1. Lectures on the Races of Men. By ROBERT KNOx, M.D., F.R.S.E. Medical

2. The Philosophy of the Human Hand. Translated from the French of M. LE CAINE. S. D'Arpentigny. Medical Times. 3. Modern Painters. By a Graduate of Oxford.

Regarding man simply as an animal, this proposition may hold good; but contemplating him as a highly intellectual being, possessing imagination and wisdom, the argument is utterly worthless. There can be no doubt that our orchard apples, were England dispeopled, would all revert to crabs, and we have, moreover,

Premising that we believe in the ultimate eradication of vicious qualities from man, in other words, in the fitting application of all man's qualities to uses beneficial to himself and his fellow-men, as intended from the beginning, we will endeavor to set forth our own views as to the processes he has passed through, and has yet to pass through. We

"Some tough old crab-trees here at home, that will may assume either of two theories,-that

not

Be grafted to our relish."

But so long as England is England," that is, inhabited by a race of men, in the larger sense of the word, there is more chance of a crab-tree becoming a curiosity than of apples being extinct. The philosophy of Dr. Knox would form the whole races of men into castes-creatures of instinct, not of will. The world's history is yet but the dawn of mankind, and the reasoning built thereon lacks sufficient data. The original types of man seem to us capable of infinite variety, and that we are in a state of constant progress from lesser to greater-from plainness to beauty-from stupidity to high intellect from loatnsome animality to high and divine morality. Thus far we may agree with Dr. Knox, that the inferior types of man are disappearing and the superior increasing, as the cycles roll on,

"And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns."

man was created civilized and lapsed into a
savage, or that he was created a savage ab
initio. In his savage state, he could only
subsist on food of spontaneous growth-the
vegetables of the earth, or the animals feed-
ing on those vegetables. So long as he
could procure food in plenty he would not
be ferocious, but pressed by hunger he would
be, like any of the carnivorous tribes, a fierce
savage. He would war on his fellow-man to
appropriate the scarce food, and this is pre-
cisely the practice that obtains amongst the
red tribes of men in America. Gregarious
man first associated, as distinct herds of cat-
tle do, for self-protection. His food was
wild animals. As they became scarce, hun-
ger ensued, and to prevent this, a species of
property-tribal property-was assumed un-
der the title of "hunting-grounds," the claim
being nearly of the same kind as a strong
lion or tiger might assume. The numbers
of the tribes increasing, they preyed on each
other's hunting-grounds, and thus induced
war, whereby the numbers of men being re-
duced, the numbers of animals increased, and
peace followed. This was the state of the
red men at the advent of Columbus, and is
their state still, save where the white men
have come in amongst them. It is the state
of the Arab tribes in Africa also. It is the
state of all nations of men where the animal
faculties are in excess of the reasoning.
has been more or less the state of Ireland up
to the present time. The law of prey,
which is the original law of nature, can only
be abrogated by the law of human reason,
which, in its approach to perfection, will
gradually disperse those imperfections we are
accustomed to class under the name of
"evil."

It

In both Dr. Knox and M. D'Arpentigny, the love of theory seems to lead them to a Procrustean process of bending all things to their own fancy. Doubtless each human being is born with a peculiar natural aptitude, as are dogs and horses, and each human being will prove valuable to the world and to himself as this aptitude is developed; but we hold that, in order to be perfect, reasoning man must be a compendium of all that is desirable in man; and that, out of the whole races of men upon the earth will arise, in some future day, the mixed, or rather, perhaps, we should say, the restored race, that will realize the dream of man's perfectibility. Saxon industry, Celtic art, Arab The origin of race, therefore, is very easy passion, Negro hilarity, are all high qualities to understand. It is obvious that in a savof man; and when they shall be combined age state the term strongest applies to the in the same individuals, instead of existing man of the most perfect animal faculties. separately, a harmonious world will be the Good ears, sharp eyes, strong teeth, good result. Man, divided into distinct types, re-health, and nervous and muscular energy, sembles the lame man mounted on the shoulders of the blind man, recorded in one of Mrs. Barbauld's stories, producing a result by very imperfect processes.

would constitute the strong man; vice versa the weak man. A portion more or less of cunning superadded to these qualities would constitute a chief of men, or king-König,

far north he is white, and his skin gradually | viz., the possibility of making grass produce darkens as he goes southward, till at the large seeds, as wheat, barley, oats, or rye, a equator he becomes black. In his highest larger population may be provided for; but civilized state he approaches the forms of property in land must first be established, classic beauty. In savage life his mouth be- and human industry or human drudgery comes a muzzle, and he degenerates nearly called into action. "In the sweat of thy to a monkey. It is all gradation, and we brow shalt thou eat bread." But when thus see no reason why the elements in the savage far launched by nature on the ocean of proshould not grow up into the sage or saint, or gress, man is still but a savage clad in the why the color of the negro should not change skins of beasts. In his ever-teeming brain, to that of the white, or vice versa-not in that hive of the whole world's progress, and our time, but in the lapse of ages, taking ad- by the aid of that wonder-working sceptre, vantage of favorable circumstances. It is his hand, nature has provided for his everwithin the bounds of possibility that English- returning wants; the spindle and distaff and men might once more become savages; but loom spring forth; animal and vegetable before that takes place, they must forget all yield their spoils, and lo! he is clad in purthe powers of nature they have pressed into ple and fine linen. He and his, but not they. their service to do man's drudgery, and re- Men have become the drudges of their felturn to their ancient state of ignorance. low-men, who by the sweat of their brain have left the sweat of the brow to the mass, while they become a leisure class, removed from bodily drudgery. Metals have been scantily wrought, palaces of stone have been built, groves have been planted, and Greece has become possible with her heroes and poets, artists and philosophers. Yet all is based on a hollow dream. There are two orders in the nation, freemen and slaves; and though the time has not come for Christ to proclaim men's universal equality, amongst that crowd of slaves arise a fresh generation of heroes, poets, artists, and philosophers, and it gets to be perceived that it is an impossible thing for any class of men to be happy in luxury while other men are unhappy in misery. Men must not "grind at the mill" forever, that other men may eat of white wheaten bread.

Race, then, we believe to be the result of especial circumstances, acting for a long period of time on an especial body of people, unfavorably in certain types, and favorably in others, till they have all grown similar. Such a race may remain in the same circumstances unchanged forever; but if they change these circumstances, as for example, if they make a conquest of a new land where the circumstances are unfavorable, they will decline and disappear; and thus it is that a race of conquerors usually disappears from a conquered nation by process of time, unless the numbers be kept up by fresh importations to replace those dying off. Man differs not from the animals in these particulars. The same race of bees still flourishes in Hymettus; neither lion, nor tiger, nor elephant has degenerated in their native regions, and they are never voluntary emigrants. Man alone, aided by his reason, tries new circumstances, and sometimes blunders in misfitting himself to his climate.

Physical man, in a warm climate, requires food chiefly of a vegetable kind, with water for drink; in short, his wants are as simple as those of the lower animals. In such a climate there are commonly diseases enough to keep down the pressure of population; if not, wars take place, for the torrid zone is favorable to the development of vicious passions. In cool or cold climates, physical man requires food, fuel, clothing, and lodging; and some of it must be strong food, as animal food and flesh, to keep up heat and the waste of the body. If he be a hunter, his food, and the skins of beasts for clothing are easy to get, provided population be sparse. If he has, moreover, discovered the secret of ature provided for his first step in progress,

In a very temperate climate, men may increase in number up to the supply of food; but in the cold hyberborean regions, other things are required besides food, clothing, and lodging. An abundant supply of fuel is also essential, not merely for individuals, but for the mass. A cold climate, therefore, with only timber for fuel, can never be very densely populated. Where timber is not, savage people use oil lamps to warm their dwellings, and their lives are shortened and their numbers lessened, by breathing mephitic air. Those who cannot do this, gradually burn up their timber and migrate. And now man unfolds another page in his brain, and another of nature's secrets is laid open to him. On the surface, and below the surface of the earth, he finds a fuel stored up for him by nature before he was born, ready for his gradually developing faculties. It would have been useless to him while in a

savage state, unacquainted with the use of tools, and therefore timber was provided. The timber consumed, and the tools ready, the coal is found; and now timber trees may be left to grow up in their beauty to gladden his eyes while they stand, or be cut down only to build his ships and dwellings. A mighty boon to the earth was this of coal, wondrously enhanced by the iron lying by its side, the Castor and Pollux of this our English Argo, freighted with the world's deliverance from thraldom, and manned by such a crew as the world never before beheld, whose memory shall never die while the firm earth shall endure, or the ocean tides reverberate.

too powerful to submit to work for task-masters. The wealth and power of England are sustained by the powers of nature without cruelty inflicted on man, and therefore they may be permanent. But England has not been working for herself alone. She has been the workshop of the world, and all nations have profited by her labors. She has spun and woven cotton, and flax, and silk, and wool, to clothe them, and she has given them machines and taught them to do likewise. She has built them ships till her timber has been consumed, and she has opened yet again the inexhaustible book of man's brain, to build ships of iron, moved by iron rowers-incombustible, and like the axe of When coal, and iron, and lime, and artifi- Elisha, unsinkable; ships that will carry incial food in abundance, are thus combined to-creased cargoes with less cost for materials gether, surrounded by a vigor-giving healthy and labor, materials inexhaustible, and labor climate, then may the races of men thicken, growing lighter, and capable of indefinite inand combine for progress. When, in addi- crease. tion, a watery highway is ready on all sides. to waft them and their wealth there congregated, even to the furthermost parts of the earth, there must be ever a fountain-head of the world's power. Such is this our England-such has it ever been by its island form: such has not been the interior of Europe, and therefore has its progress been slower. But when the coal and iron were found side by side in England, still was the world far from their free use. The work of the world was done by the drudgery of the slave-like many, chiefly for the benefit of the lordly few. Food might be plentiful, surface coal might easily be had for them who lived near it; but alas! for those at a distance; and the skins of beasts were still the clothing of many, while houses and other things were scarce;

"In clouted iron shoes and sheepskin breeches:"

Sooty and begrimed nation-gnomes of the north, artisans and not artists-thus we are called by the races whose leisure we have earned, and that, too, is to have an end. Again has the human brain been searched that the sweat may be wiped from the brows of the cleansers of clothing and buildings, and those who walk in high places. It is still puzzling its way at smoke-consuming, forgetting that the true way is to abstain from making the smoke; that though nature made coal for man's uses, she did not make it all fit for perfect combustion. It is the work of the manufacturing chemist to do this.

If we put ripe fruit into our stomachs we can digest it; but if we put therein raw potatoes or cabbage, we shall require some kind of chemical solvent, called physic. To obviate the necessity for this, we cook the vegetables before eating them. Now, the food of fire is coal. Cannel coal is analo

so wrote Daniel Defoe, of the English labor-gous to ripe fruit; it will digest or burn withers of his day. Clothing by day and by night were rags and straw. But another leaf of man's brain was unfolded, and again was the sweat wiped from his brow. The wind and the wave were first set to grind his corn, and pump his water, and spin his thread; and last came steam to proclaim the "beginning of the end" of human drudgery, that the time should indeed come when men might be equal in circumstances to their birthright.

The wealth, and power, and philosophy, and artistic ease of Greece, came from her slaves; that of Rome, from conquered nations. They fell because the slaves grew

out smoke: Newcastle, Leicester, or other coal, is analogous to the raw potatoes; it will not digest without smoke. Chemists well know that combustion is the exact mixing, in certain proportions, of certain gases. If the proportions be incorrect, the surplus portions produce smoke and vapor. Therefore, to get rid of smoke from coal fires, we must mix our coals artificially-thus manufacturing a fuel which will contain the several gases in due proportions.

This accomplished, we may go on for some time in increased comfort; but with the "process of the suns" a new difficulty will arise. Wood is of limited extent, but it is