l-i^ [\\JTY OF Till: sr-iriF.S OF MAN. 



l-ahits, degree of civilization. *!vc. ; but in the conformation of 

 their bodies, the colour.- of the surface, the degree in which it is 

 covered with hair, &c. And it comes to be a question of uivat 

 scientific interest, as well a.s one that considerably affects the 

 mode in which we view and treat the races that differ from our 

 own, whether they are all of one species, that is, whether they 

 may have all descended from a common stock, or whether they 

 are to be regarded as distinct species, having had an originally 

 distinct parentage. It has. been a favourite idea with some 

 of tiiose, who wished to excuse the horrors of slavery or the 

 extirpation of savage trihes. that races thus treated inifjht be 

 considered as inferior species, and as legitimately placed under 

 our dominion ; but this doctrine, which has had its origin in the 

 desire to justify as expedient what could not be defended as 

 morally ri^ht. finds no support from scientific inquiries con- 

 ducted in an enlarged spirit. For although it would be easy to 

 .-elect from amongst different races, such as the European, the 

 Guinea-coast Negro, the Kafir, the Tarta", the Malay, the New- 

 Holland, and the American Indian, a set of forms, which, when 

 placed side by side, should present very strongly-marked distinc- 

 tions,- yet it would be found that, amou<r all these races, 

 * xamph-s would occasionally present themselves, in which the--;' 

 distinctions would be much le.-s obvious. Thus, amonir the 

 inhabitants of our own country, we may not nufrequently meet 

 \\ith individuals of pure Kuropean descent, who have the reced- 

 ing forehead, the woolly hair, the thick lips, and the projecting 

 iiiu//le of the XeL. r ro ; and \\ho want little else than a dark colour 

 in the skin, to have all the chief peculiarities of that race. On 

 the other hand, anioii'j; se.me of the- Negro races, examples are 

 n -t unfrcqneiitl v to be seen, in \\hich the general form of the 

 and body is that of the Fnropean ; the chief difference 

 in colon!-. That colour alone cannot be at all relied upon 

 ;.- a distinction, is proved by the fact, that a large number of 

 '/'hii' iii-fi-ll.-- exi-ts in the -kin off/// the races of Man ; and that 

 the nature of tin ir seen '.ion, and the consequent hue of the skin, 

 d"]iends nreatlv upon til'- decree in which the surface is exposed 

 t i li-ht and heat (.\.M.M. I'm-, i.. vj -ID:?). Moreover, amongst 



