INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE ON PLANTS AND ANIMALS. 227 



respectively. The blacks have not all the Hat noses, thick lips and projecting jaws ; there are 

 whites with the same configuration of bone. But there probably has not existed a greater 

 error in Natural History than in classing man with animals, notwithstanding the fact that in 

 his physical organization he is not very dissimilar to them ; yet, in the common classification, 

 his least important characters are made the characteristics ; whereas, really, his higher at- 

 tributes, those belonging to mind, and his moral nature, should have been made the charac- 

 teristics. If this view is correct, we shall be troubled no longer with perplexities and doubts 

 about the question of the plurality of species, inasmuch as there is such a perfect uniformity 

 in the characters of man in his mind, as to stamp the truth upon the heart of every candid 

 inquirer. The thoughts of man are like one broad river ; they flow in one channel ; the 

 speech of different races, which are widely separated, relate to subjects of the same kind ; 

 their belief in existence after death, of rewards and punishments, and all the strong castes of 

 mind, move in one channel, and are harmonious in all their leading characteristics. Being 

 destined to dwell on the earth for a season, it was fit and proper that he should, for that end, 

 be furnished with what may be termed an animal nature ; this nature belongs to the body, 

 which is sustained, like that of animals, by food taken into the body, and air taken into the 

 lungs — a transient habitation for an immortal mind. The end required an apparatus adapted 

 to the circumstances of his existence, and to the surrounding medium : but to make that appa- 

 ratus the all important part of his nature ; to draw his characters from that, so transient, w^hile 

 mind, speech, articulate language, moral and intellectual attributes, religious sentiments, all of 

 which are common to the races, does man great injustice, and is an outrage upon his nature. 

 This uniformity of sentiment is proved by an intercourse with all the tribes of men. If there 

 were two or more species, have we a right to infer that this uniformity would exist ? Of all the 

 species which live, or have lived, is there any thing like it in the whole range of created be- 

 ings, that two different species have intellects alike, or an ability to communicate purposes, 

 and intentions? If there are no cases of an analogous kind, it is plain that this uniformity of 

 mental and moral views and feelings, and which are manifested in the same modes, should be 

 taken as proof of the unity of the stock from which the races have sprung. 



This subject is noticed cursorily, because it is one which is exciting a great interest ; it is one 

 of great importance, #nd it should be placed upon the right ground ; and it is hoped that better 

 and more correct views of classification should be embraced, than those which have hitherto 

 prevailed ; and if man is to be placed at all in a zoological classification, his characteristics 

 should be drawn from his more essential attributes — his intellectual and moral nature. If this 

 view is correct, tlien, our inquiries will be directed to those powers as they exist in the various 

 tribes of men. If it is found that llicro is a want of iiniformity in those characteristics, and if 

 there is a specific difference in the reason of the races then there will be grounds for maintain- 

 ing a plurality of species, and an origin derived from two or more pairs. Climate, when con- 

 sidered in its relations to plants and animals, may be regarded, as I have already had occasion 

 to remark, as a modifier of the existing species and varieties ; but its modifications are restricted 

 and confined : it sometimes favors the more perfect development of varieties or species, and 



