Genre:

Essay, Serial

Subjects:

Ethnology, Human Species, Race, Biblical Authority, Infidelity, Geographical Distribution, Physical Geography, Ethnography

People mentioned:

Plato

    Asserts the unity of the human species on the basis of biblical texts, but reflects 'that there are some who do not yield such profound reverence to the Bible as it deserves, and who must therefore be met upon other ground than that which has been here assumed' (38). Relates accounts of human origins from other traditions which seem to support the Mosaic narrative and the doctrine of the Fall. Introducing evidence from Mexico, observes that this is particularly valuable, given that infidels have questioned 'how the new world could have been peopled by Adam's progeny when navigation was almost entirely unknown' (41). Suggests that the new world could have been peopled across the Bering Straits. Observes that the two continents need not always have been detached, suggesting that the same processes in nature that separated other landmasses would be adequate to explain the separation of these two landmasses. Notes a 'more striking resemblance' between the customs and practices of the natives of the northern part of America and 'those of the primitive nations, and especially the Jews, than the practices which obtain further southward' (42). Argues for the unity of the human species from certain common beliefs and practices, such as the division of days into weeks.