Smyrna times., 1858-08-26
The Negro ga Distinct Species"

The Medical and Surgical Reporter, calling
! our attention to an article of his, on "The
Negro-A Distinct Species
For some considerable time an animated dis
cusson has been going on in this valuable medi-
cal journal on the Unity of the Race We
have watched the discussion with some interest
and hoped that it would preserve purely sci
entlhc character and be kept in the hands OF
scientific men. We deeply regret TO see it in
terfered with by men who know comparatively
nothing on the subject. 1t is disgusting to see
persons who have the merest smattering of a
subject endeavorng to thrust themselves upon
the scientific world as teachers of it. We do
not make this remark with any particular per-
sonal bearing; though the Dr., in the article
above referred to, has very obtrusively put for
ward his own personality by pedantically pub
llshing himself as an "Alumnus of the Uni
versity of Pa
We have tried faithfully to get the sense of
his article, but it is written in such IN unscen-
tItc, illogical, incoherent style, that we have
almost despaired of success The most we can
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distinct species from the white man, a nd gives
the weight of his name O TO that side of the
question in debate.
There is great flourish of names-of Mott,
GIlddon, Morton, Agassiz &c.,-as though this
would settle the whole dispute.
With Mott the point is foregone conclusion,
he has an end 10 serve, and everything must
bend to his purpose. Gliddon was the merest
charlatan, utterly unreliable outside the sim.
plest statement of the simplest fact. II is an
insult to the memory of Morton that his name
is associated with the above in their late works
and his views perverted to their ends. Agassiz
has not fully athomed this question of the Unity
OF the Race; his views have undergone con-
siderable change in the last ten years and he
may yet have reason TO modify his present con.
clusOns.
But to few points in the Doctors article
He says, or repeats from somebody else, that
there is regular graduation in the develop
ment of the animal kingdom, from the lowest
radlata to the most perfect man" This is
true, but any schoOlboy in science would have
told the DR.. that this graduation is by distinct
species; that radiatcs never developed mollusks,
nor molusks, articulates The whole animal
Kingdom is intimately connected, but not by
direct lineage, not by parental descent. Geolo.
gy most emphatcally puts the lie on that de.
velOpment theory.
The DIR. says the negro has never produced a
page that was worth remembering. But What
OF that! That has nothing to do with the POM
at issue. Yet, in reply, We say. the negro has
been kept in such abject mental degradation
that the effects of it will hardly be removed by
the unrestrained influences of civilization for
ages. But we happen to know black man.
full l-booded negro black as the ace of spades
IN dark cellar on a damp midnight "a man
OF the Doctors own cloth too, who, in any
mental conflict with him, would knock his pro.
tessonal pretensions into perfect nonentiiy III
he desires such trla! of his strength, we refer
to Rev. Samuel Ward, NJ. d, Of Rochester,
y.
The Doctor says" The revelations of Geolo.
gy make it probable that there were successive
creations of man." Now, this is pure ignor-
ance. There is not fact in the whole rance
Of Geology that leads to any such conclusion.
We make but one more reference TO the ar.
tlcle. The Doctor deprecqtes dragging the
Bible INTO the discussion, as it is side issue. :"
1t is wonderful how these anti.uniiy men fear
the Bible. text sets them in a shake. Put
Paul before GlIddon and lie would blow like a
porpoisc, while Mott will almost swear. There
is something very significant in this fact. The
Bible is in their way.
But is the Bible a side issue in this question
Is man a mere beast Has not man a mental.
moral and religious nature! Are not these as
much Of the man is his physical orpaniza-
ton! Arc these to be entirely ignored Has
he not history Is not this history as much
fact Of the science of man as any fact con-
corning his material form! And all the ele-
ments of this history, and the most potent ofI
these is the influence of the Bible, demand our
consideration in this investigation.
Again: rAan had beginning; with this Sci.
ence has nothing to do. Science does not tell
how things originated; this is no part of her
work she deals only with their nature and re-
latlons. But the Bible does tell US of mans
origin, and as The truth of the Bible is sustain.
ed by the unqualified support of science, its
testimony on this point must be considered i
The established facts of science, and the logi
cal deductions from these facts, ale to be dis
Iinguished from the theories which pretend TO
account for these facts, and to show their bear.
ings and relations to each other These theo.
ries may conflict with the Bible, but that gives
no concern. 1t is fact that the tribes of men
living in different zones of the earth are phy-
slcaily constituted for the peculiar climatic
conditions of their several dwelling places
But to account for this fact by the adoption of
theory of the races which does violence 10