File:The history of mankind (1896) (14577057778).jpg

Identifier: historyofmankind01ratz (find matches)
Title: The history of mankind
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Ratzel, Friedrich, 1844-1904 Butler, Arthur John, 1844-1910
Subjects: Ethnology Anthropology
Publisher: London, Macmillan and co., ltd. New York, The Macmillan co.
Contributing Library: Wellesley College Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Wellesley College Library

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extremists goso far in this direction,and Darwin, who, as agreat creator of ideas,held his views with thefullest sense of propor-tion, admits that manynations may undoubt-edly have gone back intheir civilization, someeven fallen into utterbarbarism ; although, hecautiously adds, he hasfound no evidence forthe latter case. Buteven he, in his Descentof Man, has not alwaysbeen able to escape thetemptation to imaginemankind more variousin itself and reachingin its supposed lowestmembers more nearlydown to the brute worldthan on cooler reflectionappears possible. Here we see the twoextreme conceptions ofnatural races. We canunderstand how funda-mentally different mustbe the resulting modesof considering every sideof their existence, orestimating their past andfuture. For what difference can be greater than between a conception whichassigns them this place far below us, where all the capacities which have maturedon the long and difficult road between their position and ours are as yet unde-
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Young girl of the Mountain Damara tribe. (From a photographbelonging to the Barmen Mission.) POSITION OF NATURAL RACES AMONG MANKIND i7 veloped, and one which regards them as it were on the same line with us, at anequal or similar stage of evolution, but robbed by ill-luck of a large part of theirshare of culture, and thus impoverished, miserable, and in arrear ? May we bepermitted to examine the facts at first hand, and to approach a little nearer tothe mean where the truth lies than it has been granted these hypotheses to do. The question which first occurs is that of innate physical distinctions, sincethese must enable us to form the most trustworthy conclusions as to the natureand magnitude of the general difference to be observed among mankind. But thatis a matter of anatomy and physiology, and as such concerns the anthropologistrather than us. For separate facts and all wider excursions in the field ourreaders must be referred to books on the subject. From our ethnographicalpoin

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