1. Both thigh-bones, perfect. These, like the skull, and all the other
bones, are characterized by their unusual thickness, and the great
development of all the elevations and depressions for the attachment of
muscles. In the Anatomical Museum at Bonn, under the designation of
"Giant's-bones," are some recent thigh-bones, with which in thickness
the foregoing pretty nearly correspond, although they are shorter.
Giant's bones. Fossil bones.
mm. mm.
Length 542 = 21.4" 438 = 17.4"
Diameter of head of femur 54 = 2.14" 53 = 2.0"
" of lower articular end, from
one condyle to the other 89 = 3.5" 87 = 3.4"
Diameter of femur in the middle 33 = 1.2" 30 = 1.1"
2. A perfect right humerus, whose size shows that it belongs to the
thigh-bones.
mm.
Length 312 = 12.3"
Thickness in the middle 26 = 1.0"
Diameter of head 49 = 1.9"
Also a perfect right radius of corresponding dimensions, and the
upper-third of a right ulna corresponding to the humerus and radius.
3. A left humerus, of which the upper-third is wanting, and which is so
much slenderer than the right as apparently to belong to a distinct
individual; a left _ulna_, which, though complete, is pathologically
deformed, the coronoid process being so much enlarged by bony growth,
that flexure of the elbow beyond a right angle must have been
impossible; the anterior fossa of the humerus for the reception of the
coronoid process being also filled up with a similar bony growth. At the
same time, the olecranon is curved strongly downwards. As the bone
presents no sign of rachitic degeneration, it may be supposed that an
injury sustained during life was the cause of the anchylosis. When the
left ulna is compared with the right radius, it might at first sight be
concluded that the bones respectively belonged to different individuals,
the ulna being more than half an inch too short for articulation with a
corresponding radius. But it is clear that this shortening, as well as
the attenuation of the left humerus, are both consequent upon the
pathological condition above described.
4. A left _ilium_, almost perfect, and belonging to the femur; a
fragment of the right _scapula_; the anterior extremity of a rib of the
right side; and the same part of a rib of the left side; the hinder part
of a rib of the right side; and, lastly, two hinder portions and one
middle portion of ribs, which, from their unusually rounded shape, and
abrupt curvature, more resemble the ribs of a carnivorous animal than
those of a man. Dr. H. v. Meyer, however, to whose judgment I defer,
will not venture to declare them to be ribs of any animal; and it only
remains to suppose that this abnormal condition has arisen from an
unusually powerful development of the thoracic muscles.
The bones adhere strongly to the tongue, although, as proved by the use
of hydrochloric acid, the greater part of the cartilage is still
retained in them, which appears, however, to have undergone that
transformation into gelatine which has been observed by v. Bibra in
fossil bones. The surface of all the bones is in many spots covered with
minute black specks, which, more especially under a lens, are seen to be
formed of very delicate _dendrites_. These deposits, which were first
observed on the bones by Dr. Meyer, are most distinct on the inner
surface of the cranial bones. They consist of a ferruginous compound,
and, from their black colour, may be supposed to contain manganese.
Similar dendritic formations also occur, not unfrequently, on laminated
rocks, and are usually found in minute fissures and cracks. At the
meeting of the Lower Rhine Society at Bonn, on the 1st April, 1857,
Prof. Meyer stated that he had noticed in the museum of Poppelsdorf
similar dendritic crystallizations on several fossil bones of animals,
and particularly on those of _Ursus spelæus_, but still more abundantly
and beautifully displayed on the fossil bones and teeth of _Equus
adamiticus_, _Elephas primigenius_, &c., from the caves of Bolve and
Sundwig. Faint indications of similar _dendrites_ were visible in a
Roman skull from Siegburg; whilst other ancient skulls, which had lain
for centuries in the earth, presented no trace of them.[46] I am
indebted to H. v. Meyer for the following remarks on this subject:--
"The incipient formation of dendritic deposits, which
were formerly regarded as a sign of a truly fossil
condition, is interesting. It has even been supposed that
in diluvial deposits the presence of _dendrites_ might be
regarded as affording a certain mark of distinction
between bones mixed with the diluvium at a somewhat later
period and the true diluvial relics, to which alone it
was supposed that these deposits were confined. But I
have long been convinced that neither can the absence of
_dendrites_ be regarded as indicative of recent age, nor
their presence as sufficient to establish the great
antiquity of the objects upon which they occur. I have
myself noticed upon paper, which could scarcely be more
than a year old, dendritic deposits, which could not be
distinguished from those on fossil bones. Thus I possess
a dog's skull from the Roman colony of the neighbouring
Heddersheim, _Castrum Hadrianum_, which is in no way
distinguishable from the fossil bones from the Frankish
caves; it presents the same colour, and adheres to the
tongue just as they do; so that this character also,
which, at a former meeting of German naturalists at Bonn,
gave rise to amusing scenes between Buckland and
Schmerling, is no longer of any value. In disputed cases,
therefore, the condition of the bone can scarcely afford
the means for determining with certainty whether it be
fossil, that is to say, whether it belong to geological
antiquity or to the historical period."
As we cannot now look upon the primitive world as representing a wholly
different condition of things, from which no transition exists to the
organic life of the present time, the designation of _fossil_, as
applied to _a bone_, has no longer the sense it conveyed in the time of
Cuvier. Sufficient grounds exist for the assumption that man coexisted
with the animals found in the _diluvium_; and many a barbarous race may,
before all historical time, have disappeared, together with the animals
of the ancient world, whilst the races whose organization is improved
have continued the genus. The bones which form the subject of this paper
present characters which, although not decisive as regards a geological
epoch, are, nevertheless, such as indicate a very high antiquity. It may
also be remarked that, common as is the occurrence of diluvial animal
bones in the muddy deposits of caverns, such remains have not hitherto
been met with in the caves of the Neanderthal; and that the bones, which
were covered by a deposit of mud not more than four or five feet thick,
and without any protective covering of stalagmite, have retained the
greatest part of their organic substance.
These circumstances might be adduced against the probability of a
geological antiquity. Nor should we be justified in regarding the
cranial conformation as perhaps representing the most savage primitive
type of the human race, since crania exist among living savages, which,
though not exhibiting such a remarkable conformation of the forehead,
which gives the skull somewhat the aspect of that of the large apes,
still in other respects, as for instance in the greater depth of the
temporal fossæ, the crest-like, prominent temporal ridges, and a
generally less capacious cranial cavity, exhibit an equally low stage of
development. There is no reason for supposing that the deep frontal
hollow is due to any artificial flattening, such as is practised in
various modes by barbarous nations in the Old and New World. The skull
is quite symmetrical, and shows no indication of counter-pressure at the
occiput, whilst, according to Morton, in the Flat-heads of the Columbia,
the frontal and parietal bones are always unsymmetrical. Its
conformation exhibits the sparing development of the anterior part of
the head which has been so often observed in very ancient crania, and
affords one of the most striking proofs of the influence of culture and
civilization on the form of the human skull.
In a subsequent passage, Dr. Schaaffhausen remarks:
"There is no reason whatever for regarding the unusual
development of the frontal sinuses in the remarkable
skull from the Neanderthal as an individual or
pathological deformity; it is unquestionably a typical
race-character, and is physiologically connected with the
uncommon thickness of the other bones of the skeleton,
which exceeds by about one-half the usual proportions.
This expansion of the frontal sinuses, which are
appendages of the air-passages, also indicates an unusual
force and power of endurance in the movements of the
body, as may be concluded from the size of all the ridges
and processes for the attachment of the muscles or bones.
That this conclusion may be drawn from the existence of
large frontal sinuses, and a prominence of the lower
frontal region, is confirmed in many ways by other
observations. By the same characters, according to
Pallas, the wild horse is distinguished from the
domesticated, and, according to Cuvier, the fossil
cave-bear from every recent species of bear, whilst,
according to Roulin, the pig, which has become wild in
America, and regained a resemblance to the wild boar, is
thus distinguished from the same animal in the
domesticated state, as is the chamois from the goat; and,
lastly, the bull-dog, which is characterised by its large
bones and strongly-developed muscles from every other
kind of dog. The estimation of the facial angle, the
determination of which, according to Professor Owen, is
also difficult in the great apes, owing to the very
prominent supra-orbital ridges, in the present case is
rendered still more difficult from the absence both of
the auditory opening and of the nasal spine. But if the
proper horizontal position of the skull be taken from the
remaining portions of the orbital plates, and the
ascending line made to touch the surface of the frontal
bone behind the prominent supra-orbital ridges, the
facial angle is not found to exceed 56°.[47]
Unfortunately, no portions of the facial bones, whose
conformation is so decisive as regards the form and
expression of the head, have been preserved. The cranial
capacity, compared with the uncommon strength of the
corporeal frame, would seem to indicate a small cerebral
development. The skull, as it is, holds about 31 ounces
of millet-seed; and as, from the proportionate size of
the wanting bones, the whole cranial cavity should have
about 6 ounces more added, the contents, were it perfect,
may be taken at 37 ounces. Tiedemann assigns, as the
cranial contents in the Negro, 40, 38, and 35 ounces. The
cranium holds rather more than 36 ounces of water, which
corresponds to a capacity of 1033.24 cubic centimetres.
Huschke estimates the cranial contents of a Negress at
1127 cubic centimetres; of an old Negro at 1146 cubic
centimetres. The capacity of the Malay skulls, estimated
by water, equalled 36, 33 ounces, whilst in the
diminutive Hindoos it falls to as little as 27 ounces."
After comparing the Neanderthal cranium with many others, ancient and
modern, Professor Schaaffhausen concludes thus:--
"But the human bones and cranium from the Neanderthal
exceed all the rest in those peculiarities of
conformation which lead to the conclusion of their
belonging to a barbarous and savage race. Whether the
cavern in which they were found, unaccompanied with any
trace of human art, were the place of their interment, or
whether, like the bones of extinct animals elsewhere,
they had been washed into it, they may still be regarded
as the most ancient memorial of the early inhabitants of
Europe."
Mr. Busk, the translator of Dr. Schaaffhausen's paper, has enabled us to
form a very vivid conception of the degraded character of the
Neanderthal skull, by placing side by side with its outline, that of the
skull of a Chimpanzee, drawn to the same absolute size.
* * * * *
Some time after the publication of the translation of Professor
Schaaffhausen's Memoir, I was led to study the cast of the Neanderthal
cranium with more attention than I had previously bestowed upon it, in
consequence of wishing to supply Sir Charles Lyell with a diagram,
exhibiting the special peculiarities of this skull, as compared with
other human skulls. In order to do this it was necessary to identify,
with precision, those points in the skulls compared which corresponded
anatomically. Of these points, the glabella was obvious enough; but when
I had distinguished another, defined by the occipital protuberance and
superior semicircular line, and had placed the outline of the
Neanderthal skull against that of the Engis skull, in such a position
that the glabella and occipital protuberance of both were intersected by
the same straight line, the difference was so vast and the flattening of
the Neanderthal skull so prodigious (compare Figs. 22 and 24, A), that I
at first imagined I must have fallen into some error. And I was the more
inclined to suspect this, as, in ordinary human skulls, the occipital
protuberance and superior semicircular curved line on the exterior of
the occiput correspond pretty closely with the "lateral sinuses" and the
line of attachment of the tentorium internally. But on the tentorium
rests, as I have said in the preceding Essay, the posterior lobe of the
brain; and hence, the occipital protuberance, and the curved line in
question, indicate, approximately, the lower limits of that lobe. Was it
possible for a human being to have the brain thus flattened and
depressed; or, on the other hand, had the muscular ridges shifted their
position? In order to solve these doubts, and to decide the question
whether the great supraciliary projections did, or did not, arise from
the development of the frontal sinuses, I requested Sir Charles Lyell to
be so good as to obtain for me from Dr. Fuhlrott, the possessor of the
skull, answers to certain queries, and if possible a cast, or at any
rate drawings, or photographs, of the interior of the skull.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.--The skull from the Neanderthal cavern. A. side,
B. front, and C. top view. One-third the natural size. The outlines from
camera lucida drawings, one-half the natural size, by Mr. Busk: the
details from the cast and from Dr. Fuhlrott's photographs. _a_,
glabella; _b_, occipital protuberance; _d_, lambdoidal suture.]
Dr. Fuhlrott replied, with a courtesy and readiness for which I am
infinitely indebted to him, to my inquiries, and furthermore sent three
excellent photographs. One of these gives a side view of the skull, and
from it Fig. 24, A. has been shaded. The second (Fig. 25, A.) exhibits
the wide openings of the frontal sinuses upon the inferior surface of
the frontal part of the skull, into which, Dr. Fuhlrott writes, "a probe
may be introduced to the depth of an inch," and demonstrates the great
extension of the thickened supraciliary ridges beyond the cerebral
cavity. The third, lastly (Fig. 25, B.), exhibits the edge and the
interior of the posterior, or occipital, part of the skull, and shows
very clearly the two depressions for the lateral sinuses, sweeping
inwards towards the middle line of the roof of the skull, to form the
longitudinal sinus. It was clear, therefore, that I had not erred in my
interpretation, and that the posterior lobe of the brain of the
Neanderthal man must have been as much flattened as I suspected it to
be.
[Illustration: FIG. 25.--Drawings from Dr. Fuhlrott's photographs of
parts of the interior of the Neanderthal cranium. A. view of the under
and inner surface of the frontal region, showing the inferior apertures
of the frontal sinuses (_a_). B. corresponding view of the occipital
region of the skull, showing the impressions of the lateral sinuses (_a_
_a_).]
In truth, the Neanderthal cranium has most extraordinary characters. It
has an extreme length of 8 inches, while its breadth is only 5.75
inches, or, in other words, its length is to its breadth as 100: 72. It
is exceedingly depressed, measuring only about 3.4 inches from the
glabello-occipital line to the vertex. The longitudinal arc, measured in
the same way as in the Engis skull, is 12 inches; the transverse arc
cannot be exactly ascertained, in consequence of the absence of the
temporal bones, but was probably about the same, and certainly exceeded
10-1/4 inches. The horizontal circumference is 23 inches. But this great
circumference arises largely from the vast development of the
supraciliary ridges, though the perimeter of the brain case itself is
not small. The large supraciliary ridges give the forehead a far more
retreating appearance than its internal contour would bear out.
To an anatomical eye the posterior part of the skull is even more
striking than the anterior. The occipital protuberance occupies the
extreme posterior end of the skull, when the glabello-occipital line is
made horizontal, and so far from any part of the occipital region
extending beyond it, this region of the skull slopes obliquely upward
and forward, so that the lambdoidal suture is situated well upon the
upper surface of the cranium. At the same time, notwithstanding the
great length of the skull, the sagittal suture is remarkably short
(4-1/2 inches), and the squamosal suture is very straight.
In reply to my questions Dr. Fuhlrott writes that the occipital bone "is
in a state of perfect preservation as far as the upper semicircular
line, which is a very strong ridge, linear at its extremities, but
enlarging towards the middle, where it forms two ridges (bourrelets),
united by a linear continuation, which is slightly depressed in the
middle."
"Below the left ridge the bone exhibits an obliquely inclined surface,
six lines (French) long, and twelve lines wide."
This last must be the surface, the contour of which is shown in Fig. 24,
A, below _b_. It is particularly interesting, as it suggests that,
notwithstanding the flattened condition of the occiput, the posterior
cerebral lobes must have projected considerably beyond the cerebellum,
and as it constitutes one among several points of similarity between the
Neanderthal cranium and certain Australian skulls.
* * * * *
Such are the two best known forms of human cranium, which have been
found in what may be fairly termed a fossil state. Can either be shown
to fill up or diminish, to any appreciable extent, the structural
interval which exists between Man and the man-like Apes? Or, on the
other hand, does neither depart more widely from the average structure
of the human cranium, than normally formed skulls of men are known to do
at the present day?
It is impossible to form any opinion on these questions, without some
preliminary acquaintance with the range of variation exhibited by human
structure in general--a subject which has been but imperfectly studied,
while even of what is known, my limits will necessarily allow me to give
only a very imperfect sketch.
The student of anatomy is perfectly well aware that there is not a
single organ of the human body the structure of which does not vary, to
a greater or less extent, in different individuals. The skeleton varies
in the proportions, and even to a certain extent in the connexions, of
its constituent bones. The muscles which move the bones vary largely in
their attachments. The varieties in the mode of distribution of the
arteries are carefully classified, on account of the practical
importance of a knowledge of their shiftings to the surgeon. The
characters of the brain vary immensely, nothing being less constant than
the form and size of the cerebral hemispheres, and the richness of the
convolutions upon their surface, while the most changeable structures of
all in the human brain, are exactly those on which the unwise attempt
has been made to base the distinctive characters of humanity, viz. the
posterior cornu of the lateral ventricle, the hippocampus minor, and the
degree of projection of the posterior lobe beyond the cerebellum.
Finally, as all the world knows, the hair and skin of human beings may
present the most extraordinary diversities in colour and in texture.
So far as our present knowledge goes, the majority of the structural
varieties to which allusion is here made, are individual. The ape-like
arrangement of certain muscles which is occasionally met with[48] in the
white races of mankind, is not known to be more common among Negroes or
Australians: nor because the brain of the Hottentot Venus was found to
be smoother, to have its convolutions more symmetrically disposed, and
to be, so far, more ape-like than that of ordinary Europeans, are we
justified in concluding a like condition of the brain to prevail
universally among the lower races of mankind, however probable that
conclusion may be.
We are, in fact, sadly wanting in information respecting the disposition
of the soft and destructible organs of every Race of Mankind but our
own; and even of the skeleton, our Museums are lamentably deficient in
every part but the cranium. Skulls enough there are, and since the time
when Blumenbach and Camper first called attention to the marked and
singular differences which they exhibit, skull collecting and skull
measuring has been a zealously pursued branch of Natural History, and
the results obtained have been arranged and classified by various
writers, among whom the late active and able Retzius must always be the
first named.
Human skulls have been found to differ from one another, not merely in
their absolute size and in the absolute capacity of the brain case, but
in the proportions which the diameters of the latter bear to one
another; in the relative size of the bones of the face (and more
particularly of the jaws and teeth) as compared with those of the skull;
in the degree to which the upper jaw (which is of course followed by the
lower) is thrown backwards and downwards under the forepart of the brain
case, or forwards and upwards in front of and beyond it. They differ
further in the relations of the transverse diameter of the face, taken
through the cheek bones, to the transverse diameter of the skull; in the
more rounded or more gable-like form of the roof of the skull, and in
the degree to which the hinder part of the skull is flattened or
projects beyond the ridge, into and below which, the muscles of the neck
are inserted.
In some skulls the brain case may be said to be "_round_," the extreme
length not exceeding the extreme breadth by a greater proportion than
100 to 80, while the difference may be much less.[49] Men possessing
such skulls were termed by Retzius "_brachycephalic_," and the skull of
a Calmuck, of which a front and side view (reduced outline copies of
which are given in Figure 26) are depicted by Von Baer in his excellent
"Crania selecta," affords a very admirable example of that kind of
skull. Other skulls, such as that of a Negro copied in Fig. 27 from Mr.
Busk's "Crania typica," have a very different, greatly elongated form,
and may be termed "_oblong_." In this skull the extreme length is to the
extreme breadth as 100 to not more than 67, and the transverse diameter
of the human skull may fall below even this proportion. People having
such skulls were called by Retzius "_dolichocephalic_."
The most cursory glance at the side views of these two skulls will
suffice to prove that they differ, in another respect, to a very
striking extent. The profile of the face of the Calmuck is almost
vertical, the facial bones being thrown downwards and under the fore
part of the skull. The profile of the face of the Negro, on the other
hand, is singularly inclined, the front part of the jaws projecting far
forward beyond the level of the fore part of the skull. In the former
case the skull is said to be "_orthognathous_" or straight-jawed; in the
latter, it is called "_prognathous_," a term which has been rendered,
with more force than elegance, by the Saxon equivalent,--"snouty."
Various methods have been devised in order to express with some accuracy
the degree of prognathism or orthognathism of any given skull; most of
these methods being essentially modifications of that devised by Peter
Camper, in order to attain what he called the "facial angle."
[Illustration: FIG. 26.--Side and front views of the round and
orthognathous skull of a Calmuck after Von Baer. One-third the natural
size.]
But a little consideration will show that any "facial angle" that has
been devised, can be competent to express the structural modifications
involved in prognathism and orthognathism, only in a rough and general
sort of way. For the lines, the intersection of which forms the facial
angle, are drawn through points of the skull, the position of each of
which is modified by a number of circumstances, so that the angle
obtained is a complex resultant of all these circumstances, and is not
the expression of any one definite organic relation of the parts of the
skull.
I have arrived at the conviction that no comparison of crania is worth
very much, that is not founded upon the establishment of a relatively
fixed base line, to which the measurements, in all cases, must be
referred. Nor do I think it is a very difficult matter to decide what
that base line should be. The parts of the skull, like those of the rest
of the animal framework, are developed in succession: the base of the
skull is formed before its sides and roof; it is converted into
cartilage earlier and more completely than the sides and roof: and the
cartilaginous base ossifies, and becomes soldered into one piece long
before the roof. I conceive then that the base of the skull may be
demonstrated developmentally to be its relatively fixed part, the roof
and sides being relatively moveable.
The same truth is exemplified by the study of the modifications which
the skull undergoes in ascending from the lower animals up to man.
In such a mammal as a Beaver (Fig. 28), a line (_a_. _b_.) drawn through
the bones, termed basioccipital, basisphenoid, and presphenoid, is very
long in proportion to the extreme length of the cavity which contains
the cerebral hemispheres (_g_. _h_.). The plane of the occipital foramen
(_b_. _c_.) forms a slightly acute angle with this "basicranial axis,"
while the plane of the tentorium (_i_. _T_.) is inclined at rather more
than 90° to the "basicranial axis"; and so is the plane of the
perforated plate (_a_. _d_.) by which the filaments of the olfactory
nerve leave the skull. Again, a line drawn through the axis of the face,
between the bones called ethmoid and vomer--the "basifacial axis" (_f_.
_e_.) forms an exceedingly obtuse angle, where, when produced, it cuts
the "basicranial axis."
[Illustration: FIG. 27.--Oblong and prognathous skull of a Negro; side
and front views. One-third of the natural size.]
If the angle made by the line _b_. _c_. with _a_. _b_., be called the
"occipital angle," and the angle made by the line _a_. _d_. with _a_.
_b_. be termed the "olfactory angle," and that made by _i_. _T_. with
_a_. _b_. the "tentorial angle," then all these, in the mammal in
question, are nearly right angles, varying between 80° and 110°. The
angle _e_. _f_. _b_., or that made by the cranial with the facial axis,
and which may be termed the "cranio-facial angle," is extremely obtuse,
amounting, in the case of the Beaver, to at least 150°.
But if a series of sections of mammalian skulls, intermediate between a
Rodent and a Man (Fig. 28), be examined, it will be found that in the
higher crania the basicranial axis becomes shorter relatively to the
cerebral length; that the "olfactory angle" and "occipital angle" become
more obtuse; and that the "cranio-facial angle" becomes more acute by
the bending down, as it were, of the facial axis upon the cranial axis.
At the same time, the roof of the cranium becomes more and more arched,
to allow of the increasing height of the cerebral hemispheres, which is
eminently characteristic of man, as well as of that backward extension,
beyond the cerebellum, which reaches its maximum in the South American
Monkeys. So that, at last, in the human skull (Fig. 29), the cerebral
length is between twice and thrice as great as the length of the
basicranial axis; the olfactory plane is 20° or 30° on the _under_ side
of that axis; the occipital angle, instead of being less than 90°, is as
much as 150° or 160°; the cranio-facial angle may be 90° or less, and
the vertical height of the skull may have a large proportion to its
length.
It will be obvious, from an inspection of the diagrams, that the
basicranial axis is, in the ascending series of Mammalia, a relatively
fixed line, on which the bones of the sides and roof of the cranial
cavity, and of the face, may be said to revolve downwards and forwards
or backwards, according to their position. The arc described by any one
bone or plane, however, is not by any means always in proportion to the
arc described by another.
Now comes the important question, can we discern, between the lowest and
the highest forms of the human cranium anything answering, in however
slight a degree, to this revolution of the side and roof bones of the
skull upon the basicranial axis observed upon so great a scale in the
mammalian series? Numerous observations lead me to believe that we must
answer this question in the affirmative.
[Illustration: FIG. 28.--Longitudinal and vertical sections of the
skulls of a Beaver (_Castor Canadensis_), a Lemur (_L. Catta_), and a
Baboon (_Cynocephalus Papio_), _a b_, the basicranial axis; _b c_, the
occipital plane; _i T_, the tentorial plane; _a d_, the olfactory plane;
_f e_, the basifacial axis; _c b a_, occipital angle; _T i a_, tentorial
angle; _d a b_, olfactory angle; _e f b_, cranio-facial angle; _g h_,
extreme length of the cavity which lodges the cerebral hemispheres or
"cerebral length." The length of the basicranial axis as to this length,
or, in other words, the proportional length of the line _g h_ to that of
_a b_ taken as 100, in the three skulls, is as follows:--Beaver 70 to
100; Lemur 119 to 100; Baboon 144 to 100. In an adult male Gorilla the
cerebral length is as 170 to the basicranial axis taken as 100, in the
Negro (Fig. 29) as 236 to 100. In the Constantinople skull (Fig. 29) as
266 to 100. The cranial difference between the highest Ape's skull and
the lowest Man's is therefore very strikingly brought out by these
measurements.
In the diagram of the Baboon's skull the dotted lines _d^1d^2_, &c.,
give the angles of the Lemur's and Beaver's skull, as laid down upon the
basicranial axis of the Baboon. The line _a b_ has the same length in
each diagram.]
The diagrams in Figure 29 are reduced from very carefully made diagrams
of sections of four skulls, two round and orthognathous, two long and
prognathous, taken longitudinally and vertically, through the middle.
The sectional diagrams have then been superimposed, in such a manner,
that the basal axes of the skulls coincide by their anterior ends, and
in their direction. The deviations of the rest of the contours (which
represent the interior of the skulls only) show the differences of the
skulls from one another, when these axes are regarded as relatively
fixed lines.
The dark contours are those of an Australian and of a Negro skull: the
light contours are those of a Tartar skull, in the Museum of the Royal
College of Surgeons; and of a well developed round skull from a cemetery
in Constantinople, of uncertain race, in my own possession.
It appears, at once, from these views, that the prognathous skulls, so
far as their jaws are concerned, do really differ from the orthognathous
in much the same way as, though to a far less degree than, the skulls of
the lower mammals differ from those of Man. Furthermore, the plane of
the occipital foramen (_b c_) forms a somewhat smaller angle with the
axis in these particular prognathous skulls than in the orthognathous;
and the like may be slightly true of the perforated plate of the
ethmoid--though this point is not so clear. But it is singular to remark
that, in another respect, the prognathous skulls are less ape-like than
the orthognathous, the cerebral cavity projecting decidedly more beyond
the anterior end of the axis in the prognathous, than in the
orthognathous, skulls.
It will be observed that these diagrams reveal an immense range of
variation in the capacity and relative proportion to the cranial axis,
of the different regions of the cavity which contains the brain, in the
different skulls. Nor is the difference in the extent to which the
cerebral overlaps the cerebellar cavity less singular. A round skull
(Fig. 29, _Const._) may have a greater posterior cerebral projection
than a long one (Fig. 29, _Negro_).
[Illustration: FIG. 29.--Sections of orthognathous (light contour) and
prognathous (dark contour) skulls, one-third of the natural size. _a b_,
Basicranial axis; _b c_, _b´ c´_, plane of the occipital foramen; _d
d´_, hinder end of the palatine bone; _e e´_, front end of the upper
jaw; _TT_´, insertion of the tentorium.]
Until human crania have been largely worked out in a manner similar to
that here suggested--until it shall be an opprobrium to an ethnological
collection to possess a single skull which is not bisected
longitudinally--until the angles and measurements here mentioned,
together with a number of others of which I cannot speak in this place,
are determined, and tabulated with reference to the basicranial axis as
unity, for large numbers of skulls of the different races of Mankind, I
do not think we shall have any very safe basis for that ethnological
craniology which aspires to give the anatomical characters of the crania
of the different Races of Mankind.
At present, I believe that the general outlines of what may be safely
said upon that subject may be summed up in a very few words. Draw a line
on a globe from the Gold Coast in Western Africa to the steppes of
Tartary. At the southern and western end of that line there live the
most dolichocephalic, prognathous, curly-haired, dark-skinned of
men--the true Negroes. At the northern and eastern end of the same line
there live the most brachycephalic, orthognathous, straight-haired,
yellow-skinned of men--the Tartars and Calmucks. The two ends of this
imaginary line are indeed, so to speak, ethnological antipodes. A line
drawn at right angles, or nearly so, to this polar line through Europe
and Southern Asia to Hindostan, would give us a sort of equator, around
which round-headed, oval-headed, and oblong-headed, prognathous and
orthognathous, fair and dark races--but none possessing the excessively
marked characters of Calmuck or Negro--group themselves.
It is worthy of notice that the regions of the antipodal races are
antipodal in climate, the greatest contrast the world affords, perhaps,
being that between the damp, hot, steaming, alluvial coast plains of the
West Coast of Africa and the arid, elevated steppes and plateaux of
Central Asia, bitterly cold in winter, and as far from the sea as any
part of the world can be.
From Central Asia eastward to the Pacific Islands and subcontinents on
the one hand, and to America on the other, brachycephaly and
orthognathism gradually diminish, and are replaced by dolichocephaly and
prognathism, less, however, on the American Continent (throughout the
whole length of which a rounded type of skull prevails largely, but not
exclusively)[50] than in the Pacific region, where, at length, on the
Australian Continent and in the adjacent islands, the oblong skull, the
projecting jaws, and the dark skin reappear; with so much departure, in
other respects, from the Negro type, that ethnologists assign to these
people the special title of "Negritoes."
The Australian skull is remarkable for its narrowness and for the
thickness of its walls, especially in the region of the supraciliary
ridge, which is frequently, though not by any means invariably, solid
throughout, the frontal sinuses remaining undeveloped. The nasal
depression, again, is extremely sudden, so that the brows overhang and
give the countenance a particularly lowering, threatening expression.
The occipital region of the skull, also, not unfrequently becomes less
prominent; so that it not only fails to project beyond a line drawn
perpendicular to the hinder extremity of the glabello-occipital line,
but even, in some cases, begins to shelve away from it, forwards, almost
immediately. In consequence of this circumstance, the parts of the
occipital bone which lie above and below the tuberosity make a much more
acute angle with one another than is usual, whereby the hinder part of
the base of the skull appears obliquely truncated. Many Australian
skulls have a considerable height, quite equal to that of the average of
any other race, but there are others in which the cranial roof becomes
remarkably depressed, the skull, at the same time, elongating so much
that, probably, its capacity is not diminished. The majority of skulls
possessing these characters, which I have seen, are from the
neighbourhood of Port Adelaide in South Australia, and have been used by
the natives as water vessels; to which end the face has been knocked
away, and a string passed through the vacuity and the occipital foramen,
so that the skull was suspended by the greater part of its basis.
Figure 30 represents the contour of a skull of this kind from Western
Port, with the jaw attached, and of the Neanderthal skull, both reduced
to one-third of the size of nature. A small additional amount of
flattening and lengthening, with a corresponding increase of the
supraciliary ridge, would convert the Australian brain case into a form
identical with that of the aberrant fossil.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 30.--An Australian skull from Western Port, in the
Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, with the contour of the
Neanderthal skull. Both reduced to one-third the natural size.]
And now, to return to the fossil skulls, and to the rank which they
occupy among, or beyond, these existing varieties of cranial
conformation. In the first place, I must remark, that, as Professor
Schmerling well observed (_supra_, p. 114) in commenting upon the Engis
skull, the formation of a safe judgment upon the question is greatly
hindered by the absence of the jaws from both the crania, so that there
is no means of deciding, with certainty, whether they were more or less
prognathous than the lower existing races of mankind. And yet, as we
have seen, it is more in this respect than any other, that human skulls
vary, towards and from, the brutal type--the brain case of an average
dolichocephalic European differing far less from that of a Negro, for
example, than his jaws do. In the absence of the jaws, then, any
judgment on the relations of the fossil skulls to recent Races must be
accepted with a certain reservation.
But taking the evidence as it stands, and turning first to the Engis
skull, I confess I can find no character in the remains of that cranium
which, if it were a recent skull, would give any trustworthy clue as to
the Race to which it might appertain. Its contours and measurements
agree very well with those of some Australian skulls which I have
examined--and especially has it a tendency towards that occipital
flattening, to the great extent of which, in some Australian skulls, I
have alluded. But all Australian skulls do not present this flattening,
and the supraciliary ridge of the Engis skull is quite unlike that of
the typical Australians.
On the other hand, its measurements agree equally well with those of
some European skulls. And assuredly, there is no mark of degradation
about any part of its structure. It is, in fact, a fair average human
skull, which might have belonged to a philosopher, or might have
contained the thoughtless brains of a savage.
The case of the Neanderthal skull is very different. Under whatever
aspect we view this cranium, whether we regard its vertical depression,
the enormous thickness of its supraciliary ridges, its sloping occiput,
or its long and straight squamosal suture, we meet with ape-like
characters, stamping it as the most pithecoid of human crania yet
discovered. But Professor Schaaffhausen states (_supra_, p. 122), that
the cranium, in its present condition, holds 1033.24 cubic centimetres
of water, or about 63 cubic inches, and as the entire skull could hardly
have held less than an additional 12 cubic inches, its capacity may be
estimated at about 75 cubic inches, which is the average capacity given
by Morton for Polynesian and Hottentot skulls.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.--Ancient Danish skull from a tumulus at Borreby;
one-third of the natural size. From a camera lucida drawing by Mr.
Busk.]
So large a mass of brain as this, would alone suggest that the pithecoid
tendencies, indicated by this skull, did not extend deep into the
organization; and this conclusion is borne out by the dimensions of the
other bones of the skeleton given by Professor Schaaffhausen, which show
that the absolute height and relative proportions of the limbs, were
quite those of an European of middle stature. The bones are indeed
stouter, but this and the great development of the muscular ridges noted
by Dr. Schaaffhausen, are characters to be expected in savages. The
Patagonians, exposed without shelter or protection to a climate possibly
not very dissimilar from that of Europe at the time during which the
Neanderthal man lived, are remarkable for the stoutness of their limb
bones.
In no sense, then, can the Neanderthal bones be regarded as the remains
of a human being intermediate between Men and Apes. At most, they
demonstrate the existence of a man whose skull may be said to revert
somewhat towards the pithecoid type--just as a Carrier, or a Pouter, or
a Tumbler, may sometimes put on the plumage of its primitive stock, the
_Columba livia_. And indeed, though truly the most pithecoid of known
human skulls, the Neanderthal cranium is by no means so isolated as it
appears to be at first, but forms, in reality, the extreme term of a
series leading gradually from it to the highest and best developed of
human crania. On the one hand, it is closely approached by the flattened
Australian skulls, of which I have spoken, from which other Australian
forms lead us gradually up to skulls having very much the type of the
Engis cranium. And, on the other hand, it is even more closely affined
to the skulls of certain ancient people who inhabited Denmark during the
"stone period," and were probably either contemporaneous with, or later
than, the makers of the "refuse heaps," or "Kjokkenmöddings" of that
country.
The correspondence between the longitudinal contour of the Neanderthal
skull and that of some of those skulls from the tumuli at Borreby, very
accurate drawings of which have been made by Mr. Busk, is very close.
The occiput is quite as retreating, the supraciliary ridges are nearly
as prominent, and the skull is as low. Furthermore, the Borreby skull
resembles the Neanderthal form more closely than any of the Australian
skulls do, by the much more rapid retrocession of the forehead. On the
other hand, the Borreby skulls are all somewhat broader, in proportion
to their length, than the Neanderthal skull, while some attain that
proportion of breadth to length (80: 100) which constitutes
brachycephaly.
* * * * *
In conclusion, I may say, that the fossil remains of Man hitherto
discovered do not seem to me to take us appreciably nearer to that
lower pithecoid form, by the modification of which he has, probably,
become what he is. And considering what is now known of the most ancient
races of men; seeing that they fashioned flint axes and flint knives and
bone-skewers, of much the same pattern as those fabricated by the lowest
savages at the present day, and that we have every reason to believe the
habits and modes of living of such people to have remained the same from
the time of the Mammoth and the tichorhine Rhinoceros till now, I do not
know that this result is other than might be expected.
Where, then, must we look for primæval Man? Was the oldest _Homo
sapiens_ pliocene or miocene, or yet more ancient? In still older strata
do the fossilized bones of an Ape more anthropoid, or a Man more
pithecoid, than any yet known await the researches of some unborn
paleontologist?
Time will show. But, in the meanwhile, if any form of the doctrine of
progressive development is correct, we must extend by long epochs the
most liberal estimate that has yet been made of the antiquity of Man.