336 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of Diana of Ephesus ; ancient monuments of Egypt and Assyria ; the 

 rude implements of our predecessors in England who were coeval with 

 the hippopotamus and rhinoceros, the musk-ox, and the mammoth ; and 

 the most beautiful specimens of Greek and Roman art. In London 

 we may unavoidably suffer, but no one has any excuse for being dull. 

 And yet some people are dull. They talk of a better world to come, 

 while whatever dullness there may be here is all their own. Sir Ar- 

 thur Helps has well said: "What ! dull, when you do not know what 

 gives its loveliness of form to the lily, its depth of color to the violet, 

 its fragrance to the rose ; when you do not know in what consists the 

 venom of the adder, any more than you can imitate the glad move- 

 ments of the dove ? What ! dull, when earth, air and water are all 

 alike mysteries to you, and when as you stretch out your hand you do 

 not toufch anything the properties of which you have mastered ; while 

 all the time Nature is inviting you to talk earnestly with her, to un- 

 derstand her, to subdue her, and to be blessed by her ! Go away, 

 man ; learn something, do something, understand something, and let 

 me hear no more of your dullness." 



Not, of course, that happiness is the highest object of life, but if 

 Ave endeavor to keep our bodies in health, our minds in use and in 

 peace, and to promote the happiness of those around us, our own hap- 

 piness will generally follow. — Fortnightly Review. 



THE INTERMINGLING OF RACES. 



By JOHN EEADE. 



ABOUT a generation ago, before anthropology had been promoted 

 to the rank of a distinct science, a good deal of noise was made 

 by a school of writers who called themselves polygenists. By this 

 school, which comprised a few men of recognized ability, it was rigid- 

 ly maintained that no new race had been, or could be, formed by 

 intercrossing. As the different human species had been created, so 

 they had been found at the dawn of history, and so they would re- 

 main till the end of time. The theory of the polygenists, like a good 

 many other subjects of controversy, was gravely affected by the 

 revolution of which the publication of Darwin's great work marked 

 the birth-time. Though it is still possible, even on the ground of de- 

 velopment, that the main racial divisions of humanity may have come 

 into being by separate evolutions, on portions of the earth's surface 

 widely distant from each other, it is more in accordance with that doc- 

 trine to assume a slow and gradual differentiation from a single origi- 

 nal type. 



A\ hat that type may have been we have no means of ascertaining. 

 Professor Grant Allen has, indeed, imagined " a tall and hairy creat- 



