144 



ORDER BIMANA GENUS HOMO. 



to find in works, otiierwiso of some pretensions, sucli fables it; tliat nf 

 the Hindoo race of Siint Tliomas, witli flat tliiglis, said to lie found 

 in the Island of Ceylon, or the six-fingered nations of the hnman race. 

 We must not, however, confound the well-authenticated accounts of P'or- 

 cupine-men with the above fictitious narrations. 



CLASSIFICATION OF RACF.S. 



Linncens (A.D. 1766) was the first systematic writer who ventured to 

 include Man as a memlier of the Animal Kingdom. He established the 

 order Primates, consisting of four genera ; 1 . Homo ; 'I, Simla ; 3. Lemur ; 

 and, 4. Vespertilio. The genus Homo, which he characterized by the 

 brief phrase, " Nosce te ipsum," consisted of the Homo sapiens, and the 

 Homo ferus, the latter founded on a few accidental instances of juvenile 

 outcasts, while the former, subject to variation, culluru el loco, was subdi- 

 vided into five races ; a Americanus ; (i Europsens ; y Asiaticus ; S Afer; 

 and £ Monstrosus ; the last being composed of all the defective individuals 

 observed among the remainder. He avoided the error of those subse- 

 quent writers, who consider the races of men as so many distinct species. 

 Yet his classification was exceedingly arbitrary, and in attempting to ap- 

 portion the human race among the four divisions of an antiquated geo- 

 graphy, he blended together a number of races, very different in their 

 physical characters, and failed to notice the inhabitants of many extensive 

 regions of the globe which cannot be referred with propriety to any of the 

 principal continents. 



BufFon (A.D. 1/66), in the excellent treatise, " Sur les Varietes dans 

 I'espece Humaine," with his usual disregard to systematic arrangement, 

 did not propose any natural subdivision of the races. He collected the 

 results scattered over the innumerable voyages and travels of his day, and 

 discriminated with caution among the mass of errors and contradictions 

 with which their writings abounded. Subsequent travellers have added 

 more precise information for correcting and completing the valuable trea- 

 tise of Buffon, which even now may be read with pleasure and advantage. 

 Already the critical eye of Buffon distinguished the Malay from the other 

 Asiatics, and the Tartars from the Chinese. He admitted the physical 

 differences of the Hyperborean races, distinguished the Hottentots from 

 the other Africans, and acknowleged the unity of the Ethiopians. 



Blumenbach (A.D. 1797) admitted five varieties of the human species; 

 1. Caucasica; 2. Mongolica; 3. .(Ethiopica; 4. Americana; 5. Malayana. 

 These are little more than the old division of LinnEeus, with the substi- 

 tution of the Malayan variety in place of the H. Monstrosus, Linn. 

 Our chief objection to this arrangement consists in the obvious impro- 

 priety of including the Americans and Malays, whose characters are not 

 very decisive, in the same rank with the Caucasians, Mongolians, and 

 Ethiopians. The Malayan division has now become insufficient to contain 

 the numerous and varied races of the Southern Ocean. 



Dumeril (A.D. 1806) instituted the order Bimanes, which was a most 

 decided improvement upon the order Primates of Linnaeus, who placed in- 

 tellectual Man in the same order with the Apes and Bats. He subdivid- 

 ed the human race into six varieties; I. La Caucasique, or Arabe-Euro- 

 peenne ; 2. L'Hyperboreenne ; 3. La Mongole ; 4. L'Aniericaine ; 5. La 

 Malaie ; 6. L'Ethiopienne, or Negre. His arrangement coincides pretty 

 nearly with that of Blumenbach, with the manifest improvement of sepa- 

 rating the Hyperboreans from the Mongolians. 



The Baron Cuvier, in the first edition of :he " Piegne Animal" (A.D. 

 1816), admitted only three principal varieties; 1. Blanche on Cauca- 

 sique ; 2. Jaune ou Mongolique ; and, 3. Noir on Ethiopique ; at the 

 same time remarking, that he did not know to which of the above to re- 

 fer the Malays, Papoos, or Americans. 



In the same year M Malte-Brun published his enumeration of the 

 human races, but without attracting much attention from systematic 

 writers. He distinguished sixteen races. 1. Polaire. 2. Finnoise. 3. 

 Sclavonne. 4. Gothico-germanique. 5. Occidentales de I'Europe. 

 6. Grecques et Pelagiques. 7. Arabe. 8. Tartare et Mongole. 9. In- 

 dienne. 10. Malaie. 11. Noire de 1' Ocean Pacifique. 12. Basanee du 

 Grand-Ocean. 13. Maure. 14. Negre. 15. De I'Afrique Orientale. 

 16. D'Amerique. 



M. Virey, in the Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., article Homme, which 

 appeared A.D. 1817, was the first naturafist who ventured, in defiance of 

 the received opinions, to divide mankind into two species, characterized by 

 the magnitude of the facial angle. 

 His classification was as follows : 

 Genre Humaine. 



1° Espece, Angle facial de SS" a 90». 



{Arabe-Indienne. 

 Celtique et Caucasienne. 

 f Chinoise. 



2. Race Basanee, . . \ Kalmouke- Mongole. 

 {_ Lapone-Ostiaque. 



3. Race Cuivreuse, . . Americaine ou Caraibe. 



1. Race Blanche, 



2°. Es|)ece, A.ngle facial de ^o" a 80". 



4. Race Brune-foncee, . Malaie ou Indienne. 



5. Race Noire, ... -! ', ' 



( Negres. 



„ T) T.T • St.„ f Hottentots. 



6. Race Noiratre, ■ ■ -! „ 



( Papons. 



This enumeration, though more complete than those of any of nis pre- 

 decessors, with the exception of Malte-Brun, is still liable to many ob- 

 jections. Characters derived from the magnitude of the facial .angle are 

 too variable in Man to constitute a specific difference, and we may seek 

 in vain for any other. 



M. Desmarest, in In's Mammalogie (A.D. 1820), adopting the hint of 

 the Earon Cuvier, made the distinction of wliich all other writers appear 

 not to have observed the importance. The three great races, which we 

 have termed Normal, and the Anomalous, or more indistinct varieties of 

 the human species, are here distinctly pointed out. He divided Man, the 

 only species of the Genus Homo, as follows : 



\ Varietes de races bien caracterisees. 

 A Race Caucasique. 

 B , Mongolique. 

 C . Ethiopienne ou Negre. 

 tt Varietes de races moins distinctes. 

 D Race Malaie. 

 E . des Papons. 

 F . Americaine. 

 This arrangement coincides exactly with that in the " Regne Animal." 

 Hitherto the important differences between the Malays, Polyijesians, and 

 Australasians, passed unnoticed, and M. Desmarest failed to adopt the 

 Hyperboreans of Dumeril. 



This was the state of the science (A.D. 1825) when the ingenious 

 treatise of M. Bory de St Vincent appeared in the Diet. Class. d'Hist. 

 Nat., art. Homme. Omitting to notice the distinction proposed by Cuvier 

 and Desmarest between the Normal and Anomalous races, and persever- 

 ing in the error begun by M. Virey, he incautiously distributed the Human 

 race into no less than fourteen distinct species. Yet he has the merit of 

 subdividing the White races with much accuracy, though the leading 

 features had been previously laid down by Malte-Brun, and of distinguish- 

 ing most of the varieties in the islands of the Southern Ocean. 

 His divisions are as follows : 

 ■f Leiotriques. 



* Ancient continent. 



1. Japetique H. Japeticus. 



+ Gens Togata. 



1". Caucasique (Orientale). 

 2°. Pelage (Meridionale). 

 + + Gens Bracata. 

 3". Celtique (Occidentale). 

 4". Germanique (Boreale). 

 a. Teutone. 

 (i Sclavone. 



2. Arabique H. Arabicus. 



1". Atlantique (Occidentale). 

 2'=. Adamique (Orientale). 



3. Hindoue — H. Indicus. 



4. Scythique. — H. Scythicus. 



5. Sinique H. Sinicus. 



6. Hyperboreenne. — H. Hyperboreus. 



7. Neptunienne. — H. Neptunianus. 



1° Malaise (Orientale). 



2° Oceanique (Occidentale). 



3" Papoiie (Intermediaire). 



8. Australasienne (H. Australasicus). 

 •• Nouveau Continent. 



9. Colombique (H. Columbicus). 



10. Americaine (H. Americanus). 



11. Patagone (H. Patagonus). 

 ft Oulotriques. 



12. Ethiopienne (H. jEthiopicus). 



13. Cafer (H. Cafer). 



14. Melanienne (H. Melaninus). 



15. Hottentote (H. Hottentotus). 

 \Xl Monstrueux. 



a. Cretins. 

 /3. Albinos. 

 M. Desmoulins (A. D. 1826) published his Tableau general du Genre 

 Humain, in which the number of species in the Human Genus was fur- 

 ther augmented to sixteen. They were as follows : 



Germaine. 



1. Scythique, 



. uey weic us luiiuws ; 



C 1. Indo- Gen 

 . . } 2. Finnoise. 

 (^3. Turque. 



