256 PRESENT STATE OF ETHNOLOGY 



Arabia, Persia, Hindostan, and China, (not comprising Mongolia and 

 Chinese Tartary.) Whether to the north or south of this area, we 

 find brachycephalic populations, which are, moreover, disseminated 

 here and there among dolichocephalse of Asia. 



I have here arranged the Chinese and Tongouses among the doli- 

 chocephalas, though they have been generally classed by others among 

 the Mongols. In effect, the examination of a great number of skulls 

 has confirmed *he observation which I had made long ago, and which 

 Latham has cited, * that the Chinese proper have the head elongated, 

 with the occipital protuberance very prominent; but this promi- 

 nence is associated with a decided jutting out of the parietal tuberosi- 

 ties, which causes the contour of the skull to approximate to an 

 elongated pentagon more than an oval. I have received several 

 skulls of Chinese, whether real or moulded in plaster, from England, 

 through Dr. J. B. Davis; from Holland, (Prof. Van der Hoeven;) from 

 St. Petersburg, (M. V Baer;) and from the expedition around the 

 world of the frigate Eugenia, (Messrs. Anclersson, Kinberg, Eckstro- 

 mer;) all present, as it seems to me, the same characteristic form. 

 As regards the Tongouses, I ought to observe that I have but a single 

 skull to serve as the basis of my decision, to wit, a mould in gypsum, which 

 was sent me in exchange by Professor Purkinje, of Prague. I have 

 every reason to believe that this mould is from the Tongousian skull 

 which Blumenbach has described and figured in his second decade: 

 " Facie plena ad arcus zygomaticos latissima, fronte depensa, &c, olfactus 

 officina amplissima, occiput mirnm in modum retro eminens ita ut 

 protuberantise occipitis exterme distantia a dentibus incisoribus supe- 

 rioribus 9 pollices Eequaret.'M' The collection of Blumenbach belongs 

 now to the museum of the Physiological Institute of Gottingen, where 

 it is in charge of the learned director, Professor Rudolf Wagner, 

 who has had many of the most remarkable skulls of the collection 

 moulded by a skilful artist, in order to place them within reach of 

 other museums. 



A striking resemblance is to be remarked between this Tongousian 

 skull and those of the Esquimaux. The form of the face is identical: 

 the visage is flattened, very large above the zygomatic bones, the 

 upper jaw ample and prominent; the arch formed by the alveolar 

 processes and the teeth is large, as among the Esquimaux and Green- 

 landers. The same conformity exists in the capacity of the head, the 

 elongation and size of the occipital protuberance. These characters 

 again are to be found in a large portion of the Chinese skulls of our 

 collection, and it is on this account that I have thought that in this 

 Tongousian skull might be discovered the intermediate link between 

 the form of the skull of the Chinese and that of the Esquimaux. 



<* Natural History of the Varieties of Man, 1850, p. 16, "Physical Conformation." 

 f Decas Collections sure Craniorurn diversarum Gentium, II, Table XIV. 



