295 



nish colonies has hindered the progress of all 

 researches of this kind. 



In man, the deviations from the common type 

 of the whole race turn rather on the stature*, 

 the physiognomy, or the form of the body, 

 than on the colour. It is not so with animals, 

 where varieties are found more in the colour, 

 than in the form. The hair of the mammiferous 

 kind, the feathers of birds, and even the scales 

 of fish, change their hue, according to the 

 lengthened influence of light and darkness, 

 according to the intensity of the heat and cold. 

 In man, the colouring matter seems to be de- 

 posited in the dermoidal system by the roots 

 or the bulbs of the hair ~\- 9 and all sound obser- 

 vations prove, that the skin varies in colour 

 from the action of external stimuli on indivi- 

 duals, and not hereditarily on the whole race. 

 The Eskimoes of Greenland and the Lapland- 

 ers are tanned by the influence of the air ; but 

 their children are born white. We will not 

 decide on the changes, which nature may pro- 

 duce in a space of time exceeding all historical 

 traditions. Reason stops short in these matters, 



* The circumpolar nations of the two continents are small 

 and squat, though of races entirely different. 



+ According to the interesting researches of Mr. Gaultier, 

 on the organization of the human skin, p. 57, John Hunter 

 observes, that in several animals the coloration of the hair is 

 independent of that of the skin. 



