NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 199 



of this system. As far as my own opportunities for examination have gone, 

 I have not been able to find a single aboriginal American type of skull which, 

 in all its essential details, could be regarded as strictly identical with any in 

 Europe, Asia, Africa or Australia," " The massive, heavy skulls of northern 

 temperate Asia and Europe are represented in America by those of the Bar- 

 barous tribes decidedly different, but allied forms. So the comparatively 

 small-headed Peruvians represent the equally small-headed Hindoos."* 



In 1859, while attempting to determine the ethnic type of a singularly de- 

 formed skull from Jerusalem,! by comparing it with other crania, I noticed, 

 for the first time, how much the form of the occiput differed in the various 

 tribes of Indians. I also observed that "upon our side of the Atlantic the 

 Swedish crania find their representatives in the Arickaree Indian skulls." 

 Subsequently, in another paper, published in the Proceedings of the Academy ,\ I 

 endeavored to show that the conformation of the occiput varied as much among 

 the aboriginal American races as among the natives of the Old World. I pro- 

 pose now to demonstrate that this diversity'is not confined to the occipital re- 

 gion only, but is exhibited by the skull as a whole. Before, however, interroga- 

 ting upon this point the magnificent collection which science owes to the untir- 

 ing industry and sagacity of Dr. Morton, it becomes necessary to inquire for 

 a moment how this eminent craniographer was led to adopt the singular con- 

 clusions which he has given to the world in Crania Americana and subse- 

 quent publications. 



It is well known that, with few but important exceptions, the earlier trav- 

 ellers who visited the New World, and certain historians also, speak decided- 

 ly of the general resemblance which pervades the aboriginal American tribes. 

 Their uniformity of aspect, customs, &c, led Herrera to assign to them a com- 

 mon origin. "Whoever," said Don Antonio Ulloa, "has seen an Indian of 

 whatever region may say that he has seen them all."|| Bernard Romans was 

 " firmly of the opinion that God created an original man and woman in Ame- 

 rica of different species from any in other parts of the earth. "*[ Robertson 

 declared that all the inhabitants of America, except the Esquimaux, " must 

 be pronounced to be descended from one source."** Malte Brun thought 

 "that the Americans, whatever their origin may be, constitute, in the present 

 day, by their physical characters, not less than by their peculiar idiom, a race 

 essentially different from the rest of mankind. "ff In conformity with this 

 view he placed them alone in the last of the sixteen races into which he di- 

 vided the -whole human family. Linna?us,JJ Grnelin.$$ Herder,|||| Kant,^[fl" 

 Buffon,*** Hunter,fff Blumenbach,++J Lawrence,?^ Dumeril ||]||| and other 

 writers, in their attempts at the classification of the races of men, have uni- 



* Ibid. pp. 351, 352. 



f Description of a Deformed Fragmentary Human Skull, found in an ancient Quarry-Cave at 

 Jerusalem. Proc. Acad. Nat Sci., Sept , 1859, p. 262. 



J Observations upon the Form of the Occiput in the various Races of Men, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., 

 Sept . I860, p. 397. 



(J Ilistoria de las Indias. 



|| " Visto uu Iudio de qualquier region, se puede decir que se han visto todos en quanto al color 

 y contextura." Noticias Americanas; entretenimientos fisieo-historicos sobre la America meridi- 

 onal, y la septentrional oriental, etc. Su Auter el Exc. Sr. Don Antonio de Ulloa. Madrid, 1792 

 p. 253. 



f A concise Natural History of East and West Florida. New fork, 1776, p. 38. 



** History of America. London, 1803, vol. 2, p. 46. 



tf Universal Geography Boston. 1826, vol. v. p. 12. 



XX Systema Natura, ed. 12 et 13, Homo. English translation by Robt. Karr, London 1792, p. 45 



\\ Ibid. p. 46. 



|l|! Zur Philosophic der Geschicbte der Menschheit, II. S. 4, 68. 



iflf Engel's Philnsophie fur die Welt, ii. 



*** (Euvres completes de Buffon. Paris, 1774, t. v. 



ftt Disputatio Inauguralis quaedam de Hominum varietatibus, etc. Edinburgi, 1775, p. 9. 



XXX D e Generis Humani Varietate Nativa. Goettinga?. 1795, p. 286 



Hf Lectures on Comparative Anatomy, Physiology, Zoology and the Natural History of Mau. 

 London, 1848, Bohn's Edition, p. 247. 



1 III Zoologie Analytique. Paris, 1S06, p. 7. 



1866.] 



