S Notes of a meteorological Tour. 



ported by a further induction of facts and occurrences, to an ex- 

 tent and an amount that it is impossible, at this moment, fairly 

 to estimate. And the conclusions of JcMferson, Lafon, and others 

 favourable to the greater antiquity of American populatitm, will 

 be daily reinforced and confirmed. 



Having thus given the history of these races of man, spreading 

 so extensively over the globe, I considered the human family un- 

 der three divisions : 



First, the Tawny man, comprehending the Tartars, Malays, 

 Chinese, the American Indians of every tribe, Lascars, and other 

 people of the same cast and breed. From these seemed to have 

 proceeded two remarkable varieties ; to wit. 



Secondly, the IVIiite man, inhabiting naturally the countries 

 in Asia and Europe situated north of the Mediterranean Sea ; 

 and, in the course of his adventures, settling all over tlie world. 

 Among these I reckon the Greenlanders and Esquimaux. 



Thirdly, the Black man, whose proper residence is in the re- 

 gions south of the Mediterranean, particularly toward the interior 

 of Africa. The people of Papua and Van Diemcn's Land seem 

 to be of this class. 



It is generally supposed, and by many able and ingenious men 

 too, that external physical causes, anil the combination of cir- 

 cumstances which they call climate, have wrought all these 

 changes in the human form. \ do not, however, think them ca- 

 pable of explaining the differences which exist among the nations. 

 There is an internal physical cause of the greatest moment, which 

 has scarcely been mentioned. This is the generative influence. 

 If by the act of modelling the constitution in the embryo a:ul 

 l(Etus, a predisposition to gout, madness, scrofula, and consump- 

 tion, may be engendered, we may rationally conclude, with the 

 sagacious D'Azara, that the procreative power may also shape 

 the features, tinge the skin, and give other peculiarities to man. 



Yours truly, 



Samuel L, Mitchill. 



III. Notes of a meteorological Tour; ly Thomas Forster, 

 F.L.S., in company uith the Hun. J. j. Pbroval and Mr, 

 Parker, in 1816. 



^pril 26, 1816. — £* ine spring morning, but no leaves out 

 yet. Features of sondercloud and stackencloud. We left Edin^ 

 burgh in the evening, and proceeded to 



Linlithgow. Fine still evening. The jackdaws flying round 

 in large flocks, and very clamorous about the ruins of the old 



abbey. 



