Dissection

Extracts from a presentation prepared for the meeting of the Royal Society, April 21st 1720. Never delivered or published, at Home Office request.

… pigeon-chested and narrow. They are inclined to be deeper than they are wide; this width is somewhat added to at the upper torso by the lateral placement of the scapula, which makes them round-shouldered and radically narrowing towards the waist. This gives a shape to the torso not un-pleasing in the females, if properly dressed. The hips, though, are narrow; the gluteal elongated and not all all prominent: to 'pass' a female will often wear a bustle or basket. Any one of the telling differences, taken as a solitary feature, could be found in one of us, and even then not necessarily at the extreme ends of a normal curve – on the flanks, perhaps. Even taken together, amongst a mass, an individual would not stand out; only close inspection of a specimen will raise suspicion – or of course a cursory naked inspection. Or to see them in a group, where by repetition these small deviations, summed together, become more striking – as at a wedding or christening one might observe a family nose which had seemed unremarkable in an acquaintance, but which, duplicated throughout the group, thereafter becomes a notable feature which presents itself to the attention whenever the acquaintance is renewed. In addition, there is something uncanny in the way they move which is better recognised in a mob. They are not, with strangers of their own kind, at all comfortable. There is to observed lots of shuffling, sideways passes and glances: this might be a natural consequence of their hereditary caution and isolation in small family groups, or a modern crisis of identity since, forced to pass among strangers, they are as uncertain as we can sometimes be as to whether any individual is one of them.

It is unpalatable to contemplate, and many will not countenance it, but there have been cases of inter-marriage: from my researches and to my certain knowledge, several hundreds; in all likelihood, over history, countless thousands. Even now, among the common folk, there is a great ignorance, at least partly cultivated and encouraged by their schoolmasters and ministers, as to normal biology and reproductive functioning – to the extent that some of our rougher country-folk may have entered into such a partnership in complete ignorance of its repellent nature. (As to the motivation of the other party, who can say? Their thoughts are not our thoughts. How much do they know? What thought do they give to these matters, if any: is all instinct?)

Thanks be to providence, there can be no outcome from such a 'marriage' – no issue, to which marriage is otherwise the means, and which of true marriage is the jewel. There can be no doubt, given the countless inadvertant trials, that the barrier between the races is too great to permit a monster to be generated.

In this forum, gentlemen, we may speak far more openly than otherwise, as we are scientists and physicians: with your wives and servants, and with our less enlightened friends, I suggest their superstitions and folk-tales should not be countered too vigorously. The truth is more disquieting than the veil that these traditions draw over it.

So to the detail of my work. You have all seen them. Some among you may not have been aware – as I have explained, in a crowd, with some crypsis, they will 'pass' as one of us – others, and I know some of my medical friends will attest, have encountered them at close range, and had the opportunity of a naked visual inspection, such as will admit no doubt that this is a creature not of our blood.

It is a curious feature of the clinical examination or dissection that, the intellect being paramount and the scientific curiosity fully engaged, the emotional response will be suppressed in the act itself, and entirely excluded from the published account. Contrary to the usual approach, I beg your indulgence in this report as I intend to convey some of the human response to the subject, for this very good reason: that it is in life that we encounter them, with movement and sound about us, and it cannot be denied that 'animal instinct' is as sure as clinical inspection as a means of identifying them. I suppose that there must be a minute reflection in our mind of every tiny movement – an unfamiliar shift of eye or angle of limb that sits awkwardly with us – that we can learn, if we listen carefully to our own thoughts, to recognise as a response to the outsider. There may be a shift in the ether to which we respond – the hair prickles as if in a cool breeze. For their part, being closer to the animal state, they have the cunning of beasts to warn them of danger, perhaps guide them to food and water, and to distinguish them from us – although in this last, they are let down by their nature as they recognise all outside their immediate 'clan' as outsiders, and it seems cannot reliably distinguish between those of another clan, and our own race. We might consider the possibility that the change in social structure necessitated by the development of the cities has precipitated as much a crisis in them as in us, and paralysed their natural responses and instincts. A more direct explanation might be the dulling of the perception caused by the lights, noise and bad air of the city: you will have observed how much sharper are your senses after a spell in the country ...

… the face is less variable than ours, in the sense that there are less marked differences between individuals (unsurprising given their smaller numbers and limited distribution: they are one race, we are several. Consider the limited variety in your thoroughbreds, and then the much greater variation, in height or build, colouration or humour, of your servants), but also in that their faces are less mobile than ours, and so less expressive. Whether they have less depth, variety and subtlety of emotion to express, or whether that very emotional range is limited by their disability in its expression, I cannot say. The facility they have is enough for anger, resentment, fear; and I have not personally witnessed but have it on good authority that happiness and satiety are characteristically seen after feeding and mating.

So we return to the individual before us. Most of the facial features are preserved on one side – the other side was similar enough, within the limits of the symmetry that nature routinely provides. Regard the nose. It is usually broad, with a low bridge and square planum, which this specimen displays most clearly. Also note, on the dissected side, the nasal bone and vomer extend half as far again as might be expected, but that there is a corresponding lack of the cartilaginous portion, so that the organ entire is, if anything, shorter than expected.

The eyes are a little widely set – no more so in this individual than in others I have inspected, and no more than is proportionate with the broad nose. The colour of the iris is always of a shade of brown, varying from ochre yellow to mahogony. Some have from this suggested a southern origin – that is a question outside this presentation. More importantly, note that the pupil, contra the popular myth, is as perfectly round as is any one of us.

Note that the suffusion of the skin, especially at the jawline and either side of the neck, is due to the method of dispatch. In life, the skin is unremarkable: when clean, it is no darker than ours, and no more sallow than any ill-nourished lower class individual would normally display.

In life, the impression is one of stubbornness or obtuseness, especially if the head be lowered. The characteristic expression is sullen, or seems so to us. In this individual, in life, I did not observe any other mood. However, in others, when the head is raised, the wide-set eyes, long lashes and low bridge can give an aspect of candour and openness that might be found attractive. I see some of you gentlemen are uncomfortable at my repeating that assertion. Please throw aside your natural revulsion for the moment. I emphasise this point because we are here to consider not simply them, but them amongst us: so our reactions, the reactions of vulnerable strata of society, need to be considered …

… the specimen in this case, young, has retained all the adult teeth. They are often lost early in adulthood due to depraved dietary habits and the rapid senescence of the majority. You may see – dissection of the cheek having provided a window – that the premolars are relatively massive, and have a blade-like shape, in contrast to the ridged planes of our own. The roots have not been exposed, but be assured that they are correspondingly substantial. Indeed, regard here the ridging of the overlying maxilla – hidden of course in the intact specimen by the arch of the zygoma, though that arch is flared to a greater extent than in us, to accommodate the dentition. Remember that the typically full-faced appearance of this youthful specimen will be substituted by a marked hollowness of the cheeks and loss of the temporal muscle bulk in an individual of not much greater age …

… no dispute that population control is a necessity, but I am equally convinced that a good deal of careful training will need to be carried out to develop a cadre with the ability to recognise the individuals concealed amongst the lower strata of our society and direct their elimination, with minimal effect on the surrounding population, in order to achieve the total cull that I recommend.