-SUNS IN ETHV 



149 





LESSONS IN ETHNOLOGY. III. 



1 1 IN OF TICK AKVAX RACE. 



THE dominant races of Europe are nearly all Aryan. Those of 

 tiiem which are so, when arranged according to their languages, 

 lull naturally under nix Hubdivinionu: (1.) The Teutonic; (2.) 

 the - M the Slavonic, or \Vindk-; (4.) the Italic ; (5.) 



the Illyrio; and (6.) the Hellenic races. 



The Teutonic race in one of a very remarkable character. It 

 has never been properly subdued. While several other Euro- 

 pean races were so thoroughly brought under the sway of Rome 

 that they lost their native languages, and now speak tongues 

 in which Latin words predominate, the Teutons maintained 

 their political independence, and kept their speech virtually 

 unmodified by their prox- 

 imity to the all-con- 

 quering empire. Next, 

 ceasing to act simply on 

 the defensive, they began 

 to assail the colossal 

 Rman dominion itself; 

 nid finally, under the 

 names of Ostrogoths 

 <East Goths), Visigoths 

 <West Goths), Vandals, 

 etc., they burst in upon 

 the effete empire and 

 trampled it under foot. 

 All decay and death in 

 this world of God's are 

 designed to be the pre- OTM 

 lude to new life, and the p~ 

 overthrow of the old 

 civilisation though its 

 immediate result might 

 be ages of confusion and 

 intellectual darkness 

 jet was followed at last 

 by the birth of a new and 

 better culture than that 

 which had perished. How 

 closely the destroyers of 

 the Roman empire were 

 akin to the modern Teu- 

 tonic nations our own, 

 for example will be 

 apparent from a glance 

 at one or two of the 

 half-English names ap- 

 plied to their tribes or 

 armies : thus, the Romans 

 spoke of the Marcomanni, 

 that is., "the men of 

 mark;" and the Ale- 

 manni, or " all men," 

 showing the miscellan- 

 eous nature of the as- 

 semblage which desire 

 of plunder had drawn 



together. Germany was the great seat of the Teutonic 

 tribes : their boundaries, when the Romans first came in con- 

 tact with them, being the Rhine on the west, the Danube on 

 the south, the Vistula on the east, and on the north a line 

 running in some unknown latitude across Scandinavia. 



The classical authors of antiquity describe the Germanic 

 tribes as tall in stature and strong in body, with a fair com- 

 plexion, yellow, or, more frequently, red hair, and blue eyes. 

 But, remarkably enough, these characteristics are not now 

 common in Germany; to find them extensively diffused one 

 must repair to Scandinavia. In Germany the hair and eyes in 

 a vast number of instances are dark. Unless the Romans mode 

 some strange mistake which it is hard to think that they can 

 have done the physical characteristics of the Germans must 

 have altered considerably within the last two thousand years. 

 A conjecture has been hazarded as to how this may have taken 

 place. In all the hotter parts of the world, the hair of the 

 several indigenous races of mankind is black, and it is accom- 

 panied bv dark eyes , it is only when one goes some distance 



139 -N.E. 



Fig. 3. TYPE OF TEUTONIC VARIETY. 



toward* the north that fair hair and blue eyes become common. 

 Hence it ha* been thought that the clearing away of the forwte 

 which once overspread Germany has made the climate of that 

 country so much more genial, that the southern peculiarities of 

 black hair and blue eyes are much more frequently met with 

 now than of old. Latham thai describes the physical con- 

 formation of the entire Teutonic, or, as he oallu it, " Gothic " 

 family : (a) " Blue eyes, flaxen hair, ruddy complexion, smooth 

 akin, fleshy limbs ; (I) Eyes, grey, dark, or hazel ; hair, brown 

 or black; complexion, sallow or swarthy; bulk, varied." 



If the classification of the several Teutonic tribes and snb> 

 tribes be founded on language, then this great race will be 

 resolved into three smaller ones the High German, the Low 

 German, and the Scandinavian sub-races. The locality inhabited 



by the first of these in 

 the south of Germany, 

 and the language spoken 

 is the one which is in 

 general simply desig- 

 nated " German." To the 

 second, or Low German 

 sub-race, belong the Eng- 

 lish, the Dutch, and the 

 Frieslanders. The in- 

 habitants of Norway, 

 Sweden, Denmark, and 

 Iceland the Northmen 

 or Normans of old pira- 

 tical times constitute 

 the Scandinavians. Be- 

 sides these three assem- 

 blages of Teutons speak- 

 ing yet living tongues, 

 should be ranked a 

 fourth, the Goths, whose 

 language, is now extinct. 

 The vast majority of 

 the Teutons are Protes- 

 tant in faith, and the 

 same assertion cannot be 

 made about any other 

 race in the world. Of 

 the many aspects in 

 which the Reformation 

 in the sixteenth century 

 may be viewed, one ia 

 that it was a religious 

 revolt of the Teutonic 

 race against Italian 

 dominancy. The only 

 notable section of the 

 Teutons who have re- 

 mained Roman Catholic 

 are the Germans of the 

 Austrian empire. 



In war the Teutons are 

 remarkable not so much 

 for romantic courage in 

 assault, as for stubborn 



endurance. The amazing tenacity of life which the Austrian 

 empire has all along shown, and its great fortitude under 

 crushing defeats, have in large measure resulted from the pro- 

 minent place held by the Teutonic element in its political 

 system. The tenacity of endurance now spoken of is called by 

 the French " solidity ; " hence either the Emperor Napoleon or 

 the Moniteur, referring on one occasion, during the Crimean 

 war, to the British soldiers, used the expression, " that solidity 

 which is peculiar to them ; " and in the French narrative of the 

 battle of Inkermann, admiration was expressed for "the energetic 

 solidity with which our allies faced the storm so long." 



The Celtic is the second of the great races now inhabiting 

 Europe. Even before the conquests of Julius Caesar, the 

 Romans had become well acquainted with one great section 

 of it, namely, the Gallic tribes, who had oftener than once 

 burst through the Alps, and rolled an invading torrent like an 

 avalanche down upon the plains of Italy. These aggressive 

 Celts, too, had so well held their own in that peninsula, that there 

 was a Cis-Alpiue as well as a Trans-Alpine Gaul ; that is, a 



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