CONTENTS.
- [ANALYTICAL INTRODUCTION.]
- The discussion of the moral and intellectual diversity of races totally independent of the question of unity or plurality of origin—Leading propositions of this volume, with illustrations and comments.
- [CHAPTER I.]
POLITICAL CATASTROPHES. - Perishable condition of all human societies—Ancient ideas concerning this phenomenon—Modern theories [105]
- [CHAPTER II.]
ALLEGED CAUSES OF POLITICAL CATASTROPHES EXAMINED. - Fanaticism—Aztec Empire of Mexico.—Luxury—Modern European States as luxurious as the ancient.—Corruption of morals—The standard of morality fluctuates in the various periods of a nation's history: example, France—Is no higher in youthful communities than in old ones—Morality of Paris.—Irreligion—Never spreads through all ranks of a nation—Greece and Rome—Tenacity of Paganism [114]
- [CHAPTER III.]
INFLUENCE OF GOVERNMENT UPON THE LONGEVITY OF NATIONS. - Misgovernment defined—Athens, China, Spain, Germany, Italy, etc.—Is not in itself a sufficient cause for the ruin of nations. [138]
- [CHAPTER IV.]
DEFINITION OF THE WORD DEGENERACY—ITS CAUSE. - Skeleton history of a nation—Origin of castes, nobility, etc.—Vitality of nations not necessarily extinguished by conquest—China, Hindostan—Permanency of their peculiar civilizations. [146]
- [CHAPTER V.]
THE MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL DIVERSITY OF RACES IS NOT THE RESULT OF POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. - Antipathy of races—Results of their mixture—The scientific axiom of the absolute equality of men, but an extension of the political—Its fallacy—Universal belief in unequal endowment of races—The moral and intellectual diversity of races not attributable to institutions—Indigenous institutions are the expression of popular sentiments; when foreign and imported, they never prosper—Illustrations: England and France—Roman Empire—European Colonies—Sandwich Islands—St. Domingo—Jesuit missions in Paraguay [172]
- [CHAPTER VI.]
THIS DIVERSITY IS NOT THE RESULT OF GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION. - America—Ancient empires—Phenicians and Romans—Jews—Greece and Rome—Commercial cities of Europe—Isthmus of Darien [201]
- [CHAPTER VII.]
INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY UPON MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL DIVERSITY OF RACES. - The term Christian civilization examined—Reasons for rejecting it—Intellectual diversity no hindrance to the universal diffusion of Christianity—Civilizing influence of Christian religion by elevating and purifying the morals, etc.; but does not remove intellectual disparities—Various instances—Cherokees—Difference between imitation and comprehension of civilized life [215]
- [INTRODUCTORY NOTE
TO
CHAPTERS VIII. AND IX.] - Rapid survey of the populations comprised under the appellation "Teutonic"—Their present ethnological area, and leading characteristics—Fondness for the sea displayed by the Teutonic tribes of Northwestern Europe, and perceptible in their descendants [234]
- [CHAPTER VIII.]
CIVILIZATION. - Mr. Guizot's and Mr. W. von Humboldt's definitions examined. Its elements [246]
- [CHAPTER IX.]
ELEMENTS OF CIVILIZATION—CONTINUED. - Definition of the term—Specific differences of civilizations—Hindoo, Chinese, European, Greek, and Roman civilizations—Universality of Chinese civilization—Superficiality of ours—Picture of the social condition of France [272]
- [CHAPTER X.]
QUESTION OF UNITY OR PLURALITY OF RACES. - Systems of Camper, Blumenbach, Morton, Carus—Investigations of Owen, Vrolik, Weber—Prolificness of hybrids, the great scientific stronghold of the advocates of unity of species [312]
- [CHAPTER XI.]
PERMANENCY OF TYPES. - The language of Holy Writ in favor of common origin—The permanency of their characteristics separates the races of men as effectually as if they were distinct creations—Arabs, Jews—Prichard's argument about the influence of climate examined—Ethnological history of the Turks and Hungarians [336]
- [CHAPTER XII.]
CLASSIFICATION OF RACES. - Primary varieties—Test for recognizing them; not always reliable—Effects of intermixture—Secondary varieties—Tertiary varieties—Amalgamation of races in large cities—Relative scale of beauty in various branches of the human family—Their inequality in muscular strength and powers of endurance [368]
- [NOTE TO THE PRECEDING CHAPTER.]
- The position and treatment of woman among the various races of men a proof of their moral and intellectual diversity [384]
- [CHAPTER XIII.]
PERFECTIBILITY OF MAN. - Imperfect notions of the capability of savage tribes—Parallel between our civilization and those that preceded it—Our modern political theories no novelty—The political parties of Rome—Peace societies—The art of printing a means, the results of which depend on its use—What constitutes a "living" civilization—Limits of the sphere of intellectual acquisitions [391]
- [CHAPTER XIV.]
MUTUAL RELATIONS OF DIFFERENT MODES OF INTELLECTUAL CULTURE. - Necessary consequences of a supposed equality of all races—Uniform testimony of history to the contrary—Traces of extinct civilizations among barbarous tribes—Laws which govern the adoption of a state of civilization by conquered populations—Antagonism of different modes of culture; the Hellenic and Persian, European and Arab, etc. [414]
- [CHAPTER XV.]
MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE THREE GREAT VARIETIES. - Impropriety of drawing general conclusions from individual cases—Recapitulatory sketch of the leading features of the Negro, the Yellow, and the White races—Superiority of the latter—Conclusion of volume the first [439]
- [APPENDIX.]
By J. C. Nott, M. D. - A—Dr. Morton's later tables [461]
- B—Species; varieties. Latest experiments upon the laws of hybridity[473]
- C—Biblical connections of the question of unity or plurality of species[504]
- [FOOTNOTES]
ANALYTICAL INTRODUCTION.
Before departing on one's travels to a foreign country, it is well to cast a glance on the map, and if we expect to meet and examine many curiosities, a correct itinerary may not be an inconvenient travelling companion. In laying before the public the present work of Mr. Gobineau, embracing a field of inquiry so boundless and treating of subjects of such vast importance to all, it has been thought not altogether useless or inappropriate to give a rapid outline of the topics presented to the consideration of the reader—a ground-plan, as it were, of the extensive edifice he is invited to enter, so that he may afterwards examine it at leisure, and judge of the symmetry of its parts. This, though fully sensible of the inadequacy of his powers to the due execution of the task, the present writer has endeavored to do, making such comments on the way, and using such additional illustrations as the nature of the subject seemed to require.
Whether we contemplate the human family from the point of view of the naturalist or of the philosopher, we are struck with the marked dissimilarity of the various groups. The obvious physical characteristics by which we distinguish what are termed different races, are not more clearly defined than the psychical diversities observable among them. "If a person," says the learned vindicator of the unity of the human species,[1] "after surveying some brilliant ceremony or court pageant in one of the splendid cities of Europe, were suddenly carried into a hamlet in Negro-land, at the hour when the sable tribes recreate themselves with dancing and music; or if he were transported to the saline plains over which bald and tawny Mongolians roam, differing but little in hue from the yellow soil of their steppes, brightened by the saffron flowers of the iris and tulip; if he were placed near the solitary dens of the Bushman, where the lean and hungry savage crouches in silence, like a beast of prey, watching with fixed eyes the birds which enter his pitfall, or greedily devouring the insects and reptiles which chance may bring within his grasp; if he were carried into the midst of an Australian forest, where the squalid companions of kangaroos may be seen crawling in procession, in imitation of quadrupeds, would the spectator of such phenomena imagine the different groups which he had surveyed to be the offspring of one family? And if he were led to adopt that opinion, how would he attempt to account for the striking diversities in their aspect and manner of existence?"