heads: General Anthropology ;* and one special branch of that subject-Ethnology.

GENERAL ANTHROPOLOGY.

On Anthropological Classification. By Dr. JAMES HUNT, F.S.A., President of the Anthropological Society of London.-After the author had given a short outline of the nature of the subject, in which he distinctly stated that the origin of man belongs entirely to mythical times, and is a question which could not at present be solved by human experience, he proposed merely to classify man as he now exists, or as he has existed since the historical period, without reference to those distinctions being absolutely original. It was Dr. Hunt's duty to inquire-were these well-defined differences in mankind at the earliest dawn of history? a question which he answered in the affirmative, as the ethnology of the most anciently known continents is very much the same as at the present day. He considered also that these differences had been permanent; and the scope of the present paper was to inquire whether these physical differences were so well marked as to serve as the basis of classification. He reviewed the classifications of Ephorus of Cuma, Buffon, Linnæus, Gmelin, Herder, Voltaire, Blumenbach, Lacépède, Duméril, Maltebrun, Cuvier, Virey, Hunter, Lawrence, Metzan, Bory, Desmoulins, Prichard, Lesson, Fischer, Morton, Latham, Hombron, Jacquinot, D'Omalius D'Halloy, Pickering, Burke, Knox, Agassiz, Crawfurd, and Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire, and offered critical remarks on each of these systems as a whole. Many of them were of the most arbitrary nature, the offspring of chance or human fancy, unfounded on the knowledge of any ascertained facts, and there was no attempt to define the method on which a sound anthropological classification might be based. The multiplicity of the systems at present in vogue is a sufficient refutation of the truth of most of them. Dr. Hunt considered that anatomy and physiology were the primary sources whence an adequate knowledge of the principles of anthropological classification could be derived. Language he considered no test of race. He laid great stress upon the form of the cranium as the most convenient and certain distinctive mark, and spoke with great approval of the ternary classification adopted by Gratiolet, who divides mankind into the Frontal (European), Parietal (Mongol), and Occipital (Negro) races-these cranial distinctions being coincident with the mental and moral characters which were

To those papers which were not read before Section E, we have affixed the letter of the Section after the title of the paper.

solely dependent on man's physical structure. Other secondary physical characters could also be used with advantage; and Dr. Hunt especially alluded to the classifications which might be based upon colour, stature, hair and beard, longevity, diseases, temperaments, odour, entozoa, and other subsidiary points of distinction. The degree of intelligence was the chief character distinguishing man from the inferior animals. If a classifier of the negroes of the West Indies were to use language alone as a criterion, he would classify them under the head of Europeans, with whom their acquired language is identical; their physical characters alone mark them as African. Dr. Hunt considered that language must be utterly discarded as the first principle of anthropological classification. He gave a far higher value to religion, and to art, considering language merely as the third element. It was possible to change the language of a race; but apparently impossible to change either their religion or their innate ideas of art. That there are well-marked physical, mental, and moral distinctions in mankind is as well an ascertained fact as that there are differences in the orang and the chimpanzee. We must, therefore, classify mankind according to the physical, and psychological differences which now exist, for the present state of anthropology will not enable us to say how and when these distinctions have originated.

Cranioscopy of South American Nations. By Mr. C. CARTER BLAKE, F.G.S., F.A.S.L.-The object of the paper was to re-consider some of the primary principles on which those cranioscopists who have classified the races of South America, have based their arrangements, and to call especial attention to a few important exceptions which appear to invalidate the generalisations commonly accepted. Every practical cranioscopist is aware that Retzius's classification of human skulls into brachycephalic and dolichocophalic was applied by that illustrious Swede to the arrangement of the great leading South American types. The lamented and deceased cranioscopist gave, as as examples of the brachycephalic type, as exhibited in South America, the tribes of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, La Plata, Patagonia, and Tierra del Fuego; while the dolichocephalic or longheaded type found its representatives in the populations of Carib, Guarani, Brazilian, Paraguay, and Uruguay origin. This broad generalised statement of facts still remains the accepted and predominant hypothesis. How far is it consonant with the extent of our knowledge on the subject? Those few tribes and nations of South America of which any accurate and reliable information exists will be briefly recapitulated in the

following observations, and especial attention drawn to the desiderata which appear in our collections. The geographical order will be adhered to, apart from any broad generalisation, which may arise, based on craniometrical classification; such generalisations, e.g., as that of Morton, who divided the whole American races into two great families, the Toltecan, comprising the extinct half-civilised tribes which have become extinct during a pre-historic period, and the barbarous tribes. The latter division was subordinated amongst the Appalachian, Brazilian, Patagonian, and Fuegian branches. Mr. Blake then proceeded to criticise these types in detail. In the first place, he pointed to Colombia; the characteristic type prevailing amongst the tribes of Venezuela is the Carib. The skull is here markedly longheaded, with the parietal diameter less than the longitudinal. The frontal bones are strongly flattened; the zygomatic arches large. Accurate and reliable evidence respecting the cranial conformation of the natives of Ecuador is wanting. The Cara and the Scyri unknown. There were several types in Peru; e. g. the Chincha type shortheaded; the Chimu type longheaded, so far as known; the Inca or Quichua shortheaded, flattened from before to behind by compression from the frontal bone to the occiput. In Bolivia there were the Aymará, longheaded, of which few examples existed in our collection; the Titicacan, longheaded, but of whom the other physical characters are unknown. In Chile the type was longheaded, so far as known at the present day. The Anthropological Society of Paris has recently sent a series of queries respecting the physical characters of the Chile races, which showed the utter want of information on this topic. In Patagonia the type was also longheaded, as in Tierra del Fuego, Paraguay, La Plata, and Brazil.

Commodore MAURY asked the author of the paper whether there was any relation between the distribution of any of the cranial types alluded to and the distribution of the inland basins. An attention to physical geography would, he was confident, throw much light on the question of race.

Mr. MARKHAM pointed out that the Quichua and Aymará tribes were distinct as regards language. The Aymará language was as distinct from the Quichua as the Italian from the Spanish. The Chinchas were far more nearly allied to the Quichuas than were the Aymarás.

Mr. CRAWFURD, after complimenting the author of the paper on the industry with which his materials had been collected, denied that cranioscopy afforded us any sound knowledge of the affinities of races. He would tell an anecdote which was entirely new to the British Association. Professor Owen on one occasion had described a skull

MR. CARTER BLAKE ON 8. AMERICAN CRANIOSCOPY. 385

which was really that of a Scotchman, as that of a Negro. Therefore, Mr. Crawfurd concluded that knowledge of the cranium was no guide to the affinities of races. He complained that Mr. Blake had not offered any generalisation as to the number of indigenous stocks in South America, and stated that no such generalisation could be arrived at by mere cranioscopy.

After a few remarks from Mr. GREENFIELD,

Dr. JAMES HUNT said that he had intended not to offer any remarks on the interesting paper that had just been read, but he could not silently listen to the observations of Mr. Crawfurd without rising to protest to the British Association against the sneers which Mr. Crawfurd was in the habit of casting in the teeth of anthropologists who devoted themselves to the science of man. Section E. had become notorious for their neglect of all true science relating to man. All other sections made advance from year to year, but Section E. did not. The same subjects were discussed every year, and no progress was made or would be until anthropology became recognised by the Association. Many men of science devoted to this subject despaired of doing any good by attending the Association. Dr. Hincks said yesterday that Mr. Crawfurd was entirely ignorant of the science of language, and he was obliged also to say that his friend, Mr. Crawfurd, was not competent to judge of the value of cranioscopy as a basis. for the classification of man, It was useless to argue with one who rejected both physical and physiological characters as a basis of classification, and one who was also opposed to the evidence of language.

Professor WILSON said he was sorry that it had been suggested that the subject under discussion was of no importance. He was not a craniologist, and therefore would not presume to offer an opinion upon the questions at issue, but he would mention a fact which had some bearing upon them. He was acquainted with a hatter in Canada, carrying on an extensive business both with the English and French communities. He took the measure of his customers' heads according to the Paris fashion, and he (Dr. Wilson) had collected the modelsupwards of a hundred—and, with the assistance of a scientific friend, had classified them, without referring to the names affixed to them, in two distinct groups, the English and the French. Upon examining the names, it was found that, with two or three exceptions, they had made a perfectly right classification, though the only data they went upon was the shape of the skull. The science of craniology might have been carried too far, but he was sure it was calculated to lead to very valuable results. There were no doubt distinct national types of skulls, and he hoped that anthropologists, instead of being discountenanced would receive every encouragement from the British Association. Mr. CARTER BLAKE, in reply, agreed with Captain Maury with respect to the advantages which were derived from a comparison of the cranial types with the geographical localities. He answered Mr. Crawfurd's complaint respecting the absence of any generalizations respecting the origin of the South American natives, by saying that he was quite content to wait and accumulate facts. As regards Mr. Crawfurd's amusing anecdotes, he was afraid his learned friend had put the

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ANTHROPOLOGY AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.

cart before the horse. Professor Owen did not mistake the skull of a Scotchman for that of a Negro; it was a Negro skull he mistook for that of a Scotchman. Physical characters alone could decide the affinities of a race; and as Mr. Crawfurd had rejected the test of language, he failed to perceive what the characters were on which his classification was founded.

Sir RODERICK MURCHISON, after commending the learning and ability of the paper, hoped that the science of anthropology, which had been founded by his friends, Blumenbach, Retzius, and Von Baer, would ere long be recognised by the scientific world.

On the Physical and Mental Characters of the Negro. By Dr. JAMES HUNT, President of the Anthropological Society of London.-The author said he had been collecting facts upon the subject for another society; but he was induced to bring it before the Association from the fact that it had never been brought before a scientific audience in England. In discussing the question, he would have nothing to do with anything but the full-blooded, woolly-headed, typical Negro, to the exclusion of the half-breed. The object of the paper was to determine the position which one well-defined race occupies in the genus homo, and the relation or analogy which the Negro race bears to animated nature generally. He had selected the Negro race, as it seemed to be an intermediate form between the highest and lowest existing races of man. In discussing the question, he had nothing to do with the origin of man, for analogies did not necessarily include relationship. The skin and hair are by no means the only things which distinguish the Negro from the European, even physically; and the difference is greater still mentally and morally. The skeleton of the Negro is generally heavier, and the bones are larger and thicker, in proportion to the muscles, than those of the European. The bones are also whiter, from the abundance of calcareous salts. The thorax is compressed; the leg is longer than in Europeans, but is made to look shorter on account of the ankle being only between 13 in. to 14 in. above the ground; the heel is both flat and long. Burmeister has pointed out the resemblance of the foot and the position of the toes of the Negro to that of the ape; and many observers have noticed that the Negroes have frequently used the great toe as a thumb. After pointing out several minor particulars, in which the Negro differs from the European, and quoting the opinions of several writers on the capacity of the Negro cranium, the paper recommended caution in accepting such capacity of the cranium as any absolute test of the intellectual power of any race. The brain of a Negro has a smoky tint, not found in that of an European. The hair is essenti