PRINCIPAL BRANCHES OF THE HUMAN FAMILY. 91 



between the different races of mankind, have the least claim to be regarded 

 as valid specific distinctions ; being entirely destitute of that fixity, which is 

 requisite to entitle them to such a rank; and exhibiting, in certain groups of 

 each race, a tendency to pass into the characters of some other. 



IV. That, in the absence of any valid specific distinctions, we are required, 

 by the universally-received principles of zoological science, to regard all the 

 races of Mankind as belonging to the same species, or (in other words) as 

 having had either an identical or similar parentage; and that this conclusion 

 is supported by the positive evidence, afforded by the agreement of all the 

 races in the physiological and psychological characters, that most distinguish 

 them from other species, and especially by the ready propagation of mixed 

 breeds or hybrid races. 



7. Principal Branches of the Human Family. 



92. The above conclusions are found to be in entire accordance with those 

 derived from an examination of the relative affinities of the different races of 

 Men at present existing ; as far as these are deducible from the analogies of their 

 language, from their correspondence in peculiar habits and observances, and from 

 traditional or other evidence in regard to their original sources. For it appears, 

 from such investigations, that very great difference in colour, texture of the hair, 

 form of the skull, and other important physical characters, exist among nations, 

 which may be referred with great confidence to a common source ; whilst on 

 the other hand, we find traits of physical resemblance, in tribes which exist 

 under corresponding circumstances in remote parts of the world, and which 

 seem to have nothing else in common. It has been attempted by Blumenbach 

 and Cuvier to arrange the different races of Men under five principal varie- 

 ties; the Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, Malay, and American. But, for 

 the reason just given, it is impossible to establish any constant distinguishing 

 characters, which shall serve to mark these clearly out ; and it moreover ap- 

 pears that several additional groups must be created, for the reception of tribes, 

 that differ as much from the preceding as these do from each other. In the 

 following brief enumeration, the views of Dr. Prichard will be adopted. 



93. The Caucasian variety of Blumenbach and Cuvier was so named from the 

 idea, that the Caucasian range of mountains might be regarded as the centre 

 or focus of the races belonging to it; and that the Caucasian people present 

 the typical conformation of the variety in the most perfect degree. Neither 

 of these ideas are correct, however; and some other designation might very 

 properly be substituted for that which conveys them. In this variety are pre- 

 sented all the characters of highest physical perfection of the race, such as 

 were, perhaps, most pre-eminently combined among the Ancient Greeks; as 

 well as those of intellectual and moral elevation. No uniformity exists, how- 

 ever, as to colour; for this character presents every intermediate gradation, 

 from the fair and florid hue of the Northern Europeans, to the jet black of 

 many tribes in North Africa and Hindustan. The hair is generally long and 

 flexible ; but departures from the ordinary type present themselves in this 

 respect, also, both among individuals and among whole tribes. Although 

 there is general agreement in these characters among the nations of South- 

 western Asia, Northern Africa, and nearly the whole of Europe, yet we are 

 required by the evidence of ancient history, as well as by the characters de- 

 rived from language, to separate these nations into two groups ; which appeared 

 to have been distinct from each other at the earliest period of which we have 

 any traces ; and which we must regard, therefore, as alike entitled to rank as 

 primary branches of the human family. These are the Syro-Arabian, and the 

 Indo-European groups of nations. 



