ative African, a
race strikingly uniform in aspect, and, next to the Pygmies, the lowest
in physical characteristics of mankind. The features of structure in
which the negro appears to occupy a position intermediate between the
white man and the man-ape--lower than the former and approaching the
latter--are the following: First, his abnormal length of arm, which
averages about two inches longer than that of the Caucasian, and, when
in the erect position, sometimes reaches the knee-pan, being little
shorter proportionately than that of the chimpanzee. Second, his
prognathism, or projection of the jaws--his index of facial angle being
about 70, as compared with the Caucasian 82. Third, his weight of
brain--average European 45 ounces, negro 35, highest gorilla 20. Fourth,
his short, flat, snub nose, deeply depressed at the base, wide and with
dilated nostrils at the extremity. Fifth, his thick protruding lips.
Sixth, his high and prominent cheek bones. Seventh, his great thickness
of cranium, which resists blows that would break the skull of an average
European. Eighth, the weakness of his lower limbs, the broad, flat foot
and low instep, the projecting heel and somewhat prehensile great toe.

These characteristics the negroes possess in common with the Pygmies and
the Negritos. Others of less significance could be named. One important
character is that of the cranial sutures, which close much earlier in
the negro than in higher races, thus checking the development of the
brain while the body is still growing. To this many ascribe the mental
inferiority of the negro race. A close observer records, as a result of
long observation on the plantations of the southern United States, that
"the negro children were sharp, intelligent, and full of vivacity, but
on approaching the adult period a gradual change set in. The intellect
seemed to become clouded, animation giving place to a sort of lethargy,
briskness yielding to indolence." This is very probably the case with
the Pygmies, who similarly reach a mental limit beyond which they cannot
advance; but this limit is set in the adult period. In other words, the
adult Pygmy is on the mental level of the negro child. If the African
Pygmy is as short lived as his Eastern congener, he does not survive, as
a rule, many years beyond the age of adolescence, and continues in a
stage of childhood, mentally considered, until death.

The conclusion to be derived from this interesting fact wo