New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-12-01

he Of Boston.
DID, XXI. 624: tx 100. d. Appleton d Co
Professor Ripley has produced an admirable
work on an exceptionally interesting theme AS
q r,Ia atbnoloeical treatises are not TO be COM
mended for their fascination. except to spe-
c,austs Nor will the lay reader be able 10
finish the six hundred pages Of this book WIN
on, q considerable effort Of attention, and per-
hans tho consciousness that his mental &C
Communications for the storage of scientific facts
ore nainf,llv limited But he will certainly
finish II he begins and will carry away a STOCK
NJ rev information and of corrections Oh oiu
,oisinfornoation that will we'll repay his labor.
At the very outset the reader who Is not
familiar with recent chronological discussions
will feel that his preconceived notions nav
received a shock For the central thesis OF 'ne
book. though Of course not new. is sun reNo,
lutionary. and works havoc with the ia''
that are even yet the staple Of elementary III
struction with regard to European raci"i ii''
tory Linneuss conception-to put the Ii"''.
briefy-of a single type Homo Europ@us "a
bus) still does duty in the schools ana even ="
scientific treatises and the unity or the Euo
mean race" is accepted as an unquesuonaoie
datum of ethnolOgy. Furthermore the
ur,nbs of modern comparative philology when
have established the kinship-the common oii
gin--of the "Aryan." Undo European or lhuo-
Germanic" languages. led to the conception Vi
q corresponding common origin or the peoPies
who sneak them-that is. of a common ArSah'
"Indo- European" or Undo Germanc' race III
other words. the data that were adequate
enthusiastically. TO prove knship Of speech were
assumed TO be adequate to demonstrate e'h-
nologicay community OF descent ana this as
sumption has become one Of the most fafiiliial
dogmas Of modern science. AS professor Mp
Low saws. I'm our school days most Of us were
brought UP TO regard Asia as the mother Oh
European peoples We were told that an ideal
race Of men swarmed forth from the Himaayan
highlands disseminating culture right and LETT
ee thew spread through the barbarous West
new science of phlology dazzled the
world and its words were law Now, with
both NJ these assumptions-the doctrine or the
,nitv Of the European race" and the doctrine
NJ its "Arvan" origin-the modern views so ABLY
presented by Professor Ripley take issue. IN
stead Of proving the essential racial unity tha'
has been supposed 10 characterize the peoples
~ Western Europe the mass Of scientlhc EVIL
dence which has been accumulated. NANNY pS
European specialists. points ndubitably TO the
existence OF at least three primitive racial types
each OF which has contributed something 10
common productive population or Europe as
It exists to-day. For the single, true pred
white race" Gtself a misnomer) there Is no"
substituted a composite. mongrel, a oienolhs
OF prehistoric types no one of which FUZZY corre-
sponds TO Homo Europeans Of the present. Ana,
IN the other hand as regards origin, language
and race arc shown to be incommensurables,
and the chronological differences from the phlIo-
logical family tree are condemned in toto as I'M
scientific and roughly swept aside, "Suppos-
ing" TO quote our author again, FOR present
peace that it be allowed that the ancestors OF
some peoples of Europe may once have been
within sight of either the Caspian Sea or the
Himalayas. we have still left two-thirds OF our
European races and population out of account
But as he urges. "if this be established II does
away at one fell swoop with most of the cur
rent mouthings about Aryans and Pre-Aryans
and especially with such appellations as the
Caucasian or the Indo- European race" we
shall in word, have to reconstruct all our ele-
mentary notions of the subject
thesis so striking and revolutionary de-
mands of course abundant and unambiguous
evidence for it's proof and to furnish this is the
principal aim Of Professor Ripley's book. In
this he succeeds admirably, and in addition
gives the best account Of the whole subject that
has been written. 1t must, however. be ad-
rnitted that the matter is one Of extraordinary
difficulty For in order TO disprove the sup
posed racial unity It is necessary to demon
strate, by an analysis of the characteristics OF
the existing population based on exhaustive sta
tistical data. the presence Of certain distinct
physical types. which are Of such character
that they can be regarded only as due TO di-
rect racial inheritance. But. by the hypothesis
the coexistence and intermingling Of these types
during long ages. If they originally existed
must have tended to the obliteration Of the dis
tnctons between them; and, as a matter Of
fact. the study OF the actual population of
Europe shows. at first sight at least ex-
traordinary degree Of individual and local
variation striking absence Of individual ex-
emplihcatons Of any type whatsoever.
Experience proves that the vast majority Of
the population Of this continent shows evidence
Of crossing. that in general cannot expect
that more than one-thrd of the people will be
marked by the simplest combination Of traits.
We need not be surprised, therefore that if we
next seek to add third characteristic, say the
shape of the head, to a normal condition Of hair
and eyes. find the proportion Of pure types
combining all three traits in fixed measure to
he very small indeed. Imagine a fourth trait
stature. or fifth. nose. TO be added, and our
proportion of pure types becomes almost in
finitesimal. We thus reduced to the ex-
tremity in which my friend. DR.. Ammon. Of
Baden, found himself when I wrote asking for
photographs Of a pure Alpine type from the
Black Forest. He has measured thousands OF
heads and yet he answered that he really had
not been able TO find perfect specimen in all
details All his round headed men were either
blond. or tail, or narrow nosed, or something
else that they ought not to be.
Nor does it help the matter to say, as Profess
sor Ripley does with perfect truth, that the stu
alton is what must be expected not only from
the long intermingling of races, but also from
the modern evolutionary conception Of race IT.
self not as type actualized once for all by a
Divine fat. but as the ideal goal Of a process of
developments process Of continual upbuilding