812 _The American Naturalist. [September, 
RECENT LITERATURE. 
Morris’s Aryan Race,'—This work opens with a general descrip- 
tion of the races of mankind, and then proceeds to discuss the origin 
of the Aryans, their migrations, and. their history in general. The 
author adopts the view of Latham and others, that their original home 
was Southeastern Russia, and not the highlands of Western Asia. e 
summarizes the evidence, which is largely derived from the Sanscrit - 
language. That the original home of the Aryans was not South- 
western Asia is indicated by the fact that that language contains no 
names for the lion and tiger ; that it was not from Northwestern Asia is 
shown by the absence of a name for the camel. The supposition that 
Scandinavia was the land is shown to be incorrect by the fact that 
there is no word for the reindeer, and because the Aryans were a pas- 
toral people, and not dwellers in forests. 
His discussion of the ethnic origin of the Aryans is of course 
speculative. He supposes that the dark-colored tribes which now 
inhabit the more southern latitudes from India to Spain were derived 
by descent from the negro race, while the northern light-colored types 
were derived from the Mongolian. The derivation of the Aryans from 
the Mongolians at a remote and prehistoric period is among the possi- 
bilities, but that the darker forms have a negro origin is scarcely so. 
The origin of both must be traced to prehistoric—say neolithic—man, 
and it may be that the light (Xanthochroic) Aryans really represent 
the race in its pure. form, and that the darker races (Melanochroi) 
represent either the primitive neolithic race, or are the product of 
hybridization between it and the Xanthochroi. 
r. Morris describes briefly the western migrations of the light 
tribes, the Celts, Teutons, and Slavonians; and those of the darker 
Pelasgi, Hellenes, etc. ; and later treats of the eastern extension to 
Persia and India, which established the Iranian and Hindoo popula- 
tions. These supposed migrations are illustrated by the descriptions 
of the Gauls and ‘Peutons left us by the Roman authors 
` The chapters on the religious, philosophical, and poetic achieve- 
ments of the Aryans will instruct the general reader, and the concise 
definitions of the intellectual and moral merits of the race form" a 
scientific index of the line of human progress. The last chapter con- 
tains a brilliant forecast of the increasing greatness and power of this the 
latest and the best product of human evolution. 
1 The Aryan Race: Its Origin and Its Achievements. By Charles Morris. S. S. Griggs 
& Co., Chicago, 1888, pp. 8vo. 350. 
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