FORMS OF THE SKULL. 287 



which distinguish the Calmuck. Besides this, he hrings 

 forward one Negro skull : and these two are all that it 

 contains, except European heads. 



We are indebted to Blumenbach for the completest 

 body of information on this subject, which he has been 

 enabled to illustrate most successfully by an unrivalled col- 

 lection of the crania of different nations from all parts of 

 the globe. 



His admirable work on the varieties of the human species, 

 contains a short sketch of the various formations of the 

 skull in different nations ; but he has treated the subject at 

 greater length and with more minute detail in his Decades 

 Cranlorum, where the crania themselves are represented of 

 their natural size. 



He states that, in the examination and classification of 

 his immense collection, he finds it every day more and more 

 difficult, amidst such numerous differences in the propor- 

 tion and direction of various parts, all of which contribute 

 more or less to the national character, to reduce these to 

 the measurements or angles of any single scale. Since 

 however, in distinguishing the characters of the different 

 crania, such a view will gain the preference to all others, 

 as it offers at one glance the most numerous and important 

 points, and such as contribute especially to the comparison 

 of national characteristics, he has found, by experience, 

 that to be the best adapted to this purpose, which is ob- 

 tained by placing the different crania, with the zygomas 

 perpendicular, on a table in a row, and contemplating them 

 from behind. When skulls are thus arranged, those cir- 

 cumstances which contribute most to the formation of the 

 national character, viz. the direction of the jaws and cheek- 

 bones, the breadth or narrowness of the head, the advancing 

 or receding outline of the forehead, are all distinctly per- 

 ceived at one view. This method of considering the bony 

 head he calls norma verticalls. The great expanse of the 

 upper and exterior part of the cranium, hiding the face, 

 characterizes the Georgian. In the Ethiopian, the narrow 

 slanting forehead allows the face to come into view • the 



