Climate has generally been regarded as the cause of national colour, and much has meen ascribed to the light and heat of the sun. According to the supporters of this opinion, every parallel of latitude is marked with a characteristic complexion. Under the equator we observe the black colour; under the tropics, the dark brown and copper colours ; and,Trom the tropic of Cancer northwards, we discern the olive changing through every interme diate shade to the fair and sanguine com plexion. It is further observed, that an European, exposed to the sun and air, will become brown in summer, and lose this colour again during the winter's cold; that the Asiatic and African women, con fined to the walls of their seraglios, are as white as Europeans, while the colour of those exposed to the rays of the sun is dark, like that of the men ; that the skin of the Moorish children, which is origi nally fair and delicate, changes in the boys, who are exposed to the sun, to a swarthy colour, while its fairness is pre served in girls, who keep more within doors : that the South of Spain is distin guished by complexion from the north ; and that the inhabitants of the extensive empire of China exhibit every variety of complexion from the fair to the black, according to the latitude of the country which they inhabit. It appears also, that although fair persons have their colour considerably deepened by changing into a hotter climate, yet that the black races are very little affected by coming into cold countries. We must remember too, if Europeans seem to be less affected than we should have supposed by changing to a hot climate, that by avoiding the heat of the sun, by different clothing, diet, &c. they may avoid many of the causes which act with full energy on the natives of such climates. The proximate cause of the dark colour of the skin consists, accord ing to Blumenbach, (de Gen. Human. Var. Nat.) in the secretion of a greater quantity of carbon, and its fixation, by an union with oxygen, in the rete mucosum. He states, that Negroes are not born black, but acquire that colour by the ac cess of the atmosphere. He also insists much on the influence which heat exerts on the hepatic functions ; and the sympa thy existing between the liver and skin, manifested by the dark tinge of the latter in persons of an atrabilarious temperament. There is no climate so favourable for the operation of these causes as that of Africa, which surpasses all others in the continued intensity of its heat, in peculiar proper ties of the atmosphere, arising from very singular winds, &c. Accordingly, its in habitants having, by exposure to these agencies for a long series of ages, ac quired a strongly-marked and deeply rooted character, transmit it unimpaired, even in foreign climates, to their descen dants.
There are varieties of colourin animals, which, whether they owe their origin to climate or other causes, are as remark able as those of the different races of mankind, although they occur in the same species. The swine are all white in the northern provinces of France ; in Dan phiny, and some other parts, they are black, as also in Spain, Italy, India, China, and America ; and in Bavaria, reddish brown. The breeds of cattle manifest similar variations. We have already noticed the changes of colour in animals in cold climates, in speaking of the in fluence of climate.
Some objections have been made to the explanation of colour derived from cli mate, which seem to admit of solution. The temperature of any country cannot be determined by considering merely its geographical climate, or its distance from the equator : we must advert at the same time to the physical climate, or that which is produced in any given latitude by such adventitious circumstances as low or elevated position, neighbourhood of water, &c. &c. The Abyssinians, al though nearly under the equator, by no means approach in colour to Negroes ; for their country is very elevated, the barometer standing, according to Bruce, at twenty-two inches. The inhabitants of the South Sea islands under the line, and indeed of the South Sea islands in gene ral, are much lighter coloured than we should have expected ; and this arises from the coolness natural to insular situa tions. We find no Negroes under the
line in America, as in Africa; a circum stance which admits of an easy solution. On the western side of America there is one of the most elevated regions of the globe. The plain of Quito, which is the base of the Andes, is higher than the top of the Pyrenees, and the summits of these mountains, although in the centre of the torrid zone, are covered with everlasting snow. The country abounds with large rivers, traversing it from west to east. It is covered by a vast quantity of stag nant water, and the largest forests in the globe ; it contains no sandy wastes, like those of Africa. Hence the temperature of any place in America is very different from that of corresponding parts of the old continent. At Quito, which is nearly under the line, Reaumur's thermometer never ascends beyond 28° ; while at Se negal, in 16° of north latitude, it mounts to 36°. The latitude of Paris corresponds to that of Quebec, and that of London to the almost uninhabitable regions of La brador.
The brown and tawny colours are not wholly confined to warm climates ; they are found in the northern regions of En-. rope and Asia, countries which, from their excessive cold, and consequent ste-. rility, are scarcely habitable. The inha bitants of these regions live on the flesh of the rein-deer and dried fish ; their bread is made of pounded fish-bones with the bark of the pine or birch-tree, They drink much whale oil. They live under ground, or in huts sunk below the surface of the earth ; and during their long nights keep up lamplight, and are enveloped in smoke. At other times they are exposed to the action of a most inhospitable climate, in following their occupations of hunting and fishing. This mode of life will naturally render the skin coarse and dark ; and the discolora tion thus produced is increased in many instances by the habit of painting the body, and smearing it with grease and other substances, which very commonly. prevails among savage nations. Such an effect is produced sometimes by these practices, that the colour of the skin can not be ascertained. (Hawkesworth's Col lection of Voyages, &c. vol. iv. p. 24, 120, 138.) We have to observe further, that the effect of climate is much modified by clothing, by the state of society, and the manner of life in general. Dr. Smith (Es say on Complexion and Figure,) informs us, that in America, the field slaves, who are badly fed, clothed, and lodged, are remote from the society and example of their superiors, and retain many of the customs and manners of their African an cestors, are slow in changing the aspect and figure of Africa; while the domestic servants, who are employed in the fami lies of their masters, see their manners, and adopt their habits, have advanced far before them in acquiring the agreeable and regular features, and the expressive countenance, of civilized society. He also mentions, that persons who have been captured from the States, and have grownup in the habits of savage life, con tract such a strong resemblance of the na tives in their countenance, and even their complexion, as to afford a striking proof, that the differences which exist in the same Latitude, between the Anglo-Ameri can and the Indian, depend principally on the state of society.
Perhaps the strongest circumstance, in illustration of the effect of climate on the human complexion, may be derived from the Creoles, which word, sometimes strangely confounded with that of Mulat to, is applied properly to the offspring of European parents born in the East or West Indies. These have such a pecu liar character of complexion and counte nance, (" austrum quasi spirans vultus et color, maxime quoque coma et ardentinm quasi oculorum,") that they are easily distinguished by those points alone, from their relations born inEurope. (Fawkes worth's Collection, vol. iii. p. 374.) The same observation holds good also of the offspring of Persian or Mongolian pa rents born in the East Indies: (Hedge's Travels in India, p. 3.)