488 NATURAL HISTORY OF MAN. 



which at first were held by not a few of them to sanction the 

 idea that the Negro was an inferior species, and descending 

 nearer in this part of his developement to the Anthropoid 

 apes. But more exact researches have corrected various 

 errors in these results, both as regards the monkey and the 

 man ; degrading the former from his acquired rank, and re- 

 storing to the latter his identity with the rest of the human 

 species. In truth, the average diversity in this part of the 

 cranial form in the Negro is far below the occasional devia- 

 tions of the same kind in the European; and both must 

 be regarded as effects of that general law of variation, 

 which shows itself alike in individuals, in families, and in 

 races of mankind. The value of the last remark will be 

 manifest' as respects both this particular topic and all other 

 parts of the question. 



What we have just stated respecting the diversities of the 

 skull in different races, and the inferences therewith con- 

 nected, will exempt us from saying much as to the other 

 anatomical points in the question. The form of the pelvis, 

 the length of the fore-arm, the position of the head in 

 reference to the vertebral column, as well as the colour of 

 the skin and character of the hair, have all been cited in 

 proof of a specific difference between the Negro and Euro- 

 pean stock, and the closer relation of the former to certain 

 species of the Quadrumana. But the argument has been 

 disproved in each case ; partly by enlarged enquiry, as in 

 the instance of Professor Weber's valuable researches on the 

 pelvis ; partly by more exact admeasurements and the ap- 

 plication of that system of averages which has contributed 

 so greatly to the progress of science ; partly, again, by 

 the considerations we have already propounded as to the 

 varieties naturally incident to the same species ; the gradua- 

 tion of all these varieties into each other ; and the occurrence 

 of the same or larger deviations in individuals or families as 



