Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 26.djvu/718

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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

forms a kingdom to itself." Concerning his attitude on this and kindred subjects, Mr. W. L. Distant remarks, in "Nature," that "it is to be noted how such an eminent naturalist as our author is still opposed to Darwinism, which in this section receives copious treatment, and some of the grounds principally given for its rejection are to many minds who embrace it the reasons of their faith." In treating of the psychological characteristics of the human species, M. de Quatrefages combats some of the views advanced by Sir John Lubbock, and criticises the common disposition to regard all sense of honesty as absent in certain races, as assuming too much on insufficient data. He says, on this point: "Nothing is more common than to hear travelers accuse entire races of an incorrigible propensity for theft. The insular populations of the South Seas have, among others, been reproached with it. These people, it is indignantly affirmed, stole even the nails of the ships! But these nails were iron, and in these islands, which are devoid of metal, a little iron was, with good cause, regarded as a treasure. Now, I ask any of my readers, supposing a ship with sheaths ing and bolts of gold, and nails of diamonds and rubies, were to sail into any European port, would its sheathing or its nails be safe?" In a paper on "The Crossing of the Human Races," which was published in "The Popular Science Monthly" for June, 1880, M. de Quatrefages took distinct ground, in opposition to the views of most of his fellow anthropologists, that mixture of stocks, where the environment is favorable to its full operation and development, is for good. But he bears in mind that "the aggregation of physical conditions does not in itself alone constitute the environment. Social and moral condition have an equal part in it." If real marriages take place between the races, he adds, and their offspring are placed upon a footing of equality with the mass of the population, "they are quite able to reach the general level, and sometimes to display superior qualities. All of my studies on this question have brought me to the conclusion that the mixture of races has in the past had a great part in the constitution of a large number of actual populations. It is also clear to me that its part in the future will not be less considerable. . . . The people of mixed blood already constitute a considerable part of the population of certain states, and their number is large enough to entitle them to be taken notice of in the population of the whole world." He concludes this paper with the obervation that the facts cited in it show that man is everywhere the same, and that his passions and instincts are independent of the differences that distinguish the human groups.

Other works of M. de Quatrefages are: "Comparative Physiology; Metamorphoses of Man and Animals" (1862); "The Polynesians and their Migrations" (1860); "Report on the Progress of Anthropology" (1867); "Darwin and his French Precursors" (1870); "The Prussian Race" (1871); and "Crania Ethnica," an important work prepared by him in connection with M. Hamy.