HOMINIDJE 741 



— (1) that, however different the extremes of any two races may 

 be in appearance (and it must be admitted that, as advocated by 

 many polygenists, the differences are greater than many which are 

 considered specific among other animals), every intermediate grada- 

 tion can be found through which the one passes into the other, 

 and (2) that all races are fertile inter se — are quite conclusive in 

 favour of considering Man as representing a single species in the 

 ordinary sense in which the word is now used, and of treating of 

 all his various modifications as varieties or races. 



The great problem at the root of all zoology, the discovery of a 

 natural classification which shall be an expression of our knowledge 

 of the real relationship or consanguinity of different forms, is also 

 applicable to the study of the races of Man. When we can satis- 

 factorily prove that any two of the known groups of mankind are 

 descended from the same common stock, a point is gained. The 

 more such points Ave have acquired the more nearly shall Ave be 

 able to picture to ourselves, not only the present, but also the past 

 distribution of the races of Man upon the earth, and the mode and 

 order in which they have been derived from one another. But the 

 difficulties in the Avay of applying zoological principles to the classi- 

 fication of Man are vastly greater than in the case of most animals. 

 When groups of animals become so far differentiated from each 

 other as to represent separate species, they remain isolated ; they 

 may break up into further subdivisions — in fact, it is only by 

 further subdivision that neAv species can be formed ; but it is of 

 the very essence of species, as now universally understood by 

 naturalists, that they cannot recombine, and so give rise to new 

 forms. With the varieties of Man it is otherwise. They have 

 never so far separated as to answer to the physiological definition 

 of species. All races, as said above, are fertile with one another, 

 though perhaps in different degrees. Hence new varieties have 

 constantly been formed, not only by the segmentation of portions 

 of one of the old stocks, but also by various combinations of those 

 already established. 



Without entering into the difficult question of the method of 

 Man's first appearance upon the world, we must assume for it vast 

 antiquity, — at all events as measured by any historical standard. 

 Of this there is now ample proof. During the long time Man 

 existed in a savage state — a time compared to which the dawn of 

 our historical period is as yesterday — he was influenced by the 

 operation of those natural laws AA'hich have produced the variations 

 seen in other regions of organic nature. The first Men may very 

 probably have been all alike ; but Avhen spread over the face of 

 the earth and subjected to all kinds of diverse external conditions, 

 — climate, food, competition Avith members of their own species or 

 with wild animals, — racial differences began sloAvly to be developed 



