The precise object of Mr. EDWARD MERTON'S Physical and Intellectual
Constitution of Man Considered, is not very clear, or at least the useful purpose which it is to answer : so far, however, as we can catch the drift of the writer, lie appears to aim at support- ing the Mosaic account by deductions drawn from a general survey of animated and inanimate nature, and from a fuller examination of the various races of mankind. His volume opens with a slight geological view of the previous stages through which the world has passed to its present condition ; the end of which is to prove, what no one denies, that man could not then have existed upon it,— which is merely saying that man is what he is. He then briefly, but more satisfactorily, combats LEMARQUE'S theory, that the vast variety of created animals has gradually been brought about by progressive transmutations from one simple type. The next step is to take a view of the various races of mankind, in order to show, what all admit, that climate and other natural causes have a modi- fying influence on man ; and to prove that, therefore, the Cauca- sian, Mongolian, and other races, are mere varieties of an original stock, and not distinct species, as maintained by LAWRENCE and others; in which attempt Mr. MERTON breaks down, substituting mere loose conjecture for evidence. Some remarks on the intel- lectual condition of different nations close the volume ; the effect or which is to say, that the mind depends upon tempera- ment, and that temperament depends upon climate, food, and external circumstances.
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