VI THE ARYAN QUESTION 325 



Homo was confined to Europe in the pleistocene 

 age; it is much more probable that this, like 

 other mammalian genera of that period, was 

 spread over a large extent of the surface of the 

 globe. At that time, in fact, the climate of 

 regions nearer the equator must have been far 

 more favourable to the human species ; and it is 

 possible that-, under such conditions, it may have 

 attained a higher development than in the north. 

 As to where the genus Homo originated, it is 

 impossible to form even a probable guess. During 

 the miocene epoch, one region of the present 

 temperate zones would serve as well as another. 

 The elder Agassiz long ago tried to prove that the 

 well-marked areas of geographical distribution of 

 mammals have their special kinds of men ; and, 

 though this doctrine cannot be made good to the 

 extent which Agassiz maintained ; yet the limita- 

 tion of the Australian type to New Holland, 1 the 

 approximate restriction of the negro type to Ultra- 

 Saharal Africa, and the peculiar character of the 

 population of Central and South America, are facts 

 which bear strongly in favour of the conclusion 

 that the causes which have influenced the distri- 

 bution of mammals in general, have powerfully 

 affected that of man. 



Let it be supposed that the human remains 

 from the caves of the Neanderthal and of Spy 



P Unless I am right in extending it to Hindostan anj 

 even further west. 1894.] 



