The human species

by A. de Quatrefages

We must, then, almost always be prepared for sacrifices, the extent and gravity of which will be proportionate to the differences, as regards conditions of existence, between the two countries, and we must almost always expect to lose a certain number of individuals and generations. Everything depends upon judging facts fairly, not exaggerating their importance, and seeing how far they justify a hope of success in spite of appearances. If the losses are merely equal to those I have just mentioned, or, better still, if they are fewer in number, we may prophesy a favourable result; and, if the victory is worth the price, we must leave the rest to perseverance and time.

IV. Events in Algeria confirm these observations. After the conquest it was everywhere, as also in France, a question whether it would be possible to colonise the country taken from the Turks and Arabs. Dr. Knox declared most emphatically that such a colonisation was impossible, and that the French would never be able to increase or even live in Africa. It must be confessed that this opinion found many and strong supporters. After the first few years of occupation the generals, as well as the doctors, were almost all of the same opinion. M. Boudin supported, with distressing statistics, the views of his colleagues, Marshal Bugeaud and Generals Duvivier and Cavaignac.

Relying upon what I know to have taken place with regard to birds, I did not hesitate to attack these discouraging prophecies. Military and civil mortality was in 1845 doubtless much more considerable in Algeria than in France, and the number of deaths must again have exceeded that of births. But emigration was at that time abundant and continual. Now, if the influx of new arrivals filled the voids caused by the change in conditions of existence, it at the same time augmented the mortality by continually bringing forward recruits to this war against conditions of life. The rate of deaths amongst children was almost double that reported by French statistics; but the proportion of deaths was still much less than that among the first geese at Bogota. Finally, far from having been weakened, the fertility of the women had increased; the sources of life were therefore much less affected in this case than upon the high plateaus of America.

From all these considerations, I felt justified in concluding that the acclimatisation of the French in Algeria was certain of success, and would not require twenty generations. My opinion has been corroborated by events much sooner than I expected. The census of 1870 showed in the European population of Algeria an increase of 25,000, due almost entirely to the superiority of the number of births over that of deaths. The action of the first generation born in the country began to make itself felt, and from that time the result has been still more striking. In two or three more generations the French Creole will live in Algeria quite as well as his ancestors have lived in France.

There are, however, distinctions which must be drawn with regard to the facility of acclimatisation in Algeria, between the different European races, and even between the inhabitants of the north and south of France. The statistics offered by MM. Boudin, Martin, and Foley show clearly that the Spaniards and Maltese stand the Algerian climate infinitely better than the English, Belgians, or Germans. Now, the inhabitants of the north of France strongly resemble the latter nations in race and habits. In both these respects the inhabitants of southern France are connected, on the contrary, with the inhabitants of Malta and Spain. We might, therefore, without much fear of error, prophesy that the latter had, either for themselves or their descendants, a much greater chance of surviving than the French of Alsatian and Flemish origin. Experience has again fully confirmed these deductions of theory.

V. The information which we derive from these facts taking place, so to speak, at our very doors, and among races with which we are very closely connected, may, with perfect justice, be applied to conditions of life more widely different in character, to races which are much more distinct from each other than the French and the Belgians. Nevertheless, the conclusion so obtained would have the same value as that drawn from a general formula, the signification of which changes with the data. When the question is one of acclimatisation, these data always rise from the two elements mentioned above: conditions of race and life. If either vary, even though it be but slightly and within narrow limits, the result is necessarily altered, and often in a very unexpected manner. Every question of acclimatisation, in reality then, forms a separate problem, which often, again, is sub-divided into a number of particular cases, each of which demands a special solution. Without leaving the French colonies, we can quote on this subject another most striking example.

Anthropologists, as well as doctors, have often questioned the possibility of the acclimatisation of Europeans in the archipelagoes of the great Mexican Gulf, which, through yellow fever and the influences by which it is developed, is particularly fatal to him. At first sight, it is true, a number of general facts seem to leave no doubt that the answer should be in the affirmative. Since the discovery of America Europeans have always occupied these islands, and the White race, bringing with it the Negro, have everywhere replaced the Caribbean race. In answer to this statement, it has been argued that these islands are one of the most favourite parts of the globe for emigration, and that by this means alone a population is maintained, which, if left to itself, would soon disappear. Calculations are opposed to calculations, statistics to statistics, and were we to approach the subject without analysing facts, the question would appear most obscure.

To solve it in those cases only in which France is interested, we will speak only of Guadeloupe and Martinique. We know that these islands were colonised by the French only 235 years ago. Even allowing the very liberal ratio of four generations to the century, we find that, at the most, ten generations have elapsed in these islands, the climate of which is of all others the most fatal to Europeans. Now, more than twenty generations were necessary to acclimatise the geese at Bogota. The experiment, therefore, is not complete. Nevertheless, in presence of the facts of longevity and fecundity attested by M. Simonot, we do not hesitate to share his opinions. Although the French race may not yet be acclimatised in Martinique and Guadeloupe, we may be certain that it soon will be.

It is no less true that statistics attest an excess of deaths over births. The information which they furnish has, however, been presented without distinction. Old and new creoles have been mixed together, as well as the latest emigrants, in a common estimate. Elements, which are fundamentally very different have thus been confounded. For a work of this kind to have any real value, it is absolutely necessary to divide the population into classes determined by the time of emigration, and to estimate the length of time itself by the number of generations. By proceeding in this manner, we shall undoubtedly establish in the mortality of groups striking differences, more or less analogous to those displayed by the generations of plants and animals transported into Africa or America.

The statistics in question are still further vitiated by a fault, which is completely exposed by M. Walther in his work upon Guadeloupe. He, also, has drawn up tables of mortality; only, instead of taking the population en masse, he studied each district separately. Very significant differences then made their appearance. Considered as a whole the population of Guadeloupe offers an annual excess of 0·46 deaths over births, that is to say, nearly one-half per cent. In presence of these facts, the statisticians whose views I am attacking, would certainly have concluded that the European is not acclimatised in Guadeloupe, and have declared, that, after a certain time, which might easily be calculated, this colonial population would become extinct, if the voids were not incessantly filled by fresh immigrants.