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INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY.

sunken eyes. The forehead is usually short; the nose and the whole countenance broad; the nostrils open; and the lips thick. The beard is thin and scanty. Of the Indians it has been affirmed, that they are destitute of beards; but this only occurs, when the beard has been eradicated, at the expense of much industry and suffering.

INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY.—Of all the varieties of mankind, there can be no doubt that the white man exhibits the greatest marks of ingenuity and intelligence; and of this variety, the most intelligent will be found to be those who reside in temperate climates. Portions of the Mongul race exhibit also considerable ingenuity, evinced particularly in the Hindoo and the Chinese; but the range of intellect of this portion of our race is nevertheless comparatively circumscribed. The third, or Malay race, exhibits no small variety of intellectual endowment. While none of the tribes, which belong to this race, equal the Chinese and some others of the Mongul race, few, perhaps are so sunken as some portions of the Negro race. This last race exhibits much animal power, yet it is far beneath the white man in intellectual capacity; we see the Negro in the Hottentot at its lowest grade. The copper-colored man, we may be certain, is also far beneath the European in his intellectual capacity, although he is not deficient in many fine traits of cha

racter.

DIFFERENCE OF STATURE, FORM, AND COMPLEXION.Three causes, a writer remarks, may be regarded as concurring in the production of those varieties which we find attached to the different nations of the globe. First, the influence of the climate; second, food, which has a dependance on climate; and third, manners, on which climate has, perhaps, a still greater influence.

The heat of the climate is the chief cause of blackness among the human species. When this heat is excessive, as in Guinea, we find the people are perfectly black; when a little less severe, the blackness is not so deep; when it becomes nearly temperate, as in Barbary, the Mogul empire, and Arabia, the men are only brown; and when it is altogether temperate, as in many parts of Europe, Asia, and America, the men are white. Some varieties are, indeed, produced by the mode of living; all the Tartars, for example, are tawny, while Europeans, who live under the same latitude, are white. This difference may safely be ascribed to the Tartars being always exposed to the open air; to their having no cities and fixed habitations; to their sleeping constantly on the ground; and to their rough and savage manner of living. These circumstances, are sufficient, at least, to render the Tartars more swarthy than the Europeans, who want nothing to make life easy and agreeable.-Why are the Chinese fairer than the Tartars, though they resemble them in every feature? Because they are more polished, live in towns, and practise every art to guard themselves against the injuries of the weather; while the Tartars are perpetually exposed to the action of the sun and air.

When the cold becomes extreme, it appears to produce effects similar to those of great heat. The Samoiedes, the Laplanders, and the natives of Greenland are tawny. Here the two extrenies approach each other; great heat and great cold produce similar effects on the skin, because each of these causes acts by a quality common to both-the dryness of

ORIGIN OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.

the air, perhaps, is equally great in extreme cold, as in extreme heat. Both cold and heat dry the skin, and give it that tawny hue which we find in so many different nations. Cold contracts all the productions of nature; the Laplanders, accordingly, who are perpetually exposed to the rigors of the frost, are the smallest of the human species.

The most temperate climates produce the most handsome people, and from this climate, the ideas of the genuine color of mankind, and of the various degrees of beauty ought to be derived.

Although the climate may be regarded as the chief cause of the different colors of men, yet food greatly affects the form of our bodies; that which is unwholesome and ill prepared, makes the human species degenerate. All those people who live miserably, are ugly and ill made. The air and soil have considerable influence upon the figure of men, beasts, and plants. In the same province, the inhabitants of the elevated and hilly parts, are more active, nimble, handsome, and ingenious, than those who live in plains, where the air is thick and less pure.

Every circumstance concurs in proving that mankind are not composed of species essentially different from each other; that on the contrary, there was originally but one species; who, after multiplying and spreading over the whole surface of the earth, have undergone various changes by the influence of climate, food, mode of living, epidemic diseases, and the mixture of dissimilar individuals; that, at first these changes were not so conspicuous, and produced only individual varieties, which afterwards became specific, because they were rendered more general, more strongly marked, and more permanent, by the continual action of the same causes; and that they have been transmitted from generation to generation, as deformities or diseases pass from parents to children.

ORIGIN OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.-This is a subject which has justly attracted the attention of philosophers, and produced many interesting researches. It would obviously be impossible, within our narrow limits, to give our readers any correct idea of the various theories which have been adopted, to account for the peopling of America by the Indians. The received opinion, we believe, and that which seems to be supported by facts is, that the aborigines of America emigrated to America from the continent of Asia.

The principal objections which have been urged against this doctrine, so far as we know, are, the two following; 1st, that many thousand years must have elapsed subsequent to the creation, before the population of the old world could have been sufficiently numerous, to extend to its remote borders, and thence attain the American conitnent. Besides, it is thought to reflect upon the wisdom of the Deity, to permit so large a part of the globe to remain during "so long a time" unpeopled.

The second objection is drawn from the number of different languages spoken in North and South America, which Mr. Jefferson and others have thought incompatible with the idea of so recent an arrival on this continent, as even three or four thousand years.

In respect to the first objection, it were sufficient to reply, that it assumes a position which needs itself to be proved, and can therefore nev、

ORIGIN OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.

er be the basis of solid argument. On this subject, Dr. Godman, in his Natural History, observes; "There is neither extravagance nor impropriety in the opinion, that the two continents were originally one, and being continuous, the only difficulty is removed, that could be urged against the approach of population from the extremity of Asia. But in addition to all the reasons that can be urged in support of the doctrine we maintain, it should not be forgotten, that there are strong evidences, derived from astronomical and geological observations, proving the axis and poles of our globe to be not now precisely where they originally stood. It is therefore very unfair to decide against the probability of peopling America from the extremity of Asia, if we reason from the existing climate of the countries adjacent to East Cape, or Cape Prince of Wales, the two nearest points of Asia and America.

"The greatest difficulty thrown in the way of this opinion, was thought to be the striking difference between the Esquimaux and the common Indians, seeming to prove that they were derived from different races or kinds. We are informed in Crantz's History of Greenland, that the Moravian Missionaries, who visited the countries inhabited by the Esquimaux, were much surprised to find that they were in all respects similar to the Greenlanders, and made use of the same language; shewing that the Esquimaux had sprung from the same race, and had gradually reached their present residence from the extreme northern parts of Europe. This fact, now rendered undeniable by more recent researches, entirely invalidates the conclusion, that the Esquimaux were derived from another species. The resemblance existing between these people and the Siberians, Kamtschadales, Tunguse, &c. is manifest; and notwithstanding they differ in many respects from other inhabitants of the New World, they are undeniably descended from the same parent stock,, coming from different parts of the globe. The copper-colored natives of America, who are the most numerous of the aborigines, approach more closely to the Asiatic Tartars in color and stature, and this because they are descendants of that race arriving in America from the extremity of Asia."

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In respect to the second objection, the same writer observes ; “ Granting, as we are perfectly willing to do, the great lapse of time which would be requisite for the production of such radical changes, we do not think the objection derived from the languages more solid than those heretofore mentioned. As far as the researches of philologers have extended, we do not find that there is so much difference in the dialects of our aborigines, as the arguments of these objectors would seem to imply. Throughout a large mass of this native population, a very perceptible connexion of language is apparent, and the relation to a parent stock is fairly evident. Even allowing that the amount of difference is as great, as could be desired by our opponents, the comparison of the aboriginal dialects with those of European nations, is by no means a correct mode of deciding the point. If, according to our idea, people reached this country at different times, from the extreme north of Europe, or the northeast of Asia, the immense extent of country they were gradually to be scattered over, the new objects by which they were surrounded, and the new modes of life they assumed, would all conspire to produce a change in their language in a much shorter time than could take place on the old continent, where their wanderings must have been,

HUMAN STRUCTURE.-BONES.

not only comparatively circumscribed, but their modes of living subject to very few variations.

"But in the present condition of our knowledge, we have no right to state that the traces of affinity between the American dialects are entirely obliterated; it would be far more correct to say, that we do not possess the means of making the necessary inquiries and decisions; our knowledge of their language is confined to a few meagre vocabularies, frequently derived from persons, whose statements cannot be relied on, however correct their intentions may have been, to say nothing of the almost insuperable difficulty of writing such languages from the hearer's idea of their pronunciation.

"But whatever apparent difficulties may be suggested to the Asiatic origin of the aboriginals of America, the circumstance of but one species of the human race existing throughout the world is sufficient to reduce us to the necessity of acknowledging that mankind have descended from one parent stock, however their external appearance may have been modified by accident, disease, or situation. We are aware that some persons talk of the possibility of there having been various centres of creation to the human race, as among inferior animals; but we consider it very unphilosophical to suppose the existence of various centres of creation for the same species." To the believer in Divine Revelation, this last idea, whatever may be thought of it in a philosophical view, will doubtless appear repugnant to the Scripture account of the origin of the human species, and is therefore to be rejected.

HUMAN STRUCTURE.-The animal frame is composed of bones, muscles, brain, nerves, arteries, veins, cartilages, membranes, glands,also of chyle, blood, milk, &c.

BONES are white, hard, brittle, and almost insensible; they support and form the stature of the body, defend its viscera, and give power to the various muscles. The number of bones in the human body is generally 240; but in some individuals, who have two additional bones in each thumb and great toe, they amount to 248.

TEETH, a set of bones, situated in the upper and lower jaws, for the purpose of mastication. In adults, they are 32 in number, or 16 in each jaw-bone, consisting of 4 cutting, 2 canine, and 10 grinders.

The teeth are of various sizes, being arranged in the following order; four in front, termed cutting teeth, on each side of which is a sharp pointed canine or eye-tooth; adjoining to these are five grinders on each side, the last of which is denominated the tooth of wisdom, because it seldom appears before the 25th year. The front and eye teeth are furnished with only one root each; the two first grinders with two; and the hindmost generally with three or four; which may in most persons be ascertained by the number of small tubercles on the crowns. The tooth is divided into two principal parts; viz. the crown, which projects above the gums; and the root, that is enclosed within the sockets. The crown is a hard, fine, glossy white enamel, serving to defend the substance against external injury. The root is open at the bottom, where it is connected with vessels and nerves, by which it receives nourishment, life and sensation.

MUSCLES.-FLESH.-SKIN.-ABSORBENTS.-CARTILAGES.

MUSCLES, of which, it is said, there are 446 in the human body, dissectible and describable, are parts of the animal body destined to move some other parts, and hence are termed the organs or instruments of motion. They are composed of flesh and tendinous fibres, and contain vessels of all kinds.

FLESH is the fibrous or muscular part of the animal body: muscular flesh is composed of a great number of fibres or threads; it is commonly of a reddish or whitish color. The ancients distinguished five different kinds of flesh; but the moderns admit one only, fleshy and muscular parts being with them the same.

SKIN is the general covering of the body. Though apparently a simple membrane, it consists of several parts. The outermost is the scarf-skin it has no nerves, and is extended over every part of the true skin, except where the nails are; it is this skin which is raised by the application of a blister; it is thickest in those parts accustomed to labor or pressure, as the hand and foot. The rete mucosum is a web-like mucous substance lying between the scarf and true skin, which chiefly gives the color to the exterior of the human body. It is black in the negro; white, brown, or yellowish in the European. The true skin is a very sensible membrane extended over all parts of the body, and has nerves terminating so plentifully on its surface, that the finest needle cannot prick it without touching some of them.

ABSORBENTS are a set of small colorless vessels, which pervade the whole surface of the body both externally and internally. Their office is to take up whatever fluids are effused into the different cavities, and to pour out their contents for particular uses. For the purpose of absorption they are highly irritable at, their extremities, and are very replete with valves to prevent the escape or return of their contents. Their number, when compared with other vessels, is four times greater; and they are divided into lymphatics and lacteals, according to their respective offices, the former conveying lymph, the latter chyle.

CARTILAGES, or gristles, are smooth, solid, flexible, elastic parts, softer than bone, and seem to be of the same nature some even become bones by time; some again are much softer, and partake of the nature of ligaments. They terminate those bones that form moveable joints, and in some instances serve to connect bones together. In the nose, ears, and eyelids are cartilages.

A MEMBRANE is a thin, white, flexible, expanded skin, formed of several sorts of fibres interwoven together. The use of membranes is to cover and wrap up the parts of the body; to strengthen them, and save them from external injuries; to preserve the natural heat; to join one part to another; to sustain small vessels, &c.

A GLAND is an organic part of the body, destined for the secretion or alteration of some peculiar fluid, and composed of blood-vessels, nerves, and absorbents. The glands are designated either according to the particular fluids which they contain, as mucous, sebaceous, lymphatic, salival, and lachrymal glands; or their structure, as simple, compound, conglobate, and conglomerate glands. The vessels and nerves of glands always come from the neighboring parts, and the ar

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