PATHOLOGICAL VARIETIES. 49 



Scandinavian antiquities in the Berlin Museum, has not proved 

 to ourselves that the hilts of all these arms were as small as 

 has been pretended. 



The foot varies not less. The Negro races of the Oceanic 

 Islands, and of Africa, appear to show an exaggerated develop- 

 ment of the heel-bone. MM. Quoy and Gaimard have espe- 

 cially remarked it among the inhabitants of Yanikoro. In 

 fact, there is hardly anybody who will forget, when once he 

 has seen it, the special aspect of the instep in the Negro, 

 ridged with numerous folds commencing from beneath the 

 ankle. This is, besides, a particular mark, which is far from 

 showing itself, as may be well believed, among all people who 

 walk without foot- covering. The foot of the Nubians, and 

 especially that of the females, shows quite different character- 

 istics. The five metatarsi seem to rest their whole length 

 upon the ground, without being shaped by the instep ; their 

 anterior extremities are slightly diverted, the toes having the 

 same spaces between them, so that the foot is flat, but otherwise 

 than by the faulty conformation to which we give this name 

 among ourselves. This structure is, besides, perfectly repre- 

 sented in all Egyptian statues without exception, and more 

 sensibly, indeed, if we compare with those which are in the 

 galleries of the British Museum, a fragment of a colossal foot,* 

 found also in Egypt, at Alexandria, but evidently of Greek or 

 Roman origin ; the toes are close together, the great toe alone 

 being separated, the upper part of the foot being arched, as 

 among Europeans. 



This resemblance between all the Egyptian statues and the 

 foot of the inhabitants of Upper Egypt, or Nubia, cannot be 

 an accidental circumstance. It is, besides, a veritable problem 

 in anthropology, to determine its value in accordance with the 

 monumental iconography of the ancient Egyptians. M. A. 

 Maury has determined with precision the authority of the 

 portraits almost all alike which cover the walls of the 



must not be forgotten that these weapons with a small handle may have 

 been used by those valiant heroines, whose praises have so often been sung in 

 the songs of the north. 



* Presented by A. C. Harris, Esq., 1840. 



