THE HUMAN SPECIES. 133 



may have been actually witnessed by all. But then, 

 the intention of an aboriginal unity of the species is at 

 least so far indicated, by the circumstance of Man's 

 typical stock, having all a direct tendency to pass 

 upwards towards the highest endowed, rather than to 

 a lower condition, or to remain stationary. 



However, these remarks appertain solely to the 

 traditional, geographical, and historical considerations, 

 leaving untouched the structural phenomena, which 

 the physiologist must weigh and value according to 

 their true importance, if so be, that the solution can 

 thereby be effected, and bearing in mind how circum- 

 scribed is our knowledge of the exceptional laws of 

 nature. 



Without, therefore, coming to a peremptory conclu- 

 sion in the present state of our knowledge, and having 

 stated so far as space and our means permitted, the 

 principal conditions of the questions at issue ; questions 

 which are, after all, in a great measure speculative, 

 and whereof the result can in no shape have weight, 

 where the moral obligations of Man regard his inter- 

 course with fellow Men ; let us now proceed, first, to 

 take a view of extinct abnormal races of our species ; 

 and then, after noticing generalities, offer a somewhat 

 detailed account of the three great typical forms 

 which constitute the human family. 



