MAN. 351 



capable of producing., we have a striking example in the 

 Hellenic nations when in the flower of their intellectual cul- 

 ture. The most important questions in the history of civili- 

 sation are connected with the descent of races, the com- 

 munity of language, and the greater or less persistency in 

 the original direction of the intellect and disposition. 



Whilst attention was exclusively directed to the extremes 

 of colour and of form, the result of the first vivid impressions 

 derived from the senses was a tendency to view these diffe- 

 rences as characteristics, not of mere varieties, but of originally 

 distinct species. The permanence of certain types ( 433 ) in the 

 midst of the most opposite influences, especially of climate, 

 appeared to favour this view, notwithstanding the shortness 

 of the time to which the historical evidence applied : but in 

 my opinion more powerful reasons lend their weight to the 

 other side of the question, and corroborate the unity of the 

 human race. I refer to the many intermediate gradations ( 433 ) 

 of the tint of the skin and the form of the skull, which have been 

 made known to us by the rapid progress of geographical science 

 in modern times ; to the analogies derived from the history of 

 varieties in animals, both domesticated and wild ; and to tks 

 positive observations collected respecting the limits of fecun- 

 dity in hybrids. ( 435 ) The greater part of the supposed con- 

 trasts to which so much weight was formerly assigned, have 

 disappeared before the laborious investigations of Tiedemann 

 on the brain of Negroes and of Europeans, and the anatomical 

 researches of Vrolik and Weber on the form of the pelvis. 

 When we take a general view of the dark-coloured African 

 nations, on which the work of Prichard has thrown so much 

 light, and when we compare them with the natives of the 



VOL. i. OB 



