EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST 



race just as we speak, without error, of the Eng- 

 lish race, though we know that many race ele- 

 ments have combined their energies in the great 

 work of English civilization. I do not say, 

 either, that we may not fairly speak of a Latin 

 race, provided we bear in mind the limitations 

 of the phrase ; the objection is not so much to 

 the phrase as to the loose way in which it is 

 customarily used and the absurd inferences 

 which are often grounded on it. 



The ethnologist, who deals with skulls and 

 statures and complexions, may venture much 

 farther, sometimes, than the linguist, though 

 perhaps the greater length of his excursions may 

 not always compensate for their comparative in- 

 security. It is quite open to the ethnologist to 

 hold that the successive Aryan swarms which 

 colonized Europe were like each other in phys- 

 iological characteristics, as well as in language 

 and general culture. Differences of complexion, 

 when well marked, are among the most conspic- 

 uous differences which distinguish individuals, 

 groups, or races from one another ; and they 

 are, moreover, apt to be correlated with deep- 

 seated physiological differences of temperament. 

 In all countries peopled by Europeans there 

 are to be found two contrasted complexions, the 

 blonde and brunette ; endlessly complicated and 

 varied by intermarriage, but nevertheless in their 

 extreme examples so strikingly different that a 

 92 



