Indigenous Races of the Earth

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362 ACCLIMATION; OH, TIIE INFLUENCE OF each other, that have been permanent as far back as our means of inv stigntion reach, and which will enduro as long as tho Faunas and Floras of which they form a part. Our declared object is to ascertain what influence the climates of our day exert over cxislinO' forms, and especially over those of the human fi-tmily. It should bo borne in mind that each species has its own physiological and .pathological laws, which give it its specific chnmctcr; and each sp ci s must, therefore, be made a special f::ltudy. Too mu ·h reliance has boon placed upon analogies; since no one animal should be taken as an analogue for anoth r. Not only aro tb y variously afr' cLod by climate, food, &c., lmt also by morbific inftu nces. These rcmarl-s apply with their greatest force to man, who is widely sepa1·atcd from the lower animals in many tl1ings, and DlOl'O I articularly l1is dis ascs. Tho "Societe Zoologique. d'Acclirna­tion," of Paris, is composed of some of tho most scientific men of ]'ranee, with I. Goofli·oy St. Hilaire at its head; and to them each now species is a now study: they look to time and observation alone for their knowledge. When a now quadr·upcd, bird, or plant, is brought to France, no one pretends to foretell the exact influence of the new climate upon it; and it has been ascertained that two species, brought from the same habitat, may bo very diflerently afi~ctcd. One may become habituated to a wide geographical range, wh1lo another only to a very limited one. So it is with the species of man- each must be made a s paratc study, in connection with both Physical and Medical Climate. It does not at all advance our knowledge of man to tell us that pigA, poultry, horses, cattle, sheep, goats, dogs, &c., may be carried all over the world, rna~ become habituated to all climates, and everywhere ~haugo thc1r for~s Ol' colors. A race of men does not anywhere, m a few gencratwns, like pigs, become white, brown, black, gray, ~r s~ottcd; nor do. tho pig.s, when they accompany man to the ~ropws, become ail ctod WJth dyspepsia, intermittent and yellow fever. It has. been the fashion, for want of argument, to obscure tho natural history of man, not by a few, but by volumes of th so analogies. Lot us ask, on the other hand, when and where have tbo people of tho north become habituated to tho climate of the Tropics, or those of tho Tropics been able to live in tho north? We hav? no records to show that a race of one extreme has over boon acch~ated t~ the. opposite; and as long as a race preserves its pecnl~ar phys10logwtl structure and laws, it must to some extent be peculiarly affected by morbific in fl. uences. s 8 It is fnr from being proved tbnt our dogs, horses, cattle, nnd otl1cr uomostic nnimals aro of common origin. Tho rcn.tlor is rcfcrrod to "'l'ypes of Mankind" and tho Appendi~ CLIMATE AND DISEASES ON MAN. In considering the climates of tho Tropics aud tho adjacent warm climates, it is uc c sary to divide Medical Otimate iuLo non-rnala1·ial and malarial. By a non-mala1·ial climate, we wish to designate one which is characterized by tcmperaLnrc, moisture or dryness, grcatct· or less chang abloncss, &c.; in short, all the cl1at·a ·Lcristies of what is under~Lood by tho word "climate," independently of lo •al morbific inilncJH.:es. By mala1·ial climates, we moan those in which malarial emanations arc Aupcradded to the above c ucliLionH. The two climates aro familiar to every one, ancl often exist wiLI1ill a mile of each other. In our outbcrn Latcs, we have oue high h althy "pine or sand-hills," borclcring tho rich allnvhtllancls of om· rivers. On the low lands, in many places, the most deadly malarial fevers prevail in summer and autumn, while in tho sandy lands there is an entire exemption ii·om all diseases of this class; anu out· coLton planters every summer seck these retreats iot· health. Not only in these more t.cmpomLc regions of tho Unilcd SLates is this lll'Oximity of tl1c two cEmatcs observed, but also in Bcno·al and other parts ol' India, in tho islands of the Indian Ocean, at Cape olo11y, th 'West India islands, &c. Mobile and its vicinity ailord as good an illus­tration of these climates as can be desired. This · town is situatocl at the mouth of the Mobile river, in latitude 30° 40" nol'Llt, on the m:wgin of a plain, that extends five miles to the foot of tl1c sand­hills, and which is intcrsp rscd with ravines and marsh . Tho sand-hills rise to the height of from one to three hunch·cd f ot, and extend many mi los. Now the thermometer, barometer, and ]Jygt·o­moto, ·, indicate no app,·cciablc diftoronco in the climates of tl1 ' hills and the plain, oxc pt that the latter is rather more damp; and yet the two localities differ immensely in point of salubrity. r .. ct us snpr oso that a thou. and inhabitants of Great Britain r Germany should bo Jantlcd at Mobile about the month f May, and one-Lhit·d placed on tho hills, one-third in tho town, and the romaiudor in tho fcuuy land around tho latter, and ask what would beth result at tho nd of six months. The iir t third would complain nlllch of heat, would. 1 rspiro enormously, become enervated; bnt no one would perhaps bo seriously sick, and probably none would di from the cfrocts of tho climate. Tho second third, or those iu the city, if it happened to be a year of epidemic yellow fever, would, to say tho least, be de ·imatccl, or even one-half miO'ht die, while the resi­dent acclimated population were enjoying perfect health. 'l'lte re­rnaining portion, or those in tho fenny dislrict, would escape yellow fever, but would, most of them, be attacked with intermittent and of "Aioral and Intellectual Diversity of Racea"-in llo'l'Z's translation of lh: GOJJl!HlAV, (Pllilatlolpbia, 1855)-for a full oxaruiuation of this point. ...