THE RACES OF MAN. 191 



lungs, the form and capacity of the skull, and even 

 ill the convolutions of the brain.* But it would be 

 an endless task to specify the numerous points of dif- 

 ference. The races differ also in constitution, in acclima- 

 tization and in liability to certain diseases. Their mental 

 characteristics are likewise very distinct; chiefly as it would 

 appear in their emotional, but partly in their intellectual 

 faculties. Every one who has had the opportunity of com- 

 parison, must have been struck with the contrast between 

 the taciturn, even morose, aborigines of South America and 

 the light-hearted, talkative negroes. There is a nearly sim- 

 ilar contrast between the Malays and the Papuans,! ^^'ho 

 live under the same physical condition, and are separated 

 from each other only by a narrow space of sea. 



We will first consider the arguments which may be 

 advanced in favor of classing the races of man as distinct 

 species, and then the arguments on the other side. If a 

 naturalist, who had never before seen a ^'^egro, Hottentot, 

 Australian or Mongolian, were to compare them, he would 

 at once perceive that they differed in a multitude of char- 

 acters, some of slight and some of considerable importance. 

 On inquiry he would find that they were adapted to live under 

 widely different climates, and that they differed somewhat in 

 bodily constitution and mental disposition. If he were 

 then told that hundreds of similar specimens could be 

 brought from the same countries, he would assuredly 

 declare that they were as good species as many to which he 

 had been in the habit of affixing specific names. This con- 

 clusion would be greatly strengthened as soon as he had 

 ascertained that these forms had all retained the same 

 character for many centuries; and that negroes, apparently 

 identical with existing negroes, had lived at least 4,000 

 years ago. J He would also hear, on the authority of an 



Statistics of American Soldiers," by B. A. Gould, 1869, pp. 298-358; 

 " On the capacity of the lungs," p. 471. See also the numerous and 

 valuable tables, by Dr. Weisbach, from the observations of Dr. 

 Scherzerand Dr. Schwarz, in the *' Reise der Novara; Anthropolog. 

 Theil," 1867. 



* See, for instance, Mr. Marshall's account of the brain of a Bush- 

 woman, in "Phil. Transact.," 1864, p. 519. 



fWailace, " The Malay Archipelago," voL ii, 1869, p. 178. 



X With respect to the figures in the famous Egyptian caves of 

 Abou-Simbel, M, Pouchet says ("The Pluralitv of the Human 



