-14 4 (AUSES OF THli: VARlIiTIES 



sufficiently marked if we enter into a closer examination of 

 the arguments which they have adduced on this subject. 



That solar heat causes blackness of the skin is an ancient 

 opinion, and must have appeared very probable, when the 

 Negro natives of the torrid zone were the only black peo- 

 ple known, "^thiopas," says Pliny, " vicini sideris vapore 

 torreri, adustisque similes gigni, barba et capillo vibrato, non 

 est dubium *." 



" The heat of the climate," says Buffon, " is the chief 

 cause of blackness among the human species. When this 

 heat is excessive, as in Senegal and Guinea, the men are 

 perfectly black ; when it is a little less violent, the black- 

 ness is not so deep ; when it becomes somewhat temperate, 

 as in Barbary, Mongolia, Arabia, &c. mankind are only 

 brown ; and lastly, when it is altogether temperate, as in 

 Europe and Asia, men are white. Some varieties, indeed, 

 are produced by the mode of living. All the Tatars (Mon- 

 gols), for example, are tawny ; while the Europeans, who 

 live under the same latitude, are white. This difference 

 may safely be ascribed to the Tatars being always exposed 

 to tlie air, to their having no cities or fixed habitations, to 

 their sleeping constantly on the ground, and to their rough 

 and savage manner of living. These circumstances are suffi- 

 cient to render the Tatars more svv'arthy than the Europeans, 

 who want nothing to make life easy and comfortable. Why 

 are the Chinese fairer than the Tatars, though they resem- 

 ble them in every feature ? Because they are more polished; 

 because they live in towns, and practise every art to guard 

 themselves against the injuries of the weather ; while the 

 Tatars are perpetually exposed to the action of the sun and 

 air. 



" Climate may be regarded as the chief cause of the dif- 

 ferent colours of men : but food, though it has less influ- 

 ence than colour, greatly affects the form of our bodies, 

 Coarse, unwholesome, and ill-prepared food, makes the hu- 

 man species degenerate. All those people, who live miser- 



* llisl. Sal. lii). ii. SO. 



