CRANIA AMERICANA; OR, A comparative view of the Skulls OF VARIOUS ABORIGINAL NATIONS OF NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA; TO WHICH IS PREFIXED AN ESSAY ON THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES: illustrated by seventy-eight plates and a coloured map. By Samuel George Morton, M.D. Professor of Anatomy in Pennsylvania College, Philadelphia, &c. pp. 296, folio. J. Dobson, Philadelphia; Simpkin, Marshall and Co. London, 1839.

DR. MORTON'S method and illustrations in eliciting the elements of his magnificent Craniography, are admirably concise without being the less instructively comprehensive. His work constitutes, and will ever be highly appreciated in constituting an exquisite treasury of Facts well adapted, in all respects, to establish permanent organic principles in the natural history of Man.

While an extraordinary character is thus assigned to Dr. M.'s essay on the ground of its being a system of Facts, selected with discrimination and arranged with judgment, the inquiry may be made preliminarily-What are Facts, with a view to limit the term to a definite acceptation? Facts then are things accomplished so as to become deeds, or they are things discerned SO as to be existences; and they present themselves to our attention under three distinct forms. 1. Facts are Casual, when their reality, as incidents, is admitted exclusively on the veracity of an observer and their own verisimilitude. 2. They are Demonstrable when, as circumstances or beings, they can be reproduced and ascertained by many different persons reinstituting the original processes of observation and experiment. 3. They are Perceptible when, as mental experiences, they can be renewed by many different persons repeating the original process of reflection on consciousness, by which they were first discovered. Now, in being manifest physical entities, the subjects of Dr. M.'s "comparative view" exhibit the genuine attributes of Facts, in being deposited in his own and other specified Collections accessible to the scrutiny of naturalists and physiologists retracing or extending the same course of investigation, they possess all the attributes of demonstrable Facts; and hence they will remain a splendid and imperishable monument of Dr. Morton's exertions for the advancement of Science, and an excellent authority to guide the researches of philosophers in determining the features and disposition of nations.

At the opening of a brief preface we find Dr. Morton stating that his chief design has been to give accurate delineations of the Crania of more than forty Indian nations, Peruvian, Brazilian and Mexican, together with an extended series from North America, from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic, and from Florida to the region of the Polar tribes. He has devoted especial attention to the singular distortions of the skull, caused by mechanical contrivances in use among various nations-Peruvians, Charibs, Natches, and the septs inhabiting the Oregon territory. His materials in this department are ample, and he represents them as having enabled him to give a full exposition of a subject which was long involved in doubt and controversy. Subsequently, he describes the processes by which these denatural

izing disfigurements are produced. Here however it may be cursorily noted, that these contrivances do not change the structure or qualities of the brain, but merely alter its form so as to give the head an unnatural shape, rendering it altogether an unfaithful or delusive source of observation for the Physiologist in conducting his researches, to establish characters of organic and mental distinction, in persons, families, and nations. In an introductory essay on the varieties of the Human species, Dr. Morton embodies a train of interesting practical observations. It is a remark of his, and he illustrates it-that the condition of man, under his infinitely varied circumstances, is less the effect of coercion than of choice; and, as we judge, the induction is confirmed by historical facts drawn from the traditions or records of every age and country. The doctor declines offering any solution of the motives which impel the native of a cold or hot, a temperate or torrid region, to prefer the dwellings or resorts of his fathers to all other lands, however pregnant with the seeds of happiness and comfort. In our matured opinion, this "choice" results entirely from the secret, and seldom perceptible, promptings of a primitive faculty of the mind, the innate love of home and country which intuitively cherishes the spirit of pure genuine patriotism.

Extensive emigrations, as Dr. M. thinks, have been mostly confined to the temperate zones, and to the civilized communities of modern times, in which the spirit of migratory enterprize is without limits. He adopts the opinion that, from remote ages, the inhabitants of every extended locality have been marked by certain physical and moral peculiarities, common among themselves and serving to distinguish them from all other people. Thus, at this time, the Arabians are precisely what they were in the days of the patriarchs; the Hindoos are altered in nothing since they were first described by the earliest writers: nor has any difference been made in the skin and hair of the Negro, by the influences of three thousand years: in like manner, the characteristic features of the Jews may be recognised in the sculpture of the temples of Luxor and Karnak, where they have been depicted for nearly thirty centuries. This identity of physical characteristics, preserved through numberless generations, and often under very dissimilar conditions, has occasioned various speculations respecting the origin of the human family. The prevalent belief is derived from the Sacred Writings; and, in their literal and obvious interpretation, these teach us that all men have descended from a single original pair. Hence, says Dr. M. it has been hastily and unnecessarily inferred, that the differences now observable in mankind are owing solely to vicissitudes of climate, locality, habits of life, and various collateral circumstances. Without attempting to pursue this intricate question in detail, he inquires whether it is not more consistent with the known government of the universe, to conclude that the same Omnipotence that created man would adapt him at once to the physical as well as the moral circumstances in which he was to dwell upon the earth? indeed difficult, he supposes, to imagine that an all-wise Providence, after having by the deluge destroyed all mankind excepting the family of Noah, should leave these to combat, and with seemingly uncertain means, the various external causes that tended to oppose the great object of their dispersion; and we are left to the reasonable conclusion, that each race was adapted from the beginning to its peculiar local destination: in other words,

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Dr. M. assumes, that the physical characteristics which distinguish the different Races, are independent of external causes. Such appear in his mind, to have been the primitive distinctions among men; but hostile invasions, the migratory habits of some tribes, and the casual dispersion into remote localities, have a constant tendency to confound these peculiarities; and the proximity of two races has uniformly given rise to an intermediate variety partaking of the characters of both, without being identical with either: these are called Mixed races. Such is Dr. Morton's view of the rise of Races a theme which has engaged the ingenuity of many naturalists, and proved the occasion of that diversity of opinion which is so frequent in human researches.

Instructed by authentic history in the Sacred Scriptures; we entertain a strong inclination to derive all the existing Races of Mankind from the three sons of Noah, of whom was the whole earth overspread," and through whose " families, after their generations, the nations were divided upon the face of the earth, after the flood." With this exact authority then, we lean to the belief that the primary races of men were three-the Shemites, Hamites and Japhethites; that, during the century intervening between the Deluge and the Dispersion at Babel, these original races would progressively divide into generic families, notwithstanding "the whole earth was of one language and of one speech;" and that, after the Deity had "confounded their language that they could not understand one another's speech," their division into new tribes and families and races would be more frequent and numerous. We may also imagine that a supernatural distinction by physical and moral characters, giving origin to new races, would accompany the miraculous confusion of tongues-for, it is manifest, that such a result could easily be produced by the Divine Energy which created man, and endowed him with the wonderful attributes of body, life and mind, at the beginning. Another and, in our judgment, a principal efficient cause sufficiently well adapted to promote the multiplication of races, in primeval times, was the intermarriages of brothers with sisters through several generations, and thus impressing on their progeny the distinctive features of the Pair with whose segregation from their kindred this practice necessarily commenced. Illustrations of this process are unfortunately too evident in the facts of organic and mental peculiarities, often those of degeneracy, being propagated extensively by hereditary transmission. Thus far therefore, we agree with Dr. Morton in representing the physical characteristics which distinguish different races, as being mainly independent of external causes; but, from the force of observation, experience, and history, we conclude that the agency of external causes does exert a decided, though imperceptible progressive influence in altering the human structure and economy.

Much erudition and research have been employed by physiologists, with a view to establish the unity of the Human species: the affirmative opinion, as Dr. M. observes, is maintained by Linnæus, Blumenbach, Cuvier, and many other distinguished naturalists: yet on the contrary, Virey has divided mankind into two species; Dumoulins, into eleven; and Bory de St. Vincent into no less than fifteen; while the French Professor Broc has attempted to establish several subgenera; and thus, as we think, he adduces decisive evidence of the facility wherewithal your fantastic visionaries can overleap the barriers of reason and nature. With the "affirmative opinion" on this

speculation, ours is in perfect harmony; for, in the obvious proposition-that the human species must have had one pair at least for their first parents” —and that the identity of organic structure and function, and all their essential elements, is complete in every diversity of the human kind-we recognize authority for considering the unity of the Human Race as a self-evident fact; a fundamental truth susceptible of perfect demonstration. Where it is proposed to distribute the Anthropic genus into two or more species, the proposition ought to be supported by the conclusive authority of distinct and manifest specific characters. Such a proposition as this however, as we have ever yet seen it, has clearly the aspect of a speculative assumption, conceived by fancy, propounded by vanity and unsustained by a single trace of probable testimony, analogical or inductive.

Dr. Morton notices the antropological systems of Linnæus, Buffon, Blumenbach and Cuvier, adding succinct remarks on their several merits. He admits the classification of Blumenbach to be " obviously imperfect;" but, for reasons of convenience, he adopts it for the ground-work of his introductory essay, resting himself content with an approximation to accuracy in this difficult department of natural science. Two leading features constitute the bases of most of the attempted classifications of the human species; and one of these methods is denominated the physical, the other the ethnographic system. In the former, mankind are grouped in great divisions characterised by similarity of exterior conformation; in the latter, the arrangement is based on analogies of language. Each of these systems bas its advocates, to the exclusion of the other; but it seems reasonable, in Dr. M's. mind, to regard that method as the most natural and comprehensive which is derived from both these sources, as well as from all others which tend to establish analogies among men. In order therefore to combine, as far as possible, all these advantages, he proposes to consider the Human species as consisting of Twenty-two families. At the same time, he premises that these families are not assumed to be identical with Ruces, but merely as groups of nations possessing, to a greater or less extent, a resemblance of physical and moral character, and language-some of them retaining the peculiarities of the aboriginal races to which they belong, while others are of very diverse extraction and of comparatively recent origin. According to our philosophy, the Head affords by far the best "physical and moral”— we prefer the terms organic and mentul-characters for distinguishing the different Races of men; and, as experience shows, these characters subsist with an extensive or general uniformity readily appreciable by disciplined observation. With other physiologists, we regard the head as a formation constructed by brain, skull and integumental tissues, and we recognize the organic characters in its shape and size, with the relative proportions of its parts, and their constitutional quality or temperament. We know, moreover, that the brain constitutes the primary mould from which the skull and bead derive their configuration; and hence, it is our doctrine that the brain and skull are naturally adapted to be employed for the like purposes as the entire head, in a system of anthropological classification. After the same manner, we retrace the Mental characters through the shape, size and other conditions of the brain, as indicated by the peripheral forms of the head and skull. We may fairly contemplate the brain as an aggregate of organic instruments, and the Mind as an aggregate of powers or faculties; and,

assured are we, that the cerebral instruments and mental faculties are co-existent and severally co-operative—each individual of the latter naturally using its own peculiar one of the former, in the exercise of its appropriate functions. Hence, on these principles, we may seek to trace the mental characters of disposition and capacity by inspection of the head, and the accuracy of the results is susceptible of trial by their correspondence with the mind's manifestations-in thought and feeling, discernible by reflection on consciousness; in speech and composition, in act and conduct, discernible by observation. We are desirous, in fine, of seeing the Head and its constituent organs adopted, in their forms, relations and conditions, as the source of elementary principles, in the anthropological and psychological systems.

Availing himself of Blumenbach's arrangement as respects the great divisions of mankind, Professor Morton constructs bis system of anthropography on a distribution of the whole Human Species into five races and twenty-two families, with their numerous varieties. We follow his order and nomenclature, in exhibiting a concise view of his system.

I. THE CAUCASIAN RACE includes the Caucasian, Germanic, Celtic, Arabian, Libyan, Nilotic and Indostanic families. He represents this Race as being characterised by a naturally fair skin, susceptible of every tint; the hair fine, long and curling, and of various colours; the skull large and oval, with its anterior portion full and elevated; the face small in proportion to the head, of an oval form, with well-proportioned features; the nasal bones arched, the chin full, and the teeth vertical. The Caucasians are distinguished for the facility with which they attain the highest intellectual endowments.

II. THE MONGOLIAN RACE comprehends the Mongol-Tartar, Turkish, Chinese, Indo-Chinese and Polar families. The characters of this Race, are a sallow or olive-coloured skin, which appears to be drawn tight over the bones of the face; the hair long, black and straight; the beard thin; the nose broad and short; the eyes small, black, obliquely placed, with the eyebrows arched and linear; the lips turned out, the cheek-bones broad and flat, and the zygomatic arches salient; the skull oblong-oval, somewhat flattened at the sides, with a low forehead. In their intellectual character, the Mongolians are ingenious and imitative, and moderately capable of cultivation.

III. THE MALAY RACE embraces the Malay and Polynesian families. Its characters appear in a dark complexion, varying from a tawny hue to a very dark brown; the hair black, coarse and lank; the eyelids drawn obliquely upwards at the outer angles; the mouth and lips large; the nose short and apparently broken at its root; the face flat and expanded, with the upper jaw projecting, and the teeth salient; the skull high and squared or rounded, and the forehead low and broad. The Malayans are active and ingenious, and they possess all the habits of a migratory, predaceous and maritime people.

IV. THE AMERICAN RACE comprises the American and Toltecan families. Its characteristic marks are, a brown complexion, with long, black, lank