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CHAP. 80. (78.)—OF THE DIFFERENCE OF NATIONS AS DEPENDING ON THE NATURE OF THE WORLD.

To these circumstances we must add those that are connected with certain celestial causes. There can be no doubt, that the Æthiopians are scorched by their vicinity to the sun's heat, and they are born, like persons who have been burned, with the beard and hair frizzled1; while, in the opposite and frozen parts of the earth, there are nations with white skins and long light hair. The latter are savage from the inclemency of the climate, while the former are dull from its variableness2. We learn, from the form of the legs, that in the one, the fluids, like vapour, are forced into the upper parts of the body, while in the other, being a gross humour, it is drawn downwards into the lower parts3. In the cold regions savage beasts are produced, and in the others, various forms of animals, and many kinds of birds4. In both situations the body grows tall, in the one case by the force of fire, and in the other by the nutritive moisture.

In the middle of the earth there is a salutary mixture of the two, a tract fruitful in all things, the habits of the body holding a mean between the two, with a proper tempering of colours; the manners of the people are gentle, the intellect clear5, the genius fertile and capable of comprehending every part of nature. They have formed empires, which has never been done by the remote nations; yet these latter have never been subjected by the former, being severed from them and remaining solitary, from the effect produced on them by their savage nature.

1 "Vibrato;" the same term is applied by Turnus to the hair of Æneas; Æn. xii. 100.

2 "Mobilitate hebetes;" it is not easy to see the connexion between these two circumstances.

3 There is a passage in Galen, De Temperamentis, iii. 6, which may appear to sanction the opinion of our author; "Siccos esse, quibus macra sunt crura; humidos, quibus crassa."

4 The latter part of the remark is correct, but the number of ferocious animals is also greater in the warmer regions; there is, in fact, a greater variety in all the productions of nature in the warmer districts of the globe, except in those particular spots where animal or vegetable life is counteracted by some local circumstances, as in many parts of Asia and Africa by the want of water.

5 "Sensus liquidus;" Alexandre explains this expression, "judicium sanum, mens intelligendo apta." Lemaire, i. 401.

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