INTRODUCTION. 89 



man will not felt. The hair of the Negro will, and in this respect 

 comes near to true wool. 



Prichard says, supposing the Negro hair to be analogous to wool, 

 it would not prove the Negro of a separate race from the European. 

 " Since we know that some tribes of animals bear wool, while oihers 

 of the same species are covered with hair." Though this peculiar- 

 ity depends on climate, it proves nothing, for this reason, viz., in 

 almost every quadruped there is a growth of both hair and wool, the 

 latter generally covered and protected by the former. Now, cli- 

 mate only changes the relative proportion between these two append- 

 ages to the skin. In a warm climate the hair would predominate ; 

 in a cold country the wool would be the most increased. This may 

 explain Prichard's remark. Until a similar coexistence of hair and 

 wool can be shown in the human subject, there is not the slightest 

 ground for analogical argument. 



From .he examination of the human hair, it may be said that the 

 degree of relationship of the races is no nearer than that of allied 

 species among lower animals, even allowing much that false analogy 

 claims. The hair of man belongs to the same epidermic tissues as 

 the fur of quadrupeds, the feathers of birds, and the scales of fishes. 

 The species of birds are in a great measure distinguished by lite 

 form, structure, and arrangement of thefeatfu rs. The scales of fishes 

 have such an intimate and unvarying relation to their other organs and 

 systems, thai Prof. Agassiz has been able to delineate accurately the 

 form and structure of an extinct species from the examination of a 

 single scale; and the classification of these animals is chiefly made 

 according to the structure of the scales. If such differences in animals 

 constitute specific and even generic distinctions, why not, by analogy, 

 in man ! 



The osteology of the different races of men has been as yet very 

 little studied, and oilers a wide field for observations. The charac- 

 teristic shape of the skull in different races has been already given, 

 and need not he repeated. The distinctions are remarkable and 

 permanent, and cannot be invalidated by the "scale of gradation," 

 so often quoted, as this would apply with equal force to all animated 

 nature. A prevailing form, a type, exists, and that is enpugh. A 

 modification of the osseous system involves a modification of function, 

 which may influence the whole system, and become of specific value. 

 The chin, e. g., says Van Amringe, is apparently an unimportant 

 part; and yet a receding chin is almost always attended by a poorly 

 developed cranium and inferior intellectual powers; not that there 

 can be traced the relation of cause and effect, but that, all organs 

 being a part of a great whole, a deficiency of one is almost without 

 8* 



