NO. II MELANESIANS AND AUSTRALIANS HRDLICKA 47 



extension of the Eskimo, but is essentially of cranio-technological 

 character, multiplied in various localities through heredity. Its realiza- 

 tion is to be viewed as an interesting and peculiar natural phenomenon 

 and not necessarily a foreign introduction. One of the greatest faults 

 and impediments of anthropology has always been and is largely to 

 this day, in spite of ever-growing evidence to the contrary, the notion 

 of the permanence of skull types, and of their changeability only 

 through racial mixtures or replacements. It is time that this attitude 

 be replaced by more modern and rational views on the subject, based 

 on the steadily increasing knowledge of biological laws and processes, 

 together with such powerful factors as segregation and isolation. 



RfiSUMfi 



A critical examination of the few mentions of " blacks " in America 

 shows that, impartially considered, none bears the character of scien- 

 tific evidence, particularly as to pre-Columbian occurrence. 



From the standpoint of physical anthropology, the question of the 

 presence in pre-Columbian America of a substratum of Melanesians 

 and even Australians begins with Quatrefages', and somewhat later 

 Ten Kate's suggestions of morphological similarities with express dis- 

 avowals of racial connections. As times goes on these suggestions are 

 gradually clothed with unwarranted significance ; the presence of a 

 Melanesian, and eventually even Australian, element in the American 

 aboriginal population takes on more and more of reality; the doctrine 

 is supported by resemblances in certain cranial forms and dimensions 

 and eventually also by a series of cultural and linguistic similarities ; 

 until finally the belief assumes the semblance of a demonstrated fact. 

 The Melanesians come to account for the American dolicho-hypsisteno- 

 cephals wherever these are met with, and the Australians, though less 

 in importance, occur from Ecuador to Tierra del Fuego. The presence 

 of the Australians is determined on the basis of a few defective crania 

 and resemblances in a small series of words, and these suffice not 

 merely for the formulation of the conclusion as to the presence of 

 the Australians in America, but also for the invocation of geographical 

 conditions in the Antarctic that would permit the immigration of 

 these poor navigators from Australia. Publications are multiplied, and 

 the same communications are published repeatedly, to convince. The 

 evidence appears at first sight so sufficient and so well backed that 

 some serious students, though perhaps they have never had the 

 chance to study the American natives first hand or to any material 

 extent, feel justified in accepting and even fostering the hypotheses. 



4 



