VARIETIES OF MANKIND. 



1333 



difference of the conditions under which they 

 live, especially in regard to food. 



It may be safely asserted, then, that on 

 none of the foregoing characters can specific 

 distinctions be justly based, since none of 

 them possess the constancy which is required 

 to give them such a rank ; and those which 

 are most strongly marked in particular cases, 

 are such as can be proved to be most liable 

 to modification from external conditions. 



4. We next have to inquire into the dis- 

 tinctions founded upon. the Colour of the Skin; 

 which, at first sight, appear to present a 

 degree of constanc} r that gives them a strong 

 claim to be regarded as permanent, and there- 

 fore as valid distinctive characters between 

 the several races of mankind. The hue of 

 the Skin, it is now well known, exists in the 

 epidermis only, and depends upon the pre- 

 sence of pigmentary matter in the ordinary 

 cells of that part. What was formerly known 

 as the " rete mucosum," or " rete Malpighii," 

 and described as a distinct colouring layer 

 between the epidermis and cutis vera, is now 

 known to be nothing else than the newest 

 and softest layer of epidermis. There is no 

 structure (as has been affirmed by some ana- 

 tomists) in the skin of the dark races, that is 

 at all peculiar to it ; the very same dark 

 matter being found in particular spots of the 

 fairest skins, as in that of the areola sur- 

 rounding the nipple during pregnancy. The 

 following is the description of the structure 

 given by Messrs. Todd and Bowman, the 

 accuracy of which the author can fully confirm 

 from his own observation* " However vari- 

 ous in colour and hue, the colouring matter 

 always consists of oblong or oval grains of 

 extreme minuteness (l-20,000th of an inch 

 in their long diameter), and occupying the 

 interior of some of the epidermic particles. 

 In the Negro it is accumulated in enormous 

 quantity, and completely envelopes the nu- 

 clei immediately resting on the cutis. On 

 examining a vertical section of the whole 

 cuticle, we find the colouring matter gradually 

 diminishing as we approach the surface ; and 

 it is most clear that there is no true line of 

 demarcation between the two portions. We 

 may observe the colour of the rete muco- 

 sum deeper at points ; and a greater propor- 

 tionate depth of colour is traceable over such 

 points, through all the layers, as far as the sur- 

 face ; we may even discern a sort of stream of 

 coloured grains advancing towards the surface. 

 Hence there can be little doubt that the de- 

 crease of colour in the superficial lamina is 

 due to that chemical change which has been 

 described as gradually taking place in the 

 interior of the epidermic particles."* 



Still it might be affirmed that the presence 

 of a large amount of pigmentary matter, of a 



* Physiological Anatomy, vol. i. p. 415. The 

 Rete Malpighii is represented by Prof. Kolliker as 

 more distinct from the superjacent layers ; but the 

 writer has not been able to satisfy himself of the 

 accuracy of the descriptions and figures of Prof. 

 Kolliker on this point. See his Microskopische Aua- 

 tomie; Zweiter Band, 1422. 



peculiar tint, in the substance of the epider- 

 mis, constitutes a typical character of par- 

 ticular races, even though there be no distinct 

 pigmentary layer ; since spots and patches of 

 colour are often admitted as specific distinc- 

 tions among the lower animals. Thus, for 

 example, it has been maintained that the fair 

 and ruddy Saxon, the jet-black Negro, the 

 olive Mongolian, and the copper-coloured 

 North-American, have as good a claim to be 

 ranked as distinct species, on the score of 

 the uniform transmission of their respective 

 hues from generation to generation, as have 

 many races of Lepidoptera (for example) 

 which are regarded by naturalists as specifi- 

 cally diverse on account of the distribution of 

 colour in the scales of their wings. But as 

 the validity of the specific distinction among 

 these last entirely rests upon the intransitive 

 nature of the character, the several individuals 

 that constitute either race exhibiting no ap- 

 proximation towards those of the other, and 

 the successive generations repeating the re- 

 spective peculiarities of each race with great 

 exactness, we must apply the same test to 

 the Human races. 



Now, if we take any one of those groups of 

 nations which are usually regarded as alto- 

 gether constituting a race, such as the (so- 

 called) Caucasian, the Mongolian, the African 

 the American, or the Polynesian, it will be 

 found that the greatest diversity of com- 

 plexion exists within its limits. Thus, among 

 the " Jnpetic " races, which are cha- 

 racterised by the possession of the oval type 

 of cranial conformation, and whose languages 

 are so clearly traceable to a common stock, 

 that no philologist now questions the identity 

 of their origin, we find every range of colour, 

 from the fair Saxon and Celtic nations, to the 

 deep brown of the Indian Brahmin.* Among 

 the Syro- Arabian, or " Semitic" races, again, 

 which are spread over South-western Asia 

 and Northern Africa, and which are connected 

 by close affinity of language, there is an equal 

 variety of complexion. All travellers who 

 have visited the high lands of Arabia, repre- 

 sent the inhabitants as having light com- 

 plexions, their eyes being often blue, and 

 their hair red. The Arabs near Muscat are 

 of a sickly yellow hue ; those of the neigh* 

 bourhood of Mecca are of a yellowish brown, 

 while those of the low countries bordering on 

 the Nile are almost jet-black. So, again, 

 among the various tribes referable to the same 

 stock, which inhabit the Atlantic region of the 

 north of Africa, similar differences of com- 

 plexion prevail; for whilst those which inhabit 

 the higher lands and mountain passes, such as 

 the tribe of Mozabi among the Kabyles, are 

 remarkably fair, those which dwell in the 

 more level parts of the country are swarthy, 



* The hue of many of the races of Lower India is 

 as black as that of any Negroes ; but there is a doubt " 

 (as will hereafter appear) as to their origin. If not 

 Jndo- Atlantic, however, they are Mongolian ; and 

 the peculiarity is at least as striking, when they are 

 viewed as off-sets from the latter stock, as when they 

 are considered as appertaining to the former. 



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