X P R E F A C E .
printed papers of Morton in our several possession. Before doing so,
however, we conceived it to he due to Mrs. Morton and her home-circle,
to inquire by letter, if such proceeding would obtain their sanction;
and also whether, in Mrs. Morton’s opinion, there were among the
Doctor’s manuscripts any that might he eligibly embodied in our proposed
articles. The graceful readiness with which our proffer was met
is best exemplified by the fact that Dr. Mott and myself received immediately,
by express from Philadelphia, a mass of Dr. Morton’s autographs
on scientific themes, together with such hooks and papers as
were deemed suitable for our purposes. On a subsequent visit to
Philadelphia, I was permitted to select from the Doctor’s shelves
whatever was held to be appropriate to our studies; and, while
this book has been passing through the press, the whole of Dr. Morton’s
correspondence with the scientific world was entrusted to Dr.
P atterson and myself for mutual reference. But, the unbounded
confidence with which we have been honored, whilst most precious
to our feelings, enhances greatly our responsibility. ! Actuated, individually,
by the sole desire to render justice to our beloved friend,
each of us has executed his part of the task to the best of his ability:
at the same time we can emphatically declare that, until the pages of
our work were stereotyped, no member of Dr, Morton’s family was
cognizant of their verbal contents. Thus much it is my privilege to
testify, in order that, if any of the writers have erred in their conceptions
of Morton’s scientific opinions, the onus of such inadvertence
may fall upon themselves exclusively, nevertheless, the singleness
of purpose and harmony of method with which Dr. Mott, Dr. Patterson,
and myself, have striven to fulfil our pledges, are guarantees
['that no erroneous interpretations, if any such exist, can have arisen
intentionally. Throughout this volume, M orton speaks for himself.
The receipt at Mobile of such welcome accretions to our ethnographical
stock prompted a change of plan. In lieu of ephemeral
notices in a Review, Dr. Mott united with me in the projection of
“ Types of Mankind ” ; the scope of which has daily grown larger, in
the ratio of the facilities with which we have been signally favored.
On the first printed announcement of our intention [Mew Orleans,
December, 1852], the interest manifested among the friends of science
was such, that, by March, I counted nearly 500 subscriptions in
furtherance of the work.
Prof. Agassiz’s very opportune visit to Mobile during April,
1858, led to a ^contribution from his own pen that bases the Matural
History of mankind upon a principle heretofore unanticipated.
Dr. U sher kindly volunteered a synopsis of the geological and /palaeontological
features of human history; and Dr. P atterson, fellow-
P R E F A C E . x i
citizen, professional colleague, and admiring friend of Dr. Morton,
undertook the biographical Memoir which justifies this volume’s
dedication. The frank concurrence of Messrs. L ippingott, Grambo
& Co. has removed every obstacle to effective publication: and thus,
through the liberality and thirst for information, so eminently
characteristic of American republicanism, “ Types of Mankind,”
invested with abundant signatures, issues into day as one among
multitudinous witnesses how, in our own age and land, scientific
works can be written and* published without solicitation of patronage
from Governments, Institutions, or Societies; hut solely through
the co-operative support of an educated and knowledge-seeking
people. |
The departments of our undertaking, respectively assumed by Dr.
Mott and myself, having been already set forth (infra, Part HI.,
Essay I., p. 626), repetition is here superfluous. But while, on my
side I was enabled to devote nearly twelve months of uninterrupted
seclusion (in Baldwin county, Alabama) to my portion of the
labor, it must not he forgotten, on the other, that my colleague at
Mobile performed his task under the ceaseless pressure of the severest
professional duties. In view, therefore, of the amount of Dr. Mott s
achievements under such adverse circumstances, the reader who may
he pleased to criticize the editorship of “ Types of Mankind,” whilst
recognizing my colleague’s hand in every line of Part I., and his
frequent suggestions throughout Parts H. and HI., as concerns the
substance, will act hut justly if, as regards modes of expression,
he should direct any strictures towards myself; whose part it has
been occasionally to connect the various, sections of this work by
’reconstructed sentences, or through a few intercalated paragraphs,
consequent upon the reception of new “ copy” from Dr. Mott during
the passage of these sheets through the press. Even at this later
stage of our enterprise, owing to the distance between Mobile and
Philadelphia, and to the dire havoc produced by a yellow fever
simultaneously among our friends around Mobile Bay, I have not
possessed the advantage of Dr. Mott’s revision of “ proof-sheets, ’
nor had he the time to propose alterations.
The Preface to my Otia JEgyptiaca assigns sufficient reasons why
any aspirations of mine towards excellence in English composition
would be vain. With myself, style is ever subordinate to matter /
but my valued friends, Mr. R edwood E isher, Mr. L loyd P. Smith,
and Dr. H enry S. P atterson, have most obligingly looked over a
large portion of the “ revises” as they came from the hands of the
stereotyper.
I indulge, the hope that all those gentlemen who have directly