36 Scientific Reviems. 



roboration of many observers. This it has received^ in a consider- 

 able degree, from M. Decandolle ; and though it may appear unu- 

 sual to associate a review with the original work which is under 

 our attention, his paper, departing from the ordinary character of a 

 critique, contains a number of original observations, which may not 

 be neglected on account of the form in which they are presented. 



IVI. De Candolle had long observed the physical differences of na- 

 tions and tribes, and had often thought of the importance of this 

 study in the elucidation of their origin ; but his researches were 

 too far removed from the ordinary course of his studies to permit of 

 his making them public, till the work of Mr. Edwards gave reason 

 for his exposing the general results at which he had himself arrived. 

 That they are corroborative of the opinions of Mr. Edwards we 

 have already stated ; but the very number of precautions which, 

 from long experience, he has found necessary to observe in com- 

 paring the characters of nearly allied varieties, — in obtaining an 

 idea of the mean of the inhabitants of a country, and in ascertain- 

 ing the limits of the type, — prove, at the same time, how much 

 the result must depend upon the observer, and how many fallacies 

 attend such a mode of inquiry. 



Thus, 1. It will be necessary, as much as possible, to fix the at- 

 tention on the inhabitants of villages, and not of cities and towns, 

 and especially not of commercial cities. 



2. The observer must carefully avoid inductions from the ac- 

 cent, dialect, customs, gesture, and corporeal habits which indivi- 

 duals of the same country or state often possess, in a remarkable 

 degree of resemblance ; physical characters must alone be employed. 



3. Exercise and habit are required to perfect the eye for the 

 study of resemblances. A most advantageous method of obtaining 

 the type is by comparing a fat figure with a lean one — the common 

 characters are distinctive of the race. 



4. Individuals of the same age and sex must be compared. 



5. To judge well of tbe physical characters of a people, they 

 must neither be known too little nor too well. 



Thus, the conditions of observation, in this as in similar inqiiiries, 

 even allowing the accuracy of the principles on which it is founded, 

 are so perplexing as considerably to lessen the value of the means, 

 and afford reasonable ground for doubt as to its practical utility. 



But the speculations contained in these essays are highly inge- 

 nious, though the data require confirmation ; and they are worthy 

 of their talented authors. They, however, who know any thing of 

 the natural history of man, know that it is a subject which is yet in 

 its very infancy, and which affords one of the finest fields for the la- 

 bours of the zoologist. Let the facts, then, be collected, and the 

 mysterious relations between organization and physical agents be 

 explained, and there will then be some foundation for a superstruc- 

 ture, which is at present a baseless vision, and only entitled to re- 

 spect from its association with the names of Edwards and De Can- 

 dolle. 



