484 PROGRESS OF SCIENCE IN THE CENTURY. 



crease in activity according as the primitive tribes 

 spread farther afield. To these influences of the sur- 

 roundings were soon added the far more potent effects 

 of interminglings seen to be at work already in neolithic 

 times, and thus the development of fresh sub-varieties 

 of all sorts proceeded at an accelerated rate. This 

 process has necessarily continued down to the present 

 time, resulting in ever-increasing confusion of funda- 

 mental elements, and blurring of primeval types. 

 Hence it is not surprising that many ethnologists 

 should accept as a truism the statement that ^ there are 

 no longer any pure races in the world.^ " * 



The history of the classification of mankind into 

 races is not very instructive. The complexion, the 

 character of the hair, and the shape of skull have 

 supplied the chief basis, sometimes in combination, 

 but oftener singly. Consideration of language has 

 also been introduced, but it has been perhaps as 

 much a hindrance as a help. Only of recent years 

 has it been possible to utilise mental, as well as 

 bodily, distinctions, and their usefulness depends on 

 the discrimination of the enquirer. 



The first serious attempt at classification is said 

 to be F. Bernier's (1672), but that of Linne, a 

 century later, has had more lasting influence. After 

 setting aside Homo monstruosus and Homo ferus, 

 Linnaeus divided Homo sapiens into fair-haired, blue- 

 eyed, light-skinned Europeans; yellowish, brown- 

 eyed, black-haired Asiatics; black-haired, beardless, 

 tawny Americans ; and black, woolly-haired, flat-nosed 

 Africans. A close approximation to this classifica- 

 tion is now used by many experts. 



The work of Buff on and Dr. J. C. Prichard 



* A. H. Keane, Ethnology, 1896, p. 163. 



