27 2 On the Cretins of the Fallals. 



name of fome eminence at Berlin^, for anatomical 

 inquiries, has remarked in one of his letters, 

 " Vous obfervez la* couleur de fperme eft diffe- 

 " rente de ceiui des Hommes blancs. Vous at- 

 " tribuez, au Changement de ce fperme, leur me- 

 " tamorphofe de noir en blanc ; fi 1' on ajoute a 

 " cela, la couleur difFerente de Icyr Cerveau, de^ 

 "leur Sang, et de la liqueur qui forme leur Epi- 

 " derme, on verra que 1' efFet qui blanchit les 

 " Negres eft fonde dans un changement des hu- 

 " meurs les plus eflentielles de corps." 



Taking the pofition for granted, how this 

 eflential alteration has been brought about will 

 be ftill matter for phyfical difcufiion. Air, water, 

 aliment, indolence and filth may be powerful 

 caufes, and they become undoudtedly more for- 

 cible when combined, and when they have ac- 

 quired increafed ftrength from their continued 

 operation for a long courfe of years, on fucceflive 

 generations. The air is moft avowedly infalu- 

 brious on the whole ifthmus of Darien, and 

 what appears decifive, as to its influence, is the 

 known fad, that the female negroes brought from 



* If this be an error, it is an error at lead of long dura- 

 tion. Herodotus has advartted boldly : n yovri h atnuv t«v 

 aTTievTai eij rag yvvatKas a KarawBp toiv aWuv av^pwTim tri 

 AEVKfl, a^iAa (j.i'Kaiva KixTaTrsp to x^WjUa" toi avrw ?£ «at 

 AiSioTTEj aTTiEVTai 6of«v Thalia. 240. Ed. Weffel. It is but 

 fair however to add that Ariftotle denies this exprefsly. 

 Hift. Animal. lib. III. C. 27. •^repi a-'^sp/ji.ar©- ; and alfo 

 Gener. Animal, lib. 11. C. 2. Trspnrji ri (X7fepiJi,aT(^ (puasai. 



Africa 



