Paul Broca

“ The first Europeans established at Jamaica were Spaniards or Portuguese; but the island was, 1655, conquered by the English, when all the old colonists retired, carrying away the greater portion of their wealth. Cromwell hastened to re-people the island, by transporting to it a number of political convicts. In 1659, four years after the conquest, there were already 4,500 Europeans and 1,400 Negroes on the island. In 1670, the white population amounted to 7,500, slaves 8,000. It will then, be observed, that the population of Jamaica descends exclusively from English colonists and Negro slaves. ”

“ Those Mulattoes of Jamaica, of which I speak, have married young, have received some education, and are distinguished by their chaste and regular conduct. The observations made regarding them have a great degree of certainty. They do not breed, though there is nothing to indicate that they would not be prolific by intermarrying either with the Blacks or Whites. ”

“ The public mind is so little acquainted with the real facts relating to the hybridity of the Races of Man, that its investigation, “non ex vulgi opinione, sed ex sano judicio,” is necessary to the efficient progress of our science. Such an appeal, however, necessitates that the whole subject should be again reviewed, and to attain this object the perusal of a work on similar principles to that of Dr. Broca becomes the primary requisite for future researches. ”

“ When generous philanthropists claimed, with indefatigable constancy, the liberty of the blacks, the partisans of the old system, threatened in their dearest interests, were enchanted to hear that Negros were scarcely human beings, but rather domestic animals, more intelligent and productive than the rest. ”

“ Is there in our seaports a prostitute sufficiently ugly and old to frighten the sailor? Is it not known that the Hottentots, whose ugliness is proverbial, have intermixed with the Europeans of South Africa? ”

“ At that time the scientific question became a question of sentiment, and whoever wished for the abolition of slavery, thought himself bound to admit that Negroes were Caucasians blackened and frizzled by the sun. Now that France and England, the two most civilised nations, have definitively emancipated their slaves, science may claim its rights without caring for the sophisms of slaveholders. ”

“ This mixture of bones and charcoal occurs so generally, so uniformly, that it is not easy to suppose that the Troglodytes lighted fires merely for the purpose of keeping themselves warm. They must have lighted fires daily at all seasons of the year, and hence it is likely that they cooked their food. ”

“ Very recently a fervent Catholic, a physician, who in his various voyages has attentively studied the races of mankind, Mr. Sagot, has advanced an hypothesis which we consider as quite new, and which would enable us, better than by the preceding suppositions, to accommodate the biblical narration with anthropological science. ”

“ Assailed by pressing objections, constantly obliged to yield, incapable of advancing a step without an immediate retreat, they felt their forces revive by resorting to their syllogism, like Antæus when he touched the earth. As long as the refuge remained they continued the struggle, though not with advantage, at least with the ardour of faith; for though faith no longer moves mountains, it still leaves the hope of moving them. ”

“ In investigating hybridity in animals, we have found that homœogenesis is not always exactly proportional to the degree of proximity of species; we would especially point out that the chabeins, or hybrids of the goat and the sheep, are superior to the mules of the ass and the mare, though there is a greater difference between goats and sheep than between the horse and the ass.45 It is not less true that in general, though with some exceptions, the results of intermixture are more defective in proportion as the species are more distant from each other. ”

“ On returning from the chase or from fishing, the Troglodytes got ready the feast in their cave. The carcasses of reindeer and the smaller game were brought in whole, but large-sized animals, the horse or the ox, being too heavy to carry away whole, were cut up on the spot, the head and legs being carried off, and the rest of the skeleton left behind. Hence, among the leavings found in the caves, we scarcely ever meet with any bones from the trunk of large mammals, while every part of the skeleton of reindeer and smaller animals is to be found. ”

“ It is difficult to believe that the free men deprived of women were all gifted with the virtue of continency. But admitting this for a moment, we cannot entertain the same opinion with regard to the convicts, which are certainly not chosen from the most virtuous classes of Great Britain. It must be noticed that the female convicts are not public women in the colony. The government accords certain advantages to convicts who contract legitimate marriages; this is the first step towards their liberation, and when a vessel arrives with a cargo of females they are readily espoused by the convicts. ”

“ Without them, we grasp only little groups, our judgments are mere impressions, and, even if these impressions do not deceive us, they make us but imperfectly acquainted with facts that are only partial, and the laws of which escape us." Applying the method of means derived from statistics to anatomy, he renovated and almost created anthropology.
After 1859, Broca pursued a double purpose. Without neglecting any of his manifold medical duties, he undertook the considerable task of founding a new society, and almost of a new science. ”

“ Heath said, "Do the high gods stoop to tread on ants and worms? We don't deserve such honor, she and I. We're weak and even the Moonfire can't give us strength."
He saw the flicker of thought in Broca's face and went on. "You're all-powerful, there's nothing you can't do. Why burden yourself with a mate too weak to worship you? Create another Alor, Broca! Create a goddess worthy of you!" ”

“ Pozzi, "in which he did not at the first stroke make a discovery great or small; there is not one, at any rate, in which he has not left the mark of his originality." At the aggregate competition, which he had been awaiting, Broca displayed an amount of knowledge and an erudition with which the judges were strongly impressed. ”

“ Broca cried. "Weakling! Even to save your life, you can't create!"
It was true. He dared not. The shadow-people drew in upon him with their soulless eyes and their faces that were mirrors of the urge to kill.
And then, suddenly, the answer came. Heath's answer rang back. "I will not create—but I will destroy!"
Once again he threw the strength of his mind against the Moonfire but this time there was no unhealthy lure to what he did. There was no desire in him but his love for Alor and the need to keep her safe.
The hands of the shadow-people reached out and dragged him away from Alor. ”

“ Broca declares that the difference in weight between the brain of woman and that of man is not due alone to the smaller size of her body, but to the additional fact that woman is in the mean, when compared to man, a little less intelligent; a fact, he says, which should not be exaggerated, but which is nevertheless real. This is going somewhat farther than I have ever gone, but what Broca says in a matter of anthropology is worthy of serious attention. ”

“ Beau Brocade turned it over, shook it, and a bag of jingling guineas fell at Jack o' Lantern's feet.
"Give me that bag!"
"Sir! kind sir!" moaned Master Mittachip, as he obediently handed up the bag of gold to his merciless assailant. "Have pity! I am a ruined man! 'Tis Sir Humphrey Challoner's money. I've been collecting it for him ... and he's a hard man!"
"Oh!" said Beau Brocade, "'tis Sir Humphrey Challoner's money, is it? Nay! you old scarecrow, but 'tis his Honour himself sent me on the Heath to-night. Oho!" ”

“ It gives the mind a force of will strong enough to control the free electrons in the air—to create...."
He paused, then finished quietly, "In my case, only shadows. And when that mutation occurs a man doesn't need the gods of Venus to curse him. I got only a little of it but that was enough."
Broca said, "It is worth bearing pain to become a god. You had no strength."
Heath smiled crookedly. "How many gods have come out of the Moonfire?"
Broca answered, "There will be one soon." Then he caught Alor by the shoulders and pulled her to him, looking down into her face. "No," he said. "Not one. ”

“ A man mad enough to look for power in the Moonfire and faithfulness in a temple wench! And now you're jealous."
He hated both Broca and Alor bitterly in this moment and out of his hate he spoke.
"Wait until the Moonfire touches you. It will break your strength and your pride. After that you won't care who your woman talks to or where."
Broca gave him a stare of unmoved contempt. Then he turned his back and settled down to look out across the darkening sea.
After a while, the amusing side of the whole thing struck Heath, and he began to laugh. ”

“ And at last he saw ahead of him the supernal brightness that poured from the heart of the Moonfire, the living core of all the brightness of the mist. He saw the land, lifting dark and vague, drowned in the burning haze, and he steered toward it along the remembered way. There was no fear in him now. He was beyond fear.
Broca cried out suddenly, "A ship!"
Heath nodded. "It was there before. It will be there when the next man finds his way here."
Two long arms of the island reached out to form a ragged bay. The Ethne entered it. ”

“ I was but jesting."
"But I was not, Sir Humphrey. I was thinking of Beau Brocade."
"The highwayman?"
"Why not? He lives by robbery and hates all the quality, whom he plunders whene'er he has a chance. Your Honour has had experience, only last night ... eh?"
"Well? What of it? Curse you, man, for a dotard! Why don't you explain?"
"'Tis simple enough, your Honour. You give him the news that her ladyship's coach will cross the Heath to-night, tell him of her money and her jewels, offer him a hundred guineas more for the packet of letters.... He! he! he! He'll do the rest, never fear!" ”

“ Now for a little good luck—and he had no cause to fear the reverse—and that glorious vision of two hundred golden guineas would become a splendid reality. The advice he had given Sir Humphrey was undoubtedly the safest which he could offer. Beau Brocade, even with a posse of soldiers at his heels, was still a potent personality on the Heath, and it certainly looked as if her ladyship had cajoled him into her service. No one knew really who his friends and accomplices were: on and about Brassing Moor he could reckon on the help of most of the poorer villagers. ”

“ Thomas was already on his knees. Timothy, thus disarmed, thought it more prudent to follow suit.
From within the coach could be heard Mistress Betty's shrill and terrified voice,—
"Nay! nay! your ladyship shall not go!" followed by her ladyship's peremptory command,—
"Silence, child! Let me go! Stay you within an you are afraid!"
There was a moment's silence, for at sound of her voice Beau Brocade had started, then he leaned forward on his horse, listening with all his might, wondering if indeed his ears had not misled him, if 'twas not a dream-voice that came to him out of the gloom. ”

“ But he would not show too many signs of fear before his own clerk.
"Tush, man!" he said with as much boldness as he could command. "'Tis only a lizard in the grass mayhap. We'll ride on quite boldly. We can't be far from Brassington now, and no footpads would dare to attack two lusty fellows on horseback, with pistols showing in their belts! ... Lord!" he added with a shudder, "how lonely this place appears!"
"And that rascal, Beau Brocade, haunts this Heath every night, I'm told," murmured Master Duffy, who felt more dead than alive. ”

“ He had seized Master Duffy by the collar. The clerk was an all too-ready prey for any highwayman, and stooping from his saddle, Beau Brocade had quickly extracted a leather bag from the pocket of his coat.
"Oho! guineas, as I live!"
"Kind sir," began Duffy, tremblingly.
"Now, listen to me, both of you," said Beau Brocade, trying to hide his enjoyment of the scene under an air of great sternness. "I know who you are. I know what work you've been doing this afternoon. Extorting rents barely due from a few wretched people, for your employers as hard-hearted as yourselves." ”

“ This fact is chiefly the result, it is true, of measurements of the capacity of crania. But determinations of the weight confirm this result.
Seven Negro brains weighed by M. Broca gave a mean of 1316 grm. (46·42 oz.) . Upon uniting the weights of European brains I find, however, a mean of only 1248 grm. [402] (44·02 oz.) , that is almost exactly the average of the White woman. The average weight of adult European brains is 1405·88 grm. (49·59 oz.) . But in both races, individual oscillations are very considerable. One of the skulls of the Black race examined by M. Broca weighed 1500 grm. ”

“ I'll break your silence for you. What is the information that you would impart to these gallant lobsters? ... That besides being my mother's son I am also the highwayman, Beau Brocade!"
"No! no! no!" protested Patience, excitedly.
"Odd's my life!" quoth the Sergeant, "but methought..."
"Aye, Beau Brocade," said Sir Humphrey, with a sneer, "robber, vagabond and thief, that's what this ... gentleman means."
"Faith! is that what I meant?" retorted Jack Bathurst, lightly. ”

“ At this Master Mittachip contrived to open his eyes for a second; but the black mask, and the heavily cloaked figure looked so ghostlike, so awful in the mist, that he promptly closed them again, and murmured with a shudder.—
"Mercy, oh, noble sir! We ... we are poor men!..."
"Poor-spirited men, you mean?" quoth Beau Brocade, giving the trembling figure a quick, vigorous shake. ”