HOLMES DISTRIBUTION OF THE HUMAN RACE. 33 



Himalayan mass of mountain elevations ; and of the yellow races, 

 northwardly, along the eastern coasts and over the high plateaus 

 of northern Asia ; and of the white race, westwardly, from the 

 high valleys of central Asia — all from the direction of southern 

 Asia : but when the question is of the first origins in the Eocene 

 period, or before the Himalayas were lifted up, it is apparent that 

 the earliest progenitors of all may have extended from Australia 

 and south Africa even far into the Palte arctic province. The ques- 

 tion in what precise locality the human form first appeared within 

 this whole area, however interesting the inquiry, would seem to be 

 of little importance, unless it were to be assumed that Man must 

 have originated in one place only, or from one pair only. Whereas 

 it becomes apparent, if well considered, that such could never have 

 been the case ; for it was never possible for men to exist, any 

 more than apes or other animals, otherwise than by pairs, fami- 

 lies, tribes, or nations. It takes man, woman, and child, to con- 

 stitute one whole human person that can continue to live, or to 

 change in respect of type of form. The species, the genus, only 

 continues : the individuals perish out of the field of nature. Any 

 peculiarity that might arise in the growth and development of 

 the individual could be transmitted only through the pair ; and it 

 requires but little counting of ancestors on both sides, or of 

 descendants, whether marriage were by pairs, by tribes, or by 

 gentes^ to discover that, in the endless interweaving, any such 

 peculiarity, if continued at all, must soon be communicated so 

 widely, that all become related and share the distinction more or 

 less ; and the distinctive peculiarities so arising must come out at 

 last, in each group, or tribe, as the expression of that ideal form 

 or type, common to all, which we call a species, a variety, or a race. 



But can mere cells or atoms of their own motion torm, or 

 express, ideas? It would seem to be necessary that whatever 

 elements, pangenetic germs, or atoms, go to make up the indi- 

 vidual form, or the specific form, must be suspended from the 

 idea in nature which holds them together in unity as one whole 

 thing ; — as inevitably as the particles of color which make up the 

 picture are suspended from the idea of the painter. In either 

 case, it is done through intermediate instrumentalities. 



It is evident that many pairs, families, or tribes, must have 

 existed all at once at any conceivable time, and been spread over 

 iv-3 



