VARIETIES OF MANKIND. 



1331 



narrowing which is most common among the 

 inhabitants of the "old country." And it is 

 not a little significant, that the well-marked 

 change which has thus shown itself in the 

 course of a very few generations, should tend 

 to assimilate the Anglo-American race to the 

 aborigines of the country ; the peculiar phy- 

 siognomy here adverted to, most assuredly 

 presenting a transition, however slight, to- 

 wards that of the North-American Indian. 



2. Conformation of the Pelvis. Certain 

 differences in the pelvis have been thought 

 to l)e characteristic of particular nations or 

 groups of nations. According to Professor 

 Vrolik *, who was the first to take up the 

 enquiry systematically, the difference between 

 the male and the female pelvis is much more 

 strongly marked in the Negro than in the Eu- 

 ropean. The pelvis of the male Negro, in the 

 strength and density of its substance, and in 

 the form of its component bones,resembles the 

 pelvis of a wild beast ; while, on the contrary, 

 the pelvis of the female of the same race com- 

 bines lightness of substance and delicacy of 

 form and structure. Notwithstanding this 

 delicacy of conformation, it is considered by 

 Professor Vrolik to present characters which 

 indicate an approximation to that of the 

 Quadrumana ; for the ossa ilii are unusually 

 vertical in their direction, and the highest part 

 of their crest is situated immediately above 

 the posterior and upper tuberosity, instead of 

 being midway between the anterior spine and 

 posterior tuberosity ; the length of the an- 

 tero-posterior diameter at the brim is very 

 great in proportion to the transverse diameter; 

 the sacrum is narrower, and the angle beneath 

 the pubic articulation more acute; the whole 

 pelvis is longer ; but the diameters at the 

 outlet are not sensibly different from those of 

 the European pelvis. The conformation of 

 the pelvis in the female Hottentot, who died 

 in Paris in 1815, is considered by Professor 

 Vrolik to present a still wider departure from 

 the European form, and a correspondingly 

 nearer approximation to the quadrumanous ; 

 the ilia are so vertical in their direction, and 

 are so much lengthened upwards, as to rise 

 above the level of the middle of the fourth 

 lumbar vertebra. In the Javanese (Malay), 

 the pelvis is distinguished by its smallncss, its 

 peculiar lightness of substance, and the cir- 

 cular form of its upper aperture; the pro- 

 montory of the sacrum projects very little ; 

 and the ischiadic spines are remarkably turned 

 inwards. 



A more extended comparison of the pelvis 

 of different races, however, has been made by 

 Professor M. I. Weber ; who classifies all the 

 varieties he has met with under the four fol- 

 lowing heads, which are named according to 

 the form of the aperture of the brim : 



1. The oval, in which the aperture has 

 somewhat the form of an egg, the narrowest 

 end of the ellipse being at the symphysis 



pubis : but the antero-posterior diameter is 

 shorter than the transverse. 



2. The round, in which the antero-pos- 

 terior and transverse diameters are nearly 

 equal. 



3. The square, or four-sided ; in which the 

 sides, especially that formed by the os pubis, 

 are flat and broad, so that the aperture forms 

 nearly a perfect square ; the transverse di- 

 ameter is greater than the antero-posterior. 



4. The oblong ; in which the sides are com- 

 pressed, and the transverse diameter is con- 

 sequently the least; the sacrum is narrow; 

 anil the angle at which the ossa pubis unite is 

 very acute ; the ossa ilii are high, and nearer 

 to each other than in the previous forms. 



Now, if any attempt be made to assign any 

 one of these forms of pelvis to a particular 

 nation or group of nations, it fails in toto ; 

 because, although particular types are more 

 common than others in each principal variety, 

 yet each kind may present itself in other 

 individuals of the same race. Thus, the oval 

 type is most common in the European, where 

 it is in accordance with the oval form of the 

 skull ; but round, square, and wedge-shaped 

 pelves also present themselves occasionally ; 

 and the oval form is met with again in the 

 pelvis of a Botacudo, a people reputed to be 

 the most savage of all the American nations. 

 The round type seems most frequent among 

 the American and Malayan nations ; but it 

 has been observed by Weber not merely in 

 the European, but in a Negress,andin a female 

 Hottentot. The square form seems most 

 common among the nations with decidedly 

 pyramidal skulls, especially the Northern 

 Asiatics ; but it occurs also in Europeans, 

 and in the mixed race of Mestizos. Finally, 

 the oblong pelvis is most common among the 

 African races, and is conformable to the 

 elongated shape usually possessed by their 

 crania ; but it has been observed also among 

 Europeans and Botocudos.* The writer's 

 own observations, so far as they extend, con- 

 firm this view, as to the conformity between 

 the shape of the pelvis and that of the skull ; 

 which renders it probable that the influences 

 which affect the latter will modify the former 

 also. 



3. Conformation of other parts of the ske- 

 leton. Other characters have been at dif- 

 ferent times adduced, as showing that the 

 Negro and other degraded races are really to 

 be considered as forming a distinct group, in- 

 termediate between the higher specimens of 

 humanity and the superior apes. Of these, 

 the most important will be now inquired into. 

 It was maintained by Soemmering, and since 

 his time very generally believed, that the 

 position of the foramen magnum in the Negro 

 skull is intermediate between that which it 

 holds in man, and that which it presents in 

 the anthropoid Simire; but this, as already 

 shown, is a mistaken view of the case ; for, 



* Platen behoorendc tot do Beschowinp; van Let * Die Lehrc von den TJr- und Racenformcn der 

 Verscbel der Uekkeus in onderscheidene Volkstam- Schaedel und Beckon des Meuschen, YOU Dr. M. I. 



Weber. Dusseldorf: 1830. 



4Q 2 



men. Amsterdam : 1826. 



