24S ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. ^ Book IL 



CHAP. xir. 



Tbefeveral Varieties of the Human Species. — Some acknoivledged — 

 others doubted of^ or dijbelieved. — ift, The Men ivith Tails ' — -Men. 

 ivith "one Leg greater than another. — Men ivith but one Leg : — This 

 dijlyelifued by Strabo. — Incredulity about Antient Natural Hi ft ory as 



-' ^eU as Civily began as early as th^ Days of Strabo and ywuendl—- 

 MeWWjth Eyes'in their Breafls.- — Authority of St Aiigufiine for 

 this PaSl^-^Menivtth one Eye in their Forehead, proved by the, 

 fame Authority, — The Exiflence alfo of Mermaids, or Sea Men, 

 proved by concurring Tefimonies, Antient as ivell as Modern. — A- 

 rifotle s Maxim, that every thing -ivhich can exifl does exiji, — 

 This explained, and the Reafon of it given, 



IN the preceding Chapter, I have accounted for the varieties of 

 ; thp hunjian fpecies in the fame way that I account for the varie- 

 ties of all things in Nature. In this Chapter, I propofe to inquire 

 what thofe varieties of our fpecies are, and to enumerate them, fo 

 far as they are known ; for we cannot perfedly know the Natural 

 flate of Man, unlefs we know all the different forms in which he 

 appears in that ftate. As to the alterations which Man has been plea- 

 fed to make upon himfelf, they do not belong to our prefent fub- 



There are many of thofe varieties about which there is no difpute. 

 And //j/?, it is certain that, in refpeO to colour, there are white, 

 black, and red, with all the different fliades of thefe feveral colours : 

 And that ihcfe arc natural diftindions of Men, not the effed of 

 climate or of art, as fome have imagined, I think, is certain, becaufe 

 wc find them in all the different climates of the earth, and where 



the 



