The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1875-11-19

RACE-OUR REMOTE ANCESTORS AND
TESTIMONY HANDED DOWN THROUGH THE 81
LENCE OF AGES TO MODERN TINES.
While physical science, during a
quarter of century past, has been max
ing immense strides, the study of man
in his career of intellectual develop
ment has led to results equally import
ant and astonishing. 1t is the study of
primitive man, the origin of human
ideas, the growth of moral truths, and
the development OF religious beliefs;
the unfolding of the many germs and
stages of the intellectual progress of our
race; the history of the growth of mind,
connecting its past with the present,
and proving that the whole movement
is one of evolution under the dominion
and guidance of law-it is this compar-
atively new study that has risen during
the past few years to rank with the
most important that can claim human
attention. 1t is at once the counterpart
and complement of that branch of study
known distinctively as physical science,
and the pursuit of each constantly
throws new light upon the other.
At remote period, the beginning Of
which is lost in the depths of unknown
antiquity, race which has since spread
over large part of the globe occupied
an elevated region in Central Asia, ex-
tending from the Hindu Kuh to the Ar
menian Mountains. This region is now
fh1 aIof Of ieo
titled to be called, in an important
sense, the homestead of the humatFrace;
it was at least the ancestral abode of
those races which have always led the
movement of civilization. Here was the
center of ethnic radiation. Back into
the silence of those unnumbered centu-
ries, into the hitherto voiceless and
painless ages, a science of very recent
development now leads US, revealing the
fact of our extraction from those who
dwelt in that cradle of humanity, and
tracing by infallible proofs the connec-
tion and descent of what is called the
Indo- European family of nations.
This science is known as Comparative
Philology. By simple comparison of
the roots and structure of various Ian
guages with those of the ancient San
scrit, it has been ascertained that ma
tions most widely separated and totally
different in physical characteristics, had
a common origin. Says Brace, in his
Races of the Old World, "The blonde
Norwegian and the dark-eyed Spaniard,
the mercurial Celt and the STEADY Anglo
Saxon, the Russian and the Frenchman,
the practical Anglo-American and the
dreamy Hindu, the German and the
Persian, the Greek and the Roman, are
all proved to be emigrants from one
home and to have spoken a common
tongue" History can thus be traced by
language. 1t is most important factor,
because it is an infallible guide. All
these languages have preserved words
which were in use before the remarka-
Bile causes arose which have scattered
over the face of the earth the peoples
who employ these common forms of
speech. 1t is a demonstration which
admits of no question. Strange it is,
says Tyndall, that sound, apparently
the most f1eeting and unsubstantial OF
all things, should thus be proved to be
the most permanent, and should sur
vive long ages after all other memorials
have passed away.
This science of comparative philology
has completely reconstructed the science
of ethnology, or the science of the races
The old classification of the races Of
men has been abandoned by all scholars
Ethnology is now based mainly or
pathological science. 1t is, says Max
Muller, the only ineligible and philo
sophical classification.
But the Sanscrit was not the univer
sal language; even at this early ag,
three classes of human speech had beer
very largely developed, widely differen
in structural form, and bearing no affin
ity that would indicate a common ori
gin. Those who spoke the Sanscrit ant
kindred forms of language are called tn
Aryan family. The other families ar
the Semitic and Turanian. OF the Sem
itics the principal divisions are tn
Arabians and the Hebrews. The Turan
ian family embraces the greater portio
of Asiatic peoples, and some in Europe
1t is traceable in the language of tn
Firms and Lapps, Magyars and Turks
Tartars and Mongols.
In these three great families of Ian
guage, there are no links of connection
that give proof of a common source
Some resemblances and coincidence
there are, but these may be a result {
intercourse in former times between th
different peoples. 1t is remarked, how
ever, that language, as running its Lin
Of evidence for community of descer
right across the physiological divisions
has done much to render unity of origi
possible. But if the races had a con
mon origin, the date of it is throw
back into the infinite depths of antic
ity, and the common chronology is to
short by immeasurable ages.
An unbroken chain connects our ow
generation with the ancestors of til
Aryan race. Sanscrit is the most a,