SECT. II.] NEGRO TYPE. 97 



the proportion of the female arm is =12:9:6; in the male 

 = 12,5:10,5:7; in the Negro woman =12:10:7; in the 

 Negro =12,8 : 9,6 : 7,5 ; hence the hands appear in the Negro 

 as long drawn with a relatively small breadth. The Negro has 

 fine white nails, but which feel hard like wood (Burmeister) . 

 Daniell 1 says on the other hand that, according to his measure- 

 ments, the fingers and the hands only are longer than in the 

 European, but not the arms. 



The skin between the fingers reaches higher up in the Negro 

 than in the European. 2 The leg is, on the whole, longer, but 

 the flat foot, which is but little arched, the ankle being but 

 one and one-third by one and a half above the ground, reduces 

 it in such a manner, that the leg appears short. The upper part 

 of the thigh is not full, the Negro generally being not prone to 

 become fat. The knees are somewhat bent, the calves weak, as 

 if laterally compressed. Bandy-legs are frequent, probably in 

 consequence of the mode in which the mothers carry their 

 children on the back. On account of the weakness of the 

 legs, the Negro is said to be very sensible to a blow on the 

 shinbones. 3 The heel of the Negro is longer and broader and 

 the foot longer than in the European, a peculiarity which is 

 also said to belong to Mulattoes even after they have become 

 white. 4 The toes are small, the first smaller than the second, 

 and separated from it by a free space (Burmeister). The 

 sesamoid bones are more numerous in the Negro than in the 

 European (Sommering). Duttenhofer 5 states that a Negro 

 can stand for hours upon the extreme edge of one or both 

 feet, a task we should imagine most painful for him considering 

 the flatness of his feet. 



As regards the blood of the Negro, various statements are 

 to be found in Sommering. Primer describes it as black and 

 pitchy; Foissac 6 and Omboni 7 deny a difference in colour of the 



1 " L'lnstitut," ii, p. 88, 1846. 



2 Van der Hoeven. 



3 Day, " Five years resid. in the W. Inlies," ii, p. 98, 1852. 



4 Day, loc. cit., i, p. 51. 



5 Loc. ct., p. 83. 



6 Loc. cit. 



? Viaggi neU. Afr., occ. Mil.," p. 159, 1845. 



H 



