same cause as the colour of the Negro; cases have been observed in which the whole skin in Europeans becomes quite dark, although only temporarily.' There exists therefore a disposition to a darker colouring, and we may consequently believe it to be possible that in the youth of the human race, and under the influence of climatic conditions, this tendency was developed and became permanent in the races which at the present time are not white.2 3 Climatic and other local conditions seem to have a certain influence on the formation of the skulls. A series of observations, quoted by Baer, seem to prove that tribes who live on the sea-coast, or in plains, have flatter skulls; hillmen, on the other hand, higher, more rounded skulls. But at any rate, just as the climate affects the colour of the skin, the mode of life and the spiritual development must have a great effect on the general bodily condition of man, especially on the form of the skull and face. Prichard quotes the following example. Two hundred years ago, a great multitude of the native Irish were driven from the counties of Antrim and Down to the sea-coast, where they have been almost ever since in unusually miserable circumstances. The consequence has been that they are still distinguished by very degraded features, being remarkable for "open projecting mouths, with prominent teeth and exposed gums; their advancing cheekbones and depressed noses bear barbarism on their 4 1 Peschel, Volkerkunde, p. 91. Burmeister, Geol. Bilder, ii. 134. 2 A. Wagner, Gesch. der Urwelt, ii. 180, 254. Rauch, Einheit, etc. p. 82. 3 Bericht, etc. p. 9. 4 Prichard, Researches, ii. 349. very front." "They are five feet two on an average, pot-bellied, bow-legged, and abortively featured." The low stature and an abnormal thinness of the limbs is everywhere the outward sign of low and barbarous conditions of life. This is seen especially in the Bushmen and the aborigines of Terra del Fuego and Australia.1 Baer found in the Tartar races evident signs of the influence of the mode of life, and especially of the food, on the skulls and shapes of the face. "The Tartars of Kasan have by no means broad faces and high cheek-bones, their faces are narrow, sometimes long, with large projecting and often hooked noses. Their skulls are of the medium form, in which none of the dimensions preponderate over the others. I found that the Tartars on the Kur river were still handsomer, for they were without a certain vulgarity which I observed in the Volga Tartars. Why is it that other Tartars who live in the Volga Ural steppes not far from the Kasan Tartars, and who speak the same language, have broad faces, broader and less projecting noses, and altogether a much rougher appearance? Like Prichard, I find the cause in the different mode of life; for I would observe especially that this is no case of different peoples, collected together under one name by the ethnologist, but of one people which looks on itself as the same. The Tartars of Kasan and of the Kur, like their neighbours in the Trans-caucasian provinces, are old inhabitants, live in regular houses, which among the Kasan Tartars at any rate are kept 1 Waitz, Anthropologie, i. 63. Cf. Vogt, Vorlesungen, ii. 229. clean, and follow agriculture and gardening besides cattle trade; the cereals, especially wheat and rice, form a considerable portion of their food. The Tartars of the steppes are nomads; they have therefore moveable kibitkas, live only on animal food, and their confined dwellings give little opportunity for cleanliness. If we go farther east, and examine tribes who speak a language belonging to the Turkish Tartar family, although some of them go by different names, we find that the face gets broader and the cheek-bones more prominent. The prominence of the cheek-bones, which is usually found with breadth of skull if the food is distinctly animal, reminds us of the fact that carnivorous animals are distinguished from graminivorous animals by prominent cheek-bones, and suggests the possibility that we may see in this the influence of food on the variations of the human race. I am inclined to admit this possibility, for I find that in all the tribes which live solely on animal food, the cheekbones are more prominent than in those which, like the Hindoos and the Indo-Germanic peoples, eat a great deal of vegetable food."1 I do not quote these observations in order to infer from them that the origin of the differences in the human races may be explained by the influences of climate, mode of life, and other outward conditions ; but, first of all, in order to show that these influences may be productive of great changes in mankind. And even if the races of mankind are now fixed, so that these influences do not produce such an effect as they must once have produced if they formed the different 1 Cf. Vogt, Vorlesungen, i. 33. races of mankind, this is the case also with several races of animals. It cannot be said to be incredible that ages ago the variations of which a species was capable were developed, were reproduced, and then remained fixed, that in the early ages such processes of differentiation took place, and stopped when they had attained to their natural limits. Cardinal Wiseman gives a very fine analogy to this. He says: "In the child, the circulation of the blood, the absorbing and digestive operations, all the functions of life, are the same as in man, with variations only as to the degree of activity; they commence with being, and are regular through its duration. But in its earlier stages there is, besides, a plastic virtue at work within us, traceable to no law of necessity, having no clear dependence on the general course of the ordinary vital powers, which gives growth and solidity to the limbs, characteristic shape to the features, gradual development and strength to the muscles; then to all appearance sinks into inertness and ceases to act, till age seems once more to call the extraordinary laws into activity, to efface the impression, undo the work of their earlier operations. And, in like manner, we must allow that in the world's infancy, besides the regular ordinances of constant and daily course, causes necessary to produce great and permanent effects may have had a power now no longer wanted, and consequently no longer exercised; that there was a tendency to stamp more marked features on the earth and its inhabitants, to produce countries as well as their vegetation, races as much as individuals." It is not unscientific to assume 1 1On the Connection, etc. i. 238, 239. that impressions which were to be characteristic and lasting were formerly more easily imparted, and more indelibly fixed, even if, as Müller says, we cannot completely explain in detail the causes of the formation of race. Baer says, "It seems to me that we may perfectly assume that in the first series of generations the type was more variable, and therefore could be more powerfully affected by the influences of nature. So that the changes in the human type which we still see caused by the transition to different climatic or other conditions, would only be faint repetitions of a great process of differentiation in primitive times.' These remarks are not intended to prove that we must assume on physiological grounds that the different races of mankind have sprung from one primitive race, but only that there is a physiological explanation of this, and therefore that it is possible. As I have before observed, this is all we want, for we may now say that the Biblical doctrine of the unity of mankind does not contradict any certain physiological conclusion; on the contrary, the facts that all human races resemble each other in many important particulars, and that without. exception they are able to intermix fruitfully, are distinctly in favour of the specific unity of mankind, and the differences in the races do not prove that they are independent. "There is no reason for assuming," says Baer," that the different peoples originally come forth different from the hand of nature. On the contrary, there is reason for supposing that they have become different through the different influences of climate, food, and social conditions." 1 Cf. Jahrbuch für Deutsche Theologie, vi. 710. 2 Studien, p. 35. |