BARON CUVIER. 63 



by the manner in which it is pursued ; and when the stu- 

 dent carries all its wonders back to the one Great Source. 

 the smallest worm and the most beautiful of his own spe- 

 cies will afford him subjects for the deepest contemplation. 



The Regne Animal begins with that being which most 

 interests us, of which there is but one genus, and one spe- 

 cies : the differences we observe in him being but varieties, 

 which are termed races. Nothing can be more calculated 

 to excite profound attention than M. Cuviefs definition of 

 Man, and it would be so much injured by selecting pas- 

 sages from it, that extracts can only be made from that 

 portion entitled, " Varieties of the Human Race." — " Three 

 of these are eminently to be distinguished from each other ; 

 the White or Caucasian, the Yellow or Mongolian, the Ne- 

 gro or Ethiopian. The Caucasian, to which we (Euro- 

 peans) belong, is remarkable for the beautiful oval form of 

 of the head, and from it have proceeded those people who 

 have attained the greatest civilization, and have held do- 

 minion over the rest. It varies in com.plexion, and the 

 colour of the hair. The Mongolian is recognized by its 

 prominent cheek bones, flat face, narrov/ oblique eyes, 

 straight l^lack hair, scanty beard, and oUve tint. From 

 it have arisen the great empires of China and Japan, and 

 by it some great conquests have been achieved, but its civi- 

 lization has always remained stationary. The Negro race 

 is confined to the south of the Atlas chain ; its complexion 

 is black, hair woolly, skull compressed, nose flattened, muz- 

 zle projecting, lips thick, and nearly approaches monkies. 

 The natives which compose it have always remained in a 

 comparatively barbarous state. 



'- The Caucasian race is subdivided into three great 

 branches, and is supposed to have had its first origin in that 

 group of mountains situated between the Caspian and Black 

 Seas. The Syrian branch spread to the south, and produced 

 Assyrians, Chaldeans, Arabs, Phenicians, Jews, Abyssin- 

 ians, and probably Egyptians. From this branch, always 

 inclined to scepticism, have arisen the religious doctrines 

 most generally adopted. Sciences and letters have some- 

 times flourished among them, but always under some 

 strange shape, or in some figurative style. The Indian, 

 German, or Pelasgic branch took a still wider range, an4 



