180 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



the beardless stock, which never becomes intensely black, 

 be regarded as intermediate, tbe difficulty is increased ; and 

 it may be remarked, in addition, that the first admissible 

 appearance of this type, in historical records of the west, is 

 incomparably more recent. Cuvier, and other eminent writers, 

 viewed the typical forms of Man to have descended from dif- 

 ferent high mountain chains of the world after the deluge, and 

 therefore dated them at least as old as that period. But if 

 they were in their characteristics the same before, by what 

 force in nature did they suddenly, in a short time, change to 

 their present distinctions, after that event? Or if they were 

 clearly possessed of them, then the remoteness of the time 

 renders all trustworthy decision impossible, or favors, more 

 than it contradicts, that the tropical conformation was the 

 most general, and the Mongol ic next, because both extremes 

 of temperature are not incompatible with its vitality ; and the 

 bearded type last, the highest, the best endowed, and destined 

 ultimately to elevate the others by its contact; and, finally, 

 supports the same facts in the location of species which are 

 observed to exist in the distribution of animals and plants in 

 particular regions, according to their nature and structure. 

 Thus, reasoning merely from facts, the woolly-haired type 

 again bears tokens of greater antiquity than either of the other, 

 and it may have been of Australasian origin ; not necessarily 

 black, for color alone is of very secondary importance. Other 

 distinctions of a specific character will be found, when those 

 of the three forms are explicitly enumerated ; and thus far 

 their separation as species might be claimed as established, 

 but that there remain still other considerations which should 

 not be overlooked, since they tend to an opposite conclusion. 



Among these, perhaps not one is more forcible than the fact 

 that the lowest form of the three is the most ready to amalga- 

 mate with the highest. Again, that both the beardless and 



