| Wallace took a rather unfortunate position on the issue of polygenism v. monogenism before the Anthropological Society in 1864, a compromise between the two radically different theories. |
| Broca argued that the anthropologists could debate monogenism or polygenism without extraneous preoccupations. |
| Monogenism contends that all races have a single origin, while polygenism is the idea that each race has a separate origin. |
| Believing in monogenism, Buffon thought that skin colour could change in a single lifetime, depending on the conditions of climate and diet. |
