tame, and recumbent ones of the wild horse. It is evident, therefore, from fact and from what ordinarily happens, that there are powers at work at and after conception, and while the fœtus is in the womb, that can produce variations in the same people, approaching to those that distinguish the Negro, the red man, or the brown man; which, indeed, can produce forms much more singular and extraordinary; for instance, the monsters that sometimes make their appearance in the world, as the Siamese youths, children with two heads, &c. The mysterious influence that the excited imagination, or passions, or appetites of the mother, have over the foetus in her womb, is well known, and produces very extraordinary consequences, and malformations, and monstrosities. When we consider that all these facilities, if I may so speak-these tendencies to produce variations in the foetus, are at the disposal of Him, who upholds all things by the word of his power, and turns them to the fulfilment of his own purposes, we may imagine that thus new types may be produced, which may be continued in the ordinary way of generation; according to that observation of Humboldt, that "The exclusion of all foreign mixtures contributes to perpetuate varieties, or aberrations from the common standard." That what at first were family characters, accompany the race when grown into a nation, is evident from the case of the Jews, who, wherever dispersed, exhibit certain common characters by which they are every where known; and, with respect to complexion, they are said to vary according to the climates in which they reside. A singular exception to this is furnished by the black Jews of Malabar, mentioned by Dr. Buchanan. At Cochin, he says, there are two classes of Jews, the white and the black Jews. The latter are supposed to have arrived in India soon after the Babylonian captivity; at least, they have that tradition amongst them, which seems confirmed by the fact that they have copies only of those books of the Old Testament which were written previously to the captivity. The white Jews emigrated from Europe to India in later ages. Now here is a singular fact, that in the lapse of so many ages a white or tawny race has become black. Mr. White endeavours to account for such an aberration from his principle, that colour does not result from climate, by an observation not altogether founded in factnamely, that the Jews have gained proselytes in every country in which they have resided, and, being at liberty to marry those proselytes, this would produce mixed breeds. But though

1 See above, p. 33.

2 Personal Travels, v. ii. 565.

the Jews, in our Saviour's time, would compass sea and land to gain one proselyte, this has not been their character since the destruction of Jerusalem, and we never hear now of their making proselytes. Indeed, these black Jews of Cochin seem to have been settled there long before any white ones came to that place.

With regard to the degradation of the intellect, and the peculiar acuteness of the senses or memory of certain races; these furnish no proof whatever of specific distinctions, or that they could not be descended from the common ancestor of our species.

Humboldt has an important observation which will explain how this might happen without having recourse to such a supposition. Speaking of the barbarism of certain tribes of Ameri cans and Asiatics, he observes:-"The barbarism that prevails throughout these different regions is, perhaps, less owing to a primitive absence of all kind of civilization, than to the effects of a long degradation. The greater part of the hordes, which we designate under the name of savages, descend, probably, from nations more advanced in cultivation." And in another place:"If it be true that savages are for the most part degraded races, remnants escaped from a common shipwreck, as their languages, their cosmogonic fables, a crowd of other indications seem to prove."

Now, what is it that degrades man, and causes him to make an approach towards the brute? Setting up sense above reason and intellect; sight above faith; this world above the next. Experience teaches us, that those faculties of our nature that are most cultivated, become most acute: if intellectual pursuits are neglected, the intellect itself becomes weakened; in proportion as the senses are exercised, they are strengthened; in proportion as the pleasures they afford us stand high or low in our estimation, we graduate towards the brute, which knows no pleasures but those of sense, or towards the angel who knows no pleasures but what are spiritual. There is a governing principle in man, originally enthroned in him by his Creator, and to whose sway the senses were originally in complete subjection. But when man fell, a struggle was generated, the lower or sensual part of his nature striving to gain the rule over him, and to dethrone the higher or intellectual. This is the "law in our members warring against the law of our own mind," mentioned by the apostle. Now, we know that the same individual, at different periods of life, may be

directed in his actions first by one and then by the other of these laws; he may begin in sense, and end in spirit, or vice versa. If the former takes place in him, his nature and character are elevated, and he is become more intellectual; if the latter, they are degraded, and he is become more sensual and nearer to a brute, and yet in both cases he remains the same man as before; his species is not altered. Apply this to nations, will it follow, because one is now generally gifted with a greater degree of intellect, and another remarkable for more acute sensation, that, therefore, they cannot be derived from a common origin? Nations are often led by custom as well as individuals; they, therefore, usually walk in the path that their ancestors have trod before them, and, from circumstances connected with this, it happens that some apply their faculties to higher pursuits than others. Those that chiefly cultivate the intellect improve it by that very act; while those who are principally engaged in pursuits that require the constant and skilful use of the organs of sensation acquire a degree of expert ness in that use not to be met with in the others; but the intellect being employed only upon low objects, becomes habitually degraded, and loses all taste for things that are not visible and tangible. Though in an individual, or in a long succession of individuals, this might not produce a perceptible contraction and non-development of the organ of the intellect, or in the chamber that contains it; yet, in the lapse of ages and generations, this effect would gradually be produced, for if an organ is not used for a long course of years, it becomes contracted, and from long habit unapt to perform its natural functions. Some American nations, by the application of boards properly shaped, depress the skull-bone of their infants, thinking a flat head a great beauty, whence the tribe is distinguished by the name of Pallotepallors, or Flat-heads. Others, by the same means, give them a conical form; there is no difficulty, therefore, in conceiving that with a gradual contraction of the brain, that of the skull might take place in the foetus, which would accommodate one to the other. With regard to the memory, it is not wonderful that a being who occupies his time and intellect with few objects, should have a more distinct recollection of certain events, than one whose attention is more divided. It may be observed of the lower orders in general, that their memory, for the same reason, of matters within their own sphere of comprehension, is often more clear than that of persons better educated and informed.

I remember the case of a negro who resided near Bury St. Edmunds, who was an educated man, and published a volume

of poems by subscription, which did him no discredit.' Hence, it is evident that there is a difference of capacity in negroes as well as whites, which admits of improvement from instruction and study, when they come among civilized people. Little stress will be laid on the parasite of the negroes, being specifically distinct from that which infests the whites, when we reflect that the horse and the ox have different insect parasites and assailants in different climates. There is a time fixed upon in the divine counsels when the curse shall cease; and it will then be found that by reversing the course that has degraded so many nations, the apostacy, namely, from God to idolatries of the most debasing kind-which has yielded them up a prey to sensuality, clouded their understandings, and, instead of universal good-will, has taught them to regard those that are not of their own tribe or caste as objects of just hatred and injury-when this course has been reversed and they are brought back to God, which will take place in his time and at his word; and by the means and instruments that he empowers and commissions, they will become more elevated in their character, and assume a higher rank among the nations: and they will make good their claim to the same inheritance with the other members of the Christian family. He who decreed the end, decrees also the means. When the Lord gave the word, great was the company of those that published it. This was the case at the first preaching of the Gospel, when the gross darkness of heathen idolatry covered the earth; this also was the case at what may be called its republication at the time of the Reformation, when the gross darkness of papal idolatry had almost put out the light of truth in the church; and so shall it be again, should another and perhaps last cloud of error envelop the world with darkness, which seems even now beginning to gather, and may we not hope that it will be followed by that happy time, foretold by the prophet, when-the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea? The old curse on Ham's offspring shall then cease, he shall no longer be a servant of servants to his brethren; then shall the curse also that has driven the children of Abraham after the flesh into every region of the globe, cease, and they shall look on him whom they pierced, and be restored to the favour of their God, and to their own land ; and next, in its own day,

the original curse, also pronounced upon Adam and his posterity shall be obliterated and done away for ever.

Taking all the circumstances I have noticed into consideration, I trust I have made it clear, that the variations observable in the different races of men are not of such a nature as to render it impossible, or improbable, that they should all have been derived from a common stock; and that the degradations observable in some of them, and approximation to the highest of the brutes, was caused not by the will and fiat of the Creator, but by their own wilful departure from him, and voluntary self-debasement. Because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, he gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things that are not. convenient: farther, that with respect to those characters, which distinguish one nation from another, they may be attributed to the action of physical causes directed by the Deity: who, to use the language of a pious and excellent poet,

Lives through all life, extends through all extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unspent.

THERE is another interesting subject connected with the geography of animals, which may find its place here; a subject than which none shows more evidently or strikingly the hand of a beneficent and ever watchful Providence, holding the reins; and upon certain occasions and at certain seasons, directing various animals to change their quarters, and seek often in distant countries a more genial climate, in which they may give birth to their young, or find a better supply of food for their own support. I shall, therefore, now devote a few pages to the migrations of animals.

The most general principle that causes emigration is com mon to man and animals. When a country is over-peopled, and can no longer maintain its inhabitants, unless some means can be devised at home, by which the pressure may be lightened, and the suffering classes enabled to procure the necessaries of life, there must inevitably be some outbreak; when the rivers can no longer be contained within their natural channel they will overflow, and spread desolation around, till they have passed away and found a place in the great receptacle of waters. Thus, in ancient times, the great northern hive sent forth its numberless swarms, and overturned and divided amongst them a considerable portion of that mighty empire