288 Zoological Society, 



founded upon the moral as well as the physical diversities between 

 them*. 



" On the other hand, the history of the people, and especially the 

 great similarity of their languages, go far to prove a near relationship 

 between the Finnish and Lappish nations ; nor is a greater or less 

 degree of civilization to be looked upon as a proof of diversity of 

 origin, although it may be the cause of all the moral, and possibly 

 of the physical differences also, which exist between the Finns and 

 Lappes. 



** From this uncertainty it becomes much more important to ascer- 

 tain, by the examination of their skulls, what the physical character- 

 istics of each nation are, and whether they exhibit any points of 

 resemblance which may confirm the supposition that there is affinity 

 between them, or whether, on the contrary, a sufficient degree of 

 dissimilarity can be made out, from an accurate examination, to en- 

 title us to set them down as separate races, and to class them with 

 different grand divisions of the human species ; whether, in short, 

 these differences, if any such are found, are more than can be ac- 

 counted for by the diversity of climate and modes of life which are 

 well known long to have existed between them. 



" The examination of these skulls for the purpose of furnishing an 

 accurate description of their appearance is interesting in another 

 point of view. In Scandinavia and in Denmark there are numerous 

 tumuli which contain osteological remains of former inhabitants, and 

 it is a disputed point whether they are the remains of a Finnish ab- 

 original stock or of Cimbrian or some unknown race, since they differ 

 from the old German remains. Now if we could establish a correct 

 notion of the Finnish description of skull, we should have no diffi- 

 culty in deciding whether the remains before mentioned belonged to 

 this stock. 



** Having four specimens of these skulls, two of Finns and two of 

 Laplanders, which my father has received through the kindness of 

 Dr. Ilmoni and Mr. Daniel Wheeler, of Bristol, I have an opportunity 

 of examining their peculiarities and of comparing them with each 

 other and with the skulls of other Europeans, Chinese, American 

 Indian, and the Esquimaux, the latter of which is a most remarkable 

 specimen of the pyramidal and broad-faced skull. 



" Upon taking a general view of these skulls, there are no remark- 

 able features which strike us so forcibly as those which we see in the 

 conformation of the Esquimaux. In fact, the only point worthy of 

 notice here, before we commence the particular description, is a de- 

 gree of general breadth in the face superior to that which is seen in 

 the European generally, which gives to the whole an appearance of 

 squareness when the lower jaw is attached, and causes the actual 

 shortness of the face, which is remarkable in these skulls, to become 

 still more apparent. The general resemblance between the Finnish 



* Lehrberg, iiber die Wolmsitte der Jemen, ein Beitrag zur Geschichte 

 Neu-Finnlands, in Untersuchungen zur Erlaiiterung der alten Geschichte 

 Russlands. 



