THE RACES OF MAN. 165 



human skulls found in the caves of Brazil, entombed with many 

 extinct mammals, belonged to the same type as that now pre- 

 vailing throughout the American Continent. 



Our naturalist would then perhaps turn to geographical dis- 

 tribution, and he would probably declare that those forms must 

 be distinct species, which differ not only in appearance, but 

 are iitted for hot, as well as damp or dry countries, and for the 

 Arctic regions. He might appeal to the fact that no species in 

 the group next to man, namely the Quadrumana, can resist a low 

 temperature, or any considerable change of climate; and that 

 the species which come nearest to man have never been reared 

 to maturity, even under the temperate climate of Europe. He 

 would be deeply impressed with the fact, first noticed by Agassiz,' 

 that the different races of man are distributed over the world in 

 the same zoological provinces, as those inhabited by undoubtedly 

 distinct species and genera of mammals. This is manifestly the 

 case with the Australian, Mongolian, and Negro races of man; in 

 a less well-marked manner with the Hottentots; but plainly with 

 the Papuans and Malays, who are separated, as Mr. Wallace has 

 shown, by nearly the same line which divides the great Malayan 

 and Australian zoological provinces. The Aborigines of America 

 range throughout the Continent; and this at first appears op- 

 posed to the above rule, for most of the productions of the South- 

 ern and Northern halves differ widely: yet some few living forms, 

 as the opossum, range from the one into the other, as did formerly 

 some of the gigantic Edentata. The Esquimaux, like other Arctic 

 animals, extend round the whole polar regions. It should be 

 observed that the amount of difference between the mammals of 

 the several zoological provinces does not correspond with the 

 degree of separation between the latter; so that it can hardly be 

 considered as an anomaly that the Negro differs more, and the 

 American much less from the other races of man, than do the 

 mammals of the African and American continents from the mam- 

 mals of the other provinces. Man, it may be added, does not 

 appear to have aboriginally inhabited any oceanic island; and in 

 this respect he resembles the other members of his class. 



In determining whether the supposed varieties of the same 

 kind of domestic animal should be ranked as such, or as specifical- 

 ly distinct, that is, whether any of them are descended from 

 distinct wild species, every naturalist would lay much stress on 

 the fact of their external parasites being specifically distinct. 

 All the more stress would be laid on this fact, as it would be an 

 exceptional one; for I am informed by Mr. Denny that the most 

 different kinds of dogs, fowls, and pigeons, in England, are in- 



'' 'Diversity of Origin of the Human Races,' in the 'Christian Ex- 

 aminer,' July, 1850. 

 12 



