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DISSERTATION V. 



On the Phyfical and Moral Constitution of the Mexicans. 



IN Mexico and the other countries of America four 

 clalTes of men may be diftinguifhed. Firft, The pro- 

 per Americans, commonly called Indians, or thofe who 

 are defcended of the ancient peoplers of that new world, 

 and have not mixed their blood with the people of the 

 old continent. Secondly, The Europeans, Afiatics and 

 Africans eftablifhed in thofe countries. Thirdly, The 

 fons or defcendants of them who have been called by the 

 Spaniards Criollos, that is Creoles, although the name 

 principally belongs to thofe defcendants of Europeans 

 whofe blood has not been mixed with that of the Ame- 

 ricans, Afiatics, or Africans. Fourthly, The mixed 

 breeds called by the Spaniards castas, that is thofe who 

 are born or defcended of an European and an Ameri- 

 can, or from an European and an African, or from an 

 African and American, &c. All thofe claffes of men 

 have been fated to meet with the contempt and defama- 

 tion of Mr. de Paw. He fuppofes or feigns the climate 

 of the new world to be fo malignant as to caufe the de- 

 generacy of not only the Creoles and proper Americans 

 who are born in it, but alfo thofe Europeans who re- 

 fide there, although they have been born under a milder 

 iky, and a climate morefavourable, as he imagines, to 

 all animals. If Mr. de Paw had written his philofophical 

 refearches in America, we might with reafon apprehend 

 the degeneracy of the human fpecies under the climate 

 of America ; but as we find that work and many others 

 of the fame {lamp produced in Europe, we are confirm- 

 ed 



