310 John Bachman. 



" A little learning is a dangerous thing, 

 Drink deep, or taste not of the Pierian spring ; 

 These shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, 

 But drinking deeply sobers it again." 



The sciences in order to be understood must be 

 studied. As there is order in all the works of 

 Nature, naturalists have for ages past been engaged 

 in interpreting her laws, and bringing her various 

 productions under a systematic arrangement. By 

 this means the study is simplified. By the co-ope- 

 ration of numbers, each working in his favourite de- 

 partment, a mass of intellectual riches is acquired, 

 which is transmitted to their immediate successors, 

 and through them to posterity. 



We should regard it as a work of supererogation 

 to occupy any space herein to prove that however 

 numerous may be the varieties or races or species 

 in the human family, they must all, by the rules of 

 science, be included under one genus. 



He points to Nature : 



A correct understanding of the laws of Nature 

 in the creation of species would, we apprehend, en- 

 able us to interpret her works with much greater 

 certainty by an examination of the species and 

 varieties she has produced, than by resorting to the 

 monumental records of Egypt, Assyria, or of Central 

 America. * * * 



These records he shows to have no legitimate 

 bearing on the subject of the Unity of the Human Races. 



We possess a much better guide in the designa- 

 tion of species, than that which could be given us 

 by the rude stone chisel, or the painted daubs of the 

 ancient lords of our forests. We possess the species 

 themselves, with the characters impressed on them 



