GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 1031 



of the fair-skinned races ; so that parts of the body are of a dark red, or brown 

 hue, or are even quite black. Such modifications may seem of little importance to 

 the argument ; since they are confined to individuals, and may be put aside as 

 accidental. But there is ample evidence that analogous changes may take place 

 in the course of time, which tend to produce a great variety of shades of color, 

 in the descendants of any one stock. Thus, in the great Indo-European family 

 (part of the Caucasian race of Blumenbach), which may be unquestionably 

 regarded as having had a common origin, we find races with fair complexion, 

 yellow hair, and blue eyes others presenting the xanthous or olive hue -and 

 others decidedly black. A similar diversity may be seen among the American 

 races, which are equally referable to one common stock ; and it exists to nearly 

 the same extent among the African nations, which are similarly related to each 

 other. It may be freely admitted, that among European colonists settled in 

 hot climates, such changes do not present themselves within a few generations ; 

 but in many well-known instances of earlier colonization, they are very clearly 

 manifested. Thus, the wide dispersion of the Jewish nation, and their remarka- 

 ble isolation (maintained by their religious observances) from the people among 

 whom they live, render them peculiarly appropriate subjects for such observa- 

 tions ; and we accordingly find that the brunette complexion and dark hair, 

 which are usually regarded as characteristic of that race, are frequently super- 

 seded, in the Jews of Northern Europe, by red or brown hair, and fair com- 

 plexion ; whilst the Jews who settled in India some centuries ago, have become 

 as dark as the Hindoos around them. 



1036. The relation of the complexions of the different races of Men to the 

 climates they respectively inhabit, is clearly established by an extended com- 

 parative survey of both. From such a survey the conclusion is inevitable, that 

 the intertropical region of the earth is the principal seat of the darkest races of 

 Men; whilst the region remote from the tropics is that of the fairer races; and 

 that the climates approaching the tropics are generally inhabited by nations 

 which are of an intermediate complexion. To this observation, it may be added 

 that high mountains, and countries of great elevation, are generally inhabited 

 by people of a lighter color than are those of which the level is low, such as 

 swampy or sandy plains upon the sea-coast. These distinctions are particularly 

 well seen in Africa, where the tropics almost exactly mark out the limits of 

 the black complexion of the inhabitants ; and where the deepest hue is to be 

 seen among the Negroes of the G-uinea Coast, whose residence unites both the 

 conditions just mentioned; whilst the mountainous regions in their immediate 

 vicinity are inhabited by tribes of a much lighter aspect. 



1037. The nature of the Hair is, perhaps, one of the most permanent charac- 

 teristics of different races. In regard to its color, the same statements apply 

 as those just made with respect to the color of the skin; the variety of hue 

 being given by pigment-cells, which may be more or less developed under dif- 

 ferent circumstances. But it has been thought that its texture afforded a more 

 valid ground of distinction ; and it is commonly said, that the substance which 

 grows on the head of the African races, and of some other dark-colored tribes 

 (chiefly inhabiting tropical climates), is wool, and not hair. This, however, is 

 altogether a mistake; for microscopic examination clearly demonstrates that 

 the hair of the Negro 1 has exactly the same structure with that of the European ; 

 and that it does not bear any resemblance to wool, save in its crispness and 



1 It is a very common mistake, especially in the United States, to consider Negro as 

 synonymous with African. So far is this from being the fact, that, as Dr. Latham justly 

 remarks, "the true Negro area, the area occupied by men of the black skin, thick lips, 

 and woolly hair, is exceedingly small ; as small in proportion to the rest of the continent, 

 as the area of the district of the stunted Hyperboreans is in Asia, or that of the Lapps in 

 Europe." (" Natural History of the Varieties of Man," p. 471.) 



