210 VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



more than one ? — and if so, how many Adams must wc 

 admit ? 



The phenomena are capable of solution in either of these 

 ways : — We may suppose that different kinds of men were 

 originally created; that the forms and properties, of which 

 the contrast now strikes us so forcibly, were impressed at 

 first on the respective races; and consequently that the latter, 

 as we now see them, must be referred to difterent original fa- 

 milies, according to which supposition they will form, in the 

 language of naturalists, different species. Or, we may sup- 

 pose that one kind of human beings only was formed in the 

 first instance ; and account for the diversity, which is now 

 observable, by the agency of the various physical and moral 

 causes to which they have been subsequently exposed : in 

 which case they will only form different varieties of the 

 same species. 



The question belongs to the domain of natural history and 

 physiology : we must be contented to proceed in our exami- 

 nation in tlie slow and humble, but sure method of observa- 

 tion. It will be necessary to ascertain carefully all the dif- 

 ferences that actually exist between the various races of men ; 

 to compare these with the diversities observed among ani- 

 mals ; to apply to them all the lights, which human and 

 comparative physiology can supply ; and to draw our infe- 

 rences concerning their nature and causes, from all the 

 direct information, and all the analogies, which these con- 

 siderations may unfold. 



In the first place, we must dismiss all arguments a priori, 

 as entirely inapplicable to the subject. One philosopher 

 tells us, that nature does nothing in vain ; that she would 

 not give herself the trouble to create several different stocks, 

 when one family would be sufficient to colonize the world 

 in a short space of time. Another, with equal speciousness, 

 dilates on the absurdity of supposing that immense regions 

 should remain for ages an unoccupied and dreary waste, 

 while the offspring of a single pair was slowly extending 

 over the face of the earth ; or that such an admirable variety 

 of islands should display their charms in vain, till a ship- 



