578 
This result, very curious in itself, 
led him on very naturally to inquire 
whether some relation might not 
exist between the nature of the soil 
and the physical forms of the in- 
habitants. M. Tremaux has not 
failed to prosecute this line of re- 
search, and by comparing the facts 
gleaned from science concerning the 
geology of different points of the 
globe, with the well-known charac- 
ters of the people there resident, 
he has been led to the conclusion 
that remarkable coincidences exist 
between the geological formations 
and the human types. The man 
who differs most widely from our 
present white type, lives on the 
soils of oldest formation, whilst 
he whom we may regard as 
the most perfect, belongs to those 
countries which in the smallest 
space exhibit the greatest variety 
of soils, and appertaining to the 
most modern deposits. ‘The obser- 
vations of M. Tremaux cannot easily 
be verified ; for long, costly, painful, 
and even dangerous journeys would 
be imperative; but the attention 
of those travellers, who are also 
naturalists, may well be directed to 
the opinions which he advances. 
For they have this especial pecu- 
liarity (one rarely to be met with in 
science) that they are not the result 
of preconceived ideas, and that the 
author has only been induced to 
give them to the world, because, so 
to speak, he was compelled to yield 
to the evidence of facts which pre- 
sented themselves before him whilst 
engaged in a totally different pursuit. 
His conclusions tend to show 
what influence the dwelling upon 
certain soils, or in certain localities, 
would have upon the physical cha- 
racteristics of man; an influence, 
which, if fully demonstrated, would 
explain how the white man has 
become so modified as to produce 
the type from which he most widely 
differs, the Negro—namely, by 
coming to inhabit those countries 
where the soil has been formed 
from the earliest deposits. and 
how the Negro, on his side, has 
Notes and Correspondence. 
[July, 
been able to reach the white type, 
viz. by emigrating to countries 
formed from soils varied in cha- 
racter, and of recent origin. We 
repeat, it is necessary to confirm 
these conclusions, and it would be 
as imprudent to accept them with- 
out reserve as it would be to reject 
them without due investigation. 
The inquiry is full of interest, 
not only so far as the philosophy of 
science is concerned (for it is in- 
timately linked with the question 
of mutability of species), but also in 
connection with the progress of the 
natural history of man, with which 
we are now so actively employed. 
Naturalists will certainly not have 
forgotten the sensation which was 
created last year by the presen- 
tation to the Academy of Sciences 
by M. de Quatrefages of a human 
jawbone found in the quaternary 
deposit of the Somme by M. Bou- 
cher de Perthes. Incredulity, dis- 
dain, and irony greeted the new 
discovery of the learned and now 
celebrated archeologist of Abbeville, 
as, indeed, it had been the case with 
his earlier announcements. 
Very shortly afterwards a sort of 
scientific congress met at Moulin 
Quignon, to decide whether the fam- 
ous jawbone found in this locality 
were really authentic and contempo- 
rary with the deposits where traces 
of human industry had been recog- 
nized side by side with huge fossil 
mammalia. How the conditions 
are now changed! how far we 
are removed from that! ‘To-day 
every one is convinced; and all 
listen eagerly to any new communi- 
cation relating to the drift which 
attests the antiquity of man, Such 
evidences it is, indeed, easy to find 
in a country which, like France, is 
rich in the indications of the very re- 
mote existence of an aboriginal race. 
The traveller who departing from 
Paris for the plains of the Garonne, 
follows the line of the central rail- 
way of France, cannot fail to be 
struck in the neighbourhood of 
