Chap. VII.] THE RACES OF MAN. 223 



which have had their forms determined through equally 

 complex relations. It appears utterly incredible that two 

 organisms, if differing in a marked manner, should ever 

 afterward converge so closely as to lead to a near ap- 

 proach to identity throughout their whole organization. 

 In the case of the convergent pigs above referred to, evi- 

 dence of their descent from two primitive stocks is still 

 plainly retained, according to Yon Nathusius, in certain 

 bones of their skulls. If the races of man were descended, 

 as supposed by some naturalists, from two or more dis- 

 tinct species, which had differed as much, or nearly as 

 much, from each other, as the orang differs from the go- 

 rilla, it can hardly be doubted that marked differences in 

 the structure of certain bones would still have been dis- 

 coverable in man as he now exists. 



Although the existing races of man differ in many re- 

 spects, as in color, hair, shape of skull, proportions of the 

 body, etc., yet if their whole organization be taken into 

 consideration they are found to resemble each other closely 

 in a multitude of points. Many of these points are of 

 so unimportant or of so singular a nature, that it is ex- 

 tremely improbable that they should have been indepen- 

 dently acquired by aboriginally distinct species or races. 

 The same remark holds good with equal or greater force 

 with respect to the numerous points of mental similarity 

 between the most distinct races of man. The American 

 aborigines, Negroes, and Europeans, differ as much from 

 each other in mind as any three races that can be named ; 

 yet I was incessantly struck, while living with the Fue- 

 gians on board the " Beagle," with the many little traits 

 of character, showing how similar their minds were to 

 ours ; and so it was with a full-blooded negro with whom 

 I happened once to be intimate. 



He who will carefully read Mr. Tylor's and Sir J. Lub- 



