408 SUPPOSED PREVALENCE OF ONE CRANIAL TYPE 



— a mere reproduction of the opinions of Morton. Humboldt re- 

 marks in the preface to his Researches : »' the nations of America, 

 except those which border the polar circle, form a single race, char- 

 acterized by the formation of the shall, the colour of the shin, the ex- 

 treme thinness of the beard, and the straight glossy hairy 



Very few and partial exceptions can be quoted to the general un- 

 animity of American writers, — some of them justly regarded as 

 authorities in ethnology, — in reference to this view of the nations of 

 the whole American continent, north and south. With the solitary 

 exception of the Esquimaux, they are affirmed to constitute one 

 nearly homogeneous race, varying within very narrow limits from the 

 prevailing type, and agreeing in so many essentially distinctive fea- 

 tures, as to prove them a well defined variety, if not a distinct species 

 of the Grenus Homo. Prichard, Lawrence, "Wiseman, Knox, Squier, 

 Gliddon, Nott, and Meigs, might each be quoted in confirmation of 

 this opinion, and especially of the prevailing uniformity of certain 

 strongly marked cranial characteristics : but the fountain head of all 

 such opinions and views is the justly distinguished author of the 

 Crania Americana, Dr. Morton, of Philadelphia. His views under- 

 went considerable modification on some points relating to the singular 

 cranial conformation observable in certain skulls found in ancient 

 American graves ; especially in reference to the influence of artificial 

 means in perpetuating changes of form essentially different from the 

 normal type ; but the tendencies of his matured opinions all went to 

 confirm his original idea of universal approximation to one cranial 

 type throughout the New World. In some of his latest recorded 

 views he remarks, as the result of his examination of a greatly 

 extended series of Peruvian crania : — " I, at first, found it difficult 

 to conceive that the original rounded skull of the Indian could be 

 changed into this fantastic form ; and was led to suppose that the 

 latter was an artificial elongation of a head remarkable for its length 

 and narrowness. I even supposed that the long-headed Peruvians 

 were a more ancient people than the Inca tribes, and distinguished 

 from them by their cranial configuration. In this opinion I was mis- 

 taken. Abundant means of observation and comparison have since 

 convinced me that all these variously formed heads were originally of 

 the same rounded shape" 



Such are the latest views of Dr. Morton, as set forth in the 

 posthumous paper on The physical type of the American Indians, con- 

 tributed by him to the second volume of Dr. Schooolcraft's " History 

 of the Indian Tribes," and edited for that work by his friend and fel- 

 low labourer, John S. Phillips. In that same final contribution to 



