xix SIZE A CHARACTER OF RACE 293 



readable form in a little book published last year in the 

 " Bibliotheque scientifique contemporaine," called Les Pygmtes, 

 to which I refer my hearers for fuller information upon the 

 subject of this discourse, and especially for numerous references 

 to the literature of the subject, which, as the book is accessible 

 to all who wish to pursue it further, I need not give here. 



It is still, however, to my mind, an open question whether 

 these old stories may not be classed with innumerable others, 

 the offspring of the fertile invention of the human brain, the 

 potency of which as an origin of myths has, I think, some- 

 times been too much underrated. I shall, therefore, now 

 take leave of them, and confine myself to giving you, as far as 

 the brief space of time at my disposal admits, an account of 

 our actual knowledge of the smallest races of men either 

 existing, or, as far as we know, ever having existed on earth, 

 and which may, therefore, taking the word in its current 

 though not literal sense, be called the "pygmies" of the 

 species. 



Among the various characters by which the different races 

 of men are distinguished from one another, size is undoubtedly 

 one of considerable importance. Not but what in each race 

 there is much individual variation, some persons being taller 

 and some shorter ; yet these variations are, especially in the 

 purer or less mixed races, restricted within certain limits, and 

 there is a general average, both for men and women, which 

 can be ascertained^ when a sufficient number of accurate 

 measurements have been recorded. That the prevailing size 

 of a race is a really deeply-seated, inherited characteristic, 

 and depends but little on outward conditions, as abundance of 

 food, climate, etc., is proved by well-known facts. The tallest 

 and the shortest races in Europe are respectively the Norwe- 

 gians and the Lapps, living in almost the same region. In 

 Africa, also, the diminutive Bushmen and the tallest race of 

 the country, the Kaffirs, are close neighbours. The natives 

 of the Andaman Islands and those of many islands of the 

 equatorial region of the Pacific, in which the conditions are 

 similar, or if anything more favourable to the former, are at 

 opposite ends of the scale of height. Those not accustomed 

 to the difficulties both of making and recording such measure- 



