New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-06-18
Prof. Asnssiz on the Orisin OF the Human
Kace,

From The Boston Traveller June H.
prof Agsssz delivered lecture on this s1bec,.
on Thursday evening, before the \ oung Mems A.
sociaton OF the Lawrence 5cientifc School IA
Cambridge, which vas attended by large adj
epce of lanies and gentlemen. AS we und s-s,oof
he did not wish his lecture reported shall At
tempt no more than brief anal He n
rnenced by observing that ~ incidental rem ark
which be made on particular occasion hal b3en
commented upoa extensively, aud o-oush. cut the
dscpsson Of question hich It was - his o5isss
10 euter into His object was, on taAt occasion. -
an ak # " = unity o. the humiu race simply a.
o1e.tion OF Natural History. But Ms remark bad
called forth discussions Of the q1esgol with refer
epce 70 reli lion and political c)4e.ti0l. Tns 9Ies-
ton how fnsn ives created was entirely distinct
from religion mere question Of Natural History,
and IS such ss a philosopher be claimed the right
10 discuss IT, But he wished it distinctly nndsr-
stood that be took no ground II opposition - tie
Mosaic record 10 the Genesis. We have NJ refer
ence, he said, in that account, 70 any part Of the
" orld thet was unknown 10 the snciehts. He also
disclaned al idea Of connecting this question v.h
slavery, or the political condition OF the African
race.
The unity Of the human race and the diversity o.
their origin he said were two distinct questioos
he acknowledged the unity Of mankind, bat this
unity could exist in perfect consistency with the
diversity of their origin.
There Vas another question, also, involved IN
this inquiry "Do all men belong 70 one species, or
are there different species Of msn7" But cirer
sitv OF origin, be said, did not involve either lhs
unity or plurality Of species. He went a, cln-
siderable length into en- exploration Of the subject
of species, es unterstood in natural history, to
prove this assertion
The question also involved the limits within
which organized beings ere modified By circum-
stances and condition; and there were some sscer.
tanned fscts he said, which could be used ss data
in considering the subject. Skeletons had been
found in Egypt, which had been buried 70. thou
sands Of years and with them were iodhd certain
seeds of plants, which had been planted and had
grown Bot these mumnliss md these plans cor
responded exactly 70 certain other plants and other
human beings row to he fonnd in very different
circumstances. There appeared to be regular
plan by which organized being, both plants and
suimsls were distributed over the earth whereby
TIE same plants and the same animals were con
stantly found IN certain geoSraPhiral Positions-
This was true of man, 4 &c referred 70 tho pr. al
tive, uphistOrical races. And these gscgrshi'al
positions were almost entirely without references
10 climate He ran over spec. ication Of th9 1it
fcreut varieties Of certain animals AMI Of The bu.
men race, which were iO-r1 constantly Ia certain
localities and positions ff0m which he drew tho
conclusion that thcse varieties coad no. have boea
produced by the modifying inflence Of climate
and circumstances; hence tha. the distrDlt,DI
Of the different varieties OF the human RAGS must
have taken place not ~ random, bat With regular
plan-in short that they were created in masses,
in the poSii.ns which they originally occlpiel--
Among otherfaCts b. airing on the point, he stasei
that the trout was a'wsyl loUnd IN brooks, oven
bieh up in the mountains, where they c0ult no.
have gone by emigration and 20 also, there were
certain vaTie ties O fish that were oay J0nt n the
lakes with no outlet and these lakes cJn;ainc the
same kind of FISH, IN different aui distant localities
And il was & remarkable fact that the abIrigines
of America, with all its variety Of climate, BE-
longed TO one and the same people.
If men originated from a common center, and
were ditfuscd over the earth, their prcsont con
dition must have been prodaced By changes at or
since the dis persion. But had II been go there
would have been moro similarity between those
which inhobit similar portions OF the earth. ~
saw only one conclusion from these facts, and that
was thst these changes could not have taken
place by the modifying influence Of circumstaaces,
after migrating from common centeri bus that
the non historc or original races, must have been
created in the places they occupied. And this
view he again assured his audience, was IN per-
feet accordance with the Mosaic account. He had
felt it bitterly, that he had been represented as
pushing these views with the design OF dis3rs dit-
ing the Mosaic Record or with any view ot afsc5-
ing the political condition OF the Negr)ss, both Of
which he denied
The impression We received from the lecture
! vts, that however these views might atsct TIE
| mind Of the naturslist who studies n itIrc more
| than revelation, theie is no danger tha, the com.
| monty received opinion this subject, derived
from the most obvious meaning OF tho Scriptures,
| will be shaken by any arguments drawn rom facts
in Natural History such as here presented