240 Dependence of the Geographical Relations of Countries 



naturally favoured countries, the river and valley districts, 

 by a more or less considerable variation in the elevations and 

 depressions of the country, by alternate plains of more or less 

 fertile soil, by the modified effects of light and heat, by a 

 greater or smaller variety and quantity of natural products, 

 &c., keep the inhabitants in a state of perpetual bodily and 

 mental excitement : 7. and, lastly, The peculiar features of 

 continents, and of their individual portions, impress themselves 

 on the character of the v^^hole population, and the peculiarities 

 of the different portions of a continent exert a very varied and 

 mysterious influence upon the character of their respective 

 occupants. 



No one will question the fact, that intense cold contracts 

 the body, and checks the development of the mental faculties ; 

 as also the reverse, that intense heat provokes the human 

 passions to the utmost, and finally reduces man to a state of 

 indolence and apathy ; so that, in either case, man cares for 

 nothing beyond the gratification of his animal appetites ; but 

 that, on the contrary, civilization commenced and prospered 

 under the milder clime of the temperate zones ; that the life 

 of those children of the desert, who have made but one step 

 in advance, is very monotonous and insipid, and presents but 

 few wants and symptoms of developed faculties, because their 

 native land is either a barren wilderness, or unfit for cultiva- 

 tion ; but that, on the other hand, fertile countries and those 

 susceptible of tillage, are inhabited by agricultural nations, who, 

 in obedience to their own laws and government, are socially 

 and politically united, and thereby enabled to make progress 

 in their civilization ; whilst some of these countries, owing to 

 their excessive productiveness, cause the inhabitants to relapse 

 into a state of indolence and lethargy, and to remain stationary 

 at a certain point in their onward course ; whereas other less 

 fruitful countries tend to rouse the bodily and mental energies 

 of man, and to promote a more vivid display of mental acti- 

 vity. 



These and many other data, deducible from the compara- 

 tive researches of Professor Ritter, and clearly establishing 

 the powerful influence of the physical character of countries 



