Chap. VII. THE EACES OF MAN. 217 



under the same physical conditions, and are separated 

 from each other only by a narrow space of sea. 



We -will first consider the arguments wdiich may be 

 advanced in favour of classing the races of man as 

 distinct species, and then those on the other side. If a 

 naturalist, who had never before seen such beings, were 

 to compare a Negro, Hottentot, Australian, or Mongolian, 

 he would at once perceive that they differed in a multi- 

 tude of characters, some of slight and some of consider- 

 able importance. On inquiry he would find that they 

 were adapted to live under widely different climates, and 

 that they differed somewhat in bodily constitution and 

 mental disposition. If he were then told that hundreds 

 of similar specimens could be brought from the same 

 countries, he would assuredly declare that they were as 

 good species as many to which he had been in the 

 habit of affixing specific names. This conclusion would 

 be greatly strengthened as soon as he had ascertained 

 that these forms had all retained the same character for 

 many centuries ; and that negroes, apparently identical 

 with existing negroes, had lived at least 4000 years 

 ago. 5 He would also hear from an excellent observer, 



5 With respect to the figures in the famous Egyptian caves of Abou- 

 Simbel, M. Pouchet says (' The Plurality of the Human Kaces,' Eng. 

 translat. 1861, p. 50), that he was far from finding recognisable repre- 

 sentations of the dozen or more nations which some authors believe 

 that they can recognise. Even some of the most strongly-marked 

 races cannot be identified witli that degree of unanimity which might 

 have been expected from what has been written on the subject. 

 Thus Messrs. Nott and Gliddon (' Types of Mankind,' p. 148) state 

 that Rameses II., or the Great, has features superbly European; where- 

 as Knox, another firm believer in the specific distinction of the races 

 of man ('Races of Man,' 1850, p. 201), speaking of young Memnon 

 (the same person with Rameses II., as I am infurmedby Mr. Birch) in- 

 sists in the strongest manner that he is identical in character with the 

 Jews of Antwerp. Again, whilst looking in the British Museum with 

 two competent judges, officers of the establishment, at the statue of 

 Amunoph III., we agreed that he had a strongly negro cast of features ; 



