rV "^v> ?£-.*. ' - * * Y/* D'O JOQT) Q'CCijQX) CfO^'OQZ>OcOQrOWO^f: V Snr^eon General's Office *fl OUjju -JC ^&3J3Qf3Q)OQ>®Q}3QjQQJ3QK) S*. LECTURES VL I ON PHYSIOLOGY, ZOOLOGY, NATURAL HISTORY OF MAN, DELIVERED AT 8Tnr j&ogal QLoUtQt of Surgeons, W. LAWRENCE, F. R. S. Professor of Anatomy and Surgery to the College, Assistant Surgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Surgeon to Bridewell ana Hethjpirv. Hospitals, and to the London Infirmarurff&^DiseasW qf Ae Eye. WITH SEVEN ENGRAVINGS. Salf m: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY FOOTE ANIJ BROWN. 1838. 1414L- pafm?u>. \ot±it+A ict-™ 3 rg I. F. BLUMENBACII, PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GOT TINGEN, A.TJLIC COUNSELLOR, FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF PARIS, &C. &C. &C. —©©»— DEAR SIR ! The principal subject of the following pages has received its most numerous and successful illus- trations from your sagacity, industry, and learning. Having freely availed myself of your labors,— although with that occasional dissent in matters of opinion, which I doubt not will be more agreeable to the liberality of so enlightened a Philosopher, than invariable servile adoption,—I think it a mere act of justice to dedicate this Work to you. I do so with the greater pleasure, because it affords me iv DEDICATION. the opportunity of gratefully acknowledging the in- struction and entertainment which I have derived from your excellent writings 5 of recommending to imitation the example you have set, of combining to- gether anatomical, physiological, and zoological pur- suits, and advancing them by reciprocal illustration 5 and of expressing individually that high sense of your public services and merits, which is felt gener- ally by all the friends of science. I remain, DEAR SIR, With the sincerest esteem and respect, Your very obedient Servant, W. LAWRENCE. College of Physicians, Mi Feb. 1819. CONTENTS. Dedication...... Explanation of the plates Page iii - - xii Lecture I. Introductory to the Course delivered in 1817. Reply to the Charges of Mr. Abernethy.— Modern History and Progress of Comparative Anatomy. Reply, &c......Page 13 Modern History of Comparative Anatomy --------25 National Prejudices to be disregard- ed in Science ------ — Dissections of the French Acade- micians .........26 Buffon and Daubenton - - - 28 Camper.........29 Pallas.........30 Haller.......--32 J. Hunter........33 Recent German Zoologists; Rc- DOLPHI, TlLESIUS, SPIX, TlEDE- mann, Blumenbach and Soem- mering ---------34 Cuvier.........36 French Zoologists......40 Lecture II. Introductory to the Course of 1818. The cultivation of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy recommended as Branches of Gener- al Knowledge, and as an interesting Department of Philosophy— Their Relation to various Questions in General Philosophy, exemplified, in the Gradations of Organization, and the Doctrine of Final Causes—Ex- amples of the Aid they are capable of affording to Geology and the Phy- sical History of the Globe — Their importance to Physiology, and con- sequently to the Scientific' Study of Medicine—Objects of Inquiry in the Animal Kingdom, and Mode of In- vestigation— Anatomy—Physiology —Pathology. Introduction - - -.....42 The Cultivation or Zoology and Comparative Anatomy recom- mended as Branches of General Knowledge.......44 Piclations of Animals to our own Species.....* - - - 45 Examples in the Whale, Seal, and others.........4G Domestic Animals, and the Veteri- nary Art........47 Variety of Powers and Functions - 48 Gradations in Organization - - 49 Example in the anterior Members of the Vertebral Animals - - - 50 ------------Rudiments of certain Organs.........51 Final Causes.......52 Exemplification in the Air-cells of Birds, and in the Blubber of Whales, Seals, &c......54 Relation of Zoology to other Scien- ces ; to Geology - - - - - 65 Fossil Remains of Animals ------- Banks and Rocks of Coral, &c. - 56 Relations of Comparative Anatomy and Physiology to the Science of Medicine --------57 Objects of Investigation in Living Beings.........58 Anatomy, Animal Chemistry, Phy- siology - ---. .... — Popular Notion of Life - - - - 59 Connexion of Anatomy and Physi- ology .........60 Morbid Anatomy and Pathology - 62 Tliese Pursuits are the Basis of Ra- tional Medicine ------- Lecture III.— On the Study of Phy- siology.— The Aids and Illustrations to be derived from other Sciences ; as, Natural Philosophy, Mathematics, Chemistry—Study of the Physical Sciences recommended.—Peculiar Characters of the Vital Phenomena —Living Properties—Attempted Hypothetical Explanations of them. —Comparative Anatomy—its Ob- jects—its Relations to Physiology exemplified. Study of Physiology.....64 The Science of Life not yet ade- quately treated......65 Application of the Phj'sical Scien- ces to that of Life ----- 67 CONTENTS. Examples of Mechanical Powers - 68 Failure of Calculation as applied to the Circulation..... 69 Chemistry ; its useful Application to Physiology and Pathology - 70 General Utility of the Physical Sci- ences as a Branch of Medical Education .......72 Import of the Expression, Vital Properties........74 Hypotheses respecting Life - - - 78 Comparative Anatomy - - - - 79 Its Importance in reference to Phy- siology .........80 Examples.........81 Necessary Caution in employing Arguments from Analogy - - 82 Lecture IV.—Nature of Life.— Methodical Arrangement of Living Beings—Species, Varieties, Genera, Orders, fyc.—Progressive Simplifi- cation of Organization and Func- tions.—Intellectual Functions of the Brain, in the natural and disordered state, explained on the same princi- ples as the offices of other Organs. Distinguishing Characters of Living Bodies.........85 Great Variety of Forms - - - - 87 Species --------- — Individual Varieties of all Natural Productions.......— Examples in the Human Mind, and consequent Absurdity of At- | tempts at producing Uniformity of Actions and Opinions - - - 88 ! Varieties ---......89 ', Genera and Orders.....90 i Classes and Departments - - - 91 i Simplification of Organization - 92 ! Exemplified in the Four Depart- ments of the Animal Kingdom - — ! Exemplified in the Nervous System 94 i Corresponding Modifications of Function -.......95 The Mental Phenomena are the Functions of the Brain - - - — Experience proves this, but does not show the Manner in which this Effect is produced ------- The Size and Importance of the Brain are suited to this Office - 96 Proofs from the History of the Mind — Brain of the Homunculus - - - 97 Correspondence of Intellectual Phe- nomena and Cerebral Develope- ment in Animals.....98 An Immaterial Principle as neces- sary to them as to Man - - - 99 No other Office can be discovered for the Brain......100 Insanity proceeds from Disease of the Brain, as disturbed Func- tions in other Cases do from Dis- eases of the respective Organs - 101 Proof from Dissection - - - - 102 ----------the Effect of Medical Treatment......- 103 NATURAL HISTORY OF MAN. Chapter 1.—Nature and Objects of the Inquiry ; and Mode of Investiga- j tion—The Subject hitherto neglected, i and very erroneous notions conse- I quently prevalent.—Sources of In- formation.—Anatomical Characters \ of the Monkey Tribe, and more par- \ ticularly of the Orans-utang and Chimpans6.— Specific Character of Man. Extent and Importance of the Sub- ject .........106 Hitherto comparatively neglected 107 Opinions of Monboddo and Rous- seau, respecting our Affinity to Monkeys........110 Supposed Gradation from Man to Animals - - -.....Ill The Writings of Buffon, Blum- enbach, and others; and par- ticularly of Dr. Pricharo - - 113 Linneus's Arrangement of Man — General Characters of the Quad- rumanous Mammalia - - - 114 Simia Satyrus, or Orang-utang - 115 S. Troglodytes, or Chimpansc - 117 Zoological Character of Man - - — SECTION I. distinctions between man and ani- mals, or specific characters of MAN. Chapter II.— The Erect Attitude of Man, and consequent Peculiarities in the Structure of the Lower Limbs, Thorax, Spine, and Pelvis. The Erect attitude natural to Man 119 CONTENTS vu Certain Wild Men said to have been four-footed.....120 History of Peter, the Wild Boy---- Conclusion that such Individuals are Specimens of Malformation 124 Peculiarities of Organization con- nected with the Biped Progres- sion and Attitude of Man - - 125 Lower Limbs distinguished by their Length and Strength ----- Characters of the Human Femur 126 ---------------------Foot - 127 Earlier Ossification of the Foot 128 Peculiarities of the Human Pelvis • 129 Incurvation of the Sacrum and Coccyx peculiar to Man - ----- Muscles of the Lower Limbs, - Glutei and Buttocks - - - - 130 The Extensors of the Knee - - 131 Muscles of the Calf.....132 Human Thorax......— Contrast with that of Animals - 133 Peculiarities of the Human Spine — Animals are incapable of the erect Attitude......- . 135 Chapter III.— On the upper Extremi- ties.—Advantageous Construction of the Human Hand.—Man is two-hand- ed ; the Monkey Kind four-hand- ed..—On the natural Attitude and Gait of Monkeys. Comparison of the Upper and Low- er Limbs........136 Contrast of the hand with that of Animals........139 Monkeys are four-handed - - - 140 And therefore organized for climb- ing ..........141 They are not suited for the Erect Attitude, or Biped Progression — The latter Attributes are therefore peculiar to Man.....144 Chapter IV—Comparison of the Human Head and Teeth to those of Animals. The relative proportions of the Cranium and Face differ in dif- ferent Animals......146 Facial Line and Angle - - - - 147 -----------in some of the Gre- cian Sculptures - - - - - 148 In Human Heads and in Animals 149 Relative Area of the Cranium and Face on a Vertical Section - - 150 Contrast between Man and Ani- mals in the Construction of the Face........- — Intermaxillary Bone—not found in Man.........151 Doubtful whether it exists in all Animals........152 Position of the great Occipital For- amen and condyles - - - - 153 The Human Head is not support- ed in equilibrio by the Spine - — The Plane of the Occipital Fora- men nearly horizontal in Man - 154 Nearly vertical in most Animals 155 Characters of the Human Teeth - 157 -----------lower Jaw-bone - - 158 Chapter V—Differences between Man and Animals, in stature, pro- portions, and some other points. Stature of Man compared with the Anthropomorphous Simise - 159 Proportions of the trunk and Limbs, Humerus and Fore-arm 160 Smoothness of the Human Skin 161 Other differences between Man and the most Manlike Simise - 163 Supposed, but not well founded Differences.....- - 164 Parts belonging to some Mamma- lia, and not to Man - - - - — Chapter VI.— Differences in the Structure of some Internal Organs. The Brain of Man supposed to be absolutely larger than that of any Animal......- 166 Proportion of the Brain to the Body in Man and Animals - - 168 Comparison between the Brain and the Nerves connected to it - 169 Man has the largest Brain in this Sense -........— Characters of the Human Brain - 171 Ratio of the Cerebrum and Cere- bellum in Man and Animals - - — Ratio of the Cerebrum and Me- dulla oblongata......— Acervulus Pinealis .... 173 Position of the Heart ... - 174 Position and Direction of the Va- gina and Urethra.....— Comparison with Animals - - - 17.r/ Consequent Differences in the Functions of these Parts - - - — The Hymen ------- 176 Clitoris and Nymphoe - - . . 178 Chapter VII.—Peculiarities in the Animal Economy of the Human Spe- cV.«—General Extension over the Globe.—Man naturally omnivorous— his long Infancy and slow Develope ment—hence suited to the Socia State. The Extension ofthe Species hard- CONTENTS ly limited by Natural Cold or Heat......- - - 179 Cold Situations ------ 180 Warm Situations ------ 181 Varieties of Atmospheric Pressure — Man capable of subsisting on all kinds of Food -.....182 Question concerning the Natural Food of Man ------ 184 The most Savage People are gen- erally Carnivorous - - - - 185 Some Savages eat Earth - - - lvG Is Civilization an Unnatural State? — Erroneous Notions respecting the Effects of Animal and Vegeta- ble Diet........Ifc7 Comparison of Man to Carnivo- rous and Herbivorous Animals in respect to the Masticatory and Digestive Apparatus - - 189 The Teeth and Jaws - - - - 190 Alimentary Canal.....191 Comparative Length in Man and Animals........192 In the Teeth and Intestines, Man most nearly resembles the Mon- keys .........193 Question of the most wholesome Diet ........— The human Frame and Economy are stronger and more flexible than those of Animals - - - 194 Contrast, in this point of view, be- tween Man and the Monkeys - 196 Slow Growth, long Infancy, and late Puberty of Man - - - - 197 Consequently Society is not only natural, but necessary -. - - — Menstruation.......199 Chapter VIII.—Faculties of the Mind.— Speech. — Diseases. — Reca- pitulation. Reason.........200 What it has enabled Man to ac- complish ........201 Progress of Science.....202 Speech......- - - 203 Contrast presented by Animals - — Laughter and Weeping - - - - 205 The Moral and Intellectual Dis- tinctions between Man and Ani- mals correspond to the Differ- ences of Cerebral Structure - - 20G Diseases; their Causes - - - 2f'7 Diseases peculiar to Man - - - 299 Characters of the Human Species recapitulated......210 SECTION II. ON THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. Chapter I.—Statement of the Sub- ject—Mode of Investigation—The Question cannot be settled from the Jewish Scriptures, nor from other Historical Records.— The Meaning of Species and Variety in Zoology; Nature and Extent of Variation.— Breeding, as a Criterion of Spe- cies.—Criterion of Analogy. Are all Mankind of one species ? or do they belong to more than one?.....: - - - 212 The point cannot be determined by a-priori Arguments - - - - 213 Nor from the Mosaic Account of the Creation......210 The latter, in its Literal Sense, in- compatible with the Phenomena ofZoology.......217 Most Animals are confined to cer- tain Spots.......— Particular Species and Genera are Peculiar to certain Countries - 218 This holds good even of Marine Animals -------- 220 Other Difficulties.....--- Whether all Mankind sprung from one or more Stocks cannot be determined by History - - - 221 Zoological Acceptation of Species 226 Causes of Variation ----- 228 Breeding considered as a Crite- rion of Species......230 Not applicable to Domestic Ani- mals ........ - - 232 Illustration of the Subject from Analogy -------- 233 Chapter II.—On the Color of the Human Species.—Structure of the Parts in which the Color resides— Enumeration of the various Tints. — Color and Denominations of the Mixed Breeds — Various Colors of Animals.—Production of Varieties. —tyottcd Individuals.—Other Pro- perties of the Skin. The Skin - -.......236 Cutis - - . -......237 Its Color nearly uniform in all Ra- ces .........- 238 Cuticle - - -......--- Retc Mucosum, the Seat of Culor 239 CONTENTS. Difficult and hardly possible to de- monstrate, this part in the White Races.........240 Varieties of Color in Man, and their Causes ......242 1. White --.-.---- 243 Color of the Albinos - - - - 244 General Description of them - — Their Peculiarities are not to be considered as a Disease - - 248 Examples in various Races and Countries.......- 249 White Skin, with a rosy Tint, light Eyes, and fair Hair - - 251 White Skin, with Tendency to Brown...... . - --- 2. Yellow or Olive - ...---- 3. Red or Copper Color - - ------ 4. Brown or Tawny - - .------- 5. Black ----..--- --- Intermediate Tints.....251 Various Colors of Domestic Ani- mals ........252 Colors of Mixed Breeds ; no true Hybrids in the Human Species 253 In Cases of Mixed Breed, the Chil- dren have the Middle Tint - - 255 Mulattoes ; Creoles - - ----- Te rcerons,Quarterons,Quinterons 256 Mestizos -.......257 Sambos.........258 Proportions of White and Black Blood in the successive Gener- ations .........259 The Offspring does not invariably resemble the Parents - - - 260 Nor always, in the Mixed Breeds, present the Middle Tint - - 261 Native Varieties of Color in Ani- mals .........262 These are transmitted by Genera- tion ....... - — Color therefore depends on Breed, not on external Causes - - . 264 Spotted Individuals ----- — Variations in Texture and Odour of the Skin - -.....265 Chaptek III—On the Hair, Beard, and Color of the Iris. Varieties in the Structure and Ap- pearance of the Hair - - - - 267 Its Organization and Growth - - — Hair of the Albino and of other White Men........268 ------------Dark-colored Races --- Four principal Varieties in the Hair 269 Distinctions between Hair and Wool.....: - - - 270 Differences of Hair in Animals - 271 The Beard; its Varieties - - 272 Inconsiderable in the Mongolian Tribes ......- - - 273 Also in the Americans - - - - 274 Extirpation practised by both - 276 Beard of the Negroes and South- Sea Islanders......278 Color of the Iris •.....279 Chapter IV.—Differences of Fea- tures. — Forms of the Skull. — Teeth —Attempted Explanations. Five Varieties of National Features 282 Intermediate Gradations - - - 284 Numerous Modifications in each Variety........— ------------in the Africans---- ------------in the Americans - 286 ------------South-Sea Islanders 287 Form of the Skull - - - - 288 Daubenton's Observations, and Camper's ----...--- Blumenb*ch's valuable Collec- tions and Figures.....290 Norma Verticalis.....--- Form of the Skull in the Caucasi- an Variety of Man - - - - 291 Georgian Head as an Example---- Nations having a similar Organiza- tion ........- 293 Controversy respecting the ancient Egyptians.......--- Osteological Characters of their Heads.........298 Conclusion that they belonged to the Caucasian Variety - - - --- Heads of the Guanches - - - 301 Different Modifications in the Caucasian Variety - - - - 302 The Turks........303 The rounded Shape of their Heads not produced by Art - - - . 304 Modifications in the several Na- tions of Europe.....305 Inferior Organization of the other Varieties, as compared to the Caucasian-------------------- Mongolian Variety.....306 Distinction of this Variety from the Tatars - - - - - - - 307 Ethiopian Variety.....309 Characters of the Head - - - —- Numerous Varieties in African Heads - ------- 311 Hottentots and Bosjesmen - - 312 Characters of the Negro Head ap- proach to those of the Monkey 313 American Variety ----- 315 Form of the Skull in the Carrib- A CONTENTS. bees - -------- 317 Their Custom of Flattening the Forehead artificially - - - - --- Proofs that the Object is practicable 320 Evidences that it is actually ac- complished .......321 Description of several Crania with Marks of Pressure - - 322 Testimonies of Travellers - - - 324 Malay Variety....." 327 Numerous Individual Diversities in each Variety, and Gradations towards the others - - ------ Differences in the Teeth - - - 32J Artificial Processes performed on them ----- - - 332 Blumenbach's reasons for suppos- ing that Differences of Features and Skulls are occasioned by cli- mate ----- ... 333 These arguments unsatisfactory - 334 Volney's speculations on the ef- fect of climate......335 Differences ofFeatures and Skulls not explicable by Artificial Pressure........3B6 The National Characters of Crania are found in the Foetal State - 337 Chapter V.— Varieties in Figure, Proportions, and Strength.— The Ears.—Effects of Art upon them, and on other parts of the Body — The Mamma.— Organs of Genera- tion.—Fabulous Varieties. Straightness of a Line drawn along the Occiput and Neck in the Ne- gro ..........340 General Proportions of the Body — In the Mongolian Variety - - - 341 Negro......343 Americans - - - - 344 South-Sea Islanders - 345 Differences in Bodily Strength - 346 Peron's Trials with the Dynamo- metre .........348 Relative Proportions of the Arm and Fore-Arm......349 The Legs........351 Hands and Feet......353 Ears; their Artificial Elongation &c. .--.----- -- Practice of Tattooing the Skin - 354 Raised Cicatrices of the Skin - 355 Perforations of the Nose and Lip 356 Other Practices ------ 357 Pendulous Mammae in the Ethio- pian Variety......--- Similar State in some Europeans 359 Organs of Generation - - - - 360 Hottentot Females ----- 36J Remarkable for Size and-Length of the Nymphse.....362 Various Descriptions - - - - 363 The Structure is natural - - - 364 Analogous Examples in other In- stances -------- 365 Buttocks of the Hottentot Women 366 Analogous Structure in Sheep - 367 Fabulous Varieties.....--- Men with Tails......868 Chapter VI.—-Differences of Stature. —Origin and Transmission of Va- rieties inform. Ordinary Human Structure - - 370 Fossile Bones of Animals ascribed to Man........371 No Superiority of Stature in For- mer Ages.......372 Examples of Tall Individuals - - --- -----------Short Individuals - 373 Stature of the Caucasian yariety 374 -------------American Variety 375 -------------Patagonians - - 376 Erroneous Notion of Animal De- generacy in America - - - - 379 Stature of the Ethiopian Variety --- ------------Mongolian Variety - 381 Analogous Differences in Animals 382 Production of Native Varieties of Form.........383 Their Transmission byGeneration 384 Supernumerary Fingers and Toes 385 Family of Porcupine Men - ------ Disposition to certain Diseases is hereditary.......388 National Characters formed and preserved by preventing Foreign Admixtures..... - 389 Production of New Breeds - - - 391 Varieties of Form and Proportion in Animals -......392 Powerful Influence of Attention to Breed -------- 393 Inattention to this Point in the Human Race......394 Chapter VII.—Differences in the Animal Economy.—Diseases.—Ex- ternal Senses.—Language. Cutaneous Secretion and Lice of the Negro ------- 306 Parturition........397 Absence of Personal Deformity in the Dark Races.....--- I Longevity.......•- 398 | Differences in Disease - - - - 399 j Acuteness of External Senses in Savage Tribes......401 CONTENTS Language ........ 404] Pronunciation of the Hottentots - --- Monosyllabic Languages of Asia - --- Great Number of Languages in America........406 Chapter VIII.—Differences in Moral and Intellectual Qualities. Question whether these Differ- ences proceed from Organiza- tion, or from External Causes - 408 Contrast of the White and Dark Colored Varieties.....409 Characters of the latter ; New- Hollanders, People of New Guinea, Negroes, &c. - - - 410 Native American and Mongolian Tribes, Malays. &c. - - - - 411 Good Qualities of some Dark Peo- ple ..........--- Progress of the Mexicans and Pe- ruvians ....... 412 Character and exploits of the Araucans.......- 413 ---------------------Savage Tribes of North America - - 414 Character of the Mongolian People --- Superiority of the White Races in Intellect and Moral Feelings - 415 Referable to Natural Difference, and not to External Causes - 417 Climate will not explain the Phe- nomena ........--- Nor Government......418 Nor State of Civilization - - - 419 Cemparison of the American and Caucasian Varieties in North America - - -.....--- Dark Races conscious of their own Inferiority.......420 Gradations and Individual Modifi- cations, both in the White and Dark Varieties......421 The Differences of Moral and In- tellectual Qualities do not prove Difference of Species - - - - 422 Negroes not inferior to the other Dark Races.......423 Examples of good Feelings and Talents in Africans - - - - 425 Relations between Moral and In- tellectual Character and Cere- bral Organization.....428 Chapter IX.—On the Causes of the Varieties of the Human Species. Question whether they arise from Specific Difference, or from Va- riation .........431 Influence of Climate on the Hu- man Subject.......432 Analogous Effect on Animals - - 433 Effect of Food......435 The Influence of Climate and oth- er External Causes is temporary, and confined to the Individual - 436 Differences of Race must be pro- duced in the Breed - - - - Domestication, the most powerful Cause of such Native Varieties - Examples in Animals - - - - Application of these Facts to the Human Subject Human Varieties accounted for by many Writers from the Agency of Climate and External Causes 443 Opinion of Buffon.....--- ---------Smith......445 Blumenbach 438 441 Some Appearances favorable to these Opinions ------ 446 Proofs that Climate is not the Cause of Color......447 That the Diversities of Mankind in general are not produced by Climate, proved from the Euro- pean Races ------- 449 Principal Races found in Europe - 452 Asiatic Races.......454 Those of the Indian and South- Sea Islands ------- 455 —Africa ----- 457 America - - - - 458 Different Races with permanent Characters inhabiting the same Countries.......462 In Europe, England, and France - 463 In Africa........464 Europeans in Asia and America - --- Negroes in the West Indies and America........465 Arabians........466 Jews..........467 Differences of Hair not caused by Climate........468 Nor those of Stature.....469 General Conclusions.....--- Chapter X—Division of the Human Species into Five Varieties. 1. Caucasian Variety ... - 472 Whether this was the Primi- tive Form of the Species - 475 2. Mongolian Variety ... - 476 3. Ethiopian Variety - - - - 479 4. American Variety - - - - 484 8. Malay Variety......467 Concluding Address - - - - 490 EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. I. Skull of a Georgian Woman : see p. 290. II. ----- Calmuck : see p. 307. III. —.--- Negro; from a Specimen in the Collection of Mr. Abernethy. IV. Comparative View of the Georgian, Negro, and Tungoose Skulls, ac- cording to the Norma Verticalis of Blumenbach : see p. 290. V. Skull of a Carib, from a Specimen in the Hunterian Collection: see p. 317. VI. Skull of a Carib, with the Forehead artificially flattened, from a Speci- men belonging to Mr. Cline : see p. 323. VII. Comparative View of the Skull in young Subjects of the Caucasian, Mongolian, and Ethiopian Varieties : see p. 338. LECTURES ON PHYSIOLOGY, ZOOLOGY, AND THE LECTURE I. INTRODUCTORY TO THE COURSE DELIVERED IN 1817. Reply to the Charges of Mr. Abcrncthy.—Modern History and Progress of Comparative Anatomy. ' Gentlemen :— A cannot presume to address you again in the cha- racter of Professor to this College, without first publicly clear- ing myself from a charge publicly made in this theatre ;—the charge of having perverted the honorable office, intrusted to me by this Court, to the very unworthy design of propagating opin- ions detrimental to society, and of endeavoring to enforce them for the purpose of loosening those restraints, on which the welfare of mankind depends.* * Physiological Lectures, exhibiting a General View of Mr. Hunter's Physi- ology, and of his Researches in Comparative Anatomy j delivered before the Royal College of Surgeons by J. Abernethy, F. R. S. See particularly Lect. 1, 2, 6, and 7 : the passages and pages are too numerous to be particu- larized. Had the author been content with pronouncing his attack from the eliair of the College, I should have been satisfied with defending myself in the same place. The publication of his charge has made it necessary for me to publish my reply. The apparent contradiction between the allotted subject of these Physiolo- gical Lectures,—human anatomy; the professed topic,—Mr. Hunter's know« Led. I.—No. I. b 14 REPLY TO THE CnARGES I feel obliged to call your attention to this subject;—not by the probability of the accusation, and still less by the arguments adduced in support of it;—but, because the character of the ac- cuser may with some, supply the deficiency of proof;—because the silence of contempt, which the illiberality and weakness of the charge would so well justify, might be construed by others into an admission of guilt;—and, if 1 could appear before you ledge of comparative anatomy ; and their actual contents, anatomical, physio- logical, ethical, controversial, abusive, &c. &c.; is only to be reconciled by a consideration of the real motives, which may be discovered without a very deep research. That the few remarks on life, published in my " Introduction to Comparative Anatomy and Physiology," should have been the sole occasion, and have furnished so much of the subject of these Lectures, was an honor altogether unexpected and unwished on my part. If it should be thought that I do not show a proper sense of so distinguished a compliment, by bestowing in return so short a notice on the " Physiological Lectures," more particularly when nearly all the opinions and facts they contain would afford ample matter for discussion, my apology must be want of room, and not being yet fully con- vinced that the pretended Hunterian theory of life is the most important sub- ject that can be entertained by the human mind. This slowness of belief must be pardoned in a modern sceptic. Not to fatigue his audience by too much of one thing, however good, the au- thor judiciously interspersed his views of the so-called Hunterian doctrine, and his series of anathemas against the designs, principles, and character of tha audacious sceptics who refuse to accept the gracious present, with other to- pics ; and did not disdain to intermix the most elementary anatomical truths. Thus we learn that the head is placed on the top of a column of bones called vertebra (p. 108); that the seven upper ribs are connected by gristles to the breast bone (121); that there are two bones of the fore-arm; and that the ulna sends backward a projection we name the elbow (126) ; that the wrist is com- posed of eight little bones (129); &c. &c. &c. When we consider that the audience, to whom these Lectures were delivered, comprised the venerable elders of our profession, appointed to guard the portals of the great edifice in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields ; the general body of London surgeons, who having been admitted within the gates, must be deemed accomplished in all parts of ana- tomical and surgical science ; and the students of the several schools of medi- cine, who, having devoted one winter at least to anatomical pursuits, must be presumed to possess the ah c of the science ; and when we further reflect that the author would undoubtedly be governed in his selection of subjects by a de- liberate view and sound estimate of the wants of his audience, we are naturally anxious to knaw for which of the three classes above mentioned these " Early Lessons" in anatomy were designed. Perhaps, however, like the water in a medical prescription, they were only meant as an innoeent vehicle for the mere active ingredients. OF MR. ABERNETUt. 15 wnder the possibility of such an admission, you might reasonably suppose me indifferent to your approbation or blame, and there- fore unworthy of the office which I now hold. I am not going to drag you again over the field of controver- sy :—my opinions are published :—they were not brought forward secretly;—they have never shunned the light, and they never shall be concealed nor compromised. Without this freedom of inquiry and speech, the duty of your professors would be irksome and humiliating: they would be dishonored in their own eyes, and in the estimation of the public These privileges, Gentle- men ! shall never be surrendered by me: I will not be set down nor cried down by any person, in any place, or under any pre- text. However flattering it may be to my vanity to wear this gown, if it involves any sacrifice of independence, the smallest dereliction of the right to examine freely the subjects on which I address you, and to express fearlessly the result of my investiga- tions, I would strip it off instantly. I willingly concede to every man what I claim for myself,— the freest range of thought and expression; and am perfectly in- different whether the sentiments of others on speculative subjects coincide with or differ from my own. Instead of wishing or ex- pecting that uniformity of opinion should be established, I am convinced that it is neither practicable nor desirable; that varie- ties of thought are as numerous, and as strongly marked, and as irreducible to one standard, as those of bodily form ; and that to quarrel with one, who thinks differently from ourselves, would be no less unreasonable than to be angry with him for having fea- tures unlike our own. To fair argument and free discussion I shall never object, even if they should completely destroy my own opinions; for my ob- ject is truth, not victory. But when argument is abandoned, and its place supplied by an inquiry into motives, designs, and ten- dencies, the case is altered. If vanquished in fair discussion, I should have yielded quietly ; but it cannot have been expected that I would lie still, and be trampled on, lecture after lecture ; cut and mangled with every weapon fair and foul; assailed with appeals to the passions and prejudices, to the fears of the timid, the alarms of the ignorant and the bigoted : and this too, when nothing is easier than to destroy the ill-con strncted fabric ; t« 16 REPLY TO THE CHARGES crumble its very fragments to dust, and scatter them before the wind. It is alleged that there is a party of modern sceptics, co-ope- rating in the diffusion of these noxious opinions with a no less terrible band of French physiologists, for the purpose of demoral- izing mankind! Such is the general tenor of the accusation, independently of the modifications, by which it is worked up into separate counts, and of the rhetorical ornaments, by which it was embellished. Had the statement been general, I should not have appropriated it by entering on a defence;—but have left that service to any volunteer of the sceptical party, which I know no more of than I do of the man in the moon, and in whose exist- ence I believe just as much. The quotation of my own words, however, rendered it impossible for me to shield myself under the pretext of uncertainty ; indeed, it particularized and fixed the accusation, for which no other tangible object eould be discov- ered. The vague and indefinite expressions of sceptical party, mo- dern sceptics, and other abusive terms, form too flimsy a veil to conceal the real object of this fierce attack ; while the pretended concern for important truths and principles, and the loud impu- tation of bad designs and evil tendencies, instead of decently covering, rather expose the nakedness of the feelings, in which it originated. Perhaps all the counts of this alarming indictment are not in- tended to apply to all the persons thus unexpectedly dragged to the bar of public opinion ;—but, as the prosecutor made no dis- tinction in the shades of guilt, I must plead to the whole accusa- tion :—of propagating dangerous opinions,—and of doing so in concert with the French physiologists:—the French, who seem to be considered our natural enemies in science, as well as in politics. I plead, not guilty; and enter on my defence with a confident reliance on the candor and impartiality of the tribunal, before whom the cause is brought;—a tribunal too enlightened to con- found the angry feeling and exaggerated expressions of contro- versy with the calm deductions of reason; and well able to appreciate this attempt at enlisting religion and morality on the side of self-love ; by which difference of opinion, at all times but OF MR. ABERNETHV. 17 loo irritating to the human mind, receives the double aggravation of real inability to persuade, and fancied right to condemn. Where, Gentlemen ! shall we find proofs of this heavy charge, —of this design so hostile to the very elements and foundation of civil union 1 What are the overt acts to prove this treason against society 7 this compassing and imagining the destruction of moral restraint, and the grounds of mutual confidence 1 What support can you discover for such imputations in the profession, pursuits, habits, and character of those who are accused ? How will it promote their interests to endanger the very frame of society'? By what latitude and artifice of construction, by what ingenuity of explanation, can the materials of such a charge be extracted from the discussion of an abstract physiological question ? from discourses first delivered in this theatre to an assembly of the whole profession, and since openly published to the whole world 1 I need not remind you that such an accusation is repelled by eve- ry appearance, every probability, and every presumption; and that in opposition to tliese prima-facie sources of distrust, it can only be established by the clearest and most unequivocal evi- dence ; not by bold assertions and strained inferences—not by declamatory common-places on morals—nor by all the pangs and complaints of mortified self-love. A party of modern sceptics !—A sceptic is one who doubts ;— and if this party includes those who doubt,—or rather, w ho do not doubt at all,—about the electro-chemical doctrine of life, I can have no objection to belong to so numerous and respectable a body. The assent of the mind to any proposition can not be forced ;—it must depend on the weight of evidence and argument. I cannot adopt this hypothesis until some proof or reasoning of a very different nature from any hitherto produced shall be brought forward. I declare most sincerely, that I never met with even the shadow of a proof that the contraction of a muscle or the sen- sation of a nerve depended in any degree on electrical principles; or that reflection, judgment, memory, arise out of changes similar in their causes or order to those we call chemical. On the other hand, I see the animal functions inseparable from the animal organs;—first showing themselves, when they are first developed ; — coming to perfection as they are perfected ;—modified by their us REPLY TO THE CHARtiES various affections ;—decaying as they decay ; and finally ceasing,, when they are destroyed. Examine the mind, the grand prerogative of man. Where is the mind of the fetus? where that of the child just born ? Do we not see it actually built up before our eyes by the actions of the five external senses, and of the gradually developed internal faculties? Do we not trace it advancing by a slow progress through infancy and childhood, to the perfect expansion of its faculties in the adult;—annihilated for a time by a blow on the head, or the shedding of a little blood in apoplexy ;—decaying as the body declines in old age ;—and finally reduced to an amount hardly perceptible, when the body, worn out by the mere exer- cise of the organs, reaches, by the simple operation of natural decay, that state of decrepitude most aptly termed second child- hood ? Where then shall we find proofs of the mind's independence on the bodily structure ? of that mind, which, like the corporeal frame, is infantile in the child, manly in the adult, sick and de- bilitated in disease, phrensied or melancholy in the madman, enfeebled in the decline of life, doting in decrepitude, and anni- hilated by death ? Take away from the mind of man, or from that of any other animal, the operations of the five external senses, and the func- tions of the brain, and what will be left behind ? That life then, or the assemblage of all the functions, is imme- diately dependent on organization, appears to me, physiological- ly speaking, as clear as that the presence of the sun above the horizon causes the light of day ; and to suppose that we could have light without that luminary, would not be more unreasona- ble than to conceive that life is independent of the animal body, in which the vital phenomena are observed. I say, physiologically speaking ; and beg you to attend particu- larly to this qualification: because the theological doctrine of the soul, and its separate existence, has nothing to do with this phy- siological question, but rests on a species of proof altogether dif- ferent. These sublime dogmas could never have been brought to light by the labours of the anatomist and physiologist. An im» material and spiritual being could not have been discovered amid the Wood and filtk of tks disseetiiig-room; and the very idea of • F MR. ABERNETHY. 19 resorting to this low and dirty source for a proof of so exalted and refined a truth, is an illustration of what we daily see, the powerful bias that professional habits and the exclusive contem- plation of a particular subject give even to the strongest minds,— an illustration of that esprit de metier, which led the honest cur- rier in the threatened city to recommend a fortification of leather. When we reflect that the immortality of the soul and a future state of rewards and punishments were fully recognised in all the religions of the ancient world, except the Jewish,—and that they are equally so in all those of more modern time;—when we con- sider, that this belief prevailed universally in the vast and popu- lous regions of the East, for ages and ages before the period to which our remotest annals extend, and that it is firmly rooted in countries and nations on which the sun of science has never yet shone, the demonstration that the anatomical and physiological researches of the last half century have not the most remote con- nection with, or imaginable influence on, the proof of these great truths, will be completed beyond the possibility of doubt or denial, in the estimation of every unprejudiced person. I do not enlarge on this point, because it is too obvious, and because divinity and morals, however excellent in their own time and place, do not ex- actly suit the theatre, audience, or subject of these Lectures. The greatest of the ancient philosophers said that the surest way of gaining admission into the temple of wisdom, was through the portal of doubts—and he declared that he knew only one thing— his own ignorance. Were Socrates to show his head above ground just now, he must conclude, either that he himself had completely mistaken the road to knowledge, or that his succes- sors had accomplished the journey, and had penetrated into the sanctuary of the temple. For, in the modern philosophy, doubt- ing is proscribed as the source of all mischief; and an overbear- ing dogmatism, even on the most abstruse and difficult questions, is held forth as a wiser course than the modest confession of ig- norance. When favorite speculations have been long indulged, and much pains have been bestowed on them, they are viewed with that parental partiality, which cannot bear to hear of faults in the object of its attachment. The mere doubt of an impartial ob- server is offensive ; and the discovery of any thing like a blemish $0 REPLY TO THE CHAR6ES in the darling is not only ascribed to an entire want of discrimin- ation and judgment, but resented as an injury. The irritation rises higher, in proportion to the coolness of the object which ex- cites it; as Sir Anthony Absolute in the play, while swelling with rage, and boiling over with abuse on the persons around him, be- gins to damn them again with tenfold energy because they can- not keep their tempers, because they cannot be as cool as he is. By a curious inconsistency in the human mind, difference of opinion is more offensive and intolerable in proportion as the sub- ject is of a more refined nature, and less susceptible of direct proof. Hence the rancorous intolerance excited by the minute and almost evanescent shades of opinion that distinguish many religious sects. The quarrels of the Homoousians and the Ho- moiousians filled the Roman empire for a long series of years with discord, faction, persecution, and civil war. Yet the point at is- sue, actually comprised in the variation of a single dipthong, is so minute as to be " scarcely visible,to the nicest theological eye,*" and certainly, in reference to either faith or practice, is not a jot more important than the controversy which divfded the mighty em- pire of Lilliput, respecting the right end to break in eating an egg. 'Tis a pity we cannot find some convenient way of settling these important controversies ; such as occurred to the traveller, who met with a people divided into two parties on the question whether they should walk into the temple of their deity with the right or the left leg foremost. Each side conceived the practice of the other to be impious : the traveller recommended the obvious ex- pedient, which in the heat of their quarrel they had overlooked, of jumping in with both legs together- The peculiar virulence of controversy, in all cases in which re- lifion is supposed to be concerned, is so remarkable, as to have become proverbial:—the odium theologicum is the most concen- trated essence of animosity and rancour. Let us not then open the fair garden of Science to this u»jly fiend ; let not her sweet eup be tainted by the most distant approach of his venomous breath. Is the cause of truth to be promoted by affixing injurious and party names to those who differ from us in these points of nice * GlBEO.\. OF MR. AB2KNETHY. ai and carious speculation ? who cannot pursue the same track with ourselves through the airy regions of immaterial being, of which the only utility seems to consist in affording occupation to the or- gans of ideality, and mysticism ? Is not this kind of abuse more likely, by moving the passions, to disturb the operation of thejudg- ment ? The practice of calling names in argument has been chiefly resorted to by the fair sex, and in religious discussions; in both cases, apparently, from a common cause—the weakness of the other means of attack and defence. The priests of former times used to rain a torrent of abusive epithets, as heretic, infidel, athe- ist, and the Lord knows what, on all who had the audacity to dif- fer from them in opinion. This ecclesiastical artillery has been so much used, as to have become in great measure unserviceable : it is now found more noisy than destructive; and the general dis- covery of its harmlessness has assisted with the progress of libe r- al ideas, to discountenance its employment in controversy,as poison- ed weapons and other unfair advantages have been banished from honorable warfare. Sometimes, however, it frightens and stuns, if it does not dangerously wound; and thus it silences antagonists, who could not easily have been overcome by weight of argument. It wo'iid have been praise enough to any doctrine, that it should explain the great mystery of life; that it should solve the enigma, which has puzzled the ablest heads of all ages ;—but this subtile and mobile vital fluid is brought forward with more ambitious pre- tensions ; and it is not only designed to show the nature and ope- ration of the cause, by which the vital phenomena are produced, but to add a new sanction to the great principles of morals and religion, and to eradicate all the selfish and bad passions of our nature. An obscure hypothesis, which few have ever heard of, and fewer can comprehend, is to make us all good and virtuous,to impose a restraint upon vice stronger than Bow Street or the Old Bailey can apply ; and in all probability to convert the offices of Mr. Recorder and his assistant Mr. Ketch into sinecures.* •* Let us suppose for a moment that the adoption of this hypothesis would really have all the efficacy that is pretended, it would then be desirable that it should turn out to be true : but would that afford any proof of the hypothesis ? If, in a disputed question, you tell me that I shall have a large estate, if I am eonvinced that you arc in the right; undoubtedly I shall desire with all my heart to find that you are right: but I cannot be convinced of it, unless your Lett. J.—No. I. c 2s* REPLY TO THE CHARGES What has been the effect of this great discovery on its au- thor ?—What are the first-fruits of this new ethical power ?— A series of Quixotic attacks on conspirators and parties, as pure- ly imaginary as the giants and castles encountered by the Knight of La Mancha; of unfounded charges and angry invective, un- disguised and gla'ring national partiality, unreasonable national antipathy, unmerited and unprovoked abuse of the writers of a whole nation, afford an overwhelming proof of its complete moral inefficacy. These magnificent designs are interrupted by a conspiring band of sceptics and French physiologists,—by a nest of plotters brought forth all at once on this green table, and threatening, in the noise and alarm which preceded their discovery, as well as in their utter insignificancy and harmlessness when discovered, to eclipse even the green-bag conspiracy of another place. The foundations of morality undermined, and religion endangered by a little discussion, and a little ridicule of the electro-chemical hy- pothesis of life ! Thus the possessor of a specific endeavors to frighten people by the most lively pictures of their danger; that they may receive, with a higher opinion of its virtues and impor- tance, his pretended infallible remedy. I shall not insult your understandings by formally proving that this physiological doctrine never has afforded, and never can af- ford, any support to religion or morals : and that the great truths, so important to mankind, rest on a perfectly different, and far more solid foundation. If they could be endangered at all by the discussions, with which we amuse ourselves, it would be by unset- tling them from their natural and firm establishment in the natu- ral feelings and propensities, in the common sense, in the mutual wants and relations of mankind, and erecting them anew on the artificial and rotten foundation of these unsubstantial speculations, or on the equally unsafe ground of abstruse metaphysical re- searches.* arguments should be found satisfactory. In the same way, in tossing up for heads and tails, if I am to receive a guinea provided tails turn up, and a hun- dred if it should be heads, this difference does not at all increase the chances of the latter event, however it may operate on my wishes. *The profound, the virtuous, and fervently pious Pascal acknowledged,. what all sound theologians maintain, that the immortality of the soul, the great truths pf religion, and the fundamental principles of morals, cannot be OF MR. ABERNETHY. ■M As to the charge itself, of bringing forward doctrines with any design hostile to the principles or opinions, on which the welfare of society depends : or with any other intention, except that of displaying to you the impartial result of my own reflections and researches ; I reply in one word,—that it is false. I beg you, in- deed, to observe, that I have only remarked on the opinions of others ; I have adduced none of my own. I profess an entire ig- norance of the nature of the vital properties, except in so far as they are disclosed by experience; and find my knowledge on this subject reduced to the simple result of observation, that certain phenomena occur in certain organic textures.* To the question, what opinions I would substitute in place of those to which I ob- ject, I answer none. Ignorance is preferable to error: he is near- er to truth, who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong. And here I take the opportunity of protesting, in the strongest demonstrably proved by mere reason; and that revelation alone is capable of dissipating the uncertainties, which perplex those who inquire too curiously into the sources of these important principles. All will acknowledge, that, as no other remedy can be so perfect and satisfactory as this, no other can be ne- cessary, if we resort to this with firm faith. How many persons could be found whose belief in a Deity rests on the chain of reasoning in Clakk's Demonstra- tion of the Being and Attributes of God ; or in Kant's Einzig mOgliche Be* leeisgrund zu einer Demonstration dis Dascyn Gottes? How many are there who have had perseverance enough to go through the chain of argument in these works ? If the close and profound reasoning and the metaphysical acute- ness of Clark and Kant have been employed to little purpose on such a sub* ject, what are we to expect from this pretended Hunterian theory of life ? * The author of the Physiological Lectures entertains some peculiar views concerning the evidence, on which we are to rely in our physical researches, which probably furnish a clue to the peculiar results at which he has arrived. He " confides more in the eye of reason than in that of sense ; and would rather form opinions from analogy, than from the imperfect evidence of sight;" p. 203, where the expression is employed in discussing a question of fact. The same statement, in nearly the same words, occurs in several other places.— From a comparison of these passages with each other, and wtih the leading doctrines of the lectures, I consider their meaning to be, that when the evi- dence of the senses is at variance with preconceived notions, or the construc- tions, combinations, or other operations of the mental faculties, the author re- jects the former and adheres to the latter. As the author must be the best judge of the relative value belonging to the evidence of his own senses and fhat of his fancy, imagination, and other Internal pewers, it is fair to presume u REPLY TO THE CHARGES, &.C terms,—in behalf of the interests of science, and of that free dis^ cussion, which is essential to its successful cultivation,—against the attempt to stifle impartial inquiry by an outcry of pernicious tendency; and against perverting science and literature, which naturally tend to bring mankind acquainted with each other, to the anti-social purpose of inflaming and prolonging national pre- judice and animosity. Letters have been called the tongue of the world ; and science may be regarded in the same light. They supply common objects of interest, in which the selfish unsocial feelings are not called into action, and thus they promote new- friendships among nations. Through them, distant people be- come capable of conversing; and losing by degrees the awkward- ness of strangers, and the moroseness of suspicion, they learn to know and understand each other. Science, the partisan of no country, but the beneficent patroness of all, has liberally opened a temple where all may meet. She never inquires about the coun- try or sect of those who seek admission ;—she never allots a higher or a lower place from exaggerated national claims, or un- founded national antipathies. Her influence on the mind, like that of the sun on the chilled earth, has long been preparing it for higher cultivation, and further improvement. The philosopher of one country should not see an enemy in the philosopher of another: he should take his seat in the temple of Science, and ask not who sits beside him. The savage notion of a natural enemy should be banished from this sanctuary, where all, from whatever quar- ter, should be regarded as of one great family ; and being en- gaged in pursuits calculated to increase the general sum of hap- piness, should never exercise intolerance towards each other, no assume that right of arraigning the motives and designs of others, which belongs only to the Being who can penetrate the recesses of the human heart;—an assumption which is so well reprobated by our great poet: Let not this weak unknowing hand Presume thy bolts to throw ; And deal damnation round the land On each I judge thy foe. that he has exercised a sound discretion in this very important determination. It is however rather unreasonable for him to expect that others should rely on the workings of his fancy in preference to tho evidence of their own senses MODERN HISTORY OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 25 In the Introductory Lecture* of last year, I attempted to sketch >)ut to you the history of Comparative Anatomy ; to select the names of those who had been principally concerned in establish- ing and advancing the science ; and to assign to each his proper share of praise. At the same time that I found it a pleasing task to review the successive steps in the progress of so interesting a science, and to award the just tribute of our gratitude to so many useful labors, I thought it would be interesting and profitable to you to know to whose talents and to whose exertions zoology had been indebted. The space allotted to this historical review having been neces- sarily short, the names of many were omitted ; and others were no- ticed more briefly than the number, extent, and importance of their contributions to science would have deserved. This was particularly the case with many illustrious foreigners, towards some of whom I shall now make up for that neglect. The temple of science has not been raised to its present com- manding height, or decorated with its beautiful proportions and embellishments, by the exertions of any one country. If we obsti- nately shut our eyes to all that other nations have contributed, we shall survey only a few columns of the majestic fabric, and never rise to an adequate conception of the grandeur and beauty of the whole. Our insular situation, by restricting intercourse, has con- tributed to generate a contempt of foreigners, and an unreasona- ble notion of our own importance, which is often ludicrous; al- ways to be regretted ; and in many cases strong enough to resist all the weapons of reason and ridicule. We should consider what we think of these national prejudices, when we observe them in Others: when we see the Turks summing up all their contempt for their more polished neighbors, in the short but expressive phrase of Christian dogs ; and the Emperor of China acccepting presents from the King of England, because it is a principle of the celestial empire to show indulgence and condescension to- wards pettty states. Science requires an expanded mind, a view that embraces the * See Introduction to Comparative Anatomy and Physiology. 26 MODERN HISTORY universe. Instead of shutting himself up in nn island, and abus- ing all the rest of mankind, the philosopher should make the world his country ; and should trample beneath his feet those pre- judice?, which the vulgar so fondly hug to their bosoms. He should sweep away from his mind the dust and cobwebs of na- tional partiality and enmity, which darken and distort the per- ceptions, and fetter the operations of intellect.—If the love of science and liberal views are not sufficient to repress the noisy obtrusion of national claims, considerations of policy may furnish the motive. The country which has really done the most for sci- ence, will certainly be the last to assert its pretensions; and a readiness to allow the merits of others will be the most powerful means, next to modesty and diffidence, of recommending our own to attention. If we could come to the strange resolution of attend- ing only to what has been done by Englishmen in comparative anatomy and zoology, we should have to go back in the science fifty years or more : in short, to a state of comparative darkness. For such it must be deemed, if we excluded the strong light which has been thrown on these subjects from Italy, Germany, and France. The only parallel to such a proceeding is that afforded by the Caliph Omar, in his sentence on the Alexandrian Library. This ignorant fanatic devoted to the flames the intellectual treasure, accumulated by the taste, the learning, and the munificence of many kings ; observing, that the books, if they agreed with the Koran, were superfluous, and need not be preserved ; if they dif- fered from it, impious, and ought to be destroyed. If this extraordinary kind of exclusion were realized, what would be the result ? A great national idol must be set up ; and we should be compelled to bow down and worship it, under the penalty of being thrown into the burning fiery furnace of offend- ed national pride. At the first institution of the French Royal Academy of Sci- ences, towards the middle of the century before the last, some of its members occupied themselves with the very useful undertaking of observing and dissecting several animals, of describing and il- lustrating them by figures. The value of their labours is suffi- ciently attested by their having been several times republished in • atiius forms, and translated into Latin, English, and other Ian- OP COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 27 guages. Being drawn entirely from observation, their histories will ever possess the value inseparable from faithful delineations of nature. They have described forty-seven animals, and repre- sented their external figure and internal structure, in ninety folio plates. As examples of their knowledge, it will be sufficient to mention, that you will find in their work an account of the cells in the camel's stomach, which hold the water,—a point of structure and economy so strikingly suited to the parcned and sandy re- gions of Asia and Africa, which tliese animals inhabit : all com- munication and commerce across these extensive wastes would be impossible without a race of animals possessing that power of bearing the privation of water, which this structure confers.— They describe the air-cells and the gastric glands of birds ; and the curious mechanism of the membrana nictitans, or third eye- lid. Of many animals we know little more, to the present day, than what they have told us. When we consider that the Royal Academy of Sciences, to whose members we owe these splendid and useful labors, was founded by Louis XIV, and his minister Colbert; when we re- view the long list of illustrious names which adorn the annals of that body ; and bring together the almost numberless accessions to every branch of science, which have been the fruit of their ex- ertions through the reign of their despotic founder, and his no less despotic successors down to the present time;—we are re- luctantly compelled to acknowledge, that the encouragement of this branch of human knowledge (the sciences) is not confined to free forms of government, and that there is nothing peculiarly hostile to their progress, even in the most despotic. Absolute rulers indeed, so far from having any interest in shackling or im- peding scientific or literary inquiries, have an obvious and strong motive for aiding and promoting them. They afford a safe and harmless employment to many active spirits, who might other- wise take a fancy to look into politics and laws,—to investigate the source, form, duties, and proceedings of governments, and the rights of the governed. A wise despot will be glad to see such dangerous topics exchanged for inquiries into the history of a plant or animal; into the properties of a mineral or the form of a fossil; into the uses of a piece of old Roman or Grecian crocke- ry : or the appropriation of a mutilated statue to its rightful own- 28 MODERN HISTORY er in some heathen goddery. Shutting out the human mind from some of its most interesting and important excursions, he will open every other path as widely as possible. When the French Academicians discontinued their researches and publications, the opportunities of zoological inquiry, which the royal menageries had afforded them, passed into the hands of Buffon and Daubenton, who employed them with equal industry, and equal advantage to science. When the direction of the Jar- din des Plantes was confided to Buffon, he formed the twofold project, commensurate in boldness and magnificence with his own genius,—that of assembling select and well-arranged specimens of all natural productions, to exhibit to mankind the fertility and variety of nature, and the formation of a more durable monument, on which he proposed to engrave the history or annals of this ad- mirable nature. The immensity of the design, which he was well aware of, did not disconrage him from the attempt: it only ex- cited him to extend his resources by calling in other aid. His discernment discovered the very qualities he wanted, in the mo- dest, patient, persevering, yet zealous Daubenton, who was born at the same place with himself (Montbar in Burgundy,) and with whom he had been acquainted from infancy. Destined by his father for the church, Daubenton went to Paris to study theolo- gy, but he applied in secret to medicine, and particularly anato- my: and when his father's death allowed him to pursue the bent of his own inclination, he adopted the medical profession, and be- gan to practice it in his native place, when Buffon invited him to Paris, and procured for him the situations of keeper and de- monstrator of the cabinet of natural history. Their association presented the singular spectacle of two men with high yet differ- ent qualifications, uniting their efforts without impairing their energy, and combining the lights they derived from various sour- ces only to increase their intensity, and to throw them with great- er effect on the objects they both wished to illuminate. In the great work, so honorable to the country which gave it birth, con- taining the result of their associated labors, the share contributed by Daubenton is the internal and external description of 182 an- imals, several of which had neither been observed nor described before by naturalists. The useful facts accumulated by him, in the crourse of many years devoted to this undertaking, are presented I»F COMPARATrVE ANATOMY. ■M* m a form so unpretending, that they are overpowered and thrown into the back-ground by the grand and imposing general views, the beautiful particular descriptions, and the eloquence at once majestic and captivating, of the French Pliny. So great were the care and accuracy of Daubenton, in regis- tering the facts which he observed, that, in spite of their number, we can hardly detect an error. He admitted nothing, but what he saw himself; without indulging in those bold hypotheses, for which Buffon had so marked a predilection; without even drawing those general conclusions, which might have been most naturally deduced from his observations. Here perhaps his re- serve was excessive ; and it is in this respect Camper observed of him, that he did not know himself how many things he had dis- covered. The anatomical descriptions and plates of Daubenton are, in many instances, the most valuable part of the work which passes under the name of Buffon : and they will retain this value, as the sterling coin bearing the stamp of nature ever does; while the base metal of hypothesis and speculation, detected by a little wearing, is soon consigned to contempt and oblivion. Dauben- ton therefore, although the author of no work published in his own name (except some papers in the Memoirs of the French Academy of Sciences,) will ever be regarded as one of the first in that list of illustrious moderns, who have prosecuted the study of zoology with enlarged views and on proper principles. Camper and Pallas were cotemporary with Daubenton. An- imated with the true feeling for nature, they devoted themselves to her study with that enthusiasm which characterizes genius. The zoologists of Europe have assigned to them, with one accord, the highest rank in the temple of Science; and point them out with one consent, as belonging to that small class who have contribu- ted signally to extend the boundaries of natural knowledge.— Where will any sceptical opponent of their claims find justifica- tion ofhis dissent from the public voice so strongly expressed in their favour 1 Let him seek it in their works, and his doubts will soon be at an end. Although Camper occupied at different times the chairs of phi- losophy, anatomy, surgery, and medicine at Franeker, Amster- dam, and Groningen,—although he filled various civil situations, Led. I.—No. I. d 30 MODERN history and wrote on many subjects in anatomy, midwifery, surgery, med- icine, and the line arts, he found leisure for his favorite pursuits. He collected a very valuable museum in comparative anatomy, made numerous dissections of rare and interesting animals, and delineated their structure in that simple but expressive style, in which he has given us the admirable engravings of the arm and pelvis. The air-cells in the bones of birds, their communications and uses : the organ of hearing in fishes and whales ; the anato- my of the orang-utang, the elephant, the rein-deer, and the Sur- inam toad : the organs of the voice in monkeys, the head of the two-horned rhinoceros, and fossile osteology, are some of the sub- jects which he has successfully illustrated.* No man entered the path of zoology with greater ardour, or pursued it with more perseverance and success, than Peter Simon Pallas, the son of a surgeon of Berlin. His whole life indeed was only a succession of labors devoted to the extension of natural knowledge. In passing over the wide field of zoology the student will see his name in all quarters, and everywhere as the index of some important discovery. Should he wish to sur- vey any part of the territory more minutely, Pallas will be his safest guide. He published eighteen separate works, several of them bulky, and in many volumes : and he contributed fifty-five papers to various learned societies.t—When the value of writings is so universally recognised, as in the case of a Haller and a Pal- las, their numerical amount is a measure of the obligations under which science lies to their authors. He acquired very rapidly the learned and the modern languages, and studied natural history, anatomy, physiology, and the other branches of the medical pro* fession, under the best teachers that Germany and Holland afford- ed. His taste for zoology was strongly marked at the age of fif- teen, when he sketched out an arrangement of birds on his own notions, and made observations on the larva? of the lepidoptera, particularly with the view of determining whether they possess I the sense of hearing, which he settled in the affirmative. ' His In- * His various works are enumerated in the Notice de la Vic et des Ecrits de P. Camper, prefixed to the OZuvres, torn. i. t A short account of the life of Pallas has been published by his friend Ru- Dolphi, in his Beytrdge zur Anthropologic und allgemeinen Naturgeschicktt, 8vo. Berlin, 1612. It contains a complete catalogue of liis numerous writings OP COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 31 augural Thesis, De infestis viventibus intra viventia (that is, On an- imals which live in the bodies of others,) published in 1761, when he was nineteen years of age, is still read with information and pleasure; although the important subject, on which it treats, has received so much additional light from the researches of sub- sequent naturalists. At the time of its appearance, this produc- tion of the young Pallas was much the best book for the infor- mation it contained and the views it disclosed. He proves in it, from his own investigations, the vitality of the hydatid ; and de- monstrates the structure of the head of the tape-worm : he also shows the general objections to the Linnaean class Vermes. For the purpose of prosecuting his favourite pursuits of zoology and comparative anatomy, he visited various parts of the continent, and England : employing himself particularly on the coasts in in- vestigating the structure and habits of marine animals, many of which he has described. His Elenchus Zoophytorum, a work both copious and profound, his Miscellanea Zoologica and Spicilegia Zoologia, most rich repositories of information on various depart- ments of our science, were published within a few years after his Inaugural Thesis. These valuable works fully justify the eulogi- um of the judicious and impartial Haller, who pronounces their author " one of the chief founders of comparative anatomy." Zoology had hitherto been to Pallas a kind of passion, rather than an ordinary pursuit; he followed the impulse of his ardent feeling for nature, without looking to ulterior objects. His zeal, talents, and information, could not fail to attract attention ; and they pointed him out to the great Catharine,—who seemed to feel for science a kind of manly love, and who promoted-it like an Empress,—as a proper person for her truly grand design of exploring the vast regions that owned her sway, of describing the countries, their productions, and inhabitants. His histories of these travels abound with information on all points : I may par- ticularly mention, in reference to our present subject, his very in- teresting descriptions of the various native tribes scattered over the immense regions of Asiatic Russia, and previously very im- perfectly known; and his copious details in zoology. The fatigues of tliese travels impaired a constitution never ve- ry robust; and a subsequent less extensive excursion in the south- ern regions of the Russian empire weakened it still further. Yet 32 MODERN HISTORY he afterwards published his Nova Species Quadrupcdum e GUriunt Ordine, the best monography we possess in the class Mammalia, and distinguished by characters which few naturalists have beea able to impress on their writings. He not only accurately de- scribes the animals, and their anatomy, but details their/habits, and in many cases adds valuable physiological information on their temperature. After living some years in the Crimea, on estates given him by the Empress, he returned, towards the close of his life, to Berlin; where, for some months before the event, he was admonished by pain and increasing weakness of his approaching end. Like many professors of our art, he obstinately refused to take physic ; exhibiting that want of faith, which, whether or not it diminishes the chance of salvation, certainly amuses the profane. He died as he lived, engaged in zoological pursuits; for his last occupa- tion was that of arranging papers, and giving directions for a grand work he had been long preparing on the animals of the Russian empire; destined to illustrate their structure and func- tions, as well as natural history. This* or at least some portion of it, is printed, but I believe not yet published. Perhaps it is not necessary to insist on the merits of Halllr in comparative anatomy, before an audience undoubtedly fami- liar with the works, and therefore fully able to appreciate the greatest ornament of our profession. I must however observe, that he saw the subject in its just light: he perceived clearly that the physiology of an organ could not be complete until its struc- ture had been examined in every class of animals,—until all its modifications and their effects had been noted. Hence each sec- tion of his immortal work contains a collection of all the facts then known respecting the structure of animals as well as of man. At this favorable era, when the spirit of inquiry was awakened, and active minds in all parts of Europe were engaged in zoologi- cal and physiological investigations, Mr. Hunter commenced his career. He enjoyed the great advantage, of singular importance to an uneducated and unlearned man, of being initiated in these * Animalia Imperii Rossici. Rudolphi informs us, in his life of Pallas, that he had seen the text of the first volume, and part of the second; "and gives some account of the objeet and eonteats of the work. BeytrUgc, s. 55: u. folg. OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 38 pursuits by his brother, the most accomplished and learned anat- omist, and then the most acute physiologist, of this or any other country. From Dr. W. Hunter, who first taught him, and from the numerous able men brought up in the same school, Mr. Hun- ter learned in the shortest way whatever could be derived from books, and became acquainted with the labors and discoveries of all other countries.* Thus his genius was excited and invigorat- ed, without being deadened by the toil of study,—refreshed by these supplies, it became capable of higher and stronger flights, and soared to an elevation, which we cannot estimate justly with- out taking into consideration the point of departure. Yet he never forgot that the physiologist is the minister and interpreter of nature ; and however little conversant he may have been with human works, no man ever consulted with a more attentive and scrutinizing eye the book of nature, which always instructs, and never deceives us. His museum will teach us how he endeavored to learn the structure,—and the records of his observations and experiments will show how he inquired into the actions of living * The unrivalled opportunities of education and information enjoyed by Mr Hunter are very properly stated by the author of the Physiological Lectures, p. 8. He surprises us afterwards by comparing him to Ferguson the astrono- mer, who became acquainted with the phenomena of the heavenly bodies, and constructed charts and instruments, while a shepherd's boy. In original in- struction, in acquaintance with the most improved state of science, and with the labors of those by whom it had been thus advanced, the two individuals exhibit a complete contrast, instead of resemblance. The representation that Mr. Hunter was the first, in this or in any country, who studied comparative anatomy and physiology extensively, in order to perfect the knowledge of our own animal economy (Physiol. Lect. p. 5 and 201), seems to me as unfortu- nate as the comparison of Hunter to Ferguson. Without mentioning Ga- len, whose labors, although he lived so many centuries ago, ought not to be forgotten; without enumerating the long list of illustrious men who devoted themselves with so much zeal and success to comparative anatomy and physi- ology in the 17th century, whose names are connected with all the leading discoveries in those sciences ; and whose works, occupying the sixth book of Haller's Bibliotheca Anatomica, under the title of " Animalium Incisiones," contain many of the facts published as new by the moderns; the name of Harvey immediately suggests itself, as sufficient to refute this assertion. The researches of this great man on the circulation and generation, show that he was fully aware what assistance might be derived from the dissection and ob- servation of animals in illustrating the structure and functions of man, and that he knew well how to avail himself of it. See Introduction to Comparative Anatomy and Physiology, p. 41 et scq 84 MODERN HISTORY beings. Such were the means in his opinion best calculated to unfold the nature of life : the characters of which he has drawn, not with the wavering outline and undefined forms of speculation, nor in the gaudy and delusive tints of hypothesis, but with the firm touch that real observation alone could give, and in the so- ber coloring of that nature with which he was so well acquaint- ed. He seldom ventured into the regions of speculation; and the fruits of his excursions, when he did thus indulge himself, are not calculated to make us regret they were so few. They bear indeed the marks of the common weakness of our nature; and remind us of the observation applied to the theological writings of Sir Isaac Newton,—that they afford to the rest of mankind a con- solation and recompense for the superiority he displayed over them in other respects. I forbear any further disquisition of his merits, because they have already been sufficiently explained to you this year ; and particularly in reference to our present subject of comparative anatomy ; because too, the frequent repetition of the theme might lead you to entertain those doubts and suspicions which uncommon earnestness and reiterated recurrence often suggest, when they do not arise naturally out of the subject. Comparative anatomy is still pursued with great zeal in Ger- many, where literature and science are resuming that activity which had experienced a short interruption from war,—the fa- vorite, but costly and destructive game of princes, and indeed of people. The structure, economy, and scientific classification of intesti- nal worms, have been illustrated by several German naturalists, -as, Pallas, Bloch, Goeze, and Werner,—whom I have al- ready mentioned to you. The same subject has been again sur- veyed in all its parts, and has received many new illustrations from Professor Rudolphi of Berlin; whose Entozoorum Historia, or History of Internal Worms, besides much original matter, contains a complete collection of all that has been done on the subject, and an arrangement of the genera and species, which is now universally followed : it is indeed deservedly considered the first authority on this subject. Tilesius, a German naturalist, who accompanied a late Rus- sian voyage round the world, has delineated numerous animals, OP COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 36 particularly of the marine kinds, in the Atlas of Krusenstern's voyage.* Dr. Spix, a Bavarian, has published a folio workt on the com- parative osteology of the head, containing numerous plates, which are a good specimen of the new art of lithography or stone engraving. Professor Tiedemann, of Landshut, gained a prize offered by the French Institute for the best account of the organs of circu- lation in the echinodermata ; and has just published his essay,| in folio, with several fine engravings, representing the whole a- natomy of the holothuria, asterias, and echinus. This book (probably the only copy in the country,) and the work of Spix, are in the library of the Medical and Chirurgical Society. Many other publications in the various departments of zoology have appeared in Germany in the course of the past year. We may form some judgment of the taste for these pursuits, which exists in other countries, from the fact that Blumenbach's Manual of Natural History has gone through nine editions. It is indeed remarkable for its clear arrangement, and for the im- mense quantity of interesting and valuable information it contains condensed into a small compass. It is altogether the best short elementary book on natural history in any language. This great zoologist has not only contributed many new ob- servations to the science, and enriched it with excellent elemen- tary works, but he has collected a very extensive and valuable museum for the illustration of comparative anatomy and zoology. A similar collection has been made by Soemmering, at Munich. Of the magnificent cabinet of natural history belonging to the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, report speaks very highly : it seems to be unrivalled, in the number, beauty, and arrangement of the specimens of the animal kingdom. Of the part which relates to comparative anatomy I have not met with any detailed account, except that the osteological department is peculiarly rich. I have great pleasure in hearing that a zoological collection * Reise um die Welt. Petersburgh. t Cephalogenesis, sive Capitis Ossei Structura. Munich. X Anatomie dcr Rohrcn-Holothurie, des Pomeranz-farbenen See-sterns, und des steinerncn See-igels: folio. Landshut, 1816; with ten beautiful and ex- pressive engravings. 36 modern history has been begun at the British Museum ; because without such aid the study of the science must be prosecuted under great difficul- ties, and must necessarily languish. This department is under the direction of Dr. Leach, whose zeal, abilities, and scientific- knowledge are a sufficient assurance to us that nothing will be omitted which the zealous devotion of an individual can accom- plish. In the unrivalled library of Sir. Joseph Banks, and in the more uncommon liberality with which it is open to all who are engaged in scientific pursuits, the naturalists of this country enjoy an em- inent advantage. The powerful and munificent patronage of this public-spirited individual is freely bestowed on all branches of sci- ence: it is not confined to the cold sanction of a bare assent, but takes the form of active and warm assistance in all scientific un- dertakings that promise to promote public utility. Zoology has been a favorite pursuit with himself: the tie of a common object united him closely to Mr. Hunter; and he has ever shown a dis- position to promote the views of this College respecting the muse- um, which entitles him to the particular gratitude of its members ; as his general character and conduct do to the warmest esteem and respect of all friends to science. The zoologists of France still exhibit that activity and acute- ness, by which the science has been so much benefited, and by which it receives every year important acquisitions. CuvierIuis terminated his labors on the mollusca, by the anatomy of the cut- tle-fish tribe : and has published together, in one volume, with thirty-two beautifully engraved plates, containing a very large number of figures from his own drawings, the whole of his im- portant researches on this department of the animal kingdom. Those who are acquainted with this admirable work ; who have appreciated the immense extent and variety of the researches on which it is founded, and the satisfactory clearness and accuracy both of all its details and of the general conclusions and arrange- ments founded on them, will be astonished to hear that its author has executed a series of investigations equally extensive on the vertebral animals, the zoophytes, on many insects and Crustacea. He has not published them in the same way ; but the preparations are deposited in the cabinet of comparative anatomy at the Jar- din des Plantes, and will be employed ultimately in that great OF comparative ANATOMY. 3, work on comparative anatomy, to which all the previous and ap- parently finished productions of this philosophical and accom- plished zoologist are regarded by himself merely as a kind of pre- lude ; although any one out of their great number would have '•aised its author to a distinguished rank in the scientific world. This history and anatomy of the mollusca is not the only claim which Cuvier has to our gratitude within the past year. His work on the animal kingdom, in four volumes octavo, exhibits a methodical and philosophical view of the science of zoology: it places before us a subject capable of engaging and satisfying an inquiring mind ; not a dry and uninteresting detail of names and forms, but the philosophical principles of zoological arrangement, and the execution of those principles through all their details: it establishes the divisions and sub-divisions of the living world through the whole of the vast scale, on the double basis of exter- nal and internal structure : it enumerates all the well-authentica- ted species which are known with certainty to belong to each sub- division ; and enters into some details on those kinds which, from their abundance in these climates, the advantages we derive or the injuries we suffer from them, from singularities in their manners or economy, their extraordinary forms, beauty, or size, become ob- jects of particular interest. Of the confidence which this work de- serves as a representation of facts in contra-distinction from compila- tions the fruit of labors in the closet, we may form a judgment from this circumstance, that, with the exception of such animals as by their minuteness elude the researches of the anatomist, there are very few groupes of the rank of subgenera mentioned in the book of which the author cannot produce at least some considerable portion of the organs. In each division and each species we are referred to the best sources of information ; not by indiscriminate and accumulated quotations, which only increase and perpetuate confusion,—but by the selection of those works and figures to which the character of originality belongs : in short, by weighing ' and not counting authorities. A very valuable catalogue of zo- ological authors is subjoined. That it bears marks of haste, and does not in all parts corres- pond to what we expect from the most knowing and most learn- ed (which are by no means synonymous epithets,) of modern zo- ologists, might well be expected, when we consider the wide field Led. I.—No. II. e 38 modern history it embraces, the multifarious pursuits, and the important political and civil duties of the author : yet it is not less valuable than in- dispensable to every zoologist, as the most perfect delineation of the actual state of the science, as the most authentic and worthy of confidence in its details, and from the enlightened discrimination and criticism employed in the selection of authorities, If any of my hearers have regarded zoology as an amusement, rather than a philosophical pursuit,—as something calculated to employ light minds, or occupy hours of leisure and relaxation,— I would recommend them to survey the distribution of animals presented in this work. They will find that the science, thus treated, is not only capable of affording an ample source of agree- able and interesting instruction and entertainment, but also, that, in exhibiting a methodical arrangement of a most copious and multifarious subject, it is a very useful exercise and discipline of the mind. This advantage, of distributing and classing a vast number of ideas, which belongs in a remarkable degree to natu- ral history, has not yet been so much insisted on as it deserves : it exercises us in that important intellectual operation, which may be called method, or orderly distribution; as the exact sciences train the mind to habits of close attention and strict reasoning. Natural history requires the most precise method or arrangement ; as geometry demands the most rigorous reasoning. When this art (if it may be so called) is once thoroughly acquired, it may be applied with great advantage to other objects. All discussions that require a classification of facts, all researches that are found- ed on an orderly distribution of the subject, are conducted on the same principles; and young men, who have turned to this science as a matter of amusement, will be surprised to find how much a familiarity with its processes will facilitate the unravelling all complicated subjects. I do not enter into any detaU of the accessions for which sci- ence is indebted to this illustrious naturalist, this great compara- tive anatomist; because the limits of a lecture would be insuffi- cient. Neither do I mean to compare or contrast* his merits 'One object of tho Physiological Lectures was, to contrast Mr. Hunter's knowledge of comparative anatomy with that of Cuvier. The field of living nature has been surveyed and cultivated by these two great men with very dif- ferent views and objects : by the former, for the elucidation of physiolog y : by OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 39 with those of any other individual; because I do not possess any gauge for the mind : I have no plummet for sounding the depth of intellect; nor any common measure by which its relative amount can be determined, under the different varieties of exer- tion. I should not be able to weigh genius against acquirements, the latter, for establishing the laws of zoology. It would have been interesting to show how the general course of proceeding, the mode of investigation, the selection of objects, and the result, have been modified by this diversity of de- sign ; and to point out the differences, which are traceable to the original di- versity of endowment and of education. Such a comparison requires a mind free from the national affections and antipathies, in which the author of the Lectures glories: it requires, too, that an accurate parallel should be drawn of the labors and discoveries of each, and that all their respective writings should be well known. In the Lectures, there is no comparative statement of what these great men have accomplished ; and the author gives us to understand. that of Cuvier's numerous important works he is acquainted only with his " Lectures on Comparative Anatomy." Yet he does not abandon the design, but addresses his audience as Gentlemen of the Jury, coming forward as " a voluntary advocate in the cause of Hunter versus Cuvier and others." p. 16. In this mockery of a legal proceeding he has unfortunately omitted every one of the cautions and regulations which, in the justly-venerated forms of English judicial proceedings, are designed to secure impartial justice. Where is the enlightened judge, indifferent to both parties ? where the impartial jury, any of whom may be challenged by the accused ? where the advocate of the op- posite party ? He soon gets sick of his trial; does not even state the grievance aomplained of clearly ; adduces not a particle of evidence ; but uniting in his own person the characters of advocate, judge, and jury, and not hearing any thing in behalf of the defendant, of course pronounces a verdict for his own client. Who the others are, combined in this charge with Cuvier, or what they have been guilty of, we are not informed. This happy thought of a trial is again introduced, and accompanied with a compliment to British liberty (p. 334^: it was a singular period to select for such an eulogium —for transplant- ing to the College of Surgeons the appeals to national vanity, which the in- creasing good sense and taste of the very galleries have nearly banished from the theatres. Having disposed of Cuvier, the author makes very short work with Hal- ler, Daubenton, Pallas, and Camper : thinking, apparently, that all merit allowed to them is so much clear loss to the object of his idolatry. Having shown how erroneous the opinion is, that our science owes any great obligations to these individuals, and relying firmly on the ignorance of his audienee in respect to dates, he arrives easily at the conclusion,—" that the great illumination which comparative anatomy and physiology have of late re- ceived on the continent, has in a considerable degree resulted from reflected light, originally emanating from materials which Mr. Hunter brought togeth er, and from his brilliant physiological discoveries." p. 61. 40 modern history or to decide whether the quantity of discovery in one were equ&l to its quality in another. I can only state my own opinion ; which is, that if it were necessary to point out any one man, as the chief contributor to the present state of zoology in general, and of comparative anatomy in particular, to designate any indi- vidual to whom the modern progress of these sciences has been principally owing, I cannot doubt that the naturalists of Europe would pronounce an unanimous verdict for Cuvier. Yet perhaps they would not like to come to a decision in such a question, and would prefer returning a special statement, that should satisfy the claims of all, without conferring an offensive pre-eminence on any one. They might probably pronounce that the French academicians, that Redi, Valisnieri, Swammerdam, Lyonvet, Reaumur, Daubenton, and Haller, had cleared the ground, dug out and laid the foundation of the building ;—that Camper, Pallas, Hunter, Poli, Blumenbach, and Cuvier, had raised the edifice ;—while innumerable other artists, by finishing particular apartments, or executing decorations and embellish- ments, had signally contributed, not only to the commodiousness and comfort, but to the general effect of the whole. Tliese great men, though born in different countries, may be considered to have been united as contributors to one common end—the advancement of useful knowledge. In reviewing their labors, let us keep our attention fixed on this object, and not look aside at the national questions, which divide and disturb mankind. We expect from science that it should strengthen feelings of be- nevolence, and promote acts of charity,—not encourage contro- versy, and inflame national rivalry ; that it should draw more close- ly those bonds which unite men together ; and not add fresh power to the repulsive forces which already separate them too widely. Lamarck is republishing, in an enlarged form, his Natural His- tory of the Invertebral Animals ; and has already completed four volumes. Savigny has made some very interesting discoveries in the same division of the animal kingdom ; and has published them under the modest title of Memoirs on Invertebral Animals; of which two portions have already appeared. Mons. Blainville, who succeeds Cuvier in his lectures at the Jardin des Plantes, in the course of many years silently and OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 41 •teadily devoted, under so able a teacher, to the study of natural history and comparative anatomy, has gained a most extensive stock of information on these subjects ; and displays his thorough acquaintance both with their principles and details, in numerous Memoirs, chiefly contained in the Bulletin des Sciences, and other French collections. It is perhaps yet too soon to determine how these and similar pursuits may be influenced by the recent political changes in France. Hitherto, however, Science has not partaken in the tri- umph of Legitimacy. Le Sueur, the fellow-traveller of Peron, who had long pro- mised a natural history of the Medusa?, to be illustrated by those inimitable delineations which he brought back from their voyage of discovery to the Austral regions, has found himself unable to complete this undertaking, and is gone, with many others, to the New World. If we cannot repress a sigh when we see men of peaceful pursuits thus torn from their native soil and driven into foreign climes, let us rejoice, not only for them, but for all man- kind, that such an asylum for the victims of power and oppression exists; that there is, not a spot, but a vast region of the earth, lavishly endowed with Nature's fairest gifts, and exhibiting at the same time the grand and animating spectacle of a country sacred to civil liberty,—where man may walk erect in the conscious dig- nity of independence, that " Lord of the lion heart and eagle eye," and enjoy full freedom of word and action, without the permis- sion of those combinations or conspiracies of the mighty, which threaten to convert Europe into one great State prison. The nu- merous people, whose happiness and tranquilliry are so effectually secured by the simple forms of a free government, are the growth of yesterday : at the same rate of progress, they may reach in our lives as gigantic a superiority over the worn-out despotisms of the Old World, as the physical features of America, her colossal mountains, her mighty rivers, her forests, and her lakes, exhibit in comparison with those of Europe. 4~ ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY LECTURE II. INTRODUCTORY TO THE COURSE OF 181e The Cultivation of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy recommend- ed as Branches of General Knowledge, and as an interesting De- partment of Philosophy— Their Relation to various Questions in General Philosophy, exemplified in the Gradations of Organiza- tion, and the doctrine of Final Causes—Examples of the Aid they are capable of rendering to Geology and the Physical His- tory of the Globe— Their Importance to Physiology, and conse- quently to the Scientific Study of Medicine—Objects of inquiry in the Animal Kingdom, and Mode of Investigation—Anatomy— Physiology—Pathology. GENTLEMEN ! Having the honor of appearing before you for the third time, as professor of anatomy and surgery, I deem it a proper opportu- nity to observe, that the comparative estimate I originally formed of the exigencies of this office, and of the means I could bring for- ward for the purpose of meeting them,—which would, at all times have deterred me from presenting myself as a candidate for such a trust,—remains unaltered by my subsequent experience : or rather, that it has been confirmed by the nearer contemplation of a subject so arduous and ample, as to require the industrious devotion and undivided energies of an active and vigorous mind ; and by the dis- covery of those deficiencies in knowledge, which the urgency of other avocations leaves me no hope of filling up. In pursuing the path which I have entered upon, I must, therefore, still rely on that indulgent consideration which I know that you are disposed to ex- tend to all sincere efforts at promoting the grand objects enter- tained by the Court of this College ;—I mean the diffusion, throughout our body, and particularly among its rising members, of a taste for all the auxiliary pursuits which are capable of lend- ing to our profession either essential aid or graceful ornament ; AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 43 the cultivation of surgery as a science ; and the securing for its honorable practitioners that rank in society, and that public re- gard, which are the just meed of liberal pursuits directed to the attainment of useful public ends. As the riches of our collection are ..more calculated for the leis- ure and deliberate survey of a visit to the museum, than for the distant and hasty exhibitions of this theatre, I shall preface the demonstrative part of the lectures by some general discourses, which will be devoted to illustrate the aim and utility of zoology in general, and of comparative anatomy in particular,—their re- lations to physiology, and to the sciences more immediately con- nected with our practical pursuits,—and the general principles, which are to be kept in view in cultivating these branches of knowledge. If, in this course, I should enter on topics which have been already brought under your review this season, my apol- ogy must be, that my arrangements were made before my worthy colleague had begun his lectures, and that amputation or disloca- tion of the parts in question would have been troublesome, if not painful operations. His interesting disquisitions on various parts of comparative anatomy were not felt by me in the light of invasion or encroach- ment. The manor of living nature is so ample, that all may be allowed to sport on it freely ; the most jealous proprietor cannot entertain any apprehension that the game will be exhausted, or even perceptibly thinned: to introduce any thing like the spirit of the game-laws into science would, if possible, exceed the op- pressive cruelty and intolerable abuses of that iniquitous and ex- ecrable code. Having alluded to the course of lectures just finished, I should not do justice to my own feelings, nor to the merits of my esteem- ed coadjutor,* if I did not sincerely thank him for the information I have received,—if I did not state, that, in listening to those lu- minous and eloquent discourses, I felt a satisfaction in belonging to a profession which could boast such an associate, and express a wish that a scries of lectures so honorable to the author and to the profession should receive that diffusion by the press, which must be both useful and gratifying to the public. • Ant. Carlisle Tv=v 44 <>N THE STUDY OF ZOOLOOV I know no branch of knowledge more interesting to mankind in general, including all ages and descriptions, than the history of living beings, or, as we commonly call it, the natural history of animals: of which, comparative anatomy is the very life and es- sence. This pleasing subject occupies us at the first dawn of rea- son, amusing our earliest infancy ; and supplies a fund of solid instruction and rational entertainment to our riper years and more developed faculties. In its boundless extent and variety are in- cluded matters within the comprehension of the slenderest and least cultivated understanding; and others, to which the strong- est minds and most enlarged science are not more than adequate. The resemblance which animals bear to ourselves in frame and actions, naturally leads us to ascribe to them our own feelings, to fancy that they are susceptible of our pleasures and pains, actua- ted by our desires and aversions, and impelled by the same mo- tives or springs of action ; and thus excites in the mind, even of the youngest and most unlearned, a sympathetic interest and a degree of curiosity, which are never felt in examining inorganic nature, or in contemplating its phenomena. None of the exhi- bitions in a fair are more crowded, by young and old, the ignor- ant and the learned, than the collections of foreign and curious animals : no books are more generally read, than descriptions of the form, actions, habits, instincts, and character of living crea- tures. The knowledge of living nature, which is well worthy of culti- vation, as a subject of mere amusement, at once innocent and ra- tional, and therefore suited to all ages, presents other and higher elaims to our attention. The multiplied relations which animals bear to our own species, supplying our most urgent wants, aiding our greatest undertakings, and giving full effect to our faculties and exertions,—and the important part they fill in the creation, animating and enlivening every scene, and often changing the very face of nature,—can hardly escape the notice of the most unreflecti'ig ; and can only be neglected by those who are con- tented to remain ignorant of the most striking phenomena around them. I do not speak at present of the important bearings which AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 45 soology has on the science of human organization and life, and consequently on the art of healing ; but consider it merely as a branch of general knowledge. What a multitude of quadrupeds, birds, and fishes afford occupa- tion, either directly or indirectly, to the many savage tribes, who live almost entirely on the produce of the chase or the fishery, or to the sportsman, who seeks in these pursuits merely a healthy recrea- tion ! What an interest is felt in observing and investigating the hab- its of these various beings; in comparing and contrasting their di- versified endowments ; in watching the force and activity of some ; the address, the stratagems, and the cunning of others ; the won- derful instincts of all; and the curious relation between their hab- its and the respective situations they occupy ! What a number of the inhabitants of the earth, air, and waters, are sacrificed to furnish us with food ! while from the same source we derive a still larger portion of our clothing. The number of living creatures,whether beasts, birds, and fishes, or even reptiles, worms, and insects, consumed for food, in the various regions of the earth, is prodigious. None, even the most disgusting, as lo- custs, beetles, maggots, spiders, entirely escape. When we add to these what are destroyed to supply us with clothing, particular- ly with wool, silk, leather, fur, feathers; with the means of pro- curing light, as oil, spermaceti, wax, tallow ; with various arti- cles of medicine, as hartshorn, musk, castor, Spanish flies; with the materials of numerous useful and elegant arts, as cochineal, parchment, glue, isinglass, catgut, bone, ivory, mother-of-pearl, hair, bristles, whalebone, horn ;—and what are killed for our sport and amusement, or through abuse, wantonness, and cruelty ;—the catalogue will be of immense length ; and will amply justify Dr. Spurzheim in having marked out so considerable a tract, in his mapof the human brain, for the abode of destructiveness, and its near neighbor and close ally, combativeness :—to say nothing of that circumstance which is almost peculiar to our species, viz. their killing each other ;* a practice so essentially characteristic •Besides war,—" the game," our poet calls it, " which, were their subjects wise, kings should not play at," but which, unluckily, subjects enjoy almost as much as kings,—I may refer to the human sacrifices, which either have been or are still practised in most parts of the world ; and to cannibalism, which having been much doubted and questioned, is now «learly proved to be still prevalent in manv place* /><•*. II.—No. II. r 46 Oft THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY of human nature, that it prevails in every region and climate, in every variety of man, and in every state of society, from the ru- dest tribe of savages to the most highly civilized empire : except, indeed, among the Quakers, and one or two equally inconsidera- ble sects, whose singular and narrowminded refusal to follow the way of the world, in so innocent a particular, has been treated with suitable scorn and ridicule by their more enlightened fellow- Christians.* There are instances, in which whole tribes of human beings depend, for the supply of all their wants, on one or two species of animals. The Greenlander, and the Eskimaux of Labrador, placed in a region of almost constant snow and ice, where intense cold renders the soil incapable of producing any articles of human sustenance, are fed, clothed, and lodged from the seal. They pursue, indeed, the rein-deer, other land animals, and birds; but seal-hunting is their grand occupation. The flesh and blood of the seal are their food ; the blubber, or subcutaneous stratum of fat, affords them the means of procuring light and heat ; the bones and teeth are converted into weapons, instruments, and va- rious ornaments : and the skin not only supplies them with cloth- ing, but with the coverings of their huts and canoes. The sto- * In complimenting the Quakers for not having followed the warlike and de- structive example set before them by the rest of mankind, I ought not to have conveyed my praise in the ironical form of blame ; because irony is often mis- understood, even where we may think such a mistake almost impossible,—as in the case of the good bishop, who declared himself highly pleased with Gul- liver's Travels, but added, that the book contained some things which he had a difficulty in believing. To obviate the possibility of further misunderstand- ing, I lay aside irony, and state most seriously and sincerely, that, whether I regard them as a religious sect or as a body of citizens, whether I look to then- private or public conduct, I hold the Quakers in the highest respect. As Chris- tians, they entertain no unintelligible articles of faith ; they waste no time in splitting the hairs of theological controversy ; their singular and honorable dis- tinction is practical Christianity, evinced in blameless lives, in renouncing all force and violence, in endeavoring to fulfil literally the Gospel precepts of peace and good-will, in active benevolence, in unremitted personal as well as pecuni- ary co-operation in all measures calculated to diminish the amount of human misery and suffering, and to improve the condition of their fellow-creatures. These truly Christian merits would redeem much heavier sins than an adher- ence to the plain and simple garb and the unceremonious language of George Fox and William Perm, AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 47 mach, intestines, and bladder, when dried, are turned to many and various uses : in their nearly transparent dry state, they sup- ply the place of glass in the windows ; they form bladders for their harpoons, arrows, nets, &c.; when sewed together, they make under-garments, curtains, &c. ; and are employed in place of linen on many occasions. Thus every part of the animal is converted, by a kind of domestic anatomy, to useful purposes: even to the tendons, which, when split and dried, form excellent threads. To the purs.uk of the seal, the canoes, instruments, weapons, clothing, education, and whole manner of life of the Greenlanders, are adapted. As a plentiful supply of these ani- mals enables them to dispense with every thing else, and as with- out these they could procure neither dwellings, clothes, nor food, it naturally follows that the great aim of education is to make the boys expert seal-hunters ; and that dexterity in this pursuit is the greatest praise that can be bestowed on the man.* The Laplanders and theTungooses of North-eastern Asia, are equally indebted to the rein-deer; the Tschutski, the North-west Ameri- cans, the Aleutians, and other neighboring islanders, to the whale and walrus. The latter, as well as the Greenlanders, seem to have anticipated modern anatomists in accurately distinguishing the several anatomical textures, and ascertaining what Bichat calls their " proprietcs de tissue," or properties resulting from or- ganization, in order to convert the various parts to the manifold purposes of their economical anatomy : they surprise us by man- ufacturing thread from the carcase of the great leviathan; split- ting the fibres of its cutaneous muscle (the panniculus carnosus) into lengths of a hundred feet or more ; and preparing from it a double-threaded twine, which, in the united requisites of fineness and strength, will bear comparison with any productions of Eu- ropean industry. The flocks and herds which are reared for food, and the vari- ous domesticated animals employed in agriculture, in carrying burdens, for draft, and in numberless other ways, are so useful and important, that their structure, economy, and diseases, have been carefully studied ; and these subjects have been found suffi- * See the interesting account of the Greenlanders in Crantz, Geschichte von GrOnland; also Egede, Description of Greenland ; Lond. 1818; of the Eskiaiaux, in Ellis's Voyage to Hudson's Bay, p. 137 and following. 48 ON THE STUDY OP ZOOLOGY cient to occupy a particular class of persons. Indeed, without the dog, the horse, the sheep, the cow, the goat, the rein-deer, the camel, and the llama, many extensive regions of the globe would be uninhabitable ; and others now covered with a nume- rous population, would be reduced almost to the condition of deserts. Comparative anatomy bears the same relation to the veterinary art, that human anatomy and physiology do to medicine. The peculiarities in the organic structure and functions of particular genera or species lead to corresponding peculiarities in their dis- eases and derangements. Hence a rational treatment of the dis- orders incidental to animals presupposes a knowledge of the ge- neric and specific characters of internal organization. It seems superfluous to adduce the digestion of the ruminant order, or other analogous instances, in illustration of a truth so evident in itself. Many animals are known to us as objects of alarm and terror, or of considerable though less serious annoyance. Some are di- rectly formidable by their strength and ferocity, as beasts of prey ; others by their noxious properties, as venomous reptiles and in- sects. Some ravage our fields and gardens, destroying the vari- ous vegetable productions : others attack our food and clothing. Some even perforate the ; lunks of the largest ships, or the tim- bers of other submarine constructions. A more extensive field is opened to the philosopher in the structure and economy of animals; in their analogies and differ- ences : in the relation of their organization and functions to the circumstances in which they are placed ; and in the modifications corresponding to the infinitely-varied combinations of abode, surrounding element, food, mode of growth and reproduction, &c &c. We see some sagacious and docile, capable of instruction, ex- hibiting mental phenomena analogous to our own,—the werms or imperfect state of what, when more developed, is human intellect: others are stupid, ferocious, and untameable. Some are mild, sociable, and gregarious; others, wild, savage, and solitary.' Many surprise us by their curious instincts, as in pioviding for the abode, defence, or food of themselves or their offspring; bv the unerring regularity with which each individual of the species, AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 4S unaided by experience or instruction, obeys, as it were, the fixed law of destiny, in performing at stated periods the longest jour- neys, as in the migrations of birds and fishes; or executes the most perfect and intricate constructions, exceeding the utmost exertions even of human skill and wisdom. Some have an acuteness of the external senses, particularly sight, hearing, and smelling, to which we are strangers ; in some we are astonished by the force ; in others, by the celerity and va- riety of motion. Some live altogether on flesh; others, on vegetable matter: some eat incessantly, as our common graminivorous quadrupeds; others ate satisfied with a full meal once a day, as the beasts of prey ; and others, as certain reptiles, will eat only once in seve- ral weeks, and can even support an abstinence of many months. To many animals, the interruption of respiration for a minute , or two is fatal; some can go without breathing for an hour, for ) many hours, or for days ; and others pass months together -*ith- | out the exercise of this function, in a condition of inactivity and J torpor hardly distinguishable from death. To many, a slight injury of some organ is fatal; some survive the loss of the most important members, and even reproduce them ; some, when divided into two or more portions, have the power of forming an entire individual from each fragment. It is the business of the philosophical zoologist to observe closely all the circumstances of these interesting phenomena, and of many other analogous ones ; to trace their connexion with the rest of the economy, and with the peculiar organization of each animal: to compare together all the diversities and modifications ; and thus to arrive, if possible, at the rational theory or just expli- cation of their causes. The gradations of organization, and the final purposes con- templated by Nature in the construction of her living machines, ■—two interesting and much agitated subjects in the philosophy of natural history,—receive their only clear illustration and in- controvertible evidence from comparative anatomy. Many natu- ralists have pleased themselves with arranging the animal king- dom in a successive series, according to external form ; and have fancied it a peculiar mark of wisdom and beauty in the creation, that there are no abrupt changes, no breaks in the arrangement, • 50 ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY. but the most gradual and gentle transition from link to link throughout the whole chain. These views will not bear thje test of impartial scrutiny, which soon destroys the belief in such a chain of beings, so far as the basis of external figure goes. On the other hand, the pursuits of zootomy, in unfolding the internal mechanism and its movements, display the most evident transi- tions and gradations of organization and economy. We see classes and orders,—as, for example, birds, and the testudines (the turtle and tortoise kinds,)—which, by their external configu- ration, are quite insulated in the creation, connected in the most natural manner with others of quite different form, and united to them by the principle of internal resemblance. The four component parts of the upper extremity, viz. the shoulder, arm, fore-arm, and hand, can be clearly shown to exist in the anterior extremities of all mammalia ; however dissimilar they may appear on a superficial inspection, and however widely they may seem to deviate from the human structure. The wings of the bat, osteologically considered, are hands : the bony stretch- ers of the cutaneous membrane being the digital phalanges ex- tremely elongated. The dolphin, porpoise, and all other whales, have a fin on each side, just behind the head, consisting appa- rently of a single piece. But we find, under the integuments of this fin-like member, all the bones of an anterior extremity, flat- tened indeed, and hardly susceptible of motion on each other, but distinctly recognisable ; there are, a scapula, humerus, bones of the fore-arm, carpus, metacarpus, and five fingers. The fore- feet of the sea-otter, seal, walrus, and manati, form the connect- ing links between the anterior extremities of other mammalia and the pectoral fins of the whale kind ; the bones are so covered and connected by integuments, as to constitute a part adapted to swimming; but these are much more developed than in the latter animal, and have free motion on each other. The bones of the wing of birds have a great and unexpected resemblance to those of the fore-feet of the mammalia; and the fin-like anterior mem- ber of the penguin, applicable only to swimming, contains within the integuments the same bones as the wings of other birds which execute the very different office of* flight. The same point is illustrated by another kind of cases in com- parative anatomy : viz. the existence of certain parts, generally AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 51 in an imperfect state, or, in the anatomical phrase, as rudiments, in some animals, where the function does not exist, and where the parts therefore are not employed. It seems as if a certain model or original type, adapted to the intended function, had been fixed on as a pattern for the construction of nearly allied and analogous beings; and that this model had been adhered to, even in those cases where some particular function did not exist, and where, consequently, the corresponding organ was in reality unnecessary. The additional pelvic bones, which support the false belly or abdominal pouch of the marsupial animals, are found in the males as well as in the females ; although the former have not the pouch. Several carnivorous animals have clavicular bones, connected merely to the muscles, and obviously incapable of serving, even in the smallest degree, those purposes for which true clavicles are added to the skeleton. The breasts and nip- ples of male animals are another example. The marsupial bones and the milk-secreting .apparatus of fe- male animals are appointments of organization manifestly design- ed to fulfil certain ends, and accomplishing very essential purposes in the economy. In the male sex they are neither subservient to use nor ornament; and seem, to our imperfect knowledge, to exemplify the prevalence, in animal organization, of a mechani- cal principle, of the adherence to a certain original type or model. The olfactory nerves of the cetacea, in whom the blowing holes occupy the place of the nose, afford another instance—the more remarkable, as their existence has been generally denied, even by the greatest authorities in comparative anatomy. They consist in the porpoise of two white extremely slender filaments, which, although visible to the naked eye, cannot be distinctly re- cognised as nerves without a magnifying glass.* No subject has been more warmly contested than the doctrine * Treviranus, Biologie, b. v. p. 342, tab. 4. Blainvm.le and Jacobson had already asserted the existence of olfactory nerves in the cetacea in the Bulletin des Sciences, 1815, p. 195. In the work quoted above, Treviranus describes a very singular deviation from the ordinary arrangement, as occuring in the mole. A branch of the su- perior maxillary nerve goes to the eye, and forms the retina ; while the optic nerves, about the size of hairs, are entirely unconnected with each other, and cannot be traced to the eyes. Ibid. p. 341, tab. 3. 52 ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY of final causes ; which, however, has suffered more from the ill- judged efforts of its friends, than from the attacks of its enemies. We can hardly conceive that any person, who did not feel a diffi- culty in believing that a watch was formed for the purpose of showing the hour, could seriously doubt that our stomachs were ex- pressly constructed for digestion, our eyes for seeing, and the rest of our organs for the purposes which they so admirably fulfil. But one must be very fondly attached to final causes, to persuade himself, as some have done, that the sea is salt to preserve it from putrefying ; that the tides of the ocean are designed to bring our vessels safely into port; that stones are made to build houses with ; and silk- worms created in China to furnish the belles and beaux of Europe with satins. It would be only one step further, to assert that sheep have been formed to be sheared and slaughtered ; legs to wear boots ; and the nose for spectacles. Nothing indeed can be more truly unsatisfactory than the well- meant but wor/i-out complimentary effusions we are too often doomed to encounter, which, instead of evincing the wisdom of the creation, show only the folly of their authors, or at least, their misconceptions and short-sighted views. The physico-theologists seem to have considered it their duty to point out the end and purpose contemplated by the Creator in every natural arrange- ment : thus, they have sometimes fallen into the laughable absur- dity of expatiating on the wisdom of certain provisions, which subsequent examination has proved not to exist at all. The foot of an hymenopterous insect was described as being perforated in a certain part by minute holes;—immediately a suf- ficient use was discovered for this structure ; it was described as a no less elegant than wise provision for sifting the pollen of plants, and thus applying the fine fecundating powder to the fe- male organs; and, from the supposed structure and use, the crea- ture received the name of sphex cribraria. Unluckily for the com- pliment thus designed to nature, the part was afterwards discover- ed not to be perforated.* _4 Others, again, have so firmly believed, not only the wisdom of ^, ereation, but their own insight into it, that they have called in question the existence of particular arrangements, because they * Blumzitbach, BcytrCtge zur Naturgeschichtc, lr. theil, p. 40, note. AND COMPARATIVE ANATOtfY. 53 •could not discern the purposes to which they are subservient. Thus, when Blumenbach pointed out to Camper that the tadpoles of the Surinam toad (ranapipa)haxe tails*, this great anatomist was disposed at first to deem the specimen a monstrosity ;t be- cause he could not comprehend for what purpose these strange beings, so curiously lodged in the dorsal cells of their mother. should have the swimming tail of the common tadpole. A distinguished English naturalist has argued that the fossil elephant bones must belong to some species still existing ; be- cause, says he, " Providence maintains and continues every cre- ated species ; and we have as much assurance that no races of ani- mals will anymore cease, while the earth remaineth,than seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night." Unluckily for the credit of this gentleman's assumed acquaintance with the designs and schemes of Providence, we have the fullest evidence that many species and genera of animals have been an- nihilated. The philosophic naturalist, guided by comparative anatomy, discovers at every step striking peculiarities in the economy of animals, founded on corresponding arrangements of organization. We must take refuge either in verbal quibbles, or in an exagger- ated and unreasonable scepticism, if we refuse to recognise in this relation between peculiarity of structure and function those designs and adaptations of exalted power and wisdom, in testi- mony of which all nature cries aloud through all her wrorks. Many things are indeed, at present, inexplicable to us: thus, we cannot conceive to what purpose the long, slender, and almost circular canine teeth of the upper jaw of the babyroussa are sub- servient ; and the offices of many parts, even in the human body, are still hidden from us. But the ends, or final purposes, of the Creator, Avill be placed in the strongest light by selecting any an- imal of marked peculiarity in its economy, and com paring togeth- er its structure and mode of life. Let a person, who knows the natural history of the mole, attentively contemplate its skeleton: if he should still withhold his belief in final purposes, he would * Abbildungen Naturkistorischer Gegenstdnde No. 30 t Leytr. zur Naturg. p. 41, note. Ltd. II.—No. Ill o «S4 ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOClY probably coincide in opinion with a celebrated member of tht French Academy of Sciences, who declared that it was as absurd to suppose the eye intended for seeing, as to imagine that stone? were created for breaking heads. I shall be contented with two other illustrations, which, although different from each other, are analogous in their purpose. The large cavities of birds, and the interior of their bones are filled with air,—thus they are rendered light and buoyant, capable of raising themselves into the higher regions of the atmosphere, of sustaiuing themselves with little effort in this rare medium, and of cleaving the skies with wonderful celerity. Humboldt saw the enormous vulture of the Andes, the majestic condor, dart suddenly from the bottom of the deepest valleys to a considerable height above the summit of Chimbora^o, where the barometer must have been lower than ten inches.* He frequently observed it soaring at an elevation six times higher than that of the clouds in our atmosphere. This bird, which reaches the measure of four- teentfeet with the wings extended, habitually prefers an elevation at which the mercury of the barometer sinks to about sixteen in- ches. The mammalia which live entirely or principally in the sea, as the whale kind, the walrus, the manati, and the seals, are render- ed buoyant in this dense fluid by a thick stratum of fat laid over the whole body under the skin. From this, which is called blub- ber, the whale and seal oil are extracted. The object of this structure in lightening these huge creatures, and facilitating their motions, is obviously the same as that of the air-cells in birds m relation to the element they inhabit. A scientific acquaintance with the animal kingdom is not only valuable in its immediate reference to zoology and physiology, but it aids other sciences,—affording lights which are not merely useful, but absolutely indispensable in examining and illustrating other departments of natural knowledge. An exemplification oc- *Recueil d1 Observations de Zoologic et d'Anatomie compare"e. Essaisur 1'Histoire Naturelle du Condor, p. 26, et suiv. pi. 8 et 9. tMoLiNA, Storia Naturale di Chili, cap. 4, s. 5. This measure is assigned by Shaw to an individual described and figured by him ; Museum Leverianum v. I. PL I. AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 56 eurs in geology, or the science which treats of the physical con- struction of our globe. Certain rocks and earthy strata contain vast numbers of shells, exuviae of zoophytes, bones and teeth of large animals, besides other organic substances, in a fossil state. Considerable mountains and extensive districts are sometimes composed entirely of such animal remains. It is the business of the naturalist to compare these organic remains of a former world with the corresponding objects in the present order of things ; to determine their resemblances or differences,—whether they are of the same or of different species or genera; to compare the productions of the different strata to each other, and to distin- guish those which have belonged to fresh, from those of salt-wa- ter animals; and, lastly, to ascertain whether the organic fossils of each country are like the living animals of the same, or of different and remote regions and climates. Such investigations require extensive and accurate information,—an acquaintance, both with the great outlines and minute details of nature ; and be- long therefore to an advanced stage of science. They have been commenced with zeal and industry by some of the greatest mod- ern naturalists, and have led to highly interesting results. The bones of large quadrupeds found in such numbers in almost all the countries of the old and new Continent, have been discovered to belong to species, and even to genera, entirely new to us. One of these, an elephant, specifically distinguished both from that of Asia and Africa, has been met with in most parts of Europe, in countries and climates where no animal of the kind has ever been known in a living natural state, and in which the known species, inhabitants of the torrid zone, would be speedily destroyed. The fossil shells differ more or less from those of living species. In many places, several successions of fresh and salt water strata are discovered, indicating successive revolutions in the earth's surface, under the action of causes differing from each other in their nature. The inferior layers, or the first in order of time, contain the re- mains most widely different from the animals of the living creation, and, as we advance to the surface, there is a gradual approxima- tion to our present species. These examinations have furnished almost the only accurate data for any reasonable conclusions respecting the number, nature, 56 ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY and progressive series of the changes which have affected the earth's surface,—of the preadamitic revolutions of the globe ; and they suggest matter for curious speculation respecting the extinct races of animals and the mode in which their place has been sup- plied by the actual species of living beings. The writings of Cuvier, Brongniart, and Lamarck, in France, and of Mr. Par- kinson in this country, will give you the best information on this new kind of antiquarian research, on those authentic memorials of beings, whose living existence must be carried beyond the reach of history and tradition—beyond even the fabulous and heroic ages, and has been supposed, with considerable probability, to be of older date than the formation of the human race. Another important branch of the physical history of the globe belongs to zoology ; I mean, the nature, origin, and progress of the banks, reefs, and rocks of coral, and even the islands, which are perpetually arising and accumulating in the intertropical seas. These vast masses of calcareous matter are aggregated by the slow but incessant operations of countless millions of minute beings, so small, and so simply organized, that they occupy the lowest rank of animal existence, and indeed have been recognized only in late times as falling within the boundaries of the animal king- dom. Their works commence in the fathomless depth of the ocean; they rise towards the surface, forming sunken rocks, dan- gerous and often fatal to navigators; they reach the level of the water, and then extend in length and breadth. When we see that banks are formed of miles in extent, that coasts are obstruct- ed, harbors choked, and even new islands formed, the mind is confounded by the contrast between the insignificance of the agents and the magnitude of the result. Other points of view, and other applications of zoology, will be disclosed as we proceed. More perhaps has been already said than was necessary to convince an enlightened audience that the living part of nature's works is highly worthy of attention ; and that this study, connected as it is with so many useful, interesting, and important departments of knowledge, must be deemed an es- sential branch of liberal education. To these considerations, which recommend zoology, not only as a highly interesting, but essential branch of general knowledge, AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. G7 many others may be added, enforcing the cultivation of compar- ative anatomy and physiology more particularly on those who de- vote themselves to the improvement of medicine. The basis of our physiological principles is rendered broader and deeper, in proportion as our survey of living beings is more extensive. The varieties of organization supply, in the investigation of each func- tion, the most important aids of analogy, comparison, contrast, and various combination ; and the nature of the process receives at each step, fresh elucidation. These enlarged views, which un- fold to us the natural play of the animal mechanism, are our sur- est guide in the study of its deranged motions, an essential crite- rion for estimating the nature and degree of the deviation, and an important indication of the means by which it may be corrected. Thus general anatomy and physiology furnish the principles by which we are guided in our attempts to preserve health, to allevi- ate and remove disorder, and cure disease. On such researches and such studies, on a foundation no less extensive than the whole empire of living nature, the science of medicine must be estab- lished ; if, indeed, it be destined to occupy the rank of a science ; if its practical precepts, its curative efforts, and its technical pro- ceedings be grounded in and derived from a knowledge of the corporeal mechanism, and a contemplation of its mode of action, from observations of its deranged state, and of the course and or- der by which the return to health may be safely accomplished;— if, in short, it shall be permanently raised above its early state, of an empirical and blind belief in the virtues of herbs, drugs, and plasters ; or above its more modern but equally deplorable condition, of servile submission to the dogmas of schools and sects, or subjection to doctrines, parties, or authorities. I appeal to the illustrious Founder of our Collection,—to his labors and his wri- tings ;—to that change in the state of surgery, which his exer- tions and his example have accomplished. Such achievements by a single hand hold out to us the brightest prospects, and most encouraging anticipations of the ample harvest awaiting the uni- ted efforts of more numerous cultivators. From this quarter we must expect the future improvement of our profession ;—not from the addition of new medicines, to a catalogue already too long: not from fresh accessions to that mass of clinical observations which lie unread ow the «helvcs of onr medical libraries. J-> oN THE STUF-Y OF ZOOLOGY In investigating the nature of living beings, various objects oi' inquiry present themselves, and various modes of proceeding may be adopted. We may examine their structure,—the number, form* size, relative position, and connexions of the organs, by the as- semblage of which they are constructed;—theii texture; that is, the primary animal tissues which compose the various organs, and their mode of union ;—their elementary composition: or the num- ber, nature, and combinations of the elements into which they can be resolved :—lastly, their living phenomena; the vital proper- ties, with which all the primary tissues are endowed, the offices or functions executed by the organs, and the mutual influences and diversified dependencies which, regulating the order and succession of these living operations, combine so many partial and subordi- nate motions into one beautiful and harmonious whole. It is the business of the anatomist to demonstrate the structure and unravel the texture of animal bodies : their composition falls within the department of the chemist; and their vital phenomena occupy the labors of the physiologist. Anatomy, therefore, teach- es us the organization of animals; while physiology unfolds the nature of life. The third division forms a kind of border territo- ry, lying between the domains of chemistry and physiology, al- ternately occupied and cultivated by both. Under the name of animal chemistry, it has received, of late years, a constantly in- creasing -hare of attention, and produced important accessions to our knowledge of the composition and operations of animal bodies. This branch of inquiry is much less advanced than that which concerns their structure; and its progress is impeded by some pe- culiar difficulties. The primary textures are so intimately blend- ed in all organs, that their complete separation seems impossible. The cerebral and nervous medulla is everywhere interwoven and surrounded by cellular substance and vessels ; the muscular fibre, with cellular substance, vessels, nerves and fat; the cellular sub- stance itself, with vessels and fat. Hence arise doubts how far the results of experiment are to be attributed to one or the other ingredient; so that we can seldom attain certainty, but must rest contented with probability. In many cases we do not even know AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 59 the primary tissues. Are the stout sides of the uterus, or the beautiful and delicate moveable curtain of the iris, cellular or mus- cular ; or does each contain some peculiar and not yet ascertain- ed tissue ? In a great number of living beings, our senses are not even able to settle the question. Who can decide whether the soft, tender, and almost deliquescent body of the polype is made up of muscular fibres, or of cellular tissue 1 By etymology and original acceptation, physiology means doc- trine of nature, and is not very appropriately applied to that lim- ited division of natural science, which has for its object the vari- ous forms and phenomena of life, the conditions and laws under which this state exists, and the causes which are active in produ- cing and maintaining it. A foreign writer* has proposed the more accurate term of " biology," or science of life. Life, using the word in its popular and general sense, which at the same time is the only rational and intelligible one, is merely the active state of the animal structure. It includes the notions of sensation, motion, and those ordinary attributes of living beings which are obvious to common observation. It denotes what is apparent to our senses ; and cannot be applied to the offspring of metaphysical subtlety, or immaterial abstractions, without a com- plete departure from its original acceptation,—without obscuring and confusing what is otherwise clear and intelligible. The close connexion between life and respiration has not es- caped the notice of ordinary observers,—of those who were ig- norant of anatomy and physiology. Hence the breath has been popularly deemed the mark of life. The Latin anima. or ' breath,' (from the Greek anemos, ' wind') was also used to express the vital principle ; essence of life being supposed identical with the breath. But in the phrases, ' animain efflare,' ' exspirare,' &c. the word seems to be used in its original sense. In the same way, the Latin spiritus, or original of our spirit, from spiro ' to breathe,' means merely ' breath:' the same is the case with the Greek Pneuma: and this is the original sensible object out of * G. R. Treviranus of Bremen, whose Biologic oder Philosophic der Le- benden Naturfllr Naturforscher and Aerzte, in 5 vols. 8vo. but not yet finish- ed, is a very interesting work, both for the philosophic plan on which it is found- ed, and the original views with which it abounds 60 ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY which all the abstractions and fancies, all the verbal sophistry and metaphysical puzzles, about spirit, have proceeded. Anatomy and physiology should be cultivated together : we should combine observation of the function with examination of the organization. The subjects are often distinctly treated in books : let not, however, this unnatural separation lead you into the error of viewing the vital manifestations as something inde- pendent of the organization in which they occur. Bear in mind that every organ has its living phenomena and its use, and that the chief ultimate object, even of anatomy, is to learn the nature of the function :—on the other hand, that every action of a living being must have its organic apparatus. There is no digestion without an alimentary cavity; nobiliary secretion without some kind of liver ; no thought without a brain. To talk of life as independent of an animal body,—to speak of a function without reference to an appropriate organ,—is physio- logically absurd. It is in opposition to the evidence of our sense? and rational faculties: it is looking for an effect without a cause. We might as reasonably expect daylight while the sun is below the horizon. What should we think of abstracting elasticity, co- hesion, gravity, and bestowing on them a separate existence from the bodies in which those properties are seen ? Haller, the father and founder of modern physiology, has fur- jiished us the best example, both for the method of cultivating the subject, and of treating it in writing. He had devoted thirt\ years to the dissection of human bodies and those of animals, and to observation and to every variety of experimental research, be- fore he began to compose his Elementa Physiologic. In this matchless work, a full anatomical description of every organ. drawn from his own dissections, precedes the history of its func- tions. I know no anatomical descriptions superior to these; none deserving of more implicit confidence. To regard this work as a mere register of opinions has always appeared to me very unjust : it contains new and accurate information on almost every part of the subject. It is no slight proof of its merits, that, although pub- lished in the middle of the last century, it remains the book of authority ; and particularly in this country, which is still destitute of original standard works in anatomy and physiology. AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 61 In impressing upon your minds the close connexion of anatomy and physiology, I do not mean to represent to you that the forme teaches the latter. Strictly speaking, structure alone is learned by dissection: the vital properties of organic textures, and the functions of organs, are found out by observation. We have the most perfect anatomical knowledge of the spleen, thymus, and thyroid gland ; but their offices in the animal economy are wholly unknown. What organ has been more carefully dissected and studied than the brain 1 yet the respective offices of its various portions have not been discovered. Anatomy, however, unfolds facts, of which the knowledge is absolutely necessary in appreciating the results of observation. It affords the only clue capable of guiding us through the multi- plied and varied movements all going on together in the living microcosm, and of thus enabling us to discriminate the proper share of each organic apparatus. What kind of knowledge could the most patient and acute observer gain of the circulation if he knew nothing about the structure of the heart, lungs, arteries, and veins 1 what insight could he acquire into the changes of the food, and the nutrition of our bodies, if the alimentary canal, with its divisions and appendages, and the absorbing vessels, were unknown to him ? Just notions of the seat and nature of the diseases, and of the operation of remedies, would be out of the question ; but what chance has a person, ignorant of the general construction of our frame, of escaping from the most absurd doctrines and sys- tems, and from the most pernicious practical errors 1 Anatomy, again, clears up doubtful points, and suggests topics of inquiry : it is a test and criterion of physiological explanations. If the latter are inconsistent with the anatomical facts, they must be rejected. That its aid is essential to physiology may be proved by refer- ring to what even the most acute men have written about the ani- mal economy, before anatomy had been cultivated. It is a mass of error and fiction, without the smallest pretence to the title of physiology. Anatomy and physiology are the ground work of pathology, or the science of disease. Disease is a relative term, implying a comparison with a state Led. II.—No. III. ii (*2 »*N THE STUDV OF ZOOLOUV of health, and presupposing a knowledge of that state. To anat- omy, or science of healthy structure, is opposed morbid anatomy, or science of diseased structure : to physiology, or doctrine of heal- thy functions,—pathology, or doctrine of diseased manifestations. Morbid anatomy shows us the diseases ; pathology, their exter- nal signs or symptoms. Often, no change of structure is observa- ble ; the deviations from the healthy condition elude our means of inquiry. The organ is said to be functionally disordered. Thus we find that anatomy, physiology, morbid anatomy and pathology, are mutually related and intimately connected. Al- though called separate sciences, they are, in truth, parts of one system ; and we must nfever lose sight of their mutual bearings. On the foundation of these four departments of knowledge or sci- ence is raised the practice of medicine, or the healing art; over- looking the artificial distinctions of physic, surgery, and so forth. But is all this knowledge necessary for a piactitioner 1 Is it re- quired that a physician or a surgeon should know anatomy, nat- ural and morbid, physiology, pathology ? To the science of med- icine, and to its rational improvement and extension, it is neces- sary; but by no means so to the mere routine of practice, and the very successful prosecution of the trade. Perhaps, indeed, a firm faith in drugs and plasters, and a liberal administration of them, may be the surer road to popular success, if the remark address- ed by a veteran practitioner to a young enthusiast in science be well grounded : " Juvenis, tua doctrina non promittit opes ; plebs am at remedia." A common sailor uses his glass without knowing the laws of optics, or even suspecting their existence. But, would Galileo have invented the telescope, and have given to mankind the pow- er of penetrating into space, if he had been equally ignorant,—if he had been unacquainted with the action of various media, and of variously-shaped surfaces on the rays of light? An ordinary workman, of education and habits purely mechanical, constructs the most powerful astronomical instruments; but it belongs only to a Herscuel or a La Place to improve these means, and to employ them so as to unfold the structure of the universe, and ex- pound the laws which govern the motions of the heavenly bodies. The collection, of this College was formed, and is now arran- AND COMPARATIVE ANaTOM*. 63 ^ed, in conformity to the views just alluded to. The anatomical preparations, exhibit the organs in the manner best calculated to elucidate their functions. To the rich and valuable series of heal- thy parts, there is added a parallel and equally extensive arrange- ment of morbid specimens. Mr. Hunter was the first in this country who investigated dis- ease in a strictly philosophic method : bringing to bear on it the clear and steady lights of anatomy and physiology. He began by discarding all the doctrines of the schools, and resorted at once to nature. Instead of creeping timidly along the coast of truth, within sight of precedent and authority, he boldly launched into the great ocean of discovery, steering by the polar star of obser- vation, and trusting to the guidance of his own genius. His claim to the gratitude of English surgeons will be sufficient- ly established, by comparing surgical science before his time with its present state; and by contrasting, at the two periods, the rela- tive rank of surgeons in public estimation. It would be foreign to my present purpose to pursue this topic : I shall therefore mere- ly entreat you to bear it in mind : and to remember, that the true dignity of the profession, in which every individual member is a sharer, will be best promoted, not by partial privileges and arbi- trary exclusions, not by any thing which royal charters or legal enactments can bestow or withhold, but by that scientific cultiva- tion and honorable practice which constitute the only just claim to public esteem and confidence. It would be unnecessary for me to enter into further detail on a matter which has been already brought before you, with such forcible appeal to the best feelings of our nature, such display of elevated and honorable sentiments, and such felicity of expression, by my ingenious, eloquent, and worthy colleague.* *Ant Carmslb, Esq 64 ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY- LECTURE III. On the Study of Physiology.—The Aids and Illustrations to he de- rived from other Sciences ; as, Natural Philosophy, Mathematics, Chemistry.—Study of the Physical Sciences recommended.—Pe- culiar Character of the Vital Phenomena—Living Properties— Attempted Hypothetical Explanations of them.—Comparative Anatomy—its Objects—its Relations to Physiology exemplified. Dissection, and the various auxiliary processes employed by the anatomist, are the only means of learning the structure of liv- ing beings;—observation and experiment, the only sources of our knowledge of life. These are the tests, or criteria, on which we must depend, and to which we must always refer. No position respecting structure can be listened to, unless it admits of verifi- cation by appeal to anatomy : no physiological statement deserves attention, unless it be confirmed by observation. Is this then all 1 Are the labors of so many celebrated men, the accumulated harvests of so many centuries, reduced to the mere results of dissection and observation 1 It is so, in respect to real knowledge ; and it will be occupation enough to anatomists and physiologists, for many ages, to cultivate these pursuits. The multitude and variety of organs in the human body, the complex- ity of their structure, the modifications incidental to each, and their mutual influences, offer a most extensive field of investiga- tion; requiring so much time and assidufty, so much caution and discrimination, that the qualities necessary to a successful pursuit of physiology cannot be often combined in one individual. When to man we add all the living beings which fill every de- partment of nature, and consider the diversities and new combi- nations by which they are enabled to fulfil their various destinies, ON THE STUDY OP PHYSI0L08Y. 65 it will be hardly figurative to say that the objects of inquiry are infinite and inexhaustible. In this, as in most other subjects, the quantity of solid instruc- tion is an inconsiderable fraction of the accumulated mass;—a few grains of wheat are buried and lost amid heaps of chaff. For a kxr well-observed facts, rational deductions, and cautious generalizations, we have whole clouds of systems and doctrines, of speculations and fancies, built merely on the workings of the imagination and the labors of the closet. In reference, however, to biology, or the science of life, I may observe, that descriptions of particular animals, and surveys of detached districts in the great kingdom of natuie, are not so much wanted at present, as the assemblage and assortment of the facts already accumulated, and the employment of them by some vig- orous and comprehensive mind to furnish the fundamental princi- ples of the science of living nature. It is employment, and not mere possession, that gives a value to intellectual as well as ma- terial wealth. We have had workmen enough to toil in the mine and the quarry : they have raised and roughly fashioned an abun- dance of materials; and we now only wait for the architect who shall be able to employ them in constructing a temple, suitable in majesty and simplicity, to the Divinity whose shrine it is destined to contain. The parts of natural history having been cultivated in a detach- ed manner, its doctrines were long in an insulated state; uncon- nected to each other, like the pyramids in the deserts of Egypt: as the number of detached parts increased, the necessity of a sys- tem was felt to bind them together, however imperfectly, into some- thing like a connected whole. After many unsuccessful attempts by his predecessors, Lin- neus produced an arrangement of natural objects, which met with very general approbation and adoption. The efforts of natural- ists were subsequently directed to the correction and extension of his system ; to the formation of arrangements for detached parts, in imitation of that which he had framed for the whole; and in the description of new genera and species. These efforts have been continued to the present day, in a constantly increasing ra- tio ; but, perhaps without a due considr ration whether any results 66 ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. of proportionate utility to mankind were likely to reward so much pains and trouble. Some indeed, and among them Linneus, were aware that all these artificial systems, without reference to higher objects, were almost lost labor ; but they did not attempt to pur- sue those objects. The ultimate purpose of our researches in nat- ural history is, to penetrate and lay open the secret springs by which the great system of organization, called ' nature,' is main- tained in perpetual activity. Now, towards the accomplishment of this purpose, the artificial systems, on which so much labor has been bestowed, are hardly the first step. They do not exhib- it the science, but an index or register of nature: which, indeed, has its recommendations of utility in other respects. The assem- blage of the numerous facts which are scattered through the works of naturalists, and their combination into a whole, with refer- ence to the purpose just mentioned, and with a view to establish- ing the laws of life, would possess a much higher value than all the descriptions of new animals and plants, which teach us little more than that they have such or such appearances, and that they occur in this or that corner of the earth. If the science of life, and with it some of the most important departments of human knowledge, be destined to make any de- cided progress towards perfection, it must be by the road of ex- perience, aided and enlightened by general philosophy. The way indeed, is in some parts difficult, and its length indefinite: but, whether we reach the end or not, our very efforts, and the active state of mind they maintain, will be a sufficient recompense ; as the pleasure of the chase, and the healthy vigor it imparts, re- ward us, even when the game escapes. " The intellectual worth and dignity of man are measured, not by the truth which he possesses, or fancies that he possesses, but by the sincere and honest pains he has taken to discover truth. This it is that invigorates his mind, and, by exercising the men- tal springs, preserves them in full activity. Possession makes us quiet, indolent, proud. If the Deity held in his right hand all truth,—and in his left only the ever-active impulse, the fond de- sire, and longing after truth, coupled with the condition of con- stantly erring, and should offer me the choice; I should humbly Jurn towards the left, and say, ' Father give me this : pure truth ©N THE STUDY 9F PHYSIOLOGY. 67 is fit for thee alone.*' " Thus spoke a sage ; and his determina- tion seems as wise as the famous choice of Hercules. In commencing the study of physiology, we are first led to in- quire, whether living beings are subject to the same laws as inor- ganic bodies ; whether the vital processes can be explained on the same principles as the other phenomena of matter; whether in short, the elucidations of the physical sciences are equally appli- cable to the science of life. That animals obey those general laws which regulate matter and motion in all other cases ; that all their parts, as well as their entire masses, are subject to the influences of gravity, impulse, and the like, is too obvious to be a subject of question. The point of inquiry is, whether the inter- nal movements of the animal machine are explicable by the laws of mechanics and hydraulics ; whether, like these, they can be subjected to calculation ; whether the changes of composition, in- cessantly going on in all parts of the frame, can be assimilated to the operations of our laboratories, or reduced to the laws of external chemistry; whether any living phenomena can be so far likened to those of electricity, galvanism, magnetism, as to justify us in referring for their explanation to the same principles. In the beginning of the last century, the leading authorities in physiology, of whom Boerhaave may be mentioned as the head, supposed that all the functions of the living body, except the will, are carried on by mechanical movements, susceptible of rigid calculation, necessarily succeeding each other in the organs from the time that life commences. Tiiese movements he referred to an impulsive power in the heart, renewed by the influence of the nervous fluid brought from the brain. In this explanation the body is an hydraulic machine, in which the heart performs the office of a piston ; the beautiful construction and endless variety of the animal organization are reduced to an assemblage of pipes, canals, levers, pulleys, and other mechanism. The treatises on physiology, of this period, were filled with mathematical problems, long calculations, and algebraic formulae. This system maintained its ground for a long time, in defiance of observation and common sense. In palliation of what strikes *Trev:hanls. Biologic; b. 1. 68 ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. us now as so extravagantly erroneous, it must be observed, thflf many things in the animal economy admit of explanation on thesr principles. The structure and motions of the joints are purely mechanical; and the degree of effect produced by the muscles of a limb, like the acting force of a moving power applied to a com- mon lever, depends entirely on the relative situation of their ten- dinous insertions to the centre of motion, and the relation which the course of their fibres bears to the axis of the moving bone. All these things may be as exactly determined by calculation as the operation of common levers ; but the contraction of the living fibre, or original moving force, cannot be submitted to calcula- tion,—cannot be in the slightest degree elucidated by mechanics. The valves of the heart and blood-vessels act mechanically ; and operate as well in the dead as in the living body. The swell- ing of the veins of the lower limbs in the erect posture, and the turgescence of the same vessels in the head and neck, when they are held in a dependent attitude, will convince us, that, although the blood flows through living canals, its motion is not withdrawn from the all-pervading influence of gravity. The transparent parts of the eye act on the rays of light ac- cording to the common laws of optics : and bring them to a fo- eus, so as to form an inverted picture of the object on the retina, just as well in the dead as in the living organ, provided their transparency be unimpaired. The operation, however, of those natural laws, to which living as well as all other bodies are subject, is constantly modified in the former case, by the vital powers ; and this essential element in all mathematico-physiological considerations, is by its very na- ture, fluctuating and indeterminate. Uncertainty in the condi- tions of a problem, whether in respect to their entire number, or to the quantity of each, is an original sin, for which no subsequent accuracy can atone ; and this character, belonging to all the cir- cumstances of almost every case in the animal economy, not only effectually precludes all useful application of mathematics to phy- siology, but renders their employment a source of nothing but er- ror and confusion. We can very seldom satisfy ourselves that all the data are before us; and the precise amount of each cannot be determined iti any instance; pay more, variation and fluctua- ©N THE STUDY OP PHYSIOLOGY. 69 tion are essential characters of all vital processes. The totally inconsistent results, at which different mathematical physiologists have arrived, in treating of the same functions, show us that very little useful service can be looked for from this quarter. One es- timated the force of the heart as equal to 180,000 lbs.; another reduced it to 8 oz.; and both these conclusions are deduced from reasonings clothed in all the imposing forms of the exact sciences. The circulation, in which a central impelling machine drives the blood through an arrangement of tubes, seems naturally to fall under the laws of hydraulics ; and the course of the blood in its living channels, no doubt obeys the same laws that govern the transmission of fluids through inanimate canals. But, if we at- tempt to submit this intricate process to calculation, we are stop- ped at the very outset,by discovering, that, of its numerous conditions, not one is ascertained with sufficient accuracy for our purpose.' It would be necessary to know the amount of nervous influence on the heart and blood-vessels, the measure of active and passive power in the former organ, the quantity of blood arriving at and departing from it, the elastic and other properties of the vessels, their various capacities, the resistance of the column in the arte- ries and veins, the density and cohesion of the blood, and many other points—and to know all these with perfect accuracy. Even if all this were accomplished, the great number of elements enter- ing into such a theory would conduct us to impracticable calcula- tions : it would be the most complex case of a problem which is extremely difficult of solution in its simple state. The ablest geo- metricians, sensible of these difficulties, speak of the operations of living bodies with a modest caution, to which the bold calcu- lations of some physiologists form a striking contrast. They ac- knowledge that the springs of the animal frame are too numer- ous, too intricate, and too imperfectly known, to be submitted, with any prospect of advantage, to calculation; that, in such compli- eated operations, experience is our only safe guide, and induc- tions from numerous facts the only sure support of our reason- ings. The most just calculations on such subjects can merely appreciate our ignorance; which may indeed be concealed, but cannot be removed by the vain parade of a science foreign to medicine. Led. III.—No. ITT. TO ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. If we define chemistry as the science which teaches us the com- position of bodies, explaining the laws according to which their elementary particles act on each other when brought into contact, the combinations or separations which result from their affinities, and the circumstances which promote or obstruct the action of those affinities, we must allow that many of the animal processes exhibit to us chemical operations. Such are the changes wrought upon the food by the solvent juices of the stomach, and by the admixture of bile, pancreatic liquor, and intestinal secretions; the new combinations, which the elements of the blood enter iuto in the glands, the membranes, and the skin, and in the texture of the various organs, so as to exhibit to us a new set of products ; the conversion of chyle and lymph into blood ; and the mutual action of this fluid and the atmosphere in respiration. Chemical researches into the composition of the fluids and so- lids of the animal frame, and comparative examinations of them under the differences of age, sex, climate, food, mode of life and the various incidences of disease, have thrown great light both on the healthy and disordered actions of our frame ; particularly those inquiries which have been conducted with the advantages of the modern improvements in chemical science. Further benefit is to be expected from a continuance of these exertions; and we can have no hesitation in admitting that many important points in physiology cannot be understood, the nature and result of many animal processes cannot be appreciated, by a person unacquaint- ed with chemistry. Nor is the benefit confined to physiology : the kindred scien- ces, which have for their object the knowledge of disease, its pre- vention and cure, owe great and important obligations to modern chemistry. By unfolding the composition, and separating the various ingredients contained in an apparently homogeneous fluid, the urine, it has enabled us to form some conception of the im- portant purposes executed by the kidney. By showing the devi- ations which this animal fluid exhibits in various conditions of disease, it has elucidated the mechanism of many disordered ac- tions; and, by discovering what particular ingredients existed in undue proportion, it has suggested the means of relief by the in- ternal administration of suitable chemical remedies. Thus the ON THE STUDY OP PHYSIOLOGY. 71 modern views respecting the nature, and treatment of calculous disorders are completely chemical; and modern experience fully substantiates the important truth that alkalies and acids taken into the stomach affect the chemical constitution of the urinary secretion. But these views do not terminate here : the condition of the urine is an index of what is going forward in the alimentary canal, an outward and visible sign of the inward and hidden movements of the stomach, bowels, and other parts. These again are variously modified by the nature and quality of our food and drink, by the operation of our remedies, and by those obscure and mysterious, but incontestible influences of other parts, which are usually denominated sympathies. Thus, as the suc- cessive undulations of water spread wider and wider as they re- cede from the point first agitated, our chemical examination of a single excretion, by virtue of the mutual influences which bind together all parts of our system, expands at last to considerations embracing the whole economy. For the theory of diabetes we are principally indebted to chemistry : and we ought not to omit acknowledging the debt, because its amount has not been increased by the suggestion of an adequate remedy. With these strong facts before our eyes, and with the know- ledge that Nature, however sportively various in unessential de- tails, is generally uniform in the leading principles of the means by which she accomplishes similar purposes, may we not reason- ably expect that the action of many remedies will be traced here- after to chemical influence ? May we not hope that the dark corner of our science, the modus operandi of its remedial adminis- trations, will receive light from this quarter 1 It is, however, in most cases, the result, and not the operation itself, that we learn from chemistry. By comparing the blood and the urine, we estimate the office of the kidney ; but we know just as little as we did before of that wonderful and mysterious process, by which the capillaries of the gland transform blood into urine : and when we see the capillaries of other parts convert this same blood into twenty other fluids or solids, wre feel still more forcibly the striking contrast between these and the opera- tions commonly called chemical, and the insufficiency of expla- 73 ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. nations grounded merely on the analogies of the latter changes. If a gland, a membrane, a muscle, or a bone, in their operations of secretion and nutrition, be chemical instruments, their analogy to those employed in our laboratories is so remote, as to be hardly perceptible. Of the attempts at explaining the sentient and contractile ope- rations of the nerves and muscles by chemical agencies, or at re- solving life in general into a mere play of chemical affinities, I can only say that they appear to me injudicious. The ablest chemists, those who are most deeply versed in the operations, means, various applications, and extent of their science, are ex- tremely cautious in applying it to the explanation of vital process- es. One of the most striking phenomena of living bodies is the exception which they offer to the laws of chemistry. Composed of matters extremely prone to decomposition, and surrounded by all the influences of heat, air, and moisture, which are very favoi^ able to such change, they yet remain unaltered. Living bodies, as well as all dead ones, exhibit electrical phe- nomena under certain circumstances : but the contrast between the animal functions and electric operations is so obvious and forcible, that the attempts to assimilate them do not demand fur-» ther notice. By the preceding observations, or by any subsequent ones, I would by no means discourage surgical students from the pursuit of the physical sciences. I regard them, on the contrary, not merely as a desirable ornamental accompaniment, but as power- ful and indispensable auxiliaries in physiological and medical re- searches. A close alliance between the science of living nature and physics and chemistry, cannot fail to be mutually advanta- geous, What we have principally to guard against, in our pro- fessional researches and studies, is the influence of partial and coufined views, and of those favorite notions and speculations, which, like colored glass, distort all things seen through their me- dium. Thus we have had a chemical sect, which could discern, in the beautifully-varied appointments and nice adaptations of an- imal structure, nothing but an assemblage of chemical instru- ments;—a medico-mathematical doctrine, which explained all the phenomena of life by the sciences of number and magnitude—by ON THE STUDY OP PHYSIOLOGY. 73 algebra, geometry, mechanics, and hydraulics : and even a tribe of animists, who, finding that all the powers of inorganic nature had been invoked in vain, resorted to the world of spirits, and maintained that the soul is the only cause of life. It is amusing to observe the entire conviction and sell-complacency with which such systems are brought forward. The parable of Nathan the Wise is not confined in its application to matters of theological faith,—to the ardor with which wrangling sectaries dispute about their petty divisions and subdivisions of belief: each medical sect conceives itself in possession of the true ring; yet probably they are all more or less counterfeit. If the seductive influence of favorite notions, and the dispro- portionate importance attached to particular sciences, have ope- rated so unfavorably on the doctrines of physiology and medicine, the remedy for the evil must be sought in more enlarged views and general knowledge. We cannot expect to discover the true relations of things, until we rise high enough to survey the whole field of science, to observe the connexions of the various parts and their mutual influence. Besides the direct utility of the physical sciences in explaining many parts of the animal economy, they serve a collateral pur- pose, which recommends them strongly to the medical student. They have their foundation in experiment, as physiology and medicine have in observation ; the only difference being, that in the latter case we are obliged to take our subjects in all the com- plexity of their natural composition, while in the former it is in our power to regulate the conditions of the operation, and to re- duce them, by successive analyses, to the greatest simplicity. The subsequent proceedings of physical science are governed by strict method, and guarded against error by the severe rules of inductive logic. The constant vigilance of these incorruptible sentinels protects the sanctuary from the incursions of extra-phy- sical or metaphysical chimeras, and from the intrusion of imma- terial agencies. Strengthened by this salutary discipline, and accustomed to close reasoning, the mind is well prepared for the study of living nature, clothed with a defensive armor, on which verbal and metaphysical puzzles, and the nfcisplaced exertions of the imagination, will make no impression. 74 ON THE STUDY Ot PHYSIOLOGY- Now, although certain parts of the animal economy obey the laws of mechanics, and others admit of illustration by the aid of chemistry, and thus far the living processes come within the do- main of the physical science-, the main springs of the animal functions, the original moving forces, cannot be explained on these grounds. The powers of sensation and contraction, and the properties of the capillary vessels, belong peculiarly and ex- clusively to living organic textures : they are eminently vital, and form the distinguishing character of living beings. We learn them by observation, as we learn the properties of dead matter; and we know nothing more than the fact, that certain vital mani- festations are connected with certain organic structures.* * Since I delivered these Lectures, I have become acquainted with Dr. Brown's Inquiry into the Relation of Cause and Effect, third edition, 8vo. Edinburgh, 1818 ; a most instructive work, calculated to dispel much of the obscurity and confusion by which both physical and metaphysical discussions have been perplexed and retarded, and to interest strongly all those who de- rive pleasure from perspicuous language and close reasoning. As it is extreme- ly important to possess clear notions of causation, of the relations expressed \>y the words cause, effect, property, quality, power, I subjoin an extract, in which these matters are more satisfactorily explained than in any other book I have met with. " It is this mere relation of uniform antecedence, so important and so uni- versally believed, which appears to me to constitute all that can be philosoph- ically meant, in the wordspoioer or causation, to whatever objects, material or spiritual, the words may be applied. If events had succeeded each other in perfect irregularity, such terms never would have been invented; but, when the successions are believed to be in regular order, the importance of this reg- ularity to all our wishes, and plans, and actions, has of course led to the em- ployment of terms significant of the most valuable distinctions wliich we are physically able to make. We give the name of cause to the object which we believe to be the invariable antecedent of a particular change ; we give the name of effect, reciprocally, to that invariable consequent; and the relation it- self, when considered abstractedly, we denominate power in the object that is the invariable antecedent—susceptibility, in the object that exhibits, in its change, the invariable consequent. We say of fire, that it has the power of melting metals; and of metals, that they are susceptible of fusion, by fire,— that fire is the cause of the fusion, and the fusion the effect of the application of fire : but, in all this variety of words, we mean nothing more than our be- lief, that when a solid metal is subjected for a certain time to the application of a strong heat, it will begin afterwards to exist in that different state which is termed liquidity,—that, in all past time, in the same circumstances, it would ©N THE STUDY OP PHYSIOLOGY. to The only reason we have for asserting in any case that any property belongs to any substance, is the certainty or universality with which we find jhe substance and the property in question ac- have exhibited the same change,—and that it will continue to do so, in the same circumstances, in all future time. We speak of two appearances which metals present; one before the application of fire, and the other after it: ami a simple but universal relation of heat and the metallic substances, with re- spect to these two appearances, is all that is expressed. " A cause, therefore, in the fullest definition which it philosophically ad- mits, may be said to be, that which immediately precedes any change, AND WHICH, EXISTING AT ANY TIME IN SIMILAR CIRCUMSTANCES, HAS BEEN AL- WAYS, AND WILL BE ALWAYS, IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED BY A SIMILAR CHANGE. Priority in the sequence observed, and invariableness of antecedence in the past and future sequences supposed, are the elements, and the only elements, combined in the notion of a cause. By a conversion of terms, we obtain a definition of the correlative effect; and power, as I have before said, is only another word for expressing abstractly and briefly the antecedence itself and the invariableness of the relation. " The words property and quality admit of exactly the same definition ; ex- pressing only a certain relation of invariable antecedence and consequence, ia changes, that take place, on the presence of the substance to which they are ascribed. They are strictly synonymous with power; or, at least, the only dif- ference is, that property and quality, as commonly used, comprehend both the powers and susceptibilities of substances,—the powers of producing changes. and the susceptibilities of being changed. We say equally, that it is a proper- ty or quality of water to melt salt, and that it is one of its qualities or proper- ties to freeze or become solid on the subtraction of a certain quantity of heat;, but we do not commonly use the word power in the latter of these cases, and say that water has the power of being frozen."—" Power, property, and qual- ity, are, in the physical use of these terms, exactly synonymous. Water has the power of melting salt;—it is a property of water to melt salt;—it is ;i quality of water to melt salt:—all these varieties of expression signify pre- cisely the same thing,—that, when water is poured upon salt, the solid will take the form of a liquid, and its particles be diffused in continued combination through the mass. Two parts of a sequence of physical events are before our mind ; the addition of water to salt, and the consequent liquefaction of what was before a crystalline solid. When we speak of all the powers of a body, we consider it as existing in a variety of circumstances; and consider, at the same time, all the changes that are, or may be, in these circumstances, its im- mediate eifocts. When we speak of all the qualities of a body, or all its prop- erties, we mean nothing more, and we mean nothing less. Certain substances are conceived by us, and certain changes that take place in them, which wc believe will be uniformly the same, as often as the substances of which we speak exist in circumstances that arc exactly the same. Tti ON THE STUDY OP PHYSIOLOG*. companying each other. Thus we say that gold is yellow, due-1 tile, soluble in nitro-muriatic acid, because we have always found gold, when pure, to be so. We assert that living muscular fibres are irritable, living nervous fibres sensible, for the same reason. The evidence of the two propositions presents itself to my mind as unmarked by the faintest shade of difference. Having found by experience that every thing we see has som* cause of existence, we are induced to ascribe the constant con- comitance of a substance and its properties to some necessary connexion between them : but, however strong the feeling may be, which leads us to believe in some more close bond, we can only trace, in this notion of necessary connexion, the fact of cer- tainty or universality of concurrence. Nothing more than this can be meant, when a necessary connexion is asserted between the properties of sensibility and irritability, and the structures of living muscular and nervous fibres. This language does not explain how the thing takes place ; it is merely a mode of stating the fact. To say that irritability is a property of living muscular fibres, is merely equivalent to the as- sertion, that such fibres have in all cases possessed the power of contraction. What then is the cause of irritability ! I do not knowr, and cannot conjecture. In physiology, as in the physical sciences, we quickly reach the boundaries of knowledge whenever we attempt to penetrate " The powers, properties, or qualities of a substance are not to be regarded, then, as any thing superadded to the substance, or distinct from it. They are only the substance itself, considered in relation to various changes, that take place, when it exists in peculiar circumstances." We cannot be surprised that the author of the Physiological Lectures should have poured forth the full vials of his wrath on doctrines at once completely subverting all his airy structures of subtle fluids, mobile matters, «Src. &c. con- sidered as causes of vital actions, and so simple and logical, that any attempt at direct opposition by reasoning would be utterly hopeless. He therefore boldly affirms, that " if they mean to insinuate that we have no knowledge of cause or effect beyond that which results from mere observation, they publish at the same time a libel on the human understanding, a prohibition to rational inquiry, and a most severe satire on themselves." p. 91. Unless the author should show, on some future occasion, what he has not even attempted on the present,—viz. what it is that the words cause and effect denote, in addition to relative invariable antecedence and consequence,—this volley ef hard word* will only reeoil on his own head. ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. 77 the first causes of the phenomena. The most we can accomplish is, to make gradual conquests from the territories of ignorance and doubt; and to leave under their dominion those objects only which our reason has not reached, or is not able to reach. The great end of observation and experiment is to discover, among the various phenomena, those which are the most general. When these are well ascertained, they serve as principles, from which other facts may be deduced. The Newtonian theory of gravita- tion is a most splendid example. The only object of uncertainty which then remains, is the first cause of a small number of facts. The phenomena succeed each other, like the generations of men, in an order which we observe, but of which we can neither de- termine nor conceive the commencement. We follow the links of an endless chain ; and, by holding fast to it, we may ascend from one link to another ; but the point of suspension is not with- in the reach of our feeble powers. To call life a property of organization would be unmeaning;— it would be nonsense. The primary or elementary animal struc- tures are endued with vital properties; their combinations com- pose the animal organs, in which, by means of the vital proper" ties of the component elementary structures, the animal functions are carried on. The state of the animal, in which the continu- ance of these processes is evidenced by obvious external signs, is called life. The striking differences between living and inorganic bodies, and the strong contrast of their respective properties, naturally excited curiosity respecting the causes of this diversity, and en- deavors to show the mode in which it was effected. Here we quit the path of observation, and wander into the regions of im- agination and conjecture ; it is the poetic ground of physiology ; but the union is unnatural; and, like other unnatural unions, un- productive., The fiction spoils the science, and the admixture of science is fatal to inspiration. The fictitious beings of poetry are generally interesting in themselves, and are brought forward to answer some useful purpose ; but the genii and spirits of physio- logy are awkward and clumsy, and do nothing at last which could not be accomplished just as well without them : they literally en- eumber us with their help. Led. III.—No. III. k 78 ON THE STUDY OP PHYSIOLOGY. For those, who think it impossible that the living organic struc- tures should have vital properties without some intrinsic aid,— although they require no such assistance for the equally wonder- ful affinities of chemistry, for gravity, elasticity, or the other pro- perties of matter,—a great variety of explanations, suited to all tastes and comprehensions, has been provided. Some are contented with stating that the properties of life arise from a vital principle. This explanation has the merit of simpli- city, whatever we may think of its profoundness ; and it has the advantage of being transferable, and equally applicable to any other subject. Some hold, that an immaterial principle, and oth- ers, that a material, but invisible and very subtle agent, is super- added to the obvious structure of the body, and enables it to ex- hibit vital phenomena. The former explanation will be of use to those who are conversant with immaterial beings, and who under- stand how they are connected with and act on matter. But I know no description of persons likely to benefit by the latter : for subtle matter is still matter; and if this fine stuff can possess vital pro- perties, surely they may reside in a fabric which differs only in be- ing a little coarser. Mr. Hunter has a good substantial sort of living principle: he seems to have had no taste for immaterial agents, or for subtle matters. His materia vita is something tangible ; he describes it as a substance like that of the brain, diffused all over the body, and entering into the composition of every part. He conceives even the blood to have its share.* We may smile at these fancies, * That the author of the Physiological Lectures should have published twe books, principally for the purpose of explaining, illustrating, and confirming Mr. Hunter's " Theory of Life," without showing us in either, what that the- ory was, without a single citation or reference to identify this doctrine,—thus boldly baptized with the name of Hunter,—as the literary offspring of its al- leged parent, appears strange and suspicious. It is easily explained : for this Hunterian theory of life, which its real author so stoutly maintains to be not only probable and rational, but also verifiable, is no where to be found in the published writings of Ac. AasrER ; and does not even resemble the specula- tions on the same subject, which occur in the posthumous work on tiie Blood, Inflammation, fyc. part i. chap. i. sec. 5. on the Living Principle of the Blood. In perusing the writings of .Mr. Hunter, wo should always remember his un- fortunate want of early education, the diiliculty he felt in conveying his ne- ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. 79 without any disrespect to a name that we all revere, without any insensibility to the merits of a surgeon and physiologist whose ge- nius and labors have reflected honor on our profession and our country. If the father of poetry sometimes falls asleep, a physi- ologist may be allowed to dream a little : but they who are awake, need not shut their eyes, and endeavor to follow his example,— need not exhibit another instance of the perverted taste which led the disciples of an ancient philosopher to drink spinach-juice, that they might look pale like their master. Plato made the vital principle to be an emanation of the ani- ma mundi, or soul of the world ; an explanation, no doubt, quite satisfactory to those who know what the soul of the world is, and how other souls emanate from it. The Brahmins of the East hold a similar notion; but they make the soul after death pass on into other bodies, or into ani- mals, according to its behaviour ; admitting, however, that those of the good are immediately re-absorbed into the Divinity. Some of the Greeks adopted a distinct vital, sensitive, and rational prin- ciple in man. These are merely specimens,—a few articles, as patterns, se- lected from a vast assortment. If you do not like either of them, there are plenty more to choose from. As these and a hundred other such hypotheses are all supported by equally good proof,— which is neither more nor less, in each instance, than the thor- ough conviction of the inventor ; and as they are inconsistent with each other, and therefore mutually destructive; we need not trouble ourselves further, until their respective advocates can agree togeth- er in selecting some one for their patronage, and discarding the rest:—for of these, as of the numerous religions in the world, only one can be true. What is comparative anatomy 7 The expression is rather vague and indefinite. You naturally inquire what is compared ? what is the object of comparison 1 The structure of animals may be compared to that of man. To lay down the laws of the animal tions clearly by words, and the mutilation which his thoughts must have si ed in passing through the press, both from the causes just mentioned, and the revision and correction to which some of hie writings were subjected. 80 ON THE STUDY Of PHYSIOLOGY. economy from facts furnished by the human subject only, wouh* be like writing the natural history of our species from observing the inhabitants of a single town or village. Repeated observations and multiplied experiments on the vari- ous tribes of animated nature have cleared up many obscure and doubtful phenomena in the economy of man. A continuation of this method will place physiology on the solid basis of experi- ence, and build up science on ground hitherto occupied by fancy and conjecture. The physiologist, who is conversant with natural history in gen- eral, is fortified against uncertain opinions, and the showy but flimsy textures of verbal sophistry. An hypothesis which to oth- ers appears perfectly adequate to the object in view, is not con- vincing to him : he rises above the particular object to w inch it is accommodated, in order to appreciate its value : as we ascend an eminence to gain a commanding view of a district, to distinguish its features, to ascertain the number and bearings of its parts, and their relations to the surrounding country. There are three points of view, in which comparative anatomy has an important bearing on human physiology. In the infancy of science, physiology, such as it was, owed its origin to zootomy, which was practised by physicians and natural- ists eighteen centuries before human dissections began. The Ana- tomia Pariium Corporis Hitmani of Mondini, written in the be- ginning of the fourteenth century, was the first compendium of hu- man anatomy composed from actual dissection. It is easy to show that even the osteology of Galen was" not drawn from the human skeleton : and many parts of the body still bear names de- rived from animals, which names are in some instances not cor- rectly applicable to the human structure ; for example, the epithets right and left as applied to the cavities of the heart. Although human anatomy, after its first scientific developement by Berengar of Carpi, was so quickly brought to a high pitch of perfection by the great triumvirate, Vesalius, Fallopius, and Eustachius, yet the most important discoveries, those of greatest weight in physiology considered as the basis of medicine, were made in auimals. No period has been so fruitful in these discov- eries, nor so distinguished in the literary history of eur science, ON THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. 81 as the seventeenth century ; in which the anatomy of brutes was most zealously cultivated, and most of the great anatomical facts were found out, which, by unveiling the hidden springs and move- ments of the animal machine, have furnished the principles, upon which rational pathology and practical medicine have been estab- lished. These comparative researches render the most important ser- vice, by affording a criterion, in doubtful cases, for determining the uses of parts, which, as the main object of this fundamental medical science, has been well chosen by Galen for the title of his classical work on physiology. Hence Haller observes, that the situation, figure, and size of parts ought to be learned from man ; their uses and motions must be drawn from animals. I shall adduce a few particulars, for the purpose of exemplify- ing the preceding remarks. A serpent swallows an animal larger than itself, which fills its oesophagus as well as stomach, and of which the digestion occu- pies several days, or even weeks. We open the reptile during this process, and find that part of the animal which remained in the oesophagus, sound and natural; while the portion which had de- scended into the stomach, though still retaining its figure, is semi- liquefied, reduced into so soft a state as to break down under the slightest pressure. How effectually does this simple fact refute the notions of digestion being mechanical trituration : or solution by bent (for the animal is cold-blooded) ; or the effect of fermenta- tion, or putrefaction, or coction ! The slow and languid motion of the blood in cold-blooded ani- mals has enabled us to demonstrate in them the circulation, which in man can only be proved by argument. Physiologists have been much perplexed to find out a common centre in the nervous system, in which all sensations may meet, and from which all acts of volition may emanate ; a central apartment for the superintendent of the human panopticon; or, in its imposing Latin name, a sensorir.n commune. That there must be such a point they are well convinced, having satisfied them- selves that the human mind is simple and indivisible, and there- fore capable of dwelling only in one place. The pineal gland, the corpus callosum, the pons Varolii, and other parts, have been 82 ON THE STUDY OP PHYSIOLOGY. successively suggested. Now, there are many orders of animals with sensation and volition, which have none of these parts : and this assumed unity of the sentient principle becomes very doubt- ful, when we see other animals, possessed of nervous systems, which, after being cut in two, form again two perfect animals. Is the immaterial principle divided by the knife, as well as the body ? The heart has been regarded by many physiologists as the prime mover in the animal machine,—the origin of vital motion in the embryo, the chief agent in forming and maintaining the fabric, and the main-spring for keeping the whole machinery in action. There are whole classes of living beings, and some of complicated struc- ture, which have no heart. Some have regarded the spleen as a sponge, soaking up the blood when the stomach is empty, and allowing it to be squeezed out again by the pressure of this bag when distended. In many animals, the spleen is neither cellular, nor so situated as to be compressible by the stomach ; this is the case, generally speaking, with birds and reptiles. The office of conveying away fluids from the stomach has been assigned to it; making it a kind of waste- pipe, to prevent the liquid contents of the digestive cistern from arising above a certain level. But it exists in reptiles and fishes, where neither the figure of the stomach, nor the known habits of the animals, in respect to food and digestion, admit of this explan- ation. In the camel, wliich retains the water in its stomach, and in the horse, where it passes very rapidly into the caecum, the spleen is as large as in other animals. In beasts of prey, wliich hardly drink at all, it is as large and cellular as in the herbivorous ruminant animals. Its size and its cells are particularly conspic- uous in the latter : yet the fluids which they swallow go into the paunch, and not into the true digestive stomach. Although arguments from analogy are of great service in phy- siology and other departments of natural history, although they throw light on obscure points, and give an interest to many discus- sions, their employment requires caution, and they should rather be resorted to for illustration than relied on for direct proof. Or- gans corresponding in situation and name are not always con- structed alike; hence a part is sometimes employed in one class of animals for a different purpose from that which the instrument t>N THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. 83 ef the same name and of analogous position in the body executes in another. The gizzards of the gallinae have a prodigious tritu- rating power ; and those, who first ascertained by experiment the extent of their power, were disposed to infer that digestion is ef- fected in man by mechanical attrition. Now the gizzard, although the corresponding part to our stomach, is, in structure and action, the instrument of mastication ; and, as birds have no teeth, it is the only instrument for dividing the hard grain on which they feed. Further inquiry shows, that even in this stomach, which is cover- ed by a tRick insensible cuticle capable of bearing the friction of grain and siliceous pebbles, digestion is really effected, as in the stomach of man, by solution; the solvent juice being secreted by the large collection of glands at the cardiac end of the oesophagus, and having an operation similar to that of the gastric fluid of quad- rupeds. It has been argued, that the arteries of the mammalia must have a contractile power, because, in some worms without a heart, these vessels carry on the circulation alone. The whole economy is too different in the two instances to admit of inferences from analogy; the circulating apparatus, in particular, is formed on plans altogether different in the two cases; and the structure and actions of the vessels of worms are, in fact, very little known. Because the vesicular seminales in some animals do not com- municate with the vasa deferentia, and therefore cannot receive the fluid secreted in the testicles, it has been inferred that they do not serve the purpose of reservoirs for the seminal secretion in man ; where, however, they have so free a communication with the vasa deferentia, that any fluids pass into and even distend the former, before they go on into the urethra. The organic arrange- ment is different in the two instances ; and this difference leads us to expect a modification in the function, instead of authorizing us to infer that the same office is executed in exactly the same manner in both cases. If we met with animals in whom the cystic duct opened into the small intestines separately from the hepatic, shall we therefore infer that the human gall-bladder is not a receptacle for the hepatic bile 1 Again : Animals may be compared to each other : each organ must be examined in all the gradations of living beings ; its me- 84 ON THE STUDY OP PHYSIOLOGY- difications compared and surveyed in relation to the varieties of other parts, before a just notion of its functions can be formed. This kind of examination of the animal kingdom leads to what may be called ' general anatomy,' the basis of general physiology ; the objects of wliich are, to determine the organization, and un- fold the vital laws of the whole system of living beings. In the physical sciences, we have the power of insulating the various objects of our research ; of analysing them into their component elements; of subtracting these successively ; and thus determining beforehand all the conditions of the problem we may be studying. It would be desirable to employ the same proceed- ing in natural history; and it is resorted to, when the objects are sufficiently simple. But they are, for the most part, too complicated, and connected too closely by mutual influences. We cannot analyse an animal of the higher orders, and observe the simple result of each organ by itself; for, if we destroy one part, the motion of the whole machine is stopped. The phenom- ena come before us under conditions not regulated by our own choice ; and in a state of complication, requiring close attention and careful discrimination, to search out and determine the pre- cise share of each component part. In this difficulty, comparative observations afford some assist- ance. The animals of inferior classes are so many subjects of experiment ready prepared for us ; where any organ may be ob- served under every variety of simplicity and complication in its ewn structure,—of existence alone, or in combination with others. NATURE OP LIFE. 65 LECTURE IV. Nature of Life.—Methodical Arrangement of Living Beings— Species, Varieties, Genera, Orders, fyc.—Progressive Simplifi- cation of Organization, and of Functions.—Intellectual Func- tions of the Brain, in the natural and disordered state, explained on the same principles as the offices of other Organs. The notion of life is too complicated—embraces too many par- ticulars—to admit of a short definition. It varies in the different kinds of animals, as their structure and functions vary; so that a description drawn from one would not be applicable to others differently situated in the animal series. If we include in the de- scription those circumstances only which are common to the whole animal kingdom, we must direct our view to beings of the most simple structure, where the phenomenon is reduced to its essential features; and tliese are not obscured or confused by ac- cessary circumstances. The distinguishing characters of living beings will be found in their texture or organization ; in their component elements; in their form ; in their peculiar manifestations or phenomena ; and in the limits, that is, in the origin and termination of their vital existence. Their body is composed of solids and fluids; the former ar- ranged in fibres and laminae, so as to intercept spaces which are occupied by the latter. The solids give the form to the body, and are contractile. The fluids are generally in motion. The component elements, of which nitrogen is a principal one, united in numbers of three, four, or more, easily pass into new combinations ; and are, for the most part, readily convertible into fluid or gas. Led. IV.—No. IV i S6 ARRANGE.Mr.NT OF ANIMALS- Such a kind of composition, and such an arrangement of the constituent parts, is called organization ; and, as the vital phe- nomena are only such motions as are consistent with these mate- rial arangements, life, so far as our experience goes (and we have no other guide in tliese matters,) is necessarily connected with organization. Life presupposes organization, as the movements of a watch presuppose the wheels, levers, and other mechanism of the instrument. The organization assumes certain definite forms in each kind of animals; not merely in the external arrangement of the whole, but in each part, and in all the details of each. On this depends the kind of motion which each part can exercise,—the share wliich it is capable of contributing to the general vital movement; which latter, or, in short, life, is ihe result of the mutual actions and re- actions of all parts. Living bodies exhibit a constant, internal motion, in which we observe an uninterrupted admission and assimilation of new, and a correspondent separation and expulsion of old particles. The form remains the same; the component particles are continually changing. While this motion lasts, the body is said to be alive ;— when it has irrecoverably ceased, to be dead. The organic struc- ture then yields to the chemical affinities of the surrounding agents, and is speedily destroyed. All living beings have, in the first place, formed part of a body like their own ; have been attached to a parent before the period of their independent existence. The new animal, while thus con- nected, is called a germ : its separation constitutes generation or birth. After this, it increases in size according to certain fixed law* for each species and each part. The duration of existence is limited in all animals: after a longer or shorter period, the vital movements are arrested, and their cessation or death seems to occur as a necessary conse- quence of life. Thus, then, absorption, assimilation, exhalation, generation, and growth, are functions common to all living beings : birth and death, the universal limits of their existence ; a reticular contrac- tile tissue, with fluids in its interstices, the general essence of their structure ; substances easily convertible into the state of liquid or ARRANGEMENT OF ANIMALS. 87 gas, and combinations readily changing, the basis of their chem- ical composition. Fixed forms, perpetuated by generation, dis- tinguish their species, determine the combination of secondary functions peculiar to each, and assign to them their respective sit- uations in the system of the universe. After forming this general notion of living beings, we proceed to examine the animal kingdom in detail. The first glance dis- covers to us an infinite variety of forms; diversities so numerous, that the attempt to observe and register the whole seems almost hopeless. We find, however, that these forms at first view so in- finitely various, admit of being classed together,—of being form- ed into groups, each of which is distinguished by certain essential characters. In the latter, all the animals comprehended in each group agree; while they differ from each other in particulars of minor importance. I have already mentioned, that a fixed external form belongs to each animal, and that it is continued by generation. Certain forms, the same as those existing in the world at the present mo- ment, have existed from time immemorial. Such, at least, is the result of the separate and combined proofs furnished by our own observation and experience respecting the laws of the animal kingdom, by the voice of tradition and of history, by the remains of antiquity, and by every kind of collateral evidence. All the animals belonging to one of these forms constitute what zoologists call a species. This resemblance must not be under- stood in a rigorous sense ; for every being has its individual char- acters, of size, figure, color, proportions. In this sense, the charac- ter of variety is stamped on all Nature's works. She has made it a fundamental law, that no two of her productions shall be exactly alike ; and this law is invariably observed through the whole cre- ation. Each tree, each flower, each leaf, exemplifies it; every animal has its individual character ; each human being has some- thing distinguishing, in form, proportions, countenance, gesture, voice,—in feelings, thought, and temper,—in mental as well as corporeal physiognomy. This variety is the source of every thing beautiful and interesting in the external world,—the found- ation of the whole moral fabric of the universe. I cannot help pointing out to you bow strongly -he voice of ss ARRANGEMENT OP ANIMALS. Nature, so clearly expressed in this obvious law, opposes all at- tempts at making mankind act or think alike. Yet the legisla- tors and rulers of the world have persisted, for centuries, in en- deavoring to reduce the opinions, the belief of their subjects, to certain fancied standards of perfection,—to impress on human thoughts that dreary sameness, and dull monotony, which all the discipline and all the rigor of a religious sect have been hardly able to maintain in the outward garb of its followers. The mind however, cannot be drilled,—cannot be made to move at the word of command : it scorns all shackles ; and rises with fresh ener- gy from every new attempt to bind it down on this bed of Pro- crustes. All the oppression and persecution, all the bloodshed and mis- ery, which the attempts to produce uniformity have occasioned, are, however, a less evil than the success of these mad efforts would be, were it possible for them to succeed in opposition to the natural constitution of the human mind—to the general scheme and plain design of Nature. The most powerful monarch of modern history, who exhibited the rare example of a voluntary retreat from the cares of empire while still fully able to wield the sceptre, was rendered sensible of the extreme folly he had been guilty of, in attempting to produce uniformity of opinion among the numerous subjects of his exten- sive dominions, by finding himself unable to make even two watch- es go alike, although every part of this simple mechanism waa constructed, formed, and adjusted by himself. The dear experi- ence and the candid confession of Charles V. were thrown away on his bigoted son: who repeated on a still grander scale, with fresh horrors and cruelties, the bloody experiment of dragooning his subjects into uniformity, only to instruct the world by a still more memorable failure. The increasing light of reason has destroyed many of these remnants of ignorance and barbarism : but much remains to be done, before the final accomplishment of the grand purpose, which, however delayed, cannot be ultimately defeated;—I mean, the complete emancipation of the mind : the destruction of all creeds and articles of faith; and the establishment of full free- dom of opinion and belief. I cannot doubt that a day will arrivei arrangement of animals. 89 when the attempts at enforcing uniformity of opinion will be deemed as irrational, and as little desirable, as to endeavor at producing sameness of face and stature.* In the meantime, no efforts capable of accelerating a consum- mation so beneficial to mankind should be omitted ; and I have therefore attempted to show you, that, on this point, the analo- gies of natural history accord with the dictates of reason and the invariable instructions of experience. Certain external circumstances, as food, climate, mode of life, have the power of modifying the animal organization, so as to make it deviate from that of the parent. But this effect termi- nates in the individual. Thus a fair Englishman, if exposed to the sun, becomes dark and swarthy in Bengal; but his offspring, if from an Englishwoman, are born just as fair as he himself was originally : and the children, after any number of generations that we have yet observed, are still born equally fair, provided there has been no intermixture of dark blood. Moreover, under certain circumstances, with which we are not well acquainted, a more important change of organization occurs. A new character springs up, and is propagated by generation ; this constitutes a variety, in the language of naturalists. The number and degree of these variations are confined within nar- row limits ; they occur chiefly in the domesticated animals, and have not interfered with the transmission and continuation of those forms which constitute species. They will be more partic- ularly considered hereafter. Proceeding, then, on the criterion of definite form, transmitted by generation, we may define a species as a collection of all the * These opinions do not need the support of names ; or I might cite Locke, in whose Letters on Toleration all the great principles on which the freedom of the human mind rests are fully developed, and unanswerably established. This may be called speculation, theory, or other bad names: I have therefore pleasure in referring to the authority of a practical statesman and enlightened magistrate. See Jefterson's Notes on Virginia, p. 261—270. Also the Ap- pendix, No. 3, containing " An act for establishing Religious Freedom, pass- ed in the Assembly of Virginia in the Beginning of the Year 1736;"—an ad- mirable model, which has been perfectly successful, and hitherto adopted in n« ether part of the world. 90 ARRANGEMENT of animals. individuals which have descended one from the other, or from common parents, and of all those which resemble them as much as they resemble each other.* Thus, our first operation, in classifying the animal kingdom, consists in referring individuals to their species. The next brings together the species most nearly resembling each other, and forms them into groups called genera. This presupposes a thorough knowledge of the animals ; because the species included und<>r each genus should resemble each other more closely than the species of any other genus. For example, the lion, tiger, lynx, leopard, panther, cat species, with some others, compose the ge- xv&felis or cat. All these have a savage character, as they prey on living animals. For this purpose they are armed with power- ful teeth, with great muscular strength in the jaws, neck, and limbs: they all have the tongue and glands penis covered with sharp, horny prickles ; and they are furnished with curved, sharp, and cutting nails or claws, which, by a peculiar mechanism, are retracted, so as not to press against the ground when the animal is not employing them. Thus the species in question all agree in the leading points of organization ; and they agree likewise in general habits and character. The common cat is the only one actually domesticated; but the lion, tiger, and others, are easily tamed, and rendered familiar to man, although their size and strength make them too dangerous for playfellows ; and many ad- mit of training, so that they can be employed in hunting. The genera are again formed into groups called orders : thus the cow, sheep, goat, deer, antelope, camel, llama, and other gen- era, compose the order ruminantia. All these feed on vegetables, and submit their food to a double process of mastication, in refer- ence to which the stomach possesses a very peculiar and compli- cated structure. This vegetable diet, and this process of rumina- tion, are connected with certain structures of teeth and jaws, with peculiar arrangements of the organs of sensation and motion, and with certain general habits, which produce great similarity of char- acter throughout the whole order. The different orders are again arranged into certain classes. * Ci v:eu; Regne Animal, t. i. Introduction, p. 19. ARRANGEMENT OF ANIMALS. 91 Thus all the animals which are viviparous, and in which the young are nourished for a certain time by a secretion of the mother, are united into the class mammalia, or mammiferous animals; so call- ed from their mammae, or glandular organs, which secrete the fluid nutriment of the young. Lastly, the classes are assembled, on the same principle of re- semblance, into provinces or departments of the animal kingdom. The mammalia, birds, fishes, and reptiles, constitute the depart- ment vertebralia, or vetebral animals,—all of them possessing a vertebral column or spine, the most important piece of an inter- nal articulated skeleton. A scheme af the animal kingdom, drawn out on these princi- ples, is called a natural method of distribution; because the natural relations or resemblances of the objects comprised in it are the basis of its formation. To complete it, an accurate know- ledge of the whole animated creation is necessary ; so that it can- not be attempted with any reasonable chance of success, except in an advanced state of the science. When such an arrangement had been properly executed : that is, when the animals have been assigned to each division accord- ing to their resemblances of structure, so that the species of each genus are alike, and more like to each other than to those of any other genus ; and when the same remark is true concerning the genera of each order, the orders of each class, and the classes of each department; it is an abridged expression of the whole sci- ence, the embodied result of all our knowledge concerning the structure and habits of animals. The place which any animal occupies denotes all the leading circumstances of its organization and economy, and expresses them in a few words. We say, for example, that the dromedary belongs to the genus camelus, or- der, ruminantia, class mammalia, and department vertebralia. To a person, conversant with the principles of the arrangement, these four words convey a general notion of the animal, which would otherwise require a lengthened description. The great utility of this scientific short-hand writing, in abbre- viating descriptions, is too obvious to need illustration ; it is abso- lutely indispensable when we come to delineate the structure and modifications of organs throughout the whole animal kingdom. ♦ 92 SIMPLIFICATION OF ORGANIZATION. The recent work of Cuvier, entitled the "Animal Kingdom dis- tributed according to its Organization," contains the most com- plete and accurate view of the subject. If we contemplate living beings arranged in one line, beginning with the most perfect, and continued downwards, we find a toler- ably regular gradation from complicated to simple, through the whole series. At one end is man ; at the other, an animated mi- croscopic point, of which thousands are found in a single drop of fluid. Numberless gradations are placed between these : so that, though the two ends of the chain are immeasurably remote, there is close approximation between any two links. This simplification or degradation of the organization is imme- diately perceptible on comparing together the four great depart- ments* of the animal kingdom : and it is equally so in each de. partment. In the vertebralia, we pass from man to the eel or serpent; in the mollusca, from the cuttle-fish to the barnacle or oyster ; in the articulata, from the crab or lobster to the earth- worm or leech; in the radiata, from the star-fish or medusa to an animalcule of infusions. The same progression is observable in each class ; in the mam- malia, for example, we descend from man to the whale or seal. A cursory general survey of the animal kingdom will shew us the gradual steps by which this simplification of the organization is effected. The internal articulated skeleton, on which the figure, motions and other important properties of the vertebral animals, wliich possess it, so much depend, ends in the vertebral department.t In some fishes it is reduced to the state of cartilage ; and in oth- ers, it is so soft as hardly to afford points sufficiently firm for sup- * The primary division of the animal kingdom into the four departments mentioned in the text, was proposed by Cuvier, in the Annales du Musium d'Hist. Nat. t. 19. The reasons on which the division is grounded, and th« principal anatomical characters of the four departments, may be seen in the Regne Animal, Introduction, p. 57, et suiv. t Unless we consider as a skeleton the curious and complicated arrangement of connected bony pieces in the asteries; where, however, the principal parts of the bony fabric are not applied, as in the vertebral animals, to the formation of receptacles for the nervous system. * SIMPLIFICATION OP ORGANIZATION. 93 port and motion. External members for locomotion do not ex- ist in some vertebral animals, as serpents and certain fishes. The eyelids and lachrymal apparatus ; the external ear and tympanum ; the organs of touch and taste; the parts called cere- brum and cerebellum ; do not extend beyond this department, nor do they exist in all the animals belonging to this division. The sympathetic nerve belongs only to the vertebral department.* The diaphragm ends with the mammalia : so that the thorax and abdomen are not distinct in any other animals. The circulation is reduced in reptiles to the single state, and is carried on by one auricle and ventricle. Warmth of the blood—that is, a temperature of that fluid con- siderably elevated above the surrounding medium—belongs only to mammalia and birds; and the red color of the same fluid is confined with one small exception, to the vertebral animals. Organs of voice end in reptiles; not existing in fishes. Viviparous generation, with its attendant pi'ocess of suckling the young, is confined to the mammalia; and is afterwards suc- ceeded by the more simple oviparous form. * If the simple nervous structures in some animals of the lower orders should be regarded as a sympathetic nerve, it will not materially affect our view of the subject, so far as the simplification of the organization is concerned. Tre- viranus regards the knotted abdominal cord of insects and worms as the ver- tebral ganglia of the sympathetic nerve united into a symmetrical whole. To call it a spinal marrow he thinks incorrect. " Its situation on the abdominal instead of the dorsal aspect of the body, points out a great difference between it and the spinal marrow of the four vertebral classes. The spiders and pha- langia, which in other respects are allied to other insects, have no such cord, but, like the mollusca, single ganglia, not placed in a straight direction one be- hind the other. A true spinal marrow is only found in mammalia, birds, rep- tiles, and fishes." Biologic, b. v. p. 331, 332. " In this view, the representation that the great sympathetic nerve belongs only to red blooded animals, must be deemed incorrect. This very nerve is the most general, the original of all nerves ; kut it is variously modified in the different classes. In worms and insects there are merely vertebral ganglia, without the coeliac ganglia of mammaha and birds ; in the acephalous mollusca there are the latter, without the former ; in the cuttle-fish and snails there are single ganglia of both kinds. All these lower animals have no spinal marrow ; fishes and reptiles have one, and also vertebral ganglia; but the coDliac ganglia cither do not exist in them, or are not so developed as in birds and mammalia." Ibid. 334-5. />/. jr.—vo. tv. m 94 SIMPLIFICATION OF ORGANIZATION. Urinary organs end with the mammalia, many of which hav? no bladder ; as birds, some fishes, and reptiles. The absorbent system terminates in the vertebral department; of which only the mammalia and birds possess lymphatic glands. The mollusca present an organization very much reduced in the number of its parts, and very imperfect in all respects, when compared to that of the vertebral animals. They have no skele- ton to lodge the nervous system, and form the centre of motions; no separate receptacles for the various internal organs : but the brain, nervous cord, and viscera, are all placed in a common cavity. In articulated animals, the nervous system is reduced to a knott- ed cord, and the organs of sense are gradually extinguished. The heart ceases in this department, and respiration also, as carried on by a particular organ. In the radiated department the organs of circulation finally disappear; the heart having been before abolished. The alimen- tary apparatus is reduced to a simple bag with one opening. Fi- nally, in the microscopic animalcules all special organs are at an end, and the animated being appears to our senses a spot of mere jelly. Take any organ or system of organs, and the same progresi from complication to simplicity will be apparent. Let us observe the nervous system. In man and the mammalia this apparatus consists of a brain and spinal marrow, securely lodged in bony cases; of cerebral and spinal nerves ; of the system of ganglia called the great sympathetic nerve, and of the five external senses. In passing through the mammalia, we observe the brain consider- ably reduced in size ; still farther diminished, and altered in its figure and component parts, in birds: lessened again and greatly simplified, in reptiles and fishes. In the mollusca, this large apparatus is reduced to one or more small ganglia, with a few slender nerves : to which are added the rudiment of an ear in one instance only, and, in some others, imperfect and almost doubtful organs of vision. In articulated animals, there is merely a straight cord with a few branches : in some of the more complicated radiated animals, a few almost doubtful nervous branches : and below them, no- thing—neither brain, ganglia, nerves, nor organs of sense. FUNCTIONS OF THE BRAIN. 95 But there would be little inducement to compare together the various animal structures, to follow any apparatus through the whole animal series, unless the structure were a measure and cri- terion of the function. Just in the same proportion as organiza- tion is reduced, life is reduced ; exactly as the organic parts are diminished in number and simplified, the vital phenomena become fewer and more simple: and each function ends, when the re- spective organ ceases. This is true throughout zoology ; there is no exception in behalf of any vital manifestations. The same kind of facts, the same reasoning, the same sort of evidence altogether, which show digestion to be the function of the alimentary canal, the motion of the muscles, and various se- cretions of their respective glands, prove that sensation, perception, memory, judgment, reasoning, thought—in a word, all the mani- festations called mental or intellectual—are the animal functions of their appropriate organic apparatus, the central organ of the nervous system. No difficulty nor obscurity belongs to the latter case, which does not equally affect all the former instances: no kind of evidence connects the living processes with the material instruments in the one which does not apply just as clearly and forcibly to the other. Shall I be told that thought is inconsistent with matter; that we cannot conceive how medullary substance can perceive, re- member, judge, reason? I acknowledge that we are entirely ignorant how the parts of the brain accomplish these purposes— as we are how the liver secretes bile, how the muscles contract, or how any other living purpose is effected;—as we are how heavy bodies are attracted to the earth, how iron is drawn to the magnet, or how two salts decompose each other. Experience is, in all these cases, our sole, if not sufficient instructress : and the constant conjunction of phenomena, as exhibited in her lessons, is the sole ground for affirming a necessary connexion between them. If we go beyond this, and come to inquire the manner how, the mechanism by which these things are effected, we shall find every thing around us equally mysterious, equally incompre- hensible,—from the stone which falls to the earth, to the comet traversing the heavens,—from the thread attracted by amber or sealing-wax, to the revolutions of planets in their orbits,—from 96 FUNCTIONS OF THE BRAIN. the formation of a maggot in putrid flesh, or a initc in cheese, to the production of a Newton or a Franklin. In opposition to these views, it has been contended that thought is not an act of the brain, but of an immaterial substance, residing in or connected with it. This large and curious structure, which, in the human subject, receives one fifth of all the blood sent out from the heart, which is so peculiarly and delicately organized, nicely enveloped in successive membranes, and securely lodged in a solid bony case, is left almost without an office, being barely allowed to be capable of sensation. It has, indeed, the easiest lot in the animal economy : it is better fed, clothed, and lodged than any other part, and has less to do. But its office—only one remove above a sinecure—is not a very honorable one : it is a kind of porter, entrusted to open the door, and introduce new coiners to the master of the house, who takes on himself the en- tire charge of receiving, entertaining, and employing them. Let us survey the natural history of the human mind,—its rise, progress, various fates, and decay ; and then judge whether these accord best with the hypothesis of an immaterial agent, or with the plain dictates of common sense, and the analogy of every other organ and function throughout the boundless extent of liv- ing beings. You must bring to this physiological question a sincere and earnest love of truth ; dismissing from your minds all the preju- dices and alarms which have been so industriously connected with it. If you enter on the inquiry in the spirit of the bigot and partisan, suffering a cloud of fears and hopes, desires and aversion, to hang round your understandings, you will never discern objects clearly ; their colors, shapes, dimensions, will be confused, dis- torted, and obscured by the intellectual mist. Our business is, to inquire what is true ; not what is the finest theory ; not what will supply the best topics of pretty composition and eloquent decla- mation, addressed to the prejudices, the passions, and the igno- rance of our hearers. We need not fear the result of investigation. Truth is like a native rustic beauty ; most lovely when unadorned, and seen in the open light of day. Your fine hypotheses and specious theories are like the unfortunate females who supply the want or the loss of native charms, and repair the breaches of age FUNCTIONS OP THE BRAIN. 97 or disease, by paint, finery, and decorations ; which can only be exhibited in the glaring lights, the artificial atmosphere, and the unnatural scenery of the theatre or saloon. Whenever it is tho- roughly discussed, truth will not fail to come like tried gold from the fire. Like Ajax, it requires nothing but day-light and fair play. Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual antidotes of error. Give them full scope, and they will uphold the truth, by bringing false opinions, and all the spurious offspring of ignorance, prejudice, and self-interest, before their severe tribunal, and sub- jecting them to the test of close investigation. Error alone needs artificial support : truth can stand by itself. Sir Everard Home, with the assistance of Mr. Bauer and his microscope, has shown us a man eight days old from the time of conception,—about as broad, and a little longer than a pin's head. He satisfied himself that the brain of this homunculus was discernible. Could the immaterial mind have been connected with it at this time ? or was the tenement too small even for so etherial a lodger 1 At the full period of utero-gestation it is still difficult to trace any vestiges of mind ; and the believers in its separate existence have left us quite in the dark on the precise time at which the spiritual guest arrives in his corporeal dwelling, the interesting and important moment of amalgamation or com- bination of the earthly dust and the etherial essence. The Ro- man-Catholic church has cut the knot, which no one else could untie ; and has decided that the little mortal, on its passage into this world of trouble, has a soul to be saved: it accordingly di- rects and authorizes midwives, in cases of difficult labor, where the death of the infant is apprehended, to baptise it by means of a syringe introduced into the vagina, and thus to save it from perdition. They, whose scruples are not quite set at rest by the above- mentioned decision of the church, nor by being told that the mind has not yet taken up its quarters in the brain, endeavor to account for the entire absence of mental phenomena at the time of birth, by the senses and brain not having been yet called into action by the impressions of external objects. These organs begin to be exercised as soon as the child is born : 98 FUNCTIONS OP THE BRAIN. and a faint glimmering of mind is dimly perceived in the course of the first months of existence: but it is as weak and infantile as the body. As the senses acquire their powers, and the eerebral jelly be- comes firmer, the mind gradually strengthens; slowly advances, with the body, through childhood to puberty; and becomes adult when the developement of the frame is complete ; it is, moreover, male or female, according to the sex of the body. In the perfect period of organization, the mind is seen in the plenitude of its powers ; but this state of full vigor is short in duration, both for the intellect and the corporeal fabric. The wear and tear of the latter is evidenced in its mental movements : with the decline of organization the mind decays; it becomes decrepit with the body; and both are at the same time extinguished by death. What do we infer from this succession of phenomena ?—the existence and action of a principle entirely distinct from body ? or a close analogy to the history of all other organs and func- tions. The number and kind of the intellectual phenomena in differ- ent animals correspond closely to the degree of developement of the brain. The mind of the Negro and Hottentot, of the Cal- muck and the Carib, is inferior to that of the European ; and their organization is also less perfect. The large cranium and high forehead of the orang-utang lift him above his brother mon- keys ; but the developement of his cerebral hemispheres and his mental manifestations are both equally below those of the Negro. The gradation of organization and of mind passes through the monkey, dog, elephant, horse, to other quadrupeds ; thence to birds, reptiles, and fishes; and so on to the lowest links of the animal chain. In ascending these steps of one ladder, following in regular succession at equal intervals, where shall we find the boundary of unassisted organization ? where place the beginning of the imma- terial adjunct ? In that view which assimilates the functions of the brain to those of other organic parts, this case has no difficul- ty. As the structure of the brain is more exquisite, perfect, and complex, its functious ought to be proportionally so. It is no slight proof of the doctrine now enforced, that the fact is actually FUNCTIONS OF THE BRAIN. 99 thus: that the mental powers of brutes, as far as we can see, are proportional to their organization. We cannot deny to animals all participation in rational endow- ments, without shutting our eyes to the most obvious facts,—to in- dications of reasoning, which the unprejudiced observation of mankind has not failed to recognize and appreciate. Without adverting to the well known instances of comparison, judgment, and sagacity, in the elephant, the dog, and many other animals, let us read the character drawn by Humboldt of the South Amer- ican mules. " When the mules feel themselves in danger, they stop, turn- ing their heads to the right and to the left: the motion of their ears seems to indicate that they reflect on the decision they ought to take. Their resolution is slow, but always just, if it be free ; that is to say, if it be not crossed nor hastened by the imprudence of the traveller. .It is on the frightful roads of the Andes, during journeys of six or seven months across mountains furrowed by torrents, that the intelligence of horses and beasts of burden dis- plays itself in an astonishing manner. Thus the mountaineers are heard to say,' I will not give you the mule whose step is the easiest, but him who reasons best.' "* If the intellectual phenomena of man require an immaterial principle superadded to the brain, we must equally concede it to those more rational animals which exhibit manifestations differ- ing from some of the human only in degree. If we grant it to these, we cannot refuse it to the next in order, and so on in suc- cession to the whole series,—to the oyster, the sea-anemone, the polype, the microscopic animalcules. Is any one prepared to admit the existence of immaterial principles in all these cases 1 If not, he must equally reject it in man. It is admitted, that an idiot with a malformed brain has no miad ; that the sagacious dog and half-reasonable elephant do not require any thing superadded to their brain :—it is allowed that a dog or elephant excels inferior animals, in consequence of pos- sessing a more perfect cerebral structure;—it is strongly suspect- ed that a Newton or a Shakspeare excels other mortals only by * Personal Narative, r. ui. 100 FUNCTIONS OF T11L BRAIN. a more ample developement of the anterior cerebral lobes, by hav- ing an extra inch of brain in the right place ; yet the immaterial- ists will not concede the obvious corollary of all these admissions, viz. that the mind of man is merely that more perfect exhibition of mental phenomena which the more complete developement of the brain would lead us to expect; and still perplex us with the gratuitous difficulty of their immaterial hypothesis. Thought, it is positively and dogmatically asserted, cannot be an act of mat- ter. Yet no feelings, no thought, no intellectual operation has ever been seca except in conjunction with a brain ; and living matter is acknowledged by most persons to be capable of what makes the nearest possible approach to thinking. The strongest advocate for immaterialism seeks no further than the body for his explanation of all the vital processes, of muscular contraction nutrition, secretion, &c.—operations quite as different from any affection of inorganic substance, as reasoning or thought;—he will even allow the brain to be capable of sensation. Who knows the capabilities of matter so perfectly, a^ to be able to say that it can see, hear, smell, taste, and feel, but cannot possibly reflect, imagine, judge? Who has appreciated them so exactly, as to be able to decide that it can execute the mental fnuctions of an elephant, a dog, or an orang-utang, but cannot perform those of a Negro or a Hottentot ? To say that a thing of merely negative properties, that is, an immaterial substance, which is neither evidenced by any direct testimony, nor by any indirect proof from its effects, does exist, and can think, is quite consistent in those who deny thought to ani- mal structures, where we see it going on every day. If the mental processes be not the function of the brain, what is its office ? In animals which possess only a small part of the hu- man cerebral structure, sensation exists, and in many cases is more acute than in man. What employment shall we find for all that man possesses over and above this portion,—for the large and prodigiously-developed human hemispheres ? Are we to believe that these serve otily to round the figure of the organ, or to fill the cranium ? It is necessary for you to form clear opinions on this subject as it has immediate reference to an important branch of pathology. FUNCTIONS OF THE BRAIN. 101 They who consider the mental operations as acts of an immate- rial being, and thus disconnect the sound state of the mind from organization, act very consistently in disjoining insanity also from the corporeal structure, and in representing it as a disease, not of the brain, but of the mind. Thus we come to disease of an im- material being, for which, suitably enough, moral treatment has been recommended. I firmly believe, on the contrary, that the various forms of in- sanity, that all the affections comprehended under the general terms of mental derangement, are only evidences of cerebral af- fections, disordered manifestations of those organs whose healthy action produces the phenomena called mental; in short, symptoms of diseased brain. These symptoms have the same relation to the brain, as vomit- ing, indigestion, heartburn, to the stomach; cough, asthma, to the lungs ; or any other deranged functions to their corresponding organs. If the biliary secretion be increased, diminished, suspended, or altered, we have no hesitation in referring to changes in the con- dition of the liver, as the immediate cause of these phenomena. We explain the state of respiration, whether slow, hurried, im- peded by cough, spasm, !. (| Anat. of a Pygmie; 15 160 characters of man, fore-arm over the upper-arm, the shortness of the lower limbs, and the great length of the hands and feet, are other striking characters of the monkey kind. The span of the extended arms in man equals the height of the body : it is nearly double that measure in the anthropo-mor- phous monkeys. Our upper arm is longer than the fore-arm by two or three inches ; in the last mentioned animals, the fore-arm is the longest. In us, the hip-joint divides the body equally ; the lower extremity is less than half the height of the body in mon- keys. The proportion of the hand and foot to the body is much greater in them than in us; the excess arising from increase in the length of the phalanges. That all these circumstances are very suitable to the climbing habits of the monkey-race, is too ob- vious to require particular elucidation. In the following table, I have arranged in parallel lines the di- mensions of some of a male skeleton, of the orang-utang mea- sured by Camper, of that described by Mr. Abel, and of Tyson's chimpanse:— Man. Simia Satyrus. Inches. Camper. Abel. Simia Tro-glodytes. The whole body from the ver-tex to the heel 1 Uncertain, \ 171 but less S30-31 -) than J - - - 26 Upper extremity Lower - - - 32 - - - - 24^-25 -39 - - - - 16 - 13 - ... 17 - - - 12 Humerus - - 13 - - - - 8£ - 9 - - - - 5 Fore-arm (ulna) 9£ - - - - 9 - 10 | Ulna 5 Radius 5£ Hand - - -Thumb - - - . 8* - - - - 7 - 6-fr -44. . _ - - it _ _ _ - - - 5} - - _ 14 X Ulllllls Middle finger -Femur - - - 4£ - - - - 3 - - -20 - - - - 7 1£ - - - 2* Tibia - - - 16f - - - - 7 Foot - - -Middle toe - - 104, --- - 7£ - 8£ -2i--------2f - - - ------5f - - - 14 In a monkey of two feet two inches the humerus measured four and a quarter, the ulna five inches. in stature, proportion, &c. 161 The upper extremities of the pongo* of Borneo reach to the ankles, when the animal is erect: its ulna, in the College Museum, is 15| inches lon£ ; the whole height certainly not exceedinS five feet. The man, whose gigantic skeleton is preserved in the same place, was eight feet four inches : the ulna, however, is only I3f inches. The upper limbs of the gibbon touch the ground when the ani- mal is erect. Passing over some circumstances of less importance, ordinarily enumerated among the distinctive characters of man, as the lo- bules of the ear, the tumid lips, particularly the inferior, &c, I have a few remarks to make on the smoothness of the human in- teguments. " Dantur," says Linneus.t " alicubi terrarum, simia? minus quam homo pilosae :" but he does not tell us in what part of the world they are to be found. The unanimous reports of all travellers, as well as the specimens of such animals exhibited in Europe, prove incontestably that the manlike simise, whether the orang-utang of Borneo, or chimpanse of Angola, as well as the long-armed monkey or gibbon, are widely different from the hu- man subject in this respect. Although the individuals brought in- to these countries have been under the adult age, and generally very sickly, their body has been in all cases universally hairy. We have, indeed, some accounts of people, particularly in the islands of the South Sea, remarkable for their hairiness; but they are not completely satisfactory. Spangberg relates, that he found such a race in one of the southern Kurile islands (lat. 43e 50°) on his return from Japan to Kamtschatka ;J and J. R. Fors * Audebert, " Hist. Nat. des Singes ;" Planche Anat. 2. fig. 6. The short description of this animal, which, from the enormous size and strength of hid jaws, must be extremely formidable, given by Wukmb in the 2d vol. of the '• Memoirs of the Batavian Society in Dutch," is translated in the work of Au- debert, p. 22 and 23. It is the first and only description we have of the ani- mal. Buffon, who had never seen this creature, nor any part of it, gives the name of Pongo to the orang-utang. 1 " Fauna Suecica ;" Prtef. + " Russischcr Geschichte;" T. 111. p. 174. 162 CHARACTERS «F MAN, ter observed individual anomalous instances in the islands of Tanna, Mallicollo, and New Caledonia.* It was reported to Mr. Marsden, when inquiring concerning the aborigines of Sumatra, that there are two species living in the woods, with peculiar lan- guage : one of these (called orang-gugu) was described as " dif- fering but little in the use of speech from the orang-utang of Bor- neo, their bodies being covered with long hairs.t" These accounts furnish no satisfactory proof that any racef of men exists with a skin differently organized or covered from what we are acquainted with. The smoothness and nakedness of the human integuments therefore form a sufficient diagnostic charac- ter of our species, as compared to the monkey, or any other near- ly allied mammiferous animal: and this circumstance, with the absence of all fur, spines, bristles, &c. and the want of those nat- ural offensive weapons, fangs, talons, claws, &c, justify us in de- nominating the human body as naturally unarmed and defence- * " I observed several of these people (the Mallicollese) who were very hairy all over the body, not excepting the back ; and this circumstance I also obser- ved in Tanna and New Caledonia." " Observations on a Voyage round the World," p. 243. That this hairiness is neither common to all the natives of the islands enumerated, nor even very frequent or remarkable in accidental cases, may be inferred from its not being at all noticed by Cook, who however de- scribes minutely the persons of these islanders. " Voyage towards the South Pole, v. ii, pp. 34, 78, 118. ) " History of Sumatra," ed. 3, p. 41, note. X The skin, like other parts, is subject to occasional varieties of formation. Thus patches of it are sometimes thickly covered with hair, like that on the head. Such accidental varieties, exaggerated by credulity and fraud, have given occasion to reports of persons having hides like animals. Buffon, (" Supplement," v. 4. p. 571,) Wcnsch, (" Kosmologische Unterhaultungen," part 3,) and Lavater, (" Physiog. Fragm." part 4, p. G8,) have given figures and descriptions of A. M. Herrig, a woman of Triers, said to have the skin of a deer, and shown in many parts of Europe. Soemmerring saw this per- son, and found the peculiarity to consist of numerous and large elevations of the skin, covered by thick and strong hairs. They were of the nature of the moles often seen on the face of very fair persons, and generally giving origin to hairs. He could not discover a single hair resembling that of a deer. '■' Bes- chreibung einiger Missgeburten," p. 34. IN stature, proportions, &c. 163 less. The deficiency is amply made up by the internal faculties, and the arts to which they give rise. While man is remarkable for the smoothness of his skin on the whole, some parts are even more covered with hair than in ani- mals ; as, for example, the pubes and exilla, which the ancients consequently regarded as peculiar characters of man. In comparing man with the anthropo-morphous simia?, it must be noticed further, that one species (satyrus) has no nail on the thumb of the hind hand; and the other (troglodytes,) according to Tyson, has thirteen ribs. Both of them have a sacrum com- posed of three pieces only, instead of five, as in the human sub- ject. One at least (satyrus) has one or two large membranous pouches on the front of the neck, under the platysma myoides, communicating with the cavity of the larynx, between the os hyoides and thyroid cartilage, and capable of distention and eva- cuation at the will of the animal.* It has no ligamentum teres in the hip-joint.t It has a membranous canal running along the spermatic cord from the abdomen to the tunica viginalis,| as other monkeys and quadrupeds have; but this does not exist in the chimpanse.|| The roof the mouth is nearly black. I venture to assert that the differences only which have been just enumerated, without any others, would be amply sufficient to establish the distinction of species; that no example can be ad- duced of animals deviating so far from the original model of their structure as to exhibit varieties like those just enumerated ; and consequently, that the differences in question can be accounted for only by referring the animals to species originally distinct. There are some points, in which man has been erroneously sup- posed to differ from animals. The approximation of the two eyes is not peculiar ; they are much nearer together in the simia. * Camper in PhUos. Trans, v. G9, p. 139. (Eavres: t. i. De VOrang, ch. ii. pi. ii. fig. 9 and 10. To the passage of the air in expiration into these pouches Camper ascribes the want of power of the orang-utang to produce articulated sounds. t Camper, OZuvres, i. 153. X Ibid. 109. || Ttsos, p. 82. 161 CHARACTERS OF MAN, Many other mammalia, particularly among the quadrumana, have cilia in both eyelids ; this is the case in the elephant. Although the prominent nose, is a striking character of thehu- man face, particularly in comparison with the monkeys, whose very name (simia, from simus) is derived from the flatness of thic- part, there is a species considerably surpassing man in the length of this feature ;—the long-nosed monkey, s. rostrata, or nasalis.* The external ears are not incapable of motion in all men ; nor are they moveable in all other mammalia: in the anteaters, for example. Many quadrumana have an organ of touch, and uvula, as well as man. Again there are some parts, which man alone, or with a few other mammalia, does not possess. Most of these, which are found chiefly in the domesticated kinds, were formerly attributed to man, when human dissections, from want of opportunities, were uncommon. The paniculus carnosus, or thin subcutaneous stratum of mus- cular fibres covering the ventral and lateral parts of the trunk im- mediately under the skin,—described by Galen and his follow- ers, and even by Vesalius, the great restorer of anatomy and ex- poser of Galen's errors, as a part of the human body,—does not exist in man, nor, according to Tyson, in the chimpanse. It is found in the monkeys. The rete mirabile of the cerebral arteries, included by Galen among the parts of the human body, was shown by Vesalius not to belong to the human structure. The seventh or suspensory muscle of the eyeball, which is found in the four-footed mammalia, is not seen in man, as Fallopils observed; neither is the alantois or membrana nictitans. * Buffon, Hist, des Quadruples ; Supplem. t. vii. tab. 11,12. The animal is also figured by Blumenbach, Abbildungen ; No. 13 ; and by Pennant, His- tory of Quadrupeds, v. 2, p. 322, pi. 104 and 105, under the name of proboscis monkey. The nostrils of this proboscis do not terminate, as in man, close to the upper lip ; but at the extremity of the prominence : and the structure, in other respects differs essentially from that of the human nose. IN STATURE, PROPORTIONS, &C. 165 That man has neither the ligamentum nucha? nor the intermax- illary bone, has been already explained. The foramen incisivum is common to the human species with quadrupeds: it is small and single in the former; double and of considerable size in the lat- ter. There are a few other parts, not found in many animals, and sometimes erroneously ascribed to man; such as the pancreas Asellii, hepatico-cystic ducts, corpus Highmori, &c. « 106 PECULIARITIES OF INTERNAL STRUCTURE. CHAPTER VI. Differences in the Structure of some Internal Organs. The instrument of knowledge and reflection, the part by which we feel, perceive, judge, think, reason—the organ or organs con- necting us with the external world, and executing the moral and intellectual department in our economy—claim our first attention. In spite of metaphysical subtlety, of all the chimeras and fancies about immaterial agencies, ethereal fluids, and the like, and all the real or pretended alarms so carefully connected with this sub- ject, the truth, that the phenomena of mind are to be regarded physiologically merely as the functions of the organic apparatus contained in the head, is proved by such overwhelming evidence, that physiologists and zoologists have been led, almost in spite of themselves, to show their belief in it, by the great attention they have paid to this part. The vast superiority of man over all other animals in the fac- ulties of the mind, which may be truly considered as a generic distinction of the human subject—in my opinion a more unequiv- ocal and important one than many of those, in compliance with which diversity of genus and species is established in the ani- mal kingdom—led physiologists at a very early period to seek for some corresponding difference in the brains of man and ani- mals. It has been asserted, from remote times, that the brain of man PECULIARITIES OF INTERNAL STRUCTURE. 167 is larger than that of any animal: and I know no exception to this assertion of Aristotle and Pliny, besides the elephant; unless the larger cetacea should be as well supplied with brain, in proportion to their size, as the smaller. Certainly, all the larger animals, with which we are more commonly acquainted, have brains absolutely smaller, and considerably so, than that of man. This, indeed, may be easily shown by a comparison of skulls ; by contrasting the compressed, narrow, elongated crania of brutes, hidden behind their enormous jaws and face, with the length, breadth, and ample vault of the human " cerebri taber- naculum,"* whose capacious globular expanse surmounts and covets the inconsiderable receptacles of the senses and alimenta- ry apparatus. In later times the subject has been investigated in a different way—by comparing the proportion which the mass of the brains bears to the whole body. The result of this comparison in the more common and domestic animals was deemed so satisfactory, that, without prosecuting the inquiry further, a general proposi- tion was laid down, that man has the largest brain in proportion to his body. More modern physiologists, however, in following up this comparative view in a great number of animals, have been considerably perplexed at discovering many exceptions to the gen- eral position. They found that several mammalia, as the dol- phin, seals, some quadrumana, and some animals of the mouse kind, equal the human subject, and that some small birds even exceed him in this respect.t As these latter observations entirely overturned the conclusion which had been before generally admitted, Soemmering has fur- * Haller. t It cannot be a very satisfactory mode of proceeding to compare the body, of which the weight varies so considerably, according to illness, emaciation, or embonpoint, with the brain, which is affected by none of these circum- stances, and seems to remain constantly the same. Thus in the cat, the weight of the brain, compared to that of the body, has been stated as 1 to 156, by one anatomist; as 1 to 82 by another: that of the dog as 1 to 305, 1 to 47, &c. The following numbers, taken principally from Haller (Element. Physiol, lib. x. sect. 1.) and Cuvier (Lecons d'Anat. Comp. Le?. ix. art. 5,) will 168 INTERNAL STRUCTURE.--THE BRAIN. nished us with another point of comparison ; viz. that of the ra- tio, which the mass of the brain bears to the bulk of the nerves arising from it. Let us divide the brain into two parts; that which is immediately connected with sensorial extremities of the nerves, which receives their impressions, and is therefore devoted to those common wants and purposes which we partake with animals. The second division will include the rest of the brain, which may be considered as the seat of the mental phenomena. show that, in the proportionate mass of his brain, man is surpass- ed only by a few small, slender, and lean animals. Child of 6 years, 21b. 28£ dr. or ^%.—Haller. Adult, 3*j. Haller. From 2 lb. 3£ oz. to 3 lb. 3£ oz. Soem- mering. Orangs. Chimpanse, of 26 inches in height, 11 oz. 7 dr. Tyson. A proportion equal to the human. Gibbon (S. Lar.) -fa. Sapajous, or American mo nkeys with prehensile tails. Saimiri (S. sciurea,) ^; Sai (S. capucina,) ^ ; Ouistiti (S. jac- ohus,) ^. Coaita (8. paniscus,) ^. Apes.—Malbrouc (S. faunus,) ^ ; Callitriche (S. sebsea,) and Patas (S. rubra,) fa; S. mona, ^ ; Mangabey (S. ftiliganosa,) A- Baboons,—Macaque, (S. cynomologus,) ^ : Magot, (8. sylva- nus,) x^ ; Great Baboon, (S. sphynx,) y^. JLemars.—Mococo, (L. catta,) ^T ; Vari, (L. macaco,) ^. Bat, (V.noctula,) -fa; Mole, gfe; Bear. ^; Hedgehog, yfo. Fox, y^; Wolf, 7^ ; Martin, ^ ; Ferret, Tfa. Beaver, ^; Hare, ?£s ; Rabbit, T^—T^ ; Water-rat, T^¥. Rat, T^ ; Mouse, ^ ; Field-mouse, ^. Wild Boar, ■&?', Domestic, ^fg—^j Elephant, ^7 or 10 1b. Stag,^; Roebuck (young) & ; Sheep, sir—Tfo ; Ox, ^ THE BRAIN. 169 In proportion, then, as any animal possesses a larger share of the latter and more noble part,—that is, in proportion as the or- gan of reflection exceeds that of the external senses,—may we expect to fii».' the powers of the mind more diversified and more fully developed. In this point of view man is decidedly pre-em- inent : although in his senses and common animal properties he holds only a middle rank, here he surpasses all other animals that have been hitherto investigated : he is the first of living beings. " All the simiae," says this accomplished anatomist, " for I have been fortunate enough to procure specimens of the four principal divisions, come after him; for although the proportion of their brain to the body, particularly in the small species with prehen- sile tails, is equal to that of man, their very large eyes, ears, tongue, and jaws, require a much larger mass of brain than the corresponding parts in the human subject; and if you remove this, the ratio of the brain to the body is much diminished.* " Animals of various kinds seem to me to possess a larger or smaller quantity of this superabundant portion of brain, accord- ing to the degree of their sagacity and docility. The largest brain of a horse, which I possess, weighs one pound seven ounces; the smallest human brain that I have met with in an Calf, 7|F ; Horse, Tt^, 4-^; Ass, y^. Dolphin (delphinus delphis,) ?\, -fa, ^, T(J.?; Porpoise (D. Phocaena,) ^Vj. Birds.—Eagle, ^ ; Falcon. Tfe ; Goose, ^ (Haller ;) Duck ^ ; Cock, ^ ; Blackbird, ^ff; Redbreast, ^; Chaf- finch, g^; A Fringilla, carefully weighed and examined by Haller, ^ ; Sparrow, ^ ; Canary bird, TV- Reptiles.—Turtle, -^g; Tortoise, ^^ ; Coluber-natrix, T£?; Fr°g. TT7- Fishes.—Shark, ^ ? Dog-fish, T1&¥; Pike, ^ ; Carp, * Blumenbach lias figured the brain of the ribbed-nose baboon or mandrill (papio maimon) in the two first editions of his work De Gen. Hum. Var. Nat. tab. 1. fig. 1. The deviation from the human character in the size of the nerves is very striking. 170 PECULIARITIES OF INTERNAL STRUCTURE. adult, two pounds five ounces and a quarter. But the nerves in the basis of the horse's brain are ten times larger than in the other instance, although it weighs less by fourteen ounces and a quarter. " But we are not hastily to conclude that the human species have smaller nerves than any other animals. In order that my ideas may be better understood, I shall state the following imagi- nary case. Suppose the ball of the eye to require 600 nervous fibrils in one instance; and in another, half the size, 300: fur- ther, that the animal with 600 fibrils possesses a brain of seven, and that with 300 a brain of only five drams. To the latter we ought to ascribe the larger brain, and a more ample capacity of registering the impressions made on 'he organ of vision. For, allowing one dram of encephalon to 100 fibrils, the brain, which is absolutely the least, will have an overplus of two drams, while the larger has only one. That the eye, which is supplied with a double (juantity of fibrils, may be a more perfect organ of sense, will be readily admitted: but that point is not connected with the present question."* Independently of weight and size, Soemmering observed fif teen visible material anatomical differences between the brain of the common tail-less ape and that of man.t It must be acknowledged, that the inquiries into the relative weight of the brain and the body, and the comparison between the former and the nerves connected with it, have not yet afford- ed any precise and clear information respecting the differences between man and animals, nor on the grounds of the infinitely various faculties that distinguish different animals. It can hard- ly be expected that these matters will receive any clear elu- cidation, while we continue so ignorant as at present of the func- tions executed by the different parts of the encephalon. * Ueber die Korperliche Verschicdenheit des Negers vcm Europtter; p. 63 67. See also the dissertation of the same author De Basi Encephali; and J. G. Ebel Obs. Neurol, ex Anat. Comparata, p. 17; Francof. ad Viadr. 1788; or in Ludwig Scriptorcs Ncurologici. t Ueber die KOrp. Versch. p. 77, note. THE BRAIN. 171 The basis of the position so much insisted on by Soemmering is an assumption that a certain bulk of nerve requires always the same proportion of brain for the execution of its office—a datum by no means self-evident. The comparison of the nerves to the brain in general is not satisfactory : we should wish to know the relative proportions of the cerebrum, cerebellum, and medulla oblongata. The latter, indeed, is an important point; as most of the nerves are immediately connected with it, few with the cere- brum, and none with the cerebellum, properly so called. The most striking character of the human brain is the prodi- gious developement of the cerebral hemispheres, to which no ani- mal, whatever ratio its whole encephalon may bear to its body, affords any parallel.* It is also the most perfect in the number and developement of its parts ; none being found in any animal, which man has not; while several of those found in man aio either reduced in size, or deficient, in various animals. Hence it has been said, that by taking away, diminishing, or changing proportions, you might form, from the human brain, that of any animal; while, on the contrary, there in none from which you could in like manner con- struct the brain of man. It approaches the most nearly to the spherical figure. That the nerves are the smallest in proportion to the brain, has been al- ready pointed out: the brain diminishes, and the nerves increase from man downwards. In the fetus and child the nerves are pro- portionally larger than in the adult. The assertion that it has the largest cerebrum in proportion to the cerebellumt does not seem to be quite correct. It has, how- ever, the largest cerebrum in proportion to the medulla oblongata * On this point, I apprehend, from the following passage, that the Wenzels agree with what is stated in the text; " Homini pro ratione longe plus massa» cerebri inesse, quam mammalibus, sive illam massaa cerebri partem, quse in interiore cerebro sitas, peculiariter formatas, sive individuas partes ambit, in homine pro ratione majoram esse, quam in mammalibus."—De pemtiori Struct. Cerebri Hominis et Brutorum, p. 259. t The following numbers indicate the comparative weights of the cerebrum and cerebellum:— Man - . 1_9 II Beavef - - 1—3 Sairairi - - 1-14 || Rat - l—tf. 172 PECULIARITIES of internal structure. and spinalis,* with the single and indeed singular exception of the dolphin. It has the deepest and most numerous convolutions, apparently in consequence of its size, as the purpose of this structure seems to be that of affording a more extensive surface for the applica- tion of the vascular membrane, the pia mater. The convolutions become fewer and shallower as the bram diminishes in size: there are none in the rodentia; none in very small brains. It has the greatest quantity of medullary substance in propor- tion to the cortical. In the fetus, the cortical is much more abun- dant than in the adult. Sai 1—6 Mouse 1—2 Magot 1—7 Hare 1—6 Baboon 1—7 1 Wild Boar - 1—7 S. Mona - 1—8 Cow 1—9 Dog 1-8 Sheep 1—5 Cat 1—6 Horse 1—7 Mole 1-4* I Cuvier, Leg. d'Anat. Comp. ii. 153. The Wenzels, whose accuracy seems to deserve the greatest confidence, represent some of these proportions differently. They have found the cerebrum, compared to the cerebellum, to be in a man, as 6^—8^- to 1 ; in the horse, 4£ to 1 ; cow, 5£f f to 1; dog, 6/F to 1; cat, 4T^ to 1; mole, 3£ to 1; mouse, 6f to 1. Lib. cit. tab. iv. * The breadth of the medulla oblongata behind the pons Variolii, compared to the greatest breadth of the brain, is, In Man, as .... 1—7 Simia sinica (Bon- i net Chinois J S. Cynomologus - - 1—5 Dog - - 6—11 or 3—8 Cat .....8—22 Rabbit - - 3—8—1—3 In the latter animal, the breadth of the brain is twice its length ;—a propor- tion, of wliich there is no other instance in the animal kingdom. Pig 5—7 Sheep 5—7 Roe 1—3 Cow 5-13 Calf 2—5 Horse 8-21 Dolphin 1-13 THE brain. 173 Soemmering has shown that that curious structure, the sandy or earthy matter of the pineal gland (acervulus pinealis) belongs to the healthy natural state of the human brain, being found from the fourteenth year ; and that it is almost confined to man.* He found it, however, once in the fallow-deer (cervus dama;) and MALACARNEtmetwithit in the goat. An instance communi- cated by Caldani, of an old man in whose brain it was deficient, is regarded by BlumenbachJ as a rare anomaly of structure.|| * De LappUlis vclprope vel intra Glandulam Pinealem sitis; Mogunt. 1785. t Encefalotomia d'alcun Quadrupedi, p. 31. X Dc G. H. Var. Nat. p. 44. From the very accurate researches of the Wenzels, it appears that a deficiency of the acervulus is not so unfrequent as has been represented by Soemmering ; and they found, on the other hand, that the latter excellent anatomist has not been correct in fixing the fourteenth year as the date of its earliest appearance : they have met with it from the age o.f seven. They mention six instances, in which the acervulus did not ex- ist. Dc penitiori Structura Cerebri Hominis et Brutorum, Tubingte, fol. 1812, p. 316. || The human encephalon undergoes considerable changes after birth, in its entire mass, in the proportions of its parts, and in the texture and consistency of its substance. The gradual evolution of the mental faculties corresponds to these alterations ; which, indeed, accord with the slow developement of the human frame in other respects. The Wenzels have afforded accurate infor- mation on some points. In an embryo of five months they found a brain of 720 grains; cerebrum of 633; cerebellum of 37, which is a ratio of the for- mer to the latter as 18£f to 1: at eight months the numbers were 4960, 4610, 350, or as 13^ to 1.- at the time of birth, as 6150, 5700, 450, or 12$ to 1: at three years, 15,240, 13,380, 1860, or 7-gT to 1: at five years, 20,250,17,760, 2490, or 7££ to 1: From fifteen to eighty-eight the highest numbers occur- red in a youth of the former age; they were 24,420, 21,720, 2700, or bTf ■$ to 1. Tab. 3. Soemmering observes, in the explanation of his beautiful tabula baseos en- cepliali, p. 13, that the human brain has reached its full developement at three years of age : the Wenzels affirm that this is not the. case till seven, when, they observe, " cerebrum hominis et quoad totum et quoad singulas partes ab- solutum esse videtur." p. 247. If the perfect state of the brain be considered to include the proportionate developement of parts, the entire size and weight, tho consistence and cohesion of the mass, and the state of vascular supply characterizing the adult, we must fix as its era a much later period than the seventli year. I apprehend that the brain of animals will be found nearly per- fect in its organization at the time of birth; and, consequently, that a compati- V 174 peculiarities of internal structure. The position of the heart in biped man differs from that which it holds in quadrupeds. Its oblique direction to the left side, its flat surface resting on the diaphragm, and the firm attachment of its serous membrane to the tendinous centre of that muscle, pre- sent, in the former, a contrast to its straight situation in the mid- dle of the chest, to its support on the sternum, and to the want of attachment between the pericardium and the muscle, which are even separated by a distinct interval in the latter; a constrast easily explained by the differences in the form of the thorax, and in the respective attitudes in the two cases. The orangs (S. sa- tyrus, troglodytes, and gibbon) have it placed as in man, and the pericardium attached to the diaphragm. In other simiae the apex only is a little inclined to the left, and touches the muscle. The curvature of the sacrum and os coccygis gives rise to the peculiar situation and direction of the sexual organs, and particu- larly of the vagina in the human female. As these bones are ex- tended in the same straight line with the spine in all other mam- malia, the canal of the vagina follows the axis of the pelvis, lies nearly parallel to the spine, and has its external orifice directed downwards or backwards : the orifice of the urethra opens into the vagina itself. These arrangements fully explain to us why brutes discharge their urine behind, why they copulate back- wards, and why parturition is so easy with them. In these points of structure the monkey kind agree with the mammalia in general, and differ from man. The axis of the vagina is directed downwards in them ; the urine is discharged within it (such at least Blumenbach* found to be the case in the son of man and animals in this point of view will disclose a remarkable point of distinction between them. The medullary stria of the fourth ventricle are not seen at birth: their appearance in the first year, and that of the acervu- lus in the seventh, are regarded by the Wenzels as great peculiarities of the human brain, since that of the mammalia exhibits no such developement of new parts after birth. Cap. 27. This seems to me a confined and inadequate view of a point, which, in its full extent, is of great importance. * De G. H. Var. Nat. lect. i. § 7. The urethra does not, however, open within the vagina in the orang-utang. Camper mentions that the nymphae of this animal were " comme reunieB ensemble," and that the urethra opened be- low them. (Euvres, i. 102. VAGINA, HYMEN. 175 papio maimon and the simia cynomolgus,) and they are, conse- quently, retro-mingent and retro-copulant. Mr. Hunter, who had opportunities of observing he process, informs us that " monkeys always copulate backwards: this is performed sometimes when the female is standing on all fours; and at other times the male brings her between his thighs when he is sitting, holding her with his fore-paws."* ■ Dr. Froriep, of Weimar, late physician to the King of Wur- temberg, informed me that he had often seen monkeys copulate in the extensive menagerie of that monarch; and that they per- formed the process backwards; the male supporting himself by the feet on the calves of the female, so that he did not touch the ground. The incurvation of the sacrum and coccyx turns the human vagina forwards, so that its axis cuts that of the pelvis nearly at right angles, and its anterior opening is turned forwards: the urethra opens on its upper and front edge, not at all within the canal. Hence the human female differs from all other mamma- liat in not being retro-mingent and retro-copulant; hence, too, al- though many inconveniences to which she would have been other- wise exposed, particularly during pregnancy, are obviated, par- According to Cdvier, the female urethra always opens at the external ori- fice of the vagina, and therefore holds the same situation, in respect to this ca- nal, in all animals. The canal exterior to this termination of the urethra he calls vulva. It is a simple entrance of little depth in the human subject; rath- er larger in the baboons ; equal in length to the vagina itself in some other monkeys, as the sapajous ; or even superior, as in the bear. Lee. d'Anat. Comp. v. 128. On account of the great depth of the symphysis pubis in the orang-utang (two inches in an animal of little more than two feet, which is equal to its greatest depth in the tallest woman,)the urethra of the orang-utang is even longer than that of the human female. Camper, ut supra, p. 107. * Animal Economy, p. 136. t Probably the cetacea may form an exception to this statement. Our at- tention, however, is hardly extended to them in this comparison of man and animals. According to the representation of Steller, the manati and the ur- sine seal (sea-cow and sea-bear) copulate in the human method. Nov. Comm. Acad. Scient. Petrop. v. u. pp. 325 and 354. 176 VAGINA, HYMEN. turition is rendered much more difficult, and a physical reason is found for that doom under which she labors, of bringing forth children in sorrow and in pain. Although it cannot be deemed an internal organ, this seems the fittest place for mentioning the hymen, an interesting part of the female structure in many respects, and therefore more noticed and investigated than so small a fold of skin would have seemed to deserve. The general opinion of its non-existence in the other mammalia besides man, and the circumstance of its being found in women only at a particular period of life, and even then not universally, have led many anatomists to deny its existence alto- gether. The question, however, can be so easily settled by di- rect evidence, that we are surprised to find Buffon, still contest- ing the point. Though the opinion of this great naturalist is in- correct in point of fact, we cannot but admire the eloquence with which he inveighs against the disgraceful opinions and practices which have prevailed on this subject. * It has been generally asserted that this little part is found only * " Les hommes, jaloux des primautcs en tout genre, ont toujours fait grand cas de tout ce qu'ils ont cru pouvoir posseder exclusivement et les premiers: c'est cette espece de folie, qui a fait un etre reel de la virginit6 des filles. La virginitt, qui est un etre moral, une vertu qui ne consiste que dans la purete du cceur, est devenu un objet physique dont tous les hommes se sont occupes ; ils ont etabli sur cela des opinions, des usages, des ceremonies, des superstitions, et mcme des jugemens, et des peines; les abus les plus illicites, les coutumes les plus deshonnetes ont etes autorisees ; on a soumis k l'examen des matrones ignorantes, et expose aux yeux de medecins prevenus les parties les plus secre- tes de la nature sans songer qu'une pareille indecence est un attentat contre la virginite ; que c'est la violer que de chercher la reconnoitre ; que toute situa- tion honteuse, tout etat indecent, dont une fille est obligee de rougir interieure- ment, est une vrai defloration. Je n'espere pas reussir 4 detruire les prejuges ridicules qu'on s'est formes sur ce sujet; les choses, qui font plaisir a croire, seront toujours crues, quelques vaines et quelques deraisonnables qu'elles puis- sent etre ; cependant, comme dans une histoire on rapporte non seulement la suite des evenemens, et les circonstances des faits, mais aussi l'origine des opin- ions et des erreurs dominantes, j'ai cru que dans l'histoire de l'homme, je ne pourrois me dispenser de parler de l'idole favorite a laquelle il sacrifie, d'exam- iner quelles peuvent etre les raisons de son culte, et de rechercher si la virgin- ite est un etre reel, ou si ce n'est qu'une divinite fabuleuse." PECULIARITIES OP INTERNAL STRUCTURE. 177 in the human subject. In the female orang-utang Camper* says that the hymen was not apparent, although the individual was very young. BlumenbachJ informs us that he could neither find any trace of this part, nor those supposed remains of it called carunculse myrtiformes, in monkeys or baboons; and that his search was equally fruitless in a female elephant, in which it had been reported that a hymen existed. Cuvier,f on the contrary, represents that several mammalia have a distinct membranous fold at the entrance of the vagina, and others a decided contrac- tion in the same situation. It is not so easy to explain the use or purpose of this membrane, as to establish the fact of its existence. This little fold has in- deed completely puzzled the physico-theologists, who have as yet assigned no rational explanation of it. The moral purposes al- luded to by HallerjI are quite unintelligible in our own species ; and are still more inapplicable to the case of brutes. * QZuvrcs, i. 102. t De G. H. Var. Nat. Lect. i. § 8. X He states, on the authority of Steli.er, that the northern manati has a strong semilunar fold at the orifice of the vagina, contracting the entrance of that canal; that the mare and ass have a similar structure ; and that in the ouistiti (simia jacchus,) the marikina (S. rosalia,) and the coaita (S. pmiscus,) there are two lateral semilunar folds, leaving between a perpendicular slit. Ir, the otter, dog, cat, and ruminants, he found a constricted circle. In the brow £ bear there was a thick lip-like fold of the internal membrane, reducing the en- trance of the vagina to a simple transverse slit; and the hyena exhibited a.i analogous structure. A young hyrax had a very distinct circular hymen. Lee. d'Anat Comp. t. V. p. 131—2. || " Vix tamen dubites, cum solo in nomine sit repertus, etiam ad morales fines ei esse concessum signum pudicitne, quo et vitium illatum cognoscatu;, et pura virgo decus suum possit tueri, et ipse maritus de castitate sponsa- facile convincatur, eo facilius, quod praterea in illibata virgine vagina angusta sit. Etsi enim possit fieri ut parvus, ut laxus sit hymen, atque prima venus iiliquan- do absque sanguine absolvatur, neque hymen rumpatur ; etsi artificio porro in parum pudica femina sanguis possit elici: etsi tenerae virgines aliquando etiam in altero coitu sanguinem reddunt, et menses fluentes vaginam laxant; tamen in universum debet prima venus cruenta esse, eoque signo pudor virgin- eus adseri, cum vix possit plena venus obtineri, quin superior margo partis ma- joris hymenis laceretur. Quare et Mosaicae leges, et multorum populorum coasuetudo, hoc signum eervatse castitatis et requirunt et ostentant, et de ex- 178 VAGINA, HYMEN- The ciltoris and the nymphae have been supposed peculiar to the human female, as well as the hymen ; the latter, indeed, are generally absent in the mammalia; but Blumenbach* informs us that a lemur, which he kept alive for many years, had them very closely resembling the human. The clitoris seems to be universally found in the mammalia : it is very large in the monkey kind, and in the carnivora; and Blumenbacht saw it of the size of a fig in a balaena boops stranded on the coast of Holland. emplis in virginibus retiam pene trigenariis certus sum, quae insignem in pri- ma venere sanguinis jacturam sunt passe." Elem. Physiol, lib. 28. leot. 2. § 27. * Lib. cit. p. 21. t Lio. cit. p. 21. THE HUMAN ANIMAL ECONOMY. 179 CHAPTER VII. Peculiarities in the Animal Economy of the Human Species—gene- ral extension over the Globe.—Man Naturally omnivorous—his long infancy and slow developement—hence suited to the social state. In the diversity of the regions which he is capable of inhabit- ing, the lord of the creation holds the first place among animals. His frame and nature are stronger and more flexible than those of any other creature; hence he can dwell in all situations on the surface of the globe. The neighborhood of the pole and the equator,' high mountains and deep valleys, are occupied by him 1 his strong but pliant body bears cold, heat, moisture, light or heavy air ; he can thrive any where, and runs into less remarka- ble varieties than any other animals which occupy so great a di- versity of abodes :—a prerogative so singular, that it must not be overlooked. The situations occupied by our species in the present times ex- tend as far as the known surface of the earth. The Greenlander and Eskimau have reached between 70° and 80° of North lati- tude, and Danish settlements have been formed in Greenland in the same high latitude. Three Russians lived between six and seven years on Spitsbergen, between 77° and 78° North latitude.* The negro lives under the equator; and all America is inhabited even to Tierra del Fuego. Thus we find that man can exist and * Dr. Aikis on the attempts to winter in high Northern latitudes : Manches- ter Society's Memoirs ; v. i. p. 96. ISO peculiarities in propagate his species in the hottest and coldest countries of the earth. The greatest natural cold ascertained by thermometrical measurement was that experienced by the elder Gmelin in 1735, at Jeniseik: the mercury froze in the thermometer.* The spar- rows and jays were all killed. When Pallas was at Krasnoiarsk, the quicksilver also froze in the ball of the thermometer; and a large mass of pure mercury froze in the open air.t Our own countrymen experienced apparently as severe a degree of cold on the Churchill River in Hudson's Bay. Brandy was frozen in the rooms where they had fire.?.J Yet the Canadian savages and the Eskimaux go to the chase in this temperature ; and the inhabi- tants of the countries visited by Gmelin and Pallas cannot remain in their houses all the winter. Even Europeans accustomed to warmer climates, can undergo such cold as I have just mentioned, with impunity, if they take exercise enough. The Danes have lived in Greenland in 72° N. L.; and the Dutch, under H eemskerk, wintered at Nova Zembla in 76° N. L. Some of them perished ; but those who moved enough, and were in good health at first, withstood the dreadful cold, which the polar bear, (ursus mariti- mus) apparently born for these climes, seems to have been inca- pable of supporting : for their journal states, that as soon as the sun sinks below the horizon, the cold is so intense that the bears are no longer seen, and the white fox (isatis, canis lagopus) alone braves the weather.|| We have another example, in which three men remained between six and seven years in 7S° N. L.§ The power of the human body to withstand severe cold will appear in a more remarkable light, when we observe what heat it is capable of bearing. Boerhaave asserted, that a temperature * Flora Sibirica; Pref t Travels in Russia ; pi. 3. X Philos. Trans. No. 465. || Voy. de la Comp. des hides; pi. 1. A short account of the voyage is given by Mr. Barrow, in his Chronological History of Voyages into the Arc- tic Regions, chap. II. The polar star disappeared, and the white foxes wero seen in great numbers, as soon as the sun set: when it rose again, the foxes went away, and the bears returned. § Dr. Aikijj, as above quoted. THE HUMAN ANIMAL ECONOMY. 181 of from 96° to 100° would be fatal to man. The mean tempera- ture of Sierra Leone is 84° Fahr.: Messrs. Watt and Winter- bottom saw the thermometer frequently at 100°, and even 102° and 103° j(in the shade,) at some distance from the coast.* Adan- son saw it at 108£° in the shade at Senegal in 17° N. L.f: and Buffon cites an instance of its being seen at 117£°. The coun- try to the west of the Great Desert may be still hotter than Sen- egal, from the effect of the winds which have swept over the whole tract of its burning sands. When the sirocco blows in Si- cily, the thermometer rises to 112°, according to Brydone. Dr. Chalmers observed a heat of 115° in South Carolina in the shade :J and Humboldt, of 110° to 115° in the Llanos or deserti near the Orinoco in South America.|| Thus man can support all possible degrees of atmospherical heat and cold : he has an equal power of supporting varieties of pressure. The ordinary pressure of the air, at the level of the sea, may be reckoned at 32,325 lbs. for the whole surface of the body, supposing the barometer at 30 inches. If we ascend to a height of 12,000 feet, of which elevation extensive tracts, inhabited by thousands, are found in South America, the barometer stands at 20] inches, and the pressure is 21,750 lbs. Condamine and Bououer, with their attendants, lived three weeks at a height of 2434 toises, or 14,604 French feet, where the barometer stood at 15 in. 9 lines, and the pressure must consequently have been 16,920 lbs.§ In the Peruvian territory, extensive plains occur possessing an altitude of 9000 feet; and three-fifths of the vice- royalty of Mexico, comprehending the interior provinces, present a surface of half a million of square miles, which runs nearly level at an elevation between 6000 and 8000 feet. Mexico is 7475, and Quito 9550 feet above the level of the sea. The hamlet of Anti- sana, 13,500 feet above that level, is the highest inhabited spot on the surface of our globe ; but Humboldt ascended Chimbora- * Winterbottom's Account of the Native Africans ; v. i. p. 32—3. t Voy. au Sine"gal. X On the Weather and Diseases of South Carolina. || Tableau Physique des Regions Equatoriates. § Mim. de VAcad. des Sciences, ann6e 1774 ; p 262—<3. W Jg2 MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. co, to 19,300 feet.* There are no instances of men living under a pressure much greater than what has been mentioned : the depths, to which the earth has been penetrated, in the operations of mining, are trifling in this point of view. In diving, however, the body is subject to, and can bear, several atmospheres; as, on the contrary, in balloons, men have ascended beyond any point of elevation on the surface of the earth.t and have conse- quently been exposed to a much more considerable diminution of the ordinary pressure than what I have stated above. As the physical capabilities of his frame enable man to occupy every variety of climate, soil, and situation, it follows of necessity, that he must be omnivorous, that is, capable of deriving sufficient nourishment and support from all kinds of food. The power of living in various situations would be rendered nugatory by restric- tion to one kind of diet. If it was the design of nature, that the dreary wastes of Lap- land, the naked and barren shores of the Icy Sea, the ice-bound coasts of Greenland and Labrador, and the frightful deserts of Tierra del Fuego, should not be left entirely uninhabited, it is im- possible to suppose that either a vegetable or even a mixed diet is necessary to human subsis ence. How could roots, fruits, or oth- er vegetable productions be procured, where the bosom of the earth is closed the greater part of the year, and its surface either covered with many feet of snow, or rendered impenetrable by frost of equal depth ? Experience shows us that the constant use of animal food alone is as natural and wholesome to the Eski- maux, the Samoiedes, the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, &c. as the most careful admixture of vegetable and animal matters is to us. We even find that the Russians, who winter on Nova Zem- bla, are obliged to imitate the Samoiedes, by drinking fresh rein- * Tableau Phys.des RAgions Equatoriales ; and Tableaux de la Nature. t The height of 23,040 feet above the level of the sea, reached by M. Gay Lussac in his second ascent, although considerably higher than the summit of Chimboraco, may however be surpassed by some peaks of the Himmaleh moun- tains ; if the recent suppositions concerning their altitude should be hereafter verified. MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS, 183 deer blood, and eating raw flesh, in order to preserve their health. In the Memoir already quoted, Dr. Aikin informs us that these practices were found most conducive to health in those high northern latitudes. Hence, we shall be less surprised at finding men, in certain situations, living and enjoying health on what seem to us the most filthy and disgusting objects. The Green- lander and the inhabitant of the Archipelago between north-east- ern Asia and north-western America, eat the whale, often with- out waiting for cookery. The former bury a seal when they catch one, under the grass in summer, and the snow in winter, and eat the half-frozen, half-putrid flesh with as keen a relish as the European finds in his greatest dainties. They drink the blood of the seal while warm, and eat dried herrings moistened with whale oil.* In the torrid zone, on the contrary, circumstances are very un- favorable to raising and supporting those flocks and herds of do- mesticated animals, which would be necessary to supply the nu- merous population with animal food. The number, fierceness, and strength of beasts of prey, the periodical alternations of rains and inundations, with the long-continued operation of a vertical sun, whose direct rays dry up all succulent vegetables and all fluids, are the principal and insurmountable obstacles. The defi- cient supply of flesh is most abundantly compensated by numer- ous and valuable vegetable presents ; by the cocoa-nut, the plan- tain, the banana, the sago-tree ; by the potato, yam, cassava, and other roots; by maize, rice, and millet; and by an infinite diver- sity of cooling and refreshing fruits. By these precious gifts na- ture has pointed out to the natives of hot climates the most suita- ble kind of nourishment: here, accordingly, a vegetable diet is found most grateful and salubrious, and animal food much less wholesome. In the temperate regions of the globe, ail kinds of animal food can be easily procured, and nearly all descriptions of grain, roots, fruit, and other vegetable matters ; and, when taken in modera- tion, all afford wholesome nourishment. Here, therefore, man * Cranz, Gcsch. von Gronland. 184 MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. appears in his omnivorous character. As we pass from these middle climes towards the poles, animal matters are more and more exclusively taken : towards the equator, cooling fruits and other produce of the earth constitute a greater and greater share of human diet. The diversity of substances composing the catalogue of human aliments* offers a strong contrast to the simple diet of most other animals, which, in their wild state, are confined to one kind of food, either animal or vegetable, and are often restricted to some very small part of either kingdom. Hence it has been con- ceived that man also ought to confine himself to one sort, that he probably did so in his natural state, and that the present variety in his bill of fare is the consequence of degeneration or departure from nature. The question of the natural food of man has there- fore, been much agitated. * To this long list, which, already comprehending most of the substances in the two organic kingdoms of nature, so fully justifies us in denominating man an omnivorous animal, we have to add, (.n the authority of recent trials in Germany, the wood of various trees. The ligneous fibres of the beech, birch, lime, poplar, elms, fir, and probably others, when dried, ground, and sifted, so as to form an impalpable powder, like coarse flour, are not only capable of af- fording wholesome nourishment to man or animals, but even with some ad- mixtures, and some culinary skill, constitute very palatable articles of food. If cold water be poured on some wood flour, inclosed in a fine linen bag, it becomes milky, and considerable pressing or kneading is required to wash out from the flour all the starch-like matter it contains. Like starch, this matter slowly subsides in cold water ; and it forms, when boiled with water, a thick tenacious paste, which will firmly agglutinate the leaves of pasteboard. The following publications have appeared on the subject: viz. Oberlech- ner, Ars fabricandi Frumentum verum ; Salzburg, 1805. Wie kann man sick bey grosser Thuerung und Hungersnoth ohne Getried gesundes Brod vcrschaf- fen? Salzburg, 1816. Autenrieth, Grilndliche Anleitung zur Brod-zuberei- tung,aus Holz; Stuttgard, 1817. The last work, by professor Autenrieth of Tubingen, analysed in the Salz- burg Medicinish-chirurgische Zeitung, 1817, v. 3. No. 56. The bark of trees has been long occasionally used as a substitute in times of scarcity, for other food. Professor Von Buch has described the preparation and effects of the Norwegian Barke Brbd, which seems, however, a very im- perfect and unwholesome kind of nutriment.—Travels through Norway and Lapland, p. 87. MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. 185 The nature of an animal is only to be learned by an observa- tion of structure, actions, and habits. From the powerful fangs and jaws, the tremendous talons, the courage, and the vast muscu- lar strength of the lion, and his constant practice of attacking living prey, we pronounce his nature to be ferocious, predatory, and carnivorous. From evidence of the same sort, we determine the nature of the hare to be mild, timid, and herbivorous. In a similar way we conclude man to be naturally omnivorous ; find- ing that he has instruments capable of procuring, masticating, and digesting all descriptions of food, and that he can subsist in health and strength on flesh or vegetables only, or on a mixture of both. It is alleged in reply, that man in society is artificial and de- generate ; and the object of inquiry is stated to be, what does he feed on before civilization, in his original unsophisticated condi- tion 1 Generally on animal food, the produce of the chase or the fishery; because vegetable food cannot be obtained in sufficient certainty and abundance, until something like settled habits of life have begun, until the arts, at least that of agriculture, have commenced. If the rudest barbarism be the most natural state of man, the New Hollanders, and the inhabitants of Van Die- man's Land, are the most unexceptionable specimens; raised, and but just raised above the level of brutes. These savages are very thinly scattered, in small numbers, and at wide intervals, along the coasts of the great Austral Continent; and derive their support from the sea. They are not, however, pure icthyopha- gists, as they sometimes get a kangaroo, a bird, or a few roots, and sometimes the large larvae of an insect from the bark of the dwarf gum tree (eucalyptus resinifera :) sometimes they mix their roots with ants, and their larva? into a paste.* The individuals whom we send to New South Wales are not the best specimens of our iron age ; yet they are far beyond those children of nature, in physical and moral attributes. * Collins, Account of the English Colony in New South Wales ; Appendix, No. 4. Their habitations, if that name be deemed applicable to a hole in a tree or rock, or to a piece of bark stripped from a single tree, bent and laid on the ground ; and the rest of their domestic and social economy, as pourtrayed in the same work ; are quite in unison with their bill of fare. 186 MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS, The Greenlanders, the Rurilian and Aleutian islanders, the wandering hordes of Asia, and the hunting tribes of Noith Amer- ica, are perhaps too much civilized to be admitted as examples of natural man : they are all carnivorous If the practices of savage and barbarous people are to be the criterion, we must deem it natural to eat earth. " The Ottoma- ques," says Humboldt,* " on the banks of the Meta and the Ori- noco, feed on a fat unctuous earth, or a species of pipe-clay, tinged with a little oxyd of iron. They collect this clay very carefully, distinguishing it by the taste: they knead it into balls of four or six inches in diameter, which they bake slightly before a slow fire. Whole stacks of such provisions are seen piled up in their huts. These clods are soaked in water when about to be used ; and each individual eats about a pound of the material every day. The only addition, which they occasionally make to this unnatural fare, consists in small fish, lizards, and fern roots. The quantity of clay that the Ottomaques consume, and the greediness with which they devour it, seem to prove that it does more than merely distend their hungry stomachs, and that the or- gans of digestion have the power of extracting from it something convertible into animal substance." The same practice has been observed in other places.t Is it a just point of view to regard the savage state exclusively as the state of nature ? Is civilization to be considered as op- posed to and incompatible with the nature of man ? A power of improvement, of advancement in arts and sciences, that is, the capability of civilization, or perfectibility, as it has sometimes been called, is recognised in all human beings : its de- gree is very various in individuals and races. All have lived in society, which strongly tends to promote and assist the develope- * " Tab. Phys. des Regions Equatoriales." t " I saw one man, whose stomach was also well lined, but who, in our pres- ence, ate a piece of steatite, which was very soft, of a greenish colour, and twice as large as a man's fist. We afterwards saw a number of others eat of the same earth, whicli serves to allay the sensation of hunger by filling the sto- mach."—Labillardiere, Voy. in search of La Peyrocse, v. 2. p. 214. MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. 187 ment of this power. Social life and progressive civilization, in- stead of being unnatural to man, are therefore parts, and very val- uable parts of his nature, as much as the erect stature and speech ; as much as ferocity and solitary life are the nature of predacious animals, or mildness and herding together are of many herbivo- rous ones. It is as much the nature of man to form societies, to build up political associations, to cultivate arts and sciences, to spread himself over the globe, and avail himself of both organ- ized kingdoms for his support, as it is that of the bee and ant to establish their communities, to gather honey and lay up provi- sions, or that of any other animals to perform the actions by which they are respecttively characterized. These considerations lead to the conclusion, that progressive advance and developement, and the employment of all kinds of food, are as natural to man, as stationary uniformity and restric- tion to one species of aliment are to any animals. In discussing this question, we sometimes meet with positions respecting the influence of animal or vegetable diet on the devel- opement of the bodily and mental powers, which are quite unsup- ported by direct proof; and some have even sought for a support to their systems in the fictions of poetry. " The Pythagorean diet," says Buffon, " though extolled by ancient and modern philosophers, and even recommended by certain physicians, was never indicated by nature. If man were obliged to abstain totally from flesh, he would not, at least in our climates, either exist or multiply. An entire abstinence from flesh can have no effect but to enfeeble nature. To preserve him- self in proper plight, man requires not only the use of this solid nourishment, but even to vary it. To obtain complete vigor, he must choose that species of food which is most agreeable to his constitution ; and as he cannot preserve himself in a state of ac- tivity, but by procuring new sensations, he must give his senses their full stretch, and eat a variety of meats, to prevent the dis- gust arising from an uniformity of nourishment." We are told on the other hand, that in the golden age man avus as innocent as the dove ; his food was acorns ; and his beverage, pure water from the fountain. Finding every-where abundant subsistence, he felt no anxieties, but lived independent, and always 188 MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. in peace, both with his own species and the other animals. But he no sooner forgot his native dignity, and sacrificed his liberty to the bonds of society, than war and the iron age succeeded that of gold and of peace. Cruelty and an insatiable appetite for flesh and blood were the first fruits of a depraved nature, the cor- ruption of which was completed by the invention of manners, arts, and sciences. Either immediately, or remotely, all the physical and moral evil, by which individuals are afflicted, and society laid waste, arose from these carnivorous practices. Both these representations are contradicted by the only crite- rion in such questions, an appeal to experience. That animal food renders man strong and courageous, is fully disproved by the inhabitants of northern Europe and Asia, the Laplanders, Sa- moiedes, Ostiacs, Tungooses, Burats, and Ramtschadales, as well as by the Eskimauxin the northern, and the natives of Tierra del Fuego in the southern extremity of America ; which are the smallest, weakest, and least brave people of the globe, although they live almost entirely on flesh, and that often raw. Vegetable diet is as little connected with weakness and cow- ardice as that of animal matters is with physical force and cour- age. That men can be perfectly nourished, and their bodily and mental capabilities be fully developed in any climates by a diet purely vegetable, admits of abundant proof from experience. In the periods of their greatest simplicity, manliness, and bravery, the Greeks and Romans appear to have lived almost entirely on plain vegetable preparations: indifferent bread fruits, and other produce of the earth, are the chief nourishment of the mod- ern Italians, and of the mass of the population in most countries of Europe : of those more immediately known to ourselves, the Irish and Scotch may be mentioned ; who are certainly not ren- dered weaker than their English fellow-subjects by their freer use of vegetable aliment. The Negroes, whose great bodily powers are well known, feed chiefly on vegetable substances; and the same is the case with the South-Sea Islanders, whose agility and strength were so great, that the stoutest and most expert English sailors had no chance with them in wrestling and boxing. The representations of the Pythagoreans respecting the noxious and debilitating effects of animal food, are, on the other hand, MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. 189 the mere offspring of imagination. We have not the shadow of a proof, unless we admit Ovid's Metamorphoses and other poet- ical compositions, that this state of innocence, of exalted temper- ance, of entire abstinence from flesh, of perfect tranquillity, of profound peace, ever existed, or that it is more than a fable, de- signed to convey moral instruction. If the experience ef every individual were not sufficient to convince him that the use of ani- mal food is quite consistent with the greatest strength of body and most exalted energy of mind, this truth is proclaimed by the voice of all history. A few hundreds of Europeans hold in bon- dage the vegetable-eating millions of the East. If the Romans, in their earliest state, employed a simple vegetable diet, their glo- rious career went on uninterruptedly after they had become more carnivorous: we see them winding their way, from a beginning so inconsiderable that it is lost in the obscurity of fable, to the em- pire of the world : we see them, by the power of intellect, estab- lishing that dominion, which they had acquired by the sword, and producing such compositions in poetry, oratory, philosophy, and history, as are at once the admiration and despair of succeeding ages : we see our own countrymen rivalling them in arts and in arms, exhibiting no less signal bravery in the field and on the ocean ; and displaying in a Milton and Shakspeare, in a New- ton, Bacon, and Locke, in a Chatham, Erskine, and Fox, no less mental energy. Yet, with these proofs before their eyes, men are actually found who would have us believe on the faith of some insulated, exaggerated, and misrepresented facts, and still more miserable hypotheses, that the developement, form, and powers of the body are impaired and lessened, and the intellectual and moral faculties injured and perverted, by animal food. On this subject of diet, a question naturally presents itself, whether man approaches most nearly to the carnivorous or herbivorous tribes in his structure 1 What kind of food should we assign to him if we judged from his organization merely, and the analogy it presents to that of other mammalia ? Physiolo- gists have usually represented that our species holds a middle rank, in the masticatory and digestive apparatus, between the flesh-eating and the herbivorous animals ;—a statement which seems rather to have been deduced from what we have learned by x 190 MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS experience on this subject, than to result fairly from an actual comparison of man and animals. The molar teeth, being the instruments employed in dividing and preparing the food, must exhibit, in figure and construction, a relation to the nature of the aliment. They rise, in the true carnivora, into sharp-pointed prominences ; and those of the low- er shut within those of the upper jaw ;—when the series is viewed together, the general outline may be compared to the teeth of a saw. These animals are also furnished with long, pointed, and strong cuspidati or canine teeth, which are employed as weapons of offence and defence, and are very serviceable in seizing and lacerating their prey; they constitute in some animals, as the lion, tiger, &c very formidable weapons. The herbivorous ani- mals are not armed with these terrible canine teeth ; their mo- lares have broad flat surfaces, opposed in a vertical line to each other in the two jaws. Plates of enamel are intermixed with the bone of the tooth in the latter ; and, as its superior hardness makes it wear less rapidly than the other textures of the teeth, it appears on the grinding surface in rising ridges, wliich must greatly increase the triturating effect. In carnivorous animals the ena- mel is confined altogether to the surface of the teeth. The articulation of the lower jaw differs in the two cases as much as the structure of the teeth. In the carnivora it can only move backwards and forwards ; all lateral motion being pre- cluded by the rising edges of the glenoid cavity : in the herbivora it has, moreover, motion from side to side. Thus we observe, in the flesh-eaters, teeth calculated only for tearing, subservient, in part at least, to the procuring of food, as well as to purposes of defence ; and an articulation of the lower jaw, that precludes all lateral motion. In those which live on vegetables, the form of the teeth and the nature of the joint are calculated for the lateral or grinding motion. The former, having rudely torn and divided the food, swallow it in masses, while in the latter it undergoes considerable comminution before it is swallowed. The teeth of man have not the slightest resemblance to those of the carnivorous animals, except that their enamel is confined to the external sur- face. He possesses, indeed, teeth called canine, but they do not MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. 191 exceed the level of the others, and are obviously unsuited to the purposes which the corresponding teeth execute in carnivorous animals. The obtuse tubercles of the human molares have not the most remote resemblance to the pointed projections of these teeth in carnivorous animals: they are as clearly distinguished from the flat crowns with intermixed enamel of the herbivorous molares. In the freedom of lateral motion, however, the human inferior maxilla more nearly resembles that of the herbivora. The teeth and jaws of man are in all respects much more simi- lar to those of monkeys, than of any other animals. A skull, ap- parently of the orang-utang in the Museum of the College, has the first set of teeth ;—the number is the same as in man, and the form so closely similar, that they might easily be mistaken for hu- man. In most other simia? the canine teeth are much longer and stronger than in us; and so far these animals have a more carniv- orous character. The points and ridges of the molares in simiee are distinguished by their sharpness from the peculiar obtuse tu- bercles of the human molares. The length and divisions of the alimentary canal are very dif- ferent according to the kind of food. In the proper carnivorous animals the canal is very short ;* the large intestine cylindrical, and the caecum, not larger than the rest. The form of the sto- mach and the dispositions of its openings are calculated to allow a quick passage of the food. In the herbivora, the whole canal is long ;t and there is either a complicated stomach, or a very large caecum and a sacculated colon: the stomach, even where simple, is so formed as to retain the food for a considerable time. In comparing the length of the intestines to that of the body, in man and other animals, a difficulty arises on account of the legs, which are included in the measurement of the body in the * The length of the body, in a straight line from the snout to the anus, com- pared to that of the intestines, varies in the carnivora, according to Cuvier, from 1 : 3 to 1: 5. 8; excepting the hyaena, where it is as 1 : ti.3. " Lee. d'Anat. Comp." iii. 450. t In the ruminantia, the comparative lengths of the body and intestines vary between 1 : 11 and 1: 28; in the solipeda, between 1: 8 and 1 : 10 Ibid. 453 and 4 192 MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. former, and not in the latter. The great depth of the cranium in man makes a further addition to the length of body, and there- by diminishes the proportion which the intestine bears to it. As our legs are half the height of the body, that should be reduced one half, when it is compared to that of animals measured from the head to the anus ; or the length of the intestines may be doubled. When allowance is made for this circumstance, man will be placed nearly on the same line with the monkey race, and will be removed to a considerable distance from the proper car- nivora. Soemmerring* states that the intestinal canal of man va- ries from three to eight times the length of the body. In Tyson's chimpanse of twenty-six inches, the canal measured one hundred and fifty-nine inches, or about six times the length of the body.t In two sapajous and two monkeys, the intestines were respective- ly 62 and 96 inches ; as the body is said in nil to have been about 14 inches from the head to the anus, its proportion to the intes- tines will be in the former as 1: 4T\, in the latter as 1 : 6-ff.J From these as well as other instances, it is apparent that the com- parative length of the alimentary canal in simiae, is less than in man.|| * " De Corp. Hum. Fab." t. 6. p. 200. f " Anat. of a Pygmie," p. 31. J "'Memoires pour servir a l'Hist. Nat. des Animaux," 4to. part ii. p. 225. || The body, from the snout to the anus, is to the intestines, in the Gibbon (S. Lar,) as 1—8 Sajou (Cercopithecus) .... i—6 Coaita (S. Paniscus) .... i—(53 Patas (S. Patas) ..... j—6.5 Callitriche (S. Sabaea) .... j_6 Malbrouk (S. Sinica) .... j—g Macaque (S. Cynomolgus) ... \—6.7 Magot (Barbary Ape, S. Inuus) ... 1—54 Mandril (Ribbed-nose Baboon, S. Maimon) - 1—8.2 Cuvier, Lcc. d'Anat. Comp.'m. 448. If we take- the measurement of Soemmerring, and double the length of the intestines, in consequence of the legs being included, the proportion will be in man from 1: 6 to 1: 1C. If the valvulas conniventes are peculiar to man this peculiarity will be equivalent to a considerable increase of length in the canal. MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. 193 The form of the stomach and caecum, and the structure of the whole canal, are very much alike in man and the monkey kind. The orangs (S. satyrus, troglodytes, and gibbon) have the ap- pendix vermifermis, which the others want. Thus we find, that, whether we consider the teeth and jaws, or the immediate instruments of digestion, the human structure close- ly resembles that of the simia; ; all of which, in their natural state, are completely herbivorous.* Man possesses a tolerably large caecum, and a cellular colon, which, I believe, are not found in any carnivorous animal. I do not infer from these circumstances that man is designed by nature to feed on vegetables, or that it would be more advan- tageous to him to adopt that diet. The hands and the arts of man procure for him the food which carnivorous animals earn by their teeth. The processes of cookery bring what he eats into a different state from that in which it is employed either by carni- vorous or herbivorous animals. Hence the analogy in the modes of procuring and preparing food is too loose for us to place much confidence in the results of these comparative views. We must *Mr. Abel's orang-utang appears to have naturally preferred fruit: he yielded on ship-board to the temptation of meat, and seems to have quickly become as carnivorous as his companions. " His food in Java was chiefly fruit, especially mangostans, of which he was excessively fond. He also sucked eggs with voracity : and often employed himself in seeking them. Onboard ship, liisdiet was of no definite kind. He ate readily all kinds of meat, and especially raw meat; was very fond of bread, but always preferred fruits when he could obtain them." " Journey in China ;'■ p. 325. At present (December 1H18) his diet is vegetable, both from his own choice, and because it agrees much best with him. Of some species of South-American simiaj it is incidentally mentioned by Humboldt, that they live on fruits; " Recueil d'Obs. de Zoologie," &c. p. 20b, of the S. trivirgata ; p. 313, of the S. chiropotus ;. p. 318, of the S, me- lanocephala. It appears that some will occasionally take animal food, p. 320, and that the Titi (S. sciruea) will eat insects as well as fruits, p. 332. This little animal immediately distinguished, in some plates of natural history, the insects on which it had been accustomed to prey from other similar objects. 194 MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. trust to experience alone for elucidating the great problem of diet: its decision has been long ago pronounced, and will hardly now be reversed. It is again a different inquiry, which diet is on the whole most conducive to health and strength ? Which is best calculated to avert or remove disease 1 Whether errors in quantity or quality are most pernicious ? The solution of these and other analogous questions can only be expected from experimental investigation. Mankind are so averse to relinquish their favorite indulgencies, and to desert established habits, that we cannot entertain very san- guine expectations of any important discovery in this department: we must add to this, that there are many other causes affecting human health, besides diet. Before venturing to draw any infer- ences on a subject beset with so many obstacles, it would be en- cessary to observe the effects of a purely animal and a purely vegetable diet on several individuals of different habits, pursuits, and modes of life ; to note their state, both bodily and mental; and to learn the condition of two or three generations fed in the same manner. Recurring to the subject which has been already adverted to— the extension of the great human family over the whole habitable globe, let us inquire a little into the causes of a phenomenon which so remarkably distinguishes man from all animals ;—this power of existing and multiplying in every latitude, and in every variety of situation and climate. Does it arise from plvysical en" dowments, from any particular capabilities of the human organ- ization,—from strength and flexibility of the animal machinery ? or from the effects of human art and contrivance, in affording protection from extremes of heat and cold, from winds and rain, from vapours and exhalations, and the other destructive influences of local situation? Is it, in short, the result of physical consti- tution, or of reason. I think that both these causes are concern- ed ;—that the original source of an attribute, which so strikingly characterizes our species, is to be sough in the properties of the human frame ; and that this original power of the bodily fabric is assisted and fully developed by the mental prerogatives of man. In what way do the Greenlander, the Eskimau, and the Cana- THE HUMAN ANIMAL ECONOMY. 195 dian,* employ remarkable talents or invention to protect then> selves against the cold ? They brave the winter with open breast and uncovered limbs ; and devour their whales and seals, drest, raw, or putrid. The Negrot is healthy and strong under a verti- cal sun, with the soles of his feet bare on the burning sands. On the other hand, the fox, the beaver, the marmot, and the hamster, seek the shelter of dwellings which they dig for themselves. In this comparison, in respect to protection from external influences, man enjoys no peculiar privilege. The mind, indeed, empluys the excellent structure of the body, lifts man above the rest of the creation, accommodates him to all places, gives him iron, fire and arms, furs and screens from the sun, &c.; but, with all this, could never make him what he now is, the inhabitant of all cli- mates, if he did not possess the most enduring and flexible corpo- real frame. The lower animals, in general, have no defence against the evils of a new climate, but for the force of nature. The arts of human ingenuity furnish a defence against the dan- gers that surround our species in every region. Accordingly, we see the same nation pass into all the climates of the earth ; reside whole winters near the pole ; plant colonies beneath the equator ; pursue their commerce, and establish their factories, in Africa, Asia, America. They can equally live under a burning sky and on an ice-bound soil, and inhabit regions where the hardiest ani- mals cannot exist. Such changes indeed ought not to be hazard- ed suddenly and without precaution. The greatest evils that have arisen from change of climate have been occasioned by * The Knisterneaux (situated north of the great lakes of Canada) often goto the chase in the severest frost, with ordinary slight clothing. Mackenzie, " Travels in North-America;" Preliminary Hist, of the Fur Trade, p. 94. Two Indians (Americans) slept on the snow in an ordinary light dress, when the thermometer at run-rise was 40 below 0. The man suffered no inconve- nience : the boy had his feet frozen, but they were recovered by cold water. Lewis and Clarke's Travels, 4to. p. 112. t The women and children on the coast of Sierra Leone wear nothing on their heads, either in rain or sunshine. The mean heat is only 84°; but the thermometer rises in the sun to 130 or 140. " Wisterbottom on the Native Africans," v. 1. p. 3»v 196 PECULIARITIES IN the presumption of health, that refuses to use the necessary pre- cautions, or by the neglect of ignorance, that knows not what pre- cautions to use. But when changes are gradually and prudently effected, habit soon accommodates the constitution to a new situ- ation, and human ingenuity discovers the means of guarding against the dangers of every season and of every climate. The superiority of man appears more striking, when we con- trast his universal extension with the narrow limits to which other animals, even the most anthropo-morphnus, are confined. The whole tribe of simia?, are nearly included within the tropics ;* and no species has any considerable range even within these boun- daries. No species is comm.i.i to the Old and the New World; none, probably, to Asia and Africa. The orang-utang seems to be only found in the island of Borneo: and the chimpanse in a district of Africa. The gibbon is peculiar to the East Indies: and the proboscis monkey (simia rostrata) to the Sunda Isles. The two most man-like monkeys (S satyrus and troglodytes,) inhabiting small districts of warm regions, are very inconsidera- ble species in number; and thus offer a strong contrast to the thousand millions of the human species. They are subject to nu- merous diseases; lose all their vivacity, strength, and natural character; and perish, after lingering in a miserable way, when removed from their native abodes. An orang-utang brought to Paris, never recovered the exposure to cold in crossing the Pyre- nees, and died at the age of fifteen months, with most of the vis- cera diseased and tuberculated.t The monkeys in general exist with difficulty in temperate countries, and can propagate only in warm climates. One which was impregnated in England, and attended with all possible care, brought forth a young one, which died immediately.^ Probably the species could not be continued here, with all the aid of art: and it certainly could not be effect- ed, if the animals were wild. When they are introduced into the north (indeed into the greater part) of Europe, and carefully man- * The simia inuus, or Barbary ape, has been transplanted from Africa to the rock of Gibraltar. t Annates du Musium, t. 1G. p. 53. t Hunter on the Animal Economy, p. 137. THE HUMAN ANIMAL ECONOMY. 197 aged in their food, temperature, &c. they die very quickly; and in almost all cases, of disease in the viscera, particularly the lungs. Other animals, as the polar bear, naturally constructed for cold, cannot subsist in warmer regions. The dog accompanies man every where ; but, with all the protection and assistance afforded by his master, degenerates, and undergoes remarkable changes, both of bodily structure and other properties, in very warm and very cold regions. Other circumstances in the human economy correspond with this power of adaptation ; such are the slow growth, long infancy, and late puberty of man. In no animal but man do the su- tures of the cranium close, or the teeth come out at so late a peri- od : none is so long before it can support the body on the legs, before it arrives at the complete adult stature and capacity for ex- ercising the sexual functions. The long infancy of our species is compensated by proportionate longevity : no other of the mammalia, of corresponding size, enjoys so long a life as man. As the duration of life is in proportion to the time spent in arriv- ing at the full growth, there is every reason to suppose that the monkeys fall very short of man in this respect: in this climate they are cut off so quickly, that we cannot form a judgment. If we add to the foregoing circumstances, jthat man is not pro- vided by nature with means of defence, and, consequently, re- quires assistance; and that his great distinctions, reason and speech, are only germs which are not developed by themselves, but are brought to maturity by extraneous assistance, cultivation, and ed- ucation, we shall infer that he is designed, by nature, for social union. Such a condition appears more consonant to the struc- ture, properties, and functions of our frame, even if it were not supported by the concurring voice of actual experience in all ages and nations, than the imaginary and most absurdly named l\state of nature" of some philosophers. Rousseau, the great apostle of this doctrine, informs us, in direct words, that the state of nature never has existed : and he sets aside all facts as foreign to the question. With these admissions before us, we are required to believe that we have degenerated from our natural state ; that Y 198 PECULIARITIES IN speech, society, arts, inventions, sciences, agriculture, commerce, property, civil government, and inequality of condition, have in- troduced all possible misery, and have debilitated our physical being; that we should live in the woods scattered and solitary to get food enough, protect life by flight and force, satisfy our de- sires, and sleep. Buffon has reasoned so well on this subject, that I employ his words: " In this condition of nature, the first education requires an equal time as in the civilized state; for in both, the infant is equally feeble and equally slow in its growth, and, consequently, demands the care of its parents during an equal period. In a word, if abandoned before the age of three years, it would infallibly perish. Now, this necessary and long- continued intercourse between mother and child is sufficient to communicate to it all that she possesses ; and though we should falsely suppose that a mother, in a state of nature, possesses nothing, not even the faculty of speech, would not this long inter- course with her infant produce a language 1 Hence, a state of pure nature, in which man is supposed neither to think nor speak, is imaginary, and never had an existence. This necessity of a long intercourse between parents and children produces society in the midst of a desert. The famdy understand each other by signs and sounds; and this first ray of intelligence, when cherish- ed, cultivated, and communicated, expands, in process of time, into the full splendour of reason and intellect. As this habitual intercourse could not subsist so long, without producing mutual signs and sounds, these, always repeated, and gradually en- graven on the memory of the child, would become permanent ex- pressions. The catalogue of words, though short, forms a lan- guage, which will soon extend as the family augments, and will follow, in its improvement, the progress of society. As soon as society begins to be formed, the education of the infant is no longer individual; since the parents communicate to it, not only what they derive from nature, but likewise what they have received from their progenitors, and from the society to which they belong. It is no longer a communication between detached indi- viduals, which, as in the animals, would be limited to the trans- mission of simple faculties, but an institution of which the THE HUMAN ANIMAL ECONOMY- 199 whole species participates, and whose produce constitutes the basis and bond of society."* The menstrual discharge is peculiar to women, and belongs to the whole sex in all couutries ; so that Pliny is right in regarding woman as the only " animal menstruale." " I know, indeed," says Blumenbach,t " that the same discharge has been ascribed to other animals, particularly of the order quadrumana. I have carefully inquired about all the female monkeys, which I have seen for these twenty years, either in menageries or carried about for public exhibition, and have found some of them liable to ute- rine hemorrhage which observed no period, and was regarded by the more intelligent keepers as a circumstance arising from dis- ease ; although they acknowledged, that, in order to excite the admiration of their visitors, they often represent it as true men- struation." The celebration of the rites of Venus is not confined in man, as in animals, to a particular season of the year. * Boffon by Wood, vol. 10. p. 30. t De G. II Var. Nat. p. 51, note. 300 DISTINCTIONS OF MAN CHAPTER VIII. Faculties of the Mind—Speech—Diseases—Recapitulation. All philosophers refer with one accord to the enjoyment of reason, as the chief and most important prerogative of the human species. If we inquire, however, more particularly into the mean- ing of this word, we shall be surprised to find what various senses different individuals affix to the same expression. According to some, reason is a peculiar faculty of the mind, belonging exclu- sively to man: others consider it as a more enlarged and com- plete developement of a power which exists, in a less degree, in other animals; some describe it as a combination of all the high- er faculties of the mind ; while others assert that it is only a pe- culiar direction of them. " Non nostrum inter hos tantas compo- nere lites." The subject may, perhaps, be more shortly and safely des- patched by considering it a posteriori. In order to acquire a clear and satisfactory notion of the mental nature of man and animals, it would be necessary for us to have as complete a knowledge of their internal movements, as we have of our own. But, as it is impossible to know what passes within them, or how to rank and estimate their sensations, in relation to those of man, we can only judge by comparing the effects which result from the natural ope- rations of both. Let us, therefore, consider these effects: and, while we ac- knowledge all the particular resemblances, we shall only examine IN MENTAL FACULTIES. 201 some of the most general distinctions. The most stupid man is able to manage the most alert and sagacious animal: he governs it, and makes it subservient to his purposes. This he effects, not so much by bodily strength or address, as by the superiority of his intellectual nature. He compels the animal to obey him, by his power of projecting and acting in a systematic manner. The strongest and most sagacious animals have not the capacity of commanding the inferior tribes, or of reducing them to a state of servitude. The stronger, indeed, devour the weaker ; but this action implies an urgent necessity only, and a voracious appetite ; qualities very different from that which produces a train of actions all directed to one common design. If animals be endowed with this faculty, why do not some of these assume the reins of gov- ernment over others, and force them to furnish their food, to watch for them, and to relieve the sick or wounded ? But among animals there is no mark of subordination, nor the least trace of any of them being able to recognize or feel a superiority in his nature above that of other species. We should therefore con- clude, that all animals are in this respect of the same nature, and that the nature of man is not only far superior, but likewise of a very different kind from that of the brute. Thrown on the surface of the globe, weak, naked, and defence- less, man appeared created for inevitable destruction. Evils as- sailed him on every side ; the remedies remained hidden. But he had received from his Creator the gift of inventive genius, which enabled him to discover them. His exertions were roused by the various wants of food, clothing, and dwelling,—by the infi- nite variety of climate, soil, and other circumstances:— ------Pater ipse colendi Haud facilem esse viam voluit; primusque par artem Movit agros; curis acuens mortalia corda. This prerogative of invention seemed so important in the earlier periods of society, that it has been honored with divine worship, as the Thoth of the Egyptians, the Hermes of the Greeks. " The first savages collected in the forests a few nourishing fruits, a few salutary roots, and thus supplied their most imme- 202 DISTINCTIONS OF MAN diate wants. The first shepherds observed that the stars move in a regular course, and made use of them to guide their journeys across the plains of the desert. Such was the origin of the mathematical and physical sciences. " Once convinced that it could combat nature by the means which she herself afforded, genius reposed no more ; it watched her without relaxation ; it incessantly made new conquests over her, all of them distinguished by some improvement in the situation of our race. " From that time, a succession of conducting minds, faithful depositories of the attainments abeady made, constantly occupied in connecting them, in vivifying them by means of each other, have conducted us, in less than forty ages, from the first essays of rude observers, to the profound calculations of Newton and La Place, to the learned classifications of Linneus and Jussieu. This precious inheritance, perpetually increasing, brought from Chaldea into Egypt, from Egypt into Greece, concealed during ages of disaster and darkness, recovered in more fortunate times, unequally spread among the nations of Europe, has every where been followed by wealth and power; the nations which have reaped it, are become the mistresses of the world ; such as have neglected it, are fallen into weakness and obscurity." * Man has made tools for assisting his labor ; and hence Franklin sagaciously defined him a " tool-making animal:" he has formed arms and weapons; he has devised various means of procuring fire. Lastly, " The most noble and profitable inven- tion of all others was that of speech; whereby men declare their thoughts one to another for mutual utility and conversation, without which there had been amongst men neither common- wealth nor society, no more than amongst lions, bears, and wolves,"t This is a most important characteristic of man; since it is not born with him, like the voices of animals, but has been framed and brought into use by himself, as the arbitrary variety of different languages incontestably proves. * Cuvier ; " Reflections on the Progress of the Sciences, &c." read at the Royal Institute of France, April 24.1816. t Hobbes ; " Leviathan." IN MENTAL FACULTIES. 203 Man exhibits, by external signs, what passes within him ; he communicates his sentiments by words; and this sign is univer- sal. The savage and the civilized man have the same powers of utterance ; both speak naturally, and are equally understood. It is not owing, as some have imagined, to any defect in their or- gans, that animals are denied the faculty of speech. The tongue of a monkey is as perfect as that of a man : Camper asserts that the laryngeal pouch renders it impossible for the orang-utang to speak. I do not clearly understand how this is ascertained ; but allowing its truth, there are other monkeys who have not this pouch, and yet cannot speak. Several animals may be taught to pronounce words, and even to repeat sentences ; which proves clearly that the want of speech is not owing to any defect in their organs: but to make them eonceive the ideas which these words express, is beyond the power of art: they articulate and repeat like an echo or machine. Language implies a train of thinking ; and for this reason brute animals are incapable of speech: for, though their external senses are not inferior to our own, and though we should allow some of them to possess a faint dawning of comparison, reflec- tion, and judgment, it is certain that they are unable to form that association of ideas in which alone the essence of thought con- sists. The possession of speech, therefore, corresponds to the more numerous, diversified, and exalted intellectual and moral endow- ments of man, and is a necessary aid to their exercise and full developement. The ruder faculties and simple feelings of ani- mals do not require such assistance. The natural language of inarticulate sounds, gestures, and actions, suffices for their pur- poses. The wonderful discovery of alphabetical writing, and the invention of printing, complete the benefits derived from the no- ble prerogative of speech. With the operations of animals,—who always perform the same Work in the very same manner ; the execution of any individual being neither better nor worse than that of any other; in whom the individual, at the end of some months, is what he will remain through life, and the species, after a thousand years, just what it was in the first year,—contrast the results of human industry and 204 DISTINCTIONS OF MAN invention, and the fruits of that perfectibility which characterizes both the species and individual. By the intelligence of man the animals have been subdued, tamed, and reduced to slavery : by his labours marshes have been drained, rivers confined, their cata- racts effaced, forests cleared, and the earth cultivated. By his reflection, time has been computed, space measured, the celestial motions recognised and represented, the heavens and the earth compared. He has not merely executed, but has executed with the utmost accuracy, the apparently impracticable tasks assigned him by the poet:— Go, wondrous creature ! mount where science guides; Weigh air, measure earth, and calculate the tides. By human art, which is an emanation of science, mountains have been overcome, and the seas have been traversed ; the pilot pursuing his course on the ocean, with as much certainty as if it had been traced for him bv engineers, and finding at each moment the exact point of the giuDe on which he is, by means of astro- nomical tables. Thus nations have been united; and a new world has been discovered, opening such a field for the unfettered and uncorrupted energies of our race, that the senses are confused, the mind dazzled, and judgment and calculation almost suspend- ed by the grandeur and brightness of the glorious and intermina- ble prospects. The whole face of the earth at present exhibits the works of human power, which, though subordinate to that of nature, often exceeds, at least, so wonderfully seconds her opera- tions, that, by the aid of man, her whole extent is unfolded, and she has gradually arrived at that point of perfection and magnifi- cence in which we now behold her. In the point of view which I have just considered, man stands alone : his faculties, and what he has effected by thorn, place him at a wide interval from all animals,—at an interval which no ani- mal hitherto known to us can fill up. The manlike monkey, the almost reasonable elephant, the docile dog, the sagacious beaver, the industrious bee, cannot be compared to him. In none of these instances is there any progress either in the individuals or the species. IN MENTAL FACULTIES. 205 In most of the feelings of which other individuals of the spe- cies are the subjects, and in all which come under the denomina- tion of moral sentiments, there is a marked difference between man and animals, and a decided inferiority of the latter. The attachment of the mother to the offspring, so long as its wants and feebleness require her aid and defence, seems as strong in the animal as in the human being, and bears equally in both, the char- acters of actions termed instinctive. Its duration is confined in the former case, even in social animals, to the period of helpless- ness ; and the animal instinct is not succeeded, as in man, by that continued intercourse of affection and kind offices, and those endearing relations, which constitute the most exalted pleasures of human life. Of courage, the animal kingdom offers many examples; and the moralists have celebrated the attachment of the dog to his master. It may be doubted whether he can find any instance of such feeling between animals themselves, excepting some cases of sexual unions. In general, they seem entirely destitute of sym- pathy with each other, indifferent to each other's sufferings or joys, and unmoved by the worst usage or acutest pangs of their fellows. Indeed, if we except some associated labours in the insect class, principally referring to the continuation of the species, and se- curing a supply of food, and some joint operations of the male and female in the higher classes, animals seem entirely incapa- ble of concert or co-operation for common purposes, of combining various exertions for the attainment of a common end. This ap- pears to arise from the limited nature and extent of their knowing and reflecting powers; to which, probably, we must refer their incapability of conceiving moral relations. Laughing and weeping are natural signs in man of certain mental affections, and probably are also peculiar to him ; ani- mals are not susceptible of the emotions or states of mind indi- cated by these external signs. That many animals besides man secrete tears is well known ; but whether they weep from grief, is doubtful: yet respect- ble witnesses have represented that they do so. Steller states z 206 Distinctions op man this of the phoca ursina ;* Pallas, of the camelt; and Hum- boldt, of a small American monkey4 Whether any animals express mirth or satisfaction by laughter is more doubtful, to say nothing of the other causes of smiling or laughter in our species. The fact has been asserted, for instance, by Le Cat, who says that he saw the chimpanse both laugh and weep.|| The orang-utang brought from Batavia by Mr. Abel certainly never laughs : his keeper informs me that he has seen him weep a few times. I have had occasion, in a previous lecture,^ to advert to these striking zoological phenomena, and to explain at some length the views which I entertain respecting their nature and cause. I con- sider the differences between man and animals, in propensities, feelings and intellectual faculties, to be the result of the same cause as that which we assign for the variations in other functions, viz. difference of organization ; and that the superiority of man, in rational endowments, is not greater than the more exquisite, * " Nov. Comm. Acad. Scient. Petrop. ii. 353." " Tandem, cum nos cum catulis abituros videret, simili more ut femella adeo largiter lacrymabat, ut to- tum pectus ad pedes usque lacrymia inundaret, quod et post gravia inflicta vul- nera contingit; vel post gravem illatem injuriam, quam ulcisci nequit. Ob- servavi phocas captas simila ratione lacrymari." t When the camel will not suckle its young, which is very rare, the Mongols and the Daurian Tungooses have recourse to an expedient detailed by Pallas, in which they employed a plaintive melody imitating the voice of the young animal This elicits copious tears from the old one, and completely excites its maternal feelings. " Sammlungen Histor. Nachrichten ub, die Mongolis- chen Volkerschaften;" th. i. p. 177. X The Titi of the Orinoco ; safmiri, Buffon, t. 15; simia sciurea, Linneus. " Leur physionomie est celle d'un enfant: meme expression d'innocence, meme sourire malin, meme rapidite dans le passage de la joie k la tristesse. Lee Indiens affirment que cet animal pleure comme l'homme, lorsqu'il eprouve du chagrin; et cette observation est tres exacte. Les grands yeux du singe se mouillent de larmes a l'instant meme qu'il marque de la frayeur ou une vive inquietude." " Reeueil d'Observations de Zoologie et d'Anatomie comparee : 1.1. p. 333. || " Traite de l'Existence du Fluide des Nerfs;" p. 35. § Lect. IV.; p. 90 and following. IN MENTAL FACULTIES. 207 complicated, and perfectly developed structure of his brain, and particularly of his ample cerebral hemispheres, to which the rest of ihe animal kingdom offers no parallel nor even any near ap- proximation's sufficient to account for. That the senses of man and d • /ther animals will not explain all their varied and wonderful men- tal phenomena ; and that the superiority of man can by no means be deduced from any pre-eminence in this part of his construc- tion, are truths too obvious to require further notice. Some modern inquirers have gone beyond this general state- ment ; and have ventured to particularize, in the brains of ani- mals and of man, the organ or residence of each propensity, feel- ing and intellectual power. I cannot pronounce on the accuracy and completeness of the mental and cerebral survey executed by Messrs. Gall and Spurzheim ; nor pretend to judge of the exact- ness and fidelity with which the numerous positions are marked down in their very complete and well filled map of the brain. They appeal to observation for the confirmation or refutation of their statements; but my observations are not numerous or va- ried enough for these purposes. No one can refuse to them the merit of patient inquiry, careful observation, and unprejudiced reflection. They have performed the useful service of rescuing us from the trammels of doctrines and authorities, and directing our attention to nature ; her instructions cannot deceive us. Whether the views of Gall and Spurzheim may be verified or not, our labors in this direction must be productive, must bring with them collateral advantages. Hence they may be compared to the old man in the fable, who assured his sons, on his death- bed, that a treasure was hidden in his vineyard. They began im- mediately to dig over the whole ground in search of it; and found, indeed, no treasure ; but the loosening of the soil, the de- struction of the weeds, the admission of light and air, were so beneficial to the vines, that the quantity and excellence of the en- suing crop were unprecedented. The diseases peculiar to man may be deemed a more fit sub- jec for pathology than natural history; but, as these unnatural phenomena arise out of the natural organization and habit of the body, and the dispositions of the animal economy, they cannot be entirely passed over in this discussion. 208 DISEASES PECULIAR TO MAN. While the causes of disease in general are so obscure, and the exact series of phenomena has been ascertained in so few in- stances, it is hazardous to set down any particular affections as belonging exclusively to man : other animals might be affected, if exposed to the same causes. Those in a wild state have very few and simple diseases, if any : domesticated ones have several; and they are more numerous in proportion as the subjugation is more complete, and the way of life differs more widely from the natural one. The diseases of our more valuable domestic animals are sufficiently numerous to employ a particular order of men ; and the horse alone has a distinct set to his own share. The miserable canary-birds seem to be equally in want of professional assistance ; for, in the list of disorders to which they are subject, we find inflammation of the bowels, asthma, epilepsy, chancres of the bill, and scabs.* In man, the most artificial of all animals, the most exposed to all the circumstances that can act unfavora- bly on his frame, diseases are the most numerous ; and so abun- dant and diversified, as to exhaust the ingenuity of the nosologist, and fatigue the memory of the physician. Perhaps nosological catalogues would afford the most convincing argument that man has departed from the way of life to which nature had destined him ; unless, indeed, it should be contended that these afflictions are a necessary part of his nature, a distinction from animals, of which he will not be very likely to boast. The accumulation of numbers in large cities, the noxious ef- fects of impure air, sedentary habits, and unwholesome employ- ments ;—the excesses in diet, the luxurious food, the heating drinks, the monstrous mixtures, and the pernicious seasonings, which stimulate and oppress the organs,—the unnatural activity of the great cerebral circulation, excited by the double impulse of our luxurious habits and undue mental exertions, of the violent passions which agitate and exhaust us, the anxiety, chagrin, and vexation, from which few entirely escape, and then re-acting on and disturbing the whole frame ;—the delicacy and sensibility to * Buffos by Wood ; v. 14. p. 87. DISEASES PECULIAR TO MAN. 20(J external influences, caused by our heated rooms, warm clothing, inactivity, and other indulgences, are so many fatal proofs that our most grievous ills are our own work, and might be obviated by a more simple and uniform way of life. Our associates of the animal kingdom do not escape the influence of such causes. The mountain shepherd and his dog are equally hardy, and form an instructive contrast with a nervous and hysterical fine lady, and her lap-dog;—the extreme point of degeneracy and imbecility of which each race is susceptible. The observations of Humboldt confirm the position, that indi- viduals, whose bodies are strengthened by healthy habits in re- spect to food, clothing, exercise, air, &c. are enabled to resist the causes which produce disease in other men. He points to us the Indians of New Spain as a set of peaceful cultivators, accustom- ed to uniform nourishment, almost entirely of a vegetable nature, that of their maize and cereal gramina. "They* are hardly sub- ject to any deformity. I never saw a hunch-backed Indian : and it is extremely rare to see any who squint, or who are lame in the arm or leg. In the countries where the inhabitants suffer from the goitre, this affection of the thyroid gland is never observed among the Indians, and seldom among the Mestizoes.! He repeats the same testimony very strongly concerning vari- ous tribes in South America ; as the Cbaymas, Caribs, Muyscas, and Peruvian Indians-! Winterbottom|| says that he never saw, nor heard of a case of hare-lip among the native Africans. But he adds, that At- kins mentions a case seen by himself. The comparison of diseases is difficult ; since the study of no- sology in brutes must be exposed, by its very nature, to very se- rious obstacles^ The diseases in the following list, derived from Blumenbach, may be considered in all probability as peculiar to man. * " Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain;." v. 1. p. lo2 t The offspring of an European and an American. X Personal Narrative, iii. 233. || Account of the Native Africans, ii. "?-21 210 DISEASES PECULIAR TO MAN. Nearly all the exanthemata ; at least vaiiola,* morbilli, scarla- tina, miliaria, petechia?, pestis. Of the hemorrhagies, epistaxis;—hemorrhoides, menorrhagia. Nervous affections.— Hypochondriasis ; hysteria ; mental affec- tions properly so called, as mania, melancholia, nostalgia; prob- ably also satyriasis, and nympho-mania. Cretinismus. Cachexia;—Rachitis ; scrofula ;t lues venerea. Podagra, lep- ra, and elephantiasis, Local diseases.—Amenorrhoaa; cancer; chlorosis; herniacon- genita; The various kinds of prolapsus, particularly that conge- nital one of the urinary bladder. Herpes ; tinea capitis. The two kinds of lice that infest our species, have not been found on any other animal. Whether the humnn intestinal worms are all distinct species, peculiar to man, I do not know. I recapitulate the characters of man, discussed in the six pre- ceding chapters, that the proofs of his constituting a distinct and separate species may be brought together in one view :— 1. Smoothness of the skin, and want of natural offensive wea- pons, or means of defence. 2. Erect stature ; to which the conformation of the body in general, and that of the pelvis, lower limbs, and their muscles in particular, are accommodated. 3. Incurvation of the sacrum and os coccygis ; and consequent direction of the vagina and urethra forwards. 4. Articulation of the head with the spinal column by the mid- dle of its basis, and want of ligamentum nucha?. 5. Possession of two hands, and very perfect structure of the hand. 6. Great proportion of the cranium (cerebral cavity) to the face (receptacles of the senses and organs of mastication.) 7. Shortness of the lower jaw, and prominence of its mental portion. * A monkey at Amsterdam contracted a local ulcer from the contagion of small pox, but had no fever. Blumenbach, De. G. H. Var. Nat. p. 59. t Monkeys perish ,in these climates of affections very much resembling scrofula. The lymphatic glands, lungs, and other viscera, are diseased; usual- 'y tuberculated; and the bones are often affected. DISEASES PECULIAR TO MAM. Sll 8. Want of the intermaxillary bone. 9. Teeth all of equal length, and approximated : inferior in- cisors perpendicular. 10. Great developement of the cerebral hemispheres. 11. Great mass of brain, in proportion to the size of the nerves connected with it. 21. Greater number and developement of mental faculties, whether intellectual or moral. 13. Speech. 11. Capability of inhabiting all^climates and situations; and of living on all kinds of food. 15. Slow growth ; long infancy : late puberty. 16. Menstruation ; exercise of the sexual functions not confined to particular seasons. 212 VARIETIES of the HUMAN SPECIES SECTION II. ON THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. CHAPTER I. Statement of the subject—Mode of Investigation—The Question cannot be settled from the Jewish Scriptures, nor from other His- torical Records.— The Meaning of Species and Variety in Zoolo- gy ; Nature and Extent of Variation.—Breeding, as a Criterion of species.— Criterion of Analogy. The differences which exist between inhabitants of the differ- ent regions of the globe, both in bodily formation and in the fac- ulties of the mind, are so striking, that they must have attracted the notice even of superficial observers. With those forms, pro- portions, and colors, which we consider so beautiful in the fine figures of Greece, contrast the woolly hair, the flat nose, the thick lip3, the retreating forehead and advancing jaws, and black skin of the Negro; or the broad square face, narrow oblique eyes, beardless chin, coarse straight hair, and olive color of the Cal- muck. Compare the ruddy and sanguine European with the jet- black African, the red man of America, the yellow Mongolian, or the brown South-Sea Islander; the gigantic Patagonian, to the dwarfish Laplander; the highly civilized nations of Europe, so conspicuous in arts, science, literature, in all that can strengthen VARIETIES OP THE HUMAN SPECIES. 213 and adorn society, or exalt and dignify human nature, to a troop of naked, shivering, and starved New Hollanders, a horde of fil- thy Hottentots, or the whole of the more or less barbarous tribes that cover nearly the entire continent of Africa. Are these all brethren ? have they descended from one stock ? or must wo trace them to more than one ?—and if so, how many Adams must we admit 1 The phenomena are capable of solution in either of these ways :—We may suppose that different kinds of men were ori- ginally created ; that the forms and properties, of which the con- trast now strikes us so forcibly, were impressed at first on the re- spective races ; and consequently that the latter, as we now see them, must be referred to different original families, according to which supposition they will form, in the language of naturalists, different species. Or, we may suppose that one kind of human beings only was formed in the first instance ; and account for the diversity, which is now observable, by the agency of the various physical and moral causes to which they have been subsequently exposed; in which case they will only form different varieties of the same species. The question belongs to the domain of natural history and physiology ; we must be contented to proceed in our examination in the slow and humble, but sure method of observation. It will be necessary to ascertain carefully all the differences that actual- ly exist between the various races of men ; to compare these with the diversities observed among animals ; to apply to them all the lights, which human and comparative physiology can supply ; and to draw our inferences concerning their nature and causes, from all the direct information, and all the analogies, which these con- siderations may unfold. In the first place, we must dismiss all argument a, priori, as en- tirely inapplicable to the subject. One philosopher tells us, that Nature does nothing in vain; that she would not give herself the trouble to create several different stocks, when one family would be sufficient to colonize the world in a short space of time. An- other, with equal speciousness, dilates on the absurdity of sup- posing that immense regions should remain for ages an unoccupi- A? 214 VARIETIES OF THE H"UMAN SPECIES- ed and dreary waste, while the offspring of a single pair was slowly extending over the face of the earth : or that such an ad- mirable variety of islands should display their charms in vain, till a shipwreck or some other casual occurrence might supply them with inhabitants. He shows how much more consonant to the wisdom and benevolence of the Deity it would be, for the earth to have teemed from the first moment of its production with trees and fruits, and to have been occupied by all kinds of ani- mals, suited to each soil and sky. I cannot too strongly repro- bate such idle declamation, Avhich, by withdrawing our attention from the right method of investigation, inevitably tends to per- petuate our ignorance of nature. Dr. Prichard, in his excellent inaugural discourse on this subject, has so well exposed the futili- ty of such arguments, that I have great pleasure in quoting his words. " Ilaec quanquam satis speciosa videantur, omnia ut fit plerumque in hujusmodi argumentationibus fluxa et incerta sunt. Qui magna loquuntur, tanquam ipsi ex Dei concilio descendissent, neque ut humiles ministros, et naturae interpretes oportet, raro lu- mine quantulocunque ejus abdita illustrant. Ille quiaem dixer- unt quomodo mundum constituissent, si hoc eorum curationi fuis- set commissum ; sed qua ratione re ipsa constitutus sit, talibus auspiciis, et latet, et semper latebit." p. 5. Most persons, when they first turn their attention to the subject, and select for contemplation strongly-marked specimens of the varieties of man, will be inclined to adopt the supposition of ori- ginally distinct species. This is the case with Voltaire,* who has recurred to the subject repeatedly in his various writings, and has expressed himself very positively, ridiculing the idea of refer- ring such different beings as the Negro, European, African, Al- bino, &c. to the same original. " II n'est perrnis qu'a. un aveugle * Histoire de Russie sous Pierrz le Grand; ch. 1. Essaisur les Maiurs; introduction; and chap. 143. Dictionnaire Philosophique, art. Homme, Lcttres d'Amabed, let. 4. Traite" de Mdtaphysique, chap. i. In the place last quoted, he gives a short but lively and interesting sketch of the different races of men, and of the distinction between man and animals. varieties of the human species. 215 de douter que les blancs, les Negres, les Albinos, les Hottentots, fcs Lappons, les Chinois les Americains, soient des races entier- ment differentes."* He says of the Negroes, " Leurs yeux ronds, leur nez epate, leurs levres toujours grosses, leurs oreilles differ- emment figurees, lalaine de leur tete, la mesure meme de leur intel- ligence, mettent entr'eux et les autres especes d'hommes des dif- ferences prodigieuses. Et ce qui demontre qu'ils ne doivent point cette difference a leur climat, c'est que des Negres et des Ne- gresses transported dans les pays les plus froids, y produisent tou- jours des animaux de leur espece, et que les mulatres ne sont qu'une race batarde d'un noir et d'une blanche, ou d'un blanc et d'une noire."t. To these, which are in truth well-founded remarks, although in favor of what I think will appear to be the wrong opinion on the subject, he adds others of a less correct description ; enu- merating, as proofs of distinct species, the beardlessness of the Americans, the black nipples of the Samoiede women, and " le tablier que la nature a donne aux Caffrees, et dont la peau lache et molle tombe du nombril sur les cuisses."t I am not surprised at the view which Voltaire has taken of the question ; for first appearances strongly favor his opinion. This witty and charming writer, who delights us with his various ex- cellencies in so many departments of literature and philosophy, may be well excused for not having possessed sufficient zoologic- al and physiological knowledge to guide his judgment on such a point. Indeed the progress of science and discovery, and the more accurate accounts of various people procured by modern travellers, have given us advantages which he did not possess. We must not, however, follow his example in selecting two or three prominent contrasts, and considering them alone : such par- tial and insulated views cannot lead to any satisfactory results. It is necessary to examine, not only the more marked differences, but also the numerous gradations by which opposite extremes are in all cases connected and gradually brought together : it is also * Ess. sur les Maurs. t Ibid. f Ibid. 216 VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. necessary to cast our view over the animal kingdom at large, and to compare with man the various living beings which more nearly resemble him. The whole proceeding must be governed by the principles of general physiology. The disquisition will perhaps be deemed superfluous by those who regard the Hebrew Scriptures as writings composed with the assistance of divine inspiration, and therefore commanding our implicit assent; who receive, as a narrative of actual events, au- thenticated by the highest sanction, the account contained in Genesis of the formation of the world, the creation of man and animals, and their dispersion over the face of the globe. That Mosaic account doea not however make it quite clear that the inhabitants of all the world descended from Adam and Eve.* Moieover, the entire or even partial inspiration of the various writings comprehended in the Old Testament has been and is doubted by many persons, including learned divines, and distin- guished oriental and biblical scholars. The account of the crea- tion, and subsequent events, has the allegorical figurative charac- ter common to eastern compositions ; and it is di.^tinguished among the cosmogonies by a simple grandeur and natural sub- limity, as the rest of these writings are by appropriate beauties in * We are told, indeed, that " Adam called his wife's name Eve,because she was the mother of all living." But, in the first chapter of Genesis, we learn that God created man male and female ; and this seems to have been previous- ly to the formation of Eve, which did not take place until after the Garden of Eden had been prepared. Again, we learn in the fifth chapter of Genesis, that " in the day that God created man, in likeness of God made he him : male and female created he them . and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created." We find also that Cain, after slaying his brother, was married, although no daughters of Eve are mention- ed before this time. "Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bare Enoch." Indeed it is said (ch. v. 4,) that " the days of Adam, after he had begotten Seth, were eight hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters." This, it should seem, took place after the birth of Seth, and consequently long after Cain had his wife ; for Seth was not born till after the death of Abel. If Cain had sisters prior to that poriod, from amongst whom he might have taken a wife, Moses has not noticed them. VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES- 217 their respective parts, not inferior to those of any human compo- sitions. To the grounds of doubt respecting inspiration, which arise from examination of the various narratives, from knowledge of the original and other oriental languages, and from the irreconci- lable opposition between the passions and sentiments ascribed to the Deity by Moses, and that religion of peace and love unfolded by the Evangelists, I have only to add, that the representations of all the animals being brought before Adam in the first instance,* and subsequently of their being all collected in the ark,f if we are to understand them as applied to the living inhabitants of the whole world, are zoologically impossible. The collection of living beings in one central point, and their gradual diffusion over the whole globe, may not be greatly incon- sistent with what we know of our own species, and of the few more common quadrupeds, wliich accompany us in our various migrations, and are able to sustain with us great varieties of cli- mate, food, situation, and all external influences. But when we extend our survey to the rest of the mammalia, we find at all points abundant proofs of animals being confined to particular situations, and being so completely adapted, by their structure and functions, by their whole organization, economy, and habits, to the local peculiarities of temperature, soil, food, &c. that they cannot subsist where these are no longer found. In proportion as our knowledge of species becomes more exact, the proofs of this locality are rendered stronger; and the exam- ples of admirable conformity between the organic capabilities of * " And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them ; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof " And Adah gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field." Gen. ii. 19. 20, t " And of every livng thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee ; they shall be male and female. " Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind ; two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive," Gen. vi. 19, 20. 218 VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. animals, and the circumstances of the regions which they inhab- it, are multiplied and strengthened. The peculiar adaptation of the camel to the sandy deserts in which he is placed, strikes the most cursory observer. The herds of antelopes and other ruminant animals, and great troops of solidungular quadrupeds, are not less suited to the boundless plains of Asia, and Africa; the vast assemblages of elk and buf- falo, to the uninhabited wilds of America; the tiger, to the jungles and the thickets of the East Indies ; and the troops of sapajous, with their prehensile tails, to the lofty forests of Guiana and Brazil. Even when the external circumstances are nearly alike, remote regions are occupied in most cases by distinct genera or species. The lion, so common in Africa, is hardly found in Asia, while the tiger is peculiar to the latter : the elephants and rhinoceroses of these two quarters of the world are specifically distinct. The instances of America, New Holland, and some other islands, afford unanswerable arugments against the creation of all animals in one spot. None of the mammalia of the southern hemisphere, the torrid zone, or even the two northern temperate regions, are common to the two continents. When the Spaniards landed in the New World, they did not find a single animal they were acquainted with ; not one of the quadrupeds of Europe, Asia, or Africa. On the other hand, the puma,* the jaguar,t the tapir, the cabiai,| the llama,|| the vicugna^ the sapajous, were creatures altogether new to them. No quadrupeds are found in both continents, except such as dwell north of the Baltic in the old, and of Canada in the new world; such, in short, as are ca- * Couguar (Felis discolor Linn.) j Felis onca L. American tiger; nearly a match in size and strength for the royal tiger of Bengal. X Cavia capybara L. || Camelus Llacma L., the camel of Peru, and the only beast of burden in tiie country at the time of the Spanish conquest, The guanaco is the wild llama. § Paco; camelus vicunno, L., producing the fine soft and fawn-colored wool. VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 219 pable of bearing the cold of those regions where the two conti- nents approximate to each other. Here, indeed, we must guard against the mistakes which the inconsiderate application of the same names to animals really different, though more or less analogous to each other, might oc- casion. We read of American lions; but the creature so called (the puma) although a carnivorous animal, is widely different from the lion of Africa : the American monkeys again form a very distinct family, without any specific affinity to those of the old world. A similar phenomenon was again experienced in our own times, on first exploring the coasts of New Holland and the adja- cent isles. A dog was indeed found here; whether of the same species with those we are acquainted with, and introduced from the neighboring islands, is not perhaps yet clearly ascertained. This great southern continent contained no other mammiferous animals previously known to naturalists; but, on the contrary, it has furnished about forty species, altogether new, of which the kangaroos, the phascolomys,* the dasyuri, the perameles, the flying phalangersj'f the ornithorhynchi, and the echidna?, have as- tonished zoologists by the novelty and singularity of their confor- mation, contrary to all the rules hitherto established, and at vari- ance with all their systems.} Even the island called Van Die- men's Land, although situated so near to New-Holland, and in some degree connected to it by intervening islands, has its own peculiar species.|| The orang utang is found only on the island of Borneo ; and the makis are confined to that of Madagascar, while the neigh- * Wombat, Didelphis ursina of Shaw. ) Petaurus, Shaw. X Covier Regne Animal; on the order marsupiaux; t. i, p. 169, et suiv. || " En effet, tous les animaux, que nous avons recueillis sur la terre de Die- men, et qu'on peut regarder comme plus particulierement propres au sol, tels que les mammifcres, les reptiles, &c. sont specifiquement differens des ani- maux de la Nouvelle Hollande ; la plupart meme des especes, qui peuplent ce continent n'existent pas sur la grande ile qui l'avoisine." Peron Voyage de Dicouvertes avx Terres Australes ; v. ii. p. 16». 220 VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. boring continent of Africa has none of them, but numerous mon- keys instead. Even marine animals are confined to particular situations, al- though it might appear so probable, a priori, that the waves and currents of the ocean would carry them into all situations, and the medium in which they live seems so favorable for their transport- ation. Peron and Le Sueur assert that there is no ivell-known animal of the northern hemisphere, which is not specifically dis- tinct from every other equally well-known of the southern ; and that this is true even of those possessing the lowest and simplest organization.* If all the difficulties connected with the facts just recited, and with the numerous analogous ones,f which every department of natural history could furnish, were removed, insurmountable obstacles would still be found to this hypothesis of the whole * " Personne plus que nous, il est permis de le dire, n'ai recueilli d'animaux de l'Hemisphere austral; nous les avons observes decrits, et figures sur les lieux ; nous en avons rapportes plusieurs milliers d'especes en Europe ; elles sont deposees dans le Museum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris. Que Ton com- pare ces nombreux animaux avec ceux de notre hemisphere, le probleme sera bientot resolu, non seulement pour les especes d'une organisation plus parfaite, mais encore pour toutes celles qui sont beaucoup plus simples, et qui, sous ce rapport, sembleroient devoir etre moins variees dans la nature. Qu'on ex- amine, nous ne dirons pas les doris, les aplysies, les salpas, les nereides, les amphinomes, les amphitrites, et cette foule de mollusques et des vers plus compos6s qui se sont successivement offerts ti notre observation; qu'on descende jusqu'aux holothuries, aux achnies, aux berods, aux meduses ; qu'on s'abaisse meme, si Ton veut jusqu'h. ces Sponges informes, que tout le monde s'accord a. regarder comme le dernier terme de la degradation, ou plutot de la simplicite de l'organisation animale ; parmi cette multitude, pour ainsi dire effrayante, d'animaux antarctiques, on verra qu'il n'en est pas un seul qui se retrouve dans les mers boreales; et de cet examen bien reflechi, de cette longue suite de comparaisons rigoureuses, on sera forc6 de conclure, ainsi que nous avons du nous-memes le faire,' qu'il n'est pas une seule espece d'animaux marins bien connue, qui, veritable cosmopolite, soit indistinctements propre a toutes les parties du globe.'"—Notice sur les Habitations des Animaux Marins; in the Voyage aux Terrcs Australes, t. ii. p. 348—9. t Further illustrations of this important subject may be seen in Dr Prichard's Researches on the Physical History of Man, chap. iii. sec. 2 and 3. Zimmermann Geographische GeschiclUe, &c. Rudolphi Beytrage zur Anthropologic und allgemeinen Naturgeschichte, No. iii. and in the paper of Pr- ron and Le Sueur, already quoted. VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 221 globe having received its supply of animals from one quarter. How could all living beings have been assembled in one climate, when many, as the white fox (isatis,) the polar bear, the walrus, the manati, can exist only in the cold of the polar regions, while to others the warmth of the tropics is essential ? How could all have been supplied with food in one spot, since many live entirely on vegetables produced only in certain districts ? How could many have passed from the point of assemblage to their actual abode, over mountains, through deserts, and even across the seas? How could the polar bear, to whom the ice of the frozen regions is necessary, have traversed the torrid zone 1 If we are to be- lieve that the original creation comprehended only a male and a female of each species, or that one pair only was rescued from an universal deluge, the contradictions are again increased. The carnivorous animals must have soon perished with hunger, or have annihilated most of the other species. Such an assumption, in short, is at variance with all our know- ledge of living nature. Why should we embrace an hypothesis so full of contradictions ?—to give to an allegory a literal construc- tion, and the charaetcr of revelation; which is so much the less necessary here, because we do not follow the same rule in other points. The astronomer does not portray the heavenly motions, or lay down the laws which govern them, according to the state- ments in the Jewish Scriptures; nor does the geologist think it necessary to modify the results of experience according to the contents of the Mosaic writings. I conclude, then, that the subject is open for discussion : and, at all events, if the descent of mankind from one stock can be proved independently of the Jewish books, the conclusion will tend collaterally to establish the authority of these ancient re- cords. It may still be inquired, whether history affords no data for de- termining this great problem ; whether the earliest traditions and records may not enable us to trace the succession of the human race from its original downwards; or whether we may not be able to follow back particular tribes or nations to the period of their first descent or establishment. We soon find that these efforts are unavailing; that neither the annals nor the traditions of am r2 222 varieties of the human stecies. people reach back to the remote ages when the various ramifica- tions of the original stock—if there were any such—separated from each other, and took possession of the different countries where they are now settled. We cannot trace the branches of any such family, nor point out the time and manner in which they divided and spread over the face of the globe. Even among the most enlightened people, the period of authentic history is short, and every thing beyond that period is fabulous and obscure. The Jewish annals, in which it is not always easy to separate and distinguish what ought to be received as literally true, al- though of very high antiquity, merely relate to the transactions of a small tribe, and some of their neighbors. The Indian and Chinese, also very ancient, are equally confined. The phrase " Gra^cia mendax" has long ago afforded a caution against placing much reliance on the early traditions transmitted by the Greeks. In the introduction to his great work on language, Adelung* has summed up what history discloses to us on this subject; and, as it has an important reference to the present object of inquiry, I hope the length of the extract will be excused. " Asia has been in all times regarded as the country where the human race had its beginning, received its first education, and from which its increase was spread over the rest of the globe. " Tracing the people up to tribes, and the tribes to families, we are conducted at last, if not by history, at least by the traditions of all old people, to a single pair, from which families, tribes, and nations have been successively produced. The question has been often asked, What was this first family, and the first people des- cending from it? where was it settled? and how has it extended so as to fill the four large divisions of the globe ? It is a ques- tion of fact, and must be answered from history. But history is si- lent ; her first books have been destroyed by time ; and the few lines preserved by Moses are rather calculated to excite than to satisfy our curiosity. * Mithridates, oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde, &c. lr. th. Berlin 1806. 2r. 3r. 4r.th. von J. S. Vater, Berlin, 1809—1817 : a most important work in re- lation to the history of our species, and the affinities and migrations of vari- ous tribes. VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 228 " In the first feeble rays of its early dawn, which are faintly perceived about 2000 years before the commencement of our pre- sent chronology, the whole of Asia, and a part of Africa, are al- ready occupied with a variety of greater and smaller nations, of various manners, religion, and language. The warlike struggle is already in full activity : here and there are polished states, with various useful inventions, which must have required long time for their production, developement and extension- The rest of the human race consists of wild hordes, occupied merely with pasto- ral pursuits, hunting, and robbery : thus a kind of slave-trade is seen in the time of Abraham. Soon after, a few weak glimmer- ings of light discover to us Europe in a similar state of popula- tion, from the Don to the Pillars of Hercules; here and there traces of culture, industry, and commerce ; for instance, the am- ber trade in the Baltic, at least in the time of Homer, and that of the British tin. All this is perceived in remote obscurity, where only a few points of light occasionally shoot across, to show us the germs of future history, which is still profoundly silent re- specting the time and place of such events. Nothing is left for us, but humbly to assume the garb of ignorance, to look round us in the great archives of nature, and see if there are any documents which may at least lead us to conjectures. Happily there are such. " The present structure of the earth's surface teaches us, what Moses confirms, that it was formerly covered to a certain depth with water, which gradually lessened, from causes unknown to us, so that various spots became dry and habitable. The highest dry surface on the globe must, therefore, have been the earliest inhabited;—and here Nature, or rather her Creator, will have planted the first people, whose multiplication and extension must have followed the continual gradual decrease of the water. " We must fancy to ourselves this first tribe endowed with all human faculties, but not possessing all knowledge and experience, the subsequent acquisition of which is left to the natural opera- tion of time and circumstances. As nature would not unnecessa- rily expose her first-born and unexperienced son to conflicts and dangers, the place of his early abode would be so selected, that all his wants could be easily satisfied, and every thing essential to the 224 VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. pleasure of his existence, readily procured. He would be placed, in short, in a garden, or Paradise. "Such a country is found in central Asia, between the 30th and 50th degrees of north latitude, and the 90th and 110th of east longitude (from Ferro): a spot which, in respect to its height, can only be compared to the lofty plain of Quito in South Ameri- ca. From this elevation, of which the great desert Cobi, or Sha- mo, is the vertical point, Asia sinks gradually to all the four quarters, The great chains of mountains, running in various di- rections, arise from it, and contain the sources of the great rivers which traverse this division of the globe on all sides —the Selin- ga, the Ob, the Lena, the Irtisch, and the Jenisey, in the north; the Jaik, the Jihon, the Jemba, on the west; the Amur and the Hoang-ho (or Yellow River) towards the east; the Indus, Gan- ges, and Burrampooter, on the south. If the globe was ever cov- ered with water, this great table land must have first become dry, and have appeared like an island in the watery expanse. The cold and barren desert of Cobi would not, indeed, have been a suitable abode for the first people; but on its southern declivity we find Thibet, separated by high mountains from the rest of the world, and containing within its boundaries all varieties of air and climate. If the severest cold prevails on ils snowy mountains and glaciers, a perpetual summer reigns in its valleys and watered plains. This is the native abode of rice, the vine, pulse, fruit, and all other veg- etable productions, from which man draws his nourishment. Here, too, all the animals are found wild, which man has tamed for his use, and carried with him over the whole earth ;—the cow,* the * To determine the original stock of our domestic animals is one of the most difficult undertakings in zoology. I know no data on which the ox-kind can be referred to any wild species in Asia. Cuvier has concluded, from a minute osteological inquiry, that the wild-ox (urus or bison of the Ancients; aurochs of the Germans,) formerly found throughout the greater part of temperate Europe, and still met with in the forests of Lithuania, of the Carpathian and Cau- casian chains, is not, as most naturalists have supposed, the wild original of our cattle; but that the characters of the latter are found in certain fossile crania; whence he thinks it probable " that the primary race has been annihi- lated by civilization, like that of the camel and dromedary." Des Animaux Fossiles, v. 4, Ruminans Fossiles, p. 51. VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 225 horse,* ass,t sheep,J goat,|| camel,§ pig, dog,ff cat, and even the * Pallas, Spicileg. Zool. fasc. xi. p. 5, note b. f Pallas, Spicileg. Zool. fasc. xi p. 5, note 6. X There are two or three wild species, nearly related to each other, which seem to have equal claims to be considered as the source of our sheep. Of these, the argali, found in the great mountains of Asia, strongly resembles the sheep. Pallas Spicileg. Zool. fasc. xi. tab. 1 & 2. || The wild goat (regagrus) is met with in the mountains of Persia, where it has the name ofpaseng or pasan (whence the term pasahr, corrupted into be- zoar, applied to their intestinal concretions,) and probably elsewhere, even in the Alps of Europe. Cuvier, Minagerie du Musium, 8vo. v. 2. p. 177. The ibex (bouquetin) occupies the highest summits of the mountains of the old continent: that of Asia is described by Pallas, Spic. Zool. f. 11. p. 31, etseq. tab. iii. Another species inhabits the chain of Caucasus (capra Caucasica;) GuldenstjEDt, Comment. Petrop. 1779, pi. xvi. xvii. § In opposition to the assertion of Buffon, who represents that the entire race is reduced to slavery, and who strangely regards the callosities of its chest and limbs as the result of its servile labors, Pallas reports, on the faith of the Bucharian merchants, and «f the wandering nomades of Asia, that na- tive wild camels are still found in the vast plains of the temperate part of this continent, and are distinguished from the domesticated animals by their supe- rior size, spirit, and swiftness. The northern confines of India, and the des- erts between it and China, seem to be the native abode of the Bactrian camel, or that with two protuberances. The wild camels about the Balchasch Lake and Bogdo Mountains are probably prodced from those which have been set at liberty by the Calmucks from religious motives. Fascic. xi. p. 4, note a. IT Pallas seems fully convinced that the jackall, " copiosissimum in univer- so orientc animal," is the source of our dogs, which he closely resembles in man- ners and disposition, being also very like some breeds in size and figure. "Homi- ni facillime adsuescit, nunquam, uti lupus et vulpes cicurati, infidi animi signa edens, lususvc cruentans; canees non fugit, sed ardenter appetit, cum iisque colludit, ut plane nullum sit dubium cum iisdem generaturum, si tentetur ex- perimentum. Vocem desiderii caninse simillimam habet; homini cauda eodem modo abblanditur, et in dorsum provolvi atque manibus demulceri amat. Ipse coque ululatus ejus, cum latratu canum ejulabundo magnam habet analogiam. Ergo dubium vix esse puto, hominis speciem, in edem cum lupo aureo climate natural iter inquiknam, antiquitus hujus catulis circuratis domesticos sibi edu- casse canes, quorum naturalis instinctus jam homini, quem feri non multum tiinent, amicus, et in venationem pronus erat." Spicil. Zool. fasc. xi. p. 1, note. These opinions arc confirmed by the statements of Guldenst^edt, who found the caecum and the teeth perfectly alike in the dog and jackall: it is not so in the wolf. The jackall makes water sideways ; " odorat anum alterius; cohocret copula junctus." Nor. Comment. Petrop. v. 20. p. 459, tab. xi. 226 VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. serviceable rein-deer,* his only attendant and friend in the icy deserts of the frozen polar regions. Close to Thibet, and just on the declivity of the great central elevation, we find the charming region of Cashmire, where great elevation converts the southern heat into perpetual spring, and where Nature has exerted all her powers to produce plants, animals, and man, in the highest per- fection. No spot on the whole earth unites so many advantages ; in none could the human plant have succeeded so well without any care."t This spot, therefore, seems to unite all the charac- ters of Paradise, and to be the most appropriate situation in Asia for the birth-place of the human race. Such is the general result of historical inquiry: it points out the East as the earliest or original seat of our species, the source of our domesticated animals, of our principal vegetable food, and the cradle of arts and sciences : but it does not furnish the means of deciding whether the globe has been peopled from one or more original stocks, nor enable us to trace satisfactorily the mode in which their dissemination has been accomplished. Before entering on the immediate object of this section, it is ne- cessary to consider what is the precise acceptation of the terms species and variety in zoology ; what constitutes a species, and how varieties arise out of it. Animals are characterized by fixed and definite external forms, which are transmitted and perpetuated by generation. The off- spring of sexual unions is marked with all the bodily characters of the parents. However strong the impulse may be, which leads to the continuation of the species, there seems to be an equally powerful aversion to intercourse with those of other species. Hence, in the wild state, even the most nearly allied do not inter- mix ; as, the hare and rabbit, the horse and ass; the different kinds of mice, or of rats. Constant and permanent difference, * The rein-deer is only known at present in the coldest regions. Adelung could not, I think, have any sufficient authority for placing its origin in the re- gion and climate which he here describes. Adelung ; lr. theil. Einlcitung, p. 3-^9. VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 227 therefore, is the essential notion conveyed by the word species; and, provided it be invariably maintained, it is immaterial wheth- er that difference be great or small. Thus the specific distinction between the black rat (mus rattus) and the brown or Norway rat (m. decumanus,) or between the domestic-mouse (m. museums) and the field-mouse (m. arvalis,) is as perfect as between either of these and the elephant. By the reproduction of the same characters, and the aversion to union with other species, uniformity is maintained ; and the lapse of ages produces no deviation from the original model. An- imals are just the same now, as at any, even the remotest period of our acquaintance with them. The zoological descriptions of Aristotle, composed twenty-two centuries ago, apply in all points to the individuals of the present time ; and every inciden- tal mention of animals, or allusion to their characters and prop- erties, in the writings of historians, poets, and fabulists, confirms this identity of form and endowments. Every work of art, such as statues, paintings, sculptures ; and the actual relics in tombs, mummies, &c; all corroborate the proof.* These remarks are chiefly applicable to wild animals, which remain in places most congenial to their nature; where the cli- mate, seasons, air, soil, supply of food, correspond to their organ- ization, economy, and wants. Some of these, however, are ca- pable of enduring greater diversity of situation than others ; and hence are exposed to considerable differences in various ex- ternal agencies. " The wolf and the fox," says Cuvier,t " are * " I have carefully examined the figures of animals and birds engraven on the numerous obelisks brought from Egypt to ancient Rome. In the general character, which is all that can have been preserved, these representations per- fectly resemble the originals, as we now see them. My learned colleague, Mr. Geoffry St. Hilaire, collected numerous mummies of animals from the se- pulchres and temples of Upper and Lower Egypt. He brought away cats, ibises, birds of prey, dogs, monkeys, crocodiles, and an ox's head embalmed. There is no more difference between these relics and the animals we are now acquainted with, than between human mummies and the skeletons of the pres- ent day,—Cuvier, Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles; 1, Disc. Prelim p. 80. ' Opvif.r. Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles ; i. Disc. Prelim, p. 7." 228 VARIETIES Ul' THE HUMAN SPECIES. found from the torrid zone to high northern latitudes; but, in thib wide extent, the principal difference is a little more or less beauty in the fur. I have compared the crania of northern and Egyp- tian foxes with those of France, and have found only individual differences. Wild animals confined within narrow limits, partic- ularly those of the carnivorous order, vary still less. A fuller mane is the only circumstance distinguishing the hyena of Persia from that of Morocco." Variations in the quantity and quality of food may cause some slight differences : thus the tusks of elephants, or the horns of the deer kind, may be larger or longer where the aliment is more abundant and nutritious. There are, however, many animals which are no longer in their natural wild state, having been domesticated or reduced to slavery by man. Here the original form is no longer strictly preserved ; deviations take place in size, color, form, proportions, and quali- ties : and the degree of the effect will of course be measured by the intensity and duration of the cause. The degree of domestication is very various. In some cases the animals do not breed in servitude; consequently each indi- vidual must be reduced from the original wild state: here no va- riation occurs. The elephant affords an example. The rein-deer is confined within narrow limits, as to temperature; and, since it cannot be removed from tliese, it varies little. There are degrees of domestication dependent probably on original capabilities of education. The cat, which is only par- tially enslaved, merely varies in the texture and colour of its fur; and inconsiderably in size: but the skeleton of any tame cat differs from that of the wild in no essential point. The greatest differences are produced when man regulates the sexual intercourse of animals : by selecting individuals to breed from, he can effect the most surprising changes in form and qual- ities ; as the examples of the pig, sheep, horse, cow, and dog, will abundantly evince. The deviation has become at last so great, that the original stock from which the animals descended is doubtful. The herbivorous domestic animals, following us into all cli- mates, and governed by us in their food, labor, and external de- ZOOLOGICAL ACCEPTATION OF SPECIES AND VARIETY. 229 fence or protection, exhibit variations which, although apparently very considerable, are chiefly superficial. The size, the greater or less developement or entire want of horns, the nature of the hairy covering, and such other points, are subjects of change. The skeleton, the form and connexions of the bones, the teeth, are never altered. The comparatively imperfect developement of the tusks in the pig, and the consolidation of the toes, are the most striking effects produced in this class of animals. " The strongest marks of human influence are seen in the ani- mals of which man has made the most complete conquest;—in the dog, who is so perfectly devoted to us, that he seems to have sacrificed to us his individual character, interest, and feelings. Carried by man all over the world, subjected to the action of the most powerful causes, and directed in sexual intercourse by the will of their master, the dogs vary in color; in the quantity of hair, which is sometimes entirely lost; in their nature and pro- perties ; in size, which may differ as one to five in linear dimen- sions, or more than one to a hundred in the mass; in the form of the ears, nose, tail; in the height of the limbs ; in the develope- ment of the brain, and consequent form of the head, which may be slender, with elongated muzzle and flat forehead,—or short, with convex forehead; so that the apparent difference between a mastiff and a spaniel, a greyhound and a poodle, are greater than. we find between any wild species of the same natural genus. Lastly, which is the maximum of variation hitherto known in the animal kingdom, there are races of dogs with an additional toe and corresponding metatarsal bone on the hind foot, as there are six-fingered families in the human speoies. Still, in all these va- riations, the relations of the bones remain the same, and the form of the teeth is never altered."* Thus we find that species must be taken in very different ac- ceptations in wild and domestic animals:—that while all the be- ings included under the same species, exhibit, in the former case, a close and rigorous resemblance, admitting at most of slight di- versities in color, fur, size, and developement of some less impor- * Cuvier, Recherches sur Us Ossemens Fossiles; 1, Disc. Prelim, p. 78. c2 230 ZOOLOGICAL ACCEPTATION Of tant parts ; wider deviations are allowed in the latter, than are ob- served between some wild animals that are acknowledged to be- long to different species. It may be stated in the abstract, that all animals which differ in such points only as might arise in the natural course of degen- eration, that is, from recognised causes of variation, belong to the same species; while those differences which can not be accounted for on this supposition, must lead us to class the animals which exhibit them in different species. But the chief difficulty is, to point out the characters by which, in actual practice, mere vari- eties may be distinguished from genuine specific differences. The transmission of specific forms by generation, and the aver- sion to unions with those of other kinds, soon led naturalists to seek for a criterion of species in breeding.* They established the rule, that those animals which copulate together, and produce an offspring equally prolific with themselves, belong to one and the same species, ascribing the differences which may exist between them to adventitious causes. The high authority of Buffon and Hunter, who adopted this opinion, occasioned the criterion of breeding to be very generally relied on. If we admit this, the question respecting the human species would be immediately solved : for all the races breed together; and their offspring is prolific, either with each other, or with any of the original races. Indeed, we know no difference in produc- tiveness between such unions and those of the same race. This rule, however, involves a petitio principii, in assuming that animals of distinct species never produce together a prolific offspring. Generally, indeed, hybrid animals, or the offspring of any two species, are incapable of generation ; and this is a pow- erful additional provision for preserving uniformity of species. There are, however, instances, both among the mammalia and birds, of individuals belonging to species universally held ^ be distinct, uniting and producing young, which were again prolific. * The principle has not escaped common observation: it is expressed in the English word breed, and in the German guttung, (species) which signifies copulation. SPECIES AND VARIETY. 231 That the mule can engender with the mare, and that the she mule can conceive, was known to Aristotle. The circumstance is said to occur most frequently in warm countries; but it has ta- ken place in Scotland.* Buffon states that the offspring of the he-goat and ewe possesses perfect powers of reproduction. We might expect these animals, with the addition also of the chamois, (antelope rupicapra) to copulate together easily, because they are nearly of the same size, very similar in internal structure, ac- customed to artificial domestic life, and to the society of each other from birth upwards. There is a similar facility in some birds belonging to the genera fringilla, anas, and phasianus, where such unions are often fruitful, and produce prolific off- spring. The cock and hen canary-birds produce with the hen and cock siskin and goldfinch ;t the hen canary produces with the cock chaffinch, bullfinch, yellow-hammer, and sparrow. The progeny in all these cases is prolific, and breeds not only with both the species from which they spring, but likewise with each other-! The common cock and the hen partridge, as well as the cock and the guinea-hen,|| the pheasant and the hen,§ can pro- duce together. The anser cygnoides (Chinese goose) copulates readily in Rus- sia with the common goose, and produces a hybrid but perfectly prolific offspring: the race soon returns to the characters of the common goose, unless crossed again with the Chinese species.fl It is true that these unnatural unions take place in animals un- der the power of man, are accomplished with the assistance of contrivance and stratagem, and generally require an attention to several preliminary circumstances: it is also found, that under artificial constraint and privation, unions of distinct species may take place without fecundation, as of the hare and bitch,** the bull * Buffon, by Wood ; v. 4. p. 200, 205. t Ibid. v. 14, p. 63, and following. J Ibid. p. 70. |l Ibid. v. 12, 61. § Pallas, Spied Zool. f. xi. p. 36, note. IT Ibid. Act. Acad. Scient. Petrop. 1780; p. 32, note. P. 96. ** Pallas saw this in the instance of a tame hare kept with dogs. Spic. Zool. fasc. xi. p. 36, note. 232 ZOOLOGICAL ACCEPTATION OF ftnd mare :* they prove, however, sufficiently, that this affair of feneration will not afford the criterion we are in search of. It was soon found that this rule of reproduction could not be applied to domesticated animals, on account of their unnatural way of life; and hence Frisch, towards the beginning of the last century, confined it entirely to the wild ones. And here it is of little service : for how can we ever expect to bring together those wild species to ascertain the point, particularly when they inhabit different countries ; as, for instance, the chimpanse of Angola and the oran-utang of Borneo 1 Nor are there so many doubts about these, as about the domesticated animals, which are thus ex- cluded. The different breeds of dogs, for example, are referred by some to different species ; and they are indeed sufficiently marked by distinctive permanent characters to warrant the opinion, if the constancy of such characters were a sufficient proof of difference in species. Others, again, refer them all to the shepherd's dog ; and others include all the dogs, the wolf, fox, and jackall, in one species. The dog and bitch produce with the male and female wolf, and with the dog and bitch fox, and the offspring is prolific. Yet we cannot surely ascribe animals which are marked in their wild state by such strong characters, of bodily formation, disposi- tion, and habits—as the wolf, fox, and jackall, to one and the same species, without overturning all the fundamental principles of zoology, however freely they may intermix, and however per- fect the reproductive power may be in their offspring.f * Buffon, v. 4, p. 221. t Pallas entertains the opinion that our sheep, dogs, and perhaps poultry, are factitious beings, not descended from any single wild original, but from a mixture of nearly-allied primitive species, whose hybrid offsprings have pos- sessed prolific powers. He observes that those domesticated animals, which either do not intermix with other species, or wliich produce with other unpro- lific progeny, are very little changed, however completely and anciently they may have been brought under the dominion of man ; or at least are not so changed as to cause any difficulty respecting their origin. This is the case with the horse and ass in all climates; with the ox kind ; with the pig ; the camel and dromedary ; and the rein-deer. He refers our sheep to intermix- tures of the Siberian argali (ovis ammon), the mouflon of Corsica and Sardinia, SPECIES AND VARIETY- 233 We may conclude, then, from a general review of the preceding facts, that nature has provided, by the insurmountable barriers of instinctive aversion, of sterility in the hybrid offspring, and in the allotment of species to different parts of the earth, against any corruption or change of species in wild animals. We must there- fore admit, for all the species which we know at present, as suffi- ciently distinct and constant, a distinct origin and common date. On the other hand, the fruitful intermixture which art has accom- plished, of some of these species, will not justify us in ascribing to them identity of race or origin, when we see them in the na- tural wild state distinguished by constant characters from the type of the neighboring species, and always producing an offspring marked by these characters. Since neither the principle of breeding, nor the constancy of particular characters, are sufficient in all cases to enable us to judge of species,—and since these fail, particularly in the domes- tic kinds, where their aid is principally required,—we must resort at last to the criterion recommended by Blumenbach, and draw our notions of species in zoology from analogy and probability. If we see two races of animals resembling each other in general, and differing only in certain respects, according with what we have observed in other instances, we refer them without hesita- tion to the same species, although the difference should be so con- siderable as to affect the whole external appearance. On the contrary, if the difference should be of a kind which has never arisen, within our experience of the animal kingdom, as a variety, we must pronounce them to belong to distinct species, even al- though there should be on the whole, a great general resemblance between the two. " I see," says this acute and judicious natur- alist, " a remarkable difference between the Asiatic and African elephants, in the structure of the molar teeth. >\ hether these in- habitants of such distant regions will ever be brought to copulate that of Africa, (ovis tragelaphus, Cuv.), the wild goat of Persia, (paseng, the bezoar animal, capra aegagrus), the bouquetin (capra ibex), and the wild goat of Caucasus (capra Caucasica). The dog he considers to have proceeded from the jackall, wolf, and Fox.—Mimoirc sur la Variation des Animaux; Acta Petrop. 1760. 234 ZOOLOGICAL ACCEPTATION OF together, and whether this formation be universal, is uncertain ; but it exists in all the specimens I have seen or heard of; and I know no example of molar teeth changed in such a manner by degeneration, or the action of adventitious causes : therefore I conjecture from analogy, that these elephants are not mere vari- eties, but truly different species. On the other hand, I hold the ferret (mustela furo) to be only a variety of the pole-cat (m. puto- rius,) not so much because they produce together, but because it has red pupils : and the analogy of numerous other instances in- duces me to regard all the other mammalia, which are destitute of the coloring pigment of the eye, as varieties degenerated from their original stocks."* This method is the only satisfactory one of investigating the varieties of the human species. The diversities of physical and moral endowment which characterize the various races of man, must be analogous in their nature, causes, and origin, to those which are observed in the rest of the animal creation, and must therefore be explained on the same principles. There is no point of difference between the several races of mankind, which has not been found to arise, in at least an equal degree, among other animals, as a mere variety, from the usual causes of degeneration. Our instances are drawn chiefly from the domesticated kinds, which, by their association with man, lead an unnatural kind of life, are taken into new climates and situations, and exposed to various other circumstances, altogether different from their original destination. Hence they run into varieties of form, size, proportions, color, disposition, faculties; which, when they are established as permanent breeds, would be considered, by a person uninformed on these subjects, to be dif- ferent species. Wild animals, on the contrary, remaining con- stantly in the state for which they were originally framed, retain permanently their first character. Man cannot be called, in the ordinary sense of the term, a do- mesticated animal; yet he is eminently domestic. Inhabiting every climate and soil, acted on by the greatest variety of exter- * fte Gen. Hum. Var. Nat. p. 70, 71. SPECIES AND VARIETY. 235 nal agencies, using every kind of food, and following every mode of life, he must be exposed still more than any animal to the causes of degeneration. I proceed to consider the circumstances in which the several races of men differ from each other, to compare them to the cor- responding differences of animals, and to show that the particular and general results of these inquiries lead us plainly to the con- clusion, that the various races of human beings are only to be re- garded as varieties of a single species. Whether this one species owes its origin to one pair, a male and a female, is a question which zoology does not possess the means of solving ; a question which is of no more importance respecting our own species than it would be in the case of the elephant, lion, or any other animal. 23G VARIETIES OF COLOR IN THE HUMAN SPECIES CHAPTER II. On the Color of the Human Species.—Structure of the Parts in which the Color resides—Enumeration of the various Tints.— Color and Denominations of the mixed Breeds.— Various Colors of Animals.—Production of Varieties.—Spotted Indi- viduals.— Other Properties of the Skin. Although a general survey of organized bodies, in both the ani- mal and vegetable kingdom, by no means leads us to regard colour as one of their most important distinctions, but, on the contrary will soon convince us that it may undergo very signal changes, without essential alterations of their nature ; and although this remark holds equally good of the human subject; yet the differ- ent tints and shades of the skin, offering themselves so imme- diately to observation, and forcing themselves, in a manner, on the attention of the most incurious, have always been regarded by the generality of mankind as the most characteristic attribute of the various races. These several hues form, indeed, very con- stant hereditary characters, clearly influenced by the colour of both parents in the mixed offspring of different varieties, and bear- ing close and nearly uniform relation to that of the hair and iris, as well as to the whole temperament of the individual. The skin, in which the color of animals resides, is a more or less dense membrane, covering the surface, and generally propor- tioned in thickness to the volume of the body ; serving the pur- pose of binding together and protecting the subjacent organs, of IN THE HUMAN SPECIES. 237 separating, under the form of sensible and insensible perspiration, a large quantity of excretory matter, the residue of digestion and nutrition, and of establishing the relations between the living frame and surrounding objects. It is the sensitive limit of the body, placed at the extremity of the organs, incessantly exposed to external influences, and thus forming one great connexion be- tween animal existence and that of surrounding substances. Anatomical analysis resolves this apparently single envelope of our organs, commonly called skin, into two or more strata, technically termed the common integuments. The most considerable and important of these, making up, indeed, the chief bulk of the skin, is the cutis vera, or true skin, dermis, corium, le corion Fr.;—the part which, when prepared by the chemical process of tanning, constitutes leather. It is a compact and strong areolar tissue, composed of a dense and fi- brous substance, with numerous vacuities or intervals. The in- tertexture of the fibrous or cellular tissue is close and compact on its external surface, so as to resemble the smooth continuity of a membrane ; more loose, with larger areolae on the opposite or adhering aspect, where the fibrous threads are lost in those of the subjacent cellular or adipous tissue. Immersion in water softens the skin, by separating the fibres of its corion, and ren- dering their intervals more distinct: we then find that the areola) are not confined to the external surface, but are prolonged into its substance, which is penetrated by them in its whole thickness. They serve for the passage of hairs, exhalants, and absorbents, as they come to the surface. The areolar tissue of the cutis is permeated in every direction by countless myriads of arterial and venous ramifications, of which the ultimate capillary divisions occupy the external or com- pact surface of the organ, and form a vascular network over the whole body, eluding our inquiries and defying calculation by the number and fineness of its tubes. In the glow of exercise or the flush of shame,in the excitement of fever, or the eruption of measles, scarlatina, &c. these cutaneous vessels are filled with blood ; they may be injected with colored fluids after death. Their ramifica- tions are particularly numerous and subtle in those parts of the d2 23S VARIETIES OF COLOR cutaneous organ which possess the most exquisite sensibility ; and where the surface is found, on minute examination, to be covered by numerous fine processes called papilla? or villi.* The absorbents of the skin seem nearly equal in number to its blood-vessels. Numerous nerves enter it in all parts, and distribute their larg- est ramifications in the situations occupied by the papillae. The color of the cutis is uniform, or very nearly so, in all the varieties of the human race, and depends entirely on the state of its capillary blood-vessels. According as they are full or empty, it may vary (as we see in the white races) from a more or less florid red, constituting what artists call flesh-color, to the waxy paleness of fainting or exhaustion from haemorrhage. Macera- tion in water makes its areolar tissue quite white : and injection with size colored with vermilion gives it a deeper or lighter shade of red, according to the force employed. The cuticle or epidermis, the exterior layer of our common in- teguments, is the thin transparent or light grayish pellicle raised by a blister : in the natural state it adheres closely, almost insep- arably, to the subjacent parts, and is accurately fitted to the cutis, having folds and lines corresponding to all the inequalities of that organ. It presents no traces of fibres, laminae, or cells ; it has no blood-vessels, absorbents, or nerves. Therefore, though per- forated by the hairs, by the excretory tubes of cutaneous follicles, by the exhalent mouths of the capillaries, and possibly by absor- bent orifices, it is incapable of sensation and all vital actions, extra- vascular, inorganic. It is a protecting sheath for the finely-or- ganized and sensible skin; and serves the further purpose of pre- * The external vascular surface of the cutis, with its papillae or villi, seems to be what Bic hat has described as a separate stratum, under the name of cmrps reticulaire. (Anat. GivArale.) I have never seen the distinction. My object, here, is not, however, to describe the skin fully, but merely to consider it as the seat of color. They who wish for further information on the struc- ture of the integuments, may consult Dr. Rees's " Cyclopaedia," art. Integ- uments; and Dr. Gordon's " System of Human Anatomy," book ii. chap. 4. IN THE HUMAN SPECIES. 239 venting evaporation, by which that organ would otherwise be in- evitably dried. Thus the external surface of our living machine is in a manner dead ; and objects applied to it act on the cuticu- lar nerves through this insensible medium. When preternatural- ly thickened, it destroys sensation; if removed, as by blistering, the contact of bodies gives pain, but does not produce the appro- priate impressions of touch. The cuticle, as well as the cutis, is nearly the same in the white and dark-colored races : it is, on the whole, darker in the latter than in the former, and possesses a grayish or brownish tint. If there are any other slight modifications, they have not yet been ascertained. A third and more delicate stratum, interposed between the epidermis and the true skin, and called the rete or reticulum Malpighii or mucosum, has been generally regarded as the seat of human color—of all the diversified tints which characterize the various races of men. The softness of its texture, and its perforation by hairs, papilla?, &c. account for the name rete mu- cosum. It is a black layer, about as thick as the cuticle itself, or even thicker, in the Negro; and darker colored on its dermoid than on its cuticular surface. Putrefaction detaches it with the cuti- cle from the subjacent cutis ; its further progress resolves the soft tissue into a kind of unctuous slimy matter, readily washed away from the cuticle and skin. It is not easily separated from the former: indeed it is, under all circumstances, very difficult,* and where the skin is delicate quite impossible, to exhibit it detached, in any considerable portion, as a distinct membrane. It agrees with the cuticle, in showing nothing like fibrous texture; in being inorganic and extravascular. It diffuses itself in water, and com- municates a turbid cloud to the fluid like that produced by the » Soemmering experienced this difficulty : he says, " It cannot, without much trouble, be shown as a peculiar detached membrane: and I coujd only succeed in the scrotum in exhibiting considerable portions of it as a separate, coherent, and independent membrane." "Ueber (be Korperliche Verschie- denhcit des Negers vom Europaer, p. 45,46." 240 VARIETIES OF COLOR pigmentum nigrum of the eye ; then subsides, as an impalpable powder, to the bottom. Thus the source of color in the dark va- rieties of our species is satisfactorily ascertained. I have stated eiswhere that " the demonstration of this reticu- lar body is much less easy in the white races than in the Negro; and indeed very little seems to be known concerning its anato- my in the former;" and further, " that it seems really to be a matter of doubt, whether in the white races there be any color- ing matter in the exterior capillary system analogous to the black substance of the Negro, or whether the color of their surface arise merely from that of the cutis and cuticle."* When the cuticle separates by putrefaction from the cutis, the surfaces are mois-ened by a putrid offensive fluid; but I could never detach any thing like a distinct membrane, even in the smallest portion.t The late Dr. Gordon came to a similar conclusion, from his in» vestigation of the subject. " After the strictest examination, I have not been able to find any light-colored rete mucosum, cor- responding to this black one, in the inhabitants of Great Britain, nor in those of other nations resembling them in color.- I have tried all the means usually said to be necessary for discovering it, and many others besides, but always without success: I am, there- fore, disposed to deny the existence of any such membrane in white persons "| * Rees's " Cyclopaedia," art. Integuments. f Soemmering remarks that he once found, in an European female, the out- er covering of the cutis distinctly divisible into two lamellae ; and that he pre- serves a specimen of it in his collection. " Ueber die Korpcrliche Verschieden- heit " &c.p. 45. X " System of Human Anatomy ;" v. 1. p. 242 I cannot omit this oppor- tunity of paying to my deceased friend the small but sincere tribute of my high respect, and deep regret for the loss which our science has sustained in his premature death. His abilities, acquirements, and zealous devotion to sci- ence, were well known. At an early age he had distinguished himself as a teacher and a writer ; and he set the useful example of appealing in all cases to nature, and admitting no statements which he had not personally verified. A brilliant and useful career was just opening before him : in the present state of anatomy in this kingdom, his labors and example woujd have been singu- larly useful. IN THE HUMAN SPECIES. 241 The differences between black and white men in the texture of the rete mucosum are distinctly noted by Blumenbach. He states that the native reddish white of the cutis shines through the transparent outer coverings in the white races; while in the dark, the cutaneous pigment is seated in the rete mucosum; the epi- dermis, although pale, manifestly partaking of the tint. He adds, '* Quo fuscius reticulum sit eo crassius quoque et propius admem- branuhe sui generis speciem accedens ; quo pellucidius contra, eo tenerius et non nisi diffiui muci habitum prse se ferens."* Haller! uses a similar contrast; representing this part in the Negro as " invohicrum, crassius quam in Europfeis, et vera? membranse si- mile, cum istis potius mucus sit coactus." There is, in the Hunterian collection, a portion of white skin with the cuticle turued down : a small portion of a thin transpar- ent pellicle has been subsequently separated from the cutis. A further examination, particularly in the skins of intermediate tints, will be required in order to settle the point. Although I cannot demonstrate rete mucosum in the European, I think that there must be under the cuticle some coloring matter: how can we otherwise account for the difference between the fair and the swarthy, or for the remarkable peculiarity of the Albino ?£ The colors impressed on the skin in the operation of tattooing, which we see so frequently in our sailors, and of which the South- * De G. H. Var. Nat. sect. iii. § 42. t Elem. Physiol, lib. xii. sect. i. § 11. X Camper seems to be influenced by similar arguments, rather than by di- rect anatomical evidence, in ascribing a rete mucosum to the white races. ' Credible esse mihi videtur, oinnes homines reticulo sirnili gaudere, quod, pro, diversis regionibus, et in diversis hominibus non modo, sed in eodem, pro par- tium varietate, diversam superficiem nactum, album, fuscum, vel nigrum ap- parat. Praeparavi cutis portionem, e latere fa;minae emortuas depromptam, cujus facies et pectus nive erant candidiora, in qua reticulem intense fuscum est." "• Demonstrat. Anatom. Pathol." lib. 1. cap. 1. He repeats in the same page, the common representation of the rete muco- sum not being regenerated, and of cicatrices in blacks being therefore white. I have had repeated opportunities of ascertaining that this notion is altogether unfounded. 242 VARIETIES OF COLOR Sea Islanders exhibit such remarkable and often very elegant spe- cimens, reside in the cutis, and are indelible, except by the iemo- val or destruction of the part. The cuticle does not partake in the effect; which therefore, for obvious reasons, is brighter and more conspicuous when that integument has been removed. When we direct our attention to the very numerous colors and shades which the several varieties of the great human family ex- hibit, merely with the view of ascertaining with how many ex- ternal modifications nature has been pleased to diversify the chef d'ceuvre of the terrestrial creation, the subject, like all belonging to man, has its attraction and interest. But the investigation be- comes much more important, when it embraces the causes of these appearances, and the degree of force belonging to each; when we inquire whether the color of a people depends on the climate of their present or former abode, or on their descent; whether that of children is influenced by the climate in which they are born, or by the blood of their parents; whether it is a sure token of race and pedigree ; how many principal or leading colors we ought to assign to man as at present known ; and whether any and what number of these are to be deemed original or primary. These points are yet undecided, and certainly wor- thy of our attention. The very nature of langu age, the want of adequate expressions to denote the endless shades of color, and the indeterminateness of those which are applird to various tints, create some difficul- ties in this part of the subject, by producing considerable discre- pancies in the reports of travellers, which again are of course increased in many cases by haste and carelessness; by superfi- cial examination, and loose choice of expressions. The same tribe will be very differently described according to the com- parison which the observer makes between them and any model in his mind; or according to the contrast they may present with the lighter, darker, or differently colored people, whom he may have recently observed. The human skin is dyed with various tints of white, yellow, red, brown, black ; and it exhibits, in degree, every possible in- termediate shade between the clear snowy whiteness of the most delicate European female, or of the Albino, and the deep ebony IN THE HUMAN SPECIES. 248 ©r jet black of a Gold-coast Negress. None of these gradations obtains so universally as to be found in all the individuals of any particular nation, nor is so peculiar to any one people, as not to occur occasionally in other widely different ones : we may, how- ever, refer the national varieties of color, on the whole, with suf- ficient accuracy, to the five following principal classes :— I. White, to which redness of the cheeks is almost wholly con- fined,* being observed, at all events, very rarely in the other va- rieties. It is seen in all the European nations, excepting the Laplanders; in the western Asiatics, as the Turks, Georgians, Circassians, Mingrelians, Armenians, Persians, &c ; and in the northern Africans. " It is only," says Humboldt, "in white men, that the instan- taneous penetration of the dermoidal system by the blood can take place,—that slight change of the color of the skin, which adds so powerful an expression to the emotions of the soul. ' How can those be trusted, who know not how to blush V says the European, in his inveterate hatred to the Negro and the In- dian."! Yet in some very light examples of the brown and yellow va- rieties, blushing has been noticed ; as by Forster,! in the fairest * Capt. Cook observes of the Otaheiteans, that " their natural complexion is that kind of clear olive or brunette, which many people in Europe prefer to the finest wliite and red. In those who are exposed to the wind and sun, it is considerably deepened ; but. in others, that live under shelter, especially in the superior class of women, it continues of its native hue, and the skin is most delicately smooth and soft. They have no tint in the cheeks, which we dis- tinguish by the name of color." Hawkesworth's Voyages, v. ii. p. 187. In the mountaineers of Bootan, which he saw on the road from Tassisudon to Teshoo-Loomboo, and who seem to possess all the traits of the Mongolian race, Capt, Turner particularly noticed the ruddiness of their countenances. Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama, p. 193. t Personal Narrative, v. iii. p. 229. Mr. Chappell says of the Eskimaux, that " the complexion is a dusky yel- low but some of the young women have a little color bursting through this dark tint." Narrative of a Voyage to Hudson's Bay, p. 58. X Observations made on a Voyage round the World, p. 229. He says that the complexion ef the chiefe, or best-formed race in Otahejte, " Is of a white 241 varieties of color Otaheitean women; and by Dampier,* in the Tunpuincsc; " They are," he observes, " of a tawny Indian color ; but, I think the fairest and clearest I ever saw of that complexion: for you may perceive a blush or change of color in some of their faces on any sudden surprise of passion, which I could never discern in any other Indians." Considerable variety, however, will be found to exist in the color known by the general epithet white. That singular description ofhuman beings, called Albinos, pos- sess a skin of a peculiar reddish, or an unnatural white tint, with corresponding yellowish white or milk white hair, and red or at least very light blue or grey eyes. The cutaneous organ has sometimes a roughness, which has been construed to approach to a degree of lepra.t The hair of all parts of the body is unnatur- tinctured with a brownish yellow, however not so strongly mixed, but that on the cheek of the fairest of the women you may easily distinguish a spreading blush." * Voyages, v. ii. p. 40. t Blumenbach has given an interesting description of two brothers who live in the Vale of Chamouny. " Cutis eorum, prlin\ ; and the islanders of Tierra del Fuego, with a very depressed one, by G. Forster. The truth of this representation is most fully attested by Hum- boldt, whose accuracy and extensive opportunities entitle his observations to the most implicit deference. " In the faithful por- trait which an excellent observer, Mr. Volney, has drawn of the * Decas Craniorum, p. 22. Decas altera, p. 13. t Storia Naturale del Chili, p. 336. English Translation, 274-5. DIFFERENCES OF FEATURES. 287 Canada Indians, we undoubtedly recognise the tribes scattered in the meadows of the Rio Apure and the Carony. The same style of feature exists, no doubt, in both Americas : but those Europe- ans who have sailed on the great rivers Orinoco and Amazon, and have had occasion to see a great number of tribes assembled under the monastical hierarchy in the missions, must have observ- ed, that the American race contains nations whose features differ as essentially from one another, as the numerous varieties of the race of Caucasus, the Circassians, Moors, and Persians, differ from one another. The tall form of the Patagonions is again found by us, as it were, among the Caribs, who dwell in the plains from the delta of the Orinoco, to the sources of the Rio Blanco. What a difference between the figure, physiognomy, and physical constitution of these Caribs, who ought to be accounted one of the most robust nations on the face of the earth, and are not to be confounded with the degenerate Zambos, formerly called Ca- ribs of the island St. Vincent, and the squat bodies of the Chay- ma Indians of the province of Cumana ! What a difference of form between the Indians of Tlascala and the Lipans and the Chichimecs of the northern part of Mexico !"* An analogous variety of countenance has been noticed in the Friendly Islanders; "their features are very various, insomuch that it is scarcely possible to fix on any general likeness by wliich to characterize them, unless it be a fulness at the point of the nose, which is very common. But, on the other hand, we met with hundreds of truly European faces, and many genuine Roman noses, amongst them."f Individuals in Europe often have the countenance exactly re- sembling the Negro or Mongol face. From our survey of the countenance we proceed, by a natural and easy transition, to a consideration of the bony head. It is sufficiently obvious that there must be a close connexion between the external soft parts of the face, or the features, and the bony fabric, or mould, on which they are formed and supported ;—that * Political Essay, v. 4. p. 142. f Cook's Voyage to the Pacific ; i. 380. 288 FORMS OF THE SKULL. the size and configuration of the latter must determine those of the former * We might venture to affirm, that a blind man, if he knew the vast difference which exists between the face of a Cal- muck and that of a Negro, would be able to distinguish their skulls by the mere touch; nor could you persuade any person, however ignorant of the subject, that either of these belonged to a head similar to those from which the divine examples of the an- cient Grecian sculptuie were copied. Differences equally strik- ing are found in the cavity of the cranium ; of which the general capacity and particular forms depend entirely on the size and par- tial developement of the brain. Hence our zoological study of man will be greatly assisted by carefully examining genuine specimens of the skulls of different uations, which are easily prepared and preserved, may be conveniently handled and sur- veyed, considered in various points of view, and compared to each other. Such a comparison will show us that the form of the cranium differs no less than the color of the skin, or other characters; and that one kind of structure runs, by gentle and almost inobservable gradations, into another ; yet that there is, on the whole, an unde- niable, nay, a very remarkable constancy of character in the crania of different nations, contributing very essentially to national peculiarities of form, and corresponding exactly to the features which characterize such nations. Hence anatomists have at- tempted to lay down some scale of dimensions, to which the vari- ous forms of the skull might be referred, and by means of which they might be reduced into certain classes. With the exception of a few desultory observations, which are scattered through the works of different writers, Daubenton's Paper, " Sur la Difference du grand Trou Occipital dans VHomme et dans les autres Animaux," in the Memoirs of the Royal Academy * I do not speak of the original formation, nor mean to assert that the par- ticular forms of the soft parts depend on those of the bones, as their cause ; for numerous phenomena rather tend to prove the reverse of that position, or that the soft parts influence the configuration of the bones. 1 only wish to point out the relation between them, and to state, that either being known, it will be easy to determine the other. FORMS OF THE SKULL. 289 of Sciences for 1764, contains the first attempt at any general re- marks on the subject; and this, indeed, is more important in pointing out the differences between the human structure and that of animals, than in defining the characters of the skull in the dif- ferent races of mankind. Camper has attempted a more general view, by means of his facial line and angle already described (see Chap. IV.) But what he has said cannot be considered even as approximating to a systematic account of the national varieties of the skull. It is sufficiently obvious that his method is applicable to such varieties only as differ from each other in the size and prominence of the jaws ; that it will not at all exhibit the charac- ters of those whieh vary in the opposite way, viz. in the greater or less breadth of the face, while the upper, posterior, and lateral aspects of the cranium are entirely disregarded. It often happens, that crania of the most different nations, wliich differ toto ccelo from each other on the whole, have the same facial line ; and, on the contrary, that skulls of the same nation, which agree in gen- eral character, differ very much in the direction of this line.* Camper could not, indeed, have fully explained this subject, be- cause he had no sufficient collection of crania for the purpose. His dissertation contains an engraving of a skull, which he calls that ofa Calmuck, and adduces as a representative of all the na- tives of Asia. The characters of this skull are completely Negro, and the very reverse of those which distinguish the Calmuck. Be- sides this, he brings forward one Negro skull: and these two are all that it contains, except European heads. * The crania ofa Negro and ofa Pole, represented in the Decades of Blum- enbach (Dec. altera, tab. x. Dec. tertia, tab. xxii.), possess exactly the same facial line ; yet the general character of the two skulls is most opposite, when we compare the narrow and keel-shaped Ethiopian to the broad, square form of the Lithuanian. There are, in the same work, two Negro crania of very dif- ferent facial lines, which, when viewed in front, betray their Ethiopic origin most incontestably, by the same characters of a narrow and compressed cra- nium and arched forehead. In short, this criterion of the facial line, which I have already shown to be quite insufficient as a key to the intellectual rank of animals, is equally, if not more unserviceable, in its application to the varieties of man. 290 FORMS OF THE SKULL. We are indebted to Blumenbach for the completest body of in- formation on this subject, which he has been enable^ to illustrate most successfully by an unrivalled collection of the crania of dif- ferent nations from all parts of the globe. His admirable work on the varieties of the human species con- tains a short sketch of the various formations of the skull in dif- ferent nations ; but he has treated the subject at greater length and with more minute detail in his Decades Craniorum, where the crania themselves are represented of their natural size. He states that, in the examination and classification of his im- mense collection, he finds it every day more and more difficult, amidst such numerous differences in the proportion and direction of various parts, all of which contribute more or less to the nation- al character, to reduce these to the measurements or angles of any single scale. Since, howrever, in distinguishing the characters of the different crania, such a view will gain the preference to all others, as offers at one glance the most numerous and important points, and such as contribute especially to the comparison of national characteristics, he has found, by experience, that to be the best adapted to this purpose, which is obtained by placing the different crania, with the zygomas perpendicular, on a table in a row, and contemplating them from behind. When skulls are thus arranged, those circumstances which contribute most to the formation of the national character, viz. the direction of the jaws and cheek-bones, the breadth or narrowness of the head, the ad- vancing or receding outline of the forehead, are all distinctly per- ceived at one view. This method of considering the bony head he calls norma verticalis. It is exhibited in the three figures of plate IV, where three heads are represented in this point of view, in order to illustrate the subject. The middle of the three, dis- tinguished by the symmetry and beauty of all its parts, is that of a Georgian female : the two outer ones are examples of heads dif- fering from this in the opposite extremes. That on the left, elon- gated in front, is the head of a Negress ; the other, on the right, expanded laterally, and flattened in front, is the cranium of a Tungoose, from the north-east of Asia. The great expanse of the upper and anterior part of the cranium, hiding the face, char- acterizes the Georgian. In the Ethiopian, the narrow slanting FORMS OF THE SKULL. 291 forehead allows the face to come into view ; the cheeks and jaws are compressed laterally, and elongated in front. In the Tun- goose, on the contrary, the maxillary, malar, and nasal bones are widely expanded on either side; and the two latter are on the same horizontal level with the glabella ;* the forehead being still low and slanting. In the first, or white variety of man, to which Blumenbach has given the epithet Caucasian,—-including the ancient and modern inhabitants of Europe, the western Asiatics, or those on this side of the Caspian Sea, the rivers Ob and Ganges, and the northern Africans; in a word, nearly all the inhabitants of the world as known to the ancients,—the skull presents the finest intellectual organization ; proportions indicating the greatest predominance of the rational faculties over the. instruments of sense and of the common animal wants. The upper and front parts of the skull are more developed than in any other variety ; and their ample swell completely hides the face, when we survey the head accord- ing to the norma nerticalis. The facial line mu is quoted. X P. 130—1.17. CAUCASIAN VARIETY. 299 curata icon exhibet, proxime autem ah eo, quem tot antiquissima /Egvptiucae artis monume.nta prae se ferunt." The Abyssinians to whom a comparison is here made, are of Arab descent, and have all the characteis ofthe Caucasian variety. Soi;mmerking describes the heads of four mummies which he has seen : two of them different in no respects from the European formation ; the third had the African character of a large space marked out for the temporal muscle ; no other proof of Negro de- scent is mentioned; and what is stated concerning the face, rather contradicts the supposition : the characters of the fourth are not particularized. " Caput muiniae, quod Cassellis in museo servatur, nil fere ab Europneo differt.* " Caput etiam mumise in theatro anatomico Marpurgensi ser- valum, cujus exacta delineatio ad manus est, nil a capite Europseo deflectit. " Pulcherrima et optime servata, forsan virilis mumise calvaria optima? aetatis, qua me Mieg, Professor Basileensis benevole do- navit qua?que olim in collectioiie F. Plateri fuit, dislincte for- mam Africanam, alte progrediente vestigio insitionis musculi tem- poralis, repraesentat; vertex non est compressus, neque ossa faciei robustiora sunt ossibus Europceorum. Densum ordinem integri pulchri dentes sistunt, non nisi inferiores incisores et canini ob- lique priora et inferiora versus attenuati sunt, pluriinum vero medium incisorum par, brevioribus ea de causa coronis instructum. " Calvaria mumiae hominis senis confecti, ab eodem Mieg mihi data, iEwyptiacain ossium faciei form am minus accurate reprae- sentat, verum dentes incisores exteriores inferiores, et dentes canini modo quem supra indicavi, se habent ; distant nimirum inter se, et in planum sunt attenuati.f" Denon states, of the female mummies, " que leurs cheveux etoient longs et lisses ; que le caracteie de la tete de la plupart tenoit du beau style. Je rapportois une tete de vieille femme, qui etoit auss.i belle que celles des Sibylles de Michael Ange."| * Bruckhann's Nachricht von einer Mamie ; Brunswick, 1782. 4to. t Dc Corporis Humani Fabrica ; t i. p. 70. 71. t Voyage, p. 252. sou FORMS OF THE SKULL. The embalmed heads from the catacombs of Thebes (Quour- nah) engraved in the great French work, are ofthe finest European form, to which their abundant, long, and slightly-flowing hair fully corresponds. There is a male head, with the broad and fully-de- veloped forehead, small perpendicular face, and all the contours of our best models.* " L'augle facial se rapproche beaucoup d'un angle droit; et les dents incisives sont plantees verticalement, et non indinees ni avancees, comme elles le seroient dans une tete de Negre." The nose is finely arched ; the jaws perpendicu- lar ; the mouth and chin well formed. The front and profile views of a female headf are of the same character ; the face com- pletely European, the hair copious, and disposed in small masses or locks, a little turned. The same remarks are applicable to an- other head,\ of which a section is also exhibited. The skulls of four mummies in the possession of Dr. Leach of the British Museum, and casts of three others, agree with those just mentioned in exhibiting a formation not differing from the European, without any trait of Negro character. Lastly, so far as osteological proofs go, the question may be considered as completely decided by the strong evidence of Cu- vier. It is now clearly proved,—yet it is necessary to repeat the truth, because the contrary error is still found in the newest works,— that neither the Gallas (who border on Abyssinia.) near the Bos- jesmen, nor any race of Negroes, produced that celebrated people whogave birth to the civilization of ancient Egypt, and from whom we may say that the whole world has inherited the principles of its laws, sciences, and perhaps also religion. " Bruce even imagines that the ancient Egyptians were Cush- ites, or woolly-haired Negroes : he supposes them to have been allied to the S!ianion, some come nearer to one and some to the other of the two immediately adjoining varieties. Thus the natives of some islands in the South Sea are hardly to be distinguished in coun- " Blumenbach, tab. 26. t Ibid. tab. 50. t Ibid. tab. 49. DIFFERENCES OF THE TEETH. 329 tenance and head from ♦ uropeans ; while others approach as near to the Negroes. The Marquesans,the Society, Friendly, and Sandwich Islanders, miuht be almost arranged under the Caucasian variety; while the natives of New Guinea, New Holland, Van Diemcn's Land,New Britain, even in the same race, individual varieties are endless in number and great in degree, without any diminution of strength and ac- tivity : and that forms and relations very different from each other may yet be thought equally beautiful by those who venture to judge without knowing the proportions of the ancient statues. Still greater differences exist between the several races of mankind: insomuch, that if we adopt for the model of beauty the standard of proportions discovered in the Greek statues, a great pari of the human race wdl be cut off, by its very organization, from all chance of participating in this endowment. When, however, we find that Hottentots and American savages will outrun wild ani- mals in the chace, will pursue and hunt down even deer ; that they will accomplish long journeys ou foot over the most difficult coun- tries, where there is no path to direct, and every obstacle to ob- struct their progress; that the effeminate Hindoos, as we frequently call them, will keep up with horses, and perform astonishing jour- neys in a short time : that the South-Sea Islanders amuse them- selves for hours together by swimming about in the strongest surf which would instantly destroy a boat or vessel; we shall be obliged to allow that the form and proportions to which we are most ac- customed are not essential to bodily vigor and flexibility of move- ment. Our own inferiority in these respects arises, I am aware, from want of exercise, not from organic deficiency. Civilized man is ignorant of his own powers : he is not sensible how much he is weakened by effeminacy, nor to what extent he might re- cover his native force by habitual and vigorous exercise of his frame. The body is described as broad, square, and robust; the extre- mities short and nervous ; and the shoulders high in the Mongo- VARIETIES IN FIGURE, 341 lian tribes, which entered Europe in the thirteenth century. See P. eo6. " The Calmucks," says Pallas, " are often very strong about the neck, but slender and thin in the limbs. You hardly ever see corpulent persons among the common people ; even those who are rich and of higher rank, living in indolence and abundance, do not become immoderately large ; while, on the contrary, nu- merous fat and unwieldly individuals are seen among the Kirgises, and other Tataric pastoral tribes, who follow exactly the same mode of life."* Blumenbach possesses the entire skeleton of a Don Cossack, whose head, as exhibited in the fourth plate of his first decade, is marked with the characters of the Mongolian variety. The broad and flat face, the harsh muscular impressions and irregular out- lines of this skull, and the construction ofthe skeleton in general, correspond to the character which this race bears for strength and hardiness, and to the alarms which they generally create as enemies. " Habitus in totum horridus. Orbitffi maxime profunda? et latse, scd valde depress*. Narium apertura late patula." " Lim- bus plani semicircularis ubi a processu orbitali externo ossis fron- tis sursum vergit, in acutum quasi jugum alliens; anguli alarum maxilla? inferioris fere monstroseextrorsum tracta?, et masseterum insertione valde ina?quales et quasi hispidi. Crassities ossis occi- pitalis prope protuberantias enormis. Sed et textura ossium cal- varia? tarn densa, ut hinc illinc casu detrita? marmoris durissimi aut iaspidis politi in modum niteant. Hinc et pondus universi cranii ingens. Verum et reliqui sceleti partes capitis horrida? conformationi respondent. Cylindrica v. c. ossa praeter modum crassa et ponder isa. Pectoris os quatuor fere digitos transversos latitudine sequans, et qua? sunt hujus generis alia, rude robur tes- tantia." Mr. Rollin, the surgeon who sailed with La Perouse, has given us the measurements of the Chinese whom he saw at the Baie de Castries, on the east coast of China, in about 52° N. lat. * Sammlungen Hist. Nach. ueber die Mongol. Volktrsch. 1 th. p. 98 r2 :142 PROPORTIONS, elves stronger than the American savages.t Hkarne, Mackenzie', Perouse, Lewis, Clarke, and others, have found the same inferiority of physical force in various parts of the North-American continent. The testimony of Pallas respecting the Mongolian tribe of the Burats is very remarkable : "Their appearance is generally ef- feminate; and th-y are mostly so small in stature and weak, that five or six Burats are often'unable to effect what a single Russian can accomplish. This want of power is not the only circum- stance which proves, in the Burats and other Siberian nomadic people, that a mere animal diet is unnatural, and incapable of maintaining in perfection the physical prerogatives of our species. The body in all these people is remarkably light in comparison to its size. You can raise and hold up the children with one hand, when those ofthe Russian boors of the same age could only be lifted with both hands. Even adult Burats, compared to the Russians, are astonishingly li^ht ; so that the horses, which are not indeed powerful, when tired by a Russian rider, recover them- selves if a Burat takes his place."$ In order to procure some exact comparative results on this point, Peron took with him on his voyage an instrument called a dynamoinetre, so constructed, as to indicate, on a dial-plate, the relative force of individuals submitted to experiment. He direct- ed his attention to the strength of the arms and of the loins, mak- ing trial with several individuals of each kind ; viz. twelve natives of Van Diemen's Land, seventeen of New Holland, fifty-six of the island of Timor, seventeen Frenchmen belonging to the expedi- tion, and fourteen Englishmen in the colony of New South Wales. * Herrf.ra, Dec. 1. lib. ix. cap. 5. f Vol.vev, Tableau des Etats-unis ; t. 1. p. 447. * Sammlungen Ilistor. Niichricht. p. 171—2. 348 DIFFERENCES IN BODILY STRENGTH. The following numbers express the mean result in each case ; but the details are all given in a tabular form in the original. STRENGTH ofthe Arms, ofthe Loins. Kilogrammes Myriagranunes 1. Van Diemen's Land.....50.6 2. New Holland.......508 10.2 3. Timor.........58.7 11.6 4. French.........69,2 15.2 5. English.........71.4 16.3* The highest numbers in the first and second class were respec- tively, 60 and 62; the lowest in the English trial, 63, and the highest 33, for the strength of the arms. In the power of the loin>. the highest among the New Hollanders was 13, the lowest of English 12.7. and the highest 21.3. Tliese results offer the best answer to the declamations on the degeneracy of civilized man. The attribute of superior physical strength, so boldly assumed by the eulogists of the savage state, has never beeu questioned or doubted. Although we have been consoled for this supposed inferiority by an enumeration of the many precious benefits derived from civilization, it has always been felt as a somewhat degrading disadvantage. Bodily strength is a concomitant of good health, which is produced and supported by a regular supply of wholesome and nutritious food, and by ac- tive occupation. The industrious and well fed middle classes of a civilized community may therefore be reasonably expected to surpass, in this endowment, the miserable savages, who are never well fed, and too frequently depressed by absolute want, and all other privations. In the first Section, Chap. V. I have pointed out a difference between the structure ofthe human subject, and that ofthe mon- key, in the relative length ofthe arm and fore-arm. The latter is always the shortest in man; while the two are equal in our near neighbors, or the fore-arm is even the longest. The Negro holds, in this respect, a middle place, about equi-distant from Europeans * Peron, Voyage, 1.1. chap. 20. p. 446, et suiv; t. 2. Additions and Cor- rections, p. 460, et suiv. VARIETIES OF FIGURE AND PROPORTION. 348 and monkeys. " I measured," says Mr. White, " the arms of about fifty Negroes, men, women, and children, born in very dif- ferent climates, and found the lower-arm longer than in Europe- ans, in proportion to the upper-arm and to the height of the body- The first Negro on the list is one in the Lunatic Hospital at Liv- erpool : his fore-arm measures 12£* inches, and his stature is only 5 feet 10i inches. I have measured a great number of white peo- ple, from that size up to 6 feet 4J inches, and among them one who was said to have the longest arms of any man in England ; but none of them had a fore-arm equal to that of the black lunatic. " I have measured the arms of a great number of European skeletons, and have found that the os humeri or upper arm exceeds in length the ulna, which is the longer bone of the fore-arm, by 2 or 3 inches ; in none by less than .2, in one by not less than 3£ inches. In my Negro skeleton the os humeri is only 1£ inch longer than the ulna. In Dr. Tyson's pigmy, the os humeri and ulna were of the same length ; and in my skeleton of a common monkey the ulna is ^ of an inch longer than the os humeri."t Of a Negro skeleton in the very valuable collection of Mr. Langstaff, the entire height is 5 feet 1\ inches : the humerus measures 12f inches, the ulna 11 \- In the individual mentioned at p. 342, the upper-arm was 13 inches, the ulna 11£. * The ulna of the giant in the College Museum is only one inch longer than this. See page 161, t White on the Regular Gradations; p. 52 and following. See also the tables, p. 45 and 46. s2 'm varieties, of proportion. ihe comparative results of several measurements are placed iu succession in the following list: An Englishman - - - Ditto...... Ditto...... Ditto...... Ditto...... Ditto...... Ditto...... Englishwoman - - - Ditto...... European male skeleton Ditto...... A Negro at the Lunatic Hospital, Liverpool - Another from Virginia - Another from the Gold Coast - - - - - Another ------ Negro Skeleton - - - Another - - - - - A Lascar - - - - - Venus de Medici - - - Tyson's chimpanse (Simia troglodytes) - - - - Mr. Abel's orang-utang - Camper's ditto - - - Mr. White's monkey - Stature. 1 Length of Os Humeri. Feet. Inches Imhes. 6 4£ 16 6 1 15.} 6 0 15 5 9J 14 5 7 12| 5 4£ m 5 0 12* 5 4 13 5 0 12* 5 8 13 5 5 m Ulna. 10J 8 0 II 4 0 2 2 2 7 Less than 30 2 2 Inches. 12* HI H| 11 10 10A 9f 91 10 15 12£ m 11| 13 12* 12 m 11 »s 12f hi 12f 10* m 9f 5£ «* 9 10 8.V 9 4* 5 The legs of the Hindoos are said to be long, and those of the Mongolian nations short, as compared with those of our own race. The ancients noticed that certain defects of form were very fre- quent in the legs of the Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Negro slaves. Soemmerring observes, that in the Negro the bones of the leg seemed pushed outwards under the femoral condyles ; so that the knees appear rather further apart, and the feet are directed out- negro less, hands, and feet. 351 wards. This is the case in both his Negro skeletons, and in more than twelve living Negroes whom he examined.* It is seen in the cast of the Negro belonging to the College Museum. The ti- bia and fibula are more convex in front than in Europeans.t The calves of the leg are very high, so as to encroach upon the hams. The feet and hands, but particularly the former, are flat: the os calcis, instead of being arched, is continued in nearly a straight line with the other bones of the foot, which is remarkably broad. " Both hands and feet terminate in beautiful but very long, and therefore almost ape-like, fingers and toes ; and they had all sesa- moid bones, which are certainly rare in Europeans."! " The only peculiarities," observes Winterbottom,|| "which struck me in the black hand and foot, were the largeness of the latter, the thin- ness of the hand, and the flexibility of the fingers and toes." Un- seemly thickness of the legs is not uncommon among the Ne- groes ; and the feet exhibit numerous chinks and fissures, which, as they occur principally in the soles, must probably be referred to the effect of the burning sands. In the sole of a healthy Ne- gro, who died at Cassel, Blumenbach found the epidermis " mi- rum in modum crassa, rimosa, et in multifidas lamellas dehis- scens."§ Peculiarities of form are traceable, in some instances, to par- ticular practices. " The only and very common defect observa- ble among the Calmucks (says Pallas) is curvature of the thighs and legs, arising from their sitting, even in the cradle, on a kind of saddle, in a riding attitude, and being accustomed to riding as soon as they are able to go alone. '1f The curvature of the legs, which is found not only in the Ne* * Von der Korperl. Vcrsch. § 42. t Mr. White has represented the bones of the leg and foot of the Negro and European in a comparative view: On the Regular Gradation, pi. 1. X Soemmerring, ibid. || Account of the Native Africans, v. 2. p. 257. § De G. H. Var.Nat. p. 246. noteb. IT Sammlungen, &c. Th. l.p. 98. 352 varieties of figure. groes, but in the Hindoos,* Americans,tand in many other cases, arises from the practice of squatting; that is, of resting the body on the lower limbs, the ankles and knees being bent to the utmost. The weight of the trunk in this attitude, which is painful and in- deed insupportable to those who are not accustomed to it, rests on the back of the leg; hence the form of the calf is spoiled by it. Smallness of the hands and feet has been remarked by careful observers in many races. Thus it has been found, when the Hin- doo sabres have been brought to England, that the gripe is too small for most European hands.J The Chinese were amused by the largeness and length of Mr. Abel's hands. He adds, " Those of all the Chinese, when com- pared to the hands of Europeans, are very small. When placed in mine, which are not excessively large, wrist against wrist, the ends of their fore-fingers scarcely extended beyond the first joints of mine."|| Mr. Chappell observes of the Eskimaux, that " the most sur- prising peculiarity of these people is the smallness of their hands and feet."§ * This curvature ofthe leg and deficiency of the calf are represented to me by that accomplished artist Mr. Daniel, as the only faults in the Indian form ; which he describes as very far exceeding that of Europeans in elegance and fine proportions. t Chanvalon, Voyage ala Martinique, p. 58. In the Pescherais of Tierra del Fuego, Forster observes that the lower limbs are by no means proportioned to the upper parts : that the thighs are thin and lean, the legs bent, the knees large, and the toes turned inwards. Obs. made en a Voyage round the World, p. 251. Cook describes the Natives of Nootka Sound as having small, ill-made and crooked limbs, with large feet badly shaped, and projecting ankles. He as- cribes these circumstances to their sitting so much on their hams and knees. Voyage to the Pacific, v. 2. p. 303. Lewis and Clarke found broad, thick, flat feet, thick ankles, and crooked legs, in the Western-American tribes generally. They ascribe the latter de- formity to the universal practice of squatting, or sitting on the calves of thefr legs and heels. Travels, ch. 23. X Hodges, Travels in India, p. 3. () Narrative ofa Journey in the Interior of China, p. 9f. 4 Narrative of a Voyage to Hudson's Bay, p. 59. HANDS, FEET, AND EARS. 353 Humboldt says that " the Chaymas, like almost all the Native nations (of America) 1 have seen, have small slender hands."* Similar observations have been made respecting the New Hol- landers and Hottentots.t I am not acquainted with any natural differences in the form or size of the ears, as characterizing the several races of men. It is well known that they stand off further from the head, and are in some degree moveable in savages ; also that the lobulus is enlarg- ed and monstrously elongated by various artificial means in many instances. These practices may have given rise to the fables of some old writers concerning the enormous ears of certain people. In some instances, a slit is made in the external ear, parallel to and near its circumference, and extending through almost its whole length. This is not only subservient to decoration by hold- ing ornaments, but is also converted to the convenient purpose of receiving knives or other useful articles.f The Brazilians inserted gourds in the slits of their ears, increas- ing the size until the first could be put through, and the ears reached the shoulders. When they prepared for battle, these or- namental appendages were fastened behind the head."|| Conbamine and Ulloa saw the lobuli extended to four or five inches in length, so as to touch the shoulders in many cases. The perforations were seventeen or eighteen lines in diameter.^ Similar practices prevail extensively in the Asiatic .and South- Sea Islands, where persons are seen with the lobuli reaching the shoulders, and having slits large enough for the hand to pass.ft * Personal Narrative, v. 3. p. 226. See also Ulloa, Noticias Americanas ; v. 2 ; and Morse's American Geography, v. 1. j Barrow's Southern Africa, v. 1. p. 157. X See portrait of a New-Zealander in Hawkesworth's Collection of Voyages, v. 3. pi. 13 Also pi. 11, in the Atlas of Cook's Voyage to the Pa- cific. || Southey's History of Brazil,v. 1. pp. 135,136, and 631. note 36. § Mdmoires de VAcad. des Sciences ; 1745. p. 433. Travels in South America, v. 1. p. 395. A similar account is given by Adair, Hist, of the North American Indians, p. 171. 1T Forster, Obs. on a Voyage round the World, p. 592. A man at Tanna 354 VARIETIES OF FIGURE. I shall shortly mention here some other modes of ornamental bodily embellishment, which have been practised chiefly among tribes in a more or less rude state. The flattening of the .fore- head, the dyeing and filing of the teeth, have been already no- ticed ; see Chapter IV. Sect. II. The operation of tattooing, or puncturing and staining the skin, has prevailed in various degrees in most parts of the world ; but it has been adopted most extensively and generally in the South- Sea Islands, where it is considered as highly ornamental. The art is carried to its greatest perfection in the Washington dr New- Marquesas Islands; where wealthy and powerful individuals are often covered with various designs from head to foot.* The ele- gance and symmetry ofthe tattooed figures are as much admired by them, as those of dress are by us. ' We may pardon their sim- plicity in attaching so much value to the multiplicity and arrange- ment of these punctures, when we consider that those satisfactory tests of personal merit, the stars, ribbons, and orders, of which more civilized men are so justly proud, are not yet known to them. " For performing the operation, the artist uses the wing- bone ofa tropic-bird (phaeton etherus), which is rendered jagged and pointed at the end like a comb, sometimes in the form of a crescent, sometimes in a straight line, and larger or smaller ac- cording to the figures he designs to make. This instrument is fixed into a bamboo handle about as thick as the finger, with which the puncturer, by means of another cane, strikes so gently and dexterously, that it scarcely pierces through the skin. The principal strokes of the figures to be tattooed are first sketch- ed upon the body with the same dye that is afterwards rubbed into the punctures, to serve as guides in the use ofthe instrument. wore thirteen ear-rings of turtle-shell, an inch in diameter, and three quarters •fan inch broad. Cook's Voy. towards the South Pole, v. 1. p. 290. pi. 46 and 47, Man and Woman at Easter Island, with elongated lobuli. *Langsdorff's Voyages and Travels, &c. v. 1. chap. 5. The designs, which are symmetrically arranged, and show no inconsiderable taste, are exhib- ited in two plates, at pp. 119 and 122. See also Hawkesworth's Collection, v. 3. pi. 13. for the tattooed head ofa New-Zealander. EFFECTS OF ART--TATTOOING. 355 The punctures being made so that the blood and lymph ooze through the orifice, a thick dye, composed of ashes from the ker- nel of the burning nut (aleurites triloba) mixed with water, is rubbed in. This occasions at first a slight degree of smarting and inflammation ; it then heals, and, when the crust comes off after some days, the bluish or blackish-blue figure appears." " When ouce the decorations are begun, some addition is constantly made to them at intervals of from three to six months; and it is not un- frequently continued for thirty or forty years, before tbe whole tattooing is completed. We saw some old men of the higher ranks, who were punctured over and over to such a degree, that the outlines of each separate figure were scarcely to be distin- guishd, and the body had an almost Negro-like appearance. This is, according to the general idea, the height of perfection in orna- ment, probably because the cost of it has been very great, and it therefore shows a person of superlative wealth.* The color of the tattooed figures resides in the cutis or true skin; the cuticle is not affected. Contrary to what we should have inferred, from the generally-assumed principle of constant change in the component particles of animal bodies, these marks are indelible ; they are neither extinguished, nor rendered fainter by lapse of time, and can be got rid of only by excision. Another mode of ornamenting the skin by means of raised cica- trices is principally practised in Africa. Winterbottom informs us, that in the neighborhood of Sierra Leone it is peculiar to the female sex ; " that it is used upon the back, breast, abdomen, and arms, forming a variety of figures upon the skin, which appears as if embossed. The figures intended to be represented are first drawn upon the skin with a piece of stick dipped in wood-ashes, after which the line is divided by a sharp pointed knife. The wound is then healed as quick as possible, by washing it with an infusion of bullanta" " These incisions or marks are generally made during childhood, and are very common on the Gold Coast, where each nation has its peculiar mode of ornamenting them- selves, so that by the disposition of the marks it is easy to know v LA.vosDORrr. p. 11?—120. • 3515 VARIETIES OF FIGURE. which country the person belongs to: for the most part, the fe- males possess the greatest number of these painful ornaments.* In the recent voyage up to the Congo, the embossed cicatrices were found a very common ornament. Captain Tuckey observ- ed, on entering the river, " that all the visiters, whether Christians or idolaters, had figures raised on their skins in cicatrices."f As he proceeded further, he found that the " the cicatrices or orna- mental marks on the bodies of both men and women were much more raised than in the lower part of the river. The women in particular had their chest and belly below the navel embossed in a manner that must have cost them infinite pain."| The septum narium is sometimes perforated, and a piece of bone or wood worn in the aperture, often of considerable magni- tude. But the most singular practice is that of the women on the north-west coast of America, who make a large horizontal slit in the lower lip parallel to the opening of the lips, and penetrating into the mouth; they wear in it ornaments of different kinds, but generally oval pieces of wood a little concave on the two surfaces, and grooved at the edge. The smallest of these additional mouths, as described by Vancouver,|| was 2£ inches long ; the largest 3f% inches by 1J. Capt. Dixon brought home one of the lip-orna- ments, which measured 3£ inches by 2|. It was inlaid with a small pearly shell, and surrounded with a rim of copper.§ The natives of the neighboring Fox Islands seem determined to unite all kinds of personal embellishment. " They make three incisions in the under lip ; they place in the middle one a flat bone, or a small colored stone ; and in each of the side ones a * Account of the Native Africans; v. 1. p. 106,107. t Narrative of an Expedition, &c. p. 80,124. X Ibid. p. 162, 183. The custom is retained by the Black Caribs in the West Indies ; Amic, in Journal de Physique, Aug. 1791. H Voyage, v. p. 280. § Voyage, p. 208. Also pp. 172, 186. Perouse, Voyage, v. 2. p. 139 and following. Langsdorff's Voyages and Travels, v. 2. p. 115. The same practice exists in the Archipelago between America and Kamt- jschatka: Coxe's Account of the Russian Discoveries ; 3d ed. pp. 34,35,104,138, 178 107 fr ' ' * effects of art *>' long pointed piece of bone, which bends and reaches almost to the ears. They likewise make a hole through the gristle of the nose into which they put a small piece of bone in such a manner as to keep the nostrils extended. They also pierce holes in the ears, and wear in them what little ornaments they can procure."* The barbarous Chinese custom of contracting the feet of women, and the great extent to which their irrational purpose is accom- plished, are well known. While the Europeans were expressing their surprise at such an absurdity, and pitying the sufferers, they were constantly permitting under their own eyes the equally, if not >nore pernicious practice of tight stays ; by which I have seen the figure of the thorax completely and permanently altered at its lower part.t When the male New-Hollanders approach the age of puberty, they have one of the front incisors of the upper jaw knocked out, with a curious set of ceremonies described and delineated by Mr. Collins.}: The women of these people, and of some others, par- ticularly in the South Sea, are often seen to have lost one or two joints of the little finger. The exact nature and object of both these mutilations are not understood. Many travellers have spoken of the large and pendulous mam- mae of the females of certain barbarous tribes, particularly in Af- rica. There is no original difference in these cases ; the Hotten- tots and Negresses, previously to child-bearing, have bosoms as finely formed as any women ; but after this time the breasts be- come very loose and flaccid, so that they can turn them under or over the shoulder, and suckle their infants on their backs. This practice, and that of long-continued suckling, probably tend to in- crease the elongation. In speaking of the Shangallas, Bruce says that " after a few days, when the child has gathered strength, the mother carries it * Coxe, p. 176, 177. A similar custom prevailed among the Brazilians; Southev, History of Brazil, v. 1. p. 11. f The small-waisted damsels are placed by Linneus among the monstrous varieties of our species ; " junceae puellae, abdomine attenuato Europeee." X Account of the English Colony, &c. Appendix ; with eight illustrative en- gravings. t2 35S MAM M-E- • in the same cloth upon her back, and gives it suck with her b ea st which she throws over her shoulder; this part being of such a length, as in some to reach almost to the knees."* Captain Tuckeyt noticed the " pendent flaccidity of bosom" which belongs to the African women, and which is thought orna- mental by the girls of the Zaire, or rather promoted by them as a token of womanhood."| Dr. Somerville|| says that the breasts of the Hottentot women at the time of puberty, "become long, round, and firm ; the nip- ple scarcely projecting from the areola, which is more extensive than in other females. Soon after this period, and particularly during utero-gestation, the nipples increase, and do not again en- tirely shrink. After one or two births, the breasts are flaccid, wrinkled, and pendulous, hanging down sometimes to the groins, like bags suspended from the neck." When the Hottentot Venus was stripped naked, " the breasts, which she used to raise and confine by her dress, showed their large pendent masses, terminated by black areolae of more than four inches in breadth, and marked by radiated wrinkles."^ Mr. Barrow, in speaking of the Namaaqua Hottentots, says that " the breasts are disgustingly large and pendent: the usual way of giving suck, when the child is carried on the back, is by throwing the breast over the shoulder."^] Ulloa**observed the Negresses in South America carrying their children on their backs, and passing the breasts to them for suck- ling uuder the arm or over the shoulder. This fact is reported by numerous and respectable travellers ; and has been confirmed to me so positively, both in the Negro * Travels to the Source of the Nile; 2d ed. v. 4. p. 35. t Expedition to Explore, &c. pp. 18, 124. X " Au Senegal les jeunes filles font leurs efforts pour faire tomber leur gorga afin qu'on les croye femmes, et qu'on les respecte d'advantage." Lamiral, LAfrique. p. 45. || Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, v. 7. p. 157. § Cuvier, in Me1 moires du Musium d'Hist. Nat. t. 3.p. 265. If Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa, v. 1. p. 390. ** Travels in South America, v. 1 p. 32. MAMM.E. «oy and Hottentot races, by eye-witnesses, that I am surprised to find it contradicted by Dr. Winterrottom ; who says, " I never saw an instance where women could suckle their infants upon their backs, by throwing their breasts over their shoulders ; and it may be affirmed that such a circumstance would occasion as much as- tonishment on the western coast of Africa as it would in Eu- rope."* This assertion is rather more general than could be warranted by the author's experience, which seems to have been principally confined to the Nova Scotia Negroes, settled in Freetown, Sierra Leone. We can only infer from it, therefore, that the fullness and elongation of the breasts are not universal in the African race. Some of the accounts, indeed, bear an evident air of exaggera- tion: Bruce's expressions are rather strong: but what are we to think of the assertion that tobacco-pouches manufactured from the breasts ofthe Hottentot females are sold in great numbers at the Cape of Good Hope ?t On the other hand, similar conformations have been occasion- ally noticed in some European countries. " I saw," says Lith- eow, "in Ireland's north parts, women travayling the way ortoyl- ing at home, carry their infants about their necks, and laying the dugges over their shoulders, would give sucke to the babes behind their backes, without taking them in their armes : such kinde of breasts, me thinketh, were very fit to be made money-bags for East or West-Indian merchants, being more than halfe a yard long, and as well wrought as any tanner, in the like charge,could ever mollitie such leather."* A large size ofthe breasts has been observed in the Mnrlachian women by Fortis ; and is alluded to by Juvenal as a well-known circumstance, in speaking ofthe Egyptians:— " In Meroe crasso majorem infante papillam." The Portuguese women of modern days are said to be remark- able in the same way; while the Spaniards, in the last century at * Account of the Native Africans, v. 2 p. 264. t Mentzel, Beschreibung des Vorgebirges der guten Hoffnung ; t. 2. p.564 * Rare Adventures and paineful Peregrinations, p. 433. 360 VARIETIES OF FIGURE. least, took pains to compress these parts, in order to prevent too great a luxuriance. To the disgrace of London, even in this pious age of societies for suppressing vice and distributing Bibles, a philosophic foreign- er has found in her streets a proof of the effects of too early vene- real excitement in enlarging the breast; and has commemorated the fact in a classical work, which must convey the scandal over the whole learned world. " Contraria cura ambitum mammarum augeri posse nullum dubium est; quantum vero prseterea Venus quoque praematura eo conferre possit memorabili sane exemplo impuberes et nondum adultae puella? mercenariae docent, quae Londinum, praesertim ex vicinis maxime suburbiis confluunt, et quaestum corpore facientes ingenti numero plateas noctu perva- gantur."* There are no essential differences in the organs of generation : their construction and functions are the same in the various races of mankind. The Negroes, indeed, have generally been celebrated for the size ofa principal member of this apparatus. " Nigritas mentulatiores esse vulgo fertur. Respondet sane huic asserto in- signis apparatus genitalium ^Ethiopia, quem in supellectili mea anatomica servo. Num'vero constans sit haec prerogativa et na- tioni propria, nescio/f Two specimens in the College Museum strongly confirm the common opinion, which is also corroborated by Mr. White,J both from dissection and observation of living Negroes. He mentions an instance where the part in question was found, on dissection, to be twelve inches long. In the living and dead Negroes whom I have seen, there has been no deviation in size from the European formation ; but I have never injected the part. Mr. White observes that many Negroes have no fraenum pree- putii; and that in others it is small and imperfect.|| * Blumenbach de G. H. Var.Nat. sect. iii. § 67. t Ibid. sect. iii. p. 240. X On the Regular Gradation, p. 61. || Ibid. p. 62 Tvson states that the chimpanse had no framum ; Anat. of a pigmie, p. 45. The exact structure of this part is not mentioned by Camper. ORGANS OF GENERATION. 361 It has been supposed that the Hottentot women have something peculiar in this part of their organization ; that they are distin- guished from all other daughters of Eve, by being furnished with a natural fig-leaf of skin, produced from the lower and front part of the abdomen, and covering the sinus pudoris. It has been called a natural apron (tablier, Fr. ; ventrale cutaneum ; schurze, Germ.) Although the native country of these females has been so much visited by Europeans from all quarters for a long series of years, and the structure, according to ordinary descriptions, must be very recognisable, there is a singular discordance among travellers concerning this interesting point in natural history. Some affirm, others altogether deny, its existence; and of the former, hardly any two agree in the precise nature of the pecu- liarity : some referring it to the labia, some to the nymphae, others to a peculiar organization : some deeming it natural, others artificial. This discordance is accounted for in great measure by two circumstances. First, that the peculiar organization is not visi- ble in the ordinary attitude ofthe body, being concealed between the thighs;* and, secondly, that it is confined to a particular tribe. It does not exist in the Negroes, where the female organs of gen- eration differ from the European only in color, in the Kaffers, the Booshuanas, at least not in a conspicuous degree, or in the Hot- tentots generally ; hut it belongs to that particular tribe of Hot- tentots who are called Bosjesmen, or Boschismen. This name which is equivalent to Bushmen, was given by the Dutch to a diminutive race strongly resembling the Hottentots in general formation. They are wild and fugitive beings, frequent- ly engaged in rapine and plunder, and retiring for security into deserts and thickets, whence their name seems to have been de- rived t Perpetual warfare subsisted between these Bushmen and * The Hottentot Venus displayed her charms to the French savans at the Jardin duRoi, where "she had the complaisance to undress herself that she might be drawn naked." " On this occasion, the most remarkable peculiarity of her formation was not observed: she kept her < tablier' carefully concealed, either between her thighs or still more deeply ; and it was not known, till after death, that she possessed it." Cuvier, Memoires du Museum," p. 264, 20.5. t Cuvikr says that they were called Bushmen " parce qu'ils ont coutume de 362 VARIETIES OF FIGURE. the Dutch, who hunted and destroyed them with as little ceremo- ny as the other wild game of the country. That they remained in the most savage state, and were very rarely seen in the Dutch colony, is easily understood from these circumstances. On the authority of Le Vaillant* and of drawings communi- cated to him by Sir Joseph Banks, Blumenbacht describes the peculiarity to consist in an elongation ofthe labia, and represents it as produced by artificial means. More careful and accurate ex- aminations, both in Africa and Europe, have proved most clearly, that it resides in the nymphae, which acquire a length of some inches, and that the formation is natural. Sonnerat had already represented the matter nearly correctly. M Le tablier fabuleux qu'on prete & leurs femmes, et qu'on dit leur avoir 6te donne par la nature, n'a point de realite ; il est vrai qu'on apercoit dans certaines une excroissance des nvmphes qui quel- quef'ois pend de six pcaices, n-.ais c'est une phenomene particulier, dont on ne peut pas faire une regie generale."| " The well-known story," says Mr. Borrow, " ofthe Hotten- tot women possessing an unusual appendage to those parts that are seldom exposed to view, which belonged not to the sex in gen- eral, is perfectly true with regard to the Bosjesinans. The horde We had met with possessed it to a woman; and without the least offence to modesty, there was no difficulty in satisfying curiosity. It appeared, on examination, to be an elongation of the nymphae or interior labia, more or less extended according to the age or habit ofthe person. In infancy it is just apparent, and in gene- ral may be said to increase in length with age. The longest that was measured, somewhat exceeded five inches, which was in a subject of a middle age. Many were said to have them much se faire desespeces de nids dans des touffes de broussailles." Where he heard of these human nests I cannot conjecture. Mr Barrow simply states "that they are known in the colony by the name of Bosjesmans. or men ofthe bushes, from the concealed manner in which they make their approaches to kill and to plunder " " Travels in South Africa," v. 1. p. 234. * " Voyage dans l'lnterieur d' \frique," p. 371. t "De G. H. Var. Nat" sect. iii. § 68, 1 " Voyage dans les Indes Orientales," t. 2. p. 93. ORGANS OF GENERATION. longer. These protruded nymphae, collapsed and pendent, ap- pear at first view to belong to the other sex. Their color is that of livid blue, inclining to a reddish tint, not unlike the excres- cence on the beak ofa turkey, which indeed may serve to convey a tolerable good idea ofthe whole appearance, both as to color, shape and size. The interior lips or nymphae in European sub- jects which are corrugated or plaited, lose entirely that part of their character, when brought out in the Hottentot, and become perfectly smooth. Though in the latter state they may possess none of those stimulating qualities, for which some anatomists have supposed nature to have formed them, they have at least the advantage of serving as a protection against violence from the other sex ; it seeming next to-impossible for a man to cohabit wiith one of these women without her consent, or even assistance* Mr. Barrow adds, that " the elongated nymphae are found in all Hottentot women; only they are shorter in those of the colony, seldom exceeeding three inches, and, in many subjects, appearing merely as a projecting orifice, or an elliptical tube of an inch or less in length. In the bastaard (offspring of European father and Hottentot mother) it ceases to appear."t He observes again, ofthe Namaaquas, that " they had the same conformation of various parts ofthe body as the Bosjesman women and other Hottentots; in a less degree, however, than is usual in the former and more so than in those of the latter."! The account is fully confirmed by the accurate descriptions of Dr. Somerville,|| who speaks from ample opportunities of ob- servation and dissection. He states, that the mons veneris is less prominent than in Europeans ; and either destitute of hair, or thinly covered by a small quantity ofa soft woolly nature : that the labia are very small, insomuch that they seem sometimes to be almost deficient: that the loose, pendulous, and rugous growth, which hangs from the pudendum, is a double fold, and proved by * " Travels into the Interior of Southern Africa," v. 1. 278, 279. t Ibid, 280, 281. X Ibid 389. R " Medico-Chirurgical Transactions," v. 7. p. 157. 364 varieties or figure. the situation of the clitoris at the commissure of these fold?, as well as by all other circumstances, to be the nymphae; and that they descend in some cases five inches* below the margin of the labia. The description by Cuvier! of the individual publicly exhibit- ed in London and Paris, under the name ofthe Hottentot Venus, agrees entirely with Dr. Somerville's account. He found the labia small; a single prominence descended between them to- wards the upper part; it divided into two lateral portions, which passed along the sides of the vagina to the inferior angle of the labia. The whole length was about four inches. This formation has been often ascribed to artificial elongation. " The testimony of the people themselves," says Mr. Barrow, " who have no other idea but that the whole human race is so formed, is sufficient to contradict such a supposition; but many other proofs might be adduced to show that the assertion is with- out any foundation in truth. Numbers of Bosjesman women are now in the colony who were taken from their mothers when in- fants, and brought up by the farmers, who from the day of their captivity, have never had any intercourse wliatsoever with their countrymen, nor kn >w, except from report, to what tribe or na- tion they belong ; yet all these have the same conformation of the parts naturally, and without any forced means."! Dr. Somerville observes, that if any practice of elongating the nymphae had existed among the Hottentots, it could not have escaped his knowledge ; that they do not wish to have them long, nor take any pains for that purpose. They, who have them longest, are not thought the more beautiful; nor are those slight- ed, in whom they are short.|| * In one of Blumesbach's drawings, the length is 61-2 inches, (Rhynland measure.) Vaillant speaks of their reaching 9 inches. t " Mem. du Museum," t. 3. p, 266. When Peron visited the Cape of Good Hope, he turned his attention to this subject; but his statements, as contained in the second volume ofthe " Voyage dea Decouvertes, &c." chap. 34. published after his death, are quite erroneous. % Travels, &c " p. 279, 280. || " Lib. cit." p. 15tf. ORGANS OF GENERATION. 365 This extension of the nymphae in the Bosjesman and Hotten- tot females will appear the less remarkable, when we consider that their size varies in Europeans; that they often project be- yond the labia, and are of an inconvenient length. A considera- ble developement of these organs is more common in warm cli- mates ; and has been noticed in the Negroes, Moors, and-Copts, among whom it has been the practice for females to be circum- cised* This point is even noticed by Pliny. When the Abyssin- ians were converted to Christianity in the sixteenth century, the Catholic missionaries thought fit to forbid circumcision, deeming it a relic of Judaism. As the taste of tbe mon had been formed on the old practice, they did not approve this innovation, and the Catholic girls found that they should get no husbands. In this di- lemma, the College of the Propaganda sent a surgeon from home to examine and report; and, in consequence of his statement, the Pope authorized a renewal of the ancient custom. Although it is not immediately connected with the generative organs, I may mention here another striking peculiarity in the same women : I mean the vast masses of fat accumulated on their buttocks, and giving to them the appearance of extraordinary and unnatural appendages. T In the Appendix, No. I. entitled, "An Account of Circumcision as it is practised on the windward Coast of Africa," to the second volume of his very interesting Account of the Native Africans, Dr. Winterbottom informs us, that this operation is performed on the females as well as the males; and that it is equally common to both sexes in many parts of Arabia, at Bagdad, Alep- po, and Surat, in Egypt, Abyssinia, and the neighboring countries. " Among the Mabommedan nations on this part of the coast, (Sierra Leone,) the opera- tion consists in removing the nymphae, together with the preeputium clitoridis; not the clitoris itself, as has been imagined," p. 239. Bruce, who gives a sim- ilar account of the circumcision, or, as he calls it, excision, practised in Abys- sinia, refers the origin of the custom to a natural redundancy or excess of the parts on which it is performed. Dr. Winterbottom, however, asserts, that on the windward coast of Africa there is no physical reason lor it; the redundan- cy mentioned by Bruce being more rarely met with in these countries than in Europe : " and where the custom of circumcision is unknown, which is prob- ably over the greater part of the continent, no complaint is made on this head," p. 241. u2 366 VARIETIES of figure. " The great curvature of the spine inwards, and extended pos- teriors, are characteristic of the whole Hottentot race ; but in some of the small Bosjesmans they are carried to a most extrav- agant degree."—" The projection of the posterior part of the body in one subject, measured five inches and a half from a line touch- ing the spine. This protuberance consisted of fat, and, when'the woman walked, had the most ridiculous appearance imaginable, every step being accompanied with a quivering and tremulous motion as if two masses of jelly were attached behind."* The vibration of these substances at every movement was very striking in the Hottentot Venus : they were quite soft to the feel. She measured more than eighteen inches (French) across the haunches; and the projection of the hips exceeded six inches. Dr. Somerville founil, on dissection, that the size of the but- tocks arose from a vast mass of fat interposed between the skin and muscles ; and that it equalled four fingers breadth in thick- ness.f Cuvier^ describes the protuberance to be produced by a mass of fat, traversed in various directions by strong cellular threads, and easily removed from the gluteinus. The Hottentot Ve- nus stated that this deposition of fat does not take place until the first pregnancy ; and this statement is confirmed by the testimony of Mr. Barrow.11 It seems almost superfluous to add, that the sacrum and os coc- cygis have the same size, figure, and direction in these as in other females ; that the latter bone is not turned backwards, much less prolonged into any resemblance or even approach to a tail. If the Negroes and Hottentots approximate in some points to the structure of the monkey kind, as they very certainly do, this particular of the elongated nymphae is rather an instance of the opposite description : for the corresponding cutaneous folds are barely visible in the simiae The tremulous masses of fat, with which the glutei are loaded, constitute, on the contrary, accord- ing to Cuvier,§ " a striking resemblance to those which appear in the female mandrills, baboons, &c.; and which assume, * Barrow, " Lib. cit." p. 281 j Ibid, p, 160. X Ibid, p. 269. || Ibid. p. 158. § Ibid. p. 268. FABULOUS VARIETIES. 367 at certain epochs of their life, a truly monstrous develope- ment." The most analogous animal structure, however, is that of the sheep, of which such vast and numerous flocks are reared by the pastoral tribes of Asia. In this variety, a large mass of fat covers the buttocks, occupying the place of the tail; the protuberance is smooth or naked below, and appears when viewed behind as a double hemisphere, the coccyx being just perceptible to the touch in the notch between the two. It consists merely of fat, and fluc- tuates in walking, when very large, like the buttocks ofthe Hot- tentots. The mass sometimes reaches the weight of thirty or forty pounds. Pallas,* who has described this breed of sheep very well, calls it ovis steatopyga, or fat-buttocked sheep. The peculiarity is lost by crossing the breed with other sheep ; and it becomes considerably diminished, when the animals, being purchased by the Russians and conveyed to their towns, quit their native pastures, and change their mode of life. As this fat-buttocked sheep is universally held to be a mere variety, we cannot deem the analogous structure of the Bosjesmen and Hottentots to afford any adequate ground for referring those tribes of human beings to a distinct species. The developement of the nymphae, and the other varieties enumerated in this chap- ter, are merely analogous to the variations observed in corres- ponding points among our domestic animals. The works ofthe older cosmographers, and even the narratives of comparatively recent travellers, make mention of human varie- ties much more remarkable than any which I have recounted. Such are the African Blemmyes, or people without heads ; the Arimaspi and Cyclops, with one eye; the Monosceli, with one leg; the giants and pigmies, the Monorchides, the Anorchides, Triorchides, Hermaphrodites,t the Cynocephali, Cynomolgi, &c. * " Spicilegia Zoologica," fascic. 11. p. 63, etseq. There are breeds of sheep in Persia, Syria, Palestine, and some parts of Afri- ca, in which the tail is not deficient, as in the ovis steatopyga, but retains its usual length, and becomes loaded with fat. t I have considered this subject in the article " Generation," of Dr. ReesV " Cyclopaedia." 368 I'ABULOUS VARIETIES. &c. which are spoken of by Herodotus, Pliny, Pomponiui Mela, Ptolemy, and many others. The proverbial license as- sumed by travellers, their ignorance or disposition to deceive, their carelessness in receiving or communicating facts, and the credulity and love ofthe marvellous in their readers, are all favor- able to the production and diffusion of such stories. In propor- tion as distant regions become well known, such monstrosities disappear ; and the progress of natural knowledge will gradually consign all these marvellous tales to oblivion. The great mass of information, which we now possess, concerning the animal crea- tion in general, respecting the human structure and functions in particular, and their various modifications in the principal laces ofthe species, afford us critical rules, by which the truth or false- hood of any extraordinary narratives can be easily and certainly determined. We need not waste any more time-on the fabulous varieties above alluded to : yet there is one, which has found be- lievers even in our own times: I allude to the men with tails, who, having been again and again spoken of bv various authors, were defended and patronised not long ago by Lord Monboddo. Not to mention, that the existence ofa tail in man would be quite in- consistent with all the rest of his structure, a*id more particularly with all the arrangements both of the hard and soft parts com- posing or contained in the pelvis, we may observe that nearly all, who have spoken of the homines caudati, do so, not from their own observation, but from the reports or information of others. While, on the other hand, they who pretend to have had ocular testimony ofthe fact, mention it in such a manner, and with such circumstances, as obviously to destroy their own ciedit; and they differ most widely from each other, even when speaking of the same people.* Again, the most intelligent and accurate travel- * These remarks are exemplified by Blumenbach in the statements, which have been published concerning the tails ofthe Formosans: " De. G. H Var Nat." sect. iii. § 76. He also succeeded in tracing to its source the engraved representation of a man with a tail, and in proving that it was originally the figure ofa monkey, transmitted from one author to another, and humanized a little at each step. Martini, in his version of Buffon, took a plate from the Amanitates of Linneus; who took it from Aldrovandus, who took it from FABULOUS VARIETIES. 369 lers,in discribing the same people, either make no mention ofthe prodigy, or else characterize it as a pure fiction. Thus, instead of finding the existence of any race of men with tails authenti- cated by creditable witnesses, there is no example even of a single family displaying such an anomaly, although there are well-known instances of families with six fingers on each hand. The consideration of monstrous productions belongs to patholo- gy and physiology, rather than to the natural history of our spe- cies. I have given a description of thetn, with some remarks on their production, in the fifth volume of the Medico-chirurgical Transactions. Gesner, who took it from a German description of the Holy Land " Reyss in das Gelobte Land:" Mentz, 1486, in wliich it represents a quadrumanous monkey, which, with other exotic animals, was seen in the journey. This quadrumanous simia had been gradually transformed, by those who succes- sively copied the engravings, into ajmman two-handed being. Ibid, note, p 271. 370 DIFFERENCES OF STATURE. CHAPTER Vf. Differences of Stature,—Origin and Transmission of Varieties in Form. No part of the natural history of man has been more confused and disgraced by fables and hyperbolical exaggeration, than the present division. Not to mention the pigmies and giants of an- tiquity, the bones of different large animals ascribed to human subjects of immoderate stature, even by such men as Buffon, suf- ficiently prove our assertion. The accuracy of modern investiga- tion has, however, so completely exposed the extravagance of such suppositions, that they do not require very detailed consid- erations. There is no fixed law determining invariably the human sta- ture ; although there is a standard, as in other species of animals, from which the deviations, independently of disease or accident, are not very considerable in either direction. In the temperate climates of Europe, the height of the human race varies from four feet and a half to six feet. Individuals of six feet and some inches are not uncommon in this and other European countries. Occa- sional instances have been known, in various parts of the world, of men reaching the height of seven, eight, or even nine feet ; and ancient and even modern authors speak ofthe human stature reaching ten, and even eighteen feet. The latter representations are grounded on large bones dug out of the earth. These, to- DIFFERENCES OF STATURE. 371 gether with the common propensity to believe and report what is marvellous, and the notion that mankind have undergone a physi- cal as well as moral degeneracy since their first formation, have led to a very common belief that the human stature in general is at this period less than it was in remote ages.* We ate warrant- ed in suspecting the accounts of such great elevation above the or- dinary stature in the human species, by observing that nature, within the time of which we have any authentic records, exhibits no such disproportions in other species. Wre find, too, that the height of these giants is reduced, as we approach modern times, to what we have opportunities of observing now : so that we may probably affirm, that no sufficiently authenticated example can be adduced of a man higher than eight or nine feet. The large bones, on which the notions, about giants have been in many instances founded, have been discovered, by the accu- rate examinations of modern science, to belong to extinct spe- cies of animals of the elephant and other allied kinds. Of the loose and unphilosophical manner, in which these matters have generally been inquired into, we have a specimen in the supposed bones of a barbarian king. Habicot, an anatomist of some ce- lebrity, in a work entitled Gigantosteologia, describes some huge bones found near the ruins of the castle of Chaumont in Dauphi- ny, in a sepulchre, over which was a grey stone, inscribed " Teuto- bocchus Rex." This skeleton, he says, wastweny-five feet and a half high, and ten feet broad at the shoulders. Riolan, in his Gigantomachia, disputes this measurement, and affirms that the bones belong to the elephant. In the long controversy which en- sued, it never occurred to either of the learned disputants to de- scribe or represent the bones exactly. It is surprising that Buffon should have figured and described the fossil bones of large ani- * The notion of diminished stature and strength seems to have been just as prevalent in ancient times as at present. Pliny observes ofthe human height, " Cuncto mortalium generi minorem indies fieri :" vii. 16. A most alarming prospect, if it had been well founded. Homer more than once makes a very disparaging comparison ofhis own degenerate cotemporaries to the powerful heroes ofthe Trojan war. 372 differences op stature. mals as remains of human giants, in the supplement* of his clas- sical work. Together with others, he mentions those dug up at Lucerne in the sixteenth century, and still preserved there. Blu- menbach found these, on the first view, to be elephants' bones. Ftxix Platkr, an excellent physician and anatomist of his time, after carefully examining and measuring these bones, declared that they belonged to a human giant of seventeen feet, and had a drawing made of this skeleton, according to his opinion of its di- mensions ; which drawing is still preserved in the Jesuit's Col- lege at Lucerne.t That men in general were taller in the early ages of the world than at present, or that examples of very tall men were then more frequent than now, has been asserted without any proof. The re- mains of human bones, and particularly the teeth, which are un- changed in the most ancient urns and burial-places, the mummies, and the sarcophagus of the great pyramid of Egypt, demonstrate this point clearly; and every fact which we can collect, from an- cient works of art, from armor, as helmets and breast-plates, or from buildings, designed for the abode and accommdation of men, concurs in strengthening the proof. Blumenbach has the skull and bones of an old person taken out of a burial-place of the most re- mote antiquity of Denmark (ex antiquissimo tumulo Cimbrico,) and corresponding in size to the modern standard. That we can- not have degenerated in consequence of the habits of civilized society is clear, because the individuals of nations living in a way so different from us as the native Americans, Africans, and South- Sea Islanders, &c. do not exceed us in stature. Indeed, it has been generally observed of these races that they are shorter than the Europeans. In mentioning individuals who have exceeded the ordinary height, it is necessary to confine ourselves, in order to avoid what may be fabulous or exaggerated, to instances in our own times. Oneof the King of Prussia's gigantic guards, a Swede, measuied eight feet and a half; and a yeoman of the Duke John Frederick, at Brunswick Hanover, was of the same height. Gilly, who was Tom. V. t " De G. H. Var. Nat." p. 251. differences op stature. 378 exhibited as a show, measured 8 feet (Swedish)* J. H. Rei- chardt of Friedberg near Frankfort, was 8 feet 3 inches ; his father and sister were both gigantict Several Irishmen, measur- ing from 7 to 8 feet and upwards, have been exhibited in this country. The individual whose skeleton is in the College Mu- seum was 8 feet 4 inches. A female of Stargard, named La Pierre, was 7 feet (Dan- ish.)* Martin Salmeron, a well-proportioned Mexican giant, the soa of a Mestizo by an Indian woman, measures 7 feet 3 inches and a half, and is well proportioned.|| Bebe, the dwarf of Stamslaus King of Poland, was 33 in- ches (French,) and well-proportioned. His spine became curved as he approached manhood ; he grew weak, and died at twenty- three.§ The Polish nobleman, Borwlaski, who was well-made, clever, and skilled in languages, measured 28 Paris inches. He had a brother of 34 inches, and a sister of 21.fl A Friesland peasant at twenty-six years of age had reached 29 Amsterdam inches. C. H. Stoberin, of Nuremberg, was nearly 3 feet high at twenty, well proportioned, and possessed of talents. Her parents, brothers, and sisters, were dwarfs.** Of numerous other instances on record, most seem to have been diseased, and particularly rickety individuals: so that they may be classed among pathological phenomena. The men who have considerably exceeded the ordinary standard, have neither possessed those proportions in their form which we account ele- gant, nor has their strength by any means corresponded to their size. The head, in these cases, is below the ratio which it should * " Abhandl. der Konigl. Schwed. Akademie ;" 1765. p. 319. f Ludvvig " Naturgeschichte der Menschen-Species," p. 151. X Ibid. See also Haller, « Elem Physiol." lib. 3t>. sect. 1. § 17. || Humboldt's " Political Essay," book 2. chap. 6. § Bitffon, " Hist. Nat." t. 15. p. 176. IT " Memoirs of the celebrated Dwarf, Jos. Borwlaski." &c. Lond. 1788. *" Lavater's, "Physiognom. Fragment." 4. p. 7?. Lddwis « Naturger chichte," &c. p. 151 v2 374 •ifferences of stature. bear to the body, according to what we deduce from men of or- dinary stature ; hence the brain must he comparatively smaller. It is a general observation, that very large men are seldom dis- tinguished by extent or force of mental power. The dwarfs, again, are mostly ill-made ; the head, in particular, is too large. Th^re are very few instances of what we can deem healthy well- made men, with all the proper attributes of the race, much below the general standard. Some varieties of the human race exceed, and others fall short of the ordinary stature in a small degree. The source of these deviations is in the breed ; they are quite independent of external influences. In all the five human varieties, some tribes and na- tions are conspicuous for height and strength ; others for lower stature, and inferior muscular power. But in no case is the pe- culiarity, whether oftallnessor shortness, confined to any particu- lar temperature, climate, situation, or mode of life. In the Caucasian variety, there are no strongly-marked devia- tions from the ordinary standard, in either direction. Some parts of Sweden and Switzerland, the mountains of the Tyrol and Salzburg, are rather distinguished for the tallness of their inhabi- tants ; while the Finnish race in the north of Europe may be short in the same proportion. The ancient Germans were remarked for their great stature: " magna corpora," is the expression of Tacitus, which is also corroborated by the testimony of Cesar. Large bodies and limbs, as well as undaunted courage, are the attributes assigned to them by Pomponius Mela ; " immanes animis et corporibus." We have no data for determining their precise stature : there is how- ever, no proof that it exceeded the tallest of the present German races, so that so ne of their finest and most robust men may have somewhat exceeded six feet. Modern Saxony and the Tyrol could probably furnish an equal proportion of such individuals. The inhabitants of America exhibit more conspicuous exam- ples both of tall an.l short races. Ulloa observes ofthe Peruvians, that men and women are generally low, but well-proportioned.* * " Voyage to South America," v. 1. p. 267. differences of stature. 375 Cook calls the Pecherais of Tierra del Fuego " a little, ugly, half- starved race;" and adds, " I did not see a tall person among them."* The Western-American tribes of Nootka bound, near the Columbia, and further north, are described by Coon,t Lewis, and Clarke,! as 'ow 'n stature. The Chaymas of South America, says Humboldt, " are in gen- eral, short; and they appear so particularly, when compared, I shall not say with their neighbors the Caribbees, or with the Pay- aguas or Guayquilits of Paraguay, equally remarkable for their stature, but with the ordinary natives of America. The common stature of a Chayma is 1. 57 met. or 4 feet 10 inches French (about 5 feet 2 inches English.) Their body is thick-set, should- ers extremely broad, and breasts flat. All their limbs are round and fleshy. 11 He adds, in a note, that " the ordinary stature of the Guay- quilits or Mbayas, who live between 20° and 22° south latitude, is, according to Azzara, 1. 84 met. or 5 feet 8 inches French (6 feet J inch English.) The Payaguas, equally tall, have given their name to Payaguay or Paraguay." The same accurate observer informs us, respecting the Caribbees of Cumana, that they are distinguished by their almost gigantic size from all the other na- tions he has seen in the New World "§ Among the native tribes in the cold regions north of Canada, Mr. HearneIJ saw individuals of 6 feet 3 and 4 inches. Mr. Bartram found the Muscogulges and Cherokees of North Ameri- ca, between 31° and 35° north latitude, taller than Europeans ; many being above 5 feet, and few under 5 feet 8 or 10 inches.** The Patagonians,!t or, according to their indigenous name, the * Cook's " Voyage towards the South Pole ;" v. 2. p. 183. Also Forster, " Obs on a voyage round the World;" p. 250. t " Voyage to the Pacific ;" v. 2. pp. 301, 366. X " Travels to the Source of the Missouri," ch. 23. H " Personal Narrative," v. 3. p. 222, 223. § Ibid. v. 3 p 286. II " Journey to the Frozen Ocean ;" p. 351, note. ** " Travels," p. 4*2. ft The name of Patagonians is said by Blumenbach to have been given to 3TG differences of stature. Tehuels.who occupy the south-eastern part of South America, have beeu the most celebrated for their colossal stature ; and really seem to be the tallest race of human beings. Their height, however, has been exaggerated by some, while others have denied that it ex- ceeded the ordinary standard. Pigafetta,* who accompanied M galhaens on the first circumnavigation of the globe, gives them the height of 8 Spanish feet (7 feet 4 inches English. Subsequently to this period, for two centuries and a half, the nar- ratives of European travellers are so strangely contradictory and inconsistent with each other on the subject of these Patagonians, that they afford a lesson inculcating most strongly the necessity of caution and diffidence in employing such reports.t It is suffi- cient for the present purpose to represent what appears the proba- ble state of the case, after weighing and critically considering the most unexceptionable testimonies. The Patagonians seem to be a tall but not gigantic race, and to possess a remarkably muscular frame. The only individuals ever seen in Europe were brought to Spain towards the end of the sixteenth century, and seen at Seville by the classical travel- ler Van Linschoton, who says they are well-formed and large in the body. The variety in the statements of different travellers makes it difficult to assign any particular height; but we are au- thorized in representing it as commonly reaching 6 feet, being of- ten 5 or 6 inches higher, and sometimes even 7 feet. Bougainville says that none were under 5 feet 6 inches, and none over 5 feet 11 inches ; which, in English measure, are about them by the Spaniards, because they deemed them allied to the neighboring tribes of Chonos, and from their lower limbs being covered with guanaco skins so as to resemble the hairy legs of animals, which are called in Spanish Patas' " De G. H. Var. Nat." p. 254. * " Viaggio a torno il Mondo," in the collection of Ramusio, v. 1. p. 353. t The opposing testimonies of various Spanish, French, English, and Dutch navigators, who have spoken of the Patagonians from the time of'their being first noticed by Pigafetta to the voyages in the last century, are brought to- gether in the French « Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes ;" and the statement may be seen in English, in Dr. Hawkesworth's general'intro- duction to the account of the voyages undertaken by order of his Majesty &c 3 vol. 4to. differences of stature. 5 feet 11 and 6 feet 4£ inches.* Commerson,* however, who was with him, makes some ofthe highest 6 feet 4 inches (6 feet 9-1U Eng.) Bougainville says that their broad shoulders, large head, and stout limbs, made them appear like giants. They were robust and well-made, with strong muscles, firm and compact flesh. Commodore Byron says of one who appeared to be the chief of the party, " 1 did not measure him ; but if I may judge ofhis height by the proportion of his stature to my own, it could not be much less than 7 feet."$ An Englishman of 6 feet 2 inches ap- peared among them as a pigmy among giants. They were large and musculai in proportion.|| Captain Wali.is measured several of them carefully : one of them was 6 feet 7 inches; several were 6 feet 5 inches, and 6 feet 6 inches: but the stature of the greater part was from 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet.§ Carteret's^ statement coincides with this. Falkner, who lived some time in the country, describes the great Cacique Cangapol, as 7 feet some inches high. When standing on tip-toe, he could not reach to the top of his head. He did not recollect ever to have seen an Indian above an inch or two taller then Cangapol.** The stature of the Patagonians was measured with great accu- * " Voy. autour du Monde," 4to. p. 126. The crew of the Etoile had seen several, in a preceding voyage, 6 feet high (nearly 6 feet 5 English.)—Ibid. De la Giraudaik represented the least of those he saw, in 1766, as 5 feet 7 inches French, or more than •"> feet 11 inches English. Pf.rnktty's "Hist, ofa Voyage to the Falkland Islands," p. 288. The least of those seen by Duclos Goyot were ofthe same size ; the rest consid- erably taller. Ibid. p. 263. t Letter to Lalande in the " Journal Encyclopedique, 1772. i Hawkesworth's " Collection of Voyages," v. 1. p. 28. || Ibid. p. 32. § Ibid p. 374. IT " Philosophical Transactions," v. 60. " Wc measured the height of many of these people : they were in general all from 6 feet to 6 feet 6 inches, al- though there were some who came to 6 feet 7 inches, but none above that" ■ Altogether they are the finest set of men I ever saw any where." p. 22, 23. '* " Description of Patagonia." 378 DIFFERENCES OF STATURE. racy by the Spanish officers in 1785 and 6 : they found the com- mon height to be 6^ to 7 feet ; and the highest was 7 feet 1^ inch.* Falkner says that this tribe, which he calls Puelches, live in- land. When we consider this fact, and that their habits are wandering, we shall not be surprised that some of those who have visited the coast have not met with them ; but have found, instead of the tall Patagonians, Americans of ordinary stature, belong- ing to other neighboring tribes. After surveying the tall and muscular frames of the Patagoni- ans, Caribbees, Cherokees, and many other American tribes, what shall we think of the notion brought forward and defended by many learned men, including even a Buffon and a Robert- son, that the New World is unfavorable to the formation and full developement of animal existence ? The former writer asserts that the animals common to the Old and New World are smaller in the latter; that those peculiar to the New are all on a smaller scale ; that those which have been domesticated in both, have de- generated in America; and that, on the whole, it exhibits fewer species. He extends the same kind of assertion and reasoning to the human species, which he describes as dwarfish, puny, and weak in body, and destitute of all mental vigor, capacity, and talent.t All these representations are fully and clearly refuted by Mr. Jefferson,! who has displayed as much eloquence and sound reasoning in vindicating the savage nations of America from the aspersions of the great French naturalist, as he shewed ener- gy and perseverance in asserting the liberties ofhis own country- men, wisdom and firmness in fulfilling the duties of their chief magistrate. In the following remarks he has* brought forward the mammoth in opposition to the learned theories ; the reasoning is equally applicable to the Patagonians, Caribs, and other tribes of powerful men, which, being in actual existence, afford a safer ground of conclusion respecting the present capabilities of the * " Viaje al Estrechode Magaliiaens ;" Madrid, 1788. 4to. pp. 325 et seq, t " Histoire Naturelle," 1.1*. p. 100—156. X " Notes on Virginia, p 72—94. differences of stature. 379 climate, soil, and air of America, than those colossal remains of an extinct species, which may have belonged to a very different order of things. " It (the Mammoth) should have sufficed to rescue the earth it inhabited, and the atmosphere it breathed, from the imputation of impotence in the conception and nourishment of animal life on a larger scale ; to stifle in its birth the opinion ofa writer, the most learned of all in the science of animal history, that, in the New World, living nature is much less active, much less energetic, than in the Old : —as if both sides of the globe were not warmed by the same genial sun ; as if a soil ofthe same chemical composition was less capable of elaboration into animal nutriment in America than in the ancient continent; as if the fruits and grains from that soil and sun yielded a less rich chyle, gave less extension to the solids and fluids ofthe body, or produced sooner in the cartilages, membranes, and fibres, that rigidity which restrains all further ex- tension, and terminates animal growth. The truth is, that a pig- my and a Patagonian, a mouse and a mammoth, derive their di- mensions from the same nutritive juices : the difference of in- crement depends on circumstances unsearchable to beings with our capacities. All races of animals seem to have received from their .Maker certain laws of extension at the time of their forma- tion. Their elaborative organs were formed to produce this, while proper obstacles were opposed to all further progress. Be- low these limits they cannot fall, nor rise above them. What in- termediate station they shall take, may depend on soil, climate, food, or selection in breeding ; but all the manna of heaven would never raise the mouse to the bulk ofthe mammoth." Similar differences of stature to those which I have described in the American occur also in the Ethiopian variety. That of the Negroes in general does not differ essentially from our own. The Hottentots at the southern extremity of the country are the smallest of the species in Africa. The whole race is shorter than Europeans, yet not so invariably but that tall individuals some- times occur. Thus Latrobe mentions one of six feet in height.* * <•' Journal ofa Visit to South Africa," 4to. p. 282. 380 differences ok stature. The Bo^iesman tribe however, are remarkably short, even among the Hottentots. Two individuals seen by Lichtenstein were scarcely four feet high.* Mr. Bvrkow says, that " in their per- sons they are extremely diminutive. The tallest ofthe men (in a horde or kraal containing 150 individuals) measured only 4 feet 9 inches, and the tallest woman 4 feet 4 inches. About 4 feet G inches is said to be the middle size of the men, and 4 feet that of the women. One of these that had several children measured only 3 feet 9 inches."t To show how little the varieties of our species depend on cli- mate, situation, or other external influences, we find the neighbor- ing tribe to the Hottentots, the Kaffers, distinguished for height and strength. These qualities, however, are more conspicuous in the men than in the women, and the same remark holds good in other instances. Langsdorff was surprised at finding the Mar- quesan women deficient in those personal qualities which were so remarkable in the men; and could hardly suppose them to be the mothers of the very fine males whom he saw. " The Kaffer wo- men were mostly of low stature, very strong limbed, and particu- larly muscular in the leg ; but the good humor that constantly beamed upon their countenances made ample amends for any de- fect in their persons. The men, on the contrary, were the finest figures I ever beheld : they were tall, robust, and muscular ; their habits of life had induced a firmness of carriage, and an open manly manner, which, added to the good-nature that overspread their fea- tures, showed them at once to be equally unconscious of fear, sus- picion, and treachery. A young man about twenty, of 6 feet 10 inches high, was one ofthe finest figures that perhaps was ever cre- ated. He was a perfect Hercules ; and a cast from his body would not have disgraced the pedestal of that deity in the Farnese palace."^ He states in an other place, that " there is perhaps no nation on earth, taken collectively, that can produce so fine a race of men * " Travels in Southern Africa," chap. 8. t"Travels," v. l.p 277. X "Barrow's Southern Africa," v. 1. p. 169. BIFFERENCES OF STATURE. 381 as the Kaffers: they are tall, stout, muscular, well-made, elegant figures. They are exempt, indeed, from many of those causes that, in more civilized societies, contribute to impede the growth of the body. Their diet is simple; their exercise of a salutary nature : their body is neither cramped nor encumbered by cloth- ing ; the air they breathe is pure ; their rest is not disturbed by violent love, nor their minds ruffled by jealousy: they are free from those licentious appetites which proceed frequently more from a depraved imagination than a real natural want; their frame is neither shaken nor enervated by the use of intoxicating liquors, which they are not acquainted with ; they eat when hungry, and sleep when nature demands it. With such a kind of life, languor and melancholy have little to do. The countenance of a Kaffer is always cheerful; and the whole of his demeanor bespeaks con- tent and peace of mind."* Lichtensteint gives a similar description of this people ; and mentions one individual as 7 feet high (Hhynland measure.) The several people classed under the Mongolian variety are shorter in stature than the Europeans ; but, like the nations be- longing to the other varieties, they exhibit differences in this re- spect. The Chinese and Japanese are nearly of the same height with ourselves. The Mongols, Calmucks, Burats, and other tribes of central Asia, are shorter. The Lewchews are a very diminutive race, the average height of the men not exceeding 5 feet 2 inches at the utmost.J The Laplanders and Samoiedes, in Europe: the Ostiacs, Yakuts, Tungooses, and Tschutski, in Asia ; the Green- landers and Eskimaux of America,—all, indeed, who inhabit high northern latitudes, are equally short, measuring from 4 to a little more than 5 feet ;|j and they agree remarkably in other char- * " Barrow's Southern Africa," v. l.p. 205. t Ibid. ch. 16 and 18. X " Macleod's Voyage of the Alceste, &c.' p. 110. || " Such a person as Niels Sara, at Kautokejno (in Lapland,) who measur- ed 5 feet 8 inches may not be again found among many hundreds of them." Von Bcch, " Travels," 354. w2 382 DIFFERENCES OF STATURE. acters, although occupying countries so distant from each other. It has been long ago reported, that a nation of white dwarfs, called Quimos or Kimos, exists in the interior of Madagascar; but no direct testimony on the subject has been offered to the pub- lic ; and Flacourt, who visited the island in the seventeenth cen- tury, has treated the report as fabulous* Lately, this nation of dwarfs has been again brought forwaids; Commerson, who ac- companied Bougainville as naturalist, and the Count De Mo- dave, governor of the French settlement at Fort Dauphin, having declared their belief in its existence.t The only fact adduced in proof of this point is, that the governor purchased a female slave, of light color, about three feet and a half high, with long arms reaching to her knees. Bli menbach:}: thinks it probable that this individual must have been malformed, and in a state somewhat similar to that of the Cretins of Salzburg and the Valais. With- out, therefore, denying the existence of some tribe which may have given origin to the reports respecting the Quimos, we may safely conclude that no proof has yet been brought forward that any race of white long armed dwarfs exists in the island of Mad- agascar. On reviewing the facts detailed in the foregoing pages, we see that although the various races of men differ from each other in stature, as well as in other points, these differences are confined within narrower limits in man than in the species of domestic ani- mals ; and consequently that they do not prove diversity of spe- cies. The pigs taken from Europe to the island of Cuba have grown to twice their original size ; and the cattle of Paraguay * " Histoire de la grande He de Madagascar." Paris, 1658. t The statements of Commerson, who died at Madagascar, and of Mr. Di Modave, are introduced into the " Voyage a Madagascar et aux Indes Orien- tales,"par M. l'Abbe Rochon. Paris, 1791. A letter of Commerson ioLa- labde is also appended to the " Voyage autour du Monde" of Bougainville X " De G. H. Var. Nat." sect. iii. § 73. Le Gentil, who was in Madagascar at the same time with Commerson, altogether disbelieves the existence of any such dwarfish people. " Voy. dans les Mers de PInde, t. 2. p. 503. And Sons erat, who saw the individual men- tioned in the text, considered it merely as an individual formation ; " Voyage aux Indes Orientates," t. 2. p. 57 differences of stature. 383 have experienced a very remarkable increase. It is hardly neces- sary to mention the contrast between the small Welsh and the huge cart-horses, or the Flanders breed of those animals ; or be- tween the Scotch or Welsh, and the Holstein cattle. Perhaps the horse affords the most remarkable instance of dif- ference in stature. Mr. Pennant* says that " in the interior parts of Ceylon there is a small variety of this animal, not ex- ceeding thirty inches in height, which is sometimes brought to Europe as a rarity." The Paduan fowl is twice the size of the common poultry. In further proof that the diversities of stature in mankind af- ford no sufficient argument of original specific difference, we may observe that individuals often occur in each race, differing from each other quite as widely as the geneiality of any two races dif- fer. Nay, we may even see two brothers as much unlike each other in this respect as the Laplander and the Patagonian. In endeavoring to account for the diversities of features, pro- portions, general form, stature, and the other particulars mentioned in the three preceding chapters, I must repeat an observation al- ready made and exemplified in speaking of color; namely that the law of resemblance between parents and offspring, wliich preserves species, and maintains uniformity in the living part of creation, suffers occasional and rare exceptions; that, under cer- tain circumstances, an offspring is produced with new properties, different from those of the progenitors ; and that the most power- ful of these causes is that artificial mode of life which we call the state of domestication. A question here naturally suggests itself how this comes about 1 How does it happen that any circumstances in the mode of life influence the result of the generative process ? The reply to this inquiry must be deferred until the internal mechanism of the ani- mal motions shall be more completely laid open ; until we are able to show how the capillaries of the mother form the germ of a new being out of materials presented by the common mass of " "History of Quadrupeds," vol. 1. p, 2. 384 ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION nutritive fluid ; and how the vessels of this embryo, when more advanced, fashion the nu nti e supply derived from the mother into anew set of organs, and give to the whole a more or less ac- curate resemblance to the bodies of both parents. At present we can only note the fact, that the domestic condition produces in great abundance not only those deviations from the natural state of the organization which constitute disease, but also those de- partures from the ordinary course of the generative functions which lead to the production of new characters iri the offspring, and thus lay the foundation of new breeds. The domestic sow produces youn twice a year ; the wild animal only once. The former frequently brings forth monstrous foetuses which are un- known in the latter. Our pigs, too, are invaded bv a new kind of hydatids,* dispersed through the substance of all the organs, constituting what is called the measles in pork. The creation of th"se must be. referred to an epocha posterior to that of the spe- cies in which they are found, as they do not exist in its natural state. Native or congenital peculiarities of form, like those of color, are an mitted by generation. Hence we see a general simili- tude in persons of the same blood ; and can distinjruish one brother by his resemblance to another, or know a son by his likeness to the father or mother, or even to the grandfather or grandmother. All the individuals of some families are characterized by particu- lar lines of countenance; and we frequently observe a peculiar feature continued in a family for many generations. The thick lip introduced into the Imperial house of Austria, by the marriage of vhe Emperor Maximilian with Mary of Burgundy, is visible in their descendants to this day, after a lapse of three centuries. Haller obser es, that his own family had been distinguished by tallness of stature for three generations, without excepting one out of numerous grandsons descended from one :> andfather Individuals are occasionally produced with supernumerary * They are represented by Blumenbach, in his "Abbildungen Naturhisto- tjscher Gegenstande;" No. 39. •t " Elem. Physiol." lib. 29. sect z. $ 8. of varieties in form. 385 members on the hands or feet, or on both; and from these, whether males or females, the organic peculiarity frequently passes to their children. This does not constantly happen, because they inter- marry with persons of the ordinary form; but if the six-fingered and six-toed could be matched together, and the breed could be preserved pure by excluding all who had not these additional membeis, there is no doubt that a permanent race might be form- ed constantly possessing this number of fingers and toes. Pliny has mentioned examples of six-fingered persons among the Romans : such individuals received the additional name of sedigirus or sedigita. C. Horatius had two daughters with this peculiarity.* Rhaumur speaks of a family in which a similar structure existed for three generations, being transmitted both in the male and female lines.t Mr. Carlisle has recorded the par- ticulars of a family, in which he traced supernumerary toes and fingers for four generations. They were introduced by a female who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot. From her marriage with a man naturally formed were produced ten children with a supernumerary member on each limb; and an eleventh, in which the peculiarity existed in both feet and one hand, the other hand being naturally formed. The latter married a man of the ordinary formation ; they had four children, of which three had one or two limbs natural, and the rest with the super- numerary parts, while the fourth had six fingers on each hand, and as many toes on each foot. The latter married a woman naturally formed, and had issue by her, eight children, four with the usual structure, and the same number with supernumerary fingers or toes. Two of them were twins, of which one was na- turally formed, and the other six-fingered, and six-toed.| Another remarkable example of the occurrence of a singular organic peculiarity, and of its hereditary transmission, is afforded by the English family of porcupine men, who have derived that name from the greater part of the body being covered by hard • " Hist. Nat." lib. xi. 99. 1 " Art de faire eclorre les Oiseau^r domestiques," t. 2. p. 377. et bvuv. t " Philos. Transact." 1814, pt. 1. p. 94. 386 origin and transmission dark-colored excrescences of a horny nature. The whole surface, excepting the head and face, the palms and soles, is occupied by this unnatural kind of integument. The first account of this family is found in the Philosophical Transactions, No. 424,* and consists of the description of a boy, named Edward Lamrert, fourteen years old, born in Suffolk, and exhibited to the Royal Society in 1731, by Mr. Machin, one ofthe secretaries. " It was not easy to think of any sort of skin or natural integument that exactly resembled it. Some compared it to the bark of a tree ; others thought it looked like seal-skin; others, like the skin of an elephant, or the skin about the legs of a rhinoceros ; and some took it to be like a great wart, or number of warts uniting and overspreading the whole body. The bristly parts which were chiefly about the belly and flanks, looked and rustled like the bristles or quills of a hedgehog, shorn off within an inch of the skin." These productions were hard, callous, and insensible. Other children ofthe same parents were naturally formed. In a subsequent account presented to the Society twenty-four years afterwards by Mr. H. B\ker, and illustrated with a figure ofthe hands, this man is said to continue in the same state. He was a good-looking person, and enjoyed good health : every thing connected with his excretions was natural ; and he derived no inconvenience from the state of his skin, except that it would crack and bleed after very hard work. He had now been shown in London under the name ofthe Porcupine man. "The cover- ing," says Mr. Baker, " seemed most nearly to resemble an in- numerable company of warts, ofa dark-brown color, and a cylin- drical figure, rising to a like height (an inch, at their full size), and growing as close as possible to one another, but so stiff and elastic, that when the hand is drawn over them they make a rust- ling noise." They are shed annually, in the autumn or winter, and succeed- ed by a fresh growth, which at first are ofa paler brown. " He has had the small-pox, and been twice salivated, in hopes of get- * The account is accompanied with a figure of the back of the hand, and a magnified view ofthe excrescences, pi. 1. p. 299. OF VARIETIES IN FORM. 387 ling rid of this disagreeable covering ; during which disorders the warts came off, and his skin appeared white and smooth, like that of other people ; but on his recovery it soon became as it was be- fore. His health at other times has been very good during his whole life." " He has had six children, all with the same rugged covering as himself; the first appearance whereof in them, as well as in him, came on in about nine weeks after the birth. Only one of them is living, a very pretty boy,eight years of age, whom I saw and examined with his father, and who is exactly in the same condition."* Two brothers, John Lambert, aged twenty-two, and Richard, aged fourteen, who must have been grandsons ofthe original por- cupine man, Edward Lambert, were shown in Germany, and had the cutaneous incrustation already described. A minute ac- count of them was published by Dr. W. G. TiLEsius,t who men- tions that the wife ofthe elder, at the time he saw him, was in England, pregnant. Let us suppose that the porcupine family had been exiled from human society, and been obliged to take up their abode in some solitary spot or desert island. By matching with each other, a race would have been produced, more widely different from us in external appearance than the Negro. If they had been discover- ed at some remote period, our philosophers would have explained to us how the soil, air, or climate, had produced so strange an or- ganization ; or would have demonstrated that they must have sprung from an originally different race; for who would acknow- ledge such bristly beings for brothers ? m The giants collected by Frederic William I. for his regiment of Guards produced a very tall race in the town where they were quartered: in the language of Dr. Johnson, they " propagated procerity."$ * " Philos. Trans,", v. 49, p. 21. A representation ofthe hand is also given by Edwards, in his " Gleanings of Natural History," v. 1 p. 212. t " Beschreibung und Abbildung der beiden sogenannten Stachelschwein- menschen:" Altenburg, fol. 1802, with two plates, containing several figures. They are also described by Blumenbach, in Voigt's " Neues Magazin/' v 3. part 4. t The guards ofthe late King Frederic William of Prussia, and likewise 38S origin and transmission. This resemblance of offspring to parents, in native peculiarities of structure, prevails so extensively, that thos>e minute and in many cases imperceptible, differences of organization or vital pro- perties, which render men disposed to particular diseases, are con- veyed from father to son for age after age. This is matter of com- mon notoriety with iespect to scrofula, consumption, gout, rheu- matism, insanity, and other aftections ofthe head. There is more doubt in some other cases, as hare-lip. .-quinting, club-foot, hernia, aneurism, cataract, fatuity, &c. ; of which, however, there ate many well-authenticated examples.* There is an hereditary blindness in a family in North America, which has always affected some individuals for the last hundred years.t 1 have attended, at different times, for complaints ofthe urinary organs, a gentleman, whose father and grandfather died of stone. In small and secluded communities, where marriages take place within what we may regard only as a more extensive family, hereditary varieties are blended, and produce one form, which prevails through the whole circle. The operation of this princi- ciple may be clearly perceived in several small districts : it will act with more efficacy, and, consequently, be more discernable in larger collections of men, where differences of manners, religion, and language, and mutual animosities, forbid all intermarriages with surrounding people. In the course of time the individual peculiarities are lost, and a national characteristic countenance or form is established, which, if the restrictions of intercourse are rigidly adhered to, is constantly more and more strengthened. The ancient Germans, according to the description of Tacitus, were such a people; and his short, but expressive sketch of their character, most aptly confirms the preceding view: " Ipse eorum opinionibus accedo, qui Gerinaniae populos nullis aliarum natio- those of the present monarch, who are all of an uncommon size, have been quartered at Potsdam for fifty years past. A great number of the present in- habitants of that place are of very high stature, wliich is more especially strik- ing in the numerous gigantic figures of women." Forster's " Observations made on a Voyage round the World ; p. 248—9. * Haller, " Elem Physiol." loc. cit. t" New-York Medical Repository." v. 3. No. 1. OF VARIETIES IN FORM. 389 num connubiis infectos, propriam et sinceram et tantum sui simir lem gentem extitisse arbitrantur. Unde habitus quoque corporum, quanqiiam in tanto hominum numero, idem omnibus ; truces et caerulei oculi, rutila? comae, magna corpora." De Morib. Germ. 4. The Gipsies afford another example ofa people spread over all Europe for the last four centuries, and nearly confined in marriages, by their peculiar way of life, to their own tribe. In Transylvania, where there is a great number of them, and the race remains pure, their features can consequently be more accu- rately observed : in every country and climate, however, which they have inhabited, they preserve their distinctive character so perfectly, that they are recognised at a glance, and cannot be confounded with the natives. But, above all, the Jews exhibit the most striking instance ofa peculiar national countenance, so strongly marked in almost every individual, that persons the least used to physiognomical observations detect it instantly, yet not easily understood or described. Religion has in this case most successfully exerted its power in preventing communion with other races; and this exclusion of intercourse with all others has preserved the Jewish countenance so completely in every soil and climate ofthe globe, that a miracle has been thought necessary to account for the appearance. In what other way can we explain the difference between the English and Scotch ? Would it be more reasonable to suppose that they descended from different stocks ; or to ascribe the high cheek-bones ofthe latter to the soil or the climate ? As, on the one hand, a particular form may be perpetuated by confining the intercourse of the sexes to individuals iu whom it exists : so, again, it may be changed hy introducing into the breed those remarkable for any other quality. Connexions iu marriage will generally be formed on the idea of human beauty in any country ; an influence, this, which will gradually approximate the countenance towards one common standard. If men, in the af- fair of marriage, were as much under management as some ani- mals are in the exercise of their generative functions, an absolute ruler might accomplish, in his dominions, almost any idea of the human form. The great and noble have generally had it more in their power x2 390 W1JHJ1N AND TRANSMISSION than others to select the beauty of nations in marriage : and thus, while, without system or design, they gratified merely their own taste, they have distinguished their order, as much by elegant pro- portions of person, and beautiful features, as by its prerogatives in society. " The same superiority," says Cook, " which is ob- servable in the crees or nobles in all the other islands, is found Jiere (Sandwich Islands.) Those, whom we saw, were, without exception, perfectly well-formed; whereas, the lower sort, be- sides their general inferiority, are subject to all the variety of make and figure that is seen in the populace of other countries."* In no instances, perhaps, has the personal beauty of a people been more improved, by introducing handsome individuals to breed from, than in the Persians, of whom the nobility have, by this means, completely succeeded in washing out the stain of their Mongolian origin. "That the blood of the Persians," says Char- din, " isjnaturally gross, appears from the Guebres, who are a rem- nant of the ancient Persians, and are an ugly, ill-made, rough-skin- ned people. This is also apparent from the inhabitants of the prov- inces in the neighborhood of India, who are nearly as clumsy and deformed as the Guebres, because they never formed alliances with any other tribes. But, in the other parts of the kingdom, the Persian blood is now highly refined by frequent intermixtures with the Georgians and Circassians, two nations which surpass all the world in personal beauty. There is hardly a man of rank in Persia who is not born of a Georgian or Circassian mother; and even the King himself is commonly sprung on the female side, from one or other of these countries. As it is long since this mix- ture commenced, the Persian women have become very handsome and beautiful, though they do not rival the ladies of Georgia- The men are generally tall and erect, their complexion is ruddy and vigorous, and they have a graceful air and an engaging de- portment. The mildness of the climate, joined to their tempe- rance in living, has a great influence in improving their personal beauty. This quality they inherit not from their ancestors : for • " Voyage to the Pacific;" book iii. chap 6. Forster gives a similar representation of the Otaheiteans; " Obs. on a Voyage round the World." rJ.229. ' OF VARIETIES IN FORM. 391 without the mixture mentioned above, the men of rapk in Persia, who are descendants of the Tartars, would be extremely ugly and deformed."* There is no one of the varieties above enumerated, which does not exist in a still greater degree in animals confessedly of the same species. What differences in the figure and proportion of parts in the various breeds of horses—in the Arabian, the Barb, and the German I How striking the contrast between the long- legged cattle of the Cape of Good Hope and the short-legged of England ! The same difference is observed in swine The cat- tle have no horns in some breeds of England and Ireland: in Sicily, on the contrary, they have very large ones. A breed of sheep, with an extraordinary number of horns, as three, four, or five, (ovis plycerata) occurs in some northern countries ; as, for instance, in Iceland, and is accounted a mere variety. The Cre- tan breed of the same animal (ovis strepsiceros) has long, large, and twisted horns. We may also point out the solidungular swine, with undivided hoof, as well as others with three divisions of that part; the five-toed fowl (gallus pentadactylus ;) the fat-rumped sheep of Tartary and Thibet; and broad-tailed breed of the Cape, in which the tail grows so large, that it is placed on a board, sup- ported by wheels, for the convenience of tbe animal; and the rumpless fowl (gallus ecaudatus) of America, and particularly Virginia, which has undoubtedly descended from the English breeed. The common fowl, in different situations, runs into almost ev- ery conceivable variety. Some are large, some small; some tall, some dwarfish. They may have a small and single, a large com- plicated comb; or great tufts of feathers on the bead. Some have no tail. The legs of some are yellow and naked ; of others, covered with feathers. There is a breed with the feathers revers- ed in their direction all over the body ; and another in India with white downy feathers and black skin. All these exhibit endless diversities of color. A breed of sheep was lately produced in America, the origin * Voyage en Perse, t. 2. p. 34. 392 0RIGIN AND TRANSMISSION. and establishment of which confirm the positions already brought forwards. An ewe produced a male lamb of singular proportion and appearance. His offspring by other ewes, had, in many in- stances, the same characters with himself. Tliese were, shortness of the limbs* and length of the body ; so that the breed was call- ed the otter breed, from being compared to that animal. The fore limbs were also crooked, so as to give thetn in one part the appearance of an elbow; and hence the name « ancon' (from agkon) was given to this kind of sheep. They were propagated in consequence of being less able to jump over fences. " They «an neither run nor jump like other sheep. They are more infirm in their organic construction, as well as more awkward in their gait, having their fore-legs always crooked, and their feet turned inwards when they walk." " When both parents are of the otter or ancon breed, their de- scendants inherit their peculiar appearance and proportions of form. I have heard but of one questionable case of a contrary nature." " When an ancon ewe is impregnated by a common ram, the in- crease resembles wholly either the ewe or the ram. The increase of a common ewe, impregnated by an ancon ram, follows entire- ly one or the other, without blending any ofthe distinguishing and essential peculiarities of both." " Frequent instances have happened where common ewes have had twins by ancon rams, when one exhibited the complete marks and features of the ewe ; the other of the ram. The contrast has been rendered singularly striking, when one short legged and one long-legged lamb, produced at a birth, have been seen suckinf the dam at the same time."f The formation of new varieties, by breeding from individuals in whom the desirable properties exist in the greatest decree, is seen much more distinctly in our domestic animals than in our * Sir Everard Home found that the bone of the fore-lee in one of these •sheep was larger but not so long as that of a much smaller Welsh sheep. Thomson's Annals of Philosophy, v. 1. t. Col. Humphreys On et Note Breed of Sheep. Philos. Trans. 1813. .Irk OF VARIETIES IN FORM. 3& own species, since the former are entirdy in our power. The great object is to preserve the race pure, by selecting for propa- gation the animals most conspicuous for the size, color, form, pro- portion, or any other property we may fix on, and excluding all others. In this way we may gain sheep valuable for their fleece ^ or for their carcass, large or small; with thick or thin legs ; just such, in short, as we choose, within certain limits. The importance of this principle is fully understood in rearing horses. The Arabian preserves the pedigree of his horse more carefully than his own ; and never allows any ignoble blood to be mixed with that of his valued breeds ; he atteststheir unsullied nobility by formal depositions and numerous witnesses * The English breeder knows equally well that he must vary his stallions and mares according as lie wishes for a cart-horse, riding-horse, or a racer ; and that a mistake in this point would immediately frustrate his views. The distinguished and various excellencies, which the several English races of these useful animals have ac- quired, show what close attention and perseverance can accom- plish in the improvement of breed. Blood is equally important in the cock; and the introduction of an inferior individual would inevitably deteriorate the proper- ties ofthe offspring. The hereditary transmission of physical and moral qualities' so well understood and familiarly acted on in the domestic animals, * " Several things concur to maintain this perfection in the horses of Arabia : such as the great care the Arabs take in preserving the breed genuine, and by permitting none but stallions of the first form to have access to the mares: this is never done but in the presence ofa witness, the secretary ofthe emir or some public officer ; he attests the fact, records the name ofthe horse, mare, and whole pedigree of each; and these attestations are carefully preserved, for on them depends the future price ofthe foal. A copy of a public legal certificate given to the purchaser of an Arabian horse is added in a note. Pennant's British Zoolgy, v. ii. Appendix 1. Equal attention is paid to the breed of horses by the Circassians, who distin- guish the various races by marks on the buttock. To imprint the character of noble descent on a horse of common race, is a kind of forgery punished with death. Pallas, Travels in the Southern Provinces of the, Russian Empire; eh xiv. 3t)4 0RICIN AND TRANSMISSION is equally true ofraatw, A superior breed of human beings could only be produced by selections and exclusions similar to those so successfully employed in rearing our more valuable animals. Yet, in the human species, where the object is of such conse- quence, the principle is almost entirely overlooked. Hence all the native deformities of mind and body, which spring up so plen- tifully in our artificial mode of life, are handed down to posterity, and tend by their multiplication and extension to degrade the race. Consequently, the mass ofthe population in our large cities will not bear a comparison with that of savage nations, in which if imperfect or deformed individuals should survive the hardships of their first rearing, they are prevented, by the kind of aversion they inspire, from propagating their deformities. The Hottentots have become almost proverbial for ugliness; and one of their tribes, the Bosjesmen, are plainly ranked, by an acute and intelli- gent traveller, " among the ugliest of human beings."* The nu- merous sketches of Bosjesmen and Hottentots taken by Mr. S. Daniel, have been very kindly and politely shown to me by his brother, Mr. W. Daniel. In form, variety, and expression of countenance, they are not at all inferior to our cockneys; while in animation, in beauty, symmetry, and strength of body, in ease and elegance of attitude, they are infinitely superior. This inattention to breed is not, however, of so much conse- quence in the people, as in the rulers; in those to whom the des- tinies of nations are intrusted ; on whose qualities and actions de- pend the present and future happiness of millions. Here, unfor- tunately, the evil is at its height: laws, customs, prejudices, pride, bigotry, confine them to intermarriages with each other; and thus degradation of race is added to all the pernicious influences in- separable from such exalted stations. What result should we ex- pect, if a breeder of horses or dogs were restricted in his choice to some ten or twenty families taken at random ? if he could not step out of this little circle, to select finely-formed or high-spirited individuals 1 How long a time would elapse before the fatal ef- fects of this in-breeding would be conspicuous in the degeneracy * Barrow, Travels in South Africa ; v 1. p. 277. OF VARIETIES IN FORM. 395 ofthe descendants? The strongest illustration of these principles will be found in the present state of many royal houses in Europe ; the evil must be progressive, if the same course of proceeding be continued. I shall cite a single example to prove what will, to most persons, seem unnecessary ; namely, that mental defects are propagated, as well as corporeal. "We know," says Haller, " a very re- markable instance of two noble females, who got husbands on ac- count of their wealth, although they were nearly idiots, and from whom this mental defect has extended for a century into several families; so that some of all their descendants still continue idi- ots in the fourth and even in the fifth generation."* * Elem. Physiol lib. 2D. sect. ii. $ ? 396 DIFFERENCES IN THE ANIMAL ECONOMY. CHAPTER VIL Differences in the Animal Economy.—Diseases.—External Senses. —Language. There are no essential differences between the various races of the human species in the execution of the animal functions. The circumstances which have been hitherto noticed in this part ofthe subject, are plainly referrible, for the most part, to the effect of climate, mode of life, exercise of the organs, or other external causes, and not to any original diversity. I have already alluded to the peculiar odour of the cutaneous secretion in the Negro (p. 265.) It is said, by those who are well acquainted with this race, to be very characteristic, and to be transmitted to the offspring, as well as their other peculiarities, in the mixed breeds. It has been also observed, that they sweat much less than Europeans. The lice, which infest the bodies of Negroes, are darker colored and larger than those of Europeans ;* but 1 believe that natural- ists have not yet ascertained whether they are of the same or of different species, in the two cases. It is hardly necessary to allude to the erroneous notion of the * Long's History of Jamaica White on the Regular Gradation, p. 7*), note. Soemmerring liber die kOrperlicht Verschiedentteit,p. 8.note. DIFFERENCES IN THE ANIMAL ECONOMY. 397 seminal fluid being black in Negroes ; this, however, is expressly stated by Herodotus, but properly contradicted by Akistotle. The blood and the bile have the same color and obvious exter- nal characters in the dark as in the white races. I am not aware that any comparative chemical examinations of these or the other animal fluids have been made. Dr. Winterbottom* observed no difference between African and European women in respect to the menstrual discharge. The earlier maturity of the former seems to be simply the effect of cli- mate : it is equally observable in the white races which occupy warm countries. The very easy labors of Negresses, native Americans, and other women in the savage state, have been often noticed by travellers. This point is not explicable by any prerogative of physical forma- tion ; for the pelvis is rather smaller in these dark-colored races than in the European and other white people. Simple diet, con- stant and laborious exertion, give to these children of nature a hard- iness of constitution, and exempt them from most of the ills which afflict the indolent and luxurious females of civilized societies. In the latter, however, the hard-working women of the lower classes in the country often suffer as little from childbirth as those of any other race. Analogous differences, from the like causes, may be seen in the animal kingdom. Cows kept in towns, and other animals deprived of their healthful exercise, and accustomed to un- natural food and habits, often have difficult labors, and suffer much in parturition. Accurate observers in many parts of the world have remarked that the dark races are characterized by rareness and almost en- tire absence of personal deformity ; all the individuals being well- made, and many exhibiting the finest models of symmetry and beauty. The mode of life will account in a great measure for this physical prerogative, which hunting, pastoral, and even agricul- tural tribes, enjoy over their more polished brethren of highly- civilized communities and large cities.! Humboldt considers that * Account ofthe Native Africans, v. 2. p. 259. 1 Thus Dr. Somerville savs ofthe Hottentots : "Huicgenti, fasciarum in \-2 398 DIFFERENCES in disease. something is also due to natural strength of constitution. After stating the great freedom from deformity in the Peruvian Indians, in a passage which I have already quoted (see p. 209), he pro- ceeds to observe, that " when we examine savage hunters or war- riors, we are tempted to believe that they are all well-made, be- cause those who have any natural deformity either perish from fatigue, or are exposed by their parents ; but the Mexican and Peruvian Indians, those of Quito and New Grenada, are agricul- turists, who can only be compared with the class of European peasantry. We can have no doubt, then, that the absence of natural deformities among them is the effect of their mode of life, and of the constitution peculiar to their race. All men of very swarthy complexion, those of Mongol and American origin, and especially the Negroes, participate in the same advantage. We are inclined to believe that the Arab-Kuropean [Caucasian] race possesses a greater flexibility of organization; and that it is more easily modified by a great number of exterior causes, such as va- riety of aliments, climates, and habits ; and consequently has a greater tendency to deviate from its original model,"* I am not aware that any difference has been ascertained be- tween the various races of man in the average length of life. Very old persons are sometimes seen among the dark as well as among the white people. " It is by no means uncommon," says Humboldt, " to see in Mexico, in the temperate zone, half-way up the Cordillera, na- tives, and especially women, reach a hundred years of age. This old age is generally comfortable ; for the Mexican and Peruvian Indians preserve their strength to the last. While I was at Lima, the Indian Hilario Pari died, at the village of Chiguata, four leagues distant from the town of Arequipa, at the age of 143. He remained united in marriage for 90 years to an Indian of the name of Andrea Alea Zar, who attained the age of 117. This infantibus, pileorum in setate provectioribus, nullus usus. Deformitas rarissima est, nisi ex casu aliquo. Thorax amplus, corpus erectum, artus torosi et agili- ores multo quam facile crediderint quibus vestitus arctior est familiaris." Me- dico-Chir. Trans, v. 7. p. 156. * Political Essay, v. 1. p. 152—3. DIFFERENCES IN DISEASE. 399 old Peruvian went, at the age of 130, from three to four leagues daily on foot." Mr. Edwards informs us that the Negroes in the West Indies often attain a great age ;* and Mr. Barrow saw Hottentots more than a hundred years old.t Although the general uniformity in structure and functions throughout the species must be expected to produce a general similarity in diseases, the obvious organic variations in the several races lead us to look forborne modifications in the morbid phe- nomena. But the concurring influence of other causes, such as climate, diet, mode of life, and moral agencies, renders it difficult to distinguish what may be owing simply to peculiarity of organ- ization. This discrimination can only be accomplished by a long series of patient observations on numerous individuals of each race, and under similar circumstances in different parts of the world. In his Treatise on Tropical Diseases, Dr Mosely observes that " the locked jaw appears to be a disease entirely of irritability. Negroes, who are most subject to it, whatever the cause may be, are void of sensibility to a surprising degree. They are not sub- ject to nervous diseases. They sleep sound in every disease, nor does any mental disturbance ever keep them awake. They bear chirurgical operations much better than white people ; and what would be the cause of insupportable pain to a white man, a Ne- gro would almost disregard. I have amputated the legs of many Negroes, who have held the upper part ofthe limb themselves." Negroes are so seldom affected by the yellow fever, that they have often been said not to be susceptible of it; and there have been instances in which, under a very general prevalence of the complaint, not one has fallen sick. On other occasions, some have been seized with this fever ; but the number has been small, and they have recovered more easily than the whites. If the yellow fever be a highly inflammatory affection, produced * History of the West Indies,v. 2. p. 100, an example ofa Negress a hundred and twenty years old; v. 3 p. 247, another strong and hearty at the age of ninety-five at least. 1 Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa, v. 1. pp. 383, 398, 400 DIFFERENCES IN DISEASE. by those external causes which are peculiar to hot climates, wc shall not be surprised that Negroes, who are organized for, and habituated to such climates, enjoy, when contrasted with the whites, a comparative exemption from its destructive attacks. A singular instance is recorded, in the Philosophical Transac- tions* of a very fatal inflammatory fever, which appeared in two islands on the coast of North America (Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard,) and was confined entirely to the Indian (American) population ; not a single white person having been affected on ei- ther island. The whole number of Indians on Nantucket was 340 ; of these 258 had the distemper in the course of six months, and only 36 recovered. Of those who did not take the disease, 40 lived in English families, and 8 dwelt separate. In Martha's Vineyard, it went through every Indian family into which it came, not one escaping it. Of 52 persons affected, 39 died. A few in- dividuals of mixed breed (European and Indian,) and one of In- dian and Negro, had the distemper but recovered. None indeed died, but such as were entirely of Indian blood : hence it was call- ed ' the Indian sickness.' In three Negroes, who died of disease, Soemmerring found the same morbid .appearances; and they were peculiar. They all per- ished with symptoms of consumption. Besides induration and abscess of the lungs, they had thickening of the coats of the in- testines, and desposition of a steatomatous matter in them. In the first, there were caseous concretions in several parts of the abdomen ; and the small intestines seemed as if covered by a lay- er of fat. The bronchial glands were greatly diseased. In the second, the intestinal canal and peritoneum were every where uni- ted by adhesions, and beset with rather hard yellowish-black tu- bercles, of various size and form ; the mesenteric glands were diseased. In the third, the appearances were nearly similar ; the abdominal viscera all adhering together, and covered by a kind of adipons stratum.t I have seen similar appearances to these in the bodies of some * V. 54, for the year 1764 ; p. 380. t Ueber die Kdrperliche Verschiedenheit ; § 67, 68. DIFFERENCES IN THE EXTERNAL SENSES. 4UI Negroes. The morbid change of the bowels, of which the coats are thickened by a black and yellow newly deposited substance, is different from any thing I have seen in Europeans. Monkeys are carried off in these climates by consumption, and tubercular affections of the abdominal viscera. They exhibit morbid appearances analogous to those just mentioned ; to which affections of the bones are often added. The general unhealthy condition ofthe frame in both cases would, I apprehend, be term- ed scrofula by nosologists: and its cause is probably the coldness of the climate, together, in the case of the animals, with confine- ment, impure, air, and unnatural food- The disease called the yaws is a peculiar morbid production of Africa, and has been conveyed by the Negro slaves to the West Indies, where it seems to be communicable to Europeans * The dark-colored races exhibit in general a great acuteness of the external senses, which is in some instances heightened by ex- ercise to a degree almost incredible. In the unsettled life of wan- dering tribes, the chief occupations are, hunting, war, and plun- der. The members of the community are trained from their earli- est infancy to these pursuits ; and their progress in the necessary accomplishments determines not only the degree of their own personal enjoyment and security, but also their influence over oth- ers, and their rank in the association The astonishing perfec- tion of their sight, hearing, and smelling, must be referred, I ap- prehend, to the constant exercise of the organs ; as their capa- bility of enduring violent or continued exertion, in performing long journeys, is the simple result of habit. Both are very inter- esting in a physiological view ; and acquaint us with the extent of our powers, which are very imperfectly developed in the mem- bers of civilized societies. Mr. CoLLiNsf has mentioned the qwick-sightedness of the New- Hollanders ; and another traveller has borne testimony to the same effect. " The quickness of their eye and ear is equally sin- gular : they can hear and distinguish objects which would totally ~ Dr. Bateman's Practical Synopsis ; ord. vii. No. 9. Account of the English Colony of JV. S. Wakj; pp. 553, 584. 402 DIFFERENCES IN THE EXTERNAL SENSES. escape an European. This circumstance renders them very ac- ceptable guides to our sportsmen in the woods, as they never fail to point out the game before any European can discover it."* In describing a New-Zealander, who accompanied him to Eng- land, Mr. Savage says, " It was worthy of remark how much his sight and hearing were superior to other persons on board the ship : the sound ofa distant gun was distinctly heard, or a strange sail readily discernible, by Moyhanger, when no other man on board could hear or perceive thein."f We learn from Mr. Barrow, that the Hottentots, " by the quick- ness of their eye, will discover deer and other sorts of game when very far distant; and they are equally expert in watching a bee to its nest. They no sooner hear !he humming of the insect, than they squat themselves on the ground, and having caught it with the eye, follow it to an incredible distance."! He relates the following anecdote of one whom he had left be- hind ill on a journey : " He had fallen asleep about the middle of the preceding day, and had not awakened till night. Though ve- ry dark, and unacquainted with a single step of our route, he had found us by following the track of the wagon. At this sort of business a Hottentot is uncommonly clever. There is not an ani- mal among the numbers that range the wilds of Afiica, if he be at all acquainted with it, the print of whose foot he cannot distin- guish." " The print of any of his companions' feet he would single out among a thousand."|| Dr. Somerville confirms this statement, and refers the superi- ority of the Hottentots in these points to constant exercise of the organs.§ * Turnbull, Voyage round the-World ; 2d edition, p. 92. t Some Account of New - Zealand ; p. 101. X Travels in Southern Africa, v. 1. p. 160. [| Ibid. p. 370. § " Nonnulli feras venandi aut hostes effugiendi perpetua fere consuetudine hac facultate (visus) adeo pollcbant, ut in campis arenosis vestigia observare' possent, ubi aliis nihil omnino appareret: hanc facultatem enim, utpote turn ad victum, turn ad salutem ipsam prorsus necessariam, assidue exercent, et sic mirum in modum acuunt." Medico. Chir. Trans, v. 7. p. 155-6. DIFFERENCES IN THE EXTERNAL SENSES. 403 In his frequent intercourse with the Nomadic tribes of Asia, Pallas had the best opportunities of observing their capabilities. » The Calmucks," he says, " have a fine nose, a good ear, and an extremely acute eye. On their journeys and military expeditions, they often smell out a fire or a camp, and thus procure quarters for the night, or obtain booty. Many of them can distinguish, by smelling at the hole of a fox or other animal, whether the creature be there or not By lying flat, and putting their ear to the ground, they can catch at a great distance the noise of horses, of a flock, or of a single strayed animal. But nothing is so surpris- ing as the perfection of their eyes, and the extraoidinary distance at'which they often perceive, from inconsiderable heights, small objects, such as the rising dust caused by cattle or horsemen, more particularly as the undulation of the boundless steeps or plains, and the vapors which rise from and float upon them in warm weather, render things very obscure. In the.expedition which the Torgot Vicechan Ubaschi led against the Rubanians, the Cal- muck force would certainly have missed the enemy, if a common Calmuck had not perceived, at the estimated distance of thirty versts, the smoke and dust of the hostile army, and pointed it out to other equally experienced eyes, when the commander, Colonel Rishchinskoi, could discern nothing with a good glass. They pursue lost or stolen cattle or game by the track for miles over de- serts. Kirgises, or even Russians in the wild parts of the empire, are equally able to follow and discriminate tracks by the eye. This indeed, is not difficult on soft ground, or over snow; but it re- quires great practice and skill to choose the right out of several intermingled traces, to follow it over loose sand or snow, not to lose it in marshes or deep grass, but rather to judge from the di- rection of the grass, or from the depth of the print in snow or sand, how long it has been made "* Representations equally surprising of the perfection of the sen- ses are confirmed to us by the most unexceptionable authorities in the case of the North-American savages and of other wild races. * Sammlungen Histor. Nachricht. Th. 1. p. 100.101. 404 DIFFERENCES OF LANGUAGE. The differences of language are as numerous as the other dis- tinctions which characterize the several races of men. The va- rious degrees of natural capacity, and of intellectual progress; the prevalence of particular faculties ; the nature of surrounding circumstances ; the ease or difficulty with which the different wants and desires are gratified : will produce not only peculiar charac- ters in the nature and construction of language, but in its copi- ousness and developement. In the formation of the sound, or voice, and in its utterance in an articulated form, or speech, no further varieties are observed, than the different combinations ofthe several organs concerned in the process will easily explain. The pronunciation of the Hot- tentots has generally been deemed very singular by European ob- servers ;* who compare it to the clucking of a turkey, or the harsh and broken noises produced by some other birds. They have numerous guttural sounds, produced deep in the throat, and pronounced with a peculiar clack of the tongue, which is quickly struck against and withdrawn from the teeth or palate. They combine their aspirated gutturals with hard consonants, without any intervening vowels, in a manner that Europeans cannot imi- tate : it is never acquired, except occasionally by the child of a colonist when accustomed to it from youth. Adelung represents that their bony palate is smaller, shorter, and less arched than in the other races; and that the tongue, particularly in the Bosjes- men, is rounder, thicker, and shorter.! One ofthe most curious points in the subject of language is the continued existence in a large portion of Asia, very anciently civi- lized, and considerably advanced at least in the useful arts, of simply monosyllabic languages. Their words are merely radical sounds of one syllable, not admitting of inflection or composition, so that all modifications and accessory ideas must be either over- * Barrow's and Lichtenstein's Travels in Southern Africa. Similar descriptions are given by Sparmann, Thunbekg, and Le Vaillant. Dr. Somerville observes the peculiarity ofthe Hottentot utterance to which he says, nothing similar is heard in any other part ofthe world. Medico-Chir- Trans, v. 7. p. 155. t Mithridates; 3r.Theil; le. Abtheilung, p. 292—3. DIFFERENCES OF LAN8UAGE. 405 looked or imperfectly expressed by tedious and awkward circum- locution. Such are the languages of Thibet, the contiguous im- mense empire of China, and the neighboring countries of Ava, Pegu, Siam, Tungquin, and Cochin-china. " Tliese extensive regions, and these only in the whole world, betray in their present language all the imperfection of the first attempts at speech. As the earliest efforts ofthe infant are merely sounds of one syllable, so the first adult children of Nature stammered out their meaning in the same way : the people of Thibet, China, and the neighbor- ing southern countries, go ou speaking as they learned some thou- sands of years ago, in the cradle of the species. There is no separation of ideas into certain classes, such as produce the dis- tinction of the parts of speech in more perfectly-formed languages. One and the same sound signifies joyful, joy, and to rejoice ; and that through all persons, numbers, and tenses. No attempt is made, by affixing sounds expressive of relations or accessory notions to the simple monosyllabic root, to give richness, clearness, and har- mony to the poor language. On the contrary, the mere radical ideas are set down together, and the hearer must guess at the con- necting links. As there are no inflections, the cases and num- bers are either not noted, or they are marked, under urgent cir- cumstances, by circumlocution. They form plurals as children do, either hy repetition, as tree, tree, or by adding the words much or other; as tree muck, tree o'her. / much, or I other, means we. Be heaven I other Father who, is the mode of expressing ' Our Father which art in heaven !"* " That languages of such pover- ty, which merely place together the most essential ideas without connecting them, must open a wide field for ambiguity and obscu- rity in civil life, and be totally inapplicable to the purposes of science, is immediately apparent. Hence the people who speak them must ever remain children in understanding. However the Chinese may exert themselves, so long as they are impeded by this imperfect language, they must be unable to appropriate to themselves the sciences and arts of Europe."! * Adelung; Mithridates, v. 1. p. 18. t Ibid. p. 28. z2 40G DIFFERENCES OF LANGUAGE- We are again surprised at discovering that this peculiar lan- guage is not connected with the peculiar organization of that variety (the Mongolian) to which the people enumerated above belong. The tribes immediately adjoining the latter on the north, —for example, the proper Mongols, the Calmucks, and the Bu- rats,—although they have at all times occupied the regions close to Thibet, and have obviously derived their language from this quarter, are no longer confined to such an imperfect instrument of thought and communication as a monosyllabic language affords. They have inflections and derivations, both for nouns and to ex- press times.* The same observations are applicable to the Mand- shurs,t or Mantchoos. The Japanese, too, another numerous people of Mongolian formation, have a well-formed polysyllabic language, without any resemblance to that of the Chinese.J The monosyllabic language of so large a portion of Asia ap- pears the more remarkable, when it is contrasted with the lan- guages of the native Americans, who, in the form of the head, approach closely to the characters ofthe Mongolian variety. In the capability of inflection and composition, and in the consequent length of words,|| many ofthe American tongues offer a complete contrast to those of China, Thibet, &c. America is also distinguished from the old continent by the great number of its different languages. Mr. Jefferson^ states that there are twenty radical languages in America for one in Asia. " More than twenty languages are still spoken in the king- dom of Mexico, most of which are at least as different from one another as the Greek and the German, or the French and Polish. The variety of idions spoken by the people of the new Continent, and winch, without the least exaggeration, may be stated at some hundreds, offers a very striking phenomenon, particularly when * Adelung : Mithridates, v. 1. p. 504 t Ibid. p. 514. X Ibid. p. 572. || Humboldt informs us that Not)' azomahuiztespixcatatzin is the term of re- spect used by the Mexicans in addressing the priests. Political Essay, r. 1. p. 139, note. § Notes on Virginia, p. 164 differences of language. 407 we compare it to the few languages spoken in Asia and Europe. The causes of these diversities, and the relations between the form and structure ofthe brain, the appetites, sentiments, moral and intellectual character, of the several human races, and the genius of their languages, are important subjects for future inquiry. It will be sufficient to assert, in reference to the present subject, that no difference of language hitherto observed affords any argu- ment against unity of the species. We can have no difiiculty in arriving at this conclusion, when we find, as in America, numer- ous completely distinct tongues in the several families of one great, and, in all essential points, uniform race; and when we discover, moreover, so strong a contrast as that which the monosyllabic languages of Asia and the complicated long words of so many American languages present, in nations whose organic traits are so similar. * Political Essay, v. 1. p. 138. This statement is corroborated by Vater, who observes, that " in Mexico, where the causes producing insulation of the several tribes have been for along time in a course of diminution, Clavigero recognised thirty-five different languages (Saggio di Storia Americana, t. iii. append, ii. c 3 p. 282 And those with which we are acquainted by written accounts are quite radically dis- tinct, and almost unconnected with «ach other." Mithridates, th. iii. p. 373. 408 DIFFERENCES IN MORAL AND CHAPTER VIII Differences in Moral and Intelledual Qualities. After surveying and describing the diversities of bodily forma- tion exhibited in the various races of men, and alluding to a few physiological distinctions, we naturally pi oceed to a review of their moral and intellectual characters, to examine whether the latter exhibit such peculiarities as the numerous modifications of phy- sical structure lead us to expect; whether the appetites and pro- pensities, the moral feelings and dispositions, and the capabilities of knowledge and reflection, are the same in all, or as different as the cerebral organs of which they are the functions ?* If the physical frame and the moral and intellectual phenomena of man be entirely independent of each other, their deviations will exhibit no coincidence: the noblest characters and most distinguished endowments may be conjoined with the meanest organization : if, on the contrary, the intellectual and moral be closely linked to the physical part, if the former be the offspring and result of the lat- ter, the varieties of both must always correspond. The different progress of various nations in general civilization, * See Lecture IV. p. 90 and following, on the Functions of t he Brain; Sec - tion I. Chap IV. on the Characters of the Human Head; Chap. VI. on the ■Structure of the Brain; and Chap. VII. on the Mental-Faculties of Man. intellectual qualities. 409 and in the culture of the arts and sciences; the different charac- ters and degrees of excellence in their literary productions, their varied forms of government, and many other considerations; convince us, beyond the possibility of doubt, that the races of mankind are no less characterized by diversity of mental endow- ments, than by those differences of organization which I have already considered. So powerful, however, has been the effect of government, laws, education, and peculiar habits, in modify- ing the mind and character of men, that we experience great dif- ficulty, in distinguishing between the effects of original difference, and of the operation of these external causes. From entering at large and minutely into this interesting subject, I am as much prevented by want of the necessary infor- mation, as by the immediate object and limited length of these Lectures. To pass it over in silence, would be omitting the most important part of the natural history of our species,—one of the most interesting views in the comparative zoology of man. I shall therefore submit a few remarks, to illustrate the point of view in which the phenomena have appeared to myself; and shall be happy if they incite any of my readers to a further prosecution of the inquiry. The distinction of color between the white and black races is not more striking, than the preeminence of the former in moral feelings and in mental endowments. The latter, it is true, exhibit generally a great acuteness of the external senses, which in some instances is heightened by exercise to a degree nearly incredi- ble. Yet they indulge, almost universally, in disgusting debauch- ery and sensuality; and display gross selfishness, indifference to the pains and pleasures of others, insensibility to beauty of form, order, and harmony, and an almost entire want of what we comprehend altogether under the expression of elevated senti- ments, manly virtues, and moral feeling. The hideous savages of Van Diemen's Land, of New Holland, New Guinea, and some neighboring islands, the Negroes of Congo and some other parts, exhibit the most disgusting moral as well as physical portrait of man. Peron describes the wretched beings, whom he found on the shores of Van Diemen's Island, and of the neighboring island, 419 differences in Maria, as examples of the rudest barbarism ; " without chiefs properly so called, without laws or any thing like regular govern- ment, without arts of any kind, with no idea of agriculture, ofthe use of metals, or of the services to be derived from animals; without clothes, or fixed abode, and with no other shelter than a mere shed of bark to keep off the cold south winds; with no arms but a club and spear."* Although these and the neighboring New Hollanders are placed in a fine climate and productive soil, they derive no other suste- nance from the earth than a few fern-roots and bulbs of orchises ; and are often driven by the failure of their principal resource, fish, to the most revolting food, as frogs, lizards, serpents, spiders, the larvae of insects, and particularly a kind of large caterpillar found in groups on the branches of the eucalyptus resinifera. They are sometimes obliged to appease the cravings of hunger by the bark of trees, and by a paste made by pounding together ants, their larvae, and fern-roots.t Their remorseless cruelty, their unfeeling barbarity to women and children, their immoderate revenge for the most trivial af- fronts, their want of natural affection, are hardly redeemed by the slightest traits of goodness. When we add, that they are quite insensible to distinctions of right and wrong, destitute of religion, without any idea of a Supreme Being, and with the fee- blest notion, if there be any at all, of a future state, the revolting picture is complete in all its features-! What an afflicting con- trast does the melancholy truth of this description form to the elo- * Voyage de Dicouvertcs aux Tcrres Australes; t . 1. chap. 20. \ Colmns, Account of the English Colony in New South Wales. Appendix. See alsoTuRNBULi.'s Voyage round the World; 2d ed. ch 8. t -Mr. Co. lins, who had ample opportunities of observing this race, and who seems to have contemplated them with an unprejudiced mind, says, "I am cer- tain that they do not worship sun, moon, or stars ; that, however necessary fire may be to them, it is not an object of adoration; neither have they any respect for any beast, bird, or fish. I never could discover any object, either substan- tial or imaginary, that impelled them to the commission of good actions, or de- terred them from the perpetration of what we deem crimes There indeed existed among them some idea of a future state ; but not connected in any wis. MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. 411 quent but delusive declamations of Rousseau on the prerogatives' of natural man, and his advantages over his civilized brethren ! The same general character, with some softening, and some modifications, is applicable to most of the native Americans, of the Africans, and of the Mongolian nations of Asia ; to the Malays, and the greater part of the inhabitants of the numerous islands scattered in the ocean between Asia and America. In the most au- thentic description*, we everywhere find proofs of astonishing in- sensibility to the pains and joys of others, even their nearest rela- tions; inflexible cruelty, selfishness, and disposition to cheat; a want of all sympathetic impulses and feelings; the most brutal apathy and indolence, unless roused by the pressure of actual physical want, or stimulated by the desire of revenge and the thirst of blood. Their barbarous treatment of women, the indis- criminate and unrelenting destruction of their warfare, the infer- nal torments inflicted on their captives, and the horrible practice of cannibalism, fill the friend of humanity by turns with pity, indignation, and horror. With the deep shades of this dismal picture, some brighter spots are mingled, which it is a pleasing task to select and particu- larize. The inferiority of the dark to the white races is much more gen- eral and strongly marked in the powers of knowledge and re- flection, the intellectual faculties,—using that expression in its most comprehensive sense,—than in moral feelings and disposi- tions. Many of the former, although little civilized, display an openness of heart, a friendly and generous disposition, the great- est hospitality, and an observance of the point of honor accord- with religion; for it had no influence whatever on their lives and actions." Lib cit. p. 547. Whether they had any knowledge of right and wrong, was doubtful. They had words for good and bad, as applied to useful or hurtful objects. The sting-ray, which they never ate, was bad ; the kangaroo good. Their enemies were bad; their friends good : cannibalism was bad : when our people were punished for ill-treating them, it was good. " Midnight murders, though frequently practised among them whenever revenge or passion were uppermost, they reprobated ; but applauded acts of kindness and generosity, for of both these they were capable." Ibid. 549. 41^2 DIFFERENCES IN ing to their owu notions, from which nations more advanced iu knowledge might often take a lesson with advantage. Many of the Negroes possess a natural goodness of heart and warmth of affection : even the slave-dealers are acquainted with their differences in character ; and fix their prices, not merely ac- cording to the bodily powers, but in proportion to the docility and good dispositions of their commodity, judging of these by the quarter from which they are procured. Although the Americans appeared so stupid to the Spaniards, that they were with some difficulty convinced of theii being men and capable of becoming Christians (for which purpose a papal bull was necessary); and although this deficiency of intellect is still attested by the more candid and impartial reports of modern travellers ; the empires of Mexico and Peru show that some tribes at least were capable of higher destinies, and of considerable ad- vancement in civilization. They were united under a regular government; they practised agriculture, and the other necessary arts of life ; and were not entirely destitute of those which have some title to the name of elegant.* History and romance have shed their glories round Manco Capac the first sage and lawgiver, * The visionary notions of De Paadw (Rickerches Philos. sur les Amiri- cains), and Buffon (Hist. Naturelle ; Homme) concerning the imperfection and feebleness of animal life in America, too lightly adopted in many instances by Robertson (Hist of America), have been amply exposed and refuted, so far as the people themselves are concerned, by Count Carli, who has proved, by the clear testimonies ofthe original Spanish conquerors, that the Mexicans and Peruvians defended themselves with the greatest bravery and resolution; and that they had made considerable advances in knowledge, in the arts, in general civilization, and in government, at the time of the Spanish conquest. (See his Lettere Amiricaine, composing the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th volumes of his Opire, 15 t. Milano, 1786 : but particularly the two first.) The two fun- damental truths of religion, the existence of God, and the immortality ofthe soul, were recognised in Peru (Lettire t. 1.1. 7.) ; and the knowledge of arith- metic and astronomy had been carried to a great extent (ib. t. 2.11 et 2) They had constructed considerable aqueducts, of which the remains are still to be seen ; and numerous canals for irrigation, of which one is said to have been 150 leagues in length (t. 1. p. 317). They were able to extract, separate, and fuse metals ; to give to copper the hardness of steel, for the fabrication of their weapons and instruments ; to make mirrors of this hardened copper or of hard MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. 413 and the succeeding Incas or Emperors of Peru; whose lives and exploits have been recorded by one of their own descendants on the female side, Garcilasso de la Vega, surnamed the Inca. Instating the moral and intellectual inferiority ofthe native Americans to the white races, I speak of an inferiority common to them with the other dark-colored people ofthe globe; and do not mean to adopt, in the smallest degree, the fanciful notions pro- mulgated by some writers ofthe degeneracy of all animal nature in this vast Continent. That the quadrupeds and other animals are deficient neither in size nor vigor is now well known; and though the fables respecting the gigantic stature of the Patago- nians have passed away, they still remain superior in size to any Asiatic or European race of men. There are some unconquered tribes equally conspicuous for the nobler attributes of our nature. The Araucans of Chili have successfully maintained their inde- pendence against all the attacks of the Spaniards; and are well known in Europe by the epic poem of Ercilla, in which these contests are celebrated. In the interesting portrait which Molina has lately drawn of their character, manners, customs, govern- ment, and history, we recognize in many points a strong resem- blance to the ancient Germans, and a pleasing proof that all the natives of this new world are not doomed to mental inferiority. " The moral qualities of the Araucans," says Molina, " are stone ; to form images of gold and silver hollow within; to cut the hardest precious stones with the greatest nicety ; to manufacture and dye cotton and wool, and work and figure the stuffs in various ways ; to spin and weave the fine hair of hares and rabbits into fabrics resembling and answering the pur- poses of silks (ibid. 1.1.) The preceding statements are fully corroborated by the existing remains of these ancient arts as seen and described by Uli.oa, Bouguer, Condamine, and Humboldt, Travels in South America, v. 1. book 6. chap. ii. Acad, des Sciences ; 1740,1745. Vueces Cordillercs, Monumens des Peuples, fyc.) " The Toultees," says the latter author, " introduced the cultivation of maize and cotton ; they built cities, made roads, and constructed those great pyramids, wliich are yet admired, and of which the faces are very accurately laid out. They knew the use of hieroglyphical paintings; they could found metal and cut the hardest stones ; and they had a solar year, more perfect thao. that ofthe Greeks and Romans. Political Essay, book 2, ch. 6 a3 114 differences in proportioned to their physical endowments ; they are intrepid, animated, ardent, patient in enduring fatigue, ever ready to sacri- fice their lives in the service of their country ; enthusiastic lovers of liberty, which they consider as an essential constituent of their existence ; jealous of their honor ; courteous, hospitable, faithful to their engagements, grateful for services rendered them, and generous and humane towards the vanquished."* The ninety! years' struggle which they maintained against the Spaniards, and by which they at last successfully established their independence, is more remarkable for its duration, for acts of desperate resolution and devotion to the great cause of liberty, and traits of individual heroism, than the contests between the Dutch and the Spaniards, the Swiss and the Austiians, or any an- cient or modern analogous European case. In the savage tribes of North America we often meet with lofty sentiments of independence, ardent courage, and devoted friend- ship, which would sustain a comparison with the most splendid similar examples in the more highly gifted races. Honorable and punctual fulfilment of treaties and compacts, patient; endurance of toil, hunger, cold, and all kinds of hardships and privations, inflexible fortitude, and unshaken perseverance in avenging in- sults or injuries according to their own peculiar customs and feel- ings, show that they are not destitute ofthe more valuable moral qualities.! The Mongolian people differ very much in their docility and moral character. While the empires of China and Japan prove that this race is susceptible of civilization, and of great advance- ment in the useful and even elegant arts of life, and exhibit the sin- gular phenomenon of political and social institutions between two and three thousand years older than the Christian era, the fact of their having continued nearly stationary for so many centuries, * Civil History of Chili, p. 59. Their strict integrity, and high sense of honor in commercial dealings, are confirmed by the testimony of Ulloa ; Travels in South America, v. 2 p. 276. 1 Ibid,p 291. t See Mr. Jefferson's eloquent vindication of the North-American savages from the degrading picture drawn of them by Buffon. Notes on Virginia. MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES- 410 marks an inferiority of nature, and a limited capacity, in com- parison to that of the white races. When the Mongolian tribes of central Asia have been united under one leader, war and desolation have been the objects of the association. Unrelenting slaughter, without distinction of condi- tion, age, or sex, and universal destruction, have marked the pro- gress of their conquests, unattended with any changes or institu- tions capable of benefiting the human race, unmingied with any acts of generosity, and kindness to the vanquished, or the slight- est symptoms of regard to the rights and liberties of mankind. The progress of Attila, Zingis, andTAMKRLANE, likelhe deluge, the tornado, and the hurricane, involved everything in one sweep- ing ruin. In all the points which have been just considered, the white races present a complete contrast to the dark-colored inhabitants of the globe. While the latter cover more than half the earth's surface, plunged into a state of barbarism in which the higher at- tributes of human nature seldom make their appearance, strangers to all the conveniences and pleasures of advanced social life, and deeming themselves happy in escaping the immediate perils of famine; the former, at least in this quarter of the world, either never have been in so low a condition, or, by means of their high- er endowments, have so quickly raised themselves from it, that we have no record of their existence as mere hunting or fishing tribes. In the oldest documents and traditions, which deserve any confidence, these nobler people are seen at least in the pas- toral state, and in the exercise of agriculture; the practice of which is so ancient, that the remotest and the darkest accounts have not preserved the name ofthe discoverer, or the date of its introduction. No European people, therefore, has been in a con- dition comparable to that ofthe present dark-colored races, within the reach of any history or tradition. The iuvention of arts and sciences in the East, and their sur- prising progress in Europe, are due to the white men. The com- paratively rational system of Heathenism contained in the Gre- cian mythology, with its elegant fables and allegories; and the three religions, which exhibit the only worthy views of the Divin- 416 DIFFERENCES IN ity, tnat is, Judaism, Christianity, and Mahomedanism ; all derive their birth from the same quarter. The Caucasian variety claims also the Persian Zoroaster ; and, if I mistake not, the founders ofthe religion of Biiamah, who in the peninsula of India had signalized themselves by great ad- vances in art and science in the very remotest antiquity. In the white races, we meet in full perfection, with true brave- ry, love of liberty, and other passions and virtues of great souls ; here only do these noble feelings exist in full intensity, while they are, at the same time, directed by superior knowledge and reflec- tion to the accomplishment of the grandest purposes. They alone have been as generous and mild towards the weak and the van- quished, as terrible to their enemies ; and have treated females with kindness, attention, and deference. Here alone are com- passion and benevolence fully developed ; the feeling for the pains and distresses of others, and the active attempt to relieve them ; which, first exerted< on our nearest connections, is extended to our countrymen in general, and embraces ultimately, in its wishes and exertions, the interest of all mankind. The white nations alone have enjoyed free governments; that is, not the lawless dominion of mere force, as in many barbarous tribes, but institutions recognizing the equality of all in political rights, giving protection to the weak against the powerful, secur- ing to all equal freedom of opinion and conscience, and adminis- tered according to laws framed with the consent of all. The spirit of liberty, the unconquerable energy of independence, the generous glow of patriotism, have been known chiefly to those nobler organizations, in which the cerebral hemispheres have re- ceived their full developement. The republics of Greece and Rome, of Italy in the middle ages, of Switzerland and Holland, the limited monarchy of England, and the United States of America, have shown us what the human race can effect, when animated by these sacred feelings ; without which nothing has been achieved truly great, or permanently interesting. This is the charm that attaches us to the history, the laws, the institutions, the literature of the free states of antiquity, and that enables us to study again and again with fresh pleasure the lives and actions of their illustrious citizens. MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. 417 Even the more absolute forms of government have been con- ducted among the white races, with a respect to human nature, with a regard to law and to private rights, quite unknown to the pure despotisms, which seem to be the natural destiny of our dark brethren. The monstrous faith of millions made for one has never been doubted or questioned in all the extensive regions occupied by human races, with the anterior and superior parts of the cranium flattened and compressed. That these diversities are the offspring of natural differences, and not produced by external causes, is proved by their univer- sality, whether in respect to time, place, or external influence. Some have found a convenient and ready solution in climate; but have not condescended to show, either by example or reason- ing, how climate can opeiate on the moral feelings and intellect, or that it has actually so operated in any instance The native Americans are spread over that vast continent, from the icy shores of the Arctic Ocean to jthe neighborhood of the Antarctic Circle ; the Africans have a tolerably wide range in their quarter of the globe ; the Mongolian tribes cover a tract including every variety of climate, from the coldest to the most warm. Yet, in such di- versities of situation, the respective races exhibit only modifica- tions of character. White people have distinguished themselves in all climates ; every where preserving their superiority. Two centuries have not assimilated the Anglo-Americans to the Indian aborigines, nor prevented them from establishing in America the freest government in the world. A Washington and a Franklin prove that the noble qualities of the race have suffered no degen- eracy by crossing the Atlantic. Accurate observers have found the hypothesis of climate equally unsatisfactory in other parts of the world. " The philosophy which refers exclusively to the physical influence of climate, this most remarkable phenomenon of the moral world, is altogether insufficient to satisfy the rational inquirer ; the holy spirit of lib- erty was cherished in Greece and its Svrian colonies, by the same sun which warms the gross and ferocious superstition of the Ma- homcdan zealot; the conquerors of half the world issued from the scorching deserts of Arabia, and obtained some of their ear- liest triumphs over one of the most gallant nations of Europe (Spain.) 418 DIFFERENCES IN "A remnant ofthe disciples of Zoroaster, flying from Ma- homedan persecution, carried with them to the western coast of India the religion, the hardy habits, and athletic forms of the north of Persia; and their posterity may at this day be contem- plated in the Parsees of the English settlement at Bombay, with mental and bodily powers absolutely unimpaired after the resi- dence of a thousand years in that burning climate. Even the passive but ill-understood character of the Hindoos, exhibiting few and unimportant shades of distinction, whether placed under the snows of Imans, or the vertical sun of the torrid zone, has, in every part of these diversified climates, been occasionally roused to achievements of valor, and deeds of desperation, not surpass- ed in the heroic ages ofthe western world. The reflections natu- rally arising from these facts are obviously sufficient to extin- guish a flimsy and superficial hypothesis, which would measure the human mind'by the scale of a Fahrenheit's thermometer."* White nations have kept up their character under every form of government. Science and literature have flourished in mon- archies as well as in republics. Yet, let us never forget, that the principal and the richest portion of our intellectual treasure con- sists of the literature and history of two nations of antiquity, whose astonishing superiority seems to have arisen principally from their having enjoyed freedom. The white nations may degenerate, as in the case of the Greeks and Romans ; but the qualities which distinguished them in their proudest state are still visible. The senate, the forum, and the eapitol, which were trodden by Scipios, Brutuses, and Catos, by Pompey, Caesar, and Cicero, by Virgil, Horace, Livy, and Taci- tus, have been long defiled by a vermin of priests and monks, of eunuchs and singers : the processions and fooleries of a despica- ble superstition have succeeded to the three hundred and twenty triumphs which gave to a small spot in Italy the command ofthe world, proclaiming conquests generally as« beneficial to the con- quered as glorious to the victors. Italy altogether has groaned for centuries under the domestic fetters of monkery and priest- Wilks, " Historical Sketches ofthe South of India;" v. 1. p. 22. 23 MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. 419 craft, and the still more galling yoke of foreign rule: yet the clas- sic ground has ever produced, and still continues to produce, men worthy of the race that realized and long maintained universal empire. What other people has sent forth, within the same peri- od, or even in any wider range, men equal in force of genius and variety of excellence to the immortal names which Italy can boast even in her degradation ;—to Dante, Petrarca, and Boccaccio ; to Tasso, Ariosto Metastasio, Alfieri; to Galileo, Gassendi, and Torricelli; to Machiavel, Davila, Bentivoglio, and Guicciardini; to Raphael, Michael Angelo, and a whole host of others 1 The prerogatives ofthe white races may be equally distinguish- ed in the least-advanced state of civilization. Compare the an- cient Germans, as delineated by Tacitus, and Caesar, with the savages'of New Holland, with a horde of Hottentots, with a tribe of American Indians: compare the ancient Spaniards 01 Scandi- navians, the Highland Scotch, or any Celtic people, to the Afri- can, American, or Mongolian tribes. A fair comparative experiment has been made ofthe white and red races in North America; and no trial in natural philosophy has had a more unequivocal and convincing result. The copper- colored natives, although in all their original independence, have not advanced a single step in three hundred years ; neither exam- ple nor persuasion has induced them, except in very small num- ber, and few instances, to exchange the precarious supplies ofthe hunting and fishing state for agriculture and the other arts of set- tled life. A little ingenuity is manifested in making clothes, or- naments, arms; and personal endurance of exertion, fatigue, and the cruelest torture, is carried to a great lfei$ht. Even in war, in their eyes the first and most exalted of occupations, they show few traces of generous or honorable feelings. Bitter revenge and utter destruction are the motive and end.- It is hardly necessary to draw the contrast. No Englishman can be ignorant of the mighty empire founded by a handful of his countrymen in the wilds of America ;—of its gigantic strides, from the state of an insignificant colony, within forty short years of independence, to the rank of a first rate power. No friend of humanity can be a stranger to the glorious prospect, to the energies of freedom, which vivify this new country. No human being, who is interest- 420 DIFFERENCES IN ed in the progress ofhis species, can refuse his tribute of admira- tion to this new world, which has established itself without the prejudices of the old ; where religion is in all its fervor, without needing an alliance with the state to maintain it: where the law commands by the respect which it inspires, without being enforc- ed by any military power. The superiority of the whites is universally felt and readily ac- knowledged by the other races. The most intelligent Negro, whom Mr. Park* met with, after witnessing only such evidences of European skill and knowledge as the English settlement of Pisania afforded, and being acquainted with two or three English- men, would sometimes appear pensive, and exclaim with an in- voluntary sigh, "Black men are nothing!" The narratives of travellers abound with similar traits. This consciousness best ex- plains the fact of the Negroes generally submitting quietly to their state of slavery in the European colonies. If the relations and the proportions of the population were reversed, and the European slaves were five, six, eight, or ten times as numerous as their Ne- gro masters, how long would such a state of things last 1 When the blacks form any plots, although their natural apathy and un- varying countenance are favorable to concealment, they always fail, through treachery or precipitation, in commencing opera- tions, or are disconcerted by any resolute opposition, even from very inferior numbers. Some will probably explain in a different manner these remark- able phenomena ofthe moral and intellectual world which I have just been considering; they will attempt to prove that these strongly-marked varie^tjp may have been produced, in races form- ed originally with equal capabilities, by the external influences of civilization, education, government, religion, and perhaps other causes. To assert uniformity of bodily structure over the whole world would be too repugnant to the testimony of the senses : equality of mental endowments seems to be hardly a less extrav- agant tenet. There have, however, been philosophers who even held that all men are born with equal powers ; and that education * " Travels into the Interior Districts of Africa ;" 8vo. ed. p. 536. MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. 421 and other accidental circumstances make the only difference be- tween the wisest and the weakest of mankind. That civilization, government, and education act very power- fully on the human race, is too obvious to be doubted ; but the question relates to the capability of civilization. Why have the white races invariably, and without one exception, raised them- selves to at least some considerable height in the scale of cultiva- tion ; while the dark, on the contrary, have almost all universally continued in the savage or barbarous slate ? If we suppose that, at any remote era, all mankind, in all quarters ofthe globe, were in the latter condition, what are the accidental circumstances which have prevented all the colored varieties of man from rais- ing themselves, and at the same time have assisted the progress of all the others? If the nations in the north and west of Europe, when first conquered by the Romans, should be allowed (contra- ry, however, to historical proof) to have been in a state of barbar- ism not superior to that of the present rude tribes of Asia, Africa, or America, why have they advanced uninterruptedly to their pre- sent exalted pitch of culture, while the latter remain plunged in their original rudeness and ignorance 1 I do not mean to assert that all individuals and all tribes of dark-colored men are inferior in moral and intellectual endow- ments to all those of the white division. The same gradations and modifications of structure and properties exist here as in other parts. Certainly we can produce examples enough in Eu- rope of beings not superior to Hottentots and New-Hollanders: and individuals of considerable talents and knowledge are met with in savage tribes. There may not be much difference between the lowest European community and the highest in some dark va- riety of man. Examples of individuals and of small numbers will therefore prove little in this matter. I am aware also that all the white races have not made those signal advances in knowledge and civilization, of which I have spoken as indicating their superior endowments. Their organi- zation makes them capable of such distinctions, if circumstances are favorable, or rather if no obstacles exist. In the dark races, on the contrary, inferior organization renders it vain to present opportunities, or to remove difficulties. 422 DIFFERENCES IN Loss of liberty, bad government, oppressive laws, neglected education, bigotry, fanaticism and intolerance in religion, will counteract the noblest gifts of nature, will plunge into ignorance, degradation and weakness, nations capable ofthe highest culture, ofthe most splendid moral and intellectual achievements. Greece, Italy, and Spain bear melancholy testimony to this afflicting truth. Where are the brave republican Dutch, who first sustained a forty-years' contest with Spain in the zenith of her power, when she could alarm all Europe by her ambitious schemes; and who then contended with England for the dominion ofthe sea? What causes the present feebleness of Turkey, whose very name is deemed almost synonymous with despotism and ignorance? Care- ful observers can discern even in these victims of oppression and fanaticism, the germs of all the higher qualifications of our race, the evidences of those moral excellencies and intellectual powers, which require only a favorable opportunity to display themselves. It is generally allowed that the Turks are superior in natural qualifications to their conquerors the Russians, who enjoy over them the advantages of a government and religion* more favora- ble to the progress of knowledge and to individual security and happiness. Such are the results, deducible from experience, respecting the differences of moral feelings and intellectual power : having stat- ed them strongly, I am anxious to express my decided opinion that these differences are not sufficient in any instance to warrant * The unfavorable influence of the Mahomedan religion on intellectual cul- ture has been exemplified by Mr Fourier in the case of the Arabs. " If the Arabians, like the people of the West, had possessed the inestimable advantage ofa religion favorable to the arts and to useful knowledge, they would have cultivated and brought to perfection every branch of philosophy. At the com- mencement of their extraordinary career, they were ingenious and polished ; they made remarkable progress in poetry, architecture, medicine, geometry, natural history, and astronomy ; they preserved and transmitted to us many of those immortal works which were destined to aid the revival of learning in Europe. But the Mussulman religion was incompatible with this develope- ment of the mind: the Arabs were exposed to the alternative of renouncing their faith, or returning to the ignorance of their ancestors." " Description de J'Egypte, Preface historique," p. 16. MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. 423 us in referring a particular race to an originally different species. They are not greater in kind or degree than those which we see in many animals; as in horses, asses, mules, dogs, and cocks. . I protest especially against the opinion, which either denies to the Africans the enjoyment of reason, or ascribes to the whole race propensities so vicious, malignant, and treacherous, as would de- grade them even below the level of the brute. It can be proved most clearly, and the preceding observations are sufficient for this purpose, that there is no circumstance of bodily structure so pecu- liar to the Negro, as not to be found also in other far distant na- tions; no character, which does not run into those of other races by the same insensible gradations as those which connect together all the varieties of mankind. I deem the moral and intellectual character of the Negro inferior, and decidedly so, to that of the European; and, as this inferiority arises from a corresponding difference of organization, I must regard it as his natural destiny : but I do not consider him more inferior than the other dark races. I can neither admit the reasoning nor perceive the humanity of those who, after tearing the African from his native soil, carrying him to the West Indies, and dooming him there to perpetual slavery and labor, complain that his understanding shows no signs of improvement, and that his temper and disposition are in- corrigibly perverse, faithless, and treacherous. Let us, however, observe him in a somewhat more favorable state than in those dreadful receptacles of human misery, the crowded decks of the slave-ship, or in the less openly shocking, but constrained and extorted, and therefore painful labors of the sugar plantation. Thatthe Negroes behave to others according to the treatment they receive, may be easily gathered from the best sources of in- formation. They have not, indeed, reached that sublime height, the beau ideal of morality, the returning good for evil, probably because their masters have not yet found leisure enough from the pursuit of riches to instil into them the true spirit of Christianity. " The feelings of the Negroes (says an accurate observer) are ex- tremely acute. According to the manner in which they are treat- ed, they are gay or melancholy, laborious or slothful, friends or enemies. When well fed, and not maltreated, they are content- ed, joyous, ready for every enjoyment; and the satisfaction of 424 DIFFERENCES IN their mind is painted in their countenance. But, when oppressed and abused, they grow peevish, and often die of melancholy. Of benefits and abuse they are extremely sensible ; and against those who injure them they bear a mortal hatred. On the other hand, when they contract an affection to a master, there is no office, how- ever hazardous, which they will not boldly execute, to demon- strate their zeal and attachment. They are naturally affection- ate, and have an ardent love for their children, friends, and coun- trymen. The little they possess they freely distribute among the necessitous, without any other motive than that of pure compas- sion for the indigent,"* The travels of Barrow, Le Vaillant, and Mungo Park, abound with anecdotes honorable to the moral character of the Africans, and proving that they betray no deficiency in the amia- ble qualities of the heart. One of these gives us an interesting portrait of the chief of a tribe : " His countenance was strongly marked with the habit of reflection : vigorous in his mental and amiable in his personal qualities, Gaika was at once the friend and ruler of a happy people, who universally pronounced his name with transport, and blessed his abode as the seat of felicity." Some European kings might take a lesson from this savage. Mr. Barrow gives a picture, by no means unpleasing, of the Hottentots. Their indolence probably arises from the state of subjection in which they live; as the wild Bosjesmen are particu- larly active and cheerful. " They are a mild, quiet, and timid people ; perfectly harmless, honest, faithful: and, though extremely phlegmatic, they are kind and affectionate to each other, and not incapable of strong attach- ments. A Hottentot would share his last morsel with his com- panions. They have little of that kind of art or cunning that savages generally possess. If accused of crimes, of which they have been guilty, they generally divulge the truth. They seldom quarrel among themselves, or make use of provoking language, Though naturally fearful, they will run into the face of danger if * " Histoire des Antilles," p. 483. MORAL and intellectual QUALITIES. 440 led on by their superiors. They suffer pain with patience. They are by no means deficient in talent."* " The Bosjesman, though in every respect a Hottentot, yet in his turn of mind differs very widely from those that live in the colony. In his disposition he is lively and cheerful; and. in his person active. His talents are far above mediocrity ; and, averse to idleness, they are seldom without employment."* They are very fond of dancing, exhibit great industry and acuteness in their contrivances for catching game, and considerable mechanical skill in forming their baskets, mats, nets, arrows, &c. &c.i; I see no reason to doubt thatthe Negro race, taken all together, is equal to any in natural goodness of heart. It is consonant to our general experience of mankind, that the latter quality should be deadened or completely extinguished in the slave-ship or plan- tation ; indeed, it is as little creditable to the heads as to to the hearts of their white masters to expect affection and fidelity from slaves after the treatment they too often experience. The acute and accurate Barbot, in his large work on Guinea, says, " The blacks have sufficient sense and understanding, their conceptions are quick and accurate, and their memory possesses extraordinary strength : for, although they can neither read nor write, they never fall into confusion or error in the great hurry of business and traffic. Their experience of the knavery of Euro- peans has put them completely on their guard in transactions of exchange ; they carefully examine all our goods, piece by piece, to ascertain if their quality and measure are correctly stated; and show as much sagacity and clearness in all these transactions, as any European tradesman could do." Of those imitative arts, in which perfection can be attained only in an improved state of society, it is natural to suppose that the Neo-roescan have little knowledge; but the fabric and colors of the Guinea cloths are proofs of their native ingenuity ; and that they are capable of learning all kinds of the more delicate raan- * " Travels in Southern Africa," v. 1. p. 152. t Ibid p. 283 X Ibid. p. 284—290. 426 DIFFERENCES IN ual labors, is proved by the fact, that nine-tenths of the artifi- cers in the West Indies are Negroes. Many are expert carpen- ters, and some watchmakers. The drawings and busts executed by the wild Bosjesmen in the neighborhood of the Cape are praised by Barrow* for their ac- curacy of outline and correctness of proportion. Negroes have been known to earn so much in America by their musical exertions, as to purchase their freedom with large sums. The younger Freidig in Vienna was an expert performer, both on the violin and violoncello; he was also a capital draftsman, and had made an excellent painting of himself. Mr. Edwards,! however, speaks very contemptuously of their musical talents in general: he says, " they prefer a loud and long-continued noise to the finest harmony ; and frequently consume the whole night in beating on a board with a stick." The capacity of the Negroes for the mathematical and physic- al sciences is proved by Hannibal, a colonel in the Russian ar- tillery, and Lislet of the Isle of France, who was named a cor- responding member of the French Academy of Sciences, on ac- count of his excellent meteorological observations. Fuller, of Maryland, was an extraordinary example of quickness in reckon- ing. Being asked in a company, for the purpose of trying his powers, how many seconds a person had lived who was seventy years and some months old, he gave the answer in a minute and a half. On reckoning it up after him, a different result was obtain- ed : " Have not you forgotten the leap-years ?" says the Negro. This omission was supplied, and the the number then agreed with his answer.^ Boerhaave and De Haen have given the the strongest testimo- ny that our black brethren possess no mean insight into practical medicine ; and several have been known as very dexterous sur- geons. A Negress at Yverdun is mentioned by Blumenbach as a celebrated midwife of real knowledge, and an experinced hand. * "Travels," &c v. 1. p. 239,307. t " Hist, of the West Indies," v. 2. p. 102. X Stedman's " Surinam;" v 2. p. 270. The circumstance is related on the authority of Dr. Rush, as having happened in his presence,- MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. 427 Omitting Madocrs, a Methodist preacher, and not attempting to enumerate all the Negroes who have written poems, I may mention that Blumenbach possesses English, Dutch, and Latin poetry, by different Negroes. In 1734. A. W. Amo, an African from the coast of Guinea, took the degree of Doctor at the University of Wittenberg : and dis- played, according to Blumenbach, in two disputations, extensive and well-digested reading in the physiological books of the time.* Jac Eliz. Joh. Capitein, who was bought by a slave-deal- er when eight years old, studied theology at Leyden, and pub- lished several sermons and poems. His Dissertatio de Servitute Libertati Christiana; non contraria went through four editions very quickly. He was ordained in Amsterdam ; and went to Elmina on the Gold Coast, where he was either murdered, or exchanged for the life and faith of his countrymen those he had learned in Europe.! Ignatius Sancho, and Gustavus Vasa,—the former born in a slave-ship on its passage from Guinea to the West Indies, and the latter in the kingdom of Benin,—have distinguished themselves as literary characters in this country, in modern times. Their works and lives are so well known, and so easily accessible, that it is only necessary to mention them. On reviewing these instances, wliich indeed must be received as exceptions to the general results of observation and experience respecting the Negro faculties, I may observe, with Blumenbach, from whom some of them are borrowed, that entire and large pro- vinces of Europe might be named, in which it would be difficult to meet with such good writers, poets, philosophers, and corres- pondents ofthe French Academy. These insulated facts are not, however, adduced to prove that the African enjoys an equality of moral and intellectual attributes with the European race; but merely to show, that, of the dark-colored people, none have dis- tinguished themselves by stronger proofs of capacity for literary * " Beytrage zur Naturgeschichte ;" th. 1. p. 98. t A characteristic portrait of this Ethiopian variety is represented in Brum en bach's work. Ibid. 4 os DIFFERENCES IN and scientific cultivation, and consequently that none approach more nearly than the Negro to the polished nations of the globe. That the Ethiopean, taken altogether, is decidedly inferior to the Caucasian variety in the qualities ofthe heart and of the head, will be soon recognized by any one who attentively weighs the re- presentations of all unprejudiced and disinterested observers re- specting the conduct, capabilities, and character of the Africans, whether in their own country, in the West Indies, or in America ; and the continuance ofthe whole race, for more than twenty cen- turies in a condition which, in its best form, is little elevated above absolute barbarism, must give to this conviction the clear light and full force of demonstration. I cannot therefore admit, with- out some restriction and explanation, the quaint but humane ex- pression of the preacher who called the Negro " God's image, like ourselves, though carved in ebony." As the external influences of climate, soil, situation, way of life, degree of civilization, habits, customs, form of government, reli- gion, education, are manifestly inadequate to account for the very marked differences which at all times, in all countries, and under all circumstances, have characterized the white and the dark races, and the various subdivisions of each, we must look deeper for their causes, and seek them in some circumstances inseparably in- terwoven in the original constitution of man. In conformity with the views already explained respecting the mental part of our be- ing, I refer the varieties of moral feeling, and of capacity for knowledge and reflection, to those diversities of cerebral organiza- tion which are indicated by, and correspond to, the differences in the shape of the skull. If the nobler attributes of man reside in the cerebral hemispheres; if the prerogatives which lift him so much above the brute are satisfactorily accounted for by the supe- rior developement of those important parts; the various degrees and kinds of moral feeling and of intellectual power may be con- sistently explained by the numerous and obvious differences of size in the various cerebral parts, besides which there may be pe- culiarities of internal organization, not appreciable by our means of inquiry. Proceeding on these data, we shall lind, in the com- parison ofthe crania ofthe white and dark races, a sufficient ex- planation ofthe superiority constantly evinced by the former, and MORAL AND INTELLESTUAL QUALITIES. of the inferior subordinate lot to which the latter have been irre- vocably doomed. If examples can be adduced, either of nations having such a form ofthe brain and head as that which characterizes the Cau- casian variety of man, placed under favorable circumstances for the developement of their moral and intellectual powers, and yet not advancing beyond the point which has been reached by the Africans or American tribes ofthe present time; or of the people, organized like the dark varieties, and reaching, under any circum- stances, that degree of moral and intellectual cultivation which exists in the several polished countries of Europe ; the preceding reasoning will be overturned: if no such instances can be brought forwards, the conclusion, that the marked differences between the white and dark-colored divisions of our species arise from original distinctions of organization, and not from adventitious circum- cumstances, remains unshaken. 1 cannot but respect the feelings of philanthropy, and the mo- tives of benevolence, which have prompted many of our country- men to exert themselves in behalf of the unenlightened and op- pressed : I cannot contemplate without strong admiration, the heroic self-denial, and the generous devotion of those, who, fore- going the comforts, luxuries, and rational enjoyments of polished society, expose themselves to noxious climates and to all the perils of unknown countries, in order to win over the savage to the settled habits, the useful arts, and the various advantages of civilized life, to rescue him from the terrors of superstition, and bestow on him the inestimable blessings of mental culture and pure religion. But our expectations and exertions in this, as in other cases, must be limited by the natural capabilities of the sub- ject. The retreating forehead and the depressed vertex of the dark varieties of man make me strongly doubt whether they are susceptible of these high destinies;—whether they are capable of fathoming the depths of science; of understanding and appreciat- ing the doctrines and the mysteries of our religion. These obsta- cles will, I fear, be too powerful for Missionaries and Bible Socie- ties; for Bell and Lancaster Schools. Variety of powers in the various races corresponds to the differences, both in kind and de- gree, which characterize the individuals of each race,—indeed, to c8 480 DIFFERENCES IN MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. the general character of all nature, in which uniformity is most carefully avoided. To expect that the Americans or Africans can be raised by any culture to an equal height in moral sentiments and intellectual energy with Europeans, appears to me quite as unreasonable as it would be to hope that the bull-dog may equal the greyhound in speed ; that the latter may be taught to hunt by scent like the hound : or that the mastiff may rival in talents and acquirements the sagacious and docile poodle. CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. CHAPTER IX. On the causes of the Varieties of the Human Species. Having examined the principal points in which the several tribes of the human species differ from each other; namely, the color and texture of the skin, hair, and iris, the features, the skull and brain, the form and proportions of the body, the stature, the ani- mal economy, the moral and intellectual powers, I proceed to in- quire whether the diversities enumerated under these heads are to be considered as characteristic distinctions coeval with the origin of the species, or as the result of subsequent variation ; and in the event of the latter supposition being adopted, whether they are the effect of external physical and moral causes, or of native or congenital variety. The very numerous gradations, which we meet with, in each of the points above mentioned, are an almost insuperable objection to the notion of specific difference; for all of them may be equally referred to original distinction of spe- cies; yet, if we admit this, the number of species would be over- whelming. On the other hand, the analogies drawn from the ani- mal kingdom, and adduced under each head, nearly demonstrate that the characteristics of the various human tribes must be re- ferred, like the corresponding diversities in other animals, to va- riation. Again, I have incidentally brought forwards several ar- guments to prove that external agencies, whether physical or mo-. 43d CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES ral, will not account for the bodily and mental differences which characterize the several tribes of mankind ; and that they must be accounted for by the breed or race.* This subject, however, requires further illustration. The causes which operate on the bodies of living animals, ei- ther modify the individual, or alter the offspring. The former are of great importance in the history of animals, and produce considerable alterations in individuals ; but the latter are the most powerful, as they effect the species, and cause the diversities of the race. Great influences has at all times been ascribed to cli- mate ; which indeed has been commonly, but very loosely and indefinitely, represented as the cause of most important modifi- cations in the human subject and in other animals. Differences of color, stature, hair, features, and those of moral and intellec- tual character, have been alike referred to the action of this mys- terious cause ; without any attempt to show which of the circum- stances in the numerous assemblage comprehended under the word ' climate' produces the effect in question, or any indication of the mode in which the point is accomplished. That the con- stitution of the atmosphere varies in respect to light and heat, moisture and electricity ; and that these variations, with those of elevation, soil, winds, vegetable productions, will operate decided- ly on individuals, I do not mean to deny. While, however, we have precise information on the kind or degree of influence attri- butable to such causes, we have abundance of proof that they are ■entirely inadequate to account for the differences between the va- rious races of men. I shall state one or two changes which seem fairly referable to climate. The whitening (blanching or etiolation) of vegetables, when the sun's rays are excluded, demonstrates the influence of those rays on vegetable colors. Nor is the effect merely superficial; it extends to the texture of the plant, to the taste and other proper- ties of its juices. Men much exposed to the sun and air, as pea- sants and sailors, acquire deeper tints of color than those who are * See sect. ii. chap. ii. p. 258 and following; chap. iv. p. 329and following.^ chap, vi p. 383. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 433 more covered ; and the tanning of the skin by the summer sun, in parts of the body exposed to it, as the face and hands, is a phe- nomenon completely analogous. The ruddy and tawny hues of those who live in the country, particularly of laborers in the open air, and the pale and sallow countenances of the inhabitants of towns, of close and dark workshops and manufactories, owe their origin to the enjoyment or privation of sun and air. Hence, men of the same race are lighter or darker colored according to tlie climate which they inhabit, at least in those parts which are un- covered, The native hue of the Moors is not darker than that of the Spaniards, of many French, and some English ; but their ac- quired tint is so much deeper, that we distinguish them instantly. How swarthy do the Europeans become who seek their fortunes under the tropic and equator, and have their skins parched by the burning suns of " Afric and of either Ind!" Mr. Edwards represents that the Creoles in the English West- Indian Islands are taller than Europeans ; several being six feet four inches high ; and that their orbits are deeper.* It has been generally observed by travellers, that the European population of the United States of North America is tall and characterized by a pale and sallow countenance. The latter effect is commonly produced in natives of Europe when they become resideut in warm climates. That both sexes arrive earlier at pu- berty, and that the mental powers of children are sooner devel- oped in warm than in cold countries, are facts familiarly known. The prevalence of light colors in the animals of polar and cold regions may, perhaps, be ascribed to the influence of climite : the isatis or arctic fox, the polar bear, and the snow-bunting, are striking instances. The same character is also remarkable in some species, which are more dark-colored in warmer situations. This opinion is strengthened by the analogy of those animals which chauge their color in the same country, at the winter sea- son, to white or grey, as the ermine (mustela erminea,) and weasel (in. nivalis,) the varying hare, squirrel, reindeer, white game (tet- * History of the West Indies, v. 2. p. 11 434 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES rao lagopus,) and snow-bunting (emberiza nivalis.)* Pallas ob- serves, " that even in domestic animals, as horses and cows, the winter coat is of a lighter color than the smoother covering which succeeds it in the spring. This difference is much more consid- erable in wild animals. I have sh nvn instances of it in two kinds of antelope (saiga and gutturosa,) in the musk animal (moschus moschifer,) and in the equus hemionus. The Siberian roe, wliich is red in summer, becomes of a grayish white in winter; wolves and the deer kind, particularly the elk and the rein deer, become light in the winter; the sable (m. zibellina) and the martin (m. martes,) are browner in the summer than in winter."! Although tliese phenomena seem obviously connected with the state of atmospherical temperature,—and hence the change of color, which the squirrel and the mustella nivalis undergo in Si- beria and Russia, does not take place in Germany,$—we do not understand the exact nature of the process by which it is effected; and.cold certainly appears not to be the direct cause. For the varying hare, though kept in warm rooms during the winter, gets its white winter covering oniy a little later than usual ;|| and in all the animals, in which this kind of change takes place, the winter coat, which is more copious, close, and downy, as well as lighter colored, is found already far advanced in the autumn, before the cold sets in.§ The covering of animals, as well as their color, seems to be mo- dified in many cases by climate ; but as the body is naked in the human subject, and as the hair of the head cannot be regarded in the same light as the fur, wool, or hair which covers the bodies of animals generally, the analogies offered by the latter are not very directly applicable to the present subject. In cold regions, the fur and feathers are thicker and more co- pious, so as to form a much more effectual defence against the cli- * Linneus. Flora Lapponica. t Nova Species Quadrupedum, p. 7. X Ibid. p. 6. note h. The ermine changes its color in the winter in Germa- ny ; Imt Pallas states, on.the faith of sufficient testimony, that it does not undergo this change in the more southern districts of Asia and Persia. f| Nova Species Quadrupedum, p. 7. § Ibid, p 9. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 435 mate than the coaser and rarer textures which are seen in warm countries. Tbe thick fleece ef the dogs lately brought from Baf- fin's Bay exemplifies this observation very completely. The wool of the sheep degenerates into a coarse hair in Africa: where we meet also with dogs quite naked, with a smooth and soft skin. Whether the goat furnishing the wool from which the shawls of Cashmere are manufactured is of the same species with that do- mesticated in Europe, and whether the prodigious difference be- tween the hairy growth of the two animals is due to diversity of climate, are points at present uncertain : neither do we know whether the long and silky coat of the goat, cat, sheep, and rab- bits of Angora can be accounted for by the operation of this cause : it is at least worthy of notice, that this quality of the hair should exist in so many animals of the same country. It continues when they are removed into other situations, and is transmitted to the offspring ; so that we may, probably, regard these as permanent breeds. It is well known that the qualities of the horse are inferior in France to those of neighboring countries. According to Buffon, Spanish or Barbary horses, when the breed is not crossed, become French horses sometimes in the second generation, and always in the third.* Since the climate of England, which certainly does not approach more nearly to that of the original abode of this animal than that of France, does not impede the developement of its finest forms and most excellent qualities, we may, perhaps, with greater probability, refer the degeneracy of the French horses to neglect of the breed. WTe know that the greatest atten- tion to this point is necessary, in order to prevent deterioration in form and spirit. Differences in food might be naturally expected to produce con- siderable corresponding modifications in the animal body Sing- ing-birds, chiefly of the lark and finch kinds, are known to be- come gradually black, if they are fed on hemp-seed only.t Horses * V.4. p. 106. > Der Naturfosther, pt. 1. p. 1. pt. 9. p. 22/ 436 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES) fed on the fat marshy grounds of Friesland grow to a large size; while on stony soils or dry heaths, they remain dwarfish. Oxen become very large and fat in rich soils, but are distinguished by shortness of the legs; while, in drier situations, their whole bulk is less, and the limbs are stronger and more fleshy. The quanti- ty of food has great influence on the bulk and state of health of the human subject; but the quality seems to have less power; and neither produces any of those differences which characterize races. In all the changes which are produced in the bodies of animals by the action of external causes, the effect terminates in the indi- vidual ; the offspring is not in the slightest degree modified by them,* but is born with the original properties and constitution of the parents, and a susceptibility only of the same changes when exposed to the same causes. The change in the color of the human skin, from exposure to sun and air, is obviously temporary ; for it is diminished, and even removed, when the causes no longer act. The discoloration, which we term tanning or being sun-burnt, as well as the spots called freckles, are most incidental to fair skins, and disappear when the parts are covered or no longer exposed to the sun. The children of the husbandman, or of the sailor whose countenance bears the marks of other climes, are just as fair as those of the most delicate and pale inhabitant of a city: nay, the Moors, who have lived for ages under a burning sun,still have white children; and the offspring of Europeans in the Indies have the original tint of their progenitors. Blumenbach has been led into a mistake on this point by an English author,t who asserts that Creoles are born with a differ- * When the foetus in utero has small-pox or syphilis, there is actual commft- nication of disease by the fluids of the mother. This is a case altogether dif- ferent from those under consideration. Neither does hereditary predisposi- tion to particular diseases prove that acquired conditions are transmitted to the offspring. There are natural varieties of organization, disposing different in- dividuals to different diseases on application of the same external causes. These natural varieties, like those of form, color, and other obvious properties, are continued to the children. t Hawkesworth, in Collection of Voyages, v. 3. p. 374, OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 43? ent complexion and cast of countenance from the children of the same parents brought forth in Europe. In opposition to this statement from one who had not seen the facts, I place the au- thority of Long, a most respectable eye-witness, who in his Histo- ry of Jamaica, affirms that " the children born in England have not, in general, lovelier or more transparent skins than the off- spring of white parents in Jamaica." The " austrum spirans vultus et color," which the above mentioned acute and learned naturalist ascribes to the Creole, is merely the acquired effect of the climate, and not a character existing at birth. " Nothing," says Dr Prichard,* " seems to hold true more generally, than that all acquired conditions of body, whether pro- duced by art or accident, end with the life of the individual in whom they are produced. Many nations mould their bodies into unnatural forms: the Indians flatten their foreheads ; the Chi- nese women reduce their feet to one-third of their natural dimen- sions ; savages elongate their ears ; many races cut away the pre- puce. We frequently mutilate our domestic animals by remov- ing the tail or ears ; and our own species are often obliged by dis- ease to submit to the loss of limhs. That no deformity, or muti- lation of this kind, is hereditary, is so plainly proved by every thing around us, that we must feel some surprise at the contrary opinion having gained any advocates. After the operation of circumcision has prevailed for three or four thousand years, the Jews are still born with prepuces, and still obliged to submit to a painful rite. Docked horses and cropped dogs bring forth young with entire ears and tails. But for this salutary law, what a frightful spectacle would every race of animals exhibit ! The mis- chances of all preceding times would overwhelm us with their united weight; and the catalogue would be continually increasing, until the universe, instead of displaying a spectacle of beauty and pleasure, would be filled with maimed, imperfect, and monstrous shapes." It is obvious that the external influences just considered, even though we should allow them a much greater influence on individ- * Disp. Inaug. o3 43S CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES uals than experience warrants us in admitting, would be still en- tirely inadequate to account for those signal diversities, which constitute differences of race in animals. These can be explain- ed only by two principles already mentioned ;* namely, the occa- sional production of an offspring with different characters from those of the parents, as a native or congenital variety;, and the propagation of such varieties by generation. It is impossible, iu the present state of physiological knowledge, to show how this is effected ; to explain why a gray rabbit or cat sometimes brings forth at one birth, and from one father, yellow, black, white, and spotted young ; why a white sheep sometimes has a black lamb ; or why the same parents at different times have leucrethiopic children, and others with the ordinary formation and characters. The state of domestication, or the artificial mode of life, which they lead under the influence of man, is the most powerful cause of varieties in the animal kingdom. Wild animals, using always the same kind of food, being exposed to the action ofthe climate without artificial protection, choose, each of them, according to its nature, their zone and country. Instead of migrating and ex- tending, like man, they continue in those places which are the most friendly to their constitutions. Hence, their nature under- goes no change; their figure,color,size, proportions, and proper- ties, are unaltered ; and, consequently, there is no difficulty in de- termining their species. Nothing can form a stronger contrast to this uniformity of specific character than the numerous and marked varieties in those kinds which have been reduced by man. To trace back our domestic animals to their wild originals is in all cases difficult, in some impossible ; long slavery has so degrad- ed their nature, that the primitive animal may be said to be lost, and a degenerated being, running into endless varieties, is substi- tuted in its place. The wild original of the sheep is even yet un- certain. Buffon conceived that he discovered it in the mouflon or argali (ovisammon) : and Pallas, who had an opportunity of studying the latter animal, adds the weight ofhis highly respecta- ble authority to the opinion ofthe French naturalist. Yet Blum- enbach regards the argali as a distinct species. Should we al- " See p. 260 and following. • OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 439 low the latter to be the parent of our sheep, and consequently admit that the differences are explicable by degeneration, no dif- ficulty can any longer exist about the unity of the human species. An incomplete horn of the argali, in the Academical Museum at Gdttengen, weighs nine pounds.* " Let us compare," says Buffon, " our pitiful sheep with the mouflon, from which they derived their origin. The mouflon is a large animal. He is fleet as a stag, armed with horns and thick hoofs, covered with coarse hair, and dreads neither the inclemency of the sky nor the voracity of the wolf. He not only escapes from his enemies by the swiftness of his course, and scaling, with truly wonderful leaps, the most frightful precipices ; but he resists them by the strength of his body and the solidity of the'arms with which his head and feet are fortified. How different from our sheep, which subsist with difficulty in flocks, who are unable to defend themselves by their numbers, who cannot endure the cold of our winters without shelter, and who would all perish if man withdrew his protection ! So completely are the frame and capa- bilities of this animal degraded by his association with us, that it is no longer able to subsist in a wild state, if turned loose, as the goat, pig, and cattle are. In the warm climates of Asia and Afri- ca, the mouflon, who is the common parent of all the races of this species, appears to be less degenerated than in any other region, Though reduced to a domestic state, he has preserved his stature and his hair ; but the size of his horns is diminished. Of all do- mestic sheep, those of Senegal and India are the largest, and their nature has suffered least degradation. The sheep of Barbary, Egypt, Arabia, Persia, Tatary, &c. have undergone greater changes. In relation to man, they are improved in some articles, and vitiated in others ; but with regard to nature, improvement, and degeneration, are the same thing ; for they both imply an al- teration of original constitution. Their coarse hair is changed into fine wool. Their tail, loaded with a mass of fat, and some- times reaching the weight of forty pounds, has acquired a magni- tude so incommodious, that the animals trail it with pain. While "* Blumenbach. Handbuch der Naturgeschichte, p. Ill, note 440 CAUSES OF THE VAlUETltS swollen with superfluous matter, and adorned with a beautiful fleece, their strength, agility, magnitude, and arms are diminish- ed. These long-tailed sheep are half the size only of the mouflon. They can neither fly from danger, nor resist the enemy. To preserve and multiply the species, they require the constant care and support of man. The degeneration of the original species is still greater in our climes. Of all the qualities of the mouflon, our ewes and rams have retained nothing but a small portion of vivacity, which yields to the crook of the shepherd. Timidity, weakness, resignation, and stupidity, are the only melancholy re- mains of their degraded nature."* The pig-kind afford an instructive example, because their de- scent is more clearly made out than that of many other animals. The dog, indeed, degenerates before our eyes ; but it will hardly ever, perhaps, be satisfactorily ascertained whether there is one or more species. The extent of degeneration can be observed in the domestic swine; because no naturalist has hitherto been sceptic- al enough to doubt whether they descended from the wild boar ; and they were certainly first introduced by the Spaniards into the New World. The pigs conveyed in 1509 from Spain to the West- India island Cubagua, then celebrated for the pearl fishery, de- generated into a monstrous race with toes half a span long.? Those of Cuba became more than twice as large as their European pro- genitors.! How remarkably, again, have the domestic swine de- generated from the wild ones in the Old World—in the loss of the soft downy hair from between the the bristles, in the vast ac_ cumulation of fat under the skin, in the form of the cranium, in the figure and growth of the whole body ! The varieties of the domestic animal, too, are very numerous : in Piedmont they are almost invariably black ; in Bavaria, reddish-brown ; in Norman- dy, white, &c. The breed in England, with straight back and large pendulous belly, is just the reverse of that in the north of France, with high convex spine and hanging head: and both are * Bcffon by Wood ; v. 4. p. 7. \ Herrera, Hechos de los Castellanos en las Islas, &c. v. 1. p, 239 X Cuavigero, Storia antica del Mcssico v. 4. p, 145. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES- 441 different from the German breed ; to say nothing of the solidunr gular race found in herds in Hungary and Sweden, and already known by Aristotle, and many other varieties. The ass, in its natural wild state, is remarkably swift and lively, and still continues so in his native Eastern abode. The original stock of our poultry cannot be determined, nor can the varieties into which they have run be enumerated. No wild bird in our climates resembles the^domestic cock ; the phea* sant. grouse, and cock of the woods, are the only analogous kind ; and it is uncertain whether these would intermix and have prolific progeny. They have constituted distinct and separate species from the earliest times; and they want the combs, spurs,and pen- dulous membranes of the gallinaceous tribes.* There are twenty-nine varieties of canary bird known by name, all produced from the gray bird.f Most of the mammalia, which have been tamed by man, betray their subjugated state by having the ears and tail pendulous : a condition of the former parts, which, I believe, belongs to no wild animal. In many, the very functions of the body, as the secre- tions, generation, &c. are 'greatly changed. See the examples mentioned in Chap. VI. p. 411. The application of these facts to the question concerning the human species is very obvious. If new characters are produced in the domesticated animal, because they have been taken from their primitive condition, and exposed to the operation of many to them, unnatural causes ; if the pig is remarkable among these,' for the number and degree of its varieties, because it has been the most exposed to causes of degeneration ; we shall be at no loss to account for the diversities in man, who is, in the true though not ordinary sense of the word, more of a domesticated animal than any other. We know the wild state of most of them but we are ignorant of the natural wild condition to which man Was destined. Probably there is no such state; because nature, having limited him in no respect, having fitted him for every kind of life, every climate, and every variety of food, has given him ■' Elm. fo-n, v. 12. p. 112. f Ibid. v. 14. p. 61. 442 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES the whole earth for his abode, and both the organized kingdoms for his nourishment. Yet, in the wide range through which the scale of human cultivation extends, we may observe a contrast between the two extremities, analogous to that which is seen in wild and tamed races of animals. The savage may be compared to the former, which range the earth uncontrolled by man ; civ- ilized people to the domesticated breeds of the same species, whose diversities of forr% and color are endless. Whether we consider the several nations, or the individuals of each, bodily differences are much more numerous in the highly-civilized Cau- casian variety, than in either of the other divisions of mankind. Such, then, are the causes by which the varieties of man may be accounted for. Although I have acknowledged my entire ig- norance ofthe manner in which these operate, I have proved that they exist, and have shown, by copious analogies, that they are sufficient to explain the phenomena. The tendency, under cer- tain circumstance, to alterations of the original color, form, and other properties of the body, and the law of transmission to the offspring, are the sources of varieties in man and animals, and thereby modify the species: climate, food, way of life, in a word all the physical and moral causes that surround us, act indeed powerfully on the individual, but do not change the offspring, ex- cept in the djrect manner just alluded to. We should, therefore, openly violate the rules of philosophising, which direct us to as- sign the same causes for natural effects of the same kind, and not to admit more causes than are sufficient for explaining the phe- nomena, if we recurred, for the purpose of explaining the varie- ties of man, to the perfectly gratuitous assumption of originally different species, or called to our aid the operation of climate, and other external influences. Yet, if it be allowed that all men are of the same species, it does not follow that they all descend from the same family. We have no data for determining this point: it could indeed only be settled hy a knowledge of facts, which have long ago been involv- ed in the impenetrable darkness of antiquity. By the most intelligent and learned writers on the varieties of mankind, their production has been explained in a different man- OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 443 iier from that which has been just attempted ; they have solved the problem entirely by the operation of adventitious causes, such as climate, particularly the light and heat of the sun, food, and mode of life. These, it is said, acting on men originally alike, produce various bodily diversities, and affect the color of skin es- pecially : such alterations, transmitted to the offspring, and grad- ually increased through a long course of ages, are supposed to account sufficiently for all the differences observed at present in the inhabitants of the different regions of the globe. If we were disposed to submit, in this question, to authority, the number and celebrity of the philosophers* who have contended for the influ- ence of climate, and other physical and moral causes, would cer- tainly compel our assent to their opinions. Our respect for their tal- ents and labors will be sufficiently marked, if we enter into a closer examination of the arguments which they have adduced on this subject. That solar heat causes blackness of the skin, is an ancient opinion; and must have appeared very probable, when the Ne- gro natives of the torrid zone were the only black people known. " iEthiopas," says Pliny, " vicini siderii vapore torreri, adustis- que similes gigni, barba et capillo vibrato, non est dubiutn."t " The heat of the climate," says Buffon, " is the chief cause of blackness among the human species. When this heat is exces- sive, as in Senegal and Guinea, the men are perfectly black ; when it is a little less violent, the blackness is not so deep; when it becomes somewhat temperate, as in Barbary, Mongolia, Arabia, &c, mankind are only brown ; and lastly, when it is altogether temperate, as in Europe and Asia, men are white. Some varie- ties, indeed, are produced by the mode of living. All the Ta- * Among them are Buffon, Blumenbach, Smith, (Essay on the Causes of the Variety of Complexion and Figure in the Human Species, Philadelphia,) Zimmermann (Gcographiscke Geschichte de Menschen, &c;) and Forster (Observations made during a Voyage round the World ;) chap. vi. sec. 3. The arguments of these writers are very ably combated by Dr. Pror-HiRD, in his Researches into the Physical History of Man. t Hist. JVat.lib.ii. SO. 444 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES tars (Mongols,) for example, are tawny ; while the Europeans, who live under the same latitude, are white. This difference may safely be ascribed to the Tatars being always exposed to the air> to their having no cities or fixed habitations, to their sleeping con- stantly on the ground, and to their rough and savage manner of living. These circumstances are sufficient to render the Tatars more swarthy than the Europeans, who want nothing to make life easy and comfortable. Why are the Chinese fairer than the Ta- tars, though they resemble them in every feature ? Because they are more polished ; because they live in towns, and practise every art to guard themselves against the injuries of the weather, while the Tatars are perpetually exposed to the action of the sun and air. " Climate may be regarded as the chief cause of the different colors of men: but food, though it has less influence than color, greatly affects the form of our bodies. Coarse, unwholesome, and ill-prepared food makes the human species degenerate. All those people, who live miserably, are ugly and ill made. Even in France, the country people are not so beautiful as those who live in towns : and I have often remarked, that in those villages, where the people are richer and better fed than in others, the men are likewise more handsome, and have better countenances. The air and the soil have great influence on the figures of men, beasts, and plants. " Upon the whole, every circumstance concurs in proving that mankind are not composed of species essentially different from each other ; that, on the contrary, there was originally but one species, which, after multiplying and spreading over the whole surface of the earth, has undergone various changes, by the in- fluence of the climate, food, mode of living, epidemic diseases, and mixture of dissimilar individuals; that, at first, these changes were not conspicuous, and produced only individual varieties ; that these varieties became afterwards more specific, because they were rendered more general, more strongly marked, and more permanent, by the continual action of the same causes ; that they are transmitted from generation to generation, as deformities or diseases pass from parents to children ; and that, lastly, as they were originally produced by a train of external and acciden- OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 445 tal Causes, and have only been perpetuated by time and the con- stant operation of these causes, it is probable that they will gradu- ally disappear, or, at least, that they will differ from what they are at present, if the causes which produced them should cease, or if their operation should be varied by other circumstances and com- binations."* " In tracing the globe," says Smith, " from the pole to the equator, we observe a gradation in the complexion, nearly in pro- portion to the latitude of the country. Immediately below the arctic circle, a high and sanguine color prevails: from this you descend to the mixture of red and white: afterwards succeed the brown, the olive, the tawny, and, at length, the black, as you pro- ceed to the line. The same distance from the sun, however, does not, in every region, indicate the same temperature of climate. Some secondary causes must be taken into consideration, as cor- recting and limiting its influence. The elevation of the land, its vicinity to the sea, the nature of the soil, the state of cultivation, the course of winds, and many other circumstances, enter into this view. Elevated and mountainous countries are cool, in pro- portion to their altitude above the level of the sea,"f &c. &c. Blumenbach informs us how climate operates in modifying the color of the skin, but does not attempt to explain its effects on the stature, proportions, and other points. He states that the pi oxi- mate cause of the dark color of the integuments is an abundance of carbon, secreted by the skin with hydrogen, precipitated, and fixed in the rete mucosum by the contact ofthe atmospheric oxy- gen.J He observes further, that this abundance of carbon is most distinctly noticeable in persons of an atrabilarious tempera- ment ; which fact, together with many others, proves the intimate connexion between the biliary and the cutaneous organs; that hot climates exert a very signal influence on the liver : and thus, that an unnatural state of the biliary secretion, produced by heat, and increased through many generations, causes the vessels of the * Natural History, by Wood, p. 443—449 t Essay, p. 8—10. X De Gen. Hum. Var. Nat. p. 124. e3 446 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES skin to secrete that abundance of carbon, which produces the black color of the Negro.* If any one can believe that the Negroes, and other dark people, whom we see in full health and vigor, and with every organic per- fection, labor under a kind of habitual jaundice, he may think it worth while to inquire further into this assumed secretion and precipitation of carbon. It will then be necessary to explain how this jaundice is produced in the numerous dark races which dwell in temperate climates ; and why it does not occur in the white people who occupy hot countries. It cannot be supposed that men of undoubted talents and learn- ing would take up these opinions without any foundation at all; and accordingly we find that there is a slender mixture of truth in these statements; but it is so enveloped in a thick cloud of error, and so concealed by misrepresentation and exaggeration, that we do not recognise it without difficulty. The color of Europeans near- ly follows the geographical positions of countries : this part of the world is occupied almost entirely by a white race, of which the individuals are fairei in cold latitudes, and more swarthy or sun- burnt m warm ones: thus, the French may be'darker than the English, the Spaniards than the French, and the Moors than the Spaniards. In the same way, where different parts of a country differ much in latitude and in temperature, the inhabitants may be browner in the south than in the north: thus, the women of Granada are said to be more swarthy than those of Biscay, and the southern than the northern Chinese, &c. For a similar rea- son, the same race may vary slightly in color in different coun- tries. The Jews, for example, are fair in Britain and Germany, browner in France and Turkey, swarthy in Portugal and Spain, olive in Syria and Chaldea. An English sailor, who had been for some years in Nukahiwah, one of the Marquesas islands, had been so changed in color, that he was scarcely to be distinguished from the natives.t These diversities are produced by the climate, as I have already » Dc Gen. Hum. Var.Nat p 120—137. t Langsdorff's Voyages, fyc. v. 1. p. 90. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 447 explained. The effect goes off if the cause be removed ; it ter- minates in the individual, and is never transmitted to the offspring as I shall prove most incontrovertibly presently. Moreover, the effect is confined to the parts of the body actu- ally exposed to the sun and air. Those which remain covered, retain all their natural whiteness. Mr. Abkl found this striking- ly exemplified in his Chinese journey. " The dark copper color of those who were naked, contrasted so strongly with the pale- ness of those who were clothed, that it was difficult to conceive such different hues could be the consequence of greater or less exposure to the same degree of solar and atmospheric influence ; but all conjecture on this subject was set at rest by repeated illus- trations of their effects'. Several individuals, who were naked only from their waist upwards, stripped themselves entirely, for the purpose of going into the water to obtain a nearer view of the embassy. When thus exposed, they appear at a distance to have on a pair of light colored pantaloons."* On a superficial view, again, we observe that temperate Europe is occupied by a white race : and that the blacks, of whom we see and hear most, dwell chiefly under the burning suns and on the parched sands of Africa and Asia; the numerous whites who live in hot, and the greater number of dark colored people who are found in cold countries, are not taken into the account in these imperfect and partial comparisons. I proceed to show that climate does not cause the diversities of mankind; and in this consideration, my remarks are chiefly di- rected to the color of the skin, as that is the part in which its op- eration has been regarded, by all the defenders of its influence, as the most unequivocal: the reasoning, however, will apply in gen- eral to the other points of difference, as well as to this. The uniform color of all parts of the body is a strong argu- ment against those who ascribe the blackness of the Negro to the same cause as that which produces tanning in white people ; namely, the sun's rays. The glans penis, the cavity of the axilla, * Narrative of a Journey, &c. p. 78. 448 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES the inside of the thigh, are just .as black as any other parts; in- deed, the organs of generation, which are always covered, are among the blackest parts of the body. Neither is the peculiar color of the Negro confined to the skin ; a smalt circle of the conjunctiva, round the cornea, is blackish, and the rest of the membrane has a yellowish-brown tinge. The fat has a deep yel- low color, like bees-wax, at least in many of them ; which may be distinguished, by a very superficial inspection, from that of an European. The representation that the brain of the Negro is darker colored than that of the white races, is not correct. The developement of the black color in the individual does not accord with the notion of its being produced by external causes. " Negro children," says Dr. Winterbottom, " are nearly as fair as Europeans at birth, and do not acquire their color until sever- al days have elapsed. The eyes of the new-born Negro children are also of a light color, and preserve somewhat of a bluish tinge for several days after birth."* Camper had an opportunity of observing the change in a Negro child born at Amsterdam. It was at first reddish, nearly like European children : " on the third day, the organs of generation, the folds of the skin round the nails, and the areolae ofthe breasts, were quite black : the blackness extended over the whole body on the fifth and sixth days; and the boy, who was born in a close chamber in the winter, and well wrapped up, according to the custom of the country, in swaddling-clothes, acquired the native color of his race over the whole body, excepting the palms and soles, which are always paler, and almost white, in working Ne- groes."? On the other hand, a black state of the skin is sometimes par- tially produced in individuals of the white races. In the fairest women, towards the end of pregnancy, spots of a more or less deep black color have been often observed : they gradually disap- pear after parturition. " The dark color of the skin," says White, " in some particular parts ofthe body, is not confined to * Account of the Native Africans, v. 1. st. 1. p. 189. XKleinere Schriften, b. 1. st. 1. p. 44. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 449 either the torrid or frigid zones : for in England, the nipple, the areola round the nipple, the pudenda, and the verge of the anus, are of a dark brown, and sometimes as black as in the Samoiede women. It is to be remarked, that the color of these parts grows darker in women at the full period of gestation. One morning, I examined the breasts of twenty women in the Lying in hospital in Manchester >and found that nineteen of them had dark colored nipples ; some of them might be said to be black; and the areola round the nipple, from one inch to two inches and a half in diam- eter, was of the same color."* Le Cat mentions a woman near Paris, in whom the abdomen became black at each pregnancy, and afterwards recovered its color ; in another, the same change occurred in the leg.t Camper dissected at Groningen a young woman who died in child-bed : her abdomen, and the areolae round the nipples, were of a deep black: the face, arms, and legs, were of a snowy white- ness.J The species of domestic fowls in the East Indies with black periosteum, affords a further proof that the operation of the sun's rays is not a necessary circumstance to the production of color in animal bodies. If we take the trouble of examining the races in any particular division ofthe world, we shall quickly find that the opinion which ascribes their distinguishing characters to climate, must be given up; that the same race inhabits the most different regions, pre- serving in all an uniformity of character ; that different races are found in the same countries ; and that those, who have changed their native abodes for situations, in which, according to the hy- pothesis, they ought to have undergone a complete metamorpho- sis, still retain their original distinctions In the north of Europe, as also in the north of Asia and Ameri- ca, that is, in countries nearest to the pole, in which according to the opinion above stated, the whitest races ought to be found, we * On the Regular Gradation, p. 114. T raiti. de la Couleur de la Pcau Humaine, Kleinere Schriften, v. 1. st. 1. p. 47. 450 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES have very brown and black people : they are much darker color- ed than any Europeans. The Moors in Africa, and the Arabs of the desert, are born with a white skin, and continue fair, unless adventitious causes are applied. But the Laplanders and Greenr landers, the Eskimaux, Samoiedes, Ostiacs, Tschutski, &c who hardly ever feel a moderate heat from the rays of the sun, are very dark. They appear to be all of the same race, who have extended and multiplied along the coasts of the North Sea, in de- serts, and under climates which could not be inhabited by other nations. They have broad large faces and flat noses, the olive or swarthy color, and all the other characters of the Mongolian va- riety. It is curious to observe how easily the assertors of the power of elimate in changing the human body get over an instance so fatal to their opinions : they tell us roundly, that great cold has the same effect as great heat: " when the cold becomes extreme, it produces effects similar to those of violent heat. The Samoiedes, Laplanders, and natives of Greenland, are very tawny : we are even assured that some of the Greenlanders are as black as the Africans; thus the two extremes approach each other; great cold and great heat produce the same effect upon the skin, be- cause each of these causes acts by a quality common to both ; and this quality is the dryness of the air, which, perhaps, is equally great in extreme cold and extreme heat. Both cold and heat dry the skin, and give it that tawny hue which we rind among the Laplanders, Cold contracts all the productions of na- ture. The Laplanders, accordingly, who are perpetually exposed to all the rigours of frost, are the smallest of the human spe- cies."* If this reasoning should not convince us, there are other argu- ments in reserve. The state of society is said to have great effect on the formation and color of the body. The nakedness ofthe savage, the filthy grease and paint with which he smears his body, his smoky hut, scanty diet, want of cleanliness, and the undrain- ed and uncleared country which he inhabits, not only according * Boffon. v. 3. p, 443. See also Smith's Essay. OF THE HUMAN SPECIEfi. 451 to Smith, darken his skin, but render it impossible that it ever should be fair.* On the other hand, the conveniences of clothing and lodging : the plenty and healthful quality of food; a country drained, cultivated, and freed from noxious effluvia ; improved ideas of beauty, the constant study of elegance, and the infinite arts for attaining it, even in personal figure and appearance, give cultivated an immense advantage over savage society, in its at- tempts to counteract the influence of climate and to beautify the human form.t W hai false notions must mankind have hitherto en- tertained on this subject! We can no longer believe travellers, who tell us that the finest forms and the greatest activity are to be seen in savage tribes, and that no ill-formed individuals can be met with amongst them : and as little can we trust the testimony of our own senses, concerning the frequency of deformity and disease in civilized society; since there are so many reasons why tbe former should be deformed, black, and ugly, and the latter well-proportioned, and handsome. Unluckily, however, this theory does not correspond with a few plain facts. Most of the modern European nations existed in a more or less complete state of bar- barism within times of which we have the most authentic records : some of these were seen and described by philosophers ; yet the permanence of their characters is so remarkable after a greater progressive civilization than has happened in any other instance, that those descriptions are applicable, with the'greatest exactness, to the same races of the present day. Instead, therefore, of ac- counting for the dark color, peculiar features, and stature of the Greenlander, Laplander, and Samoiede, from their smoke, their dirt, their food, or the coldness of their climate, we can have no hesitation iu ascribing them to the same cause that makes the Briton and the German of this day resemble the portraits of their ancestors, drawn by Caesar and Tacitus, viz. their descent from a race marked by the same characters as distinguish themselves. These tribes owe their origin to the Mongols : and retain in the north those marks of their descent, which we find as strongly ex- * Essay, &c. p, 48—r>2. t Ibid. p. 53. 452 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES pressed in the Chinese, under the widely-different latitudes of the south. At the same time, the parent tribes live in the middle of Asia, equally removed from the former and the latter. " With slight exceptions," says Dr. Prichard, " the different countries of Europe ire now occupied by the same nations that have occupied them since the date of our earliest authentic ac- counts. Conquests have been made by small numbers, so that the races have been little changed by this cause. Thus when Clovis and his 30,000 Franks reduced the large and populous province of Gaul under their dominion, the bodily characters and the language ofthe conquerors were lost in those ofthe conquer- ed. The nations which have inhabited Europe for the last 2500 years, consist of three great races, distinguished from each other by their bodily formation, character, and language. " I. The Celtic race, with black hair and eyes, and a white skin verging to brown, occupies the west of Europe : to this be- long the ancient and modern inhabitants of France, Spain, Portu- gal, and the greatest part of Italy ; the ancient Britons, Welch, Bretons, Irish, Scotch, and Manks. The resemblance of the Si- lures to the Iberi was noticed by Tacitus ; it is obvious to every observer in the present time ; nor is the observation peculiar to the Welch ; it holds good of all other Celtic nations. " Silurum colorati vultus, et torti plerumque crines, et posita contra His- pania, Iberos veteres trajecisse, easque sedes occupasse, fidem faciunt." That black hair and a browner complexion belonged to all the Celts is not only proved by many direct observations, but also because the marks ofthe sanguine constitution were uni- versally considered as the distinction ofthe German race. " The great German race, characterized by its blue eyes, yel- low or reddish hair, fair and red skin, occupies the middle of Europe, and includes the Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders, Danes, ancient and modern Germans, Saxons and English, Cale- donians or Pictae, and the Lowland Scotch, who have sprung from them ; the inhabitants of the Low Countries, the Vandals and Goths, &c. Historical records, and the similarity of lan- guage and character, both of body and mind, prove that all these people belong to the same race. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 453 " III. The east of Europe contains theSarmatian and Slavonic tribes, characterized by dark hair and eyes, and a darker skin than the German, with perhaps larger limbs than the Celts, lo this division belong the Russians, Poles, Croats, Slavons, Bohe- mians, Bulgarians, Cossacks, and others who speak the Slavonic language."* He proceeds to show from Diodorus Siculus, that the Sarmatians descended from the Medes, and were found on the banks of the Tanais, 700 years before the Christian era: by the authority of Herodotus, that they occupied the country be- tween the Tanais and the Borysthenes, when Darius Hvstaspes invaded Syria ; and from Cluverius, that the coasts of the Baltic, and the banks of the Vistula, Prussia, and the country as far as the situation of the Finni and Venedi, were the ancient seats of the Sarmatians. Since then a people of very different race have existed in the neighborhood of the Germans from the most remote times, how can we explain the differences of the European na- tions, by the operations of climate, by heat and cold 7 How does the same sky cause the whiteness of the German and Swede, and the comparatively dark complexion of the Pole and Russian 1 But these- European races are found also in Asia and Africa. All that part of the former region, which lies to the west of the river Ob, the Caspian Sea, and the Ganges ; all the North of Africa, Abyssinia, and perhaps other parts still farther south, on the east, are occupied by a race agreeing nearly in character with the Sarmatians and Celts. Thus it appears, that, excepting the Germans, and the Lap- landers and Samoiedes, whom we deem of Mongolian origin, the same native or congenital constitution prevails over the whole of Europe, the western part of Asia, and the north of Africa. Black hair, dark eyes, and a white skin, tending rather to a brownish tint than to the peculiar whiteness of the German tribes, belong to the French, Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, and all the Celts; to the Russians, Poles, and others of Slavonic origin ; to the Tatars, commouly confounded with the Mongols, the Arme- nians, Persians, Circassians, and Georgians, the Turks, Greeks, ■■* Diss. Inaug. de Variet. p. 103—109. f3 454 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES Arabians, Abyssinians, Syrians, Jews, and the inhabitants of Tri^ poli, Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco. That climate cannot cause similarity of character in nations spread over fifty degrees of lati- tude, and that food, dress, state of civilization, peculiar customs, or other moral causes, are equally inefficacious in accounting for the phenomenon when we consider how various in all these points the nations are in whom it occurs, will be allowed by every un- prejudiced observer. The middle and northern parts of Asia, and most of its eastern portion, are occupied by tribes and nations, all of which possess the general characters of the Mongolian variety, although distin- guished from each other by such modifications as usually charac- terize separate people. They are distinct in their conformation from all other races, and differ from Europeans quite as decided- ly as the Negroes. History points out as their original seat, the elevated central table land of Asia, from which they have spread in various directions, according to circumstances, every where preserving their peculiar traits of organization. The Mongols, Calmucks, and Burats, are three great divisions, of which each includes many tribes, scattered over the middle of Asia, leading generally a pastoral life, sometimes practising agriculture, and de- voted universally to the idolatrous lama-worship. Their first dis- tinct appearance in history is under the name of Huns (Hiong-nu of the Chinese,) in the first century of the Christian era, when they were impelled towards the west by the progress of the Chi- nese power. Afterwards three great conquerors appeared among them at distant periods,—the most conspicuous that the world has ever seen, who made all Asia and Europe tremble, but, happily, appeared and vanished like meteors; because though powerful in conquest and desolation, they knew not how to possess and gov- ern. Attila with his Huns, penetrated into the centre of Eu- rope. Eight centuries later, Zingis or Dschingis Khan united not only the Mongolian but the Tataric tribes, and with this for- midable mass reduced nearly all Asia. In two hundred years more, Timurlens or Tamerlane appeared, and rendered himself the terror of western Asia and India, which latter country has been ruled by his descendants until very modern times. The Mantchoos or Mandshurs, the Daourians, Tungooses, Coreans. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES, 45i? Kamtschatkans, and perhaps other tribes, on the east; the Ya- kuts, Samoiedes, Kirgises, on the west; the people of Thibet and Bootan on the south; have a similar organization to that ofthe cen- tral tribes. The empires of China and Japan, the islands of Sa- galien, Lewchew, and Formosa, are peopled by races of analo- gous physical and moral characters. Short stature, olive-colored skin, deviating into lighter yellow ; coarse, straight, and perfectly black hair ; broad flat face; high and broad cheek-bones, flat nose, oblique eyes, entire deficiency or smallness of beard, are the common traits of the numerous people spread over this im- mense portion of the globe. Besides this general agreement of the tribes occupying countries so distant and different from each other, it is important to observe that the Samoiedes, Kamtschat- kans, and others in the colder northern parts, are darker-colored than the Chinese, Tunquinese, and Cochin Chinese, in the warm southern regions. " India," says Dr. Prichard, " is inhabited by a mixed race made up of the aborigines, and of others, whom the pursuits of war and conquest have at various times brought there. The re- ligion of Bramah seems to have been introduced from the north; and at later periods vast numbers of the Mongols have entered and conquered the country. These mixtures have effaced the peculiar characters of the original inhabitants ; which we must therefore, seek for in the islands protected by their situation from such visits. The islands of the Indian Sea, as well as those of the Pacific, contain two races of men, differing in many respects. One of these approaches, and in some instances equals, the black- ness of the Negro; the hair is curled and woolly, the body slen- der, the stature short, the disposition barbarous and cruel. The other is more like the Indians of the continent, has a fair skin, larger limbs and stature, better proportions, and exhibits some marks of humanity and civilization. According to Forster, the former, who are aborigines, have occupied the middle and moun- tainous parts of many islands, leaving the coasts and plains to the more recent colonists. They occupy the highest parts of the Moluccas, the Phillippines, Formosa, and Borneo; all New Guinea, New Britain, New Ireland, and New Caledonia, 1 anna, Mallicollo, New Holland, and Van Dieman'6 Land. The more 456 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES recent nation occupies Sumatra and the other islands of the In- dian Sea, Otaheite and the Society Islands, the Friendly Islands, Marquesas, Ladrones, Marian ami Caroline Islands, New Zea- land, Sandwich arid Easter Islands. The language of all the lat- ter resembles the Malay; and theie can be no doubt that they arise from that race, and have spread by their ships over these distant spots. The black people are every where barbarous; and, according to Forster, have languages not agreeing with ■each other. In neither can we perceive any traces of the influ- ence of the climate. The latter race, scattered in various parts ofthe vast island of New Holland, which has such variety of tem- perature, every where retains its black color, although the climate at the English settlement is not much unlike that of England : and in Van Dieman's Land, extending to 45° S. lat. (it is well un- derstood that the cold is much more severe in the southern hemis- phere, at an equal distance from the equator, than in the north- ern,) they are ofa deep black, and have curled hair like the Ne- groes."* The same observations are applicable to the Malay race. The inhabitants of Otaheite are very fair; yellow hair is not unfre- quently seen amongst them : those of New Zealand, and of Eas- ter Island, twice as distant from the equator, are much darker. "The fairness of the Sumatrans," says Mr. Marsden,t "situ- ated as they are under a perpendicular sun, where no season of the year affords an alternation of cold, is, I think, an irrefragable proof that the difference of color in the different inhabitants of the earth is not the immediate effect of climate. The children of Europeans born in this island are as fair as those born in the country of their parents. I have observed the same of the second generation, when a mixture with the people of the country has been avoided. On the other hand, the offspring and all the de- scendants of the Guinea and other African slaves imported there continue in the last instance as perfectly black as in the original stock." * " Disp. Inaug. de Variet." p. 8(5—89: i " History of Sumatra," ed. 3. p. 46. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. *°' The foregoing statements authorize us in concluding, that in Asia, where we have countries with every variety of situation and temperature, at every distance from the equator, mountains, val- leys, plains, islands, and continents, no effect of climate can be traced on the color, or on any other characters of the human race. On the hypothesis, which assigns the varieties of mankind to the operation of climate as their cause, we should expect to find in Africa all tribes under the equator of the most intensely black color; the tinge should become lighter and lighter as we proceed thence towards the south, and the complexion ought to be white when we arrive at regions which enjoy an European climate. This, however, is by no means the case. The Abyssinians, on the east, with dark-olive color and long hair, are placed near the equator, and surrounded by Negroes. In the same part also, the Gallas, a great and barbarous nation, having according to Bruce, long black hair, and white skin verging to brown, occupy exten- sive regions under the equator itself. On the other hand, as we proceed from the equator towards the south, through tribes of Ne- groes, we find the black color continued with undiminished in- tensity. It is known in the West Indies, that the Congo Negroes, in the blackness of their skin and woolly hair, equal any race of Africans. Paterson assures us that the Kaffers, within a few degrees of the Cape of Good Hope, where the climate is so far from being intolerably hot, that the corn is often hurt by the win- ter frost, are of the deepest color ; and the same fact is familiarly known of surrounding tribes. The island of Madagascar, which is cooled by the mild breezes of the Indian Ocean, and ought, therefore, to contain a white race has two kinds of natives : one of olive color with dark hair ; the other, true Negroes. The Hottentots, at one or two degrees from the deep-black Kaf- fers, are of a brownish yellow color : this distance can hardly ac- count for the difference. When we consider how large an extent of Africa is occupied by the black woolly-haired Negroes ; and that these regions vary in their latitude, their elevation, and every other point; that they include sandy deserts, coasts, rivers, hills, valleys, and very great 458 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES varieties of climate; the conclusion that these adventitious cir- cumstances do not influence the color or other properties of the race is irresistible. It only remains for us to examine the continent of America ; which as it stretches uninterruptedly from the neighborhood of the north pole to 55° S. lat. and includes regions .diversified in every possible way, affords the most ample opportunity for the developement of all the changes that climate and position can produce : and to examine whether the facts ascertained concern- ing its inhabitants are more favorable to the hypothesis under con- sideration, than what we have observed in the other three divi- sions of the world. The reports of travellers are unanimous concerning the identi- ty of general character in the whole American race : copper-col- ored skin, long and straight black hair, and a certain cast of fea- tures, are said to belong to all the inhabitants of this extensive oontinent. How remarkable this agreement is, may be collected from the statement sometimes made, that a person who has seen one may consider that he has seen all; which, however, in its full extent, must be regarded as an exaggerated or partial view. The Eskimaux are not included in this account; their color is more of the olive cast: in which, as well as in other points, they be- tray their Mongolian origin. They retain in America the same character which distinguish the Mongolian tribes and natives of the old contineut. The most intelligent aud accurate observers have informed us that nearly all the native tribes, whether of the northern, middle, or southern parts of America, have the skin of a more or less red tint; and some of them expressly state that its lighter or darker shades are entirely uninfluenced by any of the causes con- nected with geographical position. " The Indians (Americans,") says Ulloa, " are of a copper color, which by the action of the sun and and air, grows darker. I must remark, that neither heat nor cold produces any sensible change of color, so that the Indians of the Cordilleras of Peru are easily confounded with those of the hottest plains ; and those who live under the line cannot be distinguished by the color from OF THE HUMAN SPECIE9. 459 those who inhabit the fortieth degrees of north and south lati- tude."* Hearnet and Mackenzie! found the hunting tribes in the cold regions about Hudson's Bay and thence to the Frozen Ocean, copper-colored and black haired. Lewis and Clarke]! describe those on the Columbia, and near its mouth, as of the " usual cop- per-colored brown of the North American tribes ; though rather lighter than that of the Indians of the Missouri and the frontier of the United States." Wafer^ and Dampier^ found the same tint in the Isthmus of Darien, Bouguer** and Condaminett under the equator, StedmanJ| and others in Brazil, Molina|||| in Chili, Wallis§§ and Cook^U in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. Hum- boldt, whose extensive opportunities of observation and philoso- phic spirit give great weight to his statements, confirms these rep- resentations in the most ample manner. " The Indians of New Spain bear a general resemblance to those who inhabit Canada, Florida, Peru, and Brazil; they have the same swarthy and cop- per-color, flat and smooth hair, small beard, squat body, long eye, with the corner directed upwards towards the temples, prominent cheek-bones, thick lips, and an expression of gentleness in the mouth, strongly contrasted with a gloomy and severe look. The * "Noticias Americanas :" cap. 17. p. 307; quoted in Hcmeoldt, "Per- sonal Narative," 3, 207. t " Journey from Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean:" ch. 9. p. 305. X " Travels through the Continent of North America;" pref. remarks, p. 92. || " Travels," 4to p. 437. § " New Voyage and Description," &c. p, 134. IT " Voyage round the World;" v. 1. p. 7. ** " Acad, des Sciences," 1744, p. 273. ft Ibid. 1745, p. 418. XX " Travels in Surinam," v. 1. p. 395. |||| " Natural History of Chili," p. 274. Of the Araucans; " Civil Histe*y," p. 54. § § " Hawkesworth's Collection of Voyages," v. 1.374. MT Ibid. v. 2. p. 55. 4430 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES American race, after the Hyperborean* race, is the least nu- merous ; but it occupies the greatest space in the globe, Over a million and a half of square leagues, from the Tierra del Fuego islands to the river St. Lawrence and Bering's Straits, we are struck, at the first glance, with the general resemblance in the features of the inhabitants. We think we perceive that they all descend from the same stock, notwithstanding the enormous di- versity of language that separates them from each other. How- ever, when we reflect more seriously on this family likeness, after living longer among the indigenous Americans, we discover that celebrated travellers, who could only observe a few individuals on the coasts, have singularly exaggerated the analogy of form among the Americans. " Intellectual cultivation is what contributes most to diversify the features. In barbarous nations there is rather a physiogno- my peculiar to the tribe or horde than to any individual. When we compare our domestic animals with those which inhabit our forests, we make the same observation. But an European, when he decides on the great resemblance among the copper-col- ored races, is subject to a particular illusion. He is struck with a complexion so different from our own; and the uniformity of this complexion conceals from him for a long time, the diversity of in- dividual features. The new colonist can at first hardly distin- guish from each other individuals of the native race, because his eyes are less fixed on the gentle melancholic or ferocious express- ion of the countenance, than on the red-coppery color, and dark, coarse, glossy, and luminous hair: so glossy, indeed, that we should believe it to be in a constant state of humectation. " The Indians of New Spain have a more swarthy complexion than the inhabitants of the warmest climates of South America. This fact is so much the more remarkable, as in the race of Cau- casus, which may also be called the European Arab race, the peo- ple of the south have not so fair a skin as those of the north. Though many of the Asiatic nations who inundated Europe iu * The author probably means to include under this name the diminutive olive-colored black-haired people, of Mongolian formation, who occupy the high northern latitudes of both continents; viz. the Eskimaux, Laplanders Samoiedes, and Tungooses. OF «HE HUMAN SFECIES. 461 the sixth century had a very dark complexion, it appears that the shades of color observable among the white race are less owing to their origin or mixture than to the local influence of the ch- in ate. This influence appears to have almost no effect on the Americans and Negroes. These races, in which there is abun- dant deposition of carburetted hydrogen in the corpus mucosum or reticulatum of Malpighi, resist in a singular manner the im- pressions of the ambient air. The Negroes of the mountains of Upper Guinea are not less black than those who live upon the coast. There are, no doubt, tribes of a color by no means deep among the Indians of the new continent, whose complexion ap- proaches to'that of the Arabs or Moors. We found the people of the Rio Negro swaithier than those of the lower Orinoco, and yet the banks of the first of these rivers enjoy a much cooler cli- mate than the more northern regions. In the forests of Guiana, especially near the sources of the Orinoco, are several tribes of a whitish complexion,—the Guaicas, Guaiaribs, the Ariguas ; of whom several robust individuals, exhibiting no symptom of the asthenical malady which characterizes Albinos, have the appear- ance of true Mestizos. Yet these tribes have never mingled with Europeans, and are surrounded by other tribes of a dark-brown hue. The Indians in the torrid zone, who inhabit the most elevated plains of the Cordillera of the Andes, and those whn, under 45° S. lat. live by fishing among the islands of the Archipelago of Chonos, have as copp'ery a complexion as those who under a burning climate cultivate bananas in the narrowest and deepest valleys of the equinoctial region. We must add, that the In- dians of the mountains are clothed, and weie so long befoie the conquest; while the aborigines, who wander over the plains, go quite naked, and are consequently always exposed to the perpen- dicular rays of the sun. I could never observe that, in the same individual, those parts of the body which were covered were less dark than those in contact with a warm and humid air. We ev* ery where perceive that the color ofthe American depends very little on the local position in which we see him. " The Mexicans, as we have already observed, are more swar- thy than the Indians of Quito and ]\ew Granada, who inhabit a climate completely analogous ; and we even see that the tribes e3 462 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES dispersed to the north of the Rio Gila are less brown than those in the neighborhood of the kingdo n of Guatimala. This deep color continues to the coast nearest Asia. But under 54° 10' of North latitude, at Cloak Bay, in the midst of copper-colored In- dians, with small long eyes, there is a tribe with large eyes, Euro- pean features, and a skin less dark than that of our peasantry."* How does it happen, that the same sun, which makes the Afri- can black, tinges the American of a copper color? and that the dark hue, which might possibly be produced by heat, in the equa- torial regions, should be found also in the cold and inhospitable tracts of Tierra del Fuego, and the most northern part of the con- tinent ? The absence of white races can surely not be ascribed to the want of sufficiently cold climates. Bougainville found the thermometer, in the middle of summer, 54£° in lat. 5'2° S.; and Messrs. Banks and Solander, and their attendants, had nearly perished altogether from the cold, in an excursion in Tierra del Fuego, in the middle of the summer. Two of the servants were actually lost.t A very cursory survey of the globe will show us, that the same regions have been occupied by men of different races, without any interchange of characters, in many instances, for several centuries. The Moors and Negroes are found together in Africa; Europe- ans, Negroes, and Americans, in North and South America; Celts, Germans, and Slavons, in Europe, and even in the same king- doms of Europe ; Mongols, Afghans, and Hindoos, in India, &c. &c. The distinction of these different races, except where they have been confused by intermarriage, is just as easy now as it has been in any time of which we have authentic records. The permanency of the characters, of any race, when it has changed its original situation for a very different one, when it has passed into other climes, adopted new manners, and been exposed to the action of these causes for several generations, affords the most indisputable proof that these characteristics are not the off- spring of such adventitious circumstances. From the numerous * Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, v. 1. p. 140—145. t Hawkesworth's Collection, v. 2. ch. 4. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 463 examples in every race, which a slight knowledge of history will furnish, I shall select a few of the most striking. In the earliest times to which our historical records ascend, the west of Europe was occupied by Celtic people, with brownish- white skin, dark hair and eyes : the characters, in short, which are now visible in the Spaniards, most ofthe French, the native Welsh, the Manks, and the Highland Scotch. The German race, origi- nally situated more to the north and east, have long ago obtain- ed settlements by war and conquest in many of the countries pre- viously peopled by the Celts; but their light-rosy skin, flaxen hair, and blue eyes, are now, after nearly two thousand years, just as strongly contrasted with the very different traits of the Celtic character, in those situations and those families where the blood has remained pure, as they were originally. It was observed by Cassar, that the Germans had possessed themselves of the Belgic provinces of Gaul, and the contiguous southern parts of Britain.* That the Caledonians or Picts (Low- land Scotch) were a German people, is rightly represented by Tacitus, whose description of the natives occupying this island exhibits the same physical characters which exist in the present day. " Habitus corporum varii : atque ex eo argumenta ; nam- que rutilae Caledoniam habitantium comae, magni artus Germani- eam originem adseverant. Silurum colorati vultus, et torti ple- rumque crines, et posita contra Hispania, Iberos veteres trajecisse, easque sedes occupasse fidem faciunt: proximi Gallis, et similes sunt : seu durante originis vi, seu procurrentibus in diversa terris, positio coeli corporibus habitum dedit."t Under the name of Saxons, Angles, Danes, and Normans, numerous supplies of Ger- mans successively arrived in England, and gradually drove the original Celtic population into the most distant and inaccessible parts ofthe island. An exposure to the same climate for so many centuries has not approximated the physical characters of the more recent Germans to those of the older Celtic inhabitants in the smallest degree ; and both descriptions are equally unchanged *DeBell.Gall.lib.2.&.5. X Agricola, 11. 464 causes of the varieties after a progress from barbarism to the highest civilization. A similar permanence of the original distinctive characters is ob- servable in France. " Among us," says Volnby, " a lapse of nine hundred years has not effaced the discriminating marks which distinguished the inhabitants of Gaul from the northern invaders, who under Charles the Gross, settled themselves in our richest provinces. Travellers, who go from Normandy to Denmark, ob- serve with astonishment the striking resemblance of the inhabit- ants of these two countries."* The Vandalst passed from Spain into Africa about the middle ofthe fifth century : their descendants maybe still trac< d, accord- ing to ShawJ and Bruce,|| in the mountains of Aurez, by their white and ruddy complexion and yellow hair. " Here I met," says the latter writer," to my great astonishment, a tribe, who, if I cannot say they were fair like the English, were of a shade lighter than that of the inhabitants of any country to the southward of Britain. Their hair also was red, and their eyes blue."—" 1 ima- gine them to be a remnant ofthe Vandals. Procopius mentions a defeat of an army of this nation here, &c They confessed their ancestors had been Christians." The change in the race produced by climate must be infinitely small, since it is not yet perceptible, after a lapse of thirteen centuries. The establishments of the Europeans in Asia and America have now subsisted about three centuries. Vasquez de Gama landed at Calicut in 1498; and the Portuguese empire in India was founded in the beginning of the following century. Brazil was discovered and taken possession of by the same nation in the very first year of the sixteenth century. Towards the end of the fifteenth, and the beginning of the sixteenth century, Columrus, Cortez, and Pizarro, subjugated for the Spaniards the West-In- dian islands, with the empires of Mexico and Peru. Sir Wal- ter Raleigh planted an English colony in Virginia in 1584 ; and the French settlement of Canada has rather a later date. The * Travels in Syria and Egypt, v. 1. ch. 6. t Gibbon ; Decline and Fall. ch. 33. % Travels, ch. 3. U Travels to discover, &c-. 8vo. cd. Introduction, p. 35. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES, 465 colonists have, in no instance, approached to the natives of these countries : and their descendants, where the blood has been kept pure, have, at this time, the same characters as native Europeans. In the hotter situations, indeed, as in the warmer countries of Europe, the skin is swarthy in parts of the body which are not covered ; but the children, at the time of birth, and women who are never exposed much to the sun's rays, have all their native whiteness. This observation admits of no exception : in the tint ofthe skin, the color and other qualities of the hair, the features, the form of the cranium, the proportions and figure ofthe body, the European colonists retain all their original characters. The sanguine constitution, with its blue eyes, yellow hair, and fair skin, which is so remarkably different from that of the natives, is never- theless transmitted, without the least alternation, from generation to generation. Negroes have been introduced into the New World for nearly an equal length of time : in the West-Indian islands, in the United States, in the various parts of Spanish America, they live under new climates, and have adopted new habits ; yet they have still woolly hair, black skins, flat nose, thick lips, and all the other characters of their race. ,; The inhabitants of Persia, of Turkey, of Arabia, of Egypt, and of Barbary,* may be regarded in great part as the same race of * Africa, nortli of the great desert, has been always inhabited by races of Caucasian formation. The original tribes, called Berbers or Brebers, have given the name of Barbary to this division of the continent. We know but little of their peculiar physical characters; which, however, probably were similar to those ol the ancient Egyptians and Guanches. These Ber- bers, which constituted the people known to the Roman writers by the names of Lybians, Getulians, Numidians, Mauritanians, Garamantes, have received accessions of Phoenicians (the Carthaginians,) Greeks, Romans, Van- dals, and Arabians. The latter particularly entered the north of Africa in great numbers, destroying or driving away the original inhabitants. The gen- eral prevalence of Mahomedanism and of the Arabian language, testifies the- impression which they made on the country. The remnants ofthe aboriginal tribes are now principally found in the mountains. They may be traced, how- ever, eouth ofthe great desert, and seem to form even considerable states be- tween Tombuctoo and Upper Egypt; where they preserve tlioir distinctive characters in the same clun»te« with the Negro race. 466 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES people, who, in the time of Mahomed and his successors, extend- ed their dominions by invading immense territories. In all these situaiions the skin retains its native fairness, unless the tint be changed by exposure to the sun ; and the children are invariably fair. " II n'y a femme de laboureur ou de paysan en Asie (Asia Minor) qui n'a le teint frais comme une rose, la peau delicate et blanche, si polie et si bien tendue, qu'il semble toucher du ve- lours."* The Arabians are scorched by the heat ofthe sun ; for most of them are either covered with a tattered shirt, or go en- tirely naked. La Boullaye informs us, that the Arabian women ofthe desert are born fair, but that their complexions are spoiled by being continually exposed to the sun.t Another traveller re- marks, that the Arabian princesses and ladies, whom he was per- mitted to see, were extremely handsome, beautiful, and fair, be- cause they are always covered from the rays ofthe sun ; but that the common women are very much blackened by the sun.J The Moors, who have lived in Africa since the seventh cen- tury, have not degenerated in their physical constitution from their Arabian progenitors : the sun exerts its full influence on their skin, but their children are just as white as those born in Europe. They are by no means confined to the northern coast, but have penetrated, as the prevalence of the Mahomedan religion attests, deeply into the interior: here they dwell in countries, of which the woolly-haired Negro is the native, but have not acquired, in six centuries of exposure to the same causes, any of his charac- ters. The intelligent and accurate Shaw informs us, that most ofthe Moorish women would be reckoned handsome even in Eu- rope : that the skin of their children is exceedingly fair and deli- cate ; and though the boys, by being exposed to the sun, soon grow swarthy, yet the girls, who keep more within doors, preserve their beauty till the age of thirty, when they commonly give over child-bearing. " Les Maures," says Poiret, " ne sont pas na- turellement noirs, malgrS le proverbe, et comme le pensent plu- * Obs. de Pierre Bblon, p 199. t Voyages de La Boullayk i.f. Gonz, p. 318. I Voyage fait par Ordre du Roi dans la Palestine, p. 260. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 467 sieurs ecrivains; mais ils naissent blancs, et restent blancs toutc leur vie, quand leurs travaux ne les exposent pas aux ardeurs du soled. Dans les villes, les feninies ont une blancheur si eclatante, qu'elles eclipseroient la plupart de nos Europeennes ; mais les Mauiisqiies mi ntagnardes, sans cesse brulees par le soleil, et presque toujour a moitie nues, deviennent, meme des 1'enfance, d'une couleur brune qui approche beaucoup de celle de la suie."* The testimony of Bruce is to the same effect. That the swarthiness of the southern Europeans is merely the effect of the sun's action on the individual, whose children are born perfectly white, and continue so unless exposed to the oper- ation of the climate, might be easily proved of the Spaniards and Portuguese, the Greeks, Turks, &c ; but the fact is too well known to render this necessary. The Jews exhibit one of the most striking instances of nation- al formation, unaltered by the most various changes. They have been scattered, for ages, over the face of the whole earth; but their peculiar religious opinions and practices have kept the race uncommonly pure ; accordingly, their color and their character- istic features are still the same under every diversity of climate and situation. The advocates for the power of climate have made very erro- neous representations respecting these people ; asserting that their color is everywhere modified by the situation they occupy. The Jews, like all the native people adjoining their original seats, have naturally a white skin and the other attributes of the Cau- casian race. In hot countries they become brown by exposure, as an European does, but they experience no other influence from climate. Their children are born fair; and the countenance and other characters are every where preserved in remarkable purity, because their religion forbids all intermixture with other races. Dr. Buchanan met, on the coast of Malabar, with a tribe, who represented, that their ancestors had migrated from Palestine after the destruction of the temple by Titus, and who have preserved * Voy. en Barbaric, torn. 1. p. 31. 468 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES their native color and form amidst the black inhabitants of the country, excepting in instances where they have intermarried with the Hindoos. Those of pure blood are called White Jews, in contradistinction from the others, who are termed Black Jews.* The foregoing facts sufficiently prove, that native differences in general, and particularly that of color, do not depend on extra- neous causes : I have an observation or two to make on some oth- er points. That the curled state of the hair in the African is not produced by heat, appears, from its being found in many situa- tions not remarkable for high temperature, as in the Moluccas, New Guinea, Mallicollo, Borneo, New Holland, and even in the cold regions of Van Diemen's Land ; as well as from the hot re- gions of Asia and America being inhabited by long haired races. The woolly appearance of the Negro hair is just opposite to (hat which hot climates have been said to produce in the Govenng of sheep, in which it is represented that hair is produced instead of wool. When we contrast the hairy coat of the argali or mou- flon with the beautiful fleeces of our most valuable sheep, we see a prodigious difference, which is probably owing more to cultiva- tion and attention to breed than to climate. It does not appear, at least, that change of climate will convert the wool of an indi- vidual English sheep into hair ; and it is equally incapable of con- ferring a woolly covering on the hairy sheep. Dr. Wright! who lived many years in Jamaica, speaking of the opinion that the wool of sheep becomes more hairy in warm climates, says, that in the West-India islands there is to be found a breed of sheep, the origin of which he has not been able to trace, that carry very thin fleeces of a coarse shaggy kind of wool; which circum- stance, he thinks, may naturally have given rise to the report. But he never observed a sheep that had been brought from Eng- land to carry wool of the same sort with those native sheep : on the contrary, though he has known them live there several years, these English sheep carried the same kind of close burly fleece * Christian Researches in Asia ; section, On the Jews. ; Dr. Anderson onthe different Kinds of Sheep ; Appendix II. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 469 that is common in England; and, in as far as he could observe, it was equally free from hairs. The differences in stature, again, have been very confidently ascribed to adventitious causes. A temperate climate, pure air, copious food, tranquillity of mind, and healthy occupations, have been thought favorable to the full developement of the human frame; while extreme cold, bad and unwholesome food, noxious air, and similar causes, have been thought capable of reducing the dimensions of the body below the ordinary standard. That these causes may have some effect on individuals, I do not deny, although I believe that it is very slight: but the numerous exam- ples of large people in cold countries, and diminutive men in warm climes, induce me to deny altogether its operation on the race. The tall and large-limbed Patagonians, certain North- American tribes, and some of the German races, inhabit cold sit- uations : the Mongols, who are small in stature, live in warm countries. The facts and observations adduced in this section lead us man- ifestly to the following conclusions : 1st. That the differences of physical organization, and of moral and intellectual qualities, which characterize the several races of our species, are analogous in kind and degree to those which distinguish the breeds of the do- mestic animals; and must, therefore, be accounted for on the same principles. 2dly. That they are first produced, in both in- stances, as native or congenital varieties ; and then transmitted to the offspring in hereditary succession. 3dly. That, of the cir- cumstances which favor this disposition to the production of va- rieties in the animal kingdom, the most powerful is the state of domestication. 4thly. That external or adventitious causes, such as climate, situation, food, way of life, have considerable effect in altering the constitution of man and animals : but that this effect, as well as that of art or accident, is confined to the individual, not being transmitted by generation, and therefore not affecting the race. 5thly. That the human species, therefore, like that of the cow, sheep, horse, and pig, and others, is single ; and that all the differences, which it exhibits, are to be regarded merely as varieties. g3 470 CAUSES OF THE VARIETIES If, in investigating the subject, we are satisfied with comparing the existing races of men to those of the domestic animals, and with bringing together the characteristic marks, on which the dis- tinctions are grounded in the two cases, as I have done in sever- al preceding chapters, we shall have no difficulty in arriving at the fifth conclusion. If, however, we should carry ourselves back, in imagination, to a supposed period, when mankind consisted of one race only,—'and endeavor to show how the numerous varie- ties, which now occupy the different parts of the earth, have aris- en out of the common stock, and have become so distinct from each other, as we find them at present,—we cannot arrive at so satisfactory a decision : and we experience further embarrass- ments from the fact, that the races have heen as distinctly marked and as completely separated from the earliest periods, to which historical evidence ascends, as they now are. The same remarks, in great measure, are true, concerning animals ; so that, on this ground, no difficulty prevents us from recognising the unity of the human species, which is not equally applicable to them. OF THE HUMAN SPECIES.. 4yi CHAPTER X. Division of the Human Species into Five Varieties. After taking into consideration the principal circumstances which characterize the several races of man, and arriving—by the proof that all such distinctions are produced in a still greater de- gree among animals, chiefly of the domesticated kinds, from the ordinary sources of degeneration—at the conclusion, that there is only one species ; it remains for me to inquire how many varie- ties ought to be recognized in this species, and to enumerate the characters by which they may be distinguished. As there is no circumstance, whether of corporal structure or of mental endow- ment, which does not pass by iraperceivable gradations into the opposite character, rendering all those distinctions merely relative, and reducing them to differences in degree, it is obvious that any arrangement of human varieties must be in great measure arbitra- ry. Our imperfect knowledge of several tribes constitutes another very serious difficulty. A complete and accurate arrangement cannot therefore be expected at present; and it is more advisa- ble to adopt a general one, which may answer the purpose of classifying the facts already known, and affording points of com- parison in aid of future inquiry, than to attempt the details and minuter distinctions, for which we mast depend on further inves- tigation. 47-2 UIVISION OF THE HUMAN SPECIES I think it best to follow the distribution proposed by Blumen- bach, although it is not free from objection; and although the five varieties, under which he has arranged the several tribes of our species, ought rather to be regarded as principal divisions ; each of them including several varieties. This acute and judicious naturalist divides the single species, which the genus Homo contains, into the Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, American, and Malay varieties. He regards the Cau- casian as the primitive stock. It deviates into two extremes, most remote and different from each other: namely, the Mon- golian on one side, and the Ethiopian on the other. The two other varieties hold the middle places between the Caucasian and the two extremes; that is, the American comes in between the Causasian and Mongolian ; and the Malay between the Cauca- sian and Ethiopian. The following marks and descriptions will serve to define these five varieties. But it is necessary to observe, in the first place, that on account of the multifarious diversity and gradation Of characters, one or two are not sufficient for determining the race ; consequently, that an enumeration of several is required : and, secondly, that even this combination of characters is subject to numerous exceptions in each variety. The migrations of the several races in quest of more eligible abodes, the changes of situ- ation consequent on invasion, war, and conquest, and the inter- marriages to which these lead, account for much of this uncer- tainty. Thus the Mongolian and Caucasian varieties have been much intermixed in Asia; the latter, and the Ethiopian, in Africa. I Caucasian Variety.*—Characters. A white skin, either with a fair rosy tint, or inclining to brown ; red cheeks ; hair black, or ofthe various lighter colors, copious, soft, and generally more or less curled or waving. Irides dark in those with brown skin, * The name of this variety is derived from Mount Caucasus ; because in ita neighborhood, and particularly towards the south, we meet with a very beauti- ful race of men, the Georgians; (see the quotation from Chardin, at p. 311;) and because, so far as the imperfect lights of history and tradition eztand the original abode ofthe species seems to have been near the same quarter. INTO FIVE VARIETIES 4/J light (blue, gray, or greenish) in the fair or rosy-complexioned. Large cranium with small face ; the upper and anterior regions of the former particularly developed ; and the latter falling per- pendicularly under them. Face oval and straight, with features distinct from each other; expanded forehead, narrow and rather aquiline nose, and small mouth ; front teeth of both jaws perpen- dicular ; lips, particularly the lower, gently turned out; chin full and rounded. Moral feelings and intellectual powers most ener- getic, and susceptible ofthe highest developement and culture. S It includes all the ancient and modern Europeans, except the Laplanders and the rest ofthe Finnish race; the former and pre- sent Inhabitants of Western Asia, as far as the river Ob, the Cas- pian Sea, and the Ganges ; that is, the Assyrians, Medes, and Chaldeans; the Sarmatians, Scythians, and Parthians ; the Philistines, Phoenicians, Jews, and the inhabitants of Syria gen- erally ; the Tatars,* properly so called; the several tribes actu- ally occupying the chain of Caucasus ; the Georgians, Circassians, Minurelians, Armenians ; the Turks,! Persians,^ Arabians,|| Afghauns,§ and Hindoos^ of high caste ; the northern Africans, * For an account of the people, to whom this name of Tatar has been appli- ed at various periods of history, and of those to whom it is more strictly appli- cable, see Adelung's Mithridates, v. 1. p. 453, and following. Portraits of Ta- tars are given by Corn, le Brun, Voyage par la Moscovie, en Perse, &c.; y. 1. pp. 97,104. | Adelung, loc. cit. For portraits, see Denon, Voyage, &c. ; pi. 106, 107 : also Description de VEgypte ; etat moderne, coutumes et portraits, particular- ly, v. 2 pi. 2. t Portraits in C Le Brun, v. 1. pi 85—83. Beprescntations ofthe ancient Persian form may be seen in the fragments of Persepolitan sculpture ; ibid. v.2. pi. 138, 142 ; and in the plates of antiquities in Mr. Morier's Travels in Persia. || Denon, Voyage dans la Haute et Basse Egypte ; pi. 104, 105, 109, 110j 112. § Some indifferent figures in Elphinstone's Account of Caubul serve to show the physical traits. _. 11 Buchanan's Journey from Madras, &c. Portrait of Krishna Rajah, curtor or sovereign of Mysore ; and of Nani>i Rajah, his maternal grandfather ^Hindoos ;) v. 1 frontispiece, and p. G7. Portraits of three sons of Tippoe Sultan (Mussuhnen ;) v. 3. pi. 35, 3G, 37. 174 DIVISION OF THE HUMAN SPECIES including not only those north of the Great Desert, but even some tribes placed in more southern regions; the Egyptians,* Abyssin- ians,t and Guanches. When these numerous races are assigned to one variety, their assemblage will not be understood to indicate that they are all alike in physical and moral traits The distribution of our spe- cies into five divisions must be regarded in a very general view ; and this general conformity is not inconsistent with various and strongly-marked modifications. The latter are more numerous in the Caucasian than in the other varieties ; perhaps from great- Our knowledge of the several tribes which occupy the great Indian peninsu- la is not yet sufficient to enable us to class them satisfactorily. The crania of Hindoos, which I have seen, belong to the Caucasian type; and the great ar- tist. Mr. W. Daniel, who has probably surveyed the country, the antiquities, and the people, more extensively than any other person, and whose matchless drawings have made us so well acquainted with the prodigious architectural achievements ofthe natives, as well as with the scenery of India, has informed me that the finest examples of such forms, both in features and general propor- tions, abound in India. He never saw any specimens of Negro characters, either in countenance or hair ; although some tribes, as the Malabars, are very dark-colored. The sculptured representations ofthe human form in the oldest of their subterranean temples correspond to the physical traits of the modern Hindoos; and this conformity was particularly noticed by Mr. Morier in the caves of Canarch in Salsette.—Second Journey, in Persia, p. 22. There are numerous varieties, as we might expect in so extensive a region. Dubois informs us that the agriculturists are nearly as dark as Kaffers, while the Brahmans and those not exposed to the sun are comparatively light. He compares the hue ofthe Brahmans to copper, or rather a bright infusion of cof- fee. He adds, " I have seen people in the south of France as dusky as the greater number of Brahmans, and, perhaps, more so. Their women who ar» still more sedentary, and less exposed to the rays ofthe sun, are still lighter in complexion than the males." Some wild hordes on the hills and forests of Malabar are less deeply tinged than any of the castes which have been men- tioned. " In the woods of the Coorga country, there is one of those commu- nities called Malay Koodieru, who do not yield in point of complexion to the Spaniards or Portuguese."—Description ofthe Character, Manners, <^c. ofthe People of India ; ch. 15. * Heads of Copts, Denon, pi. 105 and 108. Figures of two fresco paintings in the sepulchres of Thebes; Bruce, pi. 6 and 7. Description de V Egypt; etat moderne ; coutumes et portraits. ! Five portraits in Bruce, pi. 2 and 3. INTO FIVE VARIETIES.. 475 er natural softness, delicacy, or flexibility of organization, con- curring with the influence of more ancient and complete civiliza- tion. In surveying the distinctions of moral and intellectual en- dowments, we feel uncertain how much ought to be ascribed to original difference, and how much to the powerful influence of government, education, religion, and other analogous causes. I think, however, it will appear, that most ofthe virtues and talents wliich adorn and ennoble man, have existed, from early times, in a higher degree among the Celtic and German, than among the Slavonic and Oriental people; while the latter have usually dis- played a more sensual character than the former. Blumenbach is inclined to believe that the primitive form of the human race was that which belongs to the Caucasian variety, of which the most beautiful specimens are now exhibited by the Georgians, Turks, Greeks, and some Europeans. From the fine- ly-formed skull of this race, as from a primitive configuration, the other forms descend, by an easy and simple gradation, on the one hand, to the Mongolian, and on the other to the Ethiopian varie- ty. The greatest mental powers have been bestowed on this varie- ty ; so that they have discovered nearly all the arts and sciences: indeed almost our whole treasure of literature and knowledge has been derived from the same quarter. These nations have the most intelligent and expressive countenance, and the most beautiful bodily proportions : they occupy the middle regions of the globe, while the extremities are filled by others. The most ancient and most early civilized nations have belonged to this di- vision ; to which, also, according to the observation of Blumen- bach, there is a disposition to return in the other races, as may be observed in the South Sea Islands, and in some parts of Afri- ca ; while this does not easily deviate into the dark-colored varie- ties. If we admit the Caucasian to have been tbe primitive form of man, are we to suppose that the skin was rosy, the hair yellow or red, and the eyes blue; or thatthe former had a tendency to brown, and that both the latter were dark ? We can have little hesita- tion in adopting the latter opinion : for those characters belong to all of this race, except the Germans, which have oecupied only the more distant regions. 476 DIVISION OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. In support of the opinion, that the original stock ofthe human species had the characters of the Caucasian variety, it may be stated, that the part of Asia which seems to have been the cradle of the race, has always been, and still is, inhabited by tribes of that formation; and that the inhabitants of Europe, in great part may be traced back for their origin to the west of Asia. I think, however, that we have not the data necessary for establishing a satisfactory conclusion on this point. We cannot yet assume it as a point fully proved, that all the varieties of man have been produced from one and the same breed. II. The Mongolian Variety is characterized by olive color, which in many cases is very light, and black eyes; black, straight, strong, and thin hair ; little or no beard ; head of a square form, with small and low forehead; broad and flattened face, with the features running together; the glabella flat and very broad ; nose small and flat: rounded cheeks projecting externally ; narrow and linear aperture of the eyelids ; eyes placed very obliquely ; slight projection of the chin ; large ears ; thick lips. The stature, particularly in the countries near the North Pole, is inferior to that of Europeans. It includes the numerous more or less rude, and in great part Nomadic tribes, which occupy central and northern Asia ; as the' Mongols, Calmucks, and Burats,* the Mantchos or Mandshurs, Daourians, Tungooses, and Coreans ; the Samoiedes,f Yukagirs, Coriacks, Tschutski, and Kamtschadales ;$ the Chinese|| and Ja- panese ;§ the inhabitants of Thibet and Bootan ; those of Tung- quin, Cochin-China, Ava, Pegu, Cambodia, Laos, and Siam ; the Finnish races of northern Europe, as the Laplanders; and the tribes of Eskimaux extending over the northern parts of America, from Bering's Strait to the extremity of Greenland. * The figures in the plates of Pallas, Histor. nachrichten uber die Mongol, Volkerschaften, give some idea of the general characters of the Mongolian tribes. t Voyage de Corn. Le Brun, v. 1* pi. 7, 8, 9. X Cook's Voyage to the Pacific ; pi. 75 and 76. || Barrow's Travels in China; frontispiece, and p 50. jj Langiborff's Voyages, fyc v. 1, pi. 16. p. 316. INTO FIVE VARIETIES. 477 " The Calmucks, and all the Mongolian tribes," says Pallas, ' are characterized by obliquity of the eyes, which are de- pressed towards the nose, and by the rounded internal angle of the eyelids; by thin, black, and scarcely curved eye-brows: by the nose, which is altogether small and flat, being particularly broad towards the forehead; by high cheek-bones; a round head and face. Black-brown irides, large and thick lips, short chin, white teeth remaining firm and sound even in advanced age, and large ears standing off from the head, are universal." " They are of middling size, and we see very few tall people amongst them : the women are particularly small, and very delicately formed,"* That the characters of the ancient Huns corresponded to this description, may be collected from the shoit but expressive por- trait, which Jornandes has drawn of Attila: "Forma brevis, lato pectore, capite grandiore, minutis oculis, rarus barba, canis aspersis, simo naso, teter colore, originis sua? signa restituens." Mr. Barrow says, that " the Mantchoo Tatars are scarcely distinguishable from the Chinese by external appearances: the Chinese are rather taller, and of a more slender and delicate frame than the Tatars, who are in general short, thick, and ro- bust. The small eye, elliptical at the end next the nose, is a pre- dominating feature in the cast of both the Chinese and Tatar countenance, and they have the same high-cheek bones and point- ed chins. The native color both of Chinese and Tatars seems to be that tint between a fair and a dark complexion which we dis- tinguish by the word brunet or brunette ; and shades of this com- plexion are deeper or lighter, according as they have been more or less exposed to the influence of climate. The women of the lower class, who labor in the fields, or who dwell in vessels, are almost invariably coarse, ill-featured, and of a deep-brown com- plexion, like that of the Hottentots. We saw women in China, though very few, who might pass for beauties even in Europe. A small black or dark-brown eye, a short rounded nose, generally ' Pai.i.a?. Histor. nachricht. Th. 1. p. 98 and 9f». h3 478 OIMSION OF THE human species a little flattened, lips considerably thicker than in Europeans, and black hair, are universal."* Mr. Turner informs us, that " the people of Thibet have in- variably black hair, small black eyes with long pointed corners, as if extended by artificial means, eye-lashes so thin as to be scarcely perceptible, and eye-brows but slightly shaded. Below the eyes is the broadest part of the face, which is rather flat, and narrows from the cheek-bones to the chin. Their skins are re- markably smooth ; and most of them arrive at a very advanced age before they can boast even the earliest rudiments of a beard. Their complexion is not so dark by many shades as that of the European Portuguese."! The Eskimaux are formed on the Mongolian model, although they inhabit countries so different from the abodes of the original tribes of central Asia " The male Eskimaux have rather a prepossessing physiogno- my, but with very high cheek-bones, broad foreheads, and small eyes, rather further apart than those of an European. The cor- ners of their eyelids are drawn together so close, that none of the white is to be seen : their mouths are wide, and their teeth white and regular. The complexion is a dusky yellow, but some ofthe young women have a little color bursting through this dark tint. The noses of the men are rather flattened, but those of the women are rather prominent. The males, are generally speaking, between five feet five inches and five feet eight inches high, bony and broad shouldered, but do not appear to possess much muscular strength. The flesh of all the Eskimaux feels soft and flabby, which may be attributed to the nature of their food. But the most surprising pe- culiarity of this people is the smallness of their hands and feet."| The same characters belong to the several tribes of Eskimaux, which are scattered over the whole breadth of the American con- * Travels in China, p. 183-5. t Account of an Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama, p. 84-5. He observed the same character of countenance in the Regent of Thibet (p. 241;) in the person second in rank, a Mantchoo Tatar (p. 247;) and in the mother of the new Lama (p. 336.) X Chappell's Narrative of a Voyage to Hudson's Bay, p. 58-^9. into five varieties *''» tinent. Humboldt* mentions the affinity of the languages at the two extreme points; and Dr. Claret has noticed the complete resemblance of the dresses, ornaments, weapons, &c. brought by Mr. Chappell from Hudson's Straits to those in a collection made by Commodore Billings in the north-west extremity of the con- tinent. Similar descriptions might be quoted of the other people in- cluded under this variety. 111. In the Ethiopian Variety, the skin and eyes are black ; the hair black and woolly; the skull compressed laterally, and elongated towards the front; the forhead low, narrow, and slant- ing ; the cheek-bones are prominent; the jaws narrow and pro* jecting; the upper front-teeth oblique; the chin recedes. The eyes are prominent; the nose broad, thick, flat, and confused with the extended jaw; the lips, and particularly the upper one, are thick. The knees turn in, in many instances. All the natives of Africa, not included in the first variety, ber long to this. The striking peculiarities ofthe African organization, and par- ticularly the great difference between its color and our own, have led many persons to adopt the opinion of Voltaire,| who had not a sufficient knowledge of physiology and natural history to deter- mine the question, that the Africans belong to a distinct species. I have shown, in the preceding divisions of this article, that there is no one character so peculiar and common to the Africans, but that it is found frequently in the other varieties, and that Negroes often want it; also, that the characters of this variety run by in- sensible gradations into those of the neighboring races, as will he immediately perceived by comparing together different tribes of this race, as the Foulahs, Jaloffs, Mandingoes, Kaffers, and Hot- tentots, and carefully noting how in these gradational differ- ences they approach to the Moors, New-Hollanders, Arabians, Chinese, &c. Again, great stress has been laid on the fact, that the Negroes resemble, more nearly than the Europeans, the monkey tribe : the * Personal Narrative, v. iii. p. 291. ) Chappell's Voyage, &c. Introductory Advertisement; and Appendix E X See the quotation ofhis opinion at p. 23i). 480 DIVISION OF THE nUMAN SPECIES fear of being drawn into the family, even as distant relations, has, I believe, induced many to place our black brethren in a distinct species; while others have brought forwards this approximation to the simiae, with the view of degrading the African below the standard of the human species, and thereby palliating the cruel hardships under which he groans in the islands and continent of the New World. It is undoubtedly true, that in many ofthe points, wherein the Ethiopian differs from the Caucasian variety, it comes nearer to the monkeys; viz, in the greater size of the bones of the faee, compared to those of the cranium ; the low and slanting forehead ; the protuberance of the alveoli and teeth ; the recession of the chin; the form of the ossa nasi; the position of the foramen magnum occipitale ; the outline of the union of the head and trunk ; the relative length of the humerus and ulna, &c. This resemblance is most unequivocally admitted by those who have minutely examined the anatomical structure of the Negro.* It appears to me, that this fact is not very important: if there are Varieties of bodily formation among mankind, some one of these must approach nearer to the organization of the monkey than the others; but does this prove that the variety in which the conform- ity occurrs, is less man than the others ? The solidungular varie- ty of the common pig is more like the horse than other swine : do we hence infer, that the nature of this animal in general is less porcine, or more like that of the horse, than that of other pigs 1 The points of difference between the Negro and the European do not affect those important characters which separate man in gen- eral from the animal world: the erect attitude, the two hands, the slow developement of the body, the use of reason, and conse- quently perfectibility, are attributes common to both. That very little importance can be attached to the general ob- se vation of the resemblance of the Negro and monkey, founded 01 external appearance, may be clearly inferred from this fact, that the same remark has been made, even by intelligent travel- lers, of particular people in the other varieties. Regnard con- * Soemmerring ub. die korp. versch. Preface p. 19, and § 69. 481 into five varieties. eludes his description of the Laplanders with these words: "Voila la description de ce petit animal qu'on appelle Lapon, et 1 on peut dire qu'il n'y en a point, apres le singe, qui approche plus de Phomme."* Cartwright thought the Eskimaux very like monkeys : he in- forms us, that "walking along Piccadilly one day with the two men, I took them into a shop to show them a collection of ani- mals. We had no sooner entered, than I observed their attention rivetted on a small monkey; and I could perceive horror most strongly depicted in their countenances. At length the old man turned to me, and faultered out, " Is that an Eskimau ?" I must confess that both the color and contour of the countenance had considerable resemblance to the people of their nation. On point- ing out several other monkeys of different kinds, they were great- ly diverted at the mistake which they had made; but were not well pleased to observe that monkeys resembled their race much more than ours."t Nic. del Techo represents a native tribe in South America as » tarn simiis similes, quam hominibus J Cook calls the people of the island Mallicollo « an ape-like nation :"|| and Forster uses the same comparison; " The natives of Mallicollo are a small, nimble, slender, ill-favored set of beings, that, of all men I ever saw, border nearest upon the tribe of monkeys."§ As the charac- teristic form of the head and features of the Negro are just op- posite to those of the Eskimaux and native Americans, we must regard these comparisons, which cannot be correct in all the in- stances, as loose expressions, not meant to be interpreted literally. Under the Ethiopian variety, as under the Caucasian and Mon- golian, are included numerous nations and tribes distinguished from each other by well-marked modifications of organization and moral qualities. Nothing is more erroneous than the common r (Eucres, t. i. p. 71. 1 Journal of Transactions, fyc. duriug a Residence of nearly Sixteen Years on the Coast of Labrador, v. 1. p. 270. ; Relat. dc Caaiguarum Gente, p. 34. || Voyage towards the South Pole, v. 2. p. 34. $ Observations on a Voyage round the World, p. 212 482 DIVISION OF THE HUMAN SPECIES notion, that all Africans have one and the same character. I have already noticed the diversities of features and skulls (see pages 284 and 311;) and equally strong distinctions are observa- ble in general character, whether physical or moral. To the proofs of the former point before adduced, I shall here add the testimony of Dr. Winterbottom : " As great a variety of features occurs among these people as is to be met with in the nations of Europe : the sloping contracted forehead, small eyes, depressed nose, thick lips, and projecting jaws, with which the African is usually caricatured, are by no means constant traits: on the con- trary, almost every gradation of countenance may be met with, from the disgusting picture too commonly drawn of them, to the finest set of European features. Want of animation does not characterize them, and faces are often met with, which express the various emotions ofthe mind with great, energy.*" Mr. Edwards, who had seen them in the West Indies, regards the Foulahs as a link between the Moors and Negroes. " They are of a less glossy black than those of the Gold Coast ; their hair is crisped and bushy ; not woolly, but soft and silky. They have not such flat noses or thick lips as we generally include in our notion of the Negro countenance ; nor have they the peculiar fetid cutaneous odour."t The Koromantyns from the Gold Coast are characterized by firmness of body and mind, activity, courage, and ferocity; by the greatest fortitude and contempt of death. He adduces a horrid example of these qualities in a pun- ishment inflicted for revolt. Two of them were hung up alive in chains; one died on the eighth, the other on the ninth day, with- out having uttered a groan or complaint.^ The Eboes from the Bight of Benin " are the lowest and most wretched of all the na- tions of Africa."—" I cannot help observing, too, that the con- formation ofthe face, in a great majority of them, very much re- sembles that ofthe baboon."|| * Account ofthe Native Africans, v. i. p. 198. 1 History ofthe West Indies, v ii p. 73. Mr. Park's description coincides with this account; Travels into the Interior Districts Of Africa. 8vo. ed. p. 25. JEowards, ibid, p. 70. || Ibid. 88—9. INTO FIVE VARIETIES. 483 In some parts of Africa, intermixture with other nations may have produced occasional departures from the original type of the race. In the north, the aboriginal Berber tribes, and subse- quently the Arabian or Saracen conquerors, not to mention the Phoenician, Greek, Roman, and Turkish colonists, must have mingled extensively with the Negroes. On the east, the kingdom of Abyssinia is of Arabian origin; and traces ofthe same people are found along the coast, nearly as far as the Cape. Europeans, and particularly the Portuguese, have had settlements on the west coast between three and four centuries. The result of such mixtures must not be confounded with native differences. The tribes in the south of Africa are marked by strong pecu- liarities. The fine forms, tallness, and strength ofthe Kaffers, have been already observed (p. 3?0.) Although their hair is black and woolly, or rather short and curling, the skin is of a deep brown instead of black ; they have the high forehead and prominent nose of Europeans, with thickish lips, and projecting cheek-bones. In moral qualities, arts, and civilization, they ex- cel the true Negroes as much as in organization.* The Hottentot race is again clearly distinguished both from the Kaffers and Negroes. I have mentioned in another place (p. 383) their very short stature. The color ofthe skin is a yel- lowish brown, or that ofa faded leaf. The cheek-bones are high, and much spread out in the lateral direction, so that this is the broadest part of the face ; which is suddenly contracted below to a very narrow and pointed chin. The nose is remarkably flat, and broad towards its end ; but in some it is more raised. The forehead has a narrow appearance, from the great breadth across the cheeks ; but it is not either contracted or low.—" The color of the eyes is a deep chesnut; they are very long and narrow, removed to a great distance from each other ; and the eyelids at the extremity next to the nose, instead of forming an angle, as in Europeans, are rounded into each other, exactly like those of * Barrow's Southern Africa ; v. i. ch. 3. Lichtenstein's Travels, ch. 18. For excellent portraits of Kaffers, see Mr. S. Daniell's African Scenery and Amimals ; fol. 484 DIVISION OF THE HUMAN SPECIES the Chinese, to whom, indeed, in many other points, they bear a physical resemblance."—" The hair is ofa very singular nature: it does not cover the whole surface of the scalp, but grows in small tufts at certain distances from each other, and when kept short has the appearance and feel of a hard shoe-brush, with this difference, that it is curled and twisted into small round lumps about the size of a marrowfat-pea. When suffered to grow, it hangs in the neck in hard twisted tassels like fringe."* The or- ganization ofthe Bosjesmen is the same in all essential points.t IV, The American Varietv. is characterized by a dark skin, of a more or less red tint; black, straight, and strong hair ; small beard, which is generally eradicated ; and a countenance and skull very similar to those of the Mongolian tribes. The fore- head is low, the eyes deep, the face broad, particularly across the cheeks, which are prominent and rounded. Yet the face is not so flattened as in the Mongols; the nose and other features being more distinct and projecting.^ The mouth is large, and the lips rather thick.|| The forehead and vertex are in some cases de- formed by art. This variety includes all the Americans, with the exception of the Eskimaux. The redness ofthe skin is not so constant, but that it varies in * Barrow, lib. cit. p. 157, 8. Dr. Somerville, Obs. de Gente Hottentotta- rum in Medico-Chir. Trans, v. 8. Portrait ofa Hottentot; Barrow, Travels in China, p. 50. Kora Hottentot woman, Barrow, Voyage to Cochin China, p. 373. Booshuana man and woman ; ibid. p. 394. But the best representa- tions of these people and the Bosjesmen are to be seen in Mr. Daniell's Afri- can Scenery and Animals. t Barrow's Africa, v. 1. p. 278. X " If the Chaymas," says Humboldt, " and in general all the natives of South America and New Spain, resemble the Mongol race by the form of the eye, their high cheek-bones, their straight and flat hair, and the almost entire want of beard; they essentially differ from them in the form ofthe nose, which is pretty long, prominent through its whole length, and thick towards the nos- trils, the openings of which are directed downwards, as in all the nations of the Caucasian race." Personal Narrative, v. 3. p. 224. || For portraits of Americans, see sCook, Voy. towards the South Pole; vol 2. p. 183. pi. 27, native of Tierra del Fuego; and Voyage to the Pacific, pi. 38, 39, 46, 47,54, natives ofthe North-West Coast. INTO FIVE VARIETIES. 485 many instances towards a brown, and approaches in some situa- tions to the white color. Cook states, that the natives of Nootka Sound have a color not very different from that of Europeans, but with a pale dull cast* and Bouqer makes the same observation ofthe Peruvians on the Andes. Humboldt observes, that " the denomination of ^copper-colored men could never have originated in equinoctial America to designate the nutives.t Mr. Birkbeck says of the natives, whom he saw in the western territory of the United States, " that their complexion is various ; some are dark, others not so swarthy as myself; but I saw none of the copper- color, which 1 had imagined to be their universal distinctive mark."| In describing the Chilians, Molina says, " Their complexion, like that ofthe other American nations, is ofa reddish brown, but it is of a clearer hue, and readily changes to white. A tribe who dwell in the province of Baroa are of a clear white and red, without any intermixture of the copper-color.|| The most accurate observers, in various parts ofthe continent, have particularly noticed the imperfect developement ofthe fore- head in the American race. " In the natives of Nootka Sound," says Cook, " the visage of most is round and full ; and some- times also broad, with high prominent cheeks ; and above these the face is frequently much depressed, or seems fallen in quite across between the temples ; the nose also flattening at its base, with pretty wide nostrils, and a rounded point. The forehead rather low,§ The same lowness of this region is remarked by Hearne^] in the northern Indians; by Lewis and Clarke,** of the western tribes ; by Mr. Rollin, the surgeon who accompa- nied La Perouse, of the natives on the western coast in 58° N. * " Voyage to the Pacific ;" v. 2. p. 303.. \ " Personal Narrative," v. 3. 223. X " Notes on a Journey in America," p. 100. || " Civil History of Chili," p. 4. § " Voyage towards the South Pole," v. 2. p. 183. IT " Journey to the Frozen Ocean ;" pp. 89 and 306. *'* " Travels." p. C4. and ch. 23. 486 division of the human species lat.* of the Californians,t and the Chilians ;$ by Dampier, of those on the coast of Nicaragua, and the Isthmus of Darien ;|| and by Humboldt, of the Americans generally.^ In describing the Chaymas, he says that " the forehead is small, and but little prominent. Thus, in several languages of the countries, to ex- press the beauty of a woman, they say that she is fat, and has a narrow forehead."^} A singular intellectual defect has been no- ticed in some Americans, and may, perhaps, be connected with this peculiarity in the configuration of the head. " The Chaymas have a great difficulty in comprehending any thing that belongs to numerical relations. I never saw a single man who might not be made to say that he was eighteen or sixty years of age."** Wafer observed the same circumstance in the Isthmus of Darien. The Indians attempted to reckon a party of between three and four hundred persons : one of them put a grain of maise into a basket for each that passed ; but they could not cast it up. Some days after, twenty or thirty ofthe chief men came together, and tried their skill. " But, when they could tell no further (the num- ber probably exceeded their arithmetic,) and seemed to grow very hot and earnest in their debates about it, one of them started up, and, sorting out a lock of hair with his fingers, and shaking it, seemed to intimate the number to be great and unknown, and to put an end to the dispute. But one of them came after us, and enquired the number, in broken Spanish."tf Several fabulous reports have been propagated, and entertain*. ed even by writers of credit respecting the distinguishing charac- ters of this race. The representation of their entire natural de- ficiency of beard has been rectified already (see p. 228 and fol- * " Voyage," &c. v. 3. p. 202. t Ibid. 201. X" Voyage" &c.p.200. || " Voyages," &c. v. 1. p. 32; v. 2. p. 115. § See the quotation at p. 319. IT" Personal Narrative," v. 3. p. 223. ** Ibid. p. 241. ft " New Voyage and Description ofthe Isthmus of America." p. 179. INTO FIVE VARIETIES. 487 lowing.) It has been asserted that the women are not subject to the menstrual discharge ; and that in some places the men suckle and not the women.* A formal refutation of such fancies cannot be necessary. V. Malay Variety.—Brown color, from a light tawny tint, not deeper than that of the Spaniards and Portuguese, to a deep brown approaching to black. Hair black, more or less curled, and abundant. Head rather narrow ; bones of the face large and prominent; nose full and broad towards the apex ; large mouth. The inhabitants of the peninsula of Malacca, of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes, and the adjacent Asiatic islands ; of the Molucca, Ladrone, Phillippine, Marian, and Caroline groups; of New Holland, Van Diemen's Land, New Guinea, New Zealand, and the numberless islands scattered through the whole of the South Sea, belong to this division. It is called Malay,t because most of the tribes speak the Malay language : which may be traced, in the various ramifications of this race from Madagascar to Easter Island. Under this variety, to which in truth, no well-marked common characters can be assigned, are included races of men very differ- ent indeed to be arranged with propriety under one and the same division, but hitherto too imperfectly known for the purposes of satisfactory arrangement. In that division of the abodes of this race which may be called the Southern Asiatic, or East Indian islands, we find at least two very different organizations; namely, one Negro-like, black, * Clavigero, " Storia di Messico :" 4. 109. t The term ' Malay,' says Mr. Marsden, like that of ' Moor,' in the conti- nent of India, is almost synonymous with ' Mahomedan." " Hist, of Suma* tra ;" 3d ed. p. 42. These people, he says, are supposed to have come from the Peninsula of Malacca, and to have spread thence over the adjacent islands ; whereas it is clearly proved that the Malays went from Sumatra to Malacca in the 12th century : " and that the indigenous inhabitants, gradually driven by them to the woods and mountains, so far from being the stock from wtiich the Malays were propagated, are an entirely different race of men, nearly ap- proaching in their physical characters to the Negroes of Africa," Ibid. 36, 488 Division of the human species with strongly curled hair; another, of brown or olive color, with longer hair. The first regarded as the aboriginal inhabitants, occupy some islands entirely, but are found in the larger ones in the mountainous interior parts, whither they seem to have been driven by the encroachments of newer settlers. They resemble the African Negroes in their black color, woolly hair, and general formation of the skull and features; and hence they are called, by the Dutch writers, Negroes and Moors. They are distinguish- ed, however, by their language, and by a copious bushy beard. In Sumatra, they are called Batta:. in Borneo, Biajos; in the Moluccas, Haraforas or Alfoeras; in the Phillippines, Ygolotes. They are wild, barbarous, and uncivilized, like their African kin- dred. Col. Symes, who visited the great Andaman island on his voy- age to Ava, describes the natives as seldom exceeding five feet, having slender limbs, large bellies, high shoulders, and large heads. They had woolly hair, flat noses, and thick lips ; and skin of a deep sooty black. They are naked, and in a state of complete barbarism.* The lighter colored race, with more oval countenance, longer hair, and finer forms altogether, occupy the coasts of the larger islands, and some smaller ones entirely. Many of them show their Malay origin, by their organization, language, and manners : and appear to have gradually spread from the continent over the adjacent islands. Others, however, cannot be traced so satisfac- torily to this source.t * " Embassy to Ava," 8vo, p. 301. A similar description of them is given by the Arabian travellers in the ninth century, whose account is translated byRENADouT, ibid. p. 296, note. "It deserves remark," the author adds, " that on the continent of India extra Gangem, figures of Boodh or Budhoo, the Gaudma of the Birmans and Siamese, are often seen with the characteris- tic hair and features of the Negro " p. 302, note. Mr. Colebrook's account of the physical traits, the ferocity, and the com- pletely savage state of this race, is precisely similar to that of Col. Symes. ' Asiatic Researches," v. 4. t Two natives of Timor are represented by Peron, " Voy. de Decouvertes X Terres Australes," 1.1. pi. 25 and 26. INTO five varieties. 489 In the numerous larger and smaller islands of the South Sea, extending from New Holland to Easter Island over a space of nearly 140 degrees of longitude, very various tribes are found, of light-brown or olive to black color, of woolly or long hair, tall or short, handsome or ugly; and that often very near each other, They may be arranged, as in the latter case, under two divisions; between which, however, there are several intermediate grada- tions forming an insensible transition from the one to the other. 1st. Negro-like men, with curly hair, occupy the south-western islands; and may, perhaps, have descended from the analogous race in the Moluccas and other East-Indian islands. They aie savage, ferocious, and suspicious.* This race is found in New Holland and Van Diemen's Land, New Guinea, New Britain, and the adjacent group sometimes called Solomon's Islands, New Georgia and the Charlotte Islands, the New Hebrides, including Tanna, Mallicollo and others, New Caledonia, and the Freejee Islands. The remaining islands of the South Sea, from New Zealand on the west, to Easter Island, contain a race of much better or- ganization and qualities.t In color and features, many of them approach to the Caucasian variety ; while they are surpassed by none in symmetry, size, and strength. They have made consid- erable advances in civilization, and readily learn the arts impart- ed by their European visitors. * For portraits of this race, see Cook's " Voyage towards the South Pole," v. 2. pi. 47, Man of Mallicollo; pi. 26 and 45, Man and Woman of Tanna; pi. 39 and 48, Man and Woman of New Caledonia. Cook's " Voyage to the Pacific ;" pi. 6 and 7, Man, Woman, and Child, of Van Diemen's Land. Col- lins, " Account of New South Wales," p. 439, Portrait of a Native with the prominent jaws and mouth of the Negro, Pf.ron, " Voyage de Decouv." 1.1. pi. 8—12, and pi. 17—20, Natives of New Holland and the adjacent islands. The papuahs of New Guinea are described by Forrest in his " Voyage to New Guinea ;" and a figure of a youth of this race, with jaws as prominent as those of any African Negro, is given by Sir T. S. Raffles, in his " History of Java," v. 2. t Numerous figures may be seen in Cook's " Voyage towards the South Pole ;" and in the folio atlas of his " Voyage to the Pacific." 490' CONCLUDING ARDRESS CONCLUDING ADDRESS OF THE LAST LECTURE I have now, Gentlemen ! performed the task assigned to me by the Board of Curators. In judging of the execution of any design, it is right to bear in mind the object and views with which it was undertaken. I have been desirous of exhibiting to you, in the Lectures which are just concluded, the utility and applications of zoological science ; and have, therefore, aimed more at illustrating principles, and the mode of employing and applying knowledge, than at collecting or bringing forwards a great number or variety of facts. I selected the natural history of our species, because the subject is very interesting, because many of the points which it involves, embracing physiological questions of the highest importance, are closely allied to our own peculiar pursuits ; and because it has not yet received a due portion of attention in this country. I hope to have convinced you that the zoological study of man, when grounded on a knowledge ofhis organization and functions,, and enlightened by the analogies, the contrasts, and the various aids afforded by an acquaintance with the animal kingdom in gen- eral, is the only means by which a clear insight can be gained in- to human nature,—into the physical and moral attributes, the comparative powers, the liability to change, or modification of the individual, the race or the variety, and consequently into the frame, capabilities, and destiny of the species. The principles furnished by such investigations are the safest guide in all branches of knowledge, of which man in any shape is the object ; the only guide at least that can be trusted by those, who are determined to resort to nature for themselves, rather than blindly adopt estab- lished doctrines, or take up the ready-made notions and clever systems, so kindly provided for those who are too indolent or toe OF the last lecture. 491 timid to exercise their own observation and reason on these im- portant topics. Such inquiries,. I will venture to add, afford the only light capable of directing us through the dark regions of metaphysics, the only clue to direct our course through the intri- cate mazes of morals. Can we hope to proceed safely in legis- lation, in puhlic institutions, in education, without that acquaint- ance with the physical and moral qualities of the subject for whose benefit they are designed, which such investigations are cal- culated to supply. I have had occasion in the course of these Lectures to exem- plify the incidental elucidations, which various questions in his- tory, in antiquities, in the fine arts, may receive from this quarter. Anatomy and physiology would be very inconsiderable branches of general knowledge, if the facts which they supply were appli- cable merely to the illustration and extension of the healing art. You may, perhaps, ask whether these pursuits, or at least these applications, are within that part of the territory of science which may be marked out as the field of medicine? whether they ought not to be deemed foreign to our immediate object—surgic- al practice ? They are so, if surgery be regarded as a mere man- ual art, of which outward applications and operations are the sole ends;—if surgeons feel that they have taken a rank higher than they can maintain, and are disposed to descend quietly into their original condition of a subordinate mechanical class: contented to occupy themselves, under the sufferance and connivance of their elder medical brethren, with the few petty matters, which they had disdained as too low and trivial for persons of superior education. But, Gentlemen ! such is not the light in wliich the College of Surgeons, and, what is more important, in which the public re- gards our profession. The Legislature, iu voting public money to purchase the rich collection formed by an English surgeon, and to prepare a suitable building for its safe deposit: and the Rulers of this College, in the pecuniary exertions connected with the acceptance of this precious gift, in the devotion of time and la- bor demanded by the necessary arrangements, and in the institu- tion of Professorships, so well calculated to keep alive the spirit of emulation and improvement; have recognized surgery as a liber- al science : and have viewed surgeons, in the free exercise of their 492 concluding address allotted branch of the healing art, as an independent body, re- sponsible in its professional proceedings to no superior profession- al jurisdiction. It is our duty, Gentlemen ! and, I am sure, it will be not less our pleasure,—to maintain our profession in the rank thus mark" ed out for it by public opinion. That impartial and generally en- lightened tribunal will support and protect us, so long as our en- deavors are honestly directed to advancing and perfecting the the- ory and practice of so useful an art. Our own individual credit and the dignity, honor, and reputation of our body, demand that surgeons should not be behind any other class in the profession, either in the cultivation of branches of knowledge directly con- nected with the healing art, or in any of the collateral pursuits less immediately attached to it. It is only in reference to such views and such objects that the Hunterian Collection could have been accepted, or can be of any use to our College. Unless right- ly employed, this valuable treasure will be an incumbrance, rather than an ornament: instead of rendering service or conferring dig- nity, it will make our incompetence and disgrace more conspicu- ous. The medical character is generally received as a certificate of education and knowledge ; and it is a passport of admission into the most cultivated society. A general acquaintance with natu- ral knowledge is expected of us, and is absolutely necessary to answer the appeals which are constantly made to us in conversa- tion. As general information is now so much more diffused than heretofore, our relative superiority can only be maintained by in- creased exertion. In the present day, Gentlemen ! professional characters are es- timated, fairly enough, according to the proportion of their knowledge and active talent: the efficacy of names and titles, like the fashion of wigs and canes, is gone by, without a chance of revival. The obsolete institutions of past ages and inefficient modern ones, meet alike with silent disregard. The mighty impulse, which for the last century has so signally extended the boundaries of knowledge in all directions, still actu- ates the human mind. The astonishing occurrences of this event- ful period raised it at times into irregular agitation ; that, indeed. OF THE LAST LECTURE. 483 has for the present subsided; but the force of the original move- ment is not at all diminished ;—I think rather increased. It will, perhaps, display itself, now that political revolutions and innova- tions are suspended, in a more vi gorous pursuit of the useful sci- ences, and a more active cultivation of the arts of peace. Surgery is largely indebted to this past and present mental ac- tivity. So much have its principles, its doctrines, and its practi- cal proceedings been modified,—I will venture to say improved, thatthe magnitude of the change is noticed, even by the junior members of the profession. But do not suppose that it has reach- ed perfection ; or that it is destined to stop at its present point. What has been hitherto effected, in the physiological and patho- logical principles of our art, has been chiefly to expose and re- move errors, to clear away rubbish and incumbrances, and lay some part of the foundation. It still remains for us to erect the building. We must increase rather than relax our exertions. The current of knowledge and improvement rushes on so strong ly, that they who hesitate to commit themselves to it, will soon be left far behind ; and serve only the disgraceful purpose of ena- bling us to measure the force and rapidity of the stream. Be- ware, I exhort you, of this shameful apathy, this fatal indecision ; and strain every nerve to advance all branches, whether immedi- ate or auxiliary, of the profession you have chosen ! You will thus enjoy the greatest pleasure which upright and honorable minds can receive,—that of increasing the usefulness, and there- by raising the credit and respectability of the body to which you belong; you will prepare for yourselves, at all times, a pure source of the most satisfactory reflections. Our professional ministrations introduce us to our fellow-crea- tures in the most endearing character,—as instruments of unques- tionable benefit; not merely in alleviating or removing the severe pressure of that great evil, bodily pain, and protracting the ap- proach of that awful moment, from which all sentient beings shrink back with instinctive dread,—the termination of existence ; but in soothing the acuter anguish which near relations and friends feel for each other. Consider the responsibility attached to those decisions, on which it will depend whether a beloved wife or hus- band shall be saved, whether children shall be restored to their k3 494 CONCLUDING ADDRESS anxious parents, or parents be preserved fpr the benefit of their offspring. On reviewing our conduct in these trying scenes, when all our efforts have been unavailing, that nothing has been omit- ted, which the resources of our art rendered possible,—nothing neglected, which more diligent study, and more active pursuit of knowledge could have supplied, will be a support and a consola- tion. What must be the feelings of those, to whom this consola- tion is denied ! who feel a doubt whether the fatal event has merely exemplified the limited efficacy of art, or has been owing to their own ignorance or incompetence! These matters have, however, been already treated with such just feeling, and such persuasive eloquence, by my ingenious and most estimable Colleague,* that I desist, apprehensive that by going on 1 should only weaken the effect of his forcible appeals. My distinguished Coadjutor spoke of his excursions into the field of comparative anatomy, as if they required explanation or apolo- gy. By making man the principal object of my Lectures, I have imitated him in deviating apparently from the precise course marked out by our superior. I wish I could have presented to you as effectual an excuse as he did, in the bold and novel views, the striking thoughts, the acute remarks and the beautiful lan- guage of his interesting discourses ! I shall be satisfied, however, Gentlemen ! if you will accord to me the humbler merits—of industry, in collecting materials ; pa- tience in arranging, combining, and reflecting on them ; fidelity and independence in exhibiting to you, precisely as they appear- ed to my mind, the inferences and deductions that resulted from the whole. To the Court, to the Members of this College, and to my other hearers, I am much indebted for their patient attention to fifteen long Lectures, during the extraordinary heats of this Bengal sum- mer ; particularly in the oppressive atmosphere of this unventi- lated theatre, and at a time of day when, in such seasons, living beings seem almost instinctively to seek repose. * Ant. Carlisle, Esq. OF THE LAST LECTURE. 495 Gentlemen 1 1 thank you very sincerely ; and I wish you every success and happiness in the honorable practice of your profes- sion. \ THE END. ^n.'oi'liWi in rJs, 460867 67 B+C I'. 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