"The vast domain of language, in whose varied structure we see mysteriously reflected the destinies of nations, is most intimately associated with the affinity of races. The most important questions of the civilization of mankind are connected with the ideas of races, community of language, and adherence to one original direction of the intellectual and moral faculties.

"As long as attention was directed solely to the extremes in varieties of color and form, and to the vividness of the first impression of the senses, the observer was naturally disposed to regard races rather as originally different species than as mere varieties. The permanence of certain types in the midst of most hostile. influences, especially of climate, appeared to favor such a view, notwithstanding the shortness of the interval of time from which the historical evidence was derived. In my opinion, however, more powerful reasons can be advanced in support of the theory of the unity of the human race, as for instance, in the many intermediate gradations in the color of the skin, and in the form of the skull, which have been made known to us in recent times by the rapid progress of geographical knowledge, the analogies presented in the varieties in the species of many wild and domesticated animals, and the more correct observations collected regarding the limits of fecundity in hybrids. The greater num ber of the contrasts, which were formerly supposed to exist, have disappeared before the laborious researches of Tiedemann on the brain of Negroes and of Europeans, and the anatomical investigations of Vrolik and Weber, on the form of the pelvis. On comparing the dark-colored African nations, on whose physical history the admirable work of Prichard has thrown so much light, with the races inhabiting the islands of the South Indian and West Australian Archipelago, and with the Papuas and Alfourous, we see that a black skin, woolly hair, and a negro-like cast of countenance are not necessarily connected together.

"The distribution of mankind, therefore, is only a distribution into varieties, which are commonly designated by the somewhat indefinite term, races.

"Languages, as an intellectual creation of man, and as closely interwoven with the development of mind, are, independently of the national form which they exhibit, of the greatest importance in the recognition of similarities or differences in races. This importance is especially owing to the clue which a community of descent affords in threading that mysterious labyrinth in which the connection of physical powers and intellectual forces manifests itself in a thousand different forms.

"Language is a part and parcel of the history of the development of mind. From the remotest nebulæ and from the revolving double stars we have descended to the minutest organisms of

animal creation, whether manifested in the depths of ocean, or on the surface of our globe, and to the delicate vegetable germs which clothe the naked declivity of the ice-crowned mountain summit; and here we have been able to arrange these phenomena according to partially known laws; but other laws of a more mysterious nature rule the higher spheres of the organic world, in which is comprised the human species in all its varied conformation, its creative intellectual power, and the languages to which it has given existence. A physical delineation of nature terminates at the point where the sphere of intellect begins, and a new world of mind is opened to our view. It marks the limit, but does not pass it."

Such is the decided testimony borne to the probable specific and genealogical unity of the human race, and to the importance of language as bearing upon the question of that unity, and upon human development and history in general, by the first physiologists of the age, and by men combining the highest and most comprehensive attainments in all the walks of science and learning,-men of the widest observation and of the most free and liberal views. Of all men living, if any man may be exempted from the charge of mere theorizing, of one-sidedness, or narrow-mindedness, surely it is Alexander von Humboldt. When, therefore, any man whose whole knowledge is limited to the sphere of the physical sciences, or perhaps to that of some one of them, is disposed to treat the study of language with contempt, either as considered in itself or as bearing upon the origin and history of mankind, let him remember that there are men opposed to him who are neither mere etymologists nor mere theologians.

Lest any one should suppose the opinions of the author of the Cosmos are warped by any influences of religious prejudice or religious scruples, we will cite a passage from the same work, which should set that question at rest; and we cite it solely for this defensive purpose, and not because we consider such an innuendo as it contains, in the slightest degree honorable to the head or heart of the author.

"The applications of botanical and zoological evidence to determine the relative age of rocks—this chronometry of the earth's surface, which was already present to the lofty mind of Hooke indicates one of the most glorious epochs of modern geognosy, which has finally, on the continent at least, been emancipated from the sway of Semitic doctrines.”

t

C

W

re

SL

th

If

ye

ha

ye

con

acti

the
kno

phy
form

men

the

scien

anti

thus

How

anima

nity a

promi

genera

WI

the fo knowi

we cc tained In

every

guish

never

that ar

ible.

But theories, because they profess to be founded upon facts, are not at once to be assumed as supreme and impregnable, and to demand instant and unconditional submission. Theories without facts, are utterly baseless and worthless. Theories with facts, may have an insufficient foundation, may be ill-adjusted to it, or ill-constructed upon it, and thus be destined to be swept away by the next movement of the elements, or abandoned as untenable by the next step of onward progress.

Neither are all facts of equal value; on the contrary, the immense majority are unworthy of note or record. They can be duly distinguished, rightly and fully estimated, and set in effective array, only by a logical intelligence-a quickseeing and far-seeing, a truly theoretic, mind. And without the controlling action of such a mind, not only may the induction of facts be insufficient or irrelevant or incongruous, but their very significance cannot be apprehended or interpreted; and without an intelligent, rational interpretation, facts themselves are dumb and dead.

When, therefore, the physiologist, or geologist, or the cultivator of any other department of science, is sure that his induction of facts has been sufficiently extensive to include all apparently conflicting elements; that those facts have been well-sifted and well-digested; that they have been rightly and fully interpreted, and all those of a contradictory aspect satisfactorily harmonized; and that the theory or general conclusion drawn from them is legitimately deduced at every step; and when that theory has borne the test of years or centuries, growing stronger the more it is examined and assailed; then, and not till then, may he demand that his theory shall be recognized by all reasonable men, and that with it all the departments of human thought and belief, whether in literature, science, or religion, shall be conformed and harmonized.

A.P. Peabody,

ART. IX. The Memoir and Writings of JAMES HANDASYD PERKINS. Edited by WILLIAM HENRY CHANNING. Boston: Crosby & Nichols. 1851. 2 vols. 12mo.

MORALISTS of the old school were wont to draw a strongly marked distinction between personal and social duties, as if the two classes rested on different bases of obligation, and were capable of being separated, not only in ethical discussion, but in actual life. Until recently, what is called personal virtue had the precedence. The purpose and the effort to do good were not essential to a high reputation for excellence. A large measure of selfishness and penuriousness, contracted sympathies, bigotry, intolerance, self-isolation, were hardly deemed blots upon a character, especially if to freedom from vice, and systematic habits of business and care for one's own household, there were added the decencies of religious profession and observance. The tendency of our own times is towards the opposite error. Doing. good is regarded as of more importance than being good. Men think of themselves as beneficent machines, rather than as souls endowed each with an independent existence and destiny. Conscience is made an external organ, and its province is to ferret out the sins of classes and communities, not to detect one's own moral infirmities. Philanthropy is deemed not only the first, but almost the sole, duty. Men, who never learned to subdue their own passions, occupy the van in the assault on the inveterate wrongs and evils of the body politic. We know some people who, when a stranger is named, ask in their cant phrase whether he is a reformer, (not whether he needs reformation,) and who think that they fully know his character, when they have learned to what benevolent societies he belongs, and at what kinds of public meetings he makes speeches. Things have now reached such a pass, that almost every cause of humanity that deserves championship is in the hands of the very men whose services are a perpetual disservice; while informal and miscellaneous modes of influence are all that remain for those, whose self-discipline fits them to be the guides and helpers of their brethren.

Meanwhile, personal excellence and social usefulness are