On the phenomena of hybridity in the genus Homo / by Paul Broca ; edited, with the permission of the author, by C. Carter Blake.

  • Broca, Paul, 1824-1880.
Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the phenomena of hybridity in the genus Homo / by Paul Broca ; edited, with the permission of the author, by C. Carter Blake. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    19/88
    Alfourous and tlie Malays, and if tliis race be really hybi’id, it is not easy to see how Prichard and his adherents are authorised to assert that they persist by themselves. The three examples adduced by Prichard having thus proved without any absolute value, a diametrically opposite doctrine has been advanced. It has been said that since this author was obliged to go so far for such indifferent examples, it amounts to a proof that he could not find any others,^ and the conclusion was arrived at that a mixed I’ace neither has nor could have a permanent existence. This novel assertion is perfectly erroneous, and if it found adherents, it is simply because the question has been badly put; because the word race has not received a precise signifi- cation, and consequently, a very confused acceptation has been given to the term. Among the various characters which distinguish the numer- ous varieties of the genus homo, some are more or less import- ant, and more or less evident. To distinguish two races, a single character, however slight, is sufficient, provided it be hereditary and sufiiciently fixed. If, for instance, two peoples differed merely from each other by the colour of the hair and the beard, though they may resemble each other in every other respect, by the simple fact that the one has black, whilst the other has fair hair, it may be asserted that they are not of the same race. This is the popular and the true meaning of the term race, which, however, does not necessarily implicate the idea either of identity or diversity of origin. Thus all ethno- logists and historians, all the monogenists, and polygenistic authors say that the Irish proper are not of the same race as the English. The Germans, the Celts, the Basques, the Sclaves, the Jews, Arabs, Kabyles, etc., etc., are considered more or less separate races, more or less easy to be characterised, and more or less distinguished by their manners, tongues, lustory and origin. There are thus a large number of human races ; but if, instead of considering all the characters, we con- fine ourselves to take into consideration but a few of the more 1 Davis, Crania Britannica. Introduction, p. 8, note.