Note 180 — Chapter XIX

Mr. Long (History of Jamaica) has testified to the frequent infecundity, and the limited prolificacy of the male and female mulatto. Geoffroy and Nott dwelt upon the sterility of mulattoes, whilst Serres and others have asserted that the children of a white woman by a negro are rarely viable. Dr. Seemann observed at Panama, and in South America, that the European and the negro were not unlimitedly productive—rarely passing the second cross. Buffon defined species to be a “succession constante d’individus semblables et qui se reproduisent.” Hunter’s criterion is, that the parents should produce an offspring equally prolific with themselves, whereas hybrids are incapable of perpetuating the breed. This fertility-test was widely recognized. Cuvier, followed by Pritchard, defined species to include separate origin (how proved?) and constant transmission of organic peculiarities. Judged from this view-point, the negro is a sub-species or permanent variety of the genus homo.