File:Ridpath's Universal history - an account of the origin, primitive condition and ethnic development of the great races of mankind, and of the principal events in the evolution and progress of the (14770178432).jpg

Identifier: ridpathsuniversa08ridp (find matches)
Title: Ridpath's Universal history : an account of the origin, primitive condition and ethnic development of the great races of mankind, and of the principal events in the evolution and progress of the civilized life among men and nations, from recent and authentic sources with a preliminary inquiry on the time, place and manner of the beginning
Year: 1897 (1890s)
Authors: Ridpath, John Clark, 1840-1900
Subjects: World history
Publisher: Cincinnati : Jones
Contributing Library: University of Pittsburgh Library System
Digitizing Sponsor: Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation

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characteristics of the Blacks aspoint to this conclusion, but will men-tion only two. The first of these is thealmost universally distributed gift andpassion of song. It is the young of allanimals that sing, or at least in someway exercise their vocal powers to ex-cess. With the approach of the autum-nal season and winter of bird-life songdies away. We may doubt whether theold birds sing. The same vocal activityis seen everywhere in the young of four-footed as well as of winged creatures,and also the same disposition, with theapproach of age and decrepitude, togrow silent. All forms of animal lifeburst out in the early stages into vocalactivity, and all forms of the same lifemake ready in the after stages for thesilence of death. The law here hinted at evidentlyholds of the speeies as individual ac- n r ^1 7 J /. tivities point to well as of the individuals raeedisJosi.of the species. Young tions-species have activities of all kinds inexcess. The same species as they grow rVvi^T,. v-v
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614 GREAT RACES OF MANKIND. power of songtoward theNorth. old lose their activities, including suchactivities as relate to vocality and song.Without doubt the law extends to hu-man kind. In no other respect dohuman beings differ more than in theirdesire and manifestation of vocal utter-ance. This distinction is noticeablefirst in individuals, and afterwards inkinds; but we must here allow for thestrong influence of climate. Without doubt vocality declines to-ward the colder regions of the earth,and increases toward the tropics. Cli-matic conditions, however, are not ofDecline of the themselves sufficient to ac-count for the difference ofthe different peoples ki thematter of vocal utterance. There is alsoa deep-seated ethnic instinct which ex-presses itself with varying force amongboth individuals and races. This in-stinct shows itself in supreme activityamong recent peoples, and if we mistakenot, declines in force with the decliningraces of mankind. The Blacks are in the matter of utt

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