of reptiles, of mammalia, of the same kind. A close observer will
even easily detect dissimilarities between the double organs of the
same person, between the two eyes of his neighbor, the two hands
of a friend, the two feet of a stranger whom he meets.

It is therefore but consistent with general analogy that in the moral
as well as in the physical faculties of man, the same ever-recurring
variety should appear, in the features of the face, in the shape of
the limbs, in the moving of the muscles, as well as in the activity
of thought, in the mobility of humor, in the combination of passions,
propensities, sympathies, and aversions.

But, at the same time, with all these peculiarities perceptible in
individuals, men, when studied attentively, show themselves in
groups, as it were, distinguished from other groups by peculiarities
of their own, which are generally called characteristics of race;
and although, according to various systems, these characteristics
are made to expand or contract at will, to serve an _a priori_
purpose, and sustain a preconcerted theory, yet there are, with
respect to them, startling facts which no one can gainsay, and
which are worthy of serious attention.

Two of these facts may be stated in the following propositions:

I. At the cradle of a race or nation there must have been a type
imprinted on its progenitor, and passing from him to all his
posterity, which distinguishes it from all others.

II. The character of a race once established, cannot be eradicated
without an almost total disappearance of the people.