The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-10-24
HONE OF GAUCAS|ANS
Was Originally Where the
Sahara Now Burns.
THERE THE RACE EVOLVED
At a Date to Which Old Egypt
Is Infantile.

/ New York, Oct. 21-In the Herald Cliff
| ton HARDY Levy says: Originally the eau
casio race came from the district north
| of the Soudan, in Africa, is the startling
announcement of Mr.. a. H. Keane, f. R.
G. S. the author Of various works on an
thropology and ethnology, in his latest
work Man, Past and Present. This
learned and generally acknowledge au-
thority on this interesting subject locates
the birthplace Of the Caucasic race in the
northern part of Africa, tells US that the
term Aryan is altogether unscientifc, and
says that there is no doubt that geology
proves that in the pleistocene age the
Caucasians lived in what is now the Des-
ert of Sahara
Since the world was peopled by pleisto-
Gene man, it was peopled by 7eneralized
proto-human form prior to all later racial
differences. The existing groups-that IS,
the four primary divisions, Ethiopic, Mon
collie, American and Caucasic-have each
had their pleistocene ancestor, from
which each has sprung independently
and divergently by continuous adapta-
ton to its several environments. If they
still constitute mere varieties, and not
species. the reason is because all come OF
like pleistocene ancestry while the diver
gencies have been confined to relatively
narrow limits-that is, not wide enough
to be regarded zoologica1ly as specific
differences.
Since the discovery of the remains of
the PithecanthrOpus erectus in 1892 on the
Island of ava these remains have been
subjected to the strictest scientific scru-
tiny. with the result that their human
character has been placed beyond reason
able doubt Nobody denies that they at
least represent a form intermediate be-
tween man and the higher apes. or rather
between man and the generalized simian
prototype which is practically the same
thing. They do not bridge over the i'm
passabIe gap between man and gorilla or
chimpanzee, but they form the true link
which brings man much nearer than be-
fore to the common stem from which all
have diverged. II occupies the position
intermediate between the chimpanzee and
the man of Spy, especially when the era
MIA are compared
But where we have to seek the primeval
home of the Caucasians, the most vigor-
Gus and dominant branch of the human
family? On the presumption that all of
the primary divisions have been evolved
independently in separate geological
zones, each from its own pleistocene pre-
cursor, the question may thus be formu-
lated:
In what zone was our generalized pleis-
tocene ancestor specialized? Where was
the aucasic type constituted in all its es-
sential features?
Africa, north of the Soudan, corresponds
best with all the known conditions. Here
were found in quaternary times all the
physical elements which biologists de-
mand for great specializations-ample
space, a favorable climate and abundance
of food, besides continuous land connec
ton at one or two points across the Med
iterranean. by which the pliocene and
early pletistocene faunas moved freely
between the two continents.
ormer speculations on the subject failed
to convince, because the writer's took, so
to say. the ground from under their own
feet by submerging most of the land I'M
der a vast "quaternary Sahara Sea-"
winch ndu no existence. ana winch, more |
over, reduced the whole of North Africa
to a Maurfitanian island a mere "appen-
dix of Europe as it is in one place ex-
pressly called. Then this tnconvenent is !
land basin was got rid of, not as an out |
fow-but by evaporation" which pro-
cess IS however, somehow confined TO |
this inlet. and does not affect either the !
Mediterranean or the Atlantic itself Nor |
is it explained how the oceanic waters |
We're prevented from rushing in according |
"as the Sahara Sea evaporated TO become |
a desert" The attempt to evolve a "Eu- |
african race" in such an impossible area |
necessarily broke down. other endless
perpleXities being evolved in the initial |
geological misconCeption.
Not only was the Sahara dry land in |
pleistocene times. but it stood then at a /
higher altitude than at pres
ent, although its mean elevation is still /
at 1900 feet above sea level. |
deposits cover wide areas, |
and were at one time supposed TO be Of |