I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



565 



ing is, we are satisfied, beyond comparison, most 

 accordant with the entire range of facts that 

 have been elicited from the monumental records 

 within the earth, and with the structure of the 

 sacred history, as well as with striking intima- 

 tions in other parts of the Bible. Reasons for 

 this judgment we shall briefly give, using, as 

 occasion requires, some of the ,best authorities 

 on both branches of the argument, the biblical 

 and the scientific." 



" The Age of Mankind/' the 4th subject 

 of investigation — is introduced by the re- 

 mark (p. 199,) that "we are entering upon no 

 superfluous task ... in endeavoring to trace 

 what science really does teach as to the age 

 of mankind, and what the scriptures under 

 the scrutiny of learned criticism disclose on 

 the same subject;" and. then, after a tho- 

 rough examination of all the probabilities 

 bearing on this subject, from fossil remains 

 of what are supposed to be parts of the hu- 

 man skeleton dug up in different parts of the 

 world, the writer concludes, that the ques- 

 tion as to the age of our race is left very 

 much where it was before, and that the pro- 

 babilities suggested by science, still remain, 

 that the human term has been about what 

 the sacred books interpreted, with neither 

 rigidness on the one hand, nor violence on 

 the other exhibit ; and certain it is — in the 

 language of Professor Owen — " that man is 

 the latest, as he is the highest creature known 

 tc have been called into being on this 

 planet." 



Astronomy, too, as well as Geology,' con- 

 firms the truth of the sacred record, as to 

 the time of man's appearance upon the earth. 

 (See Prof. Mitchell, p. 260, as to the inscrip- 

 tion on the coffin of an Egyptian mummy in 

 the London museum,) and they, as well as 

 history, both sacred and profane, which are 

 all examined "by the author, agree in putting 

 about 6000 years between us and our first 

 parents. 



"The Monuments of Lost Races;" — thelast 

 chapter, — contribute their testimony to the 

 common parentage of the whole human fam- 

 ily, and a further corroborative fact of the 

 truth of Scripture is furnished by " the mon- 

 umental story" throughout, showing the ex- 

 istence of a far higher condition of intelli- 

 gence, and adaptation to art, among primi- 

 tive man, than some contend for. The'ear- 

 licr races in general were certainly far from 

 being the savage creatures — at some stage 

 bordering on the brutes that perish, — suppo- 



sed in anti-scriptural theories. The old mon- 

 uments show that man was made in the im- 

 age of Gof with original . dignity and high 

 endowments, and whether in India, in Egypt 

 or Peru, 'tis clear that the first age of our 

 race is just what might be inferred from the 

 sacred scriptures, — the oldest records that we 

 have, of his past history, — " For thou hast 

 made him a little lower than the angels, thou 

 hast crowned him with glory and honour." 



Thus have we endeavored to intro- 

 duce to the Farmers of our land, a work 

 treating of subjects not at all beyond their 

 comprehension, or their care, for in our 

 Southern country, at least, we know that no 

 small portion of intelligence and cultivation, 

 is to be found among the country gentlemen, 

 whose desire for information and fondness for 

 reading and whose leisure time, — in part the 

 result of our " peculiar institution" — are not 

 entirely satisfied by reading the papers, or 

 occupied in talking politics ; to them, we 

 think, Dr. Pendleton's labors will be partic- 

 ularly acceptable, in furnishing in a brief, 

 but yet complete form, the result of scientific 

 investigation down to the present time, and 

 giving them " all the points," by which 

 " science is proved to be a witness for the 

 Bible." 



From the New York Observer . 



What may be Learned from a Tree. 



Under the " shady shadow of our umbra- 

 geous trees," we have been yastly entertain- 

 ed and instructed by a remarkable book just 

 from the press of the Appletons. The 

 name of the author, Harland Coultas, 

 is a new one to me, but he has previously 

 written " Organic Life, the same in Ani- 

 mals and Plants," and now teaches us what 

 may be learned from a tree. The life of. a 

 tree is traced from its vegetative period from 

 infancy to puberty : its history told by the 

 marks left by the young branches; the 

 anatomy and physiology of the different 

 species of cells are shown, and the conical 

 principle on which a tree is constructed, and 

 the oscillations of growth exhibited as du- 

 rably impressed on its organism. When the 

 philosophy of the subject is fully presented, 

 the author states a series of facts respecting 

 trees which would be incredible if not well 

 authenticated. A Chesnut tree is now 

 growing on the side of Mount Etna, in Si- 

 cily, the trunk of which is hollow, and 180 

 feet in circumference : one hundred horse- 

 men can be sheltered at once within its in- 



