The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1905-11-11


Bat Isl should be horne in mind that
theirs was the first systematic attempt
which has been made to solve the prob
lem.
Other attempts have been largely in
diyidual essays into the realm Of con-
troversy; made for the great part at
arms length and logically founded upon
fragments. The world is soon TO have
a more definite answer to the question,
Who was the American aborigine?'
Some of DR. Brinfon's foundations for
his belief are convincing until they are
effectually disproved. He finds diver
gence in the hair and the shape Of the
skulls Of the two races and declares
emphaticaly that the Indian is really
redskin, and not, as Cuyier would have
i, yellow man He says that while
both the Indian and the Mongol have
straight hair, the Indians is the
straighter. He takes the hairs and cut
ting them, examines the cross-sectiohs,
The cross-section of the American In
dams hair comes nearer to a perfect cir
cle $50 thas by all the rules Of termi-
nology and logic he concludes, ''we
should say that the Mongol is afyariety
of the American race, and call it Ameri
canoid, instead of vice versa.
Here we have forecast of what the
latest inquiries appear to have revealed
The Asiatic is an "Americanoid.
The shape of the skulls of the Mongol
and the American Dr\Brinton found to
be quite diverse. The former, especially
the Turanian branch, having round heads
while the American Eskimo-even the
tribes nearest siberia. which have had
undoubted contact with the Asiatics for
umnumbered generations long-headed
to marked degree. Another feature
+ upon which much Importance is laid by
the ethnologists was the extreme de-
velopment in the American Of the inter-
parietal bone which feature is of ex-
treme rarity in the craniums of the Mon
golians.
SO far as the oblique eye is concerned,
while it is usually present in the Mon
gol;an. it is found prevalent in only Il
few tribes Of American Indians. It has
been shown that this malformat;on is
mer y an arrest Of development, and
When il occurs it occas onally does
among children of the white race. the
Disagreement is usually removed in in
fancy BY simple surgical operation
sdpeffiiciaIly it is regarded as a racial
eharaeteri't.c Of the Mongol. but it has
been shown to be nothing Of the kind
In estimating the value ef resem-
blances observed in this part of our
continent (the north Pacific COAST We
should remember says Professor Brin-
ton, ''that we have sufficient evidence to
believe that for many generations some
slight intercourse has been going on be-
tween adjacent mainlan1s and islands
between the two continents IN the re-
gions of their nearest proximity. The
same train of events led to blending of
the negro and white races along the
shores of the Red Sea; but anyone who
recognizes the distinction of RACES at all
will not. on that account, claim that the
white race is Negroid. With just as little
reason. it seems to me, has it been ar
gued that The native Americans. as Il
race. ara Mongoloid'
For many years attempt followed at
tempt to prove the American originally
came from Asia. Comparatively recently
has the reverse theory been advanced
that the Mongol came from America. If
this theory. now about to be given to the
world with an array of facts which
would seem to form a complete sequence
it would be a long step toward the the
DRY that man first appeared on earth in
i America. 1t is regarded as proved that
/ Europe was peopled with race which
migrated from Asia. Northera Africa,
especially Egypt, is believed to have had
its original popoulation from tie same
source. These vital migratious We're
gradual, requiring not merely years or
centuries for their movement, but ages.
II, therefore, Asia was first pecpled with
men who crossed from America, the an
tiquity Of man on this continent must be
so remote that if his years were known
/ it would be difficult for the mind to form
a proper conception Of them.
Wien the great contineAtal ice sheet
covered the northern part Of North
America. a tremendous s.acier more than
a mile thick, which extended as far south
rs St Lonis on the west and almost to
Easton il the east man MAS alfeady on