Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/125

Rh &quot;natural selection,&quot; producing modifications in species, whether by gradual accumulation or more sudden leaps, while the theory of creation is prone to have recourse to acts of supernatural intervention (see the Duke of Argyll, Reign of Law, ch. v.) A theory has been propounded by Mr Mivart (Genesis of Species, 1871) of a natural evolution of man as to his body, combined with a supernatural creation as to his soul; but this attempt to meet the difficulties on both sides seems at present not to have satisfied either. Anthropology waits to see whether the discovery of inter mediate forms, which has of late years reduced so many asserted species to mere varieties, will go on till it pro duces a disbelief in any real separation between neighbour ing species, and especially whether geology can furnish traces of the hypothetical animal, man s near ancestor, but not as yet man. In the present state of the argument it may here suffice to have briefly indicated the positions held on either side. (Among other works relating to the development theory as applied to man, see Vogt, Lectures on Man; Haeckel, Natürliche Schöpfungsgeschichte, 2d ed., 1871.)

III. Races of Mankind.—The classification of mankind into a number of permanent varieties or races, rests on grounds which are within limits not only obvious but definite. Whether from a popular or a scientific point of view, it would be admitted that a Negro, a Chinese, and an Australian, belong to three such permanent varieties of men, all plainly distinguishable from one another and from any European. Moreover, such a division takes for granted the idea which is involved in the word race, that each of these varieties is due to special ancestry, each race thus representing an ancient breed or stock, however these breeds or stocks may have had their origin. The anthropological classification of mankind is thus zoological in its nature, like that of the varieties or species of any other animal group, and the characters on which it is based are in great measure physical, though intellectual and traditional peculiarities, such as moral habit and language, furnish important aid. Among the best-marked race-characters are the following:—

The colour of the skin has always been held as specially distinctive. The coloured race-portraits of ancient Egypt remain to prove the permanence of complexion during a lapse of a hundred generations, distinguishing coarsely but clearly the types of the red-brown Egyptian, the yellow-brown Canaanite, the comparatively fair Libyan and the Negro (see Wilkinson, Ancient Eg.; Brugsch, Geogr. Inschr. Altägypt. Denkm., vol. ii. ) These broad distinctions have the same kind of value as the popular terms describing white, yellow, brown, and black races, which tften occur in ancient writings, and are still used. But for scientific purposes greater accuracy is required, and this is now satisfactorily attained by the use of Dr Broca's graduated series of colours as a standard (Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris, ii.) By this table the varieties of the human skin may be followed from the fairest hue of the Swede and the darker tint of the Provencal, to the withered-leaf brown of the Hottentot the chocolate brown of the Mexican, and the brown-black of the West African. The colour of the eyes and hair is also to be defined accurately by Broca s table. This affords however, less means of distinction, from the extent in which dark tints of hair and iris are common to races whose skins are more perceptibly different; yet some varieties are characteristic such as the blue eyes and flaxen hair of the fair race of Northern Europe.

As to the hair, its structure and arrangement is a better location of race than its tint. The hair differs in quality between scantiness on the body of the Mongol and profusion on the body of the Aino ; while as to the arrangement on the scalp, the tufts of the Bushman contrast with the more equal distribution on the European head. The straight hair of the North American or Malay is reco^nis- able at once as different from the waving or curling hair of the European, and both from the naturally frizzed hair of the Negro. These marked differences are due to the struc ture of the hair, which, examined in sections under the microscope, varies from the circular section proper to the straight-haired races, to the more or less symmetrically oval or remfonn sections belonging to races with curled and twisted hair (see Pruner-Bey in Mém. de la Soc. Anthrop., vol. 11.)

Stature is by no means a general criterion of race, and it would not, for instance, be difficult to choose groups of Englishmen, Kafirs, and North American Indians whose mean height should hardly differ. Yet in many cases it is a valuable means of distinction, as between the tall Patagomans and the stunted Fuegians, and even as a help in minuter problems, such as separating the Teutonic and Keltic ancestry in the population of England (see Beddoe Stature and Bulk of Man in the British Isles,&quot; in Mem. Anthrop. Soc. London, vol. iii.) Proportions of the limbs compared in length with the trunk, have been claimed as constituting peculiarities of African and American races; and other anatomical points, such as the conformation of the pelvis, have speciality. But inferences of this class have hardly attained to sufficient certainty and generality to be set down in the form of rules.

The conformation of the skull is second only to the Shape of colour of the skin as a criterion for the distinction of race sku11 - Ihe principal modes of estimating the differences of skulls are the following : The skull being seen from above, the proportions of the two diameters are estimated on the principle employed by Retzius : taking the longer diameter from front to back as 100, if the shorter or cross diameter falls below 80, the skull may be classed as long (dolicho cephalic); while if it exceeds 80, the skull may be classed as broad (brachycephalic); or a third division may be introduced between these as intermediate (rnesocephalic) comprehending skulls with a proportionate breadth of 78 to 80, or thereabout. The percentage of breadth to length measured in this manner is known as the cephalic index; thus the cephalic index of a Negro or Australian may be as low as 72, and that of a Tatar as hi^h as 88 while the majority of Europeans have an index not depart ing in either direction very far from 78. The cephalic height is measured in the same way as a percentage of the The back view (norma occipitalis) of the skull is Btinguished as rounded, pentagonic, &c., and the base view of the skull shows the position of the occipital fora men and the zygomatic arches. The position of the iaws is recognised as important, races being described as pro gnathous when the jaws project far, as in the Australian &amp;gt;r Negro in contradistinction to the orthognathous type which is that of the ordinary well-shaped European skull. Un this distinction in great measure depends the celebrated facial angle,&quot; measured by Camper as a test of low and high races; but this angle is objectionable as resulting partly from the development of the forehead and partly from the position of the jaws. The capacity of the cranium is estimated in cubic measure by filling it with sand, &c with the general result that the civilised white man is lound to have a larger brain than the barbarian or savage. Classification of races on cranial measurements has Iong been attempted by eminent anatomists, such as Blu^ menbach and Retzius, while the later labours of Von Baer, Welcker, Davis, Broca, Busk, Lucae, and many others, have brought the distinctions to extreme minuteness. In certain cases great reliance may be placed on such measurements. Thus the skulls of an Australian 