Ossian Collection > Thoughts on the origin and descent of the Gael

be considered to amount to indications of mark-
ed specific differences in the human race, expos-
ed to the influence of various climes and tem-
peratures.
When we contemplate the diversified natural
properties of brute animals, and observe, that
they are endowed with instincts, powers, and
quahties, suited only to certain climates and
tracts of the earth's surface, varying from the
polar to the meridional regions of the globe, it
seems to be not unreasonable to conclude, that
the creation of brute animals was a power exert-
ed by the Autiior of nature, not on any definite
spot or peculiarly favoured territory, but that
the divine energy operated its just effect in the
production of animals of the brute creation, in
the different climates and regions to which their
natural instincts and qualities were best adapted.
When we survey the globe, we find man, the
inhabitant of all its regions, not limited to any
particular soil; he subsists in social connexion in
all the earth's explored climates and tempera-
tures. This animal is universally endowed with
intellectual powers, which are not possessed by
any species of animals of the brute creation.
Yet the intellectual faculties of man, connected
with bodily frame and complexion, exhibit so
various an aspect among different races of man-
kind, as would seem to authorize an arrange-
ment of the human species into different classes,
marked by specific diversities of powers, both