,iE MORTALITY OF KKMAL1IS. 



Of the Varieties of the Human Specif ^ 

 Note L. L. 



BufFon, Blumenbach, Prichard. Gavoty and Touluzan, Cuvier, and others, have propos- 

 ed classifications of the varieties of the human species: of these we prefer that of Cuvior. 

 The following is an outline of it: 



1st, The fair, or Caucasian variety; 2d, the yellow, or Mongolian; 3d, the negro, or 

 Ethiopian. 



1st, CAUCASIAN. Characters. The beautiful form of the head, the variable shades of 

 complexion, and colour of the hair. x 



Principal Branches. 1, The Syrian, whence have proceeded the Assyrians, the Chal- 

 deans, the Arabs, Phoenicians, Jews, the Abyssinians, Arabian colonies, and ancient Egyp- 

 tians. 2, The Indian, German, or Pelasgic branch was early subdivided into the Sanscrit, 

 the Pelasgi, the Teutonic, and Sclavonian. 3, The Scythian, or Tartarian branch. 



2d, MONGOLIAN. Characters. Prominent cheek-bones; flat visage; narrow and oblique 

 eyes; straight and black hair; scanty beard, and olive complexion. Its civilization has al- 

 ways remained stationary. 



3d, The NEGRO. Characters. Black complexion; woolly hair; compressed cranium, and 

 flattish nose. 



" It is very difficult to refer the Malays, or the Papuas, to any one of the three great va- 

 rieties of mankind already described. It'is a question"; however, whether the former people 

 can be accurately distinguished from their neighbours on either side: the Caucasian Hin- 

 doos on the one, and the Mongolian Chinese on the other. 



" The Americans themselves have not yet been properly referred to either of the other 

 races, nor have they characters precise and constant enough to constitute a fourth variety. 

 Their copper-coloured complexion is not sufficient. The black lank hair, and scanty beard, 

 would seem to approximate them to the Mongoles, if their well defined features, and pro- 

 minent noses, did not oppose such a classification; their languages are likewise as innume- 

 rable as their tribes, and no mutual analogy has yet been ascertained between them, nor 

 any affinity with the dialects of the ancient world.'' (Griffith.'' s Tran-s. of the Regne Jlni- 

 male.) 



We are inclined to infer that America was peopled by the Mongoles from Asia; and that, 

 subsequently, it had been visited by Phoenician navigators: the greater part of whom set- 

 tled in it, particularly in Mexico; and that the imperfect navigation of that era prevented 

 many of the adventurers, if not all of them, from returning. 



Of the Mortality of Females at the Change of Lift 



, From the bills of mortality of both sexes, collected in Provence, Switzerland, Pans, Ber- 

 lin, Sweden, and Petersburgh, it would seem, 1st, that from 30 to 70, no other increase takes 



tam vero descendentemsanguinem ex vena cava superiori phlogisticnm nee oxydatum in 

 abdomen atque extremitates inferiores perducere, quo fit, ut superiores corporis partes, ex- 

 ceptis pulmonibus, qui sanguinem ex vena cava superiori venientem venosum accipiunt, 

 primo graviditatis tempore magis vigeant polleantque. p. 215. 



" Placenta oxygenium afferente, hepate carbonium submovente, quae functiones in adulto 

 in unopulmone conjunctae sunt." p. 216. (Joannis Mueller de Re spiratione Foetus Commcn- 

 tatio Physiologica, inAcademia L^russica Rhen,ana Prccmio Ornata. Lipsic. 1828. p. 159. 



M. GeorTory-Saint-Hiolaire, proceeding on the principle, that there cannot be organiza- 

 tion without the combination of a nutritious fluid, nor yet assimilation without oxygenation 

 or previous respiration, endeavours to show: 1st, That a respirable gas is present in the 

 amniotic fluid, as shown by the experiments of MM. Chevreuil and Lassaigne: 2d, That 

 the foetus, by means of its pores, as by so many tracheas, in the same manner as aquatic 

 insects, is enabled to consume the air contained in the surrounding fluid, owing to the air 

 being thus brought in contact with the venous blood which fills the capillaries of the skin ; 

 3d, That the contraction of the womb and of the abdominal muscles keeps up a certain de- 

 gree of pressure, which is as requisite to the perfect perforjnan"' 1 of this process ?.s to th^ 

 ordinary a^t of respiration -- 7?r'. Me?. Her. 1R23, 



