Peerage, Romance of—Dublin University Press, The, during the Past Year-Bentley's 495 Post-Office, the British-Fraser's Magazine, Sun-Dial and the Flower :-Borrowed Importance, R. Rossi, Countess of.-See Sontag. T. Trafalgar, Battle of-Fraser's Mag Turkey and Christendom-Edinburg V. Voyages, The Arctic-See Arctic. W. What is Life Assurance-See Life A 1. Lectures on the Races of Men. By ROBERT KNOX, M.D., F.R.S.E. Medical Times. 2. The Philosophy of the Human Hand. Translated from the French of M. LE CAINE. S. D'Arpentigny. Medical Times. 3. Modern Painters. By a Graduate of Oxford. Cornhill. We have grouped these works together, though apparently dissimilar, because they all bear upon the question of all others important to man, viz., human progress, physical and mental. The lectures of Dr. Knox have excited considerable interest, and deservedly so; but we regard them as valuable rather by inciting discussion than for the soundness of their philosophy. With a thorough appreciation for all earnest men, even when their faith is questionable, and thoroughly recognizing the earnestness of Dr. Knox, we cannot sympathize with the vituperative tone he uses toward the mental inferiorities of the world, who, for their misfortune and ours, may be put in high places. We do not use terms of abuse to the sloth, or the slug, or tiger, or hyæna, when discussing their peculiarities; and why should we do so to man when he is unfortunate enough to be misfitted to his occupation, VOL XIX. NO. I. London: Smith, Elder & Co., whether king, kaisar, carle, or earl? The philosophical spirit does not deal in polemics, and abuse of individuals helps to perpetuate abuses. But Dr. Knox seems to us rather to be an acute perceiver than a sound reasoner, and somewhat prone, like the actor Dennis, to cry out, "That's my thunder!" But we respect him for things which he has, not expecting those he has not; and very valuable is he in his day and generation. If we understand Dr. Knox's theory, it is that men were originally created of differing races, like the wild animals, and that however they may mingle in marriage, there is a constant tendency for the mixed race to die off, and the races to revert to their original types. More than this, he assumes that these original types are constantly disappearing, if we may judge from his words: "All things seem to move in cycles; races succeed races on the stage of the world." 1 Regarding man simply as an animal, this proposition may hold good; but contemplating him as a highly intellectual being, possessing imagination and wisdom, the argument is utterly worthless. There can be no doubt that our orchard apples, were England dispeopled, would all revert to crabs, and we have, moreover, Premising that we believe in the ultimate eradication of vicious qualities from man, in other words, in the fitting application of all man's qualities to uses beneficial to himself and his fellow-men, as intended from the beginning, we will endeavor to set forth our own views as to the processes he has passed through, and has yet to pass through. We "Some tough old crab-trees here at home, that will may assume either of two theories,-that not Be grafted to our relish.” But so long as England is England," that is, inhabited by a race of men, in the larger sense of the word, there is more chance of a crab-tree becoming a curiosity than of apples being extinct. The philosophy of Dr. Knox would form the whole races of men into castes-creatures of instinct, not of will. The world's history is yet but the dawn of mankind, and the reasoning built thereon lacks sufficient data. The original types of man seem to us capable of infinite variety, and that we are in a state of constant progress from lesser to greater-from plainness to beauty-from stupidity to high intellect from loatnsome animality to high and divine morality. Thus far we may agree with Dr. Knox, that the inferior types of man are disappearing and the superior increasing, as the cycles roll on, "And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns." man was created civilized and lapsed into a In both Dr. Knox and M. D'Arpentigny, the The origin of race, therefore, is very easy to understand. It is obvious that in a savage state the term strongest applies to the man of the most perfect animal faculties. Good ears, sharp eyes, strong teeth, good health, and nervous and muscular energy, would constitute the strong man; vice versa the weak man. A portion more or less of cunning superadded to these qualities would constitute a chief of men, or king-König, |