who have long resided in widely different climates, and who it is known do not intermix with other people, affords a strong confirmation of the same truth.

It is also as remarkable as it is obvious, that, for the most part, men of a certain complexion are found in a particular latitude, unless they have been recently removed from their own country. We do not find the black skin and crisped hair in high latitudes; nor the fair complexion and light-coloured hair, under the equator. From the first glance, therefore, it would seem, that there is some connexion between climate and the complexion. Whether a difference of climate is sufficient of itself to account for these varieties need not be determined. There may be other causes combined with this, some of which may be unknown to us. Animals carried from the temperate regions, far to the North, become white, and their fur becomes much thicker and warmer. The final cause of this change is manifest, and indicates the wisdom and goodness of the great Creator, but we know not how to account for it. The fact is certain, but the process of nature by which it is brought about is concealed; at least, it has not yet been discovered. Now, there may be, in the constitution of man, a principle which accommodates itself to different climates, for purposes equally important. Indeed it is a well known fact, that black people can endure a tropical sun, much better than white men.

The analogy derived from other animals and vegetables, also, forbids the multiplication of the human species. The changes produced in the different species of animals, which can live in climates widely different, are as great, and in some, much greater, than in the human species. Take, for an example, the canine species. How great the difference between the large mastiff, and the diminutive lap-dog. These varieties in animals of the same species, extend not only to their size, colour, and shape, but in a very remarkable degree, to their instincts.

Seeing then, that this is the common law of animal nature, why should we expect that the physical nature of man should be exempt from changes, induced by a diversity of climate? And when we observe, that the varieties of the human race have a manifest relation to the climate of the respective nations, the conclusion, upon all just principles of natural science, must be, that the human species is one. In all cases, where there is a difference of species, there is a marked difference in the internal structure of the body; but among the different tribes of men, no such diversity has been observed, as can be the foundation of a diversity of species. The most exact anatomical dissections have discovered no permanent parts or contrivances, in one nation, which are not found also in all others. They all have the same bones, the same joints, the same system of nerves, the same number, use, and position of muscles, the same bloodvessels, glands, and digestive organs. Not only is the external appearance of the parts the same, but the interior texture and constituent particles composing the respective parts of the human body, are the same in the white man, as in the black, the olive, the red, or the yellow.

It is scarcely necessary to observe, that all men have the same external senses, and the same bodily appetites, the same instincts, the same susceptibility of forming habits, and the same natural passions and desires. Those things in the constitution of man which have no resemblance in other species of animals, are found in all the nations of the earth. The risible faculty, and the faculty of weeping; and especially the possession of articulate speech, all serve to prove, the identity of the human species. And if, from the body and its functions, we ascend to the mind, here we find the same original faculties, in all the varieties of the human race. We observe in all, not only perception, consciousness, and memory, of which the inferior animals seem to partake, but the power of reasoning; the faculty

of imagination; the power of association and abstraction; and what is more decisive still, the moral sense, of which there is no vestige in the brutes; and the faculty of taste; for all men perceive a difference between right and wrong and feel moral obligation; and all men have some sense of beauty and deformity. Moreover, all men are capable of improvement, and those nations which are now the most learned and refined, were once among the most barbarous of the human race.

This perfect similarity in mind and body is sufficient to lead all impartial men to the conclusion, that the human race are all descended from one pair, and that the varieties are accidental;-the effect of a variety of causes, all of which we are unable to explore.

Some philosophers, have, however, thought themselves justified, in considering men of different species, not so much from the variety in their complexion and external appearance, as from the different degrees of flatness or rotundity, in the skulls of different nations. On this ground, the learned Blumenbach, has reduced the whole human race to five classes or species. But in the first place, the examination of human skulls has not been sufficiently extensive to furnish correct data for such a classification'; and in the next place, if the difference exist, it affords no philosophical reason for supposing an original diversity of species. The causes which have operated other changes, may as easily have produced a difference in the mere form of the skull: and those who give credit to the discoveries of the craniologists, will find no difficulty in accounting for any varieties which are found, in the skulls of men of different tribes.

Some time since, a radical difference of intellect, was insisted on, as a criterion to determine a difference of species: but since our acquaintance with the most degraded and stupid of the human race has become more accurate; and especially, since we have witnessed the improvements

which these are capable of, and the rapid advancement of some of them, in knowledge and civilization, the whole ground of this opinion is taken away.

There is another criterion of the identity of species, which by some naturalists has been considered decisive. It has been found, that although animals of different species may be made to propagate a mongrel breed, their offspring are, for the most part, barren, and are seldom known to propagate. But the various classes of men mingle as freely and propagate the species with as much facility, as people of the same tribe. Of late, however, some doubt has been expressed respecting the correctness of the fact first stated, on which the whole argument rests. It is alleged, that sufficient experiments have not been made on the subject of the natural want of fertility in mules and other hybrids; and that, as far as experience goes, they are found to be fruitful in as many cases, as they are barren. Leaving, therefore, the degree of barrenness in such animals in doubt, it is clear, that no new species, capable of continuing itself by propagation, has been formed, by the union of animals of different species, and that there exists a natural obstruction, which does not exist in the case of men of the different classes.

But why might not a number of pairs of the same species, or exactly similar in parts and powers, have been produced, as well as one? To which we answer, that although the thing is possible, yet sound philosophy never resorts to such a supposition. Naturalists always go on the principle that more causes of the phenomena of nature than are sufficient, are not to be admitted, and where every effect can as well be accounted for by supposing one original pair, as by many, the hypothesis of more than one, ought, on general principles, to be rejected.

Having seen that reason itself leads us to believe that all the various nations of men are derived from one stock, and

form but one species, it cannot but add strong confirmation to our belief, that the Sacred Scriptures clearly inform us, that when God created man upon the earth, he created them male and female;-one man, and one woman-from whom proceeded all the nations of the earth.

The idea which some have entertained, that there were men before Adam, is destitute of all shadow of proof. The apostle Paul, in his discourse before the Senate ofAreopagus, explicitly declares, what reason and revelation unite in teaching, to be the truth. "And hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth." One word from the inspiration of God, goes farther to establish our minds in the belief of the truth, than volumes of arguments, depending merely on the fallible reason of man.

The Bible teaches us that every man of every tribe and of every colour, whether his skull be flat or prominent, is our brother, and has a claim upon us for all the kindness and beneficence which it is in our power to show him. The same God is the Father of us all; and the same man is our common earthly father; and we are all rapidly tending to the same judgment, and to the same eternity.

But if any should, after all, be of opinion, that the diversity among men cannot be accounted for by natural causes; yet it does not follow that the Mosaic history is false, or that there are several species of men, entirely distinct from each other. At some period of the history of man, for some special reason, the Governor of the universe may have given a distinctive colour to one or more families of the earth. And some believers in the Bible are so fully impressed with this idea, that they have undertaken to aflirm, that we have an intimation of this very thing, in the sacred history. While some, however, would refer the black colour of the skin to the mark set upon Cain, (which is irreconcilable with the history of the deluge,) others, with more probability, refer it to the curse upon Canaan, the son

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