little importance can be attached to the general observation of the resemblance of the Negro and monkey, founded on external appearance, may be clearly inferred from this fact, that the same remark has been made, even by intelli- gent travellers, of particular people in the other varieties. Regnard concludes his description of the Laplanders with these words : " Voila la description de ce petit animal qu'on appelle Lapon, et I'on peut dire qu'il n'y en a point, apres le singe, qui approche plus de rhomme."f Cartwright thought the Esquimaux very like monkeys : he informs us that " walking along Piccadilly one day with the two men, I took them into a shop to show them a collection of animals. We had no sooner entered, than I observed their • Soemmerring iib. d:'e /iiirp. rersch. prifacc, p. 19, and } 69. + CEuvres, t. i. p. 71. INTO FIVE VARIETIES. SS5 attention riveted on a small monkey ; and I could see horror most strongly depicted in their countenances At length the old man turned to me, and faltered out, ' Is that an Esquimaux ?' I must confess that both the colour and contour of the coun- tenance had considerable resemblance to the people of their nation. On pointing out several other monkeys of different kinds, they were greatly diverted at the mistake which they had made ; but were not well pleased to observe that monkeys re- sembled their race much more than ours."* Nic. DEL Techo represents a native tribe in South America as "tarn simiis similes, quam hominibus."t Cook calls the people of the island of MallicoUo "an ape-like nation;" J and FoRSTER uses the same comparison ; " The natives of MallicoUo are a small, nimble, slender, ill-favoured set of beings, that of all men I ever saw border nearest upon the tribe of monkeys. "§ As the characteristic form of the head and features of the Negro are just opposite to those of the Esquimaux and native Ameri- cans, we must regard these comparisons, which cannot be correct in all the instances, as loose expressions, not meant to be inter- preted literally. Under the Ethiopian variety, as under the Caucasian and Mongolian, are included numerous nations and tribes distin- guished from each other by well-marked modifications of orga- nization and moral qualities. Nothing is more erroneous than the common notion that all Africans have one and the same character. I have already noticed the diversities of features and skulls (see pages 222 and 224) ; and equally strong distinc tions are observable in general character whether physical or moral. To the proofs of the former point before adduced, I shall here add the testimony of Dr. Winterbottom : " As great a variety of features occurs among these people as is to be met with in the nations of Europe ; the sloping contracted fore- head, small eyes, depressed nose, thick lips, and projecting jaws, \vith which the African is usually caricatured, are by no means constant traits : on the contrary, almost every grada- tion of countenance may be met with, from tlie disgusting picture too commonly drawn of them, to the finest set of Euro- pean features. Want of animation does not characterize them, * Journal of Transactions, %c, during a Residence of nearly sixteen Feart on the Coast of Labrador ; v. i. p. 270. + llelat. de Cadiguarum Oente, p. 34. t Voyage towards the Squill Pole, v. ii. p. 34. \ Observations on a Voyage round the JVorld, p. 243. 886 DIVISION OF THE HUMAN SPECIES and faces are often met with which express the various emotions of the mind with great energy."* Mr. Edwards, who had seen them in the West Indies, regards the Foulalis as a hnk between the Moors and Negroes. They are of a less glossy black than those of the Gold Coast ; their hair is crisped and bushy ; not woolly, but soft and silky. They have not such flat noses or thick lips as we generally include in our notion of the Negro countenance ; nor have they the peculiar fetid cutaneous odour."t The Koromantyns from the Gold Coast are characterized by firmness of body and mind, activity, courage and ferocity ; by the greatest fortitude and contempt of death. He adduces a horrid example of these qualities in a punishment inflicted for revolt. Two of them were hung up alive in chains : one died on the eighth, the other on the ninth day, without having uttered a groan or com- plaint.]; The Eboes from the Bight of Benin " are the lowest and most wretched of all the nations of Africa." — " I cannot help observing too, that the conformation of the face, in a great majority of them, very much resembles that of the baboon."§ In some parts of Africa intermixture with other nations may have produced occasional departures from the original type of the race. In the north, the Aboriginal Berber tribes, and sub- sequently the Arabian or Saracen conquerors, not to mention the Phoenician, Greek, Roman, and Turkish colonists, must have mingled extensively with the Negroes. On the east, the kingdom of Abyssinia is of Arabian origin, and traces of the same people are found along the coast nearly as far as the Cape. Europeans, and particularly the Portuguese, have had settle- ments on the west coast between three and four centuries. The result of such mixtures must not be confounded with native differences. The tribes in the south of Africa are marked by strong pecu- liarities. The fine forms, taUness, and strength of the Kaflfers, have been already observed (p. 301). Although their hair is black and woolly, or rather short and curling, the skin is of a deep brown instead of black ; they have the high forehead and prominent nose of Europeans, with thickish lips, and pro- jecting cheek-bones. In moral qualities, arts, and civilization, they excel the true Negroes as much as in organization. || * Account of the Kative Jlfricans, v. i. p. 198. + History of the Jfest Indies, v. ii. p. 73. Mr. Park's descriptiou coincides with this account ; Trarels into the Interior Districts of Africa, 8\o. ed. p. 25. t Edwards, ihid. p. 79. \ Ibid. 88, 89. II Barrow's Southern Africa; v. i. ch. 3. Lichtensteiu's Travels, ch. 18. INTO FIVE VARIETIES. 387 The Hottentot race is again clearly distinguished both from the Kaffers and Negroes. I have mentioned in another place (p. 301) their very short stature. The colour of the skin is a yellowish brown, or that of a faded leaf. The cheek-bones are high and much spread out in the lateral direction, so that this is the broadest part of the face ; which is suddenly contracted below to a very narrow and pointed chin. The nose is remark- ably flat, and broad towards its end ; but in some it is more raised. The forehead has a narrow appearance, from the great breadth across the cheeks ; but it is not either contracted or low. — " The colour of the eyes is a deep chestnut ; they are very long and narrow, removed to a great distance from each other ; and the eyelids, at the extremity next to the nose, instead of forming an angle, as in Europeans, are rounded into each other, exactly like those of the Chinese, to whom, indeed, in many other points, they bear a physical resemblance." — " The hair is of a very singular nature, it does not cover the whole surface of the scalp, but grows in small tufts at certain distances from each other, and when kept short has the appear- ance and feel of a hard shoe-brush, with this difference, that it is curled and twisted into small round lumps about the size of a marrow-fat pea. When suffered to grow, it hangs in the neck in hard twisted tassels like fringe."* The organization of the Bosjesmen is the same in all essential points. f IV. The American Variety is characterized by a dark skin, of a more or less red tint ; black, straight, and strong hair, small beard, which is generally eradicated, and a covmtenance and skull very similar to those of the Mongolian tribes. The forehead is low, the eyes deep, the face broad, particularly across the cheeks, which are prominent and rounded. Yet the face is not so flattened, as in the Mongols ; the nose and other features being more distinct and projecting. J The mouth is large, and For excellent portraits of Kaffers, see Mr. S. Daniell's African Scenery and Animals; fol. * Barrow, lih. cit. pp. 157, 158. Dr. Somerville, Ohs. de Gente Hottentottarum in Medico-chir. Trans, v. viii. Portrait of a Hottentot; Barrow, Travels in China, p. 50. Kora Hottentot woman, Barrow, Voyage to Cochin China, p. 373. Booshuana man and woman ; ibid. p. 394. But the best representations of these people and the Bosjesmen are to be seen in Mr. Daniell's African Scenery and Animals. + Barrow's Africa; v. i. p. 278. t "If the Chaymas," says Humboldt, "and in general all the natives of South America and New Spain, resemble the Mongol race by the form of the eye, their high cheek-bones, their straight and flat hair, and the almost entire want of beard ; they essentially differ from them in the form of the nose, which is pretty long, prominent through its whole lengtji, and thick towards the nostrils, the openings of which are directed downwards, as in all the nations of the Caucasian race." Personal Narrative, v. iii. p. 224. S88 DIVISION OP THE HUMAX SPECIES the lips rather thick.* The forehead and vertex are in some cases deformed by art. This variety inchides all the Americans, with tlie exception of the Esquimaux-. The redness of the skin is not so constant, but that it varies in many instances towards a brown, and approaches in some situations to the white colour. Cook states that the natives of Nootka Sound have a colour not very different from that of Europeans, but with a pale dull cast :f and Bouguer makes the same observations of the Peruvians on the Andes. Humboldt observes that " tlie denominations of copper-coloured men could never have originated in equinoctial America to designate the natives/'t Mr. Birkbeck says of the natives, whom he saw in the western territory of the United States, "that their complexion is various; some are dark, others not so swarthy as myself; but I saw none of the copper colour, which I had imagined to be their universal distinctive mark."§ In describing the Chihans, Molina says, "Their complexion, like that of the other American nations, is of a reddish brown, but it is of a clearer hue, and readily changes to white. A tribe, who dwell in the province of Baroa, are of a clear white and red, without any intermixture of the copper colour." || The most accurate observers, in various parts of the continent, have particularly noticed the imperfect development of the fore- head in the American race. " In the natives of Nootka Sound," says Cook, "the visage of most is round and full; and some- times also broad, with high prominent cheeks ; and above these the face is frequently much depressed, or seems fallen in quite across between the temples ; the nose flattening at its base, with pretty wide nostrils, and a rounded point. The forehead rather low." IF The same lowness of this region is remarked by HEARNE**inthe northern Indians; by Lewis and Clarke, ff of the western tribes ; by Mr. Rollin, the surgeon who accom- panied La Perouse, of the natives on the western coast in 58 deg. north lat., tt of the Californians, §§ and the Chilians; |]|i by Dampier, of those on the coast of Nicaragua, and the Isthmus of Darien ;*[[11 and by Humboldt, of the Americans generally.*** * For portraits of Americans, sre Cook, rot/, towards the Sotith Pole, v. ii. p. 183, pi. 27 ; native of Tierra del Fuego : and P'oyaai' to tlii> Parijic ; pi. 38, 39,40,47,54; nativesof the north-westcoast. + Foyagcto i/irl'in/jic, v. ii. p. 303. t Personal Narratirp, v. iii. p. 223. \ Notes on a Joitniey in America, p. 100. II Civil History of Chili, p. 4. H Voyage towards the South Pole, v. ii. p. 183. *• Jqurney to the Frozen Ocean, Tg\^.fi'iax\tX'A()G. +t Travels, -p. 64, andch. xxiii. %X Voyage, Sfc. v. iii. p. 202. H Ihid. 201. |||| Ibid. 200. HI Voyages, ^c. v, i. p. 32 ; v. ii. p. 115. *♦* See the quotation at p. 249. INTO FIVE VARIETIES. S89 In describing the Chaymas, he says that " the forehead is small, and but httle prominent. Thus, in several languages of these countries, to express the beauty of a woman, they say that she is fat and has a narrow forehead."* A singular intellectual defect has been noticed in some Americans, and may, perhaps, be connected with this peculiarity in the configuration of the head. " The Chaymas have a great difficulty in comprehending any thing that belongs to numerical relations. I never saw a single man who might not be made to say that he was eighteen or sixty years of age."t Wafer observed the same circum- stance in the Isthmus of Darien. The Indians attempted to reckon a party of between three and four hundred persons : one of them put a grain of maize into a basket for each that passed ; but they could not cast it up. Some days after, twenty or thirty of the chief men came together, and tried their skill. " But, when they could teU no further (the number probably exceeding their arithmetic), and seemed to grow very hot and earnest in their debates about it ; one of them started up, and sorting out a lock of hair with his fingers, and shaking it, seemed to intimate the number to be great and unknown, and so put an end to the dispute. But one of them came after us, and inquired our number in broken Spanish." ;t Several fabulous reports have been propagated, and entertained even by writers of credit, respecting the distinguishing characters of this race. The representation of their entire natural deficiency of beard has been rectified already (see p. 309 and following). It has been asserted that the women are not subject to the menstrual discharge ; and that in some places the men suckle, and not the women. § A formal refutation of such fancies can- not be necessary. V. Malay Variety. Brown colour, from a light tawny tint, not deeper than that of the Spaniards and Portuguese, to a deep brown approaching to black. Hair black, more or less curled, and abundant. Head rather narrow ; bones of the face large and prominent; nose full and broad towards the apex; large mouth. The inhabitants of the peninsula of Malacca, of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes, and the adjacent Asiatic islands ; of the Molucca, Ladrone, Philippine, Marian, and Caroline groups ; of New Holland, Van Diemen's Land, New Guinea, New Zealand, * Personal Xarratire, v. iii. p. 223. + Ihid. p. 241. X ^\eu! Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America, p, 179. \ Clavigero, Storia di Messico; iv. 169. S 2 390 DIVISION OF THE HUMAN SPECIES and the numberless islands scattered through the whole of the South Sea, belong to this division. It is called Malay,* because most of the tribes speak the Malay language ; which may be traced, in the various ramifications of this race, from Madagascar to Easter Island. Under this variety, to which, in truth, no well-marked common characters can be assigned, are included races of men very dif- ferent in organization and qualities ; too different indeed to be arranged with propriety under one and the same division, but hitherto too imperfectly known for the purposes of satisfactory arrangement. In that di\dsion of the abodes of this race, which may be called the Southern Asiatic, or East Indian islands, we find at least two very diflferent organizations ; namely, one Negro-like, black, with strongly curled hair ; another of brown or olive-colour, \vith longer hair. The first, regarded as the Aboriginal inhabitants, occupy some islands entirely, but are found in the larger ones in the mountainous interior parts, whither they seem to have been driven by the encroachments of new settlers. They resemble the African Negroes in their black colour, woolly hair, and general formation of the skull and features ; and hence they are called by the Dutch writers Negroes and Moors. They are distinguished, however, by their language, and by a copious bushy beard. In Sumatra they are called Batta ; in Borneo, Biajos ; in the Moluccas, Haraforas or Alfoeras ; in the Philip- pines, Ygolotes. Tliey are wild, barbarous, and uncivilized, like their African kindred. Col. Symes, who visited the great Andaman island on his voyage to Ava, describes the natives as seldom exceeding five feet, having slender limbs, large belhes, high shoulders, and large heads. They had woolly hair, flat noses, and thick lips ; and skin of a deep sooty black. They are naked, and in a state of complete barbarism.f * The tevm Malay, says Mr. Marsden, like that of Moor in the continent of India, is almost synonymous with Mahometan. Hist, of Sumatra; third edition, p. 42. These people, he says, are supposed to have come from the peninsula of Malacca, and to have spread thence over the adjacent islands ; whereas it is clearly proved that the Malays went from Sumatra to Malacca in the 12th century ; "and that the indigenous inhabitants, gradually driven by them to the woods and mountains, so far from being the stock from which the Malays were prop.agaled, are an entirely different race of men, nearly approaching in their physical characters to the Negroes of Africa." Ibid. 326. + Emoassy to Ava, 8vo. p. 301. A similar description of them is given by the Arabian travellers in the ninth century, whose account is translated by Renaudot, ibid. p. 296, note. " It deserves remark," the author adds, " that on the continent of India, extra Gaugem, figures of Boodh or Budhoo, the Gaudma of the Birmans and Siamese, are often seen with the characteristic INTO FIVE VARIETIES. 391 The lighter coloured race, with more oval countenance, longer hair, and finer forms altogether, occupy the coasts of the larger islands, and some smaller ones entirely. Many of them show their Malay origin by their organization, language, and manners ; and appear to have gradually spread from the continent over the adjacent islands. Others, however, cannot be traced so satis- factorily to this source. * In the numerous larger and smaller islands of the South Sea, extending from New Holland to Easter Island over a space of nearly 140 degrees of longitude, very various tribes are found, of light brown or olive to black colour, of woolly or long hair, tall or short, handsome or ugly ; and that often very near each other. They may be arranged, as in the latter case, under two divisions ; between which, however, there are several inter- mediate gradations forming an insensible transition from the one to the other. 1st. Negro-like men, with curly hair, occupy the south-western islands ; and may, perhaps, have descended from the analogous race in the Moluccas and other East Indian islands. They are savage, ferocious aud suspicious. f This race is found in New Holland and Van Diemen's Land, New Guinea, New Britain, and the adjacent group sometimes called Solomon's Islands, New Georgia and the Charlotte Islands, the New Hebrides, including Tanna, Mallicollo, and others. New Caledonia, and the Feejee islands. The remaining islands of the South Sea, from New Zealand on the west, to Easter Island, contain a race of much better orga- nization and qualities. ;t In colour and features many of them approach to the Caucasian variety ; while they are surpassed by none in symmetry, size, and strength. They have made con- siderable advances in civilization, and readily learn the arts imparted by their European visitors. hair and features of the Negro." p. 303, note. Mr. Colebrook's account of the physical traits, the ferocity, and the completely savage state of this race, is precisely similar to that of Col. Symes. Asiatic Researches, v. iv. • Two natives of Timor are represented by Peron, Voy. de Decouvcries aux Terres Australes, t. i. pi. 25 et 26. + For portraits of this race see Cook's Voyage toicards the South Pole. v. iu pi. 47, Maa of Mallicollo ; pi. 26 and 4i, Man and Woman of Tanna; pi. 39 and 48, Man and Woman of New Caledonia. Cook's Voyage to the Pacific ; pi. 6 and 7, Man, Woman, and Child of Van Diemen's Land. "Collins, Account ofA'ew South Wales, p. 439, Portrait of a Native with the prominent jaws and mouth of the Negro. Peron, Voyage de Decov. t. i. pi. 8 — 12, and pi. 17 20, Natives of New Holland, and the adjacent islands. The Papuahs of New Guinea are described by Forrest in his Voyage to New Guinea; and a figure of a youth of this race, with jaws as prominent as those of any African Negro, is given by Sir T. .S. Raffles, in his History of Java, v. ii. t Numerous figures may be seen in Cook's Voyage across the South Pole; and in the folio atlas of his Voyage to the Pacific. 392 COAXLUDIXG ADDRESS. CONCLUDING ADDRESS OF THE LAST LECTURE. I HAVE now. Gentlemen ! performed the task assigned to me by the Board of Curators. In judging of the execution of any design, it is right to bear in mind the object and views with which it was undertaken. I have been desirous of exhibiting to you, in the Lectures, which are just concluded, the utility and applications of zoological science ; and have, therefore, aimed more at illustrating prin- ciples, and the mode of employing and applying knowledge, than at collecting or bringing forwards a great number or variety of facts. I selected the natural history of our species, because the sub- ject is very interesting, because many of the points which it involves, embracing physiological questions of the highest importance, are closely allied to our own peculiar pursuits ; and because it has not yet received a due portion of attention in this country. I hope to have convinced you that the zoological study of man, when grounded on a knowledge of his organization and functions, and enlightened by the analogies, the contrasts, and the various aids afforded by an acquaintance with the animal kingdom in general, is the only means by which a clear insight can be gained into human nature ; — into the physical and moral attributes, the comparative powers, the liability to change or modification of the individual, the race or the variety, and con- sequently into the frame, capabilities, and destiny of the species The principles furnished by such investigations are the safest guide in all branches of knowledge, of which man in any shape is the object : the only guide at least that can be trusted by those, who are determined to resort to nature for themselves, rather than blindly adopt established doctrines, or take up the ready-made notions and clever systems, so kindly provided for those who are too indolent or too timid to exercise their own obser\'ation and reason on these important topics. Such in- quiries, I win venture to add, afford the only light capable of directing us through the dark regions of metaphysics, the only CONCLUDIXG ADDRESS. 393 clue to direct our course through the intricate mazes of morals. Can we hope to proceed safely in legislation, in public institu- tions, in education, without that acquaintance with the physical and moral qualities of the subject for whose benefit they are designed, which such investigations are calculated to supply ? I have had occasion, in the course of the Lectures, to exem- phfy the incidental elucidations, which various questions in history, in antiquities, in the fine arts, may receive from this quarter. Anatomy and physiology would be very inconsider- able branches of general knowledge, if the facts which they supply were applicable merely to the illustration and extension of the healing art. You may, perhaps, ask, whether these pursuits, or at least these applications, are within that part of the territory of science which may be marked out as the field of medicine ? whether they ought not to be deemed foreign to our immediate object, surgical practice ? They are so, if surgery be regarded as a mere manual art, of which outward applications and operations are the sole ends ; — if surgeons feel that they have taken a rank higher than they can maintain, and are disposed to descend quietly into their original condition of a subordinate mechanical class, contented to occupy themselves, under the sufferance and connivance of their elder medical brethren, with the few petty matters, which they had disdained as too low and trivial for persons of superior education. But, Gentlemen ! such is not the light in which the Col- lege of Surgeons, and, what is more important, in which the public regards our profession. The legislature, in voting public money to purchase the rich collection formed by an English surgeon, and to prepare a suitable building for its safe deposit ; and the rulers of this College, in the pecuniary exertions con- nected with the acceptance of this precious gift, in the devotion of time and labour demanded by the necessary arrangements, and in the institution of professorships, so well calculated to keep alive the spirit of emulation and improvement, have recog- nised surgery as a liberal science, and have viewed surgeons, in the free exercise of their allotted branch of the healing art, as an independent body, responsible in its professional proceedings to no superior professional jurisdiction. It is our duty. Gentlemen ! and, I am sure, it will be not less our pleasure, to maintain our profession in the rank thus marked out for it by public opinion. That impartial and gene- 394 CONCLUDING ADDRESS. rally enlightened tribunal will support and protect us so long as our endeavours are honestly directed to advancing and perfect- ing the theory and practice of so useful an art. Our own indi- vidual credit, and the dignity, honour, and reputation of our body, demand that surgeons should not be behind any other class in the profession, either in the cultivation of all branches of knowledge directly connected with the healing art, or in any of the collateral pursuits less immediately attached to it. It is only in reference to such views and such objects, that the Hun- terian collection could have been accepted, or can be of any use to our College. Unless rightly employed, this valuable treasure will be an incumbrance rather than an ornament : instead of rendering service or conferring dignity, it wUl make our incom- petence and disgrace more conspicuous. The medical character is generally received as a certificate of education and knowledge ; and it is a passport of admission into the most cultivated society. A general acquaintance with natural knowledge is expected of us, and is absolutely necessary to answer the appeals which are constantly made to us in con- versation. As general information is now so much more diffused than heretofore, our relative superiority can only be maintained by increased exertion. In the present day. Gentlemen ! professional characters are estimated fairly enough according to the proportion of their knowledge and active talent ; the efficacy of names and titles, like the fashion of wigs and canes, is gone by, without a chance of revival. The obsolete institutions of past ages, and inefficient modern ones, meet alike with silent disregard. The mighty impulse, which for the last half century has so signally extended the boundaries of knowledge in all directions, still actuates the human mind. The astonishing occurrences of this eventful period raised it at times into irregular agitation : that, indeed, has for the present subsided ; but the force of the original movement is not at all diminished ; — I think rather in- creased. It will perhaps display itself, now that political revo- lutions and innovations are suspended in a more vigorous pursuit of the useful sciences, and a more active cultivation of the arts of psace. Surgery is largely indebted to this past and present mental activity. So much have its principles, its doctrines, and its practical proceedings been modified — I wiU venture to say im- proved, that the magnitude of the change is noticed, even by C■0^'CLUDING ADDRESS. 395 the junior members of the profession. But do not suppose that it has reached perfection ; or that it is destined to stop at its present point. What has been hitherto effected, in the physio- logical and pathological principles of our art, has been chiefly to expose and remove errors, to clear away rubbish and incum- brances, and lay some part of the foundation. It still remains for us to erect the building. We must increase, rather than relax our exertions. The current of knowledge and improvement rushes on so strongly, that they who hesitate to commit themselves to it, will soon be left far behind ; and ser\'e only the disgraceful purpose of enabling us to measure the force and rapidity of the stream. Beware, I exhort you, of this shameful apathy, this fatal indeci- sion ; and strain every nerve to advance all branches, whether immediate or auxiliary, of the profession you have chosen. You will thus enjoy the greatest pleasure, which upright and honour- able minds can receive, that of increasing the usefulness, and thereby raising the credit and respectabihty of the body to which you belong : you will prepare for yourselves, at all times, a pure source of the most satisfactory reflections. Our professional ministrations introduce us to our feUow- creatures in the most endearing character, as instruments of unquestionable benefit ; not merely in alleviating or remo\'ing the severe pressure of that great evil, bodily pain, and protract- ing the approach of that awful moment, from which all sentient beings shrink back with instinctive dread, the termination of existence ; but in soothing the acuter anguish which near rela- tions and friends feel for each other. Consider the responsibi- lity attached to those decisions, on which it wiU depend whether a beloved wife or husband shall be saved ; whether children shall be restored to their anxious parents, or parents be pre- served for the benefit of their offspring. On reviewing our con- duct in these trying scenes, when all our efforts have been un- availing, the reflection that nothing has been omitted, which the resom"ces of our art rendered possible, — nothing neglected, which more diligent study, and more active pursuit of know- ledge could have supplied, will be a support and a consolation. What must be the feelings of those, to whom this consolation is denied ? who feel a doubt whether the fatal event has merely exemplified the limited efficacy of art, or has been owing to their own ignorance or incompetence ? These matters have, however, been already treated with such 396 CONCLUDING ADDRESS. just feeling and such persuasive eloquence, by my ingenious and most estimable colleague,* that I desist, apprehensive that by going on I should only weaken the effect of his forcible appeals. My distinguished coadjutor spoke of his excursions into the field of comparative anatomy, as if they required explanation or apology. By making man the principal object of my Lectures, I have imitated him in deviating apparently from the precise course marked out by our superiors. I wish I could have pre- sented to you as eflfectual an excuse as he did, in the bold and novel views, the striking thoughts, the acute remarks, and thk beautiful languages of his interesting discourses. I shall be satisfied, however. Gentlemen ! if you will accord to me the humbler merits of industry in collecting materials, patience in arranging, combining, and reflecting on them, fide- lity and independence in exhibiting to you, precisely as they appeared to my mind, the inferences and deductions that resulted from the whole. To the Court, to the members of this College, and to my other hearers, I am much indebted for their patient attention to fifteen long Lectures, during the extraordinary heats of this Bengal summer ; particularly in the oppressive atmosphere of this unven- tilated theatre, and at a time of day, when in such seasons living beings seem almost instinctively to seek repose. Gentlemen ! I thank you very sincerely; and I wish you every success and happiness in the honourable practice of your profession ! • Ant Carlisle, Esq. THE END. William Stevens, Printer, Bell Yard, Temple Bar. ^,3'ONAL LIBRABV FAaLITV 000 047 174 j£\iir?v