New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-09-15

ar b = lo0d or by specific equality " 10 the Phys-
zeal ateIlecual. and moral particularites that dis
ting X h the human groups scattered over the sur
face Y the globe argue the existence OF radical dii-
fere 4 among theml Or rather, Notwithstanding
%, ances to the contrary, is man essentially the
sam EVERYWHERE In other words, is there but one
spec 4, or are there several species of men !"
IA new work of NJ de Quatrefarges, entitled
EUht de PEspeee Humane, Unity of the Human
Spe Is, is devoted to an examination of this CON-
oar, 3yely modern, deeply interesting question.
rhi 3mo. volume Of Ala pages is the revised edi-
doE h series of eight articles lately published in as
,na. fsuccessiye numbers of the Rerus des Deur
Vpfs, which were but the careful reeditng Office
u,rpt clvered by the author in his courses of 1856
and 60, Us Professor of Anatomy and EthnolOgy at
thr k!useun of Natural History (Jardns des
finnfs). Although the mere authority OF name
,houf have bnt little weight III our Judgment OF
scicI ic work. IT is not out of place here TO nO'e
that T. de Quatrefarges had fairly earned his aca-
demi honors and professors chair by years OF
fruitt labor az AN experimental zOOOgst and phys
iologiS. His whole life had been preparation for
his cd lparatvcy recent entrance upon the speclal
shudy( Il AnthropoOy. The student beginning IN
that sence, and the general reader OF the Gen'ie-
mans Library, without which 1t VIII De ncom-
plete can find no better textbook or c0lnprelen-
sve survey of the actual state of that science than
is here offered Ii is rich in facts, cautious IN
statement, logical in argument, methodica in prn-
cipe, beautifully clear in definition and arrange
ment courteous in manner toward his opponents,
the polygeBsts, readable ne TO style, Tree from
prejudice of sect or school.
10 assert now that this is a perfect work would
be an exaggeratiOn that no one could be more ready
to deprecate than its author, who never deals III
idle assertion. lie is too well aware of the difficult
ties and arduOus duties of scientific demonstration
to pretend that he has overcome and iulllled ihem
all and left nothing for successors TO add What
he does pretend Is that startlng from the lnluaI
question quoted above, with universally accepted
truths of science as his base OF operations ana max
ing a long detOur through the vegetable ana animal
kingdoms, of whose subJects-aready submitted 10
the unouestioned laws OF natural histoly-he makes
allies, he comes triumphantly to this main conelu.
sion, that "all men form but one Species no real
objection being left in the way that has not been re-
duced from seemingly formidable 10 very trlflng
proportions Other conclusions, in whose way
stand nothing but slight probabilities and purely the
orecal possibilities, are that tins species originated
in one locality only probably very limited one
and that every indication points 10 some region IN
Central Asia the first cradle of the human species
To show that NJ. de Quatrefarges does not jump
to- these conclusions, the table Of contents OF this
chapter OF his book VIII help He begins at the be-
ginning with the empires and Kingdoms OF nature,
letting us know at the outset that he u treating his
subject specially though not quite exclusively, from
the point Of view natural history. Proceeding as I
the classifeTs of all schools, ms Llnn9us aud La
mark had proceeded, he separates man nom all .
other beings in general and from other organized !
beings in particular, because To the phenomena /
common with him and them ho adds oiher phenOm-
ena of on entirely distinct order. These are the 4
facts of morality and relgionism whose 1Hirersathy
is satisfactorily proved against the contrary tesll-
pony of insufficient Witnesses, in following pages /
the cause whence they emandtc; they characterize /
and separate the human kingdom from the animal I
kingdom proper, exactly as the facts of vitality and
their engendering cause characterize the vegetable /
kingdom aud isolate it from the subjects of the min
eral kingdom. Now, is this human kingdom com
posed of one or several species There Is no dis
pute about genera. This being problem of which I
man himself, so to speak, is the unknown quantity,
cannot be solved by man. We must turn then Ia
the vegetables and animals, where all naturalsts
admit the existence of species; and ash OF them
what is TO be understood by the word, by what
marks we are to recognize the hing species Here
let me paranheticaly insert few OF our authors
definitions which stand out IN such beautifully clear
contrast with the confusion of terms and cOnse-
duently of IDEAS IN which and by which our
:. anthrOpoloeists of the American school indulge
and are misled: To follow LiDn9us, then, step by
step the definition of man, his ohardoeriSqpe as We
should say in zoology is this: Man IS a Jodg or
better an organized, hiring, sentieHt beng, morihg
spontaneously, tHd0iotd UM morality ana Hiigt0s-
ify. Species is me cOiiecticiy lrensembel o. tHd-
ridais more or less similar 10 each other, ohO are
desceaded or man be considered as hdriHg descended
from an unique pTimItioe pair Jy an uninterrupted
succession Of families. Tdridy may be dehned: an
iadiridRdl or coiIectipity Of individuals belonging
10 the same serudl generation, distinguished from IN,
other representatives of the same species by one or
more EXCEPTIONAL characters lcaracieres] Race
then will be the eOitedieity Of similar tadiuduais
belonging to one same species, haring notirtd and
BY means Of generation tie characters Of
q PRIMITIVE raridy.
Seventy pregnant pages are devoted to the JUST
fcatiOn and confirmation of these admirably clear
and exhaustive definitions Then come troatlses on
the variability and fIity of species, the production
Df varieties end races, the graduated transition
rom race tOrace the nature and extent OF ysrla-
lions in animal and vegetable races; on the origin
aud formation OF animal races, accompanied by con-
slant careful observation Of II, influence of the
medium (miieu), and by constant logically inferred
application by analogy of the general, scientifically
assured and accepter. laws Of physiology in tho
animal and yegetrroe, TO the subjects OF the human
kingdom. Hereditary influences and those OF
medinm rpbn generations; natural and ARTIFICIAL
seec On, the formation OF new races the extremely
eerestng questions Of hybridaion and OF metissdge
THAT is crossings between species and crossing OF
races examined with reference always TO an hppll.
cation BY analogy Of assured results TO the cross
breeding between human groups---ihe chapters
treating of these themes bring us 10 the 2-Oth page
and 10 this conclusion: I'VE shall thus come 10 /
- find % an initial term, unique PTtm'tice Par.
" Did this unique pair ever really exist vi were
" there at the beginning several absolutely similar |
" couples This is question Of fact, which science
~ Il. mar az