Indigenous Races of the Earth

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,I I TilE :MONOGENTSTS AND volnmo of tho form 't' app nr d in Germany dtn·ing April, 1843. '' Il fut conHid6r6 (say M. Fayc,)62 commo l' xprcssion ftdulc do l'6tat dcH sci 'no s physiqn s." In that year but 11 planets were known to astronom rs. But1 by J 46, on tho issue of tho French version, M. II en ·kc, ofDri ss n, having di covered anotb r, it became incumbent upon ils translator to cou nt 12:-"Mais los appreciations de M. de Humboldt n'on ont r yll ancuno attointc; au contrai.ro, cctto d6cou­v rto I ur apporto uno force llOnvolJ , uno v6rification do plus." How many m r have turn d up sine , I do not know. PllOF. RIDDELL already cnnm rat d "tltirLy- ight known astcroids,03 at New Orleans in F hruary 185G. an any one suppo that Baron do Humboldt, rc iding iu the centro of royal science at Potsdam, is not at this hour more pr ·i ly informed? onscqu n Lly, if my individual convictions happen to differ from tho ethnological doctl'ino ofl3aron do J [umboldt, I wish critics to comprc­b nd that .r.am fully awat·o of the enormous clispal'ity existing between o.m rcsp ct1vo m ntal capacities and attainments; and wl1ilst, on my Slclo, tho consciousness of his sup riority serves to increase my admi­rn. tion,. ~cannot bllt congratulate my elf that,-howov r other great autho.nllcs may be found to agl'cc with, or to contradict him, on tho qu st1on ofllllman mono()'cnism or polygonism-inrcj cting "myths " :'tict~o.n," .and '.'p1· .tended tra<lition," I find myself merely a~d Imphc1t.Jy followmg 1n the wake of Ar,EXANDim voN HuMBOLDT. o high, indcc.d, is my inclividnnl rovcrcnco for tho authority of ITtlm b?ldt, that, 11~ the pt· sent essay, my part chiefly confines itself to s tt111g fort,h lnl:l tlmological opinions in juxtaposition to other gr at men's; lc::w ~ng the unpr dudicodroadcr to iorm his own judg­m nt, as t~ the SJ lc .on which scientific truth holds toe prcpondc­rat~ c · :V1th the tlucs, said to be involved in such problem, I do no~ prtr~tc~1l::wly concern myself: my own notions in this matter bCJnO' sumlar to those of my lamented collaborator Dr. IIcmy . P.atl~l'SOil i~ viz: ~h~t, inasmuch as the l'C}igions dogma of man­kmd s Umty of or1gm bas never yet instigated tho difrcrent rae s of m ~ to a?t toward each other lih "brothers," it might still oc~m, _m a dtstant future, that, when tho antagonistic doctrine of Dwe?·stty shall be roco()'nized as attesting one of Nat ' · 1 o ur s orgamc ~ws, such c~ange of th ory may possibly superinduce some a1Lcra-twn of ~wact10o; and then that men of distinct lineages may become ns I desire, m?l'~ really-humane in their mutual intercourse. If uncle;. the monogemst10 hypothesis, mankind cannot well be worse oft' Gl Co•mol, Tr. ed., 1846, "Avortiseomont du Tro.ducteur" PP ii' : ~ddrt&~_read before the Nfw Orlean& Acadrmy of Scicn:t8, 1B5ftp. 2. Mornolr of Samuol Gool·go Morton," Jypea of Mankind, pp. li-lii. TUE POLYGENISTS. 42!) than tl1cy arc now, some hopes of ovcntnal melioration may, pcr­ltapl'l, b inclnlg din, by sustainors of the I oly O' nistic point of viov. liumhol<lt's Jann·ua<rc on this qt1csLion admits of no eqnivoqu .­" But, in my opinion, more powerful reasons militate in fhvor of the 1111 i ty of tho hrunan species." * * * "In sustaining the unity of tho human species, we r eject, as a necessary conscqncnco, the dis­tt ·cssing distinction of supcl'ior and of infcrioe races:" -and he ter·millatos by citing his brother's beautiful aphorism 65 ~'"An idea that reveals itself' athwart history, wl1ilst extending daily its salutary cmpii·e, an idea which, bcttce than any othet·, proves tho fact so often cont steel, but still oftencl· misunderstood, of the general pcriocti­hility of the spccicfl, is tbc idea of humanity."' I am unconscious, ortainly, of a disposition to deny tho historical fact last indicated; neither do I question tho irnprovablcnoss of cv ry race of man, each in tho ratio of its own geadc of oro·anization, nor donbt tho beneficial influence of such modern belief wherever it can be implanted: but, not on that account do I consider a Tasma­nian, a Fuegian, a J(almulc, an Orang-benua, or a Becltuana, to doscoll(l fi·om tho same blood lineage as tho noblest o£' living Ten tons:- wl10 c loftiness of soul gives utterance to an "idea," such as that which no education conld instil into the brains of tho above-named five, among many other races. The very idea itself is purely "Caucasian;" and as such, together with tl'UO civilization, servos tho more strongly to mark distinctions of mental organism, amonO'f>t tho various g roups of historical humn,nity. To tho second proposition, recognizing, with Do Gobincau,06 and with Pott,07 tho existence of "superior and of infer·ior races" as simply a fact in natnr , I will submit some objections as we proceed: at the same tim that I cn,n perceive nothing "depressing," "ch ct·­lcss," or "distressing," in any fact, humanly comprehensible, of the Or ator's laws, in crutable to human reason though they may y t l>o. But it is tho accumcy of tho .first assertion, viz: "the uuity of the human species," tl1at, withont some ventilation of tho Baron's pre­cise m aning, I cannot accept; for tho same reasons whicl1, in the Pal'il:lian discussion before alluded to (supra, p. 404), M. d'EicltLhal ndducos in l1is report to the Societe Etltnologique. A.nd here, in order to meet ung ncrous or mjsappliod criti ·ism, oo A. DTJ UuMnor.nT, Cosmos, French ocl.; I, pp. 423, 430; nnd p. 570, note 43; quoting W. do Jhmtboldt, 011 the Katui tongue, lLI, p. 420. Compnro Ott6's traust., I, pp. 352, 358; with abi11e'&, pp. 8151, 355-6. oo 11lfgaliU des Races lmmaines (supra, p. 188). 67 Die Ungleicltlieit menaclitichcr llaasen !laupifiichlicli 110111 Sprac!lwi&ae/lacl,aftliclim Sta11d­purlkle, &c.-llo.llo, 8vo, 1856.