174 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Aug. 1, 1867. 



the Himalayas, performing the same office for 

 Hindustan. We have, I believe, in this fact the 

 secret of the marked idiosyncracy of the two races. 

 Mr. Milton's argument, deducible from the different 

 hues of the races inliabiting the African coast-line, 

 does not appear to me to be worth much ; for we 

 know that the Kaffirs, Gallas, and other races of 

 comparatively light colour, have permeated every 

 part of South and Central Africa. The display 

 of negrophilism contained in Mr. Milton's essay 

 argues, I think, strongly against his theory ; for if 

 so imitative and numerous a race, which has been 

 so petted and pampered for the last half-century, 

 can produce nothing better than the few medio- 

 crities cited, how greatly inferior must it be to the 

 European and Asiatic nations, who have made every 

 single discovery and invention which has been of 

 the slightest benefit to man ! The remarks upon 

 the colour of the Esquimaux are incidentally 

 answered below. 



In an interesting paper recently read before the 

 Ethnological Society by the chairman, Mr. Craw- 

 furd, entitled, " The Skin, the Hair, and the Eyes, 

 as tests of the Races of Men," the very views which 

 I advanced are ably contested ; but the essay is 

 wholly destructive, and Mr. Crawfurd is forced to 

 admit that dark-skinned races do usually inhabit 

 hot countries. Now, if this is merely a coincidence, 

 it is surely a very singular and suggestive one ! 

 One argument which he employs appears at first 

 sight to carry some weight, and I will therefore 

 briefly advert to it. He argues that the vulgar 

 theory which attributes darkness of complexion to 

 the influence of the sun cannot be correct, because 

 the Esquimaux, who inhabit arctic countries, are 

 brown, or at any rate dark, in colour, whilst the 

 Scandinavian nations, who live in a far milder 

 climate, are much lighter in hue. But it must be 

 recollected that Sir John Richardson thought the 

 Esquimaux white, also that they belong to the Mon- 

 golian race, which is almost invariably darker than 

 the Circassian, to which the Scandinavians belong. 

 Until Mi\ Crawfurd can clearly prove that the 

 Arctic climate darkens the complexion, we are 

 quite at liberty to attribute the dark colour of the 

 Esquimaux to their southern origin, all trace of 

 which the climate of the Arctic regions has not yet 

 eradicated. The fact that ethnologists now acknow- 

 ledge the existence, in remote times, throughout 

 the whole of Europe, Asia (perhaps even of North 

 America), of a race akin to the Esquimaux, proves 

 their southern origin, and their comparatively recent 

 banishment to northern fastnesses by successive 

 immigrations of Celts, Teutons, Sarmatians, Red 

 Indians, and other warlike tribes. 



Which is the primitive nation? What an inte- 

 resting train of thoughts is opened up by this ques- 

 tion ! It is noteworthy that the red races of 

 mankind— the Etruscans, Trojans, Egyptians, and 



Toltecs — were all diminutive in stature, peaceful in 

 their habits, and of great intellectual capacity. The 

 Phenicians and Babylonians were probably of a 

 somewhat different hue, but their physical and 

 mental characteristics are so similar to those of the 

 red races that one cannot doubt their consanguinity. 

 The Hindus also, who must once have been very 

 light in colour, show in their ancient classics a 

 minute acquaintance with the geography and ethno- 

 logy of Eastern Africa ; whilst their buildings and 

 customs are almost identical with those of Ancient 

 Egypt. All these nations were of Shemitic origin, 

 and in all of them commercial and mechanical 

 talent was developed to the highest degree, forming, 

 in this respect, a remarkable contrast to the Greeks 

 and other Japhetic races who ultimately superseded 

 them in the empire of the world, who were charac- 

 terized by an herculean physique, and a passionate 

 love of liberty and of war.* It seems highly pro- 

 bable to my mind, that the Chinese justly claim to 

 be descended from Noah (Fohi). The resemblances 

 between the civilization of the Chinese and Hindus 

 are too numerous to be accidental ; indeed, we 

 know that the religious system of Boodh prevailed 

 in both countries. Anyone who will carefully com- 

 pare the religious and social systems of the eight 

 primitive races which I have mentioned, will, I 

 think, be firmly persuaded of their identity, and 

 will have gained a good idea of the characteristics 

 of that earlier Shemitic civilization which preceded 

 the dispersion, and subsequent conquests, of the 

 Japhetic (Aryan?) races, and probably embodied the 

 attainments of the Antediluvians. It will be 

 recollected that immediately after the flood, a 

 great architectural work was commenced. Whence 

 could the skill requisite for the undertaking have 

 been obtained but from the traditions of the ante- 

 diluvian earth, handed down by the sons of Noah ? 

 That the Antediluvians had attained to a consider- 

 able degree of refinement appears highly probable 

 from this consideration, and we must remember 

 the advantages which they enjoyed of a vastly 

 lengthened existence ; a denser population (in new 

 countries populations always spread fastest), and 

 probably of a balmier atmosphere, favoured the 

 spread of knowledge and the completion of great 

 undertakings. It is difficult to see how the degree 

 of wickedness which provoked their overthrow 

 could have been reached in a savage or pastoral 

 community. The complex sins and vices of civil- 

 ization alone will explain the enigma. 



The early civilization of the Shemitic race, which 

 discovered letters, and attained such architectural 

 and commercial successes, appears to have been 

 extinguished, slowly but surely, by the same 



* Although these Shemites generally lived under des- 

 potisms, the theocratic or republican form prevailed in 

 Etruria and in Toltec America. 



