Chap. VII.] THE RACES OF MAN. 213 



Again, it has often been said that when mulattoes inter- 

 marry they produce few children ; on the other hand, Dr. 

 Bachman of Charleston " positively asserts that he has 

 known mulatto families which have intermarried for sev- 

 eral generations, and have continued on an average as 

 fertile as either pure whites or pure blacks. Inquiries 

 formerly made by Sir C. Lyell on this subject led him, as 

 he informs me, to the same conclusion. In the United 

 States the census for the year 1854 iitcluded, according to 

 Dr. Bachman, 405,751 mulattoes; and this number, con- 

 sidering all the cix'ciimstances of the case, seems small ; 

 but it may partly be accounted for by the degraded and 

 anomalous position of the class, and by the profligacy of 

 the women. A certain amount of absorption of mulattoes 

 into negroes must always be in progress ; and this would 

 lead to an appai*ent diminution of the former. The in- 

 ferior vitality of mulattoes is spoken of in a trustworthy 

 work '^ as a well-known i^henomenon ; but this is a dif- 

 ferent consideration from their lessened fertility ; and can 

 hardly be advanced as a proof of the specific distinctness 

 of the parent races. No doubt both animal and vegetable 

 hybrids, when produced from extremely distinct species, 

 are liable to premature death; but the parents of mulat- 

 toes cannot be put under the category of extremely dis- 

 tinct species. The common Mule, so notorious for long 

 life and vigor, and yet so sterile, shows how little necessary 

 connection there is in hybrids between lessened fertility 

 and^vitality : other analogous cases could be added. 



Even if it should hereafter be proved that all the races 



p. 239) much evidence that Austrahans and Europeans are not sterile 

 when crossed. 



'^ ' An Examination of Prof. Agassiz's Sketch of the Nat. Provinces 

 of the Animal World,' Charleston, 1855, p. 44. 



'2 ' Military and Anthropolog. Statistics of American Soldiers,' by 

 B. A. Gould, 18G9, p. 319. 



