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Table of Contents
Learning C# by Developing Games with Unity 5.x Second Edition
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
eBooks, discount offers, and more
Why subscribe?
Preface
What this book covers
What you need for this book
Who this book is for
Conventions
Reader feedback
Customer support
Downloading the example code
Downloading the color images of this book
Errata
Piracy
Questions
1. Discovering Your Hidden Scripting Skills and Getting Your
Environment Ready
Prerequisite knowledge to use this book
Dealing with scriptphobia
Downloading Unity
Obtaining a free license
Teaching behavior to GameObjects
Using Unity's documentation
Do I need to know all that?
C# documentation – where to find it? Do I need it at all?
The Unity community – asking others for help
Working with C# script files
Lots of files can create a mess
 Why does my Project tab look different?
Creating a C# script file
Introducing the MonoDevelop code editor
Syncing C# files between MonoDevelop and Unity
Opening LearningScript in MonoDevelop
The namespace – highlighted in blue
The class definition – highlighted in green
Watching for possible gotchas while creating script files in Unity
Fixing synchronization if it isn't working properly
Adding our script to GameObject
Instance? What is it?
Summary
2. Introducing the Building Blocks for Unity Scripts
Understanding what a variable is and what it does
Naming a variable
A variable name is just a substitute for a value
Creating a variable and seeing how it works
Declaration
Assignment
Click on Play!
Changing variables
Watching for a possible gotcha when using public variables
What is a method?
Using the term "method" instead of "function"
Method names are substitutes, too
Introducing the class
Inheritance
The Start(), Update(), and Awake() methods and the execution
order
Components that communicate using dot syntax
What's with the dots?
Making decisions in code
Using the NOT operator to change the condition
Checking many conditions in an if statement
Using else if to make complex decisions
Making decisions based on user input
 Paper and pencil are powerful tools
Summary
3. Getting into the Details of Variables
Writing C# statements properly
Understanding component properties in Unity's Inspector
Variables become component properties
Unity changes script and variable names slightly
Changing a property's value in the Inspector panel
Displaying public variables in the Inspector panel
Private variables
Naming your variables properly
Beginning variable names with lowercase
Using multiword variable names
Declaring a variable and its type
The most common built-in variable types
Assigning values while declaring a variable
Where you declare a variable is important
Variable scope – determining where a variable can be used
Summary
4. Getting into the Details of Methods
Using methods in a script
Naming methods properly
Beginning method names with an uppercase letter
Using multiword names for a method
Parentheses are part of the method's name
Defining a method the right way
The minimum requirements for defining a method
Understanding parentheses – why are they there?
Specifying a method's parameters
How many parameters can a method have?
Returning a value from a method
Returning the value
Example
Summary
5. Lists, Arrays, and Dictionaries
What is an array?
 Declaring an array
Storing items in the List
Common operations with Lists
List<T> versus arrays
Retrieving the data from the Array or List<T>
Checking the size
ArrayList
Dictionaries
Accessing values
How do I know what's inside my Hashtable?
Summary
6. Loops
Introduction to loops
The foreach loop
The for loop
An example
The while loop
while versus for loops
Loops in statements
Modulo
Searching for data inside an array
Breaking the loop
Summary
7. Object, a Container with Variables and Methods
Working with objects is a class act
Few facts
Example
Instantiating an object
Bored yet?
Using methods with objects
Custom constructors
Overloading
Summary
8. Let's Make a Game! – From Idea to Development
Your first game – avoiding the trap of the never-ending concept
The idea
 Game mechanics and core components
Breaking a complex idea into smaller parts
Jake on the mysterious planet – the feature list
Procedural level generation
An animated 2D character
Physics
Mouse and touch controls
Collectables and obstacles
Scoring
UI – the user interface
Target platform and resolution
Target screen resolution
Summary
9. Starting Your First Game
Setting up a new Unity project for our game
Backup
Keeping your project clean
Preparing the player prefab
Rigidbody2D
CircleCollider2D
PlayerController
User input
Jump
Animator
Running
Code
PlayerController.cs
Summary
10. Writing GameManager
Gameplay loops
Singleton class
Starting the game
Setting up input keys
Using triggers
Restarting the game
Setting up the player starting position
 Code in this chapter
Summary
11. The Game Level
Generating levels versus designed levels
Creating a level chunk
Planning the LevelGenerator class
Writing LevelGenerator
Commenting on your code
Creating a copy of the level piece
Instantiating
Vector3
Testing LevelGenerator
Extending the level
The code used in this chapter
Summary
12. The User Interface
Introducting the Unity UI
Views
Constructing the view UI – how to keep things clean
Target screen resolution
Recognizing events
Buttons
A simple button
Image
The Button component
Interaction
The Button action
Hiding and showing the Canvas
Reference exceptions
GameView
Game Over
The code in this chapter
Summary
13. Collectables — What Next?
Collectables
The coin prefab
 The Collectable class
High score and persisting data
The Update function and UI values
What next?
The code in this chapter
Summary
Index
Learning C# by Developing
Games with Unity 5.x Second
Edition
Learning C# by Developing
Games with Unity 5.x Second
Edition
Copyright © 2016 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored

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First published: September 2013

Second edition: March 2016

Production reference: 1220316

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

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Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78528-759-6

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Credits
Author

Greg Lukosek

Terry Norton

Reviewer

Karl Henkel

Commissioning Editor

Ashwin Nair

Acquisition Editor

Vinay Argekar

Content Development Editor

Deepti Thore

Technical Editor

Mohita Vyas

Copy Editor

Vikrant Phadke

Project Coordinator

Shweta H Birwatkar

Proofreader
Safis Editing

Indexer

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Graphics

Disha Haria

Production Coordinator

Nilesh Mohite

Cover Work

Nilesh Mohite
About the Author
Greg Lukosek was born and raised in the Upper Silesia region of
Poland. When he was about 8 years old, his amazing parents bought
him and his brother a Commodore C64. That was when his love of
programming started. He would spend hours writing simple basic
code, and when he couldn't write it on the computer directly, he
used a notepad.

Greg completed his mechanical engineering diploma at ZSTiO

Meritum—Siemianowice Slaskie, Poland. He has learned all his
programming skills through determination and hard work at home.

Greg met the love of his life, Kasia, in 2003, which changed his life
forever. They both moved to London in search of adventure and
decided to stay there.

He started work as a 3D artist and drifted away from programming

for some years. Deep inside, he still felt the urge to come back to
game programming. During his career as a 3D artist, he discovered
Unity and adopted it for an interactive visualizations project. At that
very moment, he started programming again.

His love for programming overcomes his love for 3D graphics. Greg
ditched his 3D artist career and came back to writing code
professionally. He is now doing what he really wanted to do since he
was 8 years old—developing games.

These days, Greg lives in a little town called Sandy in the UK with
Kasia and their son, Adam.

I want to thank my loving wife, Kasia, for all her love and
support. Without her, writing this book would be simply
impossible. I also want to thank my loving parents, Ela and
Marek, and brother, Artur, for always believing in me and giving
me exceptional support when I needed it.

Then, I want to thank our son, Adam, for being an awesome

child. I hope you will also do what you love in your life.
About the Reviewer
Karl Henkel is a software developer with a strong background in
Unity3d. He is the author of several popular editor extensions in the
Unity Asset Store. In addition to game development, he has also
worked extensively on visual programming software for musicians
and VJs.
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Preface
Hello, future game developers! If you are reading this book, you are
probably a curious person trying to learn more about a great game
engine—Unity—and specifically, programming in C#. This book will
take you on a learning journey. We will go through it together,
beginning with the fundamentals of programming and finishing with
a functional 2D platform game.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Discovering Your Hidden Scripting Skills and Getting Your
Environment Ready, puts you at ease with writing scripts for Unity.

Chapter 2, Introducing the Building Blocks for Unity Scripts, helps

you develop the skill of writing your first executable code.

Chapter 3, Getting into the Details of Variables, teaches you about

creating and using C# variables, followed editing them in Unity
Inspector.

Chapter 4, Getting into the Details of Methods, helps you learn more
in detail about methods and how to use them to understand the
importance of code blocks and the variables used in them.

Chapter 5, Lists, Arrays, and Dictionaries, introduces slightly more

complex ideas of handling, lists, arrays, and dictionaries, which allow
you to store many values at once.

Chapter 6, Conditions and Looping, helps you learn how to "ask"

Unity to loop through a section of code and do something useful.

Chapter 7, Objects, a Containers with Variables and Methods, dives

into the subjects of organizing your code and object-oriented
programming.

Chapter 8, Let's Make a Game! – From Idea to Development, shows

you how to turn an idea into a ready-to-code project and how to
break down complex mechanics into pieces.

Chapter 9, Starting Your First Game, helps us transform an idea into

a real Unity project.

Chapter 10, Writing GameManager, gets you acquainted with the

basics of the singleton approach and also helps you work through
the gameplay loop.

Chapter 11, The Game Level, helps you learn how to create reusable
pieces of a level and also how to populate them to create the illusion
of an endlessly running game.

Chapter 12, The User Interface, explains how to construct and

implement the user interface in our game.

Chapter 13, Collectables — What Next?, focuses on collectables and

storing some data between Unity sessions.
What you need for this book
You will definitely need a computer—PC, Mac, or any machine that
supports Unity editor installation.

The complete Unity system requirements can be found at this link:

https://unity3d.com/unity/system-requirements
Who this book is for
The book is targeted at beginner-level Unity developers with no prior
programming experience. If you are a Unity developer and wish to
create games by learning how to write C# scripts or code, then this
book is for you.
Conventions
In this book, you will find a number of text styles that distinguish
between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of
these styles and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames,

file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter
handles are shown as follows: "Add the Collectable script to your
coin prefab."

A block of code is set as follows:

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class LeaveTrigger : MonoBehaviour {

void OnTriggerEnter2D(Collider2D other) {

LevelGenerator.instance.AddPiece();
LevelGenerator.instance.RemoveOldestPiece();
}

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that
you see on the screen, for example, in menus or dialog boxes,
appear in the text like this: "When you are ready, click on Play in
Unity."

Note
Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.
Tip
Tips and tricks appear like this.
Reader feedback
Feedback from our readers is always welcome. Let us know what
you think about this book—what you liked or disliked. Reader
feedback is important for us as it helps us develop titles that you will
really get the most out of.

To send us general feedback, simply e-mail

<[email protected]>, and mention the book's title in the subject
of your message.

If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you are interested
in either writing or contributing to a book, see our author guide at
www.packtpub.com/authors.
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Now that you are the proud owner of a Packt book, we have a
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Downloading the example code

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Chapter 1. Discovering Your
Hidden Scripting Skills and
Getting Your Environment
Ready
Computer programming is viewed by the average person as
requiring long periods of training to learn skills that are totally
foreign, and darn near impossible to understand. The word geek is
often used to describe a person who can write computer code. The
perception is that learning to write code takes great technical skills
that are just so hard to learn. This perception is totally unwarranted.
You already have the skills needed but don't realize it. Together, we
will crush this false perception that you may have of yourself by
refocusing, one step at a time, on the knowledge that you already
possess to write code and develop an awesome game from scratch.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

Deal with preconceived fears and concepts about scripts

Prepare the Unity environment for efficient coding
Introduce Unity's documentation for scripting
Explain how Unity and the MonoDevelop editor work together
Create our first C# script

Let's begin our journey by eliminating any anxiety about writing

scripts for Unity and become familiar with our scripting environment.

Prerequisite knowledge to use

this book
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
The American continent formed no exception to this law of the
invasion of the globe by the emigration of human phalanxes. It is a
matter of no great difficulty to pass from Asia to America, across
Behring’s Straits, which are almost always covered with ice, thus
permitting of almost a dry passage from one continent to the other.
Thus it is that the inhabitants of Northern Asia have found their way
into the north of the New World.
This communication of one terrestrial hemisphere with the other is
less surprising when we consider what modern historical works have
shown, namely, that already about the tenth century, which would
be nearly 400 years before Christopher Columbus, navigators from
the coast of Norway had penetrated to the other hemisphere. The
inhabitants of Mexico and Chili possess most authentic historical
archives, which prove that a most advanced civilization flourished
there at an early period. Gigantic monuments which still remain,
bear witness to the great antiquity of the civilization of the Incas
(Peru) and of the Aztecs (Mexico). It is reasonable to suppose that
the inhabitants of America, who thus advanced at a rapid pace in the
path of civilization, descended from the hordes of Northern Asia
which reached the New World by traversing the ice of Behring’s
Straits.
To explain, therefore, the presence of man upon all parts of the
continent, and in the islands, it is not necessary to insist upon the
existence of several centres, where our species was created. If
popular traditions went to show that all the regions now inhabited
have always been occupied by the same people, and that those who
are found there have constantly lived in the same places, there
might be reason to admit the hypothesis of multiple creations of the
human race; but, on the contrary, traditions for the most part teach
us that each country has been peopled progressively by means of
conquest or emigration. Tradition shows that the nomadic state of
existence has universally preceded fixed settlements. It is, therefore,
probable that the first men were constantly on the move. A flood of
barbarians, coming from central Asia, overflowed the Roman Empire,
and the Vandals penetrated even into Africa. Modern migrations
have been conducted on a still vaster scale, for at the present day
we find America almost wholly occupied by Europeans; English,
Spanish and other people of the Latin race fill the vast American
hemisphere, and the primitive populations of the New World have
almost entirely disappeared, annihilated by the iron yoke of the
conqueror.
The continent of Asia was peopled little by little by branches of the
Aryan race, who came down from the plains of Central Asia,
directing their course towards India. As to Africa: that continent
received its contingent of population through the Isthmus of Suez,
the valley of the Nile, and the coasts of Arabia, by the aid of
navigation.
There is therefore nothing to show that humanity had several
distinct nuclei. It is clear that man started from one point alone, and
that through his power of adapting himself to the most different
climates, he has, little by little, covered the whole face of the
inhabitable earth.
The Bible proclaimed, long before the studies of modern
anthropologists made it known, this principle of the unity of the
human species. In like manner as the Bible opposed its monotheistic
cosmogony to the different cosmogonies of oriental or pagan
antiquity, in like manner it opposes to the erroneous dogmas of the
religions and philosophies of antiquity, this doctrine sublime and
simple in itself, that man, the last child of creation, rules it as its
appointed head and by his moral power. Holy Writ, indeed, says to
us: “God has created the whole human race of one flesh.”[1]
[1] St. Paul at the Areopagus of Athens. Acts of the Apostles, chap. xvii. v.
26.

There is another problem. Did the white, the yellow, and the black
man exist from the first moment of the appearance of our species
upon the globe, or have we to explain the formation of these three
fundamental races by the action of climate, by any special form of
nourishment, the result of local resources; in other words, by the
action of the soil, if we may use the expression of a conscientious
author, M. Trémaux?[2]
[2] Origine et transformation de l’homme et des autres êtres. 1 vol. in 18.
Paris, 1865.

Innumerable dissertations have been written with a view of

explaining the origin of these three races, and of connecting them
with the climate or the soil. But it must be admitted that the problem
is hardly capable of solution. The influence which a warm climate
exercises upon the colour of the skin is a well known fact, and it is a
matter of common observation that the white European, if
transported into the heart of Africa, or carried to the coast of
Guinea, transmits to his descendants the brown colour which the
skin of the Negro possesses, and that in their turn the offspring of
Negroes, who have been brought into northern countries, become as
they descend, paler and paler and end by being white. But the
colour of the skin is not the only characteristic of a race; the Negro
differs from the white, less by the colour of his skin, than by the
structure of the face and cranium, as also by the proportion of his
members to one another. Is it not, moreover, a fact that the hottest
countries are inhabited by people with white skins? Such for instance
are the Touaricks of the African Sahara, and the Fellahs of Egypt. On
the other hand, men with black faces are found in countries enjoying
a mean temperature, as for instance, the inhabitants of California on
the coast of the Pacific Ocean.
Let us conclude that science is unable to explain to us the difference
which exists between the different types of the human species, that
neither the temperature nor the action of the soil furnish an
explanation of this fact, and that we must limit ourselves to noting it,
without further comment, in spite of the mania which prompts the
savants of our day in a desire to explain everything.
We have now another question to consider. Should these white,
yellow, or black men, to whom we must add, as we shall see later
on, those who are brown and red, all of whom differ one from
another in the colour of their skin, in height, in their physiognomy,
and in their outward appearance, be grouped into different species,
or are we to regard them merely as varieties of species—that is to
say, races? To fully understand this question and to form a judgment
of what will result from it, we must ascertain what is understood in
natural history by the word species, and by the word race or variety
of species. We will therefore commence by explaining the meaning
of species in zoology.
The hare and the rabbit, the horse and the ass, the dog and the
wolf, the stag and the reindeer, &c., are not likely to be taken one for
another. Yet how greatly do dogs differ among themselves in size, in
colour, and in their proportions. What a difference there is between
the mastiff and the Pyrenean dog! The same observation applies to
horses. How different we find in size and outward appearance the
large Normandy horse, the London dray horse, or the omnibus horse
of Paris, and the small Corsican or Shetland horses which we can
carry in our arms! And yet no one is mistaken in them: whether he
differ in size, or in the colour of his hair, we always recognise a
horse, and never mistake him for an ass; in the mastiff as well as in
the bulldog, we shall always recognise a dog. However greatly a
rabbit may vary in size and colour, it will never be taken for a hare.
The Breton cow, slight and frail, is nevertheless as much a cow in
the eyes of a farmer, and the rest of the world, as a full-sized
Durham. The same reflection applies with equal force to birds. The
turkey which exists in the wild state in America, certainly differs very
much from the black or white turkey acclimatized in Europe; but
there is no mistake that both of them are turkeys, and nothing else.
The vegetable kingdom will furnish us with similar facts. Take, for
instance, the cotton plant on its native soil in America, and you will
find that it differs from the cotton plant cultivated in Africa and Asia.
The coffee plant of the South American plantations is not similar to
the same shrub which exists in Arabia, whence it came in the first
instance. Wheat varies with latitude to a most extraordinary extent,
&c. The cotton plant, however, is always the cotton plant, whatever
be the soil upon which it grows; the coffee plant and wheat are
always the same vegetables, and one is not liable to be deceived in
them. The action of climate and soil upon vegetables, these same
causes taken in connection with nutrition upon animals, and finally
the mixture which has taken place between different individuals,
explain all these differences, which affect the external appearance,
but not the type itself.
We mean by species, when applied either to animals or vegetables,
the fundamental type, and by variety or race the different beings
which result from the influence of climate, of nutriment, and of
mixture with individuals of the same species. The species dog gives
birth to the varieties or races known under the names of bull-dog,
spaniel, mastiff, &c. The species horse gives birth to the races or
varieties known under the names of the Arabian, English, Normandy,
Corsican, &c. The species turkey produces the varieties known as
the wild turkey, the black and the white turkey. In the vegetable
kingdom, the cotton plant species produces the American and the
Indian cotton; the bramble produces the innumerable varieties which
are known to us as rose-trees.
But, the reader will say, how are we to distinguish race from species,
and does there exist any practical means of deciding whether the
animal under consideration belongs to a species or a race? We reply
that such a means does exist, which enables us to speak with
certainty in every case. It is of importance that this should be made
known in order that every one may test it for himself.
Take the two animals in question, unite them, and if that connexion
of the sexes results in the production of another individual, capable
of reproduction, this will indicate race or variety. If, however, the
union of the two individuals is unproductive, or the offspring is itself
barren, this will indicate two individuals of different species.
In spite of observations and experiments made in the course of
many thousand years, reproduction has never been procured by
mixture of a rabbit with a hare, a wolf with a dog, a sheep with a
goat. It is true that hybrids are obtained between the horse and she-
ass, and between the ass and the mare, but it is well known that the
individuals produced by this mixture, namely, the quadrupeds
termed mules, are barren animals, incapable of reproduction with
one another.
This rule is not confined to the animal kingdom, but it obtains also
among vegetables. You can obtain artificial production from a pear
tree by applying, with suitable precautions, the pollen of the flowers
of one pear tree to the stamens of those of another. Fruit will be
formed, and the seed which that produces will in its turn be
productive. But if you attempt to perform the same operation
between a pear tree and an apple tree, you will obtain no result
whatever. This, again, is the practical method which enables
botanists to distinguish varieties from species. The test of artificial
fecundation between one plant and another, which it is desired to
distinguish as regards their species, serves to solve the difficulties
which are met in attempting to determine the position of a plant in
botanical classification.
The word species therefore is not a fictitious term, a conventional
expression invented by the learned to designate the classifications of
living beings. A species is a group arranged by Nature herself.
Fruitfulness or barrenness in the products of the mixture are the
characteristics which Nature attaches to variety or to species; those
groups therefore appear to us as though they had a substantial
foundation in the laws which govern living beings, and we do but
render in speech what we observe in Nature.
When, moreover, we reflect, we easily understand that if Nature had
not instituted species the most complete disorder would have
reigned throughout living creation. By intermixture the animal
kingdom would have been overrun by mongrels who would have
confused every type, thus permitting of no discernment in this crowd
of incoherent products. The whole animal kingdom would have been
given over to inextricable confusion. In like manner, if plants had
been capable of infinite variety through the mixture of different
species, brought about by the industry of man, or by the effect of
the wind bearing through the air the fertilizing pollen, there would
be nought but trouble and disorder among the vegetable population
of the globe.
Species therefore has a necessary, providential, and fixed existence.
Impossibility of union is the distinctive qualification which nature
assigns to this group of living beings. Reproduction is possible only
between members of the same species, and the differences
produced in their offspring by the soil, nutriment and surrounding
circumstances, determine what we call race, or variety.
The principle which we have just enunciated, will in its application to
man enable us to decide whether the individuals that people the
globe, belong to different species of men, or simply to races or
varieties; in other words, whether the human species is unique, and
whether the different human types known to us, the white, black,
yellow, brown and red-man, belong or not to races of the human
species.
The reply to this question will doubtless have been anticipated. If we
apply the rule stated above, all men that inhabit the globe belong to
one and the same species, since it is a fact that men and women,
whatever be their colour, can marry, and their offspring is always
reproductive. The Negro and white female by their union produce
mulattoes; mulattoes and mulattresses are reproductive, as are also
their descendants—marriages between members of the red or brown
races are fruitful, and, what is more, the fecundity of the
descendants of mongrels is superior to that of men and women of
the same colour.
Unless, therefore, we regard men as a solitary exception among all
living beings, unless we withdraw them from the operation of the
universal laws of nature, we must come to the conclusion that they
do but form a certain number of races of one and the same species,
and all descend from one primitive unique species.
Men are brothers in blood: this principle of universal fraternity
imposed by nature, may be placed side by side with the
corresponding maxim suggested by the moral sense.
Those who deny the unity of the human species, polygenists, or
supporters of the plurality of human kind, base their arguments in
favour of there being more than one species, upon the assertion that
the distinction between the Negro and the white man is too great to
permit of their possibly being classed together. But, between the lap-
dog and the mastiff, the wild and tame rabbit, the spaniel and the
greyhound, or the Shetland and Russian horse, there is a much
greater difference than exists between the Negro and the white
man. We are unable to state exactly, or to explain with any degree
of accuracy, how it is that man, as he was first created, has given
birth to races so widely different as the white, black, yellow, brown,
and red which people the earth at the present day. We can but
furnish a general explanation of what we see in the widely varying
conditions of existence, and in the opposite character of the media
through which man, for ages past, has dragged his existence,
frequently with much difficulty and uncertainty. If the dog, the
horse, the rabbit, and the turkey, through the agency of human
industry applied to them during a period of scarcely two thousand
years, have given birth to so many varieties, how much more would
man, whose appearance upon the globe is of such antiquity that we
cannot assign to it even approximatively a date—man, whose fate it
has been to pass through so many different climates, such various
physical and social positions, expect to see his own type become
modified and transformed? We should, with more reason, feel
surprised at finding that the differences between one variety and
another are not much wider than they appear to be.
In order to avoid this argument, there remains to the supporters of
the plurality of human kind no alternative but to regard man as an
exception in nature; to assert that he has laws peculiar to himself,
and that the principles which pervade the life of plants and animals
can in no way apply to him. But man, who is an organized and living
being, and is furnished with a body that differs but little from that of
any mammiferous animal, is, so far as concerns his organization,
subject to the universal laws of nature, and that of intermixture
among the rest. It is therefore impossible to admit the question of
exception raised by those who deny the unity of the human species.
The principle that the human species is one, and what follows as a
natural conclusion, namely, that all men who inhabit the earth are
but races or varieties of this one species, will, therefore, appear to
the reader to be satisfactorily established.

These different races which originate in one species, the primitive

type having been modified by the operation of climate, food, soil,
intermixture and local customs, differ, it must be admitted, to a
marvellous extent, in their outward appearance, colour and
physiognomy. The differences are so great, the extremes so marked
and the transitions so gradual, that it is well-nigh impossible to
distribute the human species into really natural groups from a
scientific point of view, that is to say, groups founded upon organic
characteristics. The classification of the human races has always
been the stumbling block of anthropology, and up to the present
time the difficulty remains almost undiminished.
A cursory examination of the various classifications which have been
brought forward by the most important of those who have essayed
the task will make this truth apparent to all.
Buffon, in his chapter upon man; a work which we can always read
again with admiration and advantage, contents himself with bringing
forward the three fundamental types of the human species which
have been known from the first under the names of the white, black
and yellow race. But these three types in themselves do not
exemplify every human physiognomy. The ancient inhabitants of
America, commonly known as the Red-Skins, are entirely overlooked
in this classification, and the distinction between the Negro and the
white man cannot always be easily pointed out, for in Africa the
Abyssinians, the Egyptians, and many others, in America the
Californians, and in Asia the Hindoos, Malays and Javanese are
neither white nor black.
Blumenbach, the most profound anthropologist of the last century,
and author of the first actual treatise upon the natural history of
man, distinguished in his Latin work, De Homine, five races of men,
the Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, Malay and American. Another
anthropologist, Prochaska, adopted the divisions pointed out by
Blumenbach, but united under the name of the white race,
Blumenbach’s Caucasian and Mongolian groups, and added the
Hindoo race.
The eloquent naturalist Lacépède, in his Histoire naturelle de
l’Homme, added to the races admitted by Blumenbach the
hyperborean race, comprising the inhabitants of the northern portion
of the globe in either continent.
Cuvier fell back upon Buffon’s division, admitting only the white,
black and yellow races, from which he simply derived the Malay and
American races.
A naturalist of renown, Virey, author of l’Histoire naturelle du Genre
humain, l’Histoire naturelle de la Femme, and of many other clever
productions upon natural history and particularly anthropology, gave
much attention to the classification of the human races. But he was
not favourable to the unity of our species, being led to entertain the
opinion that the human species was twofold. This was the starting
point of an erroneous deviation in the ideas of naturalists who wrote
after Virey. We find Bory de Saint Vincent admitting as many as
fifteen species of men, and another naturalist, Desmoulins,
doubtless influenced by a feeling of emulation, distinguished sixteen
human species, which, moreover, were not the same as those
admitted by Bory de Saint Vincent.
This course of classification might have been followed to a much
greater extent, for the differences among men are so great, that if
strict rule is not adhered to, it is impossible to fix any limit to
species. Unless therefore the principle of unity has been fully
conceded at starting, the investigation may result in the admission of
a truly indefinite quantity.
This is the principle which pervades the writings of the most learned
of all the anthropologists of our age, Dr. Pritchard, author of a
Natural History of Man, which in the original text formed ten
volumes, but of which the French language possesses but a very
incomplete translation.
Dr. Pritchard holds that all people of the earth belong to the same
species; he is a partisan of the unity of the human species, but is
not satisfied with any of the classifications already proposed, and
which were founded upon organic characteristics. He, in fact,
entirely alters the aspect of the ordinary classifications which are to
be met with in natural history. He commences by pointing out three
families, which, he asserts, were in history the first human
occupants of the earth: namely the Aryan, Semitic, and Egyptian.
Having described these three families, Pritchard passes to the people
who, as he says, radiated in various directions from the regions
inhabited by them, and proceeded to occupy the entire globe.
This mode of classification, as we have pointed out, leaves the
beaten track trodden by other natural historians. For this reason it
has not found favour among modern anthropologists, and this
disfavour has reacted upon the work itself, which, notwithstanding,
is the most complete and exact of all that we possess upon man.
Although it has been adopted by no other author, Pritchard’s
classification of the human race appears to us to be the most sound
in principle.
M. de Quatrefages, in his course of anthropology at the Museum of
Natural History, Paris, makes a classification of the human race
based upon the three types, white, yellow and black; but he
appends to each of these three groups, under the head of mixed
races attached to each stem, a number of races more or less
considerable and arbitrary which were excluded from the three chief
divisions.
The classification of M. de Quatrefages will be found in his Rapport
sur les progrès de l’Anthropologie, published in 1867.[3] It is
extremely learned and well worked out, but a classification which
entirely passes by the simple mode of reasoning we shall adopt in
the following pages.
[3] In 4º forming part of the Rapports sur les progrès des Sciences et des
Lettres en France, published under the auspices of the Minister of Public
Instruction.

The classification of the human race which we propose to follow,

modifying it where in our opinion it may appear to be necessary, is
due to a Belgian naturalist, M. d’Omalius d’Halloy. It acknowledges
five races of men: the white, black, yellow, brown and red.
This classification is based upon the colour of the skin, a
characteristic very secondary in importance to that of organization,
but which yet furnishes a convenient framework for an exact and
methodical enumeration of the inhabitants of the globe, permitting a
clear consideration of a most confused subject. In the groups,
therefore, which we shall propose, the reader will fail to find a truly
scientific classification, but will meet with merely such a simple
distribution of materials, as shall permit us to review methodically
the various races spread over every portion of the Earth’s surface.
 CHAPTER II.

General characteristics of the human race—Organic characteristics

—Senses and the nervous system—Height—Skeleton—Cranium
and face—Colour of the skin—Physiological functions—Intellectual
characteristics—Properties of human intelligence—Languages and
literature—Different states of society—Primitive industry—The two
ages of prehistoric humanity.

Before entering upon a minute description of each of the human

races, we shall find it well to lay before the reader a generalization
of the characteristics which are common to all.
Since man is an intelligent being, living in an organized frame, our
attention has to be directed to the consideration of his organs and
intellect, that is, in the first place, we must investigate the physical,
in the second, the intellectual and moral elements of his constitution.
The physical characteristics bear but secondary importance among
those of the human race. Man is a spirit which shines within the
body of an animal, and the only difficulty is to ascertain in what
manner the organism of the mammalia is modified in order to
become that of man; to compare the harmony of this organism with
the object in view, namely the exercise of human intellect and
thought. We shall see that the organs of the mammalia are greatly
modified in the human subject, becoming, either on account of their
individual excellence or the harmony of their combination, greatly
superior to the associations of the same organs among animals.
Let us first consider the brain and organs of sense. When we
examine the form and relative size of the brain in ascending the
series of mammiferous animals, we find that this organ increases in
volume, and progresses, so to say, toward the superior
characteristics which it is to display in the human species.
Disregarding certain exceptions, for the existence of which we
cannot account, but which in no way alter the general rule, the brain
increases in importance from the zoophyte to the ape. But, in
comparing the brain of the ape with that of man, an important
difference becomes at once apparent. The brain of the gorilla,
orang-outang, or chimpanzee, which are the apes that bear the
greatest resemblance to man, and which for that reason are
designated anthropomorphous apes, is very much smaller than that
of man. The cerebral lobes in man are much longer than in the
anthropomorphous apes, and their vertical measure is out of all
proportion with the height of the cerebral lobes in apes; this is what
produces the noble frontal curve, one of the characteristic features
of the human physiognomy. The cerebral lobes are connected behind
with a third nervous mass called the cerebellum. The large volume
of these three lobes, the depth and number of convolutions of the
encephalic mass, and other anatomical details of the brain, upon
which we are unable here to treat at greater length, place the brain
of man very far above that of the animal nearest to him in the
zoological scale. These differences bear witness in favour of man to
an unparalleled intellectual development, and we should be better
able to measure these differences, were we able to show in what the
cerebral action consists, but this we are utterly unable to do.
The senses, taken individually, are not more developed in man than
they are in certain animals; but in man they are characterised by
their harmony, their perfect equilibrium, and their admirable
appropriation to a common end. Man, it will at once be admitted, is
not so keen of sight as the eagle, nor so subtle of hearing as the
hare, nor does he possess the wonderful scent of the dog. His skin is
far from being as fine and impressionable as that which covers the
wing of a bat. But, while among animals, one sense always
predominates to the disadvantage of the rest, and the individual is
thus forced to adopt a mode of existence which works hand in hand
with the development of this sense, with man, all the senses possess
almost equal delicacy, and the harmony of their association makes
up for what may be wanting in individual power. Again, the senses of
animals are employed only in satisfying material necessities, while in
man, they assist in the exercise of eminent faculties whose
development they further.
Let us consider shortly in detail our senses.
Man is certainly better off, as regards the sense of sight, than a large
majority of animals. Instead of being placed upon different sides of
his head, looking in opposite directions, and receiving two images
which cannot possibly be alike, his eyes are directed forwards, and
regard similar objects, by which means the impression is doubled.
The sense of sight thus brings to his conceptions a complete image
and solid idea of what surrounds him; it is his most useful sense, the
more so when it is guided in its application by a clear intellect.
The sense of touch in man reaches a degree of perfection which it
does not attain in animals. How marvellous is the sense of touch
when exercised by applying the extremities of the fingers, the part
of the body the best suited to this function, and how much more
wonderful is the organ called the hand, which applies itself in so
admirable a manner to the most different surfaces whose extent,
form, or qualities, we wish to ascertain!
A modern philosopher has attributed to the hand alone our
intellectual superiority. This was going too far. We find enthusiasm
allied with justice in the views expressed in the excellent pages
which Galen has consecrated to a description of the hand, in his
immortal work De usu partium.
“Man alone,” says Galen, “is furnished with hands, as he alone is a
participator in wisdom. The hand is a most marvellous instrument,
and one most admirably adapted to his nature. Remove his hand,
and man can no longer exist. By its means he is prepared for
defence or attack, for peace or war. What need has he of horns or
talons? With his hand, he grasps the sword and lance, he fashions
iron and steel. Whilst with horns, teeth and talons, animals can only
attack or defend at close quarters, man is able to project from afar
the instruments with which he is armed. Shot from his hand, the
feathered arrow reaches at a great distance the heart of an enemy,
or stops the flight of a passing bird. Although man is less agile than
the horse and the deer, yet he mounts the horse, guides him, and
thus successfully hunts the deer. He is naked and feeble, yet his
hand procures him a covering of iron and steel. His body is
unprotected against the inclemencies of climate, yet his hand finds
him a convenient abode, and furnishes him with clothing. By the use
of his hand, he gains dominion and mastery over all that lives upon
the earth, in the air, or in the depths of the sea. From the flute and
lyre with which he amuses his leisure, to the terrible instruments by
means of which he deals death around him, and to the vessel which
bears him, a daring seaman, upon the bosom of the deep—all is the
work of his hand.
“Would man without hands have been able to write out the laws
which govern him, or raise to the gods statues and altars? Without
hands could he bequeath to posterity the fruit of his labours, and the
memory of his deeds? Could he (had man been created handless)
converse with Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and the different great men,
children of bygone ages? The hand is then the physical characteristic
of man, in like manner as intelligence is his moral characteristic.”
Galen, having shown in this chapter the general formation of the
hand and the special disposition of the organs which compose it;
having described the articulations and bones, the muscles and
tendons of the fingers; and having analyzed the mechanism of the
different movements of the hand, cries, full of admiration for this
marvellous structure:
“In presence of the hand, this marvellous instrument, cannot we well
treat with contempt the opinion of those philosophers who saw in
the human body merely the result of a fortuitous concourse of
atoms! Does not everything in our organization most clearly give the
lie to this false doctrine? Who will dare to invoke chance in
explanation of this admirable disposition? No, it is no blind power
that has given birth to all these marvels. Do you know among men a
genius capable of conceiving and executing so perfect a work? There
exists not such a workman. This sublime organization is the creation
of a superior intelligence, of which the intellect of man is but a poor
terrestrial reflection. Let others offer to the Deity reeking hecatombs,
let them sing hymns in honour of the gods; my hymn of praise shall
be the study and the exposition of the marvels of the human frame!”
The sense of hearing, without attaining in man the perfection which
it reaches in certain animals, is nevertheless of great delicacy, and
becomes an infinite resource of instruction and pure enjoyment. Not
only are differences of intonation, intensity, and timbre, recognised
by our ear, but the most delicate shades of rhythm and tone, the
relations of simultaneous and successive sounds which give the
sentiment of melody and harmony, are appreciated, and furnish us
with the first and most natural of the arts—music. Thus the
perfection and delicacy of our senses, which permit of our grasping
faint and slightly varying impressions, the harmony of these senses
themselves, their perfect equilibrium, their capability of improvement
by exercise, place us at a considerable distance above the animal.
Let us now pass to the bony portion of the human body, and
consider first of all the head. The head is shared by two regions, the
cranium and the face. The predominance of either of these regions
over the other, depends upon the development of the organs which
belong to each.
The cranium contains the cerebral mass, that is, the seat of the
intellect; the face is occupied by the organs appertaining to the
principal senses. In animals, the face greatly exceeds the cranium in
extent; the reverse is, however, the case with man. It is but rarely
that with him the face assumes importance at the expense of the
cranium—in other words, that the jaws become elongated, and give
to the human face the aspect of a brute.
We find in works upon anthropology some expressions which call for
an explanation here; they are frequently employed, since they
enable us to express by a single term the relation which exists
between the dimensions of any particular skull. The term
dolichocephalous (from the Greek δολιχος, long, κεφαλη, head,) is
applied to a cranium which is elongated from front to rear, or, to
express the idea numerically, the cranium whose longitudinal
diameter bears to its vertical diameter the proportion of 100 to 68. A
short cranium is styled brachycephalous (from βραχυς, short,
κεφαλη, head,) which term is applied when the relation between the
longitudinal and vertical diameters is 100 to 80.
The attribute of length or shortness of the cranium is of less
importance than is generally believed. All Negroes, it is true, are
dolichocephalous; but it must not be supposed from this that the
production backwards of the cranium is an indication of inferiority;
since in the white race, heads are sometimes very long and
sometimes very short. The North Germans are dolichocephalous;
those inhabiting Central Germany being brachycephalous. This
characteristic cannot therefore be regarded as a criterion of
intellectual excellence.
There is in the human face an anatomical characteristic of greater
importance than any taken from the elongation of the cranium; that
is, the projection forwards, or the uprightness of the jaws. The term
prognathism (from προ, forward, and γναθος, jaw,) is applied to this
jutting forward of the teeth and jaws, and orthognathism (from
ορθος, straight, γναθος, jaw,) to the latter arrangement.
It was long admitted that prognathism, or projection of the jaws,
was peculiar to the Negro race. But this opinion has been forced to
yield to the discovery, that projecting jaws exist among people in no
way connected with the Negro. In the midst of white populations
this characteristic is frequently met with; it is occasionally found
among the English, and is by no means rare at Paris, especially
among women. Prognathism would appear to be characteristic of a
small European race dwelling to the south of the Baltic Sea, the
Esthonians, and which itself is but the residue of the primitive
Mongolian race to which we have alluded in our work, “Primitive
Man,” as being the first race which, according to M. Pruner-Bey,
peopled the globe. It is probably the mixture of Esthonian blood with
that of the inhabitants of Central Europe, which causes the
appearance in our large cities of individuals whose faces are
prognathous.
We cannot close our remarks upon the face without speaking of a
curious relation between it and the cranium, which has been much
abused; we allude to the facial angle. By facial angle is meant the
angle which results from the union of two lines, one of which
touches the forehead, the other of which, drawn from the orifice of
the ear, meets the former line at the extremity of the front teeth.
The Dutch anatomist Camper, after having compared Greek and
Roman statues, or medals of either nationality, assumed that the
cause of the intellectual superiority which distinguished Greek from
Roman physiognomies was to be found in the fact, that, with the
Greeks, the facial angle is larger than in Roman heads. Starting with
this observation, Camper pursued his enquiries until it occurred to
him to advance the theory that the increase of the facial angle may
be taken in the human race as a sign of superior intelligence.
This observation was correct, insomuch as it separated men from
apes, and carrion birds from other birds. But its application to
different varieties of men, as a measure of their various degrees of
intelligence, was a pretension doomed to be sacrificed to future
investigations. Dr. Jacquart, assistant-naturalist in the Museum of
Natural History at Paris, calling to his aid an instrument he invented,
by which the facial angle is rapidly measured, has, in our day, made
numerous studies of the facial angle of human beings. M. Jacquart
found that this angle cannot be taken as a measure of intelligence,
for he observed it to be a right angle in individuals, who, with
respect to intelligence, were in no way superior to others whose
facial angle was much smaller. M. Jacquart went so far as to show,
that, in the population of Paris alone, the facial angle varies between
much wider proportions than those imposed by Camper as
characteristic limits of human varieties.
The measure of the facial angle, therefore, is far from bearing the
importance which has long been ascribed to it; but this does not go
to prevent its application, with advantage, in ordinary cases, when
races of men are required to be distinguished from one another.
Erect carriage is another of the characteristics which distinguish the
human species from all other animals, including the ape, by whom
this position is but rarely assumed, and then accidentally and
unnaturally.
Everything in the human skeleton is calculated to ensure a vertical
posture. In the first place, the head articulates with the vertebral
column at a point so situated that, when this vertebral column is
erect, the head, by means of its own weight, remains supported in
equilibrium. Besides this, the shape of the head, the direction of the
face, the position of the eyes, and the form of the nostrils, all require
that man should walk erect on two feet.
If our body were intended to assume a horizontal position,
everything connected with it would be out of place: the crown of the
head would be the most advanced part, and this would operate most
detrimentally to the exercise of sight; the eyes would be directed
toward the earth; the nostrils would open backward; the forehead
and the face would be beneath the head. Moreover, the whole
muscular system and all the tendons are, in man, auxiliary to erect
posture, without mentioning the curves which occur in the vertebral
column, and the exceptional formation of the limbs, &c.
J. J. Rousseau was, therefore, very far from right, when he
contended that man was born to go on all fours.
The height of men, as well as the colour of their skin, are
characteristics which must not be overlooked, since they are of
importance as distinctive attributes of different races.
And first, with regard to height, the differences which this incident
may present in the human species have been greatly exaggerated.
Much allowance must be made in admitting what has been written
with respect to dwarfs, and what has been alleged concerning
giants. The Greeks believed in the existence of a people they called
Pygmies, but whose place of abode they always omitted to point
out. These were very small people, who were entirely hidden from
view when they entered a field of standing wheat, and who passed
much of their time in resisting the attacks of Cranes. The same fable
was revived in more modern times, with reference to a people
supposed to live in the island of Madagascar, who were styled
Kymes. But Pygmies and Kymes are equally fabulous.
Antiquity tells us of giants, but without forming them into a separate
race. It is rather in modern times that the existence of races of
human giants has been put forward. In the sixteenth century, when
Magellan had doubled Cape Horn and discovered the Pacific Ocean,
a companion of this navigator, Pigafetta, gave an altogether
extraordinary description of the Patagonians, or inhabitants of the
Tierra del Fuego. He made giants of them. One of his successors,
Leaya, adding yet more to the height of the Patagonians, assigned
to these men a stature of from three to four metres.
Modern travellers have reduced to accurate proportions the
exaggerated statements of ancient navigators. The French naturalist
Alcide d’Orbigny actually measured a large number of Patagonians,
and found that their height, on an average, was about 1m.73.
This, then, is about the limit of the height which is reached by the
human species.
With reference to the extreme of smallness we are able to arrive at
this by referring to the Bushmen who inhabit Southern Africa. An
English traveller, Barrow, measured all the members of a tribe of
Bushmen, and found that their average height was 1m.31.
The human species, therefore, varies in height to the extent of about
0m.42, that is to say, the difference between the height of the
Patagonians and that of the Bushmen. It is well to make this
observation whilst we are upon this subject, since the supporters of
the theory of a plurality of human races have invoked these
differences in height in support of the multiplicity of the races of
humanity. It is clear that, among animals, races vary in height to a
much greater extent than they do with man; there is, by
comparison, a much greater difference in size between a mastiff and
a dog of the Pyrenees, than there is between a Bushman and a
Patagonian.
As regards the colour of the skin of the human race, we find it
necessary to say a few words, since we propose to take this as the
basis of our classification.
The colour of the skin is a very convenient characteristic to fix upon
in order to identify the various races, since this quality is peculiarly
adapted to suggest itself through the eye. Its scientific importance
must, however, by no means be exaggerated. Certain individuals,
though they be members of the White or Caucasian Race, may yet
be very darkly tinted. Arabs are often of a brown colour, which
nearly approaches black, and yet they possess the finest marks of
the White or Caucasian Race. The Abyssinians, although very brown,
are not black. The American Indians, whom we rank as members of
the Red Race, often have dark brown or almost black skins. Among
members of the White Race in northern latitudes, especially women,
the skin has often a yellowish tint. We must add that the colour of
the skin is often difficult to fix, since the shades of colour merge into
one another. All this must be said in order to show how difficult it is
to form natural groups of the innumerable types of our species.
It would be for us now to speak of the physiological characteristics
of the human race; but our consideration of this subject will be
limited to a few words, since the condition of physiological functions
is almost identical among all men, whatever be their race.
There is, nevertheless, an important difference, well worthy of note,
presented by the nervous system when we compare the two
extremes of humanity, namely, the Negro and the white European.
In the white man, the nervous centres, that is the brain and spinal
cord, are of much greater volume than they are in the Negro. In the
latter the expansions from these nervous centres, that is, the nerves
properly so called, have relatively a greater volume.
A similar difference, quite on a par with this, exists in the circulatory
system. In the white man, the arterial system is more developed
than the venous; the reverse is the case with the Negro. Lastly, the
blood of the Negro is more viscous, and of a deeper red than that of
the white man.
With the exception of these general differences, the great
physiological functions proceed in the same manner among all races
of men. The differences are not remarked except when secondary
functions are compared, but these differences then assume
proportions of some consideration.
Climate, customs, and habits are the causes of these variations in
the secondary functions, which at times become so similar as to
permit of confusion in the most opposite races. Let a member of the
white race be thrown into the midst of wild Indians, become a
prisoner of the red-skins, and share their warlike existence in the
midst of forests, we shall see that the sense of sight, as also that of
hearing, will attain in this individual the same perfection which they
enjoy in his new companions. It is by virtue of the prodigious
flexibility of our organism, and of our powers of imitation and
assimilation, that the physiological functions of secondary
importance become capable of such modification.
The intellectual and moral characteristics are those which take the
lead in man. Not only are we unable to pass them over in silence in
the general study of the human race, but much more importance
must be assigned to them than to mere corporeal characteristics. If
the naturalist, when he studies an animal, makes a point, when he
has described his structure and organism, of considering his habits
and manner of life, how much more should he, when treating of
man, dwell upon his intellectual faculties, the stamp which so truly
identifies our species.
Man makes use of language as the means of expressing his
intelligence. If man is provided with the power of speech, which he
has in common with no other animal, it is owing to the fact that in
him intelligence is infinitely more developed than in the animal. It is
through the simultaneous concurrence of all his senses that the
faculty of speech is manifested in man; and the proof of this is, that
through the absence of one of his senses, he loses this faculty. What
is meant by a person born dumb? It is an individual similar in all
respects to speaking man, but differing from him in this, that he
came into the world perfectly deaf. The primary absence of the
power of hearing has paralysed the child’s intelligence with special
reference to his imitative faculty, and in fact, the person called deaf
and dumb is originally simply a person born deaf.
Language, then, is but the expression of the highest intelligence.
“Animals have a voice,” says Aristotle, “but man alone speaks.”
Nothing can be truer than this statement of the immortal Greek
philosopher.
It is well known how the languages and dialects spoken in the world
have multiplied; and, indeed, nothing is more difficult than to classify
all the languages and dialects that exist. This difficulty becomes
more insurmountable when we consider that languages vary in
course of time to a very considerable extent. The French of Rabelais
and Montaigne, who wrote at the time of the Renaissance, is not
very intelligible to us, and that of French chroniclers at the time of
St. Louis can only be understood by studying it specially and with a
dictionary. Modern Italians read Dante with great difficulty, and the
same may be said for the English as regards their great writer
Shakespeare. Languages then alter very rapidly, even though the
people themselves remain stationary. The alterations are much more
serious and rapid when two peoples amalgamate.
These considerations are sufficient to convey an idea of the problem
which scholars have propounded in wishing to ascertain the
language of primitive humanity. It may be said that such a problem
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