P R E F A C E .
“ Mirantur h’ominesfaltitudines montium, ingentes
fluctûs lapsus fluminum et oceani ambitum
et gyros siderum-—et reliüquunt seipsos, nec
mirantur !” This ëxclamat%b'of^fô;,Augustin refers to
the low ^egteg ©f interest with which men were thought
by him to contemplate the phenomena of their moral
nature! but a similar remark has been, perhaps with
èqual proprietÿpapplied to the want of curiosity long
displayed by them in respect té the physical history ©f
their species. - It iS£ surprising, as one of the most
distinguished of modern physiologists has well observed,*
that the natural history of mankind should be
a department of knowledge of the most recent acquisition—
of so recent indeed, that it may be considered
to have been for the first time explored by an author
now living—the celebrated Blumenbach. In reality,
* Dr. W. F. Edwards. “ Des Caractères Physiologiques des
Races Humaines.”
b
