ANIMALS. 391 



tions. It is not till after forty days that it is seen 

 to smile ; and not till that time also that the tears 

 begin to appear, its former expressions of uneasi- 

 ness being always without them. As to any other 

 marks of the passions, the infant being as yet al- 

 most without them, it can express none of them 

 in its visage, which, except in the act of crying 

 and laughing, is fixed in a settled serenity. All 

 the other parts of the body seem equally relaxed 

 and feeble; its motions are uncertain, and its 

 postures without choice; it is unable to stand 

 upright; its hams are yet bent, from the habit 

 which it received from its position in the womb ; 

 it has not strength enough in its arms to stretch 

 them forward, much less to grasp any thing with 

 its hands ; it rests just in the posture it is laid ; 

 and, if abandoned, must continue in the same 

 position. 



Nevertheless, though this be the description of 

 infancy among mankind in general, there are 

 countries and races, among whom infancy does 

 not seem marked with such utter imbecility, but 

 where the children, not long after they are born, 

 appear possessed of a greater share of self-sup- 

 port. The children of Negroes have a surprising 

 degree of this premature industry ; they are able 

 to walk at two months, or at least to move 

 from one place to another ; they also hang to the 

 mother's back without any assistance, and seize 

 the breast over the shoulder, continuing in this 

 posture till she thinks proper to lay them down. 

 This is very different in the children of our coun- 



