The Races of Man: An Outline of Anthropology and Ethnography

J. DENIKER, Sc.D. (/Paris/),

Chief Librarian of the Museum of Natural History, Paris; Honorary Fellow of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain; Corresponding Member of the Italian Anthropological, Netherland Geographical, and Moscow Natural Science Societies, etc.

WITH 176 ILLUSTRATIONS AND 2 MAPS.

My object in the present work has been to give in a condensed form the essential facts of the twin sciences of anthropology and ethnography. The very nature of such an undertaking condemns the author to be brief, and at the same time somewhat dogmatic; inevitable gaps occur, and numerous inequalities in the treatment. To obviate, partly at least, such defects, I have endeavoured not merely to present the actual facts of the subject, but also to summarise, with as much fidelity as possible, the explanations of these facts, in so far as such may be educed from theories among which there is often sufficient perplexity of choice. In many cases I have ventured, however, to give my personal opinion on different questions, as, for instance, on the signification of the laryngeal sacs among anthropoid apes, on many questions of anthropometry in general, on the classing of “states of civilisation,” on fixed and transportable habitations, on the classification of races, on the races of Europe, on the Palæ-American race, etc.

My book is designed for all those who desire to obtain rapidly a general notion of ethnographic and anthropological sciences, or to understand the foundations of these sciences. Thus technical terms are explained and annotated in such a manner that they may be understood by all.

Those who may wish for further details on special points will be able to take advantage of the numerous bibliographical notes, at the foot of the pages, in which I have sought to group according to plan the most important or accessible works. I believe that even professional anthropologists will be able to consult my work profitably. They will find condensed in it information which is scattered over a vast crowd of notes and memoirs in all languages. I trust also that they may appreciate the Appendices, as well as the lists in the text itself, in which are collected from the best sources some hundreds of figures relating to the chief dimensions of the human body.

The illustrations which complete and elucidate the text have been selected with very great care. With two or three exceptions, the “types” of the different peoples are photographs of well-authenticated subjects, often such as have been observed and measured by competent authorities, or by myself.

I attach too much importance to the systematic illustration of anthropological works not to fail to express here my sincere indebtedness to the institutions and individuals who have been good enough to lend me blocks and photographs. I have thus to thank the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, the Anthropological Society and the Anthropological School of Paris, the India Museum, the Museum of Natural History of Paris, the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, Dr. Beddoe, Prince Roland Bonaparte, M. Chantre, Drs. Collignon and Delisle, Herr Ehrenreich and his editors Fr. Vieweg & Sons, Professor Haddon, Dr. Lapicque, Mr. Otis Mason, Dr. Sören Hansen, MM. S. Sommier, P. and F. Sarasin and their editor Herr C. Kreidel of Wiesbaden, Dr. Ten Kate, Mr. Thurston, Miss Godden, Miss Werner, and Messrs. Harper & Bros.

I desire also to thank in this place Dr. Collignon, Mr. Havelock Ellis, and M. Salomon Reinach, for the trouble they have taken in revising the proofs of certain parts of my work.

J. DENIKER.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

/Ethnic Groups and Zoological Species/ 1

Difficulties in applying to Man the terms of zoological nomenclature--Criterion of species--Terms to give to the “Somatological Units” constituting the genus _Homo_--Monogenesis and Polygenesis--The “Ethnic Groups” are constituted by the different combinations of the “Somatological Units” or “Races”--Somatic characters and ethnic characters.

/Somatic Characters/ 12

/Distinctive Characters of Man and Apes/.--Monkeys and anthropoid apes--Erect attitude--Curvature of the spine--Brain--Skull--Teeth--Other characters--Differences less accentuated in the fœtus and the young than in the adult.

/Distinctive Morphological Characters of Human Races/.--_Stature_: Individual limits--Dwarfs and giants--Average stature of different populations--Influence of environment--Differences according to sex--Reconstitution from the long bones--_Teguments_: Skin--Hair of head and body--Four principal types--Microscopic structure--Correlation between the hair of the head and the pilosity of the body--_Pigmentation_: Colouring of the skin, the eyes, and the hair--Changes in the pigment.

1. /Morphological Characters/--(continued) 53

Cranium or Skull: Cranial measurements--Orbits and orbital index--Nasal bone and nasal index--Prognathism--_Head of the living subject_: Cephalic index--Face--Eyes--Nose and nasal index in the living subject--Lips--_Trunk and Limbs_: The Skeleton--Pelvis and its indices--Shoulder blade--Thoracic limb--Abdominal limb--_Proportions of the body in the living subject_--Trunk and neck--Curve of the back--Steatopygy--_Various Organs_: Genital organs--Brain--Its weight--Convolutions--The neuron--Its importance from the psychical point of view.

2. /Physiological Characters/ 105

Functions of nutrition and assimilation: Digestion, alimentation, growth, temperature of the body, etc.--_Respiration and circulation_: Pulse, composition of the blood, etc.--Special odour--_Functions of communication_: Expression of the emotions, acuteness of the senses, etc.--_Functions of reproduction_: Menstruation, menopause, increase in the number of conceptions according to season, etc.--_Influence of environment_: Acclimatation--Cosmopolitanism of the genus Homo and the races of mankind--Cross-breeding.

3. /Psychological and Pathological Characters/.--Difficulties of studying them--Immunities--Nervous diseases of uncivilised peoples.

/Ethnic Characters/ 123

Various stages of social groups and essential characters of human societies: Progress.--Conditions of Progress: Innovating initiative, and tradition--Classification of “states of civilisation.”

I.--/Linguistic Characters/.--_Methods of exchanging ideas within a short distance_--Gesture and speech--Divisions of language according to structure--Jargons--_Communications at a relatively remote distance_: optic and acoustic signals--_Transmission of ideas at any distance and time whatever_--Handwriting--Mnemotechnic objects--Pictography--Ideography--Alphabets--Direction of the lines of handwriting.

II.--/Sociological Characters/ 144

1. /Material Life/: Alimentation: Geophagy--Anthropophagy--Preparation of foods--Fire--Pottery--Grinding of corn--Stimulants and Narcotics--_Habitation_: Two primitive types of dwellings--Permanent dwelling (hut)--Removable dwelling (tent)--Difference of origin of the materials employed in the two types--Villages--Furniture--Heating and lighting--_Clothing_: Nakedness and Modesty--Ornament precedes dress--Head-dress--Ethnic mutilations--Tattooing--Girdle, necklace, and garland the origin of all dress--Manufacture of garments--Spinning and weaving--_Means of Existence_: tools of primitive industry--Hunting--Fishing--Agriculture--Domestication and rearing of animals.

II. /Sociological Characters/--(continued) 197

2. /Psychic Life/: _Games and Recreations_--Their importance--Games of children and adults--Sports and public spectacles--Masks--_Fine Arts_--Graphic arts--Ornamentation--Drawing--Sculpture--Dancing--Its importance among uncultured peoples--Pantomime and dramatic art--Vocal and instrumental music--Instruments of music--Poetry--_Religion_--Animism--Its two elements: belief in the soul, and belief in spirits--Fetichism--Polytheism--Rites and ceremonies--Priesthood--International religions--_Myths_--_Science_--Art of counting--Geometry--Calculation of time--Clocks and calendars--Geography and cartography--Medicine and surgery.

/Sociological Characters/--(continued) 229

3. /Family Life/.--Relations of the two sexes before marriage--_Marriage and family_--Theory of promiscuity--Group marriage--Exogamy and endogamy--Matriarchate--Degrees of relationship and filiation--Polyandry--Levirate--Polygamy and monogamy--Patriarchate--Rape and purchase of the bride--Duration of conjugal union--_Children_--Birth--Nurture--Name of the child and of adults--Initiation, circumcision, etc.--_Old men and their fate_--_Funereal rites_--Mourning.

4. /Social Life/.--(a) _Home life of a people_--_Economic organisation_--The forms of property depend on production--Common property and family property--Village community--Individual property--_Social organisation_--Totemism--Clan rule--Family rule--Territorial rule--Caste and class rule--Democratic rule--Social morals--Right and justice--Taboo--Retaliation, vendetta, and ordeals--Secret societies--Extra legal judges--Formulæ of politeness--(b) _International life of peoples_--Absence of sympathetic relations--Hostile relations--_War_--Arms of offence--Bow and arrows--Arms of defence--Neutral relations--_Commerce_--Money--Cowry--Transports and means of communication--Primitive vehicles--Navigation.

/Classification of Races and Peoples/ 280

Criticism of anthropological classification--Frequent confusion of the classing of races and _of peoples_--The determining of races can be based only on _somatic characters_--For the classing of peoples, on the contrary, it is necessary to take into account ethnic characters (linguistic and sociological), and above all _geographical distribution_--_Classification of races proposed by the author_--Succinct characterisation of the twenty-nine races which are therein mentioned--_Classification of ethnic groups_ adopted in this work.