The Natural History of the Varieties of Man

by R. G. Latham

Although the enumeration, classification, and partial description of the varieties of the human species form the basis of the natural history of man, a short notice of the general character of the science which investigates it is a proper adjunct to them. This will consist in apophthegms, upon its nature, objects, and methods, so far as the last have been evolved.

General Apophthegms.

I.

The natural history of man is chiefly divided between two subjects, anthropology and ethnology.

II.

Anthropology determines the relations of man to the other mammalia.

III.

Ethnology, the relations of the different varieties of mankind to each other.

IV.

Anthropology is more immediately connected with zoology; differing from it chiefly in the complexity of its problems, e. g. the appreciation of the extent to which the moral characteristics of man complicate a classification which, in the lower animals, is, to a great extent, founded on physical criteria.