665 



MAN.- 



MAN. 



in other races. He has arranged the various shapes of the human 

 pelvis in four classes, the oval, the round, the square, and the 

 cuneiform or oblong; and he shows that although the first is the 

 most general form in Europeans, the second in the Americans, 

 the third iu the Mongolians, and the last in the Africans, yet that 

 specimens of each kind may be found in all tho different races. 



The chest of the negro is somewhat more expanded than that of 

 the European, the sternum more arched, the ribs larger, and more 

 roundly curved. In general also the negro's fore arm, measured in 

 proportion to his upper arm and to the height of the body, is longer 

 than in the European. The knees of negroes often appear to Euro- 

 peans misshappen, the bones of the leg bending out from beneath 

 them, and the feet turned outwards in the manner commonly called 

 splay-footed. The tibia and fibula also are rather more convex than 

 in Europeans ; the feet are flat, and the 03 calcis, instead of being 

 arched, is nearly in a straight line with the rest of the tarsus ; and 

 the gastrocnemii muscles have the greater part of their mass high up 

 in the legs, so that the calves seem to encroach upon the hams. 

 The hands are generally narrow ; the fingers long and very flexible. 



It is from these modifications which the negro presents, and taking 

 extreme cases of each peculiarity, that there has appeared some 

 ground for supposing the negro to form a grade intermediate between 

 the European and the monkey. But there is no character in which 

 the difference between the lowest negro and the highest ape is not 

 many times greater than that between the ame negro and the highest 

 European ; and in all the important points of structure which we 

 have already mentioned the differences which the negro presents are 

 but slight, never amounting to what would be regarded as a specific 

 character amongst the lower animals. The length of the base of the 

 skull, the somewhat more backward situation of the foramen magnum, 

 the decrease of the facial angle, and the projection of the teeth, 

 depend almost entirely on the prominence of the alveolar process of 

 the upper jaw ; and if a slight allowance be made for it, the negro in 

 these points resembles the European. So also, in the prominence of 

 his two ossa nasi, the position of the cranium over the greater part of 

 the face, the equal length and approximation of all his teeth, the full 

 development of the mastoid and styloid processes, which are nearly 

 or quite wanting in all apes, and numerous other essential character- 

 istics, there is no difference between the two races. At the same time 

 therefore that it is allowed that the characters of form which the 

 lowest class of negroes presents are more like those of the monkey 

 than those of the European are, it is certain that the approximation 

 is but slight, and that a vast space is still -left between them. It is 

 true that there coincides with this degradation of form a very low 

 degree of intellectual development, but it is not lower than that of 

 the Esquimaux and Hottentots and many of the third variety, who 

 in some respects, as the breadth of the skull and face, are even more 

 distantly removed from the monkeys than Europeans are. 



Considerable differences occur in the general stature of the several 

 races of mankind. In the temperate climates of Europe the general 

 height varies from 4J to 6 feet; the instances in which individuals 

 have fallen far short or have much exceeded this standard are too 

 exceptional to be taken into a general account. [GiA.vr.] Among 

 the native inhabitants of America great varieties occur. The Peru- 

 vians, the natives of Tierra del Fuego and of Nootka Sound, the 

 Esquimaux, and the Chaymas are all described as very diminutive; 

 while the Payaguas, Caribees, Cherokees, and the natives of the regions 

 immediately north of Canada are said to be generally much above the 

 standard of Europeans. The height of the Patagonians also, though 

 often exaggerated, is yet remarkable ; the most authentic accounts 

 agree that they commonly attain the height of 6 feet, and that they 

 not uufrequently surpass it. The standard of height among the 

 Africans appears about the same as that of Europeans. The Hotten- 

 tots are below the general size, .and the Bushmen still more so, for 

 among them 44 feet ia said to be the average height of the men, and 

 4 feet that of the women. The Kaffirs on the contrary, the neigh- 

 bouring tribe to the Hottentots, are distinguished for their height and 

 strength. The people of the north of Asia and the Laplanders and 

 Samoiedes in Europe are generally shorter than the inhabitants of 

 the warmer climates, but the Chinese and Japanese, who in other 

 respects much resemble them, are about the same stature as the 

 rest of the Europeans. 



With these varieties in stature it ia interesting to compare the 

 amounts of physical power possessed by different nations. The result 

 of all observation has been the exact contrary of popular belief, which 

 ascribes a decrease of physical strength proportionate to the increase 

 of intellectual power acquired by civilisation. The Spaniards in their 

 first intercourse with America found the natives in general much 

 weaker than themselves ; and the inability of the natives to sustain 

 the severe labour of the mines led to the introduction of African 

 slave*, one of whom was equal to three or four Indians. Hearne 

 and others have found the same feebleness in the natives of various 

 part* of the North American continent, and Pallas in the Buriats. 

 I !<it the most exact observations were made by Peron with the dyna- 

 mometer upon 12 natives of Van Diemen's Land, 17 of Australia, 

 56 of the Island of Timor, 17 Frenchmen belonging to the expedition, 

 and 14 Englishmen in the colony of New South \Va|^. The mean 

 < were as follows :- - 



Van Diemeu's Laud 



Australia . 



Timor . 



France 



England 



Strength 

 of the Arms. 

 Kilogrammes. 

 . . 50-6 

 . 50'8 

 . . 5S7 

 . 69-2 

 . . 71-4 



Strength 



of the Loins. 



Kilogrammes. 



10'2 

 11-6 

 15-2 



10-3 



The substance on which the varieties of colour in the human race 

 depend, is seated chiefly in the soft and most internal layers of the 

 cuticle ; the true skiu (cutis, derma), ia similar iu all nations, and the 

 outer hardened layers of the cuticle have .only a light tiuge of the 

 colour of those beneath them, which constitute what is often called 

 the rete mucosum. [SKIN.] The human complexion depends in part 

 on the coudition of the cutis and its vessels, and in part on that of 

 the cuticle. In white nations, according to the fulness or comparative 

 emptiness of the bloodvessels of the skin, we find all the gradations 

 of complexion, from the deep ruddiness of full health, to the blanched 

 pallor of sickness ; and in negroes, the same changes are indicated by 

 a greater intensity of the blackness and by a dull leaden hue. These 

 differences however chiefly characterise individuals; the national 

 variations depend rather on the cuticle. A thick and opaque though 

 colourless cuticle, obscuring the blood of the cutis, assists greatly in 

 giving that deaduess of hue and phlegmatic aspect which distinguishes 

 some Europeans from others who with a thiuuer and more translucent 

 epidermis are marked by a florid ruddy complexion. As the cuticle 

 becomes darker in colour, it obscures more completely the colour of 

 the blood iu the subjacent tissue, and hence it is only iu nations of 

 light complexion that sudden blushing or paleness is at once 

 perceptible. 



With the varieties in the colour of the skin there generally coincide 

 analogous differences iu the hair and eyes. It is probable indeed that 

 the colouring matter is the same in all; being combined in the cuticle 

 with its peculiar cells and scales, in the hair with a horny substance, 

 and in the choroid membrane and uvea with their minute roundish 

 particles. 



Dr. Prichard refers all the differences of complexion iu man to three 

 principal varieties : 1. The Melauocomous, or black-haired, which ia 

 the complexion generally prevalent, except iu the northern parts of 

 Europe and Asia. The coincident colour of the akin varies from a 

 deep black, as in some Africans, to a much lighter or more dilute 

 shade. In the copper-coloured nations of America and Africa the 

 dusky hue is combined with red, while in the olive-coloured races of 

 Asia it ia mixed with a tinge of yellow. In iu tensity of colour there is 

 every ahade from the black of the Senegal negro to the light olive of 

 the northern Hiudoos, and from the latter there may be traced every 

 variety of ahade among the Persians and other Asiatics, to the com- 

 plexion of the swarthy Spaniards, and of black-haired Europeans in 

 igeneraL 2. The Leucous, or Albino variety, examples of which occur 

 in all countries [ALBINO], but perhaps most frequently in hot climates. 

 They are distinguished by the total absence of the colouring matter 

 of the cuticle, hair, and eyes ; hence their shin is of a milk-white or 

 pinkish-hue, the hair silky-white or at most yellowish, the iris rosy 

 and the pupil intensely red. 3. The Xanthous, or yellow-haired 

 variety, which includes all those iudividuals who have light-brown, 

 auburn, yellow, or red air. Their general complexion is fair, acquiring 

 on exposure to heat and light not a brown hue, but more or less rf a 

 red tint. The eyes are light-coloured. This is the variety most pre- 

 valent in the temperately cold regions of Europe and Asia, whose 

 climate seems peculiarly favourable to the constitution of body con- 

 nected with it. This variety may spring up in any black-haired 

 tribe; as it has in the Jews, who, though generally black-haired, 

 present many examples of the light fair complexion and reddish hair. 

 Dr. Prichard also adduces (' Researches,' &c., i. 228) ample evidence 

 that instances of this variety occur not only among the Greeks, 

 Romans, Russians, Laplanders, Tartars, and other melanocomous 

 races of the least swarthy shade, but among the Egyptians, African 

 negroes, and the islanders of the Pacific. The majority of these last 

 cases have been confounded, under the term of white negroes, with the 

 real Albinos ; but they differ from them in the more ruddy hue of the 

 skin, the colour of the iris, the blackness of the pupil, and the flaxen 

 or red colour of the hair. 



Other varieties besides those of colour occur in the skin and its 

 appendages. The skin of many tribes of negroes is peculiarly sleek 

 aud oily, from the abundance of sebaceous aud perspiratory secretion. 

 From many also there is emitted a peculiarly strong odour, and 

 Humboldt says that the Peruvians can by the sense of smell alone 

 distinguish the European, the American Indian, and the negro. The 

 cuticle of the dark tribes is thicker and coarser than that of white 

 nations, and, from the greater difficulty of separating the latter into 

 two layers, it has been imagined that there is no rete mucosum, or 

 soft cuticle, in Europeans. The hair also varies almost as much in its 

 texture as in its colour. Its chief varieties are observed in the copious, 

 long, soft, and more or less curly hair of various colours in the 

 European; the strong, straight, and scanty hair of the South Sea 

 islanders ; aud the black, fine, wiry, crisp hair of the negro. A very 

 general characteristic of the darker-coloured nations U either an entire 

 want of beard, or a very scanty one developed later in life than iu the 



