11 
Etruscans, the Egyptians, the people of 
Thibet, and the Aztecks, exhibit striking 
analogies in their buildings, their religious 
institutions, their division of time, their 
cycles of regeneration, and their mystic 
notions. It is the duty of the historian to 
point out these analogies, which are as diffi- 
cult to explain as the relations that exist 
between the Sanscrit, the Persian, the 
G reek, and the languages of German origin ; 
but in attempting to generalize ideas, we 
should learn to stop at the point where 
precise data are wanting. In conformity 
.to these principles, I shall mention the 
consequences to which the opinions I have 
adopted seem to lead respecting the natives 
of the New World. 
Neither an attentive examination of the 
geological constitution of America, nor re- 
flections on the equilibrium of the fluids, that 
are diffused over the surface of the Globe, 
lead us to admit, that the New Continent 
emerged from the waters at a later period 
than the Old : we discern in the former the 
same succession of stony strata, that we find 
