Weekly Trinity journal., 1858-02-27
ETHNOLOGY.

Ep JOURNAL This is a science which treats
of the different natural races and families oil men,
with direct reference to the question of their or-
gin, adaptations and destiny. 1t is properly d.
vided into two departments, the Scienfye, and the
Historic The former includes all those facts IN
Natural History, which bear, directly or lndlrect,,
ly, upon the question of the races the latter all
the proofs in written and monumental history,
which demonstrate the true social and physlcal
conditions in which those races have ever Deen
found. Such is the scope Of this science as known
to us. As q science, it has existed since the dawn
of history, but never has it received tnat degree
of attention which is being bestowed upon IT al
the present day, and mainly for this reason, that
the limits of an investigation of its principles,
were determined, not by loss of materials, but
rather by an unscientifc concentration OF those
materials into an absurd theory, ascrlbng the Or
igin of some nine or ten hundred millions OF hu-
man beings, whose ancestral lines, marking dis
tinct types of man, are lost in an antiquity lar
beyond all records sacred or profane, to the
family of one man, in Asia Minor. The world
has been obliged to swallow the absurdltles o.:
this theory under as strict rules OF EVangellcaf
diet as those which controlled the AlimentiVeness
OF the Spartans under Lycurgus. IL has oeeh tne
black broth of naturalists for ages The doctrines
Of the Flood have warped all chronoIigies, all
facts in the geological distribution OF man ana
animals into assumed parallels with their teach
ings. To account for the diversity now seen III
the races of men, q scheme has been Instituted,
which, while it is infinitely below the reach OF
common sense, or reason, cannot certainly con-
lict with statements equally absurd. This scheme
is composed Of accidental creations, formations
and transformations of races, alien to the white
or Caucasian types. In substance, it assumes,
that once in the flight of ages past, some little,
ebony ycolored, 1at-footed negro was born OF white
parents, near the Caspian sea, and from thence
went to the tropical lands of the white ant and
Tofnn al vi ay,It tAn-a thn faf
negro race Another assumption in support of
this scheme was, that climatic and other physlcaf
causes, were capable of Transforming negroes IN
to white men, or uice verSa. The falsty OF the
first assumptiOn-that one race ever bred anoth-
er-had long been apparent to the most enlight"
ened psychologists, but it remained for Egypto-
ethnologists of modern times to tear off the huge
cloak of absurdities which protected the latter
assumption, and by proving that every race nas'
from remotest antiquity, preserved its own pecul-
lar characteristics, justify the assertion OF frof.
Agazzs, that men were created IN nations All
monuments of ancient national grandeur tumble
into insignifcance when compared with those OF
Egypt. The gorgeous temple OF Belus lies in
ruins upon the banks of the Euphrates! Phan-
tom satyrs dance on the fallen palaces of the once
mighty Babylon, to the doleful tunes OF the soll-
tary bittern and the midnight yels OF the hye-
ma! Ninevah is PROSTATE! The Arabic sands
CRATE among the fading baSreliefs Of Sargon Put,
"lu iOdIudld puluS Jue TEMPE VI lhcoue, uuu
Apollo at Delphi are shapeless heaps of ruins
The Eternal City is yielding to the ceaseless
strokes of Times massive engines while of the
'chosen people not a single monument exists
But Egypt stands forth with the wealth OF i'm
mortality upon her brow Her tombs, her tenn
pies her stupendous pyramids, her painted sep
uchreS and bas reliefs' and above all, the legen-
dairy tablets Of her hierogliphc history attest
The great antiquity and perfectability of her civ
Ii2aton, as well as the existence Of at least three
d'stlnct races before our era, than four thou
sand years
Within the last half century extensive resear-
ches have been made into Egyptian history, aid
ed by the now famous Rosetta-stone key to the
enchorial and hieroglyphic writings. The great
est scientific men Of Europe and our own country
have been engaged in these researches Among
them we may mention Young, Wilkinson, Vysey
Lepsius, Rossclni, ChampoiOn, Birch, and our
learned Consul to Cairo, Prof. Geo. r. Gliddon
The result of their labors are known to but few.
They lay, for the most part in huge works IN dli-
ferent languages, beyond the reach Of the ordl-
nary student much more OF the general reader.
To Ethnologists these results have been of the
greatest Importance. They have positively dem
onsrated the existence Of several parallel and
distinct races, down to the earliest date in mon
umental history-that Of the age of Manfru, of
the lVth dynasty Of Egypt, B. c., 1000 years "a
time when negroes AutOchthonc, Egyptians and
Asatcs, teemed at different points along the
Nile, held, or drawn thithcr as slaves, natives or
invaders 1t will be seen from this that the his
torical department of Ethnology furnishes as in
teresting, as abundant and valuable proofs that
mankind has, in all centuries and in all ages, re-
tanned its Characteristic divisions into races, and
that time and identical causes have not and can
not transform one race into another. d. j. ii.