Crania americana or, A comparative view of the skulls of various aboriginal nations of North and South America : to which is prefixed an essay on the varities of the human species / by Samuel George Morton.

  • Morton, Samuel George, 1799-1851.
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Crania americana or, A comparative view of the skulls of various aboriginal nations of North and South America : to which is prefixed an essay on the varities of the human species / by Samuel George Morton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    pleasure that I also record Mr. Combe’s liberality in providing this memoir without having seen a word of my manuscript, or even knowing what I had written; at the same time that I was under the necessity, owing to certain pre- arrangements, of limiting him to a given number of pages, in which he acquiesced with the most obliging frankness. By means of this Essay, which is accompanied by two illustrative plates, the reader will be able to apply Phrenological rules to every skull in the series here figured. Neither care nor expense has been spared in the endeavor to give accuracy to the lithographed illustrations of this work, which have been chiefly executed by Mr. John Collins, one of the most successful cultivators of his art in this country. Many of the plates have been drawn the second and third time; and in several instances the entire edition was cancelled, in order to correct inaccuracies that had previously escaped observation, I have given much more space to the Introduction than was at first intended, in the hope of inviting, throughout this country, a greater interest to this important and attractive study. It is impossible to treat of such a subject, without drawing largely on the researches of those distinguished men who have devoted their time and talent to inquiries of this nature; among whom it is especially necessary to mention Buffon, Blumenbach, Humboldt, Prichard, Law- rence, Virey and Bory de St. Vincent; while, among the writers of this country, I have derived much instruction from the writings of the late Dr. Barton, Professor Caldwell, Dr. J. C. Warren, Professor Gibson, Dr. B. H. Coates and Dr. M’Culloh. The “Researches” of the last named gentleman, embody more facts relating to the Aborigines of America than almost any other work. To these and other sources of information, I have made specific acknowledgments throughout the following pages. The great work on Mexican Antiquities by Lord Kingsborough I have never seen; and Le Noir’s splendid work on the same subject, and Mr. Delafield’s American Antiquities, did not reach this city until my last sheets were already in press. It will be observed, by comparing the prospectus issued three years ago with this work as now published, that I have greatly extended the original design by the addition of eighteen plates and nearly two hundred minor illustrations, together with a corresponding enlargement of the text. This object has been chiefly attained through the liberal and unsolicited patronage of two individuals