Certain branches of the human family present physical peculiarities and
aptitudes for certain climates which others do not. The one thrives and
arrives at perfection, whilst the other languishes and dies.
Floras and Faunas have well-defined limits of latitude, beyond which they
decline and become extinct, and in some countries we observe certain
limitations as to longitudes. "There are tropical trees that become shrubs
in our zone, and the flowers of our meadows have their types in the
tapering trunks of other climes."
How rapidly the beautiful varieties of domestic animals deteriorate and
disappear when removed from the localities and conditions in which they
attained their excellence. The handsome Swiss cattle when carried to the
plains of Lombardy, and the remarkable varieties of the English herds when
removed to Central France, quickly lose their characteristics of form and
superiority. Under the tropics the sheep loses its silken fleece, and the
noble qualities of the dog greatly change.
Even the insect world changes greatly in every twelve degrees of latitude,
and an alteration, almost total, appears in double the space.
The influence of climate and locality, which exercises so positive a power
in the vegetable kingdom and animal reign, affects man likewise, and would
be as distinctly marked were it not resisted by the forces of the
intelligence. We find under certain parallels of latitude more energy of
mind and greater activity of body than at others; we observe this more
distinctly with particular races or varieties than with others, thus
indicating that all have not the same aptitudes: again, through a
combination of organic and social laws, types adapted to certain pursuits
spring up in every civilized country, these types distinct from either
varieties or species. We also see the sharp characteristics of races, when
migrating, become less distinct, and mixtures increase, and the inferior
races disappear, like "the elementary language or the primitive forms of
the social state."
The observed limit of range of the Hindoo and the African, in the Old
World, is not beyond 30 deg. of the equator, and in a lower latitude than 36 deg.
the European colonies have never prospered, never succeeded, in their
attempts for empire. Where now are the countless hosts of Romans, Gauls,
and Vandals that have occupied Northern Africa in past times? The
ethnologist of to-day cannot discover a feature, hardly a trace even, of
the language of the conquerors remaining among the present tribes of
occupation. Even the Roman has vanished, and the only vestige of the
Carthaginian and Numidian is shown by the scattered and diminished
Bergers. These varieties contended with the climate, and were gradually
absorbed by the stronger native tribes.
The Mongols once held Central Europe, the Goths ruled Italy. Where are
they? There is no longer Vandalic blood in Africa or Gothic blood in
Italy.
In later times the strong, the fierce and dauntless Northmen held the
Sicilies, and as the incorruptible Varingar guarded and upheld with their
fearless swords the waning empire of the effeminate Greeks at the
Dardanelles. Where are they and their descendants? The only traces are
seen among the tombstones at Palermo, or in the Runic inscriptions which
they sacrilegiously sculptured with their long blades of steel upon the
flanks of the marble lion of the Piraeus.