According to some writers, the unequal distribution of solar heat over the
earth is the cause of marked differences in national character; others
refer the distinctive effects to the quality of the air they breathe.
Arbuthnot maintains that air not only fashions the body, but has also had
great influence in forming language; that the close, serrated method of
speaking of Northern nations was due to coldness of the climate, and
hesitation of opening the mouth; whilst the sweet, sonorous phrases of
temperate climes, like those of the Mediterranean, were due to the
mildness of climate, where the vocal organs could be exposed without
danger. "It is incontestable," also writes Alfred Maury, in his "Earth and
Man," "that climate has upon the mode of government a considerable
influence, because it exercises an immediate effect upon the character of
individuals. In the warm countries, under an enervating atmosphere, where
all inclines to effeminacy and idleness, the soul has not that energy and
that force of will necessary to a people who wish to be free. Under a
severe and cold climate, to the contrary, the character acquires more of
energy, and the body more of activity. The passions are less violent, and
leave to the reason a freer exercise. In the hot climes the instincts are
impetuous, and they pass from an extreme of dejection to a state of
exaltation which produces revolutions, insurrections, but which do not
establish the independence. For, to the contrary, these violent crises
introduce retaliation; and in the sanguinary conflicts, the power of an
individual, although tyrannical, appears as a benefit, or is accepted as a
necessity."