The human species

by A. de Quatrefages

Thus the negative parietal angle in the adult is nothing more than a persistent fœtal or infantile character. It is evidently the result of a cessation of development, or rather, a cessation of evolution. Now, we have just seen that this character may exist in individuals endowed with an intelligence above the average, and even in men of genius. A cessation of evolution, the persistent trace of a fœtal or infantile condition, is not, therefore, necessarily a character of inferiority either in individuals or races.

Two general views of the skull belong to the subject now under examination. Blumenbach regarded and represented the human skull from above. This is the norma verticalis, very valuable as permitting the appreciation of the general form of the cranium and some of its relations with the projections of the face. Owen has, so to speak, regarded it from below, and insisted upon the differences which the inferior surface offers between man and the highest types of apes. Many characters of detail are brought to light by these two methods which I cannot even mention here.

In this necessarily very incomplete sketch, I have been obliged to pass by in silence a large number of characters which are often of a very substantial importance. The greater number are obtained by the method of projections so ingeniously perfected by M. Broca, and by means of instruments, some of which were already in existence, such as the diagraph, and others invented by various savants, amongst whom we must, again, especially mention M. Broca.

V. Skeleton of the trunk. I have dwelt at some length upon the characters drawn from the skeleton of the head; I shall be more brief in discussing the other regions. They furnish characters perhaps equally important, but they have been much less studied, and the fault does not altogether lie with anthropologists. It is not easy to procure skulls of the human races, even when we have to do with populations living close to us; the difficulty of collecting a certain number of entire skeletons is far greater.

The thoracic cage presents some interesting facts sufficiently well proved. In consequence of the form of the sternum, the greater or less curvature of the ribs, it is generally broad and flattened in the White, narrow and prominent in the Negro and the Bosjesman. According to d’Orbigny, it is still more prominent in certain Americans. An analogous fact has been observed in some populations of Asia Minor.

The pelvis is the portion of the trunk which has been most thoroughly studied, by reason of the application which may be made of these researches to obstetrics. As a rule, comparisons have been limited to those between the Negro and the White. Vrolick, Weber, MM. Joulin, Pruner Bey, and, quite recently, M. Verneau, have gone much further. The latter, unfortunately, has not yet published his researches relatively to the distinction of races. Vrolick insisted upon some peculiarities of the pelvis of the Hottentot Venus, and endeavoured to establish certain relations between her and the ape.

Weber found that in each of the races which he had studied, the pelvis presented a predominant form, which, on that account alone, became characteristic. He regarded the inlet as being generally oval and of large transverse diameter in the White; quadrilateral and of large transverse diameter in the Mongol; round, and of equal diameters, in the American; cuneiform and of large antero-posterior diameter in Negroes.

M. Joulin has disputed nearly all the propositions of Vrolick and Weber, and seems unwilling to allow any characteristic value to the pelvis. M. Pruner Bey has shown without difficulty the great exaggeration of this view, and has determined the characters which distinguish, from this point of view, the White from the Black.

The work of M. Verneau, much more complete than those of his predecessors, but with the anatomical part of which we are at present alone acquainted, will undoubtedly throw some light on the questions raised by their controversies. At present, moreover, the work of M. Verneau confirms the assertions of the greater number of his predecessors, as to the reality of the characters of race to be found in the pelvis.