Friday, September 14, 2007

Friday Dead Racist Blogging: Domestication Edition

Without going into details, I can state only the result of my observations and admeasurements, which were often repeated in presence of intelligent and competent witnesses.

The average size of the head of the Indian is less than that of the head of the white man, by the proportion of from an eighth to a tenth, certainly from a tenth to a twelfth part of its entire bulk. The chief deficiency in the Indian head lies in the superior and lateral parts of the forehead, where are situated the organs of Comparison, Causality, Wit, Ideality, and Benevolence. The defect in Causality, Wit, and Ideality is most striking. In the organs of Combativeness, Destructiveness, Secretiveness, Caution, and Firmness, the function of which constitute the dominant elements of the Indian character, the developement [sic] is bold. The proportion of brain behind the ear is considerably larger in the Indian than in the white man. The organ of Adhesiveness in the former is small.

This analysis, brief and imperfect as it is, unfolds to us much of the philosophy of the Indian character, and enables us, in a particular manner, to understand the cause of the peculiar inaptitude of that race of men for civil life. For, when the wolf, the buffalo, and the panther shall have been completely domesticated, like the dog, the cow, and the household cat, then, and not before, may we expect to see the full-blooded Indian civilized like the white man.

--Charles Caldwell, quoted in George Combe, A System of Phrenology, p. 431.

Yes, when the wolf is domesticated like the dog, then we'll see a civilized Indian!

No comments: