FOOTNOTES:
[1] Egypt may perhaps afford an exception; but it is probable that the germs of its civilization came from Asia. All its relations are essentially Asiatic.
[2] It is likely that some part of the Aryan folk found their way to the Pacific shore in Corea and elsewhere; but the Aryan migrations setting to the East must have been uncommon, and the chance of Caucasian blood reaching America by this route small.
[3] I have elsewhere (Introduction to the Memorial History of Boston) noticed the fact that this difficulty in clearing the glaciated soils led the early settlers of New England to use the poorer soils first. Along the shore and the rivers there is a strip of sandy terrace deposits, the soils of which are rather lean, but which are free from boulders, so that the labor of clearing was relatively small. All, or nearly all, the first settlements in the glaciated districts were made on this class of soils.
[4] The slow progress of our agricultural exports during the first two hundred years of the history of this country, is in good part to be explained by the stubborn character of the soil which was then in use. The only easily subdued soils in use before 1800 were those of Virginia and Maryland. The sudden advance of the export trade in grain during the last fifty years marks the change which brought the great areas of non-glaciated soils of the Mississippi Valley and the South under cultivation.
[5] It is an interesting fact that while America has given but one domesticated animal to Europe, in the turkey, it has furnished a number of the most important vegetables, among them maize, tobacco, and the potato. The absence of strong domesticable animals in America doubtless affected the development of civilization among its indigenous people. The buffalo is apparently not domesticable. The horse, which seems to have been developed on North American soil, and to have spread thence to Europe and Asia, seems to have disappeared in America before the coming of man to its shores. The only beast which could profitably be subjugated was the weak vicuna, which could only be used for carrying light burdens. But for the help given them by the sheep, the bull, and the horse, we may well doubt if the Old-World races would have won their way much more effectively than those of America had done.
[6] See for special information on these points the Investigations in the Military and Anthropological Statistics of American Soldiers. By Benjamin Apthorp Gould, Cambridge, 1869, p. 655. It is impossible to give here any sufficient extracts from this voluminous report. The reader is especially referred to chapters viii., ix., and x., for confirmation of the general statements made above.
The following table, compiled from Dr. Gould’s report, is extracted from the “General Account of Kentucky” in my Reports of Progress of Kentucky Geological Survey, new series, Frankfort, Kentucky, 1877, vol. ii. p. 387:—
TABLE OF MEASUREMENTS OF AMERICAN WHITE MEN COMPILED FROM REPORT OF THE SANITARY COMMISSION, MADE FROM MEASUREMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERS DURING THE CIVIL WAR. BY B. A. GOULD.
Key to table;
A - Mean weight in pounds.
B - Mean circumference around forehead and occipit.
C - Proportion of tall men in each 100,000.