M A N. 
deprived of its colouring matter; and hence the iris is of 
a pale rofe-colour, and the pupil intenfely red, in confe- 
quence of the blood contained in the numerous veifels, 
which almolt entirely make up the fubftance of thofe parts. 
Thus, the colouring matter of the body, as well as that of 
the (kin (rete mucofum) and hair, as that of the eye, is 
deficient. Thefe affections of the (kin and eye are always 
concomitant. This peculiarity exitls-from the time of 
birth ; it never changes afterwards, and it is fometimes 
hereditary. The notion, that Albinos are incapable of 
propagation, is completely unfounded. They are in truth 
not numerous enough for them to breed together, and 
thus produce a permanent variety; but there are fcattered 
inltances to fhow, that they can beget and conceive. A 
white negrefs bore a perfect negro to a negro father; and 
another produced with an European father three true Mu- 
lattoes, but with light hair. See Albinos, vol. i. p. 2.40. 
This variety was firft obferved in the African, as the great 
difference of colour would render the variation more ltrik- 
ing; and hence the individuals were termed Leucasthiopes, 
or white negroes; their peculiar conltitution, for the de¬ 
viation is by no means confined to the furface of the body, 
may be conveniently termed, after fome modern authors, 
Leucaethiopia. From their avoiding the light, the Dutch 
gave them (in the ifland of Java) the contemptuous ap¬ 
pellation of Kakkerlakken (infeCts fhunrring the light) ; 
the Spaniards called them Albinos, and the French Bla- 
fards. So far is this variety from being peculiar to the 
Negre, or even to the torrid zone, that there is no race of 
men, nor any part of the globe, in which it may not oc¬ 
cur. Biumenbach had feen fixteen exatnples of it in va¬ 
rious parts of Germany; and he refers to authors who 
have feen it in Denmark, England, Ireland, France, Swif- 
ferland, Italy, the Grecian Archipelago, and Hungary ; 
in Arabia, on the coaft of Malabar, in Madagafcar, among 
the Caffres and Negroes, (as well thofe born in Africa as 
the defcendants of the individuals conveyed to America;) 
in the ifthmus of Darien and Brafil; in the illands of the 
Indian Ocean and of the Pacific. De Gen. Hum. Variet. 
feft. iii. § 78. 
Domeltic animals exhibit varieties entirely analogous 
to thofe which we have juft enumerated ; a fa£t fo fami¬ 
liarly known, with refpeft to the ftieep, pig, liorfe, and 
cow, that it cannot be neceftary to fupport the alfertion 
by any details. The leucaethiopic conltitution, too, oc¬ 
curs in them as well as in the human fubjedf ; it has been 
obferved (not to mention the well-known examples of the 
rabbit, ferret, moufe, and horfe) in the monkey, fquirrel, 
rat, hamfter, guinea-pig, mole, opoli'um, martin, vveafel, 
and roe. The crow, black-bird, canary-bird, partridge, 
common fowl, and peacock, are fometimes the fubjeCts 
of it; but it has never been feen in any cold-blooded ani¬ 
mal. Biumenbach, 1 . c. 
Biumenbach remarks, that fome late writers feem doubt¬ 
ful whether the numerous diftinft races of men ought to 
be conlidered as mere varieties, which have arifen from 
degeneration, or as fo many fpecies altogether different. 
The caufe of this feems chiefly to be, that they took too 
narrow a view in their refearches; feledled, perhaps, two 
races the moft different from each other poflible ; and, over¬ 
looking the intermediate races that formed the connecting 
links between them, compared thefe two together; or, 
they fixed their attention too much on man, without exa¬ 
mining other fpecies of animals, and comparing their va¬ 
rieties and degeneration with thofe of the human fpecies. 
The firft fault is, when one, for example, places together 
a Senegal Negro and an European Adonis, and at the 
fame tune forgets that there is not one of the bodily dif¬ 
ferences of thele two beings, whether hair, colour, features, 
&c. which does not gradually run into the fame thing of 
the other, by fuch a variety of fnades, that no phyfiologift 
or naturalilt is able to eltablifh a certain boundary between 
thefe gradations, and confequently between the extremes 
themfelves. The fecond fault isj when people reaion as 
Jit man were the only organized being in nature, and ccii- 
Vox.XIV. No. 97i. 
249 
fider the varieties in his fpecies to be ft range and proble¬ 
matical, without refleffing that all thefe varieties are not 
more ftriking or more uncommon than thofe with which 
fo many thou finds of other fpecies of organized beings 
degenerate, as it were, before our eyes. 
We cannot here enter into the merits of the queftion, 
whether, confidering the varieties of the human fpecies 
which we have deferibed, all thefe could have originated 
from one pair, as related in the Mofaic hiftory. To thofe 
who affedf to difbelieve the Mofaic account, it may be 
fufficient to reply, that to the almighty power of the Di¬ 
vine Being it was not more difficult to change and mo¬ 
dify the defcendants of one man and one woman, in order 
to adapt them to the different regions of the earth which 
they were deftined to occupy, than to create at the firlt 
five or fix pairs placed in different fituations, to be the 
progenitors of the nations that we now fee inhabiting the 
globe. 
No part of the natural hiftory of man can be more in- 
terefting than that which ddcribes the progreliive improve¬ 
ment and decay of human life, from the cradle to the grave. 
This fubjeCt has been treated of in a moft animated manner 
by Buffon, and we (hall here give an abridgment of this 
part of liis work. 
Nothing (fays M. Buffon) exhibits fuch a ftriking pic¬ 
ture of our weaknefs, as the condition of an infant imme¬ 
diately after birth. Incapable of employing its organs, 
it requires afliltance of every kind. In the firft moments 
of our exiltence, we prefent an image of pain and mil'ery, 
and are more weak and helplefs than the young of any 
other animal. At birth, the infant paffes from one ele¬ 
ment to another; when it leaves the gentle warmth of the 
tranquil fluid by which it was completely furrounded in 
the womb of the mother, it becomes expofed to the im- 
preflions of the air, and inftantly feels the effefts of that 
aftive element. The air acting upon the olfa&ory nerves, 
and upon the organs of refpiration, produces a (hock fome- 
thing like that of fneezing, by which the breall is ex¬ 
panded, and the air admitted into the lungs. In the mean 
time, die agitation of the diaphragm prefles upon the 
bowels, and the excrements are thus for the firft time difi- 
charged from the inteftines, and the urinefrom the bladder. 
The air dilates the veficles of the lungs ; and, after being 
rarefied to a certain degree, is expelled by the fpring of 
the dilated fibres re-aiting upon this rarefied fluid. The 
infant now refpires, and articulates founds or cries. 
Moft animals ate blind for fome days after birth. In¬ 
fants open their eyes to the light the moment tiiey come 
into tile world ; but they are dull, fixed, and commonly 
blue. The new-born child cannot diftinguifh objects, be- 
caufe he is incapable of fixing his eyes upon them. Tbs 
organ of vifion is yet imperfect; the cornea is wrinkled ; 
and perhaps the retina is too loft for receiving the images 
of external objects, and for communicating the fenfation 
ofdiftinct vifion. At the end of forty days, the infant 
begins to hear and to finile. About the fame time it be¬ 
gins to look at bright objects, and frequently to turn its 
eyes towards the window, a candle, or any light. Now 
likewife it begins to weep ; for its former cries and groans 
were not accompanied with tears. Smiles and tears are 
the effedt of two internal fenfations, both of which de¬ 
pend 011 the affion of the mind. Thus they are peculiar 
to the human race, and ferve to exprefs mental pain or 
pleafure ; while the cries, motions, and other marks of 
bodily pain and pleafure, are common toman and moft of 
the other animals. Confidering the fubjedf as metaphyii- 
cians, we (hall fituf that pain and pleafure form the uni- 
verfal power which fets all our paflions in motion. 
The fize of an infant born at the full time is commonly 
twenty-cne inches; and that foetus, which nine months 
before was an imperceptible bubble, now weighs ten or 
twelve pounds, and fometimes more. The head is lar> e 
in proportion to the body ; and this difproportion, which 
is ltill greater iri the firft ftage of the foetus, continues 
curing tire period of infancy. The ikiu of anew-born 
3 S child 
