Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 17.djvu/181

Rh have only a few details concerning the mulattoes of the Southern States; and Dr. Nott has strangely contradicted himself in the few generalities he has written on this subject. Travelers sometimes speak of mongrels whom they have met on the confines of the Union or of Canada. But, on the whole, I know nothing precise on the result of the mixture of races in the vast region which extends from the frontiers of Mexico to beyond the Arctic Circle. The work of Mr. Daniel Wilson, without entirely filling this gap, furnishes some really interesting statements bearing on this subject. It makes known some facts which, although they are presented in a little too general manner and without statistical details, are nevertheless of great value; and it states some others with more detail. Incidentally, it adds its testimony to the evidence which had already been gathered against the common errors which are daily repeated. By these features it merits the attention of anthropologists, and an analysis of some of its details is of interest.

[As Mr. Wilson's book is easily accessible to American readers, we will not repeat in detail the citations which M. de Quatrefages makes from it, but will only give a summary of the argument which he deduces from them. ]

Mr. Wilson does not dwell at much length on the history of the mulattoes. Having mentioned the opinion of Dr. Nott, who believes that they are infertile, sickly, and destined to extinction, and having referred rapidly to a few local circumstances which seem to support this opinion, he concludes by saying that nothing justifies the conclusion of that anthropologist. His figures seem to be decisive. Carefully compiled statistics show that the number of negroes imported into the United States can not have exceeded four hundred thousand, while the colored race in the country now comprises about five million persons, and is largely composed of mulattoes. Dr. Nott admitted that his statements concerning the debility of the mulattoes applied only to those of South Carolina, and that in Louisiana, Florida, and Alabama, the children of the negro and white were well-formed and prolific. He explained the difference by saying that the Englishman is the only true white, and can not produce a robust offspring with the negro, while the Spaniard and Frenchman, already mixed, are more allied to him, and will cross fruitfully with him. This strange theory is easily refuted by historical arguments. So Dr. Nott's testimony confirms our theory, at least for the three more Southern States. It is shown, then, that the mixed race of black and white is increasing in the southern part of the Union as well as in South America. We can not doubt that, in a future the remoteness of which is dependent on the disappearance of existing prejudices, a fusion will take place between the men of color and the whites.