Entry on the Egyptian skull in Descriptive Catalague of the Warren Anatomical Museum

Entry on the Egyptian skull in Descriptive Catalague of the Warren Anatomical Museum

Morton, Samuel George, 1799-1851

Craniology

Egyptians

Craniometry

Warren Anatomical Museum

This text is the official published catalogue of the Warren Anatomical Museum. The skull cast is listed in the "Third Division" of the 1870 catalogue, which is entitled "Miscellany." The catalogue's first division is entitled "Healthy" anatomy and it's second division is "morbid" or diseased anatomy. Miscellany is broken up into four series. The cast is in "Series XLI" or "National Skulls." The other three series in Miscellany are "Zoology," "Mementos," and "Phrenology." Division Three is the smallest of the three divisions, equaling 478 out of the 3681 cases (13% of the 1870 total). Series XLI is a mix of human crania and skull casts of various racial identities and ethnicities within different geographic locations. A significant number of the casts were relocated from the Boston Phrenological Society collection. The term "National Skulls" or "Nationals" is consistent throughout 19th century Boston specimen collecting. The Phrenological Society uses it in their 1835 catalogue. The Boston Society for Medical Improvement uses it in their 1848 catalogue. Individual 3180 is listed as an "Ancient Egyptian skull. Cast ; from Dr. Morton. 1849." The donor, John Collins Warren, also donated the majority of the museum's "National Skulls" collection. Pages 706 and 707 print a chart that compares the cast craniometrics with others skulls in the collection. In this analysis special attention is paid to the Occipital Region or the lower back of the Morton casts. These casts were given to represent "typical skulls," and Harvard comparative anatomist Jeffries Wyman placed great importance on the occipital region for such individuals. Warren created a methodology to acquire the measurement. Morton and Wyman were invested in such measurements in their own collections, and such measurements in general formed the cornerstone of scientific inquiry of race through craniometrics. The order of the crania in the chart is by museum catalog number.

A Descriptive Catalogue of the Warren Anatomical Museum 1870 publications contains the entry of an Egyptian skull donated in 1848.

Jackson, J. B. S. (John Barnard Swett), 1806-1879

John Ford

1870

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J. B. S. Jackson, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Warren Anatomical Museum (Boston: A. Williams, 1870), 699-707.

An online guide to the Warren Anatomical Museum collection is available.

text

1 Descriptive Catalog (10 pages)

English

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