334 DIFFERENCES OF 



climates most different to their own, longer than any other 



nation. 



If the Yakuts, which are now decidedly Mongolian in 

 their features, had originally the Caucasian formation, and 

 if the northern invaders of India have assumed the Hindoo 

 countenance, the change must have been effected by inter- 

 marriages. All who have visited India, and attentively ex- 

 amined its various people, unanimously represent that the 

 Afg'hauns and Mongols of pure blood are, at this moment, 

 just as distinct in features from the Hindoos, as the parent 

 races are in their original seats. 



Respecting the case of the Hungarians and Laplanders, 

 if we admit their descent from one stock, which is pro- 

 bable, let us next ascertain what the amount of the diffe- 

 rences between them may be, and then inquire whether 

 mixture witli otlier races may not have produced these. 



Blumenbach proceeds to observe, that the intermixture 

 of races has a great effect in modifying the natural counte- 

 nance ; and that the ancient Germans, the modern Gipsies, 

 and the Jews, afford examples of peculiar and distinctive 

 casts of countenance being preserved in every climate. 

 These well-known facts are quite sufficient to overturn the 

 hypotliesis which refers the differences of features to climate ; 

 and a short examination of the races in any part of the world 

 will soon supply numerous additional ones. Indeed, I do 

 not know a single well-established fact or sound argument 

 in its favour *. 



Some have even attempted to shew how climate might 

 operate in producing national features. " En effet," says 

 VoLNKY, " j'observe que la figure des Negres represente 

 precisement cet etat de contraction que prend notre visage 

 lorsqa'il est frappe par la lumiere et une forte reverberation 

 de chaleur. Alors le sourcil le fronce ; la pomme des joues 

 s'eleve ; la paupiere se serre ; la bouche fait la moue. Cette 

 contraction, qui a lieu perpetuellement dans le pays nud et 



* Tills subject will be resumed in the chapter on the causes of the varieties 

 of the human ?pccies. 



