PROCEEDINGS OF SECriON F. 573 



sun, was of a far darker color than the lower. Thus we see that the 

 sun has just the same influence on a brown as on a white skin — a fact 

 generally hidden from our observation." 



Some amount of study has recently been devoted to the muscles 

 of expression in different races ; but at the present time there is but 

 little recorded in this connection regarding the Australian aboriginal. 

 Cunningham and Klaatsch have both been supplied recently with 

 materials from South Australia for investigation, so something more 

 may be looked for. 



About eight years ago I found an extra muscle in both hands of 

 a full-grown male aboriginal. On the right side the muscle arose from 

 the tendon of the pahnaris longus at the level of the annular ligament, 

 and passed downwards to join the tendon of the abductor minimi digiti. 

 The nerve supply was derived from the ulnar nerve by a branch which 

 left the trunk at the level of the pisiform bone, and passed downwards 

 to enter the muscle at the lower border of the palmaris brevis. The 

 muscle on the left side was similar in its relations ; but I did not 

 dissect out the nerve. 



This appeared to be an abnormality of that particular body. I 

 subsequently examined a large number of bodies of aboriginals, but 

 found no other instance of such a condition as this. 



Man is but poorly specialised in body when compared with the 

 donkey or the deer. Like many other animal forms, he has one 

 particular and peculiar feature that stands out prominently as a mark 

 of distinction. The one feature, universally recognised, that marks 

 man off from all present day forms is his brain. A highly specialised 

 brain means less necessity for specialisation of other parts of the body. 

 Teeth and jaws remain generalised because he can cook ; his skin is 

 smooth because he can provide means of shelter and defence. One 

 would imagine that classifying features would be found in the develop- 

 ment of the human brain, or in the brains of adults of the various races. 

 Here, surely, is a fruitful field of study. What has been done in it ? 



Broca may be said to have led the way in the study of the brain 

 in races. He published his results in 1880. In 1882 Miklouho-Maclay 

 published the results of an examination of various brains, including the 

 AustraUan aboriginal {Nature, December 21st, 1882, p. 185). In 1888 

 Rolleston (Journ. Anthrop. Ins., p. 32) described another Australian 

 aboriginal brain. Duckworth {Morphology and Anthropology, 1904, p. 

 423 et seq.) describes four brains of aboriginals in the Cambridge 

 Anatomical Collection. But what does all this amount to, even if the 

 descriptions were complete, instead of being merely superficial, as many 

 of them are ? The whole subject of the evolution of this organ in the 

 aboriginal is practically untouched. 



If the specialisation of brain marks man off from all other animal 

 forms, it does not follow that the various races of mankind will be 

 marked off from each other by cerebral characters ; in fact, analogy 

 is against such a supposition. The fundamentum divisionis of the 

 genus is rarely the fundamentum divisionis of the species, in Deniker's 



