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T II I<]
TESTIMONY OF MODERN SCIENCE
TO THE
UNITY OF MANKIND;
BEING A SUMSIARY OF THE CONCLUSIONS ANNOUNCED BY THE HIGHEST
AUTHORITIES IN THE SEVERAL DEPARTMENTS OP PHYS-
IOLOGY, ZOOLOGY, AND COMPARATIVE PHI-
LOLOGY IN FAVOR OF THE
SPECIFIC UNITY AND COMMON ORIGIN OF
ALL THE VARIETIES OF MAN.
BY
J. L. CABELL, M. D.
PROFESSOR OF COMPARATTVE AJfATOMY AXD PHYSIOLOGY, IN" THE UNIVERSITY OF TIRGINU.
WITH AN INTRODUCTORY NOTICE
BY JAMES W. ALEXANDER, D. D.
^etcrnb (gbition ^^cfriseir.
NEW YORK:
ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS,
No. 53 0 BROADWAY.
1859.
Entered according to Act of Cougi ess, in the year 1S5S, by
ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Stereotyped axd Printed bt
EDWARD 0. JENKINS,
No. 26 Frankfort Street, New York,
NOTICE
TO THE SECOND EDITION,
The enterprising Publishers having determined to
print a second edition of this Essay, I avail myself of
the occasion, in conformity with the suggestions of a
friendly critic, to prepare for it an Analytical " Table
of Contents" and an ''Index of Authors." In con-
nection with the former part of this task, I have con-
sidered it expedient to indicate the leading branches
of the argument by divisions into Chapters under each
of the two larger divisions adopted in the first edition.
This plan has rendered necessary a slight change in
the arrangement of some of the subordinate topics
noticed in Part II., the order heretofore adopted having
been determined by circumstances that had no refer-
ence to such a classification.
J. L. C.
University of Yirgixia, February, 1859.
[iiil
CONTENTS
PAGE.
Introductory Notice by the Ret. J. W. Alexander, D. P., ix
Preface to the First Edition, . . . . . . xv
Preface to the Second Edition, .... iii
PART I.
THE SPECIFIC UNITY OF ALL THE RACES OF MEN.
CHAPTER I.
preliminary topics— definition of species and TARIETIES AMONG}
ANIMALS.
PAGE.
Relations of Science to Revelation, . . . ... 22
Definition of S^Jecies by Cuvier, DecandoUe, &c., .... 29
Objections raised by Agassiz, ....... 30
Morton's definition adopted by Agassiz, ..... 31
This definition has no value as a practical criterion of Species, . 32
Capacity of Variation exhibited by many Species, .... 34
Conditions of the production of " PerniancHi Farie?*es, . . . .35
Permanent Varieties springing from accidental congenital peculiarities, . 37
Permanent Varieties springing from thu long continued operations of certain
modifying agencies', .....••• 42
The influence of Climate and Food in the production of fixed varieties, . 47
Hereditary transmission of " acquired instincts," . . . .52
Shortness of the time require 1 for tbn production of Varieties, . 57
[ivl
C O N T E N 1' S .
CHAPTER II
ON THE MEANS OF DISCimilNATIXa BETWEEN SPECIES AND PERilANENT
VARIETIES.
Historical Test, .........
Tost derived from the existence or nou-existencc of transitional forms,
Varieties of the Dog, ........
Varieties of the Wolf, ........
Test derived from the constancy or inconstancy of alleged differential char-
acters, ..........
Test derived from physiological conformity, .....
Test derived from the phenomena of hyhridlty, . . . . .
Summary enumeration of the points of physiological conformity which con-
cur with specific identity, .......
Psychological conformity as a criterion of Specific Unity,
Summary Conclusions, ........
PAGE.
59
64
05
69
74
75
94
95
96
CHAPTER III
APPLICATION OF THE FOREGOING PRINCIPLES TO TILE DETERMINATION OP
THE SPECIFIC RELATIONS OF THE RACFJ3 OF 3IEN.
Historical Argument, ........
Change of Type hy the Magyar race, .....
Case of certain natives of Ireland whoso bodily conformation ha.? been greatly
altered by degradation and hardship, .....
Gradational series among the American races,
Gradational series among the African races,
Testimony of Baron Alexander Humboldt,
Inconstancy of alleged differential characters, .
Shape and dimensions of the cranium.
Hue of the skin, .....
Form of the shaft of the hair, .
Testimony of Prof. Richard Owen,
Physiological unity of the various races of men
Dr. Prichard, .....
Testimony of Prof. J. MuUer, .
Testimony of Prof. Draper, .......
Dr. Nott's assertions as to the infertility of Mulattoos,
Refutation of these assertions by Dr. Bachraan, ....
Argument of Professor Dana on the same subject, . . ' . note to p.
Psychological imity of the races of men, .....
Admissioris of Profv'ssor Aga^iz on this point, ....
Aimissions of till Wostminstjr Rjview, . .....
as summarily stated by
102
109
112
113
115
124
130
130
132
13i
136
137
138
139
140
140
147
151
15S
IGO
VI CONTENTS,
PART II.
DISCUSSION OF THE QUESTION OF THE SES'GLE OR PLURAL ORIGIN, AND
INCIDENTALLY, OF THE ANTIQUITY OF THE HUilAN SPECIES.
CHAPTER I.
CRITICAL NOTICE OF THE VIEWS ADVANCED BY PROF. AGASSIS.
PAG&
§ 1. On the Single or Plural Origin of Identical Species.
The question of unity or plurality of origin distinct from that of unity or di-
versity of species, ........ 165
Prof. Agassiz' opinions as expressed in 1845, cited, .... 166
Citation of his recently modified opinions, ..... 168
Natural limits of the Zoological Provinces, ..... 173
Prof. Forbes' argument in favor of a single origin for identical species, . 175
Doctrine of Representative Species, ...... 176
§ 2. Prof. Agassiz' Argument in favor of the doctrine of a Multiple Origin of the
Races of Mankind.
Alleged coincidence between the natural limits of the zoological provinces and
the natural range of distinct types of man, .... 185
Arbitrary arrangement of the assigned limits, .... 186
Alleged correspondence between the special faunae of diflFerent zoological prov-
inces and the varieties of men indigenous in these provinces, . . 192
Argument of Dr. Bachman in opposition to this statement, . . . 193
Testimony of Dr. Pickering as to the birthplace of man, . . . 194
CHAPTER II.
EVIDENCES OF COMMUNITY OF ORIGIN DERIVED FROM LINGUISTIC AFFIN-
ITIES.
Statement of the argument, ....... 196
Objections of Prof. Agassiz, ....... 197
Criticism of his views, ......•• 200
Opinions of Crawfurd in explanation of the correspondences found in the
different Malayo-Polynesian tongues, ..... 203
Opinions of Wm. Humboldt, ....... 203
Testimony of the Chevalier Bunsen, ...... 209
Elxposition by Prichard of the kind of affinity which serves to demonstrate
the common origin of languages, ..... 211
Testimony of Alexander von Humboldt, ...... 219
" " Dr. Max MuUer, ....... 221
" " the Chevalier Bunsen, . . . . . .228
CONTENTS. Vll
CHAPTER III.
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED.
PAGE.
§ 1. Modes of accouutiiig for the obfsorved distribution of the races.
Possibility of accoiuitiug for the actual distribution by means of dispersion
from a single birthplace, ....... 236
Diversities of climate considered with reference to man's susceptibility of ac-
climation, .... .... 237
ilan's reputed birthplace is also the native country of the domesticated ani-
mals and plants which follow man in his migrations, . . . 238
Gradual acclimation possible when sudden change of climate would be detri-
mental, ......... 239
Modes of dispersion used in early stages of society, .... 343
Testimony of Lieut. Maury on this point and on the Asiatic origin of the
American races, ........ 247
Testimony of Dr. Pickering, ........ 256
^ 2. Intellectual and Moral diversity of races.
Such diversity not inconsistent with community of descent , . . 261
Adaptation of the Christian religion to all races and conditions, . . 262
Hugh Miller's testimony as to the permanent inequality of the races, . 264
Influence of domestic servitude on the improvement of the African race in
America, 266
§ 3. (Jeological objections cited and refuted.
Geological argument in favor of the recent origin of man, as stated by Bishop
Berkeley and emphatically endorsed by Sir Charles Lyell, . . 268
Statement of the opposite opinions by the authors of the " Types of Mankind," 270
Testimony of Sir Charles Lyell and Prof. R. Owen, .... 271
§ 4. Chronological objections cited and examined.
Dr. Nott's argument founded on the monumental inscriptions of Egypt, . 273
Kcnrick's " Ancient Egypt under the Pharaohs," cited in reply to the dog-
matic assertions of Nott and Gliddon, ..... 275
CHAPTER IV.
CRITICAL NOTICE OF THE TONE AND SPIRIT OF THE PAPERS IN "TYPES
OP mankind" — SUMMARY RECAPITULATION OF THE ARGUMENT— CON-
CLUSION.
Unwarrantable dogmatism of the authors of " Types of Mankind," . . 281
Their avowed and inveterate infidelity, ..... 282
Testimony of Prof. Dana to the consistency of the Mosaic and geological rec-
ords of creation, ........ 284
VUI CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Testimony of Prof. Guyot, ....... 285
" " President Hitchcock, . . . . . . .285
" " C. D'Orbigny and A. Qantc, ..... 286
Views of certain eminent naturalists respecting the specific relations of the
human races presented in an incorrect light by the authors of " Types of
Mankind," ......... 288
Dr. Nott's summary of " deductions " as to the testimony of science on the
question of the specific relations of the races of men, cited and refuted, 292
Enumeration of leading men of science who advocate the doctrine of the
Unity of Mankind, ........ 293
Relation of this doctrine to the office and work of Jesus Christ, . . 303
APPENDIX A. Note to page 36.
On the influences which determine the production of Varieties, . . 309
APPENDIX B. Note to page 58.
The doctrine of the existence of Permanent Varieties sustained by the citation
of passages from T. Vernon Wollastou's treatise " On the Variation of
Species," ......... 312
APPENDIX C. Note to page 139.
On the average duration of human hfe among different races, . . . 320
On the epoch of the first menstruation among different races, . . 323
APPENDIX D. Note to page 155.
The psychological unity of different races illustrated by examples, . . 326
APPENDIX E. Note to page 184. 331
APPENDIX F. Note to page 298.
Brief reference to the evidences of the Unity of mankind furnished bj' the
discovery of the industrial remains and other monuments of early races, 333
APPENDIX a.
Critical notice of the several chapters of Nott and Gliddon's " Indigenous
Races of the E;irth," ........ 338
Index of Authors, . ....... 270
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
Any embarrassment which might at first arise from
mj appearing before the public in this unexpected
character is removed by the consideration that these
prefatory remarks are neither a discussion of the scien-
tific topic, to which I certainly have no vocation, nor
an encomium on the work itself, which it as surely
does not need. My humbler object is to call attention
to the important matter in hand, and to recommend
this line of inquiry to the friends of religion, to theo-
logical students, and to my younger brethren in the
sacred office.
It has been remarked by Lord Bacon, that as the
boundaries and physical peculiarities of any geographi-
cal canton are best described by one who looks upon
them from the top of some neighboring mountain, so
no one can adequately discern the limits and contents
of his own science or profession, who does not take a
bird's-eye view of it from the eminences of some other
1"^ [ix]
X INTRODUCTORY.
field of knowledge. The sciences may be kept in too
mucli insulation. Physical philosophers may abstract
themselves from the entire domain of moral and relig-
ious truth ; while, in return, theologians, with a min-
gled fear and pride, may turn away with disgust from
discoveries attained in the realm of nature. It cannot
be too often said, that both are volumes from the hand
of the same Author.
In regard to ministers of the gospel, it is undoubt-
edly true, that their training and the nature of their
pursuits keep them remarkably distant from the
natural sciences ; into which if they sometimes divert,
it is from a strong individual bias, or for purposes of
entertainment. This is said with a full recollection of
those eminent clerical savans who have illustrated the
paths of scientific deduction and discovery, but who,
in the same proportion, and for good reason, have
withdrawn themselves from theological research, and
from the work of the pulpit. The consequences of
this entire separation of territories have been unfor-
tunate. Mutual ignorance and misapprehension have
sprung up. Eoom has been given for professional
rivalry, and for that vaunting of one science over
another, which is stigmatized by Aristotle. Whereas,
all the while, a more generous familiarity with the
condition of each other would be strengthening to
both. The metaphysical, linguistical and hermeneuti-
INTRODUCTORY. XI
cal studies of clergymen, will always be demanded by
their profession ; but it is higb time that they were
more generally disciplined in those sciences which
daily more and more afford corroboration to the Sacred
Oracles.
At a hasty glance, nothing seems more remote from
the concerns of religion, than the structure of our
globe, the succession of its animated tribes, past and
present, and the families and dispersions of mankind.
And in this superficial misapprehension, there are
some who live and die ; yet nothing more is needed to
dissipate such a prepossession, than a careful study of
the Scriptures themselves. The books of Moses open
with creation and cosmogony. The Deluge and its
results occupy a large space in these earliest annals.
The ethnographic details of the tenth chapter of Gene-
sis show us how the " nations were divided in the earth,
after the flood." And it has often struck me as the
very grandest sanction which could be given to such
studies, that when, in patriarchal days, Jehovah inter-
poses to adjudicate between Job and his friends, and
utters his voice from the whirlwind, he draws his
arguments and illustrations from Natural History.
For, after adducing the earth and ocean, Arcturus,
Orion and the Pleiades, he presents to view the wild
goats, hinds and rhinoceros, the peacock, stork and
ostrich, the hawk and the eagle ; he largely depicts
Xli INTRODUCTORY.
beTiemoth and leviathan, and with, this absolutely
closes the divine discourse. This induction of par-
ticulars fills four entire chapters. Nothing could be a
more unanswerable vindication of what our fathers
were wont to call Physico-Theology.
Unspeakable interest has been conferred upon cer-
tain fields of scientific inquiry, by the relation which
they have come to bear to Apologetics. The defences
of our common Christianity have been compelled into
new dispositions, by the altered methods of attack
employed by adversaries. This will instantly be
recognized as true of Astronomical Cosmogony, of
Geology, of Ethnology, and of the doctrine of Races.
The work before us concerns the last two departments
of knowledge. The teachings of Scripture have been
assailed from several quarters, sometimes with the fan-
faronade of a knowledge not possessed, and sometimes
with the misapplication of genuine, extraordinary
science. The faith of many was shaken, as well by
the "Vestiges of Creation," which, however, found a
speedy quietus, as by the array of investigators who
denied the proper unity of our species. This was not
a mere question of natural science. The specific unity
of the races is concerned in the doctrine of salvation ;
in the fall of Adam and the Redemption of Christ.
It was not a matter of indifference whether the nature
which fell in Eden, was that which we inheiit, and
INTRODUCTORY. XIU
whether the humanity which Jesus bore upon the
cross and carried into heaven, was that of all man-
kind. And hence, the universal Christian body, so
far as imbued with any tincture of science, was startled
and grieved at the position taken up by Professor
Agassiz. These are the stirring problems which are
attempted in the work before us.
The Author approaches the subject entirely from
the scientific side. For this his daily investigations
and instructions in Comparative Anatomy will be
seen to have given him peculiar fitness. No treatment
of these perplexing questions by preachers or theolog-
ical professors could so disarm suspicion, as the calm
and independent research of a scientific inquirer, who
avowedly pursues his investigation without previously
determining to accept the Biblical statements. It will
give every ingenuous reader satisfaction to observe
the fairness, courtesy and deference with which M.
Agassiz is treated, even when his hypothesis is shown
to be untenable, on grounds purely natural. And not
a few will rejoice to find conclusions so favorable to
Christianity proceeding from one of the oldest chairs
of the University of Virginia, — the chief academical
institution of the South, — at which yearly five or six
hundred young men receive their impressions for life.
But above all, the believer in Kevelation will hail this
as a new testimony that each discovery of science,
XIV INTRODUCTORY. ^
thougli at first shunned as a foe, will at length be em-
braced as an auxiliary ; until we all come to concur
with the great dictum of Eichard Bentley : Depend
ON IT ; NO TRUTH, NO MATTER OF FACT, FAIRLY LAID
OPEN, CAN EVER SUBVERT TRUE RELIGION.
JAMES W. ALEXANDEE.
New York, October 22, 1858.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
TO THE FIRST EDITION.
The following essay is a republication, witli a few
unimportant changes, of a Review of Nott and Glid-
don's "Types of Mankind," wliicli originally appeared
in tlie "Protestant Episcopal Review and Churcli
Register." The examination of that work in its
claims to popular acceptance, in so far as it aims to
overthrow the doctrine of human unity, was under-
taken at the request of an honored prelate, who be-
lieved that a large class of readers, and especially of
those in the season of youth, were deceived by its
bold assumptions and confident assertions in respect
to the significance of modern scientific discoveries on
the subject of the distinctions between the varieties
of the human race. Being fully satisfied that the
peculiar views, for the promulgation of which that
work was written, were in no degree supported by the
real teachings of science, the present writer readily
consented to prepare a summary statement of the con-
clusions warranted by the latest discoveries in rela-
tion to the topics in controversy. Such a course pre-
[XV]
xvi author's preface.
eluded any pretensions to set forth results of original
research on his own part ; his single aim being to
indicate the line of argument adopted by the highest
authorities in questions pertaining to the philosophy of
Natural History, and to set forth the principal facts on
which that argument is based. In the execution of
this task he has made it a point, in order to avoid the
possibility of misrepresenting his authorities, to quote
their own words, as far at least as w^as consistent with
brevity and convenience
Inasmuch as the general subject embraces the con-
sideration of two entirely distinct questions, a separate
article Avas originally assigned to the discussion of
each, and the same form is retained in the present
publication. In Part I., the author has discussed the
question of the specific unity or diversity of the
human races; and then, in Part II., assuming their
specific identity as sufficiently well established, he has
considered the distinct question of their origin from
one or more centres, or from one or more pairs of pro-
genitors.
In the closing article (G) of the Appendix, will be
found a critical notice of " The Indigenous Eaces of
the Earth," the last of the publications of Nott and
Gliddon. This notice also was originally published in
the journal to which reference has been made, and it
is considered to have a sufhcientlv close bearing upon
author's preface. xvii
the subjects discussed in the body of the essay to
justify its reproduction in this form. The other ar-
ticles of the Appendix will be found to possess much
value and interest as pieces jusiijicatives, in their relation
to the grounds assumed in the course of the argument.
J. L. C.
University op Virginia, November, 1858.
Part I.
SPECIFIC UNITY
OF ALL
THE RACES OF MEN.
[19]
THE UNITY
OF THE
HTJMAJSr SPECIES.
CHAPTER I.
PRELIMINARY TOPICS — DEFIXITION OF SPECIES AND
VARIETIES.
The peculiarities which characterize the so-
called typical races of the human family, sug-
gest topics of interesting and profitable inquiry
alike for the historian, the moralist and the
statesman ; whilst the naturalist, looking behind
the actual phenomena, and investigating the
* Tifpes of Mankind. By J. C. Nott, M. D., and Geo. R. Gliddo^.
Second edition. Philadelphia. April, 1854.
The Moral and Inidledual Diversity of Races. From the French of
Count A. de Gobixeau ; with an Analytical Introduction and copi-
ous Historical Notes ; by H. HoTZ, and an Appendix containing a
Summary of the latest Scientific Facta bearing upon the question of
Unity or Plurality of Species : by J. C. Nott, M. D., Philadelphia.
1856
[21 J
22 THEUNITYOF
origin and causes of the observed diversities of
races, finds opening before him a wide field
of curious and singularly fascinating speculation.
In such speculations, however, the specific unity
of the races is most commonly assumed as a
fundamental truth. Until recently, at least,
this was the fact throughout Christendom, and
had the dogma been challenged, it would have
been considered a sufficient vindication of the
common belief to allege that it rests upon " a
profound instinct of human nature," and that
it is confirmed by the express declarations of
Holy Writ.
Of late, however, it has been contended that
the objections usually urged against the prac-
tice of founding scientific conclusions on argu-
ments derived from the popular interpretations
of the Scriptures apply with undiminished force
to the case under consideration. Without stop-
ping to inquire into the validity of this special
application of a general principle, we remark
with respect to the principle itself, that its asser-
tion is by no means confined to the enemies of
the Bible. Not a few of the most zealous and
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 23
consistent defenders of evangelical Christianity
have earnestly insisted upon the danger of at-
tempting to demonstrate scientific propositions
by means of Scriptural statements. They main-
tain that it was no part of God's plan to fore-
stall the results of scientific inquiry by a writ-
ten revelation of the laws of nature, and that
the language of the sacred writers, whenever
they allude to natural phenomena, is to be in-
terpreted as descriptive of appearances, as
these would address themselves to the popular
mind. In this view we entirely concur, and we
are, therefore, ready to indorse the statement
of an eminent living votary of physical science,
that any attempt to fetter the scientific inquirer
by the supposed meaning of inspiration, is cer-
tain to damage the latter in the estimation of a
numerous class of intelligent and learned men.*
As was long ago remarked, with some license
of figure, by a distinguished and orthodox
theologian. Dr. Henry More, " the unskilful
insisting of our divines upon the literal sense
• W. B. Carpenter— " Varieties of MankiDd;" in the English C7-
clopoedia of Anatomy and Pliysiology.
24 THEUNITYOF
of Moses, has bred many hundred thousands of
atheists.'' To illustrate this statement, there is
no need to reproduce the trite taunt about Gral-
ileo, or to refer to any other case of ecclesiasti-
cal prohibition of free scientific inquiry occurring
in an age less enlightened than the present.
Numerous illustrations, derived from controver-
sies of our own day, furnish a salutary lesson to
those who might be disposed to dogmatize on
the method of reconciling the assumed teach-
ings of Scripture with the apparent revelations
of science. If theologians rashly stake the
authority of the Bible on the adoption of a par-
ticular set of scientific opinions, each of which
they hold to be the " articulus stantis aut ca-
dentis ecclesiae,'' they should not be surprised
if the exclusive votaries of science, accepting
the issue thus inconsiderately presented, should
come to regard with aversion a theology asso-
ciated, as they have been led to believe, with
propositions which they know to be both false
and absurd. And thus it often happens, even
at the present day, that the premature alarms
of the timid friends of our holy rehgion, and
THE HUMAN 3 P E C I E 3 . 25
their denunciations of free scientific inquiry, be-
come the determining cause of the very infi-
deHty they would deprecate. It behooves us,
therefore, in view of the interests of our sacred
cause no less than the independent and legiti-
mate claims of science, to be very cautious how
we build up scientific dogmas on the popular
sense of the Scriptures. We would, on the
contrary, allow the utmost freedom of inquiry
to the explorer of scientific truth, being quite
satisfied that whatever conclusions he may suc-
ceed in establishing on reliable evidence, must
in the end be found to harmonize with the re-
vealed word of God ; and that, precisely because
they shall have been settled on evidence inde-
pendent of the Scriptures, the demonstration of
their conformity with the teachings of the Bible
will furnish so many new tests of its divine ori-
gin and authority.
On the other hand, it can scarcely be neces-
sarv to insist that if it be unwise and unsafe
for the mere theologian to meddle with ques-
tions of science, so by a parity of reason the
mere man of science should confine himself to
2
26 THE J NIT Y OF
his proper calling, and leave to those versed in
the principles of Biblical exegesis, the task of
interpreting the Scriptures, and thus, inciden-
tally, of setting forth the harmony which must
ever subsist between the two revelations which
God has been pleased to give to his intelhgent
creatures, in his works and in his written word.
We assume, of course, that God has just as
certainly spoken to us by the word of inspira-
tion, as he has revealed himself in the works
of nature. This is now generally conceded.
Modern infidelity, more refined and more learn-
ed than that of the last century, rejects wuth
scorn the old charge of imposture and fraud,
and only assails the principles of interpreting
the sacred volume which are adopted by ortho-
dox believers. It is scarcely necessary to say
that the genuineness, authenticity, and plenary
inspiration of the Scriptures, and consequently
their claim to be considered as an authoritative
rule of faith and practice, are established on
evidence so various and so convincing, that it
would argue a very unstable mind to become
unsettled in its belief on any of these points
THE [I UMAN SPECIES. 27
by disputable opinions respecting complex and
doubtful questions in natural science. The most
timid and fearful Christian may, then, take
courasfe and abide the final result with unwav-
ering confidence. God will take care of his
own truth. If during the interval of probation
it be found necessary to modify, to some extent,
long cherished views as to the proper interpre-
tation of certain passages of Scripture, this is
no more than was, in the nature of ilnngs, to
be expected, and is just what has often occurred
in former stages of the history of Biblical learn-
ing, to the ultimate benefit of religion, which
suffered disparagement in the process, only be-
cause errors were retained so long and so tena-
ciously, and not because they were ultimately
avoided by a more accurate Biblical criticism.
We have thought proper to make these pre-
liminary remarks, partly because we have rea-
son to fear that many well-meaning but, in our
estimation, injudicious friends of religion need
to be forewarned that in obstinately assailing
scientific inquirers with the edicts of the Church,
they only damage the good cause w r.ich it is
28 T H E U N I T Y O F
their wish and purpose to defend, but chiefly
because we wish it to be understood that these
principles shall govern us in the inquiry, upon
which we now propose to enter, respecting the
specific unity and common origin of the various
races of mankind. In pursuing this inquiry,
we shall, in conformity with the rules more or
less distinctly indicated in the foregoing re-
marks, set aside for the present the testimony
of Scripture, and treat the whole question as
one of pure science. We propose to show that
the leading authorities in science so far from
contradicting the doctrine of the Bible with re-
spect to man's unity of nature and parentage,
do, in point of fact, arrive at the same conclu-
sion on grounds purely scientific, and thus are
in complete accord with St. Paul when he de-
clares that " Grod hath made of one blood all
the nations of men for to dwell on all the face
of the earth."
In discussing this question, we find a source
of embarrassment at the very threshold, in the
want of such a definition of the term species^ as
shall satisfy the disputants on the two sides of
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 29
this controversy. Cuvier's delinition seems to
us unexceptionable, ana yet it does not appear
to liave given entire satisfaction to others. Ac-
cording to this definition " a species is a collec-
tion of all the beings descended the one from
the other, or from common parents, and of those
which hear as close a resemblance to these as they
hear to each other P In like manner De Candolle
says, '* we unite under the designation of a
species all those individuals who mutually bear
to each other so close a resemblance as to allow
of our supposing that they may have proceeded
originally from a single heing or a single pairP
Let it be observed that neither of these defini-
tions asserts that all the individuals of a species
must have sprung from the same original parents.
We admit that to insert this in our definition
would be a petitio principii. The definitions
only affirm that specific identity implies such a
resemblance in kind and degree as is exhibited
among descendants from a common stock. And
yet for the reason that they suggest the idea of
community of descent among all the individuals
composing a species, those who deny this com-
30 THEUNITYOF
munity of descent are averse to making use of
them, and prefer the formula of Dr. Morton,
which, as will be presently seen, has no real ad-
vantage. It is well known that Prof. Agassiz,
without at first denying the specific unity of
mankind, earnestly maintained that men were
created in nations and with such original diver-
sities as are now found to characterize the typi-
cal races. In other words, while he admitted
that there was but one species of men, he re-
cognized a number of original varieties or dis-
tinct types of the same specific nature. Here
the fundamental idea of the term is that of
close correspondence in governing qualities,
or substantial identity of nature. And this
too appears to us to be an unobjectionable defi-
nition, as not assuming any disputed point.
This definition determines nothing as to what
may be the tests of such essential unity, or what
may be the limits of variation compatible with
this identity of specific nature, but leaves all
such points for subsequent investigation. And
this is just as it should be, if we would avoid the
fallacy of reasoning in a vicious circle. More
T II E II U M A N S P E C I E S . 31
recently, this eminent naturalist, while advocat-
ing substantially the same doctrines, has so
altered the meaning of the terms as to desig-
nate his original types as so many distinct
species. We say that his opinions are yet vir-
tually the same, for he still earnestly maintains
the ^' unity of mankind," and declares that
** whosoever will consult history must remain sat-
isfied that the moral question of brotherhood
among men is not any more affected by these
views than the direct obligations between im-
mediate blood relations." He has thus adopted
the definition of Dr. Morton, who describes a
species to be '* a primordial organic form," and
determines any given form to be primordial by
its permanency as proved by history. A dis-
tinguished American zoologist, whose special
studies have given him much practice in the dis-
crimination of species among the higher classes
of vertebrated animals, Dr. Bachman of Charles-
ton, objects to this definition as ''a cunning
device, and to all intents an ex iiost facto law."
We may observe, however, that the objection
applies not so much to the definition properly
32 T H E U N I T Y 0 F
understood, for in a certain sense we believe it
to be a true description, as to an illogical per-
version of the historical test, which, under cover
of a certain ambiguity in the terms of the defi-
nition, is rendered possible and easy. We con-
cede the fact that a species is a primordial
organic form, and if the records of history,
written or monumental, extended back to the
first creation of species, they would at once
decide the question as to what types ivere prim-
ordial. But inasmuch as certain acquired pecu-
liarities are often reproduced with perfect regu-
larity so as to give rise, within the limits of a
single original species, to ^^ varieties ^'^ marked
by characters as '' 'permanent''^ as those which
distinguish the species itself, it is obvious that
unless the historical records extend back to such
a period as wholly to preclude the idea of the
appearance of variations between the first cre-
ation of the species and the date of the records,
they furnish no satisfactory test whatever. We
shall presently have occasion to dwell at greater
length on this point, which is an important one
in the controversy. We advert to it in this
T HE HUM AN SPECIES. 33
connection only to show that while the much
vaunted definition of Dr. Morton may be true
in substance, it is yet no better than Cuvier's,
and its use in a controversy like the present is
objectionable, on the ground of its deceptive
ambiguity.*
** Since the original publication of this paper in the '• Protestant
Episcopal Review," for January, 1857, the general subject of the char-
acteristics of species has engaged the attention of one of the first natu-
ralists of the age. We allude to Prof. Dana, of Yale Collge, who read
a paper entitled "Thoughts on Species" at the Eleventh Annual Meet-
ing of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held
at Montreal in August, 1857, which paper was subse(juently reprinted
in the " Bibliotheca Sacra " for October of the same year. IJe objects
to any definition of the term "species" that involves the idea of a
group. The idea of a group," he holds, "is not essential ; and moreover,
it tends to confuse the mind by bringing before it, in the outset, the
ondlesa diversities in individuals, and suggesting numberless questions
that vary in answer for each kingdom, class, or subordinate group. It
is belter to approach the subject from a profounder point of view, search
for the true idea of distinction among species, and then proceed onward
to a consideration of the systems of variables.' He then proceeds to
show that '' a species among living as well as inorganic beings, is based
on a specific amount or comliliun of concent rated force definai m the act or law
of creation:' We are inclined to think that this definition is not only
accurate, but is moreover as free from difficulties in the application of
it with a view to the discrimination of species, as can be predicated of
any other definition which does not assume a disputed point. We
shall in the sequel notice the conclusions of this eminent naturalist re-
specting the permanence of species, the susceptibility and limits of
variafeion, and the collateral topics of the origin of species fi*om one or
more centrep, and of their birth from one or more pairs of progenitors.*
« We have boon nuich surprisod to Cud Hint many rca.Iors (of the first edition of
Ous book) h-ivo cspcrionccd some cmbarrassmeiit in relation to the significance of
34 THEUNITYOF
Adopting the definition already stated, the
first question to which we shall address our-
selves, has respect to the capacity for variations
exhibited by many species under favorable con-
ditions. The law of the permanency of pri-
mordial forms is admitted on all hands to be
subject to qualifications. Within certain limits,
Prof. Dana's definition of species as given in the foregoing note. We cannot but
think that all difficulty would have been removed had they read with attention
his own explanations as cited in Appendix B, a part of which we now transfer so
as to present it in connection with the general discussion of definitions of species.
He first shows that in the inorganic or mineral kingdom " each element is repre-
sented by a specific amount or law of force, and that we even set down in numbers
the precise value of this force as regards one of the deepest of its qualities, chemi-
cal attraction," and then turning to the organic world, deduces the same idea as
essential to species, from the following considerations : " The individual is involved
in the germ-cell from which it proceeds. That cell possesses certain inherent quali-
ties or powers, bearing a definite relation to external nature, so that when having its
appropriate nidus or surrounding conditions, it will grow and develop out each organ
and member to the completed result ; and this both as to chemical changes, and the
evolution of the structure which belongs to it as subordinate to some kingdom,
class, order, genus and species in nature. The germ-cell of an organic being de-
velopes a specific result ; and like the molecule of oxygen, it must correspond to a
measured quota or specific law of force. We cannot, indeed, apply the measure as
in the inorganic kingdom, for we have learned no method or unit of comparison.
But it must nevertheless be true that a specific predetermined amount or condition
or law of force is an equivalent of every germ-cell in the kingdom of life. We do
not mean to say that there is but one kind of force ; but that whatever the kind or
kinds, it has a numerical value or law, although human arithmetic maj' never give
it expression. A species, then, among living beings as well as among inorganic
l)odies, is based upon a specijic''(i. e. , definite in kind and quantity) " amounl or con-
dition of concentraied force defined in the act or law of creation."
This definition, as observed by Prof. Dana himself, is tantamount to that of Dr.
Morton when rightly understood. But there is this important distinction, that while
Dr. Morton's formula expresses the outward manifestation. Prof. Dana's goes back
of this to the consideration of the potential element or essential cause.
" When individuals," saj-s Prof. Dana, " multiply from goncration to generation,
It is but the repetition of the primordial type-idea ; and the true notion of the species
is not in the group, but in the idea or potential clement wUicU is at the basis of
every individual of the group."
T H E II U M A N S P 2: c r L s . 35
it adapts itself to various changes in the in-
fluences under which the race may subsist.
Thus, by carefully changing the food and other
agents of vital stimulation, we may modify, to
an extent sometimes quite considerable, the
outward structural character of many plants
and low animal organisms ; and these newly
acquired characters may then be perpetuated
by hereditary transmission, under the influence
of the law of assimilation between parent and
offspring, even though the causes which origin-
ally determined the variation from the primitive
type have ceased to operate. A similar effect
is produced in those cases in which a given
variation appears accidentally in a single in-
dividual and is then transmitted to his offspring.
This is conspicuously exemplified in the human
races by a strong tendency to the transmission,
throughout large families, of characters whether
physical or moral, which had originated as acci-
dental peculiarities in one of the ancestors of
the stock. Such individual peculiarities are
commonly lost after a time by reason of the
successive admixture of new elements ; but
3G T HE UNI ry OF
when persons of both sexes all possess some
striking peculiarity, and intermarry among
themselves, the peculiar characters tend to
become constant. In other words, a 'perma-
nent variety is likely to arise. A permanent
variety, as distinguished from a species, is, then,
a group of individuals marked by the constant
reproduction of some distinctive character,
which, however, may be shown to have been
acquired in addition to the typical characters
of the species within the limits of which this
and, it may be, other varieties also have arisen.
Varieties, therefore, while in their origin they
constitute an apparent or partial exception
to the law of assimilation between parent and
offspring, do yet by their permanent repro-
duction exemplify the full operation of that
law.'"
The existence of permanent varieties so com-
pletely refutes some of the most essential argu-
ments used by modern advocates of the original
diversity of the human races, that they are
driven to the necessity of denying the possi-
*' See Ajipendix A.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 37
bility of the phenomenon altogether. We
shall, therefore, present an abstract of the
evidence on which the assertion has been sub-
stantiated. And first we shall refer to one or
two well authenticated instances, in which cer-
tain congenital characters, originating as acci-
dental peculiarities, have been reproduced in
the oflspring through successive generations, so
as ultimately to represent the distinctive fea-
tures of a new and permanent variety. This
law of the animal economy is so familiar to
breeders of valuable animals, that we are at no
loss to multiply examples derived from their
attempts to improve their stocks. Let a few
suffice.
"In tlie year 1701, one ewe on the farm of
Seth Wright, gave birth to a male lamb, which,
without any known cause, had a larger body
and shorter legs than the rest of the breed.
The joints are said to have been longer, and the
fore-legs crooked. The shape of this animal
rendering it unable to leap the fences, it was
determined to propagate its peculiarities, and
the experiment proved successful ; a new race
38 T H E U N I T Y 0 F
of sheep was produced, which, from the form
of the body, has been termed the Otter breed.
It seems to be uniformly the fact, that when
both parents are of the Otter breed, the lambs
that are produced inherit the peculiar form.
Only one case has been reported as an exception
to this remark, and that was questionable,"*
In Darwin's " Voyage of a Naturalist,'' we
find the following account of a singular breed
of cattle, which have originated among the
Indians south of the Rio Plata, in the Banda
Oriental, and which is called the Niata breed.
^^ They appear externally to hold nearly the
same relation to other cattle, which bull-dogs
hold to other dogs. Their forehead is very
short and broad, with the nasal end turned up,
and the upper lip much drawn back ; their
lower jaws project outwards ; when walking,
they carry their heads low on a short neck, and
their hinder legs are rather longer, compared
with the front legs, than is usual. Their bare
teeth, their short heads, and upturned nostrils,
give them the most ludicrous self-confident air
* Natural Ilistorj^ of Man. By J. C. Pricliard. Londoiii ^S-Xa. P. 45,
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 39
of defiance imaginable. Since my return, I
have procured a skeleton head, through the
kindness of my friend Captain Sullivan, R. N.,
which is now deposited in the College of Sur-
geons.* Don F. Muniz, of Luxan, has kindly
collected for me all the information which he
could respecting this breed. From his account,
it seems that about eighty or ninety years ago
they were rare, and kept as curiosities at
Buenos Ayres. The breed is universally be-
lieved to have originated amongst the Indians
southward of the Plata, and it was with them
of the commonest kind. Even to this day,
those reared in the provinces near the Plata
show their less civilized origin, in being fiercer
than common cattle, and in the cow easily
deserting her first calf, if visited too often or
molested. It is a singular fact, that an almost
similar structure to the abnormal one of the
Niata breed characterizes, as I am informed by
Dr. Falconer, that great extinct ruminant of
India, the Sivatherium. The breed is very
* '• Mr. Waterliouse has drawn up a detailed description of thia
head, whidi I liope ho will puhMsh in some journal "'
40 T H E U N I T Y 0 F
true ; and a Niata bull and cow invariably pro-
duce Niata calves. A Niata bull with a com-
mon cow, or the reverse cross, produces off-
spring having an intermediate character ; but
with the Niata characters strongly displayed.
During great droughts, when so
many animals perish, the Niata breed is under
a great disadvantage, and would be extermi-
nated if not attended to ; for the common cat-
tle, like horses, are able just to keep alive by
browsing with their lips on twigs of trees and
reeds ; this the Niatas cannot so well do, as
their lips do not join, and hence they are found
to perish before the common cattle. This
strikes me as a good illustration of how little
we are able to judge from the ordinary habits
of life, on what circumstances, occurring only
at long intervals, the rarity or extinction of a
species may be determined.''*
Dr. Bachman, having cited a part of the fore-
going passage, makes the following pertinent
comment: "We have here another example in
" Charles Darwin, ^L A., F. R. S. Voyage of a Naturalist round the
World. New York, 1855. Vol. I, pp. 186-187.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 41
evidence of the fact, that without the shghtest
intermixture of foreign varieties, new breeds
of cattle spring up in Auaerica. They made
their first appearance about eighty years ago,
when one was occasionally brought to Buenos
Ay res. Now they have become the only race
in an immense region of country, where they
are nearly wild. What causes have operated
to produce this variety ? There are no wild
animals, not even the buffalo, in that country,
from which any admixture could by any
possibility have been derived. Were we not
positive of their origin, they would unquestion-
ably be regarded as a new species."*
The limits necessarily imposed upon us, pre-
clude more extended specifications under this
head. We must content ourselves with refer-
ring the reader to the numerous other in-
stances recorded in Prichard's "Natural History
of Man ;" Lawrence's "Lectures on Physiology,
Zoology and the Natural History of Man ;"
Carpenter on the " Varieties of Mankind" in
in the Cyclopaedia of Anatoni}^ and Ph3\siology ;
* J. Baclunan. D. D. Loc. cit., pp. 305, 300.
42 T H E U N I T Y 0 F
and Dr. Bachinan on "the Doctrine of the
Unity of the Human Race examined on the
principles of science."
Let us now consider the case in which per-
manent varieties have sprung from the con-
tinued operation of the same modifying agencies
through a series of generations, until certain
peculiarities, which may respect either the
bodily structure or the psychical temperament,
become ultimately congenital, though in their
origin they were gradually acquired. *' There
is one great field of observation which furnishes
abundant evidence of the origin of numerous
permanent varieties within the limits of single
species, in the tribes of native European species,
which are known to have been transported to
America since the discovery of this continent,
in the latter part of the 15th century. Many
of these races have multiplied exceedingly on a
soil and under a climate congenial to their
nature. Some have run wild in the vast west-
ern forests, and have there lost ail the most
obvious traces of domestication. The wild
tribes are found to differ, physically, from the
T H E II U M A N S P E C I E S . 43
domestic breeds from which they are known to
have issued, and there is good reason to regard
this change as a restoration, in part, of the
primitive characteristics of the wild stocks,
from which the tamed animals had themselves
descended. The comparison of these wild races
with our domesticated breeds, affords, at least,
some curious and interesting observations.
The animals which were transported by the
Spaniards to America, are the hog, the horse,
the ass, the sheep, the goat, the cow, the dog,
the cat, and the gallinaceous fowls."* With
reference to each of these species, the author
has collected a body of authentic and most in-
teresting observations relative to the changes
which it has undergone in becoming restored to
the wild state. We shall quote a portion of his
remarks relating to the changes which the hog
has undergone since its introduction into Amer-
ica, and would advise our readers to consult his
admirable works for further details.
The hog is known not to be indigenous to
this country, but was introduced into St. Do-
* J. C. Prichard. Loc. cit, pp. 27, 28.
44 T H E U N I T Y 0 F
mingo at the first discovery of that Island in
1493, and successively to all the places where
the Spaniards formed settlements. These ani-
mals multiplied with great rapidity, and soon
infested the forests in large herds. At length,
under the influences of their wild state, they
have resumed the characters of the original
stock ; that is, their appearance very closely
resembles that of the European wild boar, from
which the domesticated breeds have sprung.
Their ears have become erect ; their heads are
larger, and their foreheads vaulted at the upper
part ; their color has lost the variety found in
the domestic breeds, the wild hogs of the Ameri-
can forests being uniformly black. The hog
which inhabits the high mountains of Paramos
bears a striking resemblance to the wild boar
of France. His skin is covered with thick fur,
often somewhat crisp, beneath which is found
in some individuals a species of wool. Thus
the restoration of the original characters of the
wild boar, in a race known to have sprung
from domesticated swine brought over to Amer-
ica by the Spaniards, removes all reason for
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 45
doubt, if any had existed, as to the identity of
the wild and domesticated stocks in Europe, and
we may safely proceed to compare the physical
characters of these races as varieties, which have
arisen in one species. We note, then, the
rcstoratioa of one uniform black color, and the
change from sparse hair and bristles to a thick
fur with a covering of wool. But besides these,
we note a very remarkable change in the shape
of the head. Blumenbach long ago pointed out
the great difference between the cranium of the
domestic swine and that of the primitive wild
boar, and remarked that this difference is quite
equal to that which has been observed between
the skull of the Negro and the European. In
addition to numerous other points of difference,
the enormous length of the wild boar's tusk,
amounting sometimes to ten or twelve inches,
is a very conspicuous one. Swine, continues
Blumenbach, in some countries have degene-
rated into races, which in singularity far exceed
anything that has been found strange in bodily
variety among the human race. Swine with
solid hoofs were known to the ancients, and are
46 THEUNITYOF
yet found in Hungary and Sweden. Dr. Bach-
man has ascertained that these have recently
occurred as an accidental variety on the Red
River. The European swine, first carried by
the Spaniards in 1509 to the island of Cubagua,
at that time celebrated for its pearl-fishery, have
there degenerated into a monstrous race, with
toes which were half a span in length."*
We are informed by Dr. Bachman, that " the
cattle in Opelousas, in Western Louisiana, have,
without a change of stock within the last thirty
years, produced a variety of immense size, with
a peculiar form and enormous horns, like the
cattle of Abyssinia. They have now formed a
permanent race, and we w^ere very recently
informed that all the other breeds had disap-
peared from the marshy meadows of Opelou-
sas."f
Illustrations on this point might be multiplied
to an almost indefinite extent. Dr. Bachman,
indeed, avers, as the result of his extended
* We have borrowed the above account of the varieties of swine
from Dr. Prichard.
t J. Bachman, D. D. Op. cit . p. 181.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 47
observations on this subject, that " every verte-
brated animal, from the horse down to the
canary-bird and gold-fish, is subject in a state
of domestication, to very great and striking
varieties, and that in the majority of species,
these varieties are much greater than are ex-
hibited in any of the numerous varieties of the
human race."
So, too, one of the first physiologists of the
age expresses himself thus: "The longer the
action of external influences,'' tending to pro-
duce variations of species, ''is continued, the
more constant does the particular variety be-
come, and the more does it acquire the charac-
ter of a type. To these external influences be-
long the climates or zones in which the animals
live Climate modifies also the ' habitus '
and size of animals. Cattle transported from
the temperate zones of Europe, — for example,
from Holland or England to the East Indies,—
are said to become considerably smaller in their
succeeding generations. On the other hand,
the skin of the cattle carried to South America,
has, m a series of generations, gradually be-
48 T H E U N I T Y 0 F
come so much changed in its properties that the
Brazilian hides now supply the best leather.
The gmne£i-ip\g,Cavia apei^ea, which in its native
country is of a grey color, since its introduction
into Europe has become changed into a variety
marked with brown, black and white spots.
The elevation of the locality above the sea^ also,
independently of the degree of latitude, has an
influence over the forms of animals.
But the food also modifies the form and nutri-
tion of animals ; hence, in the low countries of
Holland, East Friesland and Holstein, the cattle
are remarkable for their large size. . . The
concurrence of different conditions of internal as
well as external nature, which cannot be seve-
rally defined, has produced the existing races or
Jixed varieties of the different species of animals ;
the most remarkable of which varieties are to be
met with in those species which are susceptible
of the most extended distribution over the sur-
face of the earth."*
We may, then, regard it as an established \
* J. Miiller, M. D., Elements of Physiology, translated by W. Baly.
London. 1842, p. IGG-i.
THE H U M A N S P E C I E S . 49
fact that under the inlluence of causes some-
times appreciable, though often quite unknown,
animals may acquire structural characters, dif-
fering in many respects from those of the parent
stock, and then transmit such peculiarities to
their own offspring with entire constancy, so as
to give rise to a new breed. ^It is interesting to
remark that not only are the structural charac-
ters of animals of tlie same original stock liable
to undergo variations, accidental in their origin,
yet afterwards regularly transmitted to their
offspring, but that the same may be predicated
of certain physiological and psychological traits ;
although the limits of possible departure from
the typical characters of the original stock are
doubtless more narrow in respect to these
qualities, than they are in respect to bodily
conformation. Sir Charles Lyell states that
some of his countrymen, engaged in conducting
one of the principal mining associations in
Mexico, — that of Real del Monte, — carried out
with them some English greyhounds of the
best breed, to hunt the hares which abound in
that countr}'. The great platform, wdiich is the
50 THEUNITYOF
scene of sport, is at an elevation of about nine
thousand feet above the level of the sea, and
the mercury in the barometer stands habitually
at the height of about nineteen inches. It was
found that the greyhounds could not support
the fatigues of a long chase in this attenuated
atmosphere ; and before they could come up
with their prey, they lay down gasjDing for
breath ; but these same animals have produced
whelps which have grown up, and are not in
the least degree incommoded by the want of
density in the air, but run down the hares with
\ as much ease as the fleetest of their race in
/ England.* Dr. Prichard relates a parallel case,
exemplifying the gradual process of acclima-
tization and the subsequent regular transmis-
i
sion, by descent, of the newly acquired power.
I Within the present century geese were first
/introduced on the plateau of Bogota. At first
the eggs laid were very few, and scarcety a
fourth part of these was hatched ; of the-j^M^
goslings, more than half died in the first month ;
the second generation, produced by the sur-
* Sir C. Lyell. Principles of Geology. London, 1850. P. 572.
T HE HUM AN S PEC IE S. 51
vivors, was more successful, and the breed has
gradually approxhnated to the vigor of the same
stock in Europe.
We may remark, in passing, that this ten-
dency to the regular transmission to offspring '
of characters acquired by the progenitors of a
stock, in the gradual process of acclimatization,
furnishes an entirely satisfactory explanation of
the alleged immunity enjoyed by our negroes ■
from attacks, of yellow fever and malarious dis-/
eases. The phenomenon is but another instance
of the general principle which has just been
stated. The power of resisting certain mor-
bific influences connected with climate, though
acquired with difficulty, and as the result of a
gradual change taking place through numerous |
successive generations, may yet, when once !
fully acquired, be regularly transmitted to off-
spring, and thus become characteristic of a race.
That the character should be so tenacious as to
resist the opposite influences of other climates
through a series of generations, needs not ex-
cite surprise, when it is remembered that a pos- /
itive character once stamped upon the system/
52 THEUNITYOF
is not easily lost by merely withholding the
conditions which orighially produced it, and
that the process by which it was riveted upon
certain races of African negroes, extended
through many centuries. It accords with this
view, that our negroes are not wholly exempt
from attacks of these diseases, as was proved
in the disastrous epidemic in Norfolk and Ports-
mouth during the summer of 1855. Of course
this partial immunity cannot, consistently with
the recognized principles of science, be invoked
as a mark of specific difference between the
African and other races, for specific tests admit
of no exception.*
Sir Charles Lyell records several curious and
interesting instances of " acquired instincts he-
come hereditary J^ The inhabitants of the banks
of the Magdalena employ a mongrel race of
* It should be observed here that the above statement is not invah-
dated by the alleged fact that yellow fever is not an African disease;
for, as has been remarked by Dr. Barton, of New Orleans, " although
the yellow fever proper hardly exists in Africa, an equivalent malir/nant
type of fever doe-s, to which the negroes are habituated.'- (Report cm the
sanitary condition of A'ew Orleans, by Dr. E. H. Barton, od Edition.
Supplement p. 274.) The truth of this statement is entirely irrespective
of Dr. Barton's peculiar opinions on the contested question of the
identity of yellow and bilious fevers.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 63
dogs to hunt the white-hpped pecari. The ad-
dress of these dogs consists in restraining their
ardor, and attaching themselves to no animal in
particular, but keeping the whole herd in check.
Now, among these dogs some are found, which,
the very first time they are taken into the woods,
are acquainted with this mode of attack ; where-
as, a dog of another breed starts forward at once,
is surrounded by the pecari, and, whatever may
be his strength, is destroyed in a moment.
The actions of a pointer may be referred to
a mere modification of a natural habit, but the
same explanation will not apply to the case of
the retriever ; and yet it has been satisfactorily
ascertained, that the peculiar faculty which
characterizes this breed, though originally im-
pressed upon the animal with great labor and
difficulty, is now inherited by the offspring, so
that a young whelp, separated very early from
its parent, and kept constantly under the eyes
of an eminent naturalist, (M. Magendie.) per-
formed its part when first carried to the field,
with as much steadiness as dogs that had been
duly trained.*
• Lyell. Op. cit.. pp. 571, 572.
54 T H E U X I T Y 0 F
From a vast array of parallel facts, recorded
by hioiself and others, Dr. Prichard deduces
the following conclusions, the accuracy of which
cannot be successfully contested : "I. That
when certain animals are transported to a new
region, not only individuals, but also races, re-
quire to be harmonized in physical constitution
to the climate. II. This acclimatization, as it
is termed, consists in certain permanent changes
produced in the constitution of animals, which
bring it into a state of adaptation to the cli-
mate. III. A restoration of domestic animals
to the wild state causes a return towards the
original characters of the wild tribe. lY. Per-
manent changes or modifications in the func-
tions of life, may be effected by long-continued
changes in the habitudes which influence these
functions, as exemplified in the permanent pro-
duction of milk by the domesticated breeds of
cows, which has been produced by an artificial
habit continued through several generations.
y. Hereditary instincts may be formed, some
animals transmitting to their offspring acquired
habits, and thus the psychical as well as the
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 55
physical character of the races imdei^o varia-
tion through the iuQuence of various causes on
the breed."*
But let it be noted, that the existence of any
number of varieties within the limits of an as-
sumed single species, whether the diversities
respect the physical or the psychical characters
of the races, and whether they be brought
about by obvious causes or depend upon some
inappreciable tendency to spontaneous varia-
tion, does not in any degree tend to throw a
doubt upon the doctrine of '' permanence of
species ;'' for, however wide may be the limits
of variation, there is yet a limit in every case ;
and, moreover, all the varieties of any single
species, however numerous and diversified, do
yet retain, as a common heritage, the unmis-
takable distinguishing marks of that species.
The possibihty of identifying all the diversified
breeds of dogs, as one species, furnishes a strik-
ing exemplifica^tion of this remark. We shall
presently see that this is the ground taken by
F. Cuvier, Owen, and a large majority of iliQ
* Prichard. Loc. cit, pp. 39, 40.
5^6 THE UNITY OF
most eminent naturalists of the age. It is true
that Messrs. ]^ott and Gliddon, with singular
complacency, affirm that these great men knew
nothing of the "monumental history" of man
and other animals, including the dog, as pre-
served among the antiquities of Egypt ; but, in-
asmuch as most of these eminent savans have
lived and written since the publication of the
researches of modern Egyptologists, and Owen's
latest and most emphatic utterances have been
made subsequently to the appearance of even
the "Types of Mankind," we are not at liberty
to assign such an explanation of their zoologi-
cal errors.
We have extended our remarks to an incon-
venient, and we fear a tedious length, in illus-
tration of the doctrine that varieties, when kept
separate by breeding inter se, are often as per-
manent as species ; because the denial of this
fact is a cardinal point with those who deny
the unity of the human species. Admit this
doctrine, which it does appear to us no reason-
able mind can now reject, and tlie "monu-
mental history, " discovered in Egypt, only
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 57
proves tluit some of the now existing varieties
of men and dogs had their origin prior to the
date of the inscriptions. Assign to these the
earhest date you please, there must, of course,
have been several centuries between that period
and the commencement of the world's history.
The inscriptions prove that such and such va-
rieties existed so many thousand years ago.
Granted. We ourselves contend that certain
varieties are permanent. But when you con-
clude that, because the types have not changed
since those inscriptions were made, therefore
they were created as distinct species, we can-
not withold an expression of surprise that
you overlook the obvious flaw in your argu-
ment, and we protest against the manifest />e^z-
tio principii. Sir C. Lyell has shown that
species, susceptible of modification, may be
greatly altered in a few generations.* Indeed,
in all the instances of such variations, in which
the process has been made known, the maxi-
mum amount of change was reached in a com-
paratively short time, and thenceforward the
* Principles of Geology, p. 570.
58 THE HUMAN SPECIES.
newly acquired cliaracters were regularly trans-
mitted by descent. We have already cited a
number of instances from among the lower
animals. We shall in the sequel have occa-
sion to refer to the occurrence of similar phe-
nomena in the human family, within historic
and even modern times.*
" See Appendix B.
CHAPTER II.
MEANS OF DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN SPECIES AND
PERMANENT VARIETIES.
The fact that varieties may occur within the
limits of a single species and be permanently
perpetuated being thus established on incon-
trovertible evidence, the question presents it-
self, How are we to recognize such groups ? or
in other words. How can we ascertain whether
two groups of individuals, possessing numerous
points of resemblance, but yet marked by some
distinctive features, are distinct species, or are
only permanent varieties of one species ? Of
course, the most satisfactory and conclusive test
would be authentic historical evidence, going
back to the origin of a given race. This test
is especially important, as not only settling the
question in uny particular case in regard to
which authentic evidence may have been col-
[oJ]
60 T n E U X I T Y 0 F
lected, but as verifying data, which, on the
grounds of analogy, we may apply to other
cases where direct historical evidence is want-
ing. It furnishes us with examples of known
variation, and indicates at the same tin:ie the
extent and direction of possible changes that
are yet compatible with specific unity. It has
brought to light the interesting fact, that there
is a great diversity in respect to capacity for
variation among animals, even those that are
most nearly allied to each other in other par-
ticulars. Hence, some not possessing this ca-
pacity are restricted to particular conditions of
climate, food, etc., while others are more widely
dispersed, simply because they have the power
of adapting their physical and psychical consti-
tutions to a wider range of conditions.'^' It
also proves that " some mere varieties are jdos-
sibly more distinct than certahi individuals of
distinct species. "f A most admirable exposi-
tion of the final causes of this providential
arrangement is found in the chapter of Lyell's
* W. B. Carpenter. Varieties of Mankind.
fLyell. Op. oit-, p. .559.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 61
Principles of Geology, to which we are indebted
for many of the facts and arguments already
given. " If it be a law, for instance, that
scanty sustenance should check those indi-
viduals in their growth, which are enabled to
accommodate themselves to privations of this
kind, and that a parent, prevented in this man-
ner from attaining the size proper to its species,
should produce a dwarfish offspring, a stunted
race will arise, as is remarkably exemplified in
some varieties of the horse and dog. The
difference of stature in some races of dogs,
when compared to others, is as one to five in
linear dimensions, making a difference of a
hundred-fold in volume. Now, there is good
reason to believe that species in general are V)y
no means susceptible of existing under a diver-
sity of circumstances, which may give rise to
such a disparity of size, and, consequently,
there will be a multitude of distinct species, of
which no two adult individuals can ever depart
so widely from a certain standard of dimen-
sions as the mere varieties of certain other
species — the dog, for instance. Now^ we have
62 T H E U N I T Y O F
only to suppose that what is true of size may
also hold with regard to color, and many other
attributes, and it will at once follow that the
degree of possible discordance between varie-
ties of the same species may, in certain cases,
exceed the utmost disparity which can arise
between two individuals of many distinct spe-
cies. The same remarks may hold true in
regard to instincts : for, if it be foreseen that
one species will have to encounter a great
variety of foes, it may be necessary to arm it
with great cunning and circumspection, or with
courage, or other qualities capable of develop-
ing themselves on certain occasions ; such, for
example, as those migratory instincts which are
so remarkably exhibited at particular periods,
after they have remained dormant for many
generations. The history and habits of one
variety of such species may often differ more
considerably from some other than those of
many distinct species, which have no such lati-
tude of accommodation to circumstances."*
The horse, the dog. horned cattle, swine, and
* Lyell. Op. cit p. 560
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 63
in a word all tlie domesticated animals which
follow man in his migrations, and like him
manifest a power of accommodation to widely
varied conditions of climate, exhibit also, as has
already been intimated, an extraordinary ca-
pacity for variation, so that mere varieties
arising within the limits of any one of these
species, — say the hog, in regard to which we
have already cited unquestionable facts that
will serve to illustrate the point now under con-
sideration,— will exhibit differences far greater
in apparent significance than in other cases would
suffice to indicate specific distinctions.
The question now recurs whether, when his-
torical proof cannot be had, there is any other
mode of ascertaining whether two or more
groups of somewhat dissimilar animals are dif-
ferent but alUed species, like tigers and leopards,
or are only permanent varieties of one species,
like the different breeds of hogs which are
known to have sprung from a common stock.
Adverting to the fact that it is the constancy
of a difierential character, however intrinsically
unimportant it may appear, which serves to in-
64 THEUNITYOF
dicate the distinction of species, we are pre-
pared to understand that, next to historical evi-
dence tracing a given stock through a long in-
terval of time and under great variations of ex-
ternal conditions, so as to note the successive
changes it may have undergone, the most im-
portant source of information is found in ob-
taining an assemblage of as many forms as
possible of each type, with the view of com-
paring them with each other for the sake of de-
termining whether the supposed specific charac-
ters are constant and well-marked throughout, or
whether diverse forms tend to run together by
intermediate gradations. We are indebted to
Dr. Carpenter for an apt illustration of the
principle in question. '' Two Terebratulas (a
genus of Brachiopod Bivalves) are brought to
us from different parts of the great Southern
Ocean, the one of which has the edges of the
valves of the shells thrown into deep plications,
whilst in the other they are quite smooth. N"ow
in most other Bivalve Molluscans such a differ-
ence would be justly admitted to afford a valid
specific character, and the conchologist, who
THE H L' M A N SPEC I ES. 65
liad only these two shells before liini, would be
fully justified, by the usual rules of the science,
in ranking each as a distinct specific type. But
as his collection extends, intermediate forms
come into his possession ; and at last he finds
that he can make a continuous series, passing,
by the most gradual transition, from the
smoothest to the most deeply plicated form.
Thus, then, the supposed validity of this dis-
tinction is altogether destroyed ; and it becomes
evident that the most plicated and the smoothest
of these Terebratulae must be regarded as be-
longing to one and the same species, notwith-
standing the marked diversity of their extreme
forms.''*
It is on similar grounds that the most emi-
nent naturalists admit the specific unity of all
the diversified varieties of the dog. As was well
remarked by F. Cuvier, there is no alternative
between adopting this conclusion and falling
into the absurdity of admitting at least fifty
species of dogs, all distinguished by permanent
differences, and yet capable of unlimited cross-
^ W. B. Carpenter. Ubi supra.
66 THEUNITYOF
breeding. Prof. R. Owen insists upon the same
doctrine. Adverting to the extraordinary dif-
ferences in cranial conformation between the
large greyhound on the one hand and the
smaller spaniel on the other, he adds: ''But
yet under the extremes! mask of variety so
superinduced, the naturalist detects in the den-
tal formula, and in the construction of the
cranium, the unmistakable generic and specific
characters of the Canis familiarise "^ It is also
pertinently remarked by Sir Charles Lyell " that
the numerous races of dogs which ^ve have pro-
duced by domesticity are nowhere to be found
in a wild state. In nature we should seek in
vain for mastiffs, harriers, spaniels, greyhounds,
and other races, between which the differences
are sometimes so great, that they would be
readily admitted as specific between wild ani-
mals ; yet all these have sprung originally
from a single race, at first approaching very
near to a wolf if indeed the wolf be not the
true type, which at some period or other was
domesticated by man.^f We have just seen, it
* Zoological Transactions, vol. iii.
f Lyell's Principles of Geology. London, 1850. p. 548.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 67
is true, that the authors of the " Tyjies of Man-
kind" attempt to discredit the conclusions of
naturahsts with reference to the specific unity
of the dog, by having recourse to Egyptian
monumental inscriptions, which, however, only
serve to show that some of the now existing
varieties had already arisen prior to the date of
those inscriptions. They do not touch the
question of their origin, and we are, therefore,
constrained to treat the question on princi-
ples, the validity of which is fully recognized
by all philosophical naturalists. Let it be ob-
served, too, that whatever be the original causes
of these variations, even when some of them
appear to depend on climate, as soon as they
become permanent they are transmitted irre-
spectively of the continued operation of the
causes which had given rise to them ; so that
breeds originating in different localities, under
the influence of different conditions connected
with climate, after being once established will
be perpetuated without change in one and the
same climate. A noteworthy and interesting
exception to this remark is found in the case
68 T K E U N I T Y 0 F
of the lapse of domesticated breeds into the
wild state, when the varieties dependent on do-
mestication are likely to merge into one com-
mon type, which approximates more or less
closely to the original stock whence the domes-
tic breeds had sprung. According to Dr. Car-
penter,* this change has taken place in various
parts of the world in the case of dogs, (the
very case, namely, in which Dr. Nott contends
that types are so permanent,) which were intro-
duced from Europe and which have since be-
come wild ; but it has been particularly noticed
in Cuba, where the exact period at which the
dog was introduced, that of the invasion by the
Spaniards at the end of the fifteenth century,
is known. The same fact is mentioned by Sir
Charles Lyell.f with respect to the horse, the
ox, the boar and the dog. With reference to
this partial exception to the permanency of
well-established varieties it should be observed,
first, that in all the recorded instances of its oc-
currence several varieties of the same original
* W. B. Carpenter's Zoology, vol. i. p. 35.
f Lyell. Op. cit., p. 5G3.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 60
stock were intermingled in this process of res-
toration to the wild state ; and secondly, that
the wild state was the original condition of the
primordial types. Lest any of our readers
should consider the demonstration of the princi-
ple now under review unsatisfactory by reason
of the doubt which has been recently expressed
as to the specific unity of the dog, we will cite
the somewhat parallel case of the common wolf.
According to Dr. Bachman, ** The common wolf
{Canis lupus) has been described by Linnoeus,
Buffon, Cuvier, and all the eminent naturalists
who have written on the mammalia of Europe,
as identical with the wolf of America. Sir
John Richardson, De Kay, and recently Audu-
bon and Bachman, on the history of American
quadrupeds, agreeing with the views of Euro-
pean naturalists, have placed all the large North
American wolves (not including the small prairie
wolf) as varieties of the European wolf; and
even Col. Smith himself says, ' Our somewhat
extensive researches led us to subscribe' to the
opinion of the Prince of Wicd 'lliat they are
the same.' This wolf is like man, a cosmopo-
70 THE UNITY OF
lite, and has spread over a considerable portion
of the world Its
geographical range is wider than that of any
species among the inferior animals, and is only
exceeded by that composing the human race.
Let us now examine how these changes in cli-
mate, food, or some other influences at present
hidden from our knowledge, affect this species.
In color, it is white in the northern regions, aiid
in the elevated countries on both continents.
In the temperate latitudes of Europe and
America, it is grey. It is black in the South,
as in Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana. In the
western part of Missouri it is clouded, and has
been named Cajiis niibilis. In Texas it is red.
These varieties differ widely in size, those of
the IN'orth being nearly double the size of those
of the South. They differ in the conformation
of the head and the skull. In an examination
to which we were invited, of the wolves pre-
served in the British Museum, and those con-
tained in the gardens and museum of the Zo-
ological Society of London, all the naturalists
present expressed their surprise and perplexity
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 71
at the vast differences existing not only in color,
but in size, form, and skull in different speci-
mens. In cold climates their heads were broader
and muzzles shorter than in those found farther
south ; still we found individuals which, like
links in a chain, connected all these varieties so
closely that they could not be separated into
different species. Thus naturalists, after an ex-
amination for two hundred years of all the
varieties of the wolf, are obliged to admit that
this wide-roaming animal, which changes its
form and color at every remove to new regions,
is one and the same species."*
But sometimes it is not practicable to obtain
such a collection of varied types as will serve
to connect two dissimilar specimens about whose
specific unity we may be in doubt, and yet the
difficulty may depend more upon the slender-
ness of our observations than on the non-exist-
ence of the transitional forms. In such cases
we sometimes rely, provisionally at least, on
the apparent significance of the differential
characters, our judgment being mainly deter-
* J. Bachraau, D. D. Op. cit , p. 12!.
72 T H E U N I T Y O F
mined by the value of similar differences in the
case of nearly allied animals whose specific rela-
tions have been established on other grounds.
This, however, is a very equivocal test, by
reason of the fact already stated, that differ-
ences which in one tribe are significant of spe-
cific diversity, are, in another tribe, quite com-
patible with specific unity. Conclusions founded
on such data only must, therefore, be held as
provisional, and subject to future confirmation
or correction.
A much more valid ground of distinction is
often obtained by observing whether there is
any character in one of the given races which
is never absent in any of the individuals of that
race, and never present in those of the other.
This test, it will be observed, is similar to that
just considered, which respects the gradational
merging of races into one another, in that it
requires the observation of a large number of
individuals ; but it does not impose the necessity
of collecting numerous links in a chain connect-
ing remote extremes. A single demonstration
of the inconsistency of any given character in-
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 73
validates it as a ground of specific distinction.
Now, let it be observed that this test, like that
derived from a gradation al series, is far more
valid in its positive than in its negative applica-
tion. The discovery of a gradational series of
intervening links serving to connect extreme
races, and the demonstration of the inconstancy
of any alleged differential character, are far
more valid in establishing specific unity, than
the mere flxilure to do either could avail to prove
specific diversity, since the fiiilure might depend
on too limited or inaccurate observations, even
though, by the aid of monumental inscriptions,
we had succeeded in going back to an extremely
early date in the world's history.
We proceed now to consider the value of
physiological and psychological peculiarities in
the discrimination of species. These, it has
been well remarked, often afford a much surer
criterion than can be obtained by the examina-
tion of structural characters, since it is miOre
easy to believe that the forms of organs and the
color of the skin may vary, than that the essen-
tial nature of the animal can be changed. We
4
74 T H E U N I T Y 0 F
should therefore regard identity, or close cor-
respondence in physiological characters, as out-
weighing in favor of specific unity a very con-
siderable amount of structural difference that
might otherwise seem to favor the idea of a
specific distinction. This principle is so gene-
rally admitted by the most profound and trust-
worthy naturalists, that the few who advocate
the doctrine of multiple human species, being
constrained to admit the physiological unity,
find it necessary, as we have already seen, to
use the term species in a different sense from
that in which it had been generally accepted.
They grant that physiological conformity de-
monstrates unity of essential nature, but they
contend that there may be 07'iginal varieties, and
these they term species. Now we grant that
origiiially distinct types are properly to be
ranked as distinct species, but we deny that
physiological unity can be predicated of such.
We shall attempt to show that such unity always
coincides with unity of origin.
By far the most important physiological test
of specific relationsliip is derived from a law of
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 76
reproduction. We know that the most diverse
breeds, if belonging to the same original stock,
breed togetlier without repugnance, and pro-
duce olTspring as prohiic as either of the parent
races. We also know, that with few exceptions
animals of different though closely allied species
have an invincible repugnance to each other,
and never, except under restraint, or by means
of deception, cross their breeds. The lion and
the tiger resemble each other so nearly that even
Cuvier is said to have been unable to distinguish
the cranium of one from that of the other, and yet
no one has ever heard of a cross between these
nearly allied species. In a few cases, however,
mainly by the intervention of man, allied species
have been induced to unite, with the result of
producing a hybrid offspring, partaking to some
extent of the characters of both parents.
Generally, these hybrids are either entirely
barren, or they produce offspring only when
joined with one of the parent stocks. '* In one
or two instances, indeed, a mule has produced
offspring by union with a similar animal, but
this is probably the extreme limit, since until
76 THEUNITYOF
recently no one has pretended that a hybrid
race could be perpetuated. It is, moreover, a
remarkable fact, that hybrid individuals are sel-
dom found in a state of nature, being almost
always the result of the artificial interference of
man with nearly allied species of the domesti-
cated animals."* Thus in an attempt to obtain
a cross between the ass and a female zebra, it
was found necessary to paint the ass with stripes
before the zebra could be induced to receive
him, and it is well known to be commonly
necessary to blindfold mares when they are
brought into connection with the ass.f He who
" made the beast of the earth after his kind, and
the cattle after their kind^ and every thing that
creepeth upon the earth after his kind,'^^ and pro-
nounced it all " good," has taken care to inter-
pose an adequate barrier to the possibility of
confounding the beautiful order and symmetry
of His work in the production and perpetuation
of monstrous mongrels, by implanting in ani-
mals of diverse species an instinctive and almost
* Carpenter.
t J- Bacliman. Op. cit.; pp. 53, 54.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 77
invincible aversion to sexual intercourse, and
has still further guarded against the consequen-
ces of the violent interference or the cunning
devices of man by affixing the seal of sterility
on the offspring of such unnatural union.
Dr. Morton of Philadelphia is almost the only
naturalist of any eminence in our own day who
has attempted to controvert this position ; and
it deserves remark that he did it avowedly to
support a foregone conclusion. The study of
human crania had been with him a cherished
speciality. It was, perhaps, to be expected, that
in his almost exclusive devotion to this study,
he should form an exaggerated estimate of the
value of the craniological peculiarities of the
diderent races of men, the discovery and expo-
sition of which form tlic principal, if not the
only title, to his permanent reputation as a man
of science. Accordingly we find him, in the
" Crania Americana," denying that such peculi-
arities could have been acquired, and contend-
ing that they were impressed upon the imme-
diate descendants of Xoah. This last position,
we now learn, was only taken as a concession
78 ^ T n E U N I T Y 0 F
to the religious prejudices of the theological
world; his real opinion, as subsequent!}^ avowed
in a private letter to Dr. N^ott, pubhshed in the
"Types of Mankind," being, that there was a
plural origin for the different races of men."*
When at length Dr. Morton wished to make a
public avowal of this opinion, he found that the
power of unlimited cross-breeding among the
races stood mightily in the way of his finding
popular acceptance for his new doctrine of
multiple human species. It was then necessary
to overthrow the almost universally accepted
doctrine of the sterility of hybrids ; and with
such prepossessions, which, doubtless, were all
the stronger that he had felt himself constrained
to withhold the avowal of them for so long a
time, he entered upon the inquiry with refer-
ence to the laws of hybridity, and published
his first results in Silliman's Journal, in 1847.
It so happened that Dr. Bachman, who is ad-
mitted to stand in the very front rank of Ameri-
can naturalists, and to be without a rival in the
special department of manimahan zoology, had
* Types of Mankind. By Xott and Gliddon. Memoir of Morton.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 79
made extended and original experiments on
this subject some years prior to the date of this
l)ubUcation. These investigations were made,
lie avers, without reference to the question of
the unity or diversity of the human races, and
without the least bias of judgment as to the
probable result, his only object being to satisfy
his mind in regard to the true origin of the
many striking varieties that existed in the vari-
ous departments of nature, and which had be-
come as permanent as the species themselves.
He wished to ascertain whether the admixture
of two species might not produce a fertile off-
spring, which would in this way propagate what
might be regarded as a new species. He sub-
jected plants, birds, and quadrupeds to those
modes by which two different species could pro-
duce offspring. In this way he succeeded in
obtaining, either by his own labors or by receiv-
ing from others who had produced them, a
larger number of hybrids than any other person
in this country. They proved sterile in every
instance but one, — tlie liybrid between the China
and Common goose, — and this proved to be only
80 T H E U N I T Y 0 F
partially and temporarily fertile. Supposing at
first that it was perfectly fertile, Dr. Bachman
recommended it to the neighboring planters as
an improved breed which produced eggs seve-
ral weeks earlier than the common goose.
After five years' trial, however, he ascertained
that many of the hybrids laid eggs which were
not impregnated. The true hybrids, in many
instances, were only prolific with the pure
breeds, and many were absolutely sterile.
Those planters who had not a considerable
number of the originals of either species in
their flocks, complained that their geese ceased
to be prolific, and laid dear eggs. At length
the hybrid productions are regarded as ruinous
to the flock, the different species are beginning
to be kept separate, and the common goose is
everywhere in Carolina rooting out the China
goose, the former being more prolific than the
hybrids.*
At the date of Dr. Morton's first essay on
hybridity these investigations of Dr. Bachman
had not been made public. Believing that Dr.
* J. Bachman, D. P. Op. cit.
TUE HUMAN SPECIES. 81
Morton would, by his own industry and through
the aid of his friends, at the extensive Library
of the Academy of Natural Sciences and else-
where, collect all the cases of hybridity that
were on record. Dr. Bachman determined not
to interrupt his labors until they had been con-
cluded, and accordingly remained silent for
eight months. At length, however, in 1850,
he rephed publicly to Dr. Morton's essays, in
several chapters of a work on the "Unity of
the Human Race Examined on the Principles
of Science," to which we have already more
than once referred. He examines in detail all
the facts collected by Dr. Morton, and shows
conclusively that many were incorrect, and oth-
ers unsustained by satisfactor}^ evidence. In-
deed, Dr. Morton had collected nearly all his
examples from so great a distance that it was
next to impossible either to verify or refute
them. But " why," significantly asks Dr. Bach-
nuui, " carry us to Egypt, to the steppes of
Tartary, to the island of Java, and the wilds of
Paraguay and Yucatan, to ascertain the truth
of the relations of Maga and De la ^Falle, the
4*
82 T H E U N I T Y 0 F
Beytrage of Rudolphi, the rambles of Captain
Stedman, or the interested collector who sent
to Temminck his specimens of wild and tame
cocks and curassoes? Our own country has
been settled for more than two hundred years.
We have imported all the domesticated animals
and poultry of Europe, and several of their
wild species exist in our forests. Our fauna is
larger, and we possess every variety of latitude,
from polar cold to tropical heat. How many
hybrids have w^e found in the woods ? We are
under the impression that we possess two spec-
imens of a hybrid between the grey rabbit and
the swamp rabbit, but as no more of a similar
kind were obtained, we presume they never
propagated. We were, moreover, led to sup-
pose, after carefully examining a pair in the
Museum at Zurich, that the bird found at long
intervals on the continent, which w^as described
by Leisler under the name of Tetrao interme-
dius, might prove a cross between the wood
grouse, {Tetrao urogaUus,) and the black cock,
{Tetrao tetrix,) owing to the fact that both spe-
cies are very rare in man}^ neighborhoods, and
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 83
that the individuals of each might associate to-
gether iu the absence of their own species."*
Subsequently, however, Dr. Bachman found
that he had been mistaken in regarding the
Tetrao intermedius as a hybrid. Temminck,
an authority quoted by Dr. Morton himself,
had proved it to be a true and pure species,
and when this was pointed out to the latter by
Dr. Bachman, he admitted the error he had been
led into. Dr. Bachman also satisfied him that
another of his supposed hybrids, that between
Motacilla luguhris and Motacilla alba^ was not a
hybrid at all, but a true species described by
Gould. Again, Dr. Morton had denied the
statement of Dr. Bachman, that naturalists
agree that Capra aegagnis was the origin of
all our domesticated goats. He now admitted
his mistake. " I stand corrected," he wrote, in
May, 1850, "with regard to Capra aegagnis,
which is by general consent admitted to be the
source of the common goat." "These," re-
marks Dr. Bachman, "were admissions that
ought to have cooled the ardor of even Dr.
° J. Cachnicxn. D. D. Op. cit.. p. 102.
84 T H E U N I T Y 0 F
Nott. Thus his facts continually diminished,
until he had only the dog to lean upon, in sup-
port of his theory of fertile hybrids."* With
reference to the dog tribe, he says: "The
Wolf, the Jackal, and the Fox, all intermix with
each other ; so does the common Jackal with
the Jackal of Senegal." "It is certain, there-
fore, that dissimilar species of the dog tribe are
capable of producing a fertile hybrid offspring.'"
Dr. Morton's principal authority for this state-
ment was Col. Hamilton Smith, the author of
the description of the mammalia in the Xatu-
ralist's Library. The zoological writings of this
gentleman are very justly characterized by Dr.
Bachman as displaying much reading and re-
search, exhibiting the result of extensive travel,
and desultory, but not minute and thought-
ful, observation. He seldom gives authorities,
and is so rapid that he cannot thoroughl}' ver-
ify his facts. He is fond of fanciful theories,
wdiich he holds pertinaciousl}^, and supports by
all manner of facts and reasoning. For abun-
'* Ibid. Charleston Medical Journal and Review for September,
1854., p. 641.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 85
dant proof of these statements we refer to his
late work on tlie Natural History of the Hu-
man Species, in which he seems inclined, on
the whole, to favor the doctrine of the unity of
the species, but strange to say, finds his great-
est difficulty in the way of fiilly adopting this
conclusion, in the character of the ancient flat-
head Indians of South America. But even Dr.
Morton believed that they were of the same
race with other tribes now in existence who dis-
figure the heads of their children in this man-
ner.*
Col. Smith says : ''We are indhied to believe
there are sufficient data to doubt the opinion
that the different races of domestic dogs are all
sprung from one species, and still more that the
Wolf was the sole parent in question ; on the
contrary, we are inclined to lean, for the present,
to the conjecture that several sj^ecies, ab origi-
ne, constructed with faculties to intermix, in-
cluding the Wolf, the Buansu, the Anthus, the
Dingo, and the Jackal, were the parents of do-
mestic dogs. That even a dhole, or a ihous
• liaduuan, D. D. Unity of tlie Human R;\co. etc., p. 20G.
86 T H E U N I T Y O F
may have been the progenitor of the greyhound
races ; and that a lost or undiscovered species^ al-
hed to Canis tricolor ot Hyaena venatica of Bur-
chell, was the source of the short-muzzled and
strong-jawed races of pruxiitive mastiffs." Xo
reasons are stated for these gratuitous " conjee-
tures^^^ as the writer candidly characterizes them,
at the same time that he says " his mind is in-
clined to lean to them f'' and yet, on the strength
of these bare '' conjectures," Col. Smith is quot-
ed by Dr. Morton as high authority for his
dogmatic assertion that " dissimilar species of
the dog tribe are capable of producing a fertile
hybrid offspring." In view of so convincing a
demonstration of the errors and fallacies of Dr.
Morton's essays on this subject, we cannot
withhold the expression of our surprise that
"Dr. Nott's ardor" was not cooled. And yet
so it was, — for in 1851, he writes in Debow's
Review: "I have just received and read Dr.
Morton's reply to Dr. Bachman's essay on the
question of Hybridity as a Test of Species. It
is the most perfect refutation I have ever seen,
and it is to be hoped that no one will ever waste
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 87
time again in advocating the idea that prohfi-
cacy among races affords an evidence of com-
mon origin." He has, however, himself found
it necessary to employ a portion of his own
time in contributing an elaborate chapter on
this subject in the "Types of Mankind," and
more recently still, has continued the discus-
sion in a note to the American editor of Go-
bineau's "Moral and Intellectual Diversity of
Races," notwithstanding the alleged completely
satisfactory settlement of the question which
had resulted from Dr. Morton's last paper. We
are not disposed to doubt that his time was wast-
ed. The body of naturalists have not agreed
with liim, either as to the merit of Dr. Morton's
paper, or as to the soundness of the doctrine
which he advocated.
AVe are indebted to an intelligent naturalized
citizen of the United States for the republica-
tion of the suggestive treatise by the Count
A. de Gobineau, '* On the Intellectual and Mor-
al Diversity of Races," which lie has enriched
by an instructive analytical introduction, and to
58 THE UNITY OF
which Dr. Xott has contributed an Appendix.*
From a hasty perusal of this interesting trea-
tise, we are disposed to unite in the commen-
dation bestov/ed upon it by the American edi-
tors. The testimony of the author on the sub-
ject now under consideration, is to the follow-
ing effect : ''The observations of naturalists
seem to have well established the fact that half-
breeds can spring only from nearly allied spe-
cies, and that even in that case they are con-
demned to sterility. It has been further ob-
served, that even among closely allied species,
where fecundation is possible, copulation is re-
pugnant, and obtained generally either by force
or ruse ; which would lead us to suppose that,
in a state of nature, the number of hybrids is
even more limited than that obtained by the
intervention of man. It has therefore been
concluded, that among the specific characteris-
tics we must place the faculty of producing
prolific offspring."
* The Moral and Intellectual Diversity of Races. From the French
of the Count A. de Gobixeau ; with an Analytical Introduction and
copious Historical Notes. By IT. IIoTZ. Philadelphia, 1856.
T H E H U ]\r A N S P E C I E S . 89
Such testimony compelled Dr. Nott to re-
open the discussion. He assumes that Count
Gobineau was not "posted up" on the subject
of hybridity, — though, let it be remembered, he
had previously asserted that Dr. Morton had so
completely settled that question in 1850, as to
make it a " waste of time" for any one to
advocate the old doctrine again. Dr. Nott then
takes occasion to expound and defend the doc-
trines of his school. "We contend," he writes,
'■ that there is a regular gradation in the pro-
lificness of the species, and that, according to
the best lights we possess, there is a continued
series from perfect sterility to perfect pro-
lificacy. The degrees may be expressed in the
following language :
" I. That in which hybrids never reproduce ;
in other words, where the mixed progeny be-
gins and ends with the first cross.
"II. That in which the hybrids are incapable
of producing inter se, but multiply by union
with the parent stock.
"III. That in which animals of unquestion-
ably distinct species produce a progeny which
90 T H E U 2n I T Y 0 F
are prolific iiiter se, but have a tendency to run
out.
" lY. That which takes place between close-
ly approxiinate species; among mankind, for
example, and among those domestic animals
most essential to human wants and happiness ;
here the prolificacy is unlimited."*
About the first two propositions there is no
dispute. We admit the correctness of the
third, with this qualification; however, that the
fertility is partial and temporary, rarely if ever
extending through more than two generations,
and consequently the ''running out" is rapidly
accomplished. The fourth proposition we
wholly object to, and call for proof. It will
scarcely be credited, that after so much boast-
ing as characterizes the writings of Dr. Nott on
this subject, he should find it necessary to
resort to such a device as this, in order to
establish his position. He argues, namel}-, that
the specific diversity of the human races is
established by the permanence of their t^^pes,
and as these races arc prolific inter se, therefore
* Op. cit. Appendix by Dr. Nott.
T II E II U M A N S P E C I E S . 91
difl'erent species, provided they be '* proximate,"
are prolific indefinitely. In other words, he
begs the question as to the main point, — namely,
the specific relations of the different races of
men, — in order to settle an incidental and sub-
ordinate one, and then, with an extraordinary
perversion of the simplest rules of logic, returns
with the questionable data thus acquired, to
fortify the position he had already unwarrant-
ably assumed. Precisely the same objection
applies, of course, to his only other example,
that of the races of Canis familiar is. We have
already seen that the most reliable zoologists
assert with confidence the specific unity of all
these varieties, notwithstanding the evidence
afforded by the Egyptian monuments in regard
to the early origin of several of these varieties,
evidence which was quite as well known to
them as it is to Dr. Nott ; and yet the latter,
arbitrarily assuming their specific diversity,
finds it easy enough, of course, to establish the
unlimited fertility of such " proximate species"
as these. Accordingly he triumphantly ex-
claims : " Now I say that man and the dog, to
92 THE UNITY OF
say nothing of other examples, form that Hnk
of perfect prolificacy of two species which is
called for. I would ask in all candor, what
more perfect proof does the case admit of?
We have pointed out a regular gradation in
the laws of hybridity, and we then produce
species that are perfectly prolific, and which,
according to all the criteria by which species
can be tested, are distinct.'' This last assertion
is certainly cool, in view of the fact that nearly
all the most eminent zooloo;ists of the age mam-
tain the opposite doctrine.
We have dwelt at some length upon this
topic, because of the strenuous efforts which
are now making, under cover of Dr. Morton's
name and reputation, to discredit conclusions
which had been long accepted as axioms in
Natural History. For yet further details we
refer our readers to Dr. Bachman's writings on
this subject in his monograph on the " Unity
of the Human Race," and in his contributions
to the Charleston Medical Journal and Review,
from the year 1850 down to the present time.
We are satisfied that the facts wliicli he has
T II E II U M AN S-PECI ES. 93
accumulated are sufficient to convince any un-
biased mind that there is not the shghtest
ground for accepting the new doctrines so
earnestly but so unsuccessfully advocated by
Dr. Morton and his followers.*
Having dwelt at such length on this subject,
we must content ourselves with stating merely
* llie writer of a memoir of Dr. Morton, in '• Types of Mankind,"
speaks of Dr. Bachman in terms of bitter contempt, alleging that he
is more of a tlieological poleiuie than a naturalist, and averring that
'■ he has his punishment in general condemnation and impaired scien-
tific standing." We feel bound to say that we have seen nothing in
the tone or expressions of Dr. Bachraan's scientific papers to justify
the discourteous epithets applied to him by the authors of " Types of
Mankind;" and as to his rank as a naturalist which Dr. Morton's
friend and biographer so cRrectly depreciated, we need only take the
testimony of Dr. Morton liimself, who, addressing Dr. Bachman
throu;j:h the pages of the "'Cliarleston Medical Journal and Review,"
fur May. ISGO. used the following language: "I fully reciprocate the
kind sentiments you have expressed with respect to myself, for no
diQerence of opinion can diminish my esteem for you as a man, or
h'S.sen my admiration for one uho, hij commnn con.<ent, stands in the front
rank of Amencan Zoology." Nor was tliis an exaggerated compli-
ment, betokening the instinctive courtesy rather than indicating the de-
liberate judgment of the writer ; for it will be admitted by every unprej-
udiced student of natural history to be only a ju.st tribute to tlie
learned and indefatigable author of the '• Qiiadrupeds of North Amer-
ica " So far as t!io ".scientific .standing" of any one has been '* im-
jjaired," as the result of the discussion on hybridity, it is certainly not
that of Dr. Bachman. On the other hand, as sincere admirers of Dr.
Morton, we rejoice that his title to a la-sting reputation rests on better
grounds than the loose and inaccurate statements and inconsequential
roa.sonings of his e.<;.^ays on " Hybridity considered witli Reference to
the Unity of the Ilumau Species '
94 THEUNITYOF
the conclusions of Dr. Prichard, respecting
other points of physiological conformity. The
accuracy of these conclusions will not be ques-
tioned by any one who is conversant with the
evidence on which they rest. • ''A certain uni-
formity of constitution, or a constant adherence,
within a particular range of variety, to certain
laws of the animal economy, belongs to the
specific character of each original race. Par-
ticular species have certain limits with regard
to the average duration of life, the circum-
stances connected with reproduction, such as
the number of their progeny, the times and
frequency of breeding, the period of gestation
in mammifers, and in birds that of sitting upon
eggs, and in the length of time during which
they suckle or watch over their young. The
progress of physical development and decay is
likewise ordained by nature to take place in
each species according to a certain rule. The
periods at which individuals arrire at adult
growth, the different changes which the consti-
tution undergoes at particular ages, the periods
of greatest vigor and of decline, and the total
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 95
duration of life, are given, though with individ-
ual exceptions and varieties, to every species
of animals. There are exceptions and varia-
tions, but these are within certain prescribed
limits and obey definite laws. On the other
hand, it may be observed as a very general
fact, that animals belonging to tribes which
nearly resemble each other, but yet are specifi-
cally distinct, differ in a decided manner with
respect to the same particulars."*
Yet another test of the specific relations of
animals is furnished by their agreement or dif-
ference in psychological characteristics. Among
the lower animals we find every species charac-
terized by the possession of instincts and pro-
pensities peculiar to itself, and these instincts
often differ remarkably in species presenting
the closest structural alliance. On the other
liand, in the several varieties of domesticated
animals belonging to one and the same species,
notwitlistanding strongly marked diversities of
physical structure, we may recognize instincts
which are fundamentally the same, although
° J. C. Frichard. Op. cit., p. 65.
96 T H E U N I T Y O F
the}' may have been modified by the contmued
mfluence of man, and by the new ch'cum-
stances m which the animals are placed,*
The principles which it has been our aim to
set forth and illustrate in the foregoing re-
marks, and which are now generally recognized
as among the axioms of Natural History, are
drawn up by Dr. Carpenter in a series of
formal propositions, an abridgment of which,
with a few slight modifications, we will now
present, as a summary recapitulation of the
whole subject.
1. Two races can be regarded as specifically
distinct only when the characters w^hich sepa-
rate them are transmitted with complete uni-
formity from parent to offspring ; when there
are no intermediate gradations tending to con-
nect them ; and when no such tendency to
variation has manifested itself in either race, as
shall make it probable, or, at any rate, possible,
that their differences may be the direct result
of external influences, or may be attributed to
an unusual divergence in the character of the
offspring from those of the parents.
* J. ('. I'ric-luiiJ. Loc. eit ; ;nul Ciirpeiitor, " l'^///u'je.s- nf Mankind
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 97
2. On the other hand, two races may un-
doubtedly be regarded as specifically identical
when, however great the differences m stature,
conformation, psychical character, etc., pre-
sented by their respective types, these types
are connected with each other by intermediate
gradations so close as to render it impossible
to establish a definite boundary line betiveen the
collections of individuals which are assembled
around them.
3. Again, two races may undoubtedly be
regarded as specifically identical, when, in either
race, varieties present themselves which ex-
hibit the distinctive characters of the other
race ; since we then have evidence that,
although these peculiarities are so generally
transmitted from parent to offspring, each race
possesses a certain degree of permanence, yet
they are not thus uniformly inherited ; and,
consequently, there is nothing to prevent the
transformation of the one race into the other,
if the circumstances which have ori2:inated the
variation, even in a single case, should act with
sufficient potency on the whole mass.
5
98 T H E U N I T Y 0 F
4. No character can be safely adopted, as
justifying the assumption of the specific diver-
sity of two races, which has been found by
experience to undergo considerable variation
in either race, even though such modification
should not proceed to the extent of conversion
into the character of the other ; for if a limited
amount of change in external conditions be
found capable of effecting a certain degree of
alteration, the probability is strong that the
higher difference may have had its origin in the
more potent operation of the same class of
causes.
5. The very fact of the extensive dispersion
of a race, and of its existence under a great
variety of external conditions, implies a marked
capacity for variation ; since, without such ca-
pacity, the race could not continue to flourish.
6. Among the domesticated races of quad-
rupeds, which are particularly susceptible of
the influences tending to produce pe?'??iafier?l
varieties, the characters most susceptible of
variation are stature — general conformation of
the body — coiforrnation of the skull — quantity,
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 00
texture and color of the hairy covering — psijchical
character, as shown in the increase of intelli-
gence, in the acquirement of new methods of
action, and in the disappearance of some of the
natural instinctive propensities.
7. The several races of animals which, ac-
cording to the foregoing criteria, are accounted
as belonging to the same species, breed freely
and spontaneously with each other, when al-
lowed to do so ; and the offspring are fertile,
not only with either of the parent races, but
with each other. On the other hand, although
propagation may take place between individuals
of undoubtedly distinct species, yet there is
little spontaneous tendency to such admixture ;
for each animal will select one of its own
species in preference to one of another species.
The hybrid offspring are deficient in generative
power ; so that, although a mule may be fertile
when paired with an individual of either of
the parent races, it is seldom or never fertile
with one of its own kind. Thus the peculiari-
ties introduced by hybridity are speedilv merged
into those of the parent stocks ; and no neiv
100 THE HUMAN SPECIES.
race has ever been known to originate from this
kind of union.
8. Among all those races which are entitled
to rank as permanent varieties only, the phijsio-
logical conformity is often closer than the struc-
tural.
9. So, again, among the varieties of the same
species, there is, with subordinate differences
such as can usually be traced to external agen-
cies and particularly to human influence, a
very close psychical conformity ; the capaci-
ties of the several races being fundamentally
the same, although varying in their degree of
relative development.*
* See Carpenter on the '* Varieties of Mankind " for a somewhat
fuller summary.
CHAPTER III.
APPLICATION OF THE FOREGOING PRINCIPLES TO THE
INVESTIGATION OF THE SPECIFIC RELATIONSHIPS OF
THE RACES OF MEN.
We propose now to make an application of the
general principles which have been enunciated
ill the preceding chapters, to the solution of the
problem of the specific relationships of the races
of mankind. In our remarks, designed to illus-
trate the general propositions, we have antici-
pated much that might otherwise be appro-
priately stated in this connection. A few words
will, therefore, sufi&ce for the present applica-
tion, at least with respect to many of the several
heads.
We remark, then, in the first place, that
inasmuch as the records of profane history do
not extend back to the origin of any of the
leading divisions of the human family, we can
[101]
102 THE UNITY OF
not, of course, expect a direct and authorita-
tive solution of the question from that quarter.
We might, indeed, consult the Mosaic narra-
tive, and quote the incidental testimony of
St. Paul, and this too without violating the
principle announced in our first chapter, that
the inquiry should be pursued as one of pure
science, and not as a theological speculation.
It is one thing to demand assent to a scien-
tific proposition, on the ground that its de-
nial involves a conflict with some theological
dogma, .and quite a different thing to admit
certain historical facts on the testimony of the
sacred writers. The claims of the Bible to be
regarded as a genuine and authentic narrative,
should be tested by the same canons which
serve to authenticate any other history. If
these claims be substantiated, we cannot see on
what fair grounds its record of simple facts can
be set aside in an}^ inquiry in which these facts
have a most important bearing. Men of science
may reasonably object to the admission of tlieo-
logical doctrines, which rest upon particular
modes of interpreting the simple facts ; but
.THE HUMAN SPECIES. 103
we repeat it, if the record be duly accredited,
the facts are just as valid iu matters of science
as though tliey were reported in profane his-
tory, and this, too, even when we set aside
altogether the fact of the inspiration of the
sacred writers. Judging Moses simply by the
extraordinary agreement of his cosmogony,
when properl}^ read in the light of modern
hermeneutics, with the deductions of modern
geology, in which respect it is in amazing con-
trast with the cosmogonies of all other ancient
writers, we should be bound by the rules of
the most positive philosophy to give due
weight to such interesting facts, and to admit
both the credibility and the authority of the
sacred historian.* And yet, inasmuch as for
reasons already stated we prefer, in general,
to support the Scriptures by the results of
scientific researches, to aiding science even in
its narrative department by means of the
sacred writings, we shall not insist upon mak-
ing this very legitimate use of the facts there
*' See a Review of the " Six- Dnys of Creation. "of Prof. Taylor Lewis,
by Prof. Pana. in the Bihliotlicca Sacra for Jan., 1S40 p. 110.
104 THE UNITY OF
recorded, though we have thought proper to
state and defend the position which has just
been indicated.
In this connection we are called upon to
notice the indefatigable attempts of the authors
of the "Types of Mankind," to persuade the
reading public that reliable history has spoken
unmistakably in favor of the views of the diver-
sity-theory party. We refer to the use made
by them of the fact, that the negro and three
other leading types of men were accurately
delineated on the monuments of Egypt several
thousand years ago. But as we have already
had occasion to remark, the famous " monu-
mental history of man " throws no light at all
upon the obscure question of the origin of the
different leading human types. Whatever date
be assigned to these inscriptions, there must
have been an autecedent period quite long
enough to have given origin to any num-
ber of types. We can easily imagine various
explanations of the manner in which different
types might have arisen in the period anterior
to the date of the Egyptian moninnents,
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 105
whether under the influence of natural causes,
favorable to the development of an original
constitutional tendency to spontaneous varia-
tion, or in virtue of a more direct and miracu-
lous interposition of God in the case of the
three sons of Noah, in accordance with a com-
mon interpretation of the curse of Canaan, and
the blessing of Shem and Japheth, as recorded
in Genesis ix. : 25-27. But we do not feel
called upon to indulge in any speculation on
this point. We hold, in accordance with the
principles recognized by the best naturalists, as
just cited at length, that the specific unity of
permanent varieties may be established in nu-
merous instances in which there is no historical
record of the origin of the several variations.
It is, moreover, a significant fact, that while
the oldest monumental records extend back,
according to Birch and Lepsius, to about 3890
B. C, no negro delineation, as admitted by the
authors of " Types of Mankind," (p. 259,) is
found earlier than the 2ith century B. C. Just
here we are constrained to call attention to their
apparently disingenuous way of recording this
5*
106 THE UNITY OF
fact. So far from adverting to the interval of
more than a thousand years between the date
of the oldest negro delineation and that of the
earlier records, they speak of the former as '' con-
temporary with the earliest Egyptians ;" whereas
it is seen that the monumental inscriptions, so
far from demonstrating the contemporaneous
origin of the black and white races, furnish a
strong presumption against this doctrine. Ac-
cordingly BuNSEN and Lepsius, whom the
authors of the " Types of Mankind" were con-
strained to accredit as the most eminent and
reliable of living Egyptologists, are both earnest
advocates of the specific unity and of the com-
mon origin of the human races ; and 3'et, in
the teeth of this fact, N'ott and Gliddon com-
placently ascribe the same opinions as expressed
by Prof. Owen, Count Grobineau, and others, to
their ignorance of the " monumental history of
man."
But, though it was not necessar}^ for our gene-
ral argument to demonstrate the origin within
historic times of any of the leading types of
mankind, we are not without evidence of the
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 107
appearance of new varieties within a compara-
tively recent period. The Hon. J. R. Poinsett
made to Dr. Bachman the following statement ;
" I saw in the capital of Mexico a regiment of
six hundred men, called Los Pintados, who
were all spotted with blue spots in some part
of the body. These people are found along the
Pacific coast just north of Acapulco." " These
persons were all in fine health, i nd propagated
their varieties from generation to generation.
What there was in the food, the climate, or the
geological structure of the western coast of
America to produce this strangely-colored va-
riety in the human species we are unable even
to conjecture. It was certainly not disease, as
Mr. Poinsett represents them as a regiment of
fine, healthy-looking men, in which there was
not a solitary individual who was not spotted
in this manner. If our opponents who are
busily engaged in making new species of men,
should, on this hint, begin to speculate on the
position this new species of Homo maculatus
should occupy in our nomenclature, we would
just remind them that they have originated
108 THE UNITY OF
since the discovery of America, inasmuch as
they are a mixtm^e of Spanish and Indian
blood."*
Dr. Nott asserts, that " the genus Homo em-
braces many primordial types or species which
have remained permanent and untrandtional
through all recorded time, and despite the most
opposite moral and physical influences.'' But
we have just seen that the argument intended
to be expressed in the latter part of the sen-
tence does not by any means sustain the asser-
tion which prefaces it. For '* all recorded time''
does not cover the entire history of any one
species, if we exclude, as this gentleman does
exclude, all the writings of Moses. The alleged
fact, if it were true, — and we have seen that,
according to the statements of Lepsiusand Birch,
and by Dr. Nott's own admission, it is wholly with-
out " monumental" proof as regards the negro
race for at least one thousand 3^ears, — would only
furnish a slight presumption in favor of his opin-
ion : and this presumption would even then be
easily set aside by luunerous and convincing
* J. Bachman,. D, D. On the Unity of tlie Human Race, etc., p. 182.
THE II UMAX SPECIES. 109
considerations. But in point oi' fact, the asser-
tion that the types of men have remained " per-
manent and untramitional through all recorded
time" is directly opposed to the statements of
the most eminent ethnologists and travellers.
Thus Dr. Carpenter states, as the result of the
researches of Prichard, Latliam, and others, that
" the Magyar race in Hungary, which is not
now inferior in mental or physical characters to
any in Europe, is proved by historical and phil-
ological evidence to have been a branch of the
great northern Asiatic stock, which was ex-
pelled about i^w centuries since from the
country it then inhabited (bordering on the
Uralian mountains), and in its turn expelled
Slavonian nations from the fertile parts of Hun-
gary, which it has occupied ever since. Hav-
ing thus exchanged their abode, in the most
rigorous climate of the old continent— a wilder-
ness in which the Ostiaks and Samoiedes
pursue the chase during only the mildest sea-
son— for one in the south of Europe, amid
fertile plains abounding in rich harvests, the
Magyars gradually laid aside the rude and sav-
110 T HE UNIT Y OF
age habits which they are recorded to have
brought with them, and adopted a more set-
tled mode of hfe. In the course of a thousand
years, their type of cranial conformation has
been changed from the pyramidal (or Mongol)
to the elliptical (or Caucasian) ; and they have
become a handsome people, with fine stature
and regular European features, with just enough
of the Tartar cast of countenance, in some
instances, to recall their origin to mind. Here
it may be said that the intermixture of the
conquering with the conquered race has had a
great share in bringing about this change : but
the Magyars pride themselves greatly on the
purity of their descent ; and the small infusion
of Slavonic blood, which may have taken place
from time to time, is by no means sufficient to
account for the complete change of type which
now manifests itself. The women of pure Mag-
yar race are said by good judges to be singu-
larly beautiful, far surpassing either German
or Slavonian females. A similar modification,
but less in degree, appears to have taken place
amono; the Finnish tribes of Scandinavin. Those
THE HUMAN SPECIES. Ill
may be almost certainly affirmed to have had
the same orighi with the Lapps ; but whilst the
latter retain (although inhabiting Europe) the
nomadic habits of their Mongolian ancestors,
the former have adopted a much more settled
mode of life, and have made considerable
advances in civilization. And thus we have in
the Lapps, Finns, and Magyars, three nations
or tribes, of whose descent from a common
stock no reasonable doubt can be entertained,
and which yet exhibit the most marked differ-
ences in cranial characters, and also in general
conformation, — the Magyars being tall and well
made, as the Lapps are short and uncouth.''*
Hugh Miller, advocating the doctrine that
the Caucasian type was the type of Adamic
man, and that all the varieties of the species,
in wliich we find humanity '' fallen, '^ according
to the poet, "into disgrace,'' are varieties that
have lapsed from the original Caucasian type,
avers that "there are cases in which not more
than from two to three centuries have been
* W. B. Carpenter Op. cit . p. 1328; where also several other in-
stances are cited.
112 THE UNITY OF
found sufficient thoroughly to alter the origmal
physiognomy of a race," and quotes a striking
and well-known case in point : " On the plan-
tation in Ulster, in 1611, and afterwards, on the
success of the British against the rebels in 1641
and 1689," says a shrewd writer of the present
day, himself an Irishman, "great multitudes
of the native Irish were driven from Armagh
and the -south of Down, into the mountainous
tract extending from the Barony of Fleurs east-
ward to the sea ; on the other side of the king-
dom the same race were exposed to the worst
effects of hunger and ignorance, the two great
brutalizers of the human lace. The descend-
ants of these exiles are now distinguished phys-
ically by great degradation. They are re-
markable for open projecting mouths, with
prominent teeth and exposed gums ; and their
advancing cheek-bones and depressed noses
bear barbarism on their very front. In Sligo
and Northern Mayo, the consequences of the
two centuries of degradation and hardship ex-
hibit themselves in the whole physical condition
of the people, affecting not only the features
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 113
but the frame. Five feet two inches on an
average — pot-bellied, bow-legged, abortively
featured, their clothing a wisp of rags — these
spectres of a people that were once well-grown,
able-bodied, and comely, stalk abroad into the
daylight of civilization, the annual apparition of
Irish ugliness and Irish want."
Agassiz and Dr. Morton agree that all the
aboriginal tribes of America, except only the
Esquimaux, had a common origin, and yet the
widest diversities are admitted to exist among
them as to the capacity of the cranium, shape
of the head, stature, color, and character of the
hair. Dr. Morton himself bears very decided
testimony on most of these points.''"" Catliu,
speaking of the Mandans of the Upper Mis-
souri, whose fairness of complexion is prover-
bial, says : " A stranger in the Mandan village
is first struck with the different shades of com-
plexion and various colors of hair which he
sees in a crowd about him, and is at once al-
most disposed to exclaim that ' these are not
* S. G. Morton. " Physical Type of the American Indians" ; in
Schoolcraft's ''Indian Tribes," vol.ii.
114 THE UNITY OF
Indians.' There are a great many of these
people whose complexions appear as light as
half-breeds ; and amongst the women particu-
larl}^, there are many whose skins are almost
white, wdth the most pleasing symmetry and
proportion of features ; with hazel, with gre}",
and with blue eyes — with mildness and sweet-
ness of expression, and excessive modesty of
demeanor, which renders them exceedingly
pleasing and beautiful." Their "hair is gene-
rally as fine and as soft as silk." " There are
very many," however, " of both sexes and of
every age, with hair of a bright silvery grey."
"I have ascertained that this strange phenom-
enon is not the result of disease ; but that it is
unquestionably a hereditary character which
runs in families, and indicates no inequality in
disposition or intellect." *
The same phenomenon of a gradational se-
ries, exhibited under such circumstances as to
demonstrate the transitional character of the
features usually regarded as typical, is striking-
ly exemplified in the case of the African tribes.
* Catliu's Xortli American Indians. Vol I., p 01.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 115
These a,re very generally admitted to have
sprung from a common stock. Thus the Chev-
alier Lepsius, in a letter to Dr. Nott (Types of
Mankind, p. 233), uses the following language :
" You speak of a gradation of the African
tribes from the Cape to the northern portion
of the Continent. It is a curious fact, that the
languages of the Hottentots and of the Eosje-
mans are essentially different from those of all
the rest of the continent up to the equator.
And what is, perhaps, still more curious, their
lanf>;ua2re bears certain characteristic traits
which elsewhere are only found in the lan-
guages of North- Easter 71 Africa. In my opin-
ion, the whole continent had, at a certain
epoch, a parent population, and consequently
analogous tongues. At a later period Asiatic
tribes immigrated on the side of the Xorth-
East. The mixture of races gave rise to the
numerous tribes and to the scattered and np-
parently incoherent languages which are now
found in the broad belt between tlie line
and the fifteenth degree of north latitude.
These lauiruasres have lost their African charac-
116 THE UNITY OF
ter without acquiring that of Asia ; but the ba-
sis of the languages and of the blood is African.'*'
According to Dr. Shaw, as quoted by Prich-
ARD/^ while "the Kabyles in general are of a
swarthy color, with dark hair, those who inhabit
the mountains of Auress, or Mons Aurarius,
though they speak the same language, are of a
fair and ruddy complexion, and their hair is of
a deep yellow." Dr. Prichard appends this
comment: "Writers who labor under the preju-
dice which regards all physical characters as
permanent, adopt the supposition, 'perfectly
groundless as it is, that the xanthous Berbers of
Mount Auress are the remains of the Yandals
who were conquered by Belisarius. The Tua-
ryk are in some parts white, in others black,
but without the features of negroes."
The Berberines, or Nubians of the Nile, ap-
pear to be the descendants of the Nobata3, who
were brought fifteen centuries ago from an
oasis in the Western country by Diocletian, to
inhabit the valley of the Nile. They are one
of those races whose complexion is a mixture
* J. C. Prichard. Op. cit , p. 271.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 117
of red and black, and whose physical characters
bear some analogy to those of the Egyptians.
They are, however, much darker in color than
were that nation, though the shade of both
varied. Brown, a most accurate writer, de-
scribes the people in the Island of Elephantine
as black, but, in the opposite Assouan, of a red
color, with the features of Nubians. Dr. Riip-
pell thus describes their physiognomy : "A long
oval countenance ; a beautifully curved nose,
somewhat rounded towards the tip ; lips rather
thick, but not protruding excessively ; a re-
treating chin ; scanty beard ; lively eyes ;
strongly frizzled but never woolly hair ; a re-
markably beautiful figure, generally of middle
size, and a bronze color, are the characteristics
of the genuine Dongolawi." The most inter-
esting fact connected with this race is, that
they appear, if we may place reliance on his-
torical evidence, to furnish an instance of the
transition from the physical character of the ne-
gro to one very similar to that of the ancient
Egyptians:^
• J. C. Priebard. Op. cit., pp. 27:?-'275. Soe also "Researches int'^
118 THE UNITY OF
The proof of this last statement is given by
Dr. Prichard, in his Physical History of Man,
and is entirely satisfactor3\ "Has the change
which has taken place," he asks," in the physical
character of the Nubian race arisen from an
abode during so many ages in a climate differ-
ent from that of their native wilderness, aided
by the modifying influence of civihzation and
the habits of a settled and agricultural life, or
is it to be ascribed to intermixture of race ?
Those who are fully persuaded to regard all the
varieties of physical structure which distinguish
human races as permanent characters, will im-
mediately decide in favor of the latter alterna-
tive ; but if we regard that point as still unde-
termined, and form our opinion from the cir-
cumstances and jorobabilities of the particular
case in question, we shall adopt, unless I am
mistaken, a different inference. It may be ob-
served, in. relation to this inquir}^ that it is not
easy to conceive how the abode of Arab hordes
in different parts of Nubia conld produce a
the Physical History of Man.'' by the same Auth')r. Vol. ii.. pp. 172-
183, for an analysis of the evidence relating to the history and ethnog-
raphy of tliis people.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 119
general modification in the physical character
of the ivhole Barabra race. Occasional inter-
marriages have doubtless taken place, and the
result has been manifest in individuals ; but
these incidental crossings of breed could hardly
modify the whole nation. It is known that the
impression of one such mixture is lost in a few
generations. In order that the blending of
families belonging to different stocks may pro-
duce a third tribe of intermediate character, it
is requisite that the two parent races should
be mixed in nearly equal proportions ; since
when a few families of one stock are from time
to time blended with a large population belong-
ing to another, the impression is speedily
effaced, and the offspring becomes assimilated
to the greater number. Hence, intermixtures
of whole nations or of considerable numbers or
masses can hardly take place in such a way as
to give rise to a uniform intermediate stock.
The result is always that in one locality one
physical character, and in another a different
type, predominates. It is perhaps for this rea-
son more probable that the uniform and gen-
120 THE UNITY OF
eral change of physical character which the
Nubian nation has undergone since their re-
moval from Kordofan to the Nile has arisen
from a different cause ; and this supposition
seems to be confirmed by all that we can learn
respecting the past and present circumstances
and relations of the two races of people who
are supposed to have become intermixed. Ac-
cording to Burckhardt, Nubia was conquered
or overrun, after the reduction of Egypt, by
several Arab tribes, among whom the principal
were the Djowabere and El Ghai'bye, who for
some centuries waged continued warfare with
each other. In the meantime the Barabra, as
w^e learn from many authorities, remained a
separate people, and maintained the Christian
religion, to which they had been converted in
the sixth century.* Salim El Assouany,
* See Gibbon, Decline and Fall. Chap, xlvii. — After adverting to
the relapse of the Nubians into paganism, and their subsequent adop-
tion of Mohammedanism, preferring its triumphs to the degradation
of the cross, Gibbon asserts, on the autliority of Buflbn, that they are
pure Negroes, as black as those of Senegal, with flat noses, thick lips
and woolly hair. Such phy.-ical characters doubtless belonged to
them originally, but it is needless to add that BulTon's assertions are
entitled to no weight in opposition to the testimony of Ruppell (who
resided long among the Barabra) respecting the actual character-
T II E ir U M A N S P E C I E S . 121
whose description of Nubia and Ethiopia is
largely cited by Macrizi, says that the Nubians
of his day were Jacobite Christians, and he de-
clares them to be a people of superior intelli-
gence to the neighboring nations. Salamoum,
king of Dongola, according to the information
collected by Burckhardt, was a powerful Chris-
tian prince at the end of the thirteenth cen-
tury. Ibn Batuta, who travelled in their coun-
try, found the Nubians a Christian people,
about the middle of the fourteenth centur}-.
The present inhabitants are Moslemin, and
they pretend, like other Mohammedan nations,
to be of Arabian origin ; but Macrizi says, that
the greater number of genealogists state them
to be descendants of Ham, by which it was
meant that they were a genuine African peo-
ple. It would seem that in former times a
total difference in religion and manners must
i?tics of this people. The description given of them by modern travel-
lers leaves no room for doubt. Accordingly, it is now universally
conceded that they are no longer Negroes, the change being ascribed
by some, as we have seen, to intermixture of races ; while Nott and
Gliddon, driven by the necessities of their system, gratuitously assert
that they never wore Negroes, and that the present type is aboriginal.
See Typos of Mankind, p. 190.
122 THE UNITY OF
have prevented the Barabra and their Arab
conquerors from becoming mixed. In modern
times we are assured that the two races remain
quite distinct, and that intermarriages between
the Arabs and Berberins are very rare occur-
rences. This is the testimony of Dr. Riippell,
whose information is to be depended upon.
The habits of the two races are totally differ-
ent. The Barabra are husbandmen, who live
together in small villages on the banks of the
Nile, and occupy themselves in tilling the land.
The free Arabs hold them in contempt, and
think it beneath them to speak the language
of the Barabras."*
We have thought proper to quote at some
length the arguments of the learned and cau-
tious Prichard, relating to the origin of the
Barabra and their subsequent change of type,
as a specimen of his method of thorough inves-
tigation, but inasmuch as our limits will not
permit us to follow him in his detailed survey
of the other African tribes, we avail ourselves
* J. C. Prichard. Phj'sical History of Mankind. London. 1851.
Vol. ii., pp. 181, 183.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 123
of an admirable summary of results, which we
find in an able article of the Southern Quar-
terly Review, for January, 1855. Making a
rapid circuit of the vast African continent, and
under the guidance of reliable travellers whose
authority cannot be questioned glancing at its
multitudinous tribes, the writer shows that
"in the whole range we discover the same end-
less variations and gradational blendings be-
tween the widest extremes, exhibited by all the
other people of the earth. In color, they vary
through every shade, between the appropriate
European that sometimes appeared in Egypt,
and still exists in the neighborhood of Mount
Atlas, and the polished ebony of the thoroughly
dyed negro. In physiognomy, they range be-
tween the elegant Grecian outline, and the
exaggerated monstrosity of prognathous devel-
opment. In texture of hair, they exhibit every
grade, from the soft Asiatic and even auburn
locks of some Egyptians and of the Auranian
Berbers, through the long and plaited ringlets
of the Morooran Kaffirs, the short and crisp
curls of the Nubian Berbcrines, the thick and
124 THE UNITY OF
frizzled half wolf-like covering of the diffused
Gallas, and the still more woolly-head growth
of the sagacious Fellahs, to the thoroughly
developed negro tufts of the G-uinea tribes. Tn
every important particular that marks varieties
of men, the inhabitants of Africa vary w^ith
such indefinite blendings of one grade into
another, between the Caucasian standard and
the lowest negro specimen, that it is impossible
to draw a line of division at any point of the
skull, and affirm, here one type ends and an-
other begins."*
Baron Humboldt (who, by the way, is quite
as well acquainted with the monumental history
of man as Dr. Nott can be) says : '' Whilst at-
tention was exclusively directed to the extremes
of color and of form, the result of the first
vivid impressions, derived from the senses, was
a tendenc}^ to view these differences as charac-
teristics, not of mere varieties, but of originally
distinct species. The permanence of certain
types, in the midst of the most opposite influ-
ences, especially of climate, appeared to favor
<* Southern Quarterly Review, January, 1855 p. 148.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 125
this view, notwithstanding the shortness of the
time to wliich the historical evidence applied ;
but, in my opinion, more powerful reasons lend
their weight to the otlier side of the question,
and corroborate the unity of the human race.
I refer to the many intermediate gradations of
the tint of the skin, and the form of the skull,
which have been made known to us by the
rapid progress of geographical sciences in mod-
ern times ; to the analogies derived from the
history of varieties in animals, both domesti-
cated and wild ; and to the positive observations
collected respecting the limits of fertility in
hybrids. The greater part of the supposed
contrasts to which so much weight was formerly
assigned, have disappeared before the laborious
investigations of Tiedemann on the brain of
negroes and of Europeans, and the anatomical
researches of Yrolik and Weber on the form of
the pelvis. When we take a general view of
the dark-colored African nations, on which the
work of Prichard has thrown so much light,
and when we compare them with the natives of
the Australian Islands, and with the Papuans
126 THE U NIT Y OF
and Alfourans, we see that a black tint of skin,
woolly hair, and negro features, are by no means
invariably associated.'' " Mankind are there-
fore distributed in varieties, which we are often
accustomed to designate by the somewhat vague
appellation of races."*
Such being the unanimous testimony of
travellers with respect to the actual diversities,
in almost every conceivable shade of gradation,
among tribes admitted to have sprung from a
common stock, is.it not surprising that even the
prejudiced authors of the '' Types of Mankind,"
should hazard the assertion that the types of
men are untransitional !f In point of fact, the
* Humboldt's Cosmos, Sabine's translation, Vol. i., p. 351. Having
argued convincingly in favor of tlie specific unity of men, this illus-
trious philosoplier adds the following reflection : " By maintaining
the unity of the human species, we at the same time repel the cheer-
less assumption of superior and inferior races of men.'' This passage
is quoted in the " Types of Mankind," witli such comments as to imply
that the tender sensibility of the amiable savant in view of the clieer-
lessness of the diversity doctrine was the main or only cause of his
rejection of it, wholly ignoring the positive statements whicli we
have, in part, quoted, and which immediately preceded the sentence in
question.
t "We do not overlook the fact that Dr. Nutt. in asserting that
human types are '' untransitional," has reference exclusivel}' to the
question of changes actually taking place in any given typo. He, of
course, cannot deny that these types closel}' approximate in a grada-
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 127
sliarles of difTercnce are so numerous, and they
run into each other by such gradational changes,
that it is utterly impossible to agree upon the
number of distinct varieties. No two ethnol-
ogists make the same classification. Now this
fact strikes us as furnishing a satisfactory^ refu-
tation of the views so confidently promulgated
by the new school of American ethnologists.
If anatomy, zoology, the laws which regulate
the geographical distribution of animals and the
monumental literature of Egypt, prove, the ex-
istence of numerous primeval types of men, of
course they indicate the exact number, since they
do not announce an abstract proposition, but
teach by actual examples. But is there even an
approximation to accordance among the leading
advocates of the doctrine of a plurality of spe-
cies or of origin among the various races of
tional series, but he would contend that this fact is not inconsistent
with the fixedness of each element of the series. It is our aim to vin-
dicate the recognized principles of Natural History, by showinj? that
this recently assorted doctrine leads to a manifest absurdity. For, as
Prichard well says. '• all the diversities which exist are variable^ and
p.nss into cacii otiier by i/ren'-i'.ie gradations ; and there is, moreover,
scarcely any instance in which the adual transition cannot be proved to
have taken place. —Natural History of Man. 1 8 V.\. P. 473.
128 THE UNITY OF
men? Agassiz makes eight primeval types, and
in so doing, involves himself, as we shall see in
the sequel, in numerous difficulties and some
absurdities. Dr. Morton made five groups, each
subdivided into numerous families, twenty-two
in all, without distinctly affirming which were
distinct species. Dr. Nott, alluding to this clas-
sification, says, apologetically : " Some classifi-
cation of races, however arbitrary, seems to be
almost indispensable for the purpose of convey-
ing clear ideas to the general reader, yet the
one here adopted by Morton, if accepted with-
out proper allowance, is calculated to lead to
grave error. He has grouped together races
which between themselves possess no affinity
whatever, that present the most opposite cranial
characters, and which are, doubtless, specifically
different."
Jaquinot, quoted by Dr. Nott, makes three
species only, of the genus Homo, the Caucasian,
Mongol, and Negro. Dr. Nott is disposed to
adopt this provisionally, as being simple, but
adds that Jaquinot, being ignorant of the monu-
mental history of man, classes together races
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 129
which (althougli somewhat similar in type,
having presented distinct physical characteris-
tics for more than three thousand years,) cannot
be regarded as one of the same species, any
more tlian his Caucasians and Negroes."
But besides the evidence of the transitional
nature of luuiian types exhibited in the grada-
tional series of such types, the same fact is in-
dicated by the want of constancy among indi-
viduals of the same tribe, in the characters
alleged to be typical. While we admit, to a cer-
tain extent, the permanency of types, so that
as a general rule, — to which, however, there are,
as we have seen, some notable exceptions, — the
races are not in danger of losing their typical
characters, we yet contend that not one of these
characters nor any particular combination of
them, has that degree of constancy which is es-
sential to render them valid as tests of specific
distinction. Those who deny the specific unity of
man, sometimes challenge the advocates of the
doctrine to point out a single instance in which
an individual belonging by birth to a particular
race, has manifested the aggregate of the char-
0*
130 THE UNITY OF
acters held to be typical of another race. It
would, indeed, be next to a miracle if such a
phenomenon were to occur. On the mere prin-
ciple of probabilities, the chances of the spon-
taneous recurrence of so complex a combination
of characters, where there was no hereditary
tendency to their production, would be almost in-
finitely small. It suffices to show that in the
limits of one and the same race there are oc-
casional deviations from every one of its typical
characters, and of course from any particular
combination of them, to discredit each and all
as grounds of specific distinction. '■'"•'
Dr. Carpenter, in his able article on the
'' Varieties of Mankind," in the Enghsh "Cy-
clopaedia of Anatomy and Physiologj^" gives
figures of skulls of Englishmen, preserved in
the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons,
* It should be borne in mind that after tlie possible variations from
a given primordial organic form sluill liave been realized, and shall
have given rise to subordinate groups of definite characters, the latter
are not necessarily mutually convertible, tliough originally derived from
a common type. The very flict of the acquisition of a certain set of
characters may, and doubtless often does, operate as a bar to any other
kind of variation, and consequently to the nuitual conversion of many
mere varieties of the same species.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 131
801110 of wliicli present the characteristics of the
pyramidal or Mongol type, and others those of
the prognathous or Negro type. Any man ma}^
recognize similar deviations, in any large and
mixed crowd of persons, all of whom may be
of pure Caucasian blood.
Again, Dr. Morton compared the capacity of
the cranium in a number of skulls belonging to
diiferent races, and while the average capacity
of the elliptical skull of the white races was
greatest, and that of the Hottentot and Austra-
lian the smallest, yet the largest Negro skull
was very much larger than the smallest Euro-
pean, and even possessed two cubic inches more
capacity than the largest Anglo- Americaii. It
was a singular result, that the family exhibiting
the largest skull, — namely, the Germans, — also
exhibited one, its minimum, which approached
very nearly to being the smallest of all that were
examined in any of the families. Conversely,
the Peruvians, whose minimum and average
were the lowest, also rose in some instances
very nearly to the maximum. It is quite evi-
dent, therefore, that there is no approach to
132 ' THE UNITY OF
that constancy in the dimensions of the cranial
cavity which is requisite to constitute this a
valid test of specific distinction.
We shall be constrained to come to the same
conclusion in regard to every other structural
character which has yet been invoked, such as
Dr. Neill's mark of a division of the articulating
surface of each occipital condyle into two facets,
by either a groove or a ridge, it being found by
him in thirty only out of eighty-one xVfrican
crania, while it was also found in four pure
Egyiotian, and in three aboriginal American
skulls.*
The hue of the skin has, perhaps, a better
apparent claim to be regarded as a fixed and
permanent mark than any which has been yet
referred to, but even this character has not that
degree of constancy which is requisite for a
specific distinction. For, as we have already
seen in another connection, American Indians,
admitted by all to have sprung from the same
stock, exhibit every shade of color from "the
almost hlack Charruas, on the southern shores
* American Journal of the Medical Sciences. Jan , 1850.
THE II U M A N S P E C I E S . 133
of the Rio de la Plata, and some of the Cali-
fornia tribes/*''' to the fair Mandans of Upper
Missouri, represented by Catlin as being almost
white. The same phenomenon is exhibited
among the African tribes, as has been already
stated, and occasional instances occur as indi-
vidual anomalies in which Xegroes become white
after birth, not by a mere loss of the black col-
oring matter, but "by a positive development
of the coloring matter that characterizes the
Xanthous variety, in which the complexion is
fair and ruddy.'' The fact that dark-skinned
people do not lose their characteristic hue by
living for many successive generations in tem-
perate climates, is not at all inconsistent witli
the supposition that this hue might have been
originally acquired as the effect of climatic or
other external conditions. For a positive mark
once acquired is apt to be perpetuated by he-
reditary transmission, and is, therefore, not lost
by the mere withdrawal of the influences under
which it was originally formed.
o Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, part ii., p. 320. "On the Physical
Type of the American Indians," an article written by Pr. Morton iiim-
self.
134 THE UNITY OF
For a fuller statement of the argument under
this head, we beg our readers to consult the
works of Dr. Prichard, and Dr. Carpenter's
article in the Cyclopaedia of Anatomj- and
Physiology ; since the force of the argument
depends upon the number of well authenticated
observations relating to the inconstancy of this
mark. The numerous pertinent facts cited by
Dr. Carpenter suffice to demand our assent to
his statement that, "on the whole, then, it
must be concluded that the color of the skin is
a character of such variable nature, that no
positive line of demarcation can be drawn by
its aid between the different races of mankind."
There is still less constancy in the differential
characters of the hair in the different races, so
vauntingly paraded a few j^ears ago before
almost every scientific association in America,
by Mr. P. A. Browne, of Philadelphia, who
asserted that the form of the surface left by a
transverse section of the hair of a white man is
oval, that of the Choctaw and some other Amer-
ican Indians, circular, the hair being cylindrical,
and that of the Negro eccentrically elliptical, his
'CUE HUMAN SPECIES. 1 35
hair being quite flat. Again, he avers that the
hair of the Negro is not true hair, but wool.
Now Dr. Carpenter, who stands accredited be-
fore the scientific world as a most skillful and
reliable practical microscopist, having employed
a large portion of his time for the last twelve
or fifteen years in the use of the microscope,
as applied to the study of human and compar-
ative anatomy, declares with emphasis that the
form of the shaft of the hair varies not only in
different individuals of the same race, but also
in different hairs of the same individuals, be-
ing sometimes cylindrical, sometimes oval, and
sometimes (though more rarely) eccentrically
elliptical or nearly flat.* And so, too, for the
other characters referred to by Mr. Browne.
"We have thus shown that none of the alleged
* Similar statements to those of Dr. arpenter are madeb}' Dr. Henry
Goadby, formerly Dissector of minute Anatomy to the Royal College
of Surgeons, of England, whose skill in the preparation and mounting
of objects for microscopic examination is proverbial both in England
and in this his adopted country. (Text book of Vegetable and Animal
Physiology. By Tlenry Goadby, Professor of Vegetable and Animal
Physiology. Sec. in the State Agricultural Society of Michigan, Ac. &c.
New York, 1838. P. 8-2.)
Thy observations of my friend Dr. Julius Porcher, of South Carolina,
made in 1854, and recently communicated to me by letter, establish
the s^iime conclusion.".
136 THEUNITYOF
difFerential characters exhibit that constancy
which is requisite to their validity as tests of
specific diversity, but that, on the contrary,
their hability to occasional modifications within
the limits of one and the same race, as well as
their gradational changes in a series of races,
the extremes of which may be very widely sep-
arated from each other, go far to demonstrate
the specific unity of all.
Especially will this appear if we contrast this
demonstrated inconstancy of the typical charac-
ters of the human races with the unvarying
constancy of those traits which separate all the
varieties of mankind, on the one hand, from the
highest anthropoid brute on the other. This
has been well done by Professor Richard Owen,
the most philosophical of the comparative an-
atomists of the age, in his admirable lecture
on the Anthropoid Apes, delivered before the
Ethnological section of the British Scientific
Association, an abstract of which is found in the
houdon. Athe?2cei(m for September, 1854. "It
is not without interest," said the lecturer, "to
observe that, as the generic foi-ms of the Quad-
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 137
ruinana approach the Bimanous order, they are
represented by fewer species. The Gibbons
(Hylobates) scarcely number more than half a
dozen species ; the Orangs (Pithecus) have but
two species, or at most three ; the Chimpanzees
(Troglodytes) are represented by two species.
The unity of the human species is demonstrated by
the constancy of those osteological and dental char-
acters to which the attention is more particularly
directed in the investigation of the corresj^onding
characters of the higher quadrumana. Man is
the sole species of his genus — the sole representa-
tive of his order."
Our remarks on the value of structural pe-
culiarities in the discrimination of species have
covered so much space, that but little room is
left for a notice of the physiological and psycho-
logical conformities prevailing among the races
of mankind. This part of the inquiry has beeu
pursued with great diligence and success by Dr.
Prichard and Dr. Carpenter, whose conclusions
only, as to most of the points noticed, we can
now quote. These authors have collected au-
thentic statistics, which serve to establish a
138 THE UNITY OF
most exact correspondence between the differ-
ent races, as to the average duration of hfe un-
der the same conditions of chmate, mode of
life, etc.; as to the maximum longevity — tlie
rate of mortality — the age at which the body
attains its maximum development — the epocli
of the first menstruation (with a partial and
easily explained exception in the case of the
Hindoo females) — the frequency of the period-
ical recurrence of that function — the epoch of
life to which it extends — the duration of preg-
nancy— the fertility of mixed breeds — and
finally, their liability to the same diseases. So
wonderful a correspondence through so exten-
sive a range of physiological susceptibilities
and powers, covering, as it does, the whole phys-
ical nature of man, proves conclusively the
specific unity of his varied types, while a simi-
lar comparison of even the lowest type of man
with the highest anthropoid apes establishes
beyond all question a marked difference of
specific nature. Prof. Miiller, of Berlin, the first,
perhaps, of living physiologists, has well said :
"From a pliysiological point of view, we may
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 139
speak of varieties of men, no longer of races.
Man is a species, created once, and divided into
none of its varieties by specific distinctions. In
fact the common origin of the Negro and the
Greek admits not of rational doubt.'" *
Professor Draper, of the University of New
York, the author of a most original and valua-
ble treatise on Human Physiology, comes to the
same conclusion, which he announces with equal
emphasis. "I do not, therefore," says he, "con-
template the human race as consisting of varie-
ties, much less of distinct species, but rather as
oQering numberless representations of the differ-
ent forms which an ideal type can be made to
assume under exposure to different conditions."
And again he says : " If we admit that the same
original germ may develop itself into countless
forms, according as it has been exposed to dif-
ferenl })hysical agents, much more is it probable
that the various races composing the human
famil}', exposed as they have been to different
physical circumstances, may by degrees have
assumed the discordant features they present,
* See appendix C. for most interesting details.
140 THE UNITY OF
although they have descended from one original
stock." * He explains, too, in an exceedingly
plausible hypothesis, the origin of the differ-
ences in the color of the skin and shape of the
head, which distinguish many of the human
races.
The force of the argument based on physio-
logical unity is felt to be so great, that an attempt
has been made by those who deny the unity of
the races to discredit some of the facts on which
it rests. Apparently not quite satisfied with the
results of their efforts to invalidate the fertility
of mixed breeds, as a test of the specific unity
of the parent races, they now shift their ground,
and deny that mixed human breeds are indefi-
nitely prolific. They now assert that the mu-
latto is a mule, and that this hybrid breed will
soon die out, unless replenished by the union of
whites and blacks. Dr. Nott contends that when
* Human Physiology, Statical and Dynamical, by J. W. Draper. New
York. 1856.
Wo must, however, qualify our assent to this writer's doctrine of the
capacity of " the same original germ to develop itself into countless
forms." We have alread}' shown that there are limits of variation, and
that with this apparent exception species are not only permanent but
immutable.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 141
the species are ''proximate,'' that is, as closely
allied as is possible, consistently with the diver-
sity of origin, " prolificacy is unlimited,'' but he
denies that whites and blacks are '' proximate"
species, and holds that their offspring must be-
come extinct in a few generations, by breeding
inter se. In an essay on Hybridity, published
in 1842, he maintained the following proposi-
tions :
"1. That mulattoes are the shortest-lived of
any class of the human race.
"2. That mulattoes are intermediate in intel-
ligence between the blacks and whites.
" 3. That they are less capable of undergoing
fatigue and hardships than blacks and whites.
'* 4. That the mulatto women are particularly
delicate, and subject to a variety of chronic
diseases. That they are bad breeders, bad
nurses, liable to abortions, and that their chil-
dren generally die young.
"5. That when mulattoes intermarry, they
are less prolific than when crossed on the parent
stocks.
6. That when a negro man married a wliitc
142 THE UNITY OF
woman, the offspring partook more largely of the
negro type, than when the reverse connection
had effect.
"7. That mulattoes, like negroes, although
unacclimated, enjoy extraordinary exemption
from 3'ellow fever, when brought to Charleston^
Savannah, Mobile, or N'ew Orleans."
In the chapter on Hybridity, in the "Types
of Mankind," published twelve years later. Dr.
Nott quotes these statements of his earlier
writings on the subject, and adds the following
commentary : " Almost fifty years of residence
among the white and black races, spread in
nearly equal proportions through South Caro-
lina and Alabama, and twenty-five years' inces-
sant professional intercourse with both, have
satisfied me of the absolute truth of the pre-
ceding deductions. My observations, however,
during the last few years, at Mobile and New
Orleans, where the population differs essentially
from that of the Northern Atlantic States, have
induced some modification of my former opin-
ions, although still holding to their accuracy so
far as thev ripply to the intermixture of the
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 143
strictly wJtite race (that is, the Anglo-Saxon or
Teuton) with the true negro. I stated in an
article printed in ' Debow's Commercial Review,'
that I had latterly seen reason to credit the
existence of certain affinities and repulsiojis'
among various races of men, which caused their
blood to mingle more or less perfectl}^ ; and that
in Mobile, New Orleans, and Pensacola, / had
witjiessed many examples of great longemty among
mulattoes ; and sundry instances where their inter-
marriages {contrary to my antecedent experiences
in South Carolina) were attended with manifest
prolificacy. Seeking for the reason of this posi-
tive, and, at first thought, unaccountable differ-
ence between mulattoes of the Atlantic and
those of the Gulf States, observation led me to
a rationale, namely, that it arose from the diver-
sity of type in the ' Caucasian' races of the
two sections. In the Atlantic states, the popu-
lation is Teutonic and Celtic ; whereas, in our
Gulf cities, there exists a preponderance of the
blood of the French, Spanish, Portuguese, and
other ^rt?*A'-skinncd races. The reason is simple
to the historian. Our States along the Gulf of
144 THE UNITY OF
Mexico were chiefly colonized by emigrants
from Southern Europe. Such European colo-
nists belonged to types genealogically distinct
from those white-.sldnned 'Pilgrim Fathers,'
who landed north of Florida. Thus Spain,
when her traditions begin, was populated prin-
cipally by Iberians. France received a con-
siderable infusion of the same blood, now al-
most pure in her Basque provinces. Italy's
origins are questions in dispute ; but the Ital-
ians are a dark-skinned race. Such races, blend-
ed in America with the imported negro, gene-
rally give birth to a hardier, and, therefore, more
prolific stock than white races, such as the
Anglo-Saxon produce by intercourse with ne-
gresses. Bodichon, in his curious work on
Algeria, maintains that this Iberian, or Basque
population, although, of course, not negro, is
really an African, and probably a Berber family,
which migrated across the Straits of Gibraltar
some 2,000 years before the Christian era ; and
we might, therefore, regard them as what Dr.
Morton calls a proximate race."*
^ Types of Maukincl, p. 373.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 145
Thus, though Dr. Nott candidly admits that
he has of late witnessed many examples of
great longevity among mulattoes, and sundry
instances where their marriages were attended
with manifest fertility, it does not in the least
shake his confidence in his hastily adopted
opinions, — but he findsa triumphant solution of
the difficulty in his doctrine of organic repul-
sions and affinities. If it were necessary to
consider such a theory with any seriousness,
we should object to the manifold assumptions
and to the obvious contradictions involved in
the present application of it. We need scarcely
say, that the assumption of any large admix-
ture of Iberian blood among the present popu-
lation of the Gulf cities is a most gratuitous
hypothesis, and that the same may be said of
the allegation, on the simple authority of a
surgeon in the French army, that the Iberian
population is "really African," in opposition to
the opinions of Arndt and Rask, distinguished
Scandinavian ethnologists, that the Euskarians
of the Biscay an provinces, with the Lapps and
Finns of Scandinavia, are remnants of an abo-
7
146 THE UNITY OF
riginal Turanian population once, probably,
occupying all Europe, but separated into two
great divisions by the advance of the Indo-
European tribes from the south-east corner into
Central Europe.*
But let us hear the testimony of Dr. Bach-
man respecting the facts as he has observed
them even in the Atlantic States. " Thus far,"
says he, after a residence of fifty years in
Charleston, "we have found them (mulattoes)
equally, if not more prolific, than the whites.
We have, according to the last census, 405,751
mulattoes in the United States. The experi-
ment, therefore, for good or for evil, has been
conducted on a large scale. We have in
Charleston a large number of respectable fami-
lies of free mulattoes. They have received good
EngHsh educations, and some of their daughters
have even been taught drawing and music.
Their sons are mechanics. Many of the mem-
bers of this community of mulattoes are upright
c- w. B. Carpenter. Op. eit. p. 1849.
A principal contributor to Nott & Gliddon's "Indigenous Races of
the Earth," M. Alfred IMaury, comes to tlie same conclusion respecting
the Tartar affinities of tlie Iberian people. Sec Appendix G, p.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 147
and virtuous, and are professors of religion.
They have intermarried for several generations.
We have ascertained that they continue to he,
through every generation, on a?t average, fully as
prolific as either the ivhites or hlachsP"^^'
Let us now consider the argument founded
* Charleston Medical Journal, July, 1853, p. 524. Prof. Dana, in
his "Thoughts on Species,'' from which we have already cited ex-
tracts, makes some very striking remarks on the subject of hybiidity.
Adverting to the great precision with which the purity of species has
been guarded, he pertinently remarks : "'It strikes us naturally with
wonder, that even in senseless plants, without the emotional repug-
nance of instinct, and with reproductive organs that are all out-
side, the free winds being often the means of transmission, there
should be a rigid law sustained against intermixture. The supposed
cases of perpetuated fertile hybridity are so exceedingly few as almost
to condemn themselves, as no true examples of an abnormity so abhor-
rent to the system. They violate a principle so es.sential to the integ-
rity of the plant-kingdom, and so opposed to Nature's whole plan, that
we rightly demand long and careful study before admitting the excep-
tions." . . .
'* Again, in the animal kingdom, there is the same aversion in na-
ture to intermixture, and it is emotional as well as physical. 'J'he sup-
posed cases of fertile hybridity are fewer than among plants." .
" It is fair to make the -vippoi^ition tliat. in case of a very close proxim-
ity of specie-s, there might be a degree of fertile hybridity allowed :
and that a closer and closer affinity might give a longer and longer range
of fertility." But ''thi.<i hi/pothe.vs Keeins to be cuf s/iort'^ hi/ smh ernes as
that of the horse and the ass. " The short run of hybridity between these
ten/ clwefy related specie, reaching its end in one single generation, instead
of favoring the ideri th-it perpetuited fertile hybridity is pofsi'de. is a speak-
ing protect against a principle that would ruin the system if allowed free scope.
Moreover, it is not reasonable to attribute such indefiniteness to nature's
outlines; for it is at variance with the spirit of her system.
•' Were such a case d.-ujonst rated by woll-cstablislicl facts, it would
148 THE UNITY OF
on a comparison of the dififerent races of men
with respect to mental endowments. It has
already been briefly stated, that among the lower
animals every species is characterized by the
possession of instincts and propensities peculiar
to itself. So that in the several varieties of one
and the same species, notwithstanding strongly
necessarily be admitted; and we would add, that investigations di-
rected to this point are the most important that modern science can
undertake. But until proved by arguments better than those drawn
from domesticated animals, we may plead the general principle against
the possibilities on the other side. Jf there is a law to be discovered, it
is a wide and comprehensive law, for such are all nature's principles.
Nature wUl teach it, not in one corner of her system onh^, but more or
less in everj' part. We have therefore a right to ask for well-defined
facts, taken from the study of successive generations of the interbreed-
ing of species known to be distinct. Least of all should we expect that
a law, which is so rigid among plants and the lower animals, should
have its main exceptions in the highest class of the animal kingdom,
and its most extravagant violations in the genus Homo ; for if there are
more than one species of man, tliey have become in the main indefinite
by intermixture Man , by receiving a plastic body, in ac-
cordance with a law that species most capable of domestication should
necessarily be most pliant, was fitted to take the whole earth as his do-
minion, and to live under every zone. And surely it would have been
a very clumsy method of accomplishing the same result, to have made
him of many species, all admitting of indefinite, or nearly indefinite hy-
bridization in direct opposition to a grand prhiciple elsewhere recog-
nized in the organic kingdoms. It would have been using a process
that produces impotence or nothing among animals for the perpetua-
tion and progress of the human race.
" There are other ways of aceountiitg for tlic limited productiveness
of the mulatto, witliout appealing to a distinction of species. There aro
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 149
marked diversities of physical structure, we
may recognize instincts which 2iVQ fundamentally
the same, although they may have been modified
in their manifestations by the new circumstances
in which the animals are placed. Take for ex-
ample the case of the dog, every known variety
of which species is remarkable for susceptibiUty
of attachment to man, contrasting in this re-
spect with the most nearly allied species of the
same genus, — the wolf, the fox and the jackal.
It is unnecessary to refer to the kinds and ex-
tent of modification which may be manifested
by the different breeds of dogs in respect to
this fundamental instinct of the entire species,
catiaes, independent of mixture, which are making the Indian to melt
away before the white man, the Sandwich Islander and all savage peo-
ple to sink into tlie ground before the power and energy of higher in-
telligence. They disappear like plants beneath those of stronger root
and growtli. being depressed morally, intellectually, and physically,
contaminated by new vices, tainted variously by foreign disease, and
dwindled in all their hopes and aims and means of progress, through an
oversliadowing race. We have therefore re.nsoi to believe from man'' s fer-
tile intermixture^ that he is one in specie 8 ; and that all organic species are
divine appointments which cannot be obliterated, unless by annihilating
the individuals representing the species." (Bibliotheca S.\cra. Oct.,
1857.)
We hail with lively satisfaction this emphatic expression of the ma-
tured opinions of one whose authority in matters pertaining to the phi-
losophy of natural history is second to that of no livmg votary of science.
150 THE UNITY OF
since they are familiar to the most superficial ob-
server. Here, then, is an instance of identity
of psychical traits, proving a specific identity,
among varieties so diversified in physical struc-
ture as to suggest the idea of many different
species. In like manner, the most proximate
species are often recognized as distinct by the
diversity of their psychical constitution. "It
would not be easy to point out two species of
animals confessedly distinct, which are more
similar in their form and structure than the
African and Asiatic elephants. Now the psy-
chical qualities of these tribes differ. The Afri-
can elephant, though partially tamed in ancient
times for the purposes of warfare, has never
been known to display that docile understand-
ing and gentle temper which are so remarkable
in the elephants of India, and particularly in
those of Ceylon. The ox kind, and the bison
and buffalo, are species nearly allied, though
perhaps not so closely related as the different
tribes of elephants. Similar differences in re-
gard to psychical endowments exist between
these animals. One of the species above men-
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 151
tioned is among the most subdued slaves and
immemorial com|)anions of mankind ; the others
are but imperfectly tamable by any means that
have been devised.'''^'
In applying this test to the question of the re-
lationship among the various tribes of mankind,
it must be confessed that first impressions are
adverse to the doctrine of specific identity, if
this require a sameness of mental endowments.
Thus the careful and candid writer, whom we
have just quoted, draws the following contrast :
'' Let us imagine, for a moment, a stranger from
another planet to visit our globe, and to con-
template and compare the manners of its in-
habitants, and let him first witness some bril-
liant spectacle in one of the liighly civilized
countries of Europe, — the coronation of a
monarch, the installation of St. Louis on the
throne of his ancestors, surrounded by an
august assembly of peers and barons, and
mitred abbots, anointed by the cruse of sacred
oil, brought by an angel to ratify the divine
privilege of kings ; let the same person be
• Pricbard. Physical Ili.storv of Mankiiid. Vol.1.
152 THE UNITY OF
carried into a hamlet of Negro land, in the hour
when the sable race recreate themselves with
dancing and barbarous music ; let him then be
transported to the saline plains, over which
bold and tawny Mongols roam, differing but
little in hue from the yellow soil of their
steppes, brightened by the saffron flowers of the
tulip and the iris ; let him be placed near the
solitary den of the Bushman, where the lean
and hungry savage crouches in silence like the
beast of prey, watching with fixed eyes the
creatures which enter his pit-fall, or the insects
and reptiles which chance brings within his
grasp ; let the traveller be carried into the midst
rof an Australian forest, where the squalid com-
panions of kangaroos may be seen crawling in
procession, in imitation of quadrupeds : can it
be supposed that such a person would conclude
the various groups of beings whom he had sur-
veyed to be of one nature, one tribe, or the
offspring of the same original stock ? It is
much more probable that he would arrive at
an opposite conclusion.'"''
* Priehard. Natural History of Man.
THE HUMAN S P t: C I E S . 153
Prof. Draper, quoting the above lines, per-
tinently remarks that "much would depend on
the previous training of the illustrious stran-
ger. If his mind had been imbued with a bet-
ter philosophy than that which prevails in this,
our lower world, he might look with an equal eye
on the transitory fashions before him, and pen-
etrate to the first principles of things through
the false glare of pomp, or through debasement
and degradation, and so arrive at a conclusion
precisely the opposite of the foregoing, in the
same manner as Dr. Prichard himself.
Beneath the feathers in the one case and the
leaves in the other, he might discern the same
ruling idea and detect the same human nature ;
or if his vision could reach into the past, and
recall the credulous Greek worshipping before
the exquisitely perfect statues of the deities of
his country, beseeching them for sunshine or
for rain, and then turn to the savage Amaiman,
who commences his fast b}^ taking a vomit, and
for want of a better goddess, adores a dried
cow's tail, imploring it for all earthly goods —
again the same principle would emerge, only
154 THE UNITY OF
illustrated by the circumstance that the savage
is more thorough, more earnest in his work.
In fact, wherever we look man is the same.''*
Dr. Prichard illustrates the same general
proposition by numerous examples, of which
we can cite but a single one. He is describing
the rehgious system of the Esquimaux : "It
seems, on the whole, that the future state of the
old pagan Esquimaux or Greenlanders was in a
great measure a state of retribution, of rewards
and punishments. Happiness and misery were
at least not dispensed with indifterence to merit
and demerit. Torngarsuk is the chief of spir-
its, dwelling in his happy subterranean man-
sion. His mother or wife is a mischievous
being. This Proserpine of the north lives in a
great house under the ocean, where by magic
spells she can detain all the animals of the sea.
In the oil-jar under her lamps, sea-birds swim
about. Her throne is guarded by rampant
seals, or defended by a great dog, who never
sleeps but the twinkling of an C3'c. So many
curious traits occur in the description of this
* J. W. Dnippr. Op cit. P. 570.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 155
infernal goddess and her abode, which recall
the Proserpine of classical mythology, and the
Pattala of the Hindoos, and the subterranean
scenes of enchantment among the Arabs, that
we might well be inclined to derive these fables
from a common source, if the resemblance be-
tween them was not better accounted for by
referring it to the common laws of the human
mind, and to the tendency of the imagination
to create similar fictions with reference to par-
ticular subjects, and under the influence of cor-
responding feelings and impressions. But this
brings out so much the stronger a proof, that
the mind is the same in different countries and
in different races of men."*
Our limits forbid us to follow this learned
and reliable authority any further in his detailed
analysis of the mental characters of the lower
races. f We can only now add his summary
conclusions. "We contemplate," says he,
" among all the diversified tribes, who are en-
dowed with reason and speech, the same inter-
• Prichard. Physical History of MankiaA Vol. I., p. 190.
f Soo Appendix D.
156 THE UNITY OF
nal feelings, appetencies, aversions ; the same
inward convictions, the same sentiments of
subjection to invisible powers, and, more or less
fully developed, of accountableness or respon-
sibility to unseen avengers of wrong and agents
of retributive justice, from whose tribunal men
cannot even by death escape. We find every-
where the same susceptibility, though not always
in the same degree of forwardness or ripeness
of improvement, of admitting the cultivation of
these universal endowments, of opening the
eyes of the mind to the more clear and luminous
views which Christianity unfolds, of becoming
moulded to the institutions of religion, and of
civilized life : in a word, the same inward and
mental nature is to be recognized in all the
races of men. When we compare this fact
with the observations which have been liereto-
fore fully established as to the specific instincts
and separate psj'chical endowments of all the
distinct tribes of sentient beings in the universe,
we are entitled to draw confidently the conclu-
sion, that all human races are of one species
and one family.''*
*J. C. Pricliard. Natural History of Man. London. 1813. P. 545.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 157
If this conclusion appears startling, in view
of the reports given by travellers of those
degraded forms of humanity to be found in
Southern Africa and in Australia, it may, per-
haps, lessen the force of the objection, to point
to parallel cases existing in nearly all the great
cities in the heart of civilized Christendom.
This parallel between the most brutalized sav-
ages and the "dangerous classes*' of our large
cities, was suggested by Dr. Carpenter, in the
Edinburgh, Review for October, 1848, and has
since been extended in his notice of the " Vari-
eties of Mankind,'' to which reference has been
already several times made.
This conformit}^ as to the fundamental ele-
ments of moral nature between the different
races of mankind, is entirely consistent with a
very large degree of div^ersity in moral and in-
tellectual manifestations ; and the extent to
which such a moral and intellectual diversity
may, under the influence of causes common to
a whole people, become the common heritage
of a tribe, and thus ultimately characterize the
158 THE UNITY OF
race, is a legitimate subject of curious, and it
may be, very profitable study,*
The evidence of this close conformity in the
elements of psychical nature among all the
races of men is regarded as so significant of
their "moral brotherhood,'' as to have com-
manded the assent of a large majority of even
that class of naturalists who, like Agassiz, con-
sider these races as distinct in their origin, and
as having been originally marked with the same
physical peculiarities which now characterize
them respectively. "We recognize,'' says this
eminent zoologist, " the fact of the unity of
mankind. It excites a feeling that raises men
to a most elevated sense of their connection
with each other. It is but the reflection of
that divine nature which pervades the whole
being. It is because men feel thus related to
each other, that they acknowledge those obliga-
tions of kindness and moral responsibihty which
rest upon them in their mutual relations.
■* See " Moral and Intellectual Diversity of the Races," by Count
GOBIKEAU. A further notice of this subject will be given in the second
division of this essay.
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 159
Where the rehitionship of blood has ceased, do
we cease to acknowledge that general bond
which unites all men of every nation ? By no
means. This is the bond which every man feels
more and more the farther he advances in his
intellectual and moral culture, and which in
this development is continually placed upon
higher and higher ground, so much so, that the
phj^sical relation arising from a common descent
is finall}'' lost sight of in the consciousness of
higher moral obligations. It is this conscious-
ness which constitutes the true unity of man-
kind.''*
These are noble thoughts, expressed in elo-
quent words. We cannot, then, but own our
surprise that the distinguished writer has per-
mitted his honored name to appear on the title-
page of a work, the tendency, and we might,
perhaps, without injustice, add, the undisguised
object of which is, to revolutionize the practical
moral convictions of mankind which he has
thus so eloquently vindicated.
So, too, the Westyninster Review (April, 1856),
♦ Christian Kxaminer. B«)<tnii. Jannnrv. ISHO.
160 THEUNITYOF
while advocating the plurality of origin, and
the primeval diversities of the principal types
of men, yet asserts their " strict miity, a unity
manifested physically, intellectually and morally,
a sameness from the beginning in instincts, pro-
pensities, feelings, and faculties, hopes and fears,
and everywhere the like reverent looking up-
wards to a great unseen Cause, and constant
adumbration of a future heritage."
We might now, we think, reasonably chal-
lenge the assent of our readers to the doctrine of
the unity of the human species ; but inasmuch
as that doctrine has been assailed of late from
quarters of attack not yet noticed, we propose,
in the second division of our subject, to ex-
amine the grounds on which Prof. Agassiz, while
recognizing the "unity of mankind,'' yet con-
tends for primordial diversities of type. We
hope to show that the very grounds on which
natural zoological provinces are established,
suffice to refute the idea of a multiple origin for
identical species, and that there is no difficulty
in accounting for the actual distribution of man
over the face of tlie earth by natural agencies,
THE HUMAN SPECIES. 1 Gl
while the theory of Agassiz involves the idea of
a needless repetition of the miracle of creation.
Inasmuch, too, as he is the most conspicuous
assailant of the argument in favor of the com-
mon origin of mankind, derived from a con-
sideration of linguistic affinities, we shall attempt
to vindicate the validity of the philological proofs
of such origin, and after again adverting to the
actual moral and intellectual diversities of the
races, shall aim to show that while the too ex-
clusive contemplation of these admitted diversi-
ties is apt to give the mind a bias in favor of
the doctrine of the primeval distinctions of
races, and while on a few points the only avail-
able evidence in refutation of such an assump-
tion may appear indirect or incomplete, yet
when the entire argument is viewed with refer-
ence to the mutual dependence of its several
branches, and the obvious convergence of its
separate lines, it will be found to lead to the
necessary conclusion that all the varieties of
man must have sprung from a common parent-
age as well as own a common nature.
Part II
COMMON PARENTAGE
OF THE
HITMAN RACES
C1.33]
COMMON PARENTAGE
OF THE
HUMAN RACES.
CHAPTER I.
PLURAL OR SINGLE ORIGIN OF IDENTICAL SPECIES AMONG
PLANTS AND ANIMALS.
In the former part of our argument we stated
at some length the evidence in favor of the
specific unit}^ of the various races of mankind,
and showed, as we cannot but think, that this
doctrine, supported as it is by many indepen-
dent hues of argument all converging to this
necessary conclusion, could no longer be consid-
ered doubtful. Now in accordance with the
idea involved in the definition of species as laid
down by most philosophical and trustworthy nat-
uralists, it has commonly been held that all the
166 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
varieties of identical species must have sprung
from a common ancestry. Thus Dr. Prichard,
throughout his admirable writings, treats of spe-
cific unity as tantamount to that of community
of descent, and uses the terms interchangeabl}^
But we are free to admit that the proof of orig-
inal descent is an inference from observed facts
rather than a necessary deduction from the doc-
trine of unity of species. If mankind belong
to several species, the question is, of course, set-
tled in favor of plurality of origin ; but the
converse of the proposition does not follow of
necessity. It is at least conceivable that in-
stead of a single pair God may have formed any
number of first men and women who were yet
as specifically identical as if they had been born
of the same parents. This question has been
discussed with much earnestness by Prof. Agas-
siz, who has repeatedly given expression, in lan-
guage as decided as it is eloquent, to his con-
firmed belief in the " Unity of Mankind."
Thus, in 1845, he declared: "There exists, then,
a real difference between the inhabitants of the
different continents, and the remarkable coinci-
THE HUMAN RACES. 1G7
dence which we have pointed out between their
primitive distribution and the circumscription
of the faunae in the same continents, is a suffi-
cient indication that their diversity may be
traced upwards to the same primordial cause.
But while this diversity has the same origin, has
it also the same significance in man as among
animals ? Evidently not. And here again the
superiority of the human race and its greater
independence in nature are revealed. Whilst
animals are of distinct species in the different
zoological provinces to which they belong, man,
notwithstanding the diversity of his races, con-
stitutes a single, identical species (une seule et
meme espece) over the whole surface of the globe.
In this respect, as in so many others, man ap-
pears to us an exceptional being in this crea-
tion, of which he is at once the object and the
end."*
But while thus distinctly insisting upon the
specific unity of the races, he yet contended
* Notice sar la Geographic des Animaux. L. Agassiz. Revue
Suisse. 1845. Quoted by Dr. Bachman in the Charleston Medical
Jounjal Review, fur Jul v. 1855.
168 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
that the pecuharities of physical conformation
observed among them, and certain facts con-
nected with their geographical distribution,
were not explicable on the hypothesis of a
common origin, and that they required us to
suppose that " men were created in nations,"
distributed over the face of the earth as we
now find them distributed, after setting aside
the known migrations of a few races. These
several nations, however, were composed of in-
dividuals possessing the same essential nature
wherever they were created, but had that na-
ture modified to some extent in accordance with
the special conditions in which each nation was
destined to exist. Of late, Prof. Agassiz, in
his " Sketch of the Natural Provinces of the
Animal World, and their relation to the differ-
ent Types of Man, "has altered the phraseolo-
gy in which he enunciates his propositions. He
now adopts Dr. Morton's definition of species
as " a primordial organic form,'' and according-
ly, he must recognize his primeval types of
mankind as so many distinct species ; but the
difference respects rather the use of terms than
' T H E H U M A N R A C E S . 160
any change of opinion as to facts. He still
contends foi' the "Unity of Mankind," main-
taining that a strict unity as to moral nature,
involving, therefore, the idea of a moral broth-
erhood of all the races, is yet consistent with
the idea of specific diversity according to the
sense in which he now uses the word species,
as applicable to all primordial types.
We notice this apparent discrepancy between
the early and later utterances of Prof. Agas-
siz on this question, with no desire to convict
him of a want of consistency with himself. We
abhor that species of argumentum ad hominem
which aims to discredit the actual opinions of
an opponent by raking up his earlier, and it
might be, his less matured views on the same
subject. But in point of fact, we do not con-
sider that in the present case there is any sub-
stantial difference between the opinions an-
nounced in 1845, and those promulgated in 1853.
We have thought proper to quote the former,
because we consider that they are expressed in
language which conforms to common usage,
while the latter are involv^ed hi some confusion,
8
170 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
owing to the ambiguity of the terms in which
they are couched. For while his recent state-
ment asserts in terms the doctrine of multiple
species, it admits the unity of essential nature
for all the so-called human species, which is
tantamount to specific unity in the sense in
which the term is commonly used. It is worthy
of notice in this connection, that since the
earlier enunciation of Prof. Agassiz' peculiar
opinions, Sir Charles Lyell, and that eminent
zoologist, the late Prof. Edward Forbes, had
presented cognat considerations in opposition
to the theory of multiple origins for the differ-
ent varieties of an identical species. We
cannot help suspecting that this f\ict had some
weight with Prof. Agassiz, however uncon-
sciously on his part, in inducing him to make
the modification referred to, whereby, under
cover of an ambiguity in the terms, he seem-
ingly avoids the force of their convincing ar-
guments. That he has not completely shifted
his ground, appears from a remark let fall by
him at the regular meeting of the Boston
Society of Natural History, held July 2, 1856,
THE HUMAN RACES. 171
as reported in the " Proceedings," Yolume YI.,
page 8.
" Dr. Storer asked what was the northern
geographical limit of Cistudo Uandiiigii. In
1842 he presented to the Society a specimen
from Bradford, Massachusetts, until which time
it had not been observed by naturalists north
of South Carolina.
"Prof. Agassiz replied that he had found
the eggs in Massachusetts, and raised the ani-
mal from them. There is no evidence of its
existence between Massachusetts and Illinois,
where it is again found. It has a circle of dis-
tribution in the north-western States, and
another disconnected range in Massachusetts.
He fhi?iks the animal maij have originated in the
tioo different localities ^ Here the Professor
recognizes identity of species in individuals
of different origin, because, we presume, of
an identity in type. So, too, he asserts a di-
versity of origin for different nations of man-
kind, even where they exhibit the same physi-
cal type. For while he attempts to demon-
strate the existence of eight distinct types of
172 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
man, which, notwithstanding their admitted
''close unity" and "moral brotherhood," he
now designates as so many separate species, he
further contends for an indefinite number of
distinct creations of men and wonien within the
limits of one and the same type. It is this last
proposition which we shall now discuss. So far
as specific diversity is ascribed to the human
races m any other sense than that which by a con-
ventional use attaches to the assumption of sepa-
rate origins, we consider that we have sufficiently
refuted the doctrine in our former article.
In considering the positive grounds on which
Prof. Agassiz relies to support the doctrine of
a plural origin of mankind, we notice, in the
first place, that which seems to have most in-
fluence in giving a bias to his mind in relation
to this subject, — namely, the alleged analogy
of the inferior animals. He maintains that
there is an otherwise inexplicable "coincidence
between the circumscription of the races of
man and the natural limits of different zoologi-
cal provinces characterized by peculiar distinct
species of animals." The existence of such
THE HUMAN RACES. 173
natural limits for many species is, indeed, un-
deniable, and the fact had not escaped the
attention of philosophical naturalists of the last
century. "It is an undoubted fact," says Buf-
fon, " that when America was first discovered,
its indigenous quadrupeds were all dissimilar
to those previously known in the old world.
The elephant, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus,
the camelopard, the camel, the dromedary, the
buflalo, the horse, the ass, the lion, the tiger,
the apes, the baboon, and a number of other
mammalia, were nowhere to be met with on
the new continent ; while in the old, the Amer-
ican species, of the same great class, were no-
where to be seen — the tapir, the lama, the
pecari, the jaguar, the cougar, the agouti, the
paca, the coati, and the slolh." The contem-
plation of such facts soon led to the induction
of a general law respecting the geographical
distribution of animals and plants, — namely,
"the limitation of groups of distinct beings to
regions separated from the rest of the globe by
certain natural barriers." " It will be observed,"
says Lyell, in quoting these statements of Buf-
174 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
foil, "that this language respecting 'natural
barriers/ which has since been so popular,
would be wholly without meaning, if the geo-
graphical distribution of organic beings had not
led naturalists to adopt very generally the
doctrine of specific centres, or in other words, to
believe that each species, whether of plant or
animal, originated in a single birth-place. Re-
ject this view, and the fact that not a single
native quadruj)ed is common to Australia, the
Cape of Good Hope,, and South America, can
in noways be explained by adverting to the
wide extent of intervening ocean, or to the
sterile deserts, or the great heat or cold of the
climates, through which such species must have
passed, before it could migrate from one of
those distant reo;ions to another. It mioht
fairly be asked of one who talked of impassable
barriers, why the same kangaroos, rhinoceroses,
or lamas, should not have been created simid-
taneously in Australia, Africa, and South Amer-
ica? The horse, the ox, and the dog, although
foreign to these countries until introduced by
men, are now able to support themselves tliero
THE HUMAN RACES. 175
in a wild state ; and we can scarcely doubt that
many of the quadrupeds at present peculiar to
Australia, Africa, and South America, might
have been continued in like manner to inhabit
each of the three continents, had they been
indigenous, or could they once have got a foot-
ing there as new colonists."*
It has been already mentioned that Prof.
Agassiz, in his earlier writings on this subject,
while he admitted the fact of the circumscription
of most species within certain natural barriers,
and thereby identified the different zoological
provinces, yet contended that there were also
numerous instances of identical species being-
found in more than one province and thus sep-
arated by a wide extent of intervening water,
or else of land impassable for such species by
reason of its climate or sterility. Upon such
facts he mainly relied as an analogical argument
in favor of his doctrine of the multiple origin
of a single human species. About the same
time Prof. Edward Forbes was zealously en-
gaged in investigating the laws of the geograph-
* LyoU. Op cit.. p 608.
176 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
ical distribution of organic beings, and contrib-
uted to the " Memoirs of the Geological Survey
of G-reat Britain" an elaborate and well-consid-
ered paper " On the connection between the
Distribution of the Existing Fauna and Flora
of the British Isles, and the Geological Changes
which have effected their Area, especially during
the epoch of the jN'orthern Drift." In this
paper it is clearly shown :
" 1st. That species of opposite hemispheres,
placed under similar conditions, are representa-
tive and not identical.
" 2d. Species occupying similar conditions in
geological formations far apart, and which con-
ditions are not met with in the intermediate
formations, are representative and not identical.
" 3d. Wherever a given assemblage of condi-
tions, to which, and to which only, certain spe-
cies are adapted, are continuous, whether geo-
graphically or geologically, identical species
range throughout."
He then argues that these facts " go far to
prove " the doctrine of the relationship of all
the individuals composing a species, and their
THE HUMAN RACES. 177
consequent descent from a single progenitor,
or from two, according as the sexes might be
united or distinct. Adverting to the notorious
fact that the doctrine of the pkiral origin of
identical species sprang out of apparent anom-
alies and difficulties in distribution, he proceeds
to show how these may be reasonably accounted
for, without having recourse to such a supposi-
tion. "There are three modes by which an
isolated area may become peopled by animals
and plants : 1st. By special creation within that
area. 2d. By transport to it. 3d. By migra-
tion before isolation.'' He clearly proves that
where identical species are found in different
localities under such circumstances as to pre-
clude the idea of transport from one to the
others, such outlying spots were once parts of
a continuous area, the whole of which exhibited
the conditions required for the support of the
species in question, and that owing to subse-
quent geological changes, such as the substitu-
tion of land for water or water for land, or
simply climatal changes, detached spots became
isolated from the rest. This will be rendered
8*
178 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
more intelligible by an example. " We have
in the mountain districts of Scotland, England
and Wales, a considerable flora and a portion
of our fauna, which cannot be traced to the
migration of animals and plants over the great
Germanic. plain, which accounts for the major
part of our British species, seeing that they
are not inhabitants of the ancient west of
Europe, but of Scandinavia. How did they
come ? The Alpine character of most of them
forbids us by any stretch of probability to con-
duct them across the Germanic plain from its
most northern bound We have
seen that the great Germanic and central British
plains themselves were portions of the elevated
bed of a preexisting sea, which sea, when we
trace its relics, is found to have covered a great
part of the British Isles as now exposed, so that
during its existence our mountains must have
been comparatively low islands. This was the
sea of the Glacial period, properly so called,
when the climate of the whole Northern and
part of Central Europe was verj- different from
what it is now, and far colder. The remains
T II E II U M A N R A C E S . 179
of the marine animals found in the strata de-
posited in lliat sea indubitably prove this fact,
and, as will ba seen presently, the flora of its
islands as full}^ bears out such climatal evidence.
This was the epoch of glaciers and icebergs, of
boulders and groovings and scratches. It ex-
hibited conditions, physical and zoological, sim-
ilar, indeed nearly identical, to those now to be
met with on the north-eastern coast of America,
within the line of the summer floating ice. . . .
Now it was during this epoch that Scotland
and Wales, and part of Ireland, then groups
of lands in this ice-bound sea, received their
Alpine Flora and a small portion of their fauna.
Plants of sub-arctic character would then flour-
ish to the water's edge, but when a new state
of things commenced, when the bed of the
glacial sea was upheaved, its islands converted
into mountains, its climate changed, and a suit-
able population of animals and vegetables dif-
fused over its area, the plants of the colder
epoch survived only on the mountainous regions
which had been so elevated as therefore to re-
tain climatal conditions similar to those which
180 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
had existed when those regions were low ridges
or islands in a glacial sea."
Having stated with great clearness and pre-
cision many other similar cases, Prof. Forbes
sums up the whole in this abstract proposition :
^^The specific identity, to any extent, of the flora
and fauna of one area with those of another,
depends on both areas forming or having formed
part of the same specific centre, or on their hav-
ing derived their animal and vegetable population
by transmission, through migration over continu-
ous or closely contiguous land, aided, in the case
of Alpine Floras, by transportation on floating
masses of ice.'''''''
* The interesting fact, thus brought to h"ght, of a ^cestward j^royre^s of
the great mass of British animals and plants, over a then unbroken land
(the upheaved bed of the glacial sea), from the central Germanic plains,
furnishes a satisfoctory explanation of the peculiar poverty' of the fauna
of Ireland. For '• the accurate calculations of the late Mr. Thompson, of
Belfast. conc:M-uing the reptile statistics of Ireland, England and Belgium,
respectively, have succeeded in showing, with much presumptive reason,
how the formation of St. George's Channel, he/ore that of the German
Ocea:i, interrupted the march of these wanderers to the far West, and
debarred an immense proportion of them from an entr}' into Ireland, —
which would otherwise have colonized that country equally with Eng-
land." (WOLl..\STON'. Variation r;f Species, p. 136.)
This last named writer, while endorsing the general .statement of
Prof Forbes with respect to the existence of reprctenUtive species, ex-
presses the conviction that the doctrine of representation has been too
much relied upon ; aud that where beings of a nearhj identical aspect
THE HUMAN RACES. I8l
About the date of the publication of this
paper by Forbes, Prof. Agassiz was maintain-
ing the doctrine of the radiation of identical
species from several distinct centres. Thus in
the Principles of Zoology by Agassiz and Gould,
published a little later, we find the following
statement : " There is only one way to account
for the distribution of animals as we find, them ;
namely, to suppose that they are autochthonoi ;
that is to say, that they originated like plants
on the soil where they are found. In order to
explain the particular distribution of many ani-
mals, we are even led to admit that they must
have been created at several points of the same
zone, as we must infer from the distribution of
aquatic animals, especially that of fishes. If
we examine the fishes of the different rivers of
the United States, peculiar species will be found
in each basin, associated with others which are
common to several basins. Thus, the Dela-
are detected in opposite divisions of ihe earth, it is more often tlie case
that members of them have been transported at a remote period (just
as Forbes explains the case of vlentkal species being found in detached
spots), and have become gradually altered by the circumstances in
which they liave been placed, than tljat the respective phases were
produced in situ on patterns almost coincident. (lb. p. 183.)
182 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
ware river contains species not found in the
Hudson. But, on the other hand, the pickerel
is found in both. N^ow, if all animals originated
at one point, and from a single stock, the pick-
erel must have passed from the Delaware to the
Hudson, or vice versa, which it cauld only have
done by passing along the sea-shore, or by
leaping over large spaces of terra firma ; that
is to say, in both cases it would be necessary to
do violence to its organization. Now such a
supposition is in direct opposition to the immu-
tability of the laws of nature. . . . Even man,
although a cosmopolite, is subject, in a certain
sense, to this law of limitation. While he is
everywhere the one identical species, yet several
races, marked by certain peculiarities of fea-
tures, are recognized." * Now, however, hav-
ing become satisfied, in view perhaps of the
facts cited by Prof. Forbes, that the species in
the different provinces are not identical, he
shifts his position a little, and no longer holds
that the human races are ''everywhere of one
* Principles of Zoology. By L. Agassiz and A. A. Gould. Boston,
1848. P. ISO.
T II E H U M A N R A C E S . 183
identical species," but doubtless regards them
as ' representative,^ — and yet, as we have already
said, the difference is more in the use of terms
than a substantial one ; for he still avers that
his actual opinions "do not conflict with the
idea of the unity of mankind," and "that the
moral question of brotherhood is not affected
by these views." Again, in 1850, he main-
tained the unity of mankind with great earnest-
ness, and held "that the phijsical relation aris-
ing from a common descent is finally lost sight
of in the consciousness of higher moral obliga-
tions, which consciousness constitutes the true
unity of mankind. . . . We can therefore take
it as a matter of fact, that, as we find men ac-
tually living together in the world, it is not the
physical relation which establishes the closest
connection between them, but that higher rela-
tion arising from the intellectual constitution of
man ."* Unless, therefore, he now attaches more
weight to slight physical differences in the dis-
crimination of species than to intellectual and
moral characteristics, in direct contravention of
* Christian Examiner, Boston, 1850.
184 C 0 jM M 0 N PARENTAGE OF
the principles so eloquently expounded in the
passages just cited, and equally in conflict, as
it appears to us, with the spirit and true mean-
ing of the maxim announced in the chapter of
his "Principles of Zoology," headed "Intelli-
gence and Instinct," where it is said that "the
constancy of species is a phenomenon depending
on the immaterial nature," * we must hold that
his present opinions, though announced in a
somewhat modified phraseology, are substan-
tially the same as when, in 1848, he asserted that
"man is everywhere the one identical species ;"
and so holding, we consider that his doctrine of
more than one birthplace for this one identical
species is discredited by the striking facts and
cogent reasoning of Prof. Forbes, whose admira-
* In another passage of the same Avork this idea is brought out more
distinct!}'. On page 9 of the first edition, or page — of the editiou
1858, we find the following words: "Besides the distinction to be de-
rived from the varied structures of organs there are others less subject
to rigid analysis, but no less decisive, to be drawn from the immaterial
principle with which every animal is endowed. It is this u-hich determines
the constancy of species from generation to generation, and which is the .source
of all the varied exhibitions of instinct and intelligence which we see
displayed, from the simple impulse to receive the food which is brought
within their reach, as observed in the polyps, through the higher mani-
festations, in the cunning fox, the sagacious elephant, the faithful dog,
and the exalted intellect of man, which is capable of indefinite expan-
sion." For continuation of this note, see Appendix E.
THE HUMAN RACES. 185
ble paper in the work already cited, '^' we would
earnestly commend to tl>e attention of those
who feel an interest in this question. Certain
it is that this learned and talented naturalist
has conclusively shown that the analogy of infe-
rior animals and plants is altogether adverse to
the hypothesis of a plural origin of identical
species. We consider, therefore, that we might
fairly rest our case on this incontrovertible ar-
gument of Prof. Forbes ; but, in view of the fact
that Agassiz has attempted to evade its force
by substituting "representative" for ''identi-
cal" species, we propose to notice some of the
special statements in his "Sketch of the Natural
Provinces of the Animal World."
His first statement is, "that the boundaries
within which the different natural combinations
of animals are known to be circumscribed upon
the surface of the earth, coincide with the
natural range of distinct types of man." We
might well take exception to this statement, as
taking for granted a material point which has
not been fully demonstrated. It has not been
® Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. London, 1846.
186 CO:, PARENTAGEOF
proved, nor, in our opinion, can it be proved,
that there is any fixed relation between distinct
types of men and definitely circumscribed re-
gions.
But not to insist upon this obvious fallacy, let
us inquire a little more closel}^ into the facts
which are relied upon to make out the alleged
analogy. In the first place, we contend that
the division of the earth's surface into eight
" great zoological realms," each subdivided into
a number of subordinate faunae, as set forth in
the "Sketch," is purely arbitrary, so far, at
least, as the precise limits of most of the realms
are concerned. And this, it should be observed,
is a point of great significance, since the argu-
ment which we criticise consists in an alleged
coincidence between these limits and the natural
range of distinct types of man. Now if these
limits be indeterminable, the asserted coinci-
dence cannot be established, and the argument
falls to the ground. Accordingly it will be found,
that in several instances the limits of the zoolo-
gical provinces have evidently been assigned in
view of the range of certain types of mankind
T H E II U M A N R A C E S . 187
supposed to be definitely ascertained, and assumed
to be coincident with the boundaries of the prov-
inces. Thus a part of the doctrine which re-
quired independent proof is quietly assumed,
and then made use of to prove the rest. On
what other ground than the recognition of the
unity of type among all the American Indian
tribes, and the consequent necessity of admitting
for them a very extensive " natural range," can
there be a plausible pretext for assigning to one
zoological province the whole of the American
Continent, save only the Arctic realm, which lies
north of the isothermal line of 32" F.? No other
reason can be given that will not invalidate the
limits of most of his great realms, that will not,
for example, require us to include the Arctic
region in the same category with the whole of
North America. For while we grant that a
largo majority of the species found in his Arctic
realm are peculiar to it, it is undeniable that a
very considerable number range through the
Northern States of our Union, and not a few
extend even to the Gulf of Mexico, ^e shall
cite a number of examples, for which we are
188 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
indebted to Dr. Bachman, the leading authority
in all matters respecting the mammalian depart-
ment of American zoology. " The common
wolf {Canis lupus) exists in this same Arctic
realm, and has been found as far north as the
foot of man has trodden. It crosses Behring
Straits on the ice, while the natives have been
but recently seen crossing it in canoes. It is
found in Kamtschatka, the Kurille Islands,
Japan and China. It inhabits the whole of the
Russian Empire, Tartary, Austria, France,
Germany, Italy, and, indeed, the whole of Eu-
rope down to the tropics. It exists in America,
from the furthest north, through Labrador and
Canada — in the whole United States — in Ore-
gon and California. It is common in Texas ;
is noticed in Captain Sitgreaves' expedition, as
existing in N'ew Mexico ; it ranges down to the
Isthmus of Panama, and how much further to
the south we are not informed. The ermine is
another species, existing in the Arctic realm,
which Prof. Agassiz has omitted to notice. It
exists in every part of Europe where the wolf
is found, and also throughout tlie whole of Asia
THE HUMAN RACES. 189
north of the tropics." "In America it ranges
from the most northern limit attained by Frank-
lin, Lyon, and Parry, to Mexico and California."
" This extensive range of two of the most
common species found in his Arctic realm, will
cover all the ground assigned by Prof. Agassiz
to every tribe, form of skull, and shade of
color, in his Arctic, Mongol, European, and
American realms. Thus, if his doctrine of the
diversity of human species could be found true,
it would appear that man, endued with intelli-
gence, possessing powers of invention, fond of
navigation, omnivorous in his appetites, rest-
less and migratory in his habits of locomotion,
and subjecting the lower animals to his will, is
restricted to a narrower range than the wolf,
the ermine, and many others that might be
named."*
But our main object in citing these examples
of a wide range of certain species, forming a
part of the Arctic fauna, was to demonstrate
the purely arbitrary principles on which definite
* J. B.-ichman, D. D., in Charleston Medical Journal and Review.
July, 1855, p. 494.
190 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
limits have been assigned to the so-called Arctic
realm. Prof. Agassiz determines those limits
by observing the natm^al range of a few species
of animals and plants arbitrarily selected out of
the entire fauna and flora, when a different
selection would have totally changed the whole
aspect of the case. "We have just seen how it
is with the wolf and the ermine, both belonging
to his Arctic realm, and both passing widely
beyond the arbitrary southern boundary, the
isotherme of 32° F. But numerous other
species may be named, whose ranges utterly
invalidate the boundaries of this so-called
natural zoological province. The beaver, for-
merly existing all over the United States, and
still found over Oregon and California, in New
Mexico, in Canada, and Labrador, is an exam-
ple. It is also preserved in Russia, Norwa}^,
and Sweden, though nearly extinct in other
parts of Europe, where it formerly abounded
until destroyed by hunters. Another instance
is that of the otter, which ranges over the
whole of North and South America, " from
pole to pole." Other species, existing in the
THE HUMAN RACES. 191
Arctic regions, and yet ranging far beyond the
limits assigned to the Arctic realm of Prof.
Agassiz, are the wolverine, the musk-rat, and
the mink, among the mammalia ; the snow-
goose, the Canada crane, the golden plover, the
red phalarope, the raven, the great horned owl,
and many other birds, and a large number of
plants. The very plant selected by Prof. Agas-
siz as characterizing his Arctic realm, the rein-
deer moss, has a very extensive range in Asia,
Europe, and America, having been found as far
south as Virginia, and even in South Carolina.*
Now the learned Professor himself admits as
many as thirteen distinct faunae in his great
American realm. We are at a loss to conceive
why these faunae should be associated into one
great zoological province, from which the Arctic
i^xuna is excluded, seeing that so many of the
species found in the latter range so extensively
through the regions assigned to the former. Is
it not apparent that the arrangement was forced
upon him by the necessities of his system ? He
considered the Esquimaux as representing one
• Ibid.
192 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
primordial t3^pe of man, and the various tribes
of American Indians as another ; he had, there-
fore, to make two zoological realms in correspon-
dence with the range of these two types of man.
Now we must insist that it is a glaring perversion
of the simplest rules of logic to think of establish-
ing, by such a procedure as this, the proposition
that " the boundaries within which the different
natural combinations of animals are known to
be circumscribed upon the surface of our earth,
coincide with the natural range of distinct types
of man." After all, it turns out that the
boundaries are wholly arbitrary, and the prov-
inces are constructed with the express view of
being made to " coincide '' with the range, real
or assumed, of the distinct types of man.
But again, when Prof. Agassiz avers " that
the laws which regulate the diversity of animals
and their distribution upon the earth apply
equally to man, within the same limits and in
the same degree ^^'' he surely overlooked numerous
facts which can by no means be made to har-
monize with this theory. Some of these are
stated with so much pertinency and force by
THE HUMAN RACES. 193
Dr. Bacbman, that we shall borrow his lan-
guage : '' Prof. Agassiz has rather too positive-
ly conjectured that his Arctic man had been
created in the snow-clad, cold, and dreary cli-
mate in which he now resides — that he was an
autochthon there, and that his progenitors
never possessed a southern home. We contend
this to be an utter impossibilit}-, from the
organization of the Esquimaux or any other
variety of man ; the artificial means by which
he must supply himself with food, clothing, and
a shelter, and the intensity of cold against
which he must necessarily be jDrotected.'' He
then, in illustration of this point, makes copious
extracts, of which we give a few specimens,
from Richardson's " Arctic Expedition in search
of Sir John Franklin." " The Esquimaux
wintering on the coast are in darkness at mid-
winter ; the reindeer and musk-oxen have then
retreated, and fish cannot, at that season, be
procured in their waters ; life^ therefore, can
only he maintained in an Esquimaux wiyiter by
stores provided in summery^ Dr. Bachman
* J. Bachman, D. D. Op , cit. p. 502.
9
194 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
justly contends that it is not in the range of
probabihty or even of possibiHty, without a
succession of miracles, such as we have no right
to look for, — save the miracle of man's first
creation, — for the Arctic man, had he been
created there, to have survived a single winter
or even a single month. Even at the present
day, with all the advantages which have been
derived from ages of experience, transmitted
from generation to generation ; with bows and
arrows to slay the musk-ox and reindeer ; with
harpoons for the whale, and spears for the
seal ; with houses already erected, and clothing
manufactured, we are told if the tribe has
been improvident, or the seal fails to make his
appearance at the mouth of his hole in the ice,
or no whale is captured or driven ashore to
supply his lamp, so essential to afford him
warmth and light, the inhabitants of whole
villages perish from cold and famine."*
In like manner Dr. Pickering argues, that
** the species of organic beings allotted to the
various regions of the globe have in no in-
* lb., p. 506. See, also, Ur. Kane's Arctic Explorations: passim.
THE HUMAN RACES. 195
stance been modified by climate or by other
external circumstances ; but each has been orig-
inally fitted, in structure and constitution, pre-
cisely to the station in which it is naturally
found. In a district exposed to extremes,
whether of heat, cold, moisture, or aridity, the
indigenous animal or plant has the means of
avoiding them, or else is protected against
them in its outer covering ; purposes accom-
plished in various modes, some of which are
sufficiently familiar. It will follow that if Eu-
rope were the proper home of the white man,
he would be born with natural clothing ; with,
at least, some inherent provision securing the
maintenance of life without aid from art. Man
then does not belong to cold and variable cli-
mates ; his original birth-place has been in a re-
gion of perpetual summer, where the unprotected
skin bears without suffering the slight fluctua-
tions of temperature. He is, i?i fact, essentially
a production of the tropics, and there has been a
time when the human family had not strayed be-
yond these geographical limi 5.'''"
* C. I'lCKFRiXG. M. D. races of Man, etc.
CHAPTER II.
EVIDENCE OF COMMUNITY OF DESCENT DERIVED FROM
LINGtnSTIO AFFINITIES.
We have thus seen that the analogy of other
animals furnishes no argument against the doc-
trine of a single birthplace for the human races
since the difference in the circumstances de-
stroys the force of the analogy. We are now
prepared to go further, and to show that the
new doctrine is itself utterly irreconcilable with
some of the best established facts in modern
science. We proceed to indicate a few out of
very many striking facts and inductions fur-
nished by the study of comparative Philology.
The universality of spoken language, and es-
pecially the existence of terms in every lan-
guage expressive of abstract ideas and relations,
have been justly regarded as pregnant tokens
of the intellectual nature of all the varieties of
[190]
THE HUMAN RACES. 197
man. And when we find in the tongues of dif-
ferent tribes the same words to express the
same ideas, and similar grammatical construc-
tions— we cannot avoid the conclusion that they
must have had a common origin. Of course,
such a fact did not escape the attention of the
advocates of the new theory : let us see how
they have attempted to get over it. In an ar-
ticle published by Prof. Agassiz, in 1850, in the
Christian Examiner^ of Boston, we find the fol-
lowing passage, which has since been cited by
Nott and Gliddon with an air of triumph, as an
" admirable expression of new and most inter-
esting views on the natural origin of speech :"
'* As for languages, their common structure,
and even the analogy in the sounds of different
languages, far from indicating a derivation of
one from another, seems to us rather the neces-
sary result of that similarity in the organs of
speech which causes them naturally to produce
the same sound. Who would now deny that it
is as natural for men to speak as it is for a dog
to bark, for an ass" to bray, for a lion to roar,
for a wolf to howl, when we see that no na-
198 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
tions are so barbarous, so deprived of all hu-
man character, as to be unable to express in
language their desires, their fears, their hopes?
And if a unity of language, any analogy in sound
and structure between the languages of the
white races, indicate a closer connection between
the different nations of that race, would not the
difference which has been observed in the struc-
ture of the languages of the wild races —
would not the power the American Indians
have naturally to utter gutturals which the
white man can hardly imitate, afford additional
evidence that these races did not originate from
a common stock, but are only closely allied as
men, endowed equally with the same intel-
lectual powers, the same organs of speech, the
same sympathies, only developed in slightly dif-
ferent ways in the different races, precisely as
we observe the fact between closely allied spe-
cies of the same genus among birds ?
"There is no ornithologist who ever watched
the natural habits of birds and their notes, who
has not been surprised at the similarity of into-
nation of the notes of closely allied species,
THE HUMAN RACES. 199
and the greater difference between the notes of
birds belonging to different genera and fami-
lies The cry of birds of prey is ahke unpleas-
ant and rough in all; the song of all the
thrushes is equally sweet and harmonious, and
modulated upon similar rhythms, and combined
in similar melodies ; the chit of all titmice is
loquacious and hard ; the quack of the duck
is alike nasal in all. But who ever thought
that the robin learned his melody from the
mocking-bird, or the mocking-bird from any
other species of thrush ? Who ever fancied
that the field crow learned his cawing from the
raven or the jack-daw ? Certainlj^ no one at
all acquainted with the natural history of birds.
And why sRould it be different with men ?
Why should not the different races of men have
originally spoken distinct languages, as they do
at present, differing in the same proportions as
their organs of speech are variously modified ?
And why should not these modifications in their
turn be indicative of primitive differences
among them ? It were giving up all induction,
all power of arguing from sound premises.
200 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
if the force of such evidence were to be de-
nied.''
But surely it cannot be necessary to point
out the obvious fallacy of such analogical rea-
soning as this. We admit that inarticulate
cries are as " natural" to man as to other
mammalians, and that a certain degree of simi-
larity in the intonation of these sounds would
not of itself indicate more than a generic affin-
ity between the different classes of individuals
giving utterance to them. We also admit that
there is a special adaptation of man's vocal ap-
paratus for the formation of articulate sounds,
but we deny that there is any satisfactory
proof that the adjustment is of such a kind as
to lead to a natural and untaught manifestation
of the power of using speech as a sign of
thought, or to account for the universality
of the phenomenon on the supposition that the
races had separate origins. If, then, the alle-
gations in the passage just cited respecting the
identity or close affinity of the notes of diffi^rent
species of the same family were undeniable
(Dr. Bachman proves to our satisfaction that
THE HUMAN RACES. 201
they are very far from being so),* the fact
would avail nothing in this controversy, since
it is not the identity of intonation, nor the
power of making similar articulate sounds, but
the common agreement in making, by a purely
arbitrary system, certain sounds to represent
the same ideas, which identifies the human
races as scions from a common stock.
And then the argument of Prof. Agassiz
proves too much. If it accounts for the agree-
ment in certain directions, it gains this appar-
ent advantage only at the cost of leaving us
the difficult, nay, impossible task, of accounting
for differences which according to his theory
ought not to exist. It is true that Agassiz
seems to have anticipated this objection, and
that he has set it aside in the most summary
way, alleging, as we have seen, that the lan-
guages of the different races differ in the same
proportions as their organs of speech are va-
riously modified ! If the Professor means to
aver, as many persons unacquainted with Hu-
* J. Bachm.vn, D. D. Charleston Medical Journal and Review, No-
vember, 1854, p. 798.
202 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
man Anatomy have been induced by the peru-
sal of his remarks on this subject to beheve,
that the vocal organs of men of different races
are characterized by appreciable differences of
structure, we* would respectfully ask, by whom
have the observations been made which sub-
stantiate the fact and demonstrate a constant
relation between such peculiarities of structure
and the languages spoken by different races ?
That the habitual employment from infancy
of a certain class of sounds belonging to the
native language of a people will be attended by
an appropriate state of the vocal apparatus dif-
fering from that induced by the habitual use of
a distinct class of sounds, we are free to ad-
mit ; but surely Prof. Agassiz cannot seriously
think that any such structural modifications of
the vocal organs peculiar to races are any more
persistent than other acquired peculiarities due
to systematic culture. That such structural
peculiarities of the vocal apparatus in the dif-
ferent races of man are not permanent, and
therefore not in the least " indicative of primi-
tive differences among them,'- we confidently
THE HUMAN RACES. 203
assert, and we cannot but be surprised that
Prof. Agassiz should have giv^en expression,,
even in the heat of argument while defending a
theory, to a statement so entirely unsupported
by facts.
Other advocates of the plural origin of man
have assailed the unity-doctrine as maintained
by all the best comparative philologists from a
different point of attack. The Westminster Re-
vietv, for April, 1856, in a notice of the '' Types
of Mankind," quotes the opinions of Crawford,
author of a " History of the Indian Archipel-
ago," in opposition to the carefully digested
views of the late Baron William Humboldt,
who, in his celebrated " Analysis of the Kawi
Language," demonstrated the unity of the
tongues of the numerous types of mankind
now generally designated as the Malayo-Poly-
nesian races.
"The object," says the reviewer, "of Mr.
Crawfurd's elaborate inquiry, which is con-
ducted with great judgment and care, as well
as learning, is the refutation of this hypothesis.
In the openino- of his labors, the author points
204 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
out that language is neither a test of race, nor
invariably identical with race, and that there is
no indication of such supposed parent lan-
guage or people in the regions referred to. Mr.
Crawfurd differs fundamentally from the Ger-
man philologers, as to the number and kind of
words to be selected as tests of a common
tongue. Baron William Humboldt contented
himself with a vocabulary of one hundred and
thirty-four words, the synonyms of which lie
traced through nine languages, four out of
which were Polynesian dialects, for the basis
of his colossal hypothesis. The terms express-
ing the first and simplest ideas of mankind, are
those, our author considers, from the familiar-
ity and frequency of the ideas they express, to
be the most amenable to adoption. The per-
sonal pronouns are equally objectionable tests,
' as they are the most interchangeable of all
classes of words.' And the numerals must be
excluded from earl}^ invented words, as they
imply social advancement, and are the most
likely words to be adopted by savages. The
words chosen by ou.r author, as tests of a unity
THE H U 31 A N RACES. 205
of languages, are those indispensable to their
structure, without which they cannot be spoken
or written — ' the prepositions, which ;:"epresent
the cases of languages of complex structure ;
and the auxiliaries which represent times and
moods.' 'After as careful an examination as I
have been able to make of the many languages
involved in the present inquiry, and duly con-
sidering the physical and geographical charac-
ter of the wide field over which they are
spoken, with the social condition of its various
inhabitants, I have come to the conclusion that
the words w^hicli are common to so many
tongues, have been chiefly derived from the
languages of the most civilized and adven-
turous nations of the Archipelago — the Malays
and Javanese people very nearly allied. In
truth, these Malays are the maritime and com-
mercial people of the great Indian and Pacific
oceans, who have penetrated everywhere for
ages, who are known as traders and marauders
in New-Guinea and Xew-Caledonia, as well as
all intermediate islands, and whose enterprise
and daring scarcely acknowledge any limits.
206 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
And it is words from their language which
have been introduced into all the others : fre-
quently, it must be acknowledged, to express
ideas entirely new to the people who have
adopted them, Malay, therefore, is the great
common element pervading, in various degrees,
all the languages spoken in the vast regions we .
have described, whose introduction is nearly as
easy to understand as it is to account for the
English terms in the native languages of North
America, Australia, or other countries to which
English commerce and colonization have ex-
tended.' ''*
We have quoted the foregoing remarks both
because we desire to present a fair statement
of the argument of our opponents, and because
they serve to show that the extraordinary doc-
trine of Prof. Agassiz on the natural analogies
of languages is not relied upon even by those
who agree with him in believing that the races
of men are of distinct origins. Mr. Crawford
and the Westminster reviewer grant that ver-
bal coincidences, if properly chosen, may be
* Westminster Review, April, 185G, p. 207.
THE HUMAN RACES. 207
tests of unity, the main difference between them
and the great lights of comparative philology
having respect to the particular kind of words
whose occurrence in several different languages
would indicate the unity or common origin of
the latter. We have just seen what are the
pecuhar views of Mr. Crawfurd as indorsed by
the reviewer. We think it a significant fact,
as serving to indicate the bias under w^hich, it
is probable, the views of Mr. Crawfurd were
formed, that he lays great stress upon "the
phj^sical and geographical character of the wide
field over which they (the languages of the
Malayo-Polynesian races) are spoken.'' In a
word, it is apparent that he had formed an
opinion as to the diversity of races inhabiting
"the wide field'' of the Indian Archipelago,
prior to his inquiries into the value of linguistic
affinities, and thus that his views on this latter
topic, at variance ns they are in many important
respects with those of the most reliable philol-
ogists of the age, were determined by circum-
stances wliich denoted a fores^one conclusion.
We do not charge any unf\iirness in this. It
208 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
was perfectly legitimate to consider " the pli3^si-
cal and geographical character of the wide field
over which the languages were spoken and the
social condition of its various inhabitants," in
investigating the source of the verbal coinci-
dences detected in so many languages ; but we
are fully satisfied that his mind received a
wrong bias from the exaggerated estimate he
formed of the difficulties in tlie way of accept-
ing the doctrine of the niiity of these races,
presented by the wideness of the field over
which they were dispersed in isolated islands,
some of which were separated from the rest by
hundreds of miles of ocean ; and that under
the influence of this prejudice he set about
seeking for some other explanation of the ver-
bal coincidences in their languages than that
which rests upon a belief in their common
origin ; although, with singular inconsistency,
he finally adopts an explanation which supposes
precisely that very dispersion of one race, the
presumed impossibility of which has led to the
rejection of the doctrine of a common origin,
and had given rise to the imtenable hypothesis
THE HUMAN RACES. 209
of each subordinate race being an autochthon
of the special area within which it was mainly
circumscribed.
From the almost contemptuous way in which
the Westminster reviewer speaks of Baron W.
Humboldt, one would suppose that this great
scholar had actually no other basis for his " co-
lossal hypothesis," as the reviewer terms it, of
the unity of the Malayo - Polynesian dialects,
than the discovery of the synonyms of one hun-
dred and thirty-four words in nine languages,
words, too, of a character the most reliable to
be adopted from abroad. Now let us hear what
a competent and trustworthy judge has pro-
nounced with reference to this very work of
the great philologist : " By a rare combination
of philosophical thought,'' saj^s the Chevalier
BuNSEN, himself standing in the very front rank
of tlie comparative philologists of the age,
"philological accuracy, and of linguistic re-
search, a method had been established for ana-
lyzing a given language, and detecting its affin-
ities with another of the same family. By this
process, in the Semitic, and still more in Ja-
210 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
phetic languages, the general observations of
preceding philosophers on the characteristics
and the relative advantages or imperfections of
the languages of mankind had become entirel}'
obsolete, being partly incomplete and partly
erroneous, and all inaccurate, scientifically
speaking. The great desideratum, then, was,
that more accurate reflections should be made
on those points by an eminent philosophical
mind, with a full knowledge of all the modern
discoveries. This want has been supplied in an
admirable manner by the immortal posthumous
work of William von Humboldt, the introduc-
tion to his analysis of the Kawi language. The
title of this introduction is, ' On the Diversity
of the Constructions of Human Language, and
its Influence on the Intellectual Development
of Mankind.' Beginning with the simplest ele-
ments of speech, the illustrious author gradu-
ally proceeds to the construction of a sentence,
as the expression of intellect and thought," etc.
"The researches of this work belong to the
calculus siiblimis of Linguistic theor\\ It places
Wilhelm von Humboldt's name in universal
THE HUMAN RACES. 211
comparative ethnologic philology by the side of
that of Leibnitz.''*
Let us now inquire what is the kind of words
usually adopted, as tests of a unity of tongues,
by the most careful and profound philologists,
and so summarily rejected by Mr. Crawfurd and
the Westminster reviewer. It will be seen
that the Humboldts, the Bunsens, the Mlillers,
and others who are the acknowledged heads in
this department of ethnological inquiry, have
by no means ignored the influence on languages
resulting from the frequent or occasional inter-
course of the races by which they were respec-
tively spoken.
Thus, Dr. Prichard, in one of the latest pro-
ductions from his pen, — an elaborate " Report
on the various methods of research which con-
tribute to the advancement of Ethnology, and
of the relations of that science to other branches
of knowledge ; read before the British Scien-
tific Association in 1847," — expressly notices,
and appreciates at its true value, the influence
* Report of the Britis^Ii Association for tlie Advancement of Science,
1847, pp. 163-4.
212 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
of commercial and other kinds of intercourse
in introducing words from one tongue into
another ; and it is onlj^ where the circumstances
exclude this explanation that another interpre-
tation is put upon peculiar verbal coincidences.
" Glottology," which, though an uncouth word,
he considers a better expression than "Philol-
ogy," as this latter has also another signification,
"may be regarded almost as a new department
of knowledge, since, although long ago sketched
out and pursued to a certain extent, it has been
wonderfully augmented in recent times ; and it
is only through its later development that it
comes to have any extensive relations with
ethnology. Leibnitz is generally considered to
have been its originator. The Adelungs, Yater,
Klaproth, Frederick Schlegel, Bopp, and Jacob
Grimm, have been among its most successful
cultivators ; and lastly, to WilUam von Humboldt
it owes its greatest extension and the character
of a profound philosophical investigation. But
it is not in this light that we liave now to con-
sider the results of philological researches. It
is as an auxiliary to history, and as serving in
THE HUMAN RACES. 213
many instances to extend, combine, and confirm
historical evidence respecting the origin and
afi&nities of particular nations, that the compari-
son of languages contributes to the advancement
of ethnology. If ever we venture on the testi-
mony of such relationship between languages as
giving proof of ancient kindred between na-
tions, it must be when historical considerations
render the conclusion in itself probable, or indi-
cate that it affords the most natural explanation
of the phenomena observed. Great caution is
requisite in drawing inferences of this kind,
since we cannot always conclude that nations he-
long to the same race from resemhlance or identity
in their speech. We know that conquests fol-
lowed by permanent subjugation have caused
the people of some countries to lose their own
languages and adopt those of their conquerors.
The intercourse of traffic between different
countries, the introduction of a new religion
and new habits of life, especially when rude
and barbarous tribes have been brought into
near connection with civilized ones, have given
rise to great modifications in many languages.
214 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
It is only when we have good reason to believe
that the resemblances between the idioms of
any particular nations have arisen from no sim-
ilar causes, that we are justified in founding on
such phenomena an argument in favor of their
affinity in descent. The reasons which may de-
termine us to entertain this opinion may be of
two kinds ] they may either arise from a con-
sideration of the local position and previous his-
tory of the tribes of people who are the subjects
of our inquiry, or they may turn on the particu-
lar sort of resemblance or analogy discovered in
their languages.
"In the first place, if we learn from history
that any two nations have been remotely sepa-
rated from each other from a very distant age,
and have never been brought into intercourse,
we may hence argue that the marks of resem-
blance discovered in their languages can bear
no other explanation than that of unity of de-
scent. On this ground ive infer ivithout doubt
the common origin of the Polynesian Islanders
and that of the Greeks, and Germans, and the
Arian race of Hindustan. Secondly, phenomena
THE HUMAN RACES. 215
are discoverable in languages themselves, which
enable us to determine whether traits of resem-
blance detected in their comparison were pro-
duced by intercourse between nations, or arose
in the gradual development of their languages,
and thus prove a common origin in the tribes
of people to which these languages belong.
Analogies from which this last inference rnmj he
fairly drawn have in many instances been de-
tected between languages which have acquired
in the lapse of time such differences, that one
dialect was unintelligible to people who spoke
another idiom of the same stock. The follow-
ing observations will perhaps explain as briefly
as possible the principles which have either been
expressed or followed tacitly by philologists who
have entered upon such inquiries.
"It is the prevalent opinion of philologists
that the most extensive relations between lan-
guages and those which are the least liable to
be effaced by time and foreign intercourse, are
the fundamental laws of construction both in
words and sentences. Grammatical construc-
tion, or the rules which govern the relations of
216 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
words in sentences, appears to be very enduring
and constant, since a similar construction prevails
through whole classes of languages which have
few words ifi common, though they appear origi-
nally to have had more. But beyond this there
is a cognate character in words themselves,
which sometimes pervades the entire vocabulary
of a whole family of languages, the words being
formed in the same manner and according to
the same artificial rule. This may be exempli-
fied in the monosyllabic structure of the Chinese
and Indo-Chinese languages, and by the prin-
ciple of the vocalic harmony pervading the lan-
guages of High- Asia, and perhaps by the dis-
syllabic structure of roots in the Syro- Arabian
languages. Of grammatical analogy or simi-
larity in the laws of construction of words iu
sentences, including the rules of inflection, we
have examples in the languages of the aborigi-
nal American nations, but perhaps the most
remarkable specimen is to be found in the
grammatical system of the Indo-European lan-
guages." *
* Ecport of the British Association for the Advanccineut of Science,
for 1847, pp. '2;J0. t'tO.
THE HUMAN RACES. 217
He then proceeds to point out the
particular classes of words which resem-
ble each other in languages of a common
origin, and to show that they are gener-
ally different in kind from those which
one nation borrows from its neighbors. For
*' even where one people has derived from
another a considerable proportion of its entire
stock of words, there generally remains an
indigenous or aboriginal vocabulary, or, if I may
use the expression, a homebred speech, consist-
ing of such words as children learn in early
infancy, and in the first development of their
faculties. This domestic vocabulary consists of
the words of first necessity, such as those denot-
ing family relations, ' father, ' 'mother,' 'child,'
* brother,' ' sister ;' secondly, words denoting
various parts of the body ; thirdly, names of
material and visible objects and the elements
of nature, the heavenly bodies, etc.; fourthly,
names of domestic animals ; fifthly, verbs ex-
pressive of universal bodil}^ acts, such as, ' eat,'
'drink,' 'sleep,' 'walk,' 'talk,' etc.; sixthly,
personal pronouns, which are found to be among
• 10
218 C 0 M M O N 1' A R E N T A G E OF
the most durable parts of a language ; seventhly,
numerals, especially the first ten, or at least the
first five, for many nations appear to have bor-
rowed the second five in the decade. As no
human family was ever without its stock of such
words, and as they are never changed within
the narrow domestic circle for other and strange
words, they are almost indestructible possessions,
and it is almost only among tribes who have
been broken up and enslaved, so that the family
relations have been destroyed, that this domes-
tic language can have been wholly lost. Tribes
and families separated from each other have
been known to have preserved such similar
words for thousands of years in a degree of
purity that admitted of an easy recognition of
this sign' of a common origin."
It will be observed that Mr. Crawfurd and the
Westminster Review are directly at issue with the
great body of modern philologists, whose opin-
ions are represented in the report of Dr. Prichard,
as to the kind of words which are least likel}^
to be effaced by time and foreign intercourse.
Let it also be observed that the principles an-
THE HUMAN RACES. 219
nounced by the former are purely gratuitous
and assumed to meet a case, while those so
perspicuously expounded by Dr. Prichard result
from a rigorous induction based on a most
careful study of all the known languages of
man.
On this point, and incidentally on the general
question of the unity of races, we have the
weighty testimony of the most illustrious of liv-
ing savans, Baron Alexander von Humboldt.
"Languages compared together and consid-
ered as objects of the natural history of the mind,
and when separated into families according to
the analogies existing in their internal structure,
have become a rich source of historical knowl-
edge ; and this is probably one of the most
brilliant results of modern study in the last
sixty or seventy years. From the very fact of
their being products of the intellectual force of
mankind, they lead us, by means of the elements
of their organism, into an obscure distance, un-
reached by traditionary records. The compara-
tive study of languages shows us that races now
separated by vast tracts of land, arc allied to-
220 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
gether, and have migrated 'from one common
primitive seat ; it indicates the course and direc-
tion of all migrations, and, in tracing the leading
epoch of developments it recognizes, by means
of the more or less changed structure of the lan-
guage, in the permanence of certain forms, or in
the more or less advanced distinction of the
formative system, which race has retained most
nearly the language common to all who bad
migrated from the general seat of origin."
" The largest field for such investigations
into the ancient condition of language, and con-
sequently into the period when the whole fam-
ily of mankind was, in the strict sense of the
word, to be regarded as one living whole, pre-
sents itself in the long chain of Indo-Germanic
languages, extending from the Ganges to the
Iberian extremity of Europe, and from Sicily to
the North Cape."
"From these considerations and the exam-
ples by which they have been illustrated, the
comparative study of languages appears an im-
portant rational means of assistance by which
scientific and genuinely philological investiga-
THE HUMAN RACES. 221
tion may lead to a generalization of views re-
garding the affinity of races, and their conjec-
tural extension in various directions from one
common point of radiation ^"^
We add, on account of its striking and pop-
ular style of illustration, the testimony of an-
other eminent scholar of Germany, Dr. Max
MiiLLER, who has successfully investigated the
relations of the languages of India. " The evi-
dence of language,'' says this competent wit-
ness, " is irrefragable, and it is the only evi-
dence worth listening to, with regard to ante-
historical periods. It would have been next to
impossible to discover any traces of relationship
between the swarthy nations of India and their
conquerors, whether Alexander or Clive, but
for the testimony borne by language. What
authority would have been strong enough to
persuade the Grecian army that their gods and
their hero ancestors were the same as those of
King Porus, or to convince the English soldier
that the same dark blood was running in his
veins and in those of the dark Bengalee ? And
• Cosmos, otto's Translation, Vol. II.. pp. ill, 112.
222 CO M M 0 N PARENTAGE OF
yet there is not an English jury nowadays
which, after examining the hoar}^ documents of
language, would reject the claim of a common
descent and a legitimate relationship between
Hindu, Greek, and Teuton. Many words still
live in India and in England that have wit-
nessed the first separation of the northern and
southern members of the Arian famil}^ ; and
these are witnesses not to be shaken by any
cross-examination. The terms for God, for
house, for father, mother, son, daughter, for
dog and cow, for heart and tears, for axe and
tree — identical in all the European idioms — are
like the watch-words of soldiers. We challenge
the seeming stranger ; and whether he answer
with the lips of a Greek, a German, or an In-
dian, we recognize him as one of ourselves.
Though the historian may shake his head,
though the physiologist may doubt, and the poet
scorn the idea, all must yield before the fact
furnished by language."*
* We are indebted to an able article in the Southern Quarterly Re-
viein, for January, 1855. for tlie above extract from the writings of
Dr. Max Mm Her, to none of which have we had direct access, except
a lecture delivere'd before the British Scientific Association, in 1847,
THE HUMAN RACES. 223
The valuable and interesting essay by the
Chevalier Bunsen, to which reference has been
made, contains numerous other passages which
it would give us satisfaction to lay before our
readers, but we must content ourselves with a
few selections. The paper referred to is an
elaborate " Report,'^ read before the Ethno-
logical section of the British Association for the
Advancement of Science, at Oxford, in June,
1847, '* On the Results of the recent Egyptian
Researches, in reference to Asiatic and Afri-
can Ethnology, and the Classification of Lan-
guages.'
Referring to the forms, formative words and
inflexions of the Egyptian language, in their
natural order and connection, and to the
"Egyptian roots which can be proved to have
formed the heirloom of that nation, as tliey
occur in monuments not more recent than the
time of Moses, and in great part anterior to
him by a thousand years and more," Bunsen
says : " It is impossible to look on those forms
" On the Relations of the Bengali to the Arian and Aboriginal Lan-
guages of India."
224 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
and on those roots, with even a superficial
knowledge of the Semitic and Indo-Germanic
languages, and not to perceive that the Egyp-
tian language is no more a Hebrew than a Sans-
crit dialect, but that it possesses an affinity
with each of them, such as compels us to ask
the question, whether it is a more ancient for-
mation than either or no ? This question be-
comes the more interesting and important,
when it must be considered as demonstrated
that such an affinity cannot be explained by
mere internal analogy ; that, on the contrary,
it is historical in the strictest sense of the
word, — namely, physical^ or original. I mean
that the affinity alluded to cannot rationall}' be
explained by a real or supposed general analogy
of languages, as the expressions of human
thought or feeling, nor by the later influence
of other nations and tongues. Now the
Egyptian name of Egypt is Chemi, the land of
Cham, which in Egyptian means black. Can
we, then, have really found in Egypt the
scientific and historical meaning of Cham, as
one of the tripartite divisions of post-diKivian
THE HUMAN RACES. 226
humanity ? The Egyptian language attests a
unity of blood with the great Aramaic tribes of
Asia, whose languages have been comprised by
scholars under the general expression of Se-
mitic, or the languages of the family of Shem.
It is equally connected by identity of origin
with those still more numerous and illustrious
tribes which occupy now the greatest part of
Europe, and may, perhaps, alone or with other
families, have a right to be called the family of
Japhet. I mean that great family to which
the Germanic nations belong, as well as the
Greeks and Romans, the Indians and Persians,
the Sclavonic and the Celtic tribes, and which
are now generally called by some the Indo-
Germanic, by others the Indo-European na-
tions."
" I take it for granted that the facts to which
I allude bear out the consequence I deduce
from them ; I mean, the assertion that the
affinity of the Egyptian forms and roots with
those of the Semitic and Indo-Germanic lan-
guages, is one which can no more be explained
by the general similarity existing, or supposed
226 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
to exist between different languages, than
that between German and Scandinavian, be-
tween Greek and Roman, between Gothic and
Sanscrit, which is disputed by nobody who has a
right to speak on these subjects. I glory in be-
longing to a school which rejects altogether
tho^e etymological dreams and conjectures,
those loose comparisons of languages, or rather
of words, caught at random, which made the
etymologies of the seventeenth century the
laughing-stock of the eighteenth. By its very
principle, the critical school admits of no claim
to historical affinity between different lan-
guages, unless this affinity be shown to rest
upon definite laws, upon substantial analogy,
established by a complete examination of the
materials. That school de7nands the strictest
proof that these affinities are neither accidental
nor merely ideal, but essential ; that they arc not
the work of extraneous intrusio7i, but i?idigenous,
as ru7ining through the whole original texture of
the languages, compared according to a traceable
rule of analogy. The very method of this criti-
cal school excludes the possibility of accideyital or
THE H U M AN RACES. 227
mere ideal analogies being taken for proofs of a
common historical descent of different tribes or
nations J'
"It was Lepsius who, in his most acute
essay, ' On the Egyptian Numerals,' first show-
ed the deeply-rooted radical analogy which the
ancient roots of the language of Egypt bear on
the one side to the Indo-Germanic family, on
the other to the Semitic.'*
This is the identical Lepsius with whom the
authors of " Types of Mankind" corresponded
by letter, and on whose name they continually
ring the changes, whenever they wish to ex-
hibit his views on Egyptian chronology in con-
trast with the Hebrew chronology as interpreted
by Usher, Hales, etc. Well may Bunsen add :
" That the strict historical connection be-
tween the language of Egypt and those of the
Semitic and Iranian tribes is no longer a matter
of controversy among those who have studied
these languages according to the principles of
the critical school."
"The theories about the origin of language
have followed those about the origin of thought.
228 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
and have shared their fate. The materiahsts
have never been able to show the possibiUty of
the first step. They attempt to veil their ina-
bility by the easy but fruitless assumption of an
infinite space of time, destined to explain the
gradual development of animals into men ; as
if millions of years could supply the vrant of
the agent necessary for the first movement, for
the first step in the line of progress ! No num-
bers can effect a logical impossibility. How,
indeed, could reason spring out of a state
which is destitute of reason ? How can speech,
the expression of thought, develop itself in a
year, or in millions of years, out of unarticu-
lated sounds, which express feelings of pleasure,
pain, and appetite ?"
" We disclaim the savage as the prototype of
natural, original man. For linguistic inquiry
shows that the languages of savages are de-
graded, decaying fragments of nobler forma-
tions. The language of the Bushman is a de-
graded Hottentot language, and this language
is likely to be only a depravation of the noble
Kafre tongue."
THE HUMAN RACES. 229
In a well-considered train of reflection, he
points out the almost inevitable consequences
of an original diversity of languages, and con-
trasting this imaginary state with the actual
facts as exhibited by the results of researches
in comparative philology, argues with irresisti-
ble force against the theory of any such original
diversity.
" On the supposition of this original diversi-
ty, the different languages, however analogous
they might be as the produce of the working of
the same human mind on the same outward
world by the same organic means, would never-
theless offer scarcely any affinity to each other in
the skill displayed in their formation, and in the
mode of it ; but their very roots, full or empty
ones, and all their words, must needs be en-
tirely different. There may be some similar
expressions in those inarticulate bursts of feel-
ings, not reacted upon by the mind, which the
grammarians call interjections. There are, be-
sides, some graphic imitations of external
sounds, called onamatopoetica, words the forma-
tion of which indicates the relatively greatest
230 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
passivity of the mind. There may be, besides,
some casual coincidences in real words ; but
the law of combination applied to the elements
of sound gives a mathematical proof that, with
all allowances, that chance is less than one in a
million for the same combination of sounds sig-
nifying the same precise object.* . . . Now,
referring to what we have already stated, as the
result of the most accurate linguistic inquiries,
such a coincidence does exist between three
great families, spreading from the north of Eu-
rope to the tropic lands of Asia and Africa. It
* Dr. Young applied the mathematical test of the calculus of proba-
bilities to the inquiry, " what number of words found to resemble one
another in different languages will warrant Our concluding them to be
of common origin?"' and arrived at the following results: "Nothing
whatever can be inferred with respect to the relation of any two lan-
guages, from the coincidence of sense of any single word in both of
them : the odds would be three to one against the agreement of any two
words; but if three words appear to be identical, it would be then
more than ten to one that they must bo derived in both cases from some
parent language, or introduced in some other way : six words would
give more than seventeen hundred chances to one, and eiglit, near one
hundred thousand ; so that, in these cases the evidence would be little
short of absolute certainty. In this way conclusive evidence has been
furnished that the family of American languages has had a common
origin with those of Asia. A lexical comparison lias cstablislicd an
identity in one hundred and seventy words, although this siud\' is yet
in its infancy; and this, relying on the correctness of L'r. Young's
mathematical Cidculation, is an argument wliich cannot be controvert-
ed." (Smvtu. Unity of the Human Races)
T II E II U M A N R A C E S . 231
there exists not only in radical words, but even
in what must appear as the work of an exclu-
sively peculiar coinage, the formative words and
inflexions which pervade the whole structure of
certain families of languages, and are inter-
woven, as it were, with every sentence pro-
nounced in every one of their branches. All
the nations which from the dawn of history to our
days have been the leaders of civilization in Asia,
Europe, and Africa, must consequently have had
one hegiyming. This is the chief lesson which the
knowledge of the Egyptian language teaches ^
In the concluding paragraphs of this interest-
ing Report, the learned author makes a brief
reference to the diilicult problem presented by
the Chinese language ; and after announcing
his unhesitating belief in the existence of a
primitive connection between that and other
formations, ends with these words :
" We flatter ourselves that we have made
good our assertion, that Egyptologic discoveries
are most intimately connected with the great
question of the primeval language and civiliza-
tion of mankind, both in Asia and Africa, and
232 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
that they give a considerable support to the
opinion of the high, but not indefinite antiquity
of human history, and to the hypothesis of the
original unity of mankind, and of a common
origin of all the languages of the globe."
The reader cannot have failed to observe with
what caution and care the conclusions of Bun-
sen have been formed, and how, whenever there
is the least room for doubt, he hesitates to dog-
matize. Since the date of the paper from which
the above extracts are taken, considerable prog-
ress has been made towards a satisfactory dem-
onstration of points in regard to which a more
or less probable statement only could then be
made. For example, Bunsen, availing himself
of the elaborate analysis by Mliller of the " Tu-
ranian" languages, by means of which analysis
all these dialects had been found "to converge
toward the same centre of life," has been ena-
bled to bring the languages of the North Amer-
ican Indians into the same category. "The
linguistic data," he says, "thus furnished, com-
bined with the traditions and customs, and par-
ticularly with the system of nmomonics (first
THE HUMAN RACES. 233
revealed in Schoolcraft's work), enable me to
say that the Asiatic origin of all these tribes is
as fully proved as the unity of family among
themselves.'"'
The unity thus made out for all the families
of the earth, '' is not simply a physical, external
one ; it is that of thought, wisdom, arts, science,
and civilization. By facts still more conclusive
than the succession of strata in geology, com-
parative philology proves what our religious
records postulate, that the civilization of man-
kind is not a patchwork of incoherent frag-
ments, not an inorganic complex of various
courses of development, starting from numerous
beginnings, flowing in isolated beds, and des-
tined only to disappear in order to make room
for other tribes running the same course in mo-
notonous rotation. Far beyond all other docu-
ments, there is preserved in language that sa-
cred tradition of primeval thought and art which
connects all the historical families of mankind,
not only as brethren by descent, but each as the
depository of a phasis of one and the same de-
velopment.'''-'
• Bimsen's " ChriRtiaiiity and Mankind." Vol. IV.. p. 12G.
234 THE H U M AX RACES.
We have thought it best, in the discussion of
the philological aspect of the general subject,
to let philologists speak for themselves, instead
of running the risk of marring the argument
by an analysis of our own, especially in view of
the fact that the papers of Dr. Prichard and the
Chevalier Bunsen, from which our principal ex-
tracts are taken, presented a perspicuous and at
the same time a popular exposition of the prin-
ciples on which the argument should be based,
and that too in so compendious form as to pre-
clude abridgment, except in the way of selecting
extracts.
CHAPTER III.
OBJECTIONS TO THE DOCTRINE OP THE COMMON PARENTAGE
OF THE HUMAN RACES CONSIDERED.
§1-
Difficulties connected with the actual Geographical Dis-
tribution of the Races.
Having shown the insufficiency of Prof. Agas-
siz' arguments in favor of the doctrine of dis-
tinct origins for the typical races of men, and
having in the last chapter indicated the striking
significance of facts derived from comparative
philology in proof of the counter hypothesis
of a common parentage for all human tongues
and races, we now propose to consider some
of the popular objections occasionally raised
against this latter doctrine.
The first of these to which we shall direct our
attention has reference to the existing geograph-
ical distribution of the races, and the adapta-
tion of each indigenous race to its climate and
country. It is held by some to be inconceiv-
[•235J
286 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
able that human beings born in genial climes
should have found any adequate inducement to
select for their permanent home the inhospitable
regions of the frigid zone, or the pestiferous
soil of tropical Africa. It was considered
equally improbable that men ignorant of the
art of navigation should have braved the dan-
gers of the ocean and have succeeded in reach-
ing the shores of America, Australia, and the
numerous and widely-separated islands of the
Pacific. We propose to set aside these objec-
tions to the time-honored doctrine of our fa-
thers respecting the single origin of our race.
We have already shown that observant nat-
uralists have succeeded, to a considerable ex-
tent, in elucidating the laAvs regulating the vari-
ations undergone by species which are very
widely distributed, and which for this very rea-
son are subjected to a great variet}' of external
influences. Setting aside the human races,
" the best authenticated examples of the extent
to which species can be made to vary may be
looked for in the history of domesticated
animals and cultivated plants. It usually hap-
THE HUMAN RACES. 237
pens that those species, both of the animal and
vegetable kingdom, which have the greatest
pliability of organization, those which are most
capable of accommodating themselves to a great
variety of new circumstances, are most service-
able to man. These only can be carried by him
into different climates, and can have their
properties or instincts variously diversified by
differences of nourishment and habits.''*
Now we contend that the undoubted power
possessed by the various races of men and by
the domesticated animals to undergo acclima-
tion in every quarter of the globe, not only
indicates the possibility that the former may
have sprung from a common origin, but, apart
from all other considerations, furnishes a strong
presumption in favor of this conclusion. For,
as our readers will doubtless have inferred from
the remarks of Lyell in the foregoing extract,
it is contrary to the usual course of nature to
multiply congeneric species, among the higher
animal classes, in adaptation to varying exter-
nal conditions, when a single species is endowed
o Lyell's Principles of Geology. 8Ui cd. Lomlon, 1850. P. 561.
238 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
with a latitude of acconmiodaiion to circum-
stances.
This view, as bearing upon the history of
man's dispersion from his original birthplace,
is strengthened by the remarkable fact that the
country usually regarded as the seat of man's
creation, and consequently as the centre whence
all the families of the earth have radiated, is
also " the native country of nearly all the grains,
vegetables, fruits, and animals which have been
transported by man in his wide migrations, and
have supplied him with the comforts and luxu-
ries of life. It is the native country of rice,
wheat, pulse, and the vine, now everywhere in
common use. There, also, nearly all the ani-
mals are found in a wild state which have been
domesticated, and all but the camel have been
carried with him over the whole inhabitable
world. These animals are the ass, goat, sheep,
cow, horse, pig, dog, cat, etc. Those that were
subsequently domesticated were from other
countries, and their origin can be traced with-
out difficulty. '"'•'
* J. Bachman, D. D. On the Unity of the Human Race, etc.
Oharlpstoa. 1850, p. 171.
THE HUMAN RACES. 239
It has been alleged, however, that the na-
tives of tropical and Arctic countries could not
exchange residences without mutual destruc-
tion. We reply, that it will depend on the de-
gree of caution which is observed in undergo-
ing gradual acclimatization. It is freely admit-
ted that neither man nor his faithful companions,
enjoying a like latitude of accommodation to
varying external circumstances, could be safely
transported at once from one climate to its op-
posite extreme. We have adverted in another
connection to the gradual acclimatization, requir-
ing more than one generation for its accomplish-
ment, that took place among the dogs carried
from England into the attenuated atmosphere
of the high table-land of Mexico. A case still
more in point is mentioned by Dr. Bachman,
who says :
" We believe we were the first to attempt to
introduce what is called the Muscovy duck into
the northern part of the State of New York.
These, birds which we had received from the
south, were so sensitive to cold, being natives
of Brazil, that several were frozen to death
240 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
during the first winter, and the remainder were
preserved in a warm room ; their successors,
however, after the third generation, were con-,
stitutionally enabled to hve in the poultry-yard
during the coldest winters. The red fox is
possessed of a decidedly northern constitution,
being found within the Arctic circle. About
forty years ago his farthest southern limit was
Pennsylvania^. A wealthy gentleman residing
on John's island, near Charleston, imported, a
few years ago, from New York, a number of
these foxes, and turned them loose on the
island, where there was an abundance of food,
and where they were left unmolested ; the
transition, however, was too sudden for their
northern constitutions ; they scarcely multiplied,
and in a few years disappeared, hi the mean-
time, however^ a more natural migration and ac-
climatization was in progress. The red fox made
its appearance in the more elevated parts of Vir-
ginia; there it multiplied so rapidly that it has
in certain localities become more common than the
grey fox. The migrations toivards the South
contimied with increasing and imaccountabk
THE HUMAN RACES. 241
rapidity. It was soon after finind in North
Carolina, then in South Carolina, and we ascer-
tained, on a visit to Georgia last summer, that it
was multiplying rapidly, not only in the higher
but middle portions of that State ^'^^
In the same manner the grey fox, Vulpes vir-
ginianus, which is a southern species, has been
slowly migrating northward, until now it is
found in the Canadas.
Why human beings should have ever directed
their wanderings to the regions of perpetual
winter, we do not think it necessary to inquire.
We will, however, venture to remark that, since
the plan of God's wise providence has included
the partial occupation by man of these inhospi-
table, climes, there is no more difficulty in con-
ceiving that He may have effected this by dis-
posing a portion of His rational creatures to
select such a home than there would be in rec-
ognizing His power to create a distinct "type"
of mankind as an autochthon of the soil. In-
deed, the difficulty is far less ; since the former
supposition accords with the ordinary modes of
* J. Bachman. Op. cit.. p. 274.
11
242 COMMON. PARENTAGE OF
God's providential action with respect to His
rational creatures, while the counter hypothesis
involves the idea of an apparently needless re-
petition of the stupendous miracle of creation.
We cannot, therefore, but be surprised that any
well-informed naturalist should cite the case of
the Esquimaux natives of the Arctic realm being-
able to stand out with uncovered heads in the
open air, as a proof that the race was created
in that region. Xor does the other difficulty,
which has been referred to, give us any serious
embarrassment. In the absence of all historical
records of the early migrations of the human
family we can hope to show only how the dis-
persion from a single centre mo.]j have taken
place. The general question of the possibility
of such a dispersion has been treated with mas-
terl}^ ability by Lyell, while Pickering, School-
craft, Lieut. Maury, and others, have exhibited
special facts bearing on the question of the ori-
gin of the aborigines of our continent, and the
route by which they accomplished their transit
from the Eastern to the Western World, — a ques-
tion presenting, we may observe, quite as much
THE HUMAN RACES. 243
dllTiculty as that which refers to the origin of
any other people on the globe.
''In an early stage of society," says Lyell,
" the necessity of hunting acts as a principle of
repulsion, causing men to spread with the
greatest rapidity over a country, until the
whole is covered with scattered settlements.
It has been calculated that eight hundred
acres of hunting-ground produce only as much
food as half an acre of arable land. When
the game has been in a great measure ex-
hausted, and a state of pasturage succeeds,
the several hunter tribes, being already scat-
tered, may multiply in a short time into the
greatest number which the pastoral state is ca-
pable of sustaining. The necessity, says Brand,
thus imposed upon the savage states, of dis-
persing themselves far and wide over the
country, affords a reason why, at a very early
period, the worst parts of the earth may have
been inhabited."*
Having thus indicated the probable deter-
mining cause of man's early migrations, and the
• Lyell. Op. cit., p. 398.
244 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
process by which they were effected, in as far
as regards the peopling of a continuous conti-
nent, he proceeds to point out the methods by
means of which isolated islands and distant
continents may have been reached by wander-
ing tribes :
Cook, Forster, and others, have remarked
that parties of savages in their canoes must
have often lost their way, and must have been
driven on distant shores, where they were forc-
ed to remain, deprived both of the means and
of the requisite intelligence for returning to
their own country. Thus Captain Cook found,
on the island of Wateoo, three inhabitants of
Otaheite, who had been drifted thither in a ca-
noe, although the distance between the two
isles is 550 miles. In 1696, two canoes, con-
taining thirty persons, who had left Ancorso,
were thrown by contrary winds and storms on
the island of Samar, one of the Philippines, at a
distance of 800 miles. In 1721, two canoes,
one of which contained twenty-four, and the
other six persons, men, women, and children,
were drifted from an island called Farroilep to
THE HUMAN RACES. 245
the island of Guaham, one of the Marians, a
distance of 200 miles.
" Kotzebue, wlien investigating the Coral
Tsles of Radack, at the eastern extremity of the
Caroline Isles, become acquainted with a per-
son of the name of Kadu, who was a native of
Ulea, an isle 1500 miles distant, from which he
had been drifted with a party. They drifted
about the open sea for eight months, according
to their reckoning by the moon, making a knot
on a cord at every new moon. Being expert fish-
ermen, they subsisted entirely on the produce of
the sea ; and when the rain fell, laid in as much
fresh water as they had vessels to contain it."
After detailing other well-authenticated facts
of a similar character. Sir Charles Lyell pro-
ceeds to say:
" The space traversed in some of these in-
stances was so great, that similar accidents
might suffice to transport canoes from various
parts of Africa to the shores of South America,
or from Spain to the Azores, and thence to
North America ; so that man, even in a rude
state of society, is liable to be scattered invol-
246 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
untarily by the winds and waves over the globe,
in a manner singularly analogous to that in
which many plants and animals are diffused. We
ought not, then, to wonder that, during the ages
required for some tribes of the human family to
attain that advanced stage of civilization which
empowers the navigator to cross the ocean in all
directions with security, the whole earth should
have become the abode of rude tribes of hun-
ters and fishers. Were the whole of mankind
now cut off, with the exception of one family, in-
habiting the old or new continent, or Austr'alia,
or even some coral islet of the Pacific, we might
expect their descendants, though they should never
become more enlightened than the South-sea Is-
landers or the Esquimaux, to spread in the
course of ages over the whole earth, diffused, partly
by the tendency of population to increase, in a
limited district, beyond the means of subsistence,
and partly by the accidental drifting of canoes,
by tides and currents to distant shores.'^
This conclusion, it will be observed, is the
result of a rigid induction from undeniable facts,
which were not collected with the view of
THE II U M A N n ACES. 247
strengthening opinions previously adopted as a
matter of religious faith ; for, as is well known,
Sir Charles Lyell does not recognize the au-
thority of the Bible in matters of science.
The recent testimony of Lieut. Maury is
strongly corroborative of the views of Sir
Charles Lyell, while, at the same time, it indi-
cates the i^robable origin of our American In-
dians, and the route by w4iich, drifting east-
ward, they reached this western continent.
The testimony is found in the replies of Lieut.
Maury to a series of questions addressed to him
by Mr. Schoolcraft, who introduces them in
his magnificent work, with the following ex-
planatory remarks :
" The tradition of the origin of the empire
(the old Mexican) in bands of adventurers from
the * Seven Caves,' rests upon the best author-
ity we have of the Toltec race, supported by
by the oral opinion of the Aztecs in 1519.* An
examination of it by the lights of modern geo-
• See Report of the British Scientific Association — Dubhn Meeting,
1837. Paper by Rear Admiral Fitz Roy, p. 130. — 'all aboriginal
tribes have been found b}- travellers and the learned to derive their ori-
giu more or less directly from Central Asia."
248 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
graphy, in connection with the nautical theory of
oceanic currents and the fixed courses of the
winds in the Pacific, gives strong testimony in
favor of an early expressed opinion in support
of a migration in high latitudes. It is now
considered probable that those caves were
seated in the Aleutian chain of islands. This
chain connects the continent of Asia and Amer-
ica at the most practicable points ; and it be-
gins precisely opposite to that part of the
Asiatic coast north-east of the Chinese Empire,
and quite above the Japanese group, where we
should expect the Mongolic and Tata hordes to
have been precipitated upon those shores. On
the American side of the trajet, extending
south of the Peninsula of Onalasca, there is
evidence, in the existing dialects of the tribes,
of their being of the same generic group with
the Toltcc stock. By the data brought to light
by Mr. Hale, the Ethnographer to the United
States Exploring Expedition under Captain
Wilkes, and from other reliable sources, the
philological proof is made to be quite apparent.
The peculiar Aztec termination of substantives
THE HUMAN RACES. 249
ill tl, which was noticed at Nootka sound, and
which will be found in the specimens of the
languages of Oregon, furnished by Mr. Wyeth,
are too indicative, in connection with other re-
semblances in sound, and in principles of con-
struction, noticed by Mr. Hale, to be disre-
garded. . . . Lieut. Colonel Charles
Hamilton Smith, of Edinburgh, appears to
have been the first observer to throw out the
idea of the Chichimecs, a rude Mexican people
of the Toltecan lineage, having migrated from
this quarter, taking, however, the word ' caves'
to be a figure denoting a vessel, catamaran, or
canoe ; and not employing it in a literal sense.
Lieut. Maury, U. S. N"., the chief director of the
American Nautical Observatory at Washington,
to whom I transmitted the work, with particu-
lar reference to this chapter, puts a more literal
construction on the tradition of Quetzalcoatl
(respecting the adventurers from the Sev^en
Caves), and brings to bear an amount of mod-
ern observation on the point which it would be
unjust to withhold from the reader."
We give such extracts only, from Mr. Maury's
• 11-
250 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
letter, as bear specifically upon the question
under consideration.
" Colonel Smith had a stronger case than he
imagined. Referring to the Chichimec legend
of the Seven 'Caves/ he conjectures that the
Chichimecs might originally have been Aleu-
tians, and that ' Caves,^ if not denoting islands,
might have referred to canoes.
" The Aleutians of the present day actually
live in caves or subterranean apartments, which
they enter through a hole in the top.
" Those islands grow no wood. For their
canoes, fishing implements, and cave-ho\di uten-
sils, the natives depend upon the drift-wood
which is cast ashore, much of which is camphor
wood. And this, you observe, is another link
in the chain — which is growing quite strong —
of evidence which for years I have been seek-
ing, in confirmation of a " gulf -stream ' near
there, and which runs from the shores of China
over towards our north-west coast. . . . I'll
answer as best I can your several interroga-
tories. 1st. You wish me to state whether, in
my opinion, the Pacific and Polynesian w^aters
T U E HUMAN RACES. 251
could have been navigated in early times — sup-
posing the winds had been then as they now
are — in balsas, floats, and other rude vessels of
early ages.
'*Yes; if you had a supply of provisions,
you could ' run down the trades ' in the Pacific
on a log. There is no part of the world where
nature would tempt a savage man more strong-
ly to launch out upon the open sea with his
bark, however frail. Most of those islands are
surrounded by coral reefs, between which and
the shore the water is as smooth as a mill-pond.
" In reply to your second question, as to the
possibility of long voyages before the invention
of the compass, I answer, that such chajice
voyages were not only possible, but more than
probable. When we take into consideration
the position of North America with regard to
Asia, of Xew Holland with regard to Africa,
with the winds and currents of the ocean, it
would have been more remarkable that America
should not have been peopled from Asia, or
New Holland from Africa, than that they
sljould have been. Captain Ray, of the whale-
252 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
ship Superior, fished two years ago in Behring's
Straits. He saw canoes going from one conti-
nent to the other.
" Besides this channel, there is the ' gulf-
stream,' hke the current already alluded to,
from the shores of China. Along its course
westerly winds are the prevailing winds ; and
we have well-authenticated instances in which
these two agents have brought Japanese mari-
ners in disabled vessels over to the coast of
America.
" Now look at the Indian Ocean, and see
what an immense surface of water is exposed
there to the heat of the torrid zone, without
any escape for it, as it becomes expanded, but
to the south. Accordingly, we have here the
genesis of another ' gulf-stream ' which runs
along the east coast of Africa. The physical
causes at work, were there not some such as
the form of the bottom, the configuration of
the land, opposing currents of cold water, etc..
would give the whole of this current a south-
easterly direction. We know that a part of it,
however, comes into the Atlantic by what is
THE HUMAN RACES. 253
called the Lagullas current. The whales,
whose habits of migration, etc., I am investigat-
ing, indicate clearly enough the presence of a
large body of warm water to the south of New
Holland. This is where the gulf-stream from
the Indian Ocean ought to be ; and there I
confidently expect, when I come to go into that
part of the ocean with the thermometer, as we
are preparing to do with our thermal charts, to
find a warm current coming down from Mada-
gascar and the coast of Africa. There was,
then, in the early days, the Island of Madagas-
car to invite the African out with his canoe, his
raft, or more substantial vessel. There was
this current to bear him along at first at the
rate of nearly, if not quite, one hundred miles
a day, and by the time the current began to
grow weak, it would have borne him into the
regions of westerly winds, which, with the aid
of the current, would finally waft him over to
the southern shores of New Holland. Increas-
ing and multiplying here, he would travel north
to meet the sun, and in the course of time he
would extend himself over to the other islands,
254 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
as Papua and the like. If I recollect aright,
the Gallipagos Islands, though so near the
coast and under line, with a fine soil and cli-
mate, were, when discovered, uninhahited.
Xow, that part of the coast near which the}^
are, is peculiarly liable to calms and baffling
winds, to the distance out to sea of several
hundred miles ; there was no current to drift
nor wind to blow the native from the coast, and
lodge him here When we look at
the Pacific, its islands, the winds and currents,
and consider the facilities there that nature has
provided for drifting savage man with his rude
implements of navigation about, we shall see
that there the inducements held out to him to
try the sea are powerful. With the bread-fruit
and the cocoa-nut — man's natural barrels there
of beef and bread — and the calabash, his natu-
ral water-cask, he had all the stores for a long
voyage already at hand. You will thus per-
ceive the rare facilities which the people of
those shores enjoyed in their rude state for at-
tempting voyages."*
* History, f!ondition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United
States, >y TT. R. Pcitoolcraft, LL D. Pail T , p. 2o.
T U E HUMAN RACES. 255
"Thus," says Mr. Schoolcraft, "we have
traditionary gleams of a foreign origin of the
race of North American Indians from separate
stocks of nations, extending at intervals from
the Arctic Circle to the Valley of Mexico. Dim
as these traditions are, they shed some light on
the thick historical darkness which shrouds that
period. They point decidedly to a foreign — to
an oriental, if not a Shemitic, origin. Such an
origin has from the first been inferred. At
whatever point the investigation has been made,
the eastern hemisphere has been found to con-
tain the physical and mental prototypes of the
race. Language, mythology, religious dogmas
— the very style of architecture, and their cal-
endar, as far as it is developed, point to that
fiuill'ul and central source of human dispersion
and nationalitv.
%/
"It is no necessary consequence, however,
of the principles of dispersion, that it should
have been extended to this continent as the
result of regular design. Design there may in-
deed have been. Asia and Polynesia, and the
Indian Ocean, have abounded, for centuries,
256 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
with every element of national discord. Pesti-
lence or predatory wars have pushed population
over the broadest districts of Persia. India,
China, and all Asia The isles of the sea have
been the nurseries of nations. Half the globe
has been settled by differences of temperature,
oceanic currents, the search of food, thoughtless
adventure, or other forms of what is called
mere accident ; and not proposed migrations.
All these are so many of the ways of Provi-
dence, b}^ which not only the tropical and tem-
perate regions, but the torrid and arctic zones
have been peopled. He must have read history
with a careless eye, who has not perceived the
work of human dispersion to have been pro-
moted by the discords of various races, and the
meteorology of the globe, as affecting its lead-
ing currents of winds and waves.''*
Precisely similar views are expressed by Dr.
Pickering, Ethnologist to the United States
Exploring Expedition, who appropriates a
chapter of his work on the "Races of Men,
* History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the
United States, by H. R. Schoolcraft, LL.D. Part I., pp. 22-24.
THE HUMAN RACES. 257
and their Geographical Distribution," to a
somewhat detailed notice of "Migrations by
Sea." One section of this chapter is headed,
" The North Pacific,''^ and commences with these
words :
"To persons living around the Atlantic
shores, the source of the aboriginal population
of America seems mysterious ; and volumes
have been written upon the subject. Had the
authors themselves made the voyage to the North
Facific, I cannot hut think that much of the dis-
cussion would have been spared y'"^'
Our quotations from Schoolcraft have beeu
extended to such a length that we must forego
the indulgence of a desire to give the testimony
of Dr. Pickering in detail. Let it suffice to say,
that he concurs in the opinions of Schoolcraft
and Maury as to the Eastern origin of the
American Indians, and as to the route by which
they reached this continent on the Pacific coast.f
* Races of Men, and their Geographical Distribution, by C. Picker-
ing, Member of the United States Exploring Expedition. Bohn's
edition, p. 296.
\ Evidences of the temporary sojourn of the Aztecs on the borders
of Lake Superior are believed to have been lately discovered, in local
traditions, and especially in industrial remains disentombed at and near
258 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
It is no disparagement of the high renown
of Prof. Agassiz as a naturaUst to say that, on
such a question, the value of his opinions must
be held to be subordinate to those of thought-
ful travellers, who, having the other qualifica-
tions, have also made '^ the voyage to the North
Pacific," and have thus become cognizant, by
personal observation, of all the data requisite
for the solution of the problem. Sagacious and
philosophical travellers who have pursued this
inquiry are, we believe, nearly unanimous in
their belief of the Mongolian origin of the
American Indian. We wish it to be borne in
mind, that if one part of the system so elabo-
rately constructed by Professor Agassiz be thus
disproved, the whole theory is brought under
suspicion ; and when part after part comes in
like manner to be refuted, the system is, of
the copper mines of that rej^ion. The present Indian inhabitants knew
nothing of the copper till the white men came there, and were aston
ishcd when it was demonstrated that a former race were acquainted
with the mines. Now it is believed that this former and more civilized
race has been identified with the Aztecs, who, having landed on the
north-western shore of North America, settled on the shores of Lake
Superior, until ihoy were pushed forward by tlie more warlike Ojibways,
leavi'.g traces at various points in their progress southward until ihcy
reached Mexico.
THE II r M A N RACES. 259
course, utterly discredited. We may thus, in
replying to the objections urged against the
doctrine of a single origin for the kuman races,
find "an easy way of carrying- the war into Af-
rica ;" but really, it seems needless to add any-
thing to the remarks made in a preceding chap-
ter in noticing the gratuitous character of the
hypothesis to which Prof. Agassiz has given
his sanction.
§ 2.
INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL DIVERSITIES OF RACES.
"The grand problem," according to one of
the authors of ' The Types of Mankind,' " more
particularly interesting to all readers, is that
which involves the common origin of races ;
for upon the latter deduction hang not only
certain religious dogmas, but the more practical
question of the equality and perfectibility of
races. Whether an original diversity of races
be admitted or not, the permanence of existing
physical types will not be questioned by any
archaeologist or naturalist of the present day ;
260 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
nor by such competent arbitrators can the
consequent permanence of moral and intel-
lectual peculiarities of types be denied. The
intellectual man is inseparable from the physical
man ; and the nature of the one cannot be
altered without a corresponding change in the
other."
The same writer, Dr. J. C. Nott, has again
made use of the same argument in the appen-
dix to an American reprint of the interesting
and suggestive essay of Count A. de Gobineau,
on the "Moral and Intellectual Diversity of
Races." He regards "most of Count Gob-
ineau's conclusions as incontrovertible." We
are not prepared to dissent from tliis estimate
of their value ; but we go further, — we adopt
some very important ones which Dr. Nott re-
jects ; for it so happens that this very work
contains a refutation of his views respecting
either a specific distinction or a plural origin
of the races, or, at least, it demonstrates the
entire consistency of all the known f\icts relat-
ing to the intellectual diversities of race with
the idea of their specific unit}- and common
THE HUMAN RACES. 261
descent. Assuming, on grounds which have
been already stated,* that all mankind have
sprung from a common parentage, the author
contends that this fact is not inconsistent with
the idea of permanent differences among the
races, and justifies his position by referring to
the analogous case of different children of the
same parents. " If two men, the offspring of
the same parents, can be the one a dunce, the
other a genius, why cannot different races,
though descended of the same stock, be different
also in intellectual endowments ?" ' 'AH that
is here contended for is, that the distinctive
features of such races, in whatever manner
they have originated, are now persistent. Two
men may, the one arrive at the highest honors
of the state, the other with every facility at
his command forever remain in mediocrity ;
yet these men may be brothers."
In an admirable chapter on the ''Influence
of Christianity upon the Moral and Intellectual
Diversity of Races," the author avows with
earnestness and force his unhesitating convic-
^ Supra i>. 88.
262 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
tion of the adapteclness of the Gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ to all, even the most hope-
lessly inferior, of the races. He speaks with
indignant warmth of those writers who (like
the authors of ''Types of Mankind," he might
have said,) " dare to contradict the sacred
promise of the Gospel, and deny the peculiar
characteristic of our faith, which consists in its
accessibility to all men. According to them,
religions are confined within geographical limits
which they cannot transgress. But the Chris-
tian religion knows no degrees of latitude or
longitude. There is scarcely a nation or a
tribe among whom it has not made converts.
Statistics, — imperfect, no doubt, but as far as
they go, reliable — show them in great numbers
in the remotest parts of the globe ; nomad
Mongols in the steppes of Asia, savage hunters
in the table-lands of the Andes, dark-hued
natives of an African clime, persecuted in China,
tortured in Madagascar, perishing under the
lash in Japan. But this universal capacity of
receiving the light of the Gospel must not be
confounded, as is often done, with a faculty of
THE HUMAN RACES. 263
entirely different character, that of social im-
provement. This latter consists in being able
to conceive new wants, which, being supplied,
give rise to others, and gradually produce that
])erfection of the social and political S3'stem
which we call civilization. While the former
belongs equally to all races, whatever may be
their disparity in other respects, the latter is of
a purely intellectual character, and the preroga-
tive of certain privileged groups, to the partial
or even total exclusion of others. With regard
to Christianity, intellectual deficiencies cannot
be a hinderance to a race. Our religion ad-
dresses itself to the lowly and simple, even in
preference to the great and wise of this earth.
Intellect and learning are not necessary to sal-
vation.''*
It gives us real pleasure to quote these lines
from a work written in a truly philosophical
spirit. We are not, indeed, fully prepared to ad-
mit all the conclusions of the learned author ;
not, however, that they are intrinsically inad-
* Moral and Intellectnal Diversity of Races. By Count A. db
GowxEAU. Edited hv H. Hotz. T. 216.
264 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
missible, but solely because the evidence does
not appear to us to be entirely adequate to
warrant some of his inductions * We are not
sure, for example, that he has not exaggerated
the significance of the past as betokening the
future inferiority, for all time, of certain races.
With regard to some of these races, at least, it
does not appear to us that the experiment of
testing the inveteracy of their resistance to
the influences tending to improvement and
* The late Hugh Miller seems to have arrived at conclusions similar
to those of Count Gobineau, respecting the permanent inequality of
the races. After enumerating and characterizing many of tlie inferior
races, he proceeds to say : '"'All these varieties of the species, in which
we find humanity 'fallen,' according to the poet, 'into disgrace,' are
varieties that have lapsed from the original Caucasian type. They are
all descendants of man as God created him ; but they do not exemplify
man as God created him. Thej^ do not represent, save in hideous
caricature, the glorious creature moulded of old by the hand of the
Divine "Worker. They are fallen — degraded ; many of them, as race,
hopelessly lost. For all experience serves to show that when a tribe of men
falls beneath a certain level, it cannot come into competition with civilized
man, pressing outwards from his old centres to possess the earth, icithoiU
becoming extinct before him. Sunk beneath a certain level, as in the
forests of America, in Van Dieman's Land, in New South AValcs, and
among the Bushmen of the Cape, the experience of more than a
Imndred years demonstrates that its destiny is extinction— not restora-
tion. Individuals may be recovered by the labors of some zealous
missionary, but it is the fate of tlie race, after a few generations, to
disappear. It has fallen too hopelessly low to be restored." {Tesli-
monif of the Uochs. Edinburgh, 1857, p. 254.
THE HUMAN RACES. 265
civilization has been sufficiently tried, and
accordingly, while we freely grant that the
question is fairly debatable, we must hold that
no positive conclusion can be announced either
way. But let it be granted that a most decided
inferiority in intellect and in the capacity of
social improvement is to be the permanent heir-
loom of certain races, a point which is not
only possible but quite probable, we yet con-
tend that it proves nothing with respect to the
origin of such diversities. We have shown that
varieties among lower animals, known to have
sprung from the same original stock, often mani-
fest diversities even more considerable than
those which separate the most degraded forms
of humanity from the finest specimens of the
most intellectual races, and also that the charac-
teristics of these varieties, once formed, are as
persistent as those of the species itself, even
when the influences that gave rise to them have
been long withheld. Who would expect to be
able to convert the numerous existing varieties
of the hog to the wild boar, except by an amal-
gamation ? There is, therefore, nothing in the
12
266 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
admitted fact of the permanency of the intel-
lectual and moral inferiority of certain races,
which in the least conflicts with the hypothesis
of their common origin.
We must here notice and condemn the in-
sidious appeal addressed in " The Types of Man-
kind" to the prejudices of slaveholders, as a
most inadmissible argument in a discussion
which should be purel}^ scientific.
We trust that those who, in the providence
of God, have been placed in that part of our
common country in which the African race is
held in servitude, will not be induced by the
weak reasoning of a shallow book to put them-
selves in a false position before the Christian
world, and foohshly to seize upon a scientific
error, as a mode of asserting rights which have
been guaranteed by the Federal Compact, and
which are incident to relations recognized and
sanctioned by the inspired Apostle to the gen-
tiles.*
* While thus protesting against the scientific error which asserts that
the black man is an animal of difTercnt origin and species from his
white master, we must protest witli equal emphasis against the absurd
and, in their consofi'ientrs wirked d(ietrin(>s which modern fimaticisra
THE HUMAN RACES. 267
3.
THE ALLEGED GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCES OF A PREAD AMITE
RACE OF MEX EXAMINED.
As if from some misgiving as to the adequacy
of the argument so laboriously constructed on
perversions of the facts of history and those
Avhich relate to the existing races of organic
beings, the advocates of the diversity-theory,
with a remarkable lack of discretion, invoke
strives to erect upon the admitted truth of the unity of mankind. If
the inferior races "cannot come into competition with civilized man
without becoming extinct before him, as Hugh Miller so forcibly
argues, — if, while only '• a few individuals may be recovered by the
labors of some zealous missionary, it is the fate of the race, after a few
generations, to disappear, for it has fallen too hopelessly low to be
restored,"— it certainly deserves thoughtful inquiry whether the singu-
lar growth of the black population in the Southern States of our con-
federacy, and the marked improvement of the race in physical and
moral characteristics, may not have resulted from its contact with a
superior race in the only relation that could exclude the fatal '■ compe-
tition ;" whether, in a word, the actual bondage of the blacks in Amer-
ica was not intended, in the merciful and wise providence of God, as
the only meau-s of extricating them from their otherwise inevitable
•• destiny,"' and of bringing them under the tutelage of a superior race
without danger of becoming " extinct before" such higher race. A
little reflection on the subjects suggested by such inquiry would make
patent duties and responsibilities on the part of every American citi-
zen, nay, of every true Christian, with reference to American Slavery,
far difl'erent from those sought to be inculcated by the zealous aboli-
tionists of the day both in our country and in p]uropc. hjee Epistle of
St. Paul to Philemon.
268 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
the aid of Geology and Palaeontology. More
than a century ago Bishop Berkeley wrote a
memorable passage, in which he inferred, on
grounds which maybe termed strictly geological,
the recent date of the creation of man. " To
any one," says he, " who considers that on dig-
ging into the earth, such quantities of shells,
and in some places, bones and horns of animals,
are found sound and entire, after having lain
there in all probability some thousands of years •
it should seem probable that guns, medals, and
implements in metal or stone might have lasted
entire, buried under ground forty or fift}^ thou-
sand years, if the world had been so old. How
comes it then to pass that no remains are found,
no antiquities of those numerous ages preceding
the Scripture accounts of time ; that no frag-
ments of buildings, no public monuments, no
intaglios, no cameos, statues, basso-relievos,
medals, inscriptions, utensils or artificial works
of any kind are ever discovered, which may
bear testimony to the existence of those mighty
empires, those successions of monarchs, heroes,
and demigods, for so many thousand years ?
THE HUMAN RACES. 269
Let us look forward and suppose ten or twenty
thousand years to come, during which time we
will suppose that plagues, famine, wars, and
earthquakes shall have made great havoc in the
world, — is it not highly probable that at the end
of such a period, pillars, vases, and statues now
in being, of granite or porphyry or jasper,
(stones of such hardness as we know them to
have lasted two thousand years above ground,
without any considerable alteration), would
bear record of these and past ages ? Or that
some of our current coins might then be dug
up, or old walls and the foundations of buildings
show themselves, as wells as the shells and
stones of the primeval world, which are preserved
down to our own times ? ''*
In quoting these hues, Lyell adds a very
emphatic expression of his own confident opin-
ion to the same effect: " That many signs of
the agency of man would have lasted at least as
long as ' the shells of the primeval world ' had
our race been so ancient, we may feel as fully
persuaded as Berkeley ; and we may anticipate
* Alciphron, or the Minute Philosopher. 1732. Vol. H., pp. 84, 85.
270 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
with confidence that many edifices and imple-
ments of human workmanship, and the skele-
tons of men, and casts of the human form, will
continue to exist when a great part of the pres-
ent mountains, continents and seas have disap-
peared. Assuming the future duration of the
planet to be indefinitely protracted, we can
foresee no limit to the perpetuation of some of
the memorials of man."*
These or similar objections, for they are so
obvious as to have occurred to every reflecting
mind cognizant of the facts, appear to have
suggested to the authors of "The Types of
Mankind " the expediency of collecting the
scattered statements which have been occasion-
ally published of the discovery of osseous and
industrial remains of man in diluvial drifts, and
especially of human fossil bones imbedded in
various rocky strata along with the vestiges of
extinct species of animals. Hence the most
extraordinary chapter in this extraordinary
work, a chapter bearing the title, "Geology and
Palaeontology in connection with human ori-
* Principles of Geology, p. 74.0.
THE HUMAN RACES. 271
gins." Among the cases of alleged fossil men
the most celebrated are the Guadaloupe skele-
tons which, says Dr. Usher, the author of the
chapter under consideration, "have been pro-
nounced recent in a manner the most sum-
mary." In point of fact they are unhesitatingly
pronounced " recent" by all the most competent
geologists, who have moreover assigned the best
reasons for their verdict. Thus Lyell, repre-
senting the general opinion of Geologists, says
of these Guadaloupe skeletons, that "they are
found in a kind of rock which is known to he
daily foi'ming^ and which consists of minute
fragments of shells and corals, incrusted w^ith a
calcareous cement resembling travertin, by
which also the different grains are bound to-
gether. The lens shows that some of the frag-
ments of coral composing this stone still retain
the same red color which is seen in the reefs of
living coral which surround the island. The shells
belong to species of the neighboring sea intei'mixed
loith some terrestrial hinds ichich now live on the
island. The human skeletons still retain some
of their animal matter, and all tlieir phosphate
of lime.
272 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
" Similar formations are in progress in the
whole of the West - Indian Archipelago, and
they have greatly extended the plain of Cayes,
in St. Domingo, where fragments of vases and
other human works have been found at a depth
of twenty feet. In digging wells also near
Catania, in Sicily, tools have been discovered
in a rock nearly similar."*
We need scarcely add that the case of Prof.
Agassiz' fossil man of Florida meets with no
better acceptance among geologists, to say
nothing of Dr. Dowler's estimate of 57,600
years as the age of the sub-cypress Indian dis-
entombed at New-Orleans. This whole argu-
ment is, indeed, so very weak, and is based
upon such questionable data, that even the
Westminster Reviewer, while adopting the
general conclusions of the book, is constrained
to discredit the facts and reasoning of the chap-
ter under consideration.
Prof. Richard Owen, referring both to the
general question of the existence of fossil hu-
man skeletons and to the specific instance con-
* Principles of Geology, p. 734.
THE HUMAN RACES. 273
sidered by Sir Charles Lyell, announces the
present opinion of geologists in the following
summary : " Human bones have been found in
doubtful positions, geologically considered, such
as deserted mines aiid caves, in the detritus at the
bottom of cliffs, but never in ti'anquil, undisturb-
ed deposits, participating in the mineral charac-
ters of the undoubted fossils of these deposits. The
petrified skeletons in the calcareous concretes of
Guadaloupe are of a comparatively recent
origin." So much for the geological proof of
the indefinite antiquity of the human race.
§ 4.
ARGUMENT FOUNDED ON THE " LONG CHRONOLOGY" OF
EGYPTIAN MONUMENTS.
In this connection we take occasion to com-
ment briefly on the attempt made by Nott and
Gliddon to prove the existence in Egypt of a
nation in an advanced state of development and
civilization at the early date of 3,800 years be-
fore Christ, whence they infer the prior exist-
ence of man for an indefinite number of 3'ears.
10-
274 COMMON P A R E N T A G E 0 F
This is indeed the prominent idea of their book,
the acceptance of which they make the touch-
stone by which they test the fitness of the first
savans of the age to draw legitimate deductions
from the speciahties to which they have devoted
their fives. Their position is thus stated by Dr.
Nott : "The spurious systems of Archbishop
Usher on the Hebrew Text, and of Dr. Hales
on the Septuagint, being entirely broken down,
we turn, unshackled by prejudice, to the monu-
mental records of Egypt as our best guide.
Even these soon lose themselves, not in the prim-
itive state of man, but in his middle or per-
haps modern age ; for the Egyptian Empire first
presents itself to view about 4,000 years before
Christ, as that of a might}^ nation, in full tide of
civilization, and surrounded by other realms and
races already emerging from the barbarous state."
Truly this is taking a sufficiently bold and dog-
matic tone. Let it be contrasted with that of
leading Egyptologists, wlio, while recording their
somewhat hesitating acceptance of the long
chronology, do yet, with the cautious reserve
of true science, candidly avow the incomplete-
THE HUMAN U A C E S . 275
ness and uncertainty of the proof. Thus Ken-
kick'^' says of the hsts of Manetho, which are
the foundation of Egyptian chronology, that
they comprehend, besides the period of Gods,
Manes, and Heroes, thirtij dynasties, from
Menes downward to the younger Nectanebus.
In some of them the names of all the kings are
given, with the length of their reigns, in years^
and the sums of each dynasty; in others the
names do not appear, but the numbers of
the kings and the sums of their reigns are pre-
served. The historical facts are very brief ; of
most of the kings nothing whatsoever is re-
corded, and the synchronisms noted appear to
be due to the Christian chronologers (who had
copied Manetho's lists) rather than to Manetho
himself, whose original works are all lost. The
sum of all these dynasties varies, according to
our present sources, from 4,684 to 5,049 years ;
the number of kings from 300 to 350 and even
to 500.
" It is evidently impossible to found a chronolo-
"* Aucient Egypt under the Pharaohs, by Joiis Kentiick, M. A.
1852.
276 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
gy on such a basis, but Syncellus tells us that
the number of generations included in the
thirty dynasties was, according to Manetho
and the old Egyptian chronicle, 113 ; and the
whole number of years 3,555. This number
falls much short of what the summation of the
reigns would furnish according to any reading
of the numbers, but is nearly the same as 113
generations would produce at the average of
thirty-two years to each. That Manetho would
have access to all the documentary and monu-
mental evidence which the temples and public
records supplied (B. C. 322-284,) we cannot
doubt, but that from these it was practicable in
the third century before the Christian era to de-
duce a chronology extending backward to the
foundation of the monarchy, is hy no means pro-
bable. . . . When we compare him with
the monuments, although there is sufficient ac-
cordance to vindicate his integrity, there is also
sufflcient discrepancy to prevent implicit reliance
in the absence of monuments.
"If we suppose that an accurate record of
the successive reigns and the length of each
THE HUMAN RACES. 277
was preserved from the very commencement of
the monarchy, we might easily deduce the
chronology of the whole interval from Menes
to Nectanebus, by adding together the length
of all the reigns. But this implies that all the
reig7is were consecutive ; that there either were
no joint or rival sovereignties, or that if they
existed, only one was fixed on as the legitimate
monarch, and his years alone entered in the suc-
cession. A history of Great Britain in which
the years of the kings of England and Scotland
before the union of the crowns, or those of the
Stuart and Brunswick princes since the revolu-
tion, were added together, would present a very
false chronology.''*
"It was acutely observed by Bunsen, that
where a correspondence exists between the
names of Eratosthenes and those of Manetho,
it is always in the dynasties which the latter
calls Theban or Memphite ; and that where the
names are lost, the numbers show that there
has been no such correspondence in the others.
And hence he infers that only those who be-
* Aucient Egypt under the Pharaohs, pp. 79, 80.
278 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
longed to the two ancient capitals of Egypt
were the true sovereigns of the country, whose
reigns give its real chronology ; while the
others (Elephantinites, Heracleopolites, Xoites),
though called kings, never exercised a real su-
premacy, and being contemporaneous with the
Thebans or Memphites, do not enter into
the chronological reckoning. Notwithstanding
the ability with which this attempt to reconcile
Eratosthenes and Manetho is supported, we can-
not feel such confidence in its soundness as to
make it the basis of a history. We shall, there-
fore, treat the dynasties of the latter as being,
what he evidently considered them to be, suc-
cessive, unless where there is some internal or
independent evidence of error ; admitting at the
same time that no great reliance can he placed on
a chronology which professes to ascend to the very
commencement of the reign of mortal kings in
Egypt, But there appears no evidence that
Manetho wilfully tampered with facts known
to him, to favor an astronomical or an histori-
cal theory ; his system may be baseless, but it
is not fictitious.'"''
* .\nfi(Mit E<rvpt iimlnr tlio rii;irflohc. p. S^.
THE HUMAN RACES. 279
We cannot too highly commend the tone of
candor and the spirit of cautious generaUzing
indicated in these passages, from a writer admit-
ted by Ghddon himself to rank high among
modern Egyptologists. We do not design to
discuss the question of consecutive or contem-
poraneous dynasties in regard to which there
appears to be a slight difference of opinion be-
tween Kenrick and Bunsen, but we may ob-
serve, in passing, that Bunsen's idea, as ex-
plained in the preceding paragraph, is carried
out to a much greater extent by another Egyp-
tian traveller and scholar, Mr. Samuel Sharpe,
whom Gliddon characterizes as a man " of vast
classical erudition and keen criticism.'' We are
frank to confess that we have not given sufficient
attention to this subject to estimate the value of
the evidence on the two sides. Our main object
has been to call the attention of our readers to
the modest and cautious style of reasoning ex-
hibited by an unprejudiced inquirer after truth,
in striking contrast with the rude and offensive
dogmatism of the pretentious work we have
felt it our duty to criticise. We might con-
280 THE HUMAN RACES.
ditionallv admit the correctness of Manetho's
list as one of successive dynasties, and that of
the " long chronology system" founded thereon,
without touching the question of the origin of
the human varieties, or without impugning
either the integrity of the sacred text or the
authenticity of its narrative ; since it was not
unusual for the sacred historians to give incom-
plete genealogical lists, one or more names being
omitted in most of such lists as are given in the
Bible ; for it was their object rather to indicate
the general line of succession than to furnish
the materials for the construction of a chrono-
logical table.
CHAPTER lY.
APPRECIATION OF THE SCIENTIFIC CHARACTER OF THE
WRITINGS OF NOTT AND GLIDDON, WHICH RELATE TO
ETHNOLOGY SUMMARY RECAPITULATION OF THE AR-
GUMENTS IN FAVOR OF THE UNITY OF MANKIND.
The many and glaring scientific faults of the
volume * which, sustained by the apparent sanc-
tion of so eminent a naturalist as Prof. Agasstz,
and by the free and unwarranted use of other
great names, has been made the medium of in-
stilling into the minds of the young men of
America a rank infidelity, under cover of the
pretended authority of science, have been to
some extent pointed out in the process of the
specific criticisms which we have made on its
several departments. We cannot, however,
refrain from noticing a few other evidences
of a gross departure from the fair reasoning,
and from the calm, patient and humble spirit
* "Types of Mankind," by Nott and Gliddou.
[•2S1]
282 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
which ought to characterize and do always
characterize true science. It is habitual with
the principal contributors to this work, to dog-
matize with a boldness and energy proportional
to the slenderness of the evidence on which
their opinions are based, this trait being con-
spicuously manifested in respect to subjects
about which the most learned and unprejudiced
ethnologists have either come to an entirely dif-
ferent conclusion, or else find it necessary to
speak with the utmost diffidence and caution.
Another prominent characteristic which ren-
ders that work highly offensive to Christian
readers is, the disposition manifested on almost
every page to treat with bitter contempt all who
believe in the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures.
It is well known that a large number of Bibli-
cal scholars have maintained, on grounds irre-
spective of scientific difficulties, that the Noa-
chian deluge was partial in its extent, covering
only those portions of the earth then inhabited
by the human family. Dr. Nolt is unwilhng to
give " Sectarians," as he terms all believers in
the genuineness, authenticity, and inspiration of
o
THE HUMAN RACES. 28S
the Scriptures, the benefit of this exegesis. He
grows warm at the very idea of their escaping
from the difficulties which his science raises up
against the possibihty of a universal deluge.
His colleague is even more malignant and de-
nunciatory. Speaking of the book of Genesis,
he says :
'' Viewed as a literary work of ancient humani-
tifs loftiest conception of creative power, it is
sublime beyond all cosmogonies known in the
world's history. Viewed as a narrative inspired
by the Most High, its conceits would be pitiful
and its revelations false ; because telescopic
astronomy has ruined its celestial structure,
physics have negatived its cosmic organism, and
geology has stultified the fabulous terrestrial
mechanism upon which its assumptions are
based. How, then, are its crude and juvenile
hypotheses about human creation to be re-
ceived ? "*
Now, when it is remembered that this same
gentleman tells us that his " former pursuits
(in Muslim lands) were remote from natural
* Types of Mankind, p. 565.
284 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
science,*' and such as to disqualify him from
sharing the hibors of its votaries, it must be
admitted that he is sufficiently presumptuous
to characterize, in such terms, conclusions em-
braced by many of the most eminent geologists
of the present day. Thus, Prof. Dana demon-
strates, in an elaborate comparison of the " two
records/' — that of geology, and that of written
revelation, — the most exact and wonderful coin-
cidence between the cosmogony of Moses,
rightly interpreted, and the facts of the most
advanced modern science, a coincidence which
would be utterly inexplicable on any other
hypothesis than that of the inspiration of the
sacred historian. "If,'' says he, "but little
flexibility is allowed to the Hebrew by the ex-
egetical student, the record will stand firm, sus-
tained by Nature and the God of Nature. We
call it flexibility ; yet we have the authority of
some learned Biblical scholars for concluding
that the liberal rendering required by science
is the only correct rendering of the original
words of Moses. Our own faith in both records
THE HUMAN RACES. 285
is the more confirmed the deeper we pursue our
investigations."
Again : " The first thought that strikes the
scientific reader is, the evidence of Divinity,
not merely in the first verse of the record, and
the successive fiats, but in the whole order of
creation. There is so much that the most recent
readings of science have for the first time ex-
plained, that the idea of man as the author, be-
comes utterly incomprehensible. By proving the
record true, science pronounces it divine ; for
who could have correctly narrated the secrets
of eternity but God himself?'**
" Indeed," says Dr. Hitchcock, " I have never
met with a single attempt, in any language, by
any respectable geologist, to adduce the facts of
the science to the discredit of revelation. Many
of them are, doubtless, sceptical ; but they have
not done this thing, as they are charged. If it
has been done at all, it is by men of no reputa-
o Bibliotheca Sacra, Jan., 1856, pp. 118 and 110. Prof. Dana
jvscribesto Prof. Arnold Guyot the credit of having enunciated the
best views he had met with on the harmony between science and the
Bible, and avows himsolf indebted to that savant for the thought ex-
pressed in ihe latter paragraph.
286 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
tion as geologists." He then adds in a note :
"How easy would it be to substantiate these
statements by quotations from the most eminent
geological writers of the last fifty years : such
as Jameson, Silliman, Buckland, Conybeare,
Mantell, Sedgwick, Lyell, MacCulloch, Miller,
&c. But I will refer only to a recent work by
two eminent French geologists, C. D'Orbigny
and A. Gente, published in Paris in 1851, en-
titled * Geologic appliqu<^e aux Arts et k FAgri-
culture.' Coming from a city generally regarded
as the centre of European scepticism, and whose
learned men have been considered as unfriendly
to the Bible, it is gratifying to find that these
authors, after a laborious attempt to bring reve-
lation and geology into harmony, pass the fol-
lowing noble eulogium upon the sacred volume :
' In view of the chronological agreement be-
tween Genesis and the most authentic geologi-
cal facts, we cannot but accord to this mysteri-
ous book something profound and supernatural.
If the mind is not convinced, it at least bows
reverently before such writings, brought out in
an age when we cannot suppose the first elc-
THE HUMAN RACES. 287
merits of the natural sciences were known, and
which embraces a development of the principal
events of which our globe has been the theatre.
We find in Genesis something so simple, so
touching, and so superior in respect to morality
and philosophy, that the sceptic, astonished
moreover at the genius that could foretell facts
which scientific researches should demonstrate
so many ages afterwards , is forced to acknowl-
edge that there is in this book the evidence of
inspiration secret and supernatural ; an inspira-
tion which he cannot comprehend, which he
cannot explain, but which strongly affects him,
presses upon him, and controls him.' '' *
Another feature in this book which calls for
critical notice and emphatic condemnation, even
though it depends as we suppose on the care-
lessness of the writer rather than any inten-
tional design to mislead the ignorant or super-
ficial reader, consists in frequently using names
of high scientific standing, in such a connection
as to produce the impression that their sanction
• Hitchcock. Religious Truth Illustrated from Science ; p. 82, and
note.
288 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
is given to the opinions advocated in the book,
when, in point of fact, the reverse is often the
case. A most glaring instance of this is ex-
hibited in quoting a playful passage from a
private letter addressed to Dr. Morton by Dr.
Pickering, then recently arrived in Egypt, " I
had not been three hours in the country," writes
Dr. Pickering, "before I arrived at the con-
clusion that the ancient Egyptians were neither
Malays nor Hindoos, but Egyptians !"
Mr. Gliddon, being about to introduce this
letter, before he names the writer or gives its
contents, tantalizes the reader, whom he wishes
to prepare for some marvellous discovery, by
saying :
** It is invested with the signature of a voya-
ger long blanched under the harness of scien-
tific pursuits ; who, as naturalist to the United
States Exploring Expedition, had sailed round
the world, and beheld ten types of mankind,
before he wrote, after exploring the petro-
glyphs of the Nile : ' I have seen in all eleven
races of men,' etc. Qualified to judge, through
especial training, varied attainments, and habits
THE HUMAN RACES. 280
of keen observation, that, in natural history,
are preeminent for accuracy, the first impressions
of the gentleman from whose letter to his
attached friend we make hold to extract a few
sentences, (preserving their original form,) are
strikingly to the point."
Now, the words, ^ 'first impressions,^^ which
we have italicized, are significant. Whatever
importance was attached to these impressions by
Dr. Pickering himself, when they were thus
playfully stated in his letter, in December, 1843,
it is certain, that at the later date of his official
Report, under the title of "Races of Men, and
their Geographical Distribution," published in
1848, he did not use the term " races" as equiv-
alent to primeval types ; for, in the very
work containing the short passages quoted by
Gliddon, there is another passage which he does
not quote. After adverting to the perma7ienaj
of varieties, declaring that w^ithin his own
observation he had found no tendency in
varieties to revert, in the course of successive
generations, to the original type, (a zoological
principle ignored or denied by the authors of
13
290 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
"The Types of Mankind,'' inasmuch as a rec-
ognition of it would invahdate their famous
argument of a diversity of species, as founded
on the permanency of types,) Dr. Pickering
goes on to say :
''There is, I conceive, no middle ground be-
tween the admission of eleven distinct species
in the human family and the reduction to one.
The latter opinion, from analogy with the rest
of the organic world, implies a central point
of origin. Further, zoological considerations,
though they do not absolutely require it, seem
most to favor a centre on the African continent.
Confirmatory circumstances of a different char-
acter are not wanting." *
These ' confirmatory circumstances' he pro-
ceeds to indicate ; but we omit them, as not
material to our present purpose, which is
merely to show that this author, thus avowing
his belief in a single central origin of the
human races, has been placed in a false position,
in order to lend weight to the rash and weak
conclusions, for the promulgation of which the
* Pickering. Races of Mon, etc., Bohn's edition, p. 316.
THE HUMAN RACES, 291
work of Nott and Gliddon has been so labori-
^ousl}^ compiled.
A similar instance of carelessness in quot-
ing another eminent naturalist, whose opin-
ions are stated in such a connection as to bear
the appearance of sanctioning the peculiar
views of these writers, is found on page 457,
where Dr. Nott, after disclaiming any desire to
degrade any type of humanity to the level of
the brute creation, adds that, nevertheless " it
cannot be rationally affirmed that the orang-
outan and chimpanzee are more widely sepa-
rated from certain African and Oceanic Ne-
groes, than are the latter from the Teutonic or
Pelasgic tribes. But," he continues, " the very
accomplished anatomist of Harvard University,
Dr. Jeffries Wyman, has placed this question in
its true hght." Then follows a correct citation
of Dr. Wyman's remarks, in which, strange to
say, we find these words : "Any anatomist who
will take the trouble to compare the skeletons
of the Negro and Orang, cannot fail to be struck
at sight with the wide gap which separates
them. The difference between the cranium,
292 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
the pelvis, and the conformation of the upper
extremities, in the Negro and Caucasian, sinks
mto insignificance when compared with the vast
difference which exists between the conformation
of the same parts in the Negro and the Orang^
The itahcs are ours. This is, we admit, " to
place this question in its true light," but it is
the reverse of the position assumed by Dr.
Nott, who yet quotes this passage to sustain
his position !
Some of the characteristics which we have
attributed to this work, as invalidating its title
to be acknowledged as a product of genuine
science, are exhibited in a concentrated form
in a final summary of what the writer calls
"legitimate deductions" "from the facts now
accessible." It is unnecessary to notice most
of these, as they have been fully answered in
the course of our argument. The fifth among
them is thus expressed : " That permanence of
type is accepted by science as the surest test
of SPECIFIC character." This we meet with an
emphatic denial ; unless by an arbitrary defini-
tion the writer restrict the application of type
T H E H U M A N R A C E S . 293
to distinct species, in which case he assumes in
his definition the thing to be proved, and then
makes a show of demonstrating it, by merely
quoting his arbitrary definition. If he means
by " type" any distinctive character or combi-
nation of characters which is found to be per-
manent, we deny that science has shown perma-
nency of type to be any more characteristic of
species than of certain varieties, which for that
reason are called permanent varieties, the ex-
istence of which within the limits of a single
species, as of the hog, horse, cow, yea, and Man,
is admitted by the great body of men of " sci-
ence," in every centre of learning in Europe
and America — men, too, representing every
branch of " science" which bears at all upon
the question ; in Comparative Anatomy and
Physiology, Flourens, Muller, Owen, Carpen-
ter, Draper, etc. ; in Natural History and
Geology, Ed. Forbes, Lyell, Hitchcock, Dana,
etc. ; in Philology, Wm. Humboldt,* Grimm,
* Mr. Gliddon has attempted to show (Indigenous Races of the
Earth, pp. 402-409), that WiUiam Humboldt has pronounced " a ma-
ture opinion" adverse to the doctrine of the single origin of mankind,
and that this opinion is " endorsed" by his illustrious brother. We do
294 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
Latham, Gallatin, etc. ; in General Ethnology,
Alexander Humboldt, Prichard, Pickering,
Schoolcraft, etc. ; and in Egyptology, Bunsen,
Lepsius, and others, who are further accredited
for their vast philological erudition, and have
announced their firm belief in the unity of the
races, as legitimately deduced from their lin-
guistic researches. " There is," says the saga-
not, however, erase their names from the above hst (which might be
indefinitely extended), because, in the first place, whatever may have
been their doubts as to the possibility of proving the descent of all man-
kind from a single pair, it is certain that they have both advocated the
community of origin of races now distinguished by permanent typical
characters, and this is the question to which immediate reference is had
in the foregoing passage ; and because, secondly, they have elsewhere
expressed themselves in such terms as to warrant the belief that they
had a very decided leaning towards the doctrine of a single origin of
all the human races. Thus, for Alexander Humboldt, see the passage
from Cosmos already quoted (Supra p. 220), and for Wm. Humboldt,
note the following concession of Gliddon himself, which, despite its
hypothetical form, is yet significant. He says (op. cit., p. 423), " Even
under the supposition that Wilhelm von Humboldt, in his now past
generation, when writing ' on the Dicersiti/ of Languages and Peoples,'
may have speculated upon the possibility of reducing both into one
oii^inal stock, it will remain equally certain that, in such au assumed
conclusion, he v/as biassed by no dogmatical respect for Myths, Fictiox,
or Pretended Tradition ; and furthermore, that, if he grounded his
results on the 'Kaici Spraclie,' he inadvertently built upon a quicksand,
as subsequent researches have establi.shed." In other words, Mr. Glid-
don can tolerate a man's believing in the single origin of mankind,
provided only he hold the statements of the Holy Bible to bo ''myths,
fiction, and pretended tradition." Such is the animus with which this
work of so-called " science" is undertaken.
THE HUMAN RACES. 295
cious Hugh Miller, "a species of superstition
which inchnes men to take on trust whatever
assumes the name of science." With such per-
sons, those who make the most positive asser-
tions in matters of science are most Ukely to
be trusted. They seem not to be aware that
the "positivism" of genuine science consists,
not in confidence and boldness of assertion, but
in demanding rigorous proof for every concki-
sion, whether it be expressed by affirmative or
negative propositions.
Another of the " legitimate deductions" of
Dr. Nott is in these words : "10. That Prolif-
icacy of distinct species inter se, is now proved
to be no test of common origin." No one that
we ever heard of has pretended that the power
of mixing the breeds in different species is a
test of common origin. No believer in the
unity of the human races has ever committed
the absurdity of maintaining that '^distinct spe-
cies^^ could by any possibility have a common
origin. They do maintain, however, that cliS'
tinct varieties, no matter how different in type,
may breed inter se indefinite!}^ ; and they hold
296 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
that the converse is true, namely, that where
annuals of distinct type are shown to be capable
of crossing their breeds without limit, they are
thus proved to be mere varieties of one species.
In the introduction to Part I. of the work
which we have felt it our dut}^ to criticise. Dr.
!N'ott reproduces a passage from his " Biblical
and Physical History of Man," in which he dis-
misses rather contemptuously the idea of ex-
plaining the diversity now seen in the white,
black, and intermediate colors, on the supposi-
tion of a miracle or direct act of the Almighty,
in changing one type into another. And yet
this gentleman does not hesitate to assert the
primeval origin of such types, as if this mode
of origin were any the less miraculous. The
formation of man out of the dust of the earth
was the crowning work of creative skill, the
highest exhibition of miraculous power. In-
asmuch as it has been shown that man has
the power of undergoing acclimation in every
habitable quarter of the globe, and had the
means of facilitating his migrations from his
original birthplace, while moreover he is con-
THE HUMAN RACES. 297
stitutionally susceptible of undergoing variations
in bodily structure and in intellectual and moral
tendencies, which variations, once acquired, are
subsequently perpetuated by descent, it is con-
trary to the observed ways of Providence to
multiply miracles, and especially the highest
miracles, in order to achieve a result which was
clearly practicable by natural processes.
Nor is this method of reasoning purely a
priori in its application to the question under
consideration. Communit}^ of languages and
other reliable data, such as most significant re-
semblances between the monuments of early
races in every quarter of the globe, furnish
abundant proof of extensive migrations of the
human family in ante-historic times, and this
fact explains as fully as can be required the
circumstance so much insisted upon by Prof.
Agassiz, that "the earliest migrations recorded
in any form, show us man meeting man where-
ever he moves upon the habitable surface of the
globe, small islands excepted,'' without the ne-
cessity of having recourse to the untenable hy-
pothesis of a frequent repetition of the great
298 COMMON P A K E N T A G E OF
miracle of man's creation.* When a new coral
island emerges above the sea-level to become
covered with vegetation and to receive a popu-
lation of animated beings, it is not by a new
creation of species but by various means of
transport of individuals from more or less re-
mote countries, that the flora and fauna of the
island are established.
In view of the results of the critical exami-
nation which we have now made, at some con-
siderable length, of the theory which assigns a
diversity of origins for the different races of
mankind, it must, we think, be conceded, that
the advocates of that theory have failed at every
point to make out their case. In point of
fact the task they aimed to accomplish was a
most difficult one. There was, in the nature of
things, but one conceivable way of demonstra-
ting positively the truth of that theor}^ and that
was confessedly precluded by the absolute in-
accessibility of evidence. We refer to histori-
cal records going back to the first creation of
the several distinct types of man, and proving
* See Appendix F.
THE HUMAN HACKS. 299
that they were separately created. In default
of this they have gone back as far, it is freely
admitted, as they could go, and, finding evi-
dence that distinct types existed at this early
period, they have inferred that the distinctions
were original. We have already more than
once exposed the fallacy of tliis reasoning, by
showing, first, that irrespectively of the hypothe-
sis of miraculous interposition, and proceeding
on the supposition that the existing types have
sprung from natural causes bringing about va-
riations, a comparatively short time is abun-
dantly adequate to give rise to such variations ;
and secondly, that once produced, they may
have all the tenacity and permanence of spe-
cilic characters, except, of course, where the
breeds are mixed. Now, inasmuch as the ear-
liest monumental records do not go back to the
creation of any one type, it is manifestly to beg
the whole question to say that they prove an
original diversity of types. We have thus
provisionally granted the '' permanency'' of the
human types, as we can well afford to do, in
conformity with the analogy of " permanent va-
300 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
rieties" among lower animals. Bat here we
must put in a caution. Not all varieties among
animals are permanent. Many cases of varia-
tion, slowly assumed under the influence of
causes operating through several generations,
exhibit the phenomenon of the hereditary trans-
mission of the acquired peculiarities with con-
siderable tenacity, and yet under the prolonged
influence of opposite circumstances may grad-
ually lose such peculiarities. This may, for
aught we know to the contrary, be the case
wdth the human varieties. It is quite certain
that the monumental inscriptions of Egypt do
not settle this question either way. It is a lit-
tle remarkable that reliance is so confidently
placed on these monuments, when it is clear
that no one can point out at this day the ac-
tual lineal descendants of the individual men of
the negro and other races depicted on them.
For aught that can be proved to the contrar}^,
the actual descendants of the blacks who lived
contemporaneously with the authors of the in-
scriptions may now exhibit the characteristics
of any other type. We have no genealogical
THE HUMAN Jl A C E S . 301
tables by which we can identify the descendants
in historical times of the blacks of that early
period.
This being so, what right have they to as-
sert dogmatically that the types have not
changed in the persons of the descendants of
those very men ? All that the monuments
prove is, that in that day there was a negro
type identical with one now existing, which im-
plies, it may be, the continued operation some-
where of the causes which originally produced
that type, but certainly does not prove the un-
changeableness of the t3^pe in any given line of
successive individuals. It is premature, by
very many centuries, perhaps, to assert that
this type will not change in such a line of succes-
sion, the individuals in which shall be subjected
for generation after generation to new influences
of climate, soil, and mode of life. The African
race in the United States will ultimately, but
not in our day, solve this problem. Many acute
observers, as Sir Charles Lyell, for example, are
confident tliat they already see a change. We
doubt this : for even if a change were in prog-
302 C O M M O N P A 11 E N T A G E OF
ress, it is yet too soon to substantiate the
proofs. But even on the supposition of perfect
fixedness of type, the question of origin is left
exactly where it was before.
Well, then, this monumental argument not
availing the advocates of " diversity," what re-
source is let them ? Why, absolutely no posi-
tive ground whatsoever : and they are driven to
the expedient of trying to prove a negative for
each of the positive arguments in favor of the
unity doctrine which they oppose. Let us sup-
pose that they succeed in showing the insuffi-
ciency of the physiological proof of the unity of
man ; they must then attack the historical argu-
ment, the philological, the geological, and so on
in succession, gaining nothing of advantage un-
til they have overthrown each and every one.
And if they succeed in all this, — a most violent
supposition, truly, — there yet remains as an
impregnable citadel, that innate conviction of
brotherhood which, in the eloquent language of
Agassiz, "is but the reflection of that Divine
nature which pervades man's whole being." We
perceive, then, that success in the task these
THE HUMAN RACES. 303
gentlemen liave assigned to themselves is mani-
festly hopeless. A failure at any one step is
fatal ; and, as we have seen, they fail everywhere.
On the other hand, the proof of man's unity is
cumulative. There are various independent
proofs. Each being more or less complete in
itself, any one would suffice to sustain the doc-
trine we contend for. The sum of all strength-
ens belief into conviction. And when we con-
sider them in their mutual relations as parts of
one whole, and all converging to one common
and necessary conclusion, further resistance be-
comes irrational and further doubt absurd. We
conclude our discussion of the subject with a
passage from a discourse by an eloquent living
divine,'"*' in which the relation of the doctrine of
the Unity of Mankind to the nature and office
of the Lord Jesus Christ is most impressively
set for til.
" The unity of the human race must be con-
sidered a fundamental and an accepted truth.
Every department of knowledge has been
searched for evidence, and all respond with a
o Eev. R. J. 3rekinridge, — " Discourse on the Black R-nce."'
304 COMMON PARENTAGE OF
urii.bnn testimony. The physical structure,
constitution and habits of the race — the mode
in which it is produced, in which it exists, in
which it perishes — everything that touches its
mere animal existence, demonstrates the abso-
lute certainty of its unity — so that no other
generalization of physiology is more clear and
more sure. Rising one step, to the highest
manifestation of man's physical organization —
his use of language and the power of connected
speech — the most profound survey of this most
complex and tedious part of knowledge, conducts
the inquirer to no conclusion more indubitable
than that there is a common origin, a common
organization, a common nature, underlying and
running through this endless variety of a com-
mon power, peculiar to the race and to it alone.
Tims a second science — philology — has borne
its marvellous testimony. Rising one more
step, and passing more completely to a higher
region, we find the rational and moral nature
of men of every age and kindred, absolutely
the same. Those great faculties by which man
alone — and yet by which every man — perceives
T H E H L' M A N RACES. 305
that there is in things that distinction which we
call true and false, and that other distinction
which we call good and evil ; upon which dis-
tinctions and which faculties rests at last the
moral and intellectual destiny of the entire race j
belonging to us as men, without which we are
not men, with which we are the head of the
visible creation of God. So has a third science
— a science which treats of the whole moral con-
stitution of man, embracing in its wide scope
many subordinate sciences — delivered its testi-
mony. If we rise another step, and survey
man as he is gathered into families, and tribes,
and nations, with an endless variety of develop-
ment, we still behold the broad foundations of a
common nature reposing under all — the grand
principles of a common being ruling in the
midst of all. So a fourth, and the youngest of
the sciences — ethnology — brings her tribute.
And now, from this lofty summit, survey the
whole track of ages. In their length and in
their breadth, scrutinize the recorded annals of
mankind. There is not one page on which one
806 c o >[ M o X p A n i: x t a c; e of
fact is written — which favors the historical idea
of a diversity of nature or origin — while the
whole scope of human story involves, assumes,
and proclaims, as the first and grandest historic
truth, the absolute unity of the race. And
then, mounting from earth to heaven, ask God
— the God of truth, and he will tell you, that
the foundation truth of all his work of creation
and of providence is the sublime certainty that
our race was created in his own image, and of
one blood ; and thereupon, when they had
fallen, he offered to them a common salvation,
through his only begotten Son, made manifest
in their common nature.
" A bond of common brotherhood unites
every portion of the race ; it is felt the most
keenly by those who are the most exalted ; and
even in the most abject, its weak pulsations
will still live to attest the depth of the truth,
that our race is one. It is in the life and doc-
trine of Jesus Christ that this profound instinct
of human nature finds itself exalted into one of
the grandest truths of religion, and invested
T H E H U M AN RACES. 307
with the sanction of heaven. In Him, the con-
ception of this universal brotherhood, — which
nature teaches, and all knowledge fortifies, —
becomes a precious, living truth.''
APPENDIX.
A.
Note to Page 36.
"The causes which give rise to the varieties of spe-
cies, says Prof. J. ]\Iiiller, of Berlin, the first, per-
haps, of living physiologists, "are partly seated in the
organisms of the animals themselves, and partly ex-
ternal conditions, such as the food, the elevation above
the sea, and the climate. Each species of plants and
animals possesses within itself a power of variation
within a certain limit, quite independently of anv ex-
ternal influences. To this cause are to be referred the
varieties of form which may present themselves in the
offspring of one act of generation. In each individ-
ual of a species there is an innate capability of pro-
ducing such varieties as these, since each individual of
a species does not produce by generation the mere rep-
etition of itself, but generates the new beings in ac-
cordance with laws which regulate the whole species.
Thus from the same parents there may be produced
individuals with fair and others with dark hair ; some
of spare and slender figure, and others of plump and
stout robust form ; individuals of different tempera-
ments, and with different features, eyes, mouth, and
nose, with hair in some instances curlj', and in others
straight. Tlie most common varieties arising in this
[309]
310 A P P E N I) I X .
way from internal causes, are the fair and the dark
haired. Fair persons are occasionally met with
amongst races for the most part characterized by black
hair, — for example, amongst the Mongolians; and Dr.
Prichard adduces several examples of fair-complexion-
ed negroes who were not albinos. It is true that these
varieties are chiefly due to the parents being individ-
uals of different complexions, and to the characteris-
tics sometimes of one and sometimes of the other be-
ing predominant in the offspring. But even when the
parents have the same complexion, a certain variety of
forms and internal properties may present itself in the
offspring. In consequence of the mingling of these
different varieties in marriage, their peculiarities are
not preserved and are not propagated as constant, fix-
ed types. It is easy to conceive the conditions which
must be combined in order, independently of climate.
food and locality, to convert these accidental varieties
into persistent types. The longer individuals of the
same stock continue to unite in marriage, without for-
eign admixture, the longer will the type to which they
belong be preserved. In this ivay^ and independently
of cdl external influences^ a race will he formed. Some-
times when the type has become fixed through a se-
ries of generations in the members of a famil}^, even
the admixture of a foreign type is not sufficient to ef-
face the fixed characters of a family, and the foreign
element becomes lost in the older fixed type. Hence
we see in many royal families, that in spite of their
union by marriage with other houses, the type of the
family features is in a remarkable way preserved, and
transmitted from generation to generation — as, for ex-
ample, in the Bourbon family, and equally in many
princely houses of Germany. It was previously shown
how one family, being isolated by the intermarrying of
its members exclusively with each other, might pro-
duce a nation or tribe \\\i\\ general distinguishing
character. History teaches us how the national type
APPENDIX. 311
once formed is preserved in spite of individual varia-
tions through thousands of years, and that, except
when modilied bj admixture with other types, it is
maintained unchanged." — J. Muller^ Elements of Phys-
iology. Translated by W Baly. London, 1842.
o
12 APPENDIX.
15.
Note to Page 58.
Although the facts and authorities cited in the text
amply suffice to sustain the doctrine of permanent
varieties within the limits of a single species, we can-
not deny ourselves the satisfaction of referring to a
more recent authority — not accessible to us at the date
of the first publication of this essay in the Protestant
Episcopal Quarterly Kcview — we allude to a treatise
"OiT THE Variation" of Species," by T. Yernon
Wollaston, M. A., F. L. S. Adverting to the tendency,
manifested in certain quarters, to regard every differ-
ence, if at all permanent, as a specific one, this emi-
nent naturalist considers "that a revival of our first
principles is occasionally necessary, if we would not
restrict (however gradually and imperceptibly) that
legitimate freedom which nature has had chalked out
for her to sport in, or strive to impose laws of limita-
tion in one department which we do not admit to be
coercive in another." He shows that theyad of varia-
tion, besides being probable on the ground of analogy,
is demonstrated by experience, and then proceeds to
inquire into the causes of variation. These and cer-
tain collateral questions having been investigated in a
masterl}' manner, he warns the reader, upon concluding,
that it is merely loithin specific hounds that he would
advocate a freedom of development in obedience to in-
fluence from without ; and conclusively shows that the
change, sometimes brought against the advocates of
variation, of a leaning to Lamarck's transmutation
thcorv, is most unwarrantable, and that, on the con-
APPENDIX. 313
trary, the actual reverse is nearer the truth. For
" those very hyper-accurate defiuers who recognize a
' species ' wheresoever the minutest discrepancy is
shadowed forth, will be found eventually (however
unaware of it themselves) to have been the most deter-
mined abettors of that dogma — seeing that their species,
if such they be, do most assuredly pass into each
other." We have not the means of knowing whether
the able and learned author had especial reference to
the argument of Prof Agassiz, who, in his "Sketch of
the Natural Provinces of the Animal World" (Types
of Mankind, by Nott & Gliddon) charges most pre-
posterously that the doctrine of the specific unity of
the human races "runs inevitably into the Lamarckian
development theory," but we are fully satisfied with
his summary way of disposing of the charge by whom-
soever preferred, and of indicating an easy method of
retort. His own opinions, respecting the fixedness of
species as compatible with the fact of variation, are
thus expressed in the last paragraph of his instructive
little treatise. "But, whatever be the several ranges
within which the members of the organic creation are
free to vary, we are positively certain that, unless the
definition of a species, as involving relationship, is no
more than a delusion or romance, their circumferences
are of necessity real, and must be indicated somewhere
— as strictly, moreover, and rigidly, as it is possible
for anything in nature to be chalked out. The whole
problem, in that case, does in effect resolve itself to
this — where, and how, are the lines of demarcation to
be drawn? No amount of inconstancy, provided its
limits h'i fixed, is irreconcHahle with the doctrine of specific
similitudes. Like the ever-shifting curves which the
white foam of the untiring tide describes upon the
shore, races may ebb and flow ; but they have their
boundaries in either direction, beyond which they can
never pass. And thus in every species we may detect,
to a greater or less extent, the emblem of instability
14
314 APPENDIX.
and permanence combined. Althongh perceived,
when inquired into, to be fickle and fluctuating in their
component parts, in their general outline they remain
steadfast and unaltered, as of old —
Still cliangingj yet unchanged ; still doomed to feel
Endless mutation, in perpetual rest."
The Westminster Eeview (January, 1857, p. 154,) pre-
faces a highly commendatory notice of Mr. Wollas-
ton's little volume with the following pertinent re-
marks: "An opinion is gradually extending amongst
those naturalists who look beneath the surface of their
pursuit, that species-making has been carried both by
botanists and zoologists, to far too great an extent ; and
that the whole subject of the influence of climate,
habits of life, and other external conditions, as well as
of the capacity for variation inherent in each type of
form, requires a thorough reinvestigation. Thus Dr.
Jos. D. Hooker, in his " Introductory Essay on the
Flora of New Zealand," has recently well remarked,
that "the naturalist Avho has the true interest of sci-
ence at heart, not only feels that the thrusting of an
uncalled for synonym into the nomenclature of science
is an exposure of his own ignorance, and deserves
censure, but that a wider range of knowledge and a
greater depth of study are required to prove those dis-
simihir forms to be identical which any superficial ob-
server can separate by words and a name." In the
same essay, this accomplished botanist expresses the
opinion that the reported number of 100,000 distinct
species of flowering plants will be reduced at least one
half by the careful comparison of the Floras of differ-
ent countries. In tlie annual address to the Micro-
scopical Society given almost contemporaneousl}' (Feb-
ruary, 1855,) by its then President, Dr. Carpenter, a
similar doctrine was expressed in almost identical
terms ; and we are glad to find that Mr. Wollaston,
APPENDIX. 315
the acconi]ilisl!cd author of the "Iiisecta Maderensia,"
has made it a special object of inquiry during his res-
idence in the Madeira Islands," " We can cor-
diall}^ recommend tlie perusal of his little volume to
every naturalist, whatever may be his special object
of pursuit, who aims to exercise his intellect by grap-
pling with those higher problems of the science which
seem to us to be at least as serviceable for the culture
and discipline of the mind as the abstractions of
mathematics, or the barren investigation of what is
par excellence designated as 'scholarship,' as if there
was nothing in the volume of creation worthy to ex-
ercise the higher faculties of the human intellect."
In like manner Prof Dana, of Yale College, has
clearly shown that liability to variation is not only
not inconsistent with the permanence of species, but is
in fact "})art of the law of species."
He first shews that in the inorganic world " each ele-
ment is represented by a specific amount or law of force,
and tiiat we even set down in numbers the precise value
of this force as regards one of the deepest of its qualities,
chemical attraction," and then, turning to the organic
world, deduces the same idea as essential to species,
from the following considerations : " The individual is
involved in the germ-cell from which it proceeds. That
cell possesses cei'tain inherent qualities or powers,
bearing a definite relation to external nature, so that
when having its appropriate nidus or surrounding con-
dition.-, it will grow, and develop out each organ and
member to the completed result; and this, both as to
chemical clianges, and the evolution of the structure
which belongs to it as subordinate to some kingdom,
class, order, genus and species in nature. The germ-
cell of an organic being develops a specific result;
and like the molecule of oxygen it must correspond
to a measured quota or specific law of force. We can-
not, indeed, apply the measure, as in the inorganic king-
dom, for we have learned no method or unit of com-
parison. But it must nevertheless be true, that a
316 APPENDIX.
specific predetermined amount, or condition, or law of
force is an equivalent of every germ-cell in the king-
doms of life. We do not mean to say that there is
but one kind of force ; but that whatever the kind or
kinds, it has a numerical value or law, although
human arithmetic may never give it exprcFsion. A
species among living beings, then, as well as among
inorganic bodies, is based on a sjjtecific amount or con-
diiion of concentred force defined in the ad or law of
creation.''''
" What now," he asks, "may we infer with regard
to the permanence or fixedness of species from a gen-
eral survey of nature? Let us turn again to the inor-
ganic world. Do v\^e there find oxygen blending by
indefinite shadings with hydrogen or with any other
element ? Is its combining number, its potential
equivalent, a varying number, usually 8. but at times
8 and a fraction, 9, and so on ? Far from this ; the
number is as fixed as the universe. There are no in-
definite blendings of elements. There are combina-
tions by multiples and sub-multiples, but these prove
the dominance and fixedness of the combining num-
bers. . . . This being true for inorganic nature, it is
necessarily the law for all nature, for the ideas that
pervade the universe are not ideas of contrariety but
of unity and universality beneath and through diver-
sity. The units of the inorganic world, are the
weighed elements and their definite compounds or their
molecules. The units of the organic world are species^
which exhibit themselves in their simplest condition
in the germ-cell state. The kingdoms of life in all their
magnificent proportions are made from these units.
Were thc^e units capable of blending with one another
indefinitely, they would no longer be units, and species
could not be recognized. The system of life would be
a maze of complexities; and whatever is grandeur to
a being that could comprehend the infinite, it would be
unintelligible chaos to man."
APPENDIX. 317
After adverting to the fact that everywhere in nature
" the purity of species has been guarded witii great
precision," and adducing proofs which we shall quote
m another connexion, he proceeds to consider the
variations of species. The principles just laid down
teacii that each species has its specific value as a unit,
which is essentially permanent or indestructible by any
natural source of change ; and therefore, that variations
have their limits, and cannot extend to the obliteration
of the fundamental characteristics of a species.
" Variation is a characteristic of all things finite,
and is involved in the very conditions of existence.
iSTo substance or body can be wholly independent of
every or any other body in the universe. . . . All
the natural forces are closely related as if a common
family or group, and are in constant mutual interplay.
The degree or kind of variation has its specific law for
each element ; and in this law the specific nature of
the element is in a degree expressed. There is to each
body or species, the normal or fundamental force in
which its very nature consists ; and, in addition, the
relation of this force to other bodies, or kinds, amounts,
or conditions of force, upon which its variations de-
pend. One great end of inorganic science is to study
out the law of variables for each element or species.
For this law is as much a part of an idea of the species
as the fundamental potentiality ; indeed, the one is a
measure of the other.
" So again, a species in the organic kingdoms is sub-
ject to variations, and upon the same principle. Its
very development depends on the appropriation of
material around it, and on attending ])hysical forces or
conditions, all of which are variable through the whole
of its history Liability to variation is
hence part of the law of species ; and we cannot be
said to comprehend in any case the complete idea of
the type until the relations to external forces are also
known. The law of variables is as much an expres-
318 APPENDIX.
sion of the fundamental qualities of the species in or-
ganic as in inorganic nature; and it should be the
great aim of science to investigate it for every species.
It is a source of knowledge which will yet give us a
deep insight into the fundamental laws of life. Varia-
tions are not to be arranged under the head oi accidents \
for there is nothing accidental in nature ; what we so
call, are expressions really of profound law, and often
betray truth and law which we should otherwise never
suspect. This process of variation is the external re-
vealing the internal, through their sympathetic rela-
tions : it is the law of universal nature reacting on the
law of special nature, and compelling the latter to ex-
hibit its qualities ; it is a centre of force manifesting
its potentiality, notin its own inner workings, but in its
outgoings among the equilibrating forces around, and
thus offering us, through the known and physical,
some measure of the vital within the germ. It is
therefore one of the richest sources of truth open to
our search. The limits of variation, it may be difficult
to define among species that have close relations. But
being sure that there are limits — that science, in look-
ing for law and order written out in legible characters,
is not in fruitless search, we need not despair of dis-
covering them. The zoologist, gathering shells or
molluscs from the coast of Eastern America and that
of Japan, after careful study, makes out his list of
identical species, with the full assurance that species
are definite and stable existences."*
* BiBLiOTHECA. Sacra — October, 1857. Thoughts on Species, by J. D.
Dana.
An able writer in the Princeton Review, for January, 1859. while
adopting the idea intended to be conveyed by Prof. IHma's definition
of Species objects to the pl)rnsef)l(i<.'y in which it is exprcpsied. He
does not approve of the '• disposition among naturali.^tsto merge sub'
stances into forces." " Matter,'' he urges. " Lowevor incapable of
detinition or conception in itself considered is not mere force." We
fully accept this latter proposition as an undeniable truth. We are,
moreover, of opinion that those naturalists who have speculated most
APPENDIX. 319
largely on the nature and correlations of forces have been the least
disposed to substitute forces for substances, or to merge the latter into
the former. On the contrary, by insisting upon the existence and op-
eration of the one they have most effectively exhibited the province of
the other as a necessary medium. Now, as will be seen by the fore-
gointi' citations. Prof Dana by no means ignores tlie material germ-ceU
which, in developing a specilic result. •' must correspond to a measured
quota of force;" and when he adds that "a species is based upon (not is)
a definite amount or condition of force " the expression does not seem
to be obnoxious to the objection urged by the Reviewer.
320 APPENDIX.
C.
Note to Page 125.
To furnish such of our readers as may not have
access to the works of Dr. Prichard or those of Dr.
Carpenter, with a specimen of the very careful manner
in which they have collected and analyzed the facts on
,, which the conclusions cited in the text are based, we
will here introduce a quotation from each, relating,
one, to the average duration of human life, the other,
to the epoch of the first menstruation.
" The average duration of human life is nearly the
same in the different races of men. But in order to
estimate the facts which bear upon this subject, an ac-
count must be taken of the vast influence which climate
alone exercises on the rate of mortality. It is well
known that the proportional number of individuals
who attain a given age, differs in different countries ;
and that the warmer the climate, other circumstances
being equal, so much the shorter is the average dura-
tion of life. Even within the limits of Europe the dif-
ference is very great. In some instances, according to
the calculations of M. Moreau de Jonnes, the rate of
mortality, and inversely the duration of life, differ by
nearly one half from the proportions discovered in
other examples. The following is a brief extract from
a table presented to the Institute by this celebrated
calculator:
Tnhir e.rhihiling the Annual Mortality in different Countries in
Europe.
In Sweden, from 1821 to 1825, - - 1 death in 45
Prussia, " 1821 to 1824, - - - 1 " " 39
P^ncrland, " 1821 to 1831, (I'^'rter & RickmaiOl " " 51
France, " 1825 to 1827, - - 1 " " 39.5
Roman States, 1829 - - - - 1 " " 28
Scotland, 1821 1 " '^ 50
*' The difference between twenty-eight and fifty is
APPENDIX. 321
very considerable ; but even the latter rate of mortality
is considerably greater than that which the data col-
lected by M. ^loreau de Jonn^s attribute to Iceland,
Norway and the northern parts of Scotland.
" No adequate data have yet been collected for esti-
mating the compai-ative longevity of different races of
men, after making suitable allowances for the influence
of climates ; but facts are easily to be found, which
prove that no great difference exists in this respect
between the most dissimilar tribes. It was calculated
by Buffon, with reference principally to white men,
that a third part of the human race die before the age
of ten years ; one half before that of thirty-five ; two
thirds before fifty -two ; and three fourths before sixty-
one years of age. A very different computation has
been made by later writers. According to Hufeland's
estimate, out of a hundred individuals born, fifty die
before their tenth year, and six only live to be above
the ao:e of sixtv.
" ^fany instances of longevity in Europeans have
been collected by Mr. Easton, from whose work I have
taken the first of the following tables. He has dis-
covered the following numbers of persons who have
reached the ages below stated :
From 100 to 110, both inclusive, - - 1,310
" 110 to 120 267
" 120 to 130 84
" 130 to 140 26
" 140 to 150 7
" 150 to 160 3
" 160 to 170 2
" 170 to 180 3
Instances of Lon brevity in Negroes.
^rallum Daiido. Kiiijr of Jlabbah, - - 115
Robort Lvncli. Jamaica, - - - 160
Cathorino Lopez, Jamaica, ... 134
Marpraret Darby, Jamaica, - - - 130
Mulatto at FreJcricktown, N. A., in 1797, - 180
Tom. a slave of Mrs. Bacon, South Carolina, 130
Joseph Ban, Jamaica. - - - 146
Catherine Hiatt. Jamaica, . . _ ISQ
1 1-- [Xnffiynl Ffr<f. of Mm, ])i>. 4^\, 482.)
322 A P P E N D I X »
In his " Physical History of ^lankind," Dr. Prichard
sliows that similar instances of longevity occur among
the other races. lie denies the accuracy of Dr. Rush's
statement, that longevity is more rare among the
Indians of North America than among white people,
except when the lower longevity is plainlj- attributable
to accidental causes, and to the peculiar state of certain
tribes, from whom, perhaps, Dr. Push's information
Avas derived.
Don Felix de Azara seems to have formed this
opinion of the natives of South America. In describing
the Charruas of Paraguay, he says that they never lose
their hair, which only becomes grey by half in persons
aged about eighty years.
The Mexicans, says Clavigero, become grey-headed
and bald earlier than the Spaniards; and although
most of them die of acute diseases, it is not very un-
common among them to attain to the age of a hundred
years.
We have a similar observation from M. de Humboldt
respecting the native Americans. He says, " It is by
no means uncommon to see at iMexico, in the temper-
ate zone, half way up the Cordillera, natives, and es-
pecially women, reach a hundred years of age. This
old age is generally comfortable ; for the Mexican and
Peruvian Indians preserve their strength to the last.
While I was was at Lima, the Indian, Hilario Pari, died
at the village of Chiquata, four leagues distant from the
town of Arequipa, at the age of one hundred and forty-
three. He had been united in marriage for ninety
years to an Indian of the name of Andrea Alea Zar,
who attained the asre of one hundred and seventeen.
O
This old Peruvian went, at the age of one hundred and
thirty, from three to four leagues dail}'', on foot." He
then cites instances occurring among the Laplanders,
and concludes, on the whole, that there are not any
well-marked differences in respect to longevity between
the different races of men, which can furnish a constant
APPENDIX. 323
cliaracter. " It would appear that the same law, as to
the duration of life, has been imposed by Providence
on all nations of men. In this point of view they ap-
pear as one species. Even in different climates the ten-
dency to exist for a given time is the same ; the duration
of life varies only from the circumstance, that the ex-
ternal causes which bring about an accidental and
premature catastrophe, or which wear out the health
and impair the bodily frame, are more rife or more
potent in one climate than in another." — i^Nat. History
of Man, p. 483.)
The other point in regard to which we have proposed
to cite statistical evidence, has respect to the epocli of
the first menstruation. On this subject, says Dr. Car-
penter (Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology, vol.
iv., pp. 1389, 1340), " an inquiry has been most in-
dustriously prosecuted by Mr. Koberton ; and its
results, published from time to time, as they were ob-
tained, have been lately collected in a form which
admits of easy comparison. — {Essays and Notes on the
PJiysiology and Diseases of Women and on Practical
Midwifery. 8vo, London, 1851.) It appears, from the
evidence which he has brought together, that there is
no considerable difference either in the average period
of puberty, or in the earliest date of menstruation,
among the greater number of tribes who are scattered
over the whole of the habitable globe, from the equa-
torial to the polar regions, and that neither has a cold
climate that influence in retarding it, nor a warm one
in accelerating it, which is popularly attributable to
these agencies respectively. The only well-marked
exception to this general rule, occurs in the case of the
Hindoo females, among whom the first menstruation,
(n\ the average, is about two years earlier than in this
country (p]ngland). But this only arises from the fact
that a larger projyortion of first menstruations among
Hindoo f.malcs, takes place in the earlier years of that
period over which the commencement of })uberty is
324 APPENDIX.
distributed in European females, the distribution in the
latter being more equable, as will be seen by the fol-
lowing table, furnished b}'- Mr. Eoberton :
iges.
Hindustan.
England.
8 -
3
—
9
- 8
14
10 -
18
55
11
- 80
77
12 -
- 145
142
13
- 139
- 263
14 -
- 105
396
15
- 45
- 417
16 -
24
340
17
- 18
- 215
18 -
5
138
19
- 3
65
20 - -
1
33
21
- 2
9
22 -
—
4
23
- 1
1
597 2,169
While the average age of puberty in the Hindoo
female is thirteen years, and in the British fourteen
years and eleven months, the per centage of menstrua-
tions under eleven years is nearly the same in both
countries, so that the current idea of the very eai-ly
puberty of Hindoo females is quite incorrect; and the
difference in the average arises solely from the fact,
that the greatest number of first menstruations occur
among Hindoo females in the 12th, 13th and 14th
years, whilst among the females of this country the
larger proportion presents itself in the 14th, 15th and
16th years." After showing th.at this difference cannot
be owing to climate, for the West Indian Islands have
a higlicr mean annual tempernturc than Calcutta and
the Dekhan, Mr. Eoberton ascrib(\s it, with great show
of reason, to the early marriages in Hindustan, it being
a law of the Shastrjts that lemaks shall le given in
marriage hefort the occurrence of menstruation. It can
scarcely be questioned that such a pr< mature sexual
A r V E N D I X . 325
excitement will have a Icndenc}' to accelerate the epoch
of puberty; and that when this is constantly acting
through a long succession of generations, an early
])uberty may come to be a character of ortce. Again,
'• when it is recollected," says Mr. Roberton, "that the
consummation of marriage among the Hindoos has
taken place, at the latest, on the arrival at puberty,
during a lapse of more than throe thousand years, and
that the jjiactice is sanctioned by ancient laws and
consecrated by custom, it is easy to conceive that those
females who were latest in reaching puberty would be
the least sought after for Avives — that such women
would not be unlilcely in many instances to remain
unmarried — and that thus Hindoo women would grad-
ually come to consist, in a proportion different from
that" in Europe or elsewhere, of such as by constitution
are early nubile. To me there seems nothing extrav-
agant or for fetched in this supposition. The produc-
tion of a like state of things in England, in any par-
ticular district, is quite conceivable. Nothing is bettei
established, than that early or late puberty is a family
peculiarity. Let us, then, only suppose families, pos-
sessing this kind of constitution, to intormarrj", and the
peculiarit}^ in question would be propagated, extended,
and trai.ismitted ; and so a race, distinguished by it,
would be produced."' — (Op. cit., p. 129.) "It is a jus-
tification of this view," adds Dr. Carpenter, "that the
mean age of puberty should dilYer in Bengal, and the
Dekhan, to the extent of nearly a year, being twelve
years six months in the former province, and thirteen
years five months in the latter, notwithstanding its
warmer latitude ; for although formal marriages take
place at a very early ago throughout India, the custom
is so far modified in the Dekhan, that consummation is
not eftected until after the first menstruation has ap-
peared."— ipp. cit., vol. iv., p. 13-iO.)
326 APPENDIX
D.
Note to Page 155.
Speaking of Sir Isaac Newton, the Marquis de
I'Hopital, himself a great contemporary mathemati-
cian, asked: "Does he eat, and drink, and sleep like
other people ? I represent him to mj^self as a celestial
genius, entirely disengaged from matter." Can such a
"celestial genius," one may rensoDably ask, "be of the
same original parentage with the Bushman, who lives
in holes and caves, and devours ants' eggs, locusts and
snakes?" "Can the Quaiqua or Saboo, whose lan-
guage is described as consisting of certain snapping,
hissing, grunting sounds, all more or less nasal, be of
the same descent as those whose eloquent voices * ful-
mined over Greece' or shook the Roman Forum ? "
It should not surprise us that when we contemplate
exclusively the patent diversities of races and over-
look the less obvious but more significant evidences of
a common nature, we should shrink from the conclu-
sion to which a deeper insight into the facts must yet
inevitably conduct us. We have cited in the body uf
this essay facts which illustrate the argument in favor of
the specific identity of diverse races, based upon a rigid
analysis of their mental and moral manifestations, and
shewing that these may be traced to the powers with
which all men are endowed, however imperfectly they
may be developed in some of the savoge tribes. An-
other mode of proof consists in demonstrating the
possibility of the mutual conversion, within certain
limits, of the higher and low^r states of humanity.
Dr. Carpenter has pointed out a very striking ex-
ample of the near affinity wliich may exist between the
APPENDIX. 327
most degro'led " outcasts of humanity," and races con-
siderably advanced in civilization and intelligence.
AVe refer to " ihe relationship of the Bushman of the
Cape of Good Hope, to the Hottentot population who
tenanted that region previously to the arrival of the
European colonists." The following is a graphic ac-
count given of them by one who has had ample op-
])ortunities of observation: "The residence of the
Bushman is still amongst inaccessible hills, in the
rude cave or cleft of the rock — on the level karroo, in
the shallow burrow, scooped out with a stick, and
sheltered with a frail mat. He still, with deadly effect,
draws his diminutive bow and shoots his poisoned ar-
rows against man and beast. Disdaining labor of any
kind, lie seizes when he can on the farmer's herds and
flocks, recklessly destroys what he cannot devour,
wallows for consecutive days with vultures and jack-
als amidst the carcasses of the slain, and, when fully
gorged to the throat, slumbers in lethargic stupor like
a wild beast, till, aroused by hunger, he is compelled
to wander forth again in quest of prey. When he
cannot plunder cattle, he eagerh' pursues the denizens
of the waste, feasts indifferently on the lion or the
hedgehog, and failing such dainty morsels, philosoph-
ically contents himself with roots, bulbs, locusts, ants,
pieces of hide steeped in water, or, as a last re-
source, he tightens his 'girdle of famine,' and, as
Pringle says —
" * He lays him dowu, to sleep away,
In languid trance, the weary day.' "
"Whether this precarious mode of existence may or
may not, have influenced the personal appearance and
stature of the Bushman it is difficult to say, but a
more wretched-looking set of beings cannot easily be
imagined. The average height of the men is consider-
ably under five feet, that of the women little exceed-
328 APPENDIX.
ing four. Their shameless state of nearly complete
nudity, their brutalized habits of voracity, filth, and
cruelty of disposition, appear to place them completely
on a level with the brute creation, whilst the 'click-
ing' tones of a language, composed of the most unpro-
nounceable and discordant noises, more resemble the
jabbering of apes than sounds uttered by human be-
ings."*
" Kow, there is ample evidence that the Cape Bush-
men are a degraded caste of the Hottentot race. They
agree with the Hottentots in all the peculiarities of
physiognom}^, cranial conformation, etc., by which the
latter are characterized ; and a careful comparison of
the languages of the two races has shown that there
is an essential affinity betw^een them. It has been as-
certained by Dr. Andrew Smith, that many of the
Bushman hordes Yary their speech designedly, by
affecting a singular mode of utterance, (employing the
peculiar clapping or clicking of the tongue, which is
characteristic of the Hottentot language, so incessantly,
that they seem to be giving utterance to a jargon con-
sisting of an uninterrupted succession of claps,) and
even adopting new words, in order to make their mean-
mcr unintellio-ible to all but the members of their own
community. Accoi'ding to the same authority, nearly
all the South African tribes who have miade any ad-
vances in civilization, arc surrounded by more barba-
rous hordes, whose abodes are in the wilderness and in
the fastnesses of mountains and forests, and who con-
stantly recruit their numbers by such fugitives as
crime and destitution may have driven from their own
more honest and thriving communities. In this man-
ner it has happened that within a comparatively recent
period many tribes of Hottentots have been degraded
into Bushmen, through the oppressions to which they
have been subjected at the hands of their more civil-
* Lieut. Col. E. K, Na|>i(M-'s F.xcur.'ions in Southern Africa.
APPENDIX. 329
ized neiglibors. Now, altlioiigli of the Hottentots
themselves we are accustomed to form a very low esti-
mate,— our ideas of them having been chiefly derived
from tlie intercourse of the Cape settlers with the
tribes wliich have been their nearest neighbors, and
which have unfortunately undergone that deterioration
which is so often found to be the first result of the
contact of civilized with comparatively savage na-
tions,— it appears from the accounts of them given by
Dutch writers at the time of the first settlement of the
Cape, that they were a people considerably advanced
in civilization, and possessed of many estimable quali-
ties.
" The testimony of Lieut. Col. Napier is very strong
as to their merits as soldiers when officered by Euro-
peans. It has been frequently said that the Hottentots
differ from the higher i-aces, in their incapacity to form
or to receive religious ideas. This is, however, by no
means true. The early Dutch settlers describe them
as havimr a definite religion of their own : and it was
their obstinate adhesion to this which was the real ob-
stacle to the introduction of Christianity among them.
When the attempt was perseveringly made and rightly
directed, the Ilottontot nation lent a more willing ear
than any other race in a similar condition has done to
the preaching of Christianity ; and no people has been
more strikingly and speedily improved bv its recep-
tion." (IF. B. Carpenter, Loc. Cit, p. 1342.)
Dr. Pricitard also makes similar statements, on the
authority of the Dutch voyager Kolben, respecting the
intelligence, fidelity and amiability of the Hottentots
at the time of the first settlement of the Dutch colony.
He further quotes an account of a Hottentot boy, who
was bred up by the Governor Yander Stel, in the
habits and religion of the Dutch, but who, subse-
quently, after his return to the Ca})e, stripped off his
European dress, clothed himself in sheep-skin, and
emphatically renounced the society of civilized men
330 APPENDIX.
and the Christian religion, declaring that he would
live and die in the manners and customs of his fore-
fathers. Now this would be taken, by those who are
eager to discover fresh proofs of the unchangeableness
of human types, as an evidence of a strikmg moral
diversity between this people and the races suscep-
tible of civilization ; whereas, as Prichard sagaciously
remarks, we really trace here one characteristic trait
of nature, as it exists in' all the other races. " A sort
of instinctive and blind attachment to the earliest im-
pressions made upon the mind is one of our strongest
intellectual propensities. In the example above cited,
it appears to have been equally powerful in the mind
of the Hottentot as it is known to be in more cultivat-
ed nations. Yet this has not prevented the spread
of Christianity in the same race of people, when intro-
duced among them under different circumstances."
{J. C. Prichardy Physical History of Mankind.)
APPENDIX. 331
E.
Note to Page 184.
It thus appears that Prof. Agassiz, in insisting upon
the physiological and psychological unity of men
while he yet contends for primeval distinctions of
physical types, confers upon subgenera, as composed
of representative or closely approximate species, the
distinction which has heretofore, by the common con-
sent of naturalists, been assigned to species, of being
the true units of organic nature. In view of this posi-
tion, it strikes us as an exhibition of a singular lack
of litness on the part of Prof. Agassiz, when he argues
that the doctrine of the specific unity of the human
races "runs inevitably into the Lamarckian develop-
ment theory." Such a charge, as directed against the
doctrine in question, seems to us preposterous, and
may be made to recoil with irresistible force upon
Prof. Agassiz himself. In asserting the specific unity
of man, we insist that the tests of such unity are con-
stant and undeviating, but tliat without touching these
characters, there arc others which vary within certain
restricted limits, and that the varieties thence arising
may, under favorable circumstances, acquire the fixed-
ness of species. Now, where in all this is there a lean-
ing to tlie development theory? On the other hand, if
Prof Agassiz' types of men be primordial, and repre-
sent so many distinct species, these must be admitted
to be liable to transmutation, since it is quite certain
that they run into each other by insensible gradations,
and tliat the actual transition has been known to take
Oo2 APPENDIX.
place ill several instances. It is his doctrine, tlien, and
not ours, which "runs inevitably into the development
theory." And so, indeed, is his doctrine accepted by
those who have no objection to its logical consequences.
M. Paul Broca, rehearsing in Dr. Brown-Sequard's
"Journal de Physiologic, for July, 1858," the argu-
ments of " Types of Mankind," rejects the doctrine of
fixedness of species. Prof. Agassiz seems to us to be
less logical than some of his followers.
APPENDIX. 333
F.
Note to Page 298.
Having on such slender evidence asserted the fact of
the discovery of fossil men, Dr. Usher, as if in allusion
to the remarks of Bishop Berkeley, proceeds to affirm
that "authentic r.^lics of human art have been, at last,
found in the diluvian diift." He refers to the re-
searches of Dr. Daniel Wilson, in Scotland, and those
of M. Boucher de Perthes, in France, as proving the
existence of Pre-Celtic races, and " a surpassingly an-
cient people." In answer to this statement, let it suf-
fice to reproduce the comments of a writer in the
Westminster Review, no unfriendly critic, but one
whoso prejudices incline him to adopt the conclusions
of Usher, Nott, Gliddon, &;c., with reference to the in-
detinite antiquity of humm races. The reviewer says:
"It !nay be seriously questioned, whether any Brit-
ish barrow, yet opened, can belong to a period beyond
t.vo or three thousand years before the Christian era,
wiiilst there are reasons for believing that they mostly
fall much within such period. Assuming this view,
whieh we admit is not supported by such positive data
as could be desired, to be not very grossly inaccurate,
we may well r- quire evidence of the most unexcep-
tionable character, where an anliquitv is claimed for
human remains, to which that of the Egyptian pvra-
inids is a mere trifle. In the admirable work of Squier
and Davis, on the * ancient monuments of the Missis-
sippi valley,' the subject of the nge of these monuments
is discussed in a cautious manner, yet the writ'^rs are
334 APPENDIX.
disposed to claim for tbern an antiquity considerably
greater than that of our British barrows, principally
from finding the bones in a less firm condition. ^Vith-
out denying that they may be quite as old as these
primeval monuments of our countr^^, or even older,
we may observe that the experience of English anti-
quaries is in favor of not relying with too much con-
fidence on this state of preservation of bones, without
taking the conditions of interm^ent into account. At
the same time, the bones of ancient Britons are only
rarely found in a perfect and firm state ; and the hills
and downs of this countiy must present quite as
favorable features for the preservation of human re-
mains as the terraces of the river valleys of the United
States. The reasoning based on the mound-builders
never having selected the lowest of these terraces for
their works, whence it has been inferred that this last
terrace was formed subsequently to the erection of the
mounds, always appeared to us weak and inconclusive."
" Such subjects as these offer a shining field for the
work of the imagination ; and Dr. Usher, earnest in
support of a favorite hypothesis, in quoting freely from
the writings of one of our continental neighbors, seems
to be quite regardless of national propensities, — other-
wise, he would have hesitated before he endoi'sed with
his countenance some of M. Boucher de Perthes' Celtic
hammers and pickaxes^ which are neither more nor less
than fragments of the antlers of deei-s, each retaining
one of its tines ; so as to make them hammers and pick-
axes in form alone^ just as much as the pewter toys of
children arc toi^gs and pokers and frying-pans^ (West-
minster Review, April, 1856.)
We may now observe that the undoubted monu
ments of early races unknown to history furnish us
with many significant indications of their common
origin. Our limits preclude extended specifications,
but we invite the attention of our readers to an inter-
esting article in the " Protestant Episcopal Quarterly
APPENDIX. 335
Review and Church Register," for October, 1858, " on
the Monuments of Lost Races." One or two facts only
we can cite here.
Among the ornamental carvings on some of the
monuments seen by Mr. Stephens, in Central America,
he was struck by the representations of the elephants
trunk. "And in one place, he discovered, near the
base of an obelisk idol, a colossal stone head of a
crocodile. Neither of these creatures, it will be re-
membered, belonged, at the age of the discovery, to
the American continent." These facts furnish, in our
opinion, a conclusive proof of the eastern origin of the
builders of the monuments.
In Peru it was found "that the mummied dead were
buried in a sitting posture, whether in rock-hewn
sepulchral chambers, or in galleries beneath vast
mounds of earth or stone." Now, in the Loo Choo
Islands, as recently explored by officers of our gov-
ernment, were found "neglected rock-tomb?," and the
singular old custom of burying the dead in a sitting
posture, and that remarkable style of architecture
known in Europe as the "Old Cyclopean."
The Cyclopean buildings found in Italy and Greece,
and indicating the existence in those countries of ante-
historical races have, says Niebuhr, "a great resem-
blance in style to those of ancient Egypt, especially to
tiie peculiar colossal nature of Egyptian architecture.
We, moreover, find in them pointed arches instead of
vaults, just as in Egyptian buildings."
In connexion with this subject, we might adduce
tlie monuments and traditions among the most diverse
and widely scattered nations relating to the flood. The
traditions exist among nearly all the races of the
earth, and in many, often very many, and most signif-
icant circumstantial details agree with the Scriptural
account of the Noachian deluge. Among the monu-
ments which relate to the same catastrophe may be
mentioned the Apama\an ^[edal, struck during the
336 APPENDIX.
reign of Philip tlie Elder, at the town of Apamen, in
Phrygia. "This city is known to have been formerly
called Cilotus, or "the ark,-' and it is also known that
the coins of cities in that age exhibited some leading
point in their mythological history." "It was," says
Bryant, "undoubtedly named Cibotus, in memor}' of
the ark, and of the history with which it is con-
nected. And in proof of this, we shall find that the
people had preserved more particular and authentic
traditions concerning the flood, and the preservation
of mankind through Noah, than are to be met with
elsewhere. * * -5^ * * Upon the reverse (of the
coin) is delineated a kind of square machine floating
upon the water. Through an opening in it are seen
two persons, a man and a woman, as low as to the
breast; and upon the head of the woman is a veil.
Over this ark is a kind of triangular pediment,
upon which sits a dove ; and below it another, which
seems to flutter its wings, and holds in its mouth a
small branch of a tree. Before the machine is a man
following a woman, who by their attitude seem to have
just quitted it and to have got upon dry land. Upon
the ark itself, underneath the persons there inclosed, is
to be read, in distinct characters, Nf2E," being the veiy
word for Noah used in the Greek tongue. (Auah/sis
of Ancient Ifythologij, by Jacob Bryant Esq., vol. III.,
p. 4:7. See also Kitto's Daily Bible Illustrations. New
York : E. Carter k Brothers, 1854, — volume on the An-
tediluvians and Patriarchs, for various monuments and
traditions of tlie flood.)
Now with regard to traditions relating directly to
the question of the afliliations of races, we find certain
significant and interesting statements in a paper read
before the Ethnological section of the British Scientific
Association, at Dublin, in August, 1857, by Eear-
Admiral Fitzroy. This experienced traveller says:
"In the West of America, the natives look to the
west as the place from which tliey came., and bury
APPENDIX. 337
their dead towards the west (placing them ' towards
the Spirits of their ancestors,' as they say): while the
natives of the east coast of Patagonia point to the east-
ward as the quarter whence they came, and then bury
their dead on the highest hills to the eastward for a
similar reason. It is remarkable that none of them
derived their origin from their present localities in
America. In Africa, the natives point to the north as
the place of their origin. And, briefly, all aboriginal
tribes have been found by travellers and the learned,
to derive their origin more or less directly from the
central regions of Asia," p. 131.
15
338 APPENDIX
a.
(Reprinted from the " Prot. Episcopal Review and Church Reg.," for October, 1857 )
Indigenous Haces of the Earth / or^ Neio Chapters of
Ethnological Inquiry ; including Monographs on
Special Departments of Philology, Iconography^
Cranioscopy^ Palceontology^ Pathology^ Archaeology^
Comparative Geography^ and Natural History : con
tributed by Alfred Maury, Bibliothecaire de I'Institnt
de France, etc., etc., Francis Pulsky, Fellow of the
Hungarian Academy, etc., etc., and J. Aitken Meigs,
M. D., Librarian of the Academy of Natural Sciences
of Philadelphia, etc., etc., (with communications from
Prof. Jos. Leidy, M. D., and Prof L. Agassiz, LL. D.)
Presenting fresh Investigations, Documents, and Ma-
terials, by J. C. NoTT, M. D., and Geo. R. Gliddox,
Authors of "Types of Mankind." Philadelphia: J.
B. Lippincott & Co. London : Trubner & Co. 1857.
Under the above title, covering, as our readers will
perceive, an imposing array of the names of several
distinguished collaborators, a new work has been put
forth by the authors of the " Types of Mankind,"
wherein a second and more flagrant attempt is made
to propagate their infidel opinions respecting the claims
of the Bible to be received as the inspired Word of
God. Under the cover of a pretended discussion of
certain ethnological problems, occasion is taken to heap
obloquy and contempt upon the sacred Scriptures, and
all who hold these in reverence. Such, at least, is the
stap)le of that large portion of the work which appears
under the name of Gliddon, as we slirJl denioi^.strate
by means of a few specimens selected almost at ran-
APPENDIX. 3o0
dom. It gives us mucli ])leasure to add, that the
paper of Dr. Nott on Acclimation (his only contribu-
tion to the work) is unobjectionable in its tone and
spirit, though, in our opinion, its conclusions are far
from being sustained by the facts on which they are
based.
Having so recently taken a survey of the entire
ground of the discussion between the respective ad-
vocates of the unity and the diversit}^ of the human
races, we shall conline ourselves on the present occa-
sion to such topics as are immediately suggested by the
statements of the work whose title heads this article.
One or two general remarks may be premised before
we enter upon the task of special and detailed criti-
cism. We observe, then, in the first place, that while
the attempt is obviously made throughout the work to
justify the promise of its imposing title, the careful
and sagacious reader of these " New Chapters," will
fciil to recognize a single new argument, or to find any
new support to the arguments advanced in the " Types
of Mankind" in favor of the diversity doctrine, which
arguments, as we have seen, in our notices of the lat-
ter work, do not bear the test of critical scrutiny.
Our second preliminary general remark relates to
the changed tone of the writers, when referring to
the present state of the discussion as between them
and the believers in human unity. For, strange as it
may sound to the readers of the "Types of Mankind,"
even Gliddon himself admits that "the diversity view
is not yet absolutely proven" — that the proofs of di-
versity arc chiefly of a negative character — and that
" these questions being still suh judice, some discovery
in science now unftjreseen, may hereafter establish unitf/
upon a certain basis." Concessions of equal or greater
signilicance arj made by other contributors to the
work, as will be seen below.
Prof. Agassiz, in a letter of 4hree pages, merely
reiterates the two principal statements of hLs "Sketch
840 APPENDIX.
of the Natural Provinces of the Animal World," pub-
lished in the " Types of Mankind." We refer, of course,
to his labored attempt to demonstrate a coincidence be-
tween the boundaries of the natural zoological prov-
inces and " the natural range of the distinct typos of
man," and to his most extraordinary assertion that the
linguistic afiinities of races are not significant of a
community of origin, but are merely the necessary re-
sults of a common generic nature ; it being, in his
opinion, just as natural and spontaneous for different
tribes of men, even though of diverse origin, to speak
alike as it is for different species of ducks to " qnack."
Having heretofore noticed and, as we think, fully re-
futed both these statements, we find in the letter un-
der consideration little else that demands special re-
mark. An attempt is made to create a presumption in
favor of the specific diversity of the different types of
man by adverting to the parallel case of the orang ou-
tangs of Borneo, Java, and Sumatra, which, on the au-
thority of Professor Eichard Owen and Dr. Jef-
freys Wyman, are held to belong to at least three
distinct species. Prof. Agassiz avers " that the orangs
differ from one another in the savie manner as the races
of man do ; so much so, that, if these orangs are dif-
ferent species, the different races of men which inhab-
it the same countries, the Malays and the Negrillos,
must be considered also as distinct species." This, at
first view, seems a very plausible argument, but it will
not bear examination. Its whole strength lies in the
quiet assumption implied by the words which we have
italicized. But we may be permitted to call for the
proof of the assertion that the " orangs differ from one
another in the same manner as the races of man do,"
and especially f )r the evidence sustaining the con-
verse proposition that they resemble one another in the
same manner as the races of man do, since the arQ:u-
raent is utterly without value unless the projjosition
be applied in both forms. Wo will, tljcn, inquire of
APPENDIX. 341
the learned Professor whether these specificalb/ different
oraiKj.i have ever been known to cross their breed and pro-
duce a prolific offspring^ and whether it has ever been
sliowii that there is as close a correspondence between
tlicm in respect to physiological and psychological
characters as we have made out for all the varieties of
man. If, as is doubtless the fact, very little is known
on these subjects, we protest against tlic obvious fal-
lacy of such analogical reasoning as this. After all,
too. Professor Owen and Dr. Wyman may be wrong
insupposing that these orangs are of different species,
as undoubtedly they would themselves be convinced
were it possible to prove that the orangs resembled and
differed from each other in the same manner as the
races of men do. Professor Agassiz himself admits
that '' they are considered by some of the most emi-
nent zoologists as constituting only one single species ;"
and that such " is the opinion of Andreas Wagner,
who, by universal consent, ranks as one of the high-
est authorities in questions relating to the natural his-
tory of the Mammalia." The truth is, Professor Ag-
assiz violates one of the simplest rules of logic, in
attempting to elucidate the specific relations of the
human races by referring to the case of the orangs. It
is a futile efibrt to explain the obscvrum per obscurius.
\\e often, indeed, throw light upon questions relating
to the human functions by comparing these with the
simpler manifestations of life in lower animals ; but
where, as in the case under consideration, we know a
great deal more about the varieties of man than we
do of the anthropoid brutes, so far, at least, as the
tests of spccitlc relationships are concerned, it is pre-
posterous to reason from the less known to the better
known. We are quite indifferent as to what may be
the final decision of naturalists on this question of the
specific relations of the orangs Either they all belong
to one single species, as Wagner believes, in which case
the arcru'nent of Professor Affas.siz would refute his
342 A P P E Ti D I X .
present conclusions, or tliey belong to more tnan one
species ; but if this should be demonstrated, the 'proof
would consist, not exclusively or mainly in the slight
anatomical differences by which they are marked, but
chiefly in the absence of those evidences of specific unity
which have been so abundantly substantiated in the case
of the human races.
In immediate juxtaposition with the letter of Prof.
Agassiz appears one from Dr. Joseph Leidy, Pro-
fessor of Anatomy in the Medical Department of the
University of Pennsylvania. This accomplished palae-
ontologist expresses a somewhat hesitating belief in
the indefinite antiquity of man, but candidly admits
the utter inadequacy of the proof of this doctrine.
Thus he says: " While engaged in palaeontological
researches, I sought for earlier records of the aborig-
inal races of man than have reached us through vague
traditions or through later authentic history, but luith
out being able to discover any positive evidences of the
exact geological period of the advent of man in the fauna
of the earth. The numerous facts which have been
brought to our notice touching the discovery of human
bones, and rude implements of art, in association with
the remains of animals of the earlier pleiocene deposits,
are not conclusive evidence of their contemp)oraneous ex-
istence.'''' Again, after expressing the conjecture that
*' primitive races of man may have already inhabited
the intertropical regions," at a period coeval with the
Glacial epoch of the northern hemisphere, he admits
that " no satisfactory evidence has been adduced in favor
of this early appearance of man,^^ but adds, that he is
" strongly inclined to suspect that such evidence will
yet be discovered. When such discover}^ shall have
been made, it will be time enough to consider the
method of reconciling the fact with the teachings of
the Scriptures. At present, we claim the benefit of
Dr. Leidy's admission that no such evidence has yet
been discovered.
A P F E N D 1 X . 343
We arc pleased to have it in our power to state in
this connection that Dr. Leidy agrees with Sir Charles
Lyell, as to the recent age of the human hip-bone
found near Natchez, in association with the remains of
the Mastodon, Mylodon, Megalonyx, Ereptodon, and
other extinct species. He does not, indeed, positively
deny that it was contemporaneous with the remains of
the extinct animals, but he regards the supposition of
Sir Charles Lyell, with respect to its subsequent intro-
duction among the latter, to be highly probable, and
proves conclusively " that bones of recent animals,
when introduced into the older deposits, may, in many
cases, very soon assume the condition of the fossils
belonging to those deposits. Thus fossilization, pelri-
fiiction, or lapidification, is no positive indication of
the relative age of organic remains. The miocene
vertebrate remains of the Himalayas are far more com-
pletely fossilized than the like remains of the eocene
deposits of the Paris basin ; and the remains of the
tertiary vertebrata of Nebraska are more fossilized than
those of the secondary deposits beneath."
The letters which have just engaged our attention
appear in the Preface of the work. The first Chapter
consists of an Kssay "On the Distribution and Classi-
fication of Tongues" — their rt-lation to the Geographical
Distribution of Races; and on the inductions which
maybe drawn from these relations, by Alfred Maury.
Librarian of the French Imperial Institute, Secrotnry-
General of the Soci^t^ de Geographic de Paris." This
is an interesting, end, in many respects, an instructive
paper. We might admit the general accuracy of the
facts brought together by the author without being led
to his conclusions. On the contrary, we should derive
from those facts views tliat differ in some respects very
materially from those which he has announced.
M. Maury, without attempting to demonstrate the
plural origin of mankind, assumes such origin as a
postulate, and then aims to show that languages are
344 APPENDIX.
susceptible of tlie same classification as tne races — that
allied tongues belong to allied races — that the alliance
of races adequate to explain affinity of tongues needs
not to be that of blood nor even that which has re-
sulted from long intercourse, but is merely that of a
common grade of intellectual development. In other
words, he sustains the untenable hypothesis of Prof.
Agassiz, to which allusion has just been made, and
which we have seen has been sufficiently refuted by
the convincing reasoning of the Chevalier Bunsen.
Speaking of the Basque or Iberian tongue, he indi-
cates a characteristic which serves to connect it with
the Tartar tongues of Central Asia. Thus, he says:
" It (the Basque tongue) composes ' de toutes pieces,'
the idea-word; suppresses often entire syllables ; and,
in this work of composition, preserving sometimes but
a single letter of the primitive word, it presents those
adjunctive particles that by philologists are termed
postpositions — as opposed to prepositions — which serve
to distinguish cases." In this manner it is that the
Basque constructs its declension. This new characteris-
tic reappears in another great family of languages which
we shall discuss anon, namely, the Tartar tongues belong-
ing to Central Asia. ":77ie Basque consequently denotes a
very primitive intellectual state of the people who occupied
"Western Europe previously to the arrival of the Indo-
Europeans ;^nd, were it allowable to draw an induction
from an isolated characteristic, one might suppose that
the Iberes were, as a race, allied to the Tartar. But this
hypothesis, daring as it is, receives a new degree of
probability from the study of the second group of
the European languages, foreign to the Indo-Germanic
source, — namely, the Finnish group. This group is not
restricted to a few idioms on the north-east of Europe.
It extends itself over all the territory of northern
Russia, even to the extremity of Kamtschatka. Com-
parison of the numerous idioms spoken by tribes
spread over Siberia has revealed a common bond be-
APPENDIX. 346
tween them, as well of gram mar as of vocabulary.
These tongues, which might be comprehended under
the general appellation Finno-Japonic (from the names
of those occupying upon the map the two extremes of
their chain) oiler this same characteristic of aggluti-
nation which has just been signalized in the Basque,
but in a much less degree. They make use of that
curious systijm of postpositions which appertJiins also
to the ancient idiom of the Iberes. Those terminations
destined to represent cases are replaced by prepositions
distinct from the word, which in our languages pre-
cede, on the contrary, the words of which they modify
the case. It must be noted that the apparition of these
postpositions invariably antecedes, in the gradual for-
mation of tongues, the employment of cases ; whereas
prepositions replace these when the tongue becomes
altered and simplified. Cases are nothing, indeed, but
the result of the coupling of the postposition to words.
Tlie organic march of the declension presents itself,
therefore, throughout the evc)lution of languages, in
the following manner, — namely, at first the root (or
radical) ordinarily monosyllabic; next, the radical fol-
lowed by postpositions, corresponding to the period of
agglutination; again, the radical submitted to the flexion
— coriesponding to the ancient period of our Indo-
European tongues; and finally, the preposition followed
by the radical, corresponding to the modern period
of these same lantruaofes. It is to be noted that
the postposition (in relative age) never returns subse-
quently to the preposition — any more than can the
inilk-te'th crrow again in an old man afler the loss of
his m<jlars. Thus, then, the age of the Finnish tongues
and of the Basque is fixed. They were idioms of anal-
ogous organization, and of whicb the arrest of devel-
opment announces a sufliciently feeble degree of
intellectual power. The brethren of the Aryas and
Iranians, upon penetrating into Europe, had only,
theivforo, to combat populations liviner in a state anal-
15-
346 APPENDIX.
ogous to that in which we find the hordes of Siberia."
We present this passage as setting fourth in a very-
striking manner the peculiar views of M, Maury. It
will be observed that he holds the Iberes, as a race, to
be allied to the Tartar tribes, and this too on the
ground of linguistic affinities. But bj such admitted
alliance he does not intend to imply consanguinity, or
the relationship of descent from a common stock ; he
only refers to the affinity of a common intellectual
state. He recognizes, as other pliilologists do, two
degrees of relationship among languages, — namely, "the
relationship of words coupled Avith a conformity of the
general grammatical system ; and this conformity
without similitude of vocabularj^" When languages
offer the former degree of relationship, he terms them
daughters or sisters, implying that they have sprung
from a common stock; but when they are connected
only through the second kind of relationship, he terms
them allied, by which he implies nothing more than a
similar mental organization in the tribes Avhich speak
them. The European languages of the Indo-Germanic
stock furnish a striking instance of the former kind of
relationship. On this point M. Maury speaks as de-
cidedly as Prichard, Bunsen, or Max Altiller would
speak. " This distribution of languages in Europe,"
sa;ys he, "co-relative in their affinity with the antique
idioms once spoken from the shores of the Caspian
Sea to the banks of the Ganges, is an incontestahle index
to the Asiatic ORIGIN of the peoples who speah them. One
cannot here suppose a fortuitous circumstance. It isclearly
seen that these tribes issuing from Asia liad impinged one
against another ; and the Celts, as the most ancient immi-
grants on the European continent, have ended hy becoming
its most occidental inhabitants.^''
In view of such unexceptionable reasoning as this,
w^e must largely qualify the averment we have made
that M. Maury sustains the singularly extreme views
of Prof. Agassiz on tlic explanation of linguistic
A p r E N D I X . 347
affinities. For he thus distinctly admits that a simili-
tude of vocabulary, coupled with grammatical con-
formity, is adequate to demonstrate community of
orig-in. Ke, however, asrrees with Prof. A^rassiz in
assuming tliat no amount of conformity in grammati-
cal construction does of itsalf establish the fact of a
common origin of the tongues in which such con-
formity is found without similar words. On this point
he is directly at issue with the great body of compara-
tive philologists, nearly all of whom hold that the
evidence furnished by this kind of conformity is often
of more value in proving the common origin of lan-
guages, than that supplied by the discovery of similar
words. For the vocabularies are, for various and
obvious reasons, far more liable to change than the
system of grammatical construction, which, to a cer-
tain extent, docs, indeed, depend upon the degree of
intellectual development and the modes of thought of
a people, but by no means to such, an extent as is as-
serted in the gratuitous hvpothesis of M. Maury.
Similar modes of thought and an equal degree of
intellectual development do not necessarily or natural-
ly give rise to uniformity of grammatical construction
among nations of diflerent origin. Grammatical con-
struction is by far too arbitrary to permit us to adopt
such an hypothesis. Moreover, this theory is suffi-
ciently refuted by the fact that nations far advanced in
knowledge and civilization have yet retained almost
unchanged their earliest form of grammatical con-
struction, which thus ceases to be a true exponent of
their intellectual stat^. Thus "the Chinese, for in-
stance, of all known languages, most completely pre-
serves, in a fixed or stereotyped condition, that earliest
phase in the development of speech, in which every
word corresponded to or represented a substantial
object in the outer world; and it cannot be denied
that a consid Table amount of intellectual dev^elopment
is to be found amidst that people. An 1 from what is
348 APPENDIX.
known of tlie ancient Egyptian language, this appears
to have been nearly in the same condition. On the
other hand, there are many languages of comparatively
barbarous nations, even belonging to the same gi-onp
with the Chinese, which possess much greater flexi-
bility.""^ Now such facts are plainly incompatible
with M. Maury's theory, according to which it is held,
not only " that speech is Avith man as spontaneous as
locomotion," but also that a similarity of intellectual
development always produces a similarity of grammati-
cal construction in the languages of races of diverse
origin, and that primitive tongues change their gram-
matical construction in advancing to higher phases of
development in correspondence with the intellectual
improvement of the peoples by whom they are spoken.
This theory at first view seems plausible, and is
recommended by a certain siniplicity, but we must
take care not to mistake an artificial simplicity, which
ignores much that ought to be explained, for the true
simplicity of nature, which includes in one harmonious
system all the diversified phenomena pertaining to the
subject to be elucidated. It may be a very simj^le
thing, in, perhaps, more than one sense of the word, to
assume that the linguistic affinities of certain races
depend solely on their similarity as to intellectual
organization, but it is certain that such a theory can
never truly satisfy a reflecting mind, and utterly fails
to explain the diversities, whether of kind or degree,
Avhich arc observed among the languages of these same
races.
If, then, it were really true, as is alleged by ^f.
Maury, that the linguistic i^imilies coincide (with
tolerable exactitude) with the more trenched divisions
of mankind, and that the relationship between the
allied tongues was, in many cases, a mere conformity
- W. B. Carpenter, Cyclopsedia of Anatomy and Physiology. Vol
iv., p. 1347.
APPENDIX. 349
of grammatical construction without verbal corres-
pondence, it would yet be far more natural to conclude
that such conformity, in a matter so conventional as
that of the mode of expressing the relations of words
in a sentence, must have been the result of a common
origin, than that two or more tribes of distinct origin
should have spontaneously fallen into the same mode.
But in point of fact, the conclusions of comparative
philologists in respjct to the descent of different races
of men from a common stock are seldom based upon
grammatical conformity alone, being almost always
founded on the double conformity of grammatical con-
struction and verbal corrospondencd. It is true that
they often succeed in establishing community of origin
in respect to races whose languages have few or no
words in common, but then they do this by demon-
strating the affinity of each with some third race by
means of verbal correspondences such as suffice to
prove a common descent. What this proof is, we
have heretofore indicated by quotations from the writ-
ings of Prichard and. Bunsen. Inasmuch, however, as
the point is yet contested by Prof. Agussiz and the
editors of the work wo are noticing, we are induced to
lay before our readers a very interesting and popular
exposition by Dr. Latham of the views generally ac-
cepted b}^ comparative philologists on this subject.
" Tlie value of language," remarks this competent
judge, " has been overrated — chiefly, of course, by the
philologists. And it has been undervalued. The
anatomists and archieologists, and above all, the zoolo-
gists, have done this. The historian, too, has not
known exactly how to npjireciate it, when its phe-
nomena come in collision with the direct testimony of
aulhorilies — the chief instrument in his own line of
criticism. It is overrated when we makj the aflinities
of speech between two populations absolute evidence
of connection in the way of relationship. It is over-
rateil when we talk of towju-'is being iiaraiUo.lle^ and of
350 APPENDIX.
languages never chjing. On tlie other hand, it is unduly
disparaged when an inch or two of difference of sta-
ture, a difference in the taste for fine arts, a modifica-
tion in the religious belief, or a disproportion in the
inflnence upon the affairs of the world, is set up as a
mark of distinction between two tribes speaking one
and the same tongue, and alike in other matters.
Now, errors of each kind are common. Tlae perma-
nence of language as a sign of origin must be deter-
mined, like everything else of the same kind, by in-
duction ; and this tells us that both the loss and reten-
tion of a native tongue are illustrated by remarkable
examples. It tells both ways. In St. Domingo we
have Negroes speaking French ; and this is a notable
instance of the adoption of a foreign tongue. But the
circumstances were peculiar. One tongue was not
changed for another ; since no Negro language pre-
dominated. The real fact was a mixture of languages
— and this is next to no language at all. Hence,
when French became the language of the Haytians, the
usual obstacle of a previously existing common native
tongue, pertinaciously and patrioticall}' retained, was
wanting. It superseded an indefinite and conflicting
mass of Negro dialects, rather than any particular
Negro language Lastly — for I am illustrating,
not exhausting, the subject — there died, in the year
1770, at Karczag, in Hungary, an old man named
Varro ; the last man, in Europe, that knew even a few
words of the language of his nation. Yet this nation
was and is a great one; no less a one than that of the
ancient Komanian Turks, some of whom invaded
Europe in the eleventh century, penetrated as far as
Hungary, settled there as conquerors, and retained
their language till the death of this same Yarro. The
rest of the nation remained in Asia; and the present
occupants of the parts between the Caspian and the
Aral are their descendants. Languages, then, may be
lost ; and one may be superseded by another
APPENDIX. 351
On the other hand, the pertinacity with which lan-
guage resists the attempts to supersede it, is of no
common kind. Without going to Siberia or America,
the great habitats of the broken and fragmentary fami-
lies, we may find instances much nearer home. In
the Isle of Man the native Manks still remains ;
though dominant Norsemen and dominant Anglo-
Saxons have brought their great absorbent languages
in collision with it. In Malta, the laborers speak
Arabic — with Italian, with English, and with a Lingua
Franca around them. In the w^estern extremities of
the Pyrenees, a language neither French nor Spanish
is spoken, and lias been spoken for centuries — possibly
millenniums. It was once the speech of the southern
half of France, and of all Spain. This is the Basque
of Biscay."
" A reasonable philologist makes similarity of lan-
guage strong — very strong — prima facie evidence in
favor of community of descent. When does it imply
this, and when does it merely denote commercial or
social intercourse? We can measure the phenomena
of languages, and exhibit the results numerically.
Thus, the per centage of words common to two langua-
ges may be 1, 2, 3, 4 — 98, 99, or any intermediate
number. But now comes the a])plication of a maxim :
Ponderanda non numeranda. We ask what sort of
words coincide, as well as how many? When the
names of such objects as fire^ ivater, sun^ raoon^ star,
hand, tooth, tongue, foot, etc., agree, we draw an infer-
ence ver}- diifcront from the one which arises out of
the presence of such words as ennui, fashion, quadrille,
violin, etc. Common sense distinguishes the words
which are likely to be borrowed from one language
into another, from those which were originally com-
mon to the two.
Tliere is a certain amount of French words in
English, — that is, of words borrowed from the French.
I do not know the percentage, nor yet the time roquir-
352 APPENDIX.
ed for their introduction ; and as I am illustrating the
subject rather than seeking specific results, this is un-
important. Proloiig the time, and multiply the words ;
remembering that the former can be done indefinitely.
Or, instead of doing this, increase the points of con-
tact between the languages. What follows? We
soon begin to think of a familiar set of illustrations ;
some classical and some vulgar : of the Delphic ship,
so often mended as to retain but an equivocal iden-
tity; of the Highlander's knife, with its two new
blades and three new handles; of Sir John Cutler's
silk stockings, degenerated into worsted by darnings.
We are brought to the edge of a new question. We
must tread slowly, accordingly. In the English words
call-es^, G^ll-eth (call-^,} and csil\-ed, we have two parts ;
the first being the root itself, the second a sign of per-
soiij or tense. The same is the case with the word fa-
ther-5, son-.s, etc, ; except that the -s denotes case ; and
that it is attached to a substantive instead of a verb.
Again, in wis-er we have the sign of a comparative ;
in wis-es^, that of a superlative degree. All these are
inflexions. K we choose we may call them inflexional
elements ; and it is convenient to do so, since we can
analyze words and contrast the different parts of them :
for example, in calls, the call is radical, the -s inflex-
ional. Having become familiarized with this distinc-
tion, we may now take a word of French or German
origin — say fashion or lualiz. Each, of course, is for-
eign. Nevertheless, when introduced into English, it
takes an p]ngiis]i inflexion. Hence we say, if I dress
absurdly it is fashions fault; also, / am lucdtz-mg, I
waltz-ed, he wcdtz-es, and so on. In these particular
words, then, the inflexional part has been English,
even when the radical was foreign. This is no isola-
ted fiict. On the contrary, it is sufliciently common to
be generalized, so that the g ram m at iced Y)art of language
has been accredited with a permanence which has been
denied to the glossarial or vocalidar. The one chan-
APPENDIX. 353
ges, the other is constant ; the one is immortal, the
other fleeting; the one form, the other matter. Now
it is imaginable that the glo-sarial and grammatical
tests may be at variance. They would be so if all
our English verbs came to be French, yet still retain-
ed their English inflexions in -ed, -6', -ing^ etc. They
would be so if all the verbs were like fashion^ and all
the substantives like quadrille. This is an extreme
case ; still, it illustrates the question. Certain Hindu
languages are said to have nine tenths of the vocables
common with a language called the Sanskrit, but none
of their inflections; the latter being chiefly Tamul.
What, then, is the language itself? This is a question
whicli divides philologists. It illustrates, however, the
difference between the two tests — the grammatical and
the glossarial. Of these, it is safe to say that the for-
mer is the more constant. Yet the philological meth-
od of investigation requires caution. Over and above
the terms which one language borrows from another,
and which denote intercourse rather than affinity,
there are two other classes of little or no ethnological
value. 1. Co'incidtnces m.ay he merely accidental. The
likelihood of their being so is a part of the doctrine
of chances. The mathematician may investigate this ;
the philologist merely finds the data. Neither has
been done satisfactorily, though it was attempted by
Dr. T. Young. 2. Coincidences may have an organic
connection. No one would say that because two na-
tions called the same bird by the name cuckoo^ the term
had been borrowed by either from the other, or by
both from a common source. The true reason would
be plain enough. Two populations gave a name on
imitative principles, and imitated tlie same object.
&)n and brother, sister and daughter — if these agree, the
chances are that a philological affinity is at the bottom of
the agreement. But does the same apply to papa and
ma;»ma, identical in English, Carib, and perhaps twen-
tv otlier lanicuaires? No. Thov mcrelv show that
354 APPENDIX.
the infants of different countries begin witli the same
sounds. Such — and each class is capable of great
expansion — are the cases where philology requires
caution."*
We have seen that Prichard, Bunsen, and other
eminent philologists, who, on data derived from the
study of languages, advocate the doctrine of a 'com-
munity of descent for all the human tribes, enjoin a
like caution in founding conclusions on mere verbal
coincidences. And yet these eminent philosophers
are rudely assailed, not indeed personally, but as
members of a class, by Mr. Luke Burke, who avers
that " a whole tribe of comparative philologists, with
a fatuity almost inconceivable, have coolly withdrawn
the science of ethnology from the control of zoology,
and settled it to their own infinite satisfaction, as per
catalogue of barbarian vocabularies." Mr. Gliddon,
with characteristic complacency, indorses the charge,
and applies it personally to Dr. Latham, whom he
flippantly terms " an inexhaustible, learned, and labo-
rious ethnological ' catalogue-maker.' " He seemingly
forgets that even M. Maury, in favor of whose specu-
lations, as an attempt to support the diversity doctrine,
Mr. Gliddon is willing for the nonce to lay aside his
usual expressions of contempt for comparative philol-
ogy and its professors, folly admits the significance of
*'a similitude of vocabulary" in establishing a com-
mon origin for different tongues. How much more
rational is the system thus imjwtently assailed, than
the gratuitous theory -which asserts that it is just as
natural for races of men presenting similar typical
characters to use spontaneously similar modes of
speech without borrowing from a common source, as
it is for all species of thrush " to sing thrush?V//," as is
alleged by Prof. Agassiz. Dr. Carpenter, indeed, men-
* E. G. Latham. Man and his Migrations. New York. 1852.
Pp. 87-94.
APPENDIX. 355
tions a fact which is utterly irreconcilable with this
theory ■:
" It is not a little curious," he remarks, "that the
linguistic affinity should often be strongest where the
contbrmity in physical characters is slightest, and
weakest where this is strongest. Thus, among the
Malay o-Polynesian and the American Kaces, as already
remarked, there are very striking differences in con-
formation, features, complexion, etc. ; and yet the
linguistic affinity of the great mass of tribes formmg
each group is not now doubted by any philologist,
though a doubt may still hang over some particular
cases. On the other hand, the hiatus between the
Turanian and the Seriform languages is very wide ;
but the physical conformity is so strong between the
Chinese and the typical Mongolian nations, that no
ethnologist has ever thought of assigning to them a
distinct origin. So, again, there would seem to be no
near relationship between the American and the Tu-
ranian languages ; but the affinity of the two stocks
appears to be established by the transition link afford-
ed by the E.-quimaux, which are Mongolian in their
conformation and American in their language."*
\\q do not overlook the fact that the comparison
here made has reference to confoimity or the want of
it, in respect to "physical characters," whereas accord-
ing to the special theory of M. Maury, the com})arison
is made with reference to equality of " intellectual
state;" but inasmuch as our opponents are adherents
of that school of "positive" philosophy, which holds
that the pJiysique determines the morale,, to such an
extent that even linguistic affinities are to be explained
on the ground of special resemblances "in the internal
structure of the throat," they, of course, are estopped
from raising any objection on that score to the signih-
canee of the fact noticed by Dr. Carpenter.
W. B. Ciupenter. Op. Cit.. p. 1317.
356 APPENDIX.
We have risen from the perusal of M. Maury's in-
structive paper v/ith a strengthened conviction of the
value of tlie evidence derived from comparative phil-
ology, in establishing a community of descent for the
most diverse types of mankind. He has himself pre-
sented most pregnant examples of such evidence,
though, in blind adherence to a foregone conclusion,
he refuses to perceive their real bearing.
Chapter II. is entitled, " Iconographic Researches on
Human Races and their J.rte," by Francis Pulszky,
late Under Secretary of State in Hungary, In this
paper the author attempts to establish the following
facts :
" I. That whilst some races are altogether unfit for
imitative art, others are by nature artistical in differ-
ent degrees.
" II. That the art of those nations which excelled
in painting and sculpture, was often indigenous and
always national ; losing not only its type, but likewise
its excellence, by imitating the art of other nations.
"III. That imitative art, derived from intercourse
with, or conquest by, artistic races, remained barren,
and never attained any degree of eminence ; that it
never survived the external relations to which it owed
its origin, and died out as soon as intercourse ceased,
or when the artistic conquerors became amalgamated
with the unartistic conquered race.
" IV. That painting and sculpture are always the
result of a peculiar artistical endowment of certain
races, which cannot be imparted by instruction to un-
ardstical nations. This fitness or aptitude for art
seems to be altogether independent of the mental
culture and civilization of a people ; and no civil or
religious pr<^hibitions can destroy the natural impulse
of an artistical race to express its feelings in pictures,
statuary, and reliefs."
We are by no means satisfied that the author has
Bucceeded in *' establishing" his conclusions, but wc
APPENDIX. 357
do not care to argue this point, and are willing, for
the sake of argument, but only for that reason, to
concede his several positions. We yet hold that they
lend no countenance to the doctrine of the plural
origin or .specific diversity of men. The case would
be perfectly parallel to that of the permanency of any
other characteristic, whether physical or moral, of
well-established varieties. It has been shown that
peculiarities, whether of bodily conformation or of
physical temperament, may be transmitted to off-
spring, even though they had been acquired by the
progenitors. Not knowing the origin of the principal
varieties of the human species, we cannot, of course,
account for their diversities in respect to artistical
capacity, any more than we can account for differences
of stature, conformation of skull, color of skin, etc.,
each and all of which we have found to be invalid as
tests of specific diversity. This conclusion is further
strengthened by the consideration, that precisely par-
allel phenomena are observed among individuals and
families belonging to the same race.
The next paper (Chapter III.) is a sketch of the
" Cranial Characteristics of the Races of Men ^^'' by Dr. J.
A. Meigs, Professor of the Institutes of Medicine in
the Philadelphia College of Medicine. This paper
embodies a notice of the additions and changes which
the collection of human crania made by the late Dr.
Samuel ^forton, and now owned by the Academy of
Natural Sciences at Philadelphia, has undergone since
the decease of its founder. We have attempted to
show that Dr. Morton failed most cgregiously to estab-
lisli the doctrine of diverse human species. That the
" additions" made to his collection of crania have not
materially strengthened the case, is virtually admitted
by Dr. ^leig^, as will appear from the following pas-
sage of his prefatory letter addressed to Messi-s. Nott
and Gliddon. '' In the treatment of my subject, you
will observe that I have confined mvself chiefly to a
358 APPENDIX.
simple statement of facts, carefully and designedly ab-
staining from tlie expression of any opinion upon the
"prematurely ^ and perhaps^ in the present state of our
knowledge^ univisely mooted questions of the origin^ and
primitive affiliations of man. Not a little study and
reflection incline me to the belief that long years of
severe and earnest research are yet necessary before
we can pronounce authoritatively upon these ultimate
and .perplexing problems of ethnology." Again, he
admits " that diversity of cranial types does not neces-
sarily imply diversity of origin. Neither do strong
resemblances between such types infallibly indicate a
common parentage." These admissions are all that we
care for.
In Chapter IV., Dr. Nott treats of '^Acclimation;
or the comparcdive influence of climate, endemic and epi-
demic diseases on the races of mcinr With respect to
this paper, which in the main is suggestive and high-
ly interesting, we have to reiterate the two general re-
marks which have been alread}^ applied to the preced-
ing chapters. First, the writer assumes the specific
diversity of the human races, and, under the bias of
this assumption, investigates the comparative influence
of climate, etc., on these different races. As might be
expected under these circumstances, he is ready to ac-
cept on slender arid disputed evidence any fact which
seems to harmonize with his preconceived opinions.
Thus, for example, he asseits in one place that " ne-
groes are comparatively exempt from all the endemic
diseases of the South," in order to make it appear that
such exemption is a specific characteristic of the race;
for he further contends that the exemption could not
have been acquired by nccliination, as there is no ac-
climation against malarious diseases. He frequently
refers to this as an incontestable fact, though in a note
he candidly admits that the correctness of the state-
ment is questioned by persons of large experience.
" A medical friend (Dr. Gordon) who has had much
APPENDIX. 359
experience in the diseases of the interior of Alabama,
South Carolina, and Louisiana, has been so kind," he
says, " as to look over these sheets for me, and assures
me that I have used language much too strong with
regard to the exemption of negroes. He says they
are quite as liable as the whites, according to his ob-
servations, to intermittents and dysentery." The other
general remark, which the perusal of this paper sug-
gests, is the one we have now so often repeated respect-
ing the law of the transmission of the peculiar char-
acteristics of " varieties." If the races of men differ-
ed from one another in respect to acclimation and the
susceptibility to certain kinds of disease, to a much
greater extent than can be proved, or than is even al-
leged by the most extreme advocate of the theory of hu-
man diversity, the fact would by no means disprove
the common origin of these races, but would be en-
tirely explicable in consistency with the laws which
determine the perpetuation of certain acquired peculi-
arities. In other words, the susceptibility of a race to
one class of diseases, and their exemption from anoth-
er class, might be a part of the characters distinguish-
ing it as a variety from other races within the limits of a
single species. That no specific distinction between the
races can be founded on this alleged difference of sus-
ceptibility to disease, is apparent from the fact that the
phenomenon lacks the invariable constancy which is
necessary to render it valid as a test of species. While
most Negroes, for example, are exempt from liability
to yellow fever, many full-blooded Africans do take
the disease and die of it. Moreover, the comparative
immunity of the race finds a parallel in the phenom-
ena often observed among individuals, and even whole
families, belonging to the white races. While, then,
we recognize in the pa])er under consideration many
interesting and important facts, we contend that few
of them have any bearing upon the question of the
single or plural origin of man, and that not one is in-
consistent with the idea of unity of species and origin.
360 APPENDIX.
The two remaining chapters are by Mr. Gliddon,
and, like his contributions to " Types of Mankind,"
are characterized by a great show of bibliographical
knowledge, with a vast amount of irrelevant anecdote.
The first of these chapters (Chapter Y.) has the follow-
ing pedantic title : "The Monogenists and the Po-
LYGENISTS ; being an exposition of the doctrines of
schools professing to sustain dogmatically the Unity
or Diversity of Human Eaces; with an inquiry
into the antiquity of mankind upon earth, viewed
chronologically, historically, and palaeontologically."
This paper opens with an introductory citation of a
passage from the French translation of Humboldt's
" Cosmos," which passage he alleges, is entirely omit-
ted in Sabine's translation, and is inaccurately render-
ed in that of Otte. The passage in question embraces
one cited by the illustrious author from an unpublish-
ed work, by his brother, William Humboldt, on the
" Diversity of Languages and Peoples," which is in-
terpreted by Mr. Gliddon as the expression of a " ma-
ture opinion" on the part of these eminent savans, ad-
verse to the doctrine of the single origin of mankind.
We do not concede the accuracy of this interpretation
of a fragmentary passage from an unpublished work.
In order to make our own exegesis intelligible, it is
necessary to give the entire passage, and inasmuch as
Mr. Gliddon denies the accuracy of Otte's rendering,
we will cite his own version of M. Guigniaul's French
translation of the "Cosmos," and give also his flippant
commc.its, interspersed through the text, and distin-
guished by being inclosed in brackets :
" Geograpliical researches on the primordial seat, or,
as it is said, upon the cradle of the human species,
possess in fact a character purely mythic, ' We do
not know,' says Wm. Humboldt, in a work as yet in-
editjd, upon the diversity of languagos and of peoples,
" we do not l^'now, eithor historically, oi' through any
{whatsoever) certain tradition, a moment when the hu-
APPENDIX. 8(31
man species was not already separated into groups of
peoples. [Hebrew literature^ in common with all others^
is thus rejected, being equally unhidorical as the rest.^
AVhetlier this state of things has existed from the ori-
gin, {say beginning^) or whether it was produced later,
is what cannot be decided through history. Some is-
olated legends being reencountered upon very diverse
points of the globe, without apparent communication,
stand in contradiction to the first hypothesis, and
make the entire human genus descend from a single
pair, [as for example^ iyi the a7icient booh called ^Genesis.^^
This tradition is so widely sj^read, that it has some-
times been regarded as an antique remembrance of men.
But this circumstance itself would rather prove that
there is not therein any real transmission of a fact,
any-soever truly historical foundation ; and that it is
simply the identity of human conception, which ev-
erywhere leads mankind to a similar explanation of an
identical phenomenon. A great number of myths
without historical link {say connection) whatever the
ones and the others, owe in this manner their resem-
blance and their origin to the parity of the imagina-
tions or of the reflections of the human mind. That
which shows still more in the tradition of which we
are treating, the manifest character of fiction, {Old and
New Testament narratives inchided^ of course,) is, that
it claims to explain a phenomenon beyond all human
experience, that of the first origin of the human spe-
cies, in a manner conformable to the experience of our
own day; the innmicr, f;)r instance, in which, at an
epoch when the whole hiiniau genus counted ali'eady
thousands of years of existence, a desert island, or a
valley isolated amid mountains, may have been peo-
pled. Vainly would thought dive into the meditation
of this first origin ; mnn is so closely bound to his
species and to time, that one cannot conceive {such a
thing asi) an human being corning into the world with-
out a family ali-cadv existing, and Avithout a past, {an-
16
362 APPENDIX.
tecedent^ that is, to sucli man's advent.) This question,
therefore, not being resolvable either by a process oi
reasoning or through that of experience, must it be
considered that the prmiitive state, such as a pretended
{alluding to the Biblical^ necessarily) tradition describes
to us, is really historical — or else, that the human spe-
cies, from its commencement, covered the earth in the
form of peoples ? This is that which the science of
languages cannot dQaidiQ {as theologers suppose /)hj it-
self, as {in like manner) it ought not either to seek for
a solution elsewhere, in order to draw thence elucida-
tions of those problems which occupy it."
Setting aside for the present Mr. Gliddon's in-
terpolations, we remark that not only no " mature
opinion," but absolutely no opinion at all is expressed
by the two brothers, on the subject of the origin of
mankind, except to affirm that the "phenomenon is
beyond all human experience," and therefore "not i^e-
solvable either by a process of reasoning or through
that of experience." For while comparative philology
is adequate to trace the relationship of languages, and
thus to trace all languages to one primeval stock, or at
least, when considered in connection with other criteria
of the alliance of races, to demonstrate a community
of origin for all, it does not " by ITSELF decide"
that the entire human genus have descended from " a
single pair," inasmuch as a primeval tongue might
have been communicated to any number of individuals
as well as to two.
Now, as to Mr. Gliddon's interpolations, it is surely
a suspicious sign that he is not satisfied to let the Hum-
boldts speak for themselves, witliout his gTatuitous
explanations. If they really intended to characterize
the Holy Scriptures as ^''riiytJis, fiction, and j^^'f^tended
tradition,'''' this would not be the proper occasion for
the easy work of refuting such a charge. We should
merely refer our readers to the standard works on the
" Evidences of Christianity." But in point of fact,
APPENDIX. 363
we liave not the least idea that either brother meant
to make any allusion to the Scriptures at all. We
have seen that many of the most judicious theologians
of the past and present ages acquiesce in the expe-
diency of the rule that scientific researches should not
be restricted by the supposed meaning of the Scrip-
tures, and ought, therefore, to be pursued irrespectively
of any apparent counter statements of the inspired
record. Whatever Mr. Gliddon may do, it is certain
that neither of the great savans whom he so flagrantly
misrepresents, would have gone out of his way to
speak contemptuously of the sacred volume. They
were discussing a scientific problem, on the pure prin-
ciples of science.
We have affirmed that they did not, in this dis-
cussion, express the opinion ascribed to them by Mr.
Gliddon, and have endeavored to justify our affirma-
tion by the language of the very passage cited by
him. We now present further and fully confirmatory
proof In this same work, the " Cosmos," Alexander
Humboldt says :
"The comparative study of languages shows us
that races now separated by vast tracts of land, are
allied together, and have migrated from one common
primitive seat ; it indicates the course and direction of
all migrations, and, in tracing the leading epoch of
developments, it recognizes, by means of the more or
less changed structure of the language, in the per-
manence of certain forms, or in the more or less
advanced distinction of the formative system, which
race has retained most nearly the language common to
all who had migrated from the general seat of origin."
" The largest field for such investigations into the
ancient condition of language, and consequently into
the period lolien the whole faraily of mankind luas in
the strict sense of the loord, to he regarded as one living
whole, presents itself in the long chain of Indo-Ger-
manic language^, extending from the Ganges to the
364 APPENDIX.
Iberian extremity of Europe, and from Sicily to the
North Cape."
" From these considerations and the examples by
which they have been illustrated, the com|)arative
study of languages appears an important rational
means of assistance by which scientific and genuinely
philological investigation may lead to a generalization
of views regarding the affinity of races, and their con-
jectural extension in various directions from one com-
mon point of radiationr^
. Mr. Griiddon is himself constrained to admit that
Alexander Humboldt has expressed himself most un-
equivocally in favor of the specific unity of mankind ;
but he attempts to weaken the force of the admission
by drawing the distinction between unity of species
and community of origin. Quoting the following ex-
pressions of Humboldt, — namely, '* But, in my opinion,
more powerful reasons militate in favor of the unity
of the human species;" and again: "In sustaining
the unity of the human species, we reject, as a neces-
sary consequence, the distressing distinction of su-
perior and inferior races," — Mr. Gliddon confesses that
such "language admits of no equivoque," and adds:
" But it is the accuracy of the first assertion, namely,
'the unity of the human species,' that, without some
ventilation of the Baron's precise meaning, I cannot
accept."
But further, he incidentally lets fall a remark which
proves that he knew William Humboldt as well as his
brother to have a most decided leaning towards the
doctrine of the radiation of the human races from one
original centre. The remark is this: "But even
under the supposition that Wilhelm von Humboldt,
in his now past generation, when writing on the
'Diversity of Languages and of Peoples,' may have
speculated upon the probability of reducing both into
•Cosmos — Otte's Translation, Vol. II., p. 111. New York.
APPENDIX. 365
one original stock, it will remain equally certain, that,
in such assumed conclusion,- he was biased by no dog-
matical respect for Myths, Fiction, or Pretended
Tradition ; and furthermore, that if he grounded his
results on the ' Kawi Sprache^'' he inadvertently built
upon a quicksand, as subsequent researches have estab-
lished."
The animus of all this is patent. While Mr.
Gliddon " cannot accept" certain scientific conclusions
of the celebrated brothers, he is generously willing to
tolerate such heresies in science, in consideration of
the assumed fact that they agree with him in regarding
and characterizing the Holy Scriptures as "myths, fic-
tion, and pretended tradition." These eminent savans
are entitled to but little consideration in matters of
science which have been the study of their lives, if
their conclusions are distasteful to Mr. Gliddon ; but
if they happen to use equivocal expressions which he
can torture into a denial of the truth of the Scriptures,
Avhich they have never made a special study, they be-
come pro hac vice an indisputable authority with that
gentleman. "I cannot but congratulate myself," he
complacently says, "that — however other great au-
thorities may be found to agree with, or to contradict
him, on the question of human monogenism or polyg-
enism — in rejecting ' myths,' ' fiction,' and ' pretended
tradition,' I find myself merely and implicitly follow-
in<'- in the wake of Alexander yon Humboldt."
We thus sec that after making a noisy effort to show
that " theologers" had misrepresented the Humboldts
in ranking them on the side of monogenism, Mr. Glid-
don has himself more than once admitted the very fact,
for the assertion of which on the part of others he has
raised an outcry of " literary dishonesty."
We shall dismiss the subject of this gentleman's
writings, and conclude our notice of the book, by quot-
ing a few passages from one or the other chapter con-
tributed by him, as specimens of his mode of scientific
discussion :
366 APPENDIX.
" BuNSEN — with whom philology and ethnology are
synonyms through which' we shall recover, some day,
the one primeval language spoken by the first pair, who
are now accounted ' heatorum in coelis ' — declares, ' that
physiological inquiry, (one, as we all know, completely
outside of the range of his high education and various
studies,) although it can never arrive by itself at any
conclusive result, still decidedly inclines, on the whole,
towards the theory of the unity of the human race.' "
To which, with very bad taste, to say no more, he ap-
pends the following note: " ' Multae terricolis linguae,
coelestibus una,' is another way of stating such axiom.
How did this last writer know that people do talk one
language in heaven? Can he show us whether the
'dead' have speech at all? During some generations,
the Sorbonne, at Paris, discussed, in school-boys' themes,
a coherent enigma, namely : An sancti resurgant cum
intestinis — not a less difficult problem for such youths'
pedagogues ! "
In another paragraph he says : " Except as orthodox
repellers of free investigation, the ujiity-men have really
no place in ethnological science, unless with Alexan-
der VON Humboldt they use the term ' unity ' in a
philosophical (or ' parliamentary') sense, and not in the
one currently understood by theologers."
In other words, Prichard, Lepsius, Bunsen, Max
MiiLLER, and others, whose intellectual ability and im-
mense erudition even Mr. Gliddon himself fully admits,
have yet, according to him, no place in ethnological
science, the very specialty to which they have devoted
the labors of their lives, since they advocate the doc-
trine of " unity" in the sense currently understood by
theologians.
Our next extracts present another instance of similar
inconsistency and contradiction. They refer to the
Chevalier Bunsen. Alluding to certain philological
inductions which Bunsen considers to have been estab-
lished by the researches of Dr. Max Miiller, Gliddon
APPENDIX. 367
denies " the competency of any ma^i living^ in the actual
state of science^ to he considered a ''philologist'' if he enun-
ciate such a doctrine J'' He is not satisfied to question,
tlic correctness of this particular induction, but he
denies the competency in general terms, of both Bunsen
and Miiller, in their own special field of stud}^. And
yet a few pages further on, he couples the name of
Bunsen with that of Lepsius, and characterizes them as
" two world-renowned, and by myself, much-honored
names,'' and adds ; " I have always felt proud to sit at
their feet' for instruction, received, as not a slight por-
tion of what little I know has been, oftentimes with
mine own feet under their respective mahoganies."
Finally, after all this confident assertion, it appears
that Mr. Gliddon has yet some misgivings as to the
value of his various proofs of the plural origin of man-
kind,— for he says :
" For my own part, I have met with no reason to
amend or change the position taken in the last course
of lectures delivered in New Orleans, as regards my
individual opinions on the unity or diversity of human
origin. It was the following :
" 1st. That every argument hitherto brought forward
on the unity side, is either refuted or refutable ; but
that,
" 2d. Whilst the reasonings in favor of diversity
preponderate gTeatly over those against it, I do not,
nevertheless, hold the latter to be, as yet, absolutely
proven.
" Lost such . assertion should appear paradoxical, I
would explain, that the proofs of diversity are chiefly
of a negative character : and on the other hand, these
questions being still sub juclice, some discovery in sci-
ence, now unforeseen, may hereafter establish unity
upon a certain basis'\^ f
We are fully persuaded that this " unity" is already
established on a jieifectly certain basis. From the
nature of the problem, it was to be expected that cer-
368 APPENDIX.
tain difficulties should be encountered in the attempt
to demonstrate the specific unity and common origin
of diversified races of men distributed over the whole
face of the earth. But when we examine the facts a
little closely, even as they are presented to us separately,
and as isolated phenomena, we do not find a single one
which is inconsistent with the idea of a common origin,
while very many are of impossible explanation on any
other hypothesis. If now we combine the separate
facts and contemplate them in their mutual bearing,
any other conclusion becomes utterly irrational and
absurd. It is because some men fail to look at the
question in this way, that they still refuse to perceive
the incontestable proofs of the unity of mankind. This
course appears to us as irrational as it would be to
doubt the self-supporting powers of an arch because its
constituent parts could not separately support them-
selves in the same position. Even if the difficulties of
monogenism were much greater than they are, they
would be small indeed compared with the contradic-
tions and absurdities into which the advocates of po-
lygenism necessarily fall.
INDEX OF AUTHORS.
Agassiz, L., 30, 99, 128, 158, 166, 181, 191, 19Y, 331, 339.
Bachman, J., D. D., 31, 40, 41, 46, 69, 78, 145, 188, 200, 238, 239.
Barton, Dr. E. H., 52.
Berkeley, Bishop, 268.
Bodichon, 144.
Breckinridge, Eev. R J., 303
Browne, Peter A., 134.
Bryant, Jacob, 336.
Buffon, 120, (note) 173.
Bunsen, 105, 223, 232, 277, 294.
Burckhardt, 120.
Carpenter, Dr. W. B., 23, 49, 60, 64, 68, 75, 96, 109, 130, 134, 136, 137,
157, 293, 314, 323, 326.
Catlin, 113, 133.
Crawfiird, J., 203.
Cuvier, F., 55, 65.
Cuvier, G., 29.
Dana, ProC J. D., 33, (note) 147, (note) 284, 315.
Darwin, C, 38.
Draper, Prof. J. W., 139, 153.
Fitzroy, Rear Admiral, 336.
Flourens, 293.
Forbes, Prof. Edward, 170, 175.
Gallatin, A., 294.
Gente, A. & C. D'Orbigny, 286.
Gibbon, 120, (note).
Gliddon, G. R., (See J. C. Nott,) 283, 285, 293, (note) 360.
Goadby, Dr. Henry, 135, (note).
Gobineau, Count A. de, 87, 261.
Guyot, Prof A , 285, (note).
Hitchcock, President. 28.>, 293.
370 INDEX OF'AUTHORS.
Hooker, Dr. J. P., 314.
Humboldt, Alexander von, 124, 219, 294, 350.
Humboldt, William von, 203, 210, 293, 360.
Kenrick, John, 275.
Kitto, J., 336.
Latham, Dr. R. G., 349.
Lawrence, Wm., 21.
Leidy, Prof. Joseph, 342.
Lepsius, ChevaUer, 105, 106, 115, 226, 294.
Lyell, Sir Charles, 49, 52, 56, 57, 60, 66, 68, 170, lt3, 237, 243, 269,
271, 293.
Maury, Alfred, 343.
Maury, Capt. M. F., 247.
Meigs, Dr. J. A., 357.
Miller, Hugh, 111, 264, 293.
Morton, Dr. S. G., 31, 77, 93, 113, 128, 133 (note).
Muller, Prof J., 47, 138, 293, 309.
Miiller, Dr. Max^ 221, 232.
Napier, Lieut. Col. E. E., 328.
Neill, Dr. J., 132.
Nott, Dr. J. C, 55, 68, 88, 105, 108, 115, 128, 140, 197, 273, 282, 291,
292, 295, 357.
Owen, Prof Richard, 55, 66, 272, 340.
Pickering, Dr. C, 256, 288, 294.
Poinsett, Hon. J. R., 107.
Prichard, Dr. J. C, 37, 41, 50, 54, 94, 95, 109, 116, 134, 137, 151, 154,
166, 211, 293, 320. 329.
Pulszky,F., 356.
Roberton, Dr., 323.
Riippell, Dr., 117.
Schoolcraft, H. R., 133, (note) 347, 255, 294,
Sharpe, Samuel, 279.
Smith, Col. Hamilton, 84, 249.
Smyth, Rev. Thos., D. D., 230 (note).
Usher, Dr. Wm., 271, 334.
Vrolik, R.. 125.
Wollaston, T. Vernon, 180, 319.
Wyman, Prof, 291, 340.
Young, Dr., 230 (note).
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