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1883 Darwin: “When two races, both low in the scale, are crossed the progeny seems to be eminently bad.”
Darwin, Charles. 1868, 1883. The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication (NY: D. Appleton & Co.)
pages.britishlibrary.net/charles.darwin/texts/variation/variation13.html
Chapter XIII: Inheritance Continued-- Reversion of Atavism, page 22:
Notes:
A paragraph:
Darwin, Charles. 1868, 1883. The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication (NY: D. Appleton & Co.)
pages.britishlibrary.net/charles.darwin/texts/variation/variation13.html
Chapter XIII: Inheritance Continued-- Reversion of Atavism, page 22:
Notes:
Code:
47 'Journal of Researches,' 1845, p. 71.
48 'Expedition to the Zambesi,' 1865, pp. 25, 150.
49 Dr. P. Broca, on 'Hybridity in the Genus Homo,' Eng.
translat., 1864, p. 39.
Code:
These latter facts remind us of the statements, so
frequently made by travellers in all parts of the world, on
the degraded state and savage disposition of crossed
races of man. That many excellent and kind-hearted
mulattos have existed no one will dispute; and a more
mild and gentle set of men could hardly be found than the
inhabitants of the island of Chiloe, who consist of Indians
commingled with Spaniards in various proportions. On
the other hand, many years ago, long before I had
thought of the present subject, I was struck with the fact
that, in South America, men of complicated descent
between Negroes, Indians, and Spaniards, seldom had,
whatever the cause might be, a good expression.47
Livingstone-- and a more unimpeachable authority cannot
be quoted,-- after speaking of a half-caste man on the
Zambesi, described by the Portuguese as a rare monster
of inhumanity, remarks, "It is unaccountable why half-
castes, such as he, are so much more cruel than the
Portuguese, but such is undoubtedly the case." An
inhabitant remarked to Livingstone, "God made white
men, and God made black men, but the Devil made
halfcastes."48 When two races, both low in the scale, are
crossed the progeny seems to be eminently bad. Thus
the noble-hearted Humboldt, who felt no prejudice
against the inferior races, speaks in strong terms of the
bad and savage disposition of Zambos, or half-castes
between Indians and Negroes; and this conclusion has
been arrived at by various observers.49 From these facts
we may perhaps infer that the degraded state of so many
half-castes is in part due to reversion to a primitive and
savage condition, induced by the act of crossing, even if
mainly due to the unfavourable moral conditions under
which they are generally reared.