earth." That is, they were dispersed very widely, sent into the
various and remote parts of the earth; and their nationality received
its being from the latitudes 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