TIEDEMANN, Friedrich

Das Hirn Des Negers mit dem des Europaers und Orang-Outangs verglichen von ... [An Early Defense of Blacks]

Heidelberg: Karl Winter, 1837. First Edition in German. Original Boards. 4to. Pp. [2 (ads], [8], 84. Illustrated with six lithographic plates. Original boards, dampstained and foxed throughout. Withal, a presentable, partially unopened copy. Good. Item #5553

First edition in German, "one of the earliest works of physical anthropology" (DSB), and the most famous criticism of racist cranioscopy. Tiedemann claims in his introduction that his study of cranial capacity was sparked by contemporary debates over the slave trade in the British Parliament. He sought to investigate, beyond his predecessor's efforts, whether "Negroes were a human race, which in organization and soul-capabilities (Seelen-Vermogen) stood far below the peoples of the Caucasus and other races, and were nearly related to apes." Tiedemann's results surprised his contemporaries: not only did he show that the cranioscopic methods of Camper, Blumenbach and Gall, which relied on external measurements, were inconclusive, but he suggested that a far better method was to fill empty skulls with millet kernels. As such, Tiedemann concluded the brain of Blacks were not smaller, as "superficial and biased observations," based on external measurements, had suggested. Further, although the crania of Blacks he studied were smaller than those of Europeans, their brains were as large and as heavy.

Tiedemann suggests that Blacks are as capable as Europeans in all realms, and cites many Blacks who were able to distinguish themselves despite the adverse conditions under which they have had to live. He praises their languages, dances and personalities. In addition, he criticizes Europeans: "Negroes of the high African mountains by no means have the base, tainted characters and lusts of the coastal Negroes who have been depraved by Europeans."

Writing of Tiedemann's conclusions, Michaud writes that while "Buffon and Blumenbach had proved the unity of the human species ... Tiedemann proved the physical equality of all races." This work was first published a year earlier in English. A prolific scientist, Tiedemann (1781-1861) was the first to confirm Prout's demonstration that acid of the gastric juice was hydrochloric acid; he was also the first to describe the calcified cysts of trichinosis in human muscle. Now housed in a removable, clear archival sleeve. Cf. POGGENDORFF II, p. 1106; GARRISON-MORTON 988 & 5336.4; MICHAUD XLI, pp. 526-9; DSB, pp. 402-4.

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Price: $650.00