The Bust of a Young Zulu Woman
Author: Paul Broca
Keywords: Paul Broca; Robert K. Stevenson; Zulus; Bantus; Hottentots; Bushmen; Negroes; whites; Chinese; Europeans; crossbreeds; gorilla; chimpanzee; orang-outang; gibbons; carnivores; monkeys; cebids; anthropoids; quadrupeds; aorta; carotid or subclavian aartery; innominate; brachiocephalic trunk; regressive anomaly; antibrachial index; skeleton; frontal region; narrow or oblique eyes; caruncle; steatopygic; peppercorns; skin color; Anthropology Society of Paris
In this remarkable 1880 work Doctor Paul Broca, the Father of Craniology, presents the results of his study of the body of a recently-deceased young Zulu woman to members of the Anthropology Society of Paris. Broca, noting that the Zulu woman's skull possesses affinities with those of the Hottentots and Bushmen, while her leg and foot "present the usual characteristics of what is found in Negroes," indicates that she might have been a Bantu-Hottentot crossbreed, a conclusion strongly seconded by fellow Society member Doctor Paul Topinard. Most interestingly, after dissecting the Zulu woman's body, Broca found that the arch of her aorta displayed what he called "a regressive anomaly"--that is, rather than being the type found in other humans, its "arrangement of the blood vessels is completely like the one that we observe in the orang-outang!"
Author: Paul Broca
Keywords: Paul Broca; Robert K. Stevenson; Zulus; Bantus; Hottentots; Bushmen; Negroes; whites; Chinese; Europeans; crossbreeds; gorilla; chimpanzee; orang-outang; gibbons; carnivores; monkeys; cebids; anthropoids; quadrupeds; aorta; carotid or subclavian aartery; innominate; brachiocephalic trunk; regressive anomaly; antibrachial index; skeleton; frontal region; narrow or oblique eyes; caruncle; steatopygic; peppercorns; skin color; Anthropology Society of Paris
In this remarkable 1880 work Doctor Paul Broca, the Father of Craniology, presents the results of his study of the body of a recently-deceased young Zulu woman to members of the Anthropology Society of Paris. Broca, noting that the Zulu woman's skull possesses affinities with those of the Hottentots and Bushmen, while her leg and foot "present the usual characteristics of what is found in Negroes," indicates that she might have been a Bantu-Hottentot crossbreed, a conclusion strongly seconded by fellow Society member Doctor Paul Topinard. Most interestingly, after dissecting the Zulu woman's body, Broca found that the arch of her aorta displayed what he called "a regressive anomaly"--that is, rather than being the type found in other humans, its "arrangement of the blood vessels is completely like the one that we observe in the orang-outang!"
