III. Although modern crossings only go back three
centuries, they have already produced results which make
it certain that races remarkable from every point of view
may be produced by crossing. The Paulists of Brazil are
a striking example of the fact. Tiie province of Saint Paul
has been peopled by Portuguese and inhabitants of the
Azores from the old world, who have formed alliances with
the Gayanazes, a hunting and pacific tribe, and with the
Carijos, who are warlike and agricultural. From these
unions, which have been regularly contracted, there has
sprung a race whose men have always been remarkable
for their tine proportions, their physical power, indomit-*
able courage, and endurance of fatigue. As for the
women, their beauty has given rise to a Brazilian proverb
which proves their superiority. This population shows its
pre-eminence in every respect. If it was once remarkable
for the expeditions of a*l venturers in search of gold or slaves,
it was also the first to ]>lant the sugar-cane in lirazil, and to
breed immen.se herds of cattle. " In the present day," savs
F. Deni.s, " the highest moral development as well as the
juost remarkable intellectual movements appear to come
irom Saint Paul."

Such praises paid to a j)opulation which is almost
entirely the result of a mixture of races, by a sagacious
observer, who luis long lived in Brazil, form a contra.st to
the reproaches cast upon American half-breeds by an im-
mense majority of travellers. As a general rule they arc
J tainted in the blackest colours. Although they are allowed
to possess physical bea\ity, and porhai>s also a prompt and



282 The HuDiaii Species.

ready intelligence, they are said to bo almost entirely without
morality. Let us admit that they differ as much from the
Pauli.sts in this respect as has been stated : the explanation
of the contrast is not difficult to find.

At Saint Paul, the earliest unions -were from the first
regularly contracted, thanks to the intervention of Fathers
Nobrega and Anchieta. In consequence of different cir-
cumstances, the mamahicos, who -were the result of these
marriages, were at once accepted as the equals of the pure
Whites. Here the crossing then was accomplished under
normal conditions, a fact, perhaps, unique in the history of
our colonics.

In reality, the mixture of races elsewhere owes its origin to
the worst passions ; prejudices of blood have caused half-
breeds to be regarded as tainted by the vice to which they
owed their origin, as outcasts from socieiy, or one might .say,
outlaued. Now what branch of the pure white race being
bom, growing, and thriving under contempt and oppression,
would [)reserve an elevated and moral character ? Moreover,
would the white fathers furnish examples capable of
influencing for goo<l the children which they had aban-
doned ? The contrary is evidently the case. Unrestrained
deljauchery on one side, and servile submi.ssion on the other,
arc the elements in the production of a half-breed race.
What could heredity transmit in the way of moral character
to the products of such unions ?

If anything should surpri.se uk, it is that half-breeds pro-
duced under such detestable conditions should already have
been able lo raise themselves. Now this has happened,
even with the mulattocs, in all ea.ses where prejudices of
race hav<! been less deeply rooted, and have yielded to per-
Honal merit. In Hra/il, most of the arti.sts and nuisieians arc
muluttocH, Hay M.M. Troyer and do Li.sboa. In confirMi.itiun
of this testimony. M. liiigos added that tlu; jxditicrd e.ipacity
••md scientifu; instinct arc; HCiire«dy less developed jiniong theui
than artistic aptitude. Several are dttctors and medical prac-
titionem of the higliest distinction. Lastly, M. 'J'orres Ca'icedo



Injliicncc of Crossing. 283

pnumcratcd to me among tlic mulattocs of liis country, orators,
j>octs, public men, and a vicc-prcsiilcnt of New Cirennda, -Nvho
was at the same time a distinguished author.

If the case is not the same where a social condemnation
weighs upon the man of colour, the reason is that the moral
and social conditions of life never lose their rights any more
than the physical conditions. But the preceding will, I
think, be a sut^cient proof that, when placed under normal
conditions, the half-breed of the Negro and the European
would certainly justify in every place the words of the old
traveller Thevcnot : "The mulatto can do all that the white
man can do ; liis intelligence is equal to ours."

IV. Althnugli I pnitest against the doctrines which tend
to depreciate mixed races, I am far from pretending that the
cro.ssing is at all times and in all places fortunate. Un-
doubtedly, if the union has taken place between inferior
races, the product will remain at the level of the parents.
But these unions are few in number. Even in South
America, the Zambo is relatively rare. The Negro appear-
ing everywhere in slavery, has been despised by the indi-
genous population.s, who, in spite of their dependent condition,
have preserved their individual liberty, and have avoided
union with the Negro.

It is the White who, impelled by his restless ardour, has
invadetl the world, and is every day multiplying his conquests
and colonies. It is he who has .searched out the home of the
coloured race.^ and who everywhere mingles his blood with
their own. Almost all the half-breed populations recognize
him as their father, and this gives ri.se to a double result.
I'hese races are at once raised above the maternal race, and
the two brought clo.ser together, as if they pos.sessed a
common element

Will this connection extend as far as fusion, as Serres and
Maury have admitted ? Will all our present races sooner
or later be replaced by a single homogeneous race, every-
where endowed with the sanie aptitudes and governed by a
(oiiiiiHin eivili/.atioti ? I do not think so; and what has just



2 84 Tlw Ilnniaii Species.

been said justifies the statement tluvt tliis uiiiforniity is ini-
possiljlo.

Doubtless the mixture of races, favoured ami multiplied
by the growing facility of- communication, appears to me to
prepare a new era. The races of the future, differing less
in blood, and brought together by railways and steamers,
will have far more inclinations, Avants, and interests in
common. Hence a state of things will rise superior to that
with which we are acquainted, although our civilization
ought, it seems to mc, to continue growing in spite of present
evils and approaching storms. We know how the Greek,
Roman, and the modern world were developed in succession ;
the modern future will embrace the entire globe.

But, although this civilization ■will become more general
and more widely spread, it will not suppress certain ditfcr-
cnces in the conditions of life. As long as there are j)oles and
an equator, continents and islands, or mountains and plains,
races will exist distinguished by chai-acters of every kind,
and superior or inferiur in a ])hysical, intellectual, and moral
point of view. In spite of cro.ssings, varieties and inequalities
will continue. But as a whole, mankind will be perfected ;
it will have grown ; and the civilizations of the future, with-
out causing those of the ]»a.st to be forgotten, will outstrip
them in some as yet uiikiKtwn (linction, just as ours have
outstripped those of our predecessors.



V. I have just closed the statement of tlir most general
(jui.'stions raised by the history (jf the human race.

The ])rineipal point to determine is the vu\hj ux the
inultijAicitt/ of ike Hpccies. There are some anthropologists,
even nn'ti of hi;^h distinction, who regard it as almost an idli;
fjuestion, a.s nuicly a (juestion of dngma or of ])liilosophy.
NcvertheU-HH, a little reHection is sufTuient to make it intel-
ligible, that the scicnr*' is entirely changed acronling jus it
is ri'ganled from a monn^^ciiist's or a pidygenist's point of
view. 1 have already iM)int(ul out this fact ; and beg permis-
sion to rctunj to it in a few word.n.



Injhicncc of Crossing. 285

After tlie fundanK'iital question of unity conies that of
<t)itiqn'(ty. This is put similarly in the two doctrines. But
the problem is simple and absolute for tlie monogenist, but
multiple and relative for the polygenist

The qiiCHtlon of the j^^'^^ce of or'uj'in, which next presents
itself, only exists in reality for the believer in the specific
unity of human groups. The doctrine of autochthonisni,
though greatly multiplying the question, reduces it to very
-imple terms, since it declares that all the populations were
born upon the spot whose foreign origin it does not establish,
and only admits movements of expansion.

For the polygenist the general question of migrations
does not exist. For particular cases autochthonisni supplies
everything. He who regards the Polynesians as having
appeared on the islands of the Pacific lias not to seek whence
they might have come.

The question of acclimatisation for the polygenist is
reduced to a small number of facts almost exclusively
modern, human populations being in his eyes naturally
formed for living under the conditions of life in which they
were born.

The question of the formation of races disappears entirely
for the polygenist, since the different species admitted by
him have api)earcd with all the characters which distinguish
the ditVerent human groups. At most lie has to concern
himself with the results of some modern crossings which are
too evident to be denied.

The question of primitive man does not exist for the
polygenist, since he recognizes all his species with the
characters wiiicli they have had from the commencement.

No one, I think, will dispute the truth of these proposi-
tions, which compel the conclusion that anthropology is an
entirely ditTerent science to the monogenist and the poly-
genist.

l^olygenism seems to simplify the science in a singular
manner ; it will be said that it suppresses its most apparent
ditlicultics. In reality it only docs so by veiling or denying



-56 The II Hit tan Species.

them, and thus conduces to inaccuracy. At the same time
it gives rise to others, which, althoui^'h less easily perceived,
are nevertheless more important, lor they are essentially of
a physiological nature, and cannot be solved l>y the general
laws of physiology.

Monogcnism seems at first to complicate and multiply
the problems. In reality it only states them clearly. By
that very means, it causes the necessity of long and per-
severing studies to be felt, which it rewards from time
to time with great discoveries. It has required almost a
century and the combined efforts of travellers, geographers,
physicians, linguists, and anthropologists to establish the
origin of the Polynesians, to follow their migrations, and to
determine the date of them. But when this work is once
set on the right track, human history is found to be enriched
by a magnificent page, which gives another testimony to
the intelligent activity of the human race and its conquests
over nature.



BOOK YIII.

FOSSIL HUMAN RACES.
CHAPTER XXV.

GENERAL OUSERVATIONS.

I. Tertiary man is only known to us from a few faint
traces of. his industry. Of tertiary man himself we know
nothing. Portions of his skeleton have been discovcrcJ
from time to time, it has been thought, in France, Switzer-
land, and especially in Italy. Closer study has, however,
always forced us to refer to a comparatively mucii later
[)eriud these human remains, Avhich, at first sight, were
regarded a.s tertiary.

It is different with (juaiciiiaiy innn. We have much
better and more precise information about him than about
many existing races. The caves which he inhabited, those in
which he binied his dead, and the alluvial deposits formed
by rivers, which have borne away his corpses, have preserved
numerous bones for our study. As many as forty different
places in all, especially in the western portion of Europe,
have supplied our museums with as many as forty skulls,
more or less intact, and numerous fragments of the cranium
and face, which science has been able to utilize, as well as a
-rcat nvmiber of the bones of the trunk and limbs, and even
some entire skeletons. The most remarkable specimen, freed
from the earth which covered it, but still left in its place, was
brought from Meutone by M. Riviere and is now to be seen
in the Anthropological Gallery of the Paris Museum.



288 The Human Species.

Sucli is llie accumulation of facts, aht-udy very consider-
able, which M. Haniy and I have consulted in arranging the
first part of our Crania-Edtnica. The importance of the
skull in anthropology is well known. It is of itself sufficient
to furnish the principal elements of the distinction of human
races. The study and comparison of quaternary skulls
enables us, therefore, to form a tolerably definite conception
of these ancient populations, of the principal relations and
most striking differences which, from this period, have dis-
tinguished human groups. The examination of the bones of
the trunk and limbs tends, moreover, to confirm the results
furnished b}' that of the skull. Thus we feel ourselves
justified in expressing the hope that the future, by com-
pleting our work in many respects, by modifying it ])erhnps in
others, and by filling up gaps in it, will at hast ((Hiliiiii the
essential conclusions.

It is evident that I here speak in M. llaniy's name as
well as my own. The truth i.s, that what I am al»out to say
on the subject of fo.ssil man is almo.st the summary, not only
(»f our book, but of many other general studies and <jf many
di.scussions. It belongs, in fact, as much to my coadjutor a.s
to myself.

II. Let us, in the first plac(>, briefly describe the rlini;i(e in
whifh the fossil human races lived.

Till' (|Maternary or glacial period imposed .severe conditions
of existence on man. What then existed of Europe was
surrounded on all sides by the sea, and was subject to all the
conscfjiienccs of an insular climate, that is to say, it wjus very
tlamp, and moderately uniform in temperature, but chilKd,
to a great extent at least, by the Polar ice which extendecl
even into France. The heavy rains, fre(|neiit in ;dl se;isons,
took the form of falls of snow upon the high lands, and
.supported vast glaciers, the traces of whi<h may still be
Heen in all our mountain chains. Immense water-courses
hollowed out valleys in some parts, and deposited thick beds
of alluvium in others. This vexed and \\atery land supp(»rled
a fauna comprising, ]»esidc.s existing .species, others whirh



Fossil Human Races. 289

liavc partly disappcarc<l, partly emigrated to distant countries.
Tims, on tlie one hand, there were the mammoth {eh' plain
priinitjrniu.s), the \YOolly rlunoccros (rliinoceros tickorhinufi),
the gigantic Irish elk (megaceros hibernicua), the cave bear
{ursus spela'us), the cave hyaena (hyccna speloia), the cave
tiger ifclis spclaa), the horse {eqiins cahallun) ; on the other
hand, ihe reindeer (ccrvus tarandus), the elk (cei'vus alces),
the musk ox ((Wihos moschatus), the aurochs {bison europccu.'<},
the hippopotamus {hippojwtdnnis aviphibius), and the lion
{/dis U'o siyelcva).

All these animals lived side by side during the greater
part of the quaternary period. They afterwards became by
di'grees either extinct or separated. At the commencement
of the present period, France, in which at one time they
were all to be found, only retains the horse ; and we must
admit further, with M. Toussaint, that our beasts of bm-den
and draught, arc descended from fossil species, an opinion
which is far from universal amongst palaiontologists. We
may remark in passing, that the same uncertainty exists
upon the subject of the spotted hyocna and the grizzly bear,
regarded by some palaeontologists as races referable to the
cave species.

Man was, in Europe, the contemporary of all these species.

The phenomena which have given to these countries their
latest characters, have not always had the same violence, nor
have they either commenced or terminated abruptly. They
offered periods of repose and of relative activity, till the
time when the continents a.s.sumed their definite proportions,
when the glaciers were first confined within their present
limits.

The modifications of living beings acconl with these
-scillations of the inorganic world. The princijjal animal
spicics seem to predominate in turn ; the human races
appear in succession, increa.se and decline.

During the deposition of the loner alluvium (has niveaux)
of our valleys, the mammoth, rhinoceros, and gieat carnivora,
seem t<< have played the principal part. Man disputed the



290 'Ilic J/iininji S/yccics.

ground with lliem, ami fed upon tlK-ir flesh. The struggle
u'^ainst the conditiuiis of life, and the wild beasts of the
ancient world was terrible. Tiie race of these primitive
times bears in a high degree the mark of this savage nature.

During the period in which the Diean inferior alluvium
{)noi/enn nivruuj: inferieurs) were formed, the great animal
species still inhabited the whole of Europe. The number of
their representatives seems, however, to be diminishing; less
formidable species begin to multiply, and the horse, in
particular, forms, at least in places, large herds, which olTered
an abundant source of nourishment to man. The latter was
represented especially by a race endowed with remarkable
aptitudes. At first, we find it struggling with as much
vigour as the preceding one, and imder almost identical
conditions; but, by degrees, perfecting all its methods of
action, and adapting them to the new conditions introduced
by the advance of time.

A great modification in the fauna corresponds to the
deposition of the 'mean tipper alluviuia {moijens niveaux
euptrieum). The great carnivora and the mammoth become
more and more rare, till at length they disappear altogether ;
the horse no longer ])redominates ; the reindeer has taken its
place, and wanders in vast herds over lands which are
gradually subsiding. Man has profited by these changes.
New races, perfectly distinct from the preceiling ones, appear
upon our soil. That of the preceding age develoj)s ami
attains a certain tlegi-ee of civilization, attested by true works
of art.

At hnglh, the bottom of the ocean risi.s, ami Europe is
complete. The polar ice is confined within its present limits,
and the instdar climate gives ])larc to a continental on(i,
with its e.vtn.'mcs of heat and cold. The glaciers of our
mountains gradually contract, and w itiuhaw to higher regions.
The animal .sptrics, no longer finding in the samr lati(u<Ie
the te«np<;ratijre suitalilc to ihtin, «;migrat(', some to tlm
sonih, oth(*rH to the north, (»r to flw? higher niountains.

Man must necessarily have felt the consrqiMMiO(> of these



Fossil I/iinian Races. 291

(.'hanges. When the animals which formed tlie basis of his
iDViiishmont disappeared, never to return, a part at least of
the pi){)uhition must liave followed, and emigrated at the
same time. The rising societies were thus shaken to their
very foundations, ami whilst some tribes went off in opposite
ilirfctious, those which remained behind, experienced a
decline of which we may observe the traces in the works
which they have bequeathed to us. They were but too
easily absorbed by superior races, who brought domestic
animals with them, and substituted the pastoral life for that
of the hunter.

III. The man of the quaternary period has left here and
there a few of his bones by the side of those animals who
were his contemporaries. The human bones in question
belong, however, almost exclusively to Europe. The fo.ssil
mau of other parts of the world is almost unknown to us.
Lund is said to have discovered it in certain caves in Brazil.
But unfortunately we have no other details of this discovery
than a short note and two drawings of small dimensions,
published quite recently by MM. Lacerta and R. Peixoto.
Much has been said about the skull discovered by Witney in
California. Unfortunately, the description of this spccinu-n
h;is not appeared, so that doubts have, on several occasions,
been expressed as to the existence of the fossil itself. The
recent testimony of M. Pinart h:is removed them, but has, at
the same time, created the most serious doubts as to the
anticpiity of this specimen, which seems to have been found
in disturbed grounds.

The restriction of the discovery of human fossils to Europe
is much to be regretted. We have no authority for regarding
Europe as the starting point of the species, nor as the theatre
of the formation of the primitive races. We should rather
seek them in Asia. It was uj^on the slopes of the llimalay.i,
at the b;use of the great central mass, that Falconer ho])ed to
find tertiary man. iVssiduous and persevering search can
alone verify the prophecies of the eminent j>ala'ontologist.
This task might be performed by some of the learned ofticera



292 The Jlianan Species.

of the English army, by some of the military surgeons sent
out by the groat institutions uf LunJon. Let us hope that
they will set to work ; that they ^^ill utilize for this end, the
leisure they enjoy when on leave in some sanatariurti of the
Himalayas or Nilgheries. There is every reason to hope
that thoy will "enrich science with important ami magnificent
discoveries.

IV. A few general facts, the interest of which will at once
be evident, may already be disentangled from details without
leaving European soil. We will first establish the fact, that
in quaternary ages, man did not present that uniformity of
characters, which a recent origin would lead us to expect.
The species is already composed of several races; these races
appear successively or simultaneously; they live side by side;
and perhaps, as M. Dupont has thought, iho uar ofraccsrwuy
be traced as far back as this period.

The presence of these clearly characterised human groui)s
in the quaternary period, is enough to furnish a strong pre-
sumption in favour of the previous existence of man. The
infiueuce of very di.ssimilar and long-continued action.s, can
alone explain the differences wliich .separate the man of the
Vezcre in France from that of the Lcsse in ]klgium.

V. In spite of some opinions which were brought forward
at a time when science was less advanced, and when terms
of comparison were wanting, we may assert that no fossil
skull belongs to the African or Melanesian Negro type.
The true Negro did not exist in Europe during the quater-
nary ('{toch.

We <lo not, however, conclude from this lliat th(> type
mu8t have come into existence later, and dates Uo\n the
present geol(»;;ieal perictd. Fri'sh research, especially in Asia,
ami in countries itdiabited by l)laek nations, ojin aloiu- decide
thiM |>oint >\ith certainty. Nevcrthelc8.s, up to the present
time, the residts of observation have been hut little favour-
able to the o])ini(Mi of some nnthrojiologists, who have
regarded the Is'egio races as anterif^r to all others.

VI. In fo.s.Hil, Its well as in modern .skulls, we find between



Cranial Cliaractcrs. 293

races jiml irulividuals oscilhitions of a more or less strikinfr
character. It is, however, an important fact that tlicsc
oscillations arc often of less extent in known fossil races
than those observed in existing populations. I shall only
quote one example. The cephalic index of the most ancient
Kuropean race, taken from the Neanderthal man, in which the
ciiaracters are exaggerated, is 72 ; that of the La Trucherc
skull, which belongs to the latter part of the quaternary
period, is 84-32, a difference of 1232. Now, at the present
time, the mean cephalic index of the Esquimaux is (JJ)30,
that of South Germans 80 20, a difference of IGOO. Thus,
between the two extreme races separated by the greater
part of the glacial period, the oscillation of the cephalic
index is less than between two modern contemporary races.
Moreover, the latter range between wider limits, both above
and below the mean, than the two fossil races. This fact
may perhaps be explained by several considerations, which I
cannot enter into here.

I should, moreover, observe that the Lagoa Santa skull
found by Lund, and which has just been described by M^L
Lacorta and Peixoto, effaces in a great niea.suro the dif-
lirciices which I have just pointed out. According to the
Brazilian savants, its cephalic index is G'J'72, descending
almost as low as the mean index of the Esquimaux.

It is interesting to find that this smaller variability of