16 INTRODUCTION. 



Africa, Greeks and Romans, the nations of modern Europe, (except 

 the Laplanders,) and their descendants in tins hemisphere ; in fine, 

 those races in which intellect, both native and cultivated, has pro- 

 duced the mightiest results; those races, whose history would be tie- 

 history of civilization and of Christianity ; and, in the opinion of 

 many, the only race referred to in the Mosaic account of creation. 



The color of the skin, in this variety, is white; to this exclusively 

 belongs the soft-spreading blush, the faithful index of the heart, which 

 a European writer has erroneously made a moral as well as a physi- 

 cal difference between the races ; to this race belongs redness of the 

 cheeks. The hair varies in color from black to flaxen, is soft in 

 quality and abundant. The color of the eyes generally follows that 

 of the skin and hair, depending, as it does, on the amount of color- 

 ing matter which is usually distributed equally in these different 

 parts. 



The face is small, oval, and almost perpendicular; the features 

 distinct ; the forehead lofty and broad ; the nose narrow and rather 

 aquiline ; the mouth small ; the lips thin and slightly turned out ; 

 the front teeth in both jaws perpendicular ; the dim full and rounded. 

 This is the face which agrees best with our ideas of beauty, being 

 the happy mean between the laterally expanded face of the Mongo- 

 lian and the lengthened face of the Negro. 



Of the facial angle, and the norma verticalis of Blumenbach, wo 

 shall defer the description till we give Dr. Prichard's views, that the 

 reader may not be wearied by too much repetition. Though the 

 facial angle is of little value in individual skulls, yet, in comparisons 

 of the races, it may give a very good idea of their intellectual power. 

 Those animals which have the longest snouts are always considered 

 the most stupid and gluttonous. When we descend to reptiles and 

 fishes, the jaws seem to constitute almost all the head, and these are 

 the most voracious of animals; they appear to live onlv to eat. On 

 the other hand, a great degree of intelligence is attributed to the ele- 

 phant from his well-marked forehead ; and the solemn owl is made 

 the companion of the goddess of wisdom, for a similar appearance ; 

 but these semblances do not depend on any greater development of 

 the brain. Intelligent Man, whose animal propensities are subordi- 

 nate, has a cranium much larger than his face; even among men, we 

 instinctively regard him as stupid and sensual, whose face is very 

 prominent and whose forehead is receding ; the advancement of the 

 forehead towards the line of the face is always understood by artists 

 as representing the noble and elevated character. As we descend in 

 the animal scale we find the face increasing at the expense of the 

 aranium. 



