1348 



VARIETIES OF MANKIND. 



signing to them a distinct origin. So, again, 

 there would seem to be no near relationship 

 between the American and the Turanian lan- 

 guages ; but the affinity of the two stocks 

 appears to be established by the transition- 

 link afforded by the Esquimaux, which are 

 Mongolian in their conformation and Ame- 

 rican in their language. The affinity of the 

 Semitic and Japetic languages, moreover, is 

 so deeply hidden, as to have, until recently, 

 almost defied discovery ; and yet the people 

 who speak them so far resemble one another 

 in physical characters, that they have been 

 almost invariably associated together under 

 the general designation of the Caucasian race. 

 The common origin of the inhabitants of the 

 continents of Europe, Asia, and America is 

 thus pointedly indicated by the combination 

 of these two sources of evidence. The por- 

 tion of the Malayo-Polynesian race, that is, 

 in nearest proximity with South-Eastern Asia, 

 presents such a striking] resemblance in phy- 

 sical characters to the inhabitants of the 

 neighbouring part of that great continent, 

 that their community of origin can scarcely 

 be doubted ; and when certain points of re- 

 semblance between some of the Oceanic and 

 Indian dialects are taken into account, this 

 inference receives strong confirmation. The 

 African nations have long been regarded as 

 the most isolated from the common centre 

 from which all the others appear to have 

 radiated ; but recent investigations have shown 

 that such isolation has no real existence. 

 For, on the one hand, there are tribes which 

 form (like the Esquimaux) a connecting link 

 between the Semitic and proper African fa- 

 milies, being African in their conformation, 

 but Semitic in their language ; and, on the 

 other, the study which has been recently be- 

 stowed on the proper African languages, 

 especially by Dr. Latham, has shown them to 

 have so much in common with the Semitic 

 tongues, that, with the additional evidence 

 derivable from community of certain usages, 

 extending through vast areas physically iso- 

 lated from each other, it now seems impos- 

 sible to believe but that the African nations 

 are nearly related to the Semitic, and are 

 through them, derivable from the great Asiatic 

 centre. 



IV. GENERAL SURVEY OF THE PRINCIPAL 

 FAMILIES OF MANKIND. 



In the summary view which will now be 

 presented, of the characters of the principal 

 varieties of the human race, it will be con- 

 venient, in the first instance, to arrange them 

 according to their existing geographical dis- 

 tribution, stating, under each head, the most 

 important peculiarities in physical conforma- 

 tion, in psychical character, and in language, 

 which they may respectively present. A ge- 

 neral scheme of their probable relations of 

 affinity will be subsequently given. 



I. EUROPEAN NATIONS. The collective 

 body of European nations, with the excep- 

 fion of the Lapps, present a great uniformity 



in physical characters ; for although minor 

 differences exist among their subordinate 

 groups, they all possess the elliptical cranium, 

 the symmetrical form, the xanthous com- 

 plexion, and the flowing hair, which cha- 

 racterise what is ordinarily designated as the 

 Caucasian variety. This group of nations, 

 however, must be primarily divided into those 

 of Arian or Indo- Median origin, and those 

 whose origin is probably or certainly Mon- 

 golian. Under the latter head may be ranked 

 (as already remarked) the Lapps and Finns 

 of Scandinavia; the Magyars of Hungary; 

 the Turks of Turkey ; not improbably the 

 Basques or Euskaldunes of Biscay and Na- 

 varre ; and (possibly) the Albanians or moun- 

 taineers of ancient Illyria and Epirus.* The 

 European tribes of the Arian stock are con- 

 sidered by Dr. Latham as fundamentally di- 

 visible into the two great groups of Celts and 

 Indo-Germans. The former seem to have de- 

 tached themselves from the common stock, be- 

 fore the evolution of the language had pro- 

 ceeded to the formation of the cases of the 

 nouns, but after that of the persons of the verbs 

 had taken place f; and their language presents 

 obvious traces of agglutination, which, as 

 already shown, marks an early stage in lin- 

 guistic developement. The eastern origin of 

 the Celtic nations was first demonstrated by 

 Dr. Prichard j, and has been subsequently 

 more fully proved by Pictet. The typical 

 Celts exhibit somewhat of that development 

 of the malar bones, which is carried to its 

 fullest extent in the pyramidal skull ; and in 

 their comparatively unprogressive psychical 

 character they contrast remarkably with the 

 Germanic group of nations. The Indo-Ger- 

 mans, on the other hand, seem to have de- 

 tached themselves from the common stock 

 after the evolution of the cases of nouns had 

 taken place ; and their language presents less 

 evidence of agglutination than does the Celtic. 

 The Eastern origin of this group of nations is 

 not now doubted by any competent ethno- 

 logist ; for their languages, in spite of their 

 diversity, constitute but one philological 

 group, being united alike by community in 

 many of the most important primary words, and 

 by general similarity of grammatical construc- 

 tion ; and being obviously all formed upon 

 the same base with the Sanscrit, if not upon 

 that language itself. Of all extant European 

 dialects, the Lettish and Lithuanian approach 

 most nearly to the ancient Sanscrit ; but a still 

 nearer approach seems to have been presented 

 by the old Prussian, a dialect now extinct, 

 which maintained, to the sixteenth century, a 

 very slightly changed form of the Zend or 

 Median language, which was an early deriva- 

 tion from the Sanscrit. Whilst every one of 

 the Indo- Germanic languages bears traits of 



* See on this last point Dr. Latham's " Natural 

 History of the Varieties of Man," p. 552. 



t Op. cit. p. 529. 



t On the Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations, 

 1831. 



De 1'Affinite' cles Langues Celtiques avec le 

 Sanscrit; Paris, 1837. 



