THE CROSSING OF THE HUMAN RACES. 167 



say, except by the continued accession of new elements from pure 

 races. If they are abandoned to themselves and left to form connec- 

 tions "with each other, the mongrels will become infertile after a few 

 generations, and the mixed race will disappear. 



None of the eminent men with whom I regret to differ take any 

 account of the influence of the action of the surroundings. I believe 

 that the conditions of the surroundings play as important a part in the 

 crossing of races as they do in other matters. They may sometimes 

 favor, sometimes restrict, sometimes prevent, the establishment of a 

 mixed race. This simple consideration accounts for many apparently 

 contradictory facts. Etwick and Long have affirmed that in Jamaica 

 the mulattoes hold out only because they are constantly recruited by 

 the marriage of whites with negresses. But in San Domingo, in the 

 Dominican Republic, there are, we may say, no whites, and the popula- 

 tion consists of two thirds mulattoes and one third negroes. The num- 

 bers of the mulattoes are there well kept up by themselves without the 

 introduction of fresh blood. In respect to fertility, different instances 

 of crossing between individuals of the two same races may give dif- 

 ferent results, according to the place where they are effected. I be- 

 lieve it is unnecessary to insist and show that the physical and physio- 

 logical faculties of children born of mixed unions ought to present 

 analogous facts. 



In my view the aggregation of physical conditions does not in it- 

 self alone constitute the environment. Social and moral conditions 

 have an equal part in it. Here, again, it is easy to establish, in the 

 results of crossings, differences which have no other cause than differ- 

 ences in these conditions. It is true that mongrels, born and grown 

 up in the midst of the hatred of the inferior race and the contempt of 

 the superior race, are liable to merit the reproaches which are com- 

 monly attached to them. On the other hand, if real marriages take 

 place between the races; and their offspring are placed upon a footing 

 of equality with the mass of the population, they are quite able to 

 reach the general level, and sometimes to display superior qualities. 



All of my studies on this question have brought me to the conclu- 

 sion that the mixture of races has in the past had a great part in the 

 constitution of a large number of actual populations. It is also clear 

 to me that its part in the future will not be less considerable. The 

 movement of expansion, to which I have just called attention, has not 

 slackened since the days of Cortez and Pizarro, but has become more 

 extended and general. The perfection of the means of communica- 

 tion has given it new activity. The people of mixed blood already 

 constitute a considerable part of the population of certain states, and 

 their number is large enough to entitle them to be taken notice of in 

 the population of the whole world. 



In using the word {metis) mongrel, or person of mixed race, I do 

 not mean the fruit of union between individuals belonging simply to 



