LECTURE III. 91 



It miglit be maintained, that the variable cranial capacity 

 presented in these observations was the result of the intermix- 

 ture of various tribes which have settled in Paris. No doubt 

 there is nowhere a more mixed population than in such a 

 capital ; but a single glance at such a population is sufficient 

 to show that the variation pervades all ranks, and that the 

 labouring population of Paris is nearly as much mixed as the 

 higher classes. All the peoples of Europe furnish their quota, 

 the losses of which are constantly supplied by fresh immigra- 

 tions. As it is at the present time, so it was 600 and 1000 

 years ago : Celts, Germans, Slavonians, Romans, already then 

 migrated to the Seine, and the cranial forms of the vaults of 

 the twelfth century show that the intermixture was then the 

 same as now. 



If the table be examined with regard to races, it exhibits 

 the remarkable fact that aU European nations, without excep- 

 tion, have a cranial capacity of more than 1,400 cubic centi- 

 meters ; whilst, of non-Europeans, only the Esquimaux and 

 Malays exceed that measure. The former stand near the line 

 of separation ; whilst the Malay skull measured by Welcker 

 occupies an intermediate position amongst European nations 

 very near the Germans, Some doubts exist, however, con- 

 cerning this measurement, since it differs more than 100 cubic 

 centimeters from the measurements of Malay skulls made by 

 Morton, — an amount of difference so large that it can scarcely 

 be attributed to individual peculiarity alone. Welcker^s Malay 

 skuU may possibly not have been that of a pure Malay, but of 

 a cross-breed who had European blood in his veins. In the 

 environs of the Dutch possessions in the Sunda islands, there 

 are, probably, few Malays whose pedigrees do not exhibit the 

 intermixture of European blood. 



Setting aside these minor exceptions, we find that there is 

 an almost regular series in the cranial capacity of such nations 

 and races as, since historical times, have taken little or no part 

 in civilisation. AustraHans, Hottentots, and Polynesians, na- 

 tions in the lowest state of barbarism, commence the series; 

 and no one can deny that the place they occupy in relation to 

 cranial capacity and cerebral weight corresponds with the de- 



