53° 
mountains, which are almoft vertical, 
form an atmofphere very fingular for its 
humidity and its heat.” 
Whatever collateral caufes may contri- 
bute to produce Cretinage, climate muft 
furely be confidered as a principal one. 
To afcertain what, or whether any fuch 
collateral caufes really exifted, requires 
much more information on the origin, 
nature, hiftory, and perhaps anatomy of 
thefe people, than has yet been commu- 
nicated to the public. If climate alone 
produces this melancholy degradation of 
the human fpecies, I acknowledge’ it to 
have much more penetrating and power- 
tul effeéts than I had formed an idea of ; 
and the circum{tance mentioned by fir 
Richard, that in two or three gene- 
rations, Cretinage may either be re- 
moved by emigration fromthe Pays de 
Vallais, or produced in the fame period 
of time, by emigration to it, feems to 
indicate, that fuch is really the cafe. 
Experiments highly interefiing and im- 
portant might iurely. be made on this 
fubjeét; and it is not a little extraordi- 
nary, that the Cretins fhould have fo long 
exifted, and been fo little known. 
The arguments of Mr. Hume againft 
the influence of phyfical caufes, I have 
already faid, appear to me rather plau- 
fible than valid; they only prove, that 
fuch phyfical caufes may be counteracted 
by others, which, in civilized fociety, 
are more powerful than themfelves. if 
Cretinage be irrefiftible to the inhabi- 
tants, whether native or foreign, of the 
lower Vallais, that climate ftamps a cha- 
raéter on man, will hardly be again 
dif{puted. 
July 20, 1796. Tals. ae 

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 2 
HAVE juft perufed a Letter in your 
Magazine for july, fened G. D. on 
Topographical Hiftory. It contains fome 
good remarks, fuch as I fhould naturally 
expect from G. D. whole fignature [. 
have obferved on many other occafions ; 
but, I cannot altogether embrace his 
Opinions on the ‘* Caufe of the Preju- 
dices againft Topographical Hiftory.” 
He fpeaks of the “ uninyiting afpedt 
that it too often afiumes,and the aukward 
arrangement in which it is difpofed,” 
that §* we are detained by minute de- 
{criptions of things, which, imthemfelves, 
are of no confequence, or which can only 
amufe a particulat clafs of readers; by 
dry narratives, frequently erroneous, 
conveyed with tafielefs formality, from 
Importance of Topographical Hiftories. 
[ Aug. 
one compiler to another; with infipidi- 
ties of private families, and tedious de- 
tails of local antiquities, mufty infcrip- 
tions and mouldy reliques,’’ &c. &c. 
Wha I have tranfcribed, is fuficient 
for my purpofe, and muft fatisfy every 
genuine amatcur of Topographical Hif- 
tory, that G. D. has wholly miftaken the 
‘nature of that branch of f{cience, and, as 
the readers of this Letter will perceive, 
has confounded the imagination of the 
painter, with the ancient lore of the anti- 
quary; a fata] error! an error, which 
would ftrike at the root of thofe vat 
labours and profound refearches, in 
which our Topographers have been fo 
long and fo ufefully employed. What 
would become of infcriptions, {6 defaced 
as to be unintelligible, and of letters upon 
monuments, fo feattered as not to 
amount to words, if we were to turn 
our eyes to the picturefque fcenery of a 
village ? Where would be the ingenuity 
of conjecture, and the manufaciure of 
probabilities? Where that promptitude 
of guefs-work, which makes fomething 
out of nothing? Where would curiofity 
explore for gratification? and where 
would indagation rove in queft of food ? 
Before J faw G. D.’s letter, I had 
thoughts of offering my fervices to your 
Magazine, as an. inveftigator of topo- 
graphical curiofities; but I am difheart- 
ened to fee the contempt that is poured 
on my induftrious refearches into the 
hiftory of death and decay, in men and 
things. I tremble to think, that my 
vait colle€tion of epitaphs, initials on 
‘head ftones, portraits of remarkable yew 
trees, borf mots of eminent fextons, and 
repartees of facetious grave-diggers, muft 
be denied a place among the works of 
the learned, it G. D.’s doétrines prevail ; 
and that the name of Patrice Pry mutt 
defcend to pofterity without the preface 
of Dr,or the poitfcript of F.R.S. A.S.S. 
But I hope better things—I hope that 
I fhall be able, though not perhaps in one 
letter, to convince you, that Vopogra- 
phicai Hiftory, as. iit always bas been 
writien, 1s a noble ftudy, and of vaft 
utility to mankind in general. 
G. D.taiks of its avkward arrangement. 
The arrangement, as far as J have ob- 
ferved of Topographical Antiquities, is 
alphabetical. Now, where is the auk- 
wardnels of that? G.D. may as well 
fay, that the alphabet itfelf is ankward, 
becaufe, according to its prefent arrange- 
ment, it cannot make a word; or, he 
may infift upon it, that parifhes were 
not built alphabetically, or, that men 
ieee de 
