I. There is no doubt, but the different temperament of air in countries,
induces a sensible diversity in men, brutes, and plants. In plants, the
difference is so great, that the same which in one country is innocent
and salutary, in another is noxious and poisonous, which, as we are
assured, is the case with the Persian apple. The diversity between
brutes, is not less than that between plants, both with respect to their
size, fierceness, strength, and other qualities; but besides what is
obvious and clear to the observation of all men in this matter; we are
assured there are countries, where many sorts of animals, degenerate
totally from the characteristic property of their species. If we are to
believe Lucianus, Macedonia produces serpents, so social to the human
race, that they will play with children, and gently apply their mouths to
the nipples of women’s breasts to suck their milk; and as Louis de Marmol
informs us, in Gruregra a mountainous country in the kingdom of Fez,
the lions which are very numerous, are so tame and so timid, that the
women with sticks in their hands, beat and drive them about like so many
domestic dogs.
II. If the difference in our own species, which is produced by a
diversity of climate, is not so great, it is sufficiently evident and
apparent. It is manifest, that there are countries, where the inhabitants
are remarkable for being of larger stature than they are in others, or
for being more active, more strong, more healthy, or more beautiful; and
that this difference subsists with respect to all other things, that
depend upon the two faculties that are common to both men and brutes,
that is, the sensitive and the vegetative. Even in nations which border
upon each other, this difference is sometimes observable.
III. Distinct dispositions of body, are attended with distinct qualities
of mind; and from distinct temperaments, result distinct inclinations;
and from distinct inclinations, distinct customs and manners. The
first of these consequences is a necessary one; but the second is not
so certain, because a man’s free will may restrain the impetus of his
inclination; but as is most commonly the case, men let their free will be
led by the emotions, which are produced by the interior disposition of
the machine; so that we may safely pronounce, that men in one country are
more addicted to passion and anger, in another to gluttony, in another to
be lascivious, and in another to be lazy or slothful.
IV. The inequality between men of different regions in the rational part,
is generally supposed not to be less, but rather greater, than it is in
the sensitive and vegetative; and it is not only in the conversation of
the vulgar that we see this opinion upheld, but we see it supported in
the writings of the learned; where we find one nation described as rude
and savage, another as stupid, and another as barbarous; so that when
according to this description of them, we come to compare one of these
nations, with one of those who are esteemed cultivated and polished,
we conceive that there is nearly as great a difference between the
inhabitants of the one and the other, as there is between men and wild
beasts.
V. I differ so widely from the common opinion in this particular, that
with respect to the essential part of the use of the understanding,
in the inhabitants of one nation and another, the difference is
imperceptible. This sentiment cannot be better justified, than by
shewing, that those nations which are commonly reputed rude and
barbarous, are not inferior in ingenuity to the most cultivated ones, and
perhaps in some instances excel them.