On the Action of Climate, Diet, Civilization, Etc. Upon the Human Race for Promoting Varieties in Color and Character, and on Their Power to Make These Stable, Characteristic, and Perpetual, and as Distinguishing Signs of Different Races

That climate, diet, and life act upon the human race for promoting varieties both in color and character is one of the usual phenomena striking the eyes of those visiting countries in all the different zones, and is easy to confirm. Those who have traversed the earth along its full breadth and length can testify to this truth; each transition from place to place presents a new variation in color and character; and the farther we depart, the more we differ from the first type and from the color of the inhabitants of that place; stature, hair, eyes, facial features, and the shape of the head present so many variations and so much variety as would be able to distinguish the human race both particularly and independently; and if peoples from the creation of the world had lived isolated in their own countries and there had never been testimony of migration of peoples, and no sign nor proof confirming their kinship was discovered, then we could regard them as autochthonous and of different origin, born from the soil itself and shaped according to the natural forces of the country surrounding them, though this makes the difficulty clear. How indeed did these independent races receive the same rational soul? How do the same methods of education show every human being spiritually similar to all races? And why does the more perfect education show the more perfect human indiscriminately toward all races and kinds? And finally, how do so many varieties and differences come under one stable law of perfection through the cultivation of the intellect and the shaping of the heart? But we can no longer accept this view, because apart from the spiritual similarity proclaiming kinship, there are historical facts of the migration of peoples, civilization, diet, and way of life in general, and the scientific results demonstrating that the races of the earth and the languages derive from one sole race or stock. We shall prove this truth by first bringing the testimonies from the consequences of the migrations, namely climate, civilization, etc., and second the testimonies from the kinship of the languages themselves.