in his extension over the face of the earth, assumes different varieties; but every one of these possesses some traits common to the whole species, and essentially different from every other animal in the Linnæan class of mammalia; clearly pointing him out to be a peculiar and distinct species, having many things in common with all other animals; and many not to be found in any besides himself.

In the cold and cheerless regions of eternal snow approaching the north pole, in the arid deserts of Terra del Fuego; on the lofty summits of mountains, and in the deep-sequestered vallies; amidst the crowded metropolis, and in the most retired and secret abodes of solitude; midst the extremes of heat and of moisture; in almost every place and every situation man is capable of living, and of obeying the first great mandate of his Creator, "Increase and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it."

And as man is capable of living in all places,

so is he framed for subsisting upon all kinds of food, whether animal, vegetable, or mixed; whether in its raw state, or after it has undergone a culinary process. The animal, the vegetable, and the mineral worlds, combine to yield him nutrition in health, or restoratives in sick

ness.

I will not enlarge on that noble attribute of humanity, SPEECH; for, probably, every other animal has some mode of expression answering to this faculty in man; nor will I dwell on that grand peculiarity of our species, REASON; but I cannot suffer this opportunity to escape me ⚫ without noticing that greatest and best exercise of man's rational powers, RELIGION. It is given to man alone not only to know his Creator, but to feel, to apprehend, to appreciate, to

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taste, and to see" His goodness. The Divine: influence warms, inspires, and animates his heart; elevating his thoughts and his imagination above the sublunary objects of sense; and directing his mental vision through the long vista of this nether sphere to worlds yet

shrouded from the eye of mere animality in the thick and dark veil of futurity. To what immeasurable limits would this thought carry us! What a capacious field for investigation here presents itself! What a noble exercise for the mental powers! But I must forbear; and hasten to conclude this brief outline of a science, which embraces every subject connected with man, whilst it awakens and begets associations of the most sublime and interesting nature.

SECTION VI.

A GENERAL VIEW OF THE MOST COMMON OB

JECTIONS TO THE TRUTH AND ACCURACY OF

PHYSIOGNOMICAL SCIENCE.

IT were both uncandid and unjust, nor could it answer any valuable purpose, to deny that objections, many of them of great plausibility, and apparent force, have been made to this science. Neither has it escaped the most pointed shafts of ridicule, nor the more determined attacks of public odium.

Amongst the many obsolete, and often ridiculous, enactments of our own Statute-Books, we find one, to the great disgrace of the present age, of no earlier a date than the last reign; when, in the year 1741, an act was passed, declaring all those "to be rogues and

vagabonds" who "pretend to have skill in Physiognomy, palmistry, or like crafty science!" Who, according to the letter of this prohibitory law, is not a rogue and a vagabond? for all men pretend to have some "skill in Physiognomy." Such nonsensical enactments can only excite the smile of contempt: they ought not, however, to be suffered to disgrace the Statute-Book any longer; but to be swept away, along with all the other rubbish, which has accumulated through ages of ignorance, superstition, and folly; that the fair fabric of our civil code may be exhibited in its real state of purity and excellence. With the age of ignorance should perish the laws which ignorance has enacted; and the science of legislation, founded on the permanent basis of truth and reason, should keep pace with those improvements and discoveries that are daily made in arts, science, and useful literature.

To the juggling nonsense and knavery of some of its professors, this science owes much of the odium under which it labours. Its prin