INTRODUCTION 75 



not " wool," but at the same time has shown that it is of a very dif- 

 ferent texture from that of the white races. There is an actual 

 difference in the structure of the hair in the different races ; and this 

 difference does not depend on the color, for the black hail of the 

 Negro is not at all like the equally black hair of the European. The 

 hair of the Albino Negro, " whether red or flaxen, is as knotty, as 

 wiry, and as woolly, as that of his sable parents." The closest curls 

 of the European head never approach the short wiry hair of the 

 African, unless the races have been mixed ; and it should be recol- 

 lected that such a single mixture may have an influence for several 

 generations. 



Are, then, the differences which characterize the several races of 

 men analogous in kind and degree to those which distinguish the 

 breeds of domestic animals ? And are they to be accounted for on 

 the same principles ? 



It is maintained that the effects of domestication on animals and 

 the effects of civilization on man are analogous. This supposes that 

 the original condition of man was wild like that of animals ; that he 

 emerged from this condition, became domestic, and domesticated 

 certain animals with the same results for them as for him. All 

 these suppositions are necessary, and all have been taken fur granted, 

 and used accordingly. That civilization has not produced physical 

 changes in man, the authors themselves admit, when they refer this 

 or that ancient skull to the Caucasian or Ethiopian race, according 

 to its characters, which implies permanence of the distinguishing 

 marks. This is proved by all history ; by the monuments of Egvpt, 

 which show that 4000 years of civilization, at any rate, have not 

 changed man. Says Van Amringe, " If it could be proved that a 

 mouse changed to an ox by domestication, we imagine that it would 

 be insufficient to prove that man suffered physical change by civiliza- 

 tion, in opposition to undoubted records to the contrary." 



Man is the most domestic of animals ; domesticity is in him " a 

 natural instinct, a law of his being, a principle upon which all of his 

 virtues, all of his civilization, all of his progress in this world, 

 depends ;" but domestication in animals, far from being instinctive, 

 or a law of their nature, is " a violence done to them, a tyranny 

 exercised over them ; it is a slavery so absolute and perfect that 

 their very natures are subdued, and their natural instincts, as far as 

 opposed to man's interest, blunted and overpowered." Their tem- 

 pers are modified, their bony structure even is changed, by an 

 unnatural climate, food, and management. Improvements in domes- 

 ticated animals are degenerations in regard to the animals themselves. 

 The difference between the skulls of the wild boar and the domestic 



