THE GREAT RACE PASSES 



Nordic Peoples, Who Have Ruled Occidental World for Many Centuries, 



Succumbing to War and Competition of Other Races A Recasting 



of European History in Terms of Race Instead of 



Nationality and Language, by Madison Grant 



Till'] "Aryan race" is now extinct, 

 ll is only a few years ago that 

 his descent from this great, pre- 

 historic, pastoral race was taught 

 to almost every student in civilized 

 countries. It had been found that 

 people in various parts of Europe and 

 Asia spoke related languages; it was 

 evident that these languages probably 

 derived from a common source, and it 

 was thereupon asstmied that the races 

 which s])oke them must equally derive 

 from a common source. 



With the progress of biology, com- 

 parative linguistics is no longer the sole 

 guide to knowledge of the races of man. 

 It is abundantly proved that the various 

 races with Aryan tongues are quite 

 dissimilar, and' often have little or 

 nothing in common exce])t their lan- 

 guage. 



Although the fallacy of the Aryan 

 race" has vanished, a great number of 

 similar fallacies yet remain. History 

 has rarely been written by biologists: 

 indeed, the biological view of history 

 is the product of only the last few dec- 

 ades. It is not surprising, then, that 

 most readers unconsciously confuse race, 

 nationality and language. Few hesitate 

 to think and sjjeak of the Germans as 

 if they were one homogeneovis i)eople. 

 Yet although the Prussian and Bavarian 

 have the same language and nationality, 

 they are much more distantly related 

 than are the Prussian and Scot, or the 

 Bavarian and North Italian. 



Now this confusion of thought, and 

 this ignorance of race distinctions, have 

 much more than academic imijortance; 

 for "race has played a far larger part 



than either language or nationality in 

 moulding the destinies of men; race 

 implies heredity, and heredity implies 

 all the moral, social and intellectual 

 characteristics and traits which are the 

 springs of politics and government." 

 The idea that nationality and language 

 are the important factors in the classi- 

 fication of men goes with the now dis- 

 carded idea that changes in the environ- 

 ment will change the inborn nature of 

 men. General ado]Aion of the modern 

 biological view] joint demands that dif- 

 ferences in nationality and language be 

 regarded as secondary and changeable, 

 and that the more permanent genetic 

 differences in race be more carefully 

 studied; and, it may be added, further 

 social i)rogress seems to dej^end largely 

 on the general adoption of the modem 

 biological viewpoint. 



A NHW VIEW OF HISTORY 



Such a book as that of Madison 

 Grant ^ on "The Passing of the Great 

 Race" is, then, well worth while. It is 

 "devoted to an attempt to elucidate the 

 meaning of history in terms of race; 

 that is, by the physical and psychical 

 characters of the inhabitants of Europe 

 instead of by their ]3olitical grouping, or 

 by their si)oken language." The book 

 contains little with which specialists are 

 not familiar, but it supplies a readable 

 account of recent work to those who do 

 not follow the publications of specialists. 

 In the field of genetics the author makes 

 some misstatements, but in the field of 

 anthr()])ology he has followed the latest 

 authorities and, although many of the 

 ])oints discussed are still open to contro- 



> The Passing of the Oreat Race, or the Racial Basis of Euroi^ean History. By Madison 

 Grant, Chairman, New York Zoological Society; Trustee, American Museum of Natural History; 

 Councilor, American Geographical Society. Pp. 245, 3 charts and 4 majjs; price $2.00. New 

 York, Charles Scribncr's Sons, 1916. 



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