6 DARWINISM AND RACE PROGRESS. 



mained comparatively secure. When, however, the 

 merchants of Genoa and Venice opened up other 

 routes of trade, the Eastern Roman capital lost its 

 importance by the source of its power being diverted 

 into other channels, and it was conquered by a race 

 that formerly it had held in check. With the conquest 

 of Constantinople the organisation of the Eastern 

 Roman Empire ceased to exist. 



These two examples will serve to indicate how slow 

 must we be to assume that race deterioration has oc- 

 curred merely because a state or empire has fallen to 

 the ground. 



We shall seek in vain either in Greek or Roman 

 history for any answer to the question, " Must a race 

 sooner or later organically deteriorate ?" During the 

 Roman Empire so great a commingling of blood oc- 

 curred, and the modern Italian is so different as far 

 as race is concerned from an inhabitant of the 

 peninsula at the time of the Caesars, that a compari- 

 son of their qualities would not give an answer to the 

 question we are seeking. The same objection would 

 be raised to a comparison between the modern Greek 

 said to excel even the Jew in barter (the chief outlet 

 to his intelligence), and a Greek of the time of the 

 Macedonian conquest, because in the interval race in- 

 termixture has been incessant. There are, however, 

 many examples of races which have existed through 

 long periods of time without mixing to any great ex- 



