CO INTRODUCTION. 



etios of man are analogous to the varieties of animals, and to be 

 accounted for by the operation of natural causes, and externa] agen- 

 cies, "or by these causes preternaturally excited." 



Speaking of specific differences, he calls color a " separable acci- 

 dent" and not a Bpecific distinction in man, it is not univer- 

 sal in all human creatures. 1 f is remarks on hybridity will be b 

 considered when speaking of Dr. Bachman's work, from which they 

 are mostly quoted. The next two cbapti roted to the con- 

 sideration of the unity or common origin of langu argu- 

 ment for the original unity of mankind. Tl bservations on the 



testimony of history, experience, the religious character of the race, 

 and the insensible gradation of the varieties, have been alluded to in 

 previous authors, or will be summed up hereafter from the original 

 sources. 



The most characteristic part of the work is that in which he main- 

 tains that the theory of a plurality of races of men is uncharitable, 

 inexpedient, and unchristian; he collates texts to prove that the 

 Negro is " God's image carved in ebony," maintaining that he has 

 " the same' primeval origin, the same essential attributes, the same 

 moral and religious character, and the same immortal destiny " (p. 

 332) ; and yet, talking about the "first law of slavery," the right 

 of property in a human being enforced by divine commandment, the 

 right of the master to the labor of the slave for life, of anti-slavery 

 movements as blind philanthropy, &c, he says, (pp. 334-5,) 

 " The relation now providentially held by the white population of 

 the South to the colored race, is an ordinance of God, a form and 

 condition of government permitted by Him, in view of ultimate 

 beneficial results. God's authority, God's word, and God's will, 

 and not the applause or the condemnation of men, must be her rule 

 of action.' 1 '' This, and still stronger, language shows rather the 

 polemic theologian, and the advocate of Southern institutions, than 

 the scientific naturalist, and ethnologist; and, however appropriate in 

 other places, is quite irrelevant on the subject of the origin of 

 mankind. 



In contrast with the last author, Dr. Bachman,* in a philosophic 

 manner, pursues his investigations " irrespective of any supposed 

 decisions which may have been pronounced by the Scriptures." 



* The Doctrine of the Unity of the Human Race examined on the Prin- 

 ciples of Science. By John Bachman. D. D. Charleston, S. C, 1550. 



