Scientific American Supplement, No. 392, July 7, 1883Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 392, July 7, 1883
Various
Science -- Periodicals
From the preceding rapid sketch the reader will be able to explain the
meaning of most of the peculiarities of face and form which he will
meet with. Many persons possess at least one quadrumanous or embryonic
character. The strongly convex upper lip frequently seen among the lower
classes of the Irish is a modified quadrumanous character. Many people,
especially those of the Sclavic races, have more or less embryonic
noses. A retreating chin is a marked monkey character. Shortness
of stature is mostly due to shortness of the femur, or thigh; the
inequalities of people sitting are much less than those of people
standing. A short femur is embryonic; so is a very large head. The faces
of some people are always partially embryonic, in having a short face
and light lower jaw. Such faces are still more embryonic when the
forehead and eyes are protuberant. Retardation of this kind is
frequently seen in children, and less frequently in women. The length of
the arms would appear to have grown less in comparatively recent times.
Thus the humerus in most of the Greek statues, including the Apollo
Belvidere, is longer than those of modern Europeans, according to a
writer in the Bulletin de la Société d'Anthropologie of Paris, and
resembles more nearly that of the modern Nubians than any other people.
This is a quadrumanous approximation. The miserably developed calves of
many of the savages of Australia, Africa, and America are well known.
The fine, swelling gastroenemius and soleus muscles characterize the
highest races, and are most remote from the slender shanks of the
monkeys. The gluteus muscles developed in the lower races as well as
in the higher distinguish them well from the monkeys with their flat
posterior outline.
It must be borne in mind that the quadrumanous indications are found in
the lower classes of the most developed races. The status of a race or
family is determined by the percentage of its individuals who do and do
not present the features in question. Some embryonic characters may
also appear in individuals of any race, as a consequence of special
circumstances. Such are, however, as important to the physiognomist as
the more normal variations.
Some of these features have a purely physical significance, but the
majority of them are, as already remarked, intimately connected with
the development of the mind, either as a cause or as a necessary
coincidence. I will examine these relations in a future article.
* * * * *
THE PRODUCTION OF FIRE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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