616 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



vidual excellence of colored people, we must, 

 I think, admit that mulattoism is hybridism, 

 and that it is unnatural and undesirable. It 

 has been brought to its present formidable 

 proportions by several causes, — mainly by 

 slavery. Its evils are to be met and lessened 

 as far as may be, by wise statesmanship and 

 by enlightenment of public opinion. These 

 may do much. 



Some proclaim amalgamation as the remedy, 

 upon the theory that by diluting black blood 

 with white blood in larger and larger propor- 

 tions, it will finally be so far diluted as to be 

 imperceptible and will disappear. They for- 

 get that we may not do the wrong that right 

 may come of it. They forget that no amount 

 of diffusion will exterminate whatever exists ; 

 that a pint of ink diffused in a lake is still 

 there, and the water is only the less pure. 



Others persist that mulattoism is not and 

 cannot be persistent beyond four generations. 

 In other words, that like some other abnor- 

 mal and diseased conditions it is self -limit- 

 ing, and that the body social will be purged 

 of it. 



In the face of these and other theories, it is 

 our duty to gather as many facts and as much 

 knowledge as is possible, in order to throw 



