BOOK V. 



CHAPTER I. 



Influence of Climate and Season on the physical, 

 intellectual, and moral Character of the Human 

 Race, as shewn by the Difference of Stature, 

 Magnitude of the Chest, Configuration of the 

 Brain, Complexion, fyc. among the Various 

 Nations of the earth. 



"If ever the science of life, and with it some of the most im- 

 portant departments of human knowledge, be destined to make 

 any decided progress towards perfection, it must be by the road 

 of experience, aided and enlightened by general philosophy." 



LAWRENCE. 



NEXT to the discovery and developeinent of some 

 grand truth capable of universal application to 

 the benefit of mankind, the most important ser- 

 vice that an author could bestow upon his species, 

 would be to select from the vast accumulation of 

 fabulous and contradictory statements that com- 

 pose the mass of our printed books, whatever 

 is really valuable. For, at present, the elements of 

 knowledge are scattered over so broad a field, 

 many of them are so imperfectly defined, and the 

 truths already discovered are mingled with such 

 a multitude of errors, that the best portion of 



