118 Cimparative View of 



of Chili. They are for the most part distinguished for their 

 tall stature, their fine forms, and their indomitable courage, of 

 all which traits the Auracanians possess a conspicuous share. 

 4M, The Fuegian branch, which roves over a sterile waste, 

 computed to be as large as one-half of Ireland. Forster com- 

 putes their whole number at only two thousand souls. Their 

 physical aspect is altogether repulsive, and their domestic 

 usages tend to heighten the defects of nature. The expression 

 of the face is vacant, and their mental operations are to the 

 last degree slow and stupid. The diiference between them 

 and the other Americans is attributed by Dr Morton to the 

 effects of climate and locality. 



Thus far, Dr Morton has travelled over ground previously 

 occupied by other naturalists ; but we proceed to a field in 

 which he has had the courage and sagacity to enter boldly on 

 a new path. He has added to his text numerous and minute 

 measurements of the size and capacity not only of each entire 

 cranium, but of its different parts, with a view to elucidate the 

 connection (if there be any) between particular regions of the 

 brain and particular mental qualities of the American tribes. 

 In his dedication to John S. Phillips, Esq., of Philadelphia,* 

 he observes : " It may, perhaps, be thought by some readers, 

 that these details are unnecessarily minute, especially in the 

 phrenological tables ; and again, others would have preferred 

 a work conducted throughout on phrenological principles. In 

 this study I am yet a learner ; and it appeared to me the wiser 

 plan to present the facts unbiassed by theory, and let the 

 reader draw his own conclusions. You and I have long ad- 

 mitted the fundamental principles of phrenology, viz., that the 

 brain is the organ of the mind, and that its different parts 

 perform different functions ; but we have been slow to ac- 

 knowledge the details of cranioscopy as taught by Dr Gall, 

 and supported and extended by subsequent observers. We 

 have not, however, neglected this branch of inquiry, but have 

 endeavoured to examine it in connection with numerous facts, 



* Dr Morton acknowledges himself to be under many obligations to Mr 

 Phillips in the prosecution of his inquiries, and says that it was he who in- 

 rented the machines used in making the measurements, and executed many 

 of them himself. 



