the power of the various causes both physical and moral which have been mentioned, to operate material changes in the form of this part of the human skeleton, and to create these distinctions."

EFFECTS PRODUCED BY THE STATE OF SOCIETY - AND MANNER OF LIVING.

"All will grant, that climate exerts its full influence, and produces its most deteriorating effects in a savage state of society; and that these effects are, in some degree, corrected by the arts and conveniences of civilization. Hence, the peculiar character and habits of society, in which men are educated, and the modes of living to which they are either addicted from choice, or compelled from necessity, tend to create many differences in their complexion, their figure, the form and expression of their countenance, and in their whole aspect.

"The hardships in the condition of savage life, tend to weaken and exhaust the principle of vitality. Their food is often scanty and meagre, wanting that succulence and nourishment, which give freshness to the complexion, and vigour to the constitution. The uncertainty of their provision, sometimes, leaves them to languish with want; and, on other occasions being furnished with a superfluity, they are tempted to overstrain themselves by a surfeit. Exposure to the inclemences of the weather, negligence of appearance, want of cleanliness, bad lodging and poor diet, are always seen to impair the beauty of the human form, and the clearness of the skin. Thus the features of all savage nations will be coarse and hard, and their persons less robust and athletick than those of men in civilized society, who enjoy its advantages with temperance. Finally, their entire inattention to the cleanliness of their persons and their huts, and their irregular habits generally, all have their influence to heighten the disagreeable duskiness of their colour, and to render their features coarse and deformed.

"As a state of savagism increases the injurious influence of climates which are unfriendly to the complexion, or fine proportions of the human constitution, so civilization, on the other hand, by its innumerable arts and conveniences, contributes to correct that influence. The comfortable protection

of clothing and lodging, the plenty and nutritious qualities of food, the skilful means of preparing it for use, and rendering it more healthful, a country freed from noxious effluvia and subjected to cultivation, the constant study of elegance, with improved ideas of beauty for the human form, and the continual effort made to approximate this standard, in ourselves, or to form our children to it by a proper culture, give an immense advantage in this respect, to cultivated society over savage life.

"National changes and manners, however, whether moral or physical, usually advance by almost imperceptible gradations. Many centuries elapsed, before Europe was able to raise herself to her present refinement, from the rudeness of barbarian manners which overspread that portion of the globe, after the fall of the Roman empire. Besides, the poor and labouring part of the community in every country, are usually more dark in their complexion, and more hard in their features, than persons of better rank, who enjoy greater ease, and more liberal means of subsistence. They want the delicate tints of colour, the pleasing regularity of features, and the elegant and fine proportions of the person so frequently seen in the higher classes. Many exceptions undoubtedly there are; as luxury and deformity may disfigure the one; and a fortunate coincidence of circumstances may give a happy assemblage of features to the other. Notwithstanding, these exceptions will not invalidate the general observation. But, of all people the ancient Greeks appear to have best understood how much it is in the power of manners to improve the beauty of the human person, and to increase the vigour of the human constitution. To these ends were directed many of their customs, a large portion of their legislative wisdom, and even of the philosophy of their schools, and the whole system of their athletick exercises.

"Mental capacity, which is as various as the human physiognomy, is equally susceptible of improvement, or deterioration, from the state of society, and the manners and pursuits which may form the character of any people. The body and mind have such reciprocal influence upon each other; that we often see certain peculiar powers, or tendencies of the rational faculty, immediately connected with certain corporeal forms. And whenever the moral, not less than the physical causes, under the influence of which any people exist, have produced any visible effect on the form and expression of the

countenance, they will also be found proportionally to affect the operations of the mind. Poetry, eloquence, and philosophy seldom arrive at their highest perfection together; not because the mind of man does not at all times possess the same endowments from nature; but, because in the progress of society new objects arise, and new combinations of ideas are formed, which call into exercise different faculties of the soul. And as the coarsest features and the harshest expression of countenance, will commonly be found in the rudest states of society, so the mental capacities of men in that condition, will ever be proportionably weaker than those of nations who have made any considerable progress in the arts of civilization."

DIVERSITY OF CLIMATE AND COMPLEXION IN TROPICAL AFRICA.

"I shall now treat of the climate and colour of the inhabitants of the tropical zone of Africa, which are not uniform. The complexion of those of the western coast is of a deeper black than that of those of the eastern. The two principal varieties, prevailing from the northern tropick to the Cape of Good Hope, are the negro and the Caffre. The Caffre prevails chiefly towards the southern angle of the peninsula, and along the southeastern side, distinguished, however, by several varieties of shade, occasioned by the causes which have been already suggested. The negro, which is the blackest colour of the human skin, prevails over the greatest portion of the region between the tropicks, but becomes of a more jetty hue as we approach the western coast. The cause of the great difference between the eastern and western sides of Africa, will be obvious to those who consider the course of the tropical winds, and the extreme heat they must collect from the immense tracts of burning sands which they traverse in passing over that continent in those latitudes, where it spreads itself out to the greatest breadth.

"The winds under the equator, following the course of the sun, reach the eastern coast after blowing over the Arabian and Indian seas; where the countries of Aian, Zanguebar, and Monomotapa, receive their breezes greatly tempered by that vast expanse of waters. But, arriving at Guinea, and the neighbouring regions, after having traversed three thousand miles of sand, heated by a vertical sun, they glow with

an ardour unknown in any other portion of the globe. Hence we see in these countries, lying in that part of the zone, where the continent is widest, and consequently hottest, the natives are distinguished by complexion of a deeper jet, and by more deformed features than those on the southern side of the equator, on the coasts of Congo, Angola, and Loango. And, indeed, the intense heat which in this region, produces such a prodigious change on the human constitution, equally affects the whole race of beasts and of vegetables. All nature bears the marks of a powerful fire. As soon as the traveller leaves the borders of the few rivers which flow through this tract, where he sees a luxuriant vegetation, the effect of moisture combined with heat; he immediately enters on a parched and naked soil which produces little else than a few scrubby bushes, and dry and husky plants. And the whole interiour, as far as it has been explored, is represented to be a desert of burning sand which often rolls in waves before the winds. The negro, therefore, is not changed in a greater degree from the Caffre, the Moor, or the European, than the laws of climate, and the influence of manners, as they have been already illustrated, might lead us to expect."

THE IDENTITY OF MAN, ESSENTIAL TO OUR PRINCIPLES OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY.

"The present subject will serve to show, that a just philosophy will always be found coincident with true theology. The denial of the unity of the human species tends to impair, if not entirely to destroy the foundations of duty and morals, and in a word of the whole science of human nature. No general principles of conduct, or religion, or even of civil policy, could be derived from natures originally and essentially different from each other, and, afterwards, in the perpetual changes of the world, infinitely mixed and compounded. The principles and rules which a philosopher might derive from the study of his own nature; could not be applied with certainty to regulate the conduct of other men, and other nations, who might be of totally different species, or sprung from a very dissimilar composition of species. The terms which one man would frame to express the ideas and emotions of his own mind, must convey to another a meaning as different as the organization of their respective natures. But,

when the whole human race is known to compose only one species, this confusion and uncertainty are removed, and the science of human nature in all its relations, becomes susceptible of system. Thus the principles of morals rest on a sure foundation.

"We may derive an argument in favour of human identity from the consideration, that there are varieties among the children of the same family. Frequently also we see in the same country, individuals, resembling every nation on the globe. Such varieties prove at least, that the human constitution is susceptible of all the modifications which exist among mankind, without having recourse in order to account for them to the unnecessary hypothesis of their having existed from the beginning different, original species of men. It is not more astonishing in itself, or out of the order of nature, that nations, sprung from the same stock, differ, than that individuals should differ. In the one case we are assured of the fact from observation; in the other, we have reason to conclude, independently of the sacred authority of revelation, that from one pair have descended all the families of the earth."

THE COMPLEXION OF THE WHITES AS REALLY A PHENOMENON AS THAT OF THE BLACKS.

"The doctrine of human identity, rightly understood, presents no greater difficulties to account for the complexion of the blacks than of the whites. The innumerable peculiarities and varieties that exist among our race, would serve equally to show, that the blackest negro upon earth was the descendant of Adam as well as the fairest European. Should some exalted, celestial messenger wing his way to our world, and view the different tribes, and diversified complexions of the great human family, he might be at a loss to tell the peculiarity which would present the greatest difficulty for him to account for the same, on rational principles, except he were instructed as to the nature of their causes, and the circumstances of the origin of the species.

Let me ask, What is the grand reason, that the present subject is involved in mystery in the minds of many? Surely it is, that they do not view the diversified degrees of complexion as they really are; but merely contrast the white

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