754 GRADUAL CHANGES OF COLOUR 



sembles that of Greece and Italy,) are of a fair 

 and ruddy complexion, with hair of a yellow or 

 reddish colour, as stated by Shaw, Hornemann, 

 and Marsden, while the Tuarics of the Great 

 Desert, who speak a dialect of the same language, 

 are of a dark brown complexion, as among the 

 natives of Ceylon, Bengal, Malacca, Penang, 

 Madagascar, and other tropical climates. Should 

 it still be objected that the inhabitants of northern 

 China are darker than those of western Europe, 

 where the mean annual temperature is nearly the 

 same, I reply, that the average of summer is from 

 15 to 20 higher at Pekin than in Great Britain, 

 France, Germany, and Holland, the natives of 

 which are much fairer than in Italy, Greece, 

 Spain, and Portugal, where the climate is pro- 

 portionally warmer. 



Dr. Prichard maintains, that " the complexion 

 acquired by exposure to the sun is not imparted 

 by parents to their offspring, and that no change 

 of climate, however great, or for whatever time 

 its influence may have been exerted, could trans- 

 form white Europeans into negroes, or even make 

 them approximate in any considerable degree." 

 (Op. Cit. pp. 194, 222.) The same opinion has 

 been embraced by Mr. Lawrence. And Dr. Cald- 

 well maintains, that although the whites in Africa 

 have been somewhat darkened, their constitutions 

 deteriorated, and their numbers reduced, no per- 

 ceptible progress, or even tendency, has been 



