436 AN ACCOUNT OF, &c, 



would decrease, not only from their inability to 

 sustain the attacks of disease, but from their in- 

 capacity of contending with their more vigorous 

 neighbours. The colour of this vigorous race 

 I take for granted, from what has been already 

 said, would be dark. But the same disposition 

 to form varieties still existing, a darker and a 

 darker race would in the course of time occur, 

 and as the darkest would be the best fitted for 

 the climate, this would at length become the 

 most prevalent, if not the only race, in the par- 

 ticular country in which it had originated. 



In like manner, that part of the original stock 

 of the human race, which proceeded to the colder 

 regions of the earth, would in process of time 

 become white, if they were not originally so, 

 from persons of this colour being better fitted 

 to resist the diseases of such climates, than 

 others of a dark skin. 



The cause which I have stated, as likely to 

 have influence on the colour of the human race, 

 would necessarily operate chiefly during its in- 

 fancy, when a few wandering savages, from 

 ignorance and improvidence, must have found 

 it difficult to subsist throughout the various 

 seasons of the year, even in countries the most 

 favourable to their health. But, when men 

 have acquired the knowledge of agriculture, 

 and other arts, and in consequence adopt a 



