The Aryan Race - Charles Morris, 1888.pdf

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THE
ARYAN
RACE
ITS ORIGIN
AND
ITS
ACHIEVEMENTS
BY
CHARLES 1VIORRIS
AUTHOR OF
".A MANUAL OF
CLASSICAL LITERATURE"
CHICAGO
s.
C.
GRIGGS AND UOl\lPANY
1888
Copyright,
1888,
By S. C.
GRIGGS AND COMPANY.
linfbetsrtJ}
~tess:
JOHX ,\VILSOX
AND
SOX
l
CAMBRIDGE.
PREF ACE.
T is our purpose briefly to outline the history of the
Aryan Race, - that great and noble family of
Inankind which 11as played so striking a part upon the
stage of the world; to seek it in its prilnitive hOlne,
observe the unfoldment of its beliefs and institutions,
follow it in its migrations, consider the features of its
intellectual snprelnacy, and trace the steps by which it
lIas gained its present l1igh position among the races of
mankind. The story of this people, despite the great
interest whi.ch surrounds it, remains ul1\vritten in any
complete sense. There are many books, indeed, which
deal with it fragmentarily, - some devoted to its lan-
guages, others to its mythology, folk-lore, village com-
munities, or to some other single aspect of its many
sided story; yet no general treatment of the subject
has been essayed, and the inquirer who wishes to learn
what is known of this interesting people must painfully
delve through a score of volumes to gain the desired
infornlation.
Until within a recent period the actual existence of
such a race was not clearly recognized. A century
I
iv
PREFACE.
ago there was nothing to show that nearly all the
natiolls of Europe and the most pronlinent of those
of southern .Asia were first-cousins, descended from a
single ancestor, which, not very remotely in the past,
inhabited a contracted locality in some region as yet
unknovvn. Of late years much has been learned of the
conditions and ruode of life of this people in their
original home, and of their luigrations to the point
where they enter the field of vvritten history. From
this point forward the part played by the Aryans in
the history of nlankind has been a highly important
one, and there is no lllore interesting study than to
follow this giant froln the days of its childhood to
those of its present
iIllpo~ing<
stature.
Our knovvledge of the
\c~l1dition
of the primitive
.Aryans is not due only to studies in philology. The
subject has vvidened with the progress of research, and
now embraces questions of ethnology, archreology,
mythology, literature, social and political antiquities,
and all the other branches of science which relate
particularly to the deyelop111ent of mankind. Enough
has been learned, through studies in" these several
directions, to make desirable a general treatment of
the subject, and an effort to present as a whole the
story of that mighty race whose history is as yet
known to tl1e ,vorld only in disconnected fragments.
The present work, however, pretends to be no lllore
than a preliluinary handling of this extensive theme,
PREFACE.
v
a brief popular exposition which ma.y· serve to fill a
gap in the realm of literature and to satisfy the curi-
osity of the reading ,vorld until some abler hand shall
grasp the subject and deal vvith it in a 1110re exhaustive
11lanner.
Any attempt, indeed, to tell the story of the .Aryan
race, even in outline, during the recent age of mankind
would be equivalent to an attempt to write the history
of civilization, - whicl1 is far fron1 our purpose. But
in the/ cOluparison of the intellectual conditions and
products of the several races of mankind, and in the
consideration of the evolution of hUluan institutions
and lines of thought and action, ·vve have a field of
research vvhich is by no means exhausted, and witl1
vvhich the general vyorld of readers is very little con-
versant. Our work will therefore be found to be
largely comparative in treatment, the characteristics
and conditions of the other leading races of Inankind
being considered, and contrasted ,vith those of the
.Aryan, with the purpose not only of clearly showing
the general superiority of the latter, but also of point-
ing out the natural steps of evolution through which
it emerged froin original savagery and attained to its
pre8ent intellectual suprelnacy and advanced stage of
enlightenment.
.As regards the sources of the information con-
veyed in the following pages, ,ve shall but say that
all the statements concerning questions of fact have

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