IDEAL TYPE OF MAN. 565 



which are pre-eminent : heat determines his complexion ; social condi- 

 tion the form of his Tbrain, and, therefore, that of his skull. 



The aspect of man in form and color oscillates between two extremes. 

 Submitted for a due time to a high temperature, any race, Ascenfc and de 

 irrespectively of its original colos, will become dark ; or if to scent of human 

 a low temperature, it will become fair. Under such condi- or s aniz 

 tions as will be set forth in this chapter, it will pass to the elliptical ; un- 

 der others, to the prognathous form of skull. No race is in a state of 

 absolute equilibrium, or able successfully to maintain its present physi- 

 ognomy, if the circumstances under which it lives undergo a change. It 

 holds itself ready, with equal facility, to descend to a baser, or rise to a 

 more elevated state, in correspondence with those circumstances. 



I think that this principle has not been recognized with sufficient dis- 

 tinctness by those who have studied the natural history of man. They 

 have occupied themselves too completely with the idea of fixity in the 

 aspect of human families, and have treated of them as though they were 

 perfectly and definitely distinct, or in a condition of equilibrium. They 

 have described them as they are found in the various countries of the 

 globe, and since these descriptions remain correct during a long time, the 

 general inference of an invariability has gathered strength, until some 

 writers are to be found who suppose that there have been as many sep- 

 arate creations of man as there are races which can be distinguished from 

 each other. We are perpetually mistaking the slow movements of Na- 

 ture for absolute rest. "We confound temporary equilibration with final 

 equilibrium. 



Man can not occupy a new climate without an organic change occur- 

 ring in his economy, which by degrees comes to a corre- Corres on( j ence 

 spondence with the conditions by which it is surrounded, of climate and 

 In this career, each individual, as a member of one genera- organi 

 tion$ may only make a partial advance, for differentiation most commonly 

 occurs in the early periods of embryonic life, as described at page 505; 

 but, since all individual peculiarities are liable to hereditary transmission, 

 the cumulative effect becomes strongly marked at last. So dominating 

 is the control which physical influences exert over us, that invariability 

 of our aspect for several generations may be received as a proof that those 

 influences have been stationary in kind and degree. In such a perfect 

 manner is that aspect dependent on them that it is truly their represent- 

 ative. If they change, it must change too. 



I do not, therefore, contemplate the human race as consisting of vari- 

 eties, much less of distinct species, but rather as offering numberless rep- 

 resentations of the different forms which an ideal type can be made to as- 

 sume under exposure to different conditions. I believe that that id ea i type 

 ideal type may still be recognized, even in cases that offer, when of man - 



