This table, borrowed from one of the most eminent supporters of polygenism, should, I think, excite reflections in all who pay any attention to facts.
We find the Chinese placed, by their mean cranial capacity, below the Polynesians, the African Negroes, and the savage tribes of North America. Is this really the position which their civilization assigns to them?
In Morton’s table the Creole Negroes of America fall below the African Negroes by the lesser development of the same cavity. Meigs has confirmed this curious fact in several ways, and has even made the difference still wider; 80·8 for the former and 83·7 for the latter. And yet it is universally acknowledged that Negroes born in America are intellectually superior to their African brothers. Even Nott allows that it is so. With them, therefore, the intelligence increases, while the cranial capacity diminishes.
This fact is the more singular since the observations of M. Broca upon Parisian skulls of the thirteenth to the nineteenth century show that the Cranial capacity increases with general intellectual progress. The measurements taken by the same observer upon individuals belonging to the educated and illiterate classes lead to the same conclusion.
Still, however, we cannot disregard the calculations of Morton and Meigs; and thisexperience, bearing upon numerous populations of the same race, seems to establish beyond a doubt the fact, which already clearly results from the comparison of different races, namely, that the development of the intellectual faculties of man is, to a great extent, independent of the capacity of the cranium and the volume of the brain.
I must here confine myself to the statement that the diminution of the cranium is, in North America, one of thecharacters of the Creole Negro race, derived from theAfrican Negro race.
The intercrossing of races is again demonstrated in this table by the means. The Hindoos and ancient Egyptians are separated from the other White races of the Negroes, Chinese, Polynesians, and Red-Skins.
But the maxima and minima show still more clearly how far this confusion would be carried, if individuals were compared. Hottentots and Australians, by their maxima of 83, would stand before Germans and Anglo-Americans, whose minimum is not so high. With much greater reason would they be placed in the midst of all the other races, which, by their means, are placed above them. This is not all. Between the highest and the lowest mean, between the English and Hottentots, or Australians, the difference in cranial capacity is only twenty-one cubic inches. The difference between the maximum and minimum of the Chinese is exactly the same. And it is much greater in nine other races, being more than double in the Germans and Peruvians.
Do we meet with facts like those resulting from the measurements of Morton in thespeciesof a singlegeneraofplants and animals? Certainly not; and this table is of itself sufficient to prove that the human groups areraces, which have little uniformity owing to the absence of selection, and in no sensespecies.
III.Characters drawn from the face alone.—Similar conclusions to those furnished by the examination of the cranium are suggested by that of the entire face. It may be either broad or long; and in order to distinguish these two forms by special epithets, we may employ the termseuryopse,dolichopse(οψις,theatrical mask).
Since the face is much more irregular in form than the cranium, it gives rise to a far greater number of observations. Each one of its features would deserve our attention, were we writing a detailed work, and the more so, as such close study as this can only boast an existence of a few years. Failing space, I shall confine myself to pointing out the nature of the characters, and commenting upon some of the principal results.
In the living subject the length of the face is estimated from the commencement of the hair to the extremity of the chin. But measurements of this kind are difficult to procure when exotic races are in question. Skulls, therefore, have been examined. In the latter, the inferior maxillary bone is very often wanting, and even the teeth have, in too many cases, fallen out. The inferior limit of the length of the face could therefore be carried no further than the alveolar border of the superior maxillary bone. Thepoint sus-nasalof M. Broca serves as the superior limit. The interval comprised within these limits is always less than thebreadthmeasured across the zygomatic arches. In multiplying by 100 the length of the face and dividing it by the breadth, M. Broca has obtained thefacial index. The following are some examples which I borrow from him with M. Topinard:
In spite of the small number of these examples, they might lead to remarks similar to those which I have already brought forward on several occasions, and which I believe it to be unnecessary to repeat.
The nose is one of the most striking features of the human face. Its general form and dimensions furnish some of the most special external characters in the distinction of races. But the morphological variations of this organ, presenting considerable difficulties, had long been neglected. M. Topinard filled this gap, and showed that it is possible, even upon casts, to take measurements suitable for indices. Nevertheless, it is the skull that, up to the present time, has contributed the clearest indications. The breadth of the nose taken at the opening of the nasal fossæ and multiplied by 100, compared with the length from the spine to the naso-frontal articulation, has furnished M. Broca with the terms of the relation expressed by hisnasal index, the study of which has led him to important results.
Measurements, taken upon more than 1,200 skulls of all races, have enabled M. Broca to give 50·00 as the mean nasal index. In the entire number of races this index varies from 42·33 (Esquimaux) to 58·38 (Houzouanas). We see that the variation is only 16·05. The individual differences are much wider, extending from 72·22 (Houzouanas) to 35·71 (Roumanians), thus giving a maximum variation of 36·51.
The difference between the maximum and minimum in the same race is also very striking. When it exceeds ten, M. Broca seems to attribute it almost exclusively to crossing. He has made an ingenious application of this idea in the history of the crossing of the Franks with the races who preceded them in France. But we can scarcely allow that this is always the case when we see the difference rising to 21·98 in the Negroes of West Africa, and to 25·05 in the Hottentots and Bosjesmans. It seems to me that this is only the repetition of a fact which we have already proved with regard to the capacity of crania.
M. Broca has made use of his nasal index to divide allhuman races into three groups from this point of view. In races of a mean nasal index, orMesorhinian, it only varies from 48 to 53. Below these are ranged races with a long narrow nose, orLeptorhinian; and above, those with a broad and more or less flat nose,Platyrhinian.
The groups thus obtained are fairly homogeneous. The Leptorhinian would comprise only Whites, if the Esquimaux had not most unexpectedly stepped in. The Platyrhinian group is composed exclusively of Negroes, and includes all the races of this type studied by M. Broca, with the exception of the Papuans, who are perhaps a mixed race. The Mesorhinians embrace all the Yellow races, as well as the Polynesians, all the Americans and the Papuans, which I have just mentioned. We also find in this group Allophylian Whites, the Esthonians, and the Finns, who are thus separated from the Aryans and Semites.
In short, if we take means alone into consideration, the nasal index, taken as a basis in the division of races, breaks a much smaller number of natural relations than the characters which we have as yet discussed. Apart from the exceptions which I have just alluded to, intercrossing here only appears between races belonging to the same type. But as soon as we take individual variations into account, the mixture, so often observed, reappears.
M. Broca has studied the nasal index not only in the adult, but also when in a state of evolution. He found that in an embryo of three months this index was 76·80; in a perfect fœtus, 62·18; in a child of six years, 50·20; in modern Parisians, 46·81. Thus the index constantly diminishes as the body approaches its definite form. Our author concludes from this fact that the variations observed in the same race may often be referred to an arrest of development, or rather an arrest of evolution, and he seems disposed to attach the platyrhinism of Negroes to the same cause. He thus adopts the idea of Serres upon the general character of the Negro, which ideas we shall examine presently. This I regard as a very correct explanation of the origin of one of the distinctivefeatures which most clearly distinguishes the black race. It is not, however, to the nasal index alone that this fact is applicable, as I have already proved.
Theorbital index, also studied by M. Broca, is obtained by multiplying the vertical diameter of the orbit by 100, and dividing the product by the horizontal diameter. Considered from this point of view, races are divided into three groups, namely, themegasemes, whose mean index rises to 89 and higher; themesosemes, whose index varies from 83 to 89 only; and themicrosemes, whose index fall below 83.
The highest mean index stated by M. Broca, is found in the Aymaras, in whom it rises to 98·8. But we know that the cranium is artificially deformed by this people, and the practice may in some measure influence the form of the orbit. The maximum in normal skulls was observed in the Polynesians of Hawaï, where it was 95·40. The minimum of 77·01 is presented by the Guanches of Teneriffe.
The mean maximum variation is then 18·30.
But here, as in all other cases, individual variations are much more considerable. Without even taking the Aymaras into consideration, whose index sometimes exceeds 109, M. Broca found 108·33 in a Chinese, 105 in a Chinese and an Indian Red-Skin, 100 in two women of the Marquesas Islands, a Peruvian woman, a Malay, a Mexican, an Indo-Chinese, a woman of ancient Egypt, of Auvergne, and Paris. It is unnecessary to insist upon the meaning of these similarities.
The smallest orbital index known is that of the old man of Cro-Magnon, which we have seen to be 61·36. Above the latter, and at small distances from each other, may be ranged a Tasmanian, a Merovingian, the Mentone man (of the same race as that of Cro-Magnon), a Guanche of Teneriffe, a New Caledonian, an Australian, a Nubian, a Kaffir, a Spanish Basque, an Auvergnat, and lastly, the woman of Cro-Magnon, whose index is 71·25.
The maximum individual variation is then 46·87.
Upon examining the table of M. Broca, we find that the white races are represented in the three groups. The Dutchof Zaandam figure among the megasemes between the aborigines of Mexico and those of North-west America. The Gallo-Bretons are placed in the same group, between the Chilians and the Indo-Chinese. The Whites form the great majority in the group of mesosemes, and are much the most numerous in that of the microsemes. One of their races indeed, the natives of Teneriffe, terminates the series, immediately preceded by the Tasmanians and Australians.
Thus, as far as the white race is concerned, the mean orbital index proclaims an intercrossing comparable with all that we have hitherto observed. The case is different with the two other fundamental types. They are distinctly separated by this character. All the yellow races are megasemes, for in my opinion the Lapps, considered by M. Broca to belong to them, are in reality allophylian Whites. All the negro races are mesosemes or microsemes. There is a difference of 4·03 between the aborigines of Brazil representing the last megasemes which have not been deformed, and the Papuans of Toud Island, who have, of all Blacks, the highest orbital index.
The usual intercrossing would undoubtedly reappear if we took individual variations into consideration. The difference 9·89 which separates the man of Cro-Magnon from the woman of the same race is sufficient proof.
M. Broca has studied the influence of sex and age upon the orbital index. I cannot follow him into these details, however interesting they may be. I will only remark, that, as in the case of the nasal index, it diminishes with the progress of evolution, and remains in all races greater in the woman than in the man. The latter preserves, then, throughout life, a certain infantile character.
This observation applies equally to races distinguished for the size of their orbital index. The yellow races, including the Chinese, present therefore, if compared with white races,an arrest of evolution. Yet the Chinese are far superior to all the microseme or mesoseme black races, and particularly the Australians and Tasmanians, who are only followed bythe inhabitants of Teneriffe in the lowest places of the table. If we take the white as the normal type, we must regard these two populations as presenting anexcess of evolution; but this excess is still more marked in the Guanches of Teneriffe, who, in their mode of life, are considerably superior to the Tasmanians and Australians.
A general conclusion follows from these facts, namely: that the characters resulting from anarrestorexcessof evolution, are not of themselves a sign of superiority or inferiority.
M. Broca has, with great propriety, compared the orbital index of apes with that of man. As might easily have been foreseen, the laws of development are the same in the highest groups of apes as in man. The influence of sex and age are as noticeable in the gorilla, the orang, and in the chimpanzee as in our own races. It seems to be less striking in the lower apes.
The orbital index groups apes, like man, into megasemes, mesosemes and microsemes. But this character connects the anthropomorphous apes with the lowest types, with the cebidæ, and even the lemuridæ, which we now, from their embryogeny, connect with the ruminants or edentata. The genera of simiadæ are divided into three groups. M. Broca draws from these facts the very first conclusion that no value, as characterising gradations, can be attributed to the orbital index.
It is well known that in the Negro the entire face, and especially the lower portion, projects forward. This trait has been termedprognathism. In the living subject it is exaggerated by the thickness of the lips. But it is also apparent in the skull, and constitutes one of its most striking characters. M. Topinard has studied it in a special manner, and by a method of his own. He has with justice separatedfacial prognathism, which embraces the entire face, from the variousmaxillaryanddental prognathisms, which distinctions I proposed some time ago. The index is here furnished by the relation existing between the height, and the horizontal projection of the region under consideration.But M. Topinard has recently replaced this index by the angle formed by theprofile lineswith the horizontal plane. This is a happy modification, as it presents a more precise idea to the mind.
The most important of the several prognathisms is that arising from the portion of the maxillary bone situated below the nose, and comprising the alveoli of the incisors and canines. This is thesub-nasal-alveolar prognathism, or thesuperior maxillary prognathism. It is this trait of the Negro which is opposed to theorthognathismof the White. This character suggests remarks similar to those which I have already made so often. It is the evident result of the following summary, which I borrow almost verbatim from M. Topinard’s work.
All races and all individuals are more or less prognathous. As a rule, in European races it is only slight; it is much more marked in the Yellow and Polynesian races, and more strongly marked still in Negro races. Let us remark, however, that even mean indices place the Tasmanians (76°·28) above the Finns and Esthonians (75°·53), and very near the Merovingians (75°·54).
The minimum prognathism, or maximum orthognathism, is found in the Guanches (81°·34), and the opposite extreme in the Namaquois and Bosjesmans (59°·88). The means establish limits between the various sub-divisions of the great fundamental races. Individual variations, however, in this case, as in others, obliterate these distinctions. In all races there are exceptions, Negroes in whom prognathism is no more marked than in Whites, and Whites in whom it is very pronounced. M. Topinard regards these exceptional cases as examples of crossing, atavism, or as pathological phenomena. There is certainly some truth in this view. I have long referred the prognathism, sometimes so curiously marked in certain Parisian women, to atavism. But we must also take into consideration theseoscillations of characters, which we everywhere meet with in races not subject to selection with any special aim.
In any case we cannot consider cessation of development as explaining the existence of a most striking prognathism in certain individuals of incontestably pure white race. In fact, far from diminishing with age, like the preceding characters, it rather increases. Even in the European, the child is manifestly more orthognathous than the adult. With regard to Negroes, Pruner Bey observed some time ago, and I have myself proved, that the child presents scarcely any trace of that feature, so characteristic in the parents. It is not till the period of puberty that it appears, and is rapidly developed. The forward projection of the maxillary bone is, therefore, in both races a fact of normal evolution, merely more marked in the one than in the other. Far from being the result of acessation, prognathism betrays anexcessof development.
The absolute theory of Serres, which would treat the Negro merely as a White, subjected to a cessation of general development, is then here at fault. The truth is, that in the black race, organic evolution is less advanced than the general type of white race in some respects, and more so in others. This is a fact upon which I have long insisted in my lectures at the Museum, and which is confirmed, as we now see, by the more exact work of later years.
We see, also, that, in order to account for the differences separating the Negro from the White, it is by no means necessary to have recourse to phenomena of atavism as exhibited by animals. Simple oscillations, above or below the mean in the normal evolution of man, are sufficient to explain it. I feel myself, therefore, still more strongly justified in opposing thehuman evolution theoryto thesimian evolution theory.
The zygomatic arches, the malar bone, the superior and inferior maxillary bones also furnish the anthropologist with several more or less essential characters which sometimes acquire, in reference to a given race, a value superior to that which they have elsewhere. Such is the slight elevation of thepalatine vaultin the Lapps. But I cannot here enterinto these details, and refer the reader to special books and memoirs.
IV.Characters drawn from the skull considered as a whole.When, instead of studying the face or cranium alone, we consider them in their reciprocal relations, we see new traits appearing, furnishing a number of characters, some of which are of real importance.
Let us, in the first place, remark that there may be eitherharmonyordysharmonybetween these two great regions. The skull is harmonic in the Negro, whose cranium and face are equally long, and in the Mongol, who unites the two contrary characters; it is dysharmonic, as we have seen, in the old man of Cro-Magnon, and in the man of La Truchère, but for contrary reasons.
Cuvier endeavoured to find the relation of the skull and the face by making an antero-posterior section of the skull, and directly measuring the surfaces of the section. He found that in the White the face represented about 0·25 of the skull, 0·30 in the Yellow, and 0·40 in the Black. These results entirely accord with those furnished by the study of prognathism.
This relative difference of the development of the face led Camper to the conception of his celebrated facial angle. Struck by seeing painters represent Negroes as Whites painted black, he studied the anatomical characters of the skull, and gave, as the proper distinction, the angle formed by two lines; the one passing from the auditory canal to the root of the nose, the other tangential to the forehead and to the nasal bone, both being represented upon a vertical projection of the model. Camper made use of his method to distinguish between the products of Greek and Roman art. He thus represented a decreasing scale from the works of art in statuary to non-adult apes. I reproduce it, not because of its real value, but on account of the importance which has been attributed to it. The following are the variations of the facial angle, according to Camper:
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and Cuvier, M. Jules Cloquet and Jacquard have adopted different methods in determining the facial angle. Morton, Jacquard, and M. Broca have invented instruments for measuring it directly. M. Topinard, after having examined the several methods, gives, with justice, his opinion in favour of that of Cloquet, which places the upper extremity of the angle at the alveolar border. M. Jacquard had chosen the nasal spine, remarking at the same time that the difference between the two angles might be of service in the calculation of prognathism.
Camper, or rather those who have followed him, wished to consider the size of the facial angle as a sign of superior intellectual power. Hisgraduated scalehas evidently given rise to this false idea. Pathological facts should have sufficed to show how great was the error. The work of Jacquard has, moreover, established this fact beyond a doubt. This author has proved a difference of more than 16° in the educated White of Paris, that is to say, 6° more than the distance established by Camper as separating the Negro from the White. Jacquard, again, has proved in the French race the existence of an angle of 90°, an angle which Camper believed to belong only to the ideal representations of the human form. Now this remarkable angular superiority was by no means accompanied by an exceptional intelligence.
If we pass from the psychological to the anatomical meaning I shall have similar remarks to make. There has been much discussion as to the position of the upper extremity of the facial line, which, with the horizontal line, forms the angle of Camper. It has been thought desirable to avoid the frontal sinuses, and to seek in the facial angle indications relative to the dimensions of the encephalon, andnot those of any particular bone. I think, on the contrary, that we must be content with the latter, and not go further. It is evident that the dimensions of the encephalon are independent of theposition of the frontal point, and that it may be more or less extended to the right, left, or behind this point without the facial angle being affected in any manner whatever.
The exact determination of themeansof the facial angle will still, however, be valuable, like all those which it is possible to calculate upon the human body, provided there is a sufficient distance between these means. But M. Topinard has shown that this difference is not more than three degrees. Without altogether renouncing the ideas of Camper, we see that science now has characters preferable to those which he discovered.
A more important angle is theanterior parietal angle, formed on both sides of the skull by two lines tangential to the most prominent point of the zygomatic arch, and to the fronto-parietal suture. By taking the most prominent point of the parietal eminences as the second extremity, we obtain theposterior parietal angle. Prichard applied the termpyramidal skullsto those in which these lines converged. I have endeavoured to measure the angle directly with an instrument of my own invention, and my first researches have led me to results which I believe to be interesting. The angle is sometimes wide, sometimes narrow, and may be altogether wanting when the two tangents are parallel. It is, then, sometimes positive, sometimes negative. The latter is the case in the fœtus and infants of all races. The negative angle is also met with in adults. This trait appears to have been very striking in Cuvier, judging from a fine portrait of the great naturalist when still young. I have found it to be -18° and -22° in two living persons, both remarkable for their intelligence. The positive maximum which I observed upon an Esquimaux cranium was +14°. I have employed this character in my course of lectures to complete the characterization of a great number of races, but have never published any details.
M. Topinard has just filled this gap in a work which confirms, and at the same time, completes all my first results. His researches, bearing solely upon skulls, have given himas limits of individual variations, 5° and +30°; as limits of the means, +2°·5 and +20°·3. He found in the New Caledonians the most pyramidal heads. Finally, he has seen in children from the age of four months to sixteen years, the angle decreasing from -24° to 0° and rise to 7°.
Thus the negative parietal angle in the adult is nothing more than a persistent fœtal or infantile character. It is evidently the result of acessation of development, or rather, acessation of evolution. Now, we have just seen that this character may exist in individuals endowed with an intelligence above the average, and even in men of genius. Acessation of evolution, the persistent trace of a fœtal or infantile condition, is not, therefore, necessarily acharacter of inferiorityeither in individuals or races.
Two general views of the skull belong to the subject now under examination. Blumenbach regarded and represented the human skull from above. This is thenorma verticalis, very valuable as permitting the appreciation of the general form of the cranium and some of its relations with the projections of the face. Owen has, so to speak, regarded it from below, and insisted upon the differences which the inferior surface offers between man and the highest types of apes. Many characters of detail are brought to light by these two methods which I cannot even mention here.
In this necessarily very incomplete sketch, I have been obliged to pass by in silence a large number of characters which are often of a very substantial importance. The greater number are obtained by the method of projections so ingeniously perfected by M. Broca, and by means of instruments, some of which were already in existence, such as the diagraph, and others invented by various savants, amongst whom we must, again, especially mention M. Broca.
V.Skeleton of the trunk.I have dwelt at some length upon the characters drawn from the skeleton of the head; I shall be more brief in discussing the other regions. They furnish characters perhaps equally important, but they have been much less studied, and the fault does not altogether liewith anthropologists. It is not easy to procure skulls of the human races, even when we have to do with populations living close to us; the difficulty of collecting a certain number of entire skeletons is far greater.
The thoracic cage presents some interesting facts sufficiently well proved. In consequence of the form of the sternum, the greater or less curvature of the ribs, it is generally broad and flattened in the White, narrow and prominent in the Negro and the Bosjesman. According to d’Orbigny, it is still more prominent in certain Americans. An analogous fact has been observed in some populations of Asia Minor.
The pelvis is the portion of the trunk which has been most thoroughly studied, by reason of the application which may be made of these researches to obstetrics. As a rule, comparisons have been limited to those between the Negro and the White. Vrolick, Weber, MM. Joulin, Pruner Bey, and, quite recently, M. Verneau, have gone much further. The latter, unfortunately, has not yet published his researches relatively to the distinction of races. Vrolick insisted upon some peculiarities of the pelvis of the Hottentot Venus, and endeavoured to establish certain relations between her and the ape.
Weber found that in each of the races which he had studied, the pelvis presented a predominant form, which, on that account alone, became characteristic. He regarded the inlet as being generally oval and of large transverse diameter in the White; quadrilateral and of large transverse diameter in the Mongol; round, and of equal diameters, in the American; cuneiform and of large antero-posterior diameter in Negroes.
M. Joulin has disputed nearly all the propositions of Vrolick and Weber, and seems unwilling to allow any characteristic value to the pelvis. M. Pruner Bey has shown without difficulty the great exaggeration of this view, and has determined the characters which distinguish, from this point of view, the White from the Black.
The work of M. Verneau, much more complete than those of his predecessors, but with the anatomical part of which we are at present alone acquainted, will undoubtedly throw some light on the questions raised by their controversies. At present, moreover, the work of M. Verneau confirms the assertions of the greater number of his predecessors, as to the reality of the characters of race to be found in the pelvis.
Amongst these characters, there are some which have been pointed out in the Negro asindications of animalism. Even M. Pruner Bey, departing in this instance from his general practice, employs this expression, though at the same time restricting its meaning by his explanations. It seems to me much more natural to consider it as a trace of a condition, normal at a certain period, and more or less persistent according to the race.
In fact, the verticality of the ilia, and the increase of the antero-posterior diameter of the pelvis in the Negro, have been chiefly insisted upon as recalling characters which may be observed in mammalia generally, and particularly in apes. But we meet with the same anatomical characteristics strongly pronounced even in the fœtus and children of the White. They, and especially the latter peculiarity, are persistent to the age of seven years or more. Their existence in the Negro is, then, nothing more thanrelative cessationin the evolution of this region of the skeleton. It is, again, afœtal or infantile character, and nota character of animalism.
VI.Skeleton of the limbs.—When speaking of fossil races, I pointed out certain morphological characters of the bones of the limbs, and among others, that of the perforation of the olecranon depression. This character may be observed in the Bosjesman, the Guanches, ancient Egyptians, and our own races. It seems to make its appearance in Western Europe with the Quaternary brachycephalic races. M. Dupont met with it in the proportion of thirty per cent. among the men of the Lesse; according to M. Hamy, this proportion is twenty-eight per cent. in the fossil race of Grenelle and only 4·66 per cent. in the present population.
I have already observed that the upper limb is a little longer in the Negro than in the White. The essential cause of this difference, is the relative elongation of the fore-arm. M. Broca, after comparing the radius and humerus of the two races, gives 79·43 for the Negro, and 73·82 for the European. M. Hamy, who had more numerous materials at his disposal, and followed a somewhat different method of measurement, obtained as result 78·04 and 72·19.
This elongation of the radius, relatively greater in the Negro than in the White, is one of the traits to which the expressionsimian characterhas been most frequently applied. We know, in fact, that there is less inequality between the two regions of the arm in the anthropomorphous apes than in man, and that in the orang the length of the radius equals that of the humerus.
The researches of M. Hamy enable us to consider this peculiarity of the Negro from an entirely human and truer point of view. This anthropologist has followed the evolution of this limb with a view of obtaining the changes which it involves in the relation under consideration. The following table gives the results of these investigations:
We see that in the development of the upper limb in man, there is a constant tendency to diminish the relation in question. We see also that the average of the Negro is almost that of a white fœtus of five months. In his case, therefore, the elongation of the radius may be explained quite naturally by an arrest of evolution, without giving any occasion for comparing him with apes. Under what pretext should we return to the simian theory in connection with this character, after having seen that it is inapplicable in so many others?
The lower member presents similar facts. According to the calculations borrowed by M. Topinard from M. Broca, the tibia, when compared with the femur, gives a relation of 81·33 for the Negro, and 79·72 for the White.
By adding the figures which express the length of the radius and humerus, we have the total length of the whole arm, with the exception of the hand; and by acting in the same manner for the femur and tibia, we have that of the lower member, with the exception of the foot.
The relation of the former to the latter is 68·27 in the Negro, and 69·73 in the White.
The following is a table of several races, drawn up by M. Topinard from his own researches and those of several other authors:
We see that, by this character, the European White is placed between the African Negro and the Andaman Islander.
I have already mentioned some remarkable morphological modifications, such as the prominence of the linea aspera in the femur, the platycnemism of the tibia, etc. I need not repeat them. The clavicle, foot and hand, also suggest many details which I must pass by in silence. I shall only observe that in Abyssinia it is neither by his colour nor his hair that the true Negro is proved to be characterised, but merely by the relatively exaggerated prominence of the heel. But this sign, which has been asserted to be infallible, is wanting in certain Negroraces, not only in the Yoloffs, whose inferior member resembles our own, but also in the Bambaras, who have aflat foot.
VII.Characters drawn from, the soft portions; nervous system.After having examined the external forms of the body, and reviewed the skeleton, we must take the organic apparatus one by one, and study them in their turn. Unfortunately the facts collected are here still more rare, when the observations should have been in larger numbers in order to give a definite value to the results. This study, which has been scarcely commenced, has in reality only been brought, till the present time, to bear upon the two most distant terms of the human series: the European White and the African Negro. This alone will justify me in giving a very cursory exposition of the results obtained.
The nervous system, of which Cuvier has said that it is the entire animal, is fortunately the part about which we possess, perhaps, the greatest number of comparative data. In the first place, we meet with a general fact noticed by Sœmmering, and which is established beyond a doubt by the splendid preparations of Jacquard, exhibited in the galleries of the Paris Museum. Relatively to the White, the Negro presents a marked predominance of peripheral nervous expansions. The trunks are thicker, and the fibres more numerous, or perhaps merely easier to isolate, and to preserve on account of their volume alone. On the other hand, the cerebral centres, or at least the brain, appear to be inferior in development.
In fact, in spite of what Blumenbach and Tiedmann have said on this subject, the brain of the Negro is, as a general rule, less voluminous than that of the White. This fact is chiefly the result, it is true, of measurements of the capacity of crania. But determinations of the weight confirm this result.
Seven Negro brains weighed by M. Broca gave a mean of 1316 grm. (46·42 oz.). Upon uniting the weights of European brains I find, however, a mean of only 1248 grm.(44·02 oz.), that is almost exactly the average of the White woman. The average weight of adult European brains is 1405·88 grm. (49·59 oz.). But in both races, individual oscillations are very considerable. One of the skulls of the Black race examined by M. Broca weighed 1500 grm. (52·91 oz.); Mascagni had one of 1587 grm. (55·94 oz.), and another of only 738 grm. (26·03 oz.).
The truth is that the European White alone has been seriously examined from the point of view of the estimation of cerebral development by weight. The merit of having furnished the elements of this study belongs incontestably to Rud. Wagner. Uniting the far more important results of his own researches with those of Tiedmann, Sims, Parchappe, Lélut, Huschke and Bergmann, this savant drew up a table containing the weight of 964 brains, which had been directly obtained after removing the coverings; he arranged them in order, commencing with the heaviest and finishing with the lightest. But he had not taken circumstances of sex, age, health, disease, etc., into consideration. The results which he obtained were, therefore, subject to alterations and corrections. M. Broca has accomplished this task. He took 347 cases of healthy brains from Wagner’s table, and carried out his investigations entirely upon them.
A certain number of general propositions rise from all these researches, which may be formulated in the following manner:
1. Under similar circumstances, in other respects, the weight of the brain varies proportionately, or almost proportionately, to the height. According to Parchappe, the average weight of the brains of two groups of men with an average height of 1·74 metre (5·7 feet) and 1·63 metre (5·2 feet), was 1330 grm. (46·91 oz.), and 1254 grm. (44·23 oz.). In this example the differential relation, 6 per cent., is exactly the same for the height of the body and the weight of the brain. This influence of stature enables us to interpret and comprehend the facts brought forward by Mr. Sandford Hunt. From the calculations of this anatomistit would appear that the average weight of the brain of Anglo-American soldiers exceeds the average weight of European brains as deduced from Wagner’s tables; by from 19 to 14 grms. (·67 to ·49 oz.), or from 1·33 to ·99 per cent. But the American anatomist did not take into consideration the difference in stature, which he nevertheless notices. Now, from his calculations, it appears that American soldiers have, in this respect, the advantage over French and English soldiers to an extent of 3 per cent. The increase is, therefore, only apparent, and, indeed, rather points to a relative diminution.
2. Under similar circumstances in other respects, the female brain weighs a little less than the male. M. Broca has shown that this is the case at all periods of life. This difference appears to me, however, to arise almost exclusively from that of the stature of the body. Upon taking the woman as the term of comparison, and representing her height and the weight of her brain by 100, we find 109·43 and 109·34 as the result for the man. The latter relation is that given by Parchappe. M. Broca found 109·63; thus the relative heights are intermediary.
3. The maximum average of the European is observed between the thirtieth and fortieth years. It is then 1262 grms. (44·48 oz.) in the female, and 1410·36 grms. (49·74 oz.) in the male, or, in percentages, 100 and 111·7. The average for the entire period of maturity, between 30 and 50, is 1405·88 grms. (49·59 oz.) in the male, and 1261·5 grms. (44·5 oz.) in the female.
4. Beyond this maximum the weight of the brain appears to decrease continually, and in a more or less constant manner. Such, at least, is the result arising from calculations bearing upon decennial intervals, which show a constantly decreasing average in the male, as well as in the female. There is probably some relation between this diminution and that of the horizontal circumference of the cranium and the development of the frontal sinuses, observed long ago by Camper.
5. In the European White, a brain, to be capable of performingits functions, must weigh at least 975 grms. (34·39 oz.) in the female, and 1133 grms. (39·96 oz.) in the male. These figures are the result of the discussion upon Wagner’s table; they are, however, too high, to judge from some of Hunt’s calculations. In the Bosjesman and Australian, and probably in many other races, the weight of the brain may descend as low as 907 grms. (31·99 oz.), without the intellectual faculties being destroyed.
Let us add that this organ may, moreover, fall much below this weight without causing cessation of life, or even the absolute disappearance of the intelligence, as in some microcephali. The smallest brains which have ever been weighed are those of Teite, quoted by Wagner, 300 grms. (10·58 oz.), and that of the woman who formed the subject of a memoir by Gore, 283·75 grms. (10 oz.). These brains are appreciably inferior in weight to those of the gorilla and orang.
6. In the European White, the maximum weight of a healthy brain perhaps reaches 2231 grms. (78·69 oz.) (Cromwell), or even 2238 grms. (78·94 oz.) (Byron). But there is not the certainty we should wish for about these figures. The weight of Cuvier’s brain is, however, attested by the post-mortem examination conducted by Professor Bérard; it is 1829·96 grms. (68·43 oz.). Mr. Sandford Hunt quotes another at 1842 grms. (65·32 oz.). We may regard these figures as indicating the superior limit which can be attained by the brain in the White race without the general health appearing to be affected.
The figures obtained by Mr. Hunt from the calculations given by several authors for 278 brains of European Whites agree sufficiently well with the above. The average of the former is 1403 grms. (49·55 oz.). The maximum is that quoted above, 1842 grms. (64·97 oz.); the minimum falls to 963 grms. (33·97 oz.), which is very remarkable from its lightness, being below that which, in Wagner’s table, seems to involve idiotcy. The results obtained by Mr. Hunt upon his Black and White fellow-countrymen, present, as regards comparison, a special interest. The brains of twenty-fourAmerican White soldiers gave an average weight of 1424 grms. (43·2 oz.) in round numbers. The maximum was 1814 grms. (63·98 oz.); the minimum 1247 grms. (43·98 oz.). The brains of 141 Negroes gave an average of 1331 grms. (46·98 oz.), which is greater than the results of investigations made in Europe. The maximum was 1507 grms. (53·15 oz.); the minimum 1013 grms. (35·73 oz.).
The observations of Mr. Hunt upon 240 crosses between the White and the Negro lead to interesting conclusions The following is the result:
We see that the weight of the brain diminishes proportionately with the white blood. But it is especially curious to observe, that in crosses still possessing a tolerably strong proportion of superior blood, the weight falls below that of pure Negroes. The average was taken from twenty-two individuals, and the difference, 86 grms. (3·03 oz.), is too great not to be taken into serious consideration. We should say that this is a phenomenon identical with that presented by colouring. Certain crosses, in whom the black blood predominates, are of a darker hue than the original Negro race.
To exhaust the little that we know of exotic races, I need only to add that in a Hottentot examined by Wyman the brain weighed 1417 grms. (49·96 oz.). This weight, which is greater than that of the average of Europeans, affords one more proof of that intercrossing to which I have so often called attention, and which has, in this case, perhaps a deeper meaning than elsewhere.
Since the publication of Gratiolet’s admirable workSur les plis cérébraux de l’homme et des primates, the study ofcerebral convolutionshas assumed considerable importancein anthropology, although it has been somewhat exaggerated. The investigations of MM. Dareste and Baillarger show that the development of these convolutions depends to a great extent upon that of the encephalon itself, and the influence exercised by stature at once explains certain facts which had formerly been the cause of some embarrassment. Under conditions similar in other respects, the brain ofsmall raceswould be less convoluted than that oflarge races.
But, apart from this influence, it appears as a well established fact, that in savage races the number and complication of the cerebral convolutions are less than in intelligent and civilized races. Intellectual culture would seem then to exercise an entirely special action upon the cortical layers, and to favour their development.
The known extremes at the present day of the character in question are offered by the Hottentot Venus and Cuvier. The brain of the former is the simplest that has ever been observed in an intelligent person. It recalls that of an idiot. The brain of Cuvier, which unfortunately has neither been modelled nor drawn, was, as we are told by the eminent anatomists who saw it, distinguished by the extraordinary complication of the convolutions and the depth of the sulci. Moreover, each convolution was, as it were, doubled by a kind of rounded ridge. In spite of these exceptional cases, no one would surely dream of placing the great naturalist in any otherspeciesthan that to which his contemporaries belong. Neither can we consider the simplification of the brain of the Hottentot Venus as a specific character.
When comparative observations have sufficiently multiplied, we shall doubtless find more or less striking characters in the relative proportions of certain regions of the brain. For example, if Dr. Nott’s observation be correct, thecerebellumin the Red-Skin extends beyond the cerebrum, while the latter, it is well known, extends beyond the cerebellum in the White and Negro. The same organ is longer in the Negro and broader in the White.
Naturalists, travellers, and anatomists announced long ago that the brain of the Negro is distinguished from that of the White by its blackish colour. An experiment performed at Paris under the superintendence of M. Rayer, upon which I have already made some passing remarks, confirms the general fact. I have already observed how M. Gubler, by whom it was prepared, wished to discover if there were no mean terms. He examined the colouring of brains obtained from individuals, all belonging to the White race, but whose complexions were differently coloured, and proved that the internal colouring was in direct relation with the external. In fair individuals with blue eyes and a pink and white skin, the pigment seemed to be entirely wanting. In individuals with a brown skin, black hair, and a very dark iris, “not only the brain enveloped by its membranes assumes a deeper shade, but a layer of black matter, in every way comparable to that of the Negro, covers the protuberance, the pineal gland, and some other points of the nervous centres.”
Thus, internally, as well as externally, the colouring of tissues presents that graduated series to which I have so often called attention. This removes, therefore, the absolute nature which had been attributed to a peculiarity which had so often been insisted upon as separating the Negro from the White, to the extent of making him a distinct species.
VIII.Vascular and respiratory systems.Considered as a whole, the vascular system of the Black and that of the White present facts somewhat similar to those which we have observed in the nervous system. According to Pruner Bey, the venous system predominates visibly over the arterial in the Black; and here, again, the admirable preparations of Jacquard are a material proof of the correctness of the observations of the savant I have just quoted. This predominance seems to extend to the right cavities of the heart.
The lungs are less developed in the Negro than in theWhite. M. Pruner Bey has observed cases in which they seem to be pressed upwards by the abdominal viscera. The characters peculiar to the blood of the Negro, which were noticed in a preceding chapter, will, perhaps, at some future time, be connected with this group of anatomical conditions.
We have already seen that the cutaneous glandular system is more developed in the Negro than in the White. The investigations of M. Pruner Bey demonstrate that the same fact reappears throughout the whole length of the intestinal canal, the surface of which is everywhere marked by the prominence of secreting organs, especially in the stomach and colon. The large glands which are connected with the alimentary canal are also remarkably developed, particularly the liver. The case is also the same with the supra-renal capsules. All these organs are in a constant state of venous hyperemia. Finally, these intestinal mucous membranes are very thick, and present the appearance of adipose tissue. Facts of a similar nature will perhaps be observed in the greater number of intertropical races. We already know that in the Javanese the liver is as fully developed as in the Negro.