202 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP 



thing common in their origin.' "* The Abbe Clavigero entertained a similar 

 idea.f 



Such, in brief terms, were the conflicting statements promulgated by differ- 

 ent writers prior to the publication of Crania Americana. With all these Dr. 

 Morton was thoroughly conversant. Through Cardan he knew that the skulls 

 of the inhabitants of the old Portus Provincire were square and deficient in 

 the occiput, that Charlevoix described the heads of one of the Indian nations 

 of Canada as globular, and those of another as flat ;J that De Pauw speaks 

 of certain Indians on the borders of the Maragnon having square or cubical 

 heads, | and that Malte Brun described the aboriginal Americans as having, 

 among other characters, " heads of a square shape, with the occipital bone 

 not so convey, and the facial line more inclined than among the Mongol 

 race." | He knew that Humboldt had declared in his Researches "that the 

 nations of America, except those which border on the polar circle, form a 

 single race characterized by the formation of the skull," &c/[ He was fa- 

 miliar also with the statements of Von Spix and Martius that the Brazilians 

 resembled the Chinese in possessing, among other physical characters, " a 

 small, not oblong, but roundish, angular, rather pointed head, with a 

 broad crown, prominent sinus frontales, low forehead, and pointed and 

 prominent cheek-bones."** He was also acquainted with the fact that both 

 Desmoulins and Bory de St. Vincent ascribed to a number of the American 

 races a spherical head as a prominent characteristic. Among the earlier 

 specimens added to his subsequently famous cranial collection, were some 

 brachycephalic skulls, with truncated or more or less vertically flattened oc- 

 ciputs, ff These, together with the numerous short-headed Peruvian crania 

 in his cabinet, presented such a striking contrast with the ordinary elongated 

 head-forms of the human family in general, that he was hastily led to regard 

 the short, round or angular skull with flat occiput and depressed forehead, as 

 the typical cranial form of the aboriginal Americans. This form he proba- 

 bly regarded as the osteological analogue to the holophrastic or polysynthetic 

 character which the philologist had already declared to be at once common 

 and peculiar to the American races. 



Dr. Morton divided the American race into two great families the Toltecau 

 and the Barbarous Tribes. The latter he subdivided into the Appalachian, 

 Brazilian, Patagonian and Fuegian branches. To the Appalachians he as- 

 cribed a rounded head ; large, salient and aquiline nose ; dark brown eyes, 

 with little or no obliquity of position; large and straight mouth ; nearly ver- 

 tical teeth and triangular face. They included all the nations of North Ame- 

 rica excepting the Mexicans, together with the tribes north of the river Ama- 

 zon, and east of the Andes. The Brazilian brancji, located between the riv- 

 ers Amazon and La Plata, and between the Andes and the Atlantic, embraced 

 the whole of Brazil and Paraguay north of the 35th degree of south latitude. 

 The Patagonian branch included the nations south of the La Plata to the Straits 

 of Magellan and the mountain tribes of Chili. The Fuegian branch comprised 

 the people who inhabit the island of Terra del Fuego, often called Patago- 

 nians. The Esquimau or Polar Tribes, Dr. Morton separated entirely from 

 the American race, and designated them " Mongol Americans." 



With regard to the aboriginal American crania, Dr. Morton tells us that 

 " after examining a great number of skulls, he found that the nations east of 



Charlevoix's Voyage to North America ; Preliminary Discourse, p. 3. See Barton's New Views, 

 p. xevi. 



f History of Mexico, vol. 2, p. 215. 



JThc Anthropological Treatises of Blnmenhach, London, 1865, p. 121. 



\ Recherehes philosophiq_ues sur les Americains, Berlin, 1777, 1. 1, p. 122. 



J Op. cit, pp. 12, 13. 



\ Researches concerning the Institutions and Monuments of the Ancient Inhabitants of 

 America. London, 1814. Vol. 1. p. 14. 



** Reise in Brasilien. Munchen, 1S23, lr Th. S. 184. 



ft Sec the 1st Edition of his Catalogue of Skulls. 



[May, 



