I. EUROPEAN NATIONS. - The collective body of European nations, with the excep tion of the Lapps, present a great uniformity in physical characters ; for although minor differences exist among their subordinate groups, they all possess the elliptical cranium; the symmetrical form, the xanthous com plexion, and the flowing hair, which cha racterise what is ordinarily designated as the Caucasian variety. This group of nations, however, must be primarily divided into those of Arian or origin, and those whose origin is probably or certainly Mon golian. Under the latter head may be ranked (as already remarked) the Lapps and Finns of Scandinavia ; the Magyars of Hungary ; the Turks of Turkey ; not improbably the Basques or Euskaldunes of Biscay and Na varre ; and (possibly) the Albanians or moun taineers of ancient Illyria and Epirus.* The European tribes of the Arian stock are con sidered by Dr. Latham as fundamentally di visible into the two great groups of Celts and The former seem to have de tached themselves from the common stock, be fore the evolution of the language had pro ceeded to the formation of the cases of the nouns, but after that of the persons of the verbs had taken place t ; and their language presents obvious traces of agglutination, which, as already shown, marks an early stage in lin guistic developement. The eastern origin of the Celtic nations was first demonstrated by Dr. Prichard I, and has been subsequently more fully proved by Pictet.§ The typical Celts exhibit somewhat of that development of the malar bones, which is carried to its fullest extent in the pyramidal skull ; and in their comparatively unprogressive psychical character they contrast remarkably with the Germanic group of nations. The Indo-Ger mans, on the other hand, seem to have de tached themselves from the common stock after the evolution of the cases of nouns had taken place ; and their language presents less evidence of agglutination than does the Celtic. The Eastern origin of this group of nations is not now doubted by any competent ethno logist ; for their languages, in spite of their diversity, constitute but one philological group, being united alike by community in many of the most important primary words, and by general similarity of grammatical construc tion ; and being obviously all formed upon the same base with the Sanscrit, if not upon that language itself. Of all extant European dialects, the Lettish and Lithuanian approach most nearly to the ancient Sanscrit ; but a still nearer approach seems to have been presented by the old Prussian, a dialect now extinct, which maintained, to the sixteenth century, a very slightly changed form of the 'Lend or Median language, which was an early deriva tion from the Sanscrit. Whilst every one of the Indo-Germanic languages bears traits of affinity with every other, each has been mo dified by the introduction of extraneous elements. Thus, in those of Western Eu rope, there is a considerable admixture of Celtic ; whilst in others there are traces of more barbaric tongues. In fact, there can he
little doubt, that Europe had an indigenous population before the immigration of the Judo German or even of the Celtic tribes ; and of this population it seems most probable that the Lapps and Finns of Scandinavia, and the Euskarians of the Biscayan provinces, are the remnant. There is evidence that the former of these tribes once extended much further south than at present ; and, on the other hand, there is ample proof that the latter had formerly a very extensive distribution through Southern Europe. It has been clearly shown by William Von Humboldt, that the Eusk arian language, so far from having been de rived (as some writers have supposed) from the Celtic, must have been in existence long anterior to the immigration of the Celtic nations into Western Europe; and since that time, it has been shown to have affinities with the Finnish tongue, and through this with the languages of High Asia. It may be sur mised, then, that the advance of the Judo European tribes, from the south-east corner into central Europe, separated that portion of the aboriginal population, which they did not destroy or absorb, into two great divisions ; of which one was gradually pressed north ward and eastward, so as to be restricted to Finland and Lapland; and the other south ward and westward, so as to be confined at the earliest historic period to a part of the peninsula of Spain and the South of France, gradually to be driven before the successive irruptions of the Celts, Romans, Arabians, and other nations, until their scanty remnant found an enduring refuge in the fastnesses of the Pyrenees.* It is curious that the Eusk arian language should carry out the principle of agglutination to an extent which has no parallel among the languages of the Old World, and which is only surpassed by those of America.
The Indo-Germanic race are unquestionably those which are destined to acquire the greatest predominance, not only in the Old World, but in all those newly-found lands which have been discovered by their enterprise. With scarcely any exception, as Dr. Latham has justly remarked, they present an encroaching frontier ; there being no instance of their per manent displacement by any other race, save in the case of the Arab dominion in Spain, which has long since ceased ; in that of the Turkish dominion in Turkey and Asia Minor, which is evidently destined to expire at no distant period, being now upheld only by ex traneous influence ; and in that of the Magyars in Hungary, who only maintain their ground by their complete assimilation to the Indo Germanic character. It has been already pointed out, however, that the rapid exten sion of this race is due, not merely to its superior skill in the arts of war and diplomacy, hut to a physical cause which tends to ex tinguish the aboriginal population of many of the inferior races, wherever sexual inter course takes place between them (p. 1341.).