32 MEMOIR OP CAMPER. 



of colour; and first, as to the exact situation of 

 the peculiarity. " Examine," says he, " the skin of 

 this Negro. You see that the true skin is perfectly 

 white; that over it is placed another membrane, 

 called the reticular tissue, and that this is the mem- 

 brane that is black ; and finally, that it is covered by 

 a third membrane, the scarf-skin, which has been 

 compared to a fine varnish, lightly extended over 

 the coloured membrane, and designed to protect it. 

 Examine also this piece of skin, belonging to a very 

 fair person : you perceive over the true white skin 

 a membrane of a slightly brownish tint, and over 

 that, again, but quite distinct from it, a transparent 

 membrane. In other words, it clearly appears, that 

 tfie whites, and the copper-coloured, have a coloured 

 fliembrane, which is placed under the scarf-skin, and 

 immediately above the true skin, just as it is in the 

 Negro." 



*' The infants of Negroes are born white, or ra- 

 ther reddish, like those of other people, but in two or 

 three days, the colour begins to change ; they speedi- 

 ly become copper-coloured ; and, by the seventh or 

 eighth day, though never exposed to the sun, they 

 appear quite black." 



It is known that Negroes, in some rare instances, 

 are born quite white, or are true albinoes. Some- 

 times, after being black for many years, they become 

 piebald, or wholly white, without their general health 

 suffering under the change. Camper, in this lec- 

 ture, mentions another and yet more singular meta- 



