The plurality of the human racePouchet, G. (Georges)
Philosophy
The plurality of the human race
Pouchet, G. (Georges)
Monogenism and polygenism
Craniology is not anthropology; it assists it materially, but the
partial results which it obtains have not necessarily the same value in
the more general point of view of anthropology. Every classification,
based on the form of the skull, will be necessarily an artificial
classification, because it will only rest upon one sole order of
phenomena. Besides, this study presents great difficulties from the
individual differences which the various heads show, in which the
qualities belonging to the individual have been so far able to hide the
general characters of the race, that these often remain unrecognisable.
Divisions have also increased in proportion as craniological
collections have come richer in specimens. Morton only reckoned
eleven human races, but he believed under the truth. We may very well
have a poor idea of the value of this classification by studying the
materials which were used by the philosopher of Philadelphia. Besides
the American race, Morton had only a very few skulls at his disposal.
The Philadelphian collection, which has been much increased since
his death, contained, only a few years ago, 1035 skulls, 38 of them
pathological; there remain therefore but 997. Out of this number the
American race figures in 502, or more than one-half. There remains,
therefore 495, 154 of which came from the valley of the Nile; so that
merely 350 skulls represent the whole of Europe, Asia, the Oceanic
countries, and Africa (excepting Egypt). This is not much for the
purpose of classing a population likely to be raised to five hundred
millions of inhabitants.[336]
It remains for us to study and determine the intrinsic value of each of
these heads. The authentic production of a skull is not always easy to
be established when it comes from the other side of the world, obtained
by travellers who have not made a special study of anthropology; it is
even less so when a skull is dug up in a burial ground, where there
may be a certain promiscuousness very apt to hinder our inquiries.
Errors of this kind steal into science only too often, and we have
for a long time in particular objected to the name of _Gallic mummy_,
which has been given to a body in a collection at Paris, the history
of which does not at all justify this denomination, since we simply
believe that _when it was first dug up_ it was only referred back to
the _thirteenth_ century![337]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account