them the hero, who, with his wife and children, started from a cotton plantation in Georgia, and followed, over floods and mountains, the north star, till he trod a soil which cannot be trodden by slaves, and is now the honest cultivator of that soil; we shall find among them the heroine, who has ransomed herself and her children by nightly toil over the wash-tub, and her, who, by the same honorable occupation, has ransomed eleven of her enslaved brethren and sisters; we shall find among them the noble-hearted colored men and women, who, when the yellow-fever was desolating Philadelphia, and white people fled from their own brothers and sisters, stood by to wet the parched lip, to soothe the dying agony-to perform the last sad offices, for the race that despised them. Talk about the misfortune of having such a population among us-the natural repugnance which prevents us from walking or sitting or eating with such people, because they have black skins-pass about, in mock-benevolence, contribution boxes to freight them across the ocean! Oh! it is the consummation of cruel insult, cursed pride, base ingratitude, abomanible sin and self-destructive folly!-May our reputation stand before the world in everlasting pillory, if, consenting to be the slave of this insane custom, we ever refuse to honor those to whom honor is so justly due, that portion of our fellow citizens falsely called Afri

cans.

THE DIVERSITIES OF MEN.

In examining the question-whether the known influence of natural causes is sufficient to account for the diversities, which characterize the inhabitants of the different continents, it seems appropriate to inquire what causes act with greatest energy in each, and what analogies can be found, showing the tendency of any of those causes to produce the peculiarities of the people subjected to their influ

ence.

The influence of heat over all material substances is al

most omnipotent in changing their magnitude and form, and consequently their color. For the color of a body depends wholly on its power of transmitting, absorbing or reflecting the rays of colored light, as they severally fall upon its surface.

The similarity of the vegetable and the animal kingdoms, in a number of important particulars, is a subject of common remark, and the ground of innumerable daily comparisons. Every observant person has been struck with the changes produced in the growth and appearance of plants by variations of temperature, or by a change of soil. When the appropriate food of the plant is afforded in abundance, it acquires a rapid growth; but dwarfish hardy plants are produced by dry or sterile soils. The diminutive oxen of our oakland neighbors, and the little horses fed by the Indians with the undergrowth of the forest, are uncommonly hardy. In like manner the poor people of countries where the law of caste deprives them of the sympathy and assistance of the wealthy, are generally much inferior, both in beauty and in size. The Soodras of Hindostan are not only blackened by continued exposure, but, owing to their restricted food and frequent destitution, dwarfed; while the lordly Brahmins sitting under the shade and reveling in abundance, possess a commanding stature and comparatively fair complexion. The larves of most kinds of insects, that burrow in the cavities of the earth, the roots of plants, and the leaves and stalks of vegetables kept in a cellar or a thickly shaded nursery-when exposed to the direct influence of the solar rays-exchange their whiteness for a deep tinge of black, brown or green. It may here be remarked that the leaves and flowers of plants consist of two transparent coats, containing a colored pulp, which gives them their peculiar hue. It has been found that the human skin, also, consists of three layers, or coats: the outer and inner skins, which are colorless, and an intermediate substance called the mucous web, whose color varies in different individuals, according to their complexions. Now the color of men, as well as of plants, increases in proportion to the thickness of this mucous, or pulpy, substance, in the same manner that a heavy coat of paint gives a hue to the surface which it covers, distinguishing and well defined. The leaves of corn planted in a barren spot, owe their paleness not less to the

thinness of the pulp, than to a deficiency in its color. Both these causes operate in the production of the deep rich tints. of the tropical regions; for there the size and thickness of the flowercups, and the leaves (one of the former being large enough for a child's hat, and of the latter for a good sized tent) are equally astonishing with the richness of their dyes. It is evident, therefore, that the mucous coat being of precisely the same color in two individuals, but thicker in the one, his complexion must have a darker cast than that of his thinner-skinned companion. If we find, then, people remarkable for the thickness of their skin, even in a cold climate; their complexion, according to our rule, will be similar to that of people in general, who live in a much warmer clime.

Plants, removed to a climate, or soil, very different from their own, manifest a wonderful power of adapting their conformation and habits to the circumstances, which principally affect them. Thus several of the annual herbs of the polar regions, when transferred to a temperate clime, become perrenial shrubs; our shrubs become in the torrid zone, stately trees. The quincetree, in the south of France where it is cultivated, is an evergreen. The tendency of the largest kinds of corn to depreciate, and of the smallest to improve in size and fruitfulness in this climate, is another example of this adapting power; and will appear especially striking, when we consider that all the varieties of this plant, from the luxuriant gourdseed of the South to the pigmy species of Nantucket, are from the same original stock. Some trees, covered in their wild state with thorns, when cultivated, cast off this formidable armor of defence, and present only smooth and verdant branches. All the different kinds of the apple, also, are derived from the same original, and owe their peculiarities, principally, to their various climates, soils, situations, and to the degrees of culture they have received. "The ranunculus, in its native soil is yellow; when transplanted, it acquires various colors.-Tulips, auricolas, and dianthuses, of the same species, differ greatly from one another in color. The smell, taste, color, and size, of pears, plumbs, and other fruits, are changed by a difference of seasons." As the year changes its seasons, beasts, birds, and insects, change their covering, and to some extent, their form and habits. The mirth and activity of

spring laying aside the cumbrous garments and haggard poverty of winter for the beauty and abundance of summer, cannot fail to suggest to every mind many a subject of astonishment and gratitude for the wisdom and goodness of the Creator, who, with their varying circumstances varies the wants and habits of the animal creation. "As we approach the poles, we find every thing progressively whiten; bears, foxes, hares, falcons, crows, and blackbirds, all assume the same common livery." The air in those icy regions, is always of a low temperature, and consequently, it must be of the highest importance to the preservation of animal life that the heat of the body should not be transmitted; accordingly a white covering, the best of all colors for retaining heat-is found universally prevalent. In the warm and tropical regions, on the contrary, deep hues and often black, form the prevalent color of all animated tribes. In the tropics, the external heat, though rarely raised to the temperature of the body, is still so great as to impel the system to excessive action, and in this way, would destroy life by the ragings of fever, unless the color were such as to allow of the transmission of heat from the body with the umost freedom.

Let us now consider briefly, whether the diversities of the human race are greater than clime and manner of life have made in single species of the brutes. "Quadrupeds, of the same family, in the state of nature, are generally of one color, but they become of various colors by domestication and rich pastures. Wild cattle, are brown, tame cattle are of many colors. Horses, deers, and goats, brought into a state of servitude, or handled and fed by men, change their color. The horse of Arabia is strong and beautiful, with short hair and a smooth skin-in Russia, he is clumsy, and is clothed in winter, with a shaggy, frizzled coat-in China, he is weak and spiritless. The cow among the Eluth Tartars, is seven or eight feet high-in Cuba she has large horns, in Iceland, no horns. The immediate descendants of excellent wool-bearing sheep, have been known to alter in form, and become hairy as goats by removal from a temperate to a hot climate. Birds, of the same species, in their wild state, are all of the same color; they acquire different colors by domestication and a change of food. Pigeons, in the state of nature, are alike; but domestic pigeons are of many

colors. The turkey in America, its native country, is a dark colored bird, almost black; and the whole family are of one color. By domestication, many of them have become speckled and some white." The English, by separating into herds by themselves, the horses, cattle, sheep, and swine, excelling in some particular; and by carefully remaving, for successive generations, all the young of only ordinary quality, have succeeded in forming several distinct breeds of each kind of animals, distinguished for their peculiar excellencies-some for size, some for speed, some for beauty. The swine, which, in all its varieties, is known to have sprung from the wild boar, not being indigenous to America, we are enabled to trace their changes with perfect certainty; thus the swine imported from Europe into Cuba by the Spaniards have become a race of monsters, double the height and magnitude of the stock from which they were bred and with solid hoofs, not less then 12 or 14 inches in circumference. In several instances, swine have been reared of the enormous weight of 12 or 1500 pounds, equal to a yoke of good sized oxen. "The fineness and coarseness of the wool or hair, the firmness and flavor of the flesh, and in some degree the color of the skin and extent of the stature, are all influenced by the nature of the diet." Thus swine and other animals, fed on madder root, are found to have their bones tinged with red. In Piedmont, the swine are black; in Batavia, reddish brown; in Normandy, white. Among the white swine of Normandy, the bristles on the body are longer and softer than among other swine; and even those on the back are flaccid, and cannot be used by the brush-makers. In like manner, fair hair is soft; in the Albinos, or chalk-white persons, being a perfect down; black hair is coarser and often crisped. Keeping in mind that the countenance is darkened by whatever has a tendency to render the skin coarse and thick; as frequent exposure to a changeful atmosphere, strong and greasy food, as well as stimulating drinks and heat of climate, (to say nothing of the coloring matter applied to the external surface in the form of dust and smoke,) we will take a cursory view of the nations of the earth.

"In the different climates of Africa, Asia, and Europe, there are men of all the different shades, or colors, from white to black, there are hardly any two nations perfectly