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THE
DEATH-AGONY
OF ‘THE
“SCIENCE” OF RACE
ze
Y
M. FINOT
LONDON
STEAD’S PUBLISHING. HOUSE
Q
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LE _PREJUGE DES SEXES-THE
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porary Philosophy. F. Alcan).
THE
DEATH-AGONY
OF THE
“SCIENCE” OF RACE
'
JEAN FINOT
AUTHOR OF “THE FALLACY OF RACE”
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH
BY CONSTANCE A. GRANDE
STEAD’S PUBLISHING HOUSE,
BANK BuImDINGs, KıncswAyY, LonDon, W.C.
July, 1911
EM ir
a3 LEN
A CN
# "4
PREFACE.
UNTIL a little more than half a
dozen years ago the theory—the
pseudo-scientific theory—of the
essential and radical differences of
Races was almost universally ac-
cepted, It had much‘ to recommend
it. Itwas the Western form of the
doctrine of Caste, It appealed
strongly to those who, imagining
themselves to be born into a
superior order of beings, considered
themselves thereby authorised to
disregard obligations of justice or
morality in dealing with those
whom they described as men of
inferior race.
The assertion of superiority was
seldom construed in the spirit of
®
Preface
noblesse oblige. It was usually
paraded as an excuse for denying
elementary human rights to certain
races who, being dubbed inferior,
were practically thrust out of the
human family. The inferior races
were assumed to occupy a position
midway between the animals whom
we hunt for our sport and slaughter
for our food, and the superior races
who alone have a right to be
regarded as human beings.
The so-called Science of Race
thus became the plausible justifica-
tion for every infamy.
It was the distinction and the
privilege of my honoured and illus-
trious friend and comfrere, M. Jean
Finot, to demolish this stronghold
of iniquity. The publication of his
famous book “Le Prejuge des
Races,” four or five years ago, was
as potent as the blast of the horns
which prostrated the walls of
Jericho. Translated into seven or
5
Preface
eight languages, eagerly criticised
in every nation, M. Finot’s frank,
uncompromising demonstration that
there was no such thing as Race,
that all mankind is one and indi-
visible, that every human being has
the inalienable rights belonging to
the human family, produced an
immediate and world-wide effect.
The superior races, it is true, still
exercise their authority, but its
moral basis has been destroyed,
The doctrine by which they Justi-
fied their denial of justice has been
exploded, and now, when we
oppress the weaker races, “con-
science doth make cowards of us
all.”
The occasion of the meeting of
the Races Congress in London
seems appropriate for the publica-
tion in English of a brief summary,
from the trenchant pen of M. Finot
himself, of the arguments which in
an incredibly short space of time
Preface
have revolutionised the scientific
conception of the Race question. It
is satisfactory to find so thorough-
going a vindication of the truth
proclaimed by St. Paul: at Mars
Hill from the pen of one who
writes from the standpoint of
Modern Science:
The Races Congress may not be
able to draw up a Magna Charta
of the rights of the human race.
But it ought to have little difficulty
in arriving at the practical conclu-
sion that whenever such a Magna
Charta is framed, not even the
weakest and the least evolved
member of the genus homo must
be excluded from its provisions.
The fons et origo mali, the fatal
root from which incalculable mis-
chief has sprung, has been this
theory of essential and permanent
disparity between Races. When
men said “ inferior race,” they really
meant that weaker and less evolved
R
Preface
men were znfra human. The demo-
lition of the false theory of race is
the fundamental preliminary of the
recognition of the fact that “all
men are brothers.” Many of them
have no doubt lagged behind in
the process of evolution. But
although weaker, more ignorant,
less civilised than those who march
in the van, they are now definitely
and demonstrably proved to be
members of the same great family,
and that no group is incapable,
under the influence of environment
and education, of becoming as good
as the best of us.
It is with the greatest pleasure
I present this .concise statement
of M. Finot’s views to the British
public in general, and to the mem-
bers of the Races Congress in
particular.
WILLIAM T. STEAD.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION - ‘
The Composition of the So-called
‘ French Race” ‚, ;
II. The Aryan Fiction . .
III. The Teutons: ““ The Flower of
the Human Race ” . .
The Light Side of the Aryan
Theory . . .
The So-called “ Latin Races” ,
Infinitesimal Quantities and their
Effect upon us #
PAGE
1X
19
31
53
»8
83
88
VII.
Is there any such Thing as
National Character? N
9Q
VI.
Seeking to Prove that Men are
Cousins first and Brothers after-
wards „ . . 318
The Light Side of Craniology . 133
The Effect of Environment on
Physical Characteristics, as
illustrated by United States
Immigrants . .
IX.
X.
143
XI.
The Influence of Environment
on the Shape of the Cephalic
Index ,
CONCLUSION
150
156
IC
INTRODUCTION.
&% La wEritE&, toujours tlus de veEritE.”
IN comparison with the diversity
of elements which go to the mak-
ing of a modern nation, the Tower
of Babel, with its medley of peoples
and tongues, was mere child’s play.
In the vast world-laboratories in
which countries and peoples are
formed, physical and mental differ-
ences disappear with astonishing
rapidity, even in the case of nations
coming from opposite ends of the
earth. Ease of communications,
trade, which is now international,
and new ideas, which now quickly
spread throughout the world, tend
Ever more and more. to assimilate
the ideals which inspire and the
II
Introduction
forces which control mankind.
The good in Man is constantly
leading him onward through the
endless confusion caused by inter-
national hatred and war, towards
the brotherhood of races and
nations. “European literature,”
“the interests of the white races of
the world,” the “ closer ties between
the Old and the New Worlds,” are
phrases in everyone’s mouth. The
tendency is always to greater and
greater aggregates, and to col-
lective conceptions embracing the
greatest possible number of
countries and peoples.
The conception of some races as
superior and of others as inferior
now seems to belong to a past time.
Japan, after having concluded
treaties of peace with England and
France, the two nations in the van-
guard of civilisation, has now trium-
phantly taken her place in the Con-
cert of Civilised States on a foot-
12
Introduction
ing of equality with all the other
Powers. China is to have a Parlia-
ment of her own; and her inhabi-
tants, who will before long be
undergoing military training, will
soon cease to be looked down upon
merely on account of the colour of
their skin, while at the same time
their religious beliefs will receive
their due meed of respect. The
negroes are developing with a ra-
pidity which greatly disconcerts
all who cling tenaciously to fallacies
about race and colour. Those of
the United States are distinguished
by industry and thrift, and under
the influence of Christianity they
often lead model lives of labour and
the Christian virtues. True, they
lay themselves open to some just
Complaints and accusations on the
part of their white fellow-citizens ;
but when it is remembered that the
United States negroes are the de-
Sscendants of a mixed African race,
13
Introduction
at the very bottom of the scale of
humanity, who, if not cannibals
very little removed from the apes,
were certainly mere savages,. it is
marvellous what progress they
have made in sixty years. Bound-
less possibilities are, indeed, opened
up by the advance of nations and
the growth of friendly relations
between one people and another.
Just as these glorious prospects
are being unfolded to us, the theory
of race receives its death - blow.
Everything which once appeared
to justify it is slowly but surely
vanishing. The old dogmas, the
effect of which was always to
estrange human beings, are crum-
bling to pieces, and new ones are
arising, whose whole burden is the
equality of all mankind.*
* Readers who wish to know the chief data
on which the theory of race is built up will
find all necessary explanations in my work,
The Fallacy of Race (Prfjuge des Races), 3rd
14
Introduction
This ‘does not mean that the
world in the course of the present
century will become a paradise in
which all men shall be as brothers,
without regard to the colour of
their skins or the diverse tendencies
of their evil passions. Far from it.
The results of .ages of human folly
cannot be dissipated by a single
age of reason. For several gene-
rations still to come war and
bloodshed will probably continue,
and for this very reason those
countries which possess the most
glorious heritage of civilisation are
bound to be strong, both morally
Edition, Ziörary &f Contemporary Philosophy,
Felix Alcan, The present work is a kind of
marginal note on 7%e HFallacy of Race, but is
quite ‚complete in itself. In it I develop .a
Number of New lines of argument, and also
include Many new facts. But the main
ideas of both The Fallacy of Race and of The
Death-Agony Of the Science” of Race are the
same, and in both I reach similar conclusions,
albeit by different ways,
I5
Introduction
and materially, in order to save
their inheritance from perishing
in the struggles and strifes which
may come upon them in the
near future. This is the price
which must be paid if humanity is
to advance. So long as the torch
of the sacred principles of human
progress is not absolutely safe from
extinction, it is even more incum-
bent upon civilised nations to be
strong patriots than it is upon
nations which are merely on the
fringe of modern civilisation.
We are, indeed, in a transition
stage between the vagueness of
cosmopolitanism, for ‚which the
world is not yet ripe, and which
looks contemptuously on a people
struggling to advance to a national
life of its own, and the narrowness
of a nationalism which ignores
all the ties at present existing
between one nation and another.
No individual country, however,
16
Introduction
any more than the patriotic senti-
ment of its inhabitants, has any
connection with the racial origin of
those who assemble beneath its
banner, The conception alike of
country and of patriotism has
become altogether raised and en-
nobled above and beyond the
materialistic conception of race put
forward by anthropologists of
former times.
JEAN Fınor.
17
*
CHAPTER. IL.
THE COMPOSITION OF THE SO-
CALLED “ FRENCH RACE.”
THE word “ race” has now become
Synonymous with country, ot,
rather, with the inhabitants of a
Country. Whoever speaks of the
“French race” does not and can-
Not mean anything else than the
total number of persons who con-
Sider themselves as French, are so
considered by French law, and
desire to fulfil the duties of French
citizens, To define the French of
to-day as men united by ties of
blood would be false, both scientifi-
cally and politically. There are
One-sided people who insist .on
likening the French to the Gauls,
forgetting that, according to M. de
19 c2
Death-Agony of the * Science” of Race
Jubainville, the greatest authority
on the racial origin of the former,
the Teutonic peoples have more
right to be considered Gauls than
they. Indeed, if ethnography is
to be trusted, we must consider the
Teutonic peoples as Gauls and the
French as Teutons. Even this,
however, is not strictly accurate,
for the Frenchman of to-day is the
product of at least sixty nations
and races, who either settled for a
time in France, or merely passed
through it.
It will be remembered that in
the time of Julius Casar France
numbered among her inhabitants
three nations of different racıal
origin—the Aquitanians, the Bel-
gae, and the people called by
Caesar the Gauls, who were repre-
sented by the Galli and the Cymri,
Besides these there were the
Ligurians, who were already looked
on as a kind of indigenous stock,
20
Death-Agony of the * Science” of Race
According to Plutarch, Caesar was
responsible for the death of about
a million Gauls on the field of
battle. When to this number is
added that of those who were
exterminated by various means
in the series of invasions which
took place after Casar’s time, it
will be at once perceived that the
Number of Gauls in the country of
Gallia must have been reduced
to infinitesimal proportions. In
the fifth century such wholesale
Massacres occurred that, according
to Henri Martin, entire Belgian
Cities were transferred to Ger-
Mania, Now, besides the Cimbri,
the Germani, and the Suevi,
how many other nations and
tribes must have invaded Gaul
and mingled their blood with that
of the population? Neither must
all the Teutonic (Germanic) tribes
he forgotten, such, for instance, as
the Alemanni, Saxons, Vandals or
31
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
Sarmatians, nor yet the Franks
themselves, who. in 438 A.D. SUC-
ceeded in gaining possession of
France.
As I have elsewhere attempted
to inquire into the racial composi-
tion of French blood, I will here
content myself with merely enumer-
ating a certain number of the
elements infused into it from all
these different sources, Besides
the Basques and Vascons, there
were the Pheenicians, with their
numerous colonies, one of the most
important of which was the town
of Nimes, After these came the
Saracens, the Sarmatians and the
Slavs, with their subdivisions, the
Vandals or Vindils, the Taifals, the
Ruthen?ans, the Agathyrsi, and
the Burgundians, the last-named,
according to Gaugain, being merely
Slavs.* To these must be added
The Taifals and also the Agathyrsi are
said to have settled in Poitou, and, according
Po
Death-Agony of the “ Science” of Race
the Pelasgians, the Sabines, the
Tyrrhenians, the Etruscans, who
Settled near Marseilles under the
Name of Protiades, and many other
Greek and Roman tribes.
Besides all these, there are the
Moorish or Jewish tribes, who, like
the Phoenicians, were of Semitic
Origin, and whose numbers, judg-
Ing from the prescriptions of the
Gombetta Law (A.D. 500), must
have been considerable. Banished
by the Inquisition, the Jews never-
theless increased in number in
France, and in course of time
Many Jewish colonies: became
Converted in a mass, and blended
with the rest of the population.
The races of the Ural and Altai
Mountains, that is, Finnish, Ukraine
to Le Play, certain customs prevalent among
the agricultural population of the Nivernais
and Auvergne are of Slav origin. The
Ruthenians are believed to have left their
traces principally along the borders of the
River Aveyron,
23
Death-Agony of the “ Science” "of Race
and Mongol tribes, are also
numerously represented in France,*
while the Huns, who :spent con-
siderable time .in the country,
brought in their train the Uzes,
Khazars, Cumans, and various
other nations and races,
In fact, the diversity of tribes
and races who have settled at one
time or another on French soil is
enough to make any race theorist
wring his hands: and even if we
revert to that far-distant past which
is the hunting-ground of the
palzontologistand the archzologist,
matters are no better. The history
of . prehistoric times—if such a
phrase may be permitted—points
to a race of cave-dwellers or trog-
lodytes having existed, who are
* Topinard, Collignon, and Guilbert assert
that they have found traces of them among the
Bigoudens, south of Quimper, in Brittany ;
while Dr. Roujon stated that he had-met with
traces of them in Auvergne, in the Morvan,
and in Brittany ; and Professor Sabatier said
he had traced them in the Cevennes, etc,
24
Death-Agony of the * Science” of Race
Supposed formerly to have in-
habited France. As misfortune
will have it, however, we know
Scarcely anything about them, for
in spite of all the skulls and the
stone axes and other implements
engraved with representations of
men and animals, of which
hundreds of caves have been
robbed, we can tell nothing certain
as to the anthropological origin of
the men who dwelt in these caves,
They may, for all we know, have
been mere anthropoid peoples,
coming from no one knows where,
and representing no one knows
what stage of civilisation.
The men of the dolmens, who
came after the cave-dwellers, have
likewise left nothing from which it
is possible to form any definite
conclusions as to what was their
ethnical origin or what manner of
men they were, anthropologically
speaking. They have left us,
25
Death-Agony of the ‘“ Science” of Race
indeed, a goodly number of relics,
but the facts with which these
furnish us are practically nil.
The history of France from its
earliest commencements is a con-
stant record of invasions by alien
tribes and races, who came from
every quarter of the globe, and
who all contributed and still con-
tribute their quota to the building
up of the French nation and to
endowing it with vital force, Ata
certain period of her history
France was overrun by Teutonic
(Germanic) tribes, but this did not
happen all at once. On the con-
trary, it was an invasion spread
over several centuries, beginning
long before the arrival of the Celts,
and not ceasing until the present
day... Some of these invaders, such
as the Franks and the Saxons,
came from the great plains of the
North ; others from the country of
Tanais and the lands lying between
„6
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
the Black and Caspian Seas ; others
again, such as the Burgundians,
from Central Germania ; others, for
example the Suevi, from the
countries between the Elbe and
the Oder ; and others, such as the
Visigoths, from the Danube valleys.
The Normans themselves. were,
after all, merely Teutons, who
took forcible possession of the
country, and gave it the name of
Normandy.
It is plain, therefore, that Reclus
is right in saying that“ The French
are the. product of an infinite
number of different races. What
with all their white, black and yel-
low progenitors, their blood must
be ten times less pure even than
we imagine, so that there are few
Frenchmen who really greatly
resemble one another, either in
features or general physical
characteristics.”
To sum up, the racial elements
27
Zeath-Agony of the: ** Science” of Race
which have‘ gone to build up the
French nation, the variety of their
nomenclature, andtheextent oftheir
numbers, might well appal all those
who, clinging to the obsolete and
inexact science of race, still cherish
a belief in race purity and unity of
blood.
A cursory examination of- the
past proves that in French blood
there is a strain of the blood of all
the following races: Aquitanians,
Silurians, Iberians, Basques, Vas-
cons, Suetians, Libici, Sardones,
Conqueranians, Bituriges, Arver-
nians, Pictones, Cambolectes, Age-
nises, Andegades, Carnuti, Vene-
tians, Curiosolites, Osismians,
Abricantuans (from Avranches
and its neighbourhood), Aulerci,
Lexovians, Lingones, Helve-
tians, Vandals, Alani, Taifals,
Agathyrsi, Ruthenians, Poles, Bel-
gians, Cimbrians, Visigoths, Franks,
Burgundians, Saxons, Germans,
28
Death-Agony of the ‘* Science” of Race
Suevians, Phoenicians, Saracens,
Jews, Etruscans, Pelasgians, Avars
(from Hungary), Cumans, etc.
To these races must perhaps be
added the names of a. few negroid
tribes, for numerous skulls found
in the Valais about the year 1900,
and dating from the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries, show unmis-
takable similarities to the negroid
type, while the same might be said
of certain recently found Armorican
skulls, dating back to about the
same period.
Coming to more modern times,
it is undeniable that her decreasing
birth-rate exposes France, much
more than any other country, to
the necessity of receiving larger and
larger contingents of immigrants,
while the number of resident aliens,
which, according to Turquan, is only
4 per thousand in England and 8 in
Germany, is said to be as much as
40 in France. Moreover, France’s
29
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
alien population increases thirteen
times as fast asthenative-born—that
is to say, as the population which
has been resident in the country for
several generations.
In brief, the Frenchman of
to-day is the highly complex
produet of the most incongruous
medley of races. In his veins
is a strain of the blood of
almost every people and every
race which has either made
history in the past, in howsoever
small a degree, or is making it in
the present. MNotwithstanding
this, however, France is in the
vanguard of nations, and her
people are among the most bril-
liant, most admired, and most
beloved in the world.
30
CHAPTER Il.
THE ARYAN FICTION.
THE fact is, purity of blood has no
connection whatever with the moral
or intellectual worth of a people.
Crosses between one people and
another, contrary to what Gobineau
asserts in those delightfully ill-
informed and nevertheless fascinat-
ing books of his, far from deteriorat-
ing nations and races, have the
reverse effect upon them. Com-
pare, for instance, the native tribes
of Central Asia or Africa, con-
sidered as human beings, or the
tribes who have taken up their
abode in isolated islands, with the
inhabitants of European countries
31
Death-Agony of the ““ Science” of Race
or of the United States. Yet it is
the two first-mnamed who have
developed on the lines advocated
by Gobineau and his numerous
admirers and disciples,
Now Gobineau, as everyone
knows, has made outrageously un-
Just attempts to belittle the great-
ness of the French, if not to deny
them. greatness altogether, in com-
parison with the Germans. Accord-
ing to him, France for some time
past has been scarcely worth taking
into serious consideration, and all
she is now fit for is to be absorbed
by her neighbour, the best and
most aristocratic people on earth.
Germany has shown her gratitude
to Gobineau by uplifting him almost
to the rank of a divinity. Centres
of Gobineau worship are becoming
more and more numerous in that
country. What is curious, however,
is that German scientists, who have
the reputation of being serious and
232
Death-Agony of the “* Science” of Race
deeply learned, should have been
taken in by Gobineau’s flattery,
which is often too absurdly childish,
one would have thought, to have
led anyone astray, while it is almost
always wildly extravagant.
According to Gobineau, Ger-
many’s chief claim to fame is that
she has been able to preserve the
Aryan type and the Aryan tradi-
tion. Now, what is amusing about
this is that the Aryan race, like the
Aryan type and Aryan civilisation,
is pure invention. In spite of all
the hatred and discord which this
Aryan phantom has sown and con-
tinues to sow amongst men, its
existence is even more difficult to
prove than that of fairies, about
whom everyone talks, though no
one can be found who has ever
seen any.
All that has just been said about
the Aryan theory applies equally
to the Germanic or Indo-Germanic
33
D
‚Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
theory, according to which the
Germanic races are the finest flower
of the so-called Aryan race. It is
well, therefore, to begin by asking :
Did the Aryans Ever Exist?
Truth is the food of the gods, but
human beings subsist upon false-
hood. Wrong ideas are pro-
digiously tenacious of life, and if
truth in the end prevail over them,
it often does so only after a painful
struggle and with the powerful aid
of Time. The life of a wrong idea
depends first and foremost upon its
importance. The greater the in-
terest there is in keeping it alive
the longer it is able to resist the
onslaughts of truth. This is
especially manifest in religion, in
politics, and economics, where a
death-blow dealt to an erroneous
idea may directly affect both men
and things.
Something else which has much
Death-Agony of the “* Science” of Race
to do with the proverbially long
life of wrong ideas is our mental
indolence. The time-honoured
fable of Z7%e Ant and the Gyass-
hopper, which we all learnt when we
were quite young, and which our
great-grandchildren will doubtless
also learn when their day comes, is
an excellent illustration of the
lengths to which mental indolence
may lead us. Some such fable the
ancient Greeks used to teach their
children. “In winter,” they would
say, “when the ants are enjoying
the stores of food they collected in
summer, the thoughtless grass-
hoppers were starving, and came
and begged the ants for a few
seeds. But the ants replied: ‘In
summer, my friends, you used to
sing. Now that it is winter you
had better dance.” For thou-
sands of years the same fable has
been repeated, and the sense of it
has never varied.
35
(P,
2
Death-Agony of the ‘ Science” af Race
Now the Greeks, as well as La
Fontaine and all the other fabulists,
might have observed the obvious
facts that, firstly, there are no graSSs-
hoppers in winter; and, secondly,
that the suckers of these insects
are so shaped that to live on flies
or seeds or little worms would be
out of the question for them,
Moreover, it is the grasshopper
which works, and the ant which
often turns it out of the plentiful
stores of sap which it collects with
its sucker from the branches of
shrubs, thus profiting by the labour
of the more thrifty and industrious
insect. A few hours’ observation,
and this lying invention would
have been destroyed; but there
need be no doubt that it will con-
tinue to be cherished for centuries
to come in the imaginations of
those who succeed us.
How much worse is it with those
more complex wrong ideas which
26
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
take root in our minds! To set them
afloat was doubtless easy enough
— indeed, often a mere random
statement has sufficed to endow
them with a vitality which has
kept them alive for centuries, But
attempt to undo this work of a
moment proceeding from some
imaginative or merely ignorant
brain, and the difficulty of the un-
dertaking ‚will immediately appear.
The Aryan fallacy was born
under exceedingly happy condi-
tions. Just when Man seemed to
be growing tired of looking for his
ancestors, who had become lost in
the dim and misty past, a voice
suddenly arose to tell him that
these ancestors had been dis-
covered ; that he need no longer
be uneasy, for he would find all
about them in certain books ; and
that they were the Indo-Germanic
nation, or Aryans. It was they to
whom we had owed all our ideas in
37
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
the past, and even the brains from
which new ideas are being evolved
in the present. It was they, like-
wise, from whom we had inherited
vur fair or brown hair and outward
appearance generally, as well as
our conceptions of religion and
duty to our neighbour.
The scientist who launched this
theory on the world was no other
than the distinguished German
philologist, Franz Bopp; and the
wrong idea which he thus light-
heartedly promulgated spread, until
presently it took possession of
everyone’s mind,
Setting out from the assumption
that the Greek, Latin, Slavonic and
Teutonic languages have certain
affinities with Sanscrit and the
Asiatic tongues, he arrived at the
conclusion that all the nations
speaking these languages had
sprung from one common stock,
and that at the outset of their lives
38
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
they had all had one common
tongue, which he called “ Ur-
sprache.” "This primitive people,
or “ Urvolk,” as he named it, was
the parent stem from which many
branches had sprouted—the Euro-
pean and Indian nations.
Bopp’s intellectual heirs, so far
from inquiring into the origin of
this remarkable theory, bolstered
it up with’ a great deal of fresh
material, so as to make the edifice
more substantial and imposing.
Thus, some of them wrote books
on the home life of the Aryans,
while others studied their weapons,
customs, and modes of life and
thought. As a consequence, we
now possess an immense literature,
numbering thousands of volumes,
in which are related the numerous
exploits of a nation which never
existed. The theories of Bopp
and his followers indeed positively
bristle with improbabilities,
20
Death-Agony of the “* Science” of Race
Arguing from the language of
this mysterious people, we were
informed that they had never had
anything to do with the sea, and
even that they had never seen a
lake, or a fish, or a sail, or oars, for
all these words were absent from
their vocabulary. But then neither
was any word found in it for the
fingers of the hand; and are
we to infer from this Ccircum-
stance that the Aryans had no
fingers ?
Howsoever this may be, the
Aryans were launched on their
career, and a new study, the object
of which was to discover their origin,
earned for the scientists a well-
deserved interval of rest. It was ob-
viously not worth while their try-
ing to trace our more or less Simian
ancestors somewhere in the laby-
rinths of past history, when here,
ready to hand, was a handsome
and noble-minded people, endowed
A0
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
with every virtue—in short, just
what everyone would like his
ancestors to be. All the nations,
indeed— and there were many: of
them— who shared in this glorious
and unhoped-for heritage of Aryan
ancestors and an Aryan past, were,
to their credit be it said, duly
grateful and. properly overjoyed by
their good fortune: They showed
themselves fully sensible of the
delight of being able to look down
upon the nations left outside this
Aryan paradise as “non-Aryans,”
as well as of the joy of being able
to boast lineal descent from so
marvellous a people, particularly
as so much appeared to be known
about them—exactly what they
looked like, the colour of their hair,
and even their habits of life and
their ideas.
The anthropologists and philolo-
gists of the nineteenth century,
indeed, never ceased singing the
Death-Agony of the “ Science” of Race
praises of the Aryans, while the
poets and novelists naturally fol-
lowed the excellent example set
them. It was useless to prove, as
was afterwards done, that the So-
called Aryan tongue, this alleged
primitive language of mankind, to
which we owe the most ancient of
the sacred writings, the Vedas, was
of far too recent a date to fit in
with the Indo-Germanic theory.
The ideas of the mass of men were
already set—crystallised, as it were,
into ‚certain hard and fast forms—
and to change them was impossible.
And this in spite of the fact that
the Vedas actually date back only
to 1000. B.C.* To. crown the ridi-
culousness of everything, these
same Vedas, according to Pischel
and Geldner’s Vedic Studies (Ved-
ische Studien), show no trace of
Aryan influence.
A
Bergaigne.
Death-Agony of the “* Science” of Race
Like the fable of 7he Grass-
hopper and the Ant, even so this
Aryan fallacy has penetrated the
minds of us all. It has, indeed,
become so deeply rooted in them
that it will be the most difficult
matter in the world to get it out
again,
Whence does the Word Aryan
Come?
In attempting to answer this
question we are at once involved
in a veritable maze of contradic-
tions. The word Aryan is princi-
pally found in that famous collec-
tion of sacred poems and songs,
the Rigveda, the writers in which
call the men of their own race
Aryas, which means “noble,” in
contradistinction to the original
inhabitants of the country, the
Dasyous, who from time imme-
morial had dwelt in the valleys of
the Indus and the Punjab.
4.3
Death-Agony of the “ Science” of Race
At a much later period we find
this very name Aryas applied to
the three privileged castes, as
opposed to the Zoudras, who were
objects of universal contempt. In
the Iranian countries, also, a similar
state of things may be noticed.
Here the conquerors were known
as Aryas, and were distinguished
by this name from the original
inhabitants. In the books of the
Zend-Avesta both terms Occur,
Airyanas as opposed to Anair-
yanas, that is, the Aryans on the
one hand and the non-Aryans on
the other. The existence of these
names, and also of the tribes who
used them, is confirmed by
numerous Greek authors. Ac-
cording to Helanicus, one of the
precursors of Herodotus, ancient
Persia bore the name of Arya,
while Herodotus considered that
the Medes were merely Aryans.
What, then, it may be asked,
414
Death-Agony of the “ Science” of Race
does this name Aryan really mean ?
Who were the people calling them-
selves by it?” Whence did the
word come, and whom or what was
it used to denote ? In attempting
to answer these queries, however,
we are at once involved in endless
confusion. Bopp considered the
word Aryan to be derived from the
root Ar, to go, or from Ark, to
revere, while Lassen thinks it is
connected with the term Ararya,
which means master, In any case,
the meaning of the word constantly
differs in the Sacred Books and
also in the writings of philologists.
It cannot even strictly be held to
signify “noble” or “ master,” for
in some of the Sacred Books of
India the term Arya refers to the
third caste, or the Vaisya, while in
some passages of the Vedas this
word Vaisya means #ribe or clan,
According to some Pphilologists,
the word Arya means “owner”;
45
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
according to others, “ produce of
the ground.” As for. the people
who hid their identity under the
name of Aryas, they came from no
one knows where, and mingled with
tribes of strange origin, of whom
also little or nothing is known.
Instead of inquiring who the Ary-
ans are, it might better be asked
who are x%of Aryans, for this name
is bestowed quite indiscriminately
on the Armenians, the Scythians;
or the Albanians, while even on the
banks of the Vistula we find some
people called Arzz.
What was particularly puzzling
to the philologists was that they
fancied they had discovered a kind
of relationship between certain
languages belonging to the Indo-
European group. Setting forth
with the assumption that all these
languages were but offshoots from
the same: parent stock, they in-
sisted on identifying this stock with
46
Death-Agony of the Science” of Race
the nation they were pleased to
describe as Aryans. Whoever
wants to prove anything a fact
soon finds a way of doing so, just
as whenever a person is possessed
with an idea he will use any and
every circumstance as an argument
on behalf of it. Experts in com-
parative philology, such as Bopp
and Schlegel, and more recently
Pott, Schleicher, Benfey, Max
Müller, Curtius, Lassen, and some
dozens of others, in whose works
there is nevertheless a great deal
to admire, actually created a whole
nation to fit in with their theories,
and not only provided it with a
delightful country in which to live,
but also endowed it with every
possible physical attraction.
In so doing, however, they
blandly ignored the fact that the
progenitors of nations speaking
kindred tongues have not always
the same country of origin, For
47
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
example, the dialect of Latium
gave rise to a number of different
languages, which are commonly
described as “ the Latin languages,”
but the boldest person would hardly
venture to assert that the progeni-
tors of the nations generally spoken
ofas“ Latin” all came from Latium.
Yet when Franz Bopp succeeded
in showing that the Zend, Armenian,
Greek, Latin, Old Slav, Lithuanian,
Gothic and Teutonic languages
all bore certain resemblances to
Sanscrit, the whole civilised world
imagined that the supposed Aryans,
who were said to have spoken this
language, were their long-lost
ancestors.
Delightfully fantastic theories,
which at first bore a certain Specious
resemblance to scientific fact, now
began to find acceptance with
philologists and, consequently, also
with anthropologists. Not content
with having discovered the parent
48
Death-Agony of the“ Science” of. Race
language of the Indo-European
group of tongues, the philologists
must needs set about discovering
the great mother-tongue fromwhich
all languages had sprung, the real
primitive language of the world,
and establishing it on a solid basis
of fact, One day Schleicher
actually announced that he had
discovered the laws of this beautiful
unknown tongue, and he even went
so far as to compose a fable, en-
titled Z7%e Sheep and the Horses,
the words of which he gravely
assured the world had been taken
from the speech of a remote period.
Of course, when other philologists
attempted to analyse these un-
familiar words they had no difficulty
in showing that the whole fable, title
and all, was a fabrication.
But the idea of the Aryans had
set philological tongues wagging,
and the philologists in their delight
soon set those of the historians and
6
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
anthropologists also wagging. The
idea of the early migrations of
nations was revived, and an attempt
was made to define the successive
periods of these, as well as to show
the historical importance of legen-
dary peoples. The misty past of
prehistoric Europe seemed all at
once to become brilliantly illumin-
ated, Languages and nations were
sorted into neatly arranged drawers,
one above another, the whole form-
ing a collection of languages and
agglomerations of human beings,
beginning with the Indian and
Iranian periods, and proceeding to
the Armenians, Greeks, Italians,
Celts (the word including the Gauls,
Bretons, the ancient inhabitants of
Cornwall, and the Gaels), down to.
the Teutons (Goths, Old Saxons,
English, Dutch, Frisians, Scandi-
navians) and the Slavs of the Baltic
(Eastern Slavs, Russians, Serbs,
Bulgarians, Slovenians, Croats, and
so
Death-Agony of the“ Science”. of Race
Western Slavs), Poles, Moravians,
Czechs, Slovaks, and Polacks, Ties
of bloodand relationship apparently
united all this numerous offspring
of an ideal nation; and there was
really good reason to believe the
problem of their origin solved once
for all.
Hypotheses, however, in one re-
spect resemble clouds. One chases
the other away, and so it happened
with Schleicher’s theory. Johannes
Schmidt put forward a new one,
that of waves (the famous Wellen.
£heorie), which gave Schleicher’s its
death-blow. Thus, we were taught
that there were a number of dif-
ferent nations, living between India
and the Atlantic, who all spoke
somewhat similar dialects. Two
neighbouring tribes could under-
stand each other, though tribes
separated by greater distances
could not. All these united
languages are supposed to have
E22
5I
Death-Agony of the “* Science” of Race
been the origin ‚of all the
varieties of speech of modern
nations.
Other learned philologists at-
tempted to reconcile these conflict-
ing schools of thought, and the
consequence was a positive ava-
lanche of criticisms and critical
interpretations of theories, so that
truth, dragged this way and that,
became worn to ashred, and finally
vanished altogether, while the
Aryan theory masqueraded before
an astonished world in a more and
more fantastic garb of flagrant con-
tradictions. In the end nothing but
profound pity was felt for it, as for
an ancient belle whose days were
numbered.
62
CHAPTER II.
THE TEUTONS: “THE FLOWER
OF THE HUMAN RACE.”
THIS new and wonderful “theory
of waves of migrations” was in-
tended to help to reconcile extrem-
ists. Instead, however, it merely
flattered the vanity and self-love
of an entire nation. Its partisans
gradually became intoxicated by
the homage paid to their favourite
race, till at last, going beyond all
bounds, they ended by forgetting
that other nations besides the
Germans were also entitled to some
consideration,
In itself, however, nothing could
seem more inoffensive than this
theory. There was, somewhere,
we were told, a privileged people,
of superior capacity to and more
53
Death-Agony of the *“ Science” of Kace
advanced ideas than all others.
Their offspring had become
scattered all over the world,
carrying with them everywhere
the seeds of a superior eivilisa-
tion. They had everywhere inter-
married with the original inhabit-
ants, without, however, being
swamped by them. "They it was
who were not only the loftiest
thinkers everywhere, but who every-
where attained the highest physical
perfection. "These people, we were
assured, were none other than the
Teutonic races, who had come from
the far north of Europe. Colonies
of them had civilised Greece, Italy,
and Persia ; and, if weare to believe
Wilser, Ujfalvy and Fritsch, it was
they, also, who built up the Baby-
lonian, Assyrian, and Egyptian
civilisations. Japan and Greece
owed their earliest culture to the
same source—indeed, Moritz, Wag-
ner, Penka, Woltmann, Lapouge,
54
Death-Agony of the “* Science” of Race
and Gobineau go so far as to assert
that, generally speaking, wherever
any veneer of civilisation is to be
found, it has been owing to the
Teutons.
The Aryans, perhaps, never
existed, but that is of no conse-
quence, for the Indo-Germanic
races do very well instead, if not
better. It was the Germanus, that
is, the “0omo Europeaus favus,”
who first opened up to Man the
world of ideas, to whom, indeed,
Man is indebted for everything
which raises him above the brüte
creation. Now, this primitive Teu-
tonic people were fair and were
distinguished by dolichocephalic
skulls. They had blue eyes, were
tall in stature, and have left their
traces everywhere, even in China
and Japan, and in countries as
distant as India and Italy.
In their aggressive zeal the
advocates of the Teutonic theory
55
Death-Agony of the “ Science” of Race
annexed everything for the benefit
of this chosen race, including the
mummies of the Egyptian kings,
for, according, to Wilser, even
Rameses was merely a dolichoce-
phalic specimen of the. Teutonic
type. True, outside of Germany,
in other countries, very few can be
found who conform to the ideal
Teutonic type. Gobineau, Lapouge,
and their fellow-Teutonists explain
this by attributing it to bad selec-
tion on the part of mankind. The
brown brachycephalic men, they
say, breed like flies, and usurp
the place of the nobler or true
Teutonic type. But no one, we
are told, should ever despair about
anything, and the time will come
when the Teutonic type will take
its revenge. Its representatives
may be found everywhere. Ac-
cording to A. Wirth, indeed, even
in the north of Japan there exist
descendants of these admirable
56
Death-Agony of the “ Science” of Race
Teutons; and certainly most of
the Samurai approximate to the
blond type, which, under the
influence of Asiatic climatic con-
ditions, has tended to become
auburn ; and, according to Poesche,
their descendants are to be found
also in China, in the Hoangho
Valley.
This crazy Aryan theory, after
becoming modified into the Indo-
Germanic theory, found even more
violent partisans than before. To
be politically preponderant is obvi-
ously to the interest of any nation ;
and it is equally obvious that the
moment the Teutons are admitted
to be the noblest specimens 'of
humanity, the upper hand in the
world can no longer be decently
refused them. Now the. arrogance
and self-sufficiency of the origin-
ators and partisans of the Teutonic
theory have not been without a
powerful effect on the German
57
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
nation. "The ideas disseminated
by a handful of scientists gradually
took firm root throughout German
territory ; and it is not at all sur-
prising that this should have been
the case. Have we not seen
French, Italians, and even English
humbly standing aside to allow
their Teutonic cousins to pass, and
proclaiming the decadence of the
Latin races in general and the
French in particular? All these
nations, we are told, including the
English, are destined in course of
time to pass under the yoke of
Germany.
The Aryan and Indo-Germanic
epidemic is undoubtedly one of the
most serious ever diagnosed in the
domain of intellect. The most
careful and prudent philologists
and historians seem to have been
unable to avoid infection. Even
Ernest Renan, in spite of that en-
gaging scepticism which he usually
58
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
showed towards everything, allowed
himself to be seduced by the charms
of this mock -scientific theory.”
Not even he could resist the fasci-
nation of what purported to be the
keys of a paradise wherein lay the
mysteries of language and race,
He profited by the‘ opportunity to
make many ingenious comparisons
between the Semitic and Indo-
Germanic races ; and, carried away
by his own arguments, he actually
declared once that “ in comparison
with the Indo-European race, the
Semitic race really does repre-
sent an inferior compound of the
elements of human nature.” Ac-
cording to him, the Semitic peoples
have no power of drawing fine dis-
tinctions, and thus instinctively
turn to monotheism, instead of
worshipping a number of principles
or abstractions. This explains why
* See his work on Z%e History and Compo-
sition of the Semitic Languages,
59
Death-Agony of the *“* Science” of Race
they possess neither mythology,
nor philosophy, nor science, To-
day these generalisations raise a
smile. But when they were made,
the famous union of science and
the Aryan:theory had but just been
consummated, and Renan durst
not even breathe any suspicion of
it. He looked on the Aryans as
having really existed, and con-
trasted with them the Semitic race,
which he also considered as a
reality, but which was likewise
destined to be dealt with hardly
by the hand of Time.
If Renan committed himself,
what can be said of the other
scientists who had neither his good
sense nor his moderation ? At one
particular time, Max Müller, one
of the staunchest advocates of the
Aryan theory, was so greatly
alarmed by the way it had been
mangled that he began protesting
against all the exaggerations which
bo
Death-Agony of the * Science” of Race
bade fair to bring discredit on his
beloved, dogmas. An anthropolo-
gist, he insisted, who believes in the
existence of the Aryan race, of
Aryan blood, or of Aryan eyes, or
that the Aryan had hair of a par-
ticular colour, errs precisely as a
philologist would who tried to
make us believe in the possibility
of a dolichocephalic dictionary or a
brachycephalic grammar. The word
Aryan refers to a language, and
to nothing more. But all these pro-
tests were unavailing, and moreover
came too late, for nothing could now
damp the zeal of the partisans of the
Aryan or Indo-Germanic theory.
Woltmann, for instance, went
the length of saying that there
could no longer be any doubt but
that mankind had evolved under
the influence of this northern Teu-
tonic race, which in every respect
had attained the highest pitch of
civilisation. The chief reason for
61
Death-Agony of the *“ Science” of Race
their having been able to achieve
so much appears to have been their
exceptional brain power. The
famous anthropologist then pro-
ceeds to inform us that the greatest
geniuses humanity has produced
were “pure blood” specimens of
the Germanic or Teutonic race
(Vollblutgermanen), among whom
he included Leonardo da Vinei,
Rembrandt, Galileo, Rubens, Vol-
taire and Kant. Moreover, Ger-
manic, or, as we more commonly
say, Teutonic genius is so powerful
that it may suddenly show itself
even in a brain into which a
poisonous strain of brown or
brachycephalic blood has insinu-
ated itself. This explains how it
was that Dante, Shakespeare, Ra-
phael, Michael Angelo, Goethe,
and Beethoven were great men,
for, in spite of the too dark pig-
ment of their skins, they were, after
all, Teutons. Indeed, every ele-
62
Death-Agony of the ““ Science” of Race
ment in Man which is either noble
or even merely above the average
is directly traceable to the Teuton.
Woltmann- asserts that the Pa-
pacy, the Renascence, and even the
French Revolution are all alike
due to. the influence of Teutonic
ideas, and were directed by Teu-
tonic brains. It is to the Teutonic
race that we owe the creation of
modern Italy. It was the Teutons
who .unified the country by con-
ferring upon it their modern
political organisation; and it was
again the Teutonic races which
established Italian industries and
consolidated Italy’s position as a
great Power.
Woltmann even seeks to show,
by arguments drawn from the roots
of proper names, how not only
were all the illustrious men of the
Renascence his fellow-countrymen,
but how even those French whose
nationality is least open to doubt
63
‚Death-Agony of the “* Science” of Race
have come to be considered French
only because they changed their
names, thus eluding the vigilance
of the Teutons. Gounod’s real
name he asserts to have been
“Gundivald ” ; Diderot’s to have
been “ Tietroth,” and Buonarotti's
“ Bolmrodt.” Tasso is really
“«“ Dasse ” ; Giotto, “ Jotte ” ; Vinci,
“Wincke” ; Velasquez, “ Velash-
ise” ; Murillo, “ Moerb” and so on.
In his work, Ze Teutons in
France, this learned man has made
some most extraordinary dis-
coveries. Indeed, ‚the detective
genius of a Sherlock Holmes is as
nothing in comparison with that
which Woltmann must have re-
quired to hit upon the ingenious
arguments which he puts forward
for the rediscovery of the long-
lost origins of the Germanic race,
Houston. Stewart Chamberlain
merely confirms Woltmann’s theo-
ries, even going so far as to assert
64.
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
as a definite fact that from the
sixth century B.C. until the present
day, not only all inventions, but all
great actions, either of individuals
or of humanity in general, have
been directly traceable to the
Teutons. Arab civilisation, he in-
forms us, was but a flimsy fabric.
The Mongols could destroy, but
could not build up. The Jews and
Semites merely imitated the Teu-
tons, and these last, by infusing a
strain of their blood into the veins
of the Italians, brought about the
Renascence, and created the arts
and sciences. In the Teutons, in
short, humanity has reached its
apogee, and the Teutons it is who
give tone and distinction to all the
other nations. They it is who are
destined to show all the rest to
what a pitch of perfection and
power it is possible to attain. In
other words, the history of civilisa-
tion as narrated by Chamberlain
65
DT
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Kace
and the Teutonophiles is nothing
but a history of ideas, conceived
and carried out, one after another,
by the Teutonic races.
These mischievous notions have
been working their way for years
past into the minds of the Germans,
and with disastrous results, in spite
of its being only necessary to
examine impartially into this so-
called science of anthropology and
history combined in.order to dis-
cover what nonsense it all is.
Nations, however, like individuals,
are easily carried away by flattery,
and when a people has every in-
terest in being flattered, the flat-
terers have it all their own way.
Their words are taken for Gospel
truth ; and the greater the interest
of the flattered in believing them,
the more implicitly they are be-
lieved.
The number of partisans of the
theory of a Germanic race to take
56
Death-Agony of the“ Science” of Race
the place of the Aryan race has
increased remarkably during the
last few years, just as the vogue
of Gobineau as well as the popu-
Jarity of Vachez de Lapouge
have spread considerably across
the Rhine. Let us humbly admit,
however, that the craze for great-
ness which possesses certain of the
Germans has not been without its
effect in France. We have but to
push to .their logical conclusion
M. de Lapouge’s chief arguments
concerning social selection, and
Gobineau’s concerning the in-
equality of races, to arrive at this
new doctrine of German supremacy
and of the all-conquering power of
the Germans, both, we are assured,
as necessary as they are beneficent
and inevitable. These two notable
Frenchmen have both so greatly
abased the Celts and so immensely
exalted the Teutons that the latter
could do nothing else but come
67
F2
Death-Agony of the“ Science” of Race
and take the pre-eminent position
graciously pointed out as theirs,
M. Reimer, for instance, one of
the most consistent and logical
supporters of the Indo-Germanic
supremacy theory, puts forward a
pleasing notion, which has often
been adopted as a kind of dogma
by the Pan-Germans and the blood-
and-iron politicians across the
Rhine,
The author of Pan- German
Germany has at least the merit of
sincerity, and of giving a practical
form to what his teachers and pre-
decessors merely dreamt of or
desired. As the Teutonic race, he
assures us, is the noblest of all and
the most capable of ensuring the
happiness of mankind, every other
nation must naturally give way
before it. Above all things, it re-
quires more land, Its nearest neigh-
bours, therefore, and first and fore-
most France, Austria and Italy,
68
Dea th-Agony of the “* Science” of Race
should allow it to take possession of
their provinces. As for the Scan-
dinavian countries, and Holland,
which is Teutonic in origin, they
will still more easily become accus-
tomed to Teutonic supremacy.
It is, however, by no means a
mere question of conquest. The
main thing necessary is to ensure
the vitality of the Teutonic race
by as far as possible destroying
all others, including the Celts
and the Semites — in} short, all
brachycephalic races, which, being
essentially inferior, can only
obstruct the progress of the fore-
most race in the world. The diffi-
culty is to know how to get rid of
these inferior races, and for this
M. Reimer has a good suggestion,
the idea of which he seems to have
borrowed from Lapouge’s “ social
selection ” theory. According to
the latter, what ought to be done
is to destroy “kindly” all social
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Death-Agony of the “ Science” of Race
refuse—-that is, all inferior types of
humanity.‘ This is to be done “by
putting vice and drink in their way,
or, if necessary, actually supply-
ing them with these means of
debauchery free.” "This method is
only intended to apply to such
persons as have not committed any
crime, and. who therefore cannot
be got rid of by legal means. As
for criminals, M. de Lapouge
blandly suggests guillotining them
wholesale.. -
On the other hand, nothing is
too good for any representative of
his‘ beloved Teutons. It is their
duty to regenerate the world, and
consequently their privilege to
beget children on every possible
occasion. In his anxiety for the
generations to come, M.de Lapouge
even has visions of a special
organisation for the purpose of
enabling women to obtain the
spermatozoa of strong men! There
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Death-Agony of the “ Science” of Race
is no need to pursue the subject
further.
Thus does this. eminent Socio-
logist imagine that he can endow
the world with ’a new. humanity.
Indeed, he promises us that at the
end of a century or so “we. shall
not be able to walk about the
streets without knocking up against
men of genius,” so common will
they be; and that. “a generation
of optimists will arise who will be
content with everything.”
M. Reimer, in his turn, assures
us that in the Teutonic Empire
of the Future, which will have been
considerably enlarged from its
present size by relentless conquest,
the non-Teutons “will be con-
demned to sterility,” though a drop
of the milk of human kindness
somewhere concealed within him
causes him to confess to a certain
pity for these poor folk who have
neither fair hair nor dolichocephalic
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Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
skulls. No doubt their number
ought to be diminished, if, indeed,
they ought not to be altogether
wiped out ; but he insists that “ they
ought not to be treated with cruelty
or contempt,” and before they dis-
appear for ever he would even
grant them some slight consolations
for the shortness of the span of life
remaining to them in the shape
of higher salaries and old age
pensions.
With touching generosity he
also admits that there are certain
French provinces, such as Nor-
mandy, Artois, and Picardy, which,
being of Scandinavian origin,
deserve specially lenient treatment.
The inhabitants of these provinces,
being almost cousins of the Teutonic
race, are thereby entitled to be con-
sidered as “ Teutonic subjects,” in
contradistinction to “the other
demi-Teutons.” This is important,
for these inferior “demi-Teutons ”
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Death-Agony of the ‘* Science” of Race
will of course no longer have any
right to intermarry with “pure
blood” Teutons, nor to Occupy
privileged situations.
Like M. de Lapouge, M. Reimer
has but scant sympathy for Roman
Catholicism, which is to be left
to the “demi-Teutons.” Never-
theless, the Roman Catholic re-
ligion might have some claim to
consideration provided it urged its
adherents to abstain from marriage
and from bringing children into the
world, with a view to lessening the
numbers of the inferior peoples,
and helping the great Teutonic
Empire to eliminate its unworthy
subjects.
This new humanity will differ
radically from that which preceded
it. Everything, even the feeling of
solidarity, will be changed. Thus,
“a Teuton will no longer feel his
heart beat faster in the presence of
a brachycephalic person.”
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Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
In order to hasten the realisation
of this desirable consummation,
M. Reimer insists that an im-
mediate war with France is inevit-
able, it being absolutely necessary
to destroy any country which is
morally and racially bankrupt.
Now in Germany there are any
number of Reimers, and armies
of people who are guided by their
doctrines, which, puerile as they
are from one point of view, are
exceedingly mischievous from an-
other. Not without danger can
the vanity of a nation be fed and
pampered, as has been the case
with Germany, for if flattery is not
without its effect on the individual,
neither is it without its influence on
a nation, and when a nation becomes
puffed up with arrogance and in-
ordinate pride, it may very well
begin to want to make war on all
other nations.
Such, indeed, is the logical out-
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Death-Agony of the “* Science” of Race
come of all the dogmatising about
race, and of all these notions about
one nation being essentially supe-
rior and another essentially inferior.
We ought, however, to be grateful
to all the writers who have been
so thoroughly converted to these
theories of race as to attempt to
show how they work out in prac-
tice ; for they have acted as danger-
signals, warning us against the
unsafe and untenable positions to
which these crazy notions speedily
lead.
It would be unjust to insist on
making the Germans alone respon-
sible for the origin and dissemi-
nation of these unhuman doctrines.
Here, as in so many other cases,
it is clear that no idea or theory
is confined to any particular race,
for French Sscientists, so-called,
have been just as guilty of having
spread these notions abroad as
German scientists, so-called ; and
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Death-Agony of the “ Science” of Race
the sole excuse for either is that
these race-theories are so ingenious
and captivating as to have blinded
them to facts and paralysed their
reasoning faculties, for the time
being,
Let there never for a moment
be any doubt as to the future of
any great nation such as Germany
is. In time she will have recovered
from her prostrating fit of intoxi-
cation, and will drive forth
from her Temple of Science all
the impostors who have been
disseminating false doctrines among
her people, such as that they ought
to despise other nations. She will
realise that true greatness is wholly
unconnected with the systematic
humiliation and underrating of her
neighbours, and also that the best
interests of her policy are far from
requiring either the persecution or
the destruction of other races. On
that day Germany will again set
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Death-Agony of the * Science” of Race
forth upon the road which she
followed during her glorious past,
and will once more be held in
respect and affection, instead of
being jealously watched and hated
as at present.
CHAPTER IV.
THE LIGHT SIDE OF THE ARYAN
THEORY.
NUMBERLESS works exist which
treat of the Aryans and their past.
Vet all this literature, all these
deeply-rooted, long-cherished be-
liefs, rest upon no solid basis of fact.
I know no more screaming farce
than all these books upon books
about Aryan anthropology, gravely
discussing, in hundreds of volumes,
the mental and physical character-
istics, the manners, customs, and
civilisation of a race which never
existed. A cursory examination
of the principal assertions made by
the upholders of the Aryan theory
is sufficient to show to what lengths
we can be led by the gullibility of
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Death: Agony of the ** Science” of Race
philosophers backed by thecredulity
of the public, )
Virchow asserts that the Aryans,
or, what is the same thing, the
Teutons, came to us from the
East; Schlegel that they came
from India; Link that they came
from. Asia ; Pictet that they came
from Bactriana. ‚According to
Huxley, they came from the
country situated between the Ural
Mountains and the North Sea;
according to Geiger and Loeher,
they came from “Central and
Western Germany; according to
Jules de Klaproth, from the North,
while Omalius d’Halloy contradicts
all the others, and says the Aryans
were simply Europeans.
The philologists are as much at
variance as the anthropologists.
According to F. Müller, the Aryans
came from south-western Europe;
while Jacob Grimm, Pott, and
Schlegel contend vigorously that
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Death-Agony of the ‘* Science” of Race
they came from Central Asia, and
Schrader that they came from the
Volga. Hirt, on the contrary, is
equally positive that they came
from the Baltic Sea. Now, if we
do not know whence they came—
that is, if we are uncertain as to
their origin—we cannot know what
were their distinguishing character-
istics. Tylor may say, perhaps,
that they were short-headed, while
Huxley and Poesche flatly contra-
dict him and say that they were
long-headed men; and in order
to reconcile these two conflicting
opinions, Quatrefages gravely de-
clares that the Aryans were of two
different types, some long-headed
and others short-headed. We have
only got a very little way, and here
already are all the doctors dis-
agreeing. Furthermore, while
Gobineau and his school write
enthusiastically about the Aryans’
fair hair, their dolichocephalic
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Death-Agony of the“ Science” of Race
heads, and their very tall stature,
Sergi tells us that they had ordi-
nary brown hair and were short
men. Their wanderings and their
civilising influence on other nations
give rise to quite as many contra-
dictory, opinions as their outward
appearance and origin; and so also
do their occupations and their
habits of thought and action. In
short, everything about them pro-
vokes discussion, even their lan-
guage and their alphabet.
One fine day about the year 1880
the partisans of the Aryan school
of anthropology were overjoyed by
the announcement of the discovery
of an undoubted Aryan people,
which having kept aloof from out-
side influences, had contrived to
preserve intact its Aryan features
and mental characteristics. They
were the famous Galtchas, who
lived in the upper Zerafchan
Valley. Learned men hastened to
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'‘ Death-Agony of the *“ Science” of Race
see them, but observed, to their
deep distress, that some among
these best authenticated descen-
dants of the Aryans were dark and
others fair, some broad-headed and
others long-headed, some tall and
others short.
Nevertheless, the Aryan fallacy
still persists, and is likely long to
continue to do so, all fallacies, like
all wrong ideas, being marvellously
tenacious of life, For centuries to
come men will probably still be
wrangling about their imaginary
forefathers, and whether their
minds are Aryan or Anaryan in
type.
"2
CHAPTER V.
THE SO-CALLED “LATIN RACES,”
IF we base our beliefs on a founda-
tion of truth, admitted and proved
to be truth by the researches of
ages, we none the less cherish false-
hoods, avowed and unavowed.
This is especially the case in the
domain of international politics,
where falsehood stalks about in
broad daylight naked and un-
ashamed. It often even happens
that a falsehood becomes the basis
for a friendly understanding or an
estrangement between two nations.
What can be more preposterous,
for instance, than the popular con-
ception of the Latin races as in-
cluding the French, the Italians,
the Spaniards, the Portuguese, the
Roumanians, the Argentines, the
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Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
Brazilians, and several Central
American nations besides ?
Now, not long ago I was invited
to a dinner at which representatives
of several of these so-called Latin
races were celebrating the over-
throw of the Portuguese monarchy
and the establishment of a Re-
publican form of government in its
stead. As I sat observing the
heads of my agreeable and distin-
guished fellow-guests, I was struck
by the divergence of the types they
presented—a divergence doubtless
due to the dissimilar surroundings
amidst which they had been brought
up. Characteristic features of
almost all the human races, even
those of negroid origin, could be
traced among them. Then it was
that I first fully realised the ab-
surdity. of the hackneyed phrase,
“the Latin races.” Many of the
after-dinner speakers, however, did
not hesitate to proclaim aloud that
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Death-Agony of the “* Science” of Race
all the Latin nations are one family
because theyareall related by blood.
Nevertheless, behind all these
divergent physical types there was
a resemblance—of another kind, it
is true, but none the less striking
on that account. It was obvious
to the most casual observer that
the ideals and aspirations of all
present were closely akin, even if
they themselves were not so; and
this similarity of ideals brought
them all far closer together than
any resemblance of the angle of
the nose or of the cephalic index
could possibly have done, Similar
emotions, the result of a similar
system of education, showed them-
selves in the faces of all at the
same moment. All smiled in the
same kind of way ; all moved their
lips to express displeasure or dis-
approval in a manner precisely
similar ; and, as I watched them,
all appeared to be looking into the
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Death-Agony of the * Science” of Race
future with the same eagerness of
anticipation. This could only be be-
cause from childhood all had had in-
stilled into them the same concep-
tions of beauty and the same ideals,
After all, I reflected, what did it
matter where they had been born ?
All had made the classic Journeys
to Athens, Rome and Paris. All
had venerated the same ideals, all
had been brought under the same
mental and spiritual influences,
Al had'been affected by the rhythm
and grace of Greek and Latin
classic literature, and thus at the
bottom of the souls of all were the
same bright visions, and often also
a tissue of the same fallacies and
errors. Each interpreted certain
mysteries in the same way; and
each in the same way refused to
recognise certain truths; and all
this had made them able to share as
brothers the joys and sorrows of life,
The union of the Latin races
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Death-Agony of the *“ Science” of Race
will not be a mere figure of speech
so long as it is based on identity of
civilisation, which implies similarity
in ideas, those subtle yet invisible
agents which mould the lives of
us all.
It is high time we put away these
rough and ready and even childish
conceptions of ours and realised that
it is not the cephalic index which
shapes our minds, but our minds
which shape our cephalic index.
Nations are not brought near
one another by eraniology, but
by similarity in their conceptions
of pain and pleasure, of what
makes life worth living, and
what does not. That is to say,
it is by abstract qualities, which
alone are real and permanent,
that nations are united. Ideas
are always more powerful than
matter, and the concrete is but the
child of the abstract, as matter is
but the child of thought.
87
CHAPTER VI.
INFINITESIMAL QUANTITIES AND
THEIR EFFECT UPON US.
THE power of suggestion is not a
mere phrase. Ideas have a direct
influence even on our bodies. For
instance, if it be suggested to a
person under hypnotic influence
that he is carrying out movements
with the right arm, this arm will
increase in size. Thus the mere
idea of an imaginary movement
causes complex changes in our
system, and affects our very blood.
What, then, must be the influence
upon us of our entire intelligence,
on which depends everything we
think or do or say? What pro-
found modifications must be con-
stantly taking place within us
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Death-Agony of the‘ Science” of Race
under its action? When these
are contemplated in their entirety,
it can easily be understood how
the intellect may not only form,
but also transform, our whole
being.
A little-known factor, of which
scientists have only just begun to
take note, tends strongly to bear
out this theory. I refer to the
influence of infinitesimal quantities
and their action on our system,
The particles of substance which
come into play in physiological
reactions are often almost zmponder-
able, that is to say, too minute for
any scale to be able to estimate
their amount. There is, for ex-
ample, no possibility of weighing
the zhousandth part of the thousandtk
part of a grain, Now, it is an
established fact that the Zex-
millionth part of the thousandth
part of a grain of certain mineral
salts per pint is enough to cause
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Death-Agony of the ‘* Science” of Race
milk to ferment ; and the smallest
possible quantity of light, merely
as much as is put forth by the ze%
billionth part of the thousandth part
of a grain of carbon, can be per-
ceived by the human retina.
According to Professor Charles
Richet, it is possible to distinguish
a pint of water in which 0*000,01
of a grain of phtalein has been put
from another in which nothing has
been put. Naegeli has shown that
soluble mineral compounds, even
when diluted to an inexpressible
extent, can still kill vegetable cells.
When absorbed into the human
system, these infinitesimal quanti-
ties likewise cause changes none
the less radical for being unsus-
pected; and in view of this fact,
and the indiscriminate way in which
nations have become intermingled
and crossed, it is difficult to see
how the fiction of race-purity can
be maintained any longer,
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Death-Agony of the ‘“ Science” of Race
This science, which is but in its
infancy, of the action upon us of
infinitesimal quantities will be one
of several causes which will tend
to moderate the zeal of the fanatical
believers in anthropology. Indeed,
I might go farther and add that
the contentions of these fanatics
will disappear like so many night-
mares before the light of day, and
so-called scientists will at last come
to recognise the simple truth that
race exists only in their imasgi-
nations, and that individuals
alone are realities, each with
his own peculiar physical, men-
tal, and moral constitution.
No one can say what changes
the slightest intoxication or the
most trifling illness may have
brought about in the composition
of our blood. What self-deception
and self-delusion is it, therefore, to
talk either of race-purity or national
types? If we must insist on divid-
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Death-Agony of the * Science” of Race
ing up mankind into sections, let
us do it rather according to the
similarity of their ethical concep-
tions and mental culture, which con-
notes a similarity in their point of
view. In short, let us think only
of those moral and intellectual
qualities by which men are dis-
tinguished, and by which alone
they rise superior to all other
created beings.
There is a more powerful
tie between nations than their
imaginary descent from a com-
Mon ancestry, and. this is the
absorption of similar ideas and
the speaking of kindred tongues.
We are so deeply imbued with
materialistic. conceptions that we
fail to realise that the influence of
kindred ideas is greater than that
of blood relationship. Brachyce-
phalic or dolichocephalic heads, with
or without prognathism; differ-
ences in the shape of the nose,
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Death-Agony of the *“ Science” of Race
according to which men are divided
into lepto-platyrs or mesorrhinians ;
the nasal angle, and whether it is
facial, sphenoidal, parietal or con-
dyle, and even the classification of
mankind according to the size or
thickness of the face, seem to us of
far more importance than whether
they have identical conceptions of
their duty towards their country
and to humanity in general, or
whether they are similarly affected
by the same beautiful object. In
short, we are apt to forget that we
have divine souls, and to think far
too much of their ever-changing
outer shells,
Nothing is more illusory or more
evanescent than the physiological
distinctions set up between human
beings. These are as easily ob-
literated and destroyed as objects
floating at!large on the surface of
running water.
Whether from excess of humility
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
or lack of reasoning power, we
frequently forget how profound are
the differences separating us from
the brute creation, It is. our
mental powers which mould our
lives, and make it possible for us
to live amidst the most varied and
dissimilar external surroundings.,
Under the influence of external
conditions our physiological dif-
ferences become greatly modified
and adapted to the prevailing type,
which has resulted from the local
environment. This explains how
the incessant migration of nations,
which is for ever proceeding on a
vast scale, does not destroy nation-
alities, for immigrants, wherever
they may be, always tend to become
physically and mentally assimilated
to the prevailing local type. This
also explains how it has been pos-
sible for the American nation to
survive, in spite of its having been
more exposed than any other to
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Death-Agony of the“ Science” of Race
receive not merely immigrants at-
tracted by the life or the advantages
of United States civilisation, but
also the lowest dregs of humanity
from all over the world. Now, in
the Americans, who are made up
of such heterogeneous elements,
some of them exceedingly difficult
of absorption or assimilation, we
have an instance of a nation afford-
ing one of the most Sstriking
examples of national vigour, of the
generally high type of men pro-
duced, and of complete agreement
as to political, moral, and intel-
lectual aspirations.
Against eugenics, which con-
template the multiplication .of
human beings on principles ap-
proved of by stock-breeders, there
would be nothing to urge if the
worth of men depended solely on
their weight or their “ points” ; on
the thickness of their hair or the
length of their legs. But principles
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Death-Agony of the“ Science” of Race
which may be excellent for breed-
ing pigs or oxen are not always
equally so when human beings are
in question ; and to imagine that
this is the case is singularly lower-
ing to the dignity of mankind.
If we are to be really superior
to the brute creation, we must
believe that we are so, and
above all we must act as if we
were so. Now, since past his-
tory does not hold out the
faintest hope of our ever pos-
sessing anything approaching
the purity of blood of a pedigree
Yorkshire hog or a South Downs
sheep, let us take comfort in the
fact that we are, after all, human
beings, mongrels it is true, but
possessed of souls imperishably
divine, and for that very reason
capable of boundless perfeeti-
bility.
The contemplation of the Ameri-
can nation ought to prove reassuring
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Death-Agony of the * Science” of Race
to all other nations, and particularly
to those who must depend for their
survival principally on outside
elements, for it is undoubtedly true
that the stronger a nation is, the
greater is its capacity for absorbing
foreign qualities, A suspicion of
this fact has been gaining ground
for some time past, and few people
will now venture to assert that a
physical or moral type persists
throughout a number of genera-
tions, in spite of the surroundings
in.which it grew up having changed.
This principle, indeed, is now not
disputed, but, on the contrary, is
generally admitted, Where differ-
ence of opinion steps in is when it
is a question of deciding how many
generations must pass for a given
type to be able to adapt itself to
its environment. . From the physio«-
logical point of view the general
opinion has been that at least ten
generations are required before
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Death-Agony of the “* Science” of Race
distinctive physical traits have time
to be effaced under the influence
of the special local conditions
created by the life of any nation as
a whole.
98
CHAPTER VII.
IS THERE ANY SUCH THING AS
NATIONAL CHARACTER?
WHETHER tried by the test of
anthropology or psychology, the
race theory hopelessly breaks down
in the light of facts, The more
the so-called races or rather nations
are studied throughout a long
period, the more clearly it appears
how much even those of their
qualities once looked on as innate
have changed or disappeared
altogether with time,
In my work, The Fallacy of Race,
I. have shown, basing my con-
clusions on hundreds of instances,
that the most highly esteemed
works on national character become
entirely out of date and useless at
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Death-Agony of the “ Science” of Race
the end of a few generations—some-
times, indeed, after a single genera-
tion. The Germany of before 1860
and the Germany of to-day are
two totally different nations. All
the qualities attributed to the
Teutons of the first half of the
nineteenth century are remarkably
at variance with those which they
exhibit to-day. Again, to take the
Swiss, they were once famous as
soldiers ; to-day they are mere
hotel-keepers. The Jews, who are
now chiefly engaged in commerce
and are looked upon as a peaceable
people, hating arms and warfare,
used to hire themselves out as
mercenaries about the eleventh
century B.C. The Book of Judges
is full of their heroic deeds, and,
as in the Song of Deborah and
Barak, war is glorified and exalted.
Under the Maccabees the Jews had
the reputation of being the bravest
and most valiant of soldiers, and
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Death-Agony of the “ Science” of Race
from being originally mere breeders
of cattle and tillers of the soil, they
became in course of time powerful
merchants. Now, it must never be
forgotten that the Jews, ever since
they have been known to history,
have apparently always despised
and detested trade, which in old
Judea was left to the Phoenicians
and Egyptians.
In our ignorance we blame
certain nations for faults which are
common to all mankind, For
instance, the French are constantly
being laughed at for thinking far
too highly of themselves; but
nations, like individuals, seldom
err on the side of excessive
modesty. The no doubt ex-
aggerated praise which Victor
Hugo lavished on France as the
“chosen nation,” and on Paris as
the “ mother of cities,” the “ ever-
burning torch,” and the “ City of
Light,” has its parallel in the
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Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
%
writings of the great authors and
noets of other nations.
To take the Hottentots first, we
find them calling themselves by
three names: the “ First of Man-
kind,” the “Real Men,” and the
“Men of Men.” We may go on
to the Germans, the North, Central
or South Americans, or the Eng-
lish, without finding a single nation
free from the vice of hational
arrogance and boastfulness. "The
Chinese claim the privilege of in-
habiting the “Middle Empire,”
and the Mussulmans are always
hoping to conquer the whole world
in the name and for the sake of
the Prophet Mohamed. Moribund
nations, no less than nations just
beginning to awake to a national
life of their own, are alike convinced
of their own innate superiority to
other nations and races, I have actu-
ally heard one of the most repre-
sentative negroes, one on whom
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Death-Agony of the * Science” of Race
are centred the highest hopes of
the coloured peoples, propound the
theory that, as compared with the
negroes, the haughty Americans
of the United States are but an
inferior and decadent race.
« What,” said he, “can you do
with people who have lost their
stomachs, their hair, and their
teeth 2”
Before the Russo-Japanese War,
analysts of Japanese character—
Vacher de Lapouge not excepted
—spoke of this nation as wholly
lacking in the instinet for conquest
and expansion, an opinion which
to-day raises a smile,
Moreover, all the ardent anthro-
pologists who have devoted atten-
tion to the psychology of nations
have not hesitated a moment to
try to find some special instinct for
commerce and usury in the Jews,
and, what is more, they have found
it. There is no denying or dis-
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Death-Agony of the * Science” of Race
cussing the fact that such an instinct
exists, say men of the Duhring and
Houston Chamberlain order, and
legions of scientists and all the
serried ranks of their disciples re-
echo this statement. But they
carefully ignore. the unfortunate
historical antecedents which show
that in the past certain of the
Teutons were the most rapacious
and blood-sucking leeches ever
known to commerce or usury ; and
they also forget Luther, and how
vehemently he denounced the great
German merchants, as not only
ruining the people, but devouring
the small traders as pike gobble up
smaller fishes. A German author,
Geyser von Keyserswertz, who. can
certainly not be accused of over-
severity, even asserted that the
German media@val merchants were
far more unblushing and far greedier
usurers and exploiters of the people
than ever were any Jews, for they
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Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
not only plundered their fellow-
merchants, but nearly starved the
people as well by putting up the
prices of first necessaries,
Now, while the Germans were
given over to usury and to disgrace-
ful and illicit methods of trade, the
Jews were establishing the silk
industry in Greece and dye-works
in Italy.
This alleged incorrigible predilec-
tion for commerce and usury on
the part of the Jews becomes
almost a joke when their occupa-
tions in certain countries are Con-
sidered. In Southern Russia there
is a whole Jewish tribe, the Karaites,
who are engaged in agriculture,
In the other Russian provinces,
where the Jews are forbidden to
live on the land, they do various
kinds of manual labour besides
carrying on trade,
According to Dr. Zollschan, when
the Jews began to leave Roumania
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Death-Agony of the * Seience”. of Race
the building of new houses had to
be stopped for some time at Jassy
and Bucharest, as the plumbers
and builders in these two towns
were. chiefly Jewish immigrants.
It must not be forgotten, moreover,
that the Jewish population of New
York, London, and Paris includes
a hundred times more representa-
tives of the very poor working-
classes, victims of the sweating
system, than of the banker and
merchant classes.
In the Yemen the Jewish popu-
lation is almost wholly engaged in
agriculture. What Jews there are
scattered about among the Arabs
devote themselves to the manufac-
ture of arms, while the Jews of
Amsterdam are known everywhere
as cutters of precious stones.
The early Arabs were but a rude
people, incapable of rising to be
anything better than hunters and
brigands. But in the seventh cen-
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Death-Agony of the “ Science” of Race
tury they conquered Persia, in the
eighth century Spain, and in the
ninth century part of India; and
while in these different countries
their character completely changed.
They developed into great con-
querors, great students, and great
collectors of books ; while some of
them even became poets, legisla-
tors, and architects. The Romans,
from being mere herdsmen and
peasants, became in the course of
centuries warriors, legislators, and
moral philosophers, all which goes
to prove how greatly the character
and the very soul of a people may
be modified and transformed under
the influence of environment.
The climate of a country, the
occupations of its people, its
sciences and inventions, its neigh-
bours, its laws, its commercial
and industrial prosperity, the pre-
sence or absence of great men
in its midst, its success or lack
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Death-Agony of the * Science” of Race
of success in carrying on war, are
merely so many factors which make
or unmake the entire character of
a nation. Race has certainly some-
thing to do with the matter, but
only in so far as its virtues are well
defined,and remain uncontaminated
by influences from without or ad-
mixture of other races from within.
Such conditions, however, are
seldom if ever found, and it may
be looked upon as certain that a
great invention such as railways,
or a great political upheaval such
as that by which a nation regains or
loses its freedom, often does more
for the development of its national
character than any vague ancestry
on which it may pride itself. As
the causes of national life and
prosperity change, so do nations
themselves, They visibly acquire
certain characteristics due to the
occupations in which they are
mainly engaged; and in under-
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Death-Agony of the“ Science” of Race
going these changes they are not
unlike the models of great artists,
who, dressed in different fashion,
assume, thanks to the painter’s
genius, the actual expression and
appearance of those whom they
are supposed to be representing,
Rembrandt, for example, made of
his father at one time or another a
doctor, a Turk, a captain wearing a
gorget and a plumed hat, Pontius
Pilate, a banker in his counting-
house, and a Jewish king wearing
a long cloak ; and it is to this old
miller, whom the greatest of
painters inspired to represent this
series of opposite types, that we
owe all those immortal creations, SO
admirably true to life,
Could anything. be more striking
than Rembrandt’s Man with the
Golden Helmet? No masterpiece
of painting gives so relentless a
picture of war. That thin, worn
face ; those half-closed eyes looking
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Death-Agony of the“ Science” of Rate
out with an expression of unspeak-
able sadness over the field of
slaughter ; the hollow cheeks;
the short-cut moustaches, hard as
steel; the veins of the neck, the
helmet and gorget emphasising the
sternness of the mournful counten-
ance, accustomed to the constant
sight of death—he seems every
inch an old warrior, scarred by
numberless campaigns; and yet
the man who posed for him,
Rembrandt’s brother, was only an
ordinary shop-keeper.
Life, however, is a greater genius
than the greatest of creative artists
has ever been. Under its com-
pelling touch all things crumble
away and all things are changed,
Life can convert a nation of shop-
keepers into one of warriors, and
savages into the most refined. of
mankind. The soul of a people
or of a so-called race is for ever in
the‘ making. The characteristics
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Death-Agony of the “ Science” of Race
as well as the mental conceptions
of nations change. There is nothing
fixed or final about national
character. It cannot permanently
remain either superior or inferior,
vicious or noble, cowardly, dis-
honest or sublime. Each one of
us has within him the divine spark,
and the possibility of infinite
progress.
A man’s calling in life must have
more effect upon his character than
the composition of his blood, about
which, moreover, he can never be
certain. The influence of occupa-
tion on character is a study based
on something real and substantial,
for every calling gives rise to certain
habits and makes certain demands
upon those who exercise it. More-
over, between those engaged in the
same occupation there is constant
rivalry. The study of national
character, on the contrary, is always
in the air, and is based on mere
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Death-Agony of the “* Science” of Race
meaningless phrases and superficial
observation.
For example, the minds of
American, French, and German
bankers are undoubtedly far more
closely akin than those of French
literary men and French financiers.
The same might be said of Ameri-
can, French, and German factory
owners, builders and contractors,
or naval and military contractors,
As. for the founders and ex-
ploiters of the American Trusts,
they, in their greed and un-
scrupulousness, have far exceeded
the Armenians, Jews, Levantines,
French, English and Germans all
put together, the moral code pre-
vailing in any given profession
being also under the influence of
local conditions. Take the Rocke-
fellers, who are of Southern French
origin; the Goulds, who are the
descendants of German Jews; the
Vanderbilts, whose ancestors must
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Death-Agony of the “ Science” of Race
be sought for among the Scottish
kings. They have all been dis-
tinguished, and still are so, by
the same monopolistic methods,
whether in commerce or finance,
and by the same callous indiffer-
ence as to what becomes of their
victims. A world-wide gulf separ-
ates the moral code of such a Jew
as Christ or even Spinoza from a
Rothschild, and there is a no less
impassable gulf between the am-
bitions, the mind and character of
a politician such as Disraeli and a
poet such as Heinrich Heine.
As mankind. progresses there
will gradually cease to be national
modes of thought and national
qualities, and there will come to be
different types of character due to
the different occupations which fill
our lives, and which, indeed, often
are our lives. The journalism of
every civilised country has its Yel-
low Press, which is everywhere
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Death-Agony of the“ Science” of Race
equally busy spreading sensational
news which has a degrading, not to
say disastrous, effect on the mind
of the public. Wherever there is a
certain standard of well-being and a
certain freedom of. the Press there
is this special class of writers, known
as blackmailers and professional
slanderers; and everywhere alike
they exhibit the same unscrupu-
lousness, the same greed of illicit
gain, and the same delight in be-
littling their contemporaries. The
so-called “ nationalist ” or Jingoistic
Press shows, no matter where it be
edited, the same dislike of and con-
tempt for foreigners, and the same
eagerness to bring about war
between nations and quarrels be-
tween individuals. With equal zest
it sows discord between citizens of
the same town and nations or
neighbour-states. Everywhere it
makes use. of the same phrases,
appeals to the same bad instincts
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Death-Agony of the * Science” of Race
in men, and puts forward the same
low ideals.
The necessity for making the
public hold certain opinions and
believe certain statements compels
all Yellow Press journalists to re-
sort to the same methods, and even
to make use of similar turns of
speech ; and, as a rule, after drag-
ging the dignity of others in the
mud, they end by losing all trace
of any they may once have had of
their own, to say nothing of any
conscience or nobility of life. After
a time, indeed, those who make
their living by this kind of writing
acquire a certain outward resem-
blance one to another, although
perhaps living thousands of miles
apart. Such is the influence of
our thoughts in ennobling or de-
grading our expression. Hence
our means of livelihood, which can
be easily shown to affect our mental
and other habits, must also have an
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Death-Agony of the “ Science” of Race
influence on the formation of our
characters.
There is a special “person of
independent means ” type, just as
there is a special Bumble type,
a special soldier type, and typi-
cal writers, artists, Government
officials, . speculators, financiers,
merchants, artisans, _Ppoliticians,
peasants, and working men,
Wholesale condemnation of na-
tions as nations. is both senseless
and unscientific, for there is not
one of them but contains indi-
viduals capable of the basest crime
or the utmost heroism. Inferior
or radically bad nations are such
as have been made so by force of
circumstances. All ethnical units
are capable of evolution, and all
nations have within them the power
to reach the highest pitch of moral
and intellectual capacity.
The nobleness of striving after
perfection of achievement, the
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Death-Agony of the‘ Science” of Race
power of ideas and thought, the
imperishable beauty of altruistic
and divine qualities—these are the
watchwords of that new study of
the mental and physical character-
istics of nations which has sprung
from the ashes of the old discredited
doctrine of race,
717
CHAPTER VIIL
SEEKING TO PROVE THAT MEN ARE
COUSINS FIRST AND BROTHERS
AFTERWARDS.
THOSE who have considered with
an open mind the making of a
modern nation attach no import-
ance whatever to the fact of race.
For several centuries there has
been no such thing as a pure-
blooded race, or even a nation that
is a clearly-defined ethnical unit.
Let us begin by studying some of
the principal European nations from
the point of view of race-purity.
To take GERMANY first ; of what
does she consist, anthropologically
speaking ? Her population is with-
out doubt largely composed of
Poles, Obotrites and Wends, with
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Death-Agony of the “ Science” of Race
numbers of other Slav tribes and
peoples. Yet Nietzsche, who, by
the bye, was of Polish origin, says
that the real Teutons emigrated to
other countries, and that modern
Germany merely consists of the
most advanced and progressive
among the Slavs.
A. heterogeneous, it will be said
an indescribable, medley of races
thrown pell-mell together, the
Germans even to themselves appear
more difficult of comprehension
and definition, and fuller of contra-
dicetions than is the case with any
other nation.
The history of the Prussians is a
good instance of the irony of Fate.
Occupying as they do the leading
position in Germany, they are con-
vinced that they are the personifi-
cation of the German race and the
incarnation of its traditions. But
originally the Prussians had no
connection whatever with the
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Germans, ‘their real name having
been Borussians. They had even
their own language, which differed
from the Teutonic dialects, and
which became extinct barely three
centuries ago. A certain likeness
may be traced between it and the
Lithuanian language, which is still
spoken in Russian Lithuania, in
the provinces of Kovno, Vilno, and
Grodno, and in those districts of
Germany bordering the River
Nemen, It is only necessary to
travel about Northern Germany to
see that it was formerly inhabited
principally by Slavs. On both
sides of the Elbe, Vistula, and
Oder all the names of places have
Slavonic roots; and whenever a
German name is found it may be
taken for granted that here is a
place of recent origin. Traces of
the Mazovians may also be found,
and there is a certain proportion of
Cassubians as well, while even in
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Death-Agony of the ‘“* Science” of Race
the most Teutonised provinces the
peasants’ patois contains numbers
of Slav words.
In short, whether it is the Ger-
mans of North, Middle or South
Germany who are considered, they,
like the French, will all be found
to give clear indications of their
ancestry having been of the most
mixed description. In vain do
German upholders of tradition
appeal to Tacitus in proof of the
illustriousness of their ancestors,
The description which this great
historian gives of the Germani does
not in the least correspond to the
physical characteristics of the Ger-
mans of to-day, which is but one
more proof of the mixture of races
which has taken place throughout
German territory.
While the Prussians profess the
utmost contempt for the Slavs, and
particularly for the Poles, they are
constantly confronted with the
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indelible traces which the latter
have left on Germany. On the
very borders of the Spree may be
found to-day a certain Wend
Island which is wholly Slav. In
any case the Alemans, from whom
is derived the French name for
Germany (Allemagne), contributed
but little to the population of the
country in comparison with the
numbers of other nations and races
which have gone to the making of
modern Germany.
There are those who assert, how-
ever, that the South Germans are
the real Germans ; but here again
a cruel disappointment is in store
for us, for the ancient Bavarians,
from whom Bavaria takes her name,
were not Teutons at all, but
nearly related to the Marcomani, a
Scythian or Slav tribe, who also
inhabited Bohemia.
Moreover, it must not be for-
zotten that since the end of the
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Death-Agony of the “ Science ” of Race
eighteenth century Prussia has
attracted numerous emigrants, and
that in the days of the Great
Elector Frederick William one-
third of the inhabitants of the city
of Berlin, then numbering. about
6,000, were of French origin,
French refugees occupied entire
quarters, and gradually they
became absorbed by the German
population. When to all these
French are added the Jews, of
whom there are so many in Berlin,
and also Slavs belonging to all the
various Slavonic races, it may
reasonably be asked, how many
pure-blooded Germans are there
now remaining in the capital of
modern Germany ?
About the end of the eighteenth
century, in 1776, almost a third of
the whole population of Prussia
consisted of aliens and their descen-
dants: It will be remembered
how important a part was played
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Death-Agony of he“ Science” of Race
in the war of 1870 by the descen-
dants of French refugees, than
whom there were no more violent
and intolerant Gallophobes.
Out of all this medley of races,
how is it possible to know for how
much the Teutonic admixture
counts? It is far better to empha-
sise the fact that this Teutonic
strain almost wholly disappears in
the medley of nations and races of
the most diverse origin, who are
for ever being absorbed into the
vast crucible ofthe German Empire
and German civilisation.
ITALY.—As for the Italians, they
will find. it hard to forgive my
honest doubts as to their Roman
origin. Nevertheless, it is suffi-
cient to recapitulate the various
elements which have entered into
their composition, in order to
realise that the Roman strain must
count for infinitesimally little. The
original inhabitants of the country
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Death-Agony of the “* Science” of Race
were Sicanians and Liburnians, that
is, African nations ; and they were
invaded by the Pelasgians, with
their numerous subdivisions—the
Messapians, Peucetians, Opiscans,
Iapygians, Apulians, etc,
Central Italy was peopled by the
Umpbrians. Now the Umbrians
were most certainly not a Latin
people, judging by their language
and its grammar, which were radi-
cally different from those of the
Romans. The Etruscans, who
spread over the whole peninsula,
have sometimes been classed as
Slavs, and. at other times as Celts,
while many anthropologists con-
sider them to have been of Semitic
descent. In any case, according to
Breal, they have nothing in common
with the Indo-European nations,
Besides these races there were the
Longobards, the Byzantines, the
Gauls, the Egyptians, the Greeks,
the Spaniards, the Slavs, Angevins,
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Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
Jews, Normans, Saracens, and Bre-
tons, not to speak of the Teutons.
But, it may be urged, what about
the famous Seven Hills of Rome?
They were very small, and their
population must have been quite
insignificant ; but surely it cannot
be disputed that it, at least, was of
Latin origin. The historians of
race, however, assure us that this
was not so at all, and that these
minute villages were inhabited, as
far back as history goes, by
Lucerians of AKEtruscan origin,
Argians of Pelasgic origin, and
Sabines, who had no connection
with the Latins,
The modern Italians are often
spoken of as if they were the direct
descendants of the Ancient Romans.
Now, just because they are de-
scended from so many different
races, the Italians are a very great
and exceedingly versatile people,
whose present is glorious, and
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Death-Agony of the & Science” of Race
whose future promises to be still
more brilliant. I had some oppor-
tunity of studying Italy’s greatness
at the very time when her de-
cadence was being proclaimed
aloud in Europe; and to-day I
should probably predict a much
greater future for her than even
her most ardent patriots would do,
Whatever nation is under review,
indeed—England, Greece, Russia,
or France—it may be shown to be
compounded of a medley of races,
extremely diverse in origin and
characteristics. Great Britain,
thanks to her privileged situation,
might have succeeded in being an
exception to the general rule ; but
the historians of race discover
among her population Mongol,
African, Teutonic, and Iberian
types, to say nothing of traces of
French, Germans, and numbers of
other races of more modern but not
less mixed origin.
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THE JEWISH NATION.—Jews
boast of the purity of their descent,
but they can only do so by
shutting their eyes to the evidence
of history. When they first
artived in Palestine they were few
in number, but they intermarried
later on with the Arabs, Philistines,
Hittites, and many other tribes,
whose origins we do not now know.
They infused a strain of their
blood into all these races, and
received in return a strain of the
blood of each. A fact which must
not be forgotten, moreover, is that
an entire Turkish tribe, the Chazars,
became converted to the Jewish
faith, and that they made proselytes
all over the world among all
races.
And what is still more strange
is that while the Jews are usually
looked upon as one of the most
exclusive races, one which has con-
trived to preserve its racial qualities
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Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
in spite of, or rather in defiance of,
all other nations, we now see that
nothing could be farther from fact,
Renan even went so far as. to
assert that the Jews were not a
race at all, but only a religious
fraternity ; and Jud, who poses as
an authority on the subject, even
disputes their being of Semitic
origin.. The tribes who inherited
Palestine, he says, were Canaanites
and Philistines, who were not
Semitic at all. According to him
the Jews belong to the Celtic
race. Maspero and Hitzig even
allege that the Philistines, who
contributed so largely to form the
Jewish race, were öf Aryan origin 1
On the other hand, Luschan con-
siders the Hittites to have been
Aryan in origin.
If all these conjectures were true,
the Jews could not be considered
a Semitic people; and supposing
them to be really of Celtic. or
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Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
Aryan descent, what a cruel blow
for all the physiologists and an-
thropologists who, believing in
their Semitic origin, have en-
dowed them with. special char-
acteristics resembling those of
the Arabs. As, however, the
Jews present different anthrop-
ological types, it:has scarcely been
possible to sort them all into one
or even several divisions. Neither
their physical characteristics nor
their moral qualities and defects,
which vary so greatly according to
the occupations or surroundings
of the individual, seem to lend
themselves to any such generalisa-
tions.
In order to evade the difficulty,
therefore, we are told that the Jews
are of two opposite types: the
Sephardim, supposed to be of
Spanish origin, and the Aschkena-
sim, of Teuto-Polish descent. The
former, it is asserted, are true
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Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
Semites, while the latter must be
considered as of Aryan origin.*
Renan, Ripley, and several other
historians and philologists simply
wash their hands of all these futile
speculations, boldly asserting that
there is no Jewish race, and that
for the excellent reason that the
Jews have at all times intermarried
with other nations and races,
Now, whenever .anthropological
measurements have been taken of
Jews, it is soon manifest that these
vary according to the country in
which those measured lived, and
the occupations in which they were
engaged. What use is it, therefore,
to speak of a Jewish race, when
all the facts of anthropological
science. seem bent upon opposing
any such hard-and-fast classifica--
tions?
Long and historic lineage no
more constitutes the greatness of
* Vogt, Broca, and other authorities,
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Death-Agony of the“ Science” of Race
nations than it does that of indi-
viduals. What their ancestors
may have been called, or how
many they may have been in num-
ber, are points on which there is
no absolute certainty, and which,
moreover, are of no importance,
What does matter is their intel-
Jectual and moral qualities, their
capacity for self-sacrifice, and
whether they are able to impress
their ideas upon the world.
2
CHAPTER IX.
THE LIGHT SIDE OF CRANIOLOGY.
WE have not even now ceased to
trouble ourselves about the in-
vasions of “the Barbarians.” Any
alien we imagine must be an inferior
being, some wretched upstart who
is anxious to have the benefits of a
civilisation which he has not helped
to build up. Ill-natured persons,
and those too much given to antici-
pating the future, are ‚constantly
wondering what is going to become
of new-comers, pitchforked. down
among a population with aspirations
entirely different from theirs. A
triumphant answer to these ques-
tionings is afforded by the changes
which take place in national char-
23
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
acter. Nothing is more easily
influenced than the mental and
moral nature, which is astonishingly
susceptible to every change of
environment. "Thus, immigrants
receiving the same education, good
or bad, as the people among whom
they have settled, and subjected to
the same mental influences, good
or bad, alter so rapidly that a change
in them can almost be seen taking
place from day to day. Irish,
Sicilians, Jews, and even Germans
become American citizens. in the
first generation, just as Italians
become converted into Argentines
or Brazilians ; while in the strength
of their patriotic fervour and devo-
tion to their adopted country these
new citizens are no whit behind the
older ones.
The greater and greater uniform-
ity of civilisation throughout the
world, the increasing resemblance
between the modes of thought and
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Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
action of different nations, and
their ever more and more frequent
and regular intercommunication,
make it constantly easier for them
to adapt themselves morally and
intellectually to one another.
It might be urged that, trifling
as are the physiological differences
between human beings, they will
nevertheless for centuries to come
tend to keep the new arrivals in a
couritry distinct from those who
have been long settled there. Ina
recent volume, 7’%e Fallacy of Race,
I strove to throw light on this ques-
tion, basing my conclusions on
observations taken of a number of
human specimens who had’ been
transplanted to a different climate
and environment. I showed how
the distinguishing characteristics of
the so-called “human races” yielded
invariably to local influences, al-
though, in dealing with craniological
traits, I thought it far safer not
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‚Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
to admit that they could vary until
several generations had passed,
It must never be forgotten that
from time immemorial the cephalic
index has been looked on as an
Fig. I.
BRACHYCEPHALIC SKULL,
Cephalic index 85°40.
almost fixed characteristic, the
racial variations of which had al-
ways differentiated and must always
continue to differentiate nations
and races.
tt;
Death-Agony of the * Science ” of Race
There is no doubt that crani-
ometry and the sister-science of
cephalometry have done more to
estrange nations than differences
in their ideas or habits of life. It
used to be erroneously believed
that mental capacity could be
gauged by the shape or size of
the skull ; and. it is well known into
what unfortunate and sometimes
irresistibly comic exaggerations
many writers have fallen—Gobin-
eau, for example, and Lapouge,
Ammon, or Houston Stewart
Chamberlain, the most intolerant
advocate of the.race idea, and the
favourite anthropologist of the
Emperor William.’ In their wor-
ship of dolichocephalic skulls,*
* The cephalic index means the relation
between the greatest length (maximum antero-
posterior diameter) and the greatest breadth
(maximum transverse diameter) of the skull.
This index varies in the human race from 71'20
to 85°60. Long skulls are dolichocephalic 3
broad skulls or round ones are brachycephalic,
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Death-Agony of the * Science” of Race
they have exalted the Teutons to
the skies, alleging that they re-
present the noblest specimens of
humanity. Now, the comparative
study of human skulls reveals the
Fig, w.
curious fact that the dolichocephalic
type, which we are asked to accept
as that of the aristocracy of the
human race, is found chiefly among
savages or primitive nations;
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while the ideal cephalic index-—
that below seventy-six——the mark
of superior nations such as the
Teutons, who, according to the
Pan-Germanists, are thus indicated
as the future rulers of the world,
is found chiefly among the Kru
negroes, the Ashantis, the Tas-
manian natives, the Papuans, the
Ainus, the Esquimaux, and the
Botocudos. Sub-dolichocephalic
skulls are found with equal fre-
quency amongst the Japanese, the
Tartars, the northern Chinese, the
Esquimaux, the Iroquois Indians,
the French of the old province of
Roussillon, the Sardinians, the
Belgians, the Flemish, the natives
of the Solomon Islands, the Poly-
nesians, and the inhabitants of
many other parts of the world.
What is still ‚more significant is
that as civilisation advances the
number of broad-headed or brachy-
cephalic men increases, for the
120
Death-Agony of the ‘* Science” of Race
simple reason that if our heads are
to contain more ‚facts and ideas
they must increase in size.
By their persistent admiration of
the dolichocephalic type, Gobineau
and his disciples prove how pro-
foundly ignorant they are of the
laws of craniological evolution, for
education enlarges our brains and
improves the shape of our heads,
long as may be the time required
to work changes which can be
perceived by the naked eye.
The influence of the shape of
the skull and its effect on the
value and fertility of our ideas
cannot amount to anything con-
siderable. Nevertheless, they are
of importance when it comes to
classifying human beings as regards
externals,
There is, furthermore, a law of
organic co-ordination or adaptation,
according to which one change
entails others. For instance, when
140
Death-Agony of the“ Science” of Race
fanciers have succeeded in length-
ening the beak of a pigeon, they
notice that the bird’s tongue has
meantime grown longer ; and when
the great Irish stag gets his im-
mense antlers, his skull becomes
thicker so as to be able to support
their weight. It is also observable
that at the same time the cervical
vertebra@ become Stronger, while
the dorsal vertebra@ grow larger,
and the forelegs increase in size
and strength. Similarly, a narrow
or a broad skull naturally connotes
certain corresponding modifications
in the dimensions of the facial and
frontal angles, but this does nof
mean that man is on that account
more moral or less so, More intelli-
gent or less So, more open-minded
or less so.
But he does distinguish himself
from his surroundings, and that is
already a great deal for profes-
sional and amateur takers of
tal
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
anthropological measurements, to
which the more importance is
attached because the other dis-
tinctive characteristics of a man
are almost worthless in compari-
son with the skull measurements.
Neither his build, nor his weight,
nor the colour of his hair or skin
have any real weight when placed
in the scientific balance. It is
quite otherwise, we are told, with
the shape of the skull. This is
not only exceedingly significant,
but, what is more, it seems to defy
the influences of time and place.
We shall see in the next chapter
whether this is so or not.
"2
CHAPTER X,
THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENT ON
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS,
AS ILLUSTRATED BY UNITED
STATES IMMIGRANTS.
ABOUT two years ago I received
a letter from one of the most
distinguished American anthro-
pologists, in which he was pleased
to reproach me for my extreme
caution in coming to definite con-
clusions about variations in the
skulls of men. He insisted on the
fact that in American immigrants
the cephalic index often alters in
the first generation, while by the
second it has radically changed.
This was shortly after the transla-
tion of my volume on 7%e Fallacy
143
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
of Race had appeared in the United
States, and the great newspapers
of the country, partly, no doubt, on
account of a letter addressed to
them by President Roosevelt,
drawing attention to the book,
were publishing long and extremely
favourable :critical reviews of it,
American readers were good
enough to send me their lively
views of my work, showing that
they agreed with certain of my
contentions, which the anthro-
pologists considered ‚too revolu-
tionary. .
My American «correspondents
specially called my attention to
the work of their Immigration
Committee, whose measurements
and actual observations all tended
to corroborate the theories- and
main ideas of my book as to the
evolution and future of race. Later
on the members of this Committee
were kind enough to favour me
144
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
with a number of their reports, for
which I cannot be sufficiently grate-
ful. That dealing with the physical
changes observed in the descendants
of immigrants * appears to me
the most conclusive of all. It isa
document of the utmost importance
to future anthropologists, who will
find there exact facts which will
correct their errors and destroy at
least some of their fallacies.
Thanks to the exceedingly pains-
taking labours of this committee, it
is possible to examine more closely
into the fate in store for the very
different skull-formations of Jewish
immigrants from Eastern Europe
and immigrants from Sicily. Now,
* Changes in Bodily Form of Descendants
of Immigrants: Senate, Washington, 1910,
The Immigration Committee consists of five
Senators, three Congressmen, and several
scientists not belonging ‚to either House,
The considerable sum of money at its disposal
enabled it to institute measurements On a very
large scale,
14.5
Death-Agony of the “* Science” of Race
the change in the types of these
skulls, so distinct from each other,
yet both making almost visible
efforts to become assimilated to the
average American Skull, is one of
the most striking of physiological
phenomena.,
The chief business of the Immi-
gration Committee was to attempt
to answer the following questions :
firstly, has the physical type of
immigrants into the United States
visibly changed under the influence
oftheirnew surroundings ? Secondly,
assuming that it has, in what do
these changes consist ?
Somehundreds ofstatistical tables,
compiled from measurements taken
— always under thestrict supervision
of a number of scientists and per-
sons employed by the Immigra-
tion Committee—of thousands
of children in and out of the
schools, endeavour to elucidate and
summarise the carefully collected
146
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
observations and facts. There is,
for example, a set of diagrams
showing that while the cephalic
index of Jewish children born
abroad and transplanted to the
United States is 85°0 at the age
of five and 84°6 at the age of
twelve, the same cephalic index
in the case of children born zz the
United States is 83 at the age of
five and 82°3 at the age of twelve.
In the case of children‘ of
Sicilian origin the facts are as
follows. A. Sicilian born abroad
measures 80°8 at the age of five
and 78:9 at the age of twelve;
but if born zz the United States
his cephalic index will be 80°1 at
the age of five and 82'1 at the
age of twelve.
Comparing these significant fig-
ures, we soon perceive how rapidly
these types, originally so distinct,
tend to become alike when once
they are both under the influence
147
L2
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
of. an American environment,
While the Sicilian and the Jewish
child born abroad show a cephalic
index of 80°8 and 85 respectively,
when born zz the States these
differences are levelled so that the
cephalic index becomes only 80° 1
and 83 respectively, while by the
age of twelve a: prodigious advance
has taken place in both children,
the Sicilian child’s cephalic index
having increased to 82°1, while
that of the Jewish child has fallen
to 82°3. The effect of these
changes in both cases is to assimi-
late two distinct types to the
average American type.
The shape of the heads of immi-
grants’ children born in the United
States becomes more and more
closely assimilated to the American
type, the greater the number of
years the parents have spent in
their adopted country. The con-
ductors of the investigation prove
148
Death-Agony of the * Science” of Race
this by citing a series of measure-
ments taken of children born of
parents ‚who had ‘been in the
United States some of them for
more and some of them for less
than a period of ten years,
149
CHAPTER XI.
THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT
ON THE SHAPE OF THE CEPHALIC
INDEX.
I REPRODUCE here a diagram
and a sketch intended to bear out
the contentions of the United
States Immigration Committee,
The diagram (fig. 3) shows
Ti)
Fig. 3.
The
upper line represents the heads of Jews
born abroad, the lower line the heads of
Sicilians born abroad. Both lines set out
from (1) and continue towards (3), gradu-
ally drawing closer and closer together.
AB®solutely unlike as these heads are at
first, they gradually tend to become assimi-
lated to the prevailing American type.
150
Death-Agony of the “ Science ” of Race
clearly how two types, absolutely
distinet in Europe, tend to become
alike in the United States. It
should be noted that the investi-
gators took observations of about
twelve hundred children. The
OO
%®
Fig, 4.
sketch (fig. 4) illustrates the
general changes undergone in the
shape of the head. No. 1 shows
the average head of a Jew %0% born
in the United States. No. 2 that
of a Sicilian also zof born in the
United States; and No. 3 the
[51
Death-Agony of the “ Science” of Race
average head of a Jewish or Sici-
lian child born in the United States
of immigrant parents who had
spent more than ten years in the
country.
One curious phenomenon will be
noticed, among others, viz., that
while the heads of Jewish children
increase in length they diminish in
breadth, while in the case of the
Sicilian children the contrary takes
place, the length of the head di-
minishing and the breadth increas-
ing. "This flagrant contradiction
in craniological evolution tends
to produce an average type in
which are merged those marked
differences which formerly resulted
in two distinct types of skulls,
belonging to different countries,
and evolved under wholly different
conditions.
When these changes occur in
children of tender age they continue
throughout the period of their
152
Death-Agony of the “* Science” of Race
growth. Numerous measurements
taken of Jewish and Sicilian ado-
lescents up to the age of twenty do
not permit of the slightest doubt
on this head.
In accordance with the law: of
the interdependence of one part of
the system upon another, when the
head is modified in length and
breadth, corresponding modifica-
tions take place all over it. Thus,
just as the cephalic index tends to
resemble that of the average
American type, so also do the
breadth and length of the head.
There is no need to insist on the
increase in weight and stature of
these immigrant United States
children. That weight and stature
vary according to the conditions of
life is a fact which has long been
proved. So marked, indeed, is the
effect of the economic conditions of
a country on the physical develop-
ment of its inhabitants, that, ac-
153
Death-Agony of the “ Science” of Race
cording to the American investiga-
tors, the crisis and panic of the
year 1893 had disastrous effects on
the bodily dimensions of the
immigrants.
The most striking feature in
these reports, packed as they are
with figures and measurements, is
the disappearance, under the in-
fluence of environment, of those
very characteristics. which have
always been considered the most
unvarying, if not absolutely per-
manent. When it is added that it
is chiefly according to these varia-
tions in type that mankind has
always been classified into races or
species, it is easy to perceive that
the power of adaptation to local
conditions may attain hitherto
undreamt-of proportions. . This
fact opens up brilliant future
prospects for those nations whom
we have been pleased to consider
our inferiors, although in reality
[54
Death-Agony of the Science” of Race
they only happen to be different
for the time being from those
who have observed and examined
them.
155
CONCLUSION.
The conception of races as of
So many watertight compart-
ments into which human beings
can be crammed, as if they were
so many different breeds of
horses or cattle, has had its day.
The word “race” will doubtless
long survive, even though it may
have lost all meaning. From time
immemorial men.have taken far
more pains to damn their souls
than would have sufficed to save
them. Hence they will be certain
to preserve this mock scientific
term, which incites to hatred and
unjustifiable contempt “for our
fellow-men, instead of replacing it
by some word implying the brother-
hood of Man. To the thoughtful,
156
Death-Agony of the “ Science” of Race
however, “race” will be merely a
synonym for country and father-
land. Men’s minds will become
enlarged and enlightened, and they
will no longer insist on, the im-
portance of physiological differ-
ences, supposed to be unvarying,
when the only real differences are
those of political, moral, or ‚intel-
lectual ideals.
The phrase “innately superior
or inferior nations ” will be banished
from our vocabulary, for there are
no superior or inferior nations, but
only nations more highly or‘ less
highly civilised than others, or those
who tend to be material in their
conceptions and those who tend to
be ideal. At the same time it will
be realised that there is no greater
absurdity than to use such phrases
as “the Aryan race” or “the Aryan
mind,” since neither Aryan race
nor Aryan mind has ever existed.
Such expressions remind us of the
157
Death-Agony of the *“ Science” of Race
mistaken notions held by those
who, in perfect good faith, spread
far and wide this belief in the
Aryans, and of the still greater
number of people, some of them
intellectuals, others mere ignor-
amuses, who have accepted it from
sheer mental indolence. The pity
is that mankind seems condemned
to absorb all the wrong ideas
which cause it misery, instead of
those truths which would bring it
happiness,
Our life is largely based on a
number of words either ill under-
stood or the sense of which has
become corrupted. Our whole
political life, the purity of which
is essential to our happiness, is
under the influence of phrases the
sense of which has become falsified,
if. not wholly vitiated, Plato long
ago pointed out the danger of this,
yet we continue to swallow these
poisonous concoctions of falsehood.
158
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
France, in particular, ought to
rejoice in the possession of the
truth that it is only by virtue
of their minds and the “ colour”
of their souls that Walloons,
Roumanians, Alsatians, and Ger-
mans settled in France or in the
Argentine are called “ Latins.”
The: great conquerors of the
future will begin by trying to gain
the mastery over the minds of a
people—to make conquest of their
souls. “ Russification,” “ German-
isation,” “ Ottomanisation ” and all
the other methods of destroying
nationalities are proving barren
and useless. For ‚hundreds of
years Bohemia lay crushed beneath
the yoke of Austria, The name of
her people no longer figured in the
list of living nations, and even her
Janguage and literature had dis-
appeared. But the tiniest spark
of national life can never be
extinguished, no matter how deep
TÜQ
Death-Agony of the ** Science” of Race
lie the ashes above it, and the
moment the storm was over the
Czechs lifted up their heads and
became more Czech than ever.
The heroic but unfortunate little
island of Crete will before long
form part of Greece, in spite of
the obstinate opposition of the
Turks and the purblindness of
diplomatists. Similarly Poland
and Finland, driven to distraction
by their sufferings, are never at
rest, and are continually- forcibly
reminding the rest of the world of
the fact of their existence.‘
In short, the conquest of nations
by sheer brute force belongs to a
past time. It is a spiritual and
mental conquest which must now
be made of them, for the hope
lying dormant in every soul is of
greater force than any amount of
oppression of individuals, and a
nation will live just so long as it
does not wish to die.
160
Death-Agony of the ** Science ” of Race
War, in short, is now a fool’s
business. It causes great blood-
shed and infinite misery, all for the
sake of illusory victories which
cannot last. It may be remembered
what delightful fun Renan made of
Jahve, that cruel and densely stupid
divinity. Now this terrible god,
who delighted in human sacrifice,
although the Israelites detested it,
is not, altogether unlike those
short-sighted sovereigns and their
dipiomatic ; representatives, whose
ideas are narrower still, who believe
in race, preach ‚the doctrine of war,
nd incite to massacre. Divinities
of the Jahve type, however, have
completely had their day, and are
now put aside for ever, Instead
of worshipping a:creature of such
savage and, bloodthirsty appetites,
we worship justice and mercy, and
this religion is gradually spreading
throughout the entire world.
It is not victorious armies which
161
Death-Agony of the ‘* Science” of Race
forge the links of the chain of
destiny, but the march of civilisa-
tion. Civilisation it is which welds
human beings into aggregates,
makes these aggregates increase,
and again disperses them. The
graces and charms of a certain
type of civilisation will appeal to
our minds and take them com-
pletely by storm, when invading
armies would have no power over
them. Onthe ruins of the doctrine
of race is being raised the gospel of
living nations. Already this Evangel
has claimed for them the ‚sacred
and inalienable right to work out
their own salvation, and this alone
will give it a strong hold on the
affections of the next generation.
When men’s minds are freed from
all the false ideas about race, the
senseless brutality of war will be
also relegated to the past. Great
and beautiful thoughts will take
precedence of all else. When the
162
Death-Agony of the “* Science” of Race
imaginary virtue lying in ce-
phalie indexes, fair or brown
hair, or a certain colour of the
skin, is no longer believed in,
then will begin what should be
the chief rivalry between nations
_a rivalry in the graces and
amenities of their respective
eivilisations.
The civilised world is deeply
interested in making these truths
prevail over the lying fictions of
race, for once they are accepted
they will ensure the moral supre-
macy of that nation which pos-
sesses the most humane and
harmonious Ccivilisation, without
regard to the extent of its popu-
lation or the number of its cannons,
guns, or ironclads.
The false conception attached to
the word “race,” and the evil
effects of this on the relations
between nation and nation, and
even between man and man, ought,
163
Death-Agony of the,‘ Science? of Race
indeed, long ago to have. gone the
way of many other superstitions,
for which a grave is already dug in
that great cemetery wherein lie
buried all the worn-out intellectual
conceptions of the past.
«An a. ns N
* London: Printed by Wm. Clowes nd Söns, Ltd.,*
Duke St., Stamford St.,S.E., and Great Windmill St.,W,
28 AUG. 1940
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