Europeans
The Caucasian Race is characterized by a naturally fair skin, susceptible of every tint; hair fine, long and curling, and of various colors.The skull is large and oval, and its anterior portion full and elevated.The face is small in proportion to the head, of an oval form, with well-proportioned
features....This race is distinguished for the facility with which it attains the highest intellectual endowments....
The spontaneous fertility of [the Caucasus] has rendered it the hive of many nations, which extending their migrations in every direc-tion, have peopled the finest portions of the earth, and given birth to its fairest inhabitants....
Asians
This great division of the human species is characterized by a sallow or olive colored skin, which appears to be drawn tight over the bones of the face; long black straight hair, and thin beard.The nose is broad, and short; the eyes are small, black, and obliquely placed, and the eyebrows are arched and linear; the lips are turned, the cheek bones broad and flat....In their intellectual character the Mongolians are ingenious, imitative, and highly susceptible of cultivation [i.e.learning].
So versatile are their feelings and actions, that they have been compared to the monkey race, whose attention is perpetually changing from one object to another....
Native Americans
The American Race is marked by a brown complexion; long, black, lank hair; and deficient beard.The eyes are black and deep set, the brow low, the cheekbones high, the nose large and aquiline, the mouth large, and the lips tumid [swollen] and compressed....In their mental character the Americans are averse to cultivation, and slow in acquiring knowledge; restless, revengeful, and fond of war, and wholly destitute of maritime adventure.
They are crafty, sensual, ungrateful, obstinate and unfeeling, and much of their affection for their children may be traced to purely selfish motives.They devour the most disgusting [foods] uncooked and uncleaned, and seem to have no idea beyond providing for the present moment....Their mental faculties, from infancy to old age, present a continued childhood....[Indians] are not only averse to the restraints of education, but for the most part are incapable of a continued process of reasoning on abstract subjects....
Africans
Characterized by a black complexion, and black, woolly hair; the eyes are large and prominent, the nose broad and flat, the lips thick, and the mouth wide; the head is long and narrow, the forehead low, the cheekbones prominent, the jaws protruding, and the chin small.In disposition the Negro is joyous, flexible, and indolent; while the many nations which compose this race present a singular diversity of
intellectual character, of which the far extreme is the lowest grade of humanity....The moral and intellectual character of the Africans is widely different in different nations....The Negroes are proverbially fond of their amusements, in which they engage with great exuberance of spirit; and a day of toil is with them no bar to a night of revelry.
Like most other barbarous nations their institutions are not infrequently characterized by superstition and cruelty.They appear to be fond of warlike enterprises, and are not deficient in personal courage; but, once overcome, they yield to their destiny, and accommodate themselves with amazing facility to every change of circumstance.
The Negroes have little invention, but strong powers of imitation, so that they readily acquire mechanic arts.They have a great talent for music, and all their external senses are remarkably acute.