i9S Additional Notes. 



man beings. To Marcellus Malpighi, in the 17th cen- 

 tury, we certainly owe the discovery of the fact, that the 

 colour of negroes resides in a pecuhar body, the corpus mu- 

 cosum. This fact was also known to J. N. Pecklin, a» 

 early as 1677, as appears by his work De llabitii et Colore 

 Ethiopum^ &:c. published that year. 



Among the writers on this subject it is also proper to take 

 notice of Dr. John Mitchell, an English physician, who 

 resided a number of years in Virginia. His Essay on the 

 Causes of the different Colours of People^ published in the 

 Philosophical Transactions, vol. xliii. p. 102 — 150, is con- 

 sidered as a very honourable monument of his learning and 

 talents. 



It is generally known that some naturalists of the eighteenth 

 century attempted to undermine the credibility of the Mosaic 

 history, by adducing what they considered proof, that there 

 are different races of men, and, of course, that mankind 

 could not have sprung from a single pair. Against this hy- 

 pothesis, the Rev. Dr. Smith's ingenious and learned Essaij 

 on the Causes of the Variety of Coinplexion and Figure in the 

 Human Species, was particularly directed. Professor Blumen- 

 BACH, of Gottingen, who has written still more largely on the 

 subject, is also an able advocate of the Sacred History. The 

 latter, by a curious induction of facts concerning the effects of 

 climate, Sec. on other species of animals as well as man, has 

 thrown new light on this interesting question. 



Dr. Blumenbach's work, De Generis Hiimani Varietate 

 Nativa, was first published in 1775, in the form of an In- 

 augural Dissertation. It has been greatly improved in sub- 

 sequent editions, and is a work of much merit, particularly 

 considered as an able compilation. 



Of those who have made valuable additions to the na- 

 tural history of man, by means of inquiries into the origin, 

 progress, and affinities of different languages, several other 

 names ought to be mentioned besides that of Sir William 

 Jones. Among this number, Mr. Jacob Bryant, of Great- 

 Britain, M. Court de Gebelin, of France, and Professor 

 Pallas, before mentioned, hold a distinguished place. Still 

 more recently, new and important light has been thrown on 

 this subject by Professor Barton, of Philadelphia, who, in 

 his New Viexvs of the Origin of the Tribes and Nations of 

 ^ijierka^ has published Vocabularies of a number of Indian 



