HIS GEOGRAPHICAL RELATIONS. 67 



healthy and depressing" atmosphere of another ; the 

 "steady and peaceful" pursuits induced by dwelling 

 in the fertile plain, and the "roving and -warlike" 

 propensities engendered by living among the moun- 

 tains ; the " big and brawny" inhabitants of one 

 country, and the " diminutive and feeble" of another ; 

 the " grave and thoughtful" demeanour of one nature, 

 and the " Hvely recklessness" of another. Unless 

 these influences were facts ia nature, they would not 

 have been so generally observed and acted upon ; and 

 hence it may be laid down as an axiom that man, 

 like the lower animals, is affected in his form, his 

 habits, his industrial pursuits, and his intellectual 

 characteristics, by the geographical conditions of his 

 position, and that these influences become one of the 

 most efficient means in producing varietal distinctions 

 or races among mankind. Indeed, we cannot con- 

 ceive how these influences could operate without in 

 time producing changes in the cerebral organisation 

 of nations as well as in their mere muscular and bony 

 structures. The one organ is as impressible and 

 plastic as the other, and thus it happens that quali- 

 ties, mental as well as physical, are gradually acquired, 

 gradually become hereditary, and ultimately assume, 

 by cumulative transmission, the magnitude of racial 

 characteristics. " The mould," says the late lamented 

 Edward Forbes, " in which the character of a nation 



