White, On the regular Gradation of Man, mentions a negress who had twins by an Englishman ; one was per fectly black, its hair was short, woolly, and curled ; the other was white, with hair resembling that of an Euro pean : and Parsons, in the Philosophical Transactions, gives an account of a black man who married an Eng lishwoman ; the child, the offspring of this marriage, was quite black. The same author gives another in stance, still more remarkable : A black in Gray's Inn married a white woman, who bore him a daughter, resembling the mother in features, and as fair in all respects, except that the right buttock and thigh were as black as the fathers. (Philosoph. Trans. vol. i. p. 45.) IV. The generally received opinion concerning the varieties of complexion which are found in the different races of man throughout the globe, is, that they are caused entirely by the influence of climate. Respect ing the primary colour of man, the supporters of this opinion are not agreed. Buffon, as we have already noticed, thought that the primary colour was white, which, by difference of climate, food, and manners, was changed into yellow, brown, and black, and which mani fested a strong tendency to return, notwithstanding the influence of these circumstances, in the Albinos. Mitch ell, on the other hand, maintains, that the primitive colour of man was a medium between black and white, " from which primitive colour the Europeans degenerated as much on the one hand as the Africans did on the other ; the Asiatics (unless, perhaps, where mixed with the whiter Europeans), with most of the Americans, retain ing the primitive and original complexion." Philcsoph. Trans. abridged by Martyn, vol. x. p 948.
But whatever sentiments the advocates for the influ ence of climate on the colour of man entertain respect ing the original complexion of the human race, they are all agreed concerning the nature and process of that influence. They contend, that climate having altered, in a slight degree, the complexion of the primitive in habitants of the earth, their offspring, still exposed to the influence of the same cause, and being born of the acquired colour of their parents, produced a generation still varying in a greater degree from the primitive com plexion; thus assuming, that the complexion caused by climate is transmitted to the offspring, by which means all the varieties we have enumerated have been form ed. This opinion has numerous and able supporters ; among whom Buffon, Blumenbach, Zimmerman, Win terhottom, and particularly Smith, may be mentioned.* A contrary opinion is held by Boyle, Karnes, Pritch ard, and a few other writers.t They do not deny the influence of climate on the human complexion ; but they contend, that if the varieties of toe human race are ac curately examined and compared with the climate in which they respectively live, the opinion which they con trovert will be found directly opposed by a number of well-established and decisive facts. They also maintain, that the operation of climate on the human complexion differs, in some very marked and important points, from what are known to exist in the complexions of the great varieties of mankind. As the opinion of these writers is liable to be misrepresented, it may be proper to add, that they even admit that climate may and does influence the complexion of all the races which are placed under the different varieties ; so that the Malay, the Mongolian, and the Ethiopian variety, may he more or less black ; but, at the same time, they contend, that though climate will account for shades of difference in the complexion of these races, it will not account for the radical and distinctive complexion itself.
The opinion that climate alone will account for the various complexions of mankind, is very plausible, and supported by the well-known facts, that in Europe the complexion grows darker as the climate becomes.warm er ; that the complexion of the French is darker than that of the Germans, while the natives of the south of France and Germany are darker than those of the north ; that the Italians and Spaniards are darker than the French, and the natives of the south of Italy and Spain darker than those in the north. The complexion also of the people of Africa and the East Indies is brought forward in support of this opinion ; and from these, and similar facts, the broad and general conclusion is drawn, that the complexion varies in darkness as the heat of the climate increases ; and that, therefore, cli mate alone has produced this variety.
But if it can be strewn that the exceptions to this ge neral rule are very numerous; that people of dark com plexions are found in the coldest climates ; people of fair complexions in warm climates ; people of the same complexion throughout a great diversity of climate ; and'races differing materially in complexion among the same people, this opinion must fall to the ground.
1. In the coldest climates of Europe, Asia, and Ame rica, we find races of a very dark complexion. The Laplanders have short, black, coarse hair ; their skins are swarthy, and the irides of their eyes are black. According to Crantz, the Greenlanders have small black eyes ; their body is dark grey all over; their face brown, or olive; and their hair coal-black. (Crantz's Hist. of Greenland, i. 132.) The complexion of the Samoieds and the other tribes who inhabit the north of Asia, and of the Esquimaux, is very similar to that of the Lap landers and Greenlanders. Thus we perceive that a dark complexion, which, according to the advocates for the opinion which we are considering, is the result of a warm climate, is found among those people who live in the coldest parts of the habitable world. This fact is so glaringly and decisively against their hypothesis, that to account for it, they are obliged to call in the operation of other causes, and to contend that extreme cold, especially when connected with poverty and filth, will produce the same complexion as extreme heat ; but besides the objection to this modification of their original hypothesis, that it is evidently had recourse to in order to obviate a pressing difficulty and is not borne out by a sufficient number of facts, there is another ob jection still more fatal and unanswerable. If we ex amine the inhabitants in the north of Europe, we find the Norwegians fair complexioned, blue eyed, and with flaxen hair ; we pass on to the northern extremity of Norway, and without experiencing any sensible change in the coldness of the climate, we suddenly and abrupt ly meet with the swarthy skins, and the black hair and eyes of the Laplander. The operation of extreme cold, therefore, to produce this darkness of complexion, can not be allowed ; and the unaided operation of the other two alleged causes, poverty and filth, will hardly be deemed sufficient to produce such essential and perma nent characteristics of complexion.