Samuel George Morton

Samuel George Morton (* 1799, † 1851) was an American anthropologist and racial theorist. He is considered the first American paleontologist and including President of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.

Morton had a collection of nearly 1000 human skulls. By measuring its interior volume he tried - before Darwin's theory of evolution - to clarify whether the rate at the time referred to as populations races of man as distinct species, and thus created separately or were created in a single act of creation. Morton's empirical approach to measure a large number of objects of different origins exactly, it was groundbreaking in his time.

Morton was later accused of having set races and brain volume assuming correlation in that loss of primacy of the white race could be biologically justified. More recently, he had particular Stephen Jay Gould first in 1978 in the journal Science, and later in his book, The mismeasure of Man accused worked prejudiced and only published data from selected skulls to have. This trick has led to the conclusion that he could describe the European race than those with the highest intellectual assessment; only then followed by the Asians, the " Indians " Native America called and finally the black slaves. Morton was therefore described by Gould as one of the leading racists of his time.

In his work Craina Americana Morton describes the races summarized as follows: The White race have the highest intelligence and has produced the most significant people. The Asians settled Morton already significantly among whites on. In this context, he mentioned that while Asians are capable of a kind of civilization, but occasionally would the behavior of monkeys. The American Breed ( were meant to Urweinwohner ) was unable to culture, aggressive and childish. The blacks would differ in their moral character of other races. You have a talent for music and the ability to imitate others. Also, would this " resigned to their fate ."

However, in 2011 reported a team of researchers led by Jason E. Lewis (Stanford University ), a final measurement of around half of the skull from Morton's collection revealed that his measurements and reported in its publications data are correct. At the same time Gould was accused of having Morton's work, in turn, interpreted prejudiced.