ras) 
lor) 
Encephalic Anatomy of the Races 
In a search of the literature in anthropological and anatomical fields 
of work, descriptions of the brains of races are few in number and often 
of an unsatisfactory character. Not only is this to be deplored from 
the view-point of science generally, but it is particularly to be regretted 
in the case of those races which are rapidly becoming extinct and whose 
ethnological and. anthropological relations would necessarily be incom- 
plete without a well-grounded knowledge of their encephalic anatomy, 
both macroscopical and histological. The vital necessity of obtaining 
a large amount of available material to pursue the comparative study of 
cerebral development from the standpoint of somatic anthropology, is, 
of course, obvious. The difficulties to be overcome, though less serious 
than before, are still sufficient to render many of our efforts fruitless. 
Advances in the extent of our researches can not longer be postponed—. 
if they are to be of value—for in the evolutionary progress of mankind 
many of the exotic races are rapidly becoming impure or even extinct. 
Instances of this are numerous. Of the race of Charruas Indians, now 
extinct, one brain has fortunately been preserved for us by Leuret and 
Gratiolet. How much longer will the North American Indian remain 
pure? The recent volcanic outbreak in the Antilles is said to have 
wiped out nearly every Carib in existence, a few individuals only re- 
maining on St. Lucia and Dominica. The Australian natives, driven 
to the desiccated wastes of the interior; some African tribes, suecumb- 
ing in the arid deserts, and the Eskimos, decimated by epidemics of 
small-pox, measles and pneumonia—all these and many others that 
might be mentioned, are dying out. 
Strong pleas for an extended anthropological encephalometry were 
made as far back as the first half of the past century by such eminent 
anatomists as Tiedemann, Huschke, Gratiolet and Leuret. Tiedemann 
was the first to direct attention to this field of work. In his book, “ Das 
Hirn des Negers mit dem des Europiiers und Orang-Outangs Ver- 
glichen” (1837), he figured the brain of a negro and that of the famous 
“ Hottentot Vents,” comparing these with the European brain. Leuret 
and Gratiolet (1857) later presented the brain of a Charruas Indian from 
Uruguay, comparing it with a French brain. 
Huschke, in default of available material, conceived the idea of study- 
ing intra-cranial casts made of wax and thereby arrived at a rough esti- 
mation of the general mass and conformation of the brain in a few 
races. This mode of study was, however, unsatisfactory as well as crude, 
as it lacked a description of the surface morphology and microscopical 
structure. Wagner (1860) made similar studies on intra-cranial casts, 
deploring at the time that every effort to obtain brains of rarer races 
was futile. 
