178 PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART I. 



Elyse"e Lefebvre and Grirou maintain that crossing with an in- 

 ferior race should be avoided, for fear of deterioration. This opi- 

 nion is borne out by the fact, that in the transition of the Negro- 

 mongrel into the white, there remain for a long time some indi- 

 cations of Negro descent. The peculiar odour of the Negro 

 is said to be still perceptible in the Quintroon. The cornea of 

 the Tertroon Mestizo (and, perhaps, in later generations) is 

 somewhat yellowish. 1 The violet colour of the nails near the 

 insertion, and the bluish ring round the eyes, as well as the 

 peculiar shape of the heels and feet, remain for a long time in 

 the Negro mongrels. 2 The darkening of the skin in Hindoo 

 mongrels in advanced age, and the dark colour of the genitals 

 in the former, as well as in the American Mestizo, is a pecu- 

 liarity which, even after many generations, indicates the source 

 they have sprung from. 3 When, therefore, Nott, as a genuine 

 American, believes he can detect in every case an admixture of 

 Negro blood, even in Quintroons, we may admit all this with- 

 out adopting his hypothesis, that the Mulattoes become extinct 

 after a few generations, and before they can perfectly assume 

 the type of the white race. 



In the United States they are exceedingly acute in the recog- 

 nition of these minute distinctions, for the fashion, in opposition 

 to the law of the land, proscribes any one in whose veins there 

 is a drop of Negro blood, whilst in Brazil no stigma is attached 

 to mixed descent. Whoever shares the Negro prejudices of the 

 North Americans must certainly feel inclined to assume distinct 

 species among mankind, and consider that a trace of Negro 

 blood, however slight, renders man, morally and intellectually, 

 inferior to the pure white ; while, according to Nott and Grlid- 

 don, a few drops of European blood produce a decided modi- 

 fication in the moral and physical character of the Negro. 

 There can be no doubt that the Mulatto is more gifted than the 

 Negro, though impartial observers still doubt whether the 

 greater intelligence of the Mulattoes, who are, on this account, 

 preferred for domestic service, is the consequence of an im- 



1 Labat, "Nouv. voy. aux lies de 1'Am./' i, pp. 2, 40, 1724. 



2 Day, " Five years resid. in the W. Indies," i, p. 51. 



3 D'Orbigny et Troyer, " Bullet. Soc. Ethnol.," Mai 22, 1846. 



