444 MAN : PAST AND PRESENT. [CHAP. 



IT is a remarkable fact that the Caucasic division of the human 

 family, of which nearly all students of the subject 

 are members, with which we are in any case, so to 

 say, on the most intimate terms, and with the con- 

 stituent elements of which we might consequently be supposed to 

 be best acquainted, is in point of fact the most debatable field in 

 the whole range of anthropological studies. Why this should be 

 so is not at first sight quite apparent, though the phenomenon 

 may perhaps be partly explained by the consideration that the 

 component parts are really of a more complex character, and thus 

 present more intricate problems for solution, than those of any 

 other division. But to some extent this would also seem to be 

 one of those cases in which we fail to see the wood for the trees. 

 To put it plainly, few will venture to deny that the inherent diffi- 

 culties of the subject have in recent times been rather increased 

 than diminished by the bold and often mutually destructive 

 theories, and, in some instances one might add, the really wild 

 speculations put forward in the earnest desire to remove the end- 

 less obscurities in which the more fundamental questions are 

 undoubtedly still involved. Controversial matter which seemed 

 thrashed out has been reopened, several fresh factors have been 

 brought into play, and the warfare connected with such burning 

 topics as Aryan origins, Ibero-Pelasgic relations, European round- 

 heads and long-heads, has acquired renewed intensity amid the 

 rival theories of the Penkas, Schraders, de Lapouges, Sergis, and 

 other eminent champions of the new ideas. 



A return to chaos is even threatened by the needless attacks 

 that have been directed from more than one quarter against the 

 long-established Caucasic terminology, and the right of citizenship 

 is to be withdrawn from such time-honoured names as "Hamitic," 

 "Semitic," even "Caucasic" itself, in favour of "Mediterranean 1 ,'' 

 "Eurafrican 2 ," and other upstarts, which while lacking the valuable 



1 That is, of course, when taken as the substitute for Caucasic. In the 

 restricted geographical sense its use is not only legitimate but indispensable. 



2 Eurafrican seems specially objectionable, being in ethnology the analogue 

 of Eurasian, and therefore meaning a mulatto or some such half-breed. In 

 Geology it has a very definite sense, as in the expression "Eurafrican Miocene 

 Continent" (Eth. p. 230). To indicate the common origin of the populations on 



