308 THE DOCTRINE OF DESCENT, 
while the present forms of man are distinguished only 
as races. On this subject, we shall not lavish many 
words, since, examined in the light, it is an affair of words 
only. In the order of Primates, man constitutes a single 
family, and represents it by a single genus. Whether 
Negroes, Caucasians, Papuans, American-Indians, &c., 
be called species or races, matters little. The facility of 
intercrossing the different nations would favour their 
characterization as races; but as the crossing of species 
does not differ in principle from the crossing of races, 
and as to the bodily varieties displayed in colour, 
hair, skull, limbs, and other characters are added the 
profound differences of language, the division of the 
genus homo into species, diverging into many races, 
seems after all more natural. But ultimately, as in the 
question of species in general, the individual feeling of 
each person proves decisive. Whether it was a lucky 
hit to found the division of mankind on the position 
of the hairs, in tufts or equally distributed upon the 
scalp, and furthermore on the section of the hair, 
whether it be more flat and oval or circular in form, 
and finally on the inclination to curl or to lie stiff and 
smooth, the future must decide. 
The twelve races cited in the table given above, may 
be characterized by the aid of natural history; and as 
within the limits of the best known races, languages 
and families of languages may be found, which preclude 
any common origin, it follows that the formation of 
language began only after the still speechless primordial 
man had diverged into races. In geological periods and 
primordial history, all chronology is extremely decep- 
tive: we may, nevertheless, acquiesce in an estimate 
