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More than 860,000,000 of human beings are scattered over the face of the earth, of all nations and kindreds and tongues; and in all stages of civilization, from a high state of moral and intellectual culture, to savages but little above the animals that contend with them for the dominion of the deserts and forests through which they roam. This vast multitude is divided into nations and tribes, differing in external appearance, character, language, and religion. The manner in which they are distributed, the affinities of structure and language by which they are connected, and the effect that climate, food, and customs may have had in modifying their external forms, or their moral and mental powers, are subjects of much more difficulty than the geographical dispersion of the lower classes, inasmuch as the immortal spirit is the chief agent in all that concerns the human race. The progress of the universal mind in past ages, its present state, and the future prospects of humanity, rouse the deep sympathies of our nature for the high but mysterious destiny of the myriads of beings yet to come, who, like ourselves, will be subject for a few brief years to the joys and sorrows of this transient state, and fellow-heirs of eternal life hereafter.
Notwithstanding the extreme diversity, personal and mental, in mankind, anatomists have found that there are no specific differences—that the hideous Esquimaux, the refined and intellectual Circassian, the thick-lipped swarthy Negro, and the fair blue-eyed Scandinavian, are mere varieties of the same species.
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