96 ARCHAEOLOGY OF TIIE UNITED STATES. 



an independent conclusion of his own. The following rather startling passage is 

 from his essay on the varieties of mankind : — 



" It has not been pointed out, so far as the writer is aware, by any ethnologist, 

 that the conformation of the cranium seems to have undergone a certain amount 

 of alteration, even in the Anglo-Saxon race of the United States, which assimilates 

 it, in some degree, to that of the aboriginal inhabitants. Certain it is, that among 

 New Englanders more particularly, a cast of countenance prevails, which usually 

 renders it easy for any one familiar with it, to point out an individual of that 

 country in the midst of an assemblage of Englishmen; and though this may 

 chiefly depend upon the conformation of the soft parts, yet there is a certain sharp- 

 ness, and an angularity of feature, about a genuine 'yankee,' which would probably 

 display itself in the contour of the bones. So far as the writer's observation has 

 extended, there is especially to be noticed an excess of breadth between the rami of 

 the lower jaw, giving to the lower part of the face a peculiar squareness that is 

 in striking contrast with the tendency to an oval narrowing which is most common 

 among the inhabitants of the 'old country.' And it is not a little significant, that 

 the well marked change ivhich has thus shown itself in the course of a very few genera- 

 tions, should tend to assimilate the Anglo-American race to the aborigines of the 

 country ; the pecidiar physiognomy here adverted to, most assuredly presenting a transi- 

 tion, however slight, loicard that of the North American Indian." 1 



As an example of the influence of association, the same writer states that, 

 according to the concurrent testimony of disinterested observers, both in the West 

 Indies and the United States, an approximation in the negro physiognomy to the 

 European model is progressively taking place in instances where, although there 

 has been no intermixture of blood, the influence of a higher civilization has been 

 exercised for a lengthened period. He cites Dr. Hancock, as a most intelligent 

 physician of Guiana, who asserts that it is frequently not at all difficult to distin- 

 guish a negro of pure blood belonging to the Dutch portion of the colony, from 

 another belonging to the English settlements, by the correspondence between their 

 features and expression, and those which are characteristic of their respective 

 masters. Sir Charles Lyell is also referred to as having informed Dr. Carpenter 

 that he had been assured by numerous medical men in the slave States of the 

 North American Union, that a gradual approximation is taking place in the con- 

 figuration of the head and body of the pure negro to the European model. 2 



With the cases of assimilation last adduced, climate has of course nothing to do. 

 They would probably be ascribed to the. influence of mental habits and associa- 

 tions upon the muscles of expression, gradually extending to the more inflexible 

 parts of the system, as husband and wife are said to grow into a sort of resemblance, 

 and persons of a particular trade acquire an aspect that distinguishes them ; or as the 

 favorite dog of the " Ettrick Shepherd" was humorously said to have gained such a 

 likeness to his master as sometimes to occupy his place in the pew at church, with- 

 out the minister's ever noting the difference. 



Carpenter on the Varieties of Mankind, in Todd's Cyc. of Anat. and Thysiol., p. f 330. 

 Ibid., p. 1330. 



