MIGRATION OF MAN. 



641 



habits, more or less obliged to think and act for himself ; so 

 will his external appearance vary for better or worse, and be- 

 come, in a great degree, the index of his mental quality. 

 This power of mind over matter exists in each individual, 

 who besides may receive from his parents, outward peculiari- 

 ties, and general inclinations, but in a modified degree : since 

 the child partakes of the nature of both father and mother, 

 (perhaps even, slightly, of that of a foster mother, if one is 

 employed). That such hereditary peculiarities are not to be 

 quickly or easily altered, every one will admit ; but that they 

 may be gradually changed, and in a few generations alto- 

 gether obliterated, by pains being taken with successive chil- 

 dren, many facts have been published which seem to prove 

 incontrovertibly. This ought to give great encouragement to 

 the exertions of parents in educating their children,* since 

 exterior expression, if not feature, as well as the infinitely 

 more important result, actual character, may depend so much 

 upon training the mind aright. Supposing this to be the case, 

 it is not surprising to find savages so very different from 

 civilized men in outward feature, as well as in mind ; or to 

 see them, where civilization has not been known, precisely in 

 the same condition now, as that in which we learn they were 

 several centuries ago. 



Some years since I read a long article in the " Dictionnaire 

 Classique"" under the head of " Homme," which described a 

 great many distinct races of men — at least thirteen : and at the 

 same time I saw a map which professed to show the geogra- 

 phical distribution of those several distinct races. Almost the 

 first spot which my eye rested on was Tierra del Fuego, 

 coloured black, to indicate that its inhabitants were black ; 

 and upon reference to the " Dictionnaire Classique " I found 



* Not in overburthening their tender minds with the contents of books, 

 or over exciting- them with a whirl of ideas calculated to rouse even the 

 listless spoiled child of fortune from his apathetic indifference — but in 

 a wholesome mixture of general education, bodily as well as mental, 

 adapted to their years, and calculated to prepare them, in their respec- 

 tive stations, for doing their duty happily to their Maker, and to their 

 fellow-men. 



VOL. II. 2 T 



