The Moral and Intellectual Diversity of Races: With Particular Reference to Their Respective Influence in the Civil and Political History of MankindGobineau, Arthur, comte de
Philosophy
The Moral and Intellectual Diversity of Races: With Particular Reference to Their Respective Influence in the Civil and Political History of Mankind
Iroquois } | | | } 79
Lenapè } | | | }
Cherokee } 161 | 104 | 70 | 84 }
Shoshonè, &c. } | | | |
| | | | |
NEGRO GROUP. | | | | |
NATIVE AFRICAN FAMILY | 62 | 99 | 65 | 83 }
AMERICAN-BORN NEGROES | 12 | 89 | 73 | 82 } 83
HOTTENTOT FAMILY | 3 | 83 | 68 | 75 |
ALFOREAN FAMILY | | | | |
Australians | 8 | 83 | 63 | 75 |
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Dr. Morton's mind, it will be seen by this table, had not yet freed
itself from the incubus of artificial and unnatural classifications.
Like Tiedemann and others, he has grouped together races which have not
the slightest affinity in physical, moral, or linguistic characters. In
the _Caucasian_ group, for example, are placed the Teutonic, Indostanic,
Shemitic, and Nilotic families, each of which, it can be shown, has
existed utterly distinct for 5000 years, not to mention many
subdivisions.
The table of Dr. Morton affords some curious results. His ancient
Pelasgic heads and those of the modern white races, give the same size
of brain, viz: 88 cubic inches; and his ancient Egyptians and their
modern representatives, the Fellahs, yield the same mean, 80 cubic
inches; the difference between the two groups being 8 cubic inches.
These facts have a strong bearing on the question of _permanence_ of
types. The small-headed Hindoos present the same cranial capacity as the
Egyptians, and though these races have each been the repository of early
civilization, it is a question whether either was the originator of
civilization. The Egyptian race, from the earliest monumental dawn,
exhibits Shemitic adulteration; and Latham proves that the Sanscrit
language was not indigenous to India, but was carried there from
Northern Europe in early ages by conquerors.
Again, in the negro group, while it is absolutely shown that certain
African races, whether born in Africa, or of the tenth descent in
America, give a cranial capacity almost identical, 83 cubic inches; we
see, on the contrary, the Hottentot and Australian yielding a mean of
but 75 inches, thereby showing a like difference of eight cubic inches.
In the American group, also, the same parallel holds good. The Toltecan
family, the most civilized race, exhibit a mean of but 77 inches, while
the barbarous tribes give 84, that is, a difference of 7 inches in favor
of the savage. While, however, the Toltecans have the smaller heads,
they are, according to Combe, much more developed in the anterior or
_intellectual_ lobes, which may serve to explain this apparent paradox.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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