INTRODUCTION. 81 



demies have, from the earliest ages, equally affected men and ani- 

 mals ; the causes, the symptoms, the pathology, the treatment, are 

 the same in epidemics and epizootics. This shows, not that men are 

 of one species, — if it does^animals belong to the sam 3 man, 



— but that men are of different Bpee Borne races ate very 



liable to certain diseases from which others are almost exempt. 



Van Amringe considers that the relations between male and female 

 point to specific distinctions in the human race-;. If we go back to the 

 remotest historic period we find that tiie condition of woman has 

 always been higher in proportion to civilization : the white races 

 have always manifested a tendency to honor and esteem woman; 

 the dark races have always considered her rather as a Blave than as 

 a companion and equal. The prevalence of this rule in species, taken 

 is a whole, from the earliest times and under all modifying influ< 



ndicates a natural difference of mental constitution or temperament ; 

 education has modified, but can never change it. The standard of 



seauty is different in the various races, physically, morally, and in- 

 tellectually ; and this difference of taste has been one of the chief 

 means of keeping distinct the different species of men. 



It was thought by Buffon, Hunter, and others, and is generally 

 believed at the present day, that the offspring of two distinct species 

 are incapable of reproducing their kind ; thus hybridity lias been made 

 a test of specific character. By some, hybrids are considered as 

 affording the strongest proofs of the reality and distinctness of species ; 

 by others, they are thought to show that all the present varieties of 

 animal and vegetable life were derived from a comparative! s - few 

 original types. Assuming it to be a law of nature that hybrids are 

 Sterile, it is maintained that all mankind must belong to one and the 

 same species, since all the races are capable of producing a fertile 

 progeny with each other. Dr. Morton* has examined this subject 

 with great care, and has collected a great number of authentic facts 

 of hybrids producing fertile offspring, in mammalia, birds, fishes, 

 insects, and plants. In the higher animals, he gives examples even 

 from different genera. In birds, they are very numerous, especially 

 in the gallinaceous tribes. In plants, they are so common that Mr. 

 Herbert maintains that botanical species are only a higher and more 

 permanent type of varieties, and he would discard them altogether, 

 retaining only the genera to designate those characters which have 

 hitherto been attributed to species. It thus appears that mules are 



* Hybridity in Animals and Plants, considered in reference to the ques- 

 tion of the Unity of the Human Species. By S. G. Morton, M. D. Phila- 

 delphia. 



