38 PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART I. 



by Stanhope Smith 1 of the peculiarities of the Tatar, namely, 

 that severe cold had the effect of contracting the eyebrows and 

 eyelids, closing the mouth, and raising the cheeks, which has 

 produced the short broad face, and the harshness of features. 



Blumenbach 2 has cautiously admitted an influence of climate 

 upon the features but not upon the facial bones, and maintains 

 that the latter become modified by the activity of the facial 

 muscles, as shown lately by Engel. 3 We do not, therefore, 

 agree with the censure pronounced on this work by Barthes. 4 



Much less doubtful is the influence of climate on stature, and 

 the more rapid or slower development of the body. Many 

 travellers have compared the Esquimaux with the inhabitants of 

 Tierra del Fuego and found them resembling, though they live 

 at such a distance from each other. This external resemblance 

 has induced many to assume a special race of " Hyperboreans/' 

 which includes all the Polar nations of the northern hemi- 

 sphere. 5 We must, from the as yet unproved relationship of 

 many of these peoples, infer a certain levelling influence of 

 climate, as all of them are of short massive stature. This 

 applies also to the Peruvians inhabiting high altitudes, who 

 are, moreover, distinguished, as has been often observed in 

 other nations inhabiting cold climates, by a considerable size of 

 the head. Thus, the Hindoos inhabiting the hot plains are 

 distinguished from those of the mountainous regions by smaller, 

 less-projecting foreheads, without, however, exhibiting any in- 

 tellectual inferiority. 6 Lauvergne, 7 on the other hand, incor- 

 rectly asserts, that in families who, from mountainous countries, 

 migrate to the plains, the head becomes after a few generations 



1 " On the Causes of the Variety of Complexion and Figure," p. 106 : New 

 Brunswick, 1810. 



a " De gen. hum. var. nat.," p. 212. 



3 " Das Knochengeriist des Menschlichen Antlitzes, 1850 ; Untersuch. uber 

 Schadelformen, 1851. L. Fick ("The Causes of the Forms of the Bones," 

 1857), has endeavoured to prove that muscular activity has no such influence 

 upon the shapes of the bones, though the growth of the bones depends upon 

 the forms of the soft parts surrounding them. 



4 " Nouv. Elemens de la sc. de 1'Homme, ii, p. 132, 1806. 



5 Lacep&de, Dumeril, Virey, Bory. 



6 Broc. in Lucas, ii, p. 465. 



7 " Les Forcatf," p. 315. 



