Indigenous Races of the Earth

XGN23N881857 247

1G2 'l'IIE MON'OGENISTS AND shapes as well as in tho structure of iheir principal organs, an oviC!ent inferiority, if one compares them with the P1·imates, and beyond all with Man." Science, therefore, at the present hour, ceases to go back to the long-exploded alld (considering the epoch of its n.dvocates) over-sati­rized notions ofMonboddo, Ronssean, or Moscati.170 Such historical theory only continues to aftord pabulum for homily-writers, who, groping still amidst Augusto Comte's 177 sub-metaphysical strata, imagi no, not perbn.ps unr asonably, that some of their readers have learned nothing since the XVIIIth centnry. Ev n in the time of Voltaire-to whom men merely seem d to be so many monkoyA without tails-of the apparently tail-1 ss quadrumana (Orang, Chim­panzee, and orilla), but one species (except, of conr e, 'l'y on's Chimpanzee, 1608,178 and Bufron's, 1740) was known to France; and that one, the Orang-utan,- belonging to tho prince of Orange, 1776-too imperfectly for him to perceive, between the "lor l of ct·oation" and his caeicaturo, a still closer analogy: or, again, for the immortal bngb at· of p eudo-pietists to comprehend that, if tl1o absence of such exterior appendage in tho above throe primates docs not tho more constitute a true "monkey," noithot· docs its presence, in tho seveml authentic examples cited by Lucas,179 tho loss consti­tute a true "man." o that, while man, a "the solo r presentative of his genus," possesses no tail, thoro are individual instnncos that bring tho case much nearer home than tho inter sti11g fact for which the latest English partisan of snocossivo transformations 180 on­countered obloquy; viz.: that" tho bones of a caudal extremity exist, in an undeveloped state, in tho os coccygis of tho human subject." Why, if such ''deviations" as that melancholy case of tho "por 11pino fami ly," or those worn-out sr ecimons of "soxidigital individuals," m ZntM.!:IntAN, Zoo/. g6og., p. Hl4. m Oours de Philosophic Positive, PtLris, 1830; I, pp. 3-5. 118 MARTIN, Man and Afollkcys, London, 8vo., 1841; pp. 879 o.nd 402. l?U ll6r6diti Naturclle, I, pp. 310-20 :-referring to SEllll.!:B, o.nd toTs. a •:oF. SA lN'r TTit,AIRI~. "Lc doveloppcmont oong6nio.l de cot o.ppcndicc (o. tail) so lie en effet 1\U rapport tros-oon­staut, qu'il (S1m1n:s) a domontr<S, entre 1'6volution de lo. moolle 6pinii\rc ot cclle do Jo. queue. Lo. mo llo 6pinioro so pt·olongo, dans l'origino, jusqu'il. l'oxtr6mit6 tlu c~tnal vertebral, chez tous los nn.imaux do lit classe ou il existo, ot tous, il. ccttc 6poquo de lo. vic cmbryonnirc, sc tronvent amsi munis d'uno queue plus ou moine longue solon qu'ult6rieurcment, ot d'npros le,s ospecos, lc prolongement de Ia moclle so maintient ou so :rolit·o, l'o.xe verlobr11l est ou nest ,pas pourvu d'uu appcndico cautln.l. * * * Et il arrive ainsi quolqucfoi~ (so.ys I. G. ST. Ilu,Aml!l) que Ia moiille 6piniorc, oousorvn.nt sa premiere diRposition, s'6tcndc oncOI·o, chez l'homme, au moment de l~t n11issltnce, juaqu'il. l'oxtr6mit6 du coccyx. D11ns co ens, In colon no vort6brn.lo res to tormin6o par uno quouo." . 160 Vestiges of 01'eation, 1st N'ow Yot·k etlil.ion, 12mo, p. J 48. In spo11king of "n.pparontly t~Il-loss monkeys," it mny bo woll to rof(lr to the skeletons of Orn.ng-satyrus •rroglodytos 111gor, and Gorilla Gintt, in OtllWAIS, op. cit., pp. 14, 26, 82. ' TJIE POLYGENISTS. 4G3 hn.vo been paraded by every monogonist, from Zimmerman 181 to I:' ri­chard, 182 in proof of how a new 1·ace of men might, according to them, origi nato- why, I repeat, do they not observe consistency of argu­ment, whilst always violating th ir own law of "spocics"-i. e., per­manency of normal typo-and allow that a Parisian saddler, 183 or tho late Mr. Barber of Inverness, 181 might and ought to have procreated entire generations of now human "spoci a" with tails? Partial is tho unity-school to natural analogies, accusing polygonists of tendency to disregard them. Our "chart of Monkeys," further on, will at least show that I am not obnoxious to this grave charge. In the interim, there arc but two living savans, that I am aware of - tbe one a natumlist and courageous voyager; 185 tho othol', if not exactly an archroologist, a much mol'o famous champion of ortho­doxy, 100 - who believe in the exit~ ton co, past or present, of whole nations decorated with tails. The former, when at Bahia, hoard, from tho voracious lips of imported IIaoussa negroes, of the "Niams­Niams, m ou hommes a queue;" who still whisk their tails in .Africa, about thirteen days' joumoy from Kano (not far from that Island 181 Op. cit., p. 172. 182 Rcsearchea into the Physical Ilistory of ftfan, 1st edition, 1813; pp. 72-5:- In tho 2tl edition (op. cit., J82G, J, pp. 204- 7), Priclt11rd fonnd out that the "porcupine family" WI\S flouri shing in its 8d genomtion! 183 J,ucAs, op. cit., I, pp. 137-8, 820-2. Instn.ncos of homines caudati: tho colebrn.tod corsni1· Ct·uvillior do Ia CioutrLt, of n. negro named Moh~tmmed, of a French officc1·, of M. do Drtr~o.bttr and his sister, und, lastly, of n.n attol'lloy 11t Aix, surnamed D6rord, whoso !4\il h1td (as in tho o11se Sou0NOKU .MollStror. Ids/. memomb., II, 84) tho curly shape of 11 pig's. JB< Compare MoNnonno, Of the Origin and l'rogren of Lm1guage, Edinburgh, 8vo, 2d od., 1774; I, pp. 258-GO, for tl1o men with long tn.ils at Nicobnr! Dut the following is less o.pochryphal: "Arid I coul cl protluco legal ovitlonce, by witnesses yet living, of a man in Inverness, one Barber, 11 teacher of mn.thonmtios, who h~td 1t tail, n.bout hn.lf 11 foot long, which he cnrcfully oonc011led during his lifo; but wr.ts discovered after his death, which happened o.bout twenty yenrs ngo." (P. 2G2, 11oto.) 185 DF: CARTF.tNAU, in Bulletin de la Societe de Gl ographic, Pttris, Juillot, 1851, p. 26. Camels, it is well known, were not introduced into Africn until Ptolomnio times ( 1'ljpC3 of .Afanki11d, pp. 254, 5ll-13, 729). Those seen by M. do CaRteh11tu's Ilfll'l'ltter, close by "lea hommes il. queue," must have been strny-awn.ys from 'l'unrik, Fooln.h, or Amb cnct\mpmcnts; be­cause no Ncg1·o race b11s ever perceived tl1e value of this ~tnimal, nor adopted its usc, ~tlthough for centuries omployod against them by theit· SUI'l'Oundiug oppressors; thus 1\llow­ing 11 stupid repugnance to testify to their own intollectn11l i uforiority (Conferre D'llwu·.ruAL, Ilist. e/. Origine des Fouta/is, Paris, 8vo., 1841; pp. 250-60, note). 186 f'ARAVEY, op. cit., 1852, pp. 1!4, 501. 187 'l'heso "Ninms-Ni11ms" 1tro fabulous (like tho Yahoo enemies of the virtuous Houy­bnlmms) Afl'ien.n 01\nnibo.ls, by difl'oront Ncgi'O tribes "severally called Remrcm, Lemltm, Demdcm, Yemyem, or N'yumn'um" (W. Df:suonouon Coou:Y, Negro-lm1d of the Arabs, 1841; pp. 112, 185: Gr,mDON, Otia ./Egyptiaca, London, 1840; p. 125, note). Since this Wl\8 written, I bear th11t M. 1'nH~tAUX, tho latest explorer of tho upper Nile (with BnuN-ROLr.w.r, a So.rclinin.n merolmnt at Khm·toom), bas, still more l'oocntly, exploded the notion of "le1 lwmmeJ a queue" in thn.t region also.