302 



THE UNITY OF THE HUMAN RACE. 



[1855. 



ing themselves from the ovaiy, and resting in the oviduct 

 before being hatched. 



10th. After having established in tlie eggs of diiferent 

 animals, the presence of several new proximate principles, 

 iothin, ichthulin, icthidin, emydin, and comparing these results 

 with ;.hose which MM. Dumas and Cahours obtained in the 

 analysis of hens' eggs, we do not hesitate to propose to science 

 to admit the existence in eggs of a new class of organic bodies, 

 comprising some proximate princijjles which we will hereafter 

 de.signate under the name of Vitelline substances or Vitelline 

 bodies. 



On the Formation of Brass by Galvanic Agency.* 



Copper is more electro-negative than zinc, and separates 

 more easily from its solutions than a metal less negative. If, 

 then, in order to obtain a deposit of brass by galvanic means, 

 we employ a solution containing the two component metals, 

 copper and zinc, in the proportions in which they would form 

 brass, there will only b'e produced by the action of the battery 

 a deposit of real copper : the zinc, more difficult of reduction, 

 remains in solution. What must be done, then, to obtain a 

 simultaneous precipitate of the two metals in the proportions 

 required, is either to retard the precipitation of the copper, or 

 to accelerate that of the zinc. This may be effected by form- 

 ing the bath with a great excess of zinc and very little copper. 

 Dr. Heeren gives the following proportions as having per- 

 fectly succeeded : — 



There ai-e to be taken of Sulphate of copper 1 part. 



Warm water 4 parts. 



And then Sulphate of zinc 8 " 



■Warm Water 16 " 



Cyanide of potassium 18 " 



Warm water 36 " 



Each salt is dissolved in its prescribed quantity of water, 

 and the solutions are then mixed; thereupon a precipitate is 

 thrown down, which is either dissolved by agitation alone, or 

 by the addition of a little cyanide of potassium : indeed, it 

 does not much matter if the solution be a little troubled. 

 After the addition of 250 parts of distilled water, it is sub- 

 jected to the action of two Bunsen elements charged with 

 concentrated nitric acid mixed with one-tenth of oil of vitrol 

 The bath is to be heated to ebullition, and is introduced into a 

 glass with a foot, in which the two electrodes are plunged. 

 The object to be covered is suspended from the positive pole, 

 whilst a plate of brass is attached to the negative pole. The 

 two metallic pieces may be placed very near. 



The deposit is rapidly formed if the bath be very hot : after 

 a few minutes there is produced a layer of brass, the thickness 

 of which augments rapidly. 



Deposits of brass have been obtained in this way on copper, 

 zinc, brass, and Britannia metal : these metals were previously 

 ■well pickled. Iron may, probably, also be coated in this way; 

 but cast iron is but ill adapted for this operation. — Mittlieilun- 

 gen des Hannov. Gewerbevereins,^h.xo\\^ Bulhtin dc la Societe 

 d' Encouragement, No. 16, August, 1854. 



The Unity of the Human Eace. 



Attention having been directed to this question, by some in- 

 cidental observations in the May number of the Canadian 

 Journal, they have been followed up by fui'ther remarks con- 



* A delicate galvanometer showed no indication of the passage of 

 an electrical current. 



tvibuted to a succeeding one, designed to convey the impression 

 of the total fallacy of arguments which have appeared to some 

 impartial scientific inquirers, as favouring the idea of the genus 

 Man being divisible into several species. The writer of the 

 present brief comment — (satisfied of the extreme difficulty of 

 the question, touching, as it necessarily does, on the most mo- 

 mentous relations of man to the principles of moral government, 

 responsibility, and divine atonement, as set forth in the sacred 

 Scriptures) — is simply desirous of freeing the inquiry from any 

 cumbering errors, which in the end can only work evil, what- 

 ever conclusion be established. 



Premising, therefore, that nothing which is said here is in- 

 tended to. advocate the Non-unity of the Human Race, it is to 

 be regretted that the author of the remarks, signed T.H.M.B., 

 in the last number of the Journal, should have rested the de- 

 fence of the Unity of the Race, or, in other words, the descent 

 of all mankind from the one pair of progenitors, Adam and 

 Eve, on arguments which will not stand the test of investiga- 

 tion as undisputed postulates. 



1. " That the oflPspring of a male and female of diverse kind 

 is barren," is not an established fact. Hunter and Owen, the 

 two most distinguished of British comparative anatomists, con- 

 cur in the opinion that " two species nearly allied to each 

 other will produce a hybrid offspring, and that the hybrid is 

 again productive with the pure breed." Mr. Bell, in his 

 " British Quadrupeds," says — " It is well known that there 

 are many instances of animals, undoubtedly distinct, producing 

 young, which become fertile in conjunction with one or other 

 of the parent kinds ;" and Mr. Yarell, in his " History of 

 British Birds," mentions various cases of fertile hybridity 

 among birds. All these are instances produced by writers 

 simply stating facts in Natural History, without reference to 

 the supposed bearing of such an argument on the question of 

 the unity or variety of human species, and it would be easy to 

 quote additional impartial authorities. The argument is directly 

 employed by Dr. Nott, in the " Types of Mankind," in an ela- 

 borate paper, entitled " Hybridity of Animals viewed in con- 

 nection with the Natural History of Mankind," and there 

 many additional examples are noted, and authorities cited. 



2. " Experience," says the writer in the July number of the 

 Journal, " teaches us that we have to fear, not the mixture of 

 any foreign stock, but rather the continuance of intermarriages 

 among tribes too nearly connected — the breeding in and. in." 

 But here, also, he overlooks, or is unaware of the very opposite 

 use made of this very argument as bearing on the question of 

 original descent from one pair. The learned and pious Dr. 

 Pye Smith refers to tire idea of men being descended from 

 more than one primary pair as " Taking away some difficulties, 

 such as the sons of Adam obtaining wives not their ou-n sisters ;" 

 and the distinguished author of the " Crania Americana," re- 

 marks in language which, though somewhat irreverent in its 

 tone, forcibly expresses feelings in some respects akin to those 

 of Dr. Pye Smith : " If I could believe that the human race 

 had its origin in incest, I should think that I had at once got 

 the clue to all ungodliness. Two lines of catechism would ex- 

 plain more than all the theological discussions since the Chris- 

 tian era : 



Q. Whence came that curse we call primeval sin ? 

 A. From Adam's children breeding in and in." 



These words of the learned ethnologist, Dr. Morton, are quoted, 

 not as approving of them, but simply as showing that the writer 

 of the remarks in the last number of the Journal uses, without 

 being aware of it, and specially distinguishes by italics, the 



