ORGANIC LIFE. 



107 



MAN KIND in its physical gradations, in the geo- 

 graphical distribution of its simultaneously ex- 

 isting types, in the influence which it derives 

 from the forces of nature, and on the contrary, 

 though in a less degree, the influence which it 

 has exercised on these. Dependent, although 

 not to the same extent as plants and animals, 

 on the ground and the meteorological processes 

 of the atmosphere, more readily escaping from 

 under the dominion of some of the natural for- 

 ces through activity of mind, and intelligence 

 exalted by degrees, as well as through a won- 

 derful pliability of constitution, which adapts 

 itself to every climate, the human kind takes 

 an essential part in the whole vitality of the 

 earth. Through thesfe relations we are brought 

 into contact with the obscure and much agita- 

 ted problem of the possibility of common de- 

 scent in the circle of ideas which the physical 

 cosmography embraces. The investigation of 

 this problem, if I may so express myself, shall, 

 through ennobled and purely human interests, 

 be made the last aim of my work. The im- 

 measurable realm of language, in the diverse 

 organizations of which, the capacities of na- 

 tions are foreshadowed, as it were, is most in- 

 timately connected with the subject of alli- 

 ance of race ; and what even slight diversity 

 of race is competent to produce, is taught us 

 by the Hellenic world in the bloom of its men- 

 tal culture. The most important questions in 

 the history of the progress of society connect 

 themselves with ideas of descent, community 

 of language, and immutability in an original di- 

 rection of the affective and intellectual nature 

 of man. 



So long as extremes in diversity of colour 

 and configuration were alone considered, and 

 the first liveliness of sensible impression was 

 yielded to, there might have been the disposi- 

 tion to consider races, not as mere varieties, 

 but as originally different kinds of men. The 

 permanency of certain types("3) even amidst 

 the most inimical operation of external, partic- 

 ularly climatic influences, appeared to favour 

 such an assumption, short though the time be 

 through which historical information has come 

 down to us. But vouching far more strongly, 

 according to my views, for the unity of the hu- 

 man race, are the many middle tints("*) in col- 

 our of skin, and grades in form of skull, which 

 the rapid spread of geographical knowledge in 

 recent times has made known to us ; the anal- 

 ogy of variety in other wild and domesticated 

 classes of animals, and the sure experience 

 which has been collected in regard to the lim- 

 its of fruitful hybrids of different kinds("5). 

 The greater number of the contrasts which in 

 former times w^ere believed to have been dis- 

 covered, have been disposed of by the industri- 

 ous work of Tiedemann, " On the Brain of the 

 Negro and the European," and by the anatom- 

 ical inquiries of Vrolik and of Weber, ♦' On the 

 Form of the Pelvis." If we embrace the dark- 

 skinned African nations, on which Prichard's 

 admirable work* has thrown so much light, in 

 their universality, and compare them with the 

 races of the South Indian and West Australian 

 Archipelagos, with the Papuas and Alfourous 



* [Researches into the Physical History of Mankind, 3d 

 and 4th edit., 4 vols. 8vo, 1841-44. The Natural History 

 of Man, 1 vol. 8vo, 1843, 2d edit., 1845.— Tk. J 



(Haraforans, Endamenans), we see clearly that 

 black colour of the skin, woolly hair, and negro- 

 like features are by no means always conjoin- 

 ed(*<'«). So long as but a small portion of the 

 world was open to the western nations, they 

 necessarily came to narrow or one-sided con- 

 clusions. Heat of sun in the tropical world, 

 and dark colour of skin, seemed inseparable. 

 " The ^Ethiopians," sings the old tragedian, 

 Theodectes of Phaselis(*<'^), " are dyed by the 

 near sun-god in his course, with a dark and 

 sooty lustre ; the sun's heat crisps and dries up 

 their hair." The expeditions of Alexander, 

 which were so influential in exciting ideas of 

 the physical cosmography, first fanned the dis- 

 pute on the uncertain influence of climate upon 

 races of men. 



" The races of animals and plants," says one 

 of the greatest anatomists of the age, Joannes 

 Miiller, in his very comprehensive " Physiolo- 

 gy of Man,"* *' undergo changes during their 

 spread over the surface of the earth, within the 

 limits prescribed to species and genera. But 

 they are propagated organically as types of va- 

 rieties of species. From the co-operation of 

 different, as well internal as external condi- 

 tions, not to be specified in individual instan^ 

 ces, have the present races of animals proceed- 

 ed, the most remarkable varieties of which are 

 met with amongst those that are capable of the 

 widest distribution over the face of the earth. 

 All the races of men are forms of a single spe- 

 cies, which are capable of fruitful union and of 

 propagation ; they are not different species of 

 one genus ; were they so, their mixed progeny 

 would prove unfruitful. Whether the various 

 races of men are descended from several or 

 from a single primitive man, cannot be decided 

 from experience"(*''*). 



Geographical Researches into the ancient 

 seat, the cradle, as it has been called, of the 

 human race, possess in fact a purely mythical 

 character. " We know," says William von 

 Humboldt, in a work yet unpublished, on the 

 Diversity of Languages and of Nations, " we 

 know, neither historically, nor by tradition that 

 can be trusted, of any epoch in which the hu- 

 man race have not been collected together into 

 tribes or communities. Whether this condi- 

 tion was the original one, or first arose at a la- 

 ter period, cannot be decided historically. Iso- 

 lated traditions met with in many different pla- 

 ces on the earth's surface negative the first as- 

 sumption, and derive the whole of the human 

 race from a single human pair. The wide dif- 

 fusion of this belief has sometimes led to its 

 being assumed as a primitive recollection 

 among mankind. But this very circumstance 

 much rather informs us, that nothing tradition- 

 al, and nothing historical lies at the root of the 

 persuasion, but merely similarity of the human 

 faculty of conception which leads to the same 

 explanation of the same phenomenon ; many 

 similar myths have very certainly arisen, with- 

 out historical connection, out of the similarity 

 of man's poetical and speculative constitution. 

 These traditions also bear the entire stamp of 

 human invention in this, that they explain the 

 phenomenon of the first appearance of the hu- 



* [Ably rendered into English, and copiously commented 

 and illustrated, by Dr. Wm. Baly,2 vols. 8vo, Lond., 1842. 

 — Tb.] 



