VARIETIES OF MANKIND. 4<39 



instances continually occur of deviation in one or more parti- 

 culars from the appearances characteristic of any variety : * so 

 that the assemblage rather than individual marks must frequently 

 be employed to determine the variety. 



Particular Remarks. The Caucasian variety is pre-eminent 

 in all those mental and corporeal particulars which distinguish 

 man from brutes. It is to the two sexes of this variety that 

 Milton's lines apply, — 



" For contemplation he and valour formed ; 

 For softness she and sweet attractive grace." f 



The cranium is very capacious, the area of the face bears to 

 its area but a proportion of one to four, and projects little or not 

 at all at the lower parts : the intellectual faculties of its indi- 

 viduals are susceptible of the highest cultivation, while the senses of 

 smelling, hearing, and seeing, are much less acute than in dark 

 nations. Philosophy and the fine arts flourish in it as in their 

 proper soil : to it revelation was directly granted. 



The Ethiopian variety when instructed' by the Caucasian has 

 produced instances of mental advancement great indeed, but 

 inferior to what the latter is capable of attaining. " There 

 scarcely ever," says Hume, " was a civilized nation of that com- 

 plexion, nor even an individual, eminent either in action or spe- 

 culation. No ingenious manufactures amongst them, no arts, 

 no sciences. On the other hand, the most rude and barbarous 

 of the whites, such as the ancient Germans, the present Tartars, 

 have still something eminent about them, in their valour, form 

 of government, or some other particulars." J Blumcnbach, how- 

 ever, possesses English, Dutch, and Latin poetry written by dif- 

 ferent negroes, and informs us that, among other examples of 

 distinguished negroes, a native of Guinea, eminent for his inte- 

 grity, talents, and learning, took the degree of doctor in phild- 



* See note, page 437. 



t Paradise Lost. Book IV. 297. 



X Hume, Essays. Pail, 1. Essay 21. Note M. 



