Excerpt from Grand Illustrated Encyclopedia of Animated Nature: Embracing a Full Description of the Different Races of Men; And of the Characteristic Habits and Modes of Life of the Various Beasts, Birds, Fishes, Insects, Reptiles, and Microscopic Animalcula of the Globe; Being a Complete History of the Animal Kingdom
Man holds the foremost place in the order of creation. The perfection of his bodily form is as far superior to that of other beings as his intellect surpasses their instinct, beautiful and marvellous though it be Between man and brutes there is an impassable barrier, over which man can never fall, or beasts hope to climb. Man, when fallen from his high estate, and deprived of the use of his reason, still holds his supremacy over the lower animals, and is not subject even to the most perfect and powerful brutes. There is but one genus of mankind, Homo, and but one species, Sapiens; that is, the rational human being. Intellect, or reason, differs from instinct in its power of accommodation to circumstances; whereas instinct ever remains unchanged.
Man is modified according to the climate and position in which he is placed. There are several of these modifications, or varieties as they are called, but authors do not agree as to their number. Some describe the human family as divided into five varieties or races; the Caucasian, the Mongolian, the Ethiopian, the Malayan, and the American; each of these being subdivided into families, as for instance the Caucasian nice subdivided into the Caucasian, the Celtic, the Germanic, the Arabian, the Libyan, the Nilotic, and the Indestanic families. The division generally received is that of Pickering, who enumerates eleven races of men, all of whom he has seen; the Arabian, Abyssinian, Mongolian, Hottentot, Malay, Papuan, Negrillo, Telingan, Ethiopian, Australian, and Negro. He differs from Prichard in several points, but especially in referring the population of America to the Mongolian race, whereas Prichard considers it as entirely separate.
The characteristics and distribution of each race are briefly these. The Arabian race extends over the whole of Europe, excepting Lapland, about half of Asia, including the greater part of India, and most of the northern third of Africa. The complexion is light, the lips are thin, the nose is prominent, and the beard thick. Number about three hundred and fifty millions. The Abyssinian race occupies a small tract towards the east of Africa, including part of Abyssinia, and part of Nubia. The features are like those of Europeans, the complexion is light, the hair is crisp, and the beard moderate. Number about three millions. The Mongolian race is remarkable for a feminine aspect in both sexes, so that a stranger is often perplexed to distinguish a man from a woman at a short distance; the hair is straight, and the beard is wanting. It extends over the eastern half of Asia, except Corea, over Lapland, and the whole of America, except the western coast by California, and the upper part of South America. Number three hundred million. The Hottentot race occupies the southern extremity of Africa.
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