Interpretation of the Passage commented on by Grotius. Mr. Lyell's Geological Proofs of the Recent Origin of Man. Grounds of Adelung's Opinion that Central Asia was the Birthplace of the Human Race. Its Central Position and High Elevation. Its Climate. It is the native Country of Domestic Animals. This View consistent with the Scriptural Narrative, and supported by ancient Indian Accounts. “Ararat” of Scripture not in Armenia. Monosyllabic and Polysyllabic Languages. Dr. Prichard on the Origin of different Races. The Dispersion of Mankind probably very rapid. Routes of Diffusion. Basques and Celts. Connexion of the Welsh with Negro Dialects. The Peopling of Islands. The Unity of the Human Species deduced from the Uniformity of the Moral, Mental, and Social Features of civilized and uncivilized Races. Egyptians and Negroes. Ancient Gauls and Modern French. Tendencies to Progression among Races yet uncivilized. The N. A. Indian Tribe the Mandans. Imperfection of Modern Civilization. The Siege of Genoa. The Hottentot Race.

In commenting on a celebrated passage of Scripture, Grotius has adopted, with regard to the primitive language of mankind, the conclusion expressed on the title-page.

“That Language the Hebrews say is the same as theirs—the Syrians say it is the same as theirs. It may be asserted, [pg xiv] with more truth, that the Primitive Language is not extant in a pure state anywhere, but that its remains exist in all languages!”

Of the conclusion thus expressed by this celebrated writer—a conclusion dictated by the intuitive sagacity of a great mind—the facts developed in the following pages will be shown to be confirmatory. All existing languages, when viewed separately, are fragmentary and irregular. But when a wide and extensive comparison is instituted, the “disjecta membra” are found to reunite, and the irregularities to disappear!

Assuming the various languages of the Globe to have been derived from one Original Speech, it will be established that the formation of numerous distinct languages from that one Primitive Tongue admits of a complete explanation, by means of causes of which the agency can be traced within the range of the Historical era. The influence of those causes will be shown within a limited period of time to have produced dialects which display—not a destruction—but a dispersion of the elements of the Parent languages from which they are known to have arisen. In other words, these dialects manifest the same relative features as are exhibited by those languages which were formed anterior to the period of History. The only distinction is, that in the latter case the differences are more numerous and extensive—a result which is obviously a necessary consequence of a longer period of time.

Agreeably to an interpretation which has received very high sanction, the event described in the passage referred to in the title-page cannot be pronounced to have had any considerable share in the production of Human Languages, for, according to eminent authorities,1 the changes thereby [pg xv] caused probably consisted in mere Dialectic differences, not materially affecting the Words or Structure of Language. Moreover (it is inferred) the influence of that event did not extend to the whole Human Race, but merely to that small portion of it who were the ancestors of the Semetic or Syro-Phoenician nations.

In these pages are embodied proofs, from Language, of the two following propositions:—1. That the various nations of our Globe are descended from one Parent Tribe. 2. That the introduction of the Human Species into the system to which it belongs, cannot be referred to an epoch more ancient than the era indicated as the date of that event by our received systems of chronology.

These propositions, of which the Philological evidence is developed in this volume, are supported not only by the testimony of History, Sacred and Profane, but also by the highest Scientific authorities.

In Cuvier's theory of the Earth the date of the origin of our species is discussed, not only on Geological but also on Historical grounds, in a disquisition embracing an immense mass of learning on the subject of the supposed antiquity of the Chinese, Egyptians, and other nations who have laid claim to a very remote origin. These pretensions are rejected, and the date usually assigned to the origin of Man is adopted in this celebrated work.

The same views have been expressed by Mr. Lyell; views which he espouses, not merely as the result of his own reasonings, but of the prevalent conclusions of the highest geological authorities.

“I need not dwell,” he observes, “on the proofs of the low antiquity of our species, for it is not controverted by any experienced geologist; indeed the real difficulty consists in tracing back the signs of man's existence on the earth to that comparatively modern period when species, [pg xvi] now his contemporaries, began to predominate. If there be a difference of opinion respecting the occurrence in certain deposits of the Remains of Man, and his works, it is always in reference to strata confessedly of the most modern order, and it is never pretended that our race co-existed with assemblages of Animals and Plants, of which all or even a great part of the species are extinct. From the concurrent testimony of history and tradition we learn that parts of Europe now the most fertile, and most completely subjected to the dominion of Man, were, less than three thousand years ago, covered with forests, and the abode of wild beasts. The archives of nature are in accordance with historical records, and when we lay bare the most superficial covering of peat we sometimes find therein the canoes of the savage, together with huge antlers of the wild stag, or horns of the wild bull. In caves now open to the day, in various parts of Europe, the bones of large beasts of prey occur in abundance, and they indicate that at periods comparatively modern in the history of the globe the ascendancy of man, if he existed at all, had scarcely been felt by the brutes.”2

(See an analogous argument of Berkeley for the Recent Origin of Man, quoted with approbation by Mr. Lyell, vol. iii. p. 203.)

In what part of the Globe was the Human species first introduced? On this interesting question various opinions have existed, and very opposite theories have been propounded. Sir Humphry Davy3 surmised that this locality must have been somewhere in or near the Tropics, in a climate suited to the tender childhood of the Race. Sir William Jones fixed upon Persia or Iran.4 Adelung has concluded [pg xvii] in favour of a contiguous locality; viz., the regions of the Indus, the borders of Cashmire and Tibet. It may be observed also that his grounds, in some respects, coincide with those adopted by Sir William Jones, who, after alluding to the extensive and, as he conceives, fundamental differences between the Languages of—1, The Persians and Indians, Romans and Greeks, &c.; 2, The Jews, Arabs, &c.; 3, The people of China and Japan; and 4, The Tartars—nations whom, nevertheless, he conceives to have descended from one pair—observes, “If, then, you consider the seats of all the migrating nations as points in a surrounding figure, you will perceive that the several rays, diverging from Iran, may be drawn to them without any intersection; but this will not happen, if you assume as a centre, Arabia or Egypt; India, Tartary, or China: it follows that Iran, or Persia (I contend for the meaning, not the name,) was the central country which we sought.”

Adelung's5 Dissertation on this subject, which, as he states, contains “the only hypothesis in which he has permitted himself to indulge,” is characterized by profound reasoning and graceful illustration. Considering their variety and extent, his proofs seem to be conclusive, especially when dissociated from the opinion which was entertained both by himself and Sir William Jones, viz., that the languages of the nations forming the diverging radii of migration are fundamentally different. Of these languages the original unity will be apparent, from the facts embodied in this work. Adelung's grounds for selecting the Central Asiatic regions of Cashmire and Tibet are—1. Their Geographical position and high elevation, and the direction of their mountains and rivers, which render these countries a natural source for the diffusion of Population over the Globe. 2. Their Climate [pg xviii] and Natural productions. 3. The Ancient Indian accounts which are corroborated by the Scriptural narrative. 4. In these regions is the line which separates from other Asiatic races the nations who exhibit the Mongol or Tartar Physiognomy. 5. The same line separates the Monosyllabic and Polysyllabic Languages. 6. The Astronomical reasonings of Bailly.