262 On the Cretins of the Vallais. 



he there traces their fuppofed effects on theftruc- 

 ture and palTions of mankind. Though vene- 

 rable from its age, the opinion has been lately 

 controverted, and ridicule has been called in 

 to attack thofe pofitions, againft which more 

 folid reafon appeared to have exhaufted all her 

 powers. But, whatever may be the doubts of 

 modern fceptics, or the problems of new phi- 

 lofophers, no arguments can be brought up 

 againft vifible demonftration. To thofe who 

 deny the effedls of local caufes, and the influence 

 of particular climates and fituations, may be 

 oppofed only the Cretins of the Pays de Vallais ; 

 a fet of beings, above indeed the brute fpecies, 

 but in every refpeft below their own. Without 

 a previous acquaintance with their real origin, 

 the ftranger might be tempted to confider 

 them as a diftindt, inferior part of the creation, 

 and the intermediate link betwixt man, and his 

 disfigured image, the Ouran-Outang. The 

 defcription Linnaeus has given us of this animal 

 may be applied to the Cretin, with a few excep- 

 tions J and that of the French Pliny, as the 

 Comte de Buffon has been called, is marked 

 with a refemblance ftill more ftriking. The 

 diftrift thefe beings are comprifed in, is part 

 of the lower Vallais, and takes in about thirty 

 miles in length, and eight in breadth. Round 

 Sion they are very numerous, but they are mod 

 fo between the bridges of St. Maurice and Ride. 



A few 



