INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 7 



Some of these present the most beautiful Caucasian proportions, while 

 others merge by degrees into the Egyptian type ; and I am free to admit 

 that in various instances I have been at a loss in my attempts to classify 

 these two great divisions of the Nilotic series." 



The Semitic race " includes the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Syrians, and 

 Lydians of antiquity, together with the Arabians and Hebrews." 



"Five of my embalmed Semitic heads are susceptible of measurement; 

 and give the low average of 82 cubic inches the largest measuring 88 ; 

 the smallest 69.* In these crania, and also in others of existing Semitic 

 tribes, I have looked in vain for the pit described by Mulder as situated 

 on the outer wall of the orbit at the attachment of the temporal muscles ; 

 and consequently there is no trace of the corresponding elevation, also 

 described by him, within the orbitar cavity. 



"I have had but little success in procuring the crania of the modern 

 Semitic tribes; and for the 3 that I possess, I am indebted to Mr. Glid- 

 don. Of these, two are Baramka, or Barmecide Arabs; the third a Be- 

 douin. The largest measures 98 cubic inches; the smallest 84; and the 

 mean is 89 ; but if we take the average of these 8 Semitic heads, ancient 

 and modern, it will be 85 inches." 



The Nilotic race comprises the ancient Egyptians of the pure stock, 

 and the modern Fellahs. Most of the Egyptian skulls were presented by 

 Messrs. G. R. and W. A. Gliddon, A. C. Harris, of Alexandria, in Egypt. 

 and Dr. Chas. Pickering. Of the 88 crania which present the Egyptian 

 conformation, 55 are capable of measurement. At least eleven of these 

 heads " are of the unmixed type, and present the long, oval form, with a 

 slightly receding forehead, straight or gently aquiline nose, and a some- 

 what retracted chin. The whole cranial structure is thin, delicate, and 

 symmetrical, and remarkable for its small size. The face is narrow, and 

 projects more than in the European, whence the facial angle is two de- 

 grees less, or 78. Neither in these skulls, nor in any others of the Egyp- 

 tian series, can I detect those peculiarities of structure pointed out by 

 the venerable Blumenbach in his Decades Craniorum ; and the external 

 meatus of the ear, whatever may have been the form or size of the carti- 

 laginous portion, is precisely where we find it in all the other races of 

 men. The hair, whenever any of it remains, is long, curling, and of the 

 finest texture." 



"On comparing these crania witli<ftnany/ac similes of monumental effi- 

 gies, most kindly sent me by Prof. Lepsius and M. Prisse d'Avesnes, 1 

 am compelled, by a mass of irresistible evidence, to modify the opinion 

 expressed in the Crania ^gyptiaca viz : that the Egyptians were an 

 Asiatic people. Seven years of additional investigation, together with 

 greatly increased materials, have convinced me that they were neither 

 Asiatics nor Europeans, but aboriginal and indigenous inhabitants of the 

 Valley of the Nile, or some contiguous regions ;t peculiar ia their phy- 



* Crania ^gyptiaca, pp. 41 and 46, and the accompanying plates, 

 t This opinion, with some modifications, has been entertained by sevejai karned 

 Egyptologists ChampoUion, Heeren, Lenormant, &c. 



