8 
wo aid bear out the theory ; there is not the slightest evidence, 
that is to say, at the present moment, of any self-tendency 
among the fairer races of mankind to propagate darker colours 
than their own. Whereas, the other supposition might be shown 
as coming within the range of possibility at any period of the 
world ; inasmuch as by the mixture of the fairer races with 
those which are already established as black, almost every 
shade of variety can now be generated and perpetuated. I feel 
bound, therefore, to place this black pigment of the Negro 
skin as the first, if not the greatest, of those abnormal cha- 
racteristics which separate that race from the rest of mankind. 
5. A second peculiarity of the Negroes is the Texture of their 
Hair, which, at first of a chestnut-brown, straight, and only 
curled at the ends, afterwards invariably grows black, short, 
and crisp, and has often been compared to wool. Not that there 
is any real analogy between the two ; for the surface of the 
filament of wool is rough, whereas in hair, and even in Negro 
hair, as far as the visible eye is concerned, it is smooth; added 
to which, all human hairs drop off singly and periodically, 
while wool falls off in masses. While, therefore, it cannot be 
said that the Negro race have wool upon their heads in place 
of hair, yet the harsh, crisp, and short frizzled covering 
which they possess is certainly a most divergent and abnormal 
characteristic. It is true that sub-varieties of the Nigri- 
tian families may be found with longer and more luxuriant locks, 
produced, in all probability, either by climate or other excep- 
tional causes ; but, on the other hand, there is not. a single 
group to be found among the rest of mankind which is marked 
by any such woolly fleece ; so that this portion undoubtedly 
stands out as one of their most noteworthy peculiarities. 
6. We come now, in the third place, to the Skull of the 
Negro, which, regarded in its true typical character, as ex- 
emplified among the iudigenous tribes of Western Africa, is 
marked by a combination of the most striking peculiarities. 
Described in popular rather than anatomical terms, the fore- 
head is depressed, the cranium contracted, the jaws project, 
the upper teeth are oblique instead of perpendicular, the chin 
recedes, and the nasal cavity is large, the nose consequently 
broad and flat, and the lips thick; features by which, the 
intellectual characteristics of man are reduced, and the animal 
proportionately exaggerated. All those parts of the skull, for 
example, which are connected with the organs of sense are 
unusually large ; while the facial angle, which is an unmis- 
takable measurement of brain-power, is unusually small. Add 
to this an extreme thickness of skull, so that it is often used 
in quarrels for butting purposes, after the manner of rams and 
