rom the rest of the animal kingdom; 2dly,
Supposing such distinctions to exist now, whether they have existed at
all periods of which we can acquire any evidence; and, 3dly, Whether
these distinctions are common to the whole of the race to which the term
_man_ is applied, or whether different tribes of men differ _inter se_
as much as the species viewed collectively differs from other species.

These, with other minor questions which arise out of them, are, as far
as we can gather, the propositions discussed in the work before us--a
work abounding in elaborate research and erudition, but somewhat
deficient in logical precision or lucid arrangement; a mass of details
is given, but the links whereby the generalizations from these are
sought to be established, are here and there wanting, and here and there
obscure. It is probably the fault of the subject, which is in its
character inexact; but we certainly expected that more had been done;
and from some passages in the early portions of the work, we were
induced to believe that the author had succeeded in proving races of
mankind to be more distinctly deducible from their sources, and that
their physical and moral relations were more definitely traced. The
following passage, in which the object of the work is enounced by the
author, is wanting in precision and perspicuity:--

"That great differences in external conditions, by the double
influence of their physical and moral agency, should have effected,
during a long series of ages, remarkable changes in the tribes of
human beings subjected to their operation--changes which have
rendered these several tribes fitted in a peculiar manner for their
respective abodes--is by no means an improbable conjecture; and it
becomes something more than a conjecture, when we extend our view
to the diversified breeds of those animals which men have
domesticated, and have transferred with themselves from one climate
to another. Considered in this point of view, it acquires, perhaps,
the character of a legitimate theory, supported by adequate
evidence, and by an extensive series of analogous facts.

"But we must not omit to observe, that to this opinion there is an
alternative, and one which many persons prefer to maintain; namely,
that the collective body of mankind is made up of different races,
which have differed from each other in their physical and moral