Dec. 1, 1S67.] 



HARDWICKE'S S C1ENCE-G0 S S IP. 



267 



THE "UNITY/' CONTROVERSY. 



YOUR correspondent, " R. G.," 'complains,' in 

 the November number of Science Gossip, 

 that I have not been successful in answering Mr. 

 Milton's objections to the theory propounded in the 

 May number. I will now, with your permission, 

 attempt to satisfy his cravings, and likewise pass 

 a few criticisms upon the theory which he would 

 substitute for mine. I should like to state, how- 

 ever, before coinmencing, that I in no way lay claim 

 to originality in the few remarks which have excited 

 so much animadversion ; my desire was simply to 

 put old truths in a new light. 



In support of the time-honoured idea that the 

 different races of mankind sprang from one pair, 

 as stated in the Book of Genesis, and that the 

 subsequent differences in colour and physique arose 

 from the combined influence of solar heat and other 

 external agencies, exerted during a long series of 

 years, I adduced the cases of the Arabic, Jewish, 

 aud Indo-Circassian nations, all of which have a 

 small.minority of dark, and a large majority of white, 

 tribes amongst them. 



I attempted to deduce from this undeniable fact 

 that it was the minority which had changed colour, 

 solely on account of the circumstances in which it 

 had been placed ;'for intermarriage with other races 

 has been, in every one of these instances, strictly 

 forbidden. To this very plain and intelligible argu- 

 ment, Mr. Milton gave the following answer : — 

 " It (history) does not tell us whether the Jews of 

 Cochin were or were not black when,' at the man- 

 date of Nebuchadnezzar, they went forth from the 

 land of the Euphrates to settle in Malabar." Now, 

 this is scarcely an ingenuous reply, for Mr. Milton 

 must know that the colour of all the Shemitic races, 

 as represented on the wails of the Nineveh palaces 

 and on the Egyptian obelisks and temples, was not 

 black, but a warm red-brown ; and, just before, he 

 had himself quoted these very monuments as un- 

 deniable authorities concerning the colour of the 

 negro 2,400 years ago ! 



Again, to show how quickly changes in the 

 colour of entire races might be effected, I cited the 

 fact that all along the west coast of Africa, the 

 tribes on the coast were becoming extinct, and fresh 

 tribes pouring in from the interior, and changing in 

 colour from brown to black on deserting their 

 native highlands — a result particularly noticeable 

 according to Mr. Winwood Reade, a well-known 

 African traveller, amongst the Camma and Eoulah 

 tribes. Mr. Milton could not disprove this, but 

 only replied by a sneer — intended, I presume, to 

 depreciate the value of Mr. Reade's evidence. 

 Now, as Du Chaillu, Burton, and, indeed, almost 

 all who have visited this coast, mention this fact, 

 it requires something more than mere flippancy 

 to explain it away. 



Since writing the above, I have met with the 

 following confirmatory evidence in Mr. Charles 

 Brooke's work, entitled, " Ten Years in Sarawak." 

 That gentleman says, on page 71, in reference to the 

 Dyaks : " The colour of their skin varies consider- 

 ably, not so much between one tribe and another, as in 

 various localities ; and whether it be attributable to 

 different kinds of water, or food, or increase of 

 shade from old jungle, is a question. But there is 

 no doubt that all who reside in the interior are much 

 fairer than those who have moved towards the 

 mouths of the rivers, and a very few years is able to 

 effect the change of appearance." 



A third consideration which I brought forward, 

 i.e., that my theory was the only one which ac- 

 counted for the presence of brown adults amongst 

 black races, the brown individuals being generally 

 found in the highlands, was completely unnoticed. 

 May I beg Mr. Milton and " R. G." to devote their 

 best attention to this point ? 



Mr. Milton cites the case of the "gipsies" to 

 prove that races do not change colour by changing 

 climate, saying that "their residence here extends 

 beyond historic times ; yet climate has as little assi- 

 milated them in complexion as in temper." Mr. 

 Milton is very unfortunate in this venture, for it 

 happens that the gipsies, according to the best 

 authorities, did not enter England, or, indeed, 

 western Europe, till about a.d. 1427, when they 

 pretended to have letters commendatory from the 

 King of Huugary. Then, as to the last part of 

 the assertion, may I not fairly retaliate in the 

 style adopted by Mr. Milton, when treating of the 

 Malabar Jews? How do you know what their 

 colour was when they arrived ? and how can you 

 prove that their complexion has not been modified 

 by residence in our climate ? 



But while Mr. Milton is satisfied with demolish- 

 ing, or attempting to demolish, my humble theories, 

 " R. G." boldly endeavours to raise his own upon 

 their ruins. Certainly, he is candid enough to con- 

 fess his do not agree very well with Revealed Truth ; 

 but then they combine the amiable characteristics 

 of consoling the black (inferior) races, and flattering 

 the amour propre of the white (superior) nations. 



Let me give them ha " R. G.'s " own words : 

 " This is only one of the many arguments which 

 convinces me that man differs in species, and not in 

 variety only. Is it not more in accordance with the 

 idea of Divine justice to believe that several races 

 of men have been created admirably adapted for the 

 character and circumstance of their places of abode, 

 &c ? " And again : " I do not believe that any 

 amount of education and training will ever give the 

 negro the intellect of the European, any more than 

 it will deprive him of the capability he possesses of 

 withstanding the malarious influences of his native 

 climate." 



In these extracts, "R. G." evidently declares 



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