ll'2 Proceedings of (he Asiatic Society, [July, 



of which are illustrated in the physical and mental characters of the 

 Australian, American-Indian, Negro, Mongol and Caucasian. 



The aboriginal Australian has never learned to work in metals nor 

 to till the land, nor does he learn in contact with the European. He 

 is a hunter by nature, but his highest weapon is stone or bone tipped. 

 He has not advanced to the fabrication of the bow and arrow. Had 

 he come in contact with large carnivorous animals, the race would 

 have been annihilated. 



The Red man of America is a slight advance on him ; he uses the bow 

 and arrow, tills the soil, and makes himself formidable to such animals as 

 he conies in contact with. The African is a further advance. The 

 Mongolian takes us over a vast moral and intellectual gulf. And lastly 

 comes the Caucasian, the highest existant type, mentally and physically. 

 The Author considers that every argument which has been advanced in 

 support of the unity of the race will be found, if tested critically — a 

 vain effort to reconcile facts with a preconceived theory. The colour of 

 each race is shewn to be quite independent of climate to which it 

 has been attributed ; the black Negro, red Indian and yellow Mongol 

 maintaining closely the same complexion in tropical and temperate and 

 even in some cases in Arctic climates ; while other physical peculiari- 

 ties, such as the thick lips of the Negro and the facial peculiarities 

 of the Mongol, are shewn to be equally persistent. The mental 

 faculties of different races are equally marked and appear to have 

 always been so. The child of a Yorkshire peasant can by education 

 be made the equal of the most learned in the land, while the child 

 of an Australian is only capable of learning up to a certain point. 

 The writer of the book of Job, the oldest Caucasian record, was the 

 equal in mental calibre of the great men of the present day. Hence, 

 barbarian tribes belonging to a civilized race like the Caucasians, are 

 capable of civilization, while races like the red Indian and the Tasma- 

 nian are not. 



The geological record shews that in past times, changes in the 

 relative position of land and sea took place, and that the fauna and 

 flora of each region have been entirely changed several times. The 

 author considers that " each distinct region of the dry land of the globe 

 belongs to a distinct geologic era, that its fauna and flora represent 

 the prevailing types of that era over all the land then above water, 



