452 
NATURE 
[SEPTEMBER 7, 1899 
some partial deviations from the prevailing standard, the 
American Indian is essentially separate and peculiar ; @ race 
distinct from all others. The stronghold, however, of the argu- 
ment for the essential oneness of the whole tribes and nations of 
the American continents is the supposed uniformity of physio- 
logical, and especially of physiognomical and cranial character- 
istics; an ethnical postulate which has not yet been called in 
question.” 
After a detailed discussion of a number of Indian crania 
from Canada and a comparison with those from other parts of 
America, as described by Morton, he makes the following 
statements :—‘‘ But, making full allowance for such external 
influences, it seems to me, after thus reviewing the evidence 
on which the assumed unity of the American race is formed, 
little less extravagant to affirm of Europe than of America, 
that the crania everywhere and at all periods have conformed, 
or even approximated, to one type.” 
“* As an hypothesis, based on evidence accumulated in the 
*¢Crania Americana,” the supposed homogeneity of the whole 
American aborigines was perhaps a justifiable one. But the 
evidence was totally insufficient for any such absolute and dog- 
matic induction as it has been made the basis of. With the 
exception of the ancient Peruvians, the comprehensive general- 
isations relative to the southern American continent strangely 
contrast with the narrow basis of the premises. With a greater 
amount of evidence in reference to the northern continent, the 
conclusions still go far beyond anything established by absolute 
proof; and the subsequent labours of Morton himself, and still 
more of some of his successors, seem to have been conducted 
on the principle of applying practically, and in all possible 
bearings, an established and indisputable scientific truth, instead 
of testing by further evidence a novel and ingenious hypothesis.” 
At the close of this instructive paper are the following words: 
** Tfthese conclusions, deduced from an examination of Canadian 
-crania, are borne cut by the premises and confirmed by further 
investigation, this much at least may be affirmed: that a 
marked difference distinguishes the northern tribes, now or 
formerly occupying the Canadian area, in their cranial con- 
formation, from that which pertains to the aborigines of Central 
America and the southern valley of the Mississippi; and in so 
far as the northern differ from the southern tribes, they approx- 
imate more or less, in the points of divergence, to the charac- 
teristics of the Esquimaux: that intermediate ethnic link between 
the Old and the New World, acknowledged by nearly all recent 
ethnologists to be physically a Mongol and Asiatic, if philo- 
logically an American.” 
The third paper of the meeting to which I shall refer was 
‘by another of our former presidents, the then well-known | 
student of Indian institutions and the author of the ‘‘ League 
of the Iroquois” (1851). In this paper, on ‘‘ The Laws of 
Descent of the Iroquois,” Morgan discusses the league as made 
up of five nations, each of which was subdivided into tribes, 
and he explains the law of marriage among the tribes, the 
family relationship and the descent in the female line, as 
essential to the maintenance of the whole system. He then 
says :— 
“Now the institutions of all the aboriginal races of this conti- 
nent have a family cast. They bear internal evidence of a 
common paternity, and point to a common origin, but remote, 
both as to time and place. That they all sprang from a common 
mind, and in their progressive development have still retained 
the impress of original elements, is abundantly verified. The 
Aztecs were thoroughly and essentially Indian. We have 
glimpses here and there at original institutions which suggest 
at once, by their similarity, kindred ones among the Iroquois 
and other Indian races of the present day. Their intellectual 
characteristics, and the predominant features of their social con- 
dition, are such as to leave no doubt upon this question ; and 
we believe the results of modern research, upon this point, 
concur with this conclusion. Differences existed, it is true, but 
they were not radical. The Aztec civilisation simply exhibited 
a more advanced development of those primary ideas of civil and 
social life, which were common to the whole Indian family, 
and not their overthrow by the substitution of antagonistic 
institutions ” 
After calling attention to the fact that a similar condition 
exists among certain peoples of the Pacific Islands, he writes :— 
““ Whether this code of descent came out of Asia or originated 
upon this continent is one of the questions incapable of proof ; 
and it must rest, for its solution, upon the weight of evidence, 
NO. 1558, VOL. 60] 
or upon probable induction. Its existence among American 
races, whose languages are radically different, and without any 
traditional knowledge among them of its origin, indicates a very 
ancient introduction, and would seem to point to Asia as the 
birth-place of the system.” 
It would be interesting to follow the succeeding meetings of 
the Association, and notethe recurring presentation of views which 
the quotations I have given show to have been most seriously 
discussed over a generation ago. An historical review of the 
literature of American anthropology during the present century 
would also be interesting in this connection. It is probable, 
however, that a review of this literature for the first half of the 
century would reveal the fact that the writers, with here and 
there a notable exception, were inclined to theorise upon in- 
sufficient data, and devoted little time to the accumulation of 
trustworthy facts. The presentation and discussion of carefully 
observed facts can almost be said to have begun with the second 
half of the century, and this is the only part of the subject that 
now commands serious attention. 
A reference to the very latest 7ésaé of this subject as 
presented in the ‘* History of the New World called America,” 
by Edward John Payne (vol. ii., Oxford, 1899), is instructive 
here. In this volume Mr. Payne admits the great antiquity 
and unity of the American tribes, which he considers came 
from Asia in pre-Glacial and Glacial times, when the north- 
western corner of America was connected with Asia, and when 
man ‘‘as yet was distinguished from the inferior animals only 
by some painful and strenuous form of articulate speech and the 
possession of rude stone weapons and implements, and a know- 
ledge of the art of fire-kindling. Such, it may be supposed, 
were the conditions under which man inhabited both the old 
and the new world in the paleo-ethnic age. . . . Even when a 
geological change had separated them (the continents), some 
intercourse by sea was perhaps maintained—an intercourse 
which became less and less, until the American branch of 
humanity became practically an isolated race as America itself 
had become an isolated continent” (Preface). 
Mr. Payne discusses the growth of the languages of America, 
the various social institutions and arts, and the migrations of 
these early savages over the continent, north and south, during 
the many centuries following, as one group after another grew 
in culture. He considers all culture of the people autochthonous. 
In writing upon the physical characters of the people, he says, 
“<Tt may however be suggested that, as in the Old World, the 
earlier and the smaller tribes tend to dolichocephaly, while the 
better developed ones are rather brachycephalous, a conclusion 
indicating that the varying proportions of the skull should be 
taken less as original evidence of race than as evidence of 
physical improvement.” 
This volume by Mr. Payne is replete with similar statements 
of facts and theories, and shows how difficult it is for us to 
understand the complications of the subject before us. It can- 
not be denied that, taking into consideration the number of 
authors who have written on this subject, Mr. Payne is well 
supported in his theory of the autochthonous origin of all 
American languages, institutions and arts; but the question 
arises, Has not the old theory of Morton, the industrious and 
painstaking pioneer of American craniology, been the under- 
lying cause of this, and have not the facts been misinterpreted ? 
At the time of Morton, the accepted belief in the unity and 
universal brotherhood of man was about to be assailed, and it 
seems, as we now look back upon those times of exciting and 
passionate discussions, that Morton may have been influenced 
by the new theory that was so soon to become prominent, 
namely, that there were several distinct creations of species of 
the genus Yomo, and that each continent or great area had its 
own distinct fauna and flora. Certainly Morton ventured to 
make a specific statement from a collection of crania which 
would now be regarded as too limited to furnish true results. 
The anthropologist of to-day would hardly venture to do more 
than to make the most general statement of the characters of 
any race or people from the examination of a single skull, 
although after the study of a large number of skulls from a 
single tribe or special locality he would probably be able to 
select one that was distinctly characteristic of the special tribe 
or group to which it pertained. 
Relatively long and narrow heads and broad and short heads 
occur almost everywhere in greater or less proportion. In 
determining the physical characters of a people, so far as this 
can be done from a study of crania, the index of the height of 
