Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/205

Rh which are political, may be added others, which are phyſical and moral. The firſt difference which ſtrikes us is that of color. Whether the black of the negro reſides in the reticular membrane between the ſkin and ſcarf-ſkin, or in the ſcarf-ſkin itſelf; whether it proceeds from the color of the blood, the color of the bile, or f r o r m that of ſome other ſecretion, the difference is fixed in nature, and is as real as if its ſeat and cauſe were better known to us. And is this difference of no importance? Is it not the foundation of a greater or leſs ſhare of beauty in the two races? Are not the fine mixtures of red and white, the expreſſions of every paſſion by greater or leſs ſuffuſions of color in the one, preferable, to that eternal monotony, which reigns in the countenances, that immoveable veil of black which covers all the emotions of the other race? Add to theſe, flowing hair, a more elegant ſymmetry of form, their own judgment in favor of the whites, declared by the preference of them, as uniformly as is the preference of the Oranootan for the black women over thoſe of his own ſpecies. The circumſtance of ſuperior beauty, is thought worthy attention in the propagation of our horſes, dogs, and other domeſtic animals; why not in that of man? Beſides thoſe of color, figure, and hair, there are other phyſical diſtinctions proving a difference of race. They have leſs hare on the face and body. They ſecrete leſs by the kidnies, and more by the glands of the ſkin, which gives them a very ſtrong and diſagreeable odor. This greater degree of tranſpiration renders them more tolerant of heat, and leſs ſo of cold than the whites. Perhaps too a difference of ſtructure in the pulmonary apparatus, which a late