MAN. 
tremely short, and every thing prior to that 
is fabulous and obscure.” We must there- 
fore, in tracing the variations from the ori- 
ginal stock, assign those causes, which are 
wellknpwn to have great influence on man- 
kind, as climate, manner of life, state of so- 
ciety, &c. ; occasionally deriving assistance 
from the analogies which are to be met 
with in the natural history of other ani- 
mals. 
Before we proceed to despribe the va- 
rieties of the human race, it is necessary to 
consider, what constitutes a species in 
zoology ; and how varieties arise out of 
species. 
We should answer, in tlie abstract, to the 
first question ; that all animals belong to the 
same species, which ditfer in such points 
only, as might arise in the natui ai course of 
degeneration, wliile tliose differences, which 
could not be explained on this supposition, 
would lead us to class the animals, which 
exhibit them in different species. But the 
great difficulty arises, in distinguishing in 
actual practice mere varieties from specific 
differences. 
Ray, and after him Buffon, referred those 
animals to the same species, which copulate 
together, and produce a fertile offspring. 
But this criterion has produced very little 
benefit ; and we probably must he con- 
tented to derive our notions of species in 
zoology from analogy and probability. The 
molar teeth of the Asiatic and African ele- 
phants differ very widely in their conforma- 
tion ; and, as we know no instance of such 
a difference produced by mere degenera- 
tion, we ascribe those animals to species 
originally different. The .white ferret on 
the contrary we regard as a variety, because 
we know that the colour of the hair and 
pupil experiences a similar variation in 
other instances where it is a mere variety. 
In considering the causes by the opera- 
tion of wliicli species degenerate into va- 
rieties, we sliall be contented with stating 
the facts whicli prove the influence of sucii 
causes ; without attempting to explain how 
they produce tlieir effects. As tliere is 
very little of a satisfactory nature ascer- 
tained respecting tliis matter, we should be 
afraid of disgusting the sensible reader by 
substituting speculation in the place of more 
solid information. 
A very sliglit consideration will shew that 
there is no point of difference between the 
several races of mankind, which has not been 
found to arise, in at least an equal degree, 
• among other animals, as a mere variety, 
VOL. IV, 
from the usual causes of degeneration. The 
instances of this kind are derived chiefly 
from domesticated auimals,j as they are ex- 
posed to all those causes which can produce 
such effects ; by living vvith man they lead 
an artificial and unnatural kind of life, and 
are taken with him into climates and si- 
tuations, and exposed to various other cir- 
cumstances altogether different from their 
original destination ; hence they run into 
numerous varieties of colour, form, size, 
Ac. which, when they are establislied as 
permanent breeds, would be considered by 
a person uninformed on tliese subjects, to 
he originally different species. Wild ani- 
mals oj* the contrary remaining constantly 
in the state for which they were originally 
fiamed, retain permanently tlieir first cha- 
racter. Man, the inhabitant of every cli- 
mate and soil, partaking of every kind of 
food, and of every variety in mode of life, 
must he exposed still more than any animal 
to the causes of degeneration. 
Climate is one of the causes which seems 
to exercise a powerful influence on the ani- 
mal economy, and the formation of the 
body. To this we must ascribe the white 
colour of several animals in the northern re- 
gions, which possess other colours in more 
temperate countries, viz. tlie fox, hare, fal- 
con, crow, blackbird, &c. That this white- 
ness must be ascribed to the cold of the 
climate is rendered probable by the analo-. 
gy of those animals which change their co- 
lour in the same country at the winter sea- 
son to wlqte or grey : as the ermine and 
weasel, hare, squirrel, reindeer, &c. &c. 
The common bear is very differently co- 
loured in different countries. The re- 
markable silky and white covering of vari- 
ous animals in that district of Asia Minor 
called Angora must he explained in the 
same way, rather than from any difference 
of food ; because it occurs in instances 
where very different kinds of food are used, 
as in the cat and goat. Hence also we ac- 
count for the peculiar blackness of the fowls 
and dogs on the coast of Guinea, and for 
the change of the woolly covering of the 
sheep into hair in the same situation. 
The effect of climate on the stature of the 
body is shewn by the smallness of the horses 
in Scotland and North Wales ; and by the 
renjarkable differences in this respect in the 
different provinces of Sweden. Must we 
not also explain en the same principle the 
constant and remaikable degeneracy of the 
horse in France ? According to Buffon, the 
Spanish or Barbaiy horses, where the bread 
P 
