226 PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART I. 



are founded, becomes apparent at once on comparing them 

 with, each other, when we find as many different classifications 

 as there are authors ; so that we cannot help agreeing with 

 Hollard 1 when he says, that zoologists generally agree as to 

 animal species and their characters, but are always at logger- 

 heads with regard to the number and types of human races, 

 which they sometimes wish to establish as distinct species. 

 That, with respect to affinities of peoples, the external habitus 

 alone is not sufficient to enable us to classify them, is proved 

 by the gross errors committed by authors who have trusted to 

 its constancy. Thus, for instance, we find in Desmoulins that 

 the first human species consists of Indo- Germans, Finns, and 

 Turks; the sixteenth are the Semitics, the first branch of 

 which is made to consist of the Arabs, Persians, Kurds, Jews, 

 Moors, and Abyssinians ; whilst the Etrusco-Pelasgi constitute 

 the second, and the Celts the third branch of the Semitics. 

 In America, two species are said to exist, the Caribs forming 

 one, and the Guaranis the other. Broc, who also classifies 

 according to physical characters, places the Hindoos among the 

 Mongols and Malays. Bory 2 , following the same principles, 

 includes in his first species, the Georgians in the Caucasus, the 

 Pelasgi, Celts, Germans, Slaves; with regard to the Aztecs, 

 he seems doubtful whether they belong to the hyperborean or 

 Mongolian species ; the Gypsies in Spain he considers as Ma- 

 lays. He further distinguishes three species of Americans ; 

 the first of which reaching from the land of the Esquimaux to 

 Guiana, whilst the third only embraces the Patagonians. Such 

 absurdities show indirectly, and better than anything else, how 

 we should appreciate this pretended constancy of physical type 

 as a criterion of affinity of race. 



We may, perhaps, be reproached for having selected the 

 least reliable authorities in order to arrive at a certain result 

 from the perversity of their assertions. We shall therefore ex- 

 clude them, as well as the eccentric views of H. Smith and 

 others, and only refer to such as are known as careful ob- 

 servers and cautious investigators, but who, trusting to the 



1 " De I'homme et des races hum.," p. 263, 1853. 



2 " L'Homnie," 2nd ed., 1827. 



