Sl-:<T. l.J MENTAL CULTURE. 70 



and Engel, that the shape of the skull is everywhere essentially 

 dependent on mental culture, and changes with it. 



We may also mention, as bearing upon the investigation of 

 this subject, the theory of Abbe Frere, who believes that the 

 more original a human type is the more developed is the 

 occiput and the flatter the forehead, whilst with the progress 

 of civilization the forehead becomes more arched and the 

 occiput flatter. 1 Huschke 2 observes that in the Negro the 

 posterior lobes of the brain predominate, in the Mongolian 

 race the middle lobes, and in the European the anterior lobes. 

 Such assertions resemble, however, too much a phrenological 

 scheme to be adopted without reserve. 



The changes which physical peculiarities undergo, proceed as 

 slowly as the progress of cultivation, hence they cannot be 

 easily traced within historical times, especially as investigations 

 on this subject have only been commenced in recent years. 

 Though we may agree with Prichard, that the physical characters 

 of nations correspond to their social and intellectual condition, 

 we must take care not to go so far as to maintain with Courtet 

 de PIsle, 3 that the capacity for civilization and the intel- 

 lectuality of races corresponds with their physical beauty. It 

 is true that among nations, as among individuals, the intellec- 

 tual faculties and performances give rise to corresponding ex- 

 pressions in the body; but if we were to admit that regular 

 beauty is the natural expression of regular mental cultivation, 

 and that nations approach this type in proportion to their 

 mental development, it would follow that a one-sided develop- 

 ment only in one direction or an imperfect development, 

 however important otherwise, could not always produce a cor- 

 responding beautifying of the body. 



On taking a retrospective view at the changes to which the 

 external aspect of man is subject, we must, among the causes 

 which produce them, consider those treated of last as not less 

 influential than geographical and climatic conditions, to which 

 too much importance has been attached. The phenomena which 



1 Serre's " Gazette medicale de Paris," 31 Juillet, 1852. 



2 Schiidel, Him und Seele, p. 100. 



3 " Bullet, de la soc. Ethnol./' 1847. 



