720 ORIGIN OF LAWS AND INSTITUTIONS. 



Should it be urged that the magnitude and form 

 of the head, on which the intellectual and moral 

 character of nations so much depends, are deter- 

 mined chiefly by regimen, modes of living, poli- 

 tical, religious, and social institutions I reply, 

 that all of these are no less modified by climate 

 than the geographical distribution of plants and 

 animals : that if the natives of the polar regions 

 live chiefly on flesh, and clothe themselves with 

 skins, it is because the climate does not afford 

 grain, grass, fruits, cotton, flax, wool, and silks; 

 all of which abound in warmer latitudes : that if 

 the Budhists, Brahmins, and Essenes, of southern 

 Asia, abstained from animal food and spirituous 

 liquors, it was because they are injurious to 

 health in hot climates : that if, like the priests of 

 Egypt, they enjoined the frequent use of the cold 

 bath as a religious duty, it was because they 

 found it salutary in a burning climate : that if 

 they had resided in Russia, they would have 

 substituted in its place warm bathing, which the 

 Russians regard as a panacea : that if the laws 

 of Moses against the use of pork, hares, rabbits, 

 all carnivorous animals, shell fish, and fat of 

 every description, were adapted to the climate 

 of Palestine, they are constantly violated by even 

 the Jews, in the higher latitudes of Europe, 

 Asia, and America; for no laws will ever be long 

 and widely obeyed, unless founded on, and in har- 

 mony with, those of nature. 



