Chapter V: Section IV: Recapitulation and Conclusion (1)

The numerous and controverted questions which we had to discuss, have more than once interrupted the chain of our thesis. It may, therefore, be useful to present here a _résumé_ of the various parts of our argumentation.

Zoologists have, in _each_ of the natural groups which constitute the genera, recognised _several_ types which they denominate species.[81]

The human group evidently constitutes one genus; if it consisted only of one species, it would form a single exception in creation. It is, therefore, but natural to presume, that this genus is, like all the others, composed of different species.

In the greater number of genera, the various species differ much less from each other than certain human races. A naturalist, who, without touching the question of origin, purely and simply applies to the human genus the general principles of zootaxis, would be inclined to divide this genus into different species.

This mode of viewing the subject can only be abandoned, if it were by observation demonstrated that all the difference between human races had been the result of modifications caused in the organisation of man by the influence of media.

The monogenists have at first made great efforts to furnish such a demonstration, but without success. Observation has, on the contrary, shown, that though the organisation of man may, in the course of time, and under the influence of external conditions, undergo some modification, yet that these modifications are relatively very slight, and have no relation to the typical differences of human races. Man, transplanted into a new climate, and subjected to a new mode of life, conserves and transmits to posterity all the essential characters of his race, and his descendants do not acquire the character of the indigenous race or races. _Cœlum, non corpus mutant qui trans mare currunt._

The monogenists have objected that the period of distant colonies is too recent; that the observations tending to establish the permanence of human types date scarcely from three or four centuries, and that this lapse of time is insufficient to produce a transformation of races, and that such a transformation has been produced gradually during the long series of centuries elapsed, according to some from the creation of man, and according to others since the Deluge.

But the study of the Egyptian paintings has shown, that on the one hand the principal types of the human genus existed then, 2,500 years at least before Jesus Christ, as they exist at this day.

Again, the Jewish race, scattered for more than eighteen centuries in the most different climates, is everywhere the same now as it was in Egypt at the time of the Pharaohs.

The period of _positive_ observations dates thus, from more than forty centuries and not from three or four.[82]

Having no longer any hope to prove by direct demonstrations that the distinctive characters of human races are transformations of one primitive type, the monogenists sought for indirect proofs. They believed to have found them in this fact, or rather assertion, that there is always a certain relation between the characters of human races and the media in which they exist. On close examination this assertion is found to be without any foundation. On studying one by one the principal ethnological characters and their distribution on the surface of the globe, it has been shown that there is no relation between these different characters and the climatic and hygienic conditions.

The monogenists then resorted to an argumentation still more indirect. They advanced that in the whole _genus homo_ there existed a fund of common ideas, creeds, knowledge, and language, attesting the common origin of all human beings. It might be objected that this argument is without any value whatever; considering that indirect communications between peoples of different origin might have passed to each other words, usages, and ideas. But a profound study of the question has shown that there are certain peoples who have absolutely no notion of God or soul, whose languages have no relation whatever to any, who are altogether anti-social, and who differ from the Caucasians more by the intellectual and moral capacities than by their physical characters.

There was even no necessity to insist upon the difficulty, or rather geographical impossibility of the dispersion of so many races proceeding from a common origin, nor to remark that before the remote and the almost recent migrations of Europeans, each natural group of human races occupied upon our planet a region characterised by a special fauna; that no American animal was found either in Australia nor in the ancient continent, and where men of a new type were discovered, there were only found animals belonging to species, even to genera, and sometimes to zoological orders, without analogues in other regions of the globe.

And whilst it was thus simple to suppose that there were several _faci_ of the creation of man, as well as of other beings; and whilst this doctrine, so conformable to all the data furnished by natural science, removed all geographical objections, explaining thus all the analogies and differences of human types, and the repartition of each group; whilst, in one word, it exactly accounted for all the known facts, the opposite doctrine moved in a circle of contradictory suppositions superimposed by hypotheses; theories founded upon a small number of facts upset by other unexpected facts; imaginary influences refuted by observation; anti-historical legends dispelled by historical monuments; lame explanations destroyed by physiology; obscure sophisms refuted by logic; and all this to demonstrate, not exactly that all races descend from the same pair, but that, strictly speaking, such is not altogether impossible.

Whence have the monogenists derived the requisite perseverance and courage to impose upon their reason such continuous restraint, and to resist the testimonies of observation, science, and history?

On analysing their system, we find at every moment two fundamental axioms which serve them as articles of faith, and the evidence of which appears to them sufficient to surmount all other objections.

These two axioms have served as the premises of an apparently irresistible syllogism.

1. All animals, capable of producing an eugenesic progeny, are of the same species.

2. All human crossings are eugenesic.

Therefore, all men are of the same species.

The monogenists, convinced of the reality of the premises of this syllogism, thought their doctrine to stand on a solid foundation, and defended it with that confidence inspired by conviction.

Assailed by pressing objections, constantly obliged to yield, incapable of advancing a step without an immediate retreat, they felt their forces revive by resorting to their syllogism, like Antæus when he touched the earth. As long as the refuge remained they continued the struggle, though not with advantage, at least with the ardour of faith; for though faith no longer moves mountains, it still leaves the hope of moving them.

But these two fundamental propositions, admitted as axioms, do they express the truth? Can this triumphant syllogism, of which they are the premises, stand? Is it true that only animals of the same species can produce a prolific progeny? Is it true that all human crossings are eugenesic? To upset the syllogism of the monogenists, and to deprive their system of any scientific base, it might be sufficient that the first of the above questions should be answered in the negative. The system would then become what it was before it came in contact with science, namely, a belief more or less respectable, founded upon a sentiment or a dogma. But if the second question were also negatived, and it could be demonstrated that all human crossings are not eugenesic, then not merely the syllogism, but the whole doctrine of the monogenists would crumble to pieces. The doctrine would then not merely be extra-scientific, but anti-scientific; it being positive that two groups of animals, so different as to be incapable of fusion by generation, do not belong to the same species. This is an incontestable and uncontested truth.

We were thus led to examine successively the two fundamental propositions serving as a base to the unitarian doctrine, for which purpose a series of researches were requisite.

We have, in the first place, investigated the results of certain crossings between animals of incontestably different species, such as dogs and wolves, goats and sheep, camels and dromedaries, hares and rabbits, etc.; and we have demonstrated _that these crossings produce eugenesic mongrels, that is to say, perfectly and indefinitely prolific between themselves_.

It is thus not true that all animals capable of producing an eugenesic progeny are of the same species; and even if all human intermixtures were eugenesic, as is generally believed, we could not infer from this the unity of the human species. The monogenists are thus deprived of their principal basis and their sole scientific argument.

It was, however, necessary to inquire, whether this popular axiom, that all human crossings are eugenesic, was a demonstrated truth or a lightly accepted hypothesis, without any verification or control? Such has been the object of our second series of investigations.

We recognised at the outset that the monogenists, considering their axiom as self-evident, have made no efforts to establish its correctness, so that, strictly speaking, we might have discarded it. When, contrary to the opinion of several modern authors, we wished to establish that there were really eugenesic intermixtures in the human genus, we found in science assertions without proofs, and we believe that our investigations concerning the mixed populations of France have, in this respect, the merit of novelty. We may be mistaken as to the value of our demonstration; but we venture to assert, that this demonstration is the first that has been attempted.

After having rendered, if not quite certain, at least extremely probable, that _certain_ human crossings are eugenesic, we have inquired whether _all_ human crossings are in the same condition.

From the documents collected it results, that _certain_ human crossings yield results notably inferior to such as constitute in animals eugenesic hybridity. The whole of the known facts permit us to consider as very probable, that certain human races taken two by two are less homœogenesic; as, for instance, the species of the dog and the wolf. If we are to make any reservation, and leave some doubts upon this conclusion, it is that we cannot admit, without numerous verifications, a fact which definitively demonstrates the plurality of human species; a fact, by the presence of which, all other discussion is rendered superfluous; a fact, finally, of which the political and social consequences would be immense.

We cannot too much insist upon drawing the attention of observers upon this subject. But whatever be the result of ulterior researches on human hybridity, it remains well attested that animals of different species may produce an eugenesic progeny, and that consequently we cannot, from the fecundity of human intermixture, however disparate the races may be, draw a physiological argument in favour of the unity of species, even if the fecundity were as certain as it is doubtful.

The great problem we have investigated in this essay is one of those which have caused great agitation, and most difficult to approach with a mind unbiassed by any extra-scientific preconception. This was almost inevitable; but science must keep aloof from anything not within its province. There is no faith, however respectable, no interest, however legitimate, which must not accommodate itself to the progress of human knowledge and bend before truth, if that truth be demonstrated. Hence it is always hazardous to mix up theological arguments with discussions of this kind, and to stigmatise in the name of religion any scientific opinion, since, if that opinion, sooner or later gains ground, religion has been uselessly compromised. The unskilful intervention of theologians in astronomical questions (rotation of the earth), in physiology (pre-existence of germs), in medicine (possessions), etc., has formed more infidels than the writings of philosophers. Why should men be placed in the dilemma of choosing between science and faith? And when so many striking examples have placed theologians under the necessity to acknowledge that revelation is not applicable to science, why do they obstinately continue to place the Bible before the wheels of progress?[83]

Sincere Christians have understood that the moment is come to prepare the conciliation of the doctrine of the polygenists with the sacred writings. They are disposed to admit that the Mosaic narration does not apply to the whole human race, but merely to the _Adamites_, from which sprung God’s people; that there may have been other human beings with whom the sacred writer had no concern; that it is nowhere said that the sons of Adam contracted incestuous alliances with their own sisters; that Cain, banished after the murder of his brother, had a mark set upon him that no one might kill him; that, besides the sons of God, there was a race of the sons of man; that the origin of the sons of men is not specified; that nothing authorises us to consider these as the progeny of Adam; that these two races differed in their physical characters, since, by their union, a cross-breed was produced designated by the name of giants, “to indicate the physical and moral energy of mixed races.” And that, finally, all these antediluvian races might have survived the deluge in the persons of the three daughters-in-law of Noah.[84]

We have collated here the observations of various authors, one of whom, the Rev. John Bachmann, remarks with evident satisfaction that, if contrary to the prevailing opinion, the multiplicity of human species should eventually be demonstrated, which he considers very improbable, the authority of the Bible would still remain unshaken, and that “the highest interest of mankind would not suffer by it.” We have here a preparatory conciliation as a sort of prevision of ulterior scientific developments. Very recently a fervent Catholic, a physician, who in his various voyages has attentively studied the races of mankind, Mr. Sagot, has advanced an hypothesis which we consider as quite new, and which would enable us, better than by the preceding suppositions, to accommodate the biblical narration with anthropological science. After having demonstrated that the physical, intellectual, and moral characters establish between the races of men profound differences, which are indelible, and that all influences to which they have been attributed are absurd and imaginary, inasmuch as natural causes would never have produced such a deviation from the primitive form, Mr. Sagot supposes that the division in perfectly distinct races, and their methodical dispersion and repartition upon the surface of the earth, was a miraculous intervention of Providence. He is of opinion that this great fact was accomplished at the period of the confusion of tongues, that is, after the audacious enterprise of the Tower of Babel, and that God, in dispersing the families, endowed each with a peculiar organisation and aptitudes accommodated to the various climates assigned to them.[85] Whether the differences of human races and their geographical distribution was the consequence of distinct creations, or miraculous transformations equivalent to new creations, comes to the same thing as regards the doctrine of polygenists. Their object is not to enter into any theological discussions; they have been driven to it, and they will no doubt be delighted to hear that their doctrine may become developed without offending anybody.

The intervention of political and social considerations has not been less injurious to Anthropology than the religious element. When generous philanthropists claimed, with indefatigable constancy, the liberty of the blacks, the partisans of the old system, threatened in their dearest interests, were enchanted to hear that Negros were scarcely human beings, but rather domestic animals, more intelligent and productive than the rest. At that time the scientific question became a question of sentiment, and whoever wished for the abolition of slavery, thought himself bound to admit that Negroes were Caucasians blackened and frizzled by the sun. Now that France and England, the two most civilised nations, have definitively emancipated their slaves, science may claim its rights without caring for the sophisms of slaveholders.

Many honest men think that the moment to speak freely is not yet come, as the emancipation struggle is far from being at an end in the United States of America, and that we should avoid furnishing the slaveholders with arguments. But is it true that the polygenist doctrine, which is scarcely a century old,[86] is any degree responsible for an order of things which has existed from time immemorial, and which has developed and perpetuated itself during a long series of centuries, under the shade of the doctrine of monogenists, which remained so long uncontested? And can we believe that the slave-owners are much embarrassed to find arguments in the Bible? The Rev. John Bachmann, a fervent monogenist of South Carolina, has acquired in the Southern States much popularity by demonstrating, with great unction, that slavery is a divine institution.[87] It is not from the writings of polygenists, but from the Bible, that the representatives of the Slave States have drawn their arguments; and Mr. Bachmann tells us that the Abolitionists of Congress have been struck dumb by such an irrefragable authority! It must, therefore, not be believed that there is any connexion between the scientific and the political question. The difference of origin by no means implicates the subordination of races. It, on the contrary, implicates the idea that each race of men has originated in a determined region, as it were, as the crown of the fauna of that region; and if it were permitted to guess at the intention of nature, we might be led to suppose that she has assigned a distinct inheritance to each race, because, despite of all that has been said of the cosmopolitism of man, the inviolability of the domain of certain races is determined by their climate.

Let this mode of viewing the question be compared with that of the monogenists, and let it be asked which of the two modes is more apt to please the defenders of slavery. If all men are descendants of one couple,--if the inequality of races has been the result of a curse more or less merited,--or again, if the one have degraded themselves, and have allowed the torch of their primitive intelligence to become extinct, whilst the other have carefully guarded the precious gift of the Creator,--in other words, if there be cursed and blessed races,--races which have obeyed the voice of nature and races which have disobeyed it,--then the Rev. John Bachmann is right to say that slavery is a Divine right; that it is a providential punishment; and that it is just, to a certain point, that those races who have degraded themselves should be placed under the _protection_ of others,--to borrow an ingenious euphemism from the language of the defenders of slavery.[88] But if the Ethiopian is king of Soudan by the same right as the Caucasian is king of Europe, what right has he to impose laws upon the former, unless by the right of might? In the first case, slavery presents itself with a certain appearance of legitimacy which might render it excusable in the eyes of certain theoricians; in the second case, it is a fact of pure violence, protested against by all who derive no benefit from it.

From another point of view, it might be said that the polygenist doctrine assigns to the inferior races of humanity a more honourable place than in the opposite doctrine. To be inferior to another man either in intelligence, vigour, or beauty, is not a humiliating condition. On the contrary, one might be ashamed to have undergone a physical or moral degradation, to have descended the scale of beings, and to have lost rank in creation.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Gobineau, _Inégalité des Races Humaines_, 8vo, Paris, 1855; [also translated into English, _On the Inequality of Human Races_, and edited by Henry Hotze, 8vo. EDITOR.]

[2] “The sole action of the laws of Hybridity,” says Nott, “might exterminate the whole human species if all the various types of human beings actually existing on the earth were completely to amalgamate.” _Types of Mankind_, p. 407, eighth edit., Philadelphia, 1857. Dr. Robert Knox is not less explicit. “I do not believe that any Mulatto race can be maintained beyond the third or fourth generation by _Mulattos merely_; they must intermarry with the pure races or perish.” Robert Knox, _The Races of Men_, London, 1850.

[3] Georges Pouchet, _De la Pluralité des Races Humaines_, p. 140, Paris, 1858. [A translation of this work will shortly be published by the Anthropological Society of London, edited by T. Bendyshe, Esq., M.A., F.A.S.L. EDITOR.]

[4] Prichard, _Natural History of Man_.

[5] Davis and Thurnam, _Crania Britannica_, p. 7, No. 4, London, 1856.

[6] See the voyages of Truter and Somerville (1801), Lichtenstein (1805), Campbell (1813), John Philips (1825), Thompson (1824), etc., in the Collection of Voyages by Walkenaer, t. xv-xxi, Paris, 1842. In 1801 Truter and Somerville found near the Orange or Gariep river, in the district where now Griqua town stands, a horde of _Bastaards_ and _Bosjesmen_, commanded by a Bastaard of the name of Kok (t. xvii, p. 364). On their return they found a considerable village, composed of Kaffirs, Hottentots, and mongrel breeds of several varieties, under the command of a chief named Kok (p. 393). In the same year Kitchener, the missionary, assembled the horde in a village. There came pure Hottentots and Namaquas (t. xviii, p. 126). In 1802 Anderson, the missionary, in organising the growing nation, gave authority to the Bastaards (p. 127). The village of Laawater or Klaarwater, which has since become Griqua-town, consisted in 1805, when Lichtenstein visited it, of about thirty families, one-half of which belonged to the Bastaard race, the rest were Namaquas or Hottentots. The village enlarged rapidly “by the arrival of refugees, and by marriages with the women of the Bosjesmen and the Koramas, who lived in the vicinity” (t. xix, p. 355). They practised polygamy. “They constituted a horde of nomadic naked savages, living by pillage and the chase; their bodies were besmeared with red paint, the hair covered with grease, living in ignorance, without any trace of civilisation” (p. 356). After the lapse of five years the missionaries commenced civilising them by giving them the taste for agricultural pursuits. The name, however, of _Bastaards_, which indicated their European origin, was no longer suitable to this nation, in which the African blood was greatly predominating. They took, therefore, the name of _Griquas_. Campbell asserts that they chose that name, as it was that of the principal family (t. xviii, p. 395). This explanation appears to me very doubtful. Ten Rhyne, who explored Southern Africa in 1673, twenty year after the first disembarkation of Europeans, already mentions the existence of a Hottentot people who went by the name of _Gregoriquos_ (t. xv, p. 122). Thirty years after (1705) Kolbe designates the same people _Gauriquas_ (t. xv, p. 253). There existed at that time another people, called _Chirigriquas_. In 1775 Thunberg still speaks of Gauriquas (t. xvi, p. 201), and of Chirigriquas. All these names have evidently the same root, and the singularity of Hottentot enunciation induced probably the various travellers to adopt a different orthography. It is thus presumable that the Hottentots of Klaarwater, in calling themselves Griquas, merely adopted the old name Gauriquas. There exists to this day the people _Koraquas_, signifying “people who wear shoes” (Burchell, t. xx, p. 60). They live in the neighbourhood of Klaarwater. Be this as it may, the new people of the Griquas gave to Klaarwater, influenced by the English missionaries, the name of Griqua-town. This town, called by Malte-Brun Kriqua, grew rapidly by the adjunction of the Koranas. In 1813 there were not less than 1,341 Koranas in a population of 2,607 inhabitants (t. xviii, p. 393). In 1814 the governor of the Cape tried to force the Griquas to furnish men for the indigenous army. The proposal was very badly received, and the nation was nearly in a state of dissolution. A portion of the inhabitants of Griqua-town escaped to the surrounding mountains, and formed bands of robbers, who, under the name of Bergmaars, devastated the country, and, associating with bands of Koranas, pillaged and massacred the Betchouanas and the Bosjesmen, and _carried off their women and children_. In 1825, owing to the intervention of John Philips, the Bergmaars were reduced to order, and returned to Griqua-town. They had now crossed with the Koranas, the Betchouanas, and Bosjesmen (t. xviii, p. 357). Some time previously a grave dissension had broken out among the settled Griquas. The governor of the Cape had sent an agent, John Melvil, with an important charge to a certain Waterboer, a Bosjesman by origin. The supremacy had hitherto belonged to the family Kok, who, proud of the drops of European blood in their veins, would not recognise the authority of Waterboer, and emigrated accordingly. Waterboer was, however, not dismissed; and in 1825 John Philips found the Griquas divided in three kraals, under the chiefs Kok, Berend, and Waterboer (t. xix, p. 370). If Dr. Prichard had taken the trouble to consult these documents he would have recognised that the Griquas had, by so many consecutive crossings, become almost a pure African race. Modern geographers range therefore the Griquas among the Hottentots, calling them Hottentot-Griquas. It is also noteworthy that Prichard, in citing the Griquas as an example of a mixed race, has given no description of them. In order that the example should be of any value, it is requisite that the Griquas should present an intermediate type between the Europeans and the natives. Neither Dr. Prichard nor any travellers say so. There is another consideration. The origin of the Griqua nation dates from the beginning of the nineteenth century. Dr. Prichard last speaks of them in 1843. Two generations had not yet elapsed. There is another point. In 1800 the tribe of Kok was a horde but little numerous; in 1824 it was a people of five thousand souls, including seven hundred armed warriors (Thompson, _loc. cit._, t. xxi, p. 22). It is clear that this people were not descended from the primitive tribe, but had increased by numerous adjunctions. Father Peteam himself, if he were still alive, would be obliged to admit this. I have been very minute as to the Griquas, but I flatter myself that this is sufficient to discard from science the assertion of Prichard, which all modern monogenists have received with so much favour.

[7] Quoy et Gaimard, _Observat. sur la constitution physique des Papous_, reproduit dans Lesson. _Complement des Œuvres de Buffon_, t. iii., Paris, 1829.

[8] Domeny de Rienzi, _l’Oceanie_, t. iii, p. 303. Paris, 1837.

[9] Maury, _La terre et l’homme_, p. 365. Paris, 1847.

[10] Latham, _The Natural History of the Varieties of Man_, p. 213. London, 1850. Dr. Latham designates the Malays by the somewhat fantastic name, of Protonesians. There are a great number of neologisms of this kind in his work.

[11] Some geographers say that Waigiou is a large Island; but they give no dimensions. It is, however, scarcely as large as the Island of Majorca. It is of an irregular form, long and narrow; it is about 80 leagues in circumference (Dumont d’Urville in Rienzi, _l’Oceanie_). It is only 25 leagues long and 10 leagues broad, says Henricy (_Histoire de l’Oceanie._ Paris, 1845.) The Island of Majorca is only 22 leagues in length by 16 leagues in breadth. Three races united in such a small territory, cannot long remain strangers to each other.

[12] Lesson, _loc. cit._ t. ii. p. 19.

[13] Davis, _Crania Britannica_. Introduction, p. 8, note.

[14] These geographical denominations are certainly not irreproachable; they have even the inconvenience of giving rise to the false idea, that all races of the same type originated in the same region; that all the Whites came from the Caucasus, all the Mongolians from Mongolia, the Blacks from Nigritia, even the Van-Diemen islanders. I have, however, thought proper to retain these denominations, as they are generally in use, and have no zoological signification. Such is not the case with the denominations adopted by certain authors derived from the colour of the skin. Thus the Caucasians were termed the _white_, the Mongolians the _yellow_, the Ethiopian the _black_, the Malayo-Polynesian the _brown_, and finally, the American the _red_ race. It has been shown that the American type alone includes red, brown, black, white and yellow races. There are brown races in the American, and even in the Caucasian type. All the black races do not belong to the Ethiopian type; and finally, the Malayo-Polynesian type comprises races of colours as various as those belonging to the American type. A classification founded on differences of colour would lead to numerous and serious errors.

[15] It is undoubted that several American races have been destroyed within 300 years; others having been reduced to a few families, will soon disappear. The Charruas were exterminated in 1831 by the Spaniards of South America: root and branch, as Dr. Latham says. In 1835, four years later, the English of Van Diemen’s Land, after a horrible massacre, transported 210 Tasmanians, men, women, and children, to a small island (Flinders), in Bass’ Straits. In 1842, after seven years of exile, the number of these unfortunates amounted to 54! This was all that remained of a race which, 40 years previously, occupied the whole of Van Diemen’s Land, as large as Ireland, and we may soon learn that none of them are in existence. The Malays have entirely destroyed the black races who preceded them in certain isles of the great Indian Archipelago. The Guanches now only exit in a mummified state. The black and prognathous race which occupied the isles of Japan before the arrival of the Mongolians, have left no other traces behind than their crania imbedded in the soil; and it is easy to foresee that within one or two centuries all the black races will have disappeared from these parts, and have been succeeded by Malayans and Europeans.

[16] Gerdy, _Physiologie Médicale_, t. i, p. 290. Paris, 1832.

[17] Berard, _Cours de Physiologie_, t. i, p. 465. Paris, 1845.

[18] _Journal de Physiologie_, t. i, p. 120. 1858.

[19] Macedones qui Alexandriam in Ægypto, qui Seleuciam ac Babyloniam, quique alias sparsas per orbem colonias habent in Syros, Parthos, Ægyptos degenerarunt. _Tit. L._, lib. xxxviii., § 217.

[20] All the Gauls were not light haired; but those who, three centuries before our era, invaded Greece and Asia Minor, were fair haired, according to all testimony; they consequently belonged to the Kimri race.

[21] Gliddon, _The Monogenists and the Polygenists_. Philadelphia, 1857. George Pouchet, _De la Pluralité des races humaines_, p. 136. Paris, 1858.

[22] Volney, _Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte_, t. i, p. 98. Paris, 1757.

[23] Knox, _The Races of Man_. 8vo, London, 1850.

[24] Serres, _Rapport sur les resultats scientifiques du voyage de l’Astrolobe et de la Zélée_ (Comptes Rendus, t. xiii, p, 648.). [The size of the penis is not a constant character in the “Ethiopian” male. Instances, however, exist of its enormous development in the west African Negro.--EDITOR.]

[25] Theodor Waitz (of Marburg), _Anthropologie der Naturvölker_, p. 203. Leipzig, 1859. [Translated into English for the Anthropological Society of London, and edited by J. Frederick Collingwood, Esq., F.G.S., F.R.S.L.: 8vo, London, 1863.--EDITOR.] Mollien, _Voyage dans l’intérieur de l’Afrique_. Rafnel, _Voyage dans l’Afrique occidentale_, 1846, p. 51. Mohammed-el-Tounsy, _Voyage au Darfour_, p, 227, trad. Jomard. Paris, 1845.

[26] _Voyage au Pôle sud et dans l’Oceanie sur l’Astrolabe et la Zélée_, sous le commandement de Dumont-d’Urville, pendant les années 1837-1840: _Zoologie_ par M. Jacquinot, commandant de la Zélée, t. ii, pp. 91-93. Paris, 1846.

[27] J. C. Nott, _Hybridity of Animals viewed in connexion with the natural history of mankind: Types of Mankind_. Nott and Gliddon. Philadelphia, 1854.

[28] Within ten years from 1840 to 1850, the number of slaves in South Carolina has increased by 56,786. In 1840, there were 327,934 slaves; in 1850, 384,720. This is an increase of more than 17 per cent. The slaves of all shades are comprised in this account, but the pure Negroes form the great majority, and it is probable that to them exclusively is owing the large increase in the number of slaves. The number of cross-breeds cannot be ascertained by the statistics given. It would, besides, be impossible to distinguish in the reports given the Mestizos born from the union of Mulattoes and Mulatresses, and those from whites and blacks. Statistics thus throw no light upon the question, whether the Mulatto race maintains itself. But there is a peculiar class of men of colour which is the object of attention of certain governments, who maintain with satisfaction that this class notably diminishes. It is the class of free men of colour, enjoying certain civic rights very inconvenient for the slave states. There was a time when the enfranchisement of coloured men had no obstacles to contend with, and the number of free men of colour increased rapidly. Many white owners gave freedom to their natural children. But when restrictive laws were introduced, the number of free coloured men began diminishing. They no longer ally themselves with the Whites, who despise them, nor with the slaves, and are thus reduced to intermarry between themselves. The census of Charleston gave, in 1830, the number of free coloured men and their descendants as amounting to 2,107; in 1848 it was reduced to 1,492, a diminution of 605 in 2,107, more than 29 per cent. The _Charleston Mercury_ published these figures to show that the class of freed slaves need not excite any apprehension in South Carolina, and that the Governor carried his zeal too far in proposing to expel that class. Such an enormous decrease depends, no doubt to a great extent, on the small number of births. There is another circumstance which might have contributed to reduce the caste; which is, that any freed individual, or his descendant, once leaving the state, is not permitted to return; this, however, forms but a minor cause of the decay. (See _Charleston Medical Journal_, May 1851, vol. vi, p. 381).

[29] The first Europeans established at Jamaica were Spaniards or Portuguese; but the island was, 1655, conquered by the English, when all _the old colonists_ retired, carrying away the greater portion of their wealth. Cromwell hastened to re-people the island, by transporting to it a number of political convicts. In 1659, four years after the conquest, there were already 4,500 Europeans and 1,400 Negroes on the island. In 1670, the white population amounted to 7,500, slaves 8,000. It will then, be observed, that the population of Jamaica descends exclusively from _English_ colonists and Negro slaves. With regard to the Caribs, they have been entirely exterminated by the Spaniards a century before the arrival of the English.

[30] Long (Edward), _History of Jamaica_, vol. ii, p. 235, London, 1774, cited in the _Charleston Medical Journal_, vol. vi. 1851.

[31] The relation of Lewis is, in certain respects, more suggestive than that of Long. The latter says that the Mulattoes of the first degree are well constituted; while Lewis pretends that they are mostly _weak and flabby_, whence it results that the physical inferiority becomes manifest at _the very first crossing_. We believe this to be incorrect. The author endeavours to explain the defect of vitality in the children of Mulattoes, and has recourse to a theory which, if well founded, would, instead of weakening, only strengthen the fact. On the other hand, we believe that the assertion of Long, despite of the corrective which accompanies it, is too general. If it were true that the union of Mulattoes is always unproductive in Jamaica, the fact would have been too evident not to have been long known, for _absolute_ sterility is easily ascertained. Relative sterility, however, may long escape notice, considering that there is always in the pure races a certain number of cases of sporadic sterility. It is probable that further investigations will establish for Jamaica conclusions analogous to those adopted by Mr. Nott for South Carolina; namely, that the Mulattoes of this _English_ island are less prolific between themselves than with the whites or blacks, and that their direct descendants are generally less vivacious and prolific than the men of the pure races.

[32] Waitz, _loc. cit._, p. 205. Van Amringe, _Investigation of the Theories of the Natural History of Man_. Hamilton Smith, _Natural History of the Human Species_, 1848. Day, _Five Years Residence in the West Indies_, vol. i, p. 294, 1852.

[33] Seemann, _Reise um die Welt_, bd. 1, p. 314, 1853. Waitz, _Anthropologie_, p. 207.

[34] _Bulletins de la Société d’Anthropologie_: procés-verbal de la séance du 1er Mars, 1860, vol. i, p. 206.

[35] Dr. Tschudi adds, “considered as men, the Zambos are far inferior to the pure races:” _Travels in Peru_, London, 1847. G. Pouchet, _De la Pluralité des Races Humaines_, p. 137. Paris, 1848.

[36] Boudin, _Géographie Médicale_, Introduction, p. 39. Paris, 1857.

[37] Graf Görtz, _Reise_, bd. iii, p. 288. Waitz, _Anthropologie_, bd. i, p. 297. I find in the voyage of Havorinus a passage which may, perhaps, explain the singular act pointed out by Graf Görtz. Having given the number of the European population of Batavia, Havorinus adds, “Among the Europeans figure also such as are born from European parents, among whom females form the great majority” (Havorinus, _Voyage par le Cap de Bonne-Espérance et Samarang, et traduit du Hollandais_, chap. viii, t. II, p. 283. Paris). It seems thus that the influence of climate produces some modification in the generative powers of Europeans, rendering them less apt to procreate males even with the women of their own race. This modification may be transmitted to their descendants by intermixtures. The fact of Havorinus should, however, be verified.

[38] Steen Bille, _Bericht über die Reise der Galathea_, bd. i, p. 376, 1852: Waitz, _loc. cit._

[39] A. de Quatrefages, _Du Croisement des races humaines; Revue des Deux-Mondes_, t. viii, p. 162, _en note_, 1857.

[40] In America, the intermixture between Whites, Negroes, and Mulattoes passes differently. The Mulattoes are slaves like the Negroes. A large number of Mulatresses become the concubines of the White: and the Mulattoes are mostly obliged to confine themselves to Negro women. There are, then, relatively few unions between Mulattoes of the same blood. The abolition of slavery neither could, nor will for a long time, sensibly modify this state of things. The prejudice against colour will not soon become effaced; and many Mulatto women prefer to be the mistresses of Whites to being the wives of Mulattoes. In the East Indies, the prejudice of colour does not exist. The Whites are merely considered as an aristocratic class; the Malays are free as well as the Mulattoes, they have always been so. The Mulattoes are proud of having in their veins European blood, as, in our own country, certain citizens are proud of their aristocratic alliances. They form thus, _in the centres of the population_, a sort of intermediate caste between the Whites and the natives.

[41] It is necessary to mention, that the expression of the first degree designates here not merely the individuals issued from the first intermixture, but also the descendants of unions which they form between themselves.

[42] Waitz, _loc. cit._ p. 207.

[43] Mr. Gutzlaff, the Chinese missionary, has been struck with the little fecundity of the Mulattoes of Cambojia, the offspring of the native race and the immigrant Chinese. Cambojia is situated south-west of Siam, south of Anam, between 10° and 14°. “It is remarkable,” he observes, “that the marriages of native females with the Chinese are productive at the first generation, but become gradually sterile, and completely so at the fifth generation. I have seen many such cases; but, I cannot explain such a degeneration between nations so similar in physical conformation, and their mode of life. If it were not so, the Chinese race ought to become predominant, and absorb the native race in a few centuries. Such has not been the case, and the innumerable immigrants which China pours in appear scarce among the population.” (Gutzlaff, _Geography of the Cochin-Chinese Empire, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London_, vol. xix, p. 108, London. 1849.)

[44] It is unknown what is the degree of intermixture in the hybrid populations of Mexico and South America; the observations relative to these crossings are extremely difficult to collect, for the variation of Mulattoes of different degrees is not so apparent as in the Mulattoes, Quadroons, etc., of Negroes and Europeans. With regard to colour, hair, shape of the cranium, the European races, especially those of the south, differ infinitely less from the American races than from the Ethiopian and the intermediate characters; even Mulattoes of the first degree are much less marked in the first than in the second case. Thus the famous Paulistas of the province of Saint-Paul, Brazil, issued from the union of Portuguese and Indians, constitute a vigorous class, brave, and even heroic, though ferocious and turbulent. According to certain authors, the European blood predominates in them; others, on the contrary, maintain that they are pure Indians. These contradictions prove the difficulty of estimating the degree of the intermixture between the Mulattoes sprung from Europeans and Indians. The question whether _Mulattoes of the first degree_ are indefinitely prolific _between themselves_,--whether they are habitually, or only exceptionally so, cannot be solved by travellers. Resident observers, and especially physicians, may ultimately furnish precise facts.

[45] The Chabeins are eugenesic hybrids, while mules, properly so called, are dysgenesic hybrids.

[46] _Monthly Journal of Medical Science, Edinburgh_, vol. xi, p. 301, 1850. [The most flagrant instance of this is to be found amongst the mixed blooded descendants of the Anglo-Saxon, German, Dutch, French, and Irish nations in the Federal States of America, whose “manifest destiny,” according to their own hope, is the “annexation” of the civilised world. The Puritans of New England founded their claims to the colony on the following propositions:--1. That the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof. 2. That God has given the earth to be inhabited by his saints. 3. That we are the saints. The aborigines of the country were accordingly extirpated, to carry out practically these sentiments.--EDITOR.]

[47] We must remember that the Australians have stiff and glossy hair, while the hair of the Tasmanians is woolly.

[48] _Dict. Pittor. d’Hist. Natur._, art. _Homme_, t. iv, p. 11, Paris, 1836. See also vol. iii, _Océanie_, by Rienzi; the history of two Australians, Benilong and Daniel, who after living for some years free, and pampered among Europeans, threw away their clothing, and went to live in the woods.

[49] In 1835, the English of Van Diemen’s Land undertook to get rid altogether of the natives. A regular _battue_ was organised in the whole island, and in a short time all Tasmanians, without distinction of age or sex, were exterminated, with the exception of two hundred and ten individuals, who were transported to the little isle, Flinders (or, Fourneaux), in Bass’s Straits. This was all the remnant of a race which, before the arrival of the English, had occupied a territory nearly as large as Ireland. This dreadful massacre produced a profound horror in the English Parliament, but it was not thought of to send these unfortunates back again to their native soil. Measures were, however, taken to treat them humanely in the isle of Flinders, and to provide them abundantly with victuals; they were also instructed in religion. The island is about thirteen leagues in length by seven in breadth; the refugees had thus no want of space. Nevertheless, of these two hundred and ten individuals, most of them adults, perished rapidly, and Count Strzelecki, who visited them in 1842, found only fifty-four. Within seven years and a few months, only fourteen children wore born. (Strzelecki, _Physical Description of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land_, pp. 353-357, London, 1845.)

[50] A few months before the extermination of the Tasmanians, an inhabitant of Hobart Town wrote a letter to Rienzi, copied by him in _Océanie_, p. 558. The author foresaw that a conflict was inevitable. He observes, “Several of the children have been sent to the schools of Hobart Town. When once arrived at the age of puberty, an irresistible instinct compels them to return to their solitudes.” We know of no other particulars regarding the attempts made by the English to civilise the natives. This fact, similar to those of Australia, comes from a source which cannot be suspected, since the writer of the letter, as well as M. Rienzi, are well disposed towards the natives.

[51] D’Omalius d’Halloy, _Des Races Humaines ou Éléments d’Ethnographie_, p. 108, Paris, 1859.

[52] Quoy et Gaimard, _Voy. de l’Astrolabe en 1826-29_, t. i, p. 46, Paris, 1836.

[53] Gliddon, _The Monogenists and the Polygenists_, 443.

[54] _Voyage au Pole et dans l’Océanie_, t. ii, p. 109, Paris, 1846.

[55] _Loc. cit._, p. 109.

[56] Cunningham, _Two Years in New South Wales_, 3rd edit., v. ii, p. 17, Lond., 1828.

[57] Lessen, _Voyage autour du Monde sur la Corvette la Coquille_, executed by order of the French Government, t. ii, p. 278, Paris, 1830. The description of New Holland and its inhabitants fully occupying nearly eighty pages.

[58] It would be superfluous to indicate the origin of these various nicknames. We may however mention, that _sterlings_ are the free settlers born in Europe, and the _currencies_ such as are born in the colony. The pound sterling was formerly of more value than the pound currency. _V._ Cunningham, p. 46.

[59] These names have here a special acceptation, and designate by no means natural or legitimate children.

[60] The _canaries_ are recently arrived convicts, the _government men_ established convicts, the _emancipists_ liberated convicts, the _bushrangers_ fugitive convicts.

[61] _Loc. cit._, p. 108.

[62] MacGillivray, _Narration of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake_, vol, i, p. 151, 1852, cited in Waitz, _Anthropologie_, p. 203.

[63] Malte-Brun, _Abrégé de Géographie Universelle_, p. 883, Paris, 1844.

[64] Cunningham, _loc. cit._, vol, ii, p. 65.

[65] Malte-Brun, _Abrégé de Géographie_. In reality the disproportion between the free individuals of the two sexes was more considerable than is indicated in the above account, for children are included. But the number of the children of the free population amounted in 1828, to 6,837, according to Wentworth (Rienzi, _l’Océanie_, p. 543). Supposing that this number only amounted to 7,000 in 1830--say 3,500 boys and 3,500 girls--there would remain for the adult free population about 10,000 men and 4,000 women,--two women for five men.

[66] Henricq, _Histoire de l’Oceanie_, Paris, 1845.

[67] Lesson, _Voyage autour du Monde_, t. ii, p. 291. It was in 1824 that the author lived in New South Wales. Under the name of Port Jackson he comprises all the region of which Sydney is the capital.

[68] Cunningham, _loc. cit._, vol. ii, p. 7.

[69] M. Lesson has received such an answer from Bongarri. Cunningham cites it as a standing joke of the chief, who, he adds, “still keeps on repeating it.” Lesson, _loc. cit._; Cunningham, _loc. cit._, vol, ii, p. 18.

[70] Lesson, _loc. cit._, relates that Bongarri had his arm broken, that the fracture was not consolidated, nevertheless, the Australian chief used his arm either for rowing or for handling his weapons.

[71] Cunningham, _loc. cit._, vol. ii, p. 8.

[72] MacGillivray, _loc. cit._, vol. i, p. 151. Waitz, _loc. cit._, p. 203.

[73] This passage. extracted from the _Voyage de l’Uranie_, is textually reproduced in the _Zoologie_ of M. Jacquinot, t. ii, p. 353.

[74] I cannot say whether this is also the case in Van Diemen’s Land. The subjoined documents have been collected in Australia since 1835, namely, at a period when there were no longer any Tasmanians in Tasmania. M. de Rienzi who had terminated his voyages before that time, said that the Tasmanian women sometimes quitted their husbands to live with the European fishermen established on the coasts, _L’Oceanie_ t. iii, p. 547; this is, however, an isolated fact.

[75] P. E. Strzelecki, _Physical Description of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land_, p. 346, London, 1845.

[76] _Monthly Journal of Med. Science, Edinburgh_, 1850, vol. xi, p. 304.

[77] Alexander Harvey (of Aberdeen) on the _Fœtus in Utero_, as inoculating the maternal with the peculiarities of the paternal organism, and on the influence thereby exercised by the males on the constitution and the reproductive power of the female. In the _Monthly Journal of Med. Science of Edinburgh_, vol. ix, p. 1130; vol. xi, p. 299; and vol. xi, p. 387 (1849-1850).

[78] Carpenter, art. “Varieties of Mankind,” in Todd’s _Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology_, vol. iv, p. 1341 and 1365.

[79] A mare of Lord Morton, covered by a zebra, produced at first a zebra mule; covered subsequently by an Arab horse she produced successively three zebra foals like the first mule.

[80] Thomas R. Heywood Thomson, on the “Reported Incompetency of the Aboriginal Females of New Holland to Procreate with Native Males after having Children by a European or White,” in _Monthly Journal of Medical Science, Edinburgh_, Oct. 1851, vol. xii, p. 354.

[81] Some genera in existing faunas, containing only _one_ species, are in anterior faunas represented by a number of species now extinct, and evidently differing from the one species actually existing. [Compare the two species of existing elephants with the twelve species of _Elephas_ and thirteen of Mastodon which existed in tertiary times.--EDITOR.]

[82] There exist at present in northern Africa, down to the Sahara, a fair-haired race of men, who have been held to be the descendants of the Vandals. It is certain that no white race has been established in these parts since the time of Genserich, that is to say, some fourteen centuries. If so, there would result from it that a sojourn of fourteen centuries upon the African soil was not sufficient to darken the hair of the white race. But Dumoulin, taking the text of Procopius for his guide, had already demonstrated that the light-haired race of northern Africa had nothing in common with the Vandals; and I have recently found a passage in the _Périple de la Méditerranée de Syclax_, a work anterior to Alexander the Great, in which mention is made of a tribe of _light-haired_ Lybians, who occupied the littoral of the Minor Syrtis, not far from Mount Auress, where to this day one of the principal tribes of light-haired Kabyles resides. (See _Bulletins de la Soc. d’Anthropologie, séance du 16 Février, 1860_.)

[83] [Compare on this subject Professor R. Owen on _The Power of God as manifested in his Animal Creation_, 12mo, London, 1863, in which the relations of science to theology are excellently stated.--EDITOR.]

[84] J. Pye Smith, _Relations between the Holy Scriptures and Geology_, third edition, pp. 398-400. This passage is textually reproduced by Morton in a letter to the Rev. John Bachmann, on Hybridity, Charleston, 1850, in 8-15. Carpenter, art. “Varieties of Mankind,” in Todd’s _Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology_, vol. iv, p. 1317, London, 1852. Eusèbe de Salles, _Histoire générale des Races Humaines_, p. 328, Paris, 1849.

[85] P. Sagot, _Opinion générale sur l’Origine de la Nature des Races Humaines; Conciliation des Diversités indélibles avec l’Unité Historique du Genre Humain_, Paris, 1860.

[86] [Germs of the polygenist doctrine are, however, as old as Empedocles. See Julius Schvarcz, _Geological Theories of the Greeks_, 4to, London, 1862, for the most philosophical account of these early attempts.--EDITOR.]

[87] We may be permitted to reproduce here some passage from a dissertation of this pious slave owner; we extract them from the _Charleston Medical Journal and Review_, Sept. 1854, vol. ix. pp. 657-659: “All races of men including the Negroes, are of the same species and origin. The Negro is a striking variety, and at present permanent, as the numerous varieties of domestic animals. The Negro will remain what he is, unless his form is altered by intermixture, the simple idea of which is revolting; his intelligence is greatly inferior to that of the Caucasians, and he is consequently, from all we know of him, incapable of governing himself. He has been placed under our protection (a very pretty word). The vindication of slavery is contained in the scriptures. The Bible teaches the rights and duties of masters, in order that the slaves should be treated with justice and goodness, and it enjoins obedience to slaves.... The Bible furnishes us with the best weapons of which we can avail ourselves. It shows us that the ancient Israelites possessed slaves. It determines the duties of masters and slaves; and Saint Paul writes an epistle to Philemon to request him to take back a runaway slave. Our representatives in Congress have drawn their arguments from Holy Writ, and their adversaries have not ventured to tell them that the historical part of the Bible (and all that concerns slavery is historical) is false and uninspired;” and, adds the Rev. John Bachmann, “we can effectually defend our institutions from the word of God.”

[88] [See, for many valuable hints on this subject, _Savage Africa_, by W. Winwood Reade, 8vo, London, 1864.--EDITOR.]

INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

Abyssinian, 9

Adam, 67

Alexandria, 2

Americans, 8, 9, 32

Anglo-Saxon race, 2

Antæus, 64

Apollo de Belvedere, 8

Arabs, 7, 12, 17, 29

Araucanos, 55

Asia Minor, 17

Australians, 10, 14, 45, 49

Autochthones, 11

Basques, 7

Bass’s Straits, 11

Bastaards, 3

Berber, 10, 12

Bergmaars, 4

Bible, The, 62

Bitches, 25

Blacks, 9

Bongarri, 52

Bosjesmen, 3

Cabres, 29

Cain, 67

Cairo, 20

Caffres, 12, 14

Cafusos, 3

Cambyses, 16

Carolina, South, 33

Caucasian race, 8, 9, 32, 69

Caucasus, 20

Celts, 7, 10, 12, 14

Charruas, 11

Children of Mulattoes, 37

Chinese Mulattoes, 43

Christian faith, 67

Cohabitation with White, 57

Conclusions regarding hybridity, 60