Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/561

 525

��^ the proa are Adams, StruTe, and Chrlslie; among the r, Newcoinb, Foerater, and Auwera.

w. c. w.

��THE NATIVES OF AMERICA.^ TtiB niitJve popalatioii (before the changes wroiiglit pbj (he European conquest) at the great conliiienl of America, excluding [he Eskimo, present, considering the Vttst extent of the country they lobabit, and the great differences of climate and other surrounding conditions, a remarkable slullarlty of essential char- acters, with much dlvenlly of detail.

The constiniction ot the numerous American lan- guages, of which as many as twelve hundred hars been distingulahed, is said to point to unity of origin; as, though widely different in many respects, Uiey are all, or nearly all, constructed on the same general gramcDalical principle, — that called poly^^iitlicsls, which differs from that of the languages of any of the old-world nations. The mental characteristics of nil the American tribes have much that is In cnmmon; and the very different stages of culture to vliicli they had attained at the time of the conquest, as that of the Inens and Aztecs, and the hunting and S'hing tribes of the north and south, which have been <|uoted as evidi^nce of direrslties of race, were not greater than thoBe between different nations of Europe — as Gauls and Germans on one hand, and Greeks and Kmuans on the other — in the time of Julius Caesar. Yet all these were Aryans; and. In treating the Americans as one ntce, it Is not Intended that they are more closely allied than the different Aryan people of Europe and Asia. The best argument that can be used tar the unity of the American race, using the word in a broad sense, is [ha great difficulty of forming any natural divisions founded upon physical characters. The important cliaracter of the hair does not differ throughout the whole continent. It is always straight and lank, long, and abundant on the scalp, but sparse eljBwhere. The color of the skin Is practically niii- form. notwithstanding the eniirmous differences of climate under which many members of the group exist. In the features and cranium certain special modiRcatlons prevail in different districts, but the tame forms appear at widely separated parts of the continent I have examined skull* from Vancouver's Iiiand, from Teru, and from Patagonia, which were almost undistinguishable froin one another.

Naturalists who have a'imltted but three primnry types of the hutnan species have always found a dif- fli-uiij with the Americans, hesitating between pla- cing them with the Monc'ili^in or so-called 'yellow* races, or elevating them to the rank of a primnry group. Cuvler does not seem to have been able to s<-ttle this point to his own satisfaction, and leaves it an o]ten question. Altliougli the large majority of Americans havu in the spvciai form of the nasal bi>ne4, leading tc the characlrristlc high bridge of the note o( the living face, in Iha well-developed super- ciliary riilpc anddvtrealing forehead, eharaclen which

iGl fniRi Ihe aildreH at Viot. W. H. Flowbh u pn^ii- le Anthrapalgcleiil Inilllntc of Greii Bhuln.

��distinguish them from the typical Asiatic Uongol, In many other respects they resemble Ihem so much, that, although admitting the difBcultles of the case, I am inclined to include them as aberrant member* of the Mongolian type. It is, however, quile open to any une adopting Ihe negro, Mongolian, and Cauca- sian as primary divisions, to place the American apart as a fourth.

Now that the high antiquity of man in America, per- haps as high as that which he has in Europe, has been discovered, the pozaling problem, from which part of the old world the people of America have sprang, has lost lis significance. It is quite as likely that the people of Asia may have been derived from America, as the reverse. However this may be, the population of America had been, before the time of Columbus, practically isolated from the rest of the world, except at the extreme north. Such visits as those of the early Noraemen lo the coasts of Greenland, Labrador, and Nova Scotia, or the possible accidental stranding of a canoe containing survivots of a voyage acro-s the Pacific or the Atlantic, can have no appreciable ef- fect upon the characteristics of the people. It is dlCBcnlt, therefore, lo look upon the anomalous and special characters of the American people as the effects of crossing, as was suggesteil in the case of the Australians. — a consideration which gives mora weight lo the view of treating them as a distinct pri- mary division.

��CLAUSES TEXT-BOOK OF ZOOLOGY.

It is an interesting and sad fact that Eng- land and America have not as yet produced one reallj good maniinl of zocilogj^ while Ger- many has at lenat two of the first tider. One of tiiese. Professor Claiis's ' Grand ziige der zoologic,' lias reached ils fourth edition, with every probability that a firth will soon follow. The last edition contains about fourteen hun- dred pages. Its large size tnakes it nnwieMy for the beginner, and. moreover, there are no figures. liy shortening especially the descrip- tions of orders and families, and some further condensation, the book was reduced to about eight hundred pages, and space saved for about the same number of figures. The new book thus formed is the ' Lehrbuch der zoolo- gic,' trnoslated under the above title. In all Professor Claus's writings, one cannot fail to notice his judicial fairness. The discussion of Darwinism (vol. i. pp. 139-179) is especially remarkable for its impartiality and candor, as well as its clearness and condensation. The arrangement of material in the general part, and the descriptions of the types, show the c-omprehensivenesB of his mind and the ex- tensiveness of bis knowledge, while his exaci-

Elrmmlatylat.lmke/i»<UBgy. By Dr.C.Ci..DBiuirl Adah New Vgrk! Macmillao,!»«&■ 'S -

�� �