328 CAUCASIAN VARIETY. 



two. The same observation holds good of the other va- 

 rieties. Hence, if we had numerous specimens of each, we 

 might arrange tlicm in such a manner, that the interval 

 between the most perfect Caucasian model, and the most 

 exaggerated Negro or Mongolian specimens, should be filled 

 with forms conducting us from one to the other by almost 

 imperceptible gradations. We must therefore conclude, 

 that the diversities of features and of skulls are not sufficient 

 to authorize us in assigning the different races of mankind 

 in which they occur, to species originally different. This 

 conclusion will be strengthened by the analogies of natural 

 history. The differences between human crania are not 

 more considerable, nor even so remarkable, as some varia- 

 tions which occur in animals confessedly of the same species. 

 The head of the wild boar is widely different from that of the 

 domestic pig. The different breeds of horses and dogs are 

 distinguished by the most striking dissimilarities in the 

 skull ; in which view the Neapolitan and Hungarian horses 

 may be contrasted. The very singular form of the skull in 

 the Paduan fcnvl is a more remarkable deviation from the 

 natural structure than any variation which occurs in the 

 Imman head. 



The oblique position of the anterior incisors in the Ne- 

 groes and some other tribes, which have prominent jaws, is 

 the only national difference I know of in the teeth. Their 

 size and form exhibit merely individual differences. The 

 complete and minute correspondence of the teeth in num- 

 ber and form, through all races of men, is a strong argu- 

 ment for the unity of the species. 



Blumenbach* has pointed out what he conceived to be 

 a peculiarity in the teeth of some Egyptian mummies, which 

 first attracted his notice on examining two specimens in the 

 vcar 1779. The incisors, instead of possesing their ordinary 

 thin cutting edges, were thick in their bodies, and resem- 



* Von den Zd/inen dcr alien jEgyptkr, und von den Mumien, in the 

 Gulling. Magazin der WissenscJi. und Lilteratiir. p. I . 

 De Gtn. Hum, Var. Nat. sect. iii. ^ 64. 

 'lieytrdge zur NaUa-geschichte, part ii. Ucber den JEgi/pticn Mumien^ § 1 1. 



