80 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE. 



MONOGENISTS starting from unity of origin as a fact, if not 

 proved, at least accepted and unquestionable, were necessarily 

 led to discover a physiological explanation of the profound differ- 

 ences which we find at the present day among mankind, and 

 which would have led them, according to monogenists, from 

 one extreme state to the other, or from a medium state to the 

 two extremes. 



Now, it is necessary to remember that every question con- 

 cerning influence implies a previous historic notion. We can- 

 not establish that a modification is not produced in a body 

 (here is humanity), except by comparing it with itself at two 

 distinct moments of duration, more or less distant. When a 

 monogenist admits as an origin one uniform human race, he 

 places a term of comparison in the past, he gives an historical 

 date more or less definite to this uniform human species. And 

 it is because religious cosmogonies alone dare, at the present 

 day, to arrogate to themselves the power of making history 

 dart back to the commencement of humanity, that we shall 

 always be much troubled by not seeing a theological influence 

 as the basis of monogenist ideas ; now, they say, however, that 

 they have discovered the trace of this human uniformity upon 

 which they rely, in order to prove this great historical fact. 



In our own opinion, history is very far from commencing 

 with mankind ; it only goes back two or three ages before the 

 invention of figurative language, a more important and dif- 

 ficult language for man than articulated language, which was 

 discovered long before, and at many different points. It is 



