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Page 77.
"Linnaeus, the first great systematiser among bio¬ logists, made it the basis for his classification of man¬ kind. In his own peculiar way, he associated colour with other characters, some of which belonged to man’s physical nature, and others to the racial environment. Here is the classification;

I. The European race: white, sanguine, muscular, moderately mobile, keen of sense, inventive; covers skin with clothing, rules through laws.

II. The American race: reddish, choleric, up¬ standing, obstinate, contented, free; paints skin with labyrinthine lines, rules through customs

III. The Asiatic race: yellowish, melancholy, ten¬ acious, cruel, loves adornment, avaricious; clad in white garments, rules through opinions.

IV. The African race: black, phlegmatic, slack, cunning, slothful, indifferent; greases or oils skin ; rules through caprices.
"

Page 98

"Still unsettled is the problem of monogenism versus polygenism, the question whether we must assume one or many racial origins for mankind. Perhaps the enigma will never be solved. Among those who have in recent years devoted special attention to the mat¬ ter may be mentioned von Horstig, whose book Die natiirlichen Grundstamme der Menschheit appeared in Berlin during the last year of the Great War. A few years earlier (Berlin, igio) Melchers propounded the theory that there are four main races, respectively derived from, or akin to, the four anthropoid apes, the gorilla, the chimpanzee, the orang-utan, and the gibbon. To the gorilla he assimilates the full-size Negroes, the northern Europeans, and the Finns; to the chimpanzee, the dwarf Negroes (Pygmies, Bushmen, etc.), the Hamites, and the southern Europeans; to the orang-utan, the Tasmanians, the Indo-Australians, and the South Germans; and to


Page 99

"Incited by Melchers, Klaatsch studied the data relating to primitive man, and came to the conclu¬ sion that the former existence of “ an eastern stream ” and “ a western stream ” of human beings could be demonstrated. The western stream sprang from the gorilla, differentiating into Negroes on the one hand and Neandertalers on the other; the eastern stream, derived from the orang-utan, must in Asia have given rise to the Mongolian stocks. Both currents sent offshoots into Europe. Simpler is von Horstig’s theory that there are three main types of human being, respectively assimilable to the three largest anthropoids. This gives us Gorilla-Blacks, Chimpanzee-Whites, and Orang-Yellows. He sup¬ ports this hypothesis by the contention that Negroes share with gorillas the general shape of the skull, the receding forehead, the length of the facial skeleton, the vigorous muscular system, the disposition of the hair on the scalp, and a “ cholerico-phlegmatic ” temperament. As regards the kinship between orang¬ utans and Mongolians, the “ Mongolian spot ’* is sufficient evidence, declares Klaatsch. The “ spot ” in question is a bluish localised discoloration of the skin over the sacrum conspicuous in many young Asiatics and due to an accumulation of dark pigment in the corium or true skin. This shimmers through"

the epidermis or scarf-skin. We also note, says Klaatsch, a melancholic and reflective temperament alike in Asiatics and in orangs. Characters common to Whites and to chimpanzees are the rosy tint of the face and the sanguino-chcerful temperament"

The old classics. My favorite is The History of Human Stupidity. By Pitkin.