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Show 3G8 A CCL I ~f .\ 1' I 0 N ; 0 H, TIt E IN FLUE N C E 0 F several generationA, w mio-ht como to more definite con ln ions with r gard to the specific proximity of rae s; but thiR we arc unable to control ; nor has suilici nt use been made oven of tho materials we lw.vo at command. Only a few years ao-o, tho origi11 of tho domestic dog was a snhj ct of dispute, and many natnmliflts suppol- led it to bo derived ft·om tho wolf; but M. J!'loul'ons has been maHng a series of experiments, in tho Garden of rlants, n:t 1 aria, which settles this part of tho discussion. IIo ascertain d that the progeny h comes sterile after the third gene1·ation; wh i I that of the dog and jnckal run a fhr as LLo fourth generation, and then in like manner become sterile. Th so arc imp rtant discov ries in the history of hyb,·idity, and show How erron ous have b en conclusions a.s to identity of spccicA, based upon p1·olijtcacy of o:fli=!prino-. There is reason, as abov stated, to believe that this lrtw of hyhridity applies to tho speci s of man; and that tl1oro arc d ()'rees of fertility in tl1o ofTspring of different types, in proportio11 as th y are Aimilar ot· dissimilar. 13 Our limits, if we desired to do so, would not p rmit a more extended oxamimttion of races, in connection with non-mala?·ial climates; and we shall thor foro pass on to another division of the Rubje t. Tho whites and blacks have sum ·iontly SOI'V d to mustrate th point; and the other races would show similar cff',cts, in various <lcgt· s. Many facts bearing on other races will bo brought out as we progress. Malar·ial Climates.-Under this head, we shall intl'odnce fucts to provo that races are influenced differently, not only by tho tentperatur ·e of various l:1titudos, but by morbific agents, which, to a ccrt~tjn extent, arc indepcud nt of m rc temperature-viz., tho causes of marBh or yellow fevers, typhoid fever, cholera, plague, &c. Our illustrations will be again taken mostly from the white and black mccs, because they afford the fullest statil:ltics, and because the writer has boon professionally engaged with thea raceA for more than thirty years, anu il:l fhmiliar with the peculiarities of both. . W c should here call atteution to a striking physiological diHor nee between tho two races. It was a remark annually mad by the distinguished Dr. Chapman, Professor of Pmetico in tlto Pennsylvania lJnivor ·ity: "Tltat tlte negro is much less s?tbJeot to inflammatory diseases, with ltiglt vascular action, titan tl~e wldtes, and mr·ely bears blood:letting, or depletion in any for·m; aud even in pleurisy, pn 11- moma, &c., he often requires stimulants instead of deplotants." 18 ~'.or~ full di~cussion of tho question of bybridity, see No·r'J' & OLIDDON'a "'J1ypr1 of Afankmd, PP· 372-410: -Bnd !\lao tho Appendix by J. C. NOT1.' to Jio·rz's Gobineau pp 489-604. ' ' ' CLIMATE AND DISEASES ON 11!AN. 3GD Tho rcmal'l< is unqt1estionably true; and will be vouched for by every experienced physician North and South. I have had under my charge, for some years, a pdvate infil'mat'y, devoted to nco-roes· in which arc annually received a large number of negro laborers: and most of them from our city cotton-pt·esscs and steamboats, where none but tho most athletic arc employed. 'When seized with pneumonia, pleurisy, and other acute discnses of winter (to say nothin()' of summer affections), they almo t invariably come in with feeble pulse, cool skin, unstrung muscles, and aU the symptoms of p7ostration; and requir·c to be treated mainly with r vulsives, quinme, and stimulants. This I remarkccl also in Philadelphia, when a resident student at the Almshouse; anti all the medical writers of the South sustain me. 'l'he negt·o, too, always suffers moro than whites from cholera, typhoid fever, 14 plague, small-pox, and all those diseases arisino- from morbid poisons, that have a tendency to depress the pow rs of life, with tho exception of marsh and yellow fevers-to which, we shall see, be is infinitely less liable. Tho planters of tho South look wHh terror to the appearance of cholera or typhoid diseases among their negroes; and whether those be natives of the extreme South, or recently bronght from the colder and more salubrious regions of Maryland and Virginia, it matters not: the susceptibility belongs to the race, and is little influenced by pI ace of birth. The stl'ictly white races reach their highest physical and intellectual development, as well as most perfect health and grcatpst avemge duration of life, above latitude 40° in theW estern, and 45° in the Eastern Hemisphere; and whenever they migr·atc many dcgr os below these lines, they begin to deteriomto fi·om increased temp •raturo, either alone, or combined with morbific influences incident to climate. On the continent of Europe, there has been, fot· several thousand years, such a constant flux and reflux of p O!Jlc , fr m wars and migrations, that races have b come so mingled, from the Mediterranean to the Arctic, as to render it impo siblc now to unravel this human maze, and to give its proper value to ca h indigenous race, of which we believe there wot·c many. We must, therefore, take them in masses or groups; and, in spoaki ng of wldte races, we shall draw our illustrations mostly ft'om Anglo- axons, Celts, and Germans, which are so nearly alli d, and so like in temperament, as to answer su:lliciently well out· pres nt wants. They, too, have been widely scattered through foreign climates; and, H Dn. DourHN, in his "Patllologie Oomparde," giveR o.bund11nt proof of tho liability of negroes to typhoid fever, consumption, 11nd choloro., in the 'L'ropicR o.nd in the Old Wot·ld. 24 ... ,, •''' |