i 



TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION U.— DEPT. ANTHROPOLOGY. 685 



last few years, rest on any solid basis, or account for the phenomena of the present 

 condition and distribution of the species. 



The one view — that of the monogenist— was that all races, as we see them now, are 

 the descendants of a single pair, who, in a comparatively short period of time, spread 

 over the world from one common centre of origin, and became modified by degrees 

 in consequence of changes of climate and other external conditions. The other — 

 that of the polygenist — is that a certain number of varieties or species (no agree- 

 ment has been arrived at as to the number, which is estimated by different authorities 

 at from three to twenty or more) have been independently created in different 

 parts of the world, and have perpetuated the distinctive characters as well as the 

 geographical position with which they were originally endowed. 



The view which appears best to accord with what is now known of the 

 characters and distribution of the races of man, and with the general phenomena of 

 nature, may be described as a modification of the former of these hypotheses. 



Without entering into the difficult question of the method of man's first 

 appearance upon the world, we must assume for it a vast antiquity — at all events 

 as measured by any historical standard. Of this there is now ample proof During 

 the long time he existed in the savage state — a time compared to which the 

 dawnof our historical period was as yesterday — he was influenced by the operation 

 of those natural laws which have produced the variations seen in other regions of 

 organic nature. The first men may very probably have been all alilie ; but, when 

 spread over the face of the earth, and become subject to all kinds of diverse 

 external conditions — climate, food, competition with members of his own species 

 or with wild animals — racial differences began slowly to be developed through the 

 potency of various kinds of selection acting upon the slight variations which 

 appeared in individuals in obedience to the tendency implanted in all livino- 

 things. 



Geographical position must have been one of the main elements in determining 

 the formation and the permanence of races. Groups of men isolated from their 

 fellows for long periods, such as those living on small islands, to which their 

 ancestors may have been accidentally drifted, would naturally, in course of time 

 develop a new tj-pe of features, of skull, of complexion or hair. A slight set in 

 one direction, in any of these characters, would constantly tend to intensify itself, 

 and so new races would be formed. In the same way different intellectual or 

 moral qualities would be gradually developed and transmitted in different groups 

 of men. The longer a race thus formed remained isolated, the more strongly im- 

 pressed and the more permanent would its characteristics become, and less liable 

 to be changed or lost, when the surrounding 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 ' moun- 

 tains 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 uniformitj', from the amalgamation of races brought into close relation by 

 war or by commerce. Smaller or feebler races have been destroyed or absorbed bv 

 others impelled 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 reconstruc- 

 tion ; a constant tendency to separation and differentiation, and a tendency to com- 

 bine again into a common uniformity — the two tendencies acting against and modi- 

 fying each other. The history of these processes in former times, except in so far as 

 they may be inferred from the present state of tilings, is a diflicult study, owino- 

 to the scarcity of evidence. If we had any approach to a complete paheonto- 

 logical record, the history of man could be reconstructed ; but nothing of the kind 

 is forthcoming. Evidences of the anatomical characters of man, as he lived on 

 the earth during the time when the great racial characteristics were being devc- 



