Page:The American Indian.djvu/380

314 this grouping is that it correlates morphological distinctions with the facts of distribution, the significance of which we shall consider shortly. On the other hand, the morphological grouping is based upon the same principles of classification as are employed in zoology. Hence, Duckworth's scheme is worthy of the most careful consideration. The vital question is, however, the reconstruction of the generalized ancestral type. This is a broad problem whose solution will rest largely on general paleontological conceptions and the specific study of the primates. Its discussion falls outside the limits of the chapter, but a brief glance into the special literature of the subject will show the strong support that can be found for this idea. We may, therefore, adopt as our working hypothesis the view that the Eurasiatic type, to which the bulk of the native population of the New World belongs, is the best living representative of the general type hominidæ, and that the remaining groups of mankind are such as by wide dispersion and greater isolation became more divergent, or specialized. This idea is also consistent with culture data, for it is exclusively among this generalized main body that the great civilizations of the world arose; the highly specialized outlying groups, though showing sparks of true genius now and then, never rise to such a level.

The next point to consider is the distribution of mankind over the earth. In the synthetic treatment of such a large problem, we need the greatest possible array of corrective data. While such data cannot entirely mitigate the weakness of all interpretations based upon incomplete series of observations, they, at least, serve as friendly guide-posts. If, instead of focusing our attention upon man alone, we take in the whole gamut of mammalian dispersion, we greatly increase the number of these corrective aids. Thus, a brief perusal of general books on mammalian life suggests at once the existence of a veritable swarming center in the heart of Asia. It is not, of course, contended that all mammals arose there, but that a surprisingly large number of the most distinctive families can be successfully localized within the general limits of that continent. This is supported by specific data when we restrict our