CONTENTS. FRONTISPIECE-PORTRAIT OF SAMUEL GEORGE MORTON. [Steel Engraving.] "NOTICE OF THE LIFE AND SCIENTIFIC LABORS OF THE LATE SAMUEL GEO. MORTON, M. D."-contributed by Prof. HENRY S. PATTERSON, M. D. xvii "OF THE NATURAL PROVINCES OF THE ANIMAL WORLD AND THEIR RELA- TION TO THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF MAN" contributed by Prof. L. AGASSIZ, LL. D. [With colored lithographic Tableau and Map.]............................. lviii HYBRIDITY OF ANIMALS, VIEWED IN CONNECTION WITH THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MANKIND BY J. C. NOTT............................. MEMOIR OF THE LIFE AND SCIENTIFIC LABORS OF SAMUEL GEORGE MORTON. BY HENRY S. PATTERSON, M. D., EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF MATERIA MEDICA AND THERAPEUTICS IN THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA COLLEGE; FELLOW OF THE COLLEGE of PHYSICIANS; RECORDING SECRETARY OF THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA. WHEN the authors of the present work, pressed with the labor of preparing for the printer their abundant materials, first suggested that I should assist them by furnishing a notice of the scientific life of our deceased friend and leader in Ethnology, I hesitated somewhat to undertake the task, feeling that the selection, dictated by their partial friendship, might by others be deemed inappropriate, and myself considered deficient in those relations which would warrant the assumption of the office. Subsequent reflection, however, convinced me that an acquaintance of fifteen years, approaching to intimacy,-frequent professional and social intercourse,—my position in the Medical Faculty, that was founded mainly by his labors,-devotion in a great degree to the same studies, community of sentiment in regard to the topics of most interest to both, that all these combined to constitute a sufficient reason why I should freely accept the duty assigned me. I do it cheerfully, for to me it is a grateful duty and a source of pleasure, thus to be allowed to bear testimony to the worth and services of the great and good man whom we all had so much cause to love and honor. His life I do not propose to write. There is but little in the quiet daily walk of any civilian, to furnish a theme for biographical narrative. That of Morton was eminently placid and regular; and all that can be said upon it has already been well and eloquently expressed in the able addresses of Professors Meigs, Wood, and Grant.* To Dr. Wood also we are indebted for his exposition of Morton's eminent services to medical science, both as a teacher and writer; a point too frequently overlooked in regarding him in the more prominent light of a Naturalist. Passing over these topics, my object will be to consider mainly his contributions to Natural Science, and especially to Ethnology. As introductory to a work upon anthropological subjects, we desire to present Morton as the Anthropologist, and as virtually the founder of that school of Ethnology, of whose views this book may be regarded as an authentic exponent. Let me be permitted, however, a few words in relation to the personal character and private worth of Morton. At the mention of his name there arise emotions which press for utterance, and which it would do violence to my feelings to leave unexpressed. If I have felt this affection for him, it is only what was shared by all who knew him well. What was most peculiar in him was that magnetic power by which he attracted and bound men to him, and made them glad to serve him. This influence was especially manifested, as I shall have occasion to observe again, in the collection of his Cabinet of Crania. In looking over his correspondence now, it is surprising to see the number of men, so different one from another in every respect, who in all quarters of the globe were laboring without expectation of reward to secure a cranium for Morton, and to read the reports of their varied successes and disappointments. In his whole deportment, there was an evident singleness of purpose and a candor, open as the day, which at once placed one at his ease. Combined with this was a most winning gentleness of manner, which drew one to him as with the cords of brotherly affection. He possessed, moreover, in a remarkable degree, the faculty of imparting to others his own enthusiasm, and filling them, for the time at least, with ardor for his own pursuit. Hence, in a measure, his success in enlisting the numerous collaborators, so necessary to him in his peculiar studies. It may be affirmed that no man ever came within the sphere of his influence without forming for him some degree of * A memoir of Samuel George Morton, M. D., late President of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, by Charles D. Meigs, M. D. Read Nov. 6th, 1851, and published by direction of the Academy: Philada. 1851. A Biographical Memoir of Samuel George Morton, M. D., prepared by appointment of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and read before that body Nov. 3d, 1852, by George B. Wood, M. D., President of the College: Philada. 1853. Sketch of the Life and Character of Samuel George Morton, M. D. Lecture, introductory to a course of Anatomy and Physiology in the Medical Department of Pennsylvania College. Delivered Oct. 13th, 1851, by William R. Grant, M. D. Published by request of the Class: Philada. 1852 personal attachment. His circle of attached friends was therefore large, and the expression of regret for his untimely loss general and sincere. It was in London, and while seated at the hospitable board of Dr. Thomas Hodgkin, (to whom I had been introduced by a letter from Morton,*) that I first heard the news of his decease. He was the subject of an animated and interesting conversation at the moment, (for Dr. H. and he had been classmates at Edinburgh,) when a gentleman entered with an American newspaper received by the morning's mail, and containing the sad intelligence. A cloud came over every countenance, and every voice was raised in an exclamation of sudden grief and regret; for he was more or less known to all present. My next appointment for that day was with Mr. S. Birch, of the Archæological department of the British Museum, who had been a correspondent of Morton, and could appreciate his great worth. During the day, Mr. Birch or myself mentioned the melancholy tidings to numerous gentlemen, in various departments of that great institution, and always with the same reply. All knew his name, and felt that in his decease the cause of science had suffered a serious deprivation. And this seemed to me his true fame. Outside the walls of this noble Temple of Science rolled on the turmoil of the modern Babylon, with its world of business, of pleasure, and of care, to all which the name of Morton was unknown, and from which its mention could call up no response. Within these walls, however, and among a body of men whom a more than princely munificence enables to devote themselves to labor like his own, he was universally recognized and appreciated, and mourned as a leading spirit in their cosmopolite fraternity. But always there was this peculiarity to be noticed, that wherever a man had known Morton personally at all, he mourned not so much for the untimely extinction of an intellectual light, as for the loss of a beloved personal friend. Certainly the man who inspired others with this feeling, could himself have no cold or empty heart. On the contrary, he overflowed * Among the letters with which Dr. Morton favored me, on my visit to Europe, was one to Dr. Alexander Hannay of Glasgow. This he particularly wished me to deliver, and to bring him a report of his old friend; for Dr. H. had been an intimate of his student days, although their correspondence had long been interrupted. The letter was written in a playful mood, and contained sportive allusions to their student life at Edinburgh, and a wish that they might meet again. On reaching Glasgow late in May, I sought Dr. H., and found that he had recently deceased. Morton himself, as I afterwards learned, had then also ceased to breathe. That letter, so full of genial vivacity and present life, was from the hand of one dead man addressed to another! And should they not meet again? Rather had they not already met where the darkness had become day! It is a beautiful and consolatory belief, and one that the subject of this notice could undoubtingly hold and rejoice in. |