Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Part I - Professor Martin Ramström, Uppsala, Anthropological and Race-biological Researches in Sweden
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
The successor of Anders Retzius in the professorship of anatomy at the
Caroline Medico*Chirurgical Institute (in Stockholm) Baron Gustaf von Duben
(1822—1862) also took great interest in anthropology. His best«known works in
this field of labour are »Sur les caractéres craniologiques de 1’homme préhistorique
en Suéde», (Compte rendu de la 7 session du Congrés préhistorique å Stockholm
1874), and his ethnographical monograph »On Lappland and the Lapps» (Stockholm
1873). His anthropological work on the Lapps which he rested chiefly on the
basis of the Lapp craniums and skeletons collected by Anders Retzius and himself,
was given out first, however, after his death by professor C. G. Santesson under
the title: »Crania Lapponica». Stockholm 1910.
With the appearance of Gustaf Retzius, son of Anders Retzius, the anthro*
pological research in Sweden began to flourish once more.
Gustaf Retzius (1842—1919) published as early as 1864 a German edition
of his father’s collected anthropological works. Since then he has published a
large number of comparatively speaking smaller pamphlets and essays; but chiefly
through the four monumental folio works: »Finska Kranier» (1878), »Das Menschen
hirn» (1896), »Crania Suecica» (1900), and also, together with C. M. Furst, »An*
thropologia Suecica» (1902), he has won a place for himself among the most remarkable
anthropologists of our time. In the first mentioned work he treats of the physical
qualities of the tribes or branches of races dwelling in Finland itself: Tavastians,
Karelians, and Savolakians, and gives also an exposition of the mutual relationship
between these tribes, their wanderings and expansion, their culture both now and
in ancient times, their manners and customs, their tools and dress. This important
and within its own sphere pioneer publication is founded partly on the results
of expeditions to Finland, performed by Gustaf Retzius, Christian Lovén and
Erik Nordensson 1873. I regard to anthropology, Gustaf Retzius distinguished
two fundamental types within the area investigated, namely the Tavastian of
medium height, with fair hair and brachycephalic head with a broad face, and the
Karelian of less than medium height and likewise of less brachycephalic type than
the Tavastian, with a narrow face and dark chestnut hair.
In »Crania Suecica antiqua» Gustaf Retzius in the most excellent pictures has
preserved for the coming ages the remains which have been found of Sweden’s
primitive inhabitants. This work, according to Kollmann, possesses the same
universal importance respecting knowledge of the European human species, sur*
veyed from the stand*point of race*anatomy, as does His’ and Riitimeyer’s »Crania
helvetica», Studer’s and Bannwart’s: »Crania Helvetica antiqua», Davis’ and Thur*
nam’s works on the primitive English craniums and also Quatrefages’ and Hamy’s
work on the primitive French craniums. But the importance of this work lies,
as Kollmann also shows, not only in the faet that by means of pictures of natural
size it makes the defeetive remains of the first inhabitants of Sweden accessible
to the wide cirde of all the cultured nations, but it is also to be sought in the
scientific result regarding the anthropological characteristics of our forefathers,
which Gustaf Retzius reached through the anthropological study of the material
in question. This result Retzius himself has given in the following words:
»The people of the stone age certainly in regard to anthropology did not
form a pure race, but were still in a preponderating degree dolichocephalic, although
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
