The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1860-03-08
Lecture.


ture at the Court House on Friday night
last, before the independence Lyceum
upon the UNITY OF THE HUMAN RACE.
He gave very interesting lecture last
winter upon the same theme, and was
invited by the Lyceum 10 continue the
subject at his convenience. which he did
in the lecture of Friday night. In further
pursuing his subject. the lecturer con
tended. with DR.. CHARLES PIcKERINo.
that the human race could not have been
widely dispersed originally. but that man
must have been native of warm or
tropical climate. inssmuch as his origin
ally unprotected state and simple wants
required 4 mild climate, where his food
was produced without labor, and he lack
ed the requirement Of clothing. Sir
CHARLES LYELL accounted for the disper-
sion by the tendency Of population to in
crease. thus causing migration. and by
the drifting of canoes-instances of the
latter being stated. where parties Of saw
ages have been known to drift as far as
1900 miles. Lieut.. MAURY states that
fla man had provisions he could run
down the trades OF the Pacific on log
DR.. MORTON, an advocate for the diversi-
ty theory, admits that the Indians Of the
continent have had one origin. If so,
why contend for Asiatic diversity. The
Indians of this country have many char.
acteristic in common with the natives of
Asia, and PIcKERISa contended for their
common origin. Captains Of whale ships
have seen Esquimaux crossing Behring
Straits, from Asia to America. in canoes,
which was enough to account for the
original peopling of this continent. The
lecturer also spoke Of the Dental and
Osteological charac teristics Of the differ
ent races of men, and quoted Professor
MUELLER. and other good Physiological
authority. in support OF his POSITION
He drew arguments. too. from the do
main Of Philology, and quoted high au-
thority to prove that the dialects of saw
age tribes were but decaying fragments
Of a nobler formation. He considered
the question Of color, and thought that
the Caucasian was not the original type,
but that Adam was of red or swarthy
color. He dwelt. too. at considerable
length. upon Bible evidence. and went
into an argument based upon his
torical and monumental records, to prove
the perfect reliability Of Scripture testi-
mony. He examined the objections re-
lative to the Bible theory of the creation
and the food, and contended that the
term day. relative to the former. did not
necessarily imply period Of wenty-four
hours, nor that the declaration relative to
the latter that all the hills "under the
whole heaven" were covered with water,
meant that the deluge extended over the
whole earth. The term day is repeated
ly used in the sense of an indefinite Pc
riod Of time in the Bible, and it was
unfair and uncandid to insist upon giving
it different meaning in the account Of
the creation. The like was true relative
/ to the expression Wv hole heaven" in the
account OF the food. There was no ne
cessity Of the flood extending any farth-
er then the world was peopled, and that
was undoubtedly what was meant He
spoke. too, Of the monumental records,
and said that it was now conceded that
these records had not the antiquity which
was formerly claimed for them. and that
they did not 80 back as far as the Bible
records. This part of his argument was
more elaborate than that deduced from
science. and was treated in the lecturer S
usual interesting manner. The lecture
was listened to with careful attention by
very respectable audience.