THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



EXISTENCE OF MAN 

 AS A GENUS, OE AS A SINGLE SPECIES, 



ALTHOUGH the existence of Man upon the face of the 

 earth, to a very remote period, cannot be denied, it 

 still remains a question in systematic zoology, whether 

 mankind is wholly derived from a single species, divided 

 by strongly marked varieties, or sprung successively or 

 simultaneously from a genus, having no less than three 

 distinct species, synchronising in their creation, or pro- 

 duced by the hand of nature at different epochs, each 

 adapted to the peculiar conditions of its period, and 

 all endowed with the power of intermixing and repro- 

 ducing filiations, up to a certain extent, in harmony 

 with the intermediate locations, which circumstances, 

 soil, climate, and food necessitate. Of these questions, 

 the first is assumed to be answered in the affirmative, 

 notwithstanding the many difficulties which surround 

 it ; and a very recent author, of undoubted ability, has 

 gone so far as to conclude, that man necessarily consti- 

 tutes but one single species. The inference, at first 

 sight, appears to repose almost wholly upon authority 

 without physiological assent, excepting where physio- 



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