THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



appear both among 1 mankind and the other members of the 

 animated creation now inhabiting 1 the world. 



But here we are met by the highest question in ethnology. 

 Can it be established on strictly scientific evidence, that the 

 several types of mankind have had a common origin ? Or have 

 they from the first been totally distinct ? Before entering on this 

 inquiry, some terms, which it will be necessary to employ in 

 the argument, must be defined. All who have any acquaintance 

 with natural science have at least a general idea what a species 

 means, though modern investigations have rendered it for the 

 present almost impossible correctly to explain it. Till lately, 

 nearly all naturalists held that each species of animals or of 

 plants was produced by a separate act of creation, and that 

 the number could not be increased unless by a fresh exertion 

 of creative power. Then each species could vary within certain 

 limits, and even give rise to types which might be mistaken 

 for new species, but were designated varieties. Nay, more, 

 there were sometimes crosses, called hybrids, between distinct 

 species ; but these, it was held, could not perpetuate them- 

 selves, but speedily died out, unless kept up by new inter- 

 communion between the parent species. Crosses between mere 

 varieties were occasionally termed mongrels. These explana- 

 tions being made, readers will thoroughly understand the nature 

 of the question Are the several types which we see among 

 mankind distinct species ? or are they simply permanent 

 varieties ? In other words, had the European and the negro a 

 common parent ? or were they from the first totally distinct ? 

 The ethnologist does not consider it legitimate to go beyond 

 the limits of his special science, and ask whether or not revela- 

 tion has decided the point, but confines himself to strictly scien- 

 tific evidence. 



It was formerly held that there was decisive proof derivable 

 from natural science in favour of the unity of the human 

 race. This was the nature of the argument employed : Hybrids 

 between distinct species are unable permanently to propagate 

 themselves. For instance, the mule, which is a hybrid between 

 the horse and ass, is incapable of continuing its race. If the 

 European and the negro were distinct species, the race inter- 

 mediate between then we mean the mulatto one would be a 

 hybrid, and, if left to itself, would speedily become extinct. 

 Yet it does not do so, but holds its own. Therefore it is not 

 a hybrid between two species, but a mongrel between two 

 varieties of one species ; and the negro and European differ 

 from each other only as permanent varieties in other parts of 

 Nature do. A good deal of weight still attaches to this argu- 

 ment, but not at all so much as was once believed. The doc- 

 trine that hybrids are never fertile has of late been impeachod 

 in two quarters. Darwin has done so with great ability in 

 his extensively circulated works ; and ethnologists of the 

 American school some of them, however, possibly influenced 

 by the disturbing effect exerted by the "irrepressible negro" on 

 social and political life in the United States have for a con- 

 siderable number of years maintained the same view. Darwin 

 believes that the domestic dogs of the world did not come from 

 one, but from several species ; yet they show none of that 

 tendency to die out which the law of hybridism was supposed 

 to require. The origin of dogs is, however, a point on which 

 differences of opinion may exist. It is therefore important to 

 observe that there have been fertile hybrids known between 

 animals so undeniably distinct as the stag and the cow, the 

 swan and the goose, and various other animals. Singularly 

 enough, those species which are most closely allied have had 

 fewer fertile hybrids between them than others which are more 

 remote. So far as is at present known, some hybrids per- 

 petuate their race, and others do not. If the law of hybridity 

 is thus complex, then the argument which is founded on it, with 

 respect to the close affinity of the European and the negro, is 

 considerably weakened, though still it is not divested of all its 

 force. 



Another objection has been made to the validity of the 

 argument. It has been stated that the mulatto race is a feeble 

 one, which soon dies out ; and that thus it manifests the weak- 

 ness of hybridity. Dr. Nott of America maintained this, with 

 respect to the mulattoes of South Carolina, when he resided in 

 that part of the United States ; but he saw reason to modify 

 his views when some time afterwards he went to Mobile, New 

 Orleans, Pensacola, and other places on or near the Gulf of 

 Mexico. There he found a far stronger and healthier race of 



mulattoes than he had seen in South Carolina, which he accounted 

 for by saying that the fathers of many of them French, 

 Spaniards, and other members of the Latin race had a nearer 

 affinity with negroes than the Anglo-Saxons possessed. Bat, on 

 the hybrid doctrine, was not this likely to produce results just 

 the opposite of those observed ? As has been said, there are 

 so many mulattoes in Brazil, that if the race had manifested 

 tendency to die out, the fact would before now have been 

 perfectly apparent. 



It was once maintained by a careful observer (Flourens) that 

 the negro must needs be specifically distinct from the European, 

 since the former possessed, between two layers of his skin, an 

 organ containing a dark pigment, or colouring matter, thus- 

 differing 1 not in hue simply, but in structure, from the white- 

 man. But Flourens afterwards abandoned this view, and took 

 up the common one namely, that the black pigment in the 

 negro is deposited in the same layer of skin as it is in the dark 

 races of India, who, ethnologically viewed, are quite distinct 

 from the African races ; nay, more, in the same layer which 

 receives the colouring matter when a native of this country 

 becomes somewhat bronzed by exposure to a tropical sun. 

 Besides, the negroes themselves vary greatly in colour, the 

 extreme type with which we are familiar being indigenous only 

 on the low, moist parts of Central Africa, while the inhabitants 

 of the hills are considerably lighter. Both in Sierra Leone, 

 too, and the States of America the children of negroes in con- 

 tact with civilisation tend somewhat to advance in intellect, 

 and improve in personal appearance. Should the process go- 

 on for a few generations, the result would at last be very 

 considerable. 



We believe that the majority of the ethnologists of Europe 

 still hold the unity of the human race, whilst others, such as 

 M. Broca of Paris, whose work on hybridity has been translated 

 into English, and edited by Dr. Carter Blake, Assistant Secre- 

 tary of the Anthropological Society, take the contrary view. 

 Many Americans, as already stated, agree with Broca. The 

 preponderance of opinion among scientific ethnologists is appa- 

 rently still, however, in favour of that doctrine long ago enun- 

 ciated by the Apostle Paul in his address delivered on Mars 

 hill before the Athenian Areopagus. " He [God] hath made 

 of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of 

 the earth." 



LESSONS IN ITALIAN. XXXIII. 



lEKEGULAR VEKBS OF THE FIBST CONJUGATION. 



THE Irregular Verbs are those which deviate in some tense* 

 and persons from the regular verb of the same conjugation 

 which is given for their model. 



The first irregular conjugation contains only anddre, ddre, 

 fare, stdre, and their derivatives. 



As all Italian verbs may be generally conjugated with or with- 

 out personal pronouns, we now think proper to omit them in 

 the conjugation of the irregular verbs, feeling confident that the 

 student is thoroughly acquainted with them. For a similar 

 reason we omit the conjugation of the compound tenses, which 

 the reader now will bo easily able to form and conjugate for 

 himself. 



1 . The irregular verb anddre, to go, is thus conjugated : 



INF. Simple Tenses. Pres. Andare, to go. Pres. Gerund. Andando, 



going. Past Port. Andato, andata, andati, andate, gone. Compound, 



Tenses. Past. Essere andato, to have or be gone. Past Gerund. Ess^ndo- 

 andato, having or being gone. 



IND. Pres. Vado or vo, vai, va ; andiamo, andate, vanno. Imp. An- 

 diva, andavi, andava; andavamo, andavate, andavano. Ind. Prci. 

 Andai, andasti, andb ; andammo, andaste, andarono. Fut. Andro, 

 audrai, andra ; andr^mo, andre'te, andranno. Cond. Pres. Andrei, 

 andresti, andr^bbe ; andrdmmo, andr^ste, andr^bbero. 



IMP. Va, vada ; andiamo, andate, vadano. 



SUB. Pres. Che vada, che vada or vadi, che vada ; che andiamo, 

 die andiate, che vadano. Imp. Che andassi, che andassi, che andasse : 

 che andassimo, che andaste, che audassero. 



After this example conjugate rianddre, to go again. 



2. The irregular verb ddre, to give, is thus conjugated : 



INF. Simple Tenses. Pres. Dare, to give. Pres. Gerund. Dando, giving: 



Past Part. Dato, given. Compound Tenses. Past. Av^re dato, to 



have given. Past Gerund. Ave"ndo dito, having given. 



