of grammatical inflection pervading these languages there is nothing else than the varied development of common principles, must be convinced that the differences between them are but the result of the gradual deviation of one common language into a multitude of diverging dialects; and the ultimate conclusion that is forced upon us is, that the Indo-European nations are the descendants of one original people, and consequently, that the varieties of complexion, form, stature, and other physical qualities which exist among them, are the results of deviation from an original type."*

A similar course of investigation and comparison, leading to a similar conclusion, has been pursued in regard to the remaining four great families of languages.

Again: These five primitive stocks, the Japetic, the Semitic, the Turanian, the Chinese, and the African, are found to exhibit mutual affinities, the formative words and inflections which pervade their whole structure, and are interwoven with their very genius, indicate their derivation from one common origin. "All the nations," says Chev. Bunsen, "which, from the dawn of history to our days, have been the leaders of civilization in Asia, Europe, and Africa, must consequently have had one beginning. This is the chief lesson which the knowledge of the Egyptian language teaches us." Thus Egyptian researches have greatly and unexpectedly contributed to establish the doctrine of the common origin of all the languages of the globe; and to strengthen,

* Report on Ethnology, p. 244.

tReport, p. 294.

therefore, the doctrine of the original unity of mankind.

"All languages in the world," says Klaproth, "are connected with one origin: a universal affinity is completely demonstrated." Herder is equally decided in his belief that "the human race and human language go back to one source." Thus the science of language has conducted us back to remotest antiquity, to the primitive home of man, where and when "all were of one language and of one speech."

6. Certain Tastes, Arts, and Customs are found to be common to all the Races of Mankind. Mr. Darwin, speaking on this point, says, "He who will read carefully Mr. Tylor's and Sir J. Lubbock's interesting works, can hardly fail to be deeply impressed with the close similarity between the men of all races in tastes, dispositions and habits. This is shown by the pleasure which they all take in dancing, music, acting, painting, tattooing, and otherwise decorating themselves-in their mutual comprehension of gesture-language-and by the same expression in their features, and by the same inarticulate cries, when they are excited by various passions."*

Certain arts and implements likewise are found to be universally disseminated among the human race. The club, the spear, the bow, the flint arrow-heads, the canoe, the use of fire, shell and horn ornaments, religious rites and sacrifices, etc. All these, in one form or another, are found in every region of the globe, and have been

* Descent of Man, Vol. I., p. 223.

in use through every period of its history, and they thus plainly point to the one origin of our Race.

It is unnecessary to multiply these evidences any further those that have been presented we deem amply sufficient. We have seen that the differences observed in the form of the skull, in the color of the skin, and in the quality of the hair, of the various races of men may be satisfactorily accounted for by the prolonged influence of geographical positions, of elevation above the level of the sea, of the dryness or dampness of the atmosphere, and of savage or civilized habits of life; and we have also seen that all the essential organs, members and functions of the human races are so identical that the most competent judges have failed to draw any certain dividing lines between them—that the laws of their vital functions, regulating the periods and duration of life and the whole economy of the sexes, are the same in all the varieties of mankind-that all exhibit that most decisive test known of the identity of species, namely, fertility one with. another that all possess the same intellectual faculties, the same moral sense, the same sympathies and affections-that all languages and dialects as they are traced backward converge toward one original tongue-and that certain arts, practices, arms, and implements are and have been common to the inhabitants of every region of the globe. All this we regard as ample and convincing proof that all nations of men are descended from one common stock, from one and the same human pair. And we must say that we cannot conceive how any person can candidly weigh this mass of evidences,

and not admit, that they constitute a demonstration of the fact as conclusive as the nature of the subject will admit, or that reason could demand.

"I am

Evidences such as the above have served to convince and satisfy the ablest naturalists of our day that the origin of mankind is one. Professor Huxley says, one of those who believe that, at present, there is no evidence whatever for saying, that mankind sprang originally from any more than a single pair; I must say, that I cannot see any good ground whatever, or even any tenable sort of evidence, for believing that there is more than one species of man.' Equally decisive and emphatic is the testimony of Alexander von Humboldt-" The different races of men are forms of one sole species; they are not different species of a genus." † And Mr. C. Darwin states that "he has no doubt that all the races of Man are descended from a single primitive stock." To the foregoing we might add the names of Sir Charles Lyell, Prichard, Smith, Balbi, Adelung, Rougemont, and Bachman. In short, this is the prevailing opinion among ethnologists at the present day.

The doctrine of the unity of mankind, then, which is the doctrine of the Bible, after all the various and repeated assaults of its enemies, may be considered as finally settled on the ground of simple scientific investigation. And thus, as in a hundred other instances, the testimony of science comes at length to confirm that of the Inspired Word.

† Cosmos.

*Origin of Species, p. 113.

Descent of Man, Vol. I., p. 220.

The common origin of the human races has been by no means an apparent fact to men; indeed, the doctrine has been one involved in great obscurity, while many things seemed to speak directly against it. The varieties of languages, of complexions, of forms of skull, of expres sions of features, and of qualities of hair, all would appear to favor strongly the idea that these races must have descended from different and distinct original stocks; and it must be admitted that the national prejudices of the Jews, who accounted all Gentile nations as dogs and outcasts, would naturally and powerfully incline them to this latter view. Yet we find the sacred writers, without doubt or hesitation, laying the doctrine of the unity of mankind at the foundation of their holy Book and Religion; and plainly and emphatically declare that all the races are the offspring of one common father, Adam; that "God has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth"; and that there was a time when "the whole earth was of one language and of one speech." Whence came these views and thoughts into the minds of those sacred writers? How, in their unscientific day, and in their circumstances of limited knowledge of the world and its inhabitants-how on subjects so difficult, on which there has ever since been such a variety of opinions among men, did they at once anticipate all that would be established on the subject in the far distant age of the latter part of the nineteenth century of the Christian era?-how could they state at the outset what man after protracted scientific investigation would be led to believe at the last? The simplest