This compilation, published in 1865 and edited by Thomas Bendyshe, consists of three translated works by the German anthropologist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752–1840), two memoirs of Blumenbach, and an account of the museum of specimens he had accumulated at Göttingen.

The final item is an inaugural dissertation delivered in 1775 by John Hunter, an army surgeon, on the varieties of man.

It is of interest because it anticipated by a few months some of Blumenbach's own published theories, which divided the races of man into five distinct types (Caucasian, Mongolian, Malayan, Ethiopian and American), chiefly on the basis of cranial measurements, of the importance of which he was the first exponent.

Blumenbach began his career as a physician, and moved towards comparative anatomy, but he is best remembered for his work in physical anthropology: both the first (1775) and third (1795) editions of his major work are given here.