the same countries, and have originated there in the same numerical proportions and over
the same area in which, they now occur; for these conditions are the conditions necessary
to their maintenance, and what among organized beings is essential to their temporal existence
must be at least one of the conditions under which they were created.
“ We maintain that, like all organized beings, mankind-cannot have originated in single
individuals, but must have been created in that numerical harmony which is characteristic
of each species. Men must have originated in nations, as the bees have originated in
swarms, and, as the different social plants, have covered the extensive tracts over which
they have naturally spread.”
We remarked, in the commencement of this chapter, that M. Agassiz
had presented his views in such a condensed and irrefragable
manner, that it would he impossible to attempt a resume, or to do
him justice without repeating the whole of his article; hut although
we have already borrowed freely, we cannot refrain from a concluding
paragraph, our object being rather to give a synopsis, or “ posting up”
to date, of facts illustrative of our subject, than to claim any great
originality: if we can bring the truth out, our goal is attained.
“ The circumstance that wherever we find a human race naturally circumscribed, it is
connected in its limitation with what we call, in natural history, a zoological and botanical
province that is to say, with the natural limitations of a particular association of animals
and plants— shows most unequivocally the intimate relation existing between mankind
and the animal kingdom in their adaptation to the physical world. The Arctic race of men,
covering a treeless region near the Arctics in Europe, Asia, and America, is circumscribed,
in the three continents, within limits very similar to those occupied by that particular combination
of animals which are peculiar to the same tracts of land and sea.
“ The region inhabited by the Mongolian race is also a natural zoological province,
covered by a combination of animals naturally circumscribed within the same regions. The
Malay race covers also a natural zoological province. New Holland again constitutes a
very peculiar zoological province, in which we have an other ^particular race of men. And
it is further remarkable, in this connection, that the plants and animals now living on the
continent of Africa south of Atlas, within the same range within which the Negroes are
naturally circumscribed, have a character differing widely from that of the plants and
animals of the northern shores of Africa and the valley of Egypt ; while the Cape of Good
Hope, within the limits inhabited by Hottentots, is characterized by a vegetation and a
Fauna equally peculiar, and differing in its features from that over which the African race
is spread.
11 Such identical circumscriptions between the limits of two series of organized beings so
widely differing in men and animals and plants, and so entirely unconnected in poiDt of
descent, would, to the mind of the naturalist, amount to a demonstration that they originated
together within the districts which they now inhabit. We say that such an accumulation
of evidence would amount to demonstration ; for how could it, on the contrary, be
supposed that man alone would assume new peculiarities and features so different from his
primitive characteristics, whilst the animals and plants circumscribed within the same limits
would continue to preserve their natural relations to the Fauna and Flora of other parts of
the world ? If the Creator of one set of these living beings had not also been the Creator
of the other, and if we did not trace the same general laws throughout nature, there might
be room left for the supposition that, while men inhabiting different parts of the world
originated from a common centre, the plants and animals associated with them in the same
countries originated on the spot. But such inconsistencies do not occur in the laws of
nature. •-
“ The coincidence of the geographical distribution of the human races with that of
animals, the disconnection of the climatic conditions where we have similar, races, and
the connection of climatic conditions where we have different human races, shows further,
that the adaptation of different races of men to different parts of the world must be intentional,
as well as that of other beings; that men were primitively located in the various
parts of the world they inhabit, and that they arose everwhere in those harmonious numeric
proportions with other living beings which would at once secure their preservation and
contribute to their welfare. To suppose that all men originated from Adam and Eve, is to
assume that the Order of creation £as beeh changed in the course of historical times, and
to give to the Mosaic record a meaning that it was never intended to have. On that ground,
we would particularly insist upon the propriety of considering Genesis as chiefly relating
to the history of the white race, with special reference to the history of the Jews.”
Zoologically, tlie races or species of mankind obey the same organic
laws which govern other animals: they have their geographical points
of origin, Eflid are adapted to certain external conditions that cannot
he changed with impunity. The natives of one zone cannot always
be transferred to another without deteriorating physically and mentally.
Races, too, are governed by certain psychological influences,
which differ among the species of mankind as instincts vary among
the species of lower animals. These psychological characteristics form
part of the great mysteries of human nature. They seem often to
work in opposition to the physical necessities of races, and to drive
individuals and nations heyond the confines of human reason. We
see around us, daily, individuals obeying blindly their psychological
instincts1; and one nation reads of the causes which have led to the
decline and fall of other empires without profiting by the lesson.
The laws of God operate not through a few thousand years, but
throughout eternity, and we cannot always perceive the why or wherefore
of'what passes in our brief day. Rations and races, like individuals,
have each an especial destiny: some are born to rule, and
others^ to be ruled. And such has ever been the history of mankind.
Ro two distinctly-marked races can dwell together on equal terms.
Some races, moreover, appear destined to live and prosper for a time,
until the destroying race comes, which' is to exterminate and supplant
them. Observe how the aborigines of America are fading away
before the exotic races of Europe.
Those groups of races heretofore comprehended under the generic
term Caucasian, have in all ages been the rulers; and it requires
no prophet’s eye to see that they are destined eventually to conquer
and hold every foot of the glohe where climate does not interpose an
impenetrable barrier. RTo philanthropy, no legislation, n<3 missionary
labors, can change this law: it is written in man’s nature by the
hand of his Creator.
While the mind thus speculates on the physical history of races and
the more or less speedy extermination of some of them, other problems
start up in the distance, of which the solution is far beyond the