456 MAN, PHYSICALLY CONSIDERED. 



alert and sagacious animal ; he governs it and makes it 

 subservient to his purposes. This he effects not so much 

 by bodily strength or address, as by the superiority of his 

 intellectual nature. He compels the animal to obey him 

 by his power of projecting and acting in a systematic 

 . manner. The strongest and most sagacious animals 

 have not the capacity of commanding the inferior tribes, 

 or of reducing them to a state of servitude. The strong- 

 * er indeed devour the weaker ; but this action implies an 

 urgent necessity only, and a voracious appetite ; qualities 

 very different from that which produces a train of actions 

 all directed to one common design. If animals be en- 

 dowed with this faculty, why do not some of these as- 

 sume the reins of government over others, and force them 

 to furnish their food, to watch for them, and to relieve 

 the sick or wounded ? But among animals there is no 

 mark of subordination, nor indication that any one is 

 able to recognise or feel a superiority in his nature above 

 that of other species. We should, therefore, conclude 

 that all animals are in this respect of the same nature, 

 and that the nature of man is not only far superior, but 

 likewise of a very different kind from that of the brute. 



Such are some of the more prominent characteristics 

 peculiar to man. Others might be adduced from his ex- 

 ternal and internal structure, but the above are amply 

 sufficient to induce us to assign to him a specific dis- 

 tinction. 



II. THE PECULIARITIES OF THE SEVERAL NATIONS 



AND TRIBES OF MEN. 



As'we take a general survey of the human species, we 

 are struck with astonishment, at the vast difference 

 which appears in the physical constitution, and moral 

 condition of various nations. In color, in height, in 

 bodily formation there is a great dissimilarity. The Pa- 

 tagonian and the Caffire are seldom less than six feet tall, 

 and not unfrequently they rise to nearly seven feet. 

 There are other nations where you seldom find an indi- 

 vidual exceeding five feet in height. The inhabitants of 

 Lapland, and the Esquimaux are said to be real dwarfs, 



