502 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1961 



characteristics. Only in the last two centuries do we find any attempt 

 at precise descriptions of racial characteristics. The science of physi- 

 cal anthropology can, it is true, in one sense, be traced back to the 

 Kenaissance, for it has its roots in the precise anatomical representa- 

 tions and descriptions of Vesalius. He, however, was not, as far as 

 we know, interested in differentiating races, but was concerned, rather, 

 in establishing those anatomical characteristics which all or nearly all 

 human beings have in common. 



At about the time of the Renaissance, too, the period of the great 

 explorations began, during which most of the surface of the earth 

 became known to, and much of it was conquered by, the peoples of 

 Europe. Thus Europeans, within a relatively short space of time, 

 became aware of the existence of a much greater range of human types, 

 and incidentally of human cultures, than had ever been known to them 

 before. Indeed, in the previous thousand years almost their only new 

 contacts had been with invading armies from Asia. 



An important stej;) in the direction of precise differentiation of 

 human individuals and populations was taken by Camper (1782), 

 when he introduced the measurement of the "facial angle." With 

 Blumenbach (1795) we are suddenly in the presence of a fully scientific 

 investigator who, if it were possible for him to be present, would 

 surely feel at home in a modern gathering of physical anthropologists. 

 He proposed a classification of mankind, regarded as a single biologi- 

 cal species, into five principal varieties, Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethi- 

 opian, American, and Malay, of which he gave qualitative but 

 nevertheless precise anatomical specifications. He stressed, however, 

 the variation which occurred within each variety. Cuvier (1854) 

 reduced the varieties to the three, Caucasian, Mongolian, and Negro, 

 which have since remained traditional. 



In 1842 came one of the most important advances in the methods 

 of anthropology, the introduction by Retzius of the concept of the 

 "cranial index," expressing the breadth of the skull as a percentage 

 of its length. This technical device, important in itself, became a 

 sort of nucleus around which crystallized most of the observations 

 made in physical anthropology during the subsequent hundred years. 



EVOLUTION, NATURAL SELECTION, AND HEREDITY 



In the whole of biological science, however, the middle years of the 

 19th century were a time not only of great advances in knowledge but 

 of fundamental changes in views, affecting anthropology perhaps 

 more than any other part of biology. Following the publication by 

 Darwin in 1859 of The Origin of Species^ he, and Huxley who took 

 the major part in disseminating the new theory, became the unques- 

 tioned leaders of the biological world. Among their chief preoccupa- 



