80 GEOGRAPHICAL AND LOCAL 



indeed, can produce forms much more singular 

 and extraordinary ; for instance, the monsters that 

 sometimes make their appearance in the world, 

 as the Siamese youths, children with two heads, 

 &c. The mysterious influence that the excited 

 imagination, or passions, or appetites of the mo- 

 ther, have over the fetus in her womb, is well 

 known, and produces very extraordinary conse- 

 quences, and malformations, and monstrosities. 

 When we consider that all these facilities, if I 

 may so speak these tendencies to produce 

 variations in the foetus, are at the disposal of 

 Him, who upholds all things by the word of his 

 power, and turns them to the fulfilment of his 

 own purposes, we may imagine that thus new 

 types may be produced, which may be continued 

 in the ordinary way of generation ; according to 

 that observation of Humboldt, that " The exclu- 

 sion of all foreign mixtures contributes to per- 

 petuate varieties, or aberrations from the common 

 standard." 1 That what at first were family 

 characters, accompany the race when grown into 

 a nation, is evident from the case of the Jews, 

 who, wherever dispersed, exhibit certain common 

 characters by which they are every where 

 known ; and, with respect to complexion, they 

 are said to vary according to the climates in 

 which they reside. A singular exception to this 



1 Personal Travels, v. ii. 565. 



