THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



447 



Europeans their ascendency over men, 

 none has been more powerful than the 

 fact that Europe rises like a pyramid 

 from the Mediterranean Sea. 



the task of race: classification is 

 most perplexing 



In discussing the races of Europe we 

 take two things for granted: (i) that 

 all Europeans are descended from one 

 original stock; (2) that the remote an- 

 cestors of the present inhabitants of 

 Europe came from Asia. We must 

 acknowledge that many eminent scholars 

 have controverted these assumptions and 

 that neither has been absolutely proved, 

 but learned opinion inclines more and 

 more to recognition of their truth. 



A race is a great division of mankind, 

 having in common certain distinguishing 

 peculiarities and thus forming a com- 

 prehensive class, apparently derived 

 from a distinct primitive source. 



Classification into races of the 1,700,- 

 000,000 human beings who populate the 

 earth may seem easy. A European, a 

 Negro, and a Chinaman differentiate 

 themselves at a glance. Nevertheless, 

 every attempt at classification has shown 

 it to be a most difficult and perplexing 

 - task. Most classifications, especially of 

 minor races, have not been comprehen- 

 sive or have involved contradictions. 



During the last two hundred years 

 many such attempts have been made. 

 The color of the skin, the color and di- 

 rection of the eyes, the color and texture 

 of the hair, some anatomical character- 

 istic such as the aspect of the nose or the 

 length of the limbs in proportion to the 

 trunk, peculiarities of various parts of 

 the skeleton, thickness or thinness of the 

 skull, capacity of the cranium as meas- 

 ured by the quantity of sand or shot re- 

 quired to fill it, the horizontal circum- 

 ference of the skull, the angle made by 

 the intersection of the axis of the face 

 with the axis of the skull (commonly 

 called the facial angle), the cephalic in- 

 dex, the relative length, breadth, and 

 height of the skull, have been among the 

 tests employed to determine race. Lan- 

 guage has generally been an inseparable 



part of the test and often the final deci- 

 sion has been based upon it. 



Tireless scholars have sought to 

 demonstrate and apply the comprehen- 

 sive accuracy of some one or other of 

 these tests. Their researches have re- 

 vealed how impossible it is to indicate 

 essential differences among the sons of 

 men. Efforts to resolve the mass of 

 humanity into component parts have had 

 as principal result the finding out how 

 homogeneous mankind is. 



Nevertheless, in each of those tests 

 there is a certain degree of truth and of 

 applicability. Among the most recent 

 and at present the most popular is the 

 cephalic index. This is simply, "The 

 figures that express the ratio of the. 

 greatest breadth to the greatest length 

 of the skull, the latter being taken as 

 one hundred." If the proportion is above 

 80 to 100, the term is brachycephaHc, 

 short-headed, and hence round-headed. 

 If below 80 to 100, it is dolichocephalic, 

 long-headed. 



THE FTVE GREAT GROUPS OP RACES 



The number of distinct human groups 

 or races is variously estimated from the 

 three, Japhetic, Semitic and Hamitic of 

 the Bible, or the three, Caucasian, Mon- 

 gol, and Negro, of Cuvier, to the eleven 

 of Pickering and the sixteen of Desmou- 

 lins. The estimate in 1781 by Dr. Blu- 

 menbach, the father of anthropology, has 

 best withstood the attacks of time. He 

 finds five races, Caucasian, Mongolian, 

 Ethiopian, American, and Malay. 



It is said that, when in doubt how to 

 name the first race, a finely typical skull 

 was brought him from the Caucasus and 

 hence came the idea of calling the race 

 Caucasian. In the name is no sugges- 

 tion that the race originated in or had 

 any connection with the Caucasus. 



Bouillet indicates the physical charac- 

 teristics of the Caucasian as, "Head oval ; 

 face not projecting, lips thin, eyes hori- 

 zontal ; color white ; hair long and glossy ; 

 beard abundant ; intellectual superiority." 

 Of the Mongolian he says, "Cheek-bones 

 prominent ; eyelids drawn toward the 

 temples ; skull rounded ; face flat ; nose 

 depressed, ears long and protruding, skin 



