123 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



and traditional opinions and practices, and the connec- 

 tion they have with the external world, assuredly de- 

 mand rigorous and dispassionate inquiry. In general, 

 the leading character, somewhat arbitrarily chosen, is 

 held up as singly sufficient and uncombined with others ; 

 some of the most important points in the question 

 remaining unnoticed ; and sometimes the conclusions 

 are drawn at variance with the systematic rules pre- 

 scribed in zoology on all other occasions. No common 

 concert is the result of this variety of systems ; and 

 a great number of arbitrary divisions and causeless 

 names are introduced the proof how little zoologists 

 are agreed in their views while the main points are 

 scarcely influential ; and more than justifiable stress is 

 laid on coincidences of language, which, notwithstand- 

 ing they have unquestionable weight, are not as yet 

 sufficiently discriminated for the general acquiescence 

 of linguists ; and should, moreover, be used with some 

 regard to the occasional oblivion of a parent tongue, 

 by the encroachment of another, brought in vogue by 

 a conquering people.* 



American. At birth, the flattened face and broad smooth 

 forehead of the infant; the position of the eyes, rather 

 towards the sides of the head, and the widened space 

 between, represent the Mongolian form, which, in the 

 Caucasian, is not obliterated but by degrees, as the child 

 advances to maturity. 



* We refer to such as the dialects of ancient Italy, 

 Etruscan, &c., obliterated by the Roman Latin; the Cel- 

 tiberian and Turdetan, by the Latin and Spanish ; the 

 Syriac by Arabic ; Celtic by the Latin and French ; the 

 Celtic of Britain by the Saxon and English ; the Pelhevi 

 and Zend by Perso- Arabic ; the Mauritanian by the same ; 



