72 Richard Cull, Esq., on the 



and certainty of the unity of the human races has now, we 

 believe, been established as an incontrovertible fact. It rests 

 upon the unmistakeable evidence of the infallible "Word of 

 God, who, in the beginning, made of one blood all the nations 

 of men to dwell on all the face of the earth." But with- 

 out bating a jot of the value of his theological argument, 

 Dr Smyth boldly enters the ethnological arena, fully con- 

 vinced that ethnological conclusions must be drawn from 

 ethnological data ; and, accordingly, he discusses the ques- 

 tion " of the nature and philosophy of species," and then 

 ably argues that, " The unity of the races is proved by the 

 unity of the species ;" that " the unity of races is proved by 

 their common fertility, and by the infertility of hybrids," and 

 then grappling with the philological argument that, " the unity 

 of the races is proved from the universality, nature, and con- 

 nection of languages.'' 



Dr Smyth then quits the scientific data and reasoning, to 

 call in the aid of history and tradition ; and thence he appeals 

 to experience, and the insensible gradations of the varieties, 

 as arguments for the unity of the races of men. Dr Smyth 

 does not evade the difficulties which surround his view of the 

 question. Professor Agassiz and other mere naturalists, lay 

 great stress upon the fixedness of the physical characters 

 of the several varieties of man, that these characters have 

 been fixed certainly from the earliest dawn of history ; whence 

 it is argued that the races of men have always been separated 

 by the same amount of differences. Dr Smyth fairly states 

 the argument of the Professor, and devotes a chapter to the 

 "Origin of the Varieties of the Human Species," and this chap- 

 ter is well worthy of attention. Amongst the interesting 

 portions of the book is an appendix, " On the former Civilisa- 

 tion of Black Races of Men ;" and a note " On the Veddahs 

 of Ceylon.' 1 



In several respects Dr Smyth's is a remarkable and valu- 

 able work. It may be considered as a contribution to the 

 bibliography of our science. It is a compendium of all that 

 has been written on that side of the question. His authori- 

 ties are duly cited, without any parade of learning, without 

 egotism, without any assumptions of superior sanctity ; and 

 with strict impartiality does he state his opponents' views. 



