DIFFERENT RACES OF MANKIND. 355 



stature of only 1380 ram. to the Lapps, which is evidently not to be relied upon.* 

 Accurate and authentic observations on the stature of the different races of men are 

 almost wholly wanting. Those of the Novara Expedition itself are probably the most 

 reliable that have been taken on any extensive scale. 



If we take a converse example, and turn to the brain of the Australian races, this 

 is decidedly small,! yet the people themselves are not short. It must be allowed that 

 general designations, such as " Australians," are misleading, and our ignorance of the 

 tribes or races of Australia great. The average brain-weight of the seventeen males 

 of our table is 1174 grammes, that of the seven females 1101 grammes, giving a mean 

 of 1137 grammes. The stature of Australians, according to Flinders, was 1714 mm.; 

 according to Scherzer and Schwarz, 1617 ram.; according toGairaard, 1600 mm.; and 

 according to the American Exploring Expedition, 1574-8 mm; thus showing a diflfer- 

 ence between the highest and the lowest estimate of 139-7 mm., which may probably 

 arise in some measure from the stature of different tribes having been taken by differ- 

 ent observers. Reducing the terms to English measure, they range from 5 ft. 7 6 in. 

 to 5 ft. 2-1 in., leaving a difference between the highest and lowest of 5-5 in. The 

 two Australian men of Victoria, measured by the late Dr. Ludwig Becker, were re- 

 spectively 5 ft. 7-5 in. and 5 ft. 2 in., as nearly as possible the same as the extremes 

 mentioned. The few reliable replies obtained by the Select Committee of the 

 Legislative Council in Victoria, where the data were acquired by the actual measure- 

 ment of thirteen men, inclusive of Dr. Becker's two, show a range of from 5 ft. 9-75 in. 

 to 5 ft. 2 in., affording a mean of 5 ft. 5-8 inches, or 1645 mm., which is most likely 

 a fair estimate of the mean stature of male Australians.} The size of the brain bears 

 a low proportion to this stature, and both are no doubt special attributes of this most 

 peculiar and distinct people. 



This specific relation of the weight of the brain of man to the race to which he be- 

 longs is a thing of the same kind as the specific development of the brain in the 

 animal series. Every species of animal has its own particular cerebral development. 

 Tliere is no such general law as was formerly presumed, that the development of the 

 brain in proportion to the rest of the animal tissues is increased as we ascend in this 

 series, and that man has decidedly a larger brain in proportion to the size of his body 

 than any other animal. This is as incorrect as the notion that man's brain is posi- 

 tively larger than any other animars.§ Some small animals have brains larger in 



*Eeise der Novara urn die Erde. Anthropologischer Theil. Korpermessangen, S. 216. 



t Professor Lucae distinctly affirms that the brain of Europeans is more than 300 grammes heavier than that 

 of Australians.— Ziir Morphologie der Eassen-Schddel. 18G1, S. 34. 



t Report of the Select Committee of the Legislative Council on the Aborigines. Victoria, 1858-9. 



? Lavcrence appears to have scarcely given up all confidence in the general truth of this view, when he wrote 

 his Lectures on Man. His words are : " It has been asserted from remote times that the brain of man is 

 larger than that of any animal; and I know no exception to this assertion of Aristotle and Pliny besides the 

 Elephant, unless the larger cetacea should be as well supplied with brains in proportion to their size as the 

 smaller." p. 187-8. 



