udes to which the divinely appointed wave of
dispersion bore them; and their subsequent racial character was to
borrow its tone and color from climateric influences. Three great
families, the Shemitic, Hamitic, and Japhetic, were suddenly built up.
Many other families, or tribes, sprang from these; but these were the
three great heads of all subsequent races of men.

"That the three sons of Noah overspread and peopled the
whole earth, is so expressly stated in Scripture, that, had
we not to argue against those who unfortunately disbelieve
such evidence, we might here stop: let us, however, inquire
how far the truth of this declaration is substantiated by
other considerations. Enough has been said to show that
there is a curious, if not a remarkable, analogy between the
predictions of Noah on the future descendants of his three
sons, and the actual state of those races which are
generally supposed to have sprung from them. It may here be
again remarked, that, to render the subject more clear, we
have adopted the quinary arrangement of Professor
Blumenbach: yet that Cuvier and other learned physiologists
are of opinion that the primary varieties of the human form
are more properly but three; viz., the Caucasian, Mongolian,
and Ethiopian. This number corresponds with that of Noah's
sons. Assigning, therefore, the Mongolian race to Japheth,
and the Ethiopian to Ham, the Caucasian, the noblest race,
will belong to Shem, the third son of Noah, himself
descended from Seth, the third son of Adam. That the primary
distinctions of the human varieties are but _three_, has
been further maintained by the erudite Prichard; who, while
he rejects the nomenclature both of Blumenbach and Cuvier,
as implying absolute divisions, arranges the leading
varieties of the human skull under three sections, differing
from those of Cuvier only by name. That the three sons of
Noah who were to 'replenish the earth,' and on whose progeny
very opposite destinies were pronounced, should give birth
to different races, is what might reasonably be conjectured;
but that the observation of those who do, and of those who
do not, believe the Mosaic history, should tend to confirm
truth, by pointing out in what these three races do actually
differ, both physically and morally, is, to say the least