CHAPTEE VIII 



THE HUMAN RACES 1 



SUMMARY. 1. Relationship between physiology and ethnology and anthropology 

 (somatic and psychic). 2. Morphological characteristics of the different existing 

 races. '3. Functional variations of the circulatory and muscular systems in the 

 different existing races. 4. Functions of the whole organism of the different races. 

 5. Physio-psychological characteristics ; organs of sense, language and psychic 

 capacity. 6. Prehistoric 1 civilisation and the development of psychic activity 

 proved by palethnology and comparative ethnology. 7. Origin and development 

 of the different human races. 8. Classification of human races. Bibliography. 



FKOM time immemorial man has been cosmopolitan. The 

 capacity of the human organism to adapt itself to the most 

 widely different conditions and environment is nothing short of 

 marvellous; with the exception of the polar regions there is 

 almost no part of the world from the torrid to the frigid zone 

 in which man has failed to become acclimatised and to find 

 everything requisite for the normal development of his functions. 

 This adaptability distinguishes man from all the other higher 

 mammals (with the possible exception of his faithful friend and 

 companion, the dog) and is undoubtedly mainly due to the high 

 state of development of his cerebral functions which enables him, 

 wherever he may be, to turn to the best account all those 

 conditions which are favourable to his existence, and to avoid 

 harmful influences. In the arctic regions he has clad himself in 

 warm furs as a protection against the cold, and in every climate 

 he has obtained nourishment from roots buried in the earth, from 

 fruit, and from the flesh of beasts and fish. His urgent need of 

 food has taught him how to place himself less at the mercy 

 of his surroundings by fishing and hunting the first stage of 

 civilisation ; by breeding cattle and sheep the pastoral or second 



1 This chapter is, as it were, an appendix to my work on physiology, which 

 would have been lamentably incomplete had I failed to give a brief summary of 

 the more important results obtained by the new branches of science known as 

 anthropology and ethnology. In order not to delay the completion of my work 

 unduly I entrusted this chapter to my able assistant, Professor S. Baglioni, who has, 

 as is well known, included these collateral branches of the science of man in his 

 extensive studies. My share has been confined to bringing his work into harmony 

 with the rest of the book. 



324 



