We have no occasion here to revert to the history of the development of the industry of man in prehistoric times. We shall confine ourselves to pointing out that this part of our subject is treated at full length in our work on “Primitive Man.”

To summarize what we have said: if man, in his bodily formation, is an animal, in the exalted range of his intellect, he is Nature’s lord. Although we show that in him phenomena present themselves similar to those which we encounter in vegetables and plants, yet we see him by his superior faculties, extend afar his empire, and reign supreme over all that is around him, the mineral as well as the organized world. The faculties which properly belong to human intelligence and distinguish man from the brute, namely, the abstractive faculties, make him the privileged being of creation, and justify him in his pride, for, besides the physical power which he is able to exert on matter, he alone has the notion of duty and the knowledge of the existence of a God.

After these general considerations we proceed to the description of the different races of men.

We have said that we shall adopt in this work the classification proposed by M. d’Omalius d’Halloy, modifying it to meet our own views. We shall therefore describe in their order:

  1. The White Race.
  2. The Yellow Race.
  3. The Brown Race.
  4. The Red Race.
  5. The Black Race.

We would call special observation to the fact that these epithets must not always be taken in an absolute sense. The meaning they intend to convey is that each of the groups we establish is composed of men, who considered as a whole, are more white, yellow, brown, red, or black, than those of other races. The reader must therefore not be surprised to find in any given race men whose colour does not agree with the epithet which we here employ in order to characterize them. In addition to that, these groups are not founded solely upon the colour of the skin; they are derived from the consideration of other characteristics, and, above all, from the languages spoken by the people in question.

THE WHITE RACE.