282 THE ARYAN QUESTION vx 



the selective influence of their surroundings 

 operating on the mixture. 



The assumption that, as there must have been 

 a primitive Aryan people, in the philological sense, 

 so that people must have constituted a race in the 

 biological sense, is pretty generally made in mod- 

 ern discussions of the Aryan problem. But 

 whether the men of the primitive Aryan race 

 were blonds or brunets, whether they had long or 

 round heads, were tall or were short, are hotly 

 debated questions, into the discussion of which 

 considerations quite foreign to science are some- 

 times imported. The combination of swarthiness 

 with stature above the average and a long skull, 

 confer upon me the serene impartiality of a mon- 

 grel ; and, having given this pledge of fair dealing, 

 I proceed to state the case for the hypothesis I am 

 inclined to adopt. In doing so, I am aware that 

 I deliberately take the shilling of the recruiting 

 sergeant of the Light Brigade, and I warn all and 

 sundry that such is the case. 



Looking at the discussions which have taken 



veins of English soldiers " as in the veins of the dark Bengalese," 

 and that there is " a legitimate relationship between Hindoo, 

 Greek, and Teuton," has been visited. So i'ar as I know any- 

 thing about anthropology, I should say that these statements 

 may be correct literally, and probably are so substantially. I 

 do not know of any good reason for the physical differences 

 between a high-caste Hindoo and a Dravidian, except the Aryan 

 blood in the veins of the former; and the strength of the infusion 

 is probably quite as great in some Hindoos as in some English 

 soldiers. 



