CBANIA ]3E.ITANNICA. [CHAP. I.
contain*. Bnt, with regard to tlie changes supposed to result from moral influences, and
effected rather upon the race than the individual, commonly said to be the consequences of those
causes expressed by the ill-deflnod term civilization, there ai-e many difficulties in the way of
forming any due estimate, and also many reasons for questioning then- physical operation. Speatins
of the ereat races of mankind, whether it be in the size of the b D O ' rain, or whether in its
quality, or whether it be, as the phrenologists maintain, in the development of its particular
parts, each race is endowed with such special faculties of the mind, moral and intellectual, as to
impart to it a chstinct and definite position within which its powers and capabilities range. We
know of no valid evidence that can be brought forward for thinking this definite position can be
varied in the mass. We may, therefore, take this fm-ther ground for questioning the asstimed
pliancy of the form of the skull. It woidd be easy to adduce proof that the characters of distinct
people, even those of neighbo^u'ing nations, and of different provinces of the same country, are
weU-marked, continue for ages unchanged, and are not interchangeable. And the same may be
said of the physical peculiarities.
There is, however, another element much more difficult to estimate in its operation and
effects, which is connected with the question of this change of cranial forms, hitherto not duly
studied and imderstood, that of commingling of breeds. There are many obscurities concerning
this blood mixtm-e independently of those of a historical character respecting ancient races,
which embrace the facts of a real intermixture, its extent and continuance, and the permanence of
its results. The effects produced by such a commingliug of parentage, whether, under what circumstances,
and to what extent they modify and alter the anatomical peculiarities and the other
characters of races, require much investigation+. It has been assumed that they produce modifications
almost without end Î, and that these modifications even become permanent indicia of
* A phenomenon strikingly apparent in the skull of a very
aged Chinese in our collection, derived from the solicitude and
kindness of Sir John Bowring, in which the central area of the
parietal bones is thinned and depressed, over an extent equal to
four square inches, to ahout a third of an inch deep in the central
part. This observation has already been made by Gall,
Sur les Fonctions du Cerveau, iii. 53, 1825.
f Mr. Alexander Walker, in his work on ' Intermarriage,'
has maintained that where both parents are of the same variety,
the following law obtains with regard to the offspring;—" One
parent communicates the anterior part of the head, the osseous
or bony part of the face, the forms of the organs of sense (the
external ear, under lip, lower part of the nose, and eyebrows
being often modified), and the whole of the internal nutritive
system (the contents of the trunk, or the thoracic and abdominal
viscera, and consequently the form of the trunk itself,
in so far as that depends upon its contents). The other parent
commimicates the posterior part of the head, the cerebel
situated within the scull immediately above its junction with
the back of the neck, and the whole of the locomotive system
(the bones, hgaments, and muscles or fleshy parts)." Where
the parents belong to the same race, " either parent may give
either series ; " but when they belong to different races and
there is a real crossing, a second law operates ; and " supposing
both to be of equal age and vigour, the male gives the
backheud and locomotive organs, and the female the face and
nutritive organs." (Intermarriage, 2nd ed. pp. 160 & 202,
1841.) In general accordance with these principles, Mr. Orton,
who has paid much attention to breeding for agricultural purposes,
argues " that in the reproduction of the animal species
there is no casual blending of the parts and qualities of the
two parents, but that each parent contributes to the formation
of certain structures and to the development of certain qualities
; that the male parent chiefly determines the external characters,
the general appearance, in fact, the outward structures
and locomotive powers of the offspring (e. g. the bram, nerves,
organs of sense, and skin, and likewise the bones and muscles,
more particularly of the limbs) ; while the female parent
chiefly determines the internal structures and the general size
and quality, mainly furnishing the vital organs (e. g, the
heart, lungs, glands and digestive organs), and giving tone
and character to the vital functions of growth, nutrition and
secretion,"—" Though the male and female parents in all cases
give, the former the external, and the latter the internal organs,
yet they each mutually exercise an influence in modifying to
a greater or less extent the organs given by the other."—Br.
Alex. Harvey's account of Mr. Orton's paper on the Physiology
of Breeding, Monthly Journ. Med. Sci. August, 1854.
X A recent learned and ingenious author, who apj)ears to
have unlimited faith in this amalgamation of races, for he
assumes it as a postulate needing no proof, makes it the basis of
his system of speculative ethnology. Of the Adamite, or man
CHAP. I.] INTRODUCTION.
new races. Nature, in the case of man especially, has been regarded as most yielding and
adaptive, as if she observed scarcely any law with tenacity, and left the lord of sublunary things
to dispose of her at will *.
The extent to which the races of the British Islands have intermingled is not at aU clearly
defined. We have reason to believe that some tribes nearly alKed to the founders of the English
name were careful to maintain the pm-ity of their blood, and avoided intermarriage with the
people they reduced to subjection. At the Roman conquest one object was to obtain British
slaves and carry them to Italy. And when the provinces became more settled, the aborigines
were extensively subjected to servitude in then- native seats. What influence this social arrangement
had upon the blood of their imperial masters, it were more difacult to determine. It would
be a curious question to inquire whether the Britons could be subjected to true slavery, as we
imderstand the term in modern times. Were they of that pliant, docile, and yet resilient nature
to admit of this siibjugation ? Rather, had they not that lofty spirit of independence which
brooks not continued servitude, but proudly perishes under it ? It is a mistaken assumption
that aU races have an equal aptitude for slavery, whether domestic or predial. On the contrary,
to the sim-burnt sons of Africa there appertains an unenviable pre-eminence in this respect, that
has been their attribute from the most remote ages to which we can penetrate. Their aptitude
to endure change of climate also, another peculiar property of race, is perhaps only equalled by
that of the modern natives of Western Europe and the Jews. They are, as is well known, to be
met with through extensive regions of both North and South America, in the West Indian
Islands, at the Cape of Good Hope, in Java and other Islands of the Indian Archipelago and
Pacific Ocean, and therefore under almost every clime;—proving that they possess a phancy,
corporeal and mental, which is one of the rarest privileges of race.
Again, what was the process and the effects of the Anglo-Saxon conquests on the inhabitants
of the south of the island whom it has been usual to designate Romano-British ? The Anglo-
Saxon conquerors, far more exterminating than their predecessors, did not fail also to trade
extensively in British slaves, and exported them to various parts of the continent. It is not
of the Jirst creation, he considers it impossible to know anything
concerning his specific characters, or whether succeeding
families have preserved or lost their resemblance to him. He
therefore ascends no higher than the races of second formation,
of which he makes three,—the white, the blaci, and the yellow.
He says each of these three original types has probably never
presented a perfect unity, and grand cosmogonic causes have
created varieties in it, by the mixture of which tertiary types
have been produced ; whilst a crossing amongst the three great
secondary races has given rise to quaternary races.—Essai sur
riufSgalitc des Races Humaines, par M. A. de Gobineau, i.
24.5, &c. 1853.
* In using the expression new races, we allude to those
presumed intermediate, if we may not denominate them hybrid,
people so commonly referred to by the most respectable
authorities. Dr. Prichard devotes a section to their consideration
(Nat. Hist, of Man, Srded.p. 18, 1848). In this division
of his work he adduces as indisputable examples, the
Griqua Hottentots, the Cafusos of the solitary plains bounded
by the Forests of Tarama in Brazil, on the authority of the
travellers Spix and Martius, and the Papuas of New Guinea
and the adjacent islands. He has even hinted that the great
problem of his favourite theory might be left for solution " on
this issue." Ethnology, however, it is well known, is not the
onlv science encumbered with " false facts," and not improbably
these are as numerous as its false hypotheses. A further
and better knowledge of the curious and even diverse
people comprehended under the Malay term pdjmwah, fi-izzlcd,
has entirely removed the ground for Prichard's view of them.
They are possessed of pecuhar physical characters. With
almost as much appearance of truth might the genuine Negro
tribes of Guinea be pointed out as mixed races. If these new
hybrid races were within the range of possible production,
there would be no need of seeking for them in a soUtary example
in the New World, in the Cafusos of Brazil; they would
be patent and numerous from one end of the continent to
the other. We meet indeed with confusion of blood on a great
scale, hut look in vain for a new race. Nature asserts her dominion
on all hands in a deterioration and degradation, the
fatal and depopulating consequences of which it is appalling to
contemplate.