68 
OUR RACE AND ITS ORIGIN. 
Climate, it is well known, has a decided influence in 
altering the form and features* of man. As a general rule 
the color of the inhabitants of a country will have a close 
connection with its latitude. The colder climates being 
inhabited by fairer races than the warmer ones, and the 
hottest being the abode of the black. 
The epidermic cells containing the dark-colored pigment 
which produces the black skin, is found in the European as 
well as the negro, and the difference between the two seems 
to be chiefly owing to climate ; the hot summer sun of 
Europe produces its effects in patches, which are larger and 
darker in proportion to the latitude. In southern France, 
the females who are employed in field labor, may be com- 
monly seen with their faces almost covered with dark freckles 
or rather patches, for some are of considerable size ; but in 
tropical latitudes, where the heat is constantly great, the 
skin is of one uniform dark color. 
Jaundice and other diseases are known to change the 
color of the European-’s skin; still it cannot be allowed, 
whatever influence disease may have on it, that the color of 
the negroes skin is unhealthy or unnatural, it must be re- 
garded as the natural one where the sun obtains its greatest 
power, as the contrary is where it has lost it.* 
“ Franklin placed different colored pieces of cloth in the 
sunshine on the snow, they were so arranged that the rays 
should fall on them equally ; after a certain time he examined 
them, and found that the black cloth had melted its way 
deeply into the snow, the yellow to a less extent, and the 
white not at all ; the conclusion he drew was, that surfaces 
become warm in exact proportion to the depth of their tint, 
because the darker surface absorbs the greater amount of 
rays/” Hence we see that whilst light-colored races are 
less susceptible of the effects of the sun J s rays, the dark, 
* Human life is affected by heat. The coloring fluid which darkens the 
skin may be occasioned by the torpid action of the liver in hot climates. It is 
well known that Hindus sent to the mountains for any length of time grow 
lighter in color, whilst men living near the sea are noticed to be both darker 
and shorter than those inland. — Cracroft Wilson, Esq, 
