280 THE ARYAN QUESTION. vi 



able him to use a language of one class and not of 

 another. It is further conceivable that a particu- 

 lar linguistic potentiality should be inherited and 

 become as good a race mark as any other. As a 

 matter of fact, it is not proven that the linguistic 

 potentialities of all men are the same. It is 

 affirmed, for example, that, in the United States, 

 the enunciation and the timbre of the voice of an 

 American-born negro, however thoroughly he may 

 have learned English, can be readily distinguished 

 from that of a white man. But, even admitting 

 that differences may obtain among the various races 

 of men, to this extent, I do not think that there is 

 any good ground for the supposition that an infant 

 of any race would be unable to learn, and to use 

 with ease, the language of any other race of men 

 among whom it might be brought up. History 

 abundantly proves the transmission of languages 

 from some races to others; and there is no evidence, 

 that I know of, to show that any race is incapable 

 of substituting a foreign idiom for its native tongue. 

 From these considerations it follows that com- 

 munity of language is no proof of unity of race, is 

 not even presumptive evidence of racial identity.* 



* Canon Taylor {Origin of the Aryans, p. 31) states 

 that " Cuno .... was the first to insist on what is now 

 looked on as an axiom in ethnology — that race is not co- 

 extensive with language," in a work published in 1871. 

 I may be permitted to quote a passage from a lecture 

 delivered on the 9th of January, 1870, which brought me 

 into a great deal of trouble. " Physical, mental, and 

 moral peculiarities go with blood and not with language. 



