20 



PROFESSOR OWEN ON THE CHARACTERS, ETC. 



equally peculiar is the ' posterior liorn of the lateral ventricle,' and 

 the ' hippocampus minor,' which characterize the hind lobe of each 

 hemisphere. The su- 

 perficial grey matter Fi S" ^--Negro. 

 of the cerebrum, 

 through the number 

 and depth of the con- 

 volutions, attains its 

 maximum of extent 

 in Man. 



Peculiar mental 

 powers are associ- 

 ated with this high- 

 est form of brain, and 

 their consequences 

 wonderfully illus- 

 trate the value of the 

 cerebral character ; 

 according to my es- 

 timate of which, I 

 am led to regard the 

 genus Homo, as not 

 merely a representa- 

 tive of a distinct or- 

 der, but of a distinct 

 subclass of the Mam- 

 malia*, for which I 

 propose the name of 

 ' Archencephala f ' 

 (fig. 6). 



"With this preli- 

 minary definition of the organic characters, which appear to 



* Not being able to appreciate, or conceive of the distinction between the 

 psychical plisenomena of a Chimpanzee and of a Boschisman, or of an Aztec with 

 arrested brain-growth, as being of a nature so essential as to preclude a comparison 

 between them, or as being other than a difference of degree, I cannot shut my 

 eyes to the significance of that all-pervading similitude of structure — every 

 tooth, every bone, strictly homologous,— which makes the determination of the 

 difference between Homo and Pithecus the anatomist's difficulty. And, there- 

 fore, with every respect for the Author of the "Records of Creation" (8vo, 

 1816, pp. 18-21), I follow Linnaeus and Cuvier in regarding mankind as a 

 legitimate subject of zoological comparison and classification. 



f «px w > ^° overrule; ey»ce0aAos, brain. 



Fig. 6. — Side view, Negro. 



