The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-06-30
The Negro Created Before Adam.


The Negro created Before Adam.
Prof ALEXANDER WINcHELL Of Syracuse
University has reprinted in pamphlet form.
with tho title. Addntiies aud Pre- .iddpiies an
essay originally published by him in the NO'tl,-
e1n Christian Adcncdte designed to show that
the negro race was in existence on this globe
long before the time Of Adam. He favors. also.
reforming the popularity received chronology,
and would place the creation described in Gen
oss 10000 years before the birth of Abraham.
or 1879 years before the present era. At the
same time he would bring down the stone and
lake-dwelling ages TO within period OF not
moro than 5000 years ago. In this way. he
thinks, the Biblical record can be made to agree
with the cstab shed facts Of modern e;hnoogi-
cal. pathological. and geological research. Some
special interest attaches TO his views because
the publication Of them has led to his dismissal
from the Vanderbilt University. at Nashville.
Tenn. whore. in addition TO his Syracuse
proi,ssorship he held the chair Of historical
geology and zoology. II spite Of his earnest
protastation II orthodoxy. the President Of the
University insisted that he WAS an evolutionist
and an enemy Of tho plan OF redemption"
and he had TO 70.
The essay begins by giving 10 a learned Hol-
lander. named La Peyrore. the credit of hav-
ing first promulgated the idea Of pre- Adamite
race. La Peyrere in 1865 published little
treatise intended TO provo from the Bible itself
that men Of some kind must have existed
on the earth before Adam WIS created, and.
though his arguments wore largely theology
cal. he succeeded in making "a pretty good
case. In the light Of our more complete
knowledge OF facts DR.. Winchell contends
that his proposition is now satisfactorily es-
tabished. and that from Adam only the white.
or at most the Dravidan and Mongoloid
races are descended. whereas the negroes
were " a different and far more an lent origin.
Their birthplace. he says. was either Africa or
n continental land which stretched from NADIA
gascar to the East Indies. From thence they
spread over Australia, Borneo. the lessor islands
81 the sea. and considerable portion II Asia.
After the lapse OF thousands Of years the
Adamc race appeared in Central Asia. and poo
Piled from thence both India and Europe with
Aryans Dravidians. and Mongols Being par
italy destroyed by flood remnant. under
the name # Noah. gave rise 10 the Semitic.
! Hamitic. and Japhctic races. as related in his
torcal records. A. these multiplied and emf
grated they came into collision with their
| Adamic brethren " an earlier epoch. and either
| drove them out or mingled with them afresh.
Tho principal reason assigned 10y DR.. Win
/ clel for believing that the negro il not de-
scendod from Adam il that the word Adam.
signifying red or Y 'ddy. cannot have been
intended TO describe negro. and ii is impos-
sible that the rcd Adam could have given rise.
/ by any process 81 modification. 10 tho negro.
/ He refers TO tho monuments OF Egypt and As
| syria. in which the negro il depicted with the
/ same psculiarities which he possesses at this
| day, and hence he argues that II the 900 years
/ since those monuments were ecuptured have
produced no alteration Of the negro type. it
will not do 70 assume that the 1000 years pre-
vious could have developed it from the white
man. Moreover the change from the white 10
the negro is a degradation. not an improve
ment and this is contrary TO the usual course
OF development Of the human race. which il for
ward and not backward.
II is NOT TO be denied that some things men
toned in Genesis afford grounds for imagining
the existence Of other men than Adam and his
descendants. Cain feared that his life might
be taken. evidently. by people not OF his blood
and he married a wife, also. who WINS prcsuma-
bly, not Of kin to him. DR. Winchcll hints fur
thcr that by tho " daughters Of men whom the
sons Of God that is the Adamites married
are meant the women Of the pre- Atlantic on
negro race. That tho negro is not descended
| from Ham seems pretty clear. Notwithstanding
the countless sermons that have been preached
! lurAllNlNE negro NlhNtIN ny ifuSin 'h NhNN
curse of his son and the presumed inhcritanc'
OF that curse 10y the black race. Hams offspring
1t il now settled by the testimony of both pro
fame and sacred history, were not negroes bu
Egyptians. Assyrians phiisrines and Other
highly intellectual nations. But whether. after
all, DR.. Wuchell is justified In concluding tina
because Adam found on earth men Of a lre
vious creation, those mon were negroes, s al
open question He himself admits that cor
roborativc evidence is lacking. and anticipate
that it will yet be found somewhere in thu
cayorns Of Ahyssnia. or South Africa. or Aus
tralia. Besides. although the 1000 years com
monty assumed NJ the period from Adam to tn,
Assynian and Egyptian monuments may not b.
enough 20 permit tho descent ~ the negro from
Adam, pr Winchell's corrected chronology "a
tends this period 10 over 10000 years. whcl
might be sufficient for the purpose The i'm
partial reader will therefore suspend his de-
cision, and, while duly Approaching Dr. Win
chell's learning and ingenuity. will hardly adop
his conclusions as entirely demonstrated.
What DR. Winchell says Of the comparatiy
ncnrness to our day 81 the stone and lakc-dwell
ing ages is less novel. but still interesting. ]
may be that as he says. the glacial epoch q
Europe and America terminated only f.,
thousand years ago, that tho men Of the ston
age existed rs late as the time Of Homer. an
TINT the lake-dwcllcrs were contemporary wit
tho Romans. These are points still under dis
pute. and the public must await their settl,
mcnt by experts IN the matter.
The tone in which Dr. Winchcll speaks q
those theologans who would set NJ their pccu
liar Interpretation of the Bible against scion
tlc truth, is anything hut respectful. and pan
tally accounts for the loss of his professor
ship at Vanderbilt University. He ca--,
tnnfu ~ ,rtt. n. l.l