o 1 SOUTHE =^= CD ^^^^^H^ r • - - -— ! 1 1' 1 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES ! ._ li r1 r -^/- v— V? ^•\ 7 n/ ■■/-? A N ESSAY ON THE CAUSES OF THE VARIETY O F COMPLEXION AND FIGURE IN THE HUMAN SPECIES. TO WHICH ARE ADDED, STRICTURES O N LORD KAIMS's DISCOURSE, ON THE ORIGINAL DIVERSITY OF MANKIND. By the Reverend SAMUEL STANHOPE SMITH, D. D. VICE-PRESIDENT, AND PROFESSOR OF MORAL PHILOSOPHV IN THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEYJ AND MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, HELD AT PHILADELPHIA, FOR PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. Philadelphia, printed; London, re-printed: For John Stockdale, oppofite Burlington-houl'e, Piccadilly. ,^ „ ., >A Mracc^xxxix. 9 o ^ '^ J- ^ 5 55 CA UJ or THE fubftance of the following Effay was delivered in the annual Oration, before the Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, February 28th, 1787. — And the whole is j)ublifhed at the requeft of the Society. CO CD CD C3 Q A 2 301280 At a Meeting of the American Philosophical Society, on Friday Evenings the i^th of Fe- truary, 1787. On Motion ordered, T^HAT the Thanks of the Society be given to the Reverend Dodlor Samuel S. Smith, for his ingenious and learned Oration, delivered this Evening, and that he be requefted to fur- nifh the Society with a Copy of the fame for Publication. Extrafted from the Minutes, James Hutchinson, ] Robert Patterson, ( Samuel Magaw, { John Foulke, J « A N ESSAY O N T H E CAUSES OF THE VARIETY O F ? COMPLEXION AND FIGURE I N T H E HUMAN SPECIES. IN the hiflory and philofophy of human nature, one of the firft objeds that ftrikes an obferver, is the variety of complexion and of figure among mankind. To affign the caufes of this phsenomenon has been fre- quently a fubjecl of curious fpeculation. Many philofophers have refolved the difficul- ties with which this inquiry is attended, by i having recourfe to the arbitrary hypothefis, - that men are originally fprung from different flocks, and are therefore divided by nature into different fpecies. But as we are not at liberty to make this fuppofition, fo I hold it A3 to 6 Of Complexion and Figure to be nnphilofophical to recur to bypothefis, when the whole effect may, on proper invef- tigation, be accounted for by the ordinary laws of nature *. On this difcufilon I am now about to enter; and iliall probably unfold, in its progrefs, fome principles, the full importance of which will not be obvious at fir ft view to thofe who have not been accuftomed to obferve the ope- rations of nature with minute and careful at- tention. Principles, however, which, expe- rience leads me to believe, will acquire addi- tional evidence from time and obfervation. Of the caufes of thefe varieties among mankind I fhall treat under the heads — I. Of Climate. V 1 II. Of the State of Society. ^ In treating this iubje6i;, I fhall not efpoufc any peculiar fyftem of medical principles, * It is no fraall objeflion to this hypothefis, that thefe fpecies cri. never be afcertained. We hsve no means of dillinguiihing how many were originally formed, or where any of them are now to be found. And they muft have been long fince fo mixed by the migrations of mankind, that the properties of each fpecies can never be determined. Befides, this fuppofition unavoidably confounds the whole philofophy of huiman nature. — See the conchjion of this EJay. which. /;/ the "Human Species^ 7 which, in the continual revolutions of cpi-- nion, might be in hazard of being afterwards difcarded. I (hall, as much as polTible, avoid ufing terms of ait; or attempting to explain the manner of operation of the caufes, v^here diverfity of opinion among phyficians has left the fubjed in doubt. And, in the beginning, permit me to make one general remark, which muit often have occurred to every judicious inquirer into the powers both of moral and of phyfical caufes— that every permanent and chara6leriil:ical va- riety in human nature, is effeftcd by flow and almoft imperceptible gradations. Great and ^ j 4, fudden changes are too violent for the deli- cate conftitution of man, and ab.vays tend to ^/s' dedroy the fyftem. But changes that become incorporated, and that form the chara6ler of a climate or nation, are progreffively carried on through feveral generations, till the caufes that produce them have attained their utmoll operation. In this way, the minutcfl caufes, acting conilantly, and long continued, will neceflarily create great and confpicuous dif- ferences among mankind. I. Of the firft clafs of caufes, I Ihall treat under the head of climate. A 4 In 8 Of Coviplexion and Figure In tracing the globe from the pole to the equator, we obferve a gradation in the com- plexion nearly in proportion to the latitude of the country. Immediately below the ar6lic circle a high and fanguine colour prevails. From this you defcend to the mixture of red in white. Afterwards fucceed the brown, the olive, the tawny, and at length the black, as you proceed to the line. The fame diftance from the fun, however, does not, in every region, indicate the fame temperature of cli- mate. Some fecondary caufes mull: be taken into confideration as corre<5ting and limiting its influence. The elevation of the land, its vicinity to the fea, the nature of the foil, the ftate of cultivation, the courfe of winds, and many other circumfl:ances, enter into this view. Elevated and mountainous countries are cool in proportion to their altitude above the level of the fea — vicinity to the ocean pro- duces oppofite efFe6ls in northern and fouth- ern latitudes; for the ocean being of a more equal temperature than the land, in one cafe corredls the cold, in the other moderates the heat. Ranges of mountains, fuch as the Appenines in Italy, and Taurus, Caucafus, and Iniaus in Afia, by interrupting the courfe of cold winds, render the protected countries below in the Human Species, 9 below them warmer, and the countries above them colder, than is equivalent to the propor- tional difference of latitude. The frigid zone in Afia is much wider than it is in Europe; and that continent hardly knows a temperate zone. From the northern ocean to Caucafus, fays Montefquieu, Afia may be confidered as a fiat mountain. Thence to the ocean that wafhes Perfia and India, it is a low and level country, without feas, and proteded by this immenfe range of hills from the polar winds. The Afiatic is therefore warmer than the European continent below the fortieth degree of latitude; and above that latitude is much more cold. Climate alfo receives fome differ- ence from the nature of the foil ; and fome from the degree of cultivation. — Sand is fuf- ceptible of greater heat than clay ; and an un- cultivated region, fliaded with forefl s, and co- vered with undrained marfhes, is more frigid in northern, and more temperate in fouthern latitudes, than a country laid open to the di- re6l and conflant action of the fun. Hiftory informs that, when Germany and Scythia were buried in forefts, the Romans often tranfported their armies acrofs the frozen Da- nube; but, fmce the civilization of thofe bar- barous regions, the Danube rarely fj-eezes. Many 1 o Of Complexion and Figure Many other circumftances might be enume- rated which modify the influence of climate. Thefe will be fufficient to give a general idea of the fubjecl. And by the intelligent reader they may be eahly extended, and applied to the ilate of particular countries. From the preceding obfervations we "de- rive this conclufion, that there is a general ra- tio of heat and cold, which forms what we call climate, and a general refemblance of nations, according to the latitude from the equator j fubjecr, however, to innumerable va- rieties from the infinite combinations of the circumfi:ances I have fuggcfied. After hav- ing exhibited the general efFe6l, I fliall take np the capital deviations from it that are found in the world, and endeavour to fliew that they naturally refult from certain con- currences of thefe modifying caufes. Our experience verifies the power of cll- mate on the complexion. The heat of fum- rner darkens the fl^in, the cold of winter chafes it, and excites a fanguine colour. Thefe alternate efFei51s in the temperate zone tend in fome degree to cpneft one another. But when heat or cold predominates in any re- 9 gion. in the Human Species. 1 1 glon, It impreffes, in the fame proportion, a permanent and charafteriflical complexion. The dtgree in which it predominates may be confidered as a conflant caufe to the a6tion of which the human body is expofed. This caufe will affecl the nerves by tenfion or re- laxation, by dilatation or contra6tion — It will afFe6l the fluids by increafmg or leilening the perfpiration, and by altering the proportions of all the fecretions- — It will peculiarly affe6l the fkin by the immediate operation of the atmofphere, of the fun's rays, or of the prin- ciple of cold upon its delicate texture. Eve- ry fenfible difference in the degree of the caufe, will create a vifible change in the hu- man body. To fuggeft at prefent a fingle example. — A cold and piercing air chafes the countenance and exalts the complexion* An air that is warm and mifty relaxes the conftitution, and gives fome tendency, in va- letudinarians efpecially, to a bilious hue. Thefe effects are tranfient, and interchange- able in countries where heat and cold alter- nately fucceed in nearly equal proportions. But when the climate confcantly repeats the one or the other of thefe effedls in any de- gree, then, in proportion, an habitual colour begins to be formed. Colour and figure may be 1 2 Of Complexion and Figiire be filled habits of the body. Like other ha- bits, they are created, not by great and fud- den imprellions, but by continual and almoft imperceptible touches. Of habits both of mind and body, nations are fufceptible as well as individuals. They are tranfmitted to offspring, and augmented by inheritance. Long in growing to maturity, national fea- tures, like national manners, become fixed only after a fucceffion of ages. They be- come, however, fixed at laft. And if we can afcertain any effe6l produced by a given ftate of weather or of climate, it requires only re- petition during a fufficient length of time, to augment and imprefs it with a permanent chara6ler. The fanguine countenance will, for this reafon, be perpetual in the highefl latitudes of the temperate zonci and we fhall for ever find the fwarthy, the olive, the taw- ny, and the black, as we defcend to the fouth. The uniformity of the effe6l in the fame climate, and on men in a fimilar flate of fo- ciety, proves the power and certainty of the caufe. If the advocates of different human fpecies fuppofe that the beneficent Deity hath created the inhabitants of the earth of dif- ferent colours, becaufe thefe colours are befl adapted in the Human Species. 13 adapted to their refpc6llve zones, it furely A,vr places his benevolence in a more advantageous ., j « /p light to fay, he has given to human nature i"' the power of accommodating itfelf to every ■. » zone. This pliancy of nature is favourable '^VI to the unions of the moft diftant nations, and vX,s>^^^** facilitates the acquifition and the extenfion oi t/^-^\^^- fcience, which would otherwifebe confined to few objeds and to a very limited range. It opens the way particularly to the knowledge of the globe which we inhabit ; a fubje6l fo important and interefting to man. — It is verified by experience. Mankind are for ever changing their habitations by conqueft or by commerce. And we find them in all climates not only able to endure the change, but {o cjffimilated by time, that we cannot fay wqth certainty whole anceitor was the native of the clime, and whofe the in- truding foreigner. I will here propofe a few principles on the change of colour, that are not liable to dif- pute, and that may tend to (lied fome light on this fubjed:. In the beginning, it may be proper to ob- ferve, that the Ikin, though extremely delicate ^nd eafily fufceptible of impreffion from ex- ternal 14 Of Complexion and Figure ternal caufes, is, from iisftru6lure, among the leaft mutable parts of the body ^". Change of complexion does for this reafon continue long, from whatever cauie it n^ayhavc arii'en. And if the caufes of coloui have deeply pene- trated the texture of the Ikin, it becomes per- petual. Figures, therefore, that are itained with paints inferted by punctures made m its fubflancc, can never be effaced -f-. An ardent fun is able intirely to penetrate its texture. Even in our climate, the Ikin, when firfc ex- pofed to the direct and continued a6iion of the folar rays, is inflamed into biiilers, and fcorched through its Vv'hole fubftance. Such an operation not only changes its colour, but increafes its tbicknefs. The flimulus of heat exciting a greater flux of humours to the ikin, tends to incraffate its fubilance, till it becomes denfe enough to refift the a6tion of the ex- * A natomlfls inform us that, like the bones, it has few or no veflels, and rherefore is not liable to thofe changes of augmentation or diminution, and continual alteration of parts, to which the ileih, the blood, and the whole vafcular fyftem is fubjefr. -f- It is well known what a length of time is required to efface the freckits contracted in a fair fkin by the expofure of a fingle day. Freckles are feen of all fliades of colour. They are kno, a to be created by the fun; and become in- delible by lime. The i\in has power equally to change every part of the fkin, when equally expofed to its aftion. And. it is, not improperly, obferved by fome writers, that colour may be ju{:ly ©onfidered as an univerfal freckle. citing in the Human Species, i^ citing caufe*. On the fame principle, fric- tion excites blifters in the hand of the labour- er, and thickens the fkin till it becomes able to endure the continued operation of his in- - flruments. The face or the hand, expofed uncovered during an intire fummer, contracts a colour of the darkeft brown. In a torrid climate, where the inhabitants are naked, the colour will be as much deeper, as the ardour of the fun is both more conitant and more in- tenfe. And if we compare the dark hue that, '^-''^^^Tamons; us, is fometimes formed by continual , ^^,' expofure, with the colour of the African, the i "*f difference is not greater than is proportioned \i to the augmented heat and coniiancy of the " climate -f. The principle of colour is not, however, to be derived (olely from the a6tion of the fun upon the fkin. Heat, efpecially when unit- ed with putrid exhalations that copiouHy im- pregnate the atmofphere in warm and uncul- tivated regions, relaxes the nervous fyftem. The bile in confequence is augmented, and * Anatomifts know that all people of colour have their Ikin thicker than people of a fair complexion, in proportion to the darknefs of the hue. f If the force of fire be fufficicnt, at a given diftance, to fcorch the fuel, approach it as much nearer as is proportional to the difference of heat between our climate and that of Africa, and ic will burn it black> ilied 3 6 Of Complexion and Figure died through the whole mafs of the body. This liquor tinges the complexion of a yel- low colour, which aflumes by time a darker hue. In many other inftances, we fee that relaxation, whether it be caufed by the va- pours of flagnant waters, or by fedentary oc- cupations, or by lofs of blood, or by indolence, fubjedts men to diforders of the bile, and dif- colours the Ikin. It has been proved by phyficians, that in fervid climates the bile is glways augmented in proportion to the heat *. Bile, expofed to the fun and air, is known to change its colour to black — black is therefore the tropical hue. Men who remove from northern to fouthern regions are ufually at- tacked by dangerous diforders that leave the blood impoverifhed, and filed a yellow ap- . pearance over the fkin. Thefe diforders are perhaps the efforts of nature in breaking down and changing the conftituticn, in order to accommodate it to the climate ; or to give it that degree of relaxation, and to mingle with it that proportion of bile, which is ne- ceflary for its new fituation -f*. On this dark ground, * SeeDr. M'Clurgon the bile. f Phyficians difter in their opinions concerning the ftate of the bile in warm countries. Some fuppofe that it is thrown oat to be a corredor of putridity. Oihers fuppofe that in the Human Species. ly ground the hue of the climate becomes, at length, deeply and permanently im- preffed. On the fubjecSl: of the phyfical caufes of co- lour 1 fhall reduce my principles to a few fhort propofitions derived chiefly from experience and obfervation, and placed in fuch connexion as to illufbrate and fuppoi tone another. They may be enlarged and multiplied by men of leifure and talents who are difpofed to purfue the inquiry farther. 1. It is a fa61:, that the fun darkens the fkin although there be no uncommon redundancy of the bile. 2. It is alfo a fa6l, that redundancy of bile darkens the Ikin although there be no un- common expofure to the fun *. that in all relaxed habits, the bile isitfelf in a putrid flate. I decide not among the opinions of phyficians. Whichever be true, the -theory 1 advance will be equally juft. The bile will be augmented; it will tinge the ikin, and there, whe- ther in a found or putrid ftate, will receive the aftion of the fun and atmofphere, and be, in proportion, changed to- wards black. * Redundancy of bile long continued, as in the cafe of the black jaundice, or of extreme melancholy, creates a colour almoft perfeftly black. B 3- It 3 ^ Of Complexion and Figure 3. It is a fa(5l equally certain, that where both cau(es co-operate, the effect is much greater and the colour much deeper *. 4. It is difcovered by anatomifts, that the fkin con fills of three lamelise, or folds, — the external, which in all nations is an extremely fine and tranfparent integument, — the in- terior, which is alio white, — and an interme- diate, which is a cellular membrane filled with a mucous fubuance. 5. Thisfubf!:ancc, whatever it be, is altered In its appearance and colour with every change of the conltitution — As appears in bluftiing, in fevers, or in confequence of ex- ercife. A lax nerve, that does not propel the blood with vigour, leaves it pale and fal- low-— it is inflantly aftecled with the irnalleft furcharge of bile, and itained of a yellowr colour. 6. The change of climate produces a pro- portionable alteration in the internal ftate and fcru6i:ure of the body, and in the quantity of * This we fee verified in thofe perfons who have been long fubjeft to bilious diforders, if they have been much expofed to the fun. Their complexion becomes in that cafe ex- tremely dark. the in the Human Species. 19 the fecretions *. In fouthern climates par- ticularly, the bile, as has been remarked, is always augmented. 7. Bile, expofed to the fun and air in a ftagnant, or nearly in a ftagnant flate, tends in its colour towards black. 8. The fecretions, as they approach the ex- tremities, become more languid in their mo- tion, till at length they come almoft to a fixed flate in the ildn. 9. The aqueous parts efcaping eafily by perfpiration through the pores of the fkin, thofe that are more denfe and incraffated re- main in a mucous or glutinous ftate in that cellular membrane between the interior fkin and the fcarf, and receive there, during a long time, the imprefilons of external and difcolouring caufes. 10. The bile is peculiarly liable to become mucous and incraffated -f-; and in this ftate, * This appears from the diTorders with which men are ufu- ally attacked on changing their climate ; and from the diiFer- ence of figure and afpeft which takes place in confequence of fuch removals. This latter reflexion will afterwards be fur- ther illuftrated. f In this ftate It is always copioufly found in the ftomach and inteftines, at leaft in confequence of a bilious habit of body. B a being 1 20 Of Complexion and Figure being unfit for perfpiration, and attaching it-. Jelf Itiongly to that Tpongy tillue of nerves, it is there detained for a length of time, till it receives the repeated allien of the fun and atmofphere. 11. From all the preceding principles taken together it appears, that the complexion ia any chmate will be changed tou'ards black, in proportion to the degree of heat in the •Aiq\V I atmofphere, and to the quantity of bile iu ^' "thefkin. 1 2. The vapours of ftagnant waters with which uncultivated regions abound j all great fatigues and hard (hips j poverty and naftinefs, tend, as vvell as heat, to augment the bile. Hence, no lefs than from their nakednefs, fa- vages will always be diicoloured, even in cold climates. For though cold, when affifted by fucculent nouriOiment, and by the comfort- able lodging and clothing furnifiied in civil- ized fociety, propels the blood with force to the extremities, and clears the complexion 3 yet when hardfhips and bad living relax the fyftem, and when poor and fhivering favages, under the ar6tic cold, do not polTefs thofe conveniencies that, by opening the pores, and /;/ the Human Species, 2 1 and cherifhing the body, afTiil the motion of the blood to the furface, the florid and fan- guine principle is repelled, and the complex- ion is left to be formed by the dark coloured bile J which, in that ftate, becomes the more dark, becaufe the obftrut^ion of the pores pre- fcrves it longer in a fixed (late in the ilcin. Hence, perhaps, the deep Lapponian com- plexion, which has been efleemed a phseno- menon fo difficult to be explained. 1 3. Cold, where it is not extreme *, is fol- lowed by a contrary effect. It corrects the bile, it braces the conftitution, it propels the blood to the furface of the body with vigour, and renders the complexion clear and florid -j-. Such are the obfervations which I propofe concerning the proximate caufe of colour in the human fpecies. But J remark, with plea^ fure, that whether this theory be well founded * Extreme cold is followed by an efFe(5t /imilar to that of ex- treme heat. It relaxes ci e coniliturion by ovetllraininw ir and augments the bile This, togefer with the fatigues and hardfliipsand other evils of favage life^ renders the complexion darker beneath the ardiic circle, than it is in the middle regions of the temperate zone, even in a favage Itate of fociety. ■\ Cold air is known to contain a confiJerable quantity of nitre ; and this ingredient is known to be favourable to a clear and ruddy complexion, B 3 or 2 2 Of Complexion ajtd Figure or not, the fad may be properly afcertained, that climate has all that power to change the complexion which I fuppofe, and which is necefiary to the prefent fubje6t. — It ap- j>ears from the w^hole Hate of the world — it appears from obvious and undeniable events wdthin the memory of hiftory, and from events even within our own view. Encircle the earth in every zone, and, making thofe reafonable allowances which have been already fuggefted, and which will afterwards be farther explained, you will fee every zone marked by its diftin6l and charac- teriftical colour. The black prevails under the equator; under the tropics, the dark cop- per; and on this fide of the tropic of Cancer, to the feventieth degree of north latitude, you fucceflively difcern the olive, the brown, the fair and the fanguine complexion. Of each of thefe there are feveral tints or fhades. And under the ar6lic circle, you return again to the dark hue. This general uniformity in the effe6l indicates an influence in the cHmate that, under the fame circumiiances, will al- ways operate in the fame manner. The ap- parent deviations from the law of climate that exifc in different regions of the globe will be found to confirm it, when I come, in the pro- grefs in the Human species, 23 grefs of this dircourfe, to point out their caufes * The power of climate, I have fVid, appears from obvious and undeniable events within the memory of hiilory. From the Baltic to the Mediterranean you trace the different latitudes by various fliades of colour. From the fame, or from nearly refcmbling nations, are derived the fair German, the dark French-; man, the fwarthy Spaniard and Sicilian. The fouth of Spain is diiiinguiOied by complexion from the north. The fame obl'crvation may be applied to moft of the other countries of Europe. And if we would extend it beyond Europe to the great nations of the eaft, it is applicable to Turkey, to Arabia, to Perfia, and to China. The people of Pekin are fair; at Canton they are nearly black. The Perfians near the Cafpian fea are among the fairefl people in the world -f; near the gulph of Or- mus they are of a dark olive. The inhabit- ants of the Stony and Defert Arabia are tawny; while thofe of Arabia the Happy are * Independently on theefFefts of the flate offociety, which will be hereafter illuftrated, there are, in reality, various cli- mates under the fame parallels. •f- The/^/> Circajfian has become proverbial of the women of a neighbouring nation. B 4 as .■^ 24 Of Complexion and Figure as black as the Ethiopians. In thefe ancient nations, colour holds a regular progreffion with the latitude from the equator. The ex- amples of the Chinefe and the Arabians are the more decifive on this fubje6l, becaufe they are known to have continued, from the re- nioteft antiquity, unmingled with other na- tions. The latter, in particular, can be traced up to their origin from one family. But no example can carry with it greater force on this fiibjccl than that of the Jews. Defcend- ed from one flock, prohibited by their mod facred inftitutions from intermarrying with other nations, and yet difperfed, according to the divine predictions, into every country on the globe, this one people is marked with the colours or all. Fair in Britain and Germany, brown in France and in Turkey, fwarthy in Portugal and in Spain, olive in Syria and in Chaldea, tawny or^copper-coloured in Arabia and in Egypt * Another example of the power of climate, more immediately fubje6l to our own view, may be (hewn in the inhabitants of thefe United States. Sprung within a few years from the Britifli, the Iridi, and the German * Buffon'sNat. Hill. Vol. III. nations. in the Human Species. 25 nations, who are the faireH: people in Europe, they are now fpread over this continent from the thirty-firfl: to the foity- fifth degiee of northern latitude. And, notwithflanding the temperature of the climate — notwithftanding the fliortnefs of the period fmce their firll eftablifhment in America — notwithfbanding the continual mixture of Europeans with thofe born in the country — notwithftanding previous ideas of beauty that prompted them to guard againll: the influence of the climate —and notwithftanding the ftate of high civilization in which they took poirefllon of their new habitations, they have already fuf- fered a vifible change, A certain counte- nance of palenefs and of foftnefs ftrikes a traveller from Britain the moment he arrives upon our fhore, A degree of fallownefs is vifible to him, which, through familiarity, or the want of a general ftandard of compari- fon, hardly attracts our obfervation. This effect is more obvious in the middle, and ihll more in the fouthern, than in the northern ftates. It is more oblervable in the low lands near the ocean, than as you approach the Apa- lachian mountains ; and more in the lower and labouring clalies of ptople, than in fa- milies of eafy fortune who pofl'efs the means and the inclinatioji to protecl their com- plexion. 2 6 Of Complex J 072 and Figure plexion. The Inhabitants of New- Jerfeyjbeloi^ the falls of the rivers, are fomewhat darker in their colour than the people of Pennfyl- van ia, both becaufe the land is lower in its fituation, and becaufe it is covered with a greater quantity of flagnant water. A more fouthern latitude augments the colour along the (liores of Maryland and Virginia. At length the low lands of the Carolinas and of Georgia degenerate to a complexion that is but a few fhades lighter than that of the Iroquois. I fpeak of the poor and labouring clafles of the people, who are always firft and mofl deeply affeded by the influence of climate, and who eventually give the national complexion to every country. The change of complexion' which has already paded upon thefe people is not eafily imagined by an inhabitant of Britain, and furnifhes the clearefi: evidence to an attentive obferver of nature, that if they were thrown, like the native Indians, into a favage ftate, they v/ould be perfe6lly marked, in time, with the fame colour. Not only their complexion but their whole conflitution feems to be changed. So thin and meagre is the habit of the poor, and of the over- feers of their flaves, tliat, frequently, their limbs appear to have adifproportioned length to the body, and the fiiape of the fkeleton is evidently in the Iliimaft Specks, ij evidently difcernible through the fkin*. If thefe men had been found in adiilant regioii where no memory of their origin remained, the philofophers who efpoufe the hypothefis of different fpecies of men would have pro- duced them in proof, as they have often done nations diflinguilbed by fmaller differences than diffinguilh thefe from their European anceftors -f-. Examples taken from the natives of * The dark colour of the natives of the Wefl India Iflands is well known to approach very near a dark copper. The de- fcendants of the Spaniards in South America are already be- come copper- coloured [See Phil. Tranf, of Roy. Soc. Lond. No. 476, fed. 4.]. The Portuguefe of Mitomba, in Sierra Leona, on the coaft of Africa, have, by intermarrying with. the natives, and by adopting their manners, become, in a few generations, perfedly affimilated in afpect, figure, and complexion [See Treatife on the Trade of Great Britain to Africa, by an African merchant.]. And Lord Kaims, who cannot befufpeifted of partiality on thisfubjed:, fays of another Portuguefe fettlement on the coall of Congo, that the defcend- ants of thofe poiifhed Europeans hav^e become, both in their . perfons and their manners, more like hearts than like men [See Sketches of Man, prel. difc,]. Thefe examples tend to Itrengthen the inference drawn from the changes t-liat have happened in the Anglo-Americans. And they fhew how eafily climate would affirnilate foreigners to natives in the courfe of time, if they would adopt the fame manners, and eq^ually expofe themfeh'es to its influence, f The habit of America is, in genera], more flender ehan that of Britain. But the extremely meagre afped of the poorell and lov/eil clafs of people in fome of the fouthern ftates may arife from the following caufe, that the changes produced by climate are, in the firll inftance, generally dileafes. Here- after, when the conlfitution fhall be perfedly accommodated to the climate, it will by degrees affume a more regular and agreeable figure. The Anglo-Americans, however, will rever refemble the native Indians. Civilization will prevent fo great a degeneracy either in the colour or the features. Even if 2 8 Of Complexion and Figure of the United States are the Wronger, becaufe climate has not had time to imprefs upon them its full character. And the change has been retarded by the arts of fociety, and by the continual intermixture of foreign nations. Thefe changes may, to perfons who think fuperficially on the fubjedt, feeni more flow in their progrefs than is confident with the principles hitherto laid down concerning the influence of climate. But in the philofophy of human nature it is worthy of obfervation, that all national changes, whether moral or phyfical, advance by imperceptible grada- tions, and are not accomplilhed but in a feries of ages. Ten centuries were requifite to po- lilh the manners of Europe. It is not im- probable that an equal fpace of time may be neceffary to form the countenance, and the figure of the body — to receive all the infen- fible and infinite imprefiions of climate — to combine thefe with the effe6ls that refult from the fiateof fociety — to blend both along with perfonal peculiarities — and by the innumer- if they were thrown back again into the favage ftate, the re- semblance would not be complete; becaufe the one would receive the impreffions of the climate on the ground of fea- tures formed in Europe — the others have received them on the ground of features formed in a very different region of the globe. The effedls of fuch various combinations can never be the fame. able in the Huma/t Species. 29 able unions of families to melt down the whole into one uniform and national countenance*. It is even queflionable whether, amidil eter- nal migrations and conqueds, any nation in Europe has yet received the full efFccis of thefe caufes. China and Arabia are perhaps the only civilized countries in the world in which they have attained their utmofi: opera- tion ; becaufe they are the only countries in which the people have been able, during a long fuccelTion of ages, to preferve themfelves unmixed with other nations Each parallel of latitude is, among them, dillinclly marked by its peculiar complexion. In no other na- tion is there fuch a regular and perfetl gra- dation of colour as is traced from the fair natives of Pekin to Canton, whofe inhabitants are of the darkeil copper — or, from the olive of the Oefert Arabia to the deep black of the province of Yemen. It is plain then, that the caufes of colour, and of other varieties in the human fpecies, have not yet had their full operation on the inhabitants of thefe United States. Such an operation, however, they have already had as aifords a ftrong proof, * In favage life men more fpeedily receive the chara£ler- iftic features of the climate, and of the Hate of fociety; becaufe the haoits and ideas of fociety among them are few and fimple; and to the adlion of the climate they are expofed naked and defencelefs, to fuiFer ita fuU force at once. and 30 Of Complexion and Figure and an interefting example, of the powerful int]nence of climate*. The preceding obfervations have been intendt-d chiefly to explain the principle of colour. I proceed now to illuiirate the in- fluence of climate on other varieties of the human body. It would be impofT.ble, in the compafs of a difcourfe like the prefent, to enter minutely into the defcription of every feature of the countenance and of every limb of the body, and to explain ail the changes in each that may poffibly be produced by the power of climate combined with other accidental caufes. Our knowledge of the human conflitution, * The reader will pleafe to keep in mind, that in remark- ing on the charges that have paii'ed on the 7\nglo-Americans, I have in visw the mais of the people ; and that 1 have in view, likewife, natives of the fecond or third generation, and not fuch as are fprung from parents, one or both of whom have been born in Europe j though even with regard to thefe, the remarks will be found to held in a great degree. 1 am aware that particular inftances may be adduced, that will feem to contradi'tl each remark. But fuch examples do not over- ihrow oeneral conclufions derived from the body of the po- pulace. And thefe inftances, I am perfuaded, will be very rare among thofe who have had a clear American defcent by both parents for two or three generations. They will be more rare in the low and level country, where the climate is more different, and the defcents more remote from Europe, than in the countries to the weft, where the land rifes into hill*'. Here the climate is more fimilar to that in the middle of Eu . rope, and the people are more mingled with emigrants from Ireland and Germany, or in the Human Species, 33 mate. In this example, at leafl, we fee that the human conftitution is capable of being moulded, by phyfical caufes, into many of the varieties that diftinguifla mankind. It is con- trary therefore to found philofophy, which never afligns different caufes, without necef- fity, for fimilar events, to have recourfe, for explaining thefe varieties, to the hypothefis of feveral original fpecies *. Climate pofTefies great and evident influ- ence on the hair not only of men, but of all other animals.- The changes which this ex- crefcence undergoes in them is at leaft equal to what it fuffers in man. If, in one cafe, thefe tranfmutations are acknowledged to be confident with identity of kind, they ought * If we fuppofe dlfFerent fpecies to have been created, how fhall we determine their number ? Are any of them loft r or where Ihall we, at prefent, find them clearly dillinguifhed from all others ? or were the fpecies of men made capable of being blended together, contrary to the nature of other animals, fo that they fhould never be difcriminated, fo rendering tha end unneceflary for which they were fuppofed to be created ? If we have reaibn, from the varieties that exift in the fame family, or in the fame nation, to conclude that the Danes, the French, the Turks, and people even more remote, are of one fpecies, have we not the fame reafon to conclude that the nations beyond them, and who do not differ from the lall by more confpicuous dilVindions, than the lall difi^er frora the firlt, are alfo of the fanle fpecies? By purfuing this pro- grefTion, we (hall fijid bat one fpecies from the equator to the pole. C not, 34 Of Complexion and Figure not, In the other, to be efieemed cr'iteiions of diftinft fpecies- Nature hath adapted the pliancy of her work to the fituations in which Ihe may require it to be placed. The bea- ver, removed to the warm latitudes, ex- changes its fur, and the fheep its wool, for a coarfe hair that preferves the animal in a more moderate temperature. The coarfe and black fliag of the bear is converted, in the arclic re- gions, into the fined and whitefl fur. The liorfe, the deer, and almoft every animal pro- tecled by hair, doubles his coat in the be- ginning of winter, and flieds it in the fpring when it is no longer ufeful. The fiuenefs and denfity of the hair is augmented in pro- portion to the latitude of the country. The Canadian and Ruffian furs are, therefore, better than the furs of climates farther fouth. The colour of the hair is like wife changed by climate. The bear is white under the ai61ic circle; and in high northern latitudes, black foxes are moft frequently found. Si- milar effeiSls of climate are difcernible on mankind. Almofl every nation is diftin- guiflied by fome peculiar quality of this ex- crefcence. The hair of the Danes is generally Ytd, of the Englifli fair or brown, and of the French commonly black. The Highlanders of /// the Human Species. 35 of Scotland are divided between red and black. Red hair is frequently found in the cold and elevated regions of the i^lps, al- though black be the predominant corrjplexioii at the foot of thofe mountains. The Abori- gines of America, like all people of colour, have black hair 5 and it is generally long and ftraight. The ftraightnefs of the hair may arife from the relaxation of the climate, or from the humidity of an uncultivated region. But whatever be the caufe, the Anglo-Anie- ricans already feel its influence -, and curled locks, fo frequent among their anceftors, are rare in the United States *. Black is the mofi: ufual colour of the hu- man hair, becaufe thofe climates that are moft extenfive, and mod favourable to population, tend to the dark complexion. Climates that are not naturally marked by a peculiar colour may owe the accidental predominancy of one, to the conflitutional qualities of an anceftral * They are mofl rare in the fouthern flates, and in thofe families that are farthell defcended from their European ori- gin. Straight lank hair is almoll a general charai^leriilic of the Americans of the fecond and third race It is impoflible, however, to predidl what effeift hereafter the clearing of the country and the progrefs of cultivation may have on the hair as well as other qualities of the Americans. They will ne- ceffarily produce a great change in the clinaate, and confe- quently iii the human conftitution. C 2 family 36 Of Complexion and Figure family — They may owe the prevalence of a variety of colours to the early fettlement of different families, or to the migrations or conqueils of different nations. England is, perhaps for this reafon, the country in which is ktn the greateft variety in the colour of the hair. But the form of this excrefcence which principally merits obfervationjbecaufe it feems to be fartheft removed from the ordinary laws of nature, is ktn in that fparfe and curled fubftance peculiar to a part of Africa, and to a few of the Afiatic iflands. This peculiarity has been urged as a deci- five chara6ler of a di(lin6l fpecies with more afllirance than became philofophers but tole- rably acquainted with the operations of na- ture. The fparfenefs of the African hair is analogous to the efFe6l which a warm climate has been fliewn to have on other animals. Cold, by obftrufling the perfpiration, tends to throw out the perfpirable matter accumulated at the fkin in an additional coat of hair. A warm climate, by opening the pores, evapo- rates this matter before it can be concreted into the fubftance of hairj and the laxnefs 10 and in the Human Species; 37 and aperture of the pores renders the hair li- able to be eafily eradicated by innumerable accidents. Its curl may refult in part, perhaps, from external heat, and in part from the nature of the fubftance or fecretion by which it is nou- riflied. That it depends in a degree on the quaUty of the fecretion is rendered probable from its appearance on the chin, and on other parts of the human body. Climate is as much diftinguifhed by the nature and pro- portion of the fecretions as by the degree of heat. Whatever be the nutriment of the hair, it feems to be combined, in the jonid zone o £ A&;ica^ with fome fluid of a highly"volatile or ardent quality. That it is combined with a ftrong volatile fait, the rank and offenfive fmell of many African nations gives us reafon to fufpect. Saline fecretions tend to curl and to burn the hair. The evaporation of any volatile fpirit would render its furface dry and difpofed to contract, while the center conti- nuing diftendcd by the vital motion, thcfe op- pofite dilatations and contractions would ne- cefiarily produce a curve, and make the hair grow involved. This conje6ture receives fome confirmation, by obferving that the negroes born in the United States of America are gra- 301280 e,.^ .rAl- \>.' k \ O -O ';8 0/ Complexion and Figure Idiially lofing the ftrong fmell of the Africai\ \zone ; their hair is, at the fame time, grow- Jing lefs involved, and becoming clenfer and lunger *. External and violent heat parching the,ex- tremities of the hair tends likev^dfe to involve it. A hair held near the fire inftantly coils it- fclf up. The herbs roll up their leaves in the extreme heats of fummer, during the day, and expand them again in the coolnefs of tiie evening. AfikaJs^theJiqttefijQimJatL^^ ^lobe. The ancients v/ho frequented the xVfiatic zone efieemed the African an uninha- bitable zone of fire. The hair as well as the whole human conftitution fullers, in this re- gion, tlie effefts of an intenfe heat. The manners of the people add to the in- liluence of the climate. Being favages, they have few arts to prote6l them from its inten- sity. The heat and ferenity of the fky pre- ferving the life of children without much care [of the parent, they feem to be the mofl neg- * Many negroes of the third race in America have thick dole hair, extended to four or five inches in length. Jn fome, who take great pains to comb and drefs it in oil, it is even longer, and they are able to extend it into afhortqueue. This is particularly the cafe with fome domellic fervants who have more leifure and better means than others tocherifh their hair. Many negroes, however, ciu their hair as fall as it grows, preferring it ihort, ligent ill the Hiwian Species, ^^ f ligent people of tbeir ofispring in the uni- veife *. Able themielves to endure the ex- tremes of that ardent climate, they inure their children from their moft tender age. They ! fuiTer them to lie in the aflies of their huts, or jj to roll in the dufiiand fand heneath the direft ;. rays of a burning fun. The mother, if (he \\ is engaged, lays down the infant on the firft ;! fpot ihe finds, and is (eldom at the pains tOgj feek the miferable fiielter of a barren fhrub,''* which is all that the interior country aifords. Thus the hair is crifped, while the complex- ion is blackened by exceffive heat -j-. There is , * The manners of a people are formed, in a great meafure, •by their neceffities. The dangers of the North-Amehcari ^ (Climate render the natives uncommonly attentive to the pre- ^ I'fervation of their children. The African climate not laying Jits favage inhabitants under any neceflity to be careful, they ^expofe their children to its utmoft influence without concern. f I have myfelf been witnefs of this treatment of children by the flaves in the fouthern ftates, where they are numerous enough to retain many of their African culloms. I fpeak of the held flaves, who, living in little villages on their plan- tations ac a diftance from their mafters' manfions, are flow- in adopting the manners of their fupericrs. There I have feen the mother of a child, within lefs than fix weeks after ic was born, take it with her to the field, and lay it in the fand beneath a hot fun while flie hoed her corn-row down and up. She would then fuckle it a few minutes, and return to her work, leaving the child in the fame expofure, although flie might have gained, within a iew yards, a convenient fliade. i! Struck at firfl; with the apparent barbarity of this treatment I ^ I have remonflrated with them on the fubjeft; and was uni- ^ Iformly told, that dry fand and a hot fun were never found to \hurtthem. This treatment tends to add to the injury that the climate does to the hair. A fimilar negligence among C 4 the Ao Of Complexion and Figure is probably a concurrence of both the precede ing caufes in the produfiion of the etled.. The influence of heat, either external or in- ternal, or of both, in giving the form to the hair of the Afi'icans, appears, not only from its fparfenefs and its curl, but from its colour. It is not of a ihining, but an aduft black, and its extremities tend to brown as if it had been fcorched bv the tire. Having treated (o largely on the form of this excrefcence in that country where it de- viates farthefl: from the common lavi^ of the fpecies, I proceed to confider a few of the remaining varieties among mankind. The whole of the Tartar race are of low flature— Their heads have a difproportioned magnitude to the refl of the body — Their fhoulders are raifed, and their necks are fiiort — Their eyes are fmall, and appear, by the jutting of the eyebrows over them, to be funk in the head— The nofe is (hort, and rifes but little from the face — The cheek is elevated and fpread out on the fides — The whole fea- the poor, who fuffer their children to lie in a(hes, cr on the naked ground, and who expofe them without covering for their heads to the fun and wind, we £nd greatly injures their hair. We rarely fee perfons who have been bred in extreme poverty, who have Jt not fhort, and thin, and frit- tered. But the heat of the fand and of the fun in Africa frtUit have a much more powerful effed. tures m the Human Species, 41 tures are remarkably coarfe and deformed: i\nd all thefe peculiarities are aggravated as you proceed towards the pole, in the Lappo- nian, Borandian and Samoiede races, which, as Buffon juftly remarks, are Tartars reduced to the laft degree of degeneracy. — A race of men refembiing the Laplanders we find in a fimilar climate in America. The frozen countries round Hudfon's Bay are, except Siberia, the coldeft in the world. And here the inhabitants are between four and five feet in height — their heads are large — their eyes are little and weak — and their hands, feet, and whole limbs uncommonly fmall. Thefe efTe6ls naturally refult from extreme cold. Cold contracts the nerves, as it does all folid bodies. The inhabitants grow un- der the conflrifiion of continual froft as un- der the forcible comprefOon of fome pov^^er- ful machine. Men will therefore be found in the highell latitudes, for ever fmall and of low ftature*. The excefTive rigours of thefe frozen regions afFe6l chiefly the extremities. The blood circulating to them with a more languid and feeble motion has not fufficient • A moderate degree of cold is neceflary to give force and tone to the nerves, and to raife the human body to its largell iize. But extreme cold overftrains and contradls them. There- fore thefe northern tribes are not only fmali, but weak and timid. vigour 42 Oj CGrnpkxion and Figure vigour to i-efiii the imprefiions of the cold. Thefe limbs confequently fufFer a greater conrraiftion and dimination than the reft of the body. But the blood flowing with warmth and force to the breaft and head, and perhaps with the more force that its courfe to the extremities is obftrucfed, dif- tcnds thefe parts to a difproportionate fize. There is a regular gradation in the eifefl of the climate, and in the figure of the people, from the Tartars to the tribes round Hud- fon's bay. The Tartars are taller and thicker than the Laplanders or the Saraoiedes, becaufe their climate is lefs fevcre — The northern Americans are the moll diminutive of all, their extremities are the fmallcft, and their breaft and head of the moft difproportioned magnitude, becaufe, inhabiting a climate equally fevere with the Samoiedes, they are reduced to a more favage ftate of fociety*. * The r.elghbourhcocl of the Ruffians, of the Chinefe, and even of the Tartars, who have adopted many improvements from the civiltzed nations that border upon them, give the Laplanders and Siberians confiderable advantages over the northern American?, who are in the molt abjedl ftate of fa- vage life, and totally deftitute of every art either for conve- nience or proteftion. The principles ftated above apply to all thefe nations in proportion to the degree of cold combined with the degree of favagenefs. I'he inhabitants of the northern civilized countries of Europe are generally of lower llature than thofe in the middle regions, liut civilization and a milder climate prevent rhem from degenerating, equally vviih the norcherii Afiatics and Americans. Extreme in the Humafi Species. ^^ Extreme cold likewife tends to form the next peculiarities of thefe races,— -their high ihoulders, and their fhort necks. Severe froft prompts men to raife their (lioulders as if to prote6l the neck, and to cherifli the warmth of the blood that flows to the head. And the habits of an eternal v>'inter will fix them, in that pofition.— -The neck will appear (hortened beyond its due proportion, not on- ly becaufe it fuffers an equal contraction with the other parts of the body; but becaufe the head and bread, being increafed to a difpro- portioned fize, will encroach upon its length; and the natural elevation of the fhoulders will bury what remains fo deep as to give the head an appearance of reiiing upon them for its fupport. That thefe peculiarities are the etFe6l or climate*, the examples produced by French miliionaries in China, of moft refpeclable chara6rers, leave us no room to doubt, who alfure us that they have feen^ * As climate is often known peculiarly to affefl certain parts of the body, philofophy, if it were neceflary, could iind no more difficulty in accounting for the fhort necks of the Tartar?, and other northern tribes, as a difeafe of the climate, than Ihe finds in giving the fame account for the thick necks fo frequently found in the regions of the Alps. But the obfervatlons before made will probably convince the attentive reader, that there is no need to rrfort to fuch a folu- tion of the phjcnomenon, when it feems fo eafily to be ex- plained by the known operation of natural caufe*. 5 even 44 Of Complexion and Figure even in the forty- eighth degree of northern latitude, the pofterity of Chinefe families who had become perfe6l Tartars in their figure and afpe6l J and that they were diilinguifhed, in particular, by the fame fliortnefs of the neck, and by the fame elevation of the fhoulders*. That coarfe and deformed features are the iieceiTary production of the climate cannot have efcaped the attention of the moft incu- rious obferver. — Let us attend to the efFecls of extreme cold. It contra6ls the aperture of the eyes — it draws down the brows — it raifes the cheek—by the preffure of the under jaw againft the upper, it diminifhes the face in ieneth and foreads it out at the fides — and diftorts the fiiape of every feature. This, which is only a tranfient impreflion in our climate, foon eiTaced by the conve- niences of fociety, and by the changes of the feafon, becomes a heightened and permanent effect in thofe extreme regions, arifing from the greater intenfity, and the conftant action ofthecaufc. The naked and defencelefs con- dition of the people augments its violence — and beginning its operation from infancy, when the features are mod tender and fufcep- * See Reeueil 24 des lettres ediiiantes. tible i?i the Human Species, 4^ tible of imprefTion, and continuing it, with- out remilTion, till they have attained their utmoft growth, they become fixed at length in the point of greateft deformity, and form the character of the Hudfon or Siberian countenance. The principal peculiarities that may require a farther illuftration are, the fmallnefs of the nofe, and depreffion of the middle of the face — the prominence of the forehead, and the extreme weaknefs of the eyes. The middle of the face is that part which is moft expofed to the cold, and confequently fufFers moft from its power of eontraclion. It firft meets the wind, and it is fartheft re- moved from the feat of warmth in the head. But a circumftance of equal, or perhaps of greater, importance on this fubje61: is, that the inhabitantsof frozen climates naturally draw- ing their breath more through the nofe, than through the mouth*, thereby dire61 the great- eft impulfe of the air on that feature, and the parts adjacent. Such a continual ftream of * A frofly air inhaled by the mouth chills the body more than when it is received by the noftrils ; probably becaufe a greater quantity enters at a time. Nature therefore prompts men to keep the mouth clofed during the prevalence ot intenfe froft. air 46 Of Complexion and Figure air augments the cold, and by increallng ihd contradion of the parts, leHrains the free- dom of their growth *. Hence, likewife, will arife an eafy folution of the next peculiarity, the prominence of the forehead. The fupcrior warmth and force of life in the brain that fills the upper part of the head, will naturally increafe its fize, and make it overhang the contracted parts below, Laftly, the eyes in thefe rigorous climates are fingularly affefted. By the projection of the eye-brows, they appear to be funk into the head; the cold naturally diminilhes their aperture; and the intenfity of the froft con- curring with the glare of eternal fnows, fo overllrains thefe tender organs, that they are always weak, and the inhabitants are often liable to blindnefs at an early age. In the temperate zone, on the other hand, and in a point rather below than above the middle region of temperature, the agreeable * On the fame principle the mercury in a thermometer* may be contraSed and funk into the bulb, by direftingupon it a conftant Itream of air from a pair of bellows, if the bulb be frequently touched during the operation with any fluid that by a fpeedy evaporation tends to increafe the cold. warmth in the Human Species, 4^ warmth of the air, difpofmg the nerves to the moll: free and eafy expanfion, will open the features and increafe the orb of the eye *. Here a large full eye, being the tendency of nature, v/ili grow to be efteemed a perfection : And, in the itrain of Homer, (cowTrig '7rojviu\lfi'^ would convey to a Greek an idea of di- vine beauty, that is hardly intelligible to an inhabitant of the north of Europe. All the principles of the human conftitution unfold- ing themfelves freely in fuch a region, and- nature a6ling without conilraint, will be there feen mofi: nearly in that perfe6lion which was the original deiign. and idea of the Creator -f-. II. Having endeavoured to afcertain the power of climate, in producing many varieties * It is perhaps worthy of remark, that, in the three con- tinents, the temperate climates, and eternal cold, border fo nearly upon one another, that we pafs almoft inllantly from the former to the ia-^ter. And we find the Laplander, the Samoiede, the Moiigou, and the tribes round Hudson's bay, in the neighbourhood of the Swede, the Rufiian, the Chinefe, and the Canadian. V/i:hout attention to this remark, ha(ly reafoners will make the fudden change of features in thefe nations an objeftion againfl the preceding philofophy, t It may perhaps gratify my countrymen to refiefl, that the United States occupy thofe latitudes that have ever been moli favourable to the beauty of the human form. Vv'hen time ihall have accommodated the conftirorion to its new ftate, and cultivation Ihall have me!iara.(;d the climate, theheauties of Greece and Circafiia may be renewed in ylmerica ; as there are not a few already who rival thofe of any other quar- ter of the globe. in 48 Of Complexion and FiguH in the human fpecles, I proceed to illuftrate' the influence of the flate of fociety. On this fubjecl I obferve, 1. In the firfl: place, that the effefl: of cli- mate is augmented by a favage ftate, and I corre6led by a ftate of civilization. And, 2. In the next place, that by the ftate of fociety many varieties in the human perfon are intirely formed. In the fiifl place, the efFe6l of climate Is augmented by a favage ftate of fociety, and corrected by a fiate of civilization. A naked favage, feldom enjoying the pro- te6lion of a milerable hut, and compelled to lodge on the bare ground and under the open iky, imbibes the influence of the fun and at- mofphere at every pore. He inhabits an un- cultivated region filled with ftagnant waters, and covered with putrid vegetables, that fall down and corrupt on the fpot where they have grown. He pitches his wigwam on the fide of a river, that he may enjoy the convenience of flfhingas well as of hunting. The vapour of rivers, the exhalations of marflies, and the noxious efiiuvia of decaying vegetables, fill the whole atmofphere in an unimproved country, in the Human Species. ^g counti'y, and tend to give a dark and bilious hue to the complexion *. And the fun ading immediately on the fkin in this Itate will iieceffarily imprefs a deep colour. This effeft is augmented by the practice of painting, to Vv^hich lavages are often obliged to have recourfe in order to prote61 themfelves from the impreffions of the humid earth on which they lie, or of a noxious atmofphere to which they are expofed without covering. Painting taken up at firft through neceffity is afterwards employed as an ornament ; and a favage is feldom feen without having his fkin covered with fome compofition that fpoils the finenefs of its texture, and impairs the beauty and clearnefs of its natural colour. This is * The foreRs in uncultivated countries abforb a great part of thefe putrid vapours, othervvlfe they would be contagious and mortal. But as nature never makes her work perfeft, but leaves the completion of her fchemes to exercife the in- A -^ duftry and wifdom of man, the growing vegetables do not iA'T^^^ r\ abforb the whole effluvia of the decaying, and of the noxious v%^ ' marflies that overfpread the face of fuch a region. Nothing'] "^ **■" Oi > but civilization and culture can perfeclly purify the atmo- / fphere. Uncultivated as well as warm countries, therefore,^ naturally tend to a bilious habit and a dark complexion. It may feem an objedion againfl: this obfervation, that in America we often find bilious diforders augmented in confequence of cutting down the timber, and extending the plantations. The reafon of which probably is, chat the indolence or neceliitics of a new country frequently lead men to clear the ground with- out draining the marihcs; or fmall plantations are furrounded by unimproved forelts. Thus, the vegetables that abforbcd the noxious moifture being removed, it is left to fall in greater abundance on man. D known ^o Of Complexion and Figure known to be the effedtof the fined paints and wafhes that are ufed for the fame purpofe in poUflied fociety. Much more will it be the ivt^r^ »'v ,effe6t of thofe coarfe and filthy unguents which are employed by favages. And as we fee that coloured marks imprefied by punc- tures in the iVni become indelible, it is rea- fonable to believe that the particles of paints infiiiuated into its texture by forcible and frequent rubbing will tend, in like manner, to create a dark and permanent colour. To this may be added that the frequent fumigations by which they aie obliged to guard againft the annoyance of innumerable infeCls in undrained and uncultivated coun- tries ; and the fmoke with which their huts, unfkilfully built, and without chimneys, are eternally filled, contribute to augment the na- tural darknefs of the favage complexion. Smoke, we perceive, difcolours the (kin of thofe labourers and mechanics who are habi- tually iramerfed in it. — It ftains every object long expofed to its a61ion, by entering the pores, and adhering ftrongly to the furface. — - It infinuates itfelf in a finiilar manner into the pores of the Ikin, and there tends to change the complexion, on the fame principles that it is changed by inferted paints. And in the Human Species, ^ i And laflly, the hardfhips of their condition, that weaken and exhaufttheprincipleof life — their fcanty and meagre fare, which wants the fuccLilence and nourilliment which give frefh- nefs and vigour to the conftitution — the un- certainty of their provilion, which fometimes leaves them to languifh with want, and fome- times enables them to overtrain themfelves by a furfeit — and their entire inattention to perfonal and domeftic cleanlinefs, all have a prodigious efiecl to darken the complexion, to relax and emaciate the conftitution, and to render the features coarfe and deformed. Of the influence of thefe caufes v^'e have an ex- ample in perfons reduced to extreme poverty, who are ufually as much diftinguiilied by their thin habit, their uncouth features, and their fwarthy and fquaUd afpe61, as by the mean- nefs of their garb. Nakednefs, expofure, ne- gligence of appearance, want of cleanlinefs, bad lodging, and meagre diet, fodifcolourand injure their form, as to enable us to frame fome judgment of the degree in which fuch caufes will contribute to augment the influence of climate in favage life. Independently on climate, thefe caufes will render it impoflible that a favage fhould ever be fair. And the co-operation of both, will ufually render men in that flate of fociety extremely dark in their D 2 complexion. ^z Of Complexion and Figure complexion. And generally they will be more coarfe and hard in their features and lefs robuft in their perfons, than men who enjoy with temperance the advantages of civilized fociety*. As /^^ * One of the greatefl difficulties with which a writer on ■A . this fubjeft has to combat, is the ignorance and foperficial obfervation of the bulk of travellers who travel without the y?.?^ true /pirit of remark. The firfl objedls that meet their view in a new country, and among a new people, feize their fancy ,_!v^ and are recited with exaggeration ; and they feldom have Vj^ judgment and impartiality fufficient to examine and reafon with juftnefs and caution; and from innumerable fadls which receffarily have many points of difference among themfelves, to draw general conclufions. Such conclufions, when moft juftly drawn, they think they have refuted when they dif- cover a fingle example that feems not to coincide with them. In reafonings of this kind, there are few perfons who fuf- iiciently confider that, however accurately we may inveftigate caufes and effefts, our limited knowledge will always leave particular examples that will feem to be exceptions from any general principle. — To apply thefe remarks. — A few ex- amples perhaps may occur among favages of regular and agreeable features, or of ftrong and mufcular bodies; as in civilized fociety we meet with fome rare inftances of aftonifh- ing beauty, ii by chance a perfon of narrow obfervation, and incomprehen five mind, have feen two or three examples of this kind, he will be ready, on this flender foundation, to contradict the general remark I have made, concerning the coarfe and uncouth features cf favages, and their want of thofe fine and mufcular proportions, if 1 may call them fo, in the human body, that indicate ftrength combined with fwifcnefs. Yet it is certain, that the general countenance of favage life is much more uncouth and coarfe, more un- meaning and wild, as will afterwards be feen, when I come to point out the caufes of it, than the countenance of polifhed fociety : and the perfon is more flender, and rather fitted for the chace, than robuft and capable of force and labour.— An American Indian, in particular, is commonly fwift ; he is rarely very ftrong. And it tas been remarked, in the many in the Human Species, 53 As a favage ftate contributes to augment the influence of climate 5 or, at leaf!:, to ex- hibit its worft efFe6ls upon the human confti- tution ; a ftate of civilization, on the other hand, tends to corre6l it, by furnifhing innu- merable means of guarding againft its power. The conveniencies of clothing and of lodg- ing — the plenty and healthful quality of food — a country drained, cultivated, and freed from noxious effluvia — improved ideas of beauty — the conRant ftudy of elegance, and the infinite arts for attaining it, even in per- fonal figure and appearance, give cultivated an immenfe advantage over favage fociety in many expeditions which the people of thefe ftates have un- dertaken againft the favages, that, in clofe quarters, the flrength of an Anglo- Anjerican is ufually fuperior to that of an Indian of the fame fize. The mufcles, likewife, on which the fine proportions of perfons fo much depend, are generally fmaller and more lax, than they are in improved fociety, that is not corrupted by luxury, or debilitated by fe- dentary occupations. — Their limbs, therefore, though ftraight, are lefs beautifully turned. — A deception often paffes on the fenfes in judging of the beauty of favages — and defcription is often more exaggerated than the fenfes are deceived. We do not expect beauty in favage life. When, therefore, we hap- pen to perceive it, the contrail with the ufual condition cf that Hate impofes on the mind. And the exalted reprefentations of favage beauty, which we fometimes read, are true only by comparifon with favages. — There is a difi'erence, in this re- fpedt between man, and many of the inferior animals which were intended to run wild in the foreft. They are always the raoft beautiful when they enjoy their native liberty and range. They decay and droop when attempted to be domef- ticated or confined. But man, being deiigned for fociety and civilization, attains, in that ftatc, the greateit perfedioa of his form, as well as of his whole nature. D 3 its 54 0/ Complexion and Figure its attempts to counteradl the influence of climate, and to beautify the human form. 2. I come now to obfcrve, what is of much more importance on this part of the fubje6l, that all the features of the human counte- nenance are modified^ and its intire exprejjton radically formed, by the ftate of fociety. Every object that imprefles the fenfes, and every emotion that rifes in the mind, afFecls the features of the face the index of our feel- ings, and contributes to form the infinitely various countenance of man. Paucity of ideas creates a vacant and unmeaning afpecV. Agreeable and cultivated fcenes compofe the features, and render them regular and gay. Wild, and deformed, and folitary forefts tend to imprefs on the countenance an image of their own rudenefs. Great varieties are cre- ated by diet and modes of living. The deli- cacies of refined life give a foft and elegant form to the features. Hard fare, and conftant expofure to the injuries of the weather, ren- der them coarfe and uncouth. The infinite attentions of poliihed fociety give variety and exprciTion to the face. The want of intereft- ing emotions leaving its mufcles lax and un- exerted, they are fuffered to diftend themfelves to a larger and grofier fize, and acquire a foft 9 unvaiy- in the Human Species, ^^ unvarying fwell that is not diftinflly marked by any idea. A general ftandard of beauty has its efie6l in forming the human counte- ance and figure. Every paffion and mode of thinking has its pecuhar exprellion 5 and all the preceding chara6ters have again many va- riations, according to their degrees of iirength, according to their combinations with other principles, and according to the peculiarities of conllitution or of climate that form the ground on which the different impreffions are received. As the degrees of civilization, as the ideas, paffions, and objects of fociety in different countries, and under different forms of government are infinitely various, they open a boundlefs field for variety in the hu- man countenance. It is impoffible to enume- rate them. — They are not the fam.e in any two ages of the world. — It would be unnecef- fary to enumerate them, as my objed: is not to become a phyfiognomiff, but to evince the polfibility of io many differences exifting in one fpecies ; and to fuggeft a proper mode of reafoning on new varieties as they may occur to our obfervation. For this purpofe, I fl-jall, in the firff place, endeavour, by feveral fadts and illulbatlons to evince, that the ftate of fociety has a great D 4 effect 56 Of Compkxh?i and Figure cfFe6l in varying the figure and complexion of mankind. I fhall then fliew in what manner fome of the mofl diftinguiGiing features of the favage, and particularly of the American favage, with "whom we are befl acquainted, naturally refult from the rude condition in which thev exift. To evince that the flate of fociety has a great e{fe6l in varying the figure and com- plexion of mankind, I fhall derive my firft illuftration from the feveral clafTes of men in poliflied nations. And then I fhall fhew that men in different Hates of fociety have changed, and that they have it continually in their power to change, in a great degree, the afpe6t of the fpecies, according to any general ideas or ftandard of human beauty which they may have adopted. I. And in the firll place, between the feve- rai clalTes of men in poliihed nations, who may be confidered as people in different flates of fociety, we difcern great and obvious dif- tinclions, arifmg from their focial habits, ideas, and employments. The poor and labouring part of the com- munity are ufually more fwarthy and fqualid in their complexion, more hard in their fea- tures, in the Human Specks, '^7 lures, and more coarfe and ill -formed in their limbs, than perfons of better fortune, and more liberal means of fubfiftence. They want the delicate tints of colour, the pleafing regu- larity of feature, and the elegance and fine proportions of perfon. There may be parti- cular exceptions. Luxury may disfigure the one — a fortunate coincidence of circumflances may give a happy afiemblage of features to the other. But thefe exceptions do not inva- lidate the general obfervation *. Such diftinc- tions become more confiderable by time, after families have held for ages the fame flations in fociety. They are moft confpicuous in thofe countries in which the laws have made the moft complete and permanent divifion of ranks. What an immenfe difference exifts, in Scotland, between the chiefs and the com- monalty of the highland clans ? If they had been feparately found in differeut countries, the philofophy of fome writers would have ranged them in different fpecies. A fimilar diftin61ion takes place between the nobility * It ought to be kept in mind through tlie whole of the following illuftrations, that when mention is made of the fu- perior beauty and proportions of perfjns in the higher clafies of fociety, the remark is general. It is not intended to deny that there exift exceptions both of deformity among the great, and of beauty among the poor. And thofe only are intended to be defcribed who enjoy their fortune with temperance; becaufe luxury and excefs tend, equally with extreme poverty, to debilitate and disfigure the human conftitution. and 58 Of Complexion and Figure and peafantry of France, of Spain, of Italy, of Germany. It is even more confpicuous in many of the eailern nations, where a wider difbance exifts between the higheft and the lowed clafTes in fociety. The fiaires or nobles of Calicut, in the Eaft Indies, have, with the ufual ignorance and precipitancy of travellers, been pronounced a different race from the po- pulace ; becaufe the former, elevated by their rank, and devoted only to martial ftudies and atchievements, arediftinguifhed by that manly beauty and elevated ftature fo frequently found with the profeilion of arms, efpecially when united with nobility of defcentj the latter, poor and laborious, and expofed to hardlhips, and left, by their rank, without the fpirit or the hope to better their condi- tion, are much m.ore deformed and diminutive in their perfons, and in their complexion, much more black. In France, fays Buifon, you may diilinguilli by their arpe6t, not only the nobility from the peafantry, but the fu- perior orders of nobility from the inferior, thefe from citizens, and citizens from pea- fants. You may even diitinguiffi the peafants of one part of the country from thofe of an- other, according to the fertility of the foil, or the nature of its produ6l. The fame obferv- ation has been made on the inhabitants of different in the Human Species. 59 different counties in England. And I have been afTured by a mofi: judicious and careful obferver, that the difference between the peo- ple in the eaftern, and thofe in the wellera countries in Scotland, is fenfible and ftriking. The farmers who cultivate the fertile coun- tries of the Lothians have a fairer complexion, and a better figure, than thofe who live in the weft, and obtain a more coarfe and fcanty fubfiftence from a barren foil *. If, * It is well known that coarfe and meagre food is ever ac- companied in mankind with hard features and a dark com- plexion. Every change of diet, and every variety in the man- ner of preparing it, has fome effect on the human conftitution. A fervant now lives in my family who was bound to me at tea years of age. Her parents were in abjedl poverty. The child was, in confequence, extremely fallow in her complexion, Ihe was emaciated, and, as is common to children who have lain in the afhes and dirt of miferable huts, her hair was frittered and worn awny to the length of little more than two inches. This girl has by a fortunate change in her mode of living, and indeed by living more like my own children than like a fervant, become, in the fpace of four years, frefli and ruddy in her complexion, her hair is long and flowing, and fhe is not badly made in her perfon. A fimilar initance is now in the family of a worthy clergyman, a friend and neighbour of mine. And many fuch inllances of the in- fluence of diet and modes of living will occur to a careful and attentive obferver. It equally afiefts the inferior animals. The horfe, according to his treatment, may be infinitely va- ried in fhape and fize. The flefli of many fpecies of game difters both in talle and colour according to the nature of the grounds on which they have fed. The flefli of hares that have fed en high lands is much fairer than of thofe that have fed in vallies and on damp grounds. And every keeper of cattle knows how much the hrmnefs and flavour of the meat depends upon the manner offending. Nor is this unaccount- able. For as each element has a different eft'edt on the ani- mal 6o Of Complexion and Figure If, in England there exifts Icfs difference between the figure and appearance of per- fons in the higher and lower clafles of fo- ciety than is feen in many other countries of Europe, it is becaufe a more general diffufion of liberty and wealth has reduced the differ- ent ranks more nearly to a level. Science and military talents open the way to emi- nence and to nobility. Encouragements to induftry, and ideas of liberty, favour the ac- quifition of fortune by the loweit orders of citizens — And, thefe not being prohibited by the laws or culloms of the nation from afpir- ing to conneclions with the higheft ranks, families in that country are frequently blended. You often find in citizens the beautiful figure and complexion of the no- bleft blood, and, in noble houfes, the coarfe features that were formed in lower life. Such diftinclions are, as yet, lefs obvious in America; becaufe the people enjoy a greater mal fyfiem ; and as the elements are combined in various proportions in different kinds of food, the means of fubfift- ence will neceflarily have a great influence on the human fi- gure and complexion. — The difference, however, between the common people in the eaflern and wellern counties of Scotland, in feveral counties in England, and in other na- tions, arifes, perhaps, not only from their food, and the foil which they inhabit, but in part likevvife from their occupa- tion?, as hufbandmen, mechanics, or manufadlurers. Huf- bandry has generally a happier elFedi: on perfonal appearance, than the fedentary employments of manufadure. equality, in the Human Species. 6 1 equality, and the frequency of migration has not permitted any foil, or flate of local man- ners, to imprefs its character deeply on the conftitution. Equality of rank and fortune in the citizens of the United States, fimilarity of occupations, and offociety, have produced fuch uniformity of chara6ler, that hitherto they are not flrongly marked by fuch differ- ences of feature as arife folely from focial di- ftiri6lions. And yet there are beginning to be formed, independently on climate, certain combinations of features, the refult of focial ideas, that aheady ferve, in a degree, to dif- tinguifh the llates from one another. Here- after they will advance into more confidera- ble and characleriftic diilinftions. If the white inhabitants of America afford us lefs confpicuous inllances, than fome other nations, of the power of fociety, and of the difference of ranks, in varying the human form, the blacks, in the fouthern republics, afford one that is highly worthy the attention of philofophers. — It has often occurred to my own obfervation. The field flaves are badly fed, clothed, and lodged. They live in fmall huts on the plantations where they labour, remote from the fociety and example of their fuperiors. Living by themfelves, they retain many of the 62 Of Complexion and Figure the CLiftoms and manners of their African anceftors. The domeiiic iervants, on the other hand, who are kept near the perfons, or employed in the families of their mafters, are treated with great lenity, their fervice is Hght, they are fed and clothed like their fuperiors, they fee their manners, adopt their habits, and infenfibly receive the fame ideas of ele- gance and beauty. The field flaves are, in confeqiience. How in changing the arpe6l and figure of Africa. I'he domeiiic fervantshave advanced far before them in acquiring the agreeable and regular features, and the ex- preffive countenance of civilized fociety. — The former are frequently ill fliaped. They preferve, in a great degree, the African lips, and nofe, and hair. Their genius is dull, and their countenance fleepy and flupid — ^The latter are llraight and well proportion- ed; their hair extended to three, four, and fometimes even to fix or ei^ht inches j the fize and fhape of the mouth handfome, their features regular, their capacity good, and their look animated *. Another * The features of the negroes in America have undergone j a greater change than the complexion ; becaufc depending I more on the ftate of fociety than on the climate, they are I fooncr fufceptible of alteration from its emotions, habits, and I ideas. This is ftrikingly verified in the field and domeiiic \ Haves. The former, even in the third generation, retain, in \ a great degree, the countenance of Africa. The nofe, though kfs flat, and the lips, though lefs thick than in the native Africans, in the Hmna?2 Specks. 6^ Another exa.mple of the power of fociety is well known to every man acquainted with the favage tribes difpeiTed along the frontiers of thefe republics. There you frequently fee perfons who have been captivated from the ftates, and grown up, from infancy to middle age, in the habits of favage life. In that time, they univerfally contra6l fuch a ftrong refemblance of the natives in their counte- nance, and even in their complexion, as to afford a firiking proof that the differences which exiif, in the fame latitude, between the Anglo-American and the Indian, depend principally on the ffate of fociety *. The Africans, yet are much more fiat and thick than In the fa-' '^'^^ *p mily fervants of the fame race. Thefe have the nofe raifed, " ' ^ the mouth and lips of a moderate fize, the eyes lively and fparkling, and often the whole compofition of the features aj extremely agreeable. The hair grows fenfibly longer in each ' 'K-^ ^...A^y fucceeding race ; efpecially in thofe who drefs and cultivate it with care. After many inquiries^ I have found that, where-, j. i ever the hair is fhort and clofely curled in negroes of the fe- }-€. feMl-tfAVl cond or third race, it is becaufe they frequently cut it, tofave'j themfelves the trouble of drefling. The great difference be- tween the domeftic and field flaves, gives reafon to believe that, if they were perfectly free, enjoyed property, and were admitted to a liberal participation of the fociety, rank, and privileges of their mailers, they would change their African peculiarities much fatter. * The refemblance between thefe captives and the native favages is To ftrong, as at firfl: to llrike every obfcrver with aftonifhment. Being taken in infancy, before fociety could have made any impreflions upon them, and fpending in the folitude and rudenefs of favage life that tender and forming age, they grow up with the fame apathy of countenance, the fame lugubrious wildnefs, the fame fv/eliing of the features and mufcles of the face, the fame form and altitude cf the limbs. 6^ Of Complexion and Figure The college of Nevv-Jerfcy furniflies, at prefent, a counterpart to this example. A youiig Indian, now about fifteen years of age, was brought from his nation a number of years ago to receive an education in this inftitution. And from an accurate obfervation of him limbs, and the fame charafteriftic gait, which is a great ele- vation of the feet when they walk, and the toe fomewhat turned in, after the manner of a duck. Growing up per- feftly naked, and expofed to the conftant afticn of the fun and weather, arnidlt all the harJiliips of the favage ftate, their colour becomes vtx^ desp. As it is but a few fliades lighter than that of the natives, it is, at a fmall diftance, hardly diftinguifliable. This example affords another prdof cf the greater eafe with which a dark colour can be imprelTed, than effaced from, a fkin originally fair. The caufes of colour are adi-x-e in their operation, and fpeedily make a deep impreffion. Wiiite is the ground on which this operation is received. And a white fkin is to be preferved only by pro- tefting it from the action of thefe caufes. Proteflion hns merely a negati-ue influence, and mufi: therefore be flow in its effeds ; efpecially as long as the fmalleft degree of /o/f//'Z'tf agency is luffereu from the original caufes of colour. And as the flcin retains, with great conftancy, impreffions once re- ceived, all dark colours will, on both accounts, be much Jefs mutable than the fair complexion. That period of time, therefore, which would be fufficientin a fiivage ftate, to change a white flcin to the darkell hue the climate can imprefs, would, with the moft careful protedion, lighten a black co- lour only a few fliades. And becaufe this policive and aftive influence produces its effect fo much more fpeedily and pow- erfully than the negative influence that confifts merely in guarding againll its operation ; and flnce we fee that the flcin retains impreffions io long, and the tanning incurred by ex- pofing it one day to the fun, is not, in many days, to be effaced, we may juftly conclude, that a dark colour once con- trafted, if it be expofed but a few days in the year to the ac- tion of the fun and weather, will be many ages before it can be intirely effaced. And unlefs the difference of climate be fo confiderable as to operate very great changes on the internal conftitution, and to alter the whole ftate of the fecretions, the negroe colour, for example, may, by the expofure of a poor and fervile ftate^ be rendered almoft perpetual. during in the Human Specks, 6^ during the greater part of that time, I have received the moil perfect convidion that the fame flate of focicty, united with the lame climate, would make the Anglo- American and the Indian countenance very nearly approxi- mate. He* was too far advanced in lavage ^ habits to render the obfervation complete, be- caufe all imprelljons received in the tender iand pliant Hate of the human conftitution be- fore the age of feven years, are more deep and permanent, than in any future and equal period of life. There is an obvious difference between him and his fellow- 11 udents in the largenefs of the mouth, and thicknefs of the lips, in the elevation of the cheek, in the darknefs of the complexion, and the contour of the face. But thefe differences are fenfibly diminilhing. They feem, the fafter to di- minilh in proportion as he lofes that vacancy of eye, and that lugubrious wildnefs of cdun- tenance peculiar to the lavage ilate, and ac- quires the agreeable exprej/ion of civil life. The exprelTion of the eye, and the foftening of the features to civilized emotions and ideas, feems to have removed more than half the difference between him and us. Plis colour, though it is much lighter than the complexion of the native favage, as is evident from the flain of blulhing, that, on a near infpec- E tion. 66 Of Complexion and Tlgnrc tion, is inftainly difcernible, flill forms t])e principal dillinclion*. There is lefs difference between his features and thofe of his fellow- fludents, than we often fee between perfons in civilized fociety. After a careful attention to each particular feature, andcomp'arifonof it with the correfpondent feature in us,I am now- able to difcover but little difference. And yet there is an obvious difference in the whole countenance. This circumftance has led me to conclude that the varieties amonir mankind are much lefs than they appear to be. Each fmgle trait or limb, when examined apart, has, perhaps, no diverfity that may not be Crifily accounted for from known and obvious caufes. Particular differences are fmall. It is the refult of the whole that furprifes us, by its magnitude. The combined effecf of many r.iinute varieties, like the produd: arifing from the multiplication of many fmall numbers, appears great and unaccountable. And we have not patience, or Ikill it may be, to divide this combined refult into its leafl portions, and to fee, in that flate, haw eafy it is of com- prehenfion or folution. The ifate of fociety comprehends diet, cloth- ing, lodging, manners, habits, face of the * See the preceding note, for a reafon why the complexlois is lefs changed than many of the features. , country. zn the Human Species. ' 67 country, ol3jC(5ls of fclence, religion, Intereils, paffions, and ideas of all kinds, infinite in number and variety. If each of thefe caufes be admitted to make, as undoubtedly they do, a fmal! variation on the human countenance, the different combinations and refults of the tvhole muft necelTarily be very great; and, Combined with the effects of climate, will bs adequate to account for all the varieties we find among mankind *. Another origin of the varieties fpringing from the ftate of fociety is found in the power which men poffefs over themfelves of producing great changes in the human form, according to any common ftandard of beauty which they may have adopted. The llandard of human beauty, in any country, is a ge- rieral idea formed from the combined effect * As all thefe principles may be made to operate in very different ways, the cfie'ft of one may often be counteraded, in a degree, by that of another. And climate will effenti'ally change the effedls of all. The people in different parts cf the fame country may, from various combinations of thefe caufes, be very different. And, from the variety of combina- tion, the poor of one country may have better complexion, features, and proportions of perfon, than thofe in another, who enjoy the moft favourable advantages of fortune. With- out attention to thefe circumftances, a hafty obferver v/ifl be apt to pronounce the remarks in the effay to be ill-founded, if he examines the human form in any country by the effect that is faid to arife from one principle alone, and do rot, at the fame time, take in the''concomiunt or correding influence of other caufes. E 2 oi 6S Of Complexion and Figure of climate and of the ftate of fociety. And it leciprocally contributes to increafe the effeCl from which it fprings. Every nation varies as much from others in ideas of beauty as in pcrfonal appearance. Whatever be that flandard, there is a general effort to attain it, with more or lefs ardour and fuccefs, in proportion to the advantages which men poliefs in fociety, and to the eftimation in wliich beauty is held. To this object tend the infinite pains to conipofe the features, and to form the atti- tudes of children, to give them the gay and agreeable countenance that is created in com- pany, and to extinguifli all deforming emo- tions of the palTions. To this objedl tend many of the arts of poliflied life. How many drugs are fold, and how many applica- tions are made, for the improvement of beau- ty? how many artifis of different kinds live upon this idea of beauty? If we dance, beauty is the objed; if we ufe the fword, it is more for beauty than dtknce. If this ge- neral effort after appearance fometimes leads the decrepit and deformf^d into abfurdity, it has, however, a great and national effed. — Of its effect in creating diftindions among nations in which different ideas prevail, and different iJi the Humati Species, y t few tufts here and there which they fliave. The Tartars often extirpate the whole hair of t\\z head, except a knot on the crown, which they braid and adorn in different manners. Simiiar ideas of beauty with regard to the eyes, the ears and the hair; and fimilar cuf- toms, in the Aborigines of America, are no inconftderable proofs that this continent has been peopled from the north-eaflern regions of Afia*. In Arabia and Greece laro:e eyes are efteemed beautiful ; and in thefe coun- tries they take extraordinary pains to ilretch the lids and extend their aperture. In India, they dilate the forehead in infancy, by the application of broad plates of lead. In China * The celebrated Dr. Robertfon, in his hiftoryof America, deceived by the mifinformation of hafty or ignorant obfervers, has ventured to afTert, that the natives of America have no hair on their face or on their body ; and, like many other philofophers, has fet himfelf to account for a faft that never exilled. It may be laid down almoft as a general maxim, that the firft relations of travellers are falfe. They judge of appearances in a new country under the prejudices of ideas and habits contraded in their own They judge from par- ticular inltances, that may happen to have occurred to them, of the ftature, the figure, and the features of a whole nation. Philofophers ought never to admit a fadl on the relations of travellers, till their characters for intelligence and accurate obfervation be well afcertained ; nor even then, till the ob- fervation has been repeated, extended, and compared in many different lights with other fads. The Indians have hair on their face and bA)dy ; but fron« a falfe fenfe of beauty they extirpate it with great pains. And traders among them are well informed, th»t tweezers for that purpofe are profit- able articles of commerce. E 4 they 72 Of Cominexton and Figure they coniprefs the feet. In Caffiaria, and many other parts of Africa, and in Lapland, they flatten the nofe in order to accomplifha capridqiis id£a ofbeauty. The il^in, in many naricns is darkened by art j and all favages cftecnii certain kinds of deformity to be per- fetlionsj and Urive to heighten the admira- tion of their perfons, by augmenting the wild- nefs of their features. Through every coun- try on the globe we might proceed in this manner, pointing out the many arts which the hihabitants prattife to reach fome favourite idea of the human form. Arts that infenfibly, through a courfe of time, produce a great and confpicous efted. Arts which are ufu- ally fuppofed to have only a perfonal influ- ence ; but which really have an operation oa pofterity alfo. The procefs of nature in this is as little known as in all her other works, Tlie effect is frequently feen. Every remarks able change of feature that has grown into a habit of the body, is tranfmitted with other perfonal properties, to offspring. The coarfe features of labouring people, created by hard- fliips, and by long expofure to the weather, are comtnunicated.— The broad feet of the ruflic, that have been fpread by often treading the naked ground ; and the large hand and arm, formed by conilant labour, are difcern- ible in the Tinman Species, 73 jble In children. The increafe or diminution of any other limb or feature formed by habits that aim at an idea of beauty, may, in ]Jk2 manner, be imparted. We continually fee theeffeCl of this principle on the inferior ani- rnals. The figure, the colour, and properties of the hoife are eafily changed according to the reigning tafle. Out of the fame original flock, the Germans v.ho are fettled in Penn- fylvania raife large and heavy horfes ; the Jrifn raife fuch as are much lighter and finaiU er. According to the pains beftowed, you may raife, from the fame race, horfes for the faddle and horfes for the draught. Even the colour can be fpeedily changed according as fafhion is pleafed to vary its caprice. And, if tafte prefcribes it, the iineil horfes fliall, in a iliort time, be black, or white, or bay *. Hu- man nature, much more pliant, and affefted by a greater variety of caufes from food, from clothing, from lodging, and from manners, is ftill more eafily fufceptible of change, accord- ing to any general ftandard, or idea of the human form. To this principle, as well as to the manner of living, it may be, in part, attributed that the Germans, the Swedes, and the French, in different parts of the United * By choofing horfes of the requifite qualities, to fupply the f^uJs. States, 74 0/ Complexion and Figurs States, who live chiefly among, them felves, and cultivate the habits and ideas of the coun- tries from which they emigrated, rttain, even jn our climate, a ftrong relemblance of their primitive fiocks, Thofe, on the other hand, who have not confined themfelves to the con- traded circle of their countrymen, but have mingled freely with the Anglo-Americans, entered into their manners, and adopted their ideas, have aiTumed fuch a likenefs to them, that it is not eafy now to dillinguifli from one another people, who have fprung from fuch different origins. 'i3' I have faid, that the procefs of nature in this, as in all lier other works, is inexplicable. One fecondary caufe, however, may be pointed out, which feems to have confider- able influence on the event*. Connexions in marriage will generally be formed on this * Befides this, men will foon difcover thofe kinds of diet, and thofe modes of living, that will be rnoft favourable to their ideas. 1 he power of imagination in pregnant women, might perhaps deferve forr.e conijderation on this fubjeift. Some year? fince, this principle was carried to excefs. I am ready to believe that pnilofophers, at prefent, run to extremes on the other hand. They deny intirely the influence of ima- gination. But {mzt the emotions of fociety have fo great an influence, as it is evident they have, in forming the counte- nance ; and fince the refcmbhnce of parents is communi- cated to childien, why fhould it be deemed incredible that thofe genera! ideas which contribute to form the features of the parent, fhouid contribute alfo to form the features of the child. idea in the Human Species » y^ idea of hut'nan beauty in any country. An influence this, which will gradually approxi- mate the countenance towards one common ftandard. If men in the affair of marriage were as much under management as fome other animals, an abfolute ruler might ac- complifn in his dom.inions almofl any idea of the human form. But, left as this connexiori is to the paffions and interefts of indivi- duals, it is more irregular and imperfe6l in its operations. And the negligence of the vul- gar, arifingfrom their want of tafle, impedes, in fome degree, the general effeft. There is however a common idea which men infenfibly to themfelves, and almoft without defign, purfue. And they purfue it with more or left fuccefs, in proportion to the rank and tafle of different ciafTes in fociety, where they do not happen in particular inflances to be governed in connexions of marriage by intereft ever void of tade. The fuperior ranks will always be hrft, and, in general, moft improved, according to the prevalent idea of national beauty j becaufe they have it, more than others, in their power to form matrimo^ nial connexions favourable to this end. The Perlian nobility, improved in their idea of beauty by their removal to a new climate, md a new ftate of fociety, have, v.'ithin a few race§, 76 of Complexion and Figure races, almofl: effaced the charaders of their Tartarian orighi. The Tartars, froriKwhom they are defcended, are among the mod de- formed and liupid nations upon earth. The Pcrfians, by obtaining the mofl: beautiful and agreeable women from every country, are be- come a tali, and well-featured, and ingenious nation. The prefent nations of Europe have, with the refinement of their manners and ideas changed and refined their perfons. No- thing can exceed the pictures of barbarifm and deformity given us of their anceflors, by the Roman writers. Nothing can exceed the beauty of many of the prefent women of Europe and America who are defcended from them. And the Europeans and Americans are the mod beautiful people in the world, chiefly becaufe their ftate of fociety is the mofl improved. Such examples tend to fliew how much the varieties of nations may depend on ideas created by climate, adopted by inherit- ance, or formed by the infinite changes of Society and m.anners *. They fliew^ likewife how * Society in America is gradually advancing in refinement ; and if my obfervation has beeri jult, the prefent race fur- Bifh-is more women of exquifice beauty than the laft, though they may not always be found in the fame families. And if fotiety (hoiild continue its progreffive improvement, the next race may furnifh more than the prefent. Europe has certainly' made great advances in refinement of fociety, and probably in the Human Species, yy how much the human race might be improv- ed, both in perfonal and m mental qualities, by a well-directed care. The ancient Greeks feem to have been the people m.oft fenfible of its influence Their cuftoms, their exercifes, their laws, and their philofophy, appear to have had in view, among other objects, the beauty and vigour of the human conilitution. And it is not an im- probable conje6tcre, that the fine models ex- hibited in that country, to ftatuaries and painters, were one caufe of the high perfec- tion to which the arts of fculpture and paint- ing arrived in Greece. If fuch great improve- ments were introduced by art into the human figure, among this elegant and ingenious people, it is a proof at once of the influence of general ideas, and of how much might be effected by purfuing a juft fyftem upon this fubjeft. Hitherto, it has been abandoned too much to the government of chance. The great and noble have ufually had it more in their power than others to fsie(?t the beauty of nations in marriage : and thus, while, v»fithout fyftem or defign, they gratified only probably in beauty. And if exadl piclures could have been preferved of the human countenance and form, in every age ijnce the great revoluaon made by the barbarians, we (hould perhaps find Europe as much improved in its features as in its maoQers. their 7 3 Of Complexion and "Figure their own talle, they have generally difliii- guifhed their order, as much by elegant pro- portions of perlbn, aiul beautiful features, as by its prerogatives in fociety. And the tales of romances that defcribe the fuperlative beau-* ty of captive princeffes, and the fidions of poets, who chara6ferife their kings and no- bles, by uncommon dignity of carriage and elegance of perfon, and by an elevated turn of thinking, are rrot to be afcribed foleiy to the venality of writers prone to flatter the great, but have a real foundation in nature*. The ordinary ftrain of language, which \% borrowed from nature, vindicates this criti- cifm. A princely perfon, and a ncble thought, are ufuai figures of fpeech -j-, — Mental capa- city, • Coincident with the preceding remarks on the nations of Europe, is an obfervation made by Capt. Cook in his lalt voyage on the ifland Ohwyhee, and on the illands in general, which he vificed in the great fouth fea. Ke Tays, " the fame *' fupericrity wtiich is obfervable in the Erees [or nobles] *' through all the other iflands, is found alfo here. Thofe •' whom we favv were, without exception, perfeftly well *' formed ; whereas the lower fort, befides their general infe- •" riority, are fubjeft to all the variety of make and figure •' that is feen in the populace of other countries." Cook's third voyage, book 3d, chap. 6th. f Such is the deference paid to beauty, and the idea of fu- periority it infpires, that to this quality, perhaps, does thd body of princes and nobles, colleflively taken, in any country, owe great part of their iniluence over the populace. Riches and magnificence in drefs and equipage, produce much of their eifed by giving a'a artiiicial beauty to the perfon. Hov^ often in the Human Species, jt^ city, which is as various as dim ate, and as perfonal appearance, is, equally with the lat- ter, fufceptibk of improvement, from fimiiar caufes. The body and n)ind have fuch mu- tual influence, that whatever contributes ta change the human conftitution in its form or afped:, has an equal influence on its povvers of reafon and genius. And theje have again a reciprocal efFe6l in forming the countenance- One nation may, in confequence of conflitu- J:ional peculiarities, created more, perhaps, by the ftate of fociety, than by the climate, be addided to a grave and thougiitful philofo- phy; another may polfefs a brilliant and creative imagination ; one may be endowed with acutenefs and wit j another may be dif- tinguKhed for being phlegmatic and dull. Bceotian a lid Attic wit was not a fanciful, but real difliindion, though the rem.ote origin of Cadmus and of Cecrops was the fame. The flate of manners and fociety in thofe repub- lics produced this difference more than the Boeotian air, to which it has been fo often at-r tributed. By the alteration of a it"^' political, or civil, or commercial inflitutions, and con- often does hiftory remark, that young princes have attached their f'ubjedls, and generals their foldiers, by extraordinary beauty ? And young and beautifal queens have ever beea followed and ferved with uncommon enthufiafia. fequently So Of Complexion and rlgurt feqiiently of the objecls of Ibciety and the train of life, the eftabhfhment of which de- pended on a thoiifand accidental caufes, Thebes might have become Athens, and Athens Thebes. Different periods of ibciety, different manners, and diiferent objects, un- fold and cultivate diiferent powers of the. mind. Poetry, eloquence, and philofophy, feldom flourilh together in their higheftluiire. They are brought to perfection by various combinations of circumftances, and are found to fa ccecd one another in the fame nation at various periods, not becaufe the race of men, but becaufe manners and objefts are changed. ^ If as faithful a picture could be left to poftc- rity of perfonal as of mental qualities, vv^e fhould probably find the one, in thefe feveral periods, as various as the other -, and we fliouid derive from them a new proof of the power of fociety to multiply the varieties of the human fpecies. Not only deficiency of objects to give fcope to the exercife of the hu- man intellect is unfavourable to its improve- ment; but all rudenefs of manners is lin- friendly to the culture and the exiilence of tafte, and even coarfe and meagre food may have fome tendency to blunt the powers of genius. Thefe, caufes have a more powerful operation than has hitherto been attributed to 5 thciB ^\^%i in the Human Species, Si them by philofophers; and merit a more minute and extenfive illuftration than the fubje6t of this difcourfe will admit. The rnental capacities of favages for thefe caufes, are ufually weaker than the capacities of men in civilized fociety *. The powers of their minds, through defecl of objecis to employ them, lie dormant, and even become extinct. The faculties which, on fome occafions, they are found to poffefs, grow feeble through want of motives to call forth their exercife. j ^^^j The coarfenefsof their food, and the filthinefs of their manners, tend to blunt their genius. / And the Hottentots, the Laplanders, and the . people of New Holland, are the moft ftupid of mankind for this, among other reafons, that they approach, in thefe refpe6ts, the near- efl: to the brute creation -j-. * The exaggerated reprefentatlons which we fometimes re- > ceiveof theingenuity and profound wifdom of favages, are rhe ft-uits of weak and ignoranc furprize. And favages are praifed by fome writers for the fame reafon that a monkey is — a cer- tain imitation of the aftions of men in fo< ie'y, which was not expeded from the rudenefs of their condition. There are doubtlefs degrees of genius among favages, as well as among civilized nations ; but the comparifon Ihould be made of favages among themfelves ; and not of the genius of a favage, with that of a poliftied people. + It is well known that the Africans who have been brought to America, are daily becoming, under all the difadvantages of fervitude, more ingenious and fufceptibie of inftrudtion. This efFeil, which has been taken notice of more than once, may, in part perhaps, be attributed to a change in their mode* of Jiving, as well as to fociety, or climate. F lam w^ 82 Of Complexion and Figure I am now come to (hew in what manner the features of favage Hfe are afFe6ted by the llate of fociety. Civilization creates fome affinity in coun- tenance among all porilhed nations. But there is fomething fo peculiar and fo ftupid in the general countenance of favages, that they are liable to be confidered as an in- ferior grade in the defcent from the human to the brute creation. As the civilized na- tions inhabit chiefly the temperate climates, and favages, except in America, the extremes of heat and cold, thefe differences in point of clini,atc, combined with thofe that neceffarily arife out of their ftate of fociety, have pro- dued varieties fo great as to aitonifh hafty obfervers, and hafliy philofophers. — The va- rieties, indeed, produced in the features by fa- vage life are great; but the real fum of them is not ^Q great as the apparent. For the eye taking in at one view, not only the a(5lual change made in each feature, but their mul- tiplied and mutual relations to one another, and to the whole; and each new relation' giving the fame feature a different afpe£l;, by comparifon, the final refult appears prodigi- ous*. — For example, a change made in the • See pages 63 and 64. eye, in the Human Species, S3 eye, produces a change in the whole counte- nance ; becaufe it prefents to us, not fingly the difference that has happened in that feature, but all the differences that arife from its combinations with every feature in the face. In like manner, a change in the com- plexion prefents not its own difference only, but a much greater effect by afimiiar combin- ation with the whole countenance. If both the eyes and the complexion be changed in the fame perfon, each change affecting the whole features, the combination of the two refults will produce a third incomparably greater than either. If, in the fame way, we proceed to the lips, the nofe, the cheeks, and to every fmgle feature in the vifage, each produces a multiplied effe6l, by comparifon with the whole, and the refult of all, like the produ6l of a geometrical feries, is fo much beyond our firff expectation, that it con- founds common obfervers, and will fome- times embarrafs the moil difcerning philofo- phers, till they learn , in this manner, to di- vide and combine effects. To treat this fubjc6l fully, it would be nc- ceffary, in the firft place, to afcertain the general countenance of favage fociety — and then, as there are degrees in the favage as F 2 well ^4 0/ Complexion and Figure well as in the civilized flatc, to diftinguifli the feveral modifications which each degree makes in the general afpe6t — and, in the laft place, to coniider the almoft boundlefs vari- eties that arife from combining thefe general features with the efFefts of climate and of other caufes already mentioned. — I do not propofe, however, to purfue the fubjecl to llich extent. I fliall endeavour only to draw the general outlines of the favage countenance as it is foi raed by the ftate of fociety j and fliall leave its changes refulting from the diirerent degrees of that flate, and from the combinations of thefe with other caufes and eifefts, to exercife the leifure and obferva- tion of the ingenious. The eye of a favage is vacant and unex- preffive — the whole compofition of his countenance is fixed and ftupid — and over thefe unmeaning features is thrown an air of vvildnefs and melancholy — The mufcles of the face are foft and lax — -and the face is di- lated at the fides—the mouth is large — the lipsfwelled and protruded— and the nofe, in the fame proportion, depreffed *. *ln this reprefentation of the favage countenance, I have chiefly ill view the American favage; although its general lineaments, and the caufes afligned for them, may, in a great degree, be univerfalJ)' applied. This in the Human Species, %^ This is the picture. — To explain it I ob- ferve, that the expreifion of the eye, and of the whole countenance, depends on the nature and variety of thought and emotion. Joy and grief, folitude and company, objeds of attention, habits, manners, whatever occupies the mind, tends to imprefs upon the counte- nance its peculiar traits. Mechanical occu- pations, and civil profcflions, are often difbin- guilhed by peculiarities in manner and afpecft. We frequently difcriminate with eafe religious denominations by a certain countenance form- ed by the habits of their profefTion. Every thought has an influence in forming and di- verfifying the character of the countenance, and vacuity of thought leaves it unmeaning and fixed. The infinite variety of ideas and emotions in civilized fociety, will give every clafs of citizens fome diflinguifliing exprcffion, according to their habits and occupations: and will bjftow on each individual fome lin- gular and perfonal traits, according to his ge- nius, education, or purfuits. Between favage and civilized focfety there will be all the dif- ference that can arife from thinking and from want of thought. Savages will have all that uniformity among themfelves in the fame chmate, that arife from vacancy of mind, and want gF emotion. Knowledge is various, but F 3 igno- 86 Cf Complexion and Figure ignorance is ever the fame. A vacant eye, a fixed and unmeaning countenance of idiotifm, feem to reduce the favage in his afpe6l many grades nearer than the citizen to the brute creation. The folitude in which he Hves, difpofes him to melancholy. He feldom fpeaks or laughs. Society rarely enhvens his features. When not engaged in the chafe, having no object to roufe him, he reclines fluggilhly on the ground, he wanders care- lefly through the foreft, or he fits for hours in one poflure, with his eyes fixed to a fingle point, and his fenfes loft in fulkn and uu- irjeaning reverie. Thefe foiitary and melan- ' choly emotions ferve to caft over his vifage, which other caufes render fixed and unex* prefijve, a fad and lugubrious air. The wild fcenes of nature, in an uncultivated country iraprefs fome refemblance of themfelves on the features — and the paflions of war and rage, which are almoft the only ones that oc- cupy the mind of a favage, mingle with the v/hole an afpect of brutal ferocity *. * The inhabitants of the numerous fmall iflands in the great Southern and Pacific oceans form an exception to this remark. Prevented, by their ifolated ftate, from engaging in perpetual hoftilities with neighbouring tribes, like the con- tinental ravages, they are diftirguifhed by an air of mildnefs and complacence which is never feen upon the continent. Paucity in the Human Species, ^-j Paucity of ideas, folitude, and melancholy, contribute likewife in no fmall decree, to form the remaining features of a favage — a large and protruded mouth, a dilated face, and a general laxnefs and fvvell of all its mufcles *. Society and thought put a ftriclure upon the mufcles of the face, which, while it gives them meaning and exprefiion, prevents them from dilating and fvvelling as much as they would naturally do. They coiled the coun- tenance more towards the centre, and give it a greater elevation there -f-. But the vacant mind of the favage leaving the face, the in- dex of fentiment and pafiipn, unexerted, its mufcles are relaxed, they confequently fpread at the fides, and render the middle of the face broad. Grief peculiarly affecls the figure of tlie lips, and makes them fwell. — So do all fo- * That thefe are natural tendencies of folitude, and va- cancy of thought, we may difcern by a fmall attention to our- felves, during a fimilar ftate, or fimilar emotions of mind. f The advancement of fociety and knowledge is probably one reafon why the Europeans in general have a more ele- vated countenance than the Afiatics, The reader will be kind enough to remember that all remarks of this nature are only general, and not intended to reach every particular inrtance, or to infinuate that there may not, in the infinite variety oi nature, be many particular exceptions. F 4 litary 88 Of Complexion and Figure litary and melancholy emotions. When, therefore, thefe are the natural refult of the ftate of fociety — when they operate from in- fancy, and are feldom countera6ted by the more gay and intenfe emotions of civil life, the effe6l will at length become confiderable. The mouth of a favage will generally be large, and the lips, in a lefs or greater degree thick and protruded *. The nofe afFe6l?, and is afFe(5^ed by, the other features of the face. The whole fea- tures ufually bear fuch relation to one ano- ther, that if one be remarkably enlarged, it is accompanied with a proportional dimi- nution of others. A prominent nofe is com- monly connected with a thin face, and thin lips. On the other hand, a broad face, thick lips, or a large and a blunt chin, is accom- panied with a certain deprellion of the fea- ture of the nofe. It feems as if the extenfion of the nerves in one dire6lion, reftrained and fliortened them in another -f. Savages, there- fore, * The ruflic ftate, by Its foHtude and want of thought and emotion, bears fome analogy to the favage. And we fee jt accompanied by fimilar efFefts on the vifage. The coun- tenance vacant, the lips thick, the face broad and fpread, and all its mufcies lax and fwelling. f By a fmall experiment on ourfelves we may render this effeiij obvious. By a protufion of the lips, or by drawing down the mouth at the corners, we ihali find a ftridure on ' •• ' the In the Hmnan Species. 89 fore, commonly have this feature more fjiik and flat, than it is feen in civil fociety. This, though a partial, is not the whole caufe of that extreme flatnefs which is obferved in part of Africa, and in Lapland. Climate en- ters there, in a great degree, for the effeci ; and it is aided by an abfurd fenfe of beauty that prompts them often to deprcfs it by art ^. The preceding obfervations tend to ac- count for fome of the mod dillinguilhing features of favages. To thefe I might have added another general reafon of their pecu- liar wildnefs and uncouthnefs in that ftate of fociety. — The feelings of favages, when they deviate from their ufual apathy, are moftly of the uneafy kind j and to thefe they give ^n unconftrained exprellion. From this caufe the nofe that, in an age when the features were fofc and pliant, would feniibly tend to deprcfs it. A like tendency conti- nued through the whole of life, would give them ah habitual pofition very diiFerent from the common condition of civi- lized fociety ; and the efFedt would be much greater thaa would readily occur to our lirft refledlions upon the fabjeft. * That fuch an eiFe(fl fiiould be the refult of climate is not more wonderful than the thick necks created by the climate of the Alps ; or than other effefts that certainly fpring from this caufe, within our own knowledge. That it arifes from climate, or the ftate of fociety, or both, is evident, becaufe the nofe is becoming more prominent in the pofterityof thofe who have been removed from Africa to America. will go Of Complexion and Figure will necedaiily refult a habit of the face, iii the higheft degree rude and uncouth. As we fee a fimilar negligence among the vulgar adds exceedingly to that difgufting coarfenefs which fo many other caufes contribute to create. I have now finilhed the difcufiion which I propofed, as far as I delign at prefent to pur- fue it. — Many of the obfervations which have been made in the progrefs of it may, to per- fons not accuftomed to a nice examination of the powers of natural caufes, appear minute and unimportant. It may be thought that I Jiave attributed too much to the influence of principles that are fo flow in their operation and imperceptible in their progrefs. But, on this fubjeci, it deferves to be remembered, that the minutell caufes, by a£ling conftantly, are often productive of the greatefl confe- quences. The inceffant drop wears ? cavity, at length, in the hnrdeft rock. - The inipref- fions of education, which fingly taken are fcarcely difcernible, ultimately produce the greatcff differences between men in fociety. How flow the progrefs of civilization which tho. influence of two thoufand years hath as yet, hardly ripened in the nations of Europe ! How minute and imperceptible the operation of in the Human Species. 91 of each particular caufe that has contributed to the final refult ! And yet, how immenfe the difference between the manners of Europe barbarous, and of Europe civiHzed ! There isr furely not a greater difference between the figure and afpeft of any two nations on the globe. The pliant nature of man is fufcep- tible of change from the minuteft caufes, and thefe changes, habitually repeated, create at length confpicuous difl:in61ions. The effect proceeds increahng from one generation to another, till it arrives at that point where the conftitution can yield no farther to the power of the operating caufe. Here it afiumes a permanent form and becomes the charadec of the climate or the nation. Superficial thinkers are often heard to afk, why, unlefs there be an original difference in the fpccies of m,en, are not all born at leaft with the fame figure or complexion ? It is fuf- ficient to anfwer to fuch inquiries, that it is for the fame reafon, whatever that may be, that other refemblances of parents are com- municated to children. We fee that figure, ffature, complexion, features, difeafes, and even poweis of the mind, become hereditary. To thofe who can fatisfy themfelves with re- gard to the communication of thefe proper- 4 tics, ()2 Of Complexion and Figure ties, the tranfmi/Tion of climatical or national differences ought not to appear furprifing — the fame law will account for both. — If it be allied, Why a fun-burnt face, or a wounded limb is not alfo communicated by the fame law ? It is fufficient to anfvver, that thefe are only partial accidents which do not change the inward form and temperament of the conftitution. It is the conftltution that is conveyed by birth. The caufes which I have attempted to ihuftrate, change in time its whole flru(5lure and compofition — And when any change becomes incorporated, fo to fpeak, it is, along with other confi:itutional properties tranfmitted to offspring. I proceed now to confider the exceptions exifting among mankind that feem to contra- dict the general principles that have been laid down concerning the influence of clirliate, and of the fbate of fociety. I begin with obferving, that thefe excep- tions are neither fo numerous nor fo great as they have been reprefcnted by ignorant and inaccurate travellers, and by credulous phi- Icfophers. Even Buffon feems to be credu- lous when he only doubts concerning the re- lationo of Struys, and other prodigy-mongers, who i/i the Human Species, 93 who have filled the hlftories of their voyages with crude and hafty obfervations, the effects of falfehood, or of ftupid furprize. Nothing can appear more contemptible than philofo- phers with folemn faces retailing, like maids and nurfes, the ftories of giants* — of tailed men -f — of a people without teeth J — and of fome abfolutely without necks §. It is a (hame for philofophy at this day to be fwallowing the falfehoods, and accounting for the ab- furdities, of failors. We in America, perhaps, receive fuch tales with more contempt than * BufFon, defcribing the inhabitants of the Marian, orLa- drone iflands, fuppofes that they are, in general, a people of large fize; and that fome may have been feen there of gi- gantic ftature. But before Buffon wrote, there was hardly a navigator who did not fee many giants in remote countries. BufFon has the merit of rejei^ng a great number of incre- dible narrations. f Lord Monboddo fuppofes that mankind, at firil had tails — that they have fallen off by civilization — but that there are ftrll fome nations, and fome individuals, who have this honourable mark of affinity with the brutes. What effeft might refult from the conjunflion of a favage with an ape, or an Oran-outang, it is impoffible to fay. But a monllrous birth, if it Ihould happen, however it may be exaggerated by the ignorance of failors, fhould never be dignified as a fpecies in the writings of philofophers. X A moft deformed and deteltable people whom Buffoa fpeaks of as natives of New-Holland. § Sir Walter Raleigh pretends to defcribe a people of that kind in Guiana. Other voyagers have given a fimilar ac- count of fome of the Tartar tribes. The necks of thefe Tartars aie naturally extremely fhort ; and the fpirit of tra- velling prodigy has totally deftroyed them. Other 94 ^f Complexion and Figure other nations; becaiife we perceive in fuch a llrong light, the falfehood of fimilar wonders, with regard totliis continent, that were a few ycai s ago reported, believed, and philofophifed on, in Europe. We hear every day the abfurd remarks and the falfe reafonings of foreign- ers on almoft every obje61 that comes, under their obfervation in this new region. They judge of things, of men, and of manners, un- der the influence of habits and ideas framed in a different climate, and a different flate of focietyi or they infer general and erroneous conclufions from fingle and miftaken fa6ts, viewed through that prejudice, which previ- ous habits always form in common minds *. Since * It requires a greater portion of reflexion and philofophy than falls to the lot of ordinary travellers^ to enable them to Judge with propriety of men and things in diftant countries. Countries are defcribed from a fingle fpot, manners from a fmgle aflion, and men from the firlt man that is feen on a foreign fhorCj and perhaps him only half feen, and at a dif- tance. From this fpirit, America has been reprefented by different travellers as themcll fertile or the mofl barren region on the globe. Navigators to Africa often fpeak of the fpread- ing forefts and luxuriant herbage of that arid continent, becaufe fome fcenes of this kind areprefented to the eye along the fhores of the Gambia and the Senegal. And furprife, oc- cafioned by an uncommon complexion or compofition of fea- tures, has increafed or diminiOied the ftature of different na- tions beyond all the proportions of nature, — Such judgments arc fimilar, perhaps, to thofe which a Ciiinefe failor would form of the United States who had feen only Cape May ; or would form of Britain or of France, who had feen only the ports of Dover or of Calais. What information concerning thofe kingdoms could fuch a vilitant afford his countrymen from in the Himian species; 95 Since America is better known, we find no canibals in Florida j no men in Guiana with heads from fuch a vlfit ? Befide the limited fphere of his obferva- tion, he would fee every thing with allonifhment or with dif- guft, that would exaggerate, or diftort, his reprefentation. He would fee each action by itfelf without knowing its con- nexions ; or he would fee it with the connexions which it would have in his own country. A fitnilar error induced Captain Cook, in his iirft voyage, to form an unfavourable opinion of the modefty and chaftity of the women of Otaheite, which more experience taught him to correal. Many fuch falfe judgments are to be found in almoft every writer of voyages or travels. The favages of America are reprefented as frigid, becaufe they are not ready for ever to avail them- felves of the opportunities offered by their ftate of fociety to violate the chaility of their females. They are fomeiimes re- prefented as licentious, becaufe they often lie promifcuoufly round the fame fire. Both judgments are falfe, and formed on prepolTeffions created in fociety. Simplicity of manners, more than conftitution, or than climate, produces that ap- pearance of indifference, on the one hand, that is called fri- gidity, and that promifcuous intercourfe, on the other, that is fuppofed to be united with licence. Luxury, reftraints, and (he arts of polifhed fociety, inflame defiie, which is al- layed by the coarfe manners and hard fare of favage life, where no ftudied excitements are ufed to awaken the pafiions. The frontier counties of all thefe fiates at prefent afford a ftrikirig example of the truth of this reflexion. Poor, and approaching the roughnefs and fimpliciiy of favage manners, and living in cabins that have no divifions of apartmenf;, whole families, and frequently ftrangers, lodge together in the fame inclofure, v/ithout any fenfe of indecency, and with fewer violations of chaftity than are found amidft the rel'raints and incitements of more polifhed fociety. On a like found- ation cowardice has been imputed to the natives of America, becaufe they profecute their wars by ftratagem — infenfibility, becaufe they fuffer with patience — and thieviflinefs, becaufe a favage, having no notion of perfonal property but that which he has in prefent occupation and enjoyment, takes without fcruple what he wants, and fees you do not need. Jn innu- merable inftances the ail of one man, the figure or ftature of 96 Of Complexion and Figure beads funk into their breafts ; no rtiartlal Amazons. The giants of Patagonia have dirppeared; and the fame fate fliould have attended thofe of the Ladrone iflands, whom Buffon, after GamelhCarreii, has been pleafed to mention. Taverniei's tales ot the fmooth and hairlefs bodies of the Mogul women, may be ranked with thofe which have fo long, and fo falfcly, attributed ihis peculiarity to the na- tives of America. The fame judgment may we form of thofe hiftories which reprefent na- tions without natural aifciiion; without ideas of religion J and without moral principle*. In of the firft vagrant feen upon a diftant fliore, has furnifhed thecharafter of a whole nation. It is abfurd to build philo- fophic theories on the ground of fuch ftories. * Nations have been judged to be without religion, be- caufe travellers have not {ttn temples ; becaufe they have not underltood their ouiloms or their language; or have not feen them engaged in any aft of worfhip. Nations have been judged to be without natural affeftion, becaufe one man has been feen to do an aft of barbarity. But one of the nations, which feems to have departed fartheft from the laws of hu- man nature, is mentioned by lord Kainc, in his laudable attempts to difprove the truth of . jveia iuu. He thinks it certain that the Giagas, a n^t'.on of Africa, could not have defcended from one origin with the reft of mankind, becaufe, totally unlike all others, they are void of natural afFeftion. They kill, fays his lor Jfhip, all their own children as foon as they are born, and fupply their places with youth flolen from the neigbouring tribes. If this charafter had been true, even his lordfhip's zeal for a good caufe might have fuffered him to rcfleft, that the Giagas could not have con^ tinued a leparate race, longer than the iirft Hock Ihould have lived. in the Human Species, pp the fea, the courfe of winds, the altitude of lands, and even the nature of the foil, create great differences in the fame dimate. The Hate of fociety in which any nation takes pof- feilion of a new country, has a great effe<5t in preferving or in changing their original ap- pearance. Savages neceflarily undergo great changes by fuffering the whole ailion and force of climate without protection. Men iti a civihzed ftate enjoy innumerable arts by which they are enabled to guard againft its influence, and to retain fome favourite idea of beauty formed in their primitive feats. Yet, every migration produces a change. And the combined effects of many migrations, fuch as have been made by almoll: all the prefent na- tions of the temperate zone, muff have great influence in varying the human countenance. For example—A nation which migrates to a different cUmate v/iil, in time, be impreffed with the chara6ters of its new flate. If this nation fliould afterwards return to its original feats^ it would not perfectly recover its pri- mitive features and complexion, but would receive the imprefHons of the firft climate, on the ground of thofe created in the fecond. In a new removal, the combined effect of the two climates would become the ground on which v^'ould be impreffed the characters of G 2 the loo Of Complexion and Figure the third. This exhibits a new caufe of end- lefs variety in the human countenance. • Thefe principles will ferveto explain many of the differences that exifl: in thofe countries which have been the fubje6ls of mod fre- quent conqueft*. India and the northern regions of Africa have been often conquer- ed, and many nations have eUablifhed colo- nies in thefe countries for the purpofes of commerce. All thefe nations before their migrations, or their conquefts, were in a lefs or greater degree civilized. They were able therefore to preferve, with fome fuccefs, their original features againft the influence of the climate. Their diet, their habits, their man- ners, and their arts, all would contribute to this effeft. As thefe caufes are capable of creating great varieties am.ong men, much more are they capable of preferving varieties already created. The Turks therefore, the Arabs, and the Moors in the north of Africa, will remain, forever, diltindl in their figure and complexion, as long as their manners are different. And the continent and iflands of India will be filled with a various race of peo- ple, while the productions of their climate con- * Efpecially if religion, manners, policy, or other caufes, prevent people from uniting freely in marriages, and from fiibmitting to the fame lyltem of government and laws. tinue in the Human Species. i o i thiue to Invite both conquefts and commerce. The climate will certainly change in a de- gree the appearance of all the nations who re- move thither; but the difference in the de- gree, and the combination of this effe6i: with their original charaders, will ftili prelerve among them eflential and confpicuous dif- tinclions *. Another variety, which feems to form an exception from the principles hitherto laid down, but which really eftablifhes them, is, that the torrid zone of Afia is not marked by fuch a deep colour, nor, except in a few countries, by fuch curled hair, as that of Africa, The African zone is a reg^ion of burning fand which augments the heats of the fun to a degree almoii inconceivable. * From the preceding principles we may juftly conclude, that the Anglo-Americans will never refemble the native In- dians. Their civilization will prevent To great a degeneracy. But were it poffible thac they fliould become favage, the re- femblanca coald never be coinplcte, becaufe the one would receive the impreffions of the climate on a countenance, the ground of which was formed in Europe, and in a Hate of im^ proved focieiy ; the other has plainly received them on a" ccuncenante formed in Tartary, And yet the reremh! mce becomes near and llriking in thofe perfons v;ho have been captivated by the Indians in infancy, and have grown up among them in the habits of favage life. Thefe principles likewife will lead us to conclude, that the Samoiedes are Tar- tars degenerated by the efFeds of extreme cold -and that the empire of China, and moft of the countries of India, hbve been peopled from the north. For their countenance' feems to be compofed of the fcft feature of the Lower Afia, laid upon a ground formed in the Upper Afia. G 3 Tliat 102 Of Complexion and Figure That of Afia confifts chiefly of water, which, abforbing the rays of the fun, and fiUnig the atmofphere with a cool and humid vapour, creates a wind comparatively temperate over its numerous idands and narrow peninfulas. The principal body of its lands lies nearer to the northern tropic than to the equator. In fummer the winds blow from the louth acrofs extenfive oceans ; in the winter from conti- nents that the fun has long deferted *. Yet, under all the advantages of climate which Afia enjoys, we find in Borneo and New- Guinea, and perhaps in fome others of thofe valt infular countries, which, by their por- tion and extent, are fubjeft to greater heats than the continent, or by the favage condition of the inhabitants, fufFer the influence of thofe heats in a higher degree, a race of men refembling the African negroes. Their haic, their complexion, and their features, are nearly the fame. At the dilfance of more than three thoufand miles acrofs the Indian ocean, it is impoffible that they fnould have fprung from the favages of Africa, who have not the means of making fuch extenfive voyages -f, * The monfoons are found to blow over the whole Afiatic zone. f The Europeans were highly civilized before they di Co- vered the continent of America, which is not fo remote from their fhores as Borneo or New-Holland is from the coaft of Africa. Similarity in the Human Speciesl 103 Similarity of climate and of manners have created this ftriking refemblance between people fo remote from one another. The next apparent exception we difcover in Africa itfelf. Africa, like Europe and Afia, is full of varieties, arifing from the fame caufes, vicinity to the fun, elevation of the land, the heat of winds, and the manners of the people. But the two principal diftinc- tions of colour, under which the reft may be ranged, that prevail from the northern tropic, or a little higher to the Cape of Good-Hope, are the CafFre and the negroe. The Caffre complexion prevails along the eaflern coafl, and in the country of the Hottentots. The ne2:roe on the vv'efiern coaft between the tro- pics. The negroe is the blackert colour of the human fkin, the Caffj-e is much lighter, and feems to be the intermediate grade be- tween tlie negroe and the native of India. The caufe of this difference will be obvious to thofe who are acquainted with that conti- nent. The winds under the equator, follow- ing the courfe of the fun, reach the eaftern coafl: of Africa, cooled by blowing over im- menfe oceans, and render the countries of Aian, Zanguebar, and Monomotapa, compa- ratively temperate. But after they have tra- G 4 verfcd x ©4 ^f Complexion and Figure verfed that exienf.ve continent, and in a paf- fage of three thoufand miles have collecled all the fires of the burning defert, to pour them on the countries of Guinea, of Sierra- Leona, and of Senegal *, they glow with an ardor unknown in any other portion of the globe. The intenfe heat, which, in this re- gion, makes fuch a prodigious change on the human conftitution, equally transfoims the whole race of beafts and of vegetables. All nature bears the marks of a powerful fire ^, And the ncgroe is no more changed from the Caffre, the Moor, or the European, than the proportional laws of climate, and of fo- ciety, give us reafon to expedl. Above the Se- negal we find in the nation of the Foulies a lighter fhadc of the negroe colour , and im- _* Thefe countries receive the wind after blowing over the wideftand hocteft part of Africa, and confeqiiently fufF«ir un- der a more intenfe heat than the countries of Congo, Angola, or Loango, to the fouth of the equator. Accordingly, we iind the people of a deeper black in the northern than in the jfouthern fedtion of the torrid zone. t The luxuriancy of the trees and herbage along the banks of the great rivers has deceived foipe travellers who havere- prefented Africa as a rich and fertile country. As foon as .you leave the rivers, which are very few, you enter on a parched and naked foil. And the whole interior parts of that continent, as far as they have been explored, are little lelfe than a defert of burning find, that often rolls in waves like the ocean. Buffon mentions a nation in the centre of Africa, the Zuinges, who, the Arabian writers fay, are often almoft entirely cut off, by hot winds that rife out of the fur- rcunding defsrts. niediatelv in the Human Species, 105 mediately beyond them to the north, the dark<:ft copper of the Moorlfh complexion. There is a fmaller interval between the cop- per colour and the perfcCiiy black on the north than on the fouth of the torrid zone j becaufe the Moors, being more civilized than the Hottentots, are better able to defend them- felves againft the imprefHons of the climate. But the Hottentots, being the mod (avage of mankiiid, fuffer the influence of theu* climate in the extreme. And they endeavour, by every mean, to preferve the features and the complexion of the equator, from whence, it is probable, they derived, with their ancef- tors, their ideas of beauty. It is more eafy to preferve acquired features or complexion, than to regain them after they have been loft. The Hottentots })rererve with fome fuccefs, thofe that they had acquired under the equa- tor. They flatten, by violence, the nofe of every child foon after it is born i they endea- vour to deepen the colour of theikin by rub- bing it with the moft filthy unguents, and by expofing it to the influence of a icorching fun ; and their hair they burn up by the viieft compofitions. Yet, againft all their eiforts, the climate, though it is but a few degrees declined from the torrid zone, viflbly prevails. Their hair is thicker and longer than that of the io6 Of Complexion and Figure the negroes; and their complexion near the Cape is the lightefl flain of the CafFie colour. Allowing for the effefts of their favage con- dition, and of their brutal manners, they are marked nearly with the fame hue that diilin- guifhcs the correfpondent northern latitudes*. As you afcend along the eaftern coafl: from Cafraria to Aian, the complexion becomes gradually deeper, till fuddenly you find, in Abyfhnia, a race of men refcmbling the Ibuthern Arabians. Their hair is long and ftraight, their features tolerably regular, and their complexion a very dark olive approach- ing to the black. This fingularity is eafily explained on the principles already efcablifli- cd : and it is an additional confirmation of thefe principles that they are found to reach all the efFecls to which they are applied. The Abydinians are a civilized people, and bear evident marks of Afiatic origin. They are fituated in the mildeft region of tropical Africa, and are fanned by the temperate winds that blow from the Indian ocean. Abyffinia is likewife a high and mountainous country, and is waflied during half the year by deluges * With regard to other peculiarities that have been related of this people, and that reduce them in their figure the nearetl to the brute creation of any of the human fpecies, great part of them are falfe, others exaggerated, and thofe that are crue^ are the natural offspring of their brutal manners. of in the Human Species, " 107 of rain which impart unufual coolnefs to the air. It is, perhaps, one of the moil elevated regions on earth, as, from its mountains fpring two of the largeft and the longeft rivers in the world, the Niger and the Nile*. This alti- tude of the lands, raifes it to a region of the atmofphere that is equivalent to many degrees of northern latitude -f. Thus, the civilization of the people, the elevation of the country, the temperature of the winds, and inceflant clouds and rain during that feafon of the year in which the fun is vertical, all contribute to create that form and colour of tlie human perfon in Abyffinia, which is confidered as a prodigy in the torrid zone of Africa. Having confidered the principal obje6Lions to the preceding theory exifting in India and Africa, it may be expected that I fhould not * The prodigious and incefTant deluges of rain that fall in Abyflinia during fix months in the year, are the caufe of the overflowing of the Nile. They render the atmofphere tem- perate, and are a proof of the elevation of the country, no lefs than the length of the rivers that originate in its mountains. The greatelt quantity of rains ufually fall on mountains and the highell lands ; and their elevation may, in a great mea- fure, be determined by the length of the rivers that ifTue from them. f Some writers inform us, that the barometer rifes in Abyf- finia, on an average, no higher than 20 inches, if this be true, that kingdom mull be fituaced more than two miles above the level of the fea. But if we fhould fuppofe this ac- count to be exaggerated, ftill we mull judge its altitude to be very great, confidering that it is almoll intirely a region of mountains, which are the fources of ihofe vaft rivers. omit ] o8 Of Complexion and Figure omit to mention the white Negroes of x^frica, and the white Indians of Daiien, and of fome of the oriental iflands, which are fo often quoted upon this fubjedh Ignorant or inte- lelled writers have endeavoured to magnify this phasnomenon into an argument for the original diftincf ion of fpecies. But thofe who have examined the fact with greater accuracy, have rendered it evident that their colour is the efFeft of fome diftemper, Thefe whites are rarej they have all the marks of an ex- treme imbecility j they do not form a feparate race, or continue their own fpeciesj- but are found to be the accidental and difeafed pro- dudion of parents who themfelves poflefs thq full gharaclers of the climate *. It; * Mr. James Lind, a phyfjcian of great reputation, has recorded a fimilar deviation from the law of climate in a black child born of white parents. The fadt he aflures us occurred to his own obfervation. See Phil, Tranf. of Roy. Soc. Lend, N" 424- The fmall tribe of red people, which Dr. Shaw, in his travels, relates that he faw in the mountains of Aurefs, a part of the vaft ridge of Atlas, are probably a remnant of the Van- dals who^ in the fifth century, conquered the northern coun- tries of Africa. Their manners, and the altitude of their lituation, in thofe cold mountains, may have contributed to preferve this diftinction between them and the Moors and ^rabs, who live in the low lands. Lord Kaims, who writes with infinite weaknefs on this fubjef), exclaims with an air of triumph, if the climate in 3 thoufand years has not changed thefe people into a perfect refemblance of the aborigines, we may fafely pronounce it never will change them. — I confefs it, if thsy preferve their prefent elevation. But to conclude that the climate cannot change them on the plains, becaule in the Human Species, 109 It now remains only to account for the afpetl of the favage natives of America, which varies from the examples we have confidered in the other portions of the earth. Their complexion is not fo fair as that of Europe or of Middle Afia. It is not fo black as that of Africa, and many of the oriental iilands. There is a greater uniformity of countenance throughout this whole continent than is found in any other region of the globe of equal extent. That the natives of America are not fair, 'is a natural confequencc of the principles al- ready eflabliflied in thisEflayj in which it has been fliewn, that favages, from their expofure, their hardihips, and their manner of living, muft, even in temperate climates, be difco- loured by different Ihades of the tawny com- plexion. The uniformity of their countenance refults in fome degree from thi^t of the climate, which is the lefs various, that America poffefe the cooleil tropical region in the world. But it refults principally from their ftate of fociety, it has not changed them on the mountains. Is the fame kind of reafoning as it would be to conclude that the fun could not melt fnow at the bottom of .Etna or Pambamarca, becaufe it continues eternallv frozen at the top. their no Of Complexion and Figure their manners, their means of fubfiftence, the nature and limitation of their ideas, which preferve an uncommon lefemblance from Ca- nada to Cape Horn. Though complexion is lefs diverfified in America than in other re- gions of the earth j yet there is a fenfible gra- dation of colour*, till you arrive at the darkeft hue of this continent in the nations on the weft of Brazil. Here the continent being wider, and confequently hotter, than in any other part between the tropics, is more deep- ly coloured. And the Toupinamboes and Toupayas, and other tribes of that region, bear a near refemblance, in their complexion, to the inhabitants of the oriental zone. We find indeed no people in America fo black as the Africans. This is the peculiarity that attra6ls moft obfervation and inquiry j and the caufe I propofe now to explain. * In travelling from the great lakes to Florida or Loui- liana, through the indian nations, there is a vifible progrel- fion in the darknel'sof their complexion. And at the councils of confederate nations, or at treaties for terminating anexten- iive war, you often fee fachems and warriors of xtiy diiFerent hues. But the colour of the natives of America, though diverfified, is lefs various than in other quarters of the globe of equal extent of latitude. And as the fame ftate of fociety tiniverfally prevails, there is a fylleni of features that refults from this, which is every where fimilar. Thefe features giving the predominant afpett to the face, and being united with a complexion lefs various than in Africa or Afia, form what is called the uniformity of the American countenance. The in the Human Species* 1 1 1 The torrid zone of America is uncommon- ly temperate. This effect arifes in part from its fliape ; in part from its high mountains, and extenfive lakes and rivers j and in part from its uncultivated ftate. All uncultivated regions, covered with forefts and vsdth waters, are naturally cold*. The torrid zone of Ame- rica is narrow — its mountains and its rivers are immenfe — and Amazonia may be con- fidered, during a great portion of the year, as one extenfive lake '\'. Let us advert to the influence of thefe circumftances. The empire of Mexico is a continued ifthmus of high and mountainous lands. Cool by their elevation, they are fanned on each fide by winds from the eaflern and weflern oceans. Terra firma is a hilly region. Amazonia, though low and flat, is fliaded by boundlefs forefls, and cooled by the numerous waters that flow into the lars:eft rivers in the world. The mjldnefs of its atmofphere is augmented by the perpetual eaft wind that blows under the equator. This wind, having depohted in the Atlantic ocean * The difference, in pcint of climate, which cultivation h:is produced between modern and ancient Europe, is well known. And it is probable, that if civilization fhall, in future time, be introduced into Tartary, that frozen climate will be mollified, and the deformed Tartars may, with change oi" climate and of manners, become perfonable men. f On account of its numerous rivers and its flooded lands. 1 1 the 11 z Of Complexion and Figure the heats acquired in its pafiage acrofs the continent of Africa, regains a moderate tem- perature befor.e it arjives at the American coaft. In America it continues its courle over thick forcfts and innumerable waters, to the mountains of the Andes. The Andes are colder than the Alps. And the empire of Peru, defended on one i^At by thefe frozen ridges; fanned on the other by a perpetual wed wind from the Pacific Ocean ; and co- vered by a canopy of denfe vapour, through which the fun never penetrates with force ; enjoys a temperate atmofphcre. The vaft fo- lells of America are an efFecf of the tempera- ture of the air, and contribute to promote it. Extreme heat parches the foil, and converts it into an arid fand — luxuriant vegetation is the fruit of a moid earth, and a temperate iky. And the natives, inhabiting perpetual fliade, and refpiring in the grateful and re- frigerating effluvia of vegetables, enjoy, in the midft of the torrid zone, a moderate chmate. Thefe obfervations ttnd tofliewjthat, as far as heat is concerned in the effc6r, the colour of the American muft be much lefs deep than that of the African, or even of the Afiatic zone. in the Human Species. 1 13 zone. And to me it appears, and, I doubt not, to every candid and intelligent inquirer, that the co-operation of fo many caufes is fully adequate to account for the differences between the complexion of the Negroe and of the Indian. Thus have I concluded the examination, which I propofed, into the caufes of the prin- cipal varieties of pcrfon that appear in the different nations of the earth. And I am happy to obferve, on this rubje6l, that the molt accurate invefligations into the power of nature ever ferve to confirm the fa6ls vouched by the authority of revelation. A juft phiiofophy will always be found to be coincident with true theology. The writers who, through ignorance of nature, or through prejudice againfl religion, attempt to deny the unity of the human fpecies, do not advert to the confufion which fuch principles tend to introduce. The fcience of morals would be abfurd j the law of nature and nations would be annihilated ; no general principles of hu- man conduct, of religion, or of policy, could be framed J for human nature, originally infinitely various, and, by the changes of the world, infinitely mixed, could not be compre- hended in any fyflem. The rules which H would 114 Of Complexion and Figure would refult from the ftudy of our own na- ture, would not apply to the natives of other countries, who would be of different fpecies; perhaps not two families in our own country, who might be fprung from a diffi- niilar compofuion of fpecies. Such principles tend to confound all fcience, as well as piety ; and leave us in the world uncertain whom to trull", or what opinions to frame of others. The dod:rine of one race removes this uncer- tainty, renders human nature fufceptible of fyftem, illuirrates the powers of phyfical caufes, and opens a rich and extenfive field for moral fcience. The unity of the human race I have confirmed by explaining the caufes of its variety.' — The fiid and chief of thefe I have (hewn to be climate j by which is meant^ notfo much the latitude of a country from the equator, as tiie degree of heat or cold, that . depends on many connected circumftances. The next is the fcate of fociety, which greatly au«:ments or corre6l3 the influence of cli- mate, and is itfelf the independent caufe of many confpicuous difiin6lions among man- kind, Thefe caufes may be infinitely varied in their degree, and in their combinations with other principles. And in the innume- rable migrations of mankind, they are modi- fied by their own previous effects in a prior climate, in the Human Species* 1 1 r climate, and a prior ftate of fociety *. Even where all external circumflances feem to be the fame, there may be fecret caufes of dif- ference, as there are varieties in the children of the lame family. The fame country often exhibits differences among individuals fimiiar to thofe which diftinguilh the mofl: diftant nations. Such differences prove, at leaff, that the human conftitution is fufceptible of all the changes that are feen among men. It is not more aftonifhing that nations, than that indi- viduals, fliould differ -f. In the one cafe, we know with certainty, that the varieties have arifen out of the fame origin ; and in the other, we have reafon to conclude, independ- ently on the facred authority of revelation, that from one pair have fpiung-all the fami- lies of the earth. * Vide pages 99 — loi. f It would be lawful, if it were necefTary, to have re- courfe to accidental caufes to account for the varieties of na- tions ; and to fuppofe that a country might have at firft beea peopled by fome anceftor moft like the natives in features and in figure. Jt would not be a Itrained fuppofuion, becaufe we frequently fee defornned perfons in civil fociety refemble almoll every favage nation. And thofe who are acquainted with American migrations know, that commonly the moft poor, and lazy, and deformed, are the firll to pufh their fortune in a rude and favage wildernefs, where they can live, without labour, by fifhing and hunting. II 2 STRICTURES O N LORD KAIMS's DISCOURSE ON THE ORIGINAL DIVERSirr OF MANKIND. LORD Kaims, in a preliminary difcourfe to his Sketches of the Hiftory of Man, has undertaken to combat the principle which I have endeavoured to maintain, that all mankind are fprung from one pair. His reputation ftands io high in the literary world, that we may juftly prefume he has comprehended in that diflertation whatever can be urged with folidity againft this opinion. Every reader will probably deem the refutation of fuch an antagonift, no inconfiderable addition to the force of the preceding argument. The charafler of Lord Kaims, as an author, ap- pears in this difcourfe far inferior to that which he has juftly obtained from his other works. And in fome ftridlures which I am now to make upon it, I propofe to fhew that many of the fuppofed fafls on which his lordftiip relies in the train of his argument, have no exiftence, and that almoft the whole of his reafoning is inconclufivc. H 3 In *t' ( n8 ) In the firil place he fays, " certain it is that all ** men, more than all animals, are not equally fitted *' for every climate. There were therefore created dif- *' ferent kinds of men at firft, according to the nature " of the Climate in which they were to' live. And if *' we have any belief in Providence, it ought to be fo, *' Becaufe men, in changing their climate, ufually be- *' come fickly, and often degenerate." This power of the climate to change the perfon, which his lordihip confefles, when he calls it the degenerating. of mankind, is the principle for which I plead j and which, united with the influence of the ftate of fociety, is fufficient to explain all the changes that are vifible In the different nations of the earth. Are not the inhabitants of Guinea and of Lapland degenerated races compared with the inhabitants of France and England ? If thefe people had, in their own climates, attained the perfection of their nature, and the civilized Eu- ropeans had, by being tranfplanted thither, degene- rated far below them, the argument then would have had fome force. But fmce the greateft degeneracy of Europeans is only a refemblance of thefe favages, the example concludes againft his lordlhip's principle. But men, he contends, were not made for different climates, *' becaufe, in changing their climate, they " ufually become fickly." This argument fuppofes that man was not made for fituations in which he is liable to encounter dan- ger ( 119 ) ger or difeafe. And yet we fee him, as it were by the appointment of Providence, continually encoun- tering both. If this argument were of weight, man is only an intruder on this world; for, every where he meets with llcknefs and with death. True it is, men, by making great and fudden changes of climate or of country, are expofed to difeafe. But it is equally true of fimihr changes even in the modes of living. And the argument proves only that all fuch alter- ations fhould be made gradually, and with precaution. If this prudential conduct be obferved, the human conflitution, as is known from adlual experiment, is capable of enduring the influence of every climate. It becomes, in time, aflimilated by its fituation. And the progeny of foreigners come at length to refemble the natives, if they adopt the fame manners.— In America we are liable to diforder, by removing incau- tioufly from a northern to a fouthern ftate ; and evea from one part to another of the fame ftate • but it would be abfurd to conclude thence, that we are not of one fpecies from New-Hampfhire to Georgia. Shall we conclude that the top of every hill, and the bank of every rivxr, are inhabited by different fpecies, be-« caufe the latter are lefs healthy than the former ? The conftitution becomes attempered, in a degree even to an unhealthy region, and then it feels augmented fymp- toms of diforder, on returning to the moft falubrious air and water : but does this prove that nature never intended fuch men to drink clear water, or to breathe in a pure atmofphere ? This argument deftroys itfelf by the extent of the donfequences which it draws after it. H 4 His ( 120 } His lordfliip's fccond argument, which is only a re- petition of part of the firft, is certainly an extraordi- nary example of philofophic reafoning — ** Men," fays he, '* muft have been originally of different flocks, " adapted to their refpedtive climates, becaufe an Eu- *' ropean degenerates both in vigour and in colour on «< being removed to South America, to Africa, or to « the Eaft Indies." The fa£l is as his lordflilp ftates it. An European changes his colour on being removed to thefe diftant climates. But one would think that true philofophy ihould have drawn from this fa61: a contrary conclufion. Certainly if an European had not degenerated, as he exprefles it, in colour and in vigour, on being removed to other climates, it would have been a llronger proof of the original difference of races. He confirms this obfervation, however, by the ex- ample of " a Portuguefe colony on the coaft of Congo,. ^' who, in a courfe of time, he affirms, have degene- " rated fo much, that they fcarce retain the appearance " of men." A fa6l more to the purpofe of the preceding eflay could not be adduced. Let it be applied to the neigh- bouring tribes of negroes and of Hottentots. Though they, in like manner, are become fo rude, that fcarcely do they retain the appearance of men, does not his lordfhip's example prove, that, in fome remote period, they might have defccnded from the fame origin with thefe degenerated Portuguefe ? His ( ( 121 ) tils lordfliip has been egregioufly deceived in the principle on which he attempts to prove that America is not adapted to European conftitutions. He aflerts that " Charleftown in Carolina is infufFerably hot ; " becaufe," fays he, " it has no Tea-breeze — that *' Jamaica itfelf is a more temperate climate — and ' that the inhabitants of both die fo faft, that, if con- ** tinual recruits did not arrive from Europe to fup- «« ply the places of thofe that perifb, the coiintries " would be foon depopulated." — How cautious ftiould philofophers be of afferting hSs, without well exa- mining the authority on which they receive them! All thefe alTertions are equally and' entirely falfe. And if a philofopher, and a lord of feffions in Scot- land, talks fo ignorantly of that country which, froiii its long and intimate connexion with Britain, he ihould have underflood better than any other, we may juftly prefume that he is lefs acquainted with, the Afiatic and African nations ; and that the objec- tions drawn from them by him, and by inferior writers, againft the do6lrine of one race, are ftill more Weak and unfounded. His lordfliip ufes, as another argument for the ori<^ ginal diverfity of fpecies among mankind, that com- mon European miftake, that " the natives of Am.erica «* are deftitute of hair on the chin and body." That philofophers fhould fometi.T^es be deceived in their information is not furprifing; but they are cer- tainly blameable, after having found, in fo many re- peated examples, the falfehcod of voyagers, or their incapacity C 122 ) Jncapatlty for obfervation, to reft, on fuch dubious tales, an argument againft the moft common and facred opinions of mankind *. His lordftiip, in the next place, fays with truth, that *' the northern nations, to protcdl them from the cold, •' have more fat than the fouthern." — But from this principle he draws a falfe conclufion, that " therefore *' the northern and fouthern nations are of different •* races, adapted by nature to their refpeflive climates." —He ought to have drawn the contrary conclufion,— that nature hath given fuch pliancy to the human con- ftitution as to enable it to adapt itfelf to every clime. The goodnefs of the Creator appears in forming the •whole world for man, and not confining him, like the inferior animals, to a bounded range, beyond which he cannot pafs, either for the acquifition of fcienCe, or for the eplargement of his habitation. And the Di- vine wifdom is feen in mingling in the human frame fuch principles as always tend to counteract the ha- zards of a new fituation. Fat proteds the vitals from the too piercing influence of cold f. But this cover- ing being too warm for fouthern regions, nature hath enabled the conftitution to throw it off by perfpiration. * I have fliewn in the EfTay that this peculiarity has been falfely im- DTited to the natives of America , and that they are not, in this reipecr, diftinguiftied by nature from the reft of mankind. They have a cuftom, founded on a capricious idea of beauty, of pulling out their hair with tweezers. And hsfty and fuperficial travellers have been deceived by the apparent fmoothnefs of the thin and body, into the imagination, that they are naturally deftitute of this excrefcence. + Almoft all animals that run wild in the foreft, grow fatter at the ap- proach of winter; and they dill augment their fat by being removed to a latitude farther north. The ( 123 ) The phyfical caufe of this effect ought to have been no fecret to a philofopher who treats of human nature. Not to mention the natural effects of the relaxation of heat, or the bracing of cold, on the nourifhment of the body, it is fufficient to obferve, that the profufe per- fpiration that takes place in fouthern latitudes, carries off the oily with the aqueous parts, and renders the conftitution thin ; but a frigid climate, by obftrufting the evaporation of the oils, condenfes them in a coat of fat that contributes to preferve the warmth of the animal fyftem. Experience verifies this influence of climate. The northern tribes which ifilied from the forefts of Germany, and overrun the fouthern pro- vinces of the Roman empire, no longer retain their original groflhefs, and their vaft fize. The conftitution of Spain, and of other countries in the fouth of Eu- rope, is thin ; and the Europeans in general have be- come more thin by emigrating to America. Here is a double experiment, within the memory of hiftory, made on entire nations. Many fingle examples will occur to every man's obfervation. The argument, therefore, which this writer derives from the fatnefs of one nation, and the leannefs of another, is incon- clufive for the purpofe for which he urges it, the proof cf different fpecies of men. His next attempt is to prove that negroes are of a different fpecies from whites. Pie fays, " their fkia *' is more cool and adapted to their fervid climate. For 4* a thermometer applied to the body of an African, will *' not indicate the fame degree of heat as when applied " to the body of an European." The , C 124 } The fa£l I will not difpute. But admitting it to be true, with regard to the Europeans who travel to Africa, it is capable of explanation on the known prin- ciples of natural fcience. Perfpiration from the hu- man body is analogous to the evaporation of fluids, which is one of the moft cooling procefTes in nature. It becomes a condudor to the internal heat, which it carries off as fad -as it is excited, and thereby preferves the body in a moderate temperature. But when per- fpiration is obilru£led, the retained heat immediately raifes a fever in the fyftem. The more profufe there- fore the perfpiration is, under the fame degree of ex- ternal heat, the more temperate will be the warmth of the Ikin *. In fweating, the fkin is fenfibly cooler than before the fweat begins to ifTue from the pores. In the torrid zone the heat, relaxing and opening the pores of the natives, v/ill render both fenfible and in- fenfible perfpiration in them more copious and con- llant, than in the natives of northern regions who remove thither. Their conftitution not being yet perfedly accommodated to the climate, they do not perfpire fo freely. Being more full of blood, and highly toned, they fufFer, in that fervid climate, the additional heat of an habitual fever. If the fa6t hov/- ever be as his lordfhip Hates it, the experiment muft have been made on the v/hices in Africa, before the * For a fimilar rcafon likewife, among others, the furfaces of si! fluid* preferve a greater coolnefs under the adlion of the direft rays of the fuit than the furfaces of fulid bodies. The a«ion of the fun produces eva- poration ; and by this vapour the excited heat is conduced cif, which, by remaining in folid bodies, renders them warftjer than fluids. And thtj is equally true, whether we confider beat, with modern philofcphers, at an element, pr, w'th the cli philcfoohei?, as ou!}' an internal commotion •f parts. conftitution ( 125 ) conftitution was properly reduced to fufFer the intenfe heats of that region. For, in this climate, I caii affirm, from a£tual experiment, that the fkin of a negroe is not cooler than that of a white perfon. I have ap- plied the thermometer fucceffively to two perfons in my family of the fame fex, and nearly of the fame age, the one white, and the other black, and, after making the trial in all refpefls as equal as poffible, I have not teen able, at the end of half an hour, to difcover any difference in the elevation of the mercury. Some of his lordftiip's following remarks and rea- fpnings I beg leave to treat a little more briefly. <« Is it poffible," he afks, " to account for the low *' ftature, and little feet, and large head of the Efqui- *' maux ? Or for the low ftature and ugly vifage of the «« Laplanders, by the a6lion of cold ?" I have endeavoured to account for them from the aSfton tf cold in conjunction with the Jiate of fociety, *< But the difference of latitude," he fays, " between ** the Laplanders, and the Norwegians, and Fins, is '* not fufficient to account for the difference of fea- f* tures." I have already explained the reafon of this phaeno- menon. The temperate climates border upon eternal cold, and civilized on favage foclety, in every quar- ter of the globe. I have fhewn that the forces of thefe ( 126 ) thefe tvvo powerful caufes combined, are fully adequate to account for thefe different efFe£ls. His lordfhip confeffcs, that " it has been lately dif- " covered by the Fere Hel^ an Hungarian, that the " Laplanders were originally Huns." Pere Hel has no doubt given authentic evidence of the fail, as appears by the convi£lion it has produced in his lordihip. But it is ftrange that it fbould not have occurred to this ingenious writer, that from the fame Huns are defcended, Hkewifej fome of the moft beautiful nations in Europe. As an objection againfl: the power of climate to change the complexion, he fays, " the Moguls and the *'■ fouthern Chinefe are white." If he means that they are not black, it is true : If he means that they are as ■white as the Europeans, it is falfe. If the Moguls are lefs difcoloured than fome other nations in the fame latitude, I have before affigned the reafon. The flate of civilization to which they had arrived, previoufly to their taking pofleflion of their prefent feats, enabled them to defend them.felves with fome fuccefs againft the imprelHons of a new climate. His lordfhip adds, " Zaara is as hot as Guinea, " and Abyffinia is hotter than Monomotapa, and yet «' the inhabitants of the former are not fo black as '< thofe of the latter." His lordfhip's hiflorical as well as phyfical knowledge, needs a little emendation, Xaara is not (o Jiot as Guinea, nor is Abyffinia io hot as ( 127 ) as Monomotapa. But if it were equally hot, there are other caufes that produce a wide difference be- tween the figure and complexion of thofe nations*. The Abyflinians are civilized, the JN/Tonomotapans are favage. The Abyflinians derive their origin from Arabia ; and civilization enables them to preferve their original features, The Monomotapans are evidently defcended from the negroes of the equator, and their favage habits have continued the figure of their anceftors with little variation. His lordfhip proceeds : " There are many inftances *' of races of people preferving their original colour '' in climates very different from their own." This is nearly true of civilized nations, the reafons of which have been already afiigned. It is not, however, by any means true, in the extent in which he afferts it f. He adds, " and there is not a fingle inflance to the con- <' trary." To his lordfhip, the Portuguefe of Congo might have been that inflance. Another argument for the original diverfity of nations, on which fome reliance is placed in this preliminary dif- courfe, is taken from the variety of difpofition, fpirit, and genius, exifling in different countries. On this part of the fubje£l fome of his remarks are fo ridiculoufly weak, that it is difficult to treat thenn with a ferious face. Some of the oriental iflands he jTientions whofe inhabitants are hoj^ile, and others ivhofe * See page ic6 of the EfTay. \ Tijis has Icen i'offic;tjrviy flicwn in the priceding Effay. inhabitants ( rl28 ) iTifmhitants are hofpltable to Jlrangers^ and thence con-^ clades a diverfiiy of fpecies. Kindnefs, or averfion, to ftrangers depends on fo many contingent caufes, that there cannot be a mojre equivocal foundation on ■wbich(to reft the argument for different races, Na- tions that have been often expofed to hoftile attacks, will be fufpicious of foreigners, and prone to repel them. Nations who have feldom feen the face of an enemy, will, be difpofed to receive them with kindnefs and hofpitality. As well might he have proved, that £iirope in the tenth, and in the eighteenth century, v/as inhabited by different fpecies of men, from the facility and fecurity with which a ftranger can now pafs through all its kingdoms, and the hazards to which he was then expofed. His lordfhip goes on to confirm this argument by the example of fome nations who .are full of courage and prorrtpt to combat \ and of others who hard'y know the arts of vjar, or have confdence to meet an enetny in hattle. With equal reafon I might conclude that the Greeks are not the fame fpecies now as when they gave birth to Agefilaus, Miltiades, and Alexander ; that the Romans were not the fame fpecies under Cssfar when they conquered, as under Auguflulus when they lofl a world j and that, among the Jews, the Effenes, who were peaceful her- mits in the fcrefl, were not the fame fpecies with the martial Pharifees who refifled Titus. But the argument is too abfurd to merit even this anfwer. He fpeaks, in the next place, of the " cowardUt of ^' ih American Indians^' of whom he is manifeflly ignorant, J3 ( 129 ) * ignorant, as a criterion of a diftln6l fpecies. He proves the charader, becaufe they do not fight like the Eu- ropeans in an open field. An Indian philofophcr, who fhould have examined the (ubjecEl as fuperficially as lord Kaims, would probably retort the charge ofcov/ardice on the Europeans, becaufe they do not fufFer torture like the natives of America. Nations have different ideas of courage and honour, and they exert .thefe principles in different ways. The military education of an Indian confifls in learning to make war by flealth, and to fulFer with heroic fortitude. The reafons of their conduct in both, arife naturally out of their flate of fociety *. No people have fuperior courage. They differ from civilized nations only in the manner cf cxercifing it. Another example of difference of difpofition, which proves, in his lordfhip's opinion, diverfity of race, he gives in *' the Giagas, a nation of Africa, who bury " all their own children as foon as born, and fupply *' their places with others ftolen from the neighbour- " ing tribes." On this tale I have made the proper comment already. If his lordfhip's opinion were not well known, we fhould fufpecl that he reafoned in this weak manner only to expofe to ridicule his favourite dodrine of the difference of fpecies among men. Surely no devotee was ever guilty of more implicit faith than this unbeliever ! The Japanefe, his lordfliip efleems, on this fubjeit, a valuable example. *' The Japanefe," fays he, " differ * Theftf resfons are well jlluflrated in Dr, Roberifjn's Hiftory of Americ». I " eifentially ( 1^0 ) " eflentially from the reft of mankixid, becaufe when *' others would kill their enemies^ they kill themfehei " through fpite." If I miftake not, a native of this felf-murdering country might find many of the fanu: tribe under London bridge. The Japanefe furnifli his lordfhip with another ex- ample equally good. " They never fupplicate the *' gods, like other men, in difirefs." That difference is certainly very ftriking, betv^-een them and a certain clafs of men who never fupplicate their Maker at any other time. And yet I have known many Japanefe, in my time, who have even curfed their Tvlaker, iu difirefs, as the author of their misfortunes. His lordfhip acknowledges indeed that thefe argu- ments are not altogether conclufive j and therefore he proceeds to produce others that he efteems more perfetSl in their kind. Thefe I fhall quote at full length, that I may diminifii nothing of their force j and endeavour to anfwer in as few words as pollible, " But not to refl: upon prefumptive evidence," fays he; *' fev/ animals are more affecfied than men ge* ** nerally are, not only with change of feafons in the ** fame climate, but with change of weather in the " fame feafon. Can fuch a being be fitted for all cli- *' m^ates equally ? Impofiible — horfes and horned cat- " tie fleep on the bare ground, wet or dry, without " harm, and yet were not made for every climate : '« can a man then be made for every climate, who is « fo ( 131 ) " Co much more delicate, that he cannot fleep on v>'et ** ground without the hazard of Tome mortal difeafe ?" -^This is the argument. But it is refuted by the whole experience of the world. The human confti- tution is the moft delicate of all animal r,'{lems ; but it is alfo the moll pliant, and capable of accommodating itfelf to the greateft variety of fituations. The lower animals have no defence againft the evils of a new climate but the force of nature. The arts of human ingenuity furnifh a defence to man againft the dangers that furround him in every region. Accordingly we fee the fame nation pafs into all the climates of the earth — refide whole winters at the pole — plant colonies beneath the equator — purfue their commerce and efta- blifli their factories in Africa, Afia, and America. They can equally live under a burning and a frozea iky, and inhabit regions where thofe hardy animals could not exift. — It is true, fuch great changes ought not to be hazarded fuddenly and without precaution- The greateft evils that have arifen from change of cli- mate have been occafioned by the prefumption of health that refufes to ufe the necefTary precautions, or the neglect of ignorance that knows not what precautions to ufe*. But when changes are gradually and pru- dently efFecled, habit foon accommodates the confti- tution to a new fituation, and human ingenuity diico- vers the means of guarding againft the dangers of every feafon, and of every climate. * Captain Cook has merited great praife for the fervice he has rendered to mankind, by improving the art of prefsrving health in long voyages, thrpugh ihc mod didant climates. I z « But ( 132 ) • *' But men," fays his lordfhip, " cannot fleep on *' the wet ground without hazard of fome mortal dif- " eafe;" and therefore concludes that *' they were '' not fitted for all climates," — I fuppofe by men he means Europeans ; bccaufe the favagbs of America fleep on the ground^ without hazard, in every change of weather. Whether he admits the favage into the rank of men or not, he concludesj from this circum- ftancc, that they are of a different fpecies from the civilized and polifhed people of Europe. — If his lord- fhip had vifited the forefls of Amrrica he would have found in this, as well as in other inftances, how litt'e he was acquainted with human nature. He would have feen this argument, on which he reds as a ca- pital proof, totally overturned. He would have {^tn Europeans, or the defcendants of Europeans, become by habit, as capable as favages of ufmg the naked earth for their bed, and of enduring all the changes of an inclement fl^y. The Anglo-Americans on the frontiers of the ffates, who acquire their fuftenance principally by hunting, enter with facility into all the habits of favages, and endure with equal hardinefs the want of every convenience of poliihed fociety *. * Not only the hunierr, who have been long ufed to that mode of life, are able to lodge, withnut injury, on (he wet ground, aud under all fcafons} but the large companies of men, women, and children, who are continually icmoving from the inte'iir parts of the United States, to tha weftern coun'ries for the fike of occupying new lands, encamp, every night, in the open air. They fiecp on the earth, and frequenily under heavy fli'-wers of fnow or rain. They kindle a large fire in the centre of their encampment, and fleep round it, extending their feet towards the pile. And niany of ihem have allured me that, while their feet are warm, they fuffer little Inconvenience from the vapour of the gtounr', or even from isin or fnow. So ( 133 ) So that this argument, like all the reft, is not only in- conclufive to his purpofe, but militates againft him. *' But the argument I chiefly rely on," fays his lord- fhip, *' is, that were all men of one fpecies, there '* never could have exifted, without a miracle, different *' kinds, fuch as exill at prefent. Giving allowance ** for every fuppofeable variation of climate, or of other *' caufes, what can follow but endlefs varieties among " individuals as among tulips in a garden ? Inftead " of which we find men of different kinds ; the indi- *' viduals of each kind remarkably uniform, and differ- -?* ing no lefs remarkably from the individuals of every ** Other kJKd. Uniformity without variation is the <' offspring of nature, never of chance." How often do philofophers miftake the eagernefs and perfuafion of their ov:i\ minds for the light of truth and rcafon ! — The firfl part of this argument is no more than an ardent and zealous afferiion. As it refts on no proof, it needs no refutation. And I confidently appeal to the attentive and refle£ling reader to judge, whether I have not affigned adequate caufes of this effect, without the fuppofed neceffity of recurring to miracle. The fecond part of this argument, on which fo much reliance is placed, contains a fine fimilitude; but that frmilitude operates directly againft his principle. <' What *' can follow," he afk?, *' but endlefs varieties among in- 'f dividuals as among tulips in a garden?" — I anfwer, ^hat fuch varieties among individuals are found in I 3 every ( 134 ) every climate, in. every region, in every family. But different climates mull neceflarily produce varieties not among hidividuah but among ^-inds. For the fame cli- mate, or the fame (late of fociety, operating uniformly as far as it extends, muft produce a certain milformlty nx the kind, and operating differently from every other cli- mate, or every other fcate of fociety, muft render that Vind different Uoxn. all others. — " Uniformity," fays he, *' is the offfpring of nature, never of chance." Could his lordlhip mean to infmuate by this remark that the operations of climate are the efFed of chance, or that all its varieties are not governed by uniform and certain laws ? Philofophy is alhamed ftf fuch reafoning in one of her champions I Pie adds, ** Tiiere is another argument that ap- " pears alfo to have weight ; horfes with refpedl to *' fize^ fhape, and fpirit, differ widely in different^ cli- *' mates. But let a male and female, of whatever cli- '' mate, be carried to a country where horfes are irv *' perfection, their progeny will improve graduallj', *' and will acquire, in time, the perfe£lion of their *' kind. Is not this a proof that all horfes are of one " kind ?" His lordfhip hardly needs an opponent, he reafcns fo ftrongly againfc himfelf. The fpecies of men, na lefs than that of horfes, changes its appearance by every removal to a new climate, and by every altera- tion of the flate of fociety. The prefent nations of Europe are an example in the way of improvement j the Europeans which he acknowledges have degene- rated ( 135 ) rated by removing to Africa, Afia, and South America, are an example in the contrary progrellion. Carry the natives of Africa or America to Europe, and mix the ; breed, as you do that of horfes, and they vi'ill acquire n / in time the high pej-fedion of the human form which ' is feen in that polifhed country. Men will acquire it in the fame number of defcents as thefe animals. " No," fays his lordfhip, " a mulatto will be the refult of the *' union of a white with a black *," That is true in the firft defccnt, but not in the fourth or fifth, in which, by a proper mixture of races, and by the habits of civilized life, the black tinge may be u entirely effaced. ^ There is, at prefent, in the college of New Jerfey, a llriking example of a fimilar nature, in two young gentlemen of one of the firft families in the ftate of Virginia, who are defcended, in the female line, from the Indian emperor Powhatan. They are in the fourth defcent from the princefs Pocahuntis, a high-fpirited and generous woman. And though all their anceftors in Virginia have retained fome charatflers, more or lefs obvious, of their maternal race, yet, in thefe young gentlemen, they feem to be entirely effaced. The hair and complexion, of one in them particular, is very fair, and the countenance and figure of the face is perfe£\ly Anglo-American. He retains only the dark and vivid eye that has diftinguiflied the whole family, * The fame thing, his lordfliip might have remarked, takes place in horfes as in the human race. The properties of two different brteds will, in the firft def.ent, be equally blended in the offspring. I 4 and ( 136 ) and rendered fome of them remarkably beautiful. HTs lordfhip's argument, therefore, if it be good, is a clear proof againft himfelf that all men are of one kind. He concludes, however, from the preceding remarks which he has made, " that mankind muft have been ** originally created of di|Ferent fpecies, and fitted for " the different climates in which they were placed, " whatever change qiay have happened in later times, *' by war or commerce." Let us t{k, why ftted for the different climates in which they were placed ? — The proper anfwer is, be- caufe they could not exift in other climates ; or, be- caufe they attain the greateft perfedion of their na- ture only in their own. Both thefe reafons, in the prefent cafe, are inconfiflent with experience. Let us remember " the changes that have been produced by " war and by commerce." Nations have tranfplanted themfelves to other climes ; yet they continue to exift and ilourifh — foreigners have become affimilated to the natives. Inftead of attaining, in their primitive abodes, the perfection of their nature, they have im- proved by migrating to new habitations. The Goths the Moguls, the Africans, have become infinitely me- liorated by changing thofe fkies, for which it is faid they were peculiarly fitted by nature. They mult therefore have defeated, or improved upon the in- tentions of their Creator j or, at leaft, have fhewn the precautions attributed to him, by this author, to have been unneceflary. Lord Kaims, havins: cndea- vcured C U7 ) Voured to demonnrate, in the manner we have feen, the exigence of original varieties among mankind, proceeds to the conclufjon in an equal ftream of co- gent reafoning. *' There is a remarkable fair," fays his lordfhip, " v/hich confirms the foregoing conjec- ' tures : as far back as hiftory goes, the eartli was in- ' habited by favages divided into many fmall tribes, ' each tribe having a language peculiar, to itfelf. ' Is it not natural then to fuppofe that thefe original ' tribes were different races of men placed in proper ' climates, and left to form their own language r But ' this opinion we are not permitted to adopt, bein^ * taught a different lefTon by revelation. Though we * cannot doubt of the authority of Mofes, yet his ac- ' count of the creation is not a little puzzling. Ac- ' cording to that account ^11 m,en muft have fpoken ' the fame language, viz. that of our firil: parents. ' But what of all feems the moft contradiiflory to that ' account is the favage Jir.ie. Adam, as Mcfes in- ' forms us, vvas endued by his Maker Vv'ith an emi- ^ nent degree of knowledge ; and he certainly mufl * have been an excellent preceptor to his children, 'and their progeny, among whom he lived feveral * generations. Whence then the degeneracy of all * men to the favage flate ? To account for that dif- ', mal cataflrophe, mankind muft have fufrcred fome ' terrible convulfion. That terrible convulfion is re- * vealed to us in the Iiiftory of the tou'cr of Babel. ' By confounding the language of all men, and feat- * tering them abroad upon the face of the earth, they ' were rendered favages. And to harden them for * their new habitations, it was nccelTary that they " fliould C 138 ) **" fliould be divided into different kinds, fitted for dit'- *' ferent climates. Without an immediate change of " bodily conilitution, the builders of Babel could not '^ poflibly have fubfifled in the burning region of *' Guinea, or in the frozen region of Lapland. If '' the common language of men had not been con- " founded upon their attempting the tower of Babe!,, '' 1 alTirm that there never could have been but one *' language, Antiquaries conftantly fuppofe a migrat- *''ing fpirit in the original inhabitants of the earthj " not only without evidence, but contrary to all pro- '' babtiity. Men never defert their connexions nor ** their country without neceflity. Fear of enemies, " and of wild beails, as well as the attradion of fociety, " are more than fufficient to refirain them from wan- *' dering ; not to mention th^t favages are peculiarly " fond of tliEJr nat?J foil." When ignorance pretends to fneer at revelation, and at opinions held facred by mankind, it is too con^^ temptible to provoke refentment, or to merit a retalir ation in kind. — When a philofopher defcends to the diflioneft tafl:, the moft proper treatment is to hold out to the vi^orld his weaknefs and mifiake. Mankind v.'ill heap upon him the contempt he deferves for in- termeddling with a fubje£l he does not underfland. Abfurdity and error are at no time fo defpicable as when, in a ritliculcus confidence of fhrevvdnefs and fa the infinite multitude of words which civilization and refinement add to language, no two nations, perhaps, have ever agreed upon the fame founds to reprefent the fame ideas. Superior refinement, indeed, may in- duce imitation, conquefts may impofe a language, and extenfion of empires may melt down different nations^ and different dialeds, into one mafs. But independent tribes naturally give rife to diverfity of tongues. Thus^ perhaps, the fpeech of men was at firft one— it bcr came gradually divided into a multitude of tongues— and the progrefs of civilization, and the mixing of nations by conqueft or by commerce, tends to bring it back again towards one ftandard.— His lordfhip fails in every proof. And this laft argument, which he deemed among the ftrongeft, againft the hiftory of the fcriptures, and the common origin of mankind, mili- tates like the reft againft himfelf, and confirms the dodlrine that he oppofes. Such is the attack which this celebrated philofopher has made on the dodlrine of one race. In all the writ- ings of this author, there is not another example of fp much weak and inconclufive reafoning. This ought in juftice to be imputed to the caufe, and not to the ^ writer. ( H7 ) writer. His talents are univerfally acknowledged. It was for that reafon I chofe to make thefe ftrictures on him, rather than on an author of inferior name. He has probably fhewn the utmoft force of that caufe which he has undertaken to defend. If he has failed, it is only becaufe it is incapable of defence. For to him I may apply the lines which, on another fubje£l, he ap- plies to Dr. Robertfon : ■•' ' Si Pergama dextrd Defendi pojfent, ettam hac defenfa futffent. THE END. Ne'ju Books printed for John Stochclafe, The GARDEN VADE MECUM, or Compendium of General Gardening, and defcriptive Dilplay of the Plants, Flowers, Shrubs, Trees and Fruits, and general Culture ; comprifing a fyftematic Difplay and Defcrip- tion of the feveral Diftridts of Gardening and Planta- tions, under leparate Heads ; giving Intimations of the Utility, general or particular Plans, Dimenfions, Soil, and Situation, &c. and of the various refpective Plants, Mowers, Shrubs, Trees and Fruits, proper for, and ar- ranged in each Diftridt ; w^ith general Defcriptions of their Nature of Growth, Temperature, principal and particular Ufes, Methods of Propagation and general Culture, in their refpedlivc Garden Departments : con- fining of the Flower-Garden, Pleafure-Ground, Shrub- bery and Plantations, Fruit-Garden and Flower-Gar- ckn, Green-Houfe and Hot-Houfe. 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