| OCR Text |
Show I I 136 THE MONOGENISTS AND side, accordingly as wo stumble npon a given edition of his learned and usefnl book. In tho on before mc,00 I find this conclnsion: "5thly. That the hnman species, therefore, like that of the cow, sheep, horse, and pig, is single; and that all th difl:orcnces which it exhibits, arc to be rcgarcl d merely as varieties." Alas! I fear fLat if the unity of mankind cannot be sustained upon better zoological or analogical grounds than this supposed singleness of species of cows, sheep, horses, or oven pigs, there arc but fow naturalists, at tho present dn.y, who tlo not take an opposite view. A lonO' list of minor writers on man, exclusive of numerous theological dilettanti-of Jess importance than the Abb6 Frhe 81 or the Ahb6 Mignc82- might here be introduced, b fot·e reaching Ensobe de allcs 83 at Marseilles, IJollard 81 of Geneva, or Ward85 in London -all of whom, setting out with preconceived determination to vindicate tho parental claims of "Adam and Eve," enter ipso facto into the catoO'ory above distinguished by the Jetter A. Tho whole of these authors, great or small, merge into PmonARD, -whose profound bibliographical knowledge and unsurpassed industt ·y constitute at once tho alpha and onu~ga of all that may survive the criticism of aclvancing sci nco, in the abov -nam d books. In our "Typos of Mankind," what my collabot·ator, Dr. Nott, and myself doomed to be this revered ethnographer's fallaeics, bas ah·?ady been pointed out. By omitting to bestow adequate considcmtwn on "permanence of type," when all materials wore within his reach, Dr. Pl'ichat'd exposed tho vital CJ'l'Ot' of his system, leaving to Ik Morton tho honors of the fjold. I ltavo no wish to disturb the t~.Shcs of departed greatness, except to consocl'atc those of both men in funereal urns of equal gt'andcur. Mr. Edwin Norris's now and boaut~ful edition 86 is emboli ishod, and in philology uscfnlly extended, by th1s lcarn.cd gentleman's notes. The ending sentence, on the final page, d1scloses tho only ultimatum of I ricbard's doctrine that now concerns us. It scorns like the last vestige of dogmatical bias 110 Lectures 011 PhyaiologJI, Zoology, and tl1e Natural History of .Man; 1 vol. 8vo,r::1don, 1810; compare p. 601 with 548. 81 l'rincipea de la Phitosopllie del' Tfiatoire, Pnris, 1838; pp. 78-89 :-and L' Ilomme comw par ln 1Uv6/ation, Paris, 1838; II, pp. 106, 20G-221. 81 Dict~o1mair~ de !'Ellmograpllie moderne, 4to, double column, P1wis, 1858, pp. 19271 Its only mor1t ~on81sts m tho ropublicatiou, by way of introductory, of D'ObiALIUS D'IIAJ.r.ov'R excellent :eumen/a d'lJ:tlmograpltie. 20:!~/. Gtn. des Racca Ifumainea, ou Pldloaophie Etlmographiqtle, Paris. 12mo, 1840; pp. : Del' Ilomme et des Race& Tlumainea, Pnris, 12mo, 1868; last page. Tile Natural T!istory of Jlfankind, London, 12mo, 1811); p. 7, &o. 8IJ PltlOITAUil, Natural History of ft(an, edited by l~dwin Nonis, ]~sq. r.onrlon Dl\illillro 2 vols. 8vo, 1851; U, p. 7l4. ' ' ' 'l'J!R POLYGT•;NISTS. 4B7 which its upright penman did not live to modi(y or oflitcc: "We are entitled to d mw coufidon tly the conclusion that all human races arc of one spceies and one family." Not in any sense derived from theologi cal formularies, however, docs Alexander von Humboldt understand tho term "unity" as classified u ndor om letter A. No such idea can be found throughout the cloven pages of Cosmos devoted to tho "hurnan species" as a compo1tcnt part of nature. On tho conLrary, in tho paragraph that heads this essay (ubi su.p~·a), llumboldt oxln·csf:lly repudiates mythlj, fiction, and pr·etended tmdition. Lot ns inquire whether the Baron'!:! definition of tl1is word should find a plftco with loU r B. To a certain ext nt it must; because tho pl1raso "Ltnity of the human species," preceding and foll wing tl1c do -laration of tl1c grcaL physiologist John Mi.illor, viz: tltat "human races arc the forms of an unique species," 87 necessarily implies ·outJoction with tho tcnninology of Natural Uistot·y. Such, I find, is tiJO sense in which the Baron's l amed countryman, Dr. Zcuno, understand!:! tho same pa<~sago-" Tho expression, 'unity of tho human race,' has boon variously misunderstood, and refet·t·cd to the so-called unity, or dose nl from a single hnmau pair. But the honored allthor did not mcau the world-historical unity, but the natural-historical unity ,; that is, the prolific perpetuation of tho different human races, so that their hybrids can again cohabit fruitfully with each other; and not like allied genom [groups], such as the horse a11d ass, wolf and dog, produce sterile hybrids, like mules [cavalinc-a. sos] and wolf-dog [111 - pinc-hound], wbi •h can on'ly propagate themselves through the parent stock." He remarks, besides, "'l'o draw tl1o origin of tho difl:oront human races from one single man is absurd antl impossible. Thcs' races exist iudcpondontly one from another since the old st times. Which was the most ancient it is impossible to say." 88 So also, still more recently, docs Owcn,69 who c anatomical authority is to non · inferior, conclude that-" Man is the sole species of his genus, the solo representative of his order ;"-almost tho words of Blumonbach, echoed by eminent naturalists for three consecutive generations; especially by those who with Cuvior,00 Do Blainvillo,01 Gervais,02 aJICl 87 Ormno~, F1·. od., i. p. 425; u.nd infra. 88 U ber Sclwdrluildu1>fJ zur fntem B•grundtmg der ~fencltmrasscn, Borlin, l 846. so Nowspo.pN' ropo1·t'of Loctru·c on .Antllropoidre before tho BriliJii .A8sociation for the Ad-vancemmt of Science; session of 1864. oo 0Rmnl'll'B tmnHl., 1, London, p. 129. 91 Ostlographie, Jllammij~rcs, Primates; 4to., 1841. 92 Troi8 I'~!J11Cs de la Nat are, Ilist. Nat. des Mammijarts, 4to., Pm·is, 1854; lre. pn.rtio, pp. 7-8 |
