"We are entitled to draw confidently the conclusion, that all human
races are of one species and one family."
The great point as to identity of species being proved, it would be
certainly more simple, and more in unison with the economy of nature, to
suppose that all were descended from one pair, than that numerous
identical members of a common species were simultaneously created. On
the other hand, a physiological difficulty occurs, in viewing a race as
descended from a single pair, from the fact universally recognised in
the later periods of history, viz. the degeneration, and, in the end,
destruction or indefinite deterioration of both physical and mental
faculties, by continual intermarriage. The houses of Braganza and
Hapsburg are notorious instances of this; and, as far as we are aware,
there are no counter instances.
"Marry
A gentler scion to the wildest stock,
And make conceive a bark of baser kind
By bud of nobler race; this is an art
Which does mend nature, change it rather, but
The art itself is nature."
The matter is incapable of absolute proof--we mean inductive proof; for
it is in this point that the work before us regards it. Any arguments,
such as similarity of habits, of languages, of opinions, which may be
used to deduce community of origin, would be equally explained by
community of species; for, supposing that different individuals of the
same species were simultaneously created, the same physical formation
would necessarily engender similar habits, and the power of
intermarriage would induce a similarity of language, long before any
period to which our histories go back. Taking, then, as a fair
assumption, that, if identical in species, mankind have a common origin,
we get in the outset of the book the conclusion stated at the end, viz.
that all human races are of one species and one family. The great body
of the work is, therefore, only accessory and corroborative; and its
value would consist not so much in proving the affirmative of the
author's thesis, as in placing in a prominent point of view the
principal facts known respecting the natural history of man.
It may be thought that, in the existing state of man, few marks remain
from which his early history may be deduced; but those unacquainted with
the progress of inductive research, would be astonished at the magnitude
and importance of results derivable from an apparently simple and
worthless object. An unthinking wanderer, stumbling upon an ancient
tombstone, if reproached with inattention, would ask what is to be
learned from such a relic. A word of inscription would give a clue to
the language, and, coupled with other observations, to the date of the
monument; the character of the stone, whether roughly hewn or
elaborately carved, would give evidence as to the tools used in its
formation, and consequently furnish a key to the manufacturing and
metallurgic knowledge of the fabricators. The stone itself might
possibly not be similar to those in the immediate vicinity, and thence
would indicate that travelling and the power of transfer were practised,
and the skeleton within would indicate the physical formation of the men
of that day. We have selected here a case of an ordinary grave, but how
much stronger would the case be were we to take a sarcophagus of Egypt,
enclosing a mummy? The inscription, the fabric of the cere-cloth, the
chemical substances with which it is impregnated, as well as those by
which the body is preserved, and the relics commonly deposited with it,
would lead, by careful investigation, to a tolerably accurate knowledge
of the character and habits of the time; and where many relics of
different descriptions, collected from different parts, are skilfully
compared, a body of evidence is arrived at, minutely circumstantial in
its details, and the veracity of which admits of no dispute. As the
researches of comparative anatomists have enabled us, from the
examination of a single bone, to pronounce with certainty upon the
general conformation and habits of the animal to which it belonged; and
as, in many cases, from the existence of such animals, we may go on,
step by step, to the nature of the earth's surface at the period when
they lived: so the meanest relic of art will serve the natural historian
of man as a fulcrum by which he may turn up a mass of genuine
information; with which, as with all knowledge, as its store increases,
the power of applying it becomes more facile; until at length it
scarcely becomes an exaggeration to say, that every material relic bears
in itself its own natural history, and, if artificially modified, the
history of its fabricators--what the germ is to futurity the relic is to
the past.
From the data which Dr Prichard has given us, in a somewhat scattered
form, we shall endeavour to collect and group the most interesting of
his facts and opinions. In order to ascertain what modifications of
physical structure, variation of climate, food, and habits, may effect
upon mankind, it is necessary, first, to review the effects produced by
such variation upon domesticated animals. It is indeed questionable
whether we can in any case, with certainty, trace these to their native
wilds; but, in many cases, we have instances of their return to a savage
state, as with the wild horses, goats, oxen, &c.; and although it does
not necessarily follow that their conformation, induced by such return,
is identical with their original structure, yet there is a reasonable
probability that such is the case, and we must take these cases for want
of better. How far, then, has the outward form been altered by the
changes induced by domestication; how far are instincts acquired by such
changes capable of hereditary transmission, and is there any, and what,
connexion between the changed instincts and the changed structure? These
questions, involving among other things the infant and difficult
science of phrenology, Dr Prichard has left very much to conjecture.
Whether he considers the data too imperfect, or is afraid of trusting
himself with any decided expression of opinion on a subject which has
been so obscured by charlatanry, and which is open to so much
misapprehension, does not appear; but it certainly is an apparently
striking defect, that where a large portion of the work is devoted to
the explanation of the different forms of the cranium in the inferior
animals and in man, and to which the largest portion of his pictorial
illustrations apply, he should give us so little insight into his
opinions as to what extent phrenology is fairly entitled to credibility.
His having taken so much pains in collecting facts and drawings on this
point, necessarily leads to the inference that he attaches much value to
the craniological distinctions. We shall take an opportunity presently
of recurring to this subject. We will now take some of the most
interesting instances, given by Dr Prichard, of structural changes and
hereditary instincts, acquired by domesticated animals, and again lost
by them on returning to a wild state:--
"Swine transported from Europe to America, since the discovery of
the western continent by the Spaniards in the fourteenth century,
and wandering at large in the vast forests of the New World, and
feeding on wild fruits, have resumed the manner of existence which
belonged to the original stock. Their appearance nearly resembles
that of the wild boar. Their ears have become erect; their heads
are larger, and the foreheads vaulted at the upper part; their
colour has lost the variety found in the domestic breeds. The wild
hogs of the American forests are uniformly black. The hog which
inhabits the high mountains of Paramos bears a striking resemblance
to the wild boar of France. His skin is covered with a thick fur,
often somewhat crisp, beneath which is found, in some individuals,
a species of wool. From excessive cold and defect of nourishment,
the hog of that region is of small and stunted figure. In some warm
parts of America, the swine are not uniformly black, as above
described, but red, like the young pecari. At Melgara and other
places, there are some which are not entirely black, but have a
white band under the belly reaching up to the back; they are termed
_cinchados_. The restoration of the original character of the wild
boar in a race descended from domesticated swine, removes all
reason for doubt, if any had really existed, as to the identity of
the stock; and we may safely proceed to compare the physical
characters of these races, as varieties which have arisen in one
species. The restoration of one uniform black colour, and the
change of thin sparse hair and bristles for a thick fur with a
covering of wool, are facts that must be noticed in the
observations of M. Roulin. The difference in the shape of the head
between the wild and domestic hog of America, is very remarkable.
Blumenbach long ago pointed out the great difference between the
cranium of our swine and that of the primitive wild boar. He
remarked that this difference is quite equal to that which has been
observed between the skull of the Negro and the European. 'Those
persons,' he says, 'who have no opportunity of verifying the fact,
have only need to cast their eyes on the figure which Daubenton has
given of both the former. I shall pass over,' he adds, 'the lesser
varieties of breeds which may be found among swine, as among men,
and only mention that I have been assured by M. Sobzer, that the
peculiarity of having the bone of the leg remarkably long, which in
the human kind is observed among the Hindoos, has been remarked
with regard to swine in Normandy. They stand very long on their
hind legs; their back, therefore, is highest at the rump, forming a
kind of inclined plane; and the head proceeds in the same
direction, so that the snout is not far from the ground.'
"'Swine,' continues Blumenbach, 'in some countries have degenerated
into races which, in singularity, far exceed every thing that has
been found strange in bodily variety among the human race. Swine
with solid hoofs were known to the ancients, and large breeds of
them are found in Hungary and Sweden. In like manner, the European
swine first carried by the Spaniards in 1509 to the island of
Cubagua, at that time celebrated for its pearl fishery, degenerated
into a monstrous race, with toes which were half a span in length.'
There are breeds of solid-hoofed swine in some parts of England.
The hoof of the swine is also found divided into five clefts.
"Buffon had before remarked the varieties of the hog tribe. 'In
Guinea,' he observes, 'this species has acquired very long ears,
couched upon the back; in China, a large pendant belly, and very
short legs; at Cape Verde and other places, very large tusks,
crooked like the horns of oxen; in domestication, half pendant and
white ears.'"
* * * * *
"A very remarkable fact relative to the oxen of South America is
recorded by M. Roulin, to which M. Geoffrey St Hilaire has
particularly adverted, in the report made by him on M. Roulin's
Memoir, before the Royal Academy of Sciences.
"In Europe, the milking of cows is continued through the whole
period, from the time when they begin to bear calves till they
cease to breed. This secretion of milk has become a constant
function in the animal economy of the tribe; it has been rendered
such by the practice, continued through long series of generations,
of continuing to draw milk long after the period when it would be
wanted for the calf; the teats of the cow are larger than in
proportion, and the secretion is perpetual. In Columbia, the
practice of milking cows was laid aside, owing to the great extent
of farms and other circumstances. 'In a few generations,' says M.
Roulin, 'the natural structure of parts, and withal, the natural
state of the function, has been restored. The secretion of milk in
the cow of this country is only an occasional phenomenon, and
contemporary with the actual presence of the calf. If the calf
dies, the milk ceases to flow, and it is only by keeping him with
his dam by day, that an opportunity of obtaining milk from cows by
night can be found.' This testimony is important, by the proof
which it affords that the permanent production of milk in the
European breeds of cows is a modified function of the animal
economy, produced by an artificial habit continued through several
generations. Two other very important observations made by M.
Roulin in South America, were pointed out by M. Geoffrey St Hilaire
in his report to the Academy of Sciences. They refer to the fact of
the hereditary transmission of habits originally impressed with
care and art upon the ancestors. Of this fact I shall adduce other
examples in the sequel; at present I only advert to M. Roulin's
observations. The horses bred in the grazing farms on the
table-land of the Cordillera, are carefully taught a peculiar pace,
which is a sort of running amble. This is not their natural mode of
progression, but they are inured to it very early, and the greatest
pains are taken to prevent them from moving in any other gait. In
this way the acquired habit becomes a second nature. It happens
occasionally that such horses, becoming lame, are no longer fit for
use; it is then customary to let them loose, if they happen to be
well-grown stallions, into the pasture grounds. It is constantly
observed that these horses become the sires of a race to which the
ambling pace is natural, and requires no teaching. The fact is so
well known, that such colts have received a particular name; they
are termed 'aguilillas.'
"The second fact is, the developement of a new instinct, which, as
M. Roulin declares, seems to become hereditary in the breed of dogs
found among the borderers on the river Madeleine, which are
employed in hunting the pecari. I shall cite the author's own
words:--'L'addresse du chien consiste a moderer son ardeur a ne
s'attacher a aucun animal en particulier, mais a tenir toute la
troupe en echec. Or, parmi ces chiens, on en volt maintenant qui,
la premiere fois qu'on les amene au bois, savent deja comment
attaquer; un chien d'une autre espece se lance tout d'abord, est
environne, et quelle que soit sa force, il est devore dans un
instant.'"
To these cases we may add a case familiar to the sportsmen of this
country, and one of which we have ourselves seen an unquestionable
instance, viz. the acquired habit of the setting-dog in arresting his
steps, and crouching, when in pursuit of game; the origin of which was
probably a pause in his career, in order the better to ascertain the
position of the game of which he was in quest; but this, by constant
teaching, has become hereditary to such an extent, that occasionally a
dog of pure breed will, the first time he is taken out, as soon as he
gets on the scent of game, crouch or place himself in a setting
attitude, and remain perfectly immobile until forced to proceed; nay
further--as it is necessary that the sportsman teach the dogs who are in
the same field with that one who discovers the game, as soon as they see
the latter setting to arrest their steps likewise; or, as it is termed,
to _back_, in order not to disturb the game--in the instance which came
under our notice, a dog of eight or nine months old, which had never
been out of a town, when taken into the fields for the first time with
an old well-trained dog, as soon as the latter had discovered game, and
pointed to it, instantly backed him--_i.e._ remained stiffly standing in
the position in which he was when he first caught sight of the older
dog: probably many sportsmen could be found who would vouch to similar
facts.
We may here state that we quite agree with Dr Prichard, as to the
absence of any foundation for the general belief, that all the acts of
inferior animals are performed without their consciousness or view to
any object or end; on the contrary, there is every probability that
they, in carrying into effect their several instincts, seem to
themselves to act from similar internal impulses of will and intention,
as human beings do.
We need not enter into the vast number of varieties which the most
domestic of all domesticated animals, the dog, exhibits; we shall only
remark, that, in all their varieties, Dr Prichard says,--
"Restored to a state of comparative wildness, which approaches to
their unreclaimed and primitive condition, the tribes of dogs every
where make a corresponding approximation to the type which may be
supposed to have belonged to the species in its original state."
But this passage is enigmatical, as the original _type_ seems to be
involved in dense obscurity. Buffon considered the shepherd dog to be
the least modified by domestication--very erroneously, according to Dr
Prichard; it is still a _vexata questio_, whether the original
progenitor of the dog be a wolf, a jackal, a fox, or an unknown animal
differing from all these.
"The sheep is one of the most anciently domesticated animals, and
it is one in which great varieties display themselves. It has been
long believed, and this appears to have been the opinion of Baron
Cuvier, that all the breeds of tamed sheep are descended either
from the argali of Siberia, or from the moufloun or musmon of
Barbary. This is at present doubted by most naturalists. There
seems, however, to be no reason for believing that the domestic
breeds belong to more than one species, though they differ much in
different countries. In Europe, the breeds of sheep vary much in
stature, in the texture of their wool, the number and shape of
their horns, which are in some large, in some small, in others
wanting to the female, or altogether absent from the breed. The
most important varieties in Europe are the Spanish breeds, some
with fine, others with crisp wool, in which the rams have long
spiral horns; the English breeds, which differ greatly in size and
in the quality of the wool; and, in the southern parts of Russia,
the long-tailed breed. The breeds of sheep in India and in Africa
are remarkable for the length of their legs, a very convex
forehead, and pendant ears; these also have long tails. Their
covering is not wool, but a smooth hair. In the northern parts of
Europe and Asia the sheep have short tails. The breeds spread
through Persia, Tartary, and China, have their tails transformed
into a double spherical mass of fat. The sheep of Syria and
Barbary, on the other hand, have long tails, but likewise loaded
with a mass of fat. In both of these varieties of the sheep the
ears are pendant, the horns of the rams large, and those of the
ewes and lambs of moderate size, and the body is covered with wool,
mixed more or less with hair.
"New breeds of sheep are frequently formed in different countries
in which particular qualities predominate, according to the
preference of the breeders. This is done, partly by crossing or
intermixing races already constituted and well known; but in great
part also by selecting individuals from the stock in which the
particular qualities are more strongly marked than in the
generality of the same breed. In these instances, the natural or
congenital variety which the individual animal displays, perhaps
for the first time, becomes perpetuated by the hereditary
transmission of such characters, which is a law of the animal
economy. A striking instance of this fact is to be found in the
origination of a new breed of sheep in the state of Massachusetts,
which has been noticed by many writers in connexion with this
subject. In the year 1791, one ewe on the farm of Seth Wright gave
birth to a male lamb, which, without any known cause, had a longer
body and shorter legs than the rest of the breed. The joints are
said to have been longer, and the fore-legs crooked. The shape of
this animal rendering it unable to leap over fences, it was
determined to propagate its peculiarities, and the experiment
proved successful; a new race of sheep was produced, which, from
the form of the body, has been termed the otter breed. It seems to
be uniformly the fact, that when both parents are of the otter
breed, the lambs that are produced inherit the peculiar form."
We might extract other instances of physiological and psychological
changes induced by domestication, but we think enough have been given to
show the character and degree of such changes. The least important
change, and that which appears the soonest affected, is the colour of
the skin and hair. This is universally of an uniform tint in wild
animals, and generally bears a close approximation to the colour of the
land in which the animal lives: thus the ptarmigan, inhabiting snowy
regions, is white; the grouse has the colour of heath; the hare that of
dry fern or furze--a provision which has the effect of protecting the
weaker tribes from the stronger and predatory ones. In domesticated
animals, from causes apparently not as yet traced, the colour is
variegated and various. Closely connected with the colour and nature of
the skin, are the size and shape of the horns, their presence and
absence. Great as is the apparent variety of appearance effected by
horns, changes in these appear to be easily induced: they are connected
with the epidermic structure, generally the most easily modified; and we
need not cite instances to prove that different breeds of the same
tribe, and occasionally different individuals of the same breed, differ
materially as to horns. According to Azara, horned horses are sometimes
seen in Paraguay.
Very little appears to be known, at least scarcely any intimation is
given in the work before us, of the proximate or final cause of these
changes. Great as they are, certainly, as far as we can judge, no _nisus
formativus_ can account for the enormous horns of the Spanish sheep;
nor, looking to the final cause; does there appear any reason why
domestic animals should need such overgrown instruments of defence.
When, however, we come to the more important anatomical modifications,
such as the length and shape of the legs, the bones of the pelvis or of
the jaw, the object is more apparent. A greyhound, with the muzzle of a
bull-dog, would be an obvious natural inconsistency.
We now pass to the physical distinctions of the different races of men.
Here we may observe that a much greater importance is to be attached to
comparatively slight variations. Considering the surprising external
differences that exist in domesticated animals of the same species, the
wonder rather is, that the different races of men differ physically so
little as they do, than that they differ so much. Here we will take
first, the least important shades of difference--the texture of the
skin, hair, and complexion; and then pass on to the more prominent
diversities of the bony fabric, cranium, &c.
"The texture of the body, in which all these varieties have their
seat, is the extracorial or exodermal structure, constituting, if I
may so speak, the outer coating of the body, external to the true
skin, which corresponds to the cuticular and corneous excrescences
of animals--a structure which includes horns, hoofs, hair,
feathers, and all similar appendages in different orders of
animals. This structure displays infinite diversities in colour,
constitution, and organization, and is the most variable tissue on
the whole body. Many different opinions have, however, been lately
maintained, and much research has been made, as to the nature and
texture of the parts on which the variety of colour depends."
The ancient anatomists, it appears, recognised only two parts of the
skin--the true skin, and the outer cuticle or epidermis. Malpighi
discovered a third layer interposed between these, consisting of a sort
of network, thence called _rete mucosum_, and believed to be the seat of
colour in the negro. Albinus showed this to be a continuous layer, and
not a network. Cruikshank discovered four layers--three membranes, and
the fourth a layer of colour. Flourens, at a more recent period, made
the number of intermediate layers five, four of which he showed to the
French Academy; one of these, a mucous membrane underlying the pigment,
is, according to this anatomist, a distinct organized body, existing
only in men of dark colour, and entirely wanting in the white races, or
else (which appears the more probable conjecture) maceration, and the
ordinary process of examination, fail to detect it in the skin of white
men. Lastly, the microscopical researches of Henle, Purkinje, and
Schwann, go to prove that the outer integument does not consist of
separate membranes, but is of a cellular structure, and that of these
cells or "cytoblasts," there are three distinct kinds. We will not
further analyse the different opinions as to the texture of the skin and
position of the colouring material; it certainly throws no
inconsiderable degree of doubt over certain classes of scientific
investigation, to find each subsequent research entirely altering, and
in some cases overturning, the previously received views.
To the different characters of human complexion, Dr Prichard gives three
distinctive terms--the _melanous_ or brunette; the _xanthous_ or blonde;
and the _leucous_ or albino; the _melanous_ predominating in the
southern countries, the _xanthous_ in the northern. It is observable
here, that although the natural divisions of territory with respect to
complexion, (supposing climate to have the principal modifying effect
upon complexion,) would be the equatorial and polar regions, or the
zones of the earth which differ in latitude, yet, with some few
exceptions, it is only on the northern side of the equator that the
_xanthous_ complexion prevails--the inhabitants of Australia and the
South Sea Islands being very generally _melanous_. The distribution of
land and water cannot well be conceived to have any influence upon
climate which would account for such diversity; it is probably,
therefore, a result of long-continued civilization, the covering the
body with clothes, and being for the most part sheltered from the direct
rays of the sun. The _leucous_ complexion is an abnormal variety, and
occurs occasionally in all countries. It proceeds from the absence of
the dark colouring matter, or pigment; there appears in this case,
however, no difference of anatomical structure, the pigment being
sometimes subsequently developed in persons who have been born albinoes.
The change from the _xanthous_ to the _melanous_ complexion, is a
circumstance of constant occurrence; there are few children born, whose
complexion does not darken as they grow up, in many cases undergoing a
total change: the passage from dark to fair is rare, but it constantly
occurs that _xanthous_, or even _leucous_ children, are born of
_melanous_ parents. There is nothing, therefore, in the diversities of
complexion which indicates specific diversity in different human races.
Of the conformation of the bony fabric in the human race, the formation
of the skull is the part of the greatest importance; we shall only
therefore briefly notice, as to the other parts of the skeleton, that
between the most uncultivated races of men, and those tribes of apes
which most nearly approach man, there is a wide difference--the arms of
the orang-outang reach to the ankle, and those of the chimpanzee below
the knee; the pelvis, or central bony fabric, differ much from those of
the human race.
With regard to the skull, the value of the distinctions in its form and
structure depends upon their connexion with the size and organization of
the brain--involving the question, whether this has any, and what,
influence upon the powers and habits of the creature. Dr Prichard, as we
have already stated, blinks the question of phrenology; though he makes
some inferences which prove him to have a general belief in the
connexion between mental power and physical formation; nay, further, in
the appropriation of different portions of the brain to different
faculties.
Few will, we believe, in the present day be disposed entirely to deny
that, _ceteris paribus_, the external formation of the skull, or rather
the shape of the brain as shown by the formation of the skull, is a
general index of the mental power of the individual to whom it belongs.
Look over a collection of busts, or portraits, of eminent men, and, with
scarcely an exception, they will be found to have high and capacious
foreheads; while uncivilized races, and born idiots, are lamentably
deficient in this respect. The difficulties of phrenology exist in its
details, which by many have been carried out into degrees of subdivision
certainly not warranted either by the anatomical structure of the brain,
or by any empirical data as to the form of different crania, and the
biography of the individuals to whom they have belonged. Where, in the
existing state of our knowledge, the proper mean may be, it is perhaps
difficult to say; but it would have been well, we think, had Dr Prichard
given us a little more explicitly his opinions as to what extent
phrenology (we use the word in its broadest sense) may be fairly relied
on. As far as we can gather from the scattered passages in his book, he
seems to take a rational view of it; but a little less caution would
certainly have been more instructive to his readers, not only on the
subject of phrenology, but on many of the connexions between physical
structure and the habits to which such structure is adapted. This is a
_hiatus_ in Dr Prichard's work, the filling up of which would add much
interesting matter, and serve to weave together acts which at present
are disjointed and isolated; giving the book a dry character, and
preventing its arresting the attention of the reader. Throughout a
larger portion of the work also, we have, in every third page or so, a
minute description of the complexion, hair, &c., of different people;
which, however valuable as matter of record, becomes tiresome and
uninteresting as a continuous narrative, and would be much better thrown
into a tabular form, as matter of reference only, if incapable of being
so linked as to present a plausible theory.
The following passage is the most explicit we can find on the subject of
the connexion between the _physique_ and _morale_, and, at the same
time, will serve to introduce the three varieties of skull which the
author deems principally worth notice:--
"If any method of subdividing the human family into groups, is
likely to be of any particular advantage in elucidating the natural
history of the species, it must be one founded on some relation
between the physical characteristics of different tribes and the
leading circumstances of their external condition.
"We shall clearly perceive, in tracing the following outline of
ethnography, that the varieties of colour refer themselves, in
part, to climates, elevations of land, proximity to the sea-coast,
or distance from it. It can hardly be doubted that these conditions
have likewise an effect on the configuration of the human body. But
there is, perhaps, some truth in the remark, though frequently made
on little better foundation than conjecture, that the prevailing
form or configuration of the body is more liable to be influenced
by the habits of different races, and their manner of living, than
by the simple agencies of climate. It would be an interesting
discovery, could it be shown that there is any apparent connexion
between the display of particular forms, or the leading physical
characters of human races, and their habits of existence. If I may
venture to point out any such relation, it would be by remarking,
in a very general manner, and without pretending to make the
observation as one which holds without many exceptions, that there
are in mankind three principal varieties in the form of the head
and other physical characters, which are most prevalent
respectively in the savage or hunting tribes, in the nomadic or
wandering pastoral races, and in the civilized and intellectually
cultivated divisions of the human family. Among the rudest tribes
of men, hunters and savage inhabitants of forests, dependent for
their supply of food on the accidental produce of the soil or on
the chase, among whom are the most degraded of the African nations
and the Australian savages, a form of the head is prevalent which
is most aptly distinguished by the term _prognathous_, indicating a
prolongation or extension forward of the jaws; and with this
characteristic other traits are connected which will be described
in the following pages. A second shape of the head, very different
from the last mentioned, belongs principally to the nomadic races,
who wander with their herds and flocks over vast plains, and to the
tribes who creep along the shores of the Icy Sea, and live partly
by fishing, and in part on the flesh of their reindeers. These
nations have broad and lozenge-formed faces, and what I have termed
_pyramidal_ skulls.
"The Esquimaux, the Laplanders, Samoiedes, and Kamschatkans,
belong to this department, as well as the Tartar nations--meaning
the Mongolians, Tungusians, and nomadic races of Turks. In South
Africa, the Hottentots, formerly a nomadic people, who wandered
about with herds of cattle over the extensive plains of Kafirland,
resembling in their manner of life the Tungusians and the Mongols,
have also broadfaced, pyramidal skulls, and in many particulars of
their organization resemble the Northern Asiatics. Other tribes in
South Africa approximate to the same character, as do many of the
native races of the New World.
"The most civilized races, those who live by agriculture and the
arts of cultivated life, all the most intellectually improved
nations of Europe and Asia, have a shape of the head which differs
from both the forms above mentioned. The characteristic form of the
skull among these nations may be termed _oval_ or _elliptical_.
"We shall find hereafter that there are numerous instances of
transition from one of these shapes of the head to another, and
that these alterations have taken place in nations who have changed
their manner of life."
Blumenbach considered that the most important admeasurement of the skull
was derivable from the shape and size of the oval, seen when the skull
was viewed from above, looking vertically down upon it. Camper took as
the basis of his theory of the gradations of different genera of
mammalia, the angle formed by a line drawn from the aperture of the ear
to the base of the nose, and a tangent to the forehead and jaw.
Considering the increasing size of this angle to be the distinctive mark
of intellectual superiority, he viewed a negro as an intermediate animal
between an European and an ape. But Mr Owen has shown that the
observations of Camper and others, being applied to immature animals,
are not worthy of reliance; as the relations of all animals more closely
approximate if they be examined in an infant, than in an adult state.
The facial angle of the orang, which has been estimated at from 60 deg. to
64 deg., he finds in the adult animal is only 30 deg.--_i. e._ 40 deg. short of the
smallest facial angle in the human race! We should hence be led to
suspect a proportionate difference between the infant and adult mind;
but the psychological development of infants is a subject which has been
strangely neglected by philosophers. A clever Italian authoress who has
written an anonymous work upon education, gives as the reason for the
dearth of writing on this subject, that philosophers are not mothers,
and that mothers are not philosophers. Be this as it may, few theorems
appear to us more promising of interest. The struggle of internal force
with external resistance, the feelings manifested in the acquisition of
new powers, the impressions made by objects seen for the first time, and
first questions asked, form grounds for induction as to the psychology
of man, which, thanks to the chartered tyranny of nursery-maids over
philosophers, have been grossly neglected.
After going through other points of physical difference in human races,
with which, being for the most part matter of anatomical detail, we
shall not trouble our readers, Dr Prichard concludes:--
"On surveying the facts which relate to difference in the shape of
the body, and the proportions of parts in human races, we may
conclude that none of these deviations amount to specific
distinction. We may rest this conclusion on two arguments. First,
that none of the differences in question exceed the limits of
individual variety, or are greater than the diversities found
within the circle of one nation or family. Secondly, the varieties
of form in human races are by no means so considerable, in many
points of view, as the instances of variation which are known to
occur in different tribes of animals belonging to the same stock,
there being scarcely one domesticated species which does not
display much more considerable deviations from the typical
character of the tribe."
The only observation we shall make upon this is, that, as before stated,
the test of identity of species being the power of continued
reproduction, not the slightest evidence having been ever offered that
all the various human races have not _inter se_ this power, but the
contrary having been proved in every case within human experience, none
of the deviations _can_ amount to _specific_ distinctions.
Having noticed the most remarkable physical distinctions of the human
race, we come to its ethnographical divisions--divisions founded partly
upon traditional and historical records, and partly upon the internal
evidence of similarity of language. The following sketch of hypotheses,
as to the original birthplaces of the +autochthones gaias+, although
visionary, and in all probability incorrect, forms such an interesting
abstract of philosophical speculations and poetical myths, that we
cannot refrain from quoting it:--
"The most popular, or generally received distribution of human
races in the present day, is that which was recommended by the
adoption of Baron Cuvier. It did not entirely originate with that
great writer, but was set forth by him in a more decided and
complete manner than it had been before his time. This system
refers different races of men to certain lofty mountain-chains, as
the local seats of their original existence.
"The birthplace, or the primitive station, of the race of men who
peopled Europe and Western Asia, is supposed to have been Mount
Caucasus. From this conjecture, Europeans and many Asiatic nations,
and even some Africans, have received the new designation of
Caucasians. The nations of Eastern Asia are imagined, in like
manner, to originate in the neighbourhood of Mount Altai, and they
are named after the Mongolians, who inhabit the highest region in
that vast chain of hills. The African negroes are derived from the
southern face of the chain of Mount Atlas.
"They are, however, named simply the Ethiopian race, from the
Ethiopians, who were the only black people known to the ancients in
very remote times. A mixture of somewhat vague notions, partly
connected with physical theories, and in part derived from history,
or rather from mythology, has formed the groundwork of this scheme,
which refers the origin of human races to high mountainous tracts.
The tops of mountains first emerged above the surface of the
primeval ocean, and, in the language of some philosophical
theorists, first became the scene of the organizing life of nature.
From different mountain tops, Wildenow, and other writers on the
history of plants, derive the vegetable tribes; which they suppose
to have descended from high places into the plains, and to have
spread their colonies along the margins of mountain streams. High
mountains thus came to be regarded as the birthplaces of living
races.
"Geological theories give their part to render these notions
popular; not only the late speculations of the Count de Buffon and
the learned Bailly, but the opinions of ancient philosophers, who
maintained, before the time of Justin and of Pliny, that the
mountains of high Asia must have been the part of the world first
inhabited by men, inasmuch as that region must have been first
refrigerated in the gradual cooling of the surface of our planet,
and first raised sufficiently above the level of the ocean.
Moreover, the poetical traditions of the ancient world describe
high mountains as the scenes of the first mythical adventures of
gods and men--as the resting-places on which celestial or aerial
beings alighted from their cloudy habitations, to take up their
abode with men, and to become the patriarchs of the human race.
Lofty mountains are the points in the geography of our globe on
which the first dawn of historic light casts its early beams; hence
the legends of the first ages begin their thread. In the cosmogony
of the Hindoos, it was on the summit of the sacred mountain
Maha-meru, which rises in the midst of the seven _dwipas_, or great
peninsulas, like the stalk between the expanded petals of a lotus,
that Brahma, the creator, sits enthroned on a pillar of gold and
gems, adored by Rishis and Gandharbhas; while the regents of the
four quarters of the universe hold their stations on the four faces
of the mountain. Equally famed in the ancient mythology of Iran and
of Zoroaster, is the sacred mountain Albordy, based upon the earth,
but raising through all the spheres of heaven, to the region of
supernal light, its lofty top, the seat of Ormuzd, whence the
bridge Ishinevad conducts blessed spirits of pious men to Gorodman,
the solid vault of heaven, the abode of Ferouers and Arnshaspands.
Even the prosing disciples of Confucius had their sacred mountain
of Kuen-lun, where, according to the legends of their forefathers,
was the abode of the early patriarchs of their race. The Arabs and
the Persian Moslemin had their poetical Kaf. The lofty hills of
Phrygia and of Hellas--Ida, Olympus, Pindus--were, as every one
knows, famous in Grecian story. Caucasus came in for a share of the
reverence paid to the high places of the earth. Caucasus, however,
was not the cradle of the human race, but the dwelling-place of
Prometheus, the maker of men, and the teacher of astronomy."
Abandoning this somewhat dreamy view, Dr Prichard regards, consistently
with the Scriptural account, the birthplace of man as being on the banks
of fertilizing rivers, and at a period when the world was, by its
vegetable and animal productions, prepared for his reception, and adopts
three divisions as being those of which we have the earliest records;
1st, the _Semitic_ or _Syro-Arabian_, inhabiting countries between Egypt
and the Ganges. 2dly, the _Japetic_, _Indo-European_, or _Arian_,
spreading from the mouths of the Ganges over the greater part of Europe.
And 3dly, the Egyptian or _Hamitish_,{B} who peopled the banks of the
Nile, and of whom the African negroes are probably a degenerate
offshoot. With regard to the knowledge of letters possessed by these
three nations, our author gives two inconsistent statements. He says:--
"The three celebrated nations whose history we have surveyed,
appear alone to have possessed in the earliest times the use of
letters, and by written monuments to have transmitted to the last
ages memorials of their existence. It seems improbable that each of
these nations should have become, by a separate process, possessed
of this important art: yet those eminent scholars who have laboured
with so great success of late in elucidating the Oriental forms of
writing, have not succeeded in tracing any connexion between the
alphabetic systems of Egypt, of the Phoenicians, the Assyrians,
and the Hindoos."