TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 119 



in the spring of the present year applications were presented to the Congress at 

 Bogota, by two companies and three firms, for a privilege to cut a canal by this 

 line. The length of a canal in this part would be thirty -five geographical miles. 

 A careful survey is still required of the oblique valley in the Cordillera, the 

 highest point of which probably does not exceed 250 feet. 



On the Darien Indians. By Dr. Cttllen. 



On the Influence of Civilization upon the development of the Brain in the 



different Races of Man. By Eobert Dunn, F.B. C.S. 

 The author began by premising, as a basis for his observations, the following 

 postulates : — 



1. That the brain or encephalon is the material organ of the mind. 



2. That there exists a close correspondence in form and size between the cerebrum 

 and its outward bony covering — the skull ; so that the varying forms of the human 

 cranium indicate, as outward and visible signs, with certain well understood quali- 

 fications, corresponding differences or changes in the shape and size of the cerebral 

 substance within. 



3. That the genus Homo is one ; and that all the races of the great family of man 

 are endowed with the same intuitions, sensational, perceptive, and intellectual — 

 the same mental activities, however they may differ in degree ; and that they all 

 have the essential constituent elements in common of a moral, religious, and intel- 

 lectual nature. 



He waived the question as to the monogenesis or polygenesis of man ; but asserted 

 that from all historic times there have existed, and do still exist, aboriginal and 

 typical races of men, widely differing from each other, and easily distinguishable 

 by well-marked physical and psychical characters : such, for instance, are the Ne- 

 groes of Africa, the Mongols of Asia, the red men of America, and the white men 

 of Europe. From time immemorial, he said, there have always existed, besides the 

 rude and savage hordes of hunters and fishers, two forms or phases of civilization^ 

 the nomadic or the pastoral, and the agricultural ; the former essentially stationary 

 in its character, but the latter eminently and strikingly progressive . 



Now, among the purely nomadic races, Mr. Dunn observed, where civilization is 

 stationary, there exists, as might be expected, a uniform sameness and characteristic 



Ji.iitg in the shape of the head, strikingly in contrast with what is seen to prevail 

 among the agricultural races and cultivated Europeans. He dwelt on the import- 



. ance of viewing in contrast, the typical crania of the Negroes or Australian savages, 



. the Mongolian nomades, and the cultivated Europeans ; maintaining that, as the 

 skull is the outward measure and index of the brain's development within, we are 

 able fairly to estimate the relative size and comparative developmont of its three 

 great divisions, the anterior, middle, and posterior lobes ; nay, among the typical 

 races, to recognize distinctive characters impressed and stamped upon their varying 

 crania, as indisputable evidence of degradation and elevation of type. In proof of 

 this, he adverted to the prognathous type as one of degradation. In striking con- 

 trast to this, he adduced as a type of elevation, that of the orthognathic, seen among 

 the European nations, the Saxons, Celts, and Scandinavians, where the jaws are 

 upright and not projecting, the face scarcely, if at all protruding beyond the fore- 

 head ; and where, in place of the narrow, low and retreating forehead, associated 



. with largely developed, massive, and projecting bones of the face and jaws, we are 

 struck with the symmetrical contour of the head, its size, and lateral fulness ; but 

 above all, with the elevation of the forehead in proportion to the size of the face, 

 and with its broad, expansive, and towering height, clearly indicating a harmonious 

 development of the whole brain, and a special fulness in the intellectual and moral 

 regions. 



From the skulls he proceeded to the comparison of the brains themselves, and 



stated what were the views and convictions of his own mind, viz., that the anterior 



lobes are the seat' of the intellectual, the middle of the personal or individual, and 



the posterior of the social and affectional activities or attributes of the human mind. 



He remarked, that as the anterior lobes of the brain are the seat of the intellectual 



