242 ANTHROPOLOGY xvi 



become, and less liable to be changed or lost, when the sur- 

 rounding circumstances were altered, or under a moderate 

 amount of intermixture from other races the more " true," 

 in fact, would it be. On the other hand, on large continental 

 tracts, where no "mountains interposed make enemies of 

 nations," or other natural barriers form obstacles to free 

 intercourse between tribe and tribe, there would always be 

 a tendency towards uniformity from the amalgamation of races 

 brought into close relation by war or by commerce. Smaller 

 or feebler races have been destroyed or absorbed by others im- 

 pelled by superabundant population or other causes to spread 

 beyond their original limits; or sometimes the conquering 

 race has itself disappeared by absorption into the conquered. 



Thus, for untold ages, the history of man has presented a 

 shifting, kaleidoscopic scene ; new races gradually becoming 

 differentiated out of the old elements, and, after dwelling 

 awhile upon the earth, either becoming suddenly annihilated 

 or gradually merged into new combinations ; a constant 

 destruction and reconstruction ; a constant tendency to 

 separation and differentiation, and a tendency to combine 

 again into a common uniformity the two tendencies acting 

 against and modifying each other. The history of these 

 processes in former times, except in so far as they may be 

 inferred from the present state of things, is a difficult study, 

 owing to the scarcity of evidence. If we had any approach 

 to a complete palseontological record, the history of man 

 could be reconstructed ; but ' nothing of the kind is forth- 

 coming. Evidences of the anatomical characters of man, as 

 he lived on the earth during the time when the great racial 

 characteristics were being developed, during the long ante- 

 historic period in which the Negro, the Mongolian, and the 

 Caucasian were being gradually fashioned into their respective 

 types, is entirely wanting, or, if any exists, it is at present 

 safely buried in the earth, perhaps to be revealed at some 

 unexpected time, and in some unforeseen manner. 



It will be observed, and perhaps observed with perplexity 

 by some, that no definition has as yet been given of the oft- 

 recurring word " race." The sketch just drawn of the past 

 history of man must be sufficient to show that any theory 



