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Show 216 THE DESCENT OF MAN. PART Ji: than would at first be supposed. This is well shewn by the French photographs in the Collection Anthropologique du Museum of the men belonging to various races, the greater number of which, as many persons to whom I have shown them have remarked, might pass for Europeans. Nevertheless, these men if seen alive would undoubtedly appear very distinct, so that we are clearly much influenced in our judgment by the mere colour of the skin and hair, by slight differences in the features, and by expression. There is, however, no doubt that the various races., when carefully compared and measured, differ much from each other,-as in the texture of the hair, the relative proportions of all parts of the body,2 the capacity of the lungs, the form and capacity of the skull, and even in the convolutions of the brain.3 But it would be an endless task to specify the numerous points of structural difference. The races differ also in constitution, in acclimatisation, and in liability to certain diseases. Their mental characteristics are likewise very distinct~ chiefly as it would appear in their emotional, but partly in their intellectual, faculties. Every one who has had the opportunity of comparison, must have been struck with the contrast between the taciturn even morose, aborigines of S. America and the light: hearted, talkative negroes. There is a nearly similar contrast between the Malays and the Papuans,4 who live • 2 A .vast number of measurements of Whites, Blacks, and Indians, aregiven m the' Investigations in the Military and Anthropolo"'. Statistics. of A~erican Soldiers,' by B. A. Gould, 1869, p. 29S-a5s ; on the· capacity of the lungs, p. 471. See also the numerous aud valuable tables, by Dr. Weisbach, from the observations of Dr. Scherzer. audl Dr. Schwarz, in the' Reise der Novara: Anthropolog. Theil,' 1867. 3 See, for instance, Mr. Marshall's account of the brain of a llush.woman, in' Phil. Transact.' 1864, p. 519. 4 Wallace, 'The Malay ~.rchipelago,' vol..ii. 18G9, p. 17S. CUAP. VII. THE RACES OF MAN. 217 under the same physical con<litions, and are separated. from each other only by a narrow space of sea. vV e ':vill first consider the arguments which may be advanced in favour of classing the races of man as distinct species, and then those on the other side. If a naturalist, who had never before seen such beings, were to com pare aN egro, Hottentot, Australian, or Mongolian, he would at once perceive that they differed in a multitude of characters, some of slight and some of considerable importance. On inquiry he would find that they were adapted to live under widely different climates, and that they differed somewhat in bodily constitution and mental disposition. If he were then told that hundreds of similar specimens could be brought from the same countries, he would assuredly declare that they were as. good species as many to which he had been in the habit of affixing specific names. ':J..1his conclusion would be greatly strengthened as soon as he had ascertained that these forms had all retained the same character for many centuries; and that negroes, apparently identical with existing negroes, had lived at least 4000 years ago.5 He would also hear from an excellent observer;. 5 With respect to the figures in the famous Egyptian caves of Abou-· Simbel, M. Pouchet says (' The Plurality of the Human Races,' Eng_ translat. 186±, p. 50), that be was far from :finding recognisable repre~:; entations of the dozen or more nations- which some authors believe that they can recognise. Even some of the most strongly-marked races cannot be identified with ~at degree of unanimity which might have been expected from what has been written on the subject . Thus lVIessrs. Nott and Gliddon ('Types of Mankind,' p. 118) state that Rameses II., or the Great, has features superbly European; whereas Knox, another :firm believer in the specific distinction of the races. of man ('Races of Man,' 1850, p. 201), speaking of young l\'Iemnon (the same person with Rameses II., as I am informed~by Mr. Birch) insists in the strongest manner that he is identical in character with the Jews of Antwerp. Again, whilst looking in the British Museum with two competent judges, officers of the establishment, at the statue or Amunoph III., we agrc·ed that he had a strongly negro cast of features |