234 EARLY HISTORY OF MANKIND. 



the whole of the people of Europe, being the chief section of 

 the Caucasians of Cuvier. " There is," says Dr. Prichard, 

 " internal evidence in the Indo-European languages, sufficient 

 to prove that they grew by gradual dialectic development out 

 of one common matrix. Any person who considers, with 

 competent knowledge of these languages, the nature of their 

 relations to each other, the fact that their original roots are for 

 the most part common, and that in the great system of gram- 

 matical inflection pervading all these languages there is nothing 

 else than the varied development of common principles, must 

 be convinced that the differences between them are but the 

 result of the gradual deviation of one common language into 

 a multitude of diverging dialects ; and the ultimate conclusion 

 that is forced upon us is, that the Indo-European nations are 

 the descendants of one original people, and consequently that 

 the varieties of complexion, form, stature, and other physical 

 qualities which exist among them are the results of deviation 

 from an original type." The leading members of this family 

 of languages are the Sanskrit, or ancient written language of 

 India, the Persian, the Greek, the old Epirotic or Illyrian, the 

 old Italic, comprehending the Latin, Umbrian, Oscan, etc., the 

 old Prussian, including the Lettish and Lithuanian, the Ger- 

 manic, to which belongs the English, the Slavonian prevalent 

 over Ilussia, Poland, Bohemia, and the Christian countries of 

 Europe subject to the Turks ; finally, the Celtic, which now 

 lives only in a few districts of France and the British Islands. 

 The second great family, the Syro-Arabian, refers to the 

 languages of ancient Chaldea, Palestine, and Arabia, besides 

 various dialects spoken in and around Abyssinia and Egypt. 

 The ancient Hebrews, the Phoenicians, and the Carthaginians, 

 spoke kindred tongues belonging to this stem. 



The term Ugro- Tartarian has been applied by Dr. Prichard 

 to a group of nations in northern Asia, sometimes called the 

 Five Nomadic Races, with which must be associated certain 

 nations scattered in distant parts of the globe, as the Turks, 

 Hungarians, Finns, and Laplanders in Europe, and various 

 obscure tribes in Eastern as well as Southern Asia. The chief 

 nations of this stock are the Mongolians, Tungusians, Tartars, 

 and Turks. It is a stock which has never shown any con- 

 siderable tendency to civilization : yet it was a horde of this 

 people whom Attila conducted on his conquering course 

 through Europe, and by other offshoots were the empires of 

 China, Hindostan, and Byzantium overturned. It would 



