to the Tasmanians and Australians.
A general conclusion follows from these facts, namely : that
the characters resulting from an arrest or excess of evolution,
are not of themselves a sign of superiority or inferiority.
M. Broca has, with great propriety, compared the orbitid
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,
mcsosemes and microseincs. But this character connects
the anthropomorphous apes with the lowest types, with the
cebida}, and even the lemurida*, which we now, from their
embryogeny, connect with the ruminants or edentatJU The
genera of simiadae are divided into three groups. M. Broca
draws from these facts the very first conclusion that no
value, as characterising gradations, ciin be attributed to the
orbital index.
It is well known that in the Negro the entire face, and
csj)ecially the lower portion, jjrojects forward. This trait
lias been termed jn'OfjiKithism. In the living subject it is
i-xaggerated by the thickness of the lij)s. But it is also
apparent in the skull, and constitutes one of its most
striking characters. .M. Tdpinard has studied it in a special
manner, antl by a nu thu<l of his own. He has with justice
separated fttcldl ]>r<)fj>ia(liisrii, which end)races the entire
fiu*e, from the various ludx'illury and dental 2'ri>;/iiafhim)LH,
whicli di.stinctions I proposed some time ago.. The index is
here furnished by the relation existing between the height,
anil th<- horizontal projection of the ngion under c<»nsidera-
Ostcological Characters — Prognathisiu. 39 1
tion. But M. Topinard has recently replaced this index by
the angle formed by the 'profihi lines with the horizontal
plane. This is a happy modiHcation, as it presents a inoro
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 the sub-nasal-alveolar jirorjnathism, or the
supenor maxUlary prognathism. It is this trait of the
Negro which is opposed to the orthogiiathisin of the White.
This character suggests remarks similar to those which I
have already made so ofteiL It is the evident result of the
follijwing 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 (7t)''28) above
tiie Finns and Esthnniaiis (7o"'53j, and verv noar the
Merovingians (75°54).
The minimum prognathism, or maximum ortliogiiatliism,
is found in the (lUanches (SI ''34), and the opposite extreme
in the Namaquois and Bosjesmans (oD'SS). The means
establish limits between the various sub-divisions of the
great fundamental races. Individual variations, however, in
this ca~se, as in others, obliterate these distinctions. In all
races there are exceptions, Negrot-s 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 these ofci Hat ions of
characters, which we everywhere meet with in races not
subject to selection with any special aim.
392 The Ihmiaii Species.
In any case wc 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
cliild is manifestly more orthognathoiis than the adult.
With reganl to Negroes, Pruner Bey observed some time
a<T0, 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 f:ict of normal
evolution, merely more marked in the one than in the other.
Far from being the result of a cefisaiion, prognathism betrays
an excess of development.
The absolute theory of Scrres, which wuuUI treat the
Ncgio merely a.s a White, subjected to a ce.s.sation of general
development, is then here at fault. The truth is, that in the
black nice, organic evolution is less advanced than the
general type of white race in some respects, and more so in
ofhrrs. This is a fact upon which I have long insisted in my
lectures at the Mu.seum, and which is conlirme*!, as wc now
see, by the more exact work of later years.
We see, also, that, in order to account for the dilTerences
sejiarating the Negro from the White, it is l)y no means
ncces-sary to have recourse to ]>henomcna of atavism as
exhiliitcd by animals. Simple o.scillations, above or below
the mean in the normal evolution of man, an; sufKcient to
explain it. I feel myself, tliereforc, still more strongly
ju.-.tiru-d in opposing the humtin evolution theory to the
HUnian rrolnt'um (liioi'i/.
Th«! zygojn;itic mchrs, the malar bone, the sujxrior and
inferior maxillary bones al.so furnish the anthropologist with
Kcvrral more or less essential characters which sometimes
ncijuirc, in reference to a given race, a valiir sujMrior to that
whi(.li tljoy have elsewher«'. Such is the slight ch'vation of
the ivtbdinc luiult in the I/ipps. But I ainnot here enter
Ostcological Characters — Facial Angle. 393
into these details, nnd refer the reader to special books and
memoirs.
IV. C/i"r>(<'frrs drxroi from the f^ku/l consiJircd. as a
whole. When, instead of studying the face or cranium alone,
we coiisiilcr them in their reciprocal relation.s, we see new
traits appearing, furnishing a numhor of characters, some of
which are of real importance.
Let us, in the first i>lace, remark that there may be either
hiinnony or <hjxharmony between 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 Truch6re, 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 me:vsuring the surfaces of the section. He found
that in the White the face represented about 25 of the
skull, 030 in the Yellow, and O-iO 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, a.s the propor distinction, tin- angle formed
by two lines ; the one pas.sing from the auditory canal to
the root of the nose, the otlier tangential to the foreheatl
and to the na.sal bone, both being represented upon a verti-
cal projection of the model. Cam2>er made use of his
method to distinguish between the products of Greek ami
Roman art. He thus represented a dccrea.sing scale from
the Works of art in statuar}' to non-adidt apes. I repro-
duce it, not because of its real value, but on account of
the importance which has been attributed to it. Tho
following are the variations of the facial angle, according to
Camper :
394
7' he 1 1 11 1)1 an Species.
Greek statues
^
. uxr
Yellow race . . . .
7.V
Roman statues
^ ^
uri"
Hlai'k race . . • . .
70
White race .
.
so"
Younj; apes (superior type) .
65
CiCofTruy Saint-IIihiirc and Cuvicr, M. Jules Cloquet and
JjiO(iuaid have adopted different methods in determining the
facial anj^le. Morton, Jacquard, and ^f. Broca have invented
instruments for measuring it directly. M. Topinard, after
having examined the several methods, gives, vith 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 l)et\vecn 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 in-
tellectual power. His graduated scale has evidently given
ri.se to this false idea. Pathological facts should have
sufficed to show how great was the error. The work of
Jac(juard ha.s, moreover, established this fact beyond a doubt.
Thi.s author has proved a difference of more than 1G° in the
educated White of Paris, that is to say, G' more than the
distance established by Camper as separating the Negro
from the White. Jac«iuard, again, lias proved in the French
race the existence of an angle of DO'', an angle which Camper
believed to ]>elong only to the iileal 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 mean-
ing I shall have similar remarks to make. There has been
much discussion as to the position of the uj»per 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, nnd to seek in the facial angle indications
relative to tin; dimensions of the encephalon, and not those of
(ivy fHiiiirular hoiif. I think, on the contrary, that we must
l)C content with the latter, and not go further. It is evident
that the dimensions of tiie encephalon are indcpend-'iit of the
Oshvhoical CJiaracicrs— Parietal A)io/c. 395
position of the frontiil jioint, and tliat it may be more or less
cxtciulfd to tlio right, left, or beliind this j)()iut without the
facial angle being afl'ectod in any manner whatever.
The exact determination of the means of the facial angle
will still, however, be valuable, like all those which it is
];ossible to calculate upon the human body, provided there
is a sufficient distance between these means. But M.
Toj)inard has shown that this ditference is not more than
three degrees. Withotit altogi.'ther renouncing the ideas of
Camper, we see that science now has characters preferable to
those which he discovered.
A more important angle is the anlerlov imridal amjle,
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
the potitevior imrietal aiujle. Prichard applied tlie term pyra-
midal skulls to those in which these lines converged. 1 have
endeavoured to measure the angle directly with an instru-
ment of my own invention, and my first researches have led
me to results which I believe to be interesting. The angle
is sometimes w ide, sometimes narrow, and may be altogether
wanting when the two tangents are parallel. It is, then,
sometimes positive, sometimes negative. Tlie latter is the
case in the fatus and infants of all races. The negative
angle is also met with in adults. This trait appeai-s 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 pci-sons, l)oth remarkable
for their intelligence. The positive maximum which I ob-
served upon an Esquimaux cranium w;vs -|- 14^ I have em-
j)loyed this character in my course of lectures to complete the
charactcrizatioD of a great number of races, but have never
published any details.
M. Topinard has just filled this gap in a work which con-
firms, and at the same time, completes all my first residt.s.
His researches, bearing solely upon skulls, have given him
39^ The Hjunaji Species.
as limits of indiviclual variations, 5° and + 30°; as limits of
the means, + 2°-5 and -f 'iO'S. lie f.)un<l in the New Cale-
donians tl)e most pyramidal heads. Finally, he has seen in
children from the age of four months to sixteen years, the
angle decreasing from — 1^ to 0° and rise to 7".
Thus the negative parietal angle in the adult is nothing
more than a persistent fcetal or infantile character. It is
evidently the result of a cessation of dcvcloivnod, or rather,
a cessation of evolution. Now, we have just seen that this
character may exist in individuals endowed with an intelli-
gence above the average, and even in men of genius. A
cessation of evolution, the persistent trace of a foetal or
infantile condition, is not, therefore, necessarily a character
of infcrioritt/ either in individuals or races.
Two general views of the skull belong to the subject now
under examination. Bhimenbach regarded and represented
the human skull from al)ove. This is the norma veriicalis,
very viduable as permitting the appreciation of the general
form of the cranium and some of its relations with the pro-
jections of the face. Owen has, so to speak, regarded it from
below, and insisted upon the dilferences which the inferi«)r
surface otTcrs between man and the highest types of apes.
Many characters of detail are brought to light by these two
methods which I cannot even mentitju here.
In this necessarily very incomplete sketch, I have been
obliged to pass by in silence a largo number of characters
which are often of a very substantial importance. The
greater number are (obtained by the methoil of projections
so ingeniou.sly perfected by M. Broca, and by mean.s of
instrumentH, some of which wore already in existence, such
iiH the diigraph, and others invented by various savants,
amongst whom we uuist, again, especially mention M. Broca.
V. Shelclitn of the truuk I have dwelt at some length
unon the characters drawn from the skolcton of the head ; I
.... *
shall be more brief in di.scu.ssing the other regions. Ihey
furnish characters perhaps ejjually iniportant, but they have
been much less studied, and the faidt does not altog<'th'r li<'
Ostcological Characters — Trunk. 397
with anthropologists. It is not easy to procure skulls of the
human races, even â– wIk-u wc have to do >vith pujjulations
living close to us ; the difficulty of collecting a certain nundier
of entire skeletons is far greater.
The thoracic cage presents some interesting facts siiffi-
«'iently well proved. In consecjucnce of the form of the
-temum, the greater or less curvature of the ribs, it is
generally broad anil flattened in the White, narrow and
pronunent in the Negro and the Bosjesman. According to
d'Orbigny, it is stil 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 whieh has been
most thoroughly studied, by reason of the application which
may be made of these researches to obstetri&s. As a rule,
comparisons have been limited to those between the Negro
and the White. Vrolick, Weber, MM. Joulin, Pruner Bey,
anil, quite recently, M. Verneau, have gone much further.
The latter, unfortunately, has not yet published his researjches
relatively to the distin(;tion of races. Vrolick insisted upon
some peculiarities of the pelvis of the Hottentot Venus, and
endeavoured to establish certain relations between lur and
the ape.
Weber found that in each of the races whieh he had
studieil, the pelvis presented a predominant form, which, on
that account alone, became characteristic. He regartled the
inlet as being generally oval and of large transverse diameter
in the White ; (juadrilateral and of large transvense dian»eter
in the Mongol ; round, and of cipial diameters, in tho
American ; cuneiform and of large antero-posterior diameter
in Negroes.
M. Joulin has di.sputed nearly all the propositions of
Vrolick arid 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, ami
has determined the characters which distinguish, from this
point of view, the White from the Black.
398 The Hit in an Species.
The work of M, Yerneaii, much more complete than those
of his predecessors, but with the anatomical part of which
we are at present alone ac(|uaintctl, will uneloubtetlly throw
some lii(ht on the (piestions raised by their controversies.
At present, moreover, the work of M. Verneaii 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.
AmonfTst these characters, there are some which have
been pointed out in the Negro as indications 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 per-
sistent according to the race.
In fact, the verticality of the ilia, and the increa.se of the
antero-posterior diameter of the pelvis in the Negro, have
been chiefly insisted upon as recjilling characters which may
be observed in mammalia generally, and particularly in apes.
But we meet with the same anatomical characteristics
strongly ])ronounced even in the fcjotus and children of the
White. Tljcy, and especially the latter peculiarity, are per-
sistent to the age of seven years or more. Their existence
in the Negro is, then, nothing more than relative cessation
in the evoluticm of this region of the skeleton. It is, again, a
fw.tal or in ft nit He chiractcr.iiiid not a character of ani rnal ism.
VI. Skeleton of the limbs.— Whon speaking of fossil races,
I pointed out certain mor[)hologic:d characters of the bones
of the limbs, and among others, that of the perforation of tho
olecranon depression. This character may bo observed in
the BoHJesman, the Guanches, ancient Egyptians, and our
own races. It seems to make its appearance in Western
Europe with the Qiiaternary brachycephalic r;ices. M.
UujxMit met with it in the proportion of thirty per cent,
among the men of the Lessc ; according to M. ilamy, this
proportion is twenty-eight par cent, in the fossil race of
(jrenelle and only 466 per cent, in tin present population.
Ostcoloirical Characters — L ivibs.
399
I have alivady observed that the uppor linib is a little
loni^'iT in the Negro than in the White. The essential cause
of this ditforence, is the relative elongation of the fore-arm.
M. Broca, after comparing the radius and humeru*; of the
two races, gives 7i)-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 T-S-O^ and 7-19.
This elongation of the radius, relatively greater in the
Negro than in the White, is one of the traits to which the
expression ttimian character has been most frequently
applied, Wc know, in fact, that there is less inc(iuality
between the two regions of the arm in the anthropomorphous
apos than in man, and that in the orang the length of the
radius ecjuals 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 anthmpologist 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 investiirations :
Kiiibryo (»f 24 innnths . . 88-8S
Ktjctus of :i — 4 niontlis . . 84-Oy
„ „ 4 — '> iiKiiitlis . . 8<>42
„ „ C — 7 months . . 77'CiS
M n 8 — y muuilia . . 77J7
Infants of 1 — lOdnys .
. 7fi-20
„ „ 11— 20 (la'vH
. 74-78
„ 21— ;{0dny8 .
. 74 -51
„ „ 2 montliH .
. 7.1-03
„ „ months to 2 yrc.
. 72-4fi
„ 5 mouths to l;!i yrs. 7230
V/e see that in the development of the upper limb in man,
there is a constant tenilency to diminish the relation in
(pieslion. We see also that the average of the Negro is
almost that of a white fuitus of five months. In his case,
therefore, the elongation of the railius may be explained
(juite 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 othei*s ?
18
400
The Htnnan Species.
The lower member presents similar facts. According to
the calculations borrowed by M. Topiuard from M. Broca, the
tibia, when compared with tiie femur, gives a relation of 8r33
for the Negro, and 71) 72 for the White.
By adding the figures which express the length of the
nidius and humerus, we have the total length of tiie 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 GvS-27 in tlio
Negro, and 61)73 in the White.
Tiie following is a table of several races, drawn up by
M. Topinard from his own researches and those of several
other authors :
Relation of the
Relation of the Relation of the
Races,
inf. to the
Kiiiur tci tlic tiltia to the
hUl). member.
huiui-rua. femur.
Annamitcs ....
r,7r>
7r,-7
(17-r.
TiiKninitiaiiH , . . .
G8-2
**:$•.-)
84 a
Ai-noH
Ik)HJcsmanR • • • •
CS-4
7r.-2
7f.S
Andaman IslandtiH . . .
7():i
7'.»!)
81-X
AiistralianH ....
7(t-7
7."r(;
7(;i)
UlucM of rondicbciy . . .
71-7
b2'J
844
•
We sec that, by thisdianictcr, tlie Kurttpeau NN'hite is placed
between the African Negro and the Andaman Islander.
1 have already mentioned some remarkable morj)hological
modifications, such as the prominence; of the lii»eaasj)era in the
femur, the platycnemism of the tibia, etc. 1 need not repeat
them, 'i'he clavicle, f(»ot ami hand, also suggest many detiiil.s
which I nniHt iia.sH by in silence. I shall only observe that in
Abyssinia it is neither by his coloiir n(tr his hair that the true
Negro is prov<'d to be characterised, but merely by the rela-
tively exaggerated promin(;nce of the heel. But this sign, which
ha-s been a.sscrted to Ik) infallil)le, is wanting in certain Negro
Anatomical Characters — Brain. 401
raois, not only in the Yoloffs, whose inferior member rc-
sejnblcs our own, hut also in the Bambaras, who have a. jhit
foot.
VII. C/iarncterfi draivn from the aoft port lo 118 ; nervous
tii/sfrni. After liavini^f examined the external fornis of the
l>o«lv, and reviewed the skeleton, we must take the oriranic
apparatus one by one, and study thera in their turn. Un-
fortunately the facts collected are here still more rare, when
the observatittns should have been in larm-r numbers in onler
U) give a definite value to the results. This study, which
lijus 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 cui-sory 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 b}'
Soemmering, and which is established beyond a tloubt by
the splendid preparations of Jacquard, exhibited in the
galleries of the Paris Musotiin. Rtlatively to the White,
the Negro presents a marke«l predominance of peripheral
nervous expansions. The trunks are thicker, and the fibres
more numerous, or perhaps merely ca.sier to isolate, and to