GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF MAN. 15 



2. That these regions are the true zoological divi- 

 sions of the earth. 



3. That this progression of animal forms is in unison 

 with the first great law of natural arrangement, viz. the 

 gradual amalgamation of the parts, and the circularity 

 of the whole. 



(20.) Whether we view the varieties of the human 

 species, with M. Cuvier, as first resolvable into three, 

 of which the Ethiopian is to comprehend the Malay 

 and the American; or whether, following Blumenbach, 

 we consider the number to be five, thus raising the two 

 latter to the rank of primary divisions, is of no con- 

 sequence to our present enquiry. It is enough that 

 all physiologists agree in these distinctions ; and the 

 precise countries inhabited by the typical races of each. 

 These territories are not only indicated by the pecu- 

 liarities of their inhabitants, but are so strongly 

 marked by the hand of nature, in their configuration, 

 that geographers, looking merely to their natural po- 

 sition and boundaries, have long recognised them by 

 well-known names. Assisted, therefore, by these im- 

 portant indications, let us respectively contemplate the 

 animal kingdom as it appears in the following divi- 

 sions of the earth ; considered, by all physiologists, as 

 the chief seats of the five leading races of mankind. 

 1. The European or Caucasian; 2. the Asiatic or Mon- 

 golian ; 3. the American ; 4. the Ethiopian or 

 African ; and, 5. the Australian or Malay. The 

 precise limits of the five zoological provinces here 

 assumed, will not admit of accurate definition. The 

 first great law of nature is harmonious combination. 

 Whether in the moral or the physical world, the ma- 

 terial or the immaterial, all her operations and all 

 her changes are gradually progressive. The past, 

 the present, and the future, are continuous. Changes, 

 between forms and states the most opposite, are 

 effected by transitions so gradual as often to elude 

 definition. No axiom is more important, for the na- 



