96 HISTORY OF 



proportion as the Tartar or American approaches 

 nearer to European beauty, we consider the race 

 as less degenerated ; in proportion as he differs 

 more widely, he has made greater deviations from 

 his original form. 



That we have all sprung from one common 

 parent, we are taught, both by reason and re- 

 ligion, to believe ; and we have good reason also 

 to think, that the Europeans resemble him more 

 than any of the rest of his children. However, 

 it must not be concealed that the olive-coloured 

 Asiatic, and even the jet-black Negro, claim this 

 honour of hereditary resemblance, and assert that 

 white men are mere deviations from original per- 

 fection. Odd as this opinion may seem, they have 

 Linnaeus, the celebrated naturalist, on their side ; 

 who supposes man a native of the tropical cli- 

 mates, and only a sojourner more to the north. 

 But, not to enter into a controversy upon a matter 

 of very remote speculation, I think one argument 

 alone will suffice to prove the contrary, and shew 

 that the white man is the original source from 

 whence the other varieties have sprung. We 

 have frequently seen white children produced 

 from black parents, but have never seen a black 

 offspring the production of two whites. From 

 hence we may conclude, that whiteness is the 

 colour to which mankind naturally tends ; for as, 

 in the tulip, the parent stock is known by all the 

 artificial varieties breaking into it; so, in man, 

 that colour must be original which never alters, 

 and to which all the rest are accidentally seen to 

 change. I have seen in London, at different times, 



