three races only: the Caucasian, Mongolian, and Ethiopian; hut the author hesitates
to refer to either of these, the Malays, the Papuas, the Australians, and the South
Sea Islanders.*
At the other extreme is Malte-Brun, the distinguished geographer, who
enumerates sixteen races, of which the American nations form hut one.!1
Much has also been written in reference to the unity of the human species:
the affirmative opinion is sustained by Linnaeus, Blumenbach, Cuvier, and many
other distinguished naturalists; yet, on the contrary, Virey has divided mankind
into two species, Dumoulin into eleven, and Bory into no less than fifteen.};
Finally, a French professor, overstepping the barriers of reason and nature, has
attempted to establish several subgenera.$
Such wide differences of opinion have led some persons to reject all classification
in Anthropology; hut the same objections would apply with equal force to the
whole range of Natural Science, which, divested of arrangement, presents an
uninviting chaos. As our means of comparing the races of men become more
extended, our classification will of course improve; and meanwhile we must rest
content with an approximation to accuracy. It may here he remarked, that two
leading features constitute the basis of most of the attempted classifications of the
human species: one of these is called the physical, the other the ethnographic
method. In the former, mankind are grouped in great divisions characterised by
similarity of exterior conformation; while on the last mentioned plan, the arrangement
is based on analogies of language. Each of these systems has its advocates
to the exclusion of the other; hut it is reasonable to suppose that method most
natural and comprehensive which is derived from both these sources, as well as
from all others which tend to establish analogies among men. In order to
combine, as far as possible, all these advantages, it is proposed in this place to
consider the human species as consisting of twenty-two families.
It is necessary, however, to premise, that these families are not assumed as
identical with races, hut merely as groups of nations possessing, to a greater or
less extent, similarity of physical and moral character, and language. Some of
these families possess, it is true, the peculiarities of the aboriginal races to which * §
* Règne Anim. T, 84.
t See Bory de St. Vincent, T. I, p. 95.—I hâve not been able to find this classification in
Malte-Brun, ed. 1832.
t Ibid. I, p. 83.
§ Broc, Essai sur les Races Humaines, 1836.
they belong; but others are of mixed and very diverse extraction, and of comparatively
recent origin.
Believing, however, as I do, in the primitive distribution of mankind into
races in the sense already explained, yet being unprepared to offer any thing new
on the subject, I shall, for the present at least, adopt the arrangement of Professor
Blumenbach as respects these great divisions :* for although his system is obviously
imperfect, yet it is, perhaps, the most complete that has hitherto been attempted.
I. THE CAUCASIAN RACE.
The Caucasian Race is characterised by a naturally fair skin, susceptible of
every tint; hair fine, long and curling, and of various colors. The skull is large
and oval, and its anterior portion full and elevated. The face is small in proportion
to the head, of an oval form, with well-proportioned features. The nasal
bones are arched, the chin full, and the teeth vertical. This race is distinguished
for the facility with which it attains the highest intellectual endowments.
1. The Caucasian Family.
2. The Germanic Family.
3. The Celtic Family.
4. The Arabian Family.
5. The Libyan Family.
6. The Nilotic Family.
7. The Indostanic Family.
II. THE MONGOLIAN RACE.
This great division of the human species is characterised by a sallow or olive
colored skin, which appears to be drawn tight over the bones of the face; long,
black, straight hair, and thin beard. The nose is broad, and short; the eyes are
small, black, and obliquely placed, and the eye-brows arched and linear: the lips
are turned, the cheek bones broad and flat, and the zygomatic arches salient.
The skull is oblong-oval, somewhat flattened at the sides, with a low forehead.
In their intellectual character the Mongolians are ingenious, imitative, and highly
susceptible of cultivation.
* It will be observed, however, that the word race is substituted for variety, and the order in
which these divisions follow each otherin Blumenbach is somewhat changed. Vide Blumenbach, De
Gen. Humani P a i\N a t. p. 289.