374 
His immeasurable glory. The subject is worthy of a better fate 
than it has met with at my hands. But by way of excuse I 
may say in the words of Lord Bacon, “ These things have I 
in all sincerity and simplicity set down * * * * and that without 
any art and insinuation * * Notwithstanding I trust that what 
hath been said shall find a correspondence in their minds 
which are not embarked in partiality, and which love the 
whole better than a part ; wherefore I am not out of hope 
that it may do good ; at the least I shall not repent myself 
of the meditation.”* 
The Chairman.— I am sure all will join with me in returning sincere 
thanks to Mr. Weldon for his very excellent paper. (Cheers.) It is now 
open for any present to offer remarks thereon. 
Rev. G. Currey, D.D. — I am quite sure that no one can have heard 
Mr. Weldon’s paper without being struck with the great force and beauty 
of its language, and the manner in which it has commended its argu- 
ments by the skilfulness with which they have been put. (Hear, hear.) 
I am certain it must have given all present as much pleasure to listen 
to it as it has afforded me, and I beg to express my sincere thanks to 
the author for having set forth the truths he has put before us, in so very 
able and attractive a form. In offering a few remarks upon the paper, 
I desire, however, rather to draw attention to those points on which I 
think something might be supplied, than to continue to commend what is 
so well worthy of our commendation. In the general argument employed by 
the writer of the paper I, for my part, thoroughly concur. There was one 
point to which I would draw' attention in the portion of the paper that 
deals with the principal varieties of mankind. It seemed to me that there 
was some difficulty with regard to the statement, that the objection to the 
notion of the present varieties of man being traceable to one pair, is 
answered by a method of degeneration which accounts for the alterations 
that have taken place as compared with the original type. The point which 
requires the greatest amount of attention and care in prosecuting an investi- 
gation with respect to the varieties of mankind, is, not so much the question 
of degeneration, as the marked and distinctive character of each variety. It 
is not simply that we find there are men who have fallen into a state into 
which we may suppose their savage or peculiar mode of life has brought 
them, so that they are now very far removed from the highest type seen in 
other places, as it is, that we are brought into contact with distinct varieties, 
each of them capable either of development to a higher state, or of a corre- 
sponding degradation to a lower state. It will be enough to refer to the 
three great distinctive varieties, as Cuvier defined them — the Caucasian, the 
Mongolian, and the Ethiopian or Negro. There are, as is well known, in- 
* Bacon. 
