nite improvement, depending upon the proper influence of the whole physical kingdom for their vigorous and healthy growth. His animal and spiritual comforts are only promoted by the proper cultivation of these germs; which, together with speech, the great instrument for cultivating them, were given to him designedly for such improvement. Man, therefore, is in his natural condition when progressively improving, morally and intellectually, in civilization, as much as the wild animal which occupies his natural range, and is governed by his unimprovable instincts. So, likewise, in the multitude of circumstances which constitute civilization, he is as much a natural being as the savage who lives in a cave, and hunts for his food. Nay he may be said to be more natural; because he is carrying forward his natural endowments towards perfection, in a far higher degree. Bacon and Newton, by the exercise of their extraordinary natural faculties for the advantage of mankind, were, at least, as strictly natural men as the savage of our woods, who lives in a continual war of offence or defence; and the farmer who cultivates the soil after the most approved method, is in as natural a state as the savage who eats the spontaneous fruits of the woods, without the labor of cultivation. The beaver constructs dams across rivers, and builds houses; but he is as natural as the fox which does neither. The hive-bee has a government, and constructs combs to contain his food, providently collected and stored; and its condition is as natural as the fly which does neither. The republican weaver, or social bird of Africa, builds large cities, furnished with streets and private

habitations, conveniently and comfortably arranged; yet these birds are in a natural condition as well as the cuckoo which neither builds a nest, nor incubates. Man builds cities and ships; ploughs and sows; calculates the distances and revolutions of other worlds; investigates the laws impressed by the Creator on his works, and his own organic and spiritual nature; yet he is as much in a natural condition as the beaver, the bee, and the social bird; and will be when his knowledge shall have reached, if ever, the utmost bounds within the circle of his nature. In short no improvement can be made by man, inconsistent with his nature, because it would be none if it were contrary to it, for it would not be in harmony with his being. If we are not correct, who will tell us where the natural man ends and the artificial begins? Does it end when he makes a voyage in a bark canoe, instead of on a log found in the water? Or when he ceases to clothe himself in skins, or to clothe himself at all?

It must not be forgotten that all the improvements of man, in his moral and intellectual endowments, are the results of his own contrivances, his own energies, his own will. If they were the results of the agency of a higher race of beings, forcing his nature to a conformity with their natures and interests, his condition would be artificial.

We are now prepared to ask the question of the reader proposed at the head of our chapter"Whether the differences of physical organization, and of moral and intellectual qualities which characterize the several races of men, are analogous in kind and degree to those which distinguish the breeds of

domestic animals, and must therefore be accounted for accordingly?"

We have examined the proposition in all its parts, and can find no analogy in any of the particulars mentioned, which will, in the least, assist us in the natural history of man. We have examined it under all the aspects we could imagine, because these animal analogies have been used in all shapes and for all purposes; now in a strictly scientific form; again in a speculative form; and lastly, in a supposititious form, founded upon a supposed resemblance. The general, and professed form is the speculative. It has been taken for granted, for it has never been proved, that all domestic animals undergo modifications of organization and instinct by domestication. It is itself an inference from analogy; a probable one we grant, but by no means certain, although we have granted it. Founded upon this speculation these authors have singularly leaped upon a conclusion which has no relation to it, viz., that domestication of animals and the civilization of men are analogous in their influences upon the respective beings;-an assumption contradicted by all history, sacred and profane, and by the current knowledge of our own day. The white man is the same physically, in the Caucasian mountains, living in a semi-barbarous state, as he is in the United States with all the known appurtenances of civilization; and the negro is the same physically, in Guinea, and other parts of Africa, where he enjoys all the liberty of his sun and sands, his dangers and privations, as he is in the United States, where he suffers under the civilization of a temperate climate,

fruitful soil, good shelter, and wholesome and regular food.

We have been liberal with definitions in this chapter, under a full sense of the danger incurred by their use. As a mere disputant we would have avoided them; which, perhaps, might have been politic as an inquirer after truth. But we love no theory which has not intrinsic merit; no inquiry that will not sustain a thorough investigation; and no argument which requires the constant policy of the advocate or diplomatist.

CHAPTER IX.

THE ANATOMICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS OF THE DIFFERENT RACES OF MEN ARE SUFFICIENT TO CONSTITUTE DISTINCT SPECIES.

THE importance of anatomy to natural history must be admitted by all who are in the least acquainted with the labors of the illustrious Cuvier and others, his contemporaries and successors, in this department of science. Comparative anatomy

is founded on the fact that all the classes, orders, genera, and species of animals are different in structure, in a greater or less degree. It is, therefore, an

essential element of knowledge to the truly scientific naturalist. It is, however, of different degrees of importance, according to the subjects to which the naturalist directs his attention. It is indispensably necessary to him who investigates fossil remains; important to him who confines his studies to the living animal kingdom; and it is a convenient and useful aid to him who investigates the natural history of man. Whether we are absolutely correct in this comparison of the importance of comparative anatomy, or not, we are not certain. But we are very certain that too much importance has been given to it, by some anatomists, especially in the natural history of man. Our design in instituting the comparison will be apparent in the sequel.

In regard to fossil remains, nothing could be known of them without the assistance of comparative anatomy. It is amusing to notice the errors into which some of our learned ancestors fell, upon the discovery of some of the molar teeth of the mastodon, on the banks of the Hudson river. They were regarded as human teeth. Speculations were formed, in regard to the size of the men, about whom there were a variety of opinions; but all agreed that our continent must, at some remote period, have been peopled by a race of enormous giants. Some set their wits to work to discover when they were created. Fortunately for their theory, they fell upon a speculation of some ancient Jewish doctors, that, in old times, some evil spirits intermarried with the daughters of men, from which union giants arose. Comparative anatomy has put all such speculations to rest. It has clearly demon