Races and Peoples: Lectures on the Science of Ethnography

by Daniel G. Brinton

Obliquity (narrowness) of the pelvis.

Deficiency of the calf of the leg.

Flattening of the tibia.

Elongation of the heel (os calcis).

When all or many of these traits are present, the individual approaches physically the type of the anthropoid apes, and a race presenting many of them is properly called a “lower” race. On the other hand, where they are not present, the race is “higher,” as it maintains in their integrity the special traits of the genus Man, and is true to the type of the species.

The adult who retains the more numerous fetal, infantile or simian traits, is unquestionably inferior to him whose development has progressed beyond them, nearer to the ideal form of the species, as revealed by a study of the symmetry of the parts of the body, and their relation to the erect stature.

Measured by these criteria, the European or white race stands at the head of the list, the African or negro at its foot.

The investigations of anthropologists extend much beyond the outlines I have now presented you. All parts of the body have been minutely scanned, measured and weighed, in order to erect a science of the comparative anatomy of the races. Much of value has been discovered; but nothing absolutely characteristic, nothing which enables us to divide more sharply one race from another than the facts I have given you. It is a question, indeed, whether not too much, but too exclusive attention has not been devoted by many anthropologists to the purely physical aspects of their science. They have multiplied useless anatomical refinements and a pedantic nomenclature. The more valuable general distinctions and their technical terms I present to you in the following table:—

Scheme of Principal Physical Elements.

Skull	Dolichocephalic, long skulls.
	Mesocephalic, medium skulls.
	Brachycephalic, broad skulls.
Nose	Leptorhine, narrow noses.
	Mesorhine, medium noses.
	Platyrhine, flat or broad noses.
Eyes	Megaseme, round eyes.
	Mesoseme, medium eyes.
	Microseme, narrow eyes.
Jaws	Orthognathic, straight or vertical jaws.
	Mesognathic, medium jaws.
	Prognathic, projecting jaws.
Face	Chamæprosopic, low or broad face.
	Mesoprosopic, medium face.
	Leptoprosopic, narrow or high face.
Pelvis	Platypellic, broad pelvis.
	Mesopellic, medium pelvis.
	Leptopellic, narrow pelvis.
Color	Leucochroic, white skin.
	Xanthochroic, yellow skin.
	Erythrochroic, reddish skin.
	Melanochroic, black or dark skin.
Hair	Euthycomic, straight hair.
	Euplocomic, wavy hair.
	Eriocomic, wooly hair.
	Lophocomic, bushy hair.