of the Arabians. 321 



feet and hands, reaching to the points of the toes and fingers. 

 These parts, and also the countenance of the young of the 

 higher classes, are protected from the disfiguring effects of the 

 small pox (when not preserved by inoculation) by means of 

 gold leaf, which is applied to all these parts at the invasion of 

 the malady. This practice seems to have been common to the 

 Egyptians, and to the Arabians properly so called.* 



Every individual, of either sex, wears a turban more or less 

 rich, according to his wealth ; this turban is worn in form of a 

 circle round the head above the ears, which are slightly inclined 

 towards the temples, so that their head appears almost spheri- 

 cal in form, and unusually elevated. t It is this particular form 

 of the ears, and this remarkable elevation of the cranium, 

 which, without doubt, have led our much respected associate, 

 M. Dureau de la Malle, to remark that the auditory foramina 

 Avere placed lower in the heads of Arabians, than in those of 

 people of other nations ; but we are convinced by the compara- 

 tive examination of the temporal bones in which these foramina 

 are placed, that their respective situation is absolutely the same 

 in the heads of the inhabitants of all other countries. 



The peculiar genius of these men led them to supply the 

 first shepherd-kings to Egypt, as also the first astronomers, the 

 profoundest philosophers and most able physicians ; their other 

 exploits and conquests are well known. 



The perfectibility which we have thus recognised in all the 

 internal organs, and in those also which belong to the external 

 members of these Arabians, really announce an innate intelli- 

 gence proportionate to that physical perfection, and which 

 is, without doubt, superior, other things being equal, to that, 

 for instance, of the people of the northern regions of the globe. 



In Egypt, we have remarked that the young Arabians of 



'• M. Larrey exhibited to the Academy the foot of a mummy in which 

 tlie traces of this kind of gilding were apparent. 



t This excentric expansion, or development of the process of ossification, 

 Avliich proceeds from the centre to the circumference, confirms the principles 

 •which I have maintained in the memoir I had the honour to read to the 

 Academy upon woimds of the head, and the osteology of the cranium. The 

 examination of the specimen here presented may convince every one of thi» 

 physiological verity. 



