262 On the Physical Facts contained in the Bible, 
the human species. This truth, for a long time disputed, 
has been regarded in our own times both by the most illus- 
trious physiologists aud most able anatomists as fully esta- 
blished. The intimate acquaintance of both these classes of 
observers with the proofs which demonstrate it, give the 
greatest authority to their opinion. 
At some future period, not very remote, this question 
will probably cease to be open to any dispute. In fact, the 
black men who, by losing ground and going backwards in 
the path of civilization, have lost, in a great measure, the 
beauty of their primitive type, are now returning to the 
blessings of intelligence, and have established themselves 
as nations. They shew a tendency to remount to the point 
from which they receded : as the consequence of their pro- 
gress in knowledge, and the improvement of their mental 
faculties, they will soon recover the type which they had 
lost. The development of their brain, the necessary conse- 
quence of the exercise of their minds, will make them acquire 
new forms; and soon they will cease to be distinguishable from 
the white race from which they sprung. With the advance 
of their intelligence, their language will become purer ; their 
manners will undergo a corresponding improvement; and 
these men, not long since so debased, both in moral and phy- 
sical qualities, will become the most manifest proof of the 
unity of the human species, as proclaimed by the first and 
most ancient historian. 
This primitive unity must necessarily imply a uniformity 
in the language of mankind, or in the manner of making 
themselves understood, and communicating their thoughts to 
each other. The Bible intimates this; and we can go back 
with it to the precise period when the confusion of languages 
took place among the nations. A superficial study of the 
idioms of the primeval races has appeared, at first view, not 
very favourable to the idea of their having a common origin ; 
but a more profound examination has shewn in what manner 
all the languages spoken came gradually to differ from each 
other. (See note at the end of this article.) 
It is not less deserving of attention that the Bible is the 
first book in which we find notions of classification, analo- 
