The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Vol. IDarwin, Charles
Science
The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Vol. I
Darwin, Charles
Evolution (Biology); Human beings -- Origin; Sex differences; Sexual dimorphism (Animals); Sexual selection in animals
Now let us apply these generally-admitted principles to the races of
man, viewing him in the same spirit as a naturalist would any other
animal. In regard to the amount of difference between the races, we must
make some allowance for our nice powers of discrimination gained by the
long habit of observing ourselves. In India, as Elphinstone
remarks,[282] although a newly-arrived European cannot at first
distinguish the various native races, yet they soon appear to him
extremely dissimilar; and the Hindoo cannot at first perceive any
difference between the several European nations. Even the most distinct
races of man, with the exception of certain negro tribes, are much more
like each other in form than would at first be supposed. This is well
shewn by the French photographs in the Collection Anthropologique du
Muséum of the men belonging to various races, the greater number of
which, as many persons to whom I have shown them have remarked, might
pass for Europeans. Nevertheless, these men if seen alive would
undoubtedly appear very distinct, so that we are clearly much influenced
in our judgment by the mere colour of the skin and hair, by slight
differences in the features, and by expression.
There is, however, no doubt that the various races, when carefully
compared and measured, differ much from each other,—as in the texture
of the hair, the relative proportions of all parts of the body,[283] the
capacity of the lungs, the form and capacity of the skull, and even in
the convolutions of the brain.[284] But it would be an endless task to
specify the numerous points of structural difference. The races differ
also in constitution, in acclimatisation, and in liability to certain
diseases. Their mental characteristics are likewise very distinct;
chiefly as it would appear in their emotional, but partly in their
intellectual, faculties. Every one who has had the opportunity of
comparison, must have been struck with the contrast between the
taciturn, even morose, aborigines of S. America and the light-hearted,
talkative negroes. There is a nearly similar contrast between the Malays
and the Papuans,[285] who live under the same physical conditions, and
are separated from each other only by a narrow space of sea.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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