Firmin Antenor The Equality of The Human Races PDF

TH[ •
ua1
Of THE
Antenor Firmin
Translated by Asselin Charles
Introduction by Carolyn Fluehr-Lobbc
University of Illinois Press

Urbana and Chicago
i
'r
. . perback, 2002
First 11lmo1s pa d Asselin Charles Contents
l Fl hr-Lobban an
© 2000 by Caro yn ue . h Garland Publishing Inc.
. d b arrangement wit
Reprmte Y All rights reserved .
. the United States of America
Manufacture d m
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This book is pnnte
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Library of C~ngress h-Antenor, 18:50-1911.
Firmm, Josep h aines. English}
[De l'egalite des races um "tivist anthropology I
h races : pos1 . l .
The equality of the uman th French by Asselm Char es '
Antenor Firmin; translated !~::r-~obban.-1st Illinois pbk.,
introduction by Carolyn
P· cm. . 2000 Acknowledgments
. h d· N York: Garland JW>., ' vii
Originally pub_hs. e . ~:al references and index. Note on the Translation by Asselin Charles
Includes b1bhograp bk . alk. paper) IX
ISBN 978-0-252-07102-7 (p .. Introduction by Caro1yn Fluehr-Lobban
XI
1. Race. Dedication to Haiti
2. Race relations. Preface Ii
I. Title Jjjj
HT1521.F513 2002
305.8-dc21 2002025372 Chapter 1: Anthropology as a Discipline
Chapter 2: Early Classification Systems
Chapter 3: Species in the Animal Kingdom 15
Chapter 4: Monogenism and Polygenism 27
The University of Illinois Press Chapter 5: 35
Criteria for Classifying the Human Races
. a founding member of the Chapter 6: 87
. l~
Artificial Ranking of the Human Races
Association o f Amer ican University Presses. Chapter 7: 139
Comparison of the Human Races Based
on Their Physical Constitution
Chapter 8: 173
University of Illinois Press Metissage and Equality of the Races
1325 South Oak Street Chapter 9: Egypt and Civilization 203
.
Champaign, IL 61820-6903
. Chapter 10: The Hindus and the Arya 225
www. press.uillino1s.edu 257
Chapter 11:
General Perfectibility of the Human Races
Chapter 12: 269
IntelJectual Evolution of the Black Race in Haiti
Chapter 13: Prejudices and Vanities 295
Chapter 14: Comparisons 325
329
v
To Haiti
May readers of this book meditate on its content, and may it help to ac-
celerate the movement of regeneration in which my race is engaged
under the limpid blue skies of the Caribbean!
May it inspire in all the children of the Black race around this big
world the love of progress, justice, and liberty. In dedicating this book to
Haiti, I bear them all in mind, both the downtrodden of today and the gi-
ants of tomorrow.
Antenor Firmin
Ii
'Preface
There is an element of chance in all human endeavors. When I arrived in

Paris, it never entered my mind to write a book such as this one. I am pre-
disposed, both by my profession as a lawyer and by my studies, to con-
cern myself with questions pertaining to the moral and political sciences.
I had no intention, then, of entering a field in which I could be considered
a layman.
Most of my friends even thought that I would take advantage of my
stay in Paris to study for the licence and the doctorate at the Faculty of
Law. That would certainly have suited my ambitions, had it not been for
the exigencies of such studies and my family obligations. Neve1theless,
if without having had the good luck of growing up in Europe one has
-worked conscientiously in one's country in order to earn one's title, I be-
lieve it is useless to recommence studies in a field of knowledge already
more or less successfully covered. The mind has other needs that must be
met as well. Meeting those needs largely compensates for the lack of a
highly desirable degree, especia11y as the absence of such a degree in no
way depreciates the work done outside European universities.
I will now explain how the inspiration for this book came to me. Dr.
Aubertin, whose liberal and congenial character I can never praise
enough, met with me a number of times. He was good enough to find our
several conversations interesting, and one day he graciously offered to
submit my name for admission to the Paris Anthropological Society (So-
ciete d'.anthropologie de Paris). My academic background was such that
'I could immediately benefit from the works of this society within which
so many eminent men gather in order to discuss the loftiest and most in-
[iii
Liv The Equality of the Human Races Preface
lv
teresting questions imaginable, that is, tQ study man. It is with gratitude, oped my thesis of the equality of the races 1 .
then, that I accepted an offer, which I appreciated particularly because it mood that my th· k" . ' was m such a depressive
m mg was affected Such · .
had been so spontaneous. ducive to stylistic elegance and vi or . . . cu cu?1stances are not con-
My candidacy, under Dr. Aube11in's sponsorship, was successful. I when the mind is healthy and th hg 'quaht1es_ which come through only
. e eart expansive.
was introduced by him, Mr. De Mortillet, and Mr. Janvier, and I was 1 may have wntten an awkward hr h .
elected a member of the scientific society at their meeting of the ~7th of there. I beg my readers, indul , p . ase ere, an incorrect sentence
July of last year [ 1884]. I take this opportunity to express to these gentle- ties inherent in the issues I hagdetnce, akslkmg them to consider the d.ifficul-
. o tac e and the hast ·
men my deep gratitude. by circumstances Perhaps 1 0 . ' e imposed upon me
· verest1mated my st. h d.
I do not have to hide it. I am always shocked whenever I come across way sometimes Only the th. t 4-" iengt · 1 id feel that
· irs 1or truth and th df .
dogmatic assertions of the inequality of the races and the inferiority of me in my work. Neve1theless h t h e nee or· light sustained
Blacks in various books. Now that I have become a member of the So- having undertaken this work' .-:VW~t~:er ~- e outc?me, I will never regret
ciete d'anthropologie de Paris, such assertions seem to me even more in- writes Mason "there is an o d. . dl m t is floatmg mass of humanity,"
' r ete movement o . · .
r-comptehe11sible mm illo~ll Does it make sense to have seating as aJ~rger circle and our mind . . ur sma11 circle is part of
·' ·.. ' · gams a measure of te . · · .
- equals within the same society with men whom the science which one is it gltmpses a new truth Th . mpoi ary satisfaction as
supposed to represent seems to declare unequal? At the opening of our gence. This is how natu~a] seelpe~rt~Uit of tkhat truth strengthens our intelli-
c ion wor s for the . d Wh. .
meeting at the end of last year, I could have requested a debate about the and cannot go further others d mm · 1Je some tire
, a vance and becom t . b .
themselves."l e s tonger y exe11mg
issue within the Society in order to elucidate the scie!Mfic reasons why
most of my fellow scientists divide the human species into superior and . In arguing the thesis at the core of th"
Justify the warm welcome I h db . is work, I wanted essentially to
inferior races. But I risked being perceived as an intruder and, being ill- a een given by th s ·,, , d'
disposed against me, my colleagues might have rejected my request de Paris. I hereby pay ho . e oczete · anthropologie
mage to each of its me b .
without further thought. Common sense told me I was right to hesitate leagues. I often happen to ch II m e1 s, my honorable col-
.· . a enge mc,st anthro l ·
so. It was then that I conceived the idea of writing this ·book. I urge the opm1ons contrary to theirs but I t"ll po og1sts and to. harbor
specialists to meditate on its content, while at the same time I beg their tual worth. I fervently hop~ that ~h1 re~fiect ;nd honor thei~- great intellec-
indulgence. Whatever they find good in it is due to the effectiveness of sial points I have. raised d hey WI re . ect on the vanous controver-
an t at they will · .
the positivist methodology which I have tried to apply to anthropolqgy,, . ,&Y&arding the abilities of my race. I do not reconsider the1r opinions
founding all my inductions on the principles already recognized in th~ ,task I had undertaken but I b l'
'
h . presume to have excelled at the
e ieve t at it suffic t
'to educated and intelligent men t h h es o present a set of ideas
established sciences. It is such an approach that impa1ts an uncontestabk
. .obvious truth: "Verum animo satio I ave t e°.1 ~cknowledge their shiningly
validity to the study of anthropological questions.
I am Black. Moreover I h s i~ec vestzgza [7arva sagaci sunt. "2
Such a subject requires long and laborious studies. The haste with
which I undertook the project undoubtedly has affected its execution.
~e as the only true one ~he ~v~ a ways considered t~e religion of sci-
nite devotion of any man ~h . n Y_~n; worthy of the attention and infi-
The fact is, 1 could not count on finding sufficient free time in the future. : o is gm e by reason H Id .
Time was of the essence, and I was not sure that any of my Black col- . the conclus10ns some seem to d . · ow cou I reconcile
· raw, on the basis of th· ·
leagues had both the good will and the patience one needs in order to with respect to the abilities of Blacks w· h . is same science,
construct, combine, and present the arguments and the research materials eration. which is for me an . . It this deep and passionate ven-
' • imperative need f th · .
in the way I strove to <lo. draw from the ranks of my c o e mmd? Could I with-
ongeners and con ·d
Have I succeeded and written a book with the clarity, precision, and among other exceptions? I have t I . l s1. er myself an exception
all those other attractive qualities that captivate the mind, a book that ex- tinction which I consider vain o? og1ca a mind to accept such a dis-
. , spec10us and mad Th · f
erts the fascination of those works designed to propagate ideas which are . ta1 difference between the Bl k f Af . . ere is no undamen-
correct but yet contested and misunderstood? I cannot be ce1tain that I .. never understand how wh ac_ s o . n_ca and those of Haiti. I could
• eneve1 ment10n is m d f h . .
have. I have never trusted my talent as a stylist. Furthermore, as I devel- Black race, the allusion would I a e o t e mfenority of the
app y more to the former than to the I atter.
Preface lvii
The Equality of the Human Races
lvi Such a time will undoubtedly come Other
at that, have experienced lo d . . . peoples, and older ones
Should I be tempted to entertain such a false and inept idea, reality itself, barism; yet, at the hour marknegd ban dpa1.nful penods of anarchy and bar-
which never lies, would make me realize every minute that the system- . Y estmy the sun f . .
erat10n rose over their natio 1 h . .' . o p1 og1 ess and regen-
atic contempt hurled at the African reaches me in my entire being. If find in these examples so · 1na onzon, its. ra?iance inextinguishable. I
Caribbean Blacks show evidence of superior intelligence, if they exhibit . ' e oquent and so sigmfi
mg strength and unshakable hope. cant, a source of consol-
abilities unknown to their ancestors, it is nonetheless to these ancestors
they owe their original intelligence, which selection would later 1 do not wish, however, to give the im .
sale the practice of invok1'n h' . press10n that I embrace whole-
strengthen and increase. some error, or to excuse unf rt
g 1stoncal compa ·
. ~1sons m· order to justify
Haiti must serve to the rehabilitation of Africa. It is with this thought tion. Such comparisons haveo u~·ate practices, m the life of a young na-
J.n mind that l have chosen my examples solely from the Haitian Repub- order to show that all n t' a .ra mnal foundation when they are made in
Vhe each time l needed to illustrate the moral and intellectual qualities of . a tons and all races th t h
t10n, have inevitably exper1'e d
.
a ave achieved civiliza-
the Negro race. From Blacks to mulattoes there are many different an- . nee , en route a p · d 1
tna and error and of inc . . . . , eno , ong or short of
thropological mixed bred types. I have cited many names, regretting that • 1 1 eno1 orgamzat1on Th '
tf they are used in defense of a b uses wh1ch .. ey are dangerous, though
h · '
the limits of my book and the fear of monotony kept me from citing ents, but which are known t b h may ave historical prece-
such a purpose, the study of~he armdul to social progress. Used for
many more. Thus I would like to name, among other specimens of the d
Haitian race, Alfred Box, Ansel in, Nelson Desroches, Edmond Roumain, which need to be encouraged in ~:e:;t oes not benefit young nations,
Georges Sylvain, and Edmond Cantin. l would have mentioned many To the contrary it fosters i'n th .quest for beauty, truth, and good
other brilliant young minds but for the fear of committing ~e fault I tried ' ose nat10ns · ·
nonchalance, which impedes all i· 't' . a pern1c10us apathy, a deadly
·
so hard to avoid throughout this book. · . nt iat1ves for ref d

must immunize ourselves a . orm an progress. We
Does Haiti constitute a sufficiently edifying example in favor of the gamst such an erro. Wh'l
t e Black race in Haiti has . . I. I e recognizing that
race she is proud to represent among the civilized nations? What evi- h progressed with an t · h'
not deny that today it still needs t d . b as oms mg rapidity, I can-
dence does she offer that she possesses the qualities that are denied in that can only hold it back Wh o o .its est to break with certain habits
African Blacks? To respond satisfactorily to these questions one needs to en route. . en one is late, one cannot afford to dawdle
construct a new thesis, an interesting and captivating one which can be
developed in no less than a large tome. Many of my countrymen have al- I take myself neither for a hero nor f . .
sense of dedication and my good will or a sc1ent1st. I bring only my
ready brilliantly sustained such a thesis. One needs only read their works defend. But I will take enor
. .
t?
'd
mous pn e rn kno ·
the cause of the truth I wish to
h
to realize how much sophisticated logic and elegant science go into the t ose hvrng today and th wmg t at all Black people
arguments they draw from sociology and the philosophy of history. The h· ose to come read th· '
vmced that their imperative d t . , is work and become con-
question must be asked, however. ls not the dogma of the inequality of . u Y ts to work ha d d ·
se ves m order to wash away th . . r an to improve them-
races, which fosters the most stupid prejudices and nurtures the most l· e unjust 1mputat' h
t etr race for so long I ·11 b JOns t at have weighed on
h
d y o se~ the people of my coun-
malevolent antagonism among the different elements of the Haitian peo- · w1 e very happ t
try, for whom I harbor infinit I
ple, the most obvious cause of the dissentions and internal conflicts that . . e ove an veneratm .
etr misfortunes and I b · . n precisely because of
have repressed and indeed annihilated the best natural aptitudes of the th a onous destmy u d
country has a very special and d l' ' n erstand at last that their
young and proud nation? ls not the inconsiderate belief in her inferiority e 1cate duty wh · ·
wor that a1l human beings Bl k , .1 to show the whole
responsible for the lack of any real support for her social development? ot~he1rqual~S
b h
-ld ·
.
'
.ll!!!l.Jhfilxi&bts.
ac s and Whit
I am es:
de equ"-~'.n_ermS
-
Ole of
Are not all the calamities that have afflicted her due to the ever ridiculous tertam the radiant and act1' h .. -- eply convinced, mdeed1 eii:..
pretensions of some and the often indelicate claims of others? The Hait- ve ope that m · h ·
The very laws of evolut1' .' . y w1s will come true.
ian race will achieve al\ that it is capable of achieving only when all these · on mspire and · t' f
e meluctable destiny of all h . . JUS I y such an aspiration
prejudices, which constitute stumbling blocks on the path to progress, Th uman soc1et1es is t f ·
vere on the road of progress once th fi . o go orward, to perse-
are eliminated through education, to which the masses will have been . e I st .step has been taken. Once all
given unlimited access.

!viii The Equality of the Human Races Preface
!ix
paralyzing constraints have been removed and the society's moral ener-
gies, th~sowof progress, have been liberated, the gradual and har- may the Black race grow prosperous and sc
the greatest heights. There will b ale the rungs of progress to
monious movement of progress will occur as a result of the natural . never e enough w k h .
ascens10n nor enough <led· t. . or ers to elp It in its
elasticity proper to all social organisms. All young and vigorous peoples , tea ton to Its cause Th. b .
respectful offering I make to th . : . IS ook IS a humble and
must look to freedom as the very principle of their salvation. All natural better than I some day· but e race m a rel 1g 1 · ·
. ous spmt. Others will do
and organic laws combine to proclaim this truth. · ' no one will ever ho f .
t10n and wish for its glory than Id pe more or its regenera-
In Haiti as elsewhere, the Black race can progress and prosper only , p·
A nt enor trmin o.
if it enjoys freedom, real and effective civic and political freedom. If
Paris, May I ] , ] 885
slavery horrifies Blacks, so must despotism. For despotism is nothing but
moral slavery; it allows one's hands and feet to move freely, but it chains
and muzzles the human soul by repressing thought. But it is worth re- NOTES
membering that the transformation, redemption, and rehabilitation of a
I L'anthropologie, son domaine et so .
race result from the inner action of the soul, operating under the impulse
cembre 1883). n but, In Revue scienti.fique ( 1er de-
of a will that is free, enlightened, and unconstrained by tyranny. 2 L .
From De Gobineau, a man blinded by passion, to Bonneau, a man ucretms, De natura rerum, Book I, line 396.
often impartial, too many have too often repeated that "the Black man
-----...
...
does not understand the idea of government without d&i}Jotism." Too
ffianyr1"a;;·;t;u~s· opi~iOn:c·orroooratecrt)ylillfortunate
examples, to assert that the moral inferiority of the Ethiopian man keeps
him from rising to a precise understanding of the concept of respect for
the human individual, without which individual freedom is no longer
sacred.
The wish I fonnulate for the people of my race, wherever they may
live and govern themselves in the world, is that they tum away from any-
thing that smacks of arbitrary practices, of systematic contempt for the
law and for freedom, and of disdain of legal procedures and distributive
justice. Law, justice, and freedom are eminently respectable values, for
they form the crowning structure of the moral edifice which modern civ-
ilization has been laboriously and gloriously building on the accumu-
lated ruins of the ideas of the Middle Ages.
The example must come from Haiti. Have not Haitian Blacks al-
ready given evidence of the highest intelligence and the most forceful
drive? Statesmen and writers, young and old, all will soon realize that the
regeneration of the African race will be complete only when each indi-
vidual is as respectful of the freedom and the rights of others as he is of
his own freedom and rights. Only from this will the splendor of moral
dignity come to crown the Ethiopian's head, as with an aureole that
adorns and. transfigures us, the only natural nobility that elevates to the
same heights all human beings and all races.
Dignified and proud, intelligent and industrious, full of vital energy,
CHAPTER I
Anthropology as a Discipline
Connais-toi toi-meme, [ . . .}, Thales et ensuite

Socrate qui s 'appropria si heureusement cet
apophtegme, ont atteint plus haut qu 'its ne
savaient peut-etre. /ls croyaient n 'emettre
qu 'une pensee morale et its ont pose la loi du
progres humain.
La connaissance de soi est, en effet, parallele a

celle qu'on acquiert du monde, et si l'homme
devait se connaftre entierement, il n 'arriverait a
cette hauteur de vue qu 'apres avoir epuise
l1 etude de tout ce qui est hors de lui.
(Jules Baissac)
fly a dans l 'homme un sentiment si vif et si clair
de son excellence au-dessus des heres, que c'est
en vain que l 'on pretend l 'obscurcir par de
petits raisonnements et de petites histoires
vaines er fausses. (Nicole)
"Know thyself." Thales and then Socrates, who

so happily appropriated this apophtegma,
achieved more than lhey perhaps ever knew.
They wished merely to express a moral thought,
but they actually articulated the law of human
progress.
J
2
The Equality of the Human Races Anthropology as a Discipline 3
Self-knowledge indeed goes hand in hand with
goes on and the most perspicacious and knowledgeable participant has
the knowledge of the world. If man ever achieves
yet to encounter an expose so logical, a demonstration so clear that, co~
complete self-knowledge, he will do so only
mon sense agreeing with the scientific conclusions, he would recognize
after having learned about everything that is
the truth he thirsts after and the light he prays for. The problem is that the
outside him. (Jules Baissac)
subject is Man, Montaigne's vain, slippery and diverse being, Pasca.l's
Man harbors such a clear sense of his superior- . thinking reed, and Broca's primate. When we study Man, whatever aim
ity over animals that no arguments and no sto- we pursue and whatever perspective we adopt, that of the natural~S:. or
ries true or false can ever obscure it. (Nicole) that of the philosopher, we seek to circumscribe all the charactenst1cs
that make up a human being.
The questions that arise at every step in our investigation are many
IMPORTANCE OF ANTHROPOLOGY and varied. Man is god and beast joined together in undefinable propor-
tions. Here we come across a skinny, weak, ugly, and misshapen being,
Since Bacon, whose treatise De Augrnentatis et Dignitate Scientiarum is a who is not only physically disgraceful but also morally depraved, a cow-
first attempt to systematize and classify the sciences, Man, always con- ardly, dirty, cynical and slithering creature, ready to bite the foot. he .is
cerned with sorting and recording the achievements of his mind, has licking and kissing, and finding his delight in rubbish and a fierce JOY m
ceaselessly searched for a logical way of ordering the different branches the perpetration of crimes. There we encounter a sage, a handsome,
of science. His aim has been to gather them all into ~armonious whole, strong, kind, and humble man, who sacrifices himself for the ~ake of.the
while methodically highlighting the successive steps of that great shining truth and the betterment of his fellow human beings, strugglmg against
ladder which, as in Jacob's vision, rises from earth to heaven and bathes in adversity with the unwavering patience and constancy of the just. It is a
its rays the universe and Man, space and thought. Science is the unknown wonder that both these men are members of the same species, of the
god whom man obeys often while being ignorant of it. The cult of this god same family. It is precisely this contrast that constitutes Man's greatness.
grows day by day, governing Man's mind, controlling his spirit, subjugat- Man can lower himself to the lowest depths of ignorance and compla-
ing his heart while dominating his reason. The great workers of the mind cently wallow in the muddy swamps of vice, yet he can also rise to the
take turns to sacrifice to the god. They compete for the privilege of codify- resplendent heights of truth, goodness, and beauty. From radiantly hand-
ing the great laws by which science manifests itself.
some Antinoos to grimacingly ugly Thersite, from good-hearted and for-
Bacon came after Aristotle. After Bacon, the Encyclopedists, Ben- giving Jesus to treasonous and repulsive Judas, from Humbolt to the
1 2
tham, Ampere, Charma, 3 Auguste Comte, 4 Herbert Spencer, 5 all bril-
Auvergnat cretin, from Toussaint Louverture to the brutish Negro, there
liant stars lighting humanity's way, undertook that task of codifying the
seems to be an unbridgeable distance. Yet there is no problem of continu-
laws of science. It is a particularly daunting enterprise because its real-
ity between these two extremes. Everything comes together to proclaim
ization requires such profound and universal knowledge. .
the dignity of the human species, which can decline to such low depths
It is not necessary to linger over the particular and varyingly remark-
but which can also rise to such dizzying heights. Man may well be an an-
able result achieved by each of these men, or to discuss the s·pecific prin-
imal, a bi manual primate, but he will also always· be a privileged animal,
ciples of hierarchization selected by some and opposed by others. It
one endowed with a superior intelligence and spirit, "sanctius his animal
suffices to say that, for some thirty years now, among the different
mentisque capacius altae," as the poet of Metamorphoses writes.
bra~ches of the tree of science, anthropology has been the discipline
Anthropology, the discipline which studies this complex being, takes
which has had the most to offer to those questing minds wishing to find
on a real importance among the different sciences. Born only yesterday,
answers to the great problem of the origin and nature of Man and to the
question of his place in creation. this science was promoted with such vigor from the very beginning that it
seems already old, so burdened it is with formulas, doctrines, independent
The subject is well worth the involvement of all these brilliant minds
methodologies, the whole adding up to an imposing but cumbersome
emulating one another in the questfor an answer. Still, the controversy
apparatus. All the other sciences gradually become its tributaries. The
4 The Equality of the Human Races Anthropology as a Discipline
5
aspiring anthropologist must therefore undertake all kinds of studies and philosopher of Koenigsberg authored a . .
explore thoroughly all possible areas of knowledge if he is to be undeni~ thropology, but it is in anothe . k htreat1se entitled Pragrnatic An-
K " . r wor t at he defi h.
ably competent in the field. No other field of study is ever as complex as ant:. Physics, besides its empirical dime . n~s t J~ phrase. Says
this one. Here one must reason with self-assurance on every subject, same is true of ethics Ho . ns10n, has Its rational side. The
. . wever, m the case of th l .
whether it has to do with the spirit or with matter. One must consider both practlcal anthropolog)' is a pa ·t· l l e atter science, the term
·1 I Icu ar y apt term r .
the world and thought, both phenomenon and noumenon, to use Kant's w h I e the word moralitv i . ior Its empirical side
·d "6> . - s an appropriate desi · - . '
terminology. Not everyone is up to the task, and more than one dogmatic SI e. This division of th' . " gnatton for its rational
" . e 1cs mto pragm t' h
anthropologist would withdraw if he had a sufficient understanding of the morality" may seem bizarre b t . . - a ic ant ropology"7 and
' u It IS pert ectly co · · ilt
intellectual exigencies for the role to which he aspires. The main subject eraI method of the eminent h"J ns1stent w1tn the gen-
. . P I osopher who in .
of this science deserves such a noble effo1t, however, even if it involves res1stmg the critique of reaso ct· .. . ' eve1y concept capable of
. .
th e su b~ective, n, 1stmgu1shes bet h .
redoing one's scientific education, broadening the foundation of one's sci- reality and thought. ween t e Objective and
entific knowledge, thus renouncing perhaps one's superior position in The Kantian school has Ion . .
some specialty. Paiticularly in the field of anthropology, one must be wary and attributed the same meaning gt mhamtamed the very same definition
f · J s 0 t e same word ·
of exclusive specialization, for it narrows the mind's horizons and renders o1 ma changes undergone by K . s, notwithstanding the
antian thought · · ·
m its Journey from the
-
the intellect incapable of considering every facet of a given reality. master to Hegel. The latter 1· d d h .
n ee as rurned th ·
The question is, at atime when the different branches of science are ca l speculations with his hab't f k' e prestige of metaphysi-
1 o ma mg the 1 •
constantly being further subdivided, is it possible for a single man, over- controversy. Still Hegel h . c earest idea a subject of
d . • as ventured mto e . fi 1
whelmed with work and other activities as we all are today, to embrace ~ ge m a series of works wh· ·h h ve1y e d of human knowl-
all existing scientific notions and still understand each one? Of course times yield brilliant insights l~h'. o~ever so~ewhat confused, some-1~
not. As it has been so often pointed out, a Pico della Mirandola would be arbitrary but always erudite termi~~lug the thicket of an excessively t
Th · ogy. '
impossible today. For the anthropologist who wishes to eschew a scat- us accordmg to Hegel anthro olo . .
tered and paralysing erudition, the right approach, then, is to identify the th~ qualities of the mind as it /s sfll. ~ gy IS the science which studies
scientific disciplines considered indispensable to the field so as to be able t~na~ world by the envelope of th~ ~~~ne~ to nat.ure and linked to the ma-
to streamline his personal studies. This approach might perhaps make it g1~01ng or, more precisely, the . _Y· ma unio~ which is the very be-
possible to develop an effective method for reaching the stated goal. bemg. "This fundamental state fongmal_ determination of the human
.·
w11tes Hegel, "is the subiect f o man h '
1f I~ express myself thus"
, J o ant ro olo "8 . •
Kant s definition has moved f F p g It IS evident here that
DEFINITIONS Schernng's philosophy of b rlom . ich~e's transcendental idealism to
·d . a so ute 1dent1ty d fi
The next question, naturally, is this: What are the fields of knowledge I ea 1ism which Hegel's Philoso h ~~ ' .nally, to the absolute
that contribute to the work of the anthropologist? There is no consensus l
Orthodox spiritualists woul~ ~f.the. S~mt epitomizes.
in this respect, for answers vary depending on one's understanding of the body as the physical envelope oft~ It ~1:ficult to accept this idea of the
aim and function of the science. Janet or Professor Caro w·11 e spmt. I doubt very much that Mr
h"l . I ever agree to mak h . .
Philosophers and scientists have laid. competing claim to the field p I osoph1cal system But h e sue an idea part of their
h'I · we ave already I'
of anthropology. The former see it as the purview of philosophy, where- p t osophical abstractions Wh t. . mgered too long amidst
· a 1s nghtly s · · ·
as the latter consider it essentially a biological or natural science. From an d the thinkers of his scho 1 , urpnsrng is the fact that Kant
. . o were unaware of th k
these two perspectives derive a variety of convergent or overlapping def- r~ry sc1entJSts in the field of anthro olo e. w~r s of contempo-
initions. smce the end of the last p gy, as the d1sc1pline has evolved
. century Kant's p .
Among philosophers, Kant in particular was the first to provide a pu b hshed in 1798. It is woith : -~-A+zf-h-1-l]pology was
· h . notrng that al read · 176 ,
systematic definition which marked a clear break from scientists' under- p~ bl. Is ed his remarkable book Sur l . , ym 4 Daubenton had -
standing of the discipline since Blumenbach. We know that the scientist- C}Pllal dai:zs. l'homme et les ani esAdifferen_ces de position du trou oc-
maux. fter this work came th~e t.
1eat1ses
6 The Equality of the Hwnan Races
Anthropology as a Discipline
C er9 and Soemme1.•mg 10, and Blumen- 7
authored respectively by amp ·k dd d to Buffon's L'homme et les
b I h · 11 These wo1 s, a e . peds [slow footed]. It was quite a shock to see the King of Creation thus
ach's inaugura t esis. 'b ted to defining the science
l' h d ·n 1749 contn u . placed among the ugliest and least graceful of animals. A number of nat-
varietes hunzaines pub is e l ' k 'ts domain clearly distinct from
of anthropology .m sue h a way as to ma e 1 uralists, feeling humiliated lo see their species in such gross and vile
the other fields of hui:nan knowl·e~get· the work in which he expounds his company, rebelled against the great Swedish naturalist's taxonomy.
14
Thus Kant's choice of the t1t.e o N ly does he give the word Blumenbach next divided the order of primates into bipedals and quadri-
ideas on practical mora ity I
r 's deliberate.
. . .
ot on
d't'.i:-e1·ent from those subscnbe
. d pedals, and put Man in the first category, thus isolating him from the
· d a delm1t10n 1 •' other animals by the distance of a whole order. 15 Lacepede, who, with his
anthropology a meanmg an t ts the appropriateness of the term ap-
to by scientists, but he ~lso con a~s Thus he writes: "As for craniums and elevated soul and broad intellect, naturally saw in himself a model of hu-
Plied to the natural stud1e~ of M . . 1·1 as in the cases of the skulls of manity so far 16above the apes, adopted the eminent German naturalist's
. h d t ·mmes their pro 1 e, C . classification. When the immortal Cuvier, whose figure dominates the
their shape, wh1c e e1 I d' ns and others described by ampe1
. S uth Sea n ta . l entire history of the natural sciences in the ti rst ha If of this century, added
Negroes ' Kalmoucs, o b h these ate . the concern of phys1ca geogra-
and pai1icularly Blume~ ac ' 1 ,,12 the weight and authority of his opinion to the views of this school, every-
Phy rather than of practical anthropo ogy. t the master's ideas in a new thing then seemed to justify an ordinal distinction between Man and the
d more than presen . . . other animals roaming the su1face of the globe and the depths of the
Hegel, who oes no . f' the human races, retammg m oceans. 17
"The differen~ among the races,

. 1 the question o ·. "
form, touches hght y upon
essence Kant's opinion on the_matte_r. that is, one concerning the natural What the scientists who wished to separate the human species from
he writes, "is also a natural <lit~e1 e~~~·the geographical traits of a specific the rest of the animal kingdom found remarkable is Man's great sociabil-
l As such the latter has to o w1 t ,,13
sou . , fh anity congrega e. ity and its implications. "Man is Man," Buffon wtites, "only because he
region where large masses ~os~~er's opinions, scientists continued to has developed connections with Man." 18 This need lo be in society is
lgnonng the great ph p . d 'th Blumenbach, m consider- fully developed only among human beings. Other animals may join in
. · fi lds and pers1ste , w1 . f'
work in their vanous e w1'th the natural history o bands and sometimes experience the sentiment of solidarity to the point
1
ing the word anthropo ogy as. synonymous .. .
epted and considered o ffi - of sacrificing themselves, with an astonishing display of energy, for the
M . . l . defimt10n was ace . l .
an . Once this part1cu ai d the natura1·1sts c Ia t'med anthropolog1ca sci- salvation of the community. But it would never occur lo anyone to com-
Cl
.al ' as was to be expecte · d · one m . whi'ch other scientists could on y pare these instinctive and punctual actions to the reasoned consistency
1
ence as their exclusJVe omam, bl at first sight. However, on closer with which Man works at constructing society, even through the bloodi-
111 00 k very reasona e · l
be tolerated. It a s . . . th method used m natura est conflicts. One essential philosophical idea takes precedence over rill
. d' t ble tact eme1ges. e . 1 other considerations: there are conditions under which a particular living
examination one un ispu a d t·mals inferior to Man, is not a -
· ls plants an an · being cannot achieve its full potential, that is, cannot realize all that it is
history to study mrnera , ' d f' the last addition to creation.
h ·t mes to the s tu Y o · capable of. Throughout creation individuals can survive in isolation, as
ways fruitful w en I co. ed essentially for vegetative
Whereas the inferior beings are programm . 1 l'fe which he ultimately long as they have sufficient energy to overcome. the material difficulties
d . l life Man is programmed for socia J , encountered in their environment. Man is the only creature who cannot
an amma ' · n history
always achieves by m.aking. his ow h t from the very first attempt at stand alone. The pride or depressive misanthropy which occasionally in-
This distinction is so impor~ant th.a cun-ed among the natural- spires such a desire for isolation is nothing but a pathological case trig-
. a certam sc ism oc b gered by some lesion in the organism. The fact is, Man needs Man in}
systematizing the science h ·h Man thus defined was still to e
A · was w et er · l order to develop or even to know his ind iv iduaJ personality. Goethe, join-
ists themselves. · h'10 ht is_sue framewo1·k o f th e categories devised for the amma ing the broad understanding of the poet to the naturalist's science and the
classified wit t e . _ a se arate category. philosopher's wisdom, says: ,
world, or whether he constituted iathl er 'f Mp an as an animal, placed him
. h th first to c ass1 Y .d
among Linnaeus,
the Primatesw o 'was e the apes, the cheloria [turtles) and the bra y-
next to Der Mensch erkennt sich nur in Menschen, nur
Das Leben lernt Jedem was er set!
Anthropology as a Discipline 9
8
intelligence, by the creations of his mind, Man is a god." The erudite pro-
Nothing cou\d be truer. Man \earns to know himself only by looking at fessor thus pulled himself out of a delicate situation with uncommon
his fellow Man, and only through the intercourse of everyday life does adroitness, but the struggle was far from being over.
he learn his true value. But let us return to the deliberations of the natu-
ralists as they try to determine Man's place in the various zoological
!he _orthodox school had found its main source of strength in the
cred1t e~Jo~ed by the spritualist doctrines that prevailed unchallenged at
classifications. the begmmng of the century. German idealism and French rationalism
Cuvier's authority rested on very solid credentials. He was the tme we1~e two such ~octrines. But things were soon to change. Psychology,
inventor of comparative anatQmy, a subject that had been only vaguely which had remained until then the purview of metaphysics, was invaded
studied in the works of Vic d' Azir and De Daubenton, which are not very
by ~ cohort of laymen. Everywhere human actions and th~ughts were
impressive works when we consider the important contributions already
su?Jected to constant observation and analysis, and were explained as
made to the science by Aristotle. Cuvier was in a better position than
bem~ the results of physiological stimuli. Evoking both chemistry and
anyone else to decide whether or not Man should be given a separate
phys10logy, moved by the imperatives of both free thought and science,
place on the zoological scale. Unsurprisingly, his opinions and those of
illustrious scientists categorically rejected the idea of the divine origin
his school soon became scientific orthodoxy.
and t~ansc:ndance_ of human intelligence and considered it only a mere
Some went even further. Following in his famous father's footsteps
function of the brain. The word was finally out: "Ohne Phosphorus, kein
in cultivating a uniquely fascinating science while keeping the intellec-
Gedanke," exclaimed Moleschott. The entire generation of scientists
tual independence of the true scientist, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire went the
who first came on the scene in 1850 sided with the new school. Phospho-
classical school one better by proposing to recogni~ a human kingdom. rus replac·ed the divine spirit at the center of the scientists' thought. Vain
Here, not only does Man stand apai1 from the higher animals, he occu-
protests against materialism arose. When Flammarion, one of the rare
pies a separate place in the whole of Creation. He surpasses all in dignity
spiritualist scientists of that period, published his militant work, Dieu
and preeminence. Hollard, Pruner-Bey, De Quatrefages, to cite only
dans l~ na~ure, his voice, with its magical texture and the limpidity of the
these few names, rallied to the opinion of the inventor of the theory of the
Platonic discourse, had less of an echo than that of Louis Buchner. Force
limited variability of the species. Any excess, however, weakens. Those
or energy was recognized as an integral p'art of matter. What had been
scientists who favored the idea of a human kingdom could not deny that
taken before a~ _a divine manifestation, became a simple organic phe-
Man was an animal subject to the same natural exigencies as the other
nomenon, nutntion or breakdown of tissues, nervous excitement or de-
animals, as much by his organic functions as by his anatomical constitu-
pression. T~ough human ingratitude, all the beautiful tirades inspired by
tion. In this theory, the word kingdom lost the meaning it ordinarily has
t~e mens agztat molem were forgotten, and spiritualism was voiceless,
in natural science and became in fact almost meaningless. Scientists of
virtually dead: Tir~d of controversy and satiated with speculations, peo-
this school lost sight of the basic premises of Blumenbach ahd Cuvier to
ple turned their mmds to the positivism of Auguste Comte or the evolu-
consider only those high intellectual and moral qualities which make of
tionism of Herbert Spencer, whenever they could escape from
us a unique species.
Hartmann's philosophy of the unconscious. Such proud fighters as Paul
Realizing that the taxonomic differences separating the human
Janet, Renouvier, Saisset, and, above all, Caro, struggled on, and are still
group from the different simian groups are family and not order differ-
struggling, with the courage of their convictions. Still, the tide cannot be
ences, Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire went back, intentionally or not, to
reversed.
the camp of such naturalists as Bory de Saint-Vincent, Lesson, and oth-
Ev~ry philosop~ic~l innovation brings with it a corresponding
e1~s, who had adopted, with varying changes, the classification system of
change m current sc1ent1fic theories. These, in turn, slowly dissolve and
Linnaeus. The result was a sort of compromise whereby scientists
pledged to a particular current of thought simply neglected the others. transform prevailing currents of thought. There is no need then to ex-
Called upon to share his opinion with an ever spell-bound public, Lace- plain the ~nfluence of t~day's predominant theories. Man today is' g~_ner
naire formulated this nuanced position: "Yes, by his shape, his structure, a~ly considered an ordinary animal. For the majority of scientists, ·he
and his organic constitution as a whole, Man is an ape. However, by his differs from the other animals only by a few degrees of superiority. In the
JO The Equality of the Human Races
Anthropology as a· Discipline
1J
most widely accepted classifications he is put back in the first family of
I divide those fields of know led e .
the order of primates. He is born, lives, dies, is condemned to work, and ing as closely as possible th k" g mto four great categories, follow-
goes through all the changes dictated by the laws of nature, in accor- .. .
pos1t1v1st school In the fi t
e ran mg adopted b A c omte and the
· . · rs P 1ace, there are theYc ugust l · .
dance with the exigencies of the different environments where he merely w h tch mclude geology ph . . . osmo ogzcal ~
' ys1cs, morgamc ch·· · 1 '
exists. The light of intelligence still shines in him, but it is no more than ethnography. Next come the b. l . l . em1s ry, geography, and
some ancient crown, the modest attribute of some throneless king be- to oglca sczences h · h ·
organic chemistry, physiolo b , w Jc mclude anatomy,
come first among equals in the zoological republic. nology. Then we ha th gy,_ ot~ny, zoology, paleontology, and eth-
. ve e socwloglcal science ·
This brief excursion through the philosophical landscape was in- history, archeology, linguistics;pmittcmeCo;;--s, amo_n~ wh~ch we find
tended to help us understand the ·different definitions of anthropology raphy. FinalJy, there are the h :! I . . omy, stat1st1cs, and demog-
formulated by the naturalists. Each definition generally reflects the par- jurisprudence, theology psyp ~proper, which include
ticular perspective from which a naturalist looks at the subject. ' c o ogy, esthet1cs, and morals.
According to Topinard, "anthropology is the branch of natural his-
tory which studies Man and the different human races." 19 In this THE FIELD OF ANTHROPOLOGY
scholar's view, this definition encompasses the following ones: Some wiJI no doubt think it is ossibl . .
g~ing through the strenuous s~ud o~ ~~t'actice ~~thropology without
1. "Anthropology is the science concerned with the study of the bnefty classified. It would be a _Y . those sc1e~ces we have just
human group seen as a whole and considered1!fn all its internal Wit.hout such a foundation the m::tav~ftn~st~ke o~ their part to think so.
aspects as well as in its relationships with nature" (Broca). sonmg tools which one absol t I g de. mmd will lack some of the rea-
2. "Anthropology is a pure and concrete science whose goal is the . ion on the most important an~ e y nefe s m order to form a personal opin-
complete knowledge of the human group considered, firstly, in a broad knowledge of the b _most. requ.ently debated issues. Even with
each of its four typical divisions (variety, race, species, if called would sometimes be quite ataswl notI~ns m those different sciences, one
for) in comparison with one another and with their repective 1atest developments in those fi a IdossI without a cert · f T .
h am am1 ianty with the
environments, and, lastly, in its relationship with the rest of the ematical sciences to my list ~ s. s ould perha~s have added the math-
animal world" (Bertillon). search method necessarily. ow~ver, I do not thmk that an effective re-
3. "Anthropology is the natural history of Man, who is studied . reqmres the applicat" f .
cal culat10ns to craniometry D. B . ion o tngonometric
monographically, as a zoologist studies an animal" (De Quatre- . . . , as I. 'oca has prop d Add' .
ties to difficulties understand bl . ose · mg d1fficul-
fages). . a Y complicates matt I .
mattes, for example the p . . I ers. n applied mathe- •
· . ' rmc1p es of mecha · b
sc1ent1st interested in the stud f h mes may e useful to the
There is, admittedly, quite a distance between these definitions and those can serve to ,explain certain YI o t e s.tructure of the human body. These
of the philosophers. My own opinion is that the natural history of Man, h. h ocomot10n or chore h.
w IC seem incompatible with th . ograp ic movements
however we consider it, will never be properly explored if we approach it human species. When we lk e upnght stature characteristic of the
wa , run, or dance 0
exactly as we would the study of any other animal. Consequently, I de- cated balancing movements to bl ' ur arms execute sophisti-
fine anthropology as the study of Man in his physical, intellectual, and ena e us to keep our ·1·b .
out our awareness. Still th . . . equ1 I num, all with-
moral dimensions, as he is found among the different races which consti- . ' e most distmguished t .
restramt in discussing it all Wi h ana om1sts show great
tute the human species. This definition differs noticeably from those of . · e s ould therefore h ·
stramt when our purpose is n t t b , ' s ow even greater re-
the scientists who are rightly considered the authorities in the discipline. b o o o serve the laws of ·1·b ·
ut, rather, to describe different" I . . I equ1 I num at work
Still, I do not feel obliged to embrace their opinion, however weighty it I must also point out that ::s:e:c~:;~ typ~ ch.aracteristics.
may be. My own definition may not be any better, but it suits my book's descriptive study of the d1·f~ . ' ons1dermg ethnography as the.
purpose admirably and gives a clear idea of the different disciplines in ie1 ent peoples aro d th .
raphers make of their discipl' u_n . e world, most ethnog- ,
which I think an anthropologist must be knowledgeable. opinion th . . . me a general science of humanity In th .
, eu science encompass h · e1r
. es ant ropology, which is then rele-
12 The Equality of the Human Races Anthropology as a Discipline
13
gated to the background. According to Cast?.ing, "anthropology would moral level? If not wh1' h
fall apart if its practitioners tried to cover even one fourth of what ethno- h .igher development' of thec races seem mor
. d
·
e particularly endowed for a
graphers handle with such ease." 20 Is it the fault of ethnographers that the nun ' and what are th b' l .
ensure such superiority? e JO og1cal traits which
most logical concepts are thus perverted ? Is it not, rather, the fault of an- This is an are f
. .a o research worth of th "
thropologists? Clemence Royer said it all when she stated that the An- goes wtthout saying that if th . y e efforts of the best minds. It
thropological Society has a tendency to indulge in skeletomania instead th . . ' ey ate to come u ·h .
10polog1sts must do more th . . p wit valid results, an-
of rising to the heights envisioned by science. "Indeed," she writes, "the th e h uman races and th . . an establishing s b'
. ome ar itrary ranking of
eu respective a t't d
current school of anthropology neglects too much Man's moral and intel- clearly the different ethnic cat . . p 1 _u es. They must first define
· . eg1ones they mt d ~
lectual dimensions, while at the same time it pays too much attention to hon is, however, is a cJassification f t en to compare. The ques- '
Man's physical dimension." 21 sole elements which contem o .he ?uman races possible with the
For my part, in asserting that the anthropologist must study not only ~it~ which they must obviou~~r~~?s~1ent1~ts have at .their disposal and
Man's physical characteristics but also his moral and intellectual dimen- me m order to determ1·ne p. ~ l . uch is the question we will exam
~ 1ec1se y the I'd' -
sions, I put ethnography in its appropriate place. I consider ethnography ered by naturalists to support the1·. , lva .1 tty of the arguments prof-
a branch of the cosmological sciences, for it is inevitably present in any . 1 cone us1ons.
attempt at studying the universe. The illustrious Alexander von Humbolt
had to take it into account in his Kosmos, the best treatise of cosmology
FOOTNOTES
that has been published so far. Ethnography can th:S be distinguished I E . l
ssm sur a classijicatio d
from ethnology, which does not stop at the mere description of peoples 2Essai sur la philoso Jh. ~des art.set des sciences ( 1823 ).
1 It es sciences . E ..
but in addition divides them into distinct races, studies their different or- nouvelle (1834). · · xposlllon d'une c!assi.ficmion
ganic constitutions, considers their typical variations (long, pointed or 3 c d h'
4 ours e p ilosophie positive ( 1834-1842)
round heads; jutting or straight jaws; aquiline, straight or flat noses, etc.), Une nouvelle cla ifi · ·
5 Cl . . ssi cation des sciences ( l 850)
and finally tries to _discover whether these are factors that might explain
6 assificatlon des sciences. .
aptitudes which seem particular to each human group. In a word, as the Kant, Fondements de la m , J •
etymology of the terms clearly suggests, ethnography is the description sot. etap 1J's1que des moeurs, traduction de M. Tis-
of peoples, whereas ethnology is the systematic study of these same peo- 7 This wo d ·
r is more accurate than .
ples considered from the perspective of race. The former science looks at sen the much less expressive word b practical. The translator must have cho-
the broad external characteristics; the latter examines the different parts, 8 D. ecause pragmatic i h .
Lese - wann wir so sagen d'" -t. s sue a difficult one. •
measures and compares them, and tries systematica11y to account for Ge U!jen - Grund/aged M
genstand der Anthropologie. (He el . . es enschen lllachr den
each deatil. All the great travellers are also ethnographers, competent to 9 Camper, Dissertation I g , ~ ~hdosoph1e de I 'Esprit).
I sur es vanetes natu. II d
the extent that they observe and study carefully the different peoples they es races humaines 0 768) ie es e la physionomie da
10 • 11S
encounter. In contrast, to become an ethnologist, it is necessary to have a Soemmering, Ueber die Kor .. .
knowledge of anatomy and physiology as well as an understanding of the ropaer (l 780) perltche Versch1edenheit de'i Nege. E
· ' IS VOil ll-
basic principles of taxonomy. ll Blumenbach, De . .
12 K g~nens humanz varietate nativa.
The anthropologist comes in when the ethnographer and the ethnol- 13 Hant, Ant~ropolog1e (traduction de M. Tissot)
ogist have completed their work. The anthropologist compares Man to egel. Plulosophie d I' . ' ·
the other animals in order to separate the subject of his study from all the 14 We should . e espru (traduction du Dr. Vera)
not thmk, however that L. . .
surrounding subjects. More particularly, the anthropologist seeks an- of Man. Jn the introduction to S t ' "' mnaeus wished to ignore the dignity
"F' . vs ema ivaturae h .
swers to the following questions: What is the true nature of Man? To mis creationis telluris est gl '. D . e wntes, in reference to Man
Th . ona e1 ex opere Nat , ,
what extent and under what conditions does he develop his potential? ere is no clearer expression of his ad . . ur~e per hominem solum::
Are all the human races capable or not to rise to the same intellectual and the rest of Creation. m1rat1on than his placing of Man above
14 The Equality of the Human Races
15 Manuel d'histoire nature/le.

. ll le I' homme.
16 HistOlre nature e c. . 1l des animaux. CHAPTER 2
17 Tableau elementaire d'histoire nature e
18 Nature des animaux.
t9 Topinard, L'Anthropologie. . ce of Ethnographic Sciences
Early Classification Systems
20 Procee d mg
. s ot· the International Conferen
held in Paris in 1878, p. 441.
21 Ibidem, p. 438.
Pour dresser une telle statistique de l'humanite

passee et presente ilfaudrait toute une vie, pour
concilier taus les systernes de classifi.cations qui
om .ete tentesjusqu 'ici, pour caracteriser
chaque race d'apres lesfaits enregistres par la
science moderne et, de plus, pour exposer !es
resultats de ces investigations, ii ne faudrair pas
quelques instants, mais une longue exposition, u.n
cow·s suivi de plusieurs annees.
(Clemence Royer)
One would need a whole lifetime to draw a sta-

tisitica/ profi.le of humanity past and present. .To
reconcile all of the classification methods tried
thus far, to define each race on the basis of the
facts recorded by modem science, and to publish
the results of all these investigations, one would
need to make a very long commitment and engage
in a course ofstudy that could last several years.
(Cl~mence Royer)
I shall not return to the hotly debated and controversial issue of Man s .
1
place in the zoological scale. Everything has been said about it already.
Today, it is universally acknowledged that, from the point of view of
anatomy, Man differs from the anthropomorphic apes only in infinitely
15
86
48 The sciences camera{ es (Kameral Wissenschaften) include all the admin-
istrative sciences, panicularly political economy and the body of knowledge one CHAPTERS
needs to manage public finances.

49 Broca, Loco citato, Vol. III, P· 506.
Criteria for Classifying
50 Wilhelm von Humbolt, Ueber die Ka vi Sprache auf der /nsel Java.
the Human Races
si Eloge historique de Tiedemann.
- Jn anthropology, cranial measurement is now a

rather contested practice; anthropological
methodology is also under attack, lvhile anthro-
pological descriptive geometry is considered a
very imprecise science.
Under these conditions, can anthropology iden-
tify the moral qualities of the different races? It
seems to nie that it has not succeeded in identi-
fying even their cranial particularities.
(Leon Cahun)
Naturalists, especially those with an expertise in zoology and botany, call

races the varieties of a given species when these varieties have been fixed
through reproduction, with particularities which are at first imprecise or
idiosyncratic, but which later become constant and transmissible through
heredity without violating the general laws of the species.
This definition of race had already been formulated by the time the
science of anthropology became established. Unable to invent a better
definition, anthropologists simply adopted the existing one verbatim.
That was the wise thing to do. We need not return to the various systems
of classification, as we reviewed the most important ones earlier. There_ is
a plethora of systems. They contain so many contradictions and the
zootaxic principles adopted by the different authors diverge so much that
one can rightly wonder whether anthropological science, a discipline to
87
Criteria for Classifying the Human Races 89
88 over without seeming to make .
taking. Like Sisyphus cond andy progress at all in this strange under-
which we attribute such importance and such noble goals, is not, instead, emne eternally t - l1 h" · .
mountain, we seem engaged. . f . o IO is titanic rock up the
a simple amalgam of confused concepts, a field in which anyone is free . mapam ul mgrat dd"
without ever being able t h '. e, an iscouraging labor
to practice, without any fixed rules or rational methods. Indeed, a science o reac the height f h '
act admirably proves one th" . h .. . s o. t e truth. But this very
whose most authoritative figures agree so little on the foundations on fstructure on which some t mdg: t e1e JS no solid foundation to the frail
which to base theoretical deductions, will never radiate the prestige and · s an m order to pr , J · h .
t1veness and inequality of the huma . oc aim_ t e radical distinc-
authority that reassure interested but sceptical minds. support it. n races. There JS no natural law to
Such a confusion of ideas fosters or tolerates an imperfect terminol-
."Wh. ether one adopts my master Blum ' ~
. .
ogy, the limitations of which are obvious to any conscientious scientist. mamty mto five races (Cau . M _enbach s class1ficat1on of hu-
cas1an, ongohan A . .
"The most important technical terms in the science of man," says De alay), or agrees with Prichard's d"lVJSIOll
. . of 'hum mencan, Ethiopian, and
Rosny, "are among those that are subject to the most regrettable misun- M . .t .
rarnan, Touranian Am · H am Y mto seven races
~egro,
derstandings. lf the very idea of the species, which is apparently such a (I ' encan, ottentot and B h
and Alfuruan), the truth is that there is no . us man, Papuan,
rigorous concept in zoology, can have been challenged, indeed almost no natural and rigorous dist" t" radical and typical difference,
shattered by the theory of transformism, the idea of race, already less me ion, among such . "2
uttered by Von Humbolt resound with : . g1oups . These words
clear and less precise when applied to animals, becomes obscure, vague,
1 gamzed mind has ever been seen in the~~;ct~Jve au~honty. No better or-
deceitful, even fanciful at times, when applied to human beings." Such better qualified to address th" . . to1y of science. No scientist is
words may seem quite rude and are likely to shatter the pride of many a . is particular issue B ·d .
universal knowledge bes1"d th . . . es1 es his profound and
• es e supeno t 11"
scientist, but they are nonetheless true and appropriate.• the most famous researcher of d . r me igence that makes him
So how do we explain the imprecision and lack of clarity which traveled throughout most of t~o ernl tunes, the great Von Humbolt had
seem to afflict the minds of those whose occupation it is to study and races under every latitude a d e word, observed human beings of all
classify the human races? Are the difficulties inherent in the science it- • n compared them t d"
ple. Who can pretend to be more r OS tverse types of peo-
self, or are they the result of these men's adherence to preconceived sys- garding the real value of eth I q~a Ilfie_d ~~an he to discern the truth re-
tems in their efforts to make natural facts conform to ce1tain theories no og1ca d1v1S1ons? Wh
muc h as he does that he w1·11 p t h. fi . . o can guarantee as
inspired by prejudice? The answer is yes in both cases. On the one hand, }" , U IS rst J m ·
ight of an infinitely varied stoie . o f k nowledg press1ons
,., N to the test. in the
there is a dearth of solid principles in anthropological science at this wor s of the erudite cosmol . . . e. o one. Keeping the
point; on the other hand, and precisely for this reason, its practitioners, . d1·1c1t
imp . m. them we can n og1st m mmd ' dul Y noting . the reservations
with their methodical minds, are able to construct the most extrava- . . ' ow proceed to exa 1 · th · .
c ass1fymg and studying th h . mne e pnnc1pal bases for
gant theories, from which they can draw the most absurd and pretentious Th1 e uman races imag· d b
ese bases include primarily th k 1 . me y anthropologists.
e s e eton, skm color, and languages.
conclusions.
But before accusing science, or scientists who interpret it, should we
not examine the premises which underlie the various classification sys- 1. CRANIOLOGICAL COMPARISONS
tems, and which are made to support, more or less logically, various an-
w ~hat the term was invented by
thropological theories? Should we not put before the reader all the We must begin with craniology We kno
the famous Dr. Gall to des· .t h
elements he needs in order to form an opinion? For this purpose, I will . h . . igna e t e phys1ologi , 1 th
w ic it ts possible to d" , ca eory according to
return to a whole series of facts, of which l had purposely made only par- . h. . iscover all the aftectiv .
t1a1ts of an mdividual sim l b . e, moral, and mtelleclual
tial use in my refutation of the theory of the plurality of the human which are colloquially catfedy by studying the protuberances of the skull
umps Whatever · ·1 · · '
species. Most of the time, only the labeling makes the difference be- etween this theory and th . . s1m1 antJes may be found
tween the arguments of the polygenists, who divide humanity into sev- b. . e actual operations d d
gists m studying skulls th . . con ucte by anthropolo-
eral species, and those of the monogenists, who believe in the existence . ' ei e is a notable di ff - b
egones of investigation. e1 ence etween the two cat-
of several races within a single species. It will perhaps appear fastidious
always to be returning to the same questions, ceaselessly mulling them
90 The Equality of the Hurnan Races Criteriafor Classifying the Human Races 91
When Gall and his intelligent disciple, Spurzheim, were studying "This way of looking at the head, which I will call, if I may, the
the human skull, they were not looking for ethnological characteristics norma verticalis,'~ says the great naturalist Goettingue, "makes it possi-
that might distinguish one group of human beings from other more or ble to see clearly and globally the principal characteristics of the skulls
less different group groups. They considered all races gifted with the of the different races, both those characteristics that have to do with the
same abilities and paid attention only to individual differences. Theirs angle of the jaw and the maxillary bones, and those that pertain to the
was a sort of empirical philosophy, according to which the various mani- ,broadness or narrowness of the cranial vault, to the flattening or bulging
festations of the mind could be observed physically, thanks to the traces of the forehead" (No reference).
they leave on specific parts of the skull considered their respective sites. Comparing Ethiopian, Mongolian, and Caucasian heads, Goetti~ue
Spurzheim, who understood that a science must be labeled on the ,basis thought it possible to make the following observations:
of its goal rather than of the means used to achieve it, changed the name The skull of an individual of the Ethiopian race, narrow and low at
of the famous theory from craniology or cranioscopy to phrenology. the temples, shows clearly the zygomatic arches. The forehead is rather
When anthropologists study the shape and volume of the skull, they prominent, but both the maxil1a and the mandible jut out farther from the
first arbitrarily assign to each race a ce11ain cranial shape and cranial ca- base of the nose.
pacity, then they set out to discover the differences that exist among the The skull of the Mongolian is somewhat less narrow than that of the
various human races. Later, some would use these same specifications to Black man and is flat above the eye sockets. The zygomatic arches are
prociaim the superiority or inferiority of one race over another. Their spread very wide; the dental arch juts out less, but it is wider.
conclusions, however, while having as little validity as those1ef the phre- As for the Caucasian, the dome of the skull is generally wider; the
nologists, would be covered with a scientific veneer. Those who have not broad forehead curves quite prominently; the cheekbones and the arches
studied these issues in depth will be tempted to believe that inductions are hidden by the temples; finally, the alveolar edge of the upper jaw is
arrived at by such a complicated and learned method as that used by an- barely visible.
thropologists, can only be the expression of the truth. This is one more The projecting face of the Negro is said to be prognathic; the broad
reason to examine their merit. face of the Mongolian is referred to as eurignathic; and the straight and
The naturali"st Daubenton was the first to apply craniology to the regular face of the Caucasian is called orthognathic.
study of the human races. He was followed by Camper, Blumenbach, This quite easily applied method makes it possible to study a skull
and Soemmering. We will first discuss Blumenbach's procedure, which without using any instrument or doing any calculation. All that is needed
is known in science as the norma verticalis method. is a sharp eye. This is why this method is ignored by anthropologists,
To study skulls by this ingenious method, a scientist lines them up at who wish to turn their science into a citadel. made impregnable to lay-
his feet, with their lower jaws resting on a plane horizontal surface, so that men. Undoubtedly, the results obtained by this method have no rigorous
the zygomatic arches fall on a single line. Looking at the skulls from top theoretical importance for the study of the various ·types of humanity.
to bottom, the scientist considers successively the length of the cranial The question is, do the other methods, with their exaggerated complexity
vault, its width or relative narrowness, the bulge of the forehead, and the and imposing apparatus, offer anything better? Do not the very inventors
general shape of the cranium. Depending on the extent to which the max- of these much vaunted methods, after endless dissertations, always end
illary bones jut away from an imaginary vertical line drawn from the outer up recognizing their utter futility or, at least, their limitations? But theirs
edge of the skull to the base, the anthropologist classifies the skull among is a peculiar logic. After recognizing that five different methods applied
the hlack, yellow, or white races. Anthropologists would later name cryp- serially to a single group or, more often, to a single individual, bring but
tozygous the skulls whose zygomatic arches, when studied by this contradictory results, they still maintain that these same methods can
method, are hidden by the relative projection of the temples. They would lead them to the truth they seek.
call phenozygous the skulls whose arches are visible under the same con- Let us now take a look at another method that is in even more widely
ditions. We need not mention the amount of discussion conducted in order used than Blumenbach's, namely, Camper'sfacial angle method. This is
to determine the plane in which the skull really lies on its base. how its author describes it: "The distinctive characteristic of individual
92 The Equality of the Human Races Criteria for Classifying the Human Races
93
nations may be made explicit by drawing two straight lines, one from the Soemmeri~g'_s assertion that the White man's skull is larger than the
ear canal to the base of the nose, and the other, a tangent, from the top of Black man Broca report~ that Saumarez was actuaJly the first to gauge
s:
the forehead to the outer edge of the upper jaw. When the head is seen in skulls by fillmg them up with water. 7 This method was considered incor-
profile, the angle that results from the meeting of these two lines consti- rect. W. Ha?1ilton tried using fine, dry, and homogeneous sand. Tiede-
tutes the distinctive characteristic of the skulls, whether one is compar- mann, for his part, used millet. Others subsequently used white mustard
ing several animal species, or the different human races" (No reference). seeds, mercury, lead pellets, ftax seeds, and other materials.
Using this method, Camper claimed to be able to conc1ude that the . Gauging yielded no more serious results than angular measurements
head of the African Negro, as well as the head of the Kalmuk, presents a did. As Broca remarks,. "If two people cube the same skull u;ing the
70-degree angle, whereas the head of the European forms an 80-degree same method, they are hkely to come up with results that differ by mo.
angle. "It is this I 0-<legree difference," he argues, "that is responsible for than 50 cubi~ cen~imeters. Even worse, if one person cubes the sa~:
the superior beauty of the European, for his comparative beauty, if you skull se~eral times m a row, he may obtain results that vary by margins as
will. As for that absolute beauty that holds us spellbound before some large as m the preceding case."8
ancient sculptures, such as the head of Apollo and the Medusa of Sori- . "W_e need not pursue the theoretical presentation of the different cran-
c1es, it results from an even greater opening of the facial angle, which in 1?m~tnc methods used simultaneously or singly in anthropological inves-
this case reaches l 00 degrees" (No reference). tigatmns: To do s? we would have to enter into details which are outside
Many people have expressed a whole range of opinions about both the purview of this book .. It suftkes to know that methods adopted as the
this method and Blumenbach's. Several scientists, amo~ them Owen, best by some are often rejected by others either because of their scientific
Berard, Jacquart, and Topinard, have made their own modifications to it. value or because of their ~pplications. Proponents and opponents of one
To complete the list of the most widely used methods, we must men- or the.other method submit equally valid arguments. The German anthro-
tion Retzius' theory, which divides the races into two groups, the polog1cal school does not always agree with the French or the American
dolichocephalic races and the brachycephalic races, depending on the school. Su~porters of the same school are even less inclined to agree.
. So f~1 we have talked about only craniometry because it is the most
relative length of the antero-posterior diameter of the skull, as compared
widely discussed of t~e d~fferent anthropometric methods. But there are
to the transversal diameter. The longitudinal diameter is usually mea-
sured in a straight line, from the bulge of the frontal bone to the farthest many ~thers. Thus, scientists have also looked for differences in the con-
point of the occipital bone. The transversal diameter cuts this line at a figurat10n _of the pelvis, which not only has a distinct shape in men and
perpendicular angle at the greatest width of the skull. It does not matter women of the _same race, as the comparative anatomy of the two sexes
clearly recogmz~s, but which also has a specific shape in the women of
where the two lines cross, as long as it is not lower than the mastoid
process, which is sometimes exaggeratedly developed in certain races, in
~ach race. We will see. to what extent pelvimetry confirms such an opin-
Estonians for example. 10n. and whether the ~1fferent cases examined lend themselves to obser-
Retzius' binary division proved inadequate for the classification of all vat10ns that are consistent enough to be scientifically vali'd Th .
the human races, so it was revised ih tum by Thurnam, 3 Welcker, 4 Huxley, 5 0 th · · · . ere aie
ei questions raised by the comparative osteometry of the human
and Broca. 6 The latter added three divisions to Retzius' two and came up races, su~h as the relativ~ ~ength of the arms, the flatness of the feet, the
with a system which includes the brachycephalic, sub-brachycephalic, greater o1 les~er oppo~ab11Ity of the big toe, platycnemie and a thousand
mesacephalic, sub-dochlichocephalic, and dolichocephalic races. The other anatomical details that a fertile imagination might invent all .
length of the transversal diameter, multiplied by 100 and divided by the order to bett.er highlight the specific characteristics of the differen~ racels~
longitudinal diameter, gives what is conventionally known as the cephalic These quest10ns, however, are not sufficiently worthy of attention.
index. Thus a skull with a transversal diameter of 7 and an antcro-posterior
Let us. no:' look at some data from various traniometry measure-
diameter of 9 has a cephalic index of 7x 100:9=77 .77. me~ts, b~gmnmg with ~ubi.ng. The following charts, reproduced from
In addition to these measurements, which have a purely geometrical T?pm~rd ~ Anthropologle, list the comparative volumes of the endocra-
basis, it is worth mentioning the gauging or cubing of skulls. Following mum m different human races. The figures on the left indicate the num-
95
b f skulls for which the average volume was calculated. The figures in
Bernard Davis, for his part, obtained a set of results by this method. He
er otwo co 1umns on the r1'ght represent ' in cubic centimeters,. the average
the
weighed an empty skull,_ then he filled it up with dry fine sand, then he
volumes of the skulls of men and women in each group studied.
weighed it again. Here are the results of the operation. The figures are in
cubic centimeters, converted from English ounces:
Men Women
146 Ancient Bretons 1524 cc
88 Auvergnats 1598 cc 1445 cc
36 Anglo-Saxons 1412
69 Bretons-Gallots 1599 1426
39 Saxons 1488
"'
63 Bas-Bretons 1564 1366
31 Irish 1472
124 Contemporary Parisians 1558 1337
18 Swedes 1500
18 Caverne de l'Homme-Mort 1606 1507
23 Dutch 1496
20 Guanches 1557 1353
9 Lapps 1440
60 Spanish Basques 1574 1356
21 Chinese 1452
28 Corsicans 1552 1367
116 Kanaks
84 Merovingians 1504 ._J361 1470
27 Marquesa Islanders 1452
22 Chinese 1518 1383
7 Maoris 1446
12 Eskimos 1539 1428
12 Dahomean Negroes 1452
54 New Caledonians 1460 1330
9 New Hebrides Islanders 1432
85 West African Negroes 1430 1251
15 Australians 1295
7 Tasmanians 1452 1201
18 Australians 1347 1181 Taking a close look at the charts, we immediately notice one salient
21 Nubians 1329 1298 fact, namely, the irregularity of the results and their unce1tain relative
value. We have already cited Broca's serious remarks concerning the in-
Topinard borrowed these figures from the Memoi:es d'A~thropologie - trinsic imprecision of cubing methods. Nevertheless, everyone who has
of Broca, who obtained them by gauging skulls with hunting gun lead read his Memoires know what ingenious arguments he could muster in
h d h ~ 11
order to justify the science of which, by dint of much work and dedica-
pellets. '
Using the same method, the American Morton reac e t e o ow- tion, he had become the most authoritative interpreter. Still, whatever the
ing results, without distinction between the genders: eminent scientist may have said about it, we can never embrace his opin-
ions and believe that he, of all anthropologists, was right. Looking
38 Europeans 1534 cc closely at his figures, we realize immediately that for him the cubing of
; 18 Mongols 1421 skulls was simply a means of establishing a much sought after proof of
:! the existence of a serial and hierarchical distinction among the human
ll 79 African Negroes 1364
Jl races. Indeed his charts contain no mean figures for European peoples
H
I\ lO Oceanian Negroes 1234 below those provided for the Mongolian and Ethiopian races. It is true
It 154 Peruvians 1339 that the 84 Merovingians on the list give an average inferior to those of
t-
f: 25 Mexicans 1339 the 22 Chinese and the 12 Eskimos. But this single exception is precisely
the one instance that can be explained by causes which the famous pro-
164 Other Americans 1234 fessor had positively established.
96
17 Australians 71.93
It should be pointed out, however, that Broca finds a higher cubic 18 Hottentots and Bushmen 72.42
content in the Australian group than in the Nubian group. This fact is in 72.42
8 Kaffirs
flagrant contradiction with the opinion of all anthropologists who,
15 Bengali 73.30
rightly or wrongly, maintain that the Nubian is the highest type among
the Black race and that the Australian is the worst endowed of human be- 85 West African Negroes 73.40
ings. The Auvergnats, too, are above the Parisians. This is mere detail, 6 French of the Paleolithic period
though, for the racial limits are respected. (3 Cro-Magnon individuals and
As for the chait based on the averages calculated by Morton, we 3 Paris Diluvium individuals) 73.34
know what to think of it. The mindset with which American scientists, 19 Southern French of the Neolithic
except for some rare individuals, approached anthropology makes all period (Caverne de !'Homme-Mort
their statements suspect. For them anthropology was only a means to jus- Lozere) ' 73.22
tify slavery. Indeed, the slave system could be satisfactorily explained if 73.72
22 Nubians of Elephantine Island
one could prove the existence of several different and unequal species.
Barnard Davis' list was established without the constraints of a sys- 15 Arabs 74.06
tem. It presents the facts as they are found. The Chinese group, the Da- 11 Kabyles 74.63
.•.
homean group, and the Marquesa Islanders group have average cubic
contents higher than that of the Anglo-Saxons, and theirs, m tum, are ex-
2. Sub-Dolichocephalic Races
54 Northern French of the Neolithic period 75.01
ceeded by that of the Kanaks. Here we find no fixed characteristic which
IO Papuans 75.07
makes possible an exact classification. At the same time, we detect noth-
ing either that points to a systematic combination. 3 Rumanian Bohemians 75.28
The cephalo-orbital index, which Mantezza obtains by the mercury 28 Corsicans of Avapessa (18th century) 75.35
cubage method, does not furnish any classification basis. Here is a par-
20 Guanches 75.53
tial chart provided by an Ecole des Hautes Etudes de Paris anthropol-
81 Ancient Egyptians 75.58
ogy professor:
32 Polynesians 75.68
27.73 cc
20 Italians 9 Tasmanians 76.01
25.61
2 Australians 6 Danube Slavs 76.18
32.49
3 New-Zealanders 81 Merovingian French 76.36
27.19
6 Negroes 12 Modern Egyptians (Copts) 76.39
Italians are thus· quite close to Negroes, while Australians and Neo- 21 Chinese 76.69
Zealanders stand at either end. These results invert not only the hierarchy
11 Malgaches 76.89
of the different ethnological groups, but they also challenge the very idea
15 French (Iron Age Gauls) 76.93
of a hierarchy among the human races.
Let us now see whether the much vaunted cephalic index offers a 60 Spanish Basques (Zaraus) 77.62
9
more solid foundation. Here is the chart Broca put together. 3. Mesacephalic Races
1. True Dolichocephalic Races
25 Mexicans (Non Deformed) 78.12
7 l.40 cc
15 Greenland Eskimos 5 Rumanians 78.31
71.78
54 New Caledonians
98 The Equality of the Hurnan Races
99
22 Gallo-Romans 78.55
from it are especially important, given the fact that the figures are from
53 Eighteenth-Century Normans
Broca and therefore have a significant value. What can be induced, then,
(Saint-Amould, Calvados, Ossuary) 78.77 from this new basis of classification? Simply the fact that the external
125 Nineteenth Century Parisians 79.00 configuration of the skull has no invariable particularity by which to dis-
125 Twelfth Century Parisians 79.18 tinguish an individual of a race from an individual of another race.
Among the true dolichocephalic races we find, in the lead position, the
117 Sixteenth-Century Parisians 79.56
Greenland Eskimos, who belong to the yellow race, with a cephalic
16 Northern French (Bronze Age, Orouy) 79.50 index of 71.40, the smallest on the chart, that is, even smaller tha~ those
27 Malay (Other than Javanese) 79.02 of the Australians and the Hottentots. At the same time, the Lapps, who
27 Southern Americans (Non Deformed) 79.25 also belong to the yellow race (Ugrian or Boreal branch defined by De
Quatrefages), occupy one of the highest positions among the brachy-
36 Northern Americans (Non Deformed) 79.25
cephalic races. Right below the West African Negroes, with a cephalic
index of 73.40, come the Whites of France (Paleolithic and Neolithic pe-
4. Sub-Brachycephalic Races
riods), some with an index of 73.34 and others with an index of 73.22.
57 French Basques (Saint-Jean-de-Luz) 80.25 The black Tasmanians (76.01) come close to the blond Slavs (76. 18).
Mexicans, a mixed race between the reds and the yellows, are placed
4 Estonians 80.39•
next to the White Normans of the seventeenth century. The very brown
63 Cotes-du-Nord Low Bretons (Bretons Cantons) 81.25 Javanese are found right next to the European Russians, whose skin is so
73 Cotes-du-Nord Bretons (Gallot Cantons) 82.05 white and so fine that their blood can be seen through it. The near-black
11 Mongols of Various Types (Tartars, etc.) 81.40 Indo-Chinese have a cephalic index of 83.5 J, next to the blond and blue-
eyed Finns with an index of 83.69.
l l Turks 81.49
These are quite curious figures indeed. Simply looking at them, one
29 Javanese (Vrolik Collection) 81.61
has to wonder how come Broca, a scientist with such means of control at
17 Russians of Various Types (European Russia) 82.81 his disposal, did not hurry to reconsider all the theories he had so ar-
11 Individuals from the Alsace-Lorraine Region 82.93 dently supported, and did not instead embrace the ideas of the American
school. I could very well stop at the figures provided by the erudite au-
s. Brachycephalic Races thor of Memoires d'Anthropologie. But lest I be suspected of focusing on
these data only because Broca's sagacity here is unusuaJly below par, I
IO Inda-Chinese 83.51 will also shine the spotlight on Barnard Davis' list of cephalic indices. It
5 Finns 83.69 shows the same disarray and contains the same kind of rapprochement
88 Auvergnats (Saint-Nantaire Ossuary) 84.07 between the most diverse and distant races, when one considers the other
anthropological characteristics. Davis' figures do not differ much from
6 Bavarians and Swabs 84.87
Broca's. One simply notices that the author did not include the French on
IO Lapps 85.63 his list, which is a curious coincidence given that Broca did not include
12 Gebel-Cheikh Syrians (Slightly Deformed) 85.95 the English on his list either. On this list as well, the Tasmanians (75.6)
20 Americans. Several series of deformed skulls are placed next to the Swedes and the Irish (75). The English (77) are
with mean .indices
. f'rom 93 to 103.00 more dolichocephalic than the the natives of the Marquesas Islands. The
Eskimos (71.3) are still on the lower rung of the ladder, opposite the
rr e with a modicum of knowledge of ethnology this chart Burmese, a yellow race like them, 10 who are the most brachycephalic on
io possible
makes anyon the most curious observat10ns.
. Th e cone l usions drawn the chart with a cephalic index of 86.6.
JOO The Equality of the Human Races Criteriafor Classifying the Human Rcices
101
Before such results, we may well ha_ve the right to declare that the Width Length
cephalic index does not in any way give anthropologists sufficient 18 Eskimos
136mill. 135 mill.
ground for dividing the human races into distinct groups. Just like the 12 Chinese
cubage of the skull and the cephalo-orbit index, this new measure neither 134 137
10 Scandinavians
defines nor specifies the preeminent characteristics of the natural groups 129 132
to be classified. But will we ever find that precise and reliable method 6 Southern Germans
127 131
without which it is impossible to arrive at well founded and indisputable 30 New Caledonians
125 137,;?
conclusions in the taxiological division of the human races? 30 African Negroes
Let us now try the vertical index, which Professor Virchow consid- 124 130
8 Hottentots
ers the best among the craniometric measurements. Here are some fig- 116 123
ures recorded by Topinard, according to Broca. 6 Lapps
109 136
No conclusion of any v 1 h
Men Women chart "Th t f h f: a ue w atsoever can be drawn from this
kimo~ andei~rn o t,, e ~ce below the eyebrows is the longest among Es-
63 Low Bretons 71.6 70.8 . ese, wntes the author of Anthropologie "and th h
est among Lapps ,, And t ' e s ort-
28 Corsicans 71.5 72.6 by all the oth .. ye ' even though the two categories are separated
125 Parisians (19th Century) 72.2 71.7 . ~r g1oups on the chart, they both belong to the yellow r
Nothrngfi1s more eloquent than these craniometric charts Some pa~~·
13 Eskimos 72.8 73.4 PeI may not md them very e ·r · . · -
. d·n xc1 mg, particularly if they read them with
88 Auvergnats
85 African Negroes
73.6
73.4
73.8
73.5
~:v~rei:;~e~:i:~:~~~v~~~n~~~~:~~=: ;ht~:~signed these charts have
divisions they establish among the different h ut11Ity of the systematic
54 New Caledonians 73.7 74.6
27 Chinese 77.2 76.8 :~i~~~~:tl t~~s~:~~:t!arnoca co~ld make himsel~~=l~e::c~:·thaen~x~~en::
species, even though th t d f
18 Caverne de J'Homme-Mort Individuals 68.9 73.0 elusive ethnic traits only sows great doubt and efs ~ y .o vagu~ and
cannot h J b · con us10n m the mrnd I
e p ut admire the special intellectual ift th . ,
On this chart, the African Blacks appear between the Auvergnats people to navigate through all sorts of contradict" g Nat enabl_es some
and the Parisians. The Chinese and the Eskimos, both of the yellow race, ever. The questions raised by th h . ions. ot to wo1 ry, how-
ese c arts are of such ·
are separated by the Auvergnats and the Africans. What can we conclude
from this?
::~~ :~~~~v:t~~~ ~~~~I~~~~gBatten~ion for our very edifica::~~~=;~: t~:~
roca s measurement of the facial index.
We will overlook for now the horizontal circumference measure- 13 Eskimos
ment which is used to distinguish between the frontal races and the oc- 73.4
80_Negroes
cipital races conceived by Gratiolet. The measure of the frontal 68.6
transverse minimum and that of the frontal index will not be any more 69 Bretons-Gallots
68.5
helpful, given that here we find the African Black next to the Parisian and 88 Auvergnats
the Chinese next to the Australian, in characteristic disorder. 11 67.9
49 New Caledonians
66.2
The study of the human face provides no more solid bf}sis of classifi- 125 Parisians
cation than do the preceding methods. Topinard cites the following fig- 65.9
12 Australians
ures, borrowed from Pruner-Bey, for the length and the width of this part 65.6
of the skull. 8 Tasmanians
62.0
The Equality of the Human Races Criteria/or Classifying the Human Races 103
102
Notice how the Negroes place next to the Bretons-Gal1ots, the Au- 2 Hungarians, 5 Gypsies, 6 Madura Malaysians,
vergnats next to the New-Caledonians, and the Parisians so close to the 2 Hottentots 99
Australians, the most primitive Black representatives of the species. Re- 30 Germans, 12 Russians, 5 Cossacks,
ally, if the well-known name of the erudite professor was not so clearl~ in 5 Tartars, 16 Chinese, 2 Mexicans, 20 Negroes 100
evidence here, we would have reason to believe that we were dealing 3 Highland Scots, 5 Baskirs 101
with some determined monogenist and stubborn negr-ophile. But to the
8 French, 6 Dulch, 6 Sumatra Malaysians 102
contrary, the man who records these confusing results is a man with a ~
mind not in the least open to humanitarian compromises, the respected 9 Finns, 7 Moluccas Malaysians 103
inspirer of the French anthropological school. Do not these charts that 3 Australians, 3 Ancienl Greeks 104
show the human races parading arm in arm in an admirable promiscuity 11 Eskimos 106
seem to mock all those classifying scientists? Can anthropologists con-
2 Kaffi.rs 107
tinue to record these figures without modifying those so assertive theo-
ries they have erected? Their science will face certain discredit when,_ in So, amo~g those with the shortest naso-basilic line, that is, the most
the twentieth century, it is subjected to the critique of Black and White, brachycephahc, we find together the Black Papuans of Oceania and the
Yellow and Brown scientists who can write as well and handle as ex-
y~llow rac~ Burmese. Similarly, Hungarians and Gypsies are grouped
pe1tly the instruments manufactured by the Mathieu Company, _inst_ru-
with Malys1~ns and Hottentots. The most remarkable series gathers Ger-
ments that bring such eloquent results, even in the h;wds of sc1entJsts
ma_n~, Russians, ~o~sacks, Tartars, Chinese, Mexicans, and Negroes,
12
who doubt their effectiveness . that IS, representatives of all the human races on earth, all with the same
Reading these chai1s can be quite an interesting exercise indeed, for measurement of 100 millimeters.
they are the fruit of the work of professing anthropologists who go to We can completely overlook all the other cranial measurements for
such trouble as they coolly carry out their experiments in anima viii, they offer no more conclusive evidence regarding serial distinctions
wielding their grim instruments and handling all those grimacing dried
among the human races. But before we put an end to all those citations of
o_ut skulls. Motivated by an insatiable thirst for the truth and the obliga- ~umb~rs, let us. take a look at Broca's chart of nasal indices. The nasal
tion to contribute, no matter how modestly, to the scientific rehabilitation mdex ts the ratio of the greatest width of the nose at the 'nostrils to its
of the Black race whose pure and invigorating blood flows in my veins, I g_reatest length measured from the naso-frontal suture down to the nasal
take immense pleasure in navigating thro·ugh these columns of figures n~ge, above the superior dental arch. To calculate this index, one multi-
arranged with such neatness for the edification of the intellect. So I will plies by 1O~ the maximum width of the nose and then divides the product
continue my exploration of these charts. by th_e maximum length. Depending on the resulting index, the skull is
Let us now take a look at a chart put together by Wekker. It shows classified as leptorrhine, mesorrhine or platyrrine.
the measurements of the naso-basilic line, from the basion (the front The first term had already been used to refer to the relative slenderness
edge of the occipital hole) to the point nasal, that is, the base of the nose. of the nasal area of Cuvier's rhinoceros. Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
"The Germans grant it the greatest importance," writes Topinard. had_ aJso u~~d .the ~ord platyrrhine for a tribe of monkeys, the New World
"They consider it the philosophical basis of the cerebral cranium, the Cebus, to d1stmgmsh them from the Pythecus of the old continent k
chord of the curve made by the three cranial ve11ebrae, the axis around . ·1 anty
as catarr,h"~ne. Th e Slffil . among these terms inspired Topinard 'to nown
make
which both the skull and the face tum." 13 Here are the figures. th~ foJl?wmg comment about the nasal index: "From a certain perspective
this trait can. b~ counted among those that mark a passage from man t~
monkey, but it IS also one of those traits the existence of which ca t b ·
96mill. I · d" (N , nno e
3 Papuans exp. ~me. o reference). The anthropology professor seems to attach a
97 posttive importance to it, though, for before presenting the chart repro-
13 Bugi Malaysians, 2 Lapps,, 3 Brazilians
98 duced below, he adds these words: "Broca has indeed discovered that the
6 Jews
104
Mesorrhines
nasal index is one of the best indices for distinguishing the human races, 29 Javanese 51 .47
even though he d~es not arrange them on a regular scale that would be con-
11 Lapps 50.29
sistent with our hierarchical ranking of these skulls". ~
1
I think that Topinard, whose moderation is well known among those 41 Peruvians 50.23
who formulate theoretical conclusions, exaggerates the importance of 26 Polynesians 49.25
this cranial measurement. Although we acknowledge his expertise on 11 Mongolians 48.68
Broca's views on just about any issue in anthropology, it is certain that
27 Chinese 48.53
Broca did not consider the measurement of the nasal index any more im-
portant than the other craniometric methods. In one of his Memoires, the Leptorrhynes
scope of which is too broad to be summarized here, the learned anthro- 122 Modern Parisians 46.81
pologist states this: "The preceding remarks show that the nasal index is 53. French Basques 46.80
more variable than the cephalic index. If the latter is already considered
53 Spanish Basques 44.71
too variable for it to constitute the sole characteristic of the skull, we
have even more reason to doubt that the nasal index can be a defining 17 Guanches 44.25
characteristic." 15 In another, more extensive, paper published in the same 14 Eskimos 42.33
year, Broca states further: "I repeat that I do not in a~ way intend to
make of the nasal index the basis of any classification method. I consider th ~ 7re glance at the chart suggests one irresistible deduction All
it merely one of the several characteristics taken into account in studying e , ac race people ~re found among the platyrrhines; all the Yeilow
ethnological similarities and differences." 16 Finally, the scientist makes r~ce or Mal~yan-Amencan types, except the Eskimos, are found among
this even more emphatic comment: "In conclusion, I cannot repeat t e mesorrhmes; all those con~idered as representatives of the White race
enough that, more than most of the other characteristics, the nasal index a~e found among the le~torrhmes. This is the first time a method of cra-
is subject to the disruptive influence of individual variations, and that it is mal ~easurem~nt has yiel~e~ results that are so consistent with anthro-
valid only if it is determined by calculating the means over a sufficient P~_log~cal the~nes, and yet Jt is precisely about this method that the reat
number of series." 17 bscient1st caut10ns. most . emphatically· Th'is is. qmte

. a cunous
. .
fact g it
and
We already know, based on Broca's own evaluation, what to make of ~ars ~lose exammat1~n. Perhaps it is time to denounce the fallaci~us a -
the nasal index as a basis of classification of the human races. We will phcat10n of t~e averagmg method, which anthropologists value so highfy
now take a close look at the following chart and evaluate it after a few ~m~ng t~e dt:ferent means of scientific investigation available It is in-
ee ~ v10latlon o~ the principles of natural history to infer thus, from
necessary explanations.
s?me ideal and arbltrary observation, natural laws which are b d fi .
tlon, c~aracterized by their precision and regularity. ' y e m-
Nasal Index k llW1t~~he _averaging method, any researcher with a large number of
s u sat is disposal can easily _find a way to make them say whatever he
Platyrrhines
wants. Hedohnly ~a~ to choose his types from the pile, ignoring the maxi-
58.38
16 Hottentots mums. h an t e mmtmums ' d epend'mg on t he reqmrements . of the thesis he
8 Tasmanians
56.92 ':Is es to supp01t. I do not intend to question the integrity of th .
54.78 ttsts who work with these mean indexes Still th . e sc1en-
83 African Negroes know h r 1 . · ' ese aie men, and we
55. l 7 ow itt e people hesitate to twist a fact to suit the thesis th . h
22 Nubians to
uredefend . Broe. a ' s m.·1g_ma.
· 1c hart, from which
. Topinard borrowed ey theWIS
fi -
53.39
14 Australians s we examrned earlier, ts an example that can help shed considerab7e
53.06
66 New Caledonians
t
107
light on the case under consideration. The means included in it are ac-
Jar attributes and their cranial configurations often seem very close,
companied by both minimums and maximums. . .
The most platyrrhine race on the chart, the Hottentots, have a mini- whereas the Yellow or Mongolian race always keeps its distinctive traits.
mum nasal index of 47.17, which falls into the mesorrhinian category. On ~roca's chart, which is more detailed than the excerpt presented by
The Guanches, who have the smallest nasal index, sometimes have max- Topmard, the letters M, E, and C appear at the end of each line indicat-
imums that fall into the mesorrhinian category. What happens when we ing t?e Mongolian, Ethiopian, and Caucasian types. 20 All the pe~ples be-
compare African Blacks and modern Parisians? The minimum for the long1?g to the Mongolian race are grouped among the megasemes. They
Blacks goes down to 43.13, which is higher than the means represented constitute th.e overwhelming majority in this section, numbeijng twenty-
three out of its twenty-six categories.
by the Guanches. At the same time, the maximum for the. latter gro~p
goes up to 53.33, which is the average for the Hotten~ots: W1~h such wild Among the mesosemes and especia11y among the microsemes we
oscil1ations, how can the nasal index have any sc1ent1fic import, any find Ethiopians and Caucasians in comparable proportions. Of the thir-
teen peoples belonging to the races which are predominantly mi-
zootaxic value? We know that, exceptis excipiendis, Black people, more
cr?semes, there are eight Caucasian peoples and five Ethiopian peoples
often than Whites, have a flat and broad nose that detracts from the face's mixed together haphazardly.
beauty. But we also know that members of the Mongolian race also have
. . The measurement of the aveolo-condylian angle shows a similar co-
a broad and flat nose. Furthermore, so many White people have a pug
nose, and so many Blacks have a straight, even aquiline, nose that no one
mc1den~e .."One remarkable fact," writes Broca, "is that in this respect
the Ethiopian type skulls differ very little from the Caucasian type ...
can ever consider the shape of the nose an· ethnic trait.•
I will add one more co~ment. If, as the scientist Topinard asserts,
a~ong Negroes as among Europeans, the mean is negative and slightly
higher than one degree. The only ethnic difference that seems to be iden-
the morphology of the nose is one of those traits that signal the passa.ge
ti_fi_ed in this study has to do with the Mongolian type skulls, which
from man to ape, there is reason to believe that the so-called leptorr~m yielded a mean of +3° 31."21
ian White race is an intermediate type between ape and man. Ind~ed, 1~ a
classification based on the shapes of the nose, or designed from the pomt
We h~ve examined at length those charts,which sum up the various
of view of the comparative anatomy of man and the great anthropomor-
m~thods invented by anthropologists in order to identify the specific
tr~1ts that differentiate the human races from one another. We can be cer-
phic apes, the White man comes immediately after the chimpanzee. The
tain that those methods we have seen give us an accurate indication of the
value of th.e ?thers. ~b uno dice omnes. So from now on I will limit my-
convincing evidence can be found in Broca's own words:."ln the h.uman
races an increase in the nasal index almost always constttutes ~ sign of
self to a bnef analysis of each method, accompanied by the opinion of its ,
inferiority. This would suggest that the relative width of the nose n:us~ ~e author or of a competent anthropologist.
greater in the ape than in man. Such is not ~he case, h?wever. While it is
The calculat~on of the general index of the cranium, obtained by
true that the nasal index of young anthrop01ds approximates huqian pro-
means of the craniophore, does not provide a measurement that can rein-
portions, we must also add that in adult anthropoids the nasal index de-
force the customary classification of the races. The same instrument can
creases, becoming even smaller than that o f a h uman."18 . . be ~sed to determine the slope of the forehead. Consequently, when sci-
Broca's orbital index is no more reliable as a basis of class1ficat1on of ent~sts speak of "the Negro's sloping forehead," they commit an error
the human races. Arranging the different human groups into categories he
~h1ch may be either involuntary or inspired by old prejudices, but which
Is cl.ose to,~ stu~idity. "~hat is referred to as a beautiful forehead," says
names microsemes, mesosemes, and megasemes, the learned anthropolo-
gist uses a nomenclature that is not consistent with the grea~ taxiolo_gical
divisions adopted with other ethnographers and anthropologists. As it.ap-
Topm~rd, that is, a straight and rounded forehead, seems to be found as
pears in Topinard's work, Broca's nomenclature covers all the races ma
oft~n, if not r:nore frequently, among the Negro races of Africa. Broca's
senes of Nubians, who are so Negroid by their skulls, are pa11icularly re-
melange from which it is not possible to draw any precise parameters. 19
markab.le by the_ curve ~f their domed foreheads" (No reference).
There is one curious phenomenon here which we have already ob-
This quotation remmds me of a passage in a.learned a11icle in which
served on other charts. The Black and White races frequently have simi-
my scholarly compatriot, Louis-Joseph Janvier, says that Broca could
109
identify Haitian Negroes at a glance by their domed forehead. Is it possi- made earlier and ask again: By what kind of logic have Broca and his fol-
ble that the erudite anthropologist can avoid seeing in the Nubian skulls in l?wers been abl~ find any evidence of scientific truth in their interpreta-
his laboratory an ethnic trait he can so readily identify in Haitian Ne- . lion of a collect1~n of traits which they acknowledge as erroneous? How
groes? The truth is to be found on this side of the Pyrenees, and eITor on can one ever devise a truly scientific classification "based on the princi-
the other side. Such is the eternal story of the human spirit. Eirnr will be ple~ of the natur~l method" when the anthropological measurements
vanquished once and for all only when people of all races, equally edu- which one recognizes as the only rational bases of such a classification'
cated, can debate as equals all propositions and all opinions within the a.re not only er'roneo~~ and irregular, but also often contradictory? To ar~
universal framework of science. This era will come perhaps only toward nve at a really definitive basis of classification, one would have to find
the end of the twenty-fifth century, but already the future is dawning and the mea~s for each ethnological characteristic, and then calculate the
the light is slowly rising over the horizon, dispelling the darkness of bar- means or those ~ean~. To refer to these data in order to solve the prob-
barism that has for so long enveloped the minds of most of humanity. The le~ of th~ class1ficat10n of the human races is indirectly to admit in-
light will shine bright one day, but in the meantime we shall continue to evitable failure.
navigate our way through the heavy darkness in which all nations are still
struggling to the clash of competing ideologies. So we pursue our study of
all those anthropological doctrines which have assumed the mantle of the ~THER AN'.fHROPOMETRIC METHODS
august name of science while actually usurping its place.
~=~ave see~ all that cra~iometry has to offer in terms of resources for
Before moving away from craniometry, a field wh(!!'e we have been . omparat1ve s~udy of the respective characteristics of the human
unable to discover any seiious method of classification, I will quote a few taces. We h~ve venfied that anthropologists are incapable of devising by
statements made by Broca, the man who has worked the most at thes~ an- ~h~se co~p~1cat~d metho.ds a single parameter of sufficient precision to
thropometric operations. Referring to the direction of the great foramen in e p us dt~tmgmsh the different ethnic groups from one another. Le.t us
the different human races, mentioning in particular Daubenton 's angle, now ex.amme some other anthropometric methods that have also been
the eminent anthropologist says this: "An ethnological classification the subject of some very learned studies. What follow . 1 .
based exclusively on this trait would therefore be quite eIToneous. But nation th .d 1 . . s is ess an exam1-
. an a r~pi g an~e, for It is useless to linger over facts that shine
then it shares this problem with all the others. The more we study the no light on.reality, that yield not a single clue to the truth.
I Very httl~ attent~on, if any, has been paid to the pe1foration of the
human races, the more we become convinced that their affinities and dif-
ferences cannot be determined, let alone measured, by one single anatom- o ecra~on .cavity, which some have concluded was an ethnic trait after
ical, morphological, or functional trait. Only by taking into account all observmg it for the first time in Hottentot skelettons It i's" d.
d · . · 1oun in every
these traits together, in accordance with the principles of the natural r~c; an m remarkably high ~roportions among the ancient populations
method, can we hope to arrive at a truly scientific classification." 22 o ranee. Thus among 47 Am mountain people from the fifth centur
We record this confession, noting in Broca's beautiful phrasing the the ~henomenon can be observed in nearly 28 percent y,
somber nuance of the deep discouragement experiens::ed only by those . Platycnemia (ftat~ened, sword-blade leg), a condition which results
who passionately embrace a scientific idea only to find out, at the end of ~~m t~e l~teral ftattem~g o~the tibia, is not typical of any particular race.
long, laborious, and conscientious research, that reality totally contra- I e t e o ecranon cavity, it seems to occur at a certain stage in the de-
dicts their views. Broca's very words seem to make moot all the argu- ve opment ~f e~ery race: It should, instead, be seen as one of those an-
ments I have been trying to muster in order to refute the views of the throp~genet1c signs ~h1ch prove that all the races follow the same
famous champion of polygenism. Had it not been for history, had it not ev~Iu.t10nary pattern, m terms of their physical development as well as
been for the obligation to leave these pages as a record, since the ideas I ~hetrlmtelJectual and moral growth. This is an important subject that calls
fight against are themselves recorded on pages which are perhaps less lOr c oser study.
true but more beautifully written, I could have lightened up my book by One oft?~ most interesting points of comparison among the skele-
excising from it all this heavy discussion. But let me return to a remark I tons of the different human races is the ratio of the l' b
. upper 1111 s to the
The Equality of the Hunzan Races Criteria for Classifying the Human Races 1 JJ
/10
. d t ith Vrolick, while being Jess categorical in their interpretations, asserted the
. On the basis of imprecise measurements carne ou w
same fact. According to Weber, there are four basic pelvis shapes among
lmowo1~ ;nl:s~s care some anatomists and anthropologists have conhcludtehd
aJI the human races. However, the oval shape is more prevalent among
' d h m is longer t an e
that the Black man's forearm, compare to t e ar ' . 11 f Whites; the square type is found more often among Mongolians; the
. ean's forearm. Since that ingenious discovery, usmg a s~rts o round shape is typical of the Americans; and the cuneiform is most com-
E uiop . t th y have done their best
resumably accurate methods of measuremen ' e . i- mon among Blacks.
io establish this as a fact. But their figures are most conf~smg, a~d a ~e~y In nature the upper opening of the pelvic cavity is never square or
ous scientist will see in them merely one of those fantasies men wne cuneiform. While subscribing to the common opinion tha( the Black
The primary goal of the researchers who support, or have sup-
R osny. . · the existence of a more man's pelvis has an animal-like shape, Vrolick takes note of the slender-
ported, those paradoxical conclusions is to p_r?ve White ness of the Black woman's pelvis. Whatever Pruner-Bey's opinion, it is
or less valid connection between the Afnc~n ~nd ~he ape. ~ obvious that in any study of ethnic differences based on the shape of the
H h. and Broca do not hide their intention m this re~ar?. N?ne
hu~p I~~ deducing such a connection from one charactenstic, e1 ther pelvis, the scientific investigation must focus on the women. Nature has
t r:s:~e~ or actual, these scientis.ts completely _overlook ~11 other obser- given each sex specific anatomical attributes. If man has been favored in
~ations in comparative anatomy to focus on a smgle de_ta1l th~.~ supports terms of brain and muscular strength, wo~an,has received all the supe-
· · t"fic theoi·y "The evidence so far," writes Topmard, is that the rior gifts that contribute to the reproduction and conservation of the
th elf sc1en i · . . f
proportions of the human skeleton _differ from or app~ox1mate those o_ species. The pelvic cavity shelters the very organ of maternity; it is, so to
the anthropoid not in all its parts simultaneously but 111eOne part or .an speak, the matrix of humanity. One needs not resort to some esoteric
other in an unpredictable random pattern. Such a fact clearly contrad1ct.s doctrine or transcendental teleology to become convinced of this idea.
the monogenist theory of a hierarchical gradation_ among the races; _it Furthermore, to draw valid conclusions about racial characteristics
supports, to the contrary, the idea of parallel formations. One typ~ tha~ is based on the measurements of the pelvis, we should not compare the
superior in one respect is inferior in another respect. T?e same s1tuat1on pelvises of savage Negroes with those of modern, civilized Europeans,
prevails among the anthropoid family: skeletal proportions vary accord- who have a much easier and more advanced life style than do Africans.
23
ing to genus and species as they do in the human races." Instead, we should look into the anthropological prehistory of Europe.
Before they sought supporting evidence in the ratio between the We would identify White types of the Neolithic period or of the Bronze
African's lower and upper limbs compared to the European's, re- Age who have disappeared or have become rare, and then compare these
searchers had inferred certain consequences from the configuration of to today's Black and Yellow peoples at a similar stage of historical evolu- ·
the pelvis in the different groups that make up the human species. Calcu- tion. Moreover, the specialists' charts are so thin that they are practically
lations of the dimensions of the pelvis from the point of view of compar- meaningless. Why, for example, does Topinard's chart contain so few
ative anatomy show that animals differ considerably from human beings figures for European women? It provides data for four European pelvises
in this regard. against eight for those of African women. 24 Could this be one more ex-
In all mammals the length of the pelvis is greater than its width; in ample of the old game, of the well known fantasy of means and aver-
the human species the opposite is true. Chimpanzees, however, fall ages? Whenever I hear an anthropologist share with his colleagues the
somewhere in between: among them the two diameters of the pelvic cav- results he has obtained on the basis of these means, I inevitably think of
ity are almost equal. The gorilla and the orangutan, who are inferior to that caustic Roman orator's words about the countenance of two oracles
the chimpanzee in other respects, are even closer to humans in this re- facing each other. I must then control myself to keep from exploding in
gard. From their observations of these animals, researchers moved to es- one of those noisy fits of laughter that betrayed the gods of old Homer.
tablishing a basis of differentiation between Blacks and Whites. Camper According to Dr. Verrier, demonstrator at the Paris School of Medi-
and Soemmering asserted that the pelvis is generally naiTower in Blacks cine, the pelvises of all the known races can be grouped into three major
than in Europeans. Cuvier rejoined their opinion, stating that in this re- categories: "The first category includes the pelvises of all the women of
spect the Hottentot Venus presented clear signs of inferiority. Weber and Europe (except Lapp women), Asiatic Turkey, Egypt, and New Guinea,
113
as well as the Black women of Guadeloupe and of West Africa (Wolof). th~ sto.ut and fleshy Ossete fAryan people of Ossetia, translator's note]
"The second category is made up of the pelvises of Syrian, Persian, with hi~ ~mall fi_er~e eyes_. The Yellow race has an even more chaotic
Kanak, Australian, Peruvian, Mongolian, Chinese, Annamite, Lapp, and compos1~1on. It is 1_mposs1ble to enumerate all the differences in skin
Samoyed women. Finally, the third category of pelvises, less well known complexion and facial features among the Chinese the Tur·ks fA · h
G · h · ' o sia t e
because less numerous, includes those of Southern and Central African uaram, t e Mexicans, the Botocudos of America, the European L~
women and of Negri to, Papuan, and Bushmen women." 25 and: as long as we are looking at color, among the Bushmen of South~i~~
It will be noted that the different _categories in this classification in- Afnca, the Guanches, the Berbers, etc.
clude all the races. The last category forms an exception in that it re- The confusing di~cre~ancy that generally exists between the typi-
grours only Blacks, notwithstanding the inclusion of the Bushmen. cal features a~d the skm pigmentation of the different races makes diffi-
Despite their relatively light skin, these people indeed have always been cult and unreliable any anthropological classification based only on skin
considered Black. It should also be pointed out that, in its author's own color. How can we resolve this difficulty? If we deny any tax l · I
value t k' . . o og1ca
opinion, this classification is of a purely obstetrical nature. Dr. Verrier . ?s m ~1gmentat10n, ~an we i_dentify an anatomical or morphologi-
does not accept the anthropological nomenclatures of a Weber or a cal tr;1t tha~ is a more rehable cnterion for distinguishing the human
Joulin. "We find no square, round, or cuneiform pelvises in the human races· Certainly not. Nqne of the methods we studied earlier yields better
results.
species," he writes. "The general shape is more or less ellipsoidal. There
are many races among Negroes just as there are among Whites. The . T~e n_ature or t~e q~alit~ of the hair is a no more reliable classifica-
pelvises of the Black women of Guadeloupe or of the "1olof women of t10n cntenon. We will give 1t a simple pro Jonna look. Huxley ha _
P osed .a c lass1'fi1cat1~n
· s pro
system based on the hair. He divides the human
Western Africa are as large and as well shaped as the most beautiful Eu-
ropea~ types." Verrier's words require no further commentary. rac~s rnto . two . ma!or categories: the woolly-haired ulotrics and the
stra1ght-haired hotncs. This dichotomous division whi'ch we • d
I' . . · . . , ioun ear-
ie1 m ~o? de Samt-Vmcent's classification, corresponds more or less
HAIR AND SKIN PIGMENTATION to_ Retzrns s two g~o~~s (dolichocephalics and brachycephalics), only
We have examined at length the anthropometric methods which are so with une~ual ~ubd1v1s10ns. The ulotrics presumably include only the
often used for determining the presumably distinctive morphological Black Afncans and the Papuans. The liotrics are divided into four sub-
groups:
characteristics oflhe different human races. We found nothing to support
the theories propounded with varying degrees of emphasis by anthropol-
ogists on the basis of their study of the human skeleton. We can only take 1. The Australoid_ group, which includes the Australians, the Dec-
note of this negative conclusion before moving on to the study of the pig- can Blacks (Hm~u), and perhaps the ancient Egyptians. They
mentation of the skin. have a prognathian skull with well developed superciliary
Although I believe there is no better practical basis for the major arches, a blac~ skin, black eyes, and straight long hair.
ethnological divisions, ethnographers and anthropologists agree that skin 2. T~e Mo~g~lo1d group has a yellowish, brown, or reddish brown
pigmentation is not a sufficiently distinctive trait for classifying the ski~, hair h~e that of the first group, and a mesacephalic skull
human races. There is indeed reason to doubt the reliability of skin color This group includes the Mongols, the Chinese the Pol . .
as a basis for race classification when we consider that the Nubian, the and the Americans. ' ynesians,
Kaffir, the Sudanese, the Australian, the Dravidian, the Californian, and a 3. The X_anth_ochroid group consists of the Slavs, the Teutons the
hundred of other people with a more or less dark skin, differ so starkly Scandtnavians, and the blond Celts, white skinned peoples ~ith
from one another by their facial features and their hair. In the White race, b~ue eyes, abundant hair, and a brachymesacephalic skull.
which includes peoples with a clearly white skin, we find much more ho- 4. Finally, the Melan~chroid group has a pale skin, long black hair,
mogeneous types. Still, we find great variety here as well, from the slen- and black eyes. This last group includes the Iberians the brown
der Scandinavian with a pink skin, wide blue eyes, and sharp features, to Celts, and the Berbers.26 '
ll5
. . loosel based on the nature of the
Huxley's classification is only vefry 1 y of methods which creates same facial features and the same kind of hair as those around him but
. 11 h tcome o a me ange '
hair. It ish actua y t e ou . fi . l than those derived from the applica-
t . even more art1 cm with an unusual skin color will make quite an impression on those who
~roups ~ t ate h d We should also mention the classification system see him for the first time. Only through increased familiarity with cases
tlon. ofdb
a single
F Mullero and
met . Haec k e1' w h'ic h is based solely on the nature of albinism or thanks to the explanations given by an anthropologist, a
dev1~e y .. h h ir 27 I will dispense with elaborate explana- physician, or a naturalist will they realize that this transformed Negro is
not a White man.
and implantat10n of t e a : . general idea of the nomencla-
tions; this synoptic cha1t suffices to give a
ture they propose. In an analogous scenario, let a most handsome specimeq of the Dra-
vidian race, a Tova with great black eyes, long silky hair, and-regular fea-
tures, come among a population of French or German peasants. This
Hair
individual will cause quite a commotion among these country folks. If, in
contrast, an Ethiopian albino, with his head shaven were to find himself
Woolly Smooth among these same people, he would not even be noticed. If he kept his
woolly but slightly blond hair, he would at best be the object of a mild
Bushy Fleecy Straight Curly
curiosity, without causing the fear which traveling Blacks usually cause
Hottentots
Papuans
African Negroes
Kaffirs
Australians
Hyperboreans
Americans
Malay
- Dravidians
Nubians
Mediterraneans
in provincial and incompletely civilized Europeans.
I believe we should adopt an ethnological classification based on
skin color for a second reason. Not only is it the most visible and unam-
biguous physical trait, but is also the most constant one in each race. The
French of the nineteenth century do not exactly resemble the French of
Mongols the fifth century, and still Jess those of the reindeer hunting period. What
they all have in common, though, is their skin color. We will overlook the
interethnic mix that took place, as the evidence of it gradually disappears
We need only glance at this ~h
. art to realize to what extent different ethnic
t go1·y While the woolly hair over time as a population evolves toward a common type which we
h t ther m the same ca e ·
groups are t rown oge l the smooth hair group encom- might call the national type. According to Lyell, skull shapes, the brain,
category includes only Black pe.od~ es, t to mostly White Mediter- and civilization follow a similar pattern of development. The same can
N b· d Ora vi ians nex
passes Black u tans an 1 laced in the same category as the be said about the whole human body, for the shapes and dimensions of,
raneans. The light Yellow Mongo .s are p h e found large each organ naturally tend to adapt themselves to the individual's habitual
. d h Americans amongst w om ar
Black Australians an t e l bl 'k peoples such as the Californians. occupations, depending on the different types of exercises they are made
numbers of very brown and near; ~~ .. gmentation is the most reliable to perform. But this is not the right time for an in-depth discussion of this
It seems established, then, t at s m p1 . t'sts do they must interesting subject. I shall return to it later.
. 1 ·ti t ·on Whatever sc1en I ,
basis of anthropological c ass1 ca i . lgar ones particularly when The conclusion is that the skin color of the different human races is,
take widespread ideas into ac~ount: env:ina~~rnatives. When, in a popula- sublatis sublandis, in direct correlation with the climate and living envi-
they are unab~e to suggest mo\e r~t~o Id the first specimen of a different ronments, whereas the shape of the face- is, generally, a function of the
tion of a particular race, ~eop eh ~ d~aws their attention is neither the fa- degree of civilization currently attained by a particular race or achieved
variety of the human s~ec1es, V: a he skin color of the person. earlier by ancestors, who would have passed their distinctive facial traits
cial features nor the hair, ~ut, I atherd,t the Black woolly-haired, to their descendants through heredity. When we observe that, except in a
popu~at~~~ of A~:i~: :, of the mountains ~f1~:i~;!l~~!~se ;~:~~~~~=~

k A t 1· n mtroduce among '
few cases, aJI the races studied by ethnologists are found within specific
environments which they leave only with great reluctance and difficulty,
able despite his straight long hair and eveAf . Negro albino with the
prognathism of his face. In contrast, an ncan and that whenever these races move to a new milieu, they prosper only to
the extent that climatic conditions make their adaptation easy, we realize
117
that skin pigmentation remains the most persistent and reliable distinc- Would ~t b~ possible to devise a classification of the races based
tive racial characteristic. solely on skin pigmentation and to design, like Broca has done a skin
An exception must be made in cases where a people, such as the an- ~o1ors ~hart? ~hile such a sys_tem may not have great scientific 'signifi-
cient Egyptians, suffers repeated invasions by foreign races over the cen- anc~, It ?1ay y1el? an unquest10nably practical result. "The distribution
turies, and as a result of continuous hybridization, gradually acquires a
... skm p1gmentat10n
of . as
. an anatomical characteristic" says Manteg azza,
skin pigmentation different from the original color of their ancestors. But _is ~n appropnate basis for classifying human beings but not for estab-
such cases are accidental but historically verifiable. In sum, as long as we hshmg a taxonomic method."2s
continue to use such terms as white, yellow, black, bmwn, or red to desig- These are indeed judicious words from the eminent Flotence profes-
nate the human races, it would be self-deluding to use other traits than ~or. Bu~ we. have already seen that a practical taxonomic method is an
color to classify them. 11:nposs1ble ideal. The differences among the human races are not suffi-
Classifications of race are confusing because their authors mix all ciently ~ema~cated by nature to enable us to devise any rational system
sorts of criteria together instead of limiting themselves to a single one. of ~lass1fica~10n. It would be better then to group human beings on the
Most often they devise fanciful and arbitrary designations that say noth- basis of their _most apparent characteristic, which is their skin color.
ing about the natural particularities of the races. Thus they speak of an There
. . are certainly
. other difficulties. Whatever we may do , whatever p1e-
.
A1ywz race and of an Inda-European race. This artificial nomenclature is cise m~tructions_ we may follow, whatever delicately tinted chromo-lith-
particularly specious as its scientific veneer impresses the general public. ographtc en~ravmgs the .b~st colorists may create, we will never be able
The word A0 an, the Sanskrit root of which means '1roble, becomes the
1
to capture with any prec1s1on_certain epidermic hues, let alone represent
mere expression of retrospective pride when it is applied to the White the?1 by means of the chemical combinations the five basic colors b
race. In fact, there has never existed an Aryan nation. As for the term which the great painters achieve their light effects. y
Jndo-Europecm, it has its origin in a false linguistic theory. When the , The color of the skin is never purely black, never yellow like the
term was used to designate the White race, it was not known that that the sun. s rays, ~nd never clearly white. As for the color red, it goes without
majority of the population of India was dark brown or unmistakably saymg that 1t does not apply to any race of human bei·ngs Sk' ·
. , . . m p1gmenta-
black. The source of the error is the idea that beauty and intelligence are tlon c_an pest be descnbed ~s shades that approximate these basic colors.
the exclusive preserve of the White race. The term Caucasian is authori- Here IS the reaso~ why. While chemical colors are more or Jess similar to
tative simply because it is old, for the fact is that several distinct races in- the colors fo~nd m the utricular tissue of plants, so that a vegetal color re-
habit the Caucasus. The designation Mongolian, which is often applied se.mbles a mmeral color, such is not the case with the cell tissue that c _
to the entire Yellow race, is somewhat less objectionable. Everi though tams the human skin's pigment. on,
the Mongols themselves, who include the Manchu, the Touguz, the . By what hidden ?peration does the red blood, under the influence of
Kalmuk, etc., are but a fraction of the Yellow race, their name ~as been light, transform the pigment deposit between the human der . d .
d · · mis an ep1-
used as a generic appellation for the entire race of which they seem to er~1s mto ~o many different shades? Topinard has suggested an ans
constitute the principal types. As for the term Ethiopian, no objection t~ this question: "~n addition to the red pigment of the blood, the bl;;~
can be raised against it. Not only the same arguments used for the term p1g?1e~t of the skm, and chloroid, there is another pigment bilive d"
Mongolian can be raised in its favor, but its very etymological denotation which is pr~duce~ in the liver and_ colors the tissues of the ict~rus yel~o1~'.
as a color justifies its use to designate all races with a sun-burnt face, that At the phys1olog1cal or sub-phys10logical level by whatev . .
11 d · · • er name 1t 1s
is, with a black skin. ca e ' It gives the face a yeJlowish or sub-icter1·c hue Th' . .
d fi · l . · is pigment is
There are, then, three major ethnic divisions among the human e. mte Y. responsible for the yellowish color of the skin, of the cellular
species: the White, the Yellow, and the Black. These three major groups adipose tissue of the muscles, and of the blood whi h . t~
served in auto . fN , c is so o ten ob-
include individuals and collectivities with an infinite number of skin . p~1es o egroes. Is this pigment a transformation, a differ-
color nuances, but they can be subdivided into some fifty clearly different v~rs10n as It were, of the coloring matter of the blood? Onl th
entiated sub-groups. chenusts can answer."29 · Y e
The Equality of the Human Races Criteria for Classifying the Hwnan Races 119
118
' be of great relevance in patholog- The yellow coloring of the Hyperborean peoples, the first popula-
The eminent scholar s wordfs may I whether the particularities tions of this particular hue on earth, calls for a different explanation. We
. h 1 We wonder, or examp e, .
1cal ant ropo ogy. . . h well-known immunity against know that the temperature of the human body is constant under every lat-
1
he highlights here might n?t exp am t e 1 of color and Blacks, and un- itude and that its variations are barely perceptible. People who Jive in
J.aundice or icteric fever enJoyed by peop e A .
b y ll eople and brown sians.
As the blood is al- cold regions, near the poles, instinctively consume so-called fatty foods,
doubtedly also Y e ow P t' . g through their arteries and which help to maintain the amount of body heat indispensable to life.
· · n capable o carrym
ready phys101og1ca y l h . kin and 'internal organs, it is not The fatty substances in these foods are the most effective in ~his respect,
. · h' h co ors t etr s or else they are the most easily available to the populations living near
vems the pigment .w. ic . nt of the material. But from
morbidly affected if tt carnes. a l~rger aml oul . fficient In fact, I be- the sea. These populations must have learned through experience how
. h' lanatwn ts abso ute Y msu ·
our perspective, t is exp h h . ts but to the physiologists to useful such foods are for this purpose and made them part of their diet.
lieve that we should turn not to t e c em1s The liver produces the juices that emulsify fat so that it can be ab-
shed light on this ~u~stion. h h human organism contains three basic sorbed by the body. We can easily understand then how hyperactive this
It is not ce11am, mdeed, t at t e ll d black We should either organ would be among those races living under the conditions described
·d 'fidasredyeowan ·
coloring elements 1 enti e ' ' unt only one which is earlier. The constant irritation of the hepatic gland causes an excessive
. - . b f such elements or co •
identify an mfimte num e~ ~. . .. · · roduced along with secretion of bile which, having used for its main purpose the greater part
the blood. Biliru.bin, like b1ltt.u~hs~n ~; b1~;:~1;~~:~es the liver with all of the cholalic acid, cholesterin, and salts it carries, continues to circulate
bile in the hepatic g\and .. but ~t ~ t ~ ~o st as a substmwe in a test tube is in the blood with its pigments. The bile ultimately deposits these color-
the materials needed for its p1.o_ uct1on. u d ding on the dosage and ing substances in the sub-epidermic network, which is less active in these
d k a different aspect, epen
transformed an ta es on . k place as coloring substances are people than in Africans. As these substances are not easily evacuated
· al operat10n ta es
temperature, a c hem1c . h h . logist who studies the phe- from the body, because there is little transpiration, they give a yellow
extracted from th~ bi~:· lt is up t~~t ebp ~~~t ope;ation the liver breaks color of varying shades to the skin of Lapps and other peoples of the
nomena of organic ltte, to fin~ y uch for the color yellow.
down the blood and t:ansf~r~s l~ s:; other tissues has no other source
The black coloring o t e s nb t melanin asubstance which accu-
same race.
A White man living in a temperate climate will have his skin neither
burnt by the sun nor yellowed by an excess of bilious substances in his
than the blood. We al~eady .kn;~ a i~:s the Ethi~pian's skin its bl~ck hue. blood. His complexion will remain more or less colorless. Under his epi-
mulates under the ep1.derm1s g les the microscopic particles of dermis, transparent like that of humans of all races, will show a flesh-col- '
This substance consists of fine granu , d . d blood If they ored dermis, a familiar if not easily described shade. Such is the color of
. - ·b . d nd oxygen- epnve .
which are simply highly c.a1 omze af n they would gradually re- the so-called Caucasian race, which is no closer to alabaster white than
were injected with a certain amount o oxyge ' the Ethiopian's color is to the smoky black it is often said to be .
.gain the usu~l co lo~ bloo~. Charles Robin, nitrogen acid turns melanin
?f These are, we admit, only hypotheses, but then anthropology so far
According to ittre an . h i·s no doubt due to the fact . rests on merely hypothetical data. Still, these do have some value when
30 Th' chenucal p enomenon
into a russet ma~s. ·~ - ox dizin agents, disrupts the mole- they can be shown to agree with notions verified in other, more estab-
that nitrogen acid, one ot the st10-ng~st . y gen to it This explains how lished, sciences. For want of anything better, we have accepted skin pig-
f l ·n by transterrmg oxyg ·
cular m~k~ u~ o me a_n.1 tes darken under the sun's hot rays, even thoug~ mentation as a practical criterion of classification. It bears repeating,
people hvmg m warm ~hma . f le living in a less warm clt- however, that skin color provides no more fail-proof and scientific
their organism is no d1ffe~ent from thhatf? peopthe blood is drawn into the method than other anatomical characteristics. Such a method does not
. ld climate In t e ormer, exist. How, then, have some people been able to classify the human races
mate or even m a co 1. . d'lated by the ambient heat, and the
·fi ·
least rarru cat10n ° f the vascu ar tissue 1
. · · . .
d vaporat1on d'1ss1·pate most of its hq-
into inferior and superior races? If we do not know which are the traits
consequent abundant tra~spir~10~ a~ r:sidues are then deposited in the ep- that distinguish one from the other, how can we attribute more intel-
uid elements. The blood s ca1 omze . . t's overheated retort. ligence and morality to some without falling into the most arbitrary
ithelial cells, like the caput mortuum left m a chenus
The Equality of the Human Races 121
120
A real competition among specialists took place throughout Europe. As
-- . d tif taxonomic particularities that would
empiricism? In an ettort to I en yh. log·ists have resorted to a new was to be expected, several schools emerged. They clashed in so many
. h some ant 1opo .
legitimize their t eory, . d with the natural sciences. passionate discussions, propounding in the process so many brilliant but
mode of classification that has nothing to o. Besides the subject is sterile contradictions, that a11 sides eventually tired and lay down their
.. ·t deserves our attention. '
Because of its renown, l . f h ost fascinatin.g fields of study arms. After these periods of ardent polemical debates, scientists finally
. · . 't
q uite mterestmg, t mv · olves one o t e m . · ·.
- . ·l 'fi ations based on lmguist1cs. found the quiet and introspective atmosphere that alone can foster scien-
for the human mm . d · 1 am refemng to c asst c
tific progress. Things have changed now, so we can broach these issues
calmly, without awakening the passions that agitated every s@ientist in
4 SOME LINGUISTIC CLASSIFICATIONS . the first half of this century. Let us return briefly to these issues, then.
. . r holo of languages recognized early The first controversial historical issue concerned the origin of lan-
Researchers looking mto the mo p gy. groups The first group in- guage. The study of language has interested intellectuals since Greek an-
. ·d d · t three major ·
that these could be d1v1 e mo . ·n which the roots re- tiquity. The two greatest masters of Greek philosophy, Aristotle in
. · - nosyllab1c languages, 1 .
eludes the isolating m mo . f ·d depends on their position, as Rhetoric and Plato in Cratylus, explored the subject. The Epicurean
main invariable and the meamn~ o Twh01. ss·amese and related dialects. school, whose ideas are condensed in Lucretius' magnificent poem, also
b d. Annam1te a1, 1 ' .
in Chinese, Cam o ian.' - h ' lutinative languages, in which sev- was interested in language. The subject, however, was of no great Interest
The second group consists ot t e agdg 'thout losing the.ir original mean- outside the circle of philosophers who merely broached it. Before the ad-
. . d t form a wor w1 h
eral roots are JOtne o d' I t'unctioif and the ot ers vent of Christianity and theological dogmas, such a subject did not in-
. · t · dependent ra ica
ing one root keepmg I s m ·1· . s1'gns Examples of such spire any heated discussions. In Plato's Dialogue, Hermogenes considers
' . 1 f simple aux1 iary ·
being reduced to the IO e o .d. nd most African languages. language the product of pure convention and believes that signs are arbi-
T ·ki h Malay Drav1 ian, a . l trary. Socrates calmly refutes these ideas, arguing that speech is a natural
. languages
. are u1. s ' de up ,ot- th e m . fl ec·t1' onal or amalgamating an- .
The third group is ma S "ti'c and Hamitic languages, m faculty which develops gradually along with thought, and that the signs
h h I do European, em1 , 1 d we use to register speech are expressions of the very nature of things.
guages, sue as t e n - ·d d its endings can also be a tere
which the principal root of a wo1 an Aristotle, who sought above all to understand ideas through analysis
phonetically. . . . . to correspond to the division of the in order to arrive at a general systematization of knowledge, did see lan-
Does not this d1v1s10n s~em . l the yellow, black, and guage as a natural faculty, but he also considered it an intrinsic character-
. . th. e major races, name y, h istic of human intelligence, a product of the "intellectual's soul," to use
human species rnto ie b d to attract the attention of et -
, h · idence was oun his terminology. Without lingering over abstractions, he analyzes the
white races? Sue a come d h ther certain human groups were not
. h wondere w e - ld qualities of language and the laws of interpretation of signs. While Aris-
nolog1sts, w o soon . . ther than another. It we cou sys-
better suit to use a specific language ra t the same time find a taxonomic totle's analysis contains some insufficiencies, especially when compared
. would we not a ?
temat1ze language u~e, - . for the division of the human races. to what his successors would achieve, it shows a remarkable sagacity on
basis and a hierarch1cal foundation . . the Gordian knot that has · the part of the philosopher. Still, his point was never the focus of serious
Would not lingu1st1cs, . · t h en,~ ucceed m cutting
•J discussions in the old philosophical debates, whether among the peri-
. d e ·y natural method. patetic philosophers or among competing schools.
for so long res1ste ev I d h' lologists and linguists began to
h 'd as were ftoate , P i · As for Lucretius, he concurs with Epicure, a god in his eye, that the
Once t ese I e . h'l hical importance. This was
· d' f the highest P 1 osop ·
consider their stu ies o . 11 as the maJ· ority of the white first human beings instinctively uttered the various sounds of language
. .· d l pment especia Y
quite an mterestmg eve o , l centage of the yellow race and were forced by necessity to name every object. The origin of lan-
. ft , d languages, a arge per I .
race speaks m ecte ll At' . n Blacks speak agg ut1- guage thus would be in man's very nature, and speech would be one of
. and almost a nca
speaks isolatmg languages'. . . k d '1th great diligence and perse'" his innate faculties. Human beings must have used language sponta-
Th specialists wor e w d
native languages. e 1 . between the voice organs an neously, just as other animals utter their particular sounds or songs: Sen-
. . . s'ble corre ations h .
verance to discover pos I h ht and speech, on the ot e1. . tit enim vim quisque suam, quoad possit abuti. 31
. on the one hand ' a11d between t oug
the b rain,
Criteria for Classzifying the H uman Races
123
All these theories went unnoticed or drew very little attention. The
It is impossible to summarize m . .
reaction was quite different, though, when the issue was addressed again, style and with more interpretive, If ore succrnctly, m a more elevated
toward the end of the eighteenth century, first by Condillac and later by the author of Recherches philos:\ .-assurance, th~ theory invented by
Leibniz. The great philosophical conflict, forgotten today, between the guage. But here, too, we were in ~el%~~;~~ explam t~e origin of lan-
sensualists and the spiritualists shifted onto the field of linguistics. The of political theology. The approach
1 k d i:net~physics, p~rhaps even
former supported the theory of Plato's Hermogenes, and the latter re- guistics, which could be used t t ~c eh a sc1~nttfic foundat10n, for lin-
been p~ovided with a systemati; :n~ :at:o~:lu:~~~:. fruitfully, had not yet
sponded by developing the Socratic argument within the general frame-
work of classic spiritualism. Contemporaries were torn between the two
It 1s true that Hervas a s ·h1 .· . "
sides, unable to decide who was right and who was wrong. Opinions are Vatican Library by Pius vii ae;tepanh~s desuhlt scientist named head of the
similarly 9-ivided and indecisive today. Condillac's theory, however, was . • r Is or er ad been e JI d f .
had wntten a voluminous tome in Ital" h' h xp~ e rom Spam,
some serious research in linguistics B~;~h w J~ ~~ntams the results of
adapted to a whole system. He was looking for a transactional term that
could reconcile the different hypotheses by framing them within his the- that the science which concerns us .her h ~ ve1 Y tit ~ o~ the work shows
ory of sensation. For Condillac, man successively acquires all his facul- The book is a sort of encyclopedia int:n: only a hmtted pl.ace in it. 32
ties through sensations. Sensations are transformed into ideas, which are
~ork o.f Voltaire, Diderot, and d 'Alembert led as a counterweight to the
naturally translated into speech, which at first consisted of natural signs hshed rn Madrid a Catala . , . n 1805, the same author pub-
and, later, of arbitrary signs conventionally admitted into the language. gue rmsonne de tour I l
Systematic Catalogue of All K La es es angues comzues (A
Without speech, man is incapable of analyzing his tho~hts. Thus the art Adelung's work, Yater also publ~~~~~ a ~:~~:ges). In ! 8 I 5, continuing
of thinking consists in appropriating a well constructed language. Ac- l~ngues du monde (Alphabetical Table o A alphabet1~ue de toutes !es
cording to this reasoning, the origin of language is, very simply, in the Fmally in 1823 H . .· h J 1·
, em11c u ms Kl
if
th
ll the Worlds Languages) 33
bl' .
perception of our senses. In an era where industrialism and positivism book which caused th~ greatest sens:i;_~~ . puh ish~d ~sia Polyglotta, a
reign supreme, we no longer understand, alas, the pleasure to be derived far all these works had been b t . I n rn t e sc1ent1fic wo. rld. But so
from thus immersing oneself in the enchanted domain of metaphysics. . u mere g ances at one . f h
mmd. More detailed studies of th b. co1 ner o t e human
At the turn of the century, Bonald, a man gifted with a cultivated but terest in the field increased. e su ~ect would follow, however, as in-
contrarian intellect, thought he could react against the trends and convic-
Linguistics as a field was trul d ..
tions of his time and displayed considerable energy going against every- foundation of the works of th yBan defin1t1vely constituted on the
thing that seemed to have any connection with the persistent ideas of the e great opp whos G . .
des langues indo-eu"'vpe' . . , e imnmm.re comparee
French Revolution. To admit that human intelligence alone was responsible , " ennes is still cons'd d
book by specialists. His treatise Des ra I ere a very authoritative ,
for the invention of language, a view propounded by the Epicurean school polynesiennes avec /es Ian ues indo pp~rts des langues malayo-
in antiquity and now taken up by the eighteenth century, was equivalent to tion for the organic study : I -germanzques lay the first founda-
erecting a pedestal to human pride and legitimizing all those brash ideas put the formation of words. w~ sh~:~~;:ts tand the phonetic ~aws regulating
forward so boldly in the pretentious formula, Every man is the sole master his impressive works in comparative hi~~7et Profe~sor. E1c~l~ff who, by
of his own destiny. In Bonard's view, promoting an opposing theory would to give g1ottology the positivist and ~ 'fiog~ and m li.ngu1st1cs, helped
be doing God's work and being responsibly conservative. According to At this new st . h sc1ent1 c character It has today.
him, then, speech came to us from a higher source, our ancestors having re- age m t e deveJopme t f h ·
origin of language was on . . n o t e science, the issue of the
ceived it from God Himself by the supernatural means of revelation. Ac- ce agam considered b t b
tent thinkers. Those who studie . ' u. Y. much more compe-
cording to Bonald, writes Franc;ois Lenorrnant, man was depdved of both Bell, Duchenne, Gratiolet Renad t~.J~U~Ject, sc1ent1sts such as Charles
speech and thought when God put him in this world. His intellectual facul- Muller, did so with genui~e auth~rit I T~;evon Humb.ol~, Pott, and Max
ties existed, but they were like dormant seeds unable to germinate. Sud- language: sound format1'0 d y. . are two distinct elements in
denly, light dispelled the darkness and the miracle occu1Ted as God's word n an express10n Th · .
who studied the first element h' h h . e emment physiologists
struck man's ears and revealed to him the secret of language (No reference). not disagree much with Lucre,t1:1u !c . ~s to do with natural language, do
s opm10n.
124 The Equality of the Human Races Criteria
.
for Classi-h·ing
'J.Y
the H uman Races
125
They only completed it by giving it a scientific foundation of which The conclusion is inevitable. Profe .
Epicure's disciple could not have had the least inkling. According to these ?1ost brilliant disciples, expresses the id::o1hSa~ce, one of Max Muller's
scientists, movements of the body and the limbs are used to express cer- Is as much man's creation a . t' t us. Language as we know it
tain needs or achieve certain acts because these movements are natural guage belongs to the collect:vft~1·ni::~ o~·I any of the oth~r fine arts. Lan-
signs for these. For example, modifications of the physiognomy harmo- cate with another human being· -~ . ha es a human bemg to communi-
nize spontaneously and simultaneously with the movements of certain fa- influences which affect all h ' I is t e pro3dsuct of combined causes and
. , . umans equally.
cial muscles. These muscles respond to inner impulses triggered by Pei haps Renan s ideas on this crucial . .
sensation. Cries and gestures, which are produced instinctively at first, ul- what he says about it: "The need to . . pomt a1 e not ve~·y clear. This is
timately serve to designate objects. Children consistently illustrate this feelings is natural in man H signify and express his th@ughts and
process up to the point where they finally learn their mother tongue. 34 himself and to others T.he e e~presshe.s every .one of his thoughts both to
. re IS not mg arb1tr .h .
As for the origin of ai1ificial language, that is, the faculty of expres- speech to signify ideas. Man h I ary elt er m the use of
sion, the theory of onomatopoeias was first suggested, and it was fol- his thoughts not out of con c .ose ang~a~e ~o formulate and articulate
vemence or m imitation f . I
lowed by the theory of inte1jections. Onomatopoeias originate in man's cause language is natural to him b th. h o amma s, but be-
instinctive tendency to imitate natural sounds, whereas interjections are meaning he attaches to it "36 Th o . mt e ~ay he produces it and in the
the effects of strong emotions. Taken in isolation, such theories do not re- tle and delicate but even.more e e?11h~ent philosopher's thoughts are sub-
, ' so lS IS style.
flect the true nature of things. They must complement one another and In sum, Renan believes that s ee h . .
integrate other data if they are to offer a more solid scie1ft.ific foundation. man's faculties rather that a creat" p ~ is a ~pontane~us product of
Max Muller and Renan found these theories lacking scientific valid- easily be linked to the views f I~n oh man .himself. His opinion can
ity and they sought other explanations. They considered word roots guishes between speech en .o t e t eological school which distin-
putssance (potent" 1 'h)
phonic types which are produced spontaneously by a faculty inherent in acte (actual speech). ta speec and speech en
human nature. This is the natural ability of the mind to name things in a . . According to this school, God created h .
way that gives some general idea about them. But what did scientists man, and this potential manifested .t If ~ e potential for speech in
know about word roots? Was it possible to study them with any precision sees in response to a visual st1·m 1 I se d as actual speech. Thus, the eye
· . u us an the ear he · .
and to draw any valid conclusions about their origin? After the discovery a~d1tory stimulus, but it cannot be said lo icall ars in_ iesponse to an
of Sanskrit and the subsequent classification of all Inda-European lan-
guages, scientists were able to distinguish radicals from the formal ele-
ments added to them in accord~nce with the rules of phonetics. The roots
his own seeing and hearing fac If
mon in Renan's works, does bet~a Iet~e :c
S gh y that m.an IS the creator of
le~rn~d retic~nce, quite com-
Meanwhile, we must consid~ a orme1 ~aint-Sulp1ce seminarist.
considered the primitive elements of the language were then divided into locating the origin of langu . bsolutely irrelevant Bonald's theory
attributive roots and demonstrative roots. To explain the origin of a lan- man and God. Once we di:::r~nt~:sufhe;~atural comm~nication between
guage, one would need only to study these roots, which are usually in purely human creation we ma d - s and r~cogmze language as a
limited numbers in a particular language, and follow closely their phonic race creates its own la~g y pon e1 ~he following possibility. As each
uage, one consistent with ·t · .
transformations. and organic constitution is it "bl I s particular instincts
But what interest can these linguistic considerations hold for anthro- iomatic texture of the la~guag~~hss; d·~/o de~ect ~race elements in the id-
pologists in their quest for a basis of classification of the human races? At the highest level of the 1· .a . I eren~1ate It from other languages?
mgmst1c evolution of .
Let us pursue our reasoning and the logical consequences will become guage reveal a particular compl . b . a I ace, could the lan-
ex1on, etraymg the · h .
manifest. Roots are believed to be produced spontaneously through the root words and in the methods used race m t e genesis of
man's ability to name things. It seems that thought, at various levels of the theme, and the inflected word? Sh t~;x~act from a root the radicals,
sophistication, is the main regulator and sole animator of speech. Should search in linguistics would pr- .d. ou - t e answer be affirmative, re-
ov1 e one of the t fD ·
not language, then, be ranked among the faculties man develops by him- determining the constituent traits of the race mos e ect1ve methods for
self in response to the stimuli of social life? bases for their systematic classific f U sf and one of the most valid
a ion. n o1tunately, without taking
The Equality of the Human Races Criteria for Classifying the Human Races 127
126
Lenormant's opinion is close to the views of Wilhelm Von Humbolt
the time to verify such hypotheses, some scientists hurriedly formulated
and other linguists who believe that there is such a close link between
a linguistic classification, patterned, as we have s~en, on the Procustean
race and language that, across the generations, members of a particular
bed of the three-pronged classification of the classical school.
race would learn only with great difficulty to pronounce words that had
Some believed that the three groups thus defined should show only
been unknown to their ancestors. Are these ideas consistent with scien-
ethnic differences, but others thought they recognized an infinite numb~r
tific truth? I will answer this question later. Meanwhile, it is not my in-
of specific differences among these groups. This was another round m
tention here to control these ideas nor to initiate a controversy I want,
the eternal debate concerning the existence of a single or of ~eve.ral
rather, to examine whether linguistic data absolutely suppodthe classifi-
human species. The first point of view had, from the start, ~reat scientific
cation based on the principal language families that are formally studied.
weight, and its authority has not dimin~shed. Its authority, both as a
philological and philosophical idea, was further bolstered by the support This was thought to be the case at one time. Thus, an attempt was made
to substitute for the old denomination Caucasian race, which had been
it received from Renan. routinely used to designate the White race, the even more inaccurate
"In a way," he writes restrictively, "the unity of humanity is a .sacred
proposition, an indisputable scientific tenet. We can say that.the~e 1~ .only term "Indo-European race." Science gains nothing when a geographical
one language, one literature, and one syste~ of symbolic tiaditions, label is thus replaced by a glottological label. ·
since the same principles underlie the formation of ~11 langua~es,. the It is worth noting a first contradiction between the natural classifica-
same sentiments inspire all literatures, and the same ideas are rnspired tions and the linguistic ones: in the latter system most of the subdivisions
and expressed by a variety of symbols.· Does this unhlt', which the psy- of the Yellow race do not fall immediately after the White race, being
chologist, the moralist, and even the natu.ralist. accept as a pro.ven tr~th, separate~ from it by the Black race. According to Jacob Grimm's theory,
signify that the human species originated m a smgle group, or, m a lai ger languages develop organically, their structure and composition growing
sense, that it appeared in a single area of the globe? It would be ~a~her in complexity. 39 In primitive times, people speak in short, monosyllabic
reckless to make such an assertion." 37 Renan's adherence to the utihtar- words made up of short vowels and rudimentary sounds. Languages have
ian view may be conditional, but it is nonetheless formal. not.yet become differentiated. Then each idiom evolves into the aggluti-
Franc;ois Lenormant also acknowledges the. unity o~ the hu~an native st~ge, and afterward into the inflectional stage, which is the stage
species, despite the diversity of languages. "The ex~sten~e of several irre- reached by the. so-called Aryan languages as far into the past as we can
ducible language families," he writes, "in no way _unphes'. as some have see. African languages are generally agglutinative; they have, therefore,
suggested, the original plurality of the human species who mvent~~ those morphological qualities which make them superior to Chinese, a typical,
monos~Ilabic language, and bring them closer to the inflected languages.
languages" (No reference). Agreeing with De. Quatrefage~ t~at from a
taxonomic point of view, that is, in terms of racial ch~ractenst1cs, .hum~n This may be a mere matter of detail, but this is not the first time that
language is but a secondar.y trait, Lenormant explains th~ relat1on~~ip
we see a Yellow type placed further from the White type than the Black.
between race and language thus: "Only man is endowed with ~he ability
But while the first language group includes the isolating or monosyllabic
to produce perfectly clear and infinitely varied uttera~ces, which he de-
languages spoken principally by peoples of the Mongolian race, there is
liberately selects, delicately manipulates, and con~c1ously groups and
no such classification coincidence between the other two language
groups and the races that speak them. Indeed, among the peoples who
structures in order to express a logical sequence of ideas. The construc-
speak agglutinative languages, do we not find White, Yellow, and Black
tion of the mouth and the vocal organs, one of the physical differences
peoples? Even though most of the peoples who speak inflected lan-
among the races, determines what types of sounds they ar~ likely to pr~
guages belong in lhe White race, can we not name several idioms spoken
duce. Each race, each ethnic group, and nearly each nat10n have thetr
by Black nations which have an inflectional form?
own pai1icular speech pattern and pronunc_iation. From one people to the
next, the same type of consonants are subject to regular and_ constant al- "The agglutinative languages are numerous, and they are spoken by
terations. The study of these alterations is a branch of the science of lan- peoples of all races," writes Franr;ois Lenormant (No reference). Thus
' 38 the Black Dravidians of India and the nearly White Uigur-Japanese both
guage known as phonet1cs.
129
speak languages in this category. The Bornu of Central Africa, the Black Berbers. They speak a B erber ct·ia Iect which
· seems to be very close to ti
Wolofs, and the Hottentots with the strange click! sound that peppers ~enag~ language of the Sudan. They love work. as much as the Ara~~
their speech, all are at the same stage as the Basques and a number of abhor n._They _are well adapted to the climate of the humid lowlands of
White peoples of the Caucasus mountain region, such as the Georgians, Wad~~htr, which become deadly for the Arabs at certain times of the
year.
the Circassians, and many other anthropological types distinct from the
White European and called allophylles. Finally, all the indigenous popu- The Syro-Berber, Semitic, Egypto-Berber, and Hamitic langua es
lations of the Americas, among whom are found people of every color, s~are so ?1~ny similarities that, Benfey theorizes, they may well hav! a
speak agglutinative languages. si~gle ongm and l.ater sub.divided into two distinct branches.tz As the
The inflectional languages are subdivided into three major branches, still pos~esse? thetr orgamc fecundity, these branches continued to d~
which include the Hamitic family, the Syro-Arabian family, and the so- velop, d1v.ergmg more and more from one another. Going even forth .
called lndo-European family. The last two are spoken by peoples who all Bleck attnbutes a common origin to all African and Semitic languages~~-~
belong in the White race, or are considered White by most ethnologists.
It is true that Syrians are not positively white; many Arabs are not 5. UNRELIABILITY OF LANGUAGE AS
only brown, but often black. Most nations who speak Prakrit, a language A BASIS OF CLASSIFICATION
directly related to Sanskrit, which is a dead language, are obviously
black or very dark. But we will pretend, pending further discussion, that Taking into account all the facts and opinions presented above, we can
they were all originally white. As for the Hamitic or Egypto-Berber lan- only co~clu~e th~t a .theory relying on linguistic morphology as a basis
guage family, they are obviously spoken by several Black and woolly- of race class1fi.catt~n is no. more reliable than those discussed earlier. The
haired peoples, true Negroes, to use the specious distinction made by most exp_ert h~gm~ts, using the most rigorous and effective research
anthropologists. Franc;ois Lenormant divides this family into thre methods m ~hetr science, have stated clearly that glottology is a cul-de-
groups: Egyptian, Ethiopian, and Lybian. "The Ethiopian group," he sac ~v.enue m .any taxiolo~ical research undertaken to define with an
says, comprises the languages spoken between the White Nile and the prec1s1on the different ethmc grodps that make up h ·1 y
Th · umam y.
sea, including Galla and its dialects, Beja, Sabo, Dankaly, and Somali, which :re is more. The _rutative Aryan language, the essential element
languages which are not to be confused with the Semitic ·or Syro-Arabian . . . asp.resumed to hnk all White-race peoples into a tightly knit col-
idioms of Abyssinia,. Linguistically and geographically, the Bishari lan- lectiv1ty, a smgle family, today has lost its early attraction and no longer
guage constitutes the link between these languages and Egyptian." 40 ~ommand~ the same respect. "Very few linguists," says De Rosny "still
All these languages are spoken by peoples who belong in the are descnbe. the languages of our Europe as the offspring of a ~er~ain
Ethiopian race, as suggested by the generic denomination given by the language, which ~r~s~mably would be Sanskrit or that hypothetical and
learned Orientalist to the whole language group. Hausa, spoken by the somewhat fantastic idiom known as Aryan I cal1 th. 1.d. h .
because it is not k b · is iom ypothet1cal
Blacks of central Africa, where it has become the language of trade, be- d I . nown y any text, any inscription, any really historical
longs in the Lybian group of languages and is related to Berber, Mosaby, wor .. ts existence rests merely on the supposition that a few ancient
Shelluh, and the Zenatya language of Constantine. Frarn;ois Lenormant ~oats m .the Aryan languages might have belonged to a lost language
finds it a rich and harmonious idiom. a~~m ;h.1chdall the languages in the group under consideration presum-
In the Sahara oases, there lives a Black people whose profile differs y enve . I should add that the very name of th. l .
known in histor . ·t · . . is anguage 1s un-
markedly from that of the surrounding Arabs and whose language is a "Th y' I I.s a modem mvent10n of suspect scientific morality
Negro-Berber dialect. According to Paul Bourde, "Dr. Weisgerber took a .e only established fact is that Sanskrit, Persian Greek Lati th.
G ermamc languag d h SI . ' • n, e
large number of anthropological measurements which will undoubtedly es, an t e av1c languages contain a cons·d - bl
number of comm 1 . . · 1 e1a e
help to determine to which branch of the human species belongs this cu- th t b . .on e ements, both lexicographical and grammatical and
rious oasis population. We know they are Black, and Weisgerber tends to a ~rrowrng did occur. But many languages have boffowed consider-
think that they are the product of metissage between Negroes and ably fwm other languages without necessarily sharing a common origin:~4
131
Once the idea of a single origin for the Indo-European languages has
England. It often becomes difficult to reproduce a sound which we so
been refuted, we are compelled to see the different known idioms as the
naturally uttered as children. What is true of the individual is equally true
social expression of the peoples who use them. In other words, the level
of the community comprised of these individuals.46 ·
of sophistication of these languages is commensurate with the level of
These truths are so self-evident that travelers, who have seen various
civilization of their speakers. It is true that this particular thesis contra-
peoples moved to a milieu other than their ancestral home, will find it cu-
dicts the theory of the morphological evolution of lan_guages and certain
rious that they should be remarked upon. Do not the descendants of
historical facts . But should we not also ask whether Jacob Grimm's sys-
Africans in the Republic of Haiti speak French? Did not the Bosnian sol-
tem does not require certain modifications? There is reason to believe
diers sent to Lower Nubia in 1420 by Sultan Selim lose their mother
that, while the morphology of languages shows a real gradation among
tongue and adopt one that was considered inferior? Did not all the indige-
languages, it does not support any notion of the absolute superiority of nous peoples of South America, as they became civilized, learn to speak
one form over another. Each of the major groupings-monosyllabic, ag- Spanish? Did not the Indians of Brazil learn to speak Portuguese perfectly
glutinative, and inflectional seems to follow its own evolutionary pattern, once they were properly instructed? Waitz mentions all these facts, most
and in the course of its evolution it may acquire a near perfect configura- of which I have personally observed. 47 Furthermore, as I express myself
tion, that is, one that approximates our conception of the ideal human here in a language absolutely unknown to my Dahomey an ancestors, need
language. It is easily conceivable, then, that Chinese has produced un- I give a more eloquent example of the invalidity of the idea that there ex-
questionably superior works at a particular stage of its evolution as a lan- ists some natural connection between language and race?
guage, albeit one that is inferior to an agglutinative or ~glomerating The only real connection to be acknowledged is the one between
language, according to Grimm's theory. language and thought. It is thought that elevates language and imparts to
"The power of the human mind over its instruments, however imper- it this superior essence of which man is so rightly proud. A language
fect these may be," writes Whitney, "is clearly i11ustrated by the history reaches a higher level of perfection as the peoples who speak it grow in
of this language which has successfully met all the needs of a cultured, consciousness and intelligence, in knowledge and dignity. So it is of in-
thoughtful, and ingenious people during a career of unparalleled length. dividuals. This is why Cicero's phrase, vir bonus dicendi peritus will be
This language has been used for higher and more varied purposes than eternally true. Actually, languages do not all offer the same resources for
many a better structured dialect. Such dialects may have been rich in literary creation. One language may be better suited to a particular liter-
terms of their flexibility and development, but they were poor because of ary genre than another. Still, the individual of superior intellect in-
the very pove11y and limited intelligence of their users. 45 evit1'bly surmounts such difficulties.
But let us return to the idea propounded by Frarn;ois Lenormant and
. _Languages, in their simplest structure, contain initially only the
Wilhelm Von Humboldt, an idea shared by a number of scientists. Is it
mammate skeleton of verbal and nominal themes. These come alive
true that the inherent characteristics of each race make its members more
through often unconscious and spontaneous linguistic combinations, an-
apt to speak certain languages than others? Sayce gives the following an-
imated by the formulae of thought. The most felicitous neologisms often
swer: "The language we speak is not innate; we do not know it at bi11h.
come to us in emotional moments, without the involvement of our con-
The child must learn his mother tongue, although the aptitude to do so is
scious mind in their creation. Such new words originate in the writer's
undoubtedly inherited. If he is born in England, then he learns English; if
very heart, in the exaltation of his intellectual ''lite energized by the mens
he is born in France, he learns French. If two or more languages are spo-
divinior. The grammar of a language, then, is much more important than
ken around him, he will probably learn to speak these languages with its lexicographical morphology. . ·
varying levels of fluency, depending on the closeness and frequency of
Nevertheless, to study the possible similarity among several lan-
his relations with the speakers. Languages previously mastered may be
guages, we should focus our attention not on grammatical details such as
entirely forgotten, and a foreign language may become as familiar to a
man as his mother tongue. For example, Hindustani-speaking children the th~ory of pronominal roots, the rules of literal permutation, phonetic
alterat10ns, and so on, but, rather, on the logic of the sentence. "We do
sometimes completely forget their mother tongue after a brief stay in
not think in words, but in sentences," says Waitz. We can assert, there-
Criteriafor Classifying the Hurnan Races 133
ing any thought, any idea, without it. This is the only verb that can stand
fore, that a living language consists of sentences and not of words. But a
by itself and make an affirmation. The conjugation of this verb, or its role
sentence is not made up of independent words; it consists in words con-
nected to one another in a particular way. Similarly, the idea conveyed by in the conjugation of other verbs in a given language, must have some
a sentence does not stand independently; connected to others in a mutual psychological connection with the world view of the speakers of that lan-
relationship, it is part of a coherent whole. 48 guage. There is a curious paiticularity in German and in Italian, two lan-
Sayce makes a comment to the same effect: "It is by the structure of guages th~t differ in this respect from the whole Western European
the sentence that languages resemble, or differ from, one another." 49 language group. In these two languages, instead of using the auxiliary
verb of action "to have" in conjugating the compound tenses Df the verb
Thus, when we examine the major European languages, we find numer-
ous dissimilarities among the idioms spoken by the various peoples of ""t~ be,:'..t~ey use .the ~erb "to be" itself as auxiliary. In French, they say,
J aete , m English, I have been", in Spanish, "Yo he sido or" Yo he es-
the continent. Yet, anthropologists maintain, and rightly so, that these
peoples form a single ethnic group. Comparing the rules of sentence con- tado." But in German, they say "/ch bin gewesen" and in Italian "Jo
struction in German to those that prevail in French, we are tempted to so no stat?" that i~, "le suis ete "in French, and "/am been" in En~lish.
admit that, in terms of sentence logic, there iS' perhaps a greater distance Th~ fact Is, there 1s undoubtedly a greater ethnological distance between
between these two inflected languages than there is between German and ltahan~ and ~erm~ns than between Germans and the English. To be sure,
Turkish, which is an agglutinative language. Consider, for example, this t~e 1ex1cological distance is much less. Perhaps more than a third of Eng-
1
French sentence: /ls n 'etaient pas amenes a s 'aimer l 'un l 'autre. Here is hsh words are so close to their German counterparts that we are able to
the Turkish translation, with the appropriate French ~ords below the transform a word in one language into its equivalent in the other lan-
Turkish ones. I have not studied Turkish extensively, so I am following guag~ only with an elementary knowledge of linguistic permutations.
here the indications of the Orientalist Fran~ois Lenormant: Yet, m terms of grammar and syntax, English is much closer to the ro-
mance languages, to French in particular.
so 51
These facts provide abu~dant evidence that languages, in their very
Sev - isch - dir - ii - me - r - di ler. essence.' have more to do with the nature of a society, of a civilization,
Aimer l'un et L'autre,faire etre ne pas, /ls than with race. The English people, of Saxon origin, form with the
We read the sentence by agglutinating all the other modal roots with French people the nucleus of the Western collectivity. They no doubt dif-
"Sev-isch-di r-il-me-r-di-ler." fer from each other in spirit and psychology, but they differ from the Ger-
~an pe?ple. even more in this twin regard. Despite their sudden and
The same idea is expressed in German thus: impressive mte_llectual ~evelopment, the Germans remain, psychologi-'
~ally, a so~ ~f mtermed1ate entity between the civilization which has as
Einander zu lieben, waren sie nicht gemacht worden its ?uter l111~1t ~utocratic Russia, and the civilization of Latin Europe,
L'un l'autre pour aimer etaient-ils pasfaits devenus which, despite its lacunae, still holds freedom as a dominant value. Evi-
We see at a glance that the logical order of the German sentence is much ?~nc~ of thi_s can be fo~nd in the Germans' reverence of authority and de-
closer to the Turkish than to the French. If the Germanic race was more 1fic~t1on o~ .force, which seem to be the peculiar flowering of their
brown than the Celtic race, to which most of the French population be- nat10nal .spmt and the invariable core of their aspirations. ·
longs, according to ethnologists, we would be tempted to believe that Cunous.ly, the .Gern_ian language has one linguistic particularity
there is a closer ethnic kinship between Turks and Germans than between found only m certam Onental languages: vocalic harmony, that is, the
Germans and French. Yet, when we consider skin color and refer to cur- t~nde~cy to~ard ~omophonic vocalization. Most German words, espe-
rent anthropological classifications, it is the reverse that is true. cially m their endmgs, are adapted to such a phonology. For example, the
Moving from the logic of sentence construction, let us now consider ~oun~ en (pronounced en, without nasality), predominates inordinately
the conjugation of the verb "to be." This verb is the verb par excellence, m. this language. The infinitive of all verbs, the plural first person and
for from a psychological point of view, we cannot conceive of enunciat- third person of all verb tenses, and adjectives preceded by the definite
135
article always end in en .. Given that the practice in German is to address solutely impossible. Scholastics, which does not always deserve the con-
an interlocutor by the third person plural, one can imagine how often this tempt i.n which the ignorant holds it, would demonstrate convincingly
sound occurs in the language. This is why a foreigner has such difficulty that being must precede the mode of being. "Modus essendi sequitur
distinguishing the words uttered by German speakers, especially when esse", tenants of the school used to say. But this evident truth does not
they speak rapidly as they usually do. Only the tonic accent helps listen- faze those scientists who yet can construct such rigorous dialectical argu-
ers to distinguish the words and to make sense of them. Still, mastering ments to defend their opinions against opposing theories.
this accent is the most arduous challenge for a person who was not born We shall see shortly how they try, in the very obscurity of science-
German or, at least, did not grow up in Germany. · in logo d'ogni luce muto-to find a method for measuring anc:Ycomparing
Another most remarkable particularity of certain agglutinative lan- the tr~its most deeply hidden in human nature, such as intelligence and
guages is their use of holophrastic words, that is, words that contain a morality, the sole qualities that make one human being superior to an-
whole sentence by compressing several more or less modified terms. For other.
example, in the Mexican language, the word ''Achichillacdchocan" The notion of a hierarchy of the human races, one of the doctrinal in-
means "the place where people cry because the water is . re d .52
ventions of modem times or, rather, of the present century, will be seen
Almost all the Amerindian languages and most of the Nordic idioms some day as one of the greatest proofs of the imperfection of the human
have similar linguistic forms. Traces of such forms may even exist in mind and of the imperfection, in paiticular, of the aITogant race that
Italian and Spanish, two inflected and analytical languages. Such words made it into a scientific doctrine. Still, the notion deserves to be studied.
are also found in German, often formed in an arbitrary 'Mly. The same is So I ~eg i:eaders to rene~ their energy, drained as it has been by the long
true of the Greek language, as in the example of this almost untranslat- examrnat1on of such vaned and contradictory notions. I invite readers to
able verse of the poet Phrynichus: 'ApymcrnEAT\nbmyo<ppU)'lXEpm:a. follow me into the next part of this book, the very focus of my research
The verse attracted the attention of Victor Hugo, who mentions it in his and the main point of my demonstration.
William Shakespeare, a learned, scholarly work of criticism.
As we reflect on the results of research into the links between lan-
guage and race, we must renounce all illusions. Linguistics has very little NOTES
to say about the origins of nations. The discipline can even less help us to 1
Compte rendu du Congres international des sciences eihnographiques
classify peoples into natural groupings on a sufficiently scientific tenu. a Paris en I 878, p. 750.
zootaxic basis. 2
A. von Humboldt, Kosmos, vol. 1, p. 427.
Scientists may speak with great assurance about races and their apti- 3
Memoirs read before the Anthropological Society of London.
tudes, but when research results are so poor, their deductions seem to caITy 4
Ueber Wachstum und Bau des menschlichen Shaedef s.
the seal of superficiality and empiricism. There is reason to doubt that their 5
Prehistoric Remains of Caithness.
interpretation can ever be considered the last word in science. The more 6
Memoires d'anthropologie, Vol. IV, p. 229.
7
they persist in their absolute conclusions, the more they will lose of their Memoires d'an.thropologie, Vol. IV, p. 8.
8
authority and expose their incompetence, compromising the credibility of Ibidem, p. 5.
9
a science that is still in its infancy but that has a very respectable future. See Topinard, Anthropologie, p. 246.
10
Given that anthropology is incapable of defining with any precision De Quatrefages' Touranian branch.
11
what traits distinguish one human group from another, we wonder See Topinard, loco citato, pp. 251-255.
12
whether the discipline is any more capable of providing a solution to a Almost all the clever instruments conceived in the fertile imagination of
much more complex and difficult issue. Can one invoke anthropology to the French anthropologists were manufactured by the Mathieu Company.
13
assert dogmatically that some of these human groups are congenitally Topinard, loco citato, p. 259.
14
and irremediably inferior to others? Is it possible to determine specific Topinard, loco citato, p. 262.
qualities before even determining the species? Logically, this seems ab- L'i Memoires d'anthropologie, Vol. IV, p. 294.
The Equality of the Human Races Criteria for Classifying the Human Races 137
136
51
16
Sign indicating the present participle. Sev-mek means aim-er. We
Ibidem, p. 321.
17
change t_he infinitive ending mek into er or (e) r, and we have sev-er, which
Ibidem, p. 343. means aunan t.
18 Broca, loco citato, Vol. IV, p. 306. 52
19
Sign indicating the imperfect. Sev-e-rdim means j 'aimais. It should also
L'Anthropologie, p. 264.
be ~oted that the dental d here indicates the past, as in the Aryan languages in
20 Memoire d'Anthropologie, Vol. IV, p. 395.
21
which t and d are used to indicate the past, as Burnouf demonstrates in the
Ibidem, pp. 503-504.
22
learned ~reface of his Greek grammar. In German, the imperfect indicative and
Broca, loco citato, p. 634.
the definite past have the form and are distinguished from each other only by the
23 Topinard, loco citato, p. 314.
context of the sentence.
24 L'Anthropologie, p. 315.
·~ 2 F ranc;o1s
. L enormant, loco citato, p. 349.
25 E. Verrier, "Nouvelle classification du bassin suivant !es races au point de
vue de I' obstetrique," in Bulletin de lu Societe d'Anthropologie de Paris, Vol.

VII, pp. 317-318.
26 Huxley, Anatomie comparee des vertebres.
27 Algemeine Ethnographie.
28
29
Topinard, loco citato, p. 354. ..
Mantegazza, la physionomie et l 'expression des sentiments.
Littre et Charles Robin, Dictionnaire de medecine, article "Melanine".

30
31 Lucretius, De natura rerum, Book V, Line 1030.
32 Idea dell' uni verso, che contiene la storia della vita dell' uomo, elementi
cosmografici, viaggio, estatico al mondo planetario e storia della terra, Cesene,

1778-1787, 21, in 4 Volumes.
33 Linguarum totius orbis index alphabeticum.
34 See Albert Lemoine, De la physionomie et de la parole.
35 A.H. Sayce, Principes de philologie comparee, transl. M. C. Jovy.
36 Renan, Del' origine du lw1gage.

37 Renan, loco citato. p. 200.
38 Frarn;ois Lenormanl, Histoire mzcienne de I' Orient.
39 Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschajien z.u Berlin, aus dem Jahr
1852.
4° Franc;ois Lenormant, loco citato, p. 368.
"La France au Soudan," in Revue des Deux-Mondes ( ler fevrier 1881 ).
41
T. Ben fey, Ueber das Verhdltniss deraegyptischen Sprache zwn semitis-

42
chen Spracht111w111.
43 De nominwn ge11erib11s linguarwn Africae australis.
44 Congres intenzational des sciences ethnographiques, p. 114.
45 Whitney, Le langage et l'etude du langage (3e edition).
46 Sayce, loco citato, p. 292.
47 Theodor Waitz, Anthropologie der Natun 1olker (Leipzig, 1859).

4s Theodor Waitz, loco citato, p. 246.
49 A.H. Sayce, loco citato, p. 107.
CHAPTER6
Artificial Ranking
of the Human Races
)
In thus insisting on the unity of the human

species, we necessarily reject the unfortunate
distinction between superior races and inferior
ones.
(Alexander Von Humboldt)
THE INEQUALITY DOCTRINE AND ITS

LOGICAL CONSEQUENCES
Even though Monsieur de Gobineau, a man of great learning but of little
understanding and proven lack of logic, believes that "the idea of an in-
nate, original, profound, and permanent inequality among the races is
one of the oldest and most widespread opinions in the world," 1 no stu-
dent of history would support such a notion. Throughout history, civi-
lized peoples, self-centered and proud, have always thought themselves
superior to their neighbors. But there has never been the least connection
between this sense of superiority, which results from a narrow but highly
respectable patriotism, and the notion of some systematic hierarchy
among the human races.
Thus, from the most remote antiquity, the Egyptians customarily re-
fe1Ted to the White nations by such expressions as "cursed race of Schet"
or "the plague of Schet." 2 But did they treat any differently the Ethiopi-
ans in the frequent wars the two Nile region peoples waged against one
another? The Greeks considered the Persians barbaric, and they had as
much disdain for the Macedonians. When the Romans waged war
139
140 The Equality of the Human Races Artificial Ranking of the Hunzan Races 141
against foreign peoples, they made no distinction between the dark Nu- anyone who advocated the abolition of slavery felt obliged to admit
midians and the blond Gauls. that Negroes were really Caucasians with their skin darkened and their
The division of humanity into distinct races, classified on the basis hair curled by the sun. Now that the two greatest of civilized nations,
of the principles of the natural sciences, took roots as an intellectual no- France and England, have definitively emancipated the slaves, science
tion only with the birth of ethnographic science. While ethnographic no- can reclaim its prerogatives, without worrying about the sophistry of
slavers" (No reference).
tions appear in flashes in serious works of history, the concept of race
assumed its definitive meaning only with the works of eighteenth century
naturalists, as mentioned earlier. In this case, is it not absolutely inaccu- Obviously, ~roca's statements contain no exaggerations. As his very pride
rate to suggest that the idea of the original inequality of the human races was at stake 1.n the <le?ate about ~onogenism and polygenism, he was only
is one of the oldest and most widespread opinions, especially when race conce~e~ with the triumph of his cause. He could well have forgotten that
is understood in the sense attributed to it by modern science? the maJonty of Black slaves were to be found in the United States still vic-
The anti-philosophical and anti-scientific doctrine of the inequality tims of the nefarious doctrine he was so ardently defending. '
of the races rests on nothing more than the notion of man's exploitation Even among the monogenists there were supporters of slavery al-
by man. Only the American school has shown any honesty and consis- ~eit few in numbers. These people found no better defense of their p'osi-
tency in its support of the doctrine, for its tenants have never hidden the tlon than the argument that slavery was a divinely ordered institution.
interest they had in its promotion. We must therefore pay them this T~ey t?us gave their fierce adversary a wonderful opening, which Broca,
homage: whereas European scientists have been timid, eX,ressing their with his usual perspicacity and exquisite skill as a dialectician did not
views through understatements and implications, the Americans have fail ~o seize_. "If all humans descend from a single couple;" he w'rites, "if
been radical and logical, even in their errors. While accepting the idea of the mequahty of the races is the result of some more or Jess deserved
the plurality of species and their comparative inequality, the European cur~e; jf some races did dedine and allow the flame of their original in-
scientist will protest against slavery in magnificent tirades. For him this telh~ence to be extinguished while others kept intact the precious gifts
is only a superb opportunity to pick another oratorical flower in the. gar- received from the Creator; in other words, if some races are blessed and
den of rhetoric and to show, by his merely formal humanitarianism, that others cursed, if some races have fulfil1ed the wishes of nature while oth-
he has indeed a solid grounding in the humanities. But who can overlo~k ers .have violated t~em: ~hen the Reverend John Blackmann is right in
the contradiction inherent in his stance? Personally, I cannot help but de- saym.g that slavery ts d1vmely ordered. It is God's punishment, and it is
nounce the pharisaic hypocrisy of it all every time I read those inspired, only JUSt, to a certain extent, that the races who have become degraded be
solemn, and pompous passages in which the writer disparages my race placed under the protection of others, to borrow an ingenious euphemism
with the stamp of stupidity while eloquently protesting against the im- from the advocates of slavery. But if the Ethiopian is king in the Sudan
morality of slavery. Broca, for example, who does not hesitate to say and the C~ucasia? is king in Europe, what, if not brute force, gives the
what he thinks of the Ethiopian Black, indignantly raises his voice latter the nght to Impose his laws of the former?" (No reference).
against slavery. Should we believe his protest is inspired by philosophi- At fir~t ~lance the whole argumentation seems irreproach.able, but
cal notions of justice and solidarity? No, Broca is annoyed only because what does It ~mply about the doctrine of the inequality of the races? It ap-
the issue of slavery was, in his opinion, the main impediment to the prop- pears s~ logical only because it implies that the Ethiopian, king of the
agation of the polygenist theory: Sudan, IS the equal of the Caucasian, king of Europe. One only needs to
suppose that the former is inferior to the latter for the argument to become
When, with untiring persistence, generous philanthropists demanded a ~ost ~pecio~s paralogism. Indeed, man justifies his domination of other
freedom for all Blacks, the supporters of the old order felt threatened in ?emgs.m creat10n only by his feeling of superiority, intellectual and moral
their dearest interests and argued that Negroes were not human beings m ~ar~1cular, .over every living being on earth. Without this feeling of su-
but, rather, domestic animals, albeit more intelligent and productive penonty, w~1ch we have internalized as a self-evid~nt truth, we would
than the rest. At the time, science was discarded in favor of sentiment: have to consider as pure acts of violence the arbitrary uses to which we
The Equality of the Human Races Artificial Ranking of the Human Races 143
142
put all animals for our own needs. The proud ~ion, ~hich we seek.to de- falsely or partially interpreted, proves himself a peerless logician. If his
stroy because we cannot subjugate it, and the g1gant1c elephant, which w_e deductions deserve some criticism, it is not because of his conclusions
tame for our own purposes, are they not kings of the desert and the ram but, rather, because of his initial premises. Slavery is an injustice only
forests? Is not the fish, with which we feed our delicate stomachs, also inasmuch as we recognize the virtual equality of all human beings and of
king of the salty ocean? If, just because these animals reign over their own all races. To accept the premise of their inequality is to legitimize the en-
domain, we had to respect them, acknowledge we had no rights over slavement of those who are considered inferior. I insist on this particular
them and decline to use them for our needs, all progress would become conclusion because, if it is agreed that in national and international poli-
impo,ssible. Instead of dominating the rest of nature, humanity would be tics a11 human beings and all races are equally capable of sh{'mldering all
condemned to a natTOW, bland, and non-productive life. responsibilities and equally deserving of receiving all honors, I find it
We use and abuse all living beings only because we are deeply well nigh inconceivable that, in willful oversight of this legal reality, a
convinced of our superiority, only because we believe that ?ur own u.n- scientific theory should be proposed that would be the antithesis of the
questionably transcendent destiny takes precedence o~er their puny exis- juridical theory.
tence. Here is a historical example that illustrates the trrefutable truth of If the human races were really unequal, slavery would be justified. In
this point of philosophy. In the early days of Christian prosely~i~m, the this case, the slave owner obviously could not, for a single instant, con-
new converts experienced such an overwhelming sense of hum1hty that sider his slave as his equal without being hounded and repulsed by his
their greatest aspiration was to eradicate their own individuality the bet- conscience. Curiously, the Romans, who had no interest in natural classi-
ter to Jose themselves in the ineffable oneness of t1- nascent Church. fications but looked at the issue from a judicial and philosophical perspec-
This interpretation of the Gospels, exaggerated reflection of morbid neo- tive, felt nonetheless obligated to reso11 to a specious fiction in order to
Platonic ideas, originated for the most part with the Gnostics. justify the right of a human being to own another. Indeed, one of the dis-
Among the Gnostics, the Carpocratians took the humility principle tinctive traits of these tireless conquerors was their constant striving to es-
to such an extreme that they lowered themselves to the level of a brute. In tablish everywhere a legal order, sole guarantee of the stable and durable
their scandalous banquets, which they stopped holding only after such peace they believed themselves destined to impose upon the entire world
feasts were forbidden by the Council of Carthage in the fourth centu~y, by military might. "Hoec tibi erunt artes, pacique imponere morem .... "
they religiously forgot themselves in an irritating and unhealthy promis- So·, to legitirrilze slavery, which is an obvi9us violation of people's rights,
cuity, but they saw a brother and an equal in every animal. Whenever the Romans found no better argument than to declare the slave inferior to
they ate meat, they would beg the animal's pardon. It was truly ~ mad the rest of humanity. Roman law defines slavery by this telling expres-
state of affairs. Had the Church fallen into such a rut, one could not imag- sion: diminutio capitis. In the eyes of the citizens, slaves were incomplet~
ine a greater impediment to human progress. We cou~d. make ~he same and inferior persons. Thus diminished, a human being could be consid-
comment about the prescriptions of Buddhism, a religion which com- ered a commodity, the possession of which was as natural as it was of any
mands that we respect all animals as the equals of human bein~s. Such other object. The Romans believed that the moral and intellectual quali-
prescriptions have only served to paralyze all human energy: w~thdr_aw ties, which make us human, were lacking in the slave.
ing from humanity the stimulus it needs to progress and realize its high- So, already profoundly degraded, the slave was considered more
worthless than base by his master. "Non tam vilis quam nullus," the Ro-
est destiny. . .
Obviously, man's sense of superiority over other creatures JUSt1~es mans used to say of the slave. This explained it all .. Actually, though,
in his eye his indisputable right to appropriate them and use them as m- nothing is Jess acceptable than this fiction which degrades a human being
dispensable tools for his own development. If one race were to be recog- and makes an object out of him. But from the point of view of pure logic,
nized as superior to the other human races, that race woul~ then have since sl~very already existed, a reason had to be found to legitimize the
the right to enslave the others by virtue of a natural and lo~1cal law ac- institution. No more plausible reason could be invented than the intellec-
cording to which the fittest should dominate the earth. In this regard, _the tual and moral inferiority (diminutio capitis) which the Jaw presumed to
great Stagirite, slandered so much because his thought has been so often be natural in the slave.
. 144 The Equality of the Human Races A1tificial Ranking of the Human Races 145
The Romans went further in drawing the logical consequences of in the respectable garb of specific formulae and methods, and a school
this established principle. They considered slaves not only inferior be- emerges, blocking all progress in this particular branch of science. And
ings, but, like the American slavers, they also saw them as a distinct so it goes until it becomes obvious that the great man of science had
species. The historian Florus stated, in quite explicit terms, that slaves erred. At this point, investigations are conducted, discussions are held,
form a second human species, that quasi secundum hominum genus sunt. and the truth is vaguely intuited. Sometimes involved scientists reason so
Is it not a curious and rather astonishing coincidence that these issues of rigorously that they come on the verge of proclaiming the truth. But
ethnic inequality and plurality of the human species were discussed in ~here's the rub! If this truth contradicts the school's official position, if it
ancient Rome long before the advent of the science of anthropology? We is con~rary. to the master's word, then these scientists will su'°'ddenly be-
should remember, however, that in antiquity slaves were almost always come mart1culate rather than stand against the official theory.
of the same race as their masters and, more often than not, belonged to In the meantime, after having divided the human types into three
the same nation. Not only were Whites slaves of other Whites, but citi- groups, called races by some and species by others (the distinction is im-
zens enjoying equal rights one day could become someone's property the material here), anthropologists have unanimously embraced the doctrine
next day. So the idea of some natural and unlimited right of superior be- of the moral and intellectual inequality of these various groups. One
ings to dominate inferior ones had to be quite a powerful justification for vainly looks for a rigorous discussion of such a serious question in most
the ancient Romans to dare push legal fiction so far and to adapt facts to of their writings. Yet they generally proceed with their arguments as if
the principles deriving from this idea. , such inequality was a proven fact which requires no scientific demon-
Such a coincidence proves that only the slavers are c<'!isistent and log- stration. Where then shall we discover a rigorous presentation of this
ical in propounding the theory of the inequality of the human races and the mysterious doctrine implanted like a dogma in the minds of our scien-
corollary theory of the plurality of species. It seems impossible, then, to tists? Who will initiate us into the arcana of the science of man?
accept the existence of superior and inferior races without recognizing the Carns, in Germany, and De Gobineau in France, have each written a
right of the former to enslave the latter as long as it serves the slavers' pur- book in which they overtly and positively develop the thesis of the in-
poses. Logically, the law that prescribes that the best develop themselves equ~lity of the ~aces. Cams, although a scientist with the impressive cre-
by all available means is circumscribed, in social and human relations, dential~ of a ph~lologist, a naturalist, and a physician, treated the subject
only by the equality of faculties, which implies the equality of needs. more hke a philosopher than an anthropologist. De Gobineau a more
radical thinker, was an erudite scholar, but he lacked the scientiRc train-
in~ require~ for such a work. He conceived it and wrote it seemingly
2. GENERAL BASES OF RACIAL RANKING without havmg had the least acquaintance with anthropological methods'
Let us now examine how and by what arguments self-interested slavers, nor. with the accessory sciences. It must be pointed out that anthropology,
unconscious philosophers, and blind scientists strive to establish and ex- which would know such rapid growth in France and elsewhere, thanks to
plain the theory of the inequality of the human races. Perhaps we should ~roca's zeal and ardent proselytism, was at the time quite a neglected
limit our discussion to the ideas of the anthropologists. Indeed, while field. De Gobineau's treatise on the inequality of the human races was
most writers do claim to speak in the name of science, anthropologists p~blished i.n 1853; the Paris Anthropological Society, which was to ener-
claim the exclusive right to speak knowledgeably about everything per- gize the science, was created only in 1859. Yet, we have reason to won-
taining to the study of man. Certainly, if anthropologists did grasp all the der. whether anthropologists have found in De Gobineau 's fantastic
data needed to do good anthropology, no one would be better qualified "?hons and. equivocal paradoxes such a bright light source that they take
nor more authorized than they to handle questions in this field. Unfortu- his ~?nclus10ns for Gospel truth. Without their actually saying so, their
nately, despite the relative independence science has acquired in this our pos1t10ns strongly suggest they are.
century of freedom, it is still influenced by ambient ideas. It suffices that In order to impart a scientific character to the doctrine of racial in-
a very talented scientist, capable of taking the leadership of a scientific equality, they ~onducted.experiments in an~tomy and physiology, using
l current, adopts one of these attractive but ephemeral ideas and clothes it methods of their own design. In their opinion, such experiments confirm
!I
I ~
!····i
146 The Equality of the Human Races Artificial Ranking of the Human Races 147
the inferiority of Black and Yellow people to White people, as the races Does not this science induce us into error when it proclaims the exis-
are ranked on a descending scale, with the Caucasians at the top and tence of some obvious con-elation between the aptitudes of the brain and
the Ethiopians and their congeners at the bottom. All this is randomly race? Furthermore, has anyone ever discovered through what mechanism
presented, with much confusion and without any explanation. It is im- intellectual operations correspond to the functions of the brain and how
possible to find a chapter in an anthropological treatise in which the hier- the two are linked? We will see what answers the. greatest specialists give
archical ranking of the races is explicitly acknowledged. Yet, the idea of to these questions. Meanwhile, we will examine first the different bases
a racial hierarchy is implied in every line. As I said earlier, the idea im- of comparison invented by some scientists in order to establish or to con-
pregnates the prevailing discourse of the scientists as if it were a fact that solidate the doctrine of the inequality of the races. ~
The superiority of one man over another man rests on several possi-
needs no proof.
I intend, however, to examine the investigation methods those scien- ble factors. The first and foremost factor of superiority, and the most ob-
tists have used to research such a delicate subject. We shall then see vious and least disputable, is intelligence. Then come physical factors
whether the results are sufficiently precise and consistent, and, above all, such as height, muscular strength, proportion of the limbs, etc. We could
whether they are invariable and thus confirm the existence of cause and add morality next to inteJligence, and beauty next to physical constitu-
tion, but from a practical point of view this is not necessary. In a fight in
effect relations. If the results did not prove invariable, no logical cone! u-
which one contestant has to impose his will on the other, morality would
sions could be drawn from the investigations and contradictory observa-
be a negative quality. Common sense, the elementary and practical form
tions would cancel out one another.
of intelligence, would be more useful here.
I shall return to most of the interesting issues broachf!tl earlier. But
Everyone will agree that a highly developed morality is a consider-
this time I will not simply describe them; I will, instead, look at them in a
able force, one that helps to strengthen the will and gives man his re-
new and more instructive light, weighing their more serious implications.
Scientists assert that the Black man occupies an intermediate posi- silience, the most eloquent and elevated manifestation of virtue. In this
tion between the ape and the White man. On the basis of the same p1inci- faculty lies the secret of the control of man and the domination of nature,
ples, they rank the Black race as inferior to the White, with the Mongolian the secret of transcendent stoicism in the face of pain and death. But in
race standing between the two. If we were to invoke the ancient philo- every age and in every race, those capable of achieving such a high level
sophical understanding of intelligence as a divine gift, a faculty without of morality will always be noble but rare exceptions. It would not be log-
any connection to the body's organic constitution, it would be impossible ical to consider such elite individuals as exemplars, for they have pur-
to attempt any classification of the races based on the moral and intellec- sued truth and the good with such diligence that they have imperceptibly
tual faculties. Today, however, the field of psychology more rationally exceeded common expectations.
turns to experimentation in order to discover probable links between the The notion of beauty elicits similar thoughts. The individual who pos-
intellectual faculties and the brain. The prerogative of science to conduct sesses beauty enjoys a positive advantage in the great struggle for existence,
such investigations cannot be challenged. Whether one decries material- and this has been the case since civilization made possible the emergence
ism or embraces it, it is a conquest of the human mind and of the human of a superior culture in which man, his soul refined, finds ecstasy in the
mind alone. "The materialist assertion that the growth of the body is a contemplation of delicate and graceful forms and silently worships the dis-
mechanical process and that thought, as we know it, is connected to the turbing goddess. But the mysterious attraction of beauty is never so encom-
physical constitution of the brain, is unassailable." Thus spoke in 1868 passing that it can be regarded as an important factor among the putative
one of the best minds of the century, the scientist Tindall. 3 This opinion factors of superiority and inferiority of the races. The different human races
finds its increasingly brilliant confirmation every day. We should be able, have been compared in terms of both beauty and morality. If I consider such
then, to accept all the conclusions of the anthropologists, without sus- actual or potential comparisons, it will not be for the pt.irpose of finding
pecting them of being out of their field, if only the science they relied on some indispensable argument in favor of the equality of the races. It wil I be,
gave clear and positive answers. Unfortunately for anthropologists, such rather, for the purpose of highlighting facts that prove that all human groups
is not the case. are apt to manifest all qualities as we11 as all imperfections.
philosophy. According to Broca, those anthropological theories are to-

3. CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS tally contradicted by the considered opinion of the German scientist,
To form an idea of the intellectual abilities of someone we meet for the Tiedemann's investigative methods may not be beyond criticism. Never-
first time we do not examine every single detail of his face, the totality of theless, the future will bring increasingly convincing proof that Tiede-
which m~kes up his physiognomy and indicates his general inclinations.
mann was right.
We focus, rather, on the breadth of his forehead and the general shape of Paolo Mantegazza, no do~bt fol1owing in Broca's footsteps, believes
his skull. We do so instinctively, as if we could read in the bumps, hol- he has found in the orbital cavity a trait by which to rank the human races
lows, and curves, small and large, of the skull indelible manifestations ?f hierarchically. 6 After measuring and comparing skulls of h{'.)mans and
the brain. Curiously, people without any conception of anthropology, i.1- skulls of anthropomorphic apes, collecting data that are as arbitrary as
literale people even, have always believed themselves ~ble to det~ct m those so often put together by anthropologists, the erudite Florence pro-
the shapes of the head the surest sign of intelligence. Scien~e h~s simply fessor formulates' a rather bizarre proposition. According to him, "the
adhered to this universal consensus, embracing, on the basis ot more or lower the hierarchical place is in the organic series, the smaller the or-
Jess convincing arguments, the a priori opinion of the masses. bital capacity is relatively to the cerebral capacity" (No reference). I do
Subscribing to the commonly held idea, anthropologists invente_d sev- not in any way deny Mantegazza's sagacity; his qualities as a keen ob-
eral methods to measure the skull's capacity. Perhaps the oldest of these server are well known in the scientific world. Nevertheless, considering
methods is cubage, which I have already discussed. It is ~rth as much as ' the osteological topography of the cranium, might we not wonder what
the other methods, in my opinion. I need not return to my earlier comments serious link could exist between the capacity of the orbital cavity and the
on the subject. I will simply refer readers to the pages of this book so.that functioning of the brain? Despite our willingness to accept these meth-
they can verify again how vague and contradictory are the results obtam.ed ods of hasty generalization by means of which one claims to draw from
by anthropologists using this particular method. Next to t~ese .uncertain- the natural sciences much more than they can give, we could not find
ties it is worth highlighting the opinion of the naturalist Tiedemann. anything here to justify such a hypothesis. Perhaps the Florentine scien-
Wh~reas Broca favored a dual operation involving gauging and· cubage, tist saw here a case of character subordination, a somewhat vague princi-
the eminent professor from Heidelberg proceeded only by gauging, filling ple but one that is convenient for establishing more or less rational
the skull cavity with millet grain by various methods. 4 "According to theories. Should this be the case, Mantegazza must have reached such a
Tiedemann's research," says Cesar Cantu, "the normal brain of a European conclusion only after studying a large number of facts which are consis-
adult male weighs between 3 pounds 3 ounces and 4 pounds I~ ounces tent and provide elegant support for his hypothesis. But all the facts
(1212.50 grams and 1834.55 grams); a woman's brain weig~s be~ween.4 prove the inconsistency of the hypothesis with a truly discouraging pro-'
and 8 ounces less. At birth, whether a man is Black or White, his bram fusion. When we study the orbital capacity of the different human races,
weighs one sixth of his body's total weight. At. the age o!·two, ~is brain we find not a single result that confirms the hierarchy imagined by Man-
weighs one fifteenth of his weight; at three, it weighs one eighteenth; at fif- tegazza. If we want further evidence to be convinced, we need only re-
teen, one twenty-fou11h; finally, between the ages of twe~ty an~ s~venty, view the data in the chart transcribed by Topinard which we discussed
7
his brain weighs between one thi11y-fifth and one fo11y-fifth of his total earlier. Let us now examine some of the other methods.
body weight. The illustrious scientist concludes from th~se figures that the One very simple method, based on the external measurement of the
current pre-eminence of the White man over the Negro 1s not due to some cranium with a graduated ribbon, is used to obtain the horizontal circum-
congenita!ly supetior intelligence but to education." 5 . ference of the skull. Most anthropologists take this measurement by
In quoting the great historian's words, we are invoking two authon- starting from a supraorbital point and going around, through the most ex-
ties rather than one, for he shares Tiedemann's ideas without reser- treme occipital point, to return to the original starting point. 8 Welcker, for
vations. Such truly superior men, who do not fear losing their status his part, thinks it is better to apply the ribbon at the level of the frontal
by proclaiming truths which others prefer to falsify_ out of t~isguided bones, high above the supercilJary arch, taking it around the entire cir-
pride, such men deserve our praise as true representatives of science and cumference. I believe the German scientist's way of proceeding is much
The Equality of the Human Races Artificial Ranking of the Hwnan Races 151
150
better, for in any well developed skull there is always a measurable in- in the generous soil and destined to become great trees. We do not need
crease in the antero-posterior diameter, at the level of the protuberances the oracle of the ancient Sybil nor the word of the Biblical Pythoness to
sense this coming germination and welcome it with all our heart. In fact,
of the frontal bones.
"When measured both in this manner and by the usual method," it is already taking place. Deus, ecce deus! . ..
writes Topinard, "the circumference of the skulls of 25 Auvergnats was But let us abandon this mood. When I started this book, I promised
three millimeters smaller, by Welcker's method, and the circumference myself to avoid both anger and excessive enthusiasm. What is called for,
of the skulls of 25 Negroes was 18 millimeters greater. The discrepancy in exploring and clarifying the important issues of concern to us here, is
is due to the fact that the frontal bulges are less developed in the former the simple and austere language of science. Minerva with&>ut make-up.
and, to the contrary, very prominent and highly arched in the Negroes we So let us move now to another of those anthropological traits which some
people see as indicative of a race's place in the hierarchy of the many-
chanced to find" (No reference).
This is a remarkable fact, particularly as the physiology of the brain colored human groups, namely, the minimum frontal transverse.
has generally proven that the anterior upper section of the encephalon, According to Topinard, the minimum frontal transverse "is measured
which includes the cerebral lobes, is the seat of all the intellective facul- from the two points closest to the tempmal crest, above the external or-
ties. Perhaps there is no necessary connection between these frontal bital apophyses" (No reference). To find these two points, one opens the
bulges, which we find so impressive, and the facts which they seem to thumb and the index fingerof both hands into a set square, places them on
signify. Nonetheless, this is a case where we can invoke the law of char- either side of the skull against the upper area of the forehead, and slides
acter correlation. It is very rare that these bulges of th~kull do not indi- them together down to the point where the diameter measurably decreases
and the supercillary arches stop them. This measurement may be consid-
cate great intellectual abilities, whether proper use has been made 'of the
ered one the indices of the brain's volume, because it gives the width of its
brain's functions or not. Each time we meet an individual with such a
anterior base. Here are the results recorded by Topinard:
characteristic forehead, we immediately sense that if he has not achieved
power, he has at least the prerequisites to do so: intelligence and will.
Such a power, essentially free and independent, may be used for either 384 Parisians 95.7 mm
good or evil, but it alone grants man the privilege of domination. Cere- 88 Auvergnats 97.7
bral power often remains dormant and dies with the individual, who lives 96.l
60 Spanish Basques
his life ignorant of his own strength and high potential, like those inflam-
5 8 French Basques 96.2
mable substances which slowly evaporate into the quiet air when they
could have set the world ablaze if only they had been touched by a single 69 Bretons-Gallots 98.0
spark. In this case, the spark is education. When Blacks become edu- 63 Bas-Bretons 97.3
cated, when the thoughts contained behind those superb foreheads are 18 Caverne de l'Homme-Mort specimens 92.0
made to ferment by the leaven which the mysterious signs of the alphabet
8 Lapps 100.0
are for the mind, then it will be time to compare the human races and to
gauge their respective abilities. To do so now, to judge the trees by the 28 Chinese 92.5
fruits they have already borne, and expect to draw any valid conclusions 15 Eskimos 94.l
from the comparisons, would be illogical and premature. Neve1theless, 82 African Negroes 94.2
we sense already that the work is being done and progress is being made,
slowly, imperceptibly. It is as when a budding flower, with its calyx still 22 Nubians 93.2
closed, its corolla tightly rolled, its petals full of sap, its pistils and sta- 54 New Caledonians 93.5
mens trembling in their occult love making, lies in wait for the rays of the 8 Tasmanians 94.0
sun that will tickle it to expose to the light, in a burst of perfume and
12 Australians 92.7
beauty, the seed of future creations. And there are so many seeds buried
Artificial Ranking of the Human Races 153
36 Bretons-Gallots 74.42
Without going into a tedious analysis of this chart, I will simply observe
that the groups with means within closest range of one another are the 29 French Basques 75.41
French Basques, the Spanish Basques, the Parisians, the African Ne- 42 Spanish Basques 75.18
groes, and the Eskimos. To bring about this rapprochement, I took the 13 Eskimos 74.43
Parisians as the mean term of comparison. This is the most rational 28 Chinese 72.37
choice, especially as the figure 95.7 mm, which represents the mean
35 Malay 74.12
index for the Parisians, is also, curiously enough, the figure closest to the
:;;
means of all the figures on the chart, which is 95.2. 136 African Negroes 74.81
What can we conclude from these observations? Can we find here 69 New Caledonians 72.39
any indication of hierarchy at all? Not only are the intermediate figures
distributed among races that are absolutely distinct from one another, but When we examine this chart, we observe that the widest facial angle, is
the Lapps have a mean that is infinitely superior to that of the other that of the White race Bas-Bretons, which measures 76.81. The most
groups, and the Chinese fall below the Australians. It is all so very anar- acute angle, which measures 72.37, is that of the Chinese, a Yellow race.
chic. Nature mocks the anthropologists and confounds them at the very The Negroes come before the Bretons-Gallots, and the difference be-
moment they take those sophisticated measurements, which are at bot- tween their facial angle and that of the Bas-Bretons is only two degrees
tom mere puerile games, entertainment rather than serious research. (76.81-74.81). Although Broca's figures differ from those recorded by
Still, science cannot accept the existence of distinct and hrerarchical cat- Topinard, the author of Memoires d'Anthropologie had noticed the same
egories among the human races without presenting and discussing the two-degree discrepancy, "a figure," he wrote, "lower than the range of er-
experimental evidence that supports such an important fact. So new rors that may result from the variations in the direction and volume of the
methods and procedures must be found. nasal ridge." 9
I will discuss again briefly Camper's facial angle, even though I do We should also remember that these are only means; they will never
not think it has any significance for the kind of research we are now con- have any value in anthropology except as an approximation of an ideal
ducting. Topinard, who has studied this type of anthropological investi- type for a particular ethnic group, a type which does not exist in nature
gation, identifies four variants of the facial angle and concludes in favor and which varies depending on the researcher. In the oscillations of the
of Cloquet's. Unfortunately, when the last edition of Anthropologie was maximums and minimums in each series, conflated to obtain the means
published, measurements under conditions deemed optimal had not yet presented above, we find further evidence of a chaos signifying no less ,
been taken; if they have been taken since, we do not know where to find than the inanity of the arbitrary theories by which some people persist in
the results. The chart presented below contains results obtained by dividing the human races into superior and inferior ones. "If we studied
Jacquart's method. To avoid confusing readers with too many figures, I only those traits which establish the degree of superiority or inferiority of
have recorded only the angle measured at the level of the supraorbital the different races," writes Broca in reference to Jacquart's angle, " we
foramen, that is, Broca's ophrio-spinal angle. It is not necessary to signal would study only a very small number of characte~istics indeed." 10 But
the differences between this angle and the angle measured ordinarily the master did not bother to identify that small number of characteristics,
from the glabella to the nasal ridge. and they remain elusive. Like the philosopher's stone of the medieval al-
Here is, then, a modified version of the chart that appears in Top-
chemists, these characteristics seem always on the verge of being discov-
inard's Anthropologie (page 294 ), the source of most of the figures I cite.
ered. But when anthropologists think they may be about to succeed,
I have omitted the figures for women of different races, as they would
some malevolent genius mocks them and leaves them dumbfounded be-
serve no purpose here.
fore the grimacing skulls and their shiny instruments, the light they seek
75.11 forever receding. The number of traits they are seeking must be small in-
3 Auvergnats
deed, so small that it must be considered equivalent to zero.
28 Bas-Brecons 76.81
154
In this case, can we understand such categorical statements as those answer; it is, rather, a purely rhetorical game we could reduce to its real
made by De Quatrefages, who writes not as a philosophizing philosopher value by asking him a simple question: How Jong have White Europeans
but as an authentic anthropologist, ex professo? When we read the emi- had that int~llectual history mentioned by De Quatrefages as he pretends
nent naturalist's self-assured and pretentious pronouncements, would we to ignore the general history of the nations and the races they represent?
not believe that he speaks from established and indisputable scientific But the time has not yet come to give an answer capable of enlightening
the famous scientist. ·
data? But let us read from a page of L 'Espece humaine:
So let us keep searching through the arsenal of anthropological
methods. Perhaps we shall find one for measuring some aspect of the
The set of conditions that produced the different races has also brought
skull that would show categorically that the Negro's inferiority is a self-
about an actual inequality which it is impossible to deny. But such is
evident and incontestable fact. Quite serendipitously, we have before our
the penchant of the professional Negrophiles for hyperbole that they
eyes a comparative method invented by Professor de Quatrefages him-
insist that the Negro was in the past, and such as he is, equal to the self: the measurement of the parietal angle. To find this angle we draw
1
White ma n. A single fact suffices as a rebuttal. two lines on either side of the face-at the outermost points of the zygo-
Barth's discoveries have verified something which could be doubted matic arches, at the bottom, and at the outermost points of the maximum
until then: the existence of a political history among Negroes. But this , frontal diameter, at the top. These two lines meet at the top when the
very fact serves to underscore even more the absence of an intellectual angle is positive; they are parallel, when the angle is nil; they meet at the
history, which consists of a general progressive movemenwnarked by bottom when the angle is negative.
literary, artistic, and architectural achievements. Left to its own de- Topinard has compiled a list of the means based on this measure-
vices, the Negro race has produced nothing of the sort. The Black peo- ment, with their maximum and minimum variations. I have not repro-
ples, which have been classified among the Negro race in order to duced his chart here because this book is already chock full of figures.
disguise the race's too obvious inferiority, are connected to it at best Besides, the summary given by the author of L'Anthropologie explains
through crossbreeding cases in which the superior blood predomi- the results with sufficient clarity to make it possible to dispense with the
nates" (No reference). rest. This is what Topinard writes: "Based on these data, it appears that
(1), the individual limits of the parietal angle vary from -5 to +30, and
These are strong words indeed. The opinion of the learned professor the means for the most divergent races range from +2.5 to +20.3; (2), the
of the Museum of Paris on the subject of the hierarchy of the human 35- to 39-degree angles reproduced on the figures accompanying .
races is clear, precise, and forceful. But is that enough? I would be Prichard's description, the basis of his depiction of Mongolian skulls as -
willing to accept that Renan, or De Gobineau, a man who had no doubt pyramidal, have never been observed by anyone; (3), the most ogival
about anything, speak in this manner, ore rotunda, in the belief that a skulls, to use his own expression, the skulls with the most visible zygo-
well turned phrase is enough to consecrate arbitrary suggestions and turn matic arches by Blumenbach's method, are found among Pacific Ne-
an aITogant thought into unassailable truth. But I would not accept groes and not among Mongolians; (4), inversely, skulls with negative
such a discourse from a naturalist who has earned such great prestige angles, that is, with the least protruding zygomatic arches, are found
through academic achievements and through the exercise of an unflag- among Auvergnats, Lapps, and African Negroes." 11
The final observation is significant inasmuch as the Auvergnats, the
ging talent.
Monsieur De Quatrefages has enjoyed enormous success as a uni- Lapps, and the African Negroes, all three among the races with cryptoz-
versity professor and gained great fame as a writer in whose texts an ele- gous zygomatic arches, are representatives of the three principal races,
gant style and a deep knowledge are happily conjoined. However, what that is, the White, Yellow, and Black races. Topinard's conclusion is
we seek in him is the scientist, not just any scientist, but the naturalist, clear: "De Quatrefages's parietal angle, in sum, constitutes an excellent
the anthropologist. Now, the fact that he puts forward to refute the opin- craniological characteristic, but it is not serial and it contradicts the
ion ofthose who believe that Blacks are equal to White, is not a scientific views expressed by Blumenbach and Prichard" (No reference).
156 The Equality of the Hwnan Races Artificial Ranking of the Human Races
157
So we would look in vain for a craniometric method for identifying for the mind. The study of the brain in particular is the most affecting, for
that mysterious characteristic by which anthropologists might recognize no one approaches it without an indefinable tremor, an elusive emotion.
the differences which signify a natural hierarchy among the various T~e reason for this is that, as it deals with those facts and concepts which
groups of the human species. Turn it this way or that way, the skull re- science, .f~om Haller to Claude Bernard, exposes with increasing clarity
mains mute, with its sepulchral look. Like a somber sphinx, it seems to ~nd pr~c1s10n, th~ human mind senses in a mysterious way that it is operat-
tell us, rather, that from the first movement of the protoplasma in the mg on itself and IS engaged in an actual exercise in introspection.
uterus to the moment when the bloodless old man closes his eyes to the "Who would not feel deeply moved," says Professor Huschke, "at the
light and passes away, man lives, acts, and progresses to finally return to thought of this seat of the soul and the inteJiect? We remain c4imbfounded
the common reservoir, the great equalizer, from which all beings spring. before this sanctuary in which the forces of the spirit act and move before
While the subject of our current investigation is not this notion of equal- these enigmatic shapes which have carried out their mysterious f~nction
ity in death, it is certain that the only message a skull ever conveys is pre- in ~uma~s fro?1 the beginning to today, as the members of the species live
cisely this one. Undoubtedly, a skull did at one point shelter thought, thelf vanous hves, moving, acting and thinking" (No reference).
intelligence, in a word, everything that constitutes true superiority. But There is indeed an exquisite and troubling attraction to this intimate
just as a poor man's cabin keeps no visible trace of the, passage of a demarche in which man seeks to know and understand his own nature.
prince who may have paid it a brief visit, a skull keeps no imprint of the It.s appeal lies in the ancient spiritualist psychology, whereby man sees
thoughts it may have sheltered. himself as an angel and considers his faculties as emanations of some di-
So we shall put the skull aside, as it cannot enlighte~us, and we shall vine source and, as such, as irreducible and immortal as the soul of
follow the anthropologists as they study the brain. Here we will undoubt- which ~hey ar~ the transcendental manifestation. But here things take an
edly find the secret, the recondita dottrina, we have been pursuing with ot~er":'1se senous turn, assume an otherwise significant import. The
such ardor, the magic secret which will enable us to identify finally the mmd is no lon~er contemplating the mind and exploring itself through
signs of superiority nature has bestowed on some and the marks of inferi- those metaphysical abstractions in which Berkeley approaches the inef-
ority that make of others the lowest representatives of the human species. fable, Kant cofues close to the sublime, and Hegel reaches for the incom-
If science, before which I always bow, finally reveals to me the cabal- p~eh~nsi~le, th_u~ giving Victor Cousin the advantage of discoursing all
istic word to pronounce in order to make nature speak, then should my his life m a d1vme language to say nothing that does not come from
deepest convictions be shaken by what I hear, I will listen, disconcerted someone els~. Now the mind beholds matter, that is, tangible reality. In-
and painfully disillusioned, but resigned. On the other hand, if, despite my ste~d of settling for generalizations, we must pursue scientific research
good will, I find it impossible to penetrate the arcana of anthropology; if, until we find the truth. Instead of speculating about noumena, we must
like a capricious cou1tesan it withdraws its favors from me to bestow them study phenomena and discover the laws that govern them.
upon such illustrious men as Morton, Renan, Broca, Carus, de Quatre- M~ns agitat molem . .. , we used to say with Virgil. Ohne Phospho-
fages, Buchner, and De Gobineau, the whole proud and arrogant phalanx rus, kezn Gedanke, we say today with Moleschott. Perhaps there is really
of those who proclaim that the Black man is destined to serve as a step- no contradict~on between the two statements. Who really knows but that
ping stone for the White man in his quest for power; then I will have the the facts which seem to us most discordant do not harmonize mar-
right to say of this lying anthropology that it is not a science. velou.sly under the effects of the mysterious laws of life? Such troubling
Science indeed is not the exclusive preserve of some closed coterie, que.st1ons h~ld us under their inexplicable fascination! We understand
be that coterie made up of the whole of Europe and part of America. Mys- Mame de B1ran's exultation as he quietly observes and reflects on the
tery, which is better suited to dogma, smothers science by degrading it. h~man soul in its different active and passive states, elaborating the prin-
~1ples of knowledge through the union of will and intelligence. All these
Journeys through the id~al ':"orld, through the regions of pure thought,
4. THE BRAIN AND INTELLIGENCE
have a suave ch~rm that ts difficult to resist. But they are not, to be sure,
The most interesting of all biological studies is, without a doubt, the physi- t?e best preparation for the person about to enter a laboratory or a dissec-
ology of the nervous system. It is a field full of surprises and enchantments tion room. Yet these are the only places where science does speak. There,
158 The Equality of the Human Races Artificial Ranking of the Human Races
159
one observation made by looking into the microscope is a hundred times
those delicate designs, with their graceful contours and twirling lines en-
more valuable than the most beautiful thought garnered in the fairy field~
tangled into thousands of whimsical twists and turns, we sense that this
of metaphysics.
magnificent tool, the encephalon, holds secrets which our science, still in
From the perspective of anthropology, to study the brain we must its infancy, cannot quite guess yet.
discard all preconceived ideas. We must observe the cerebral organs
It is indisputable that the brain does the most marvelous things in re-
coldly as if we did not know their purpose. This is the best way to draw
sponse to the mere stimulus of life. Understandably, there is a natural
an objective conclusion whenever we encounter one of those traits asso-
need to match each visible shape, relief, and depression of the brain with
~iated with the manifestation of some mode ofintelligence. Every physi-
each of the observed responses. This need to explain everything some-
ologist who ever earned fame through some remarkable discovery has
times translates into bold statements, particularly from writers who talk
always proceeded in this way. Physiological anthropologists who over.:
about the brain without having studied it. This is, for example, what
look this method run the risk of falling into the rut of hypotheses, and
there Gall and Spurzheim will always checkmate the likes of Flourens Carus Sterne asserts: "With a rich inventiveness which any draftsman
and Gratiolet. Claude Bernard himself, despite the sagacity he showed in would envy, the intrinsic energies of the most simple and banal known
his experimental research and the accuracy of insight and intellectual dy- combination join with the outside morphological influences." 13 Despite
namism that made him a rarity in the scientific world, would lose all his its assertive tone, this sentence expresses but a vague idea which, in
prestige if, instead of stu(lying nature as a great unknown entity to be re:. .truth, tends increasingly to become part of our intellectual baggage, but
spectfully and delicately discovered, he approached the 1Wgans the func- an idea which also rests on mere probabilities and therefore has no other
tions of which he wanted to study with the set idea of confirming some value than that of a more or less plausible opinion.
doctrine or system. "System-bound thinking," writes the great physiolo- Other, more thorough, researchers are much more circumspect.
gist, "gives the mind a sort of unjustified self-assurance and inflexibility Looking ·at the same richly inventive designs which so fascinated Sterne,
which are inconsistent with the scepticism the experimenter must always another German scientist concluded, after an extensive study of the brain
harbor in conducting research. Systems are necessarily incomplete; they and its bizaITe shapes, that we are absolutely incapable of making sense
cannot represent everything that exists in nature, but only what exists in of it all. His opinion is certainly not due to any paralyzing timidity, which
the mind of men." 12 These are profound words, and they apply not only never aff~cts the mind of the true scientist; it is based, rather, on the con-
to the hasty and reckless deductions anthropologists draw from their sys- viction of a conscientious observer. "In the brain," writes Huschke, "we
tematic experiments, but also to all those weightings, cubages, and other find mountains and val1eys, bridges and aqueducts, pillars and vaults,
anthropometric operations carried out for the purpose of identifying or- feITules and crockets, tendrils and ammonites, trees and germs, lyres and '
ropes, and countless other shapes. No one has ever been able to tell what
ganic or hierarchical differences among the different human groups. these singular shapes mean." 14
Such operations follow rules formulated outside nature, rules wh_ich, fur-
Science has continued its forward march since these words were
thermore, are mutually contradictory. But those involved are pursuing a
written thirty years ago. The great problem of the con-elation between
set goal and obviously everything is systematically made to gravitate
the brain and thought has not ceased to preoccupy the human mind,
around that goal.
which has become ever more anxious to know its own source. Scientists
In thus warning readers against hastily embracing the opinion of
have developed a number of theories about it, and serious discoveries
those who believe to have identified in the brain evident signs of its dif-
have verified some. For example, according to Broca, Longet, and
ferent modes of activity, in other words, to have found the positive seat of
Vulpian, the nerve fibers which make up the white substance of the brain
our mental faculties, I do not wish to give the impression that I underesti-
play the simple role of conductors in the cerebration process. They only
mate the scientific importance of such research. The scientific achieve-
connect the different parts of the brain, and their functions seem to vary
ments of the last fifty years would quickly prove me wrong. But despite
depending on the particular points they link. The gray matter, on the
such scientific progress, those who examine the brain cannot help but see
other hand, plays the principal role; its function has to do with under-
in it the theater of some thus far undecipherable action. When we study
standing an_d the exercise of the will, activities which take place in the
160
seems, to some serious minds, more remote than ever." 16 We should per-
two cerebral hemispheres. The most important sites of cerebral activity,
haps soften the learned physiologist's conclusion and move away from
such as those pertaining to intelligence, will, sensibility, and movement,
this profound discouragement which seems to have stricken a man who
are located there. It is thought that the cerebral convolutions forme~ by
has studied long and hard only to find that his research led to no hard
the folds of the cortical layer, which augment its surface, have a direct
conclusions. Nothing is more antithetical to the scientific spirit than the
correlation with highly developed faculties.
absolute rigidity of the word "never". We should always avoid using this
These are some of the opinions and conclusions debated among phy~
word when we make predictions respecting problems whose solution lies
iologists and suppoi1ed or challenged by phi.losopher~. Philosophe:s m
in the future, unless of course we are dealing with eternal trut~s such as
particular are quite vocal about the subject, ':1th oppos1~g school.s vigor-
mathematical laws which have been sufficiently verified by the discur-
ously dashing with one another. Above the dmt of cla~hmg d~ctnnes, we
sive method. But while eschewing excessive scepticism, we must note
hear from time to time loud objurgations in the name of all that 1s transcen-
that the current state of science does not allow us to conclude, by simply
dent, that is sacred, among things human. While some want to ~easure
looking at the brain, that a particular individual was more intelligent than
everything and to reduce the most abstract notions to purely expenmental
another. It is with serious reservation that we must receive everything
truths, others protest in the name of the ideal, a sweet and ft~gran~ flower
that has been said or done in this vein. Needless to say, we have even less
which can only wilt under the heat of burners or on contact w~th acids. But
ground for inferring, from the physical appearance or the weight of an in-
laboratories do work, while the beyond is still out of reach. S1l~ntly ~ursu
dividual, that a particular race is superior to another.
ing their quest, the pale-faced scienti~ts simp~y ignore th~ beatific philoso-
Psychical physiology, which is only now barely entering the posi-
phers. Still, we remain before the brain as before the ~phmP.. .
tivist period, tends more and more not to consider the weight and volume
We must proclaim loudly the merit of some d1s~ovenes .made this
of the brain as signs of some superior activity. Studies of the encephalon
century as a result of the practical study of the _brain .. ln this respe.ct,
have shown early that the size of the organ is not a very reliable predictor
Broca and C\aude Bernard deserve high praise for thelf works, which
have verified the theory of cerebral localizations, a theory so doggedly . of its energy. By logical induction, scientists have even discovered that the
fought against by Flourens. Still, their confirmation of the.the?ry has ce~ richness and complexity of the brain's circumvolutions constitute a better
tainly not been embraced as indisputable truth by ~l\ sc1ent1fic authon- ,diagnostic indicator of the relationship between the brain and intelli-
f es Among the doubters, a veteran of French science and one of ~he gence. In the initial phase of research, which consisted only in the de-
~o~t competent physiologists stands out. This is. h.owP:ofe~so;, Vul_pian .
scription of their shapes, it was generally believed that the location of
paiticular aptitudes could be identified and their degree determined
expressed himself recently at the Faculty of Med1cme o.t Pans: As far as
merely by reading the circumvolutions of the brain. Later, as science al-
l am concerned, the truth of this theory has not been ngorously demon- .
'0•0 cways progresses, scientists finally guessed that those circumvolutions co-
t. t d ,,15 What we know weighs so \ittle next to what we do not kno\.V
i~qided with a well-developed intelligence only because the folds are all
~~:t ~~ should be humbled at the mere thought.of it. We have r_eachedb:~ " 11y~red with a gray substance, the cortical substance. Indeed, the phe-
the threshold ot the \last multi-chambered ed1~ce of .the bram. w_e s·"
,_ena of innervation, which are extremely active in this tissue, translate
"1 "en"e rather how b\o how ornate 1\.s \lanous compa1tme
we \lagu e\ ; "'
0
' ' t:" . - • "A '"~ensibility, motor coordination, intelJigence, and volition. It ensues
are but at the same time they seem to us d1m and fa1 away. P
prain with a relatively small diameter may be covered with a sizable
clo:mts intus et atria longa patescimt." .
flayer because of its multiple circumvolutions. There lies a possi-
More than thiity years after Huschke, science dares ~ot vou
lgtt:i~tioµ for the often observed instance of a small-headed individ-
the final result of ongoing investigations into what goes ~nm the b.
.re~t intelligence, or of a great brain of less than average size.
produce volition, intelligence, .and all the highe~· f~culues. that m;
man such an incomparable being, regardless ?t his phys1~al e~~:
~·more.we study the problem, the more we realize its complexity.
~~ts ·have discovered in the cortical substance a complicated web
"We have only begun our investigations," wn~es Dr. Ferner,: . a
:~: ••and nerve fibers. The ce11s belong more paiticularly to the gray
may well wonder whether it is tim~ yet to offer an explanat10n ~
7i()r cortical substance. As for tbe fibers, which seem designed to
mechanism and functions of the brain. The opportune moment to
162
transmit outside stimuli to the b1'ain, they link the gray matter and the white examine conscientiously the deductions which anthropologists make on
matter, acting as conductors. All intellective and. volitional energies mani- the basis of the arbitrary methods they use in the comparative study of
fest themselves exclusively in the nerve cells. Thus the sensitive nerve re- the human races. It must be pointed out that the most neglected sector of
ceives a stimulus from the outside or from the organism and transmits it to the field of anthropology is precisely the one concerned with establishing
the brain in the form of a sensation; the sensation is then transformed into the differences in intellectual aptitudes among the different human races.
perception in the nerve cell; finally, the brain c~ordin~tes the ~ccumulated Again, we should never tire of asking, on what scientific ground if not
perceptions and translates them into thought or 1~to w1ll~d actl~ns. undeniably gross empiricism do we decide that some races are inferior to
As we explained earlier, the gray matter differs h1stolog1cally from others? The more we look into the motives of such incon;equence, the
the white substance by the arrangement of its nerve elements. But what more we tend to think that they are totally alien to science. We will study
especially distinguishes it at first glance is it~ ~-eddish gray ti~t, n_ot a these later. Meanwhile, we will examine the results of the only experi-
sharp juxtaposition of colors, but a gradual sh1ftmg and darkenmg from ment devised by anthropologists to compare the cerebral aptitudes of the
the inside to the outside. This particular coloring is due to a vascular den- different human races, the weighing of the brain.
sity that is much greater than in the white substance. In a way, blood, the
vital agent par excellence, is now recognized as well as the source not 5. WEIGHT OF THE ENCEPHALON
only of physical energy but also o_f intellectual and moral energy. IN THE DIFFERENT RACES
These are facts observed by science and verified by the most elegant The following list of brain weights is taken from Topinard's book. It con-
experiments carried out in both Germany and Franc.e:"!But .do w_e h~ve tains data for several varieties of the human species; hence its conve-
here a sure way of identifying specific traits of the bram that mfalhbly ~n nience for studying how brain weights vary from one race to another. The
dicate a great intelligence? The greatest physiologists, whose magnifi- scholar presents these figures with some reservation. "What makes the
cent works honor this century, retreat and declare themselves unable to weight of the brain in the different races an unreliable basis of compari-
formulate such an important conclusion. son," he writes, "is the fact that, regardless of their orientation and physi-
Scientists believed at one point they would be able to proceed by ological manifestations, both the primary and the secondary levels of
. simple deduction. Since the cortical substance of the brain is w~ere all intelligence, indeed cerebral activity, vary among individuals in such an
the mind's higher activities originate, the thicker the gray layer ts, the~ unpredictable way and are linked to so many external circumstances." 18
thought, the greater the individual's intelligence must be. But experi- In the following list, each entry contains the name of the anthropologist
ments conducted by Longet and other eminent physiologists soon who did the weighing: '
proved, once again, how circumspect and restrained we must show our-
selves, how wary we must be of reckless generalizations in the natl_tral 105 Englishmen and Scots (Peacock) 1327 grams
sciences, particularly the biological sciences, fields of study the subject 28 Frenchmen (Parchappe) 1334
of which, life, still does not have a workable definition. 40 Germans (Huschke) 1382
So physiology has declined the honor of determining the degree of in-
18 Germans (Wagner) 1392
telligence through either a full or a partial examination of the brain. "It is
not only the quantity, but also the quality of the tissue as well as the interac- 50 Austrians (Weisbach) 1342
tion of each element that detennine the level of the. intellectual faculties," 1 Annamite (Broca) 1233
w1ites one physiologist. 17 The scientist's words are clear and easy to inter-
7 African Negroes (Various scientists) 1238
pret. The question is, in the current state of science is ~t possible ~t all to
identify the qualities of the cerebral tissue? The answer is no. We will have 8 African Negroes (Broca) 1289
to wait a long time perhaps for the scientific developments that will verify l Pondichery Black (Broca) 1330
all those propositions which now seem to be regarded as proven truths. I Hottentot (Wyman) 1417
This brief survey of current issues in brain research and of develop-
I Cape Negro (Broca) 974
ments iri this field of knowledge should be enough to enable readers to
164 The Equality of the Hwnan Races Artificial Ranking of the Human Races 165
I have not included any figures for female brains, judging them useless If we were to take these figures as the precise expression of the facts,
here. I should point out, however, that the weight of the brain of African Whites would come on top of the hierarchy, Quarterons would follow,
Negresses recorded by Peacock ( 1232 grams) is greater than the weight Mulattoes would not be more intelligent than Negroes, and such interme-
of the brain of French women recorded by Parchappe ( 1210). diate hybrids as Cafres, Griffes, and Sacatras, would definitely be inferior
What this chart makes clear is that there exists no consistent coJTela- to pure Negroes. Topinard makes the following comments: "Does it not
tion between brain weig.ht and ethnic differences. The weight of the brain seem that when White blood predominates in a metis, it exercises a posi-
of Wyman's Hottentot attracts attention at first glance. In recording it, tive effect on cerebral development? Inversely, does it not seem that the
Topinard makes the following comments: "This exceptional weight for a predominance of Negro blood in a metis results in a brain iQferior even to
Negro brain is exceeded by the weight of one of the Negro brains that of the pure Negro? Which suggests that mixed-bloods are more likely
recorded by Broca, 1500 grams. This is a case where we might wel1 won- to absorb the bad more easily than they do the good" (No reference).
der whether the free Negro, living in a European milieu, does not have a Without the speculative tone of the last sentence, one might think
·brain that is heavier than it would be had he remained in his forests, away this statement was signed by de Gobineau. But Topinard, wise and cir-
from stronger intellectual stimulations" (No reference). These are re- cumspect, is rarely caught off guard. When we discuss metissage, we
markable words, coming from the lips of the illustrious Broca's favorite will see what others think about the subject and what the reality is.
disciple. Reflecting on their logical implication, the learned author of Before I conclude this comparative study of the brain in the different
L 'Anthropologie should have found in them the formal condemnation of human races, I want to quote some comments made by Broca, which cor-
the system which divides the human groups into supetior and inferior roborate wonderfully everything we have read thus far. "No one claims,"
races. But for adherents of a school of thought, it is decreed that in an- says Broca, "the existence of a direct and absolute link between the de-
thropology one should never mind logic. velopment of intelligence and the volume or weight of the encephalon.
It must be pointed out, furthermore, that Wagner, in Germany, and For my part, I have protested strongly against such an absurdity. I had
Sandifort B. Hunt, in the United States, have found a maximum brain even written down in advance this part of my lecture in order to express
weight of 1507 grams among the African Negroes. Mascagny has even n:'Y vie':~ in terms ~o categorical as to eliminate any ambiguity and pos-
recorded a brain weight of 15.87 grams. According to Broca, the mini- sible mismterpretat10n. I ended my presentation with the following sen-
mum brain weight among White Europeans is as low as l I 33 grams, and tence, which I beg your leave to reread to you: No intelligent man would
some are even lower than this: Although the connection between brain ever think of measuring intelligence by measuring the encephalon."20
weight and cerebration should not be overestimated, these facts still are The master has expressed his opinion clearly. Added to everything
worth noting. pr~sented in this section, it reinforces the idea that, pending indisputable
Another, somewhat curious, list is the one prepared by Sandifort B. evidence, the encephalon does not weigh very much as a basis of com-
Hunt. 19 On this chart, the different human groups are divided into pure parison of the intellectual abilities of the various ethnic groups. But even
Whites, mitis of varying degrees·of mixing, and pure Negroes: supposing that th~ brain had all the importance some anthropologists
wish to grant it, weighing data in no way prove that a Caucasian's brain
24 Whites 1424 grams is consistently superior to an Ethiopian's. Here again, the conclusion is
antithetical to any classification system which tends to divide the races
23 Three-quarter White Metis 1390 intro superior and inferior ones.
47 Half-White Metis or Mulattoes 1334
5 LOne-Quarter White Metis 1319 6. DIFFICULTIES IN CLASSIFYING APTITUDES
95 One-Eighth While Metis 1308
T~e advocat~s of racial ranking have lost their footing in the biological
22 One-Sixteenth White· Metis 1280
sciences, which are the proper dom;;iin of anthropology as it is under-
141 Pure Negroes 1331 stood and practiced consistently with Broca's thought and methods. I
166 The Equality of the Human Races Artificial Ranking of the Human Races
167
know that they will now hurr.y and move on to the historical and specula-
following order: the first foundation is the field of pure mathematics,
tive sciences in order to prove that Blacks have never been able to attain
which are only instruments the mind uses in the quest for the truth; then
the same high level of mental development as Whites. They will no doubt come the fields of mechanics and astronomy, physics, chemistry, the bio-
seize on this objection to infer the intellectual inferiority of the Black logical sciences, and sociology. After exploring in depth these different
man. We shall see later that the Intellectual history of the nations proves disciplines, we gain a through mastery of all fields of knowledge, a per-
indisputably that no single race holds the monopoly of fully developed fect understanding of nature, with the ability to distinguish the principles
intellectual abilities. lnstead, the different groups that make up humanity of harmony or association from the causes of discordance or dissocia-
pass on the torch of science to one another over the centuries. The light tion. Thus reduced to a synthesis of all notions and concepts, a healthy
of science shines with increasing intensity, its rays seeming to dim in philosophy consists in following the laws of nature as we contribute in-
some centuries only to burst forth again to dazzle our eyes. telligently to reinforcing the harmony of all elements, human beings,
We can already ask the question. Have scholars studied the science and things, on the immense expanse of our planet. This need for harmony
of the mind, noology, in sufficient depth to be able to classify methodi- underlies the altruistic sentiments which make of humanity a concrete
cally the different manifestations of intelligence and rank them hierar- entity whose interdependent parts act, work, and progress toward a com-
chically with any certainty? Where will we find the rules for such a mon destiny.
classification? At the beginning of this book I named several scientists
As a moral philosophy, Auguste Comte's ideas have been abun-
and philosophers who had attempted to devise a scientific classification dantly debated, which has not impeded their rapid spread in any way. But
of the fields of human knowledge. These they ranked, nw·e or less regu-
as a basis of classification of the sciences, they have never had any seri-
larly, from the sciences involving deductive generalization to the more
ous competition. Herbert Spencer, the thinker best qualified to challenge
complex sciences involving inductive specialization and requiring me-
Comte from another point of view, has not been very successful in devis-
thodical experimentation before reaching any conclusion. I did not go
ing a satisfactory classification system. Later, in one of his most remark-
into the details of the issue, one reason being that there is little consensus
able works, he felt compelled to give unrestrained praise to the acute
around this ranking of the sciences. One science considered superior by a sagacity of the great positivist. 21
scientist will be ranked lower by a philosopher or another scientist. It is
We may then use Comte's ranking system confidently to compare
all very arbitrary.
the different fields of knowledge and their relative value. In so doing, we
Anthropologists ignore this contradiction, believing that they have
easily dispose of the pretentious claims regarding the intellectual superi-
resolved every difficulty when they have measured a cranial capacity or a
ority of Whites on the ground of their proven aptitudes for higher mathe-
facial angle. Yet it is precisely this contradiction that makes impractical
matics and the supposed lack of such aptitudes in Blacks. Indeed, if
any systematic ranking of the fields of human knowledge. Lacking such
Europeans excelled only in mathematics, their merit would not be extra-
a ranking system, can we decide that one particular operation of the mind
ordinary. This branch of science, which borrows from its use in advanced
is inferior to another? I do not think we can. As long as this particular
astronomy the great prestige it enjoys with the public, has none of that
point has not been clarified, any exercise of the mind is comparable to
excellence attributed to it by laymen. Astronomy, which uses mathemat-
any other, as long as it carries the mark of originality and superiority.
ics in its higher applications, is truly an admirable science. However, it
Thus a well written and performed song will be worth as much as the owes its high status only to its association with other, more complex, sci-
most elegant law pertaining to the equilibrium of the natural or social ences such as physics and mechanics, without which the mere theory of
forces. On what basis, then, shall we compare intellectual endeavors? numbers would remain in the realm of vague abstraction.
Since I must choose among different opinions, I shall choose, as the
The. mind proves its mettle, the intellect shows its vigor, in the ex-
basis for the comparative ranking of the different scientific fields, Au- perimental sciences and the sciences of observation, in which man exam-
guste Comte's classification system. Comte is the founder of positivist ines natural phenomena and strives to discover the laws that govern
philosophy, a school of thought which I embrace totally. According to them. It is also in these fields that the individual reveals his understand-
the great positivist, the tree of science grows gradually, developing in the ing, which is the true indication of a person's intellectual aptitude.
How difficult are mathematics, when they are taught gradually? ics with some brilliance was Thales of Miletus; he had acquired most of
How complex are their methods? To handle mathemati~s ?n~ needs not his knowledge in Egypt. In the sixth century, before the decline of her
exceptional intellectual faculties but a certain mental .d1sc1plme tha~ en- culture, Greece produced, for her greater glory, Pythagoras, who showed
ables one to learn and apply formulas and theorems m all calculations. the most brilliant aptitudes for the sciences. We owe him the discovery of
Monge, Laplace, Arago, and Leverrier are men high above the common several properties of numbers, the proof of the value of the square of the
run of men. But even though their mathematical brilliance was enhanced hypotenuse, and several other theorems. But are we not justified to ask
whether he had achieved all this on his own, or simply transmitted to us
by their mastery of other fields, we must admit that many scientis~s.' w~o
the notions he had learned from the Egyptian priests, especjally as he
are not mathematicians, enjoy a higher status and greater recogn~t10~ m
studied in their college in Thebes and lived in their country for twenty
the intellectual fields. It is certain that the discoveries of such sc1ent1sts
years? Plato, who practiced mathematics with great success and who is
as Cuvier, Lavoisier, Berzelius, or Claude Bernard have an infinit~ly
mainly responsible for giving them the prestige they continue to enjoy,
greater importance for the general progress of hu.manity th~n anythrng .
was not satisfied with studying with the Pythagoreans; he went to Egypt,
that could ever be obtained from mathematics. I will be the first to agree to the very source of the light.
that, in order to become a good mathematician, one must have certain. i~
There are two reasons why the ancient Egyptians have not received
tellectual habits which not everyone cultivates or can cultivate. But is it all the credit they deserve for their achievements in this sphere as they
any different for the more complex sciences? The answer i.s no. So why , have fonheir contributions in other fields. The first reason is that they
should we consider the aptitude for calculation a natural,:-gn of the or- had a language with a rather sophisticated grammar but also with a writ-
ganic superiority of the brain? . ing system that was so complicated and so difficult that scientific and lit-
Besides the honor of having invented the science of numbers and erary. documents in the language remained incomprehensible for
surface mea~urement does not belong to the White race. The origin of centuries. We may assume that during all the long period when the mean-
mathematics goes back to Black Egypt, the land of t~e Pharaohs: All the ing of the hieroglyphs remained obscure, as mysterious as the Sphinx in
scientists who researched the history of the exact sciences unan_1mously
this mysterious Egypt, most of these documents disappeared forever
recognize the Egyptians as the inventors of geometry. 22 More t~an three
along with the secrets they contained. Others, still buried in the black soil
thousand years before the Christian era, when the European nations w~re
of black Kemet will certainly be found some day. We shall not be sur-
still in a barbarous state, the Hamites who lived on the shores of the Nile_ prised that these documents confound many theories.
had already been doing geometric computations, calculating the area of
The second reason why Egyptian achievements in mathematics have
different types of surfaces. On the Khind papyrus in the British ~useum
not been recognized, one which worsens the effects of the first, is the ex-'
in London, for example, researchers have deciphered practical geome~ry
clusionary mindset of the priests, the principal depositories of science.
problems involving the triangle, the circJe, the trapezoid, and other hg-
They made a mystery out of all their scientific acquisitions and taught
ures. According to Dr. Samuel Birch, one of the greatest known J;.gyptol-
them only in a restricted milieu, to a small number of pupils, training a
ogists, the original of this papyrus, which is a copy, goes back 3300 years
closed elite who would have the total monopoly of the esoteri~ doctrine.
before Christ.
Plato and Diogenes Laerces both recognize that arithmetic too origi- Nevertheless, Egypt was considered the fount of science, so much so
nated in Egypt, which is quite logical, given that arithmetic cal~ulations that it was in Alexandria that the Greeks went to develop their aptitudes
are indispensable in the solution of geometric pr~blems. As with. many for mathematics, producing such famous figures as Euclid, Archimedes,
other things, Greece, the first White Western nation to have attained a Appollonius of Perga, and so many other bright stars in the Alexandrian
considerable level of civilization, indisputably owes to Egypt the first no- Pleiades. Now that the human mind has entered.a mature stage, as indi-
tions of mathematics. She would of course perfect these notions as part cated by the conscientiously critical approach to phenomena that has be-
of the continuing evolution of science, an evolution which would reach come the norm, we wonder whether it is not possible that unknown
its positivist phase much later. scientists of the ancient Egyptian race helped to light the first sparks of
The first Greek scientist to have concerned himself with mathernat- science in the immortal city founded by Alexander the Great. Whether
the answer is affirmative or not, it remains a fact of history that the Black captive to the metaphysical doctrines that have too long subjugated the
race of Egypt was the first to cultivate the abstract notions of arithmetic human mind, from Plato to Hegel.
and to formulate the first calculations. Perfected over time, these would
lead to the great modern theories with which are associated such brilliant
NOTES
names as those of Descartes, Newton, Pascal, Leibniz, Euler, Bernouilli,
1
Gauss, and other equally remarkable scientists. De Gobineau, Del 'inegalite des races humaines, p. 35.
2
I said earlier that Plato was the man most responsible for fostering Beauregard, Des divinites egyptiennes.
our view of mathematics as an incomparable science. Indeed, the leader 3
British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1868.
4
of the Academy attached such impmtance to the science of numbers and Das Hirn des Negers mit dem des Europaers und Orang-Outangs vergle-
surface that he considered it the most obvious sign and the best proof of a ichen.
5
cultured and distinguished mind. We are told that, in a moment of enthu- Cesar Cantu, Histoire universe/le.
6
siasm, he had inscribed on the doo~ of his school, "Let no one enter who "Dei caratteri gerarchia de! cranio umano," in Archivas del! antropo/ogia
is not a geometrist." 23 Pushing the Pythagorean idea to a dogmatic ex- e la etnologia (Florence: 1875 ).
7
treme, he professed that music, geometry, and astronomy weere "handles See chapter V, of this book.
8
of philosophy." Finally, he believed the best definition of God he could See Topinard, L'anthropologie, p. 251.
9
find was the phrase "eternal geometrist." 24 Broca, loco citato, Vol. 4, p. 676.
10
When we remember the influence Plato;s ideas Ji11PVe had in the Broca, lbidem, p. 680.
11
intel1ectual history of the West, we understand easily the sort of cult that Topinard, loco citato, p.296.
12
has been built and still exists around mathematics. But our century has Claude Bernard, La Science experimentale.
13
made enough progress to dispense us from blindly embracing the errors Cams Sterne, Se.vn und Werden.
14
of the past. Huschke, Shade!, Hirn, Seele des Menschen und der Thie1-e (Jena, 1854).
15
If we remember Plato, we can never forget Aristotle. And this is fur- Vulpian, "Les localisations cerebrales," in Revue Scientifique 1S (11
ther proof that mathematics, on the hierarchical scale of human knowl- April 1885).
16
edge, do not have all the importance that is usually attached to them. The Dr. David Ferrier, The Functions of the Brain (London, l 877).
17
proof that the knowledge of mathematics is not the exclusive sign of Valentin, Traite de physiologie.
18
great intellectual abilities, is that the great Stagirite, the liveliest and best Topinard, loco citato, p. 319.
19
organized mind we are likely ever to encounter, was never able to be- "The Negro as a Soldier," cited by Topinard in L'Anthropo/ogie, p. 321:
20
come a good mathematician. I, for one, understand very well that a brain See Topinard, "Le poids de J'encephale," in Memoires de la Societe
as active and fecund as Aristotle's was would be bored by those formulas d'Anthropologie de Paris (2e serie, Vol. 3), p. 29.
21
which imprison the mind in the cage of the intellectual discipline so nec- See Herbert Spencer, De {'education physique, intellectue!le et morale.
22
essary in a good mathematician. Aristotle's example should help put in See especially Bretschneider, Die geometrie und die geometer 1•011 Eu-
perspective a proposition which people have repeated for so long without clides (Leipzig, 1870).
23
taking the trouble of verifying it. Greek quotation. (Cf. Jean Tzetzes, Chiliades, VIII).
24
Does this mean that mathematics is without merit, without value in Greek quotation. Plato, Timaeus.
the scientific sphere? Such an assertion would be absurd. I believe pre-
cisely the opposite, so much so that, embracing the ideas of the great Au-
guste Comte, I consider the study of mathematics as indispensable for
preparing the mind to tackle more difficult and complex exercises. What
I affirm is this: we cannot continue to make of mathematics the summum
of all human knowledge without condemning ourselves to remaining
CHAPTERS
Metissage and Equality

of the Races
Videntesfilii Deifilias hominum

quod essent pulchrae, acceptanmt
sibi uxores ex omnibus quas
elegerant . ..
(Genesis, VI, 2, 4)
If she be black, and thereto have an evil,

She'll find a white that shall her blackness fit.
(Shakespeare)
1. STUDIES OF METISSAGE FROM THE POINT

OF VIEW OF THE EQUALITY OF THE RACES
The preceding comments on the physical beauty of the mulatto type nat-
urally leads to the topic of metissage and equality of the races. This is
perhaps the most important part of this study. Here the truth will emerge
so convincingly that those who divide humanity into inferior and supe-
rior races will surrender to the evidence and abandon this false notion
which has caused so much harm to so many people.
We saw earlier how the polygenists, so eager to separate the human
races that they consider them distinct species, went so far as to deny eu-
genics, that is, the absolute fecundity of the hybrid offspring of Black
and White. When they could not ignore the physical evidence of hy-
bridization, they shifted the debate to another ground, injecting into it an
element that was more difficult to appreciate. By asserting that the rnetis
203
204 The Equality of the Human Races Metissage and Equality of the Races 205
is inferior to the two original races in strength, morality, and intelligence, of the two original races is superior and the other is inferior; inferior, if
they implicitly admitted that the mulatto constitutes in a way a case of the two parent races are inferior. To those who believe in the inequality of
teratology. Theoretically indeed, the only explanation for intellectual and the races, there could not by any more logical opinion: it is as precise as a
moral inferiority is the an-ested development of the brain, which renders mathematical truth. One wonders, however, whether the biological and
it incapable of completing the cerebration process accompanying all social sciences could accommodate themselves with such simple laws. I
manifestations of the mind's higher faculties and coordinating all the certainly would not swear to it. Yet, Clemence Royer seems to harbor the
heait's impulses. same opinion. This is what she says on the subject: "In cases of 111.etis-
The less educated public quickly embraced the scientists' opinion sage between exceptional hybrids of inferior races, such as'°Alexandre
that the human races degenerate through hybridization. Such is the posi- Dumas, and individuals of superior races, the results will probably be fa-
tion argued by Monsieur de Gobineau with such complacent verbosity in vorable to a degree. Alexandre Dumas himself, I admit, is actually a re-
his famous work, Inequality of the Races. Nevertheless, the truth some- markable product of metissage. We all recognize, however, that
how meanders its way to the light. Both monogenists and polygenists Alexandre Dumas was a maladjusted individual, or at least an abnormal
had adopted the theory of inequality of the races, but before long they one. He was an exceptional being, a very strange man, certainly with a
understood that admitting that the metis was always an inferior and de- fertile imagination and an intelligence that was superior in many respects
generate being was equivalent to arguing against the unity of the human j but also inferior in many others. His entire life, Dumas would remain an
species. The obligation to defend their doctrine put th~ on the way to old child, full of juvenile verve but unreasonable and incapable of ac-
Damas. Without hesitation, then, they soon opined that the mulatto off- cepting any rule but that of his powerful eccentric impulses. He was a
spring of White and Black parents is as intelligent as the former and as very gifted White Negro, but morally he was a Negro. He was an extraor-
vigorous as the latter. De Quatrefages, the most prominent among the dinary creature, one who had the characteristics of the hybrid rather than
monogenists, has propounded this particular thesis with a consistency those of the metis. Such an exceptional phenomenon could not be made
equal only to his immense talent. He submitted all sorts of evidence and into a general rule. One wonders what a nation made of people like
conducted kinds of research to deprive his adversaries of their last argu- Alexandre Dumas, or even like Alexandre Dumasfils, would be like." 1
ment. "Finally," he writes, "talking about the mulattoes of his country, Dogmatic thinking will push some people to many an extreme posi-
Torres Caicedo cited various orators, poets, publicists, and a vice-presi- tion. It is really strange to have such a learned woman attribute to the de-
dent of New Grenada who happens to be a distinguished writer as generation of White blood in the veins of the immortal novelist and poet
wel1 ... This should be sufficient evidence, I believe, that under normal those impulses which are characteristic of all extraordinary personalities.
conditions the meris of the Negro and the European justifies the follow- Before and after Seneca, it has often been said that "every great mind has'
ing comment made by the veteran traveler Thevenot, 'The mulatto can a touch of madness," "Nihil est ingenium magnum sine aliqua mixtura
do everything the White man can do; his intelligence is equal to ours'" dementiae." Would Clemence Royer, who herself is extraordinarily intel-
(No reference). ligent, be the only person to have forgotten such an old and popular
But to acknowledge the intellectual equality of mulattoes and Whites adage? Did not Byron and Musset manifest even more extreme neuroses
is inevitably to admit the equality of Blacks and Whites. Indeed, if the two than Alexandre Dumas? Should not anthropology, if it is a coherent sci-
races had any innately different intellectual abilities, it would be impossi- ence at all, consider these men too Negroes in moral terms? At this rate,
ble to understand how the mulatto is endowed, not with an average intelli- on the basis of their psychological and moral profile alone, all celebrities
gence but, to the contrary, with an intelligence equal to that of the will be classified Negroes. In fact, it appears that if one is not a Negro,
supposedly superior genitor. So most anthropologists simply refuse to one cannot achieve anything that is great, beautiful, sublime! But draw-
recognize the intellectual equality of the mulatto and the White man, an ing such a conclusion would really be overshooting my thesis.
equality so positively proclaimed by the author of L'Espece hwnaine. As untenable as the position of the polygenist school is, I find it
Topinard believes that the hybrid offspring of the two races will be· more logical in its deductions than de Quatrefages is. Among its adher-
superior if the two parent races are themselves superior; mediocre, if one ents error is at least total. If they draw false conclusions, this is not due to
Metissage and Equality of the Races 207
tain extent, facial features, then one may certainly take them into account.
their reasoning but to their positing as their initial premise the innate ~nd If the phrase refers to moral and intellectual traits, then it is anthropologi-
radical inequality of the human races, which is in their eyes a doctnnal cally meaningless, considering that such traits are variable in the human
and primordial truth. Does De Quatrefages challenge thi,s notion o~ the races. In any case, these traits are not so separate from the rest of an indi-
inequality of the races? Of course not. The illustrious pro~essor adm~ts to vidual's being as to be transmissible independently in a process analogous
the equality of mulattoes and Whites, but at the same t1~e he behev~s to the usual process of physiological paternal heredity. Besides, if de Qua-
firmly in the iITemediable inequality of Blacks and Caucas1~ns. How did trefages's theory was true, there would not be any mulatto with yellow
he fail to grasp the weakness of his theory once it was submitted to a log- skin and curly hair, that is, with the characteristic traits of the rneris of
ical examination? Black and White parents. Mulattoes would always have a black skin and
Logic is indeed unforgiving to those who spurn it. The mean of 4 and, frizzy hair, like their mother; they would all have the gre_at intelligence
2 shall never be 4; it shall always be 3. One may raise the virtual value of which alone their father possesses. But the truth is altogether different; the
the largest factor to any power, one shall never be able to establish an inte- reality is precisely the opposite. Metissage is a purely physiological phe-
gral equation between the resulting mean and this factor, or e~se mathe- nomenon, nothing more. A mulatto's intelligence is not some special
matics will cease to be mathematics. One will simply keep gomg from x virtue inherited from his father or mother; it is, rather, an hereditary at-
toy. Strangely enough, as the large number increases, the gap between it tribute obtained from either parent, and its source is unpredictable.
and the mean also increases, and so does the gap between the mean and As for the case of Lislet Geoffroy, that man who is supposedly a
the small number. Such a perspicacious mind as de QWitrefages' could.not Negro physically but a White man morally and intellectually, I humbly
have missed the implications of these deductions. Embarrassed but wish- confess that I have never been able to observe the phenomenon person-·
ing to rest his statements on rational foundations, he invented a specio~s ally. Monsieur de Quatrefages must really have been deeply convinced
theory which has no other purpose than to mask th~ i~co?erence ~f h~s of the truth of his anthropological doctrines to have proposed such a
opinions. This is how he tries to explain the contrad1ctton inherent m his "fact" as a serious argument. The first thought of a man who harbors less
anthropological doctrine of the inequality of the races: prejudices regarding the innate abilities of Blacks, would be to wonder
"The influence of each parent on the child has directly to do with the whether Lislet Geoffroy's putative White father had passed on to his son
parent's ethnic characteristics. This very simple ~onsider~tion, which more than his name. In the eyes of the honorable scientist, however, a
rests on the evidence of an entire array of facts, easily explains many re- highly intelligent Negro would be much more of an anomaly than the
sults which puzzle physiologists and anthropologists. After attributing a black-complexioned and frizzy-haired mulatto offspring of a White
preponderant role to the mother, Nott claims to be surprised th~t the mu- would be.
latto's level of intelligence is closer to the White father's. But is not th~ While this fact is not wholly impossible, it is highly improbable that
latter's intellect superior to the mother's? Is it not normal, then, that it it will reoccur in identical cases. The mulatto offspring of a Black and a
should prevail in heredity? ... Lislet Geoffroy, who is ph.ysicall~ a White may have, instead of the usual reddish yellow complexion, a suffi-
Negro but wholly White by his character, intelligence, and aptitudes, ts a ciently dark skin to resemble a griffe (314 or even 4/5 Black) {editor and
striking illustration of this" (No reference). translatm's note, griffe is a Haitian Creole term for a dark-skinned per-
However simple the explanation may appear to the learned anthro- son with 'white', European features and hair}. His color, however, is al-
pologist, he obviously positions himself outside the r~al~ of sc~ence and ways offset by the sharpness of his features and his hair, so that a
chooses instead to hang onto a pure fantasy. How valid mdeed ts that so- knowledgeable observer can tell the physiological distance between the
called rule according to which the influence of each parent has directly to individual and either of the two parent races. Unexpected and jarring
do with the parent's ethnic characteristics? Is it not, rather, the statement characteristics of skin color, hair, and facial features occur usually only
of some principle which remains to be proven? Is it not possible that its in the offspring of parents who are themselves metis in varying degrees.
sententious formulation, which is likely to impress an ordinary intellect, In the initial instance of hybridization, each parent's hereditary
has no other purpose than to hide its scientific inanity? physiological baggage intervenes in opposite directions but with equal
If ethnic characteristics refer, for example, to hair color and, to a cer-
Metissage and Equality of the Races
209
force, each modifying the other and producing an offspring with the av-
my slave mother, to my mother with her ebony complexion, and not to my
erage characteristics of the two parents. In the second instance, the
supposedly Anglo-Saxon genitor that I owe my aspirations and ·native
hereditary traits, already diffused and mixed, come into contact and com-
abilities, inalienable patrimony of the persecuted and scorned race." 3
bine in unpredictable ways. Thus the offspring of a pure White and a
This is the s01t of discourse intelligent mulattoes should oppose to
pure Black will inherit traits in equal proportions from his mother and his
those who want them to scorn their mother so they can be scorned them-
father. By contrast, the offspring of metis, that is, of genitors themselves
selves. These words wipe from my heart a memory that has long sad-
situated at varying distances from the original races, will have a more
dened me. Alexis de Tocqueville makes the following comments in his
mixed hereditary profile, assuming each parent's complexion and fea-
~De la Dernocratie en Amerique: "There are in the South of th~ Union
tures in unexpected ways and unequal proportions.
more mulattoes than in the North, but infinitely fewer than in any other
To return to the specific phenomenon cited by de Quatrefages, it is
European colony. Mulattoes are very few in the United States; they have
not certain at all that Lislet Geoffroy was a mulatto by his blood, no more
no independent collective power, and in racial conflicts they usually side
than he was one by his skin and his hair. The naturalist Bory de Saint-Vin-
with Whites. So in Europe, noblemen's lackeys side with the grands
cent, who could distinguish a Negro from a mulatto and knew the Black
seigneurs against the people" (No reference). And the great publicist
mathematician personally, refers to him as a true Negro. "As an example goes on to define the word lackey: "The word lackey was an extreme
of the high level of education which Ethiopians are capable of achieving," ter,in which was used, when no others could be found, to represent
he writes, "I shall point out that, when I visited Isle-de-France, the wittiest . human baseness. Under the old monarchy, to depict a vi le and degraded
and most learned man I met in the colony was not a Whm man but the being in one word, people used to say that he had the soul of a lackey"
Negro Lislet-Geoffroy, a correspondent of the old Academie des Sciences (No reference).
and now our colleague at the Jnstitut. A skilled mathematician, long be- Thanks to Douglass' vigorous protest, we will no longer see a lackey
fore the Revolution, lhrough sheer talent and despite his color Lislet-Ge- in every mulatto in the United States.
offroy became a captain of the army corps of engineers." 2
If Bory de Saint-Vincent was a layman who mentioned this fact only
incidentally, we could very well think that he was using the word Negro 2. METJS OFFSPRING OF A BLACK AND A MULATTO
without making the distinction between a Black and a mulatto. But he is The met~s offspring of a Black and a mulatto is the subject best suited for
a specialist; his work is purely scientific and he wrote the words I have our study of the question with which we are concerned in this book. If it
just quoted specifically as an argument to refute the notion of the in- was true that intelligence was a product of White blood, would the por-
equality of the races. So there is every reason to believe that de Quatre- tion inherited by the mulatto, which enables him to conquer ignorance,
fages erred.
be substantial enough for him to transmit some of it to his metis offspring
We can conclude, therefore, that the mulatto is as intelligent as the by the Black woman? Certainly not. The further removed from the White
White man; however, he does not inherit his intellectual aptitudes solely
type, the less satisfying the resulting hybrids would be. Such is the opin-
from his White parent, for intelligence is the common patrimony of the
ion of most scientists who support the notion of inequality of the races.
entire human species.
But these scientists do not only asse1t that a return to the Black race is
To end the controversy raised by de Quatrefages's theory, I shall
equivalent to a degeneration of the mulatto type whose physiological re-
quote the words of one the most remarkable men of color and the most en-
demption had begun with the Whjte blood in their veins. They also insin-
gaging individual of his race in the United States. Frederick Douglass, one
uate that the offspring of the mulatto and the Black is necessarily inferior
of the most striking illustrations of the concept of equality of the human
races, could not remain unnoticed by the advocates of the theory of in- to the mulatto and even to the Black, although the latter is considered the
lowest of humar:i types.
equality. To explain his great intellectual abilities, they invoked the theory
I have already cited the figures collected by Sandifort B. Hunt based
of the author of L'Espece humaine. Here is how the honorable marshal of
Colombia responded to those people: "It is to her, to my noble mother, to on wei"ghtings of the brains of Whites, Blacks, and various degrees of
metis. I will now simply quote Topinard 's words: "Do not these figures
Metissage and Equality of the Races 2]]
inte11igent and remarkably well educated among the griffes as we do
seem to indicate that when White blood predominates in a metis, it exer- among the other varieties of the human species. Among the grzffes francs
cises a determining action in favor of the development of the brain. In- (one quarter White), the cap res, and the sacatras, different combinations
versely, when Negro blood predominates, the brain is left in a state of of Black and White, there are personalities of the highest intellectual and
inferiority vis-a-vis even the pure Negro" (No reference). moral distinction.
Most anthropologists have actually embraced this idea expressed In literature, I will cite first and foremost Demesvar Delorme, a
here in a questioning form~ They repeat it at every opp011unity, as they brown griffe, one of the most remarkable citizens of the young republic.
would some uncontestable truth. But let us examine the sociological sig- He stands out not only because of his uncontestable talents as a writer,
nificance of this idea. The mulatto aware of these terrible revelations of but also by his exceptional constancy as a man of letters, a constancy
anthropology would be justifiably afraid of getting invol~ed wit~ a which denotes a mind essentially open to every form of beauty and ap-
Black. A young man or woman would not be happy to enter mto a umon preciates and revels in every form of beauty. Monsieur Delorme did not
the fruit of which is condemned to ineluctable inferiority. The brutal doc- complete his early education in Europe; he went there much later. This
trine advises not only mulattoes against an alliance with Blacks, but it fact deserves to be noted, for it proves that his fine mind did not need di-
also cautions Blacks against a u·nion with mulattoes lest they procreate rect contact with Western civilization to develop all its marvelous apti-
offspring inferior to Blacks themselves, who have already been pro- tudes. These aptitudes are innate in him, for they flourish in every human
claimed the lowest among human beings. race in ttie course of its historical evolution.
Do we appreciate the import of such a curse? l~e Black man has Delorme has written several books, some more important than
always been looked down upon by the White man, if the mul~tto has long others, depending on the taste and intellectual inclinations of readers.
been considered a monstrous being, is not the griffe the ultimate scape- After distinguishing himself in Haiti as an independent and liberal par-
goat in all those theories inspired by prejudice which, never examined liamentarian and as a sagacious and witty journalist, he published in
nor challenged, have entered the mainstream of science? While so.me un- Brussels, in 1867, that is, during his first exile, a small book that was
conscious gesture occasionally makes one forget the syster:i~uc c~n highly praised for its elevated ideas and pure style. In this work Delorme
tempt suffered by the pure African, the less fortunate griffe still remains examined the political and practical value of the Monroe Doctrine, doing
the subject of White reprobation. in the process a rapid but conscientious study of American democracy.
The first dramatic production of the greatest thinker of this century, No other writer has brought to this subject more clarity and a broader
Victor Hugo, offers a striking example of this. Whatever the poet's per- philosophical appreciation. ,
sonal genius, and precisely because of his personal genius, his ~ork al- Returning to Europe in 1869, Delorme courageously went back to
ways Teflects the spirit of his time. He is superior only when he knows work. In 1870 he published Les theoriciens au pouvoir, a book that
how to interpret this spirit while idealizing it. In Bug-Jargal, Victor Hug? would have known a real success had it been written by an already
wanted to dramatize the psychological traits of each of the hu~an van- known author or a prominent European political figure. The focus is a
eties embodied by his characters. He shows the White man as a generous simple question of history, but the fluid development of the thesis, the
being and the Black man as a poetically noble creature, but he depicts the skillful articulation of the different parts, the nuances and subtle allu-
griffe as the most hideous character. The griffe Habibrah is a physicall~ sions, the consistently elegant style, all these qualities make the book a
ugly and deformed individual; morally, he is a grumpy, cowardly, env~ real literary master work. The useful and the pleasant have never been so
ous, and hateful person. This is the work of an adolescent author, but this happily conjoined. Delicately introduced and wittily nan-ated episodes as
only serves to underscore the influence surrounding ideas must have had well as colorful and charming descriptions further contribute to the al-
on the enfant sublime and future master of French poetry. lure of this book which is concerned with what is essentially a rather in-
The truth is, the griffe, no more than the mulatto, does not deserve grate theme. Often the traveler meanders through enchanted landscapes
this reputation for cowardice and envious ignorance which Caucasian where an exuberant nature, all perfumes and colors, seems to bloom only
prejudice has made him. In Haiti, where the experience of metissage oc- to capture his glance, ravish his heart, and lift his spirit. He enjoys it all,.
curs in every combination, spontaneously and naturally, we find as many
but with a nonchalant indifference; he is soon tired by the very excess of nantly grave tone. They have an indefinable solemnity, which imparts to
the sensations he experiences. But transport him to some arid desert, them their indisputable originality. His soul has absorbed early the per-
where all he can hope for is desolation and boredom, how enchanted will fume of the Holy Scriptures. He has been touched equally by Moses and
he be when he discovers along his path unexpected marvels wrought by Lamartine, by David and Milton, and he is no stranger to the literary cur-
some a1tful hand! Dawdling along, oblivious to his painful feet, he will rents of our time. So we read his works with pleasure, even though they
arrive at his destination pleased with the journey. trigger in us very troubling emotions. They inspire in us a certain desire
After Les theoriciens au pouvoir, Delorme wrote Francesca, an his- for perfection, which we cannot reach but which nevertheless excites us
torical novel difficult to categorize. Some find the plot somewhat loose pleasantly, helping us to discover patches of blue in the gray expanse
and the dramatic conflict insufficiently focused, wandering too often mixed joy and sadness of existence.
away from the female protagonist, a beautiful Neapolitan whose charac- Alcibiade Fleury-Battier, a very brown griffe, belonged in the same
ter is neve1theless well rounded. The writer still dazzles with his skills as intellectual family. Less correct than Lochard, he had a much more var-
a writer, but the artist is absolutely out of his depth. Delorme will later ied palette, a superior artistic intuition. He does not have, of course, that
publish another work, Les Damnes, a very long narrative which I cannot elevated thought, that solemn attitude which turns the poet into a sort of
analyze in this space. . prophet and transforms Mount Parnassus with its limpid springs into a
Such varied creations place Delorme in the ranks of estabhshed thundering Mount Sinai. More human, more accessible than his emula-
writers. Whatever critical evaluation one makes of his works, he remains tor, Fleury-Battier writes sweet and harmonious songs, songs of the
a fine man of letters, with all the minor defects ftlfl'd the marvelous quali- heart. In a moment of poetic intoxication, many a soul drunken on ideals
ties one finds in such men even in the most civilized milieus of Europe. will find in those songs accents that resonate with their own aspirations
So I can only applaud the intellectual youth of my country when they pay and musical notes that harmonize with the. muffled notes escaping from
homage to Delorme and proclaim him the dean of Haitian letters. I ha~e their oppressed chest.
learned that our fine litterateur, with a truly remarkable perseverance, is One of the distinctive characteristics of Fleury-Battier's poetry is its
now preparing an important work on the history of art in the Netherlands. recurring thematic fascination with our beautiful tropical nature. Sous Les
I salute this much awaited tome with which Delorme, a fine synthesizer Bambous will never be considered a classic. Besides a few well written
and sensitive esthetc, will no doubt enrich our young and already flour- and sensitive poems, which stand out by the skillful versification, by the
ishing literature. graceful, fresh, and na·ive imagery, and by the fluid harmony of the
Among our poets, I will mention another griffe, Paul Lochard, the thoughts, most of the texts give an impression of haste. Still, young,Hait-
austere bard of our island who sings of the beauty of our colorful land- ian lovers of the Muse will be inspired by many a theme in these songs
scapes with their corn fields made golden by the tropical sun. Like De- and will on many an occasion experience the sacred emotions known
lorme, Lochard completed his education in Haiti. A man of broad and only to poets and patriots.
serene spirit, Lochard puts poetry at the service of all the great ideas This intelligent and engaging writer died quite young. Hard work-
which promote human progress. His poetry is the song of a conscience ing, always reaching for per.fection, he would no doubt have developed
which embraces every noble and beautiful idea and makes it shine like the qualities of a great poet. Neve1theless, Fleury-Battier's example
some precious stone. He strives to apprehend the mysteries of destiny alone should suffice to prove that in no case does the Black race con-
and lift the veil of the unknown, as if he wanted, in a splendid dream, to tribute to the lowering of the intellectual and moral level of the offspring
catch a glance of the divine radiance of the other world. His is the mod- of Blacks and mulattoes. To the col)lrary, the rich Black sap flowing in
ernist poet's aspiration, in this our time when we experience all kinds of them contributes to their blossoming out as only it can, for the Black race
curiosities mixed with all kinds of emotions. itself never fails to blossom every time it finds itself in the same circum-
Lo~hard's Chants du soir is a collection of poems with a chiseled, stances that have favored the development of other human races.
precise, and fluid versification, a varied cadence, and son?rous rhyme~. Thales Manigat, of Cap-Haitien, is another young gr~ffe poet. He de-
They are all dazzling creations, bright, modulated, but with a predom1- veloped his talent on his own, working hard in quiet solitude. His work
Le ciel qui dans l'ether impalpable And then dashing swiftly over the
impresses with the exquisite savoir faire characteristic of great writers.
deploie beach
The poems dazzle with their rich musicality, their harmonious and
Son eventail d'azur With a bell-like tinkling sound.
sonorous rhymes, their skillfully chiseled modern form, their superbly
Parseme de fteurs d'or; la brise qui
daring enjambements. Manigat exhibits the skills of the true artist for Carlo rests his head
soup ire,
whom words are inviting materials to be carved, chiseled, adorned with On Juanita's innocent breast,
En effteurant Jes ftots,
arabesques, and turned into a jewel box in which an idea can shine. While the querida niiia sings
Et descend lentement sur la pl age
Thales Manigat's works are still unpublished, except for a few occa- A romancero and plays her
bruire
sional poems which appeared in the country's newspapers. I am taking mandoline.'
Ainsi que des grelots.
the liberty of publishing one of his poems here. It is neither his most Filled with emotion, her clear and
beautiful nor his best composition, but it was the only one I could readily Sur le sein ingenu de Juanita s'incline vibrant voice
find. As it is, I still think it it worthy of the best anthologies. La tete de Carlo; Rises up to the sky
La querida nifia, sur une mandoline, She shivers, and her shining eyes
Chante un romancero. Are windows onto her trembling soul.
Thales Manigat
Pleine d'emotion, sa voix claire et
The sweet and tender melody fills the
La Havanaise The Girl from Havana vibrante night,
S'envole vers Jes cieux,
Sur la mer azuree OU se mire 1' etoile The night star s~es on the azure sea Sounding like the accords of a lute,
Tout son etre frissonne et son ame Or of an aeolian harp
Sereine de la nuit, With a serene light.
tremblante Which a fleeing Zephyr plucks
Legere et confiante, une eclatante Light and self-assured, a bright sail-
Brille dans ses grands yeux. joyfully
voile boat
Se balance sans bruit: Rocks noiselessly. Ecoutant cette tendre et douce While whispering his desires
C'est l'esquif de Juana, la belle ha- It is Juana's boat. The lovely senora me Jodie To the flowers, the grass, and the
vanaise from Havana S'egrenant dans la nuit beach pebbles.
Au teint brun veloute; With the velvety brown skin Comme un timbre de luth, de harpe Satiated with joy, Jove, and dream,
Aux bras de son amant la senora tout Flaunts her beauty on the arm of her d'Eolie Carlo looks up at the sky.
aise lover. Que Zephyr qui s'enfuit, The moon rises over the horizon,
Etale sa beaute. Racontant ses desirs aux fleurs, aux Trimming the clouds in the colors oi·
Sapphires sparkle around her neck.
pres, aux greves, the rainbow
Des saphirs ason col brillent, une A richly colorful belt accents
Fait vibrer toutjoyeux, And spreading its light over the wild
basquine The elegance of her lithe body
Carlo berce de joie et d'amour et de Ocean
Aux plus riches couleurs Flowers from Bejucal reve, And the silky grass.
Resserre elegamment sa taille svelte et Ornament her heavy silky hair. Plonge son oeil aux cieux. Suddenly, the charming girl lets the
fine; Her smiling lips part,
magic instrument
De Bejucal 4 Jes fleurs Showing a flash of pearly teeth, Mais la lune, irisant la frange d'un
Slip from her beautiful fingers.
Ornenl sa chevelure ondoyante et Under her lover's ardent kisses. nuage,
Her eyes sparkle;
soyeuse Se montre a I 'horizon
Everything in nature invites to joy, She is enraptured.
Et des baisers ardents, Et repand sa clarte sur l'Ocean
To chaste and pure pleasure,
Venant s'epanouir sur sa Jevre rieuse, sauvage "Such a peaceful night," she exclaims.
The sky unfurls its blue curtain
Montrent ses blanches dents. Et le soyeux gazon: "Ah! Sublime nature!
Spangled with golden flowers.
Tout acoup, des beaux doigts de la I hear God's immense voice,
Dans la nature, tout \es invite a la joie, The whispering breeze blows softly,
charmante fille And his breath fills my heart
Au plaisir chaste et pur: Caressing the waves,
S'echappe !'instrument As I behold the immensity of the sea It is not only in the field of literature that griffes show their intellectual
Aux magiques accords, et son regard and the blue sky. abilities. Among the many graduates of the Faculte de Paris now practic-
petille The bird in the forest gives you her ing medicine in Haiti, there are several individuals of this particular com-
Plein de ravissement ... trills, plexion. I will mention first and foremost Dr. Louis Audain, a skillful and
The breeze shares its caresses, and the learned medical practitioner. He holds one of the most prominent posts at
"Nuit sereine, dit elle, 6 nature sub-
rose its perfume. the Beauvais hospital, and his practice attracts a growing clientele, which
lime!
But I, who only have a soul, is the best indication of his science and skills as a doctor. Beauvais is lo-
''Yoix immense de Dieu
What can I offer you?" cated less twenty miles from Paris, and the town does not lack for French
"Dont le souffle remplit mon coeur
devant I' ab1me And the young man, looking down doctors. Everything seems to suggest, then, that if the bronzed disciple of
'"Des mers et du ciel bleu ! At the beautiful child, says to her, Aesculapius can practice his profession there, it is because he is consid-
"L' oiseau dans la fon~t t' ahandonne sa "Juana, open your innocent heart ered at least as capable as any other physician. Heart and mind in the bal-
gamme, And let prayer and triumphant love ance, Dr. Audain can sustain comparison with any man of any race.
"La brise, son soupir; ft.ow from it. Archimede Desert, another griffe, is also a graduate of the Paris
"La rose, ses parfums: moi, qui n'ai The stream must whisper, school of medicine. Younger and less experienced than Dr. Audain, he
qu'une 5.me,
"Que puis-je done t' offrir? ..."
"Juana, dit le jeune horn me, abaissant

..
The rose must give off its scents,
The breeze must blow,
And a woman must pray and love."
(December 1882)
,-has the same remarkable intelligence. He is currently the head of the
Port-au-Prince School of Medicine.
Besides these two truly superior individuals, I will also cite Dr.
Aubry. He too is a griffe and a gifted physician, but he completed all his
sa paupiere medical studies in Haiti. His talent is discreet, but his abilities honor his
"Sur la joyeuse enfant, profession. He has traveled several times to Europe, never failing to so-
"Ouvre ton coeur cam.lide et verse la journ in Paris to catch up with the latest developments in medical science.
priere
Monsieur Aubry is a chevalier de la Legion d'honneur. He was hon-
"Ell' amour triomphant:
ored by France with this most prestigious and universally prized medal
''Le flot doit murmurer, le feu donner
as a result of a generous and noble action on his part. Around
la ftamme,
1867-1868, a whole garrison of the French Navy was struck with yellow
"La rose parfumer,
fever in Haiti. Tireless, without any thought of danger to himself and,
"La brise respirer, et sans cesse la
with unflagging devotion, Dr. Aubry cared for those desperately ill men.
femme
His effotts were most successful, for every one of his patients survived
"Doit prier, doit aimer." the ten-ible epidemic.
(Decemhre 1882)
As for the field of jurisprudence, the Haitian judiciary has in its
ranks a great many griffes. Their great sagacity and their profound under-
standing of the law constitute a certain guarantee of justice and justify
the esteem enjoyed by our courts.
Among these Haitianjurists, I will mention Henri Durand, a former
Appeals Court judge. Independent and proud by nature, open minded, al-
ways on an intellectual quest, he is an honorable individual, incorruptible
but without arrogance, a fine character.
I will also cite Enoch Desert, a very brown griffe, with an almost
black complexion, who holds a doctorate in law from the Faculte de
Paris. He is a man of superior culture. He ha~ authored several books on
cupation with the glorification and regeneration of the Black race, his
finance and political economy intended to clarify various issues pertain-
race. Unlike so many other young men who equate academic success
ing to the financial and economic situation of the Haitian Re~uhlic. 5 His
with the accumulation of degrees and diplomas, mere symbols without
country and his race justifiably expect still greater accomphshme.nts. of
substance, this precocious apostle of the Black cause pursued serious and
him, further proof of what a man of his skin color is capable of ach1evmg
specialized studies to enlighten and sharpen his mind. Surmounting all
when he has had the privileged opp01tunity Lo frequent those European
sorts of difficulties with an inflexible will, he achieved quite early a keen
temples of education, the most beautiful product of civilization an~, at
understanding of the basic issues pertaining to the development of a na-
the same time, the surest guarantee of the superiority of those nations
tion. Thus by the age of twenty-four he had already published in Paris a
who do possess them. . .
number of rather complex works. 6 These are unfortunately economic and
Dalbemar Jean-Joseph, a former Minister of Justice, 1s one of the
social studies, which it would not be quite suitable to analyze in a book
most remarkable lawyers now practicing in Haiti. A man of subtle and
such as this one. I will have occasion, however, to quote from these
lucid intellect, an admirably gifted individual, he is bo~h a skillful writer
works, so readers will be able to have an idea of their tenor.
and a very talented and insightful orator. .
In his very first publication, Edmond Paul made his position clear.
And then there is Monsieur Magny, a former deputy and senator of
He is perhaps the first Haitian of his skin complexion to have understood
the Republic of Haiti, a truly superior individual. A man of Roman hon-
that, as an individual and regardless of his achievements, he could not
esty and great erudition, his modesty, dignity, and urbaneness make of
gain the sincere esteem of anyone who believes in the innate inferiority
him an outstanding personality who would be remarkableiPywhere.
of the Black race. He is at least the first to have had the courage to pro-
I will also mention Eluspha Laporte, a consummate musician and fine
claim that what he seeks above a11 is a means to help the Black people of
instrumentalist. His early death deprived the arts of a first-rate virtuoso.
' Haiti to prove to the entire world that they are endowed with as many
The superb compositions he left behind will no doubt be collected ~nd
great abilities and talents as any other race. This aspect of Paul's person-
published some day, that is, when Haitians finally u~derstan.d the obhga-
ality is particularly worthy of our interest. In a learned and subtle discus-
tion to collect everything produced in the aits, the sciences, literature, and
sion of the famous article of the Haitian Constitution prohibiting
industry, by the country's citizens, in order to show the whole world w~at
foreigners from owning property on Haitian territory, this conscientious
the children of Africa can achieve when they are free and have access, hke
publicist wrote these comments, among others as striking and challeng-
other civilized peoples, to the invigorating fountains of knowledge.
ing: "Once Negro genius has degenerated, once the Black race has been
Finally, I will mention this young Haitian, Emmanuel Chancy, a
pushed into the background, who would take care of developing its abili-
brown griffe like the others, a young man of impressive intelligenc~. A
ties? ... Are there in the Caribbean Blacks whose physiognomy reflects
modest but indefatigable worker, he has recently joined the ranks of our
more deeply the sense of their humanity than the Blacks of Haiti? ...
young republic's writers with his publication of a very seri~u~ to~e on ~h.e
Have you forgotten that Haiti alone is destined to resolve the great prob-
Independence of Haiti, an insightful and learned work of historical criti-
lem of the aptitude of the Black race for civilization ... ?" 7
cism. I hope this will not be his only book on the subject, for these so1ts of
Answering these questions with a wealth of details and profound in-
works are essential for a fuller understanding of our national history.
sights, Paul spares neither men like Granier Cassagnac nor those pre-
This is quite a list of names. Is it not enough, though, to keep the in-
sumably Haitian authors of Gerontocratie who, no doubt after reading
corrigible naysayers from continuing to doubt the moral and intellectual
Monsieur de Gobineau; have expressed various ideas that can only be
aptitudes of the offspring of a mulatto and a Black? I will now clos~ the
detrimental to the nation's cohesion and solidarity.
list with a few comments about one more Haitian griffe, a man with a
powerful personality, who would stand out by his character a~d talents in Here it is perhaps appropriate to quote a passage from the famous
any nation in which he would happen to be born. I am refernng to Mon- Essai sur l'inegalite des races humaines. The Haitian book, published in
sieur Edmond Paul. · 1860 under the title Gerontocratie, is but an amplification of the ideas in
This truly remarkable man completed_ his education in Paris, like this passage from De Gobineau. Obviously, we cannot take these ideas
most wealthy Haitians. One of his distinctive traits is his constant preoc- seriously. Yet, do we not see from time to time someone like Leo Quesnel
publish the same views in the same terms, as if the ideas were his own would have returned freely to the despotically patriarchal social orga-
and as if he had been inspired by the best textual sources? Here is what nization which is so natural among their congeners, whom the Islamic
de Gobineau says, then: conquerors of Africa have _vet to tame. " 8
The history of Haiti, of democratic Haiti, is but a long account of mas- The Comte de Gobineau's language is harsh, slanderous, and hyperbolic.
sacres: massacres of mulattoes by Negroes, when the latter have the I have coldly transcribed his words, for I believe that we still can draw
upper hand; massacres of Negroes by mulattoes, when power is in the some lessons from their exaggerated denigration. Many people in Haiti
hands of the latter group. The country's institutions, however philan- seem unaware of these comments. Others, who have read them, seem to
thropic in theory, are powerless; they remain dormant on the piece of have taken them too literally. They have in fact inspired Gerontocratie. I
paper on which they were conceived. The true mindset of the popula- said earlier that an analysis of Edmond Paul's works would be out of
tion is Jet loose and reigns untrammeled. Consistently with the natural place here. So I will simply quote Paul's summary refutation of all the
law evoked earlier, the Black variety, which belongs to those human ideas propounded by De Gobineau and his adepts, even though he does
tribes incapable of civilization, harbors the most profound hatred for not mention De Gobineau by name:
all the other races. Thus th.e Negroes of Haiti are adamant in their re- "It is not a rare occurrence to meet people who demand that Haiti be
-
jection of Whites, to whom they even forbid entry to their territory. no more than, a simple trading post. Haitians would labor in the plains
They would even like to exclude mulattoes, whom they intend to exter- and in the mountains, and commerce would be conducted in the city
minate ... . through our unavoidable intermediaries. Oh, such people profess a pro:-
found veneration for agriculture. What they forget is that we also have as
If circumstances had allowed the people of this unfortunate country
our miss1on the creation of a Black and Yellow city with its arts, sciences,
to behave in accordance with the respective spirit of the races from
and virtues, where the mind would reign supreme." 9
which they originate and to act without the inevitable influence of for-
The courageous public intellectual later published Le Sahli de la so-
eign ideas, they would have developed their society freely and in ·har-
ciete, a work characterized by the same nobility of thought, the same in-
mony with their instincts. More or less spontaneously but not without a
flexible logic, and the same spirit of justice. During his exile from 1874 to
measure of violence, the two groups of different skin color that form
1876, Edmond Paul wrote another work of political economy, L' lmpot sur
the population would have separated from each other.
le caje, in which he examines the important question of coffee production,
The mulattoes would have settled on the coast, so that they could exportation, and taxation in Haiti. Always consistent, he presents the fact~
remain close to the Europeans with whom they would entertain the in terms of their implications for the upward intellectual and moral mobil-
kinds of relations they seek. Under the direction of the latter, mulatto ity of the Black populations of the plains. The central issue raised in
tradesmen, agents, lawyers, or physicians would tighten those -ties Paul's book is whether the coffee producer, the mountain farmer, is not so
which flatter them, mix more and more frequently with Whites, im- overwhelmed under the weight of taxes that he becomes unable to im-
prove themselves gradually, and finally lose, in varying proportions, prove his material conditions and to raise his moral and intellectual level.
both their African blood and their African character.·
Paul published one last book in Kingston, Jamaica, entitled La cause
de nos malheurs. It is a purely political and theoretical work, and we
The Negroes would have withdrawn into the interior, where they need not go into it at this point.
would have developed small communities similar to those created in In addition to being a prolific author of well thought out and inspiring
the past by the Maroons in Saint-Domingue itself, in Martinique, in Ja- books, our illustrious compatriot is also a consummate journalist and the
maica, and in Cuba in particular, whose large territory and deep forests best parliamentarian Haiti has ever known. He speaks in great occasions
offered a more secure refuge. There, in the midst of the rich and varied only to resolve a situation. He is not a very loquacious orator, but his grave
Caribbean vegetation, with ample provisions of foodstuff to sustain and severe eloquence, at times a little too solemn, does affect his audience
life, thanks to the generosity of an opulent land, the American Blacks and infallibly produces the results he seeks in a so11 of surswn corda!
had some twenty business men like the Etiennes, with their skills and
Edmond Paul may not have a very beautiful style; his writings may
their dedication to progress, we can only imagine the positive effects
contain some instances of incorrect usage; his turns of phrase rriay not al-
they would have on the future of our motherland and on the reg~nerati?n
ways be the best or the most elegant. Nonetheless, his thoughts, his
of the race, of which we Haitians are the most appropriate specimens for
views, are indisputably elevated, weighty, and, most of all, eminently
scientific study.
adapted to the needs of the Black race of Haiti as it strives for moral and
I must insist that the qualities I am praising here are of the utmost
intellectual progress. ·
importance in any inventory of ethnic aptitudes. Black men must be con-
As for me, putting aside all political concerns, which in any case
vinced of this one fact: they will be recognized as equals by all other men
would be outside the purview of this book, I confess that I feel touched
in terms of their abilities only when they have achieved material success
every time I am in the presence of this man. I am indeed keenly aware of
and accumulated wealth, while at the same time achieving intellectual
the influence of his writings ,on my views and of the role they have
success and accumulating knowledge. Gaining wealth through hard
played in my intellectual development.
work, self-discipline, and foresight is not as easy as those who have
So then, in every field, contrary to the implications of Sandifort B.
never tried might think. Whatever one may say, the slow accumulation of
Hunt's figures and the theory founded on them, griffes prove themselves
capital and its fructification through intelligent investments require no
capable of absorbing all kinds of knowledge and of being inspired by the
less mental power than the solution of a problem in spherical trigonome-
most elevated sentiments that could adorn a man's character.
try or the resolution of an integral. However strange this statement may
Besides their abilities to deal with abstract knowledge, griffes
sound, it is true. In the second case, we are dealing with the simple out-
exhibit all s011s of practical skills. In business,·· wlrich requires self-
come of an intellectual exercise, an exercise of a higher order, I admit,
discipline and will, they succeed as well as anyone. Theagene Lahens, in but one in which the mind merely calls upon earlier conditioning. In the
Port-au-Prince, and the Etienne brothers, in Cap-Haitien, for example, first case, one needs a lively and rigorous intelligence, suppo11ed by a
run first-class businesses. The Etiennes, in particular, have shown re-
strong psyche and a tested morality, so that in effect all the individual's
markable tact and business intelligence, considering the many diffi-
faculties are constantly engaged.
culties they had to surmount before they could achieve their present
All these discussions are already too concerned with political econ-
situation and maintain their current status as heads of an enterprise with
omy, which may be quite useful for shedding light on some realities, but
a promi~ing future. What further distinguishes these businessmen is
which should not impede upon the field of anthropology, the subject of
the unusual combination of business savvy and patriotism, rare even
this book. I will move, therefore, to another order of arguments better
among those who claim to devote themselves to political affairs. Their
suited to our subject.
greatest desire is to see the country on the road to progress and prosper-
ity, the same road they have traveled, on a difficult journey which only
the strong complete through the exercise of sheer will and intelligence. NOTES
Rejecting the egoism typical of Haiti's merchant class, they are con-
1 Congres international des sciences ethnographiques (Paris, 1878), p.
cerned with opening new horizons to the country by putting their credit,
196.
their sense of initiative, and their sense of organization to the service of 2
Bory de Saint-Vincent, loco citato, Vol. II, p. 64.
the nation's economy, to the service of its agriculture and industry. All 3Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An
they want to realize their plans is general and lasting security in the coun-
American Slave, Written by Himself.
try, without which it is impossible to attract capital. With such ideas, one 4
Village near Havana.
can achieve miracles, even though one acts within the narrow circle of 5 Les reformes financieres de la Republique d'Haiti; La Banque nationa/e
one's private interests. I can predict that the Etiennes' company, one of
d'Haiti; etc.
the most solid in the country, will become the largest and richest within a 6 L'education industrielle du peuple: Questions politico-econo111iq11es
decade.
(Paris: Guiilaumin, 1862-1863)
We can only rejoice at the thought. Indeed, if the young Republic
7 Edmond Paul, Questions politico-economiques (2e partie), p. 82 and

p. 94.
8 De Gobineau, loco citato (vol. I), pp. 49-50.
9 These words appear in a note on page 12 of L 'Education industrielle du
peuple. Author's emphasis.

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TH[ •

University of Illinois Press

There is an element of chance in all human endeavors. When I arrived in

so hard to avoid throughout this book. · . nt iat1ves for ref d

given unlimited access.

Connais-toi toi-meme, [ . . .}, Thales et ensuite

La connaissance de soi est, en effet, parallele a

"Know thyself." Thales and then Socrates, who

"The differen~ among the races,

15 Manuel d'histoire nature/le.

Pour dresser une telle statistique de l'humanite

One would need a whole lifetime to draw a sta-

48 The sciences camera{ es (Kameral Wissenschaften) include all the admin-

needs to manage public finances.

- Jn anthropology, cranial measurement is now a

Naturalists, especially those with an expertise in zoology and botany, call

number of series." 17 bscient1st caut10ns. most . emphatically· Th'is is. qmte

popu~at~~~ of A~:i~: :, of the mountains ~f1~:i~;!l~~!~se ;~:~~~~~=~

vue de I' obstetrique," in Bulletin de lu Societe d'Anthropologie de Paris, Vol.

Littre et Charles Robin, Dictionnaire de medecine, article "Melanine".

cosmografici, viaggio, estatico al mondo planetario e storia della terra, Cesene,

34 See Albert Lemoine, De la physionomie et de la parole.

35 A.H. Sayce, Principes de philologie comparee, transl. M. C. Jovy.

36 Renan, Del' origine du lw1gage.

38 Frarn;ois Lenormanl, Histoire mzcienne de I' Orient.

T. Ben fey, Ueber das Verhdltniss deraegyptischen Sprache zwn semitis-

44 Congres intenzational des sciences ethnographiques, p. 114.

45 Whitney, Le langage et l'etude du langage (3e edition).

46 Sayce, loco citato, p. 292.

47 Theodor Waitz, Anthropologie der Natun 1olker (Leipzig, 1859).

In thus insisting on the unity of the human

THE INEQUALITY DOCTRINE AND ITS

philosophy. According to Broca, those anthropological theories are to-

Metissage and Equality

Videntesfilii Deifilias hominum

If she be black, and thereto have an evil,

1. STUDIES OF METISSAGE FROM THE POINT

"Juana, dit le jeune horn me, abaissant

7 Edmond Paul, Questions politico-economiques (2e partie), p. 82 and

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