reversed. I am, however, told that the progeny derived from a Negro
father presents characteristics different from those where the male
parent of mulattoes is white; and consequently I suspend decision.
Our ordinary mulattoes are nearly intermediate between the parent
stocks; governed, apparently, very much by laws similar to those we
have instanced in the grey-hound and fox-hound. They are, however,
as before stated, less prolific than the parent stock; which condition
is coupled with an inherent tendency to run out, so much so,
that mulatto humanity seldom, if ever, reaches, through subsequent
crossings with white men, that grade of dilution which washes out
the Negro stain.
While speaking of dogs, we hinted, that the brain and nervous
system, in animal nature, are so influenced by crossing, as to make
instincts and senses partake of intermediate characters. The same
law applies to human white and black races; for the mulatto, if certainly
more intelligent than the Negro, is less so than the white man.
His intelligence, as a general rule, augments in proportion to the
amount of white-blood in his veins. This .is invariably the case in
the United States. In Hayti, mulattoes governed until exterminated
by the blacks; and it is the mulatto element which now dominates,
and always will govern in Liberia, until this experimental colony be
annexed by Anglo-Saxons, or annihilated by native Negroes. Comparisons
of crania alone substantiate this view, upon anatomical
grounds; the past ratifies it, upon historical data: future Liberian
destinies, if deduced from such premises, are not exhilarating. Again, in
Africa itself, all Negro empires are ruled by the superior JWaA races.
It may be received, I think, as a fact, that in white races the
intellect of children is derived much more from the mother than the
father. Popular experience remarks, that great men seldom beget
great sons; and it is equally true, that dull women do not often produce
intelligent children. On the other hand, the mothers of great
men almost invariably have been distinguished by vigorous natural
intellects, whether cultivated or not. Now, it is singularly noteworthy,
in connection with the above phenomena, that this doctrine
seems to be reversed where black are crossed with white races. The
intellect of a mulatto, child of a white male and a Negress, is cer
tainly superior to that of the Negro; and I have pointed out, when
speaking of the mule and bardeau, that the form of the head is given
by the sire. Space now precludes my doing more than suggest inquiry
into a new and interesting point, unfortunately not illumined
by Morton’s penetration.
Again and again,.in previous publications, I have alluded to the
fallibility of arguments drawn from analogy alone, while insisting
that no true analogies can be said to exist. Every animal, from man
to the worm, is governed by special physiological laws. Let me
notice, en passant, the curious fact, that natural giants and dwarfs are
next to fabulous in the animal kingdom, although frequent enough
in the human family; subjoining an extract from one of my earlier
articles on hybridity: +—
“ Catherine de Medicis amused herself and court by collecting, from various quarters, a
number of male and female dwarfs, and forming marriages amongst them; hut they were
all unprolific. The same experiment was made by the Electress of Brandenburg, wife of
Joachim Frederic, and with the same result. Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, in his researches, has
been able to discover but one exception, the famous dwarf Borwilaski, and there are strong
doubts about the faithfulness of his wife, who was a woman of full stature. Giants are
likewise impotent, deficient in intellect, feeble in body, and Bhort-lived. It is a remarkable
fact, that giants and dwarfs proper are almost unknown in the animal kingdom, while they
are common in all the races of men, and under all circumstances.” 449
Our chapter on Gf-eographical Distribution alludes to one peculiar
efiect in the crossing of races, as illustrated by the blacks and whites
in our Southern States: viz.— how the smallest admixture of Negro
blood is equivalent to acclimation against yellow fever, being almost
tantamount to complete exemption.
Much passes current, among breeders of domestic animals, about
the improvements of breeds by crossing them; and similar ideas have
been suggested by many writers, as applicable to the human family;
but the notion itself is very unphilosophical, and could never have
originated with any intelligent naturalist of’ thorough experience in
such matters. It is mind, and mind alone, which constitutes the
proudest prerogative of man; whose excellence should be measured
by his intelligence and virtue. The Negro and other unintellectual
types have been shown, in another chapter, to possess heads much
smaller, by actual measurement in cubic inches, than the white races;
and, although a metaphysician may dispute about the causes which
may have debased their intellects or precluded their expansion, it can
not be denied that these, dark races are, in this particular, greatly
inferior to the others of fairer complexion. Now, when the white
and black races are crossed together, the offspring exhibits throughout
a modified anatomical structure, associated with sundry eBaracter-
istics of an intermediate type. Among other changes superinduced,
the head of a mulatto is larger than that of the Negro; the forehead
is more developed, the facial angle enlarged, and the intellect becomes
manifestly improved. This fact is notorious in the United States; and
it is historically exemplified by another: viz., that the mulattoes,
although but a fraction of the population of Hayti, had ruled the
island till expelled by the overwhelming jealousy and major numerical
force of the blacks. In Liberia, President Roberts boasts of but one