THE DESCENT OR ORIGIN OF MAN 223 



dence, either of come degree of mutual sterility, or, in the 

 case of animals, of some mutual repugnance to pairing. 



Independently of fusion from intercrossing, the complete 

 absence, in a well-investigated region, of varieties linking 

 together any two closely allied forms, is probably the most 

 important of all the criterions of their speciiic distinctness; 

 and this is a somewhat different consideration from mere 

 constancy of character, for two forms may be highly vari- 

 able and yet not yield intermediate varieties. Geographical 

 distribution is often brought into play unconsciously and 

 sometimes consciously; so that forms living in two widely 

 separated areas, in which most of the other inhabitants are 

 specifically distinct, are themselves usually looked at as 

 distinct; but in truth this affords no aid in distinguishing 

 geographical races from so-called good or true species. 



Kow let us apply these generally admitted principles to 

 the races of man, viewing him in the same spirit as a natu- 

 ralist would any other animal. In regard to the amount of 

 difference between the races, we must make some allowance 

 for our nice powers of discrimination gained by the long 

 habit of observing ourselves. In India, as Elphinstone re- 

 marks, although a newly arrived European cannot at first 

 distinguish the various native races, yet they soon appear 

 to him extremely dissimilar;' and the Hindu cannot at 

 first perceive any difference between the several European 

 nations. Even the most distinct races of man are much 

 more like each other in form than would at first be sup- 

 posed; certain negro tribes must be excepted, while others, 

 as Dr. Eohlfs writes to me, and as I have myself seen, have 

 Caucasian features. This general similarity is well shown by 

 "IheUSeaeh photographs in t he Collect ion Antbropfilogigue 

 du Museum de Paris of the inen belonging to various races, 

 the greater "nu^BeFaTwEioh might pass for Europeans, as 

 many persons to whom 1 have shown them have remarked. 

 Nevertheless, these men, if seen alive, would undoubtedly 



' "History of India," 1841, vol. i. p. 323. Father Eipa makes exactly the 

 f pmi» r<?iuark with respect to the Chinese. 



