2 ANTHROPOLOGY. 



diet, as well as to a mixture of the two, &c. But by far the most important 

 characters are to be found in those mental endowments which distinguish 

 him so eminently from the brute. 



2. Varieties of Mankind. 



It is not our purpose to enter upon the question now agitating the scien- 

 tific world, as to whether mankind be descended from one pair or from 

 several; and if the latter, whether these original pairs were of one single 

 species, or of a greater number. The problem is still far from being solved, 

 requiring the combined efforts of the anatomist, the physiologist, the zoolo- 

 gist, the philologist, and the theologian. Nowhere is a severe application of 

 all the principles of modern scientific investigation more necessary to a 

 satisfactory conclusion than in this instance. 



Any attempt at a systematic classification of man, as at present distributed 

 over the surface of the globe, is attended with great difficulties. Although 

 in typical individuals of different nations strongly marked features of dis- 

 tinction may be observed, yet, when we attempt to include mankind in one 

 general arrangement, we find such an endless variety, such insensible gra- 

 dations from one form into another, such unexpected anomalies in particular 

 circumstances, as almost to cause the ethnologist to throw down his pen in 

 despair. It is for this reason that different authors have had such appa- 

 rently contradictory views as to the number of principal races, and their 

 proper sub-divisions. Thus, Desmoulins gives sixteen such races ; Bory 

 de St. Vincent, fifteen ; Prichard, seven ; Blumenbach, five ; while Cuvier 

 ri\akes only three. The five races of Blumenbach are termed by him : — 

 Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, Malay, and American. Cuvier refers the 

 Malay race to the Ethiopian, and the American to the Mongolian, leaving 

 'only the Caucasian, Mongolian, and Ethiopian. 



Dr. Chas. Pickering, in his important work entitled "The Eaces of Man," 

 gives eleven races, as follows : 



a. White. 



.. 1. Arabian. Nose prominent ; lips thin ; beard abundant ; hair straight 

 and flowing. 



2. Abyssinian. Complexion hardly becoming florid ; nose prominent ; 

 , hair crisped. 



b. Brown. 



3. Mongolian. Beardless ; with the hair perfectly straight, and very 

 long. 



4. Hottentot. Negro features, and close woolly hair ; stature diminu- 

 tive, 



5. Malay, Features not prominent in the profile ; complexion darker 

 than in the preceding races; the hair straight, or flowing. 



708 



