B1MANA. 



pared, not only with those of Europeans of every kingdom, but, also, with 

 skulls of the Asiatic Caucasian tribes, and of the Mongolian, American, and 

 Malayan races. From these comparisons, it is proved that the capacity of the 

 cavum cranii of the Negro, in general, is not smaller than that of the European 

 and other human races. The substance of Hamilton's investigations, he 

 states to be the same ; and, therefore, he contends that the opinion of many 

 naturalists, such as Camper, Soemmerring, Cuvier, Lawrence, and Virey, 

 that the Negro has a smaller skull and brain than the European, is ill 

 founded. The mistaken notion of these naturalists, he adds, arose from 

 the application of Camper's facial line and facial angle on a few skulls 

 of Negroes living on the coasts, who, according to credible travellers, 

 are the lowest and most demoralized of all the Negro tribes ; the miser- 

 able remains of an enslaved people, bodily and spiritually lowered and 

 degraded by ill treatment. Camper's facial line and facial angle are 

 confessedly unsatisfactory as a test for determining the capacity of the 

 skull, the size of the brain, and the according degree of intellectual 

 vigour. His conclusions, drawn from an anatomical examination of the 

 brain, are thus detailed : 



" 1 . The brain of a Negro is, upon the whole, quite as large as that of the 

 European and other human races : the weight of the brain, its dimensions, 

 and the capacity of the cavum cranii, prove this fact. Many anatomists have, 

 also, incorrectly stated, that Europeans have a larger brain than Negroes. 



" 2. The nerves of the Negro, relatively to the size of the brain, are 

 not thicker than those of Europeans, as Soemmerring and his followers 

 have said. 



" 3. The outward form of the spinal chord, the medulla oblongata, the 

 cerebellum, and cerebrum of the Negro, shew no important difference from 

 that of the European. 



" 4. The Negro brain does not resemble that of the Orang-outan more 

 than the European brain, except in the more symmetrical distribution of 

 the gyri and sulci. It is not even certain whether this is always the case. 

 We cannot, therefore, coincide with the opinion of many naturalists, who 

 assert that the Negro has more resemblance to Apes than Europeans, in 

 reference to the brain and nervous system." 



The advocates on either side, most probably, go to extremes. Suffice 

 it, however, to say, that Professor Tiedemann has accumulated abundance 

 of proofs exonerating the Negroes from the hackneyed charge of such 



twelve female ; twenty of the Mongole races ; twenty-seven of the American races ; and forty-three of 

 the Malayan and Oceanic races ; besides, four of Egyptians, have their respective capacities registered 

 in these tables. The capacity of the Hindoos is small : in one instance, a Brahmin, it amounts to 

 only 27 oz. 6 drs. 30 grs. ; in others, to 31, 32, and 33 oz. while in the Negro skull (male) of the least 

 capacity, it is 31 oz. 5 drs. 16 grs. ; in others, 36, 37, 38, 40, 42, 43 oz. and in an Ibo of Congo, 54 oz. 

 2 drs. 33 grs. ; so that the Negro skulls, on the average, have a capacity equal to those of 

 Europeans, of which the largest given (Cossack from the Don) is 57 oz. 3 drs. 56 grs. ; the smallest 

 (a German) 39 oz. 1 dr. 55 grs. 



