Crania of Aboriginal Americans. 139 



" An interesting question remains to be solved, viz. the re- 

 lative proportion of brain in the anterior and posterior cham- 

 bers of the skull in the different races ; an inquiry for which I 

 have hitherto possessed neither sufficient leisure nor adequate 

 materials." P. 261. 



Our readers will discover in the length and minuteness of 

 this article, the great value which we attach to Dr Morton's 

 work. We regard it as an honour to the country, and as a 

 proof of talent, patience, and research in himself, which place 

 him in the first rank among natural philosophers. We rejoice 

 to see that he does " not, even now, consider his task as w^holly 

 completed f but hopes to publish a " supplementary volume, 

 in which it will further be my aim to extend and revise both 

 the anatomical and phrenological tables, and to give basal views 

 of at least a part of the crania delineated." We sincerely 

 trust that the favourable reception of this volume will induce 

 him to execute these intentions.* 



On Earthquakes. By M. Edouard Biot. 



M. Edouard Biot lately read an interesting memoir to the 

 Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, upon the ancient deluges 

 which are mentioned in the historical annals of China, to- 



* Postscript. — On page 3G3, wo remarked that " there is a discrepancy 

 between the description of the ancient Puruvian skulls, and the civiliza- 

 tion ascribed to their possessors, which is unique in Dr Morton's work." 

 When the present sheet was in the press, we received a letter from Dr 

 Morton, in which he says, " Since that part of my work which relates to 

 the ancient Peruvians was written, I liave seen several additional casts of 

 skulls belonging to the same series, and although I am satisfied that (Fig. 

 4, p. 127) represents an unaltered cranium, yet, as it is the onhj vnaltered 

 one I have met with, among the remains of that ancient people, I wish 

 to correct the statement, too hastily drawn, that it is the cranial tijpe of 

 their nation. My matured opinion is, that the ancient Peruvians were a 

 branch of the great Toltecan family, and that the cranium had the same 

 general characteristics in both. I am at a loss to conjecture how they 

 narrowed the face in such due proportion to the head ; but the fact seems 

 indisputable. I shall use every exertion to obtain additional materials for 

 the further illustration of this subject." 



Signed, Samuel George Morton. 



^Philadelphia, 3d March 1840. 



