R E S E A R C H E S
PHYSICAL fflBÈÈÊÈÈÊÈÊMANKIND.
INTRODUCTION'.
S ection I.— General Statement o f the Inquiries which form
the subject o f the following Work.
T h e r e is scarcely any <question relating to the history of
organized beings, that is fitted to excite greatef interest,
than inquiries into the nature of those varieties in complexion,
form, and habits, which distinguish from each other the several
races*-of men. 'O u r curiosity on this subject*ceases to be
awakened, when we have’ become accustomed to . satisfy ourselves
respecting it with some*hypothesis^ whether adequate
or insufficient to. explain the phenomenar^büb if a person
previously unaware of the existence of such diversities*,'-could
suddenly be made a spectator of the -various appearances
which the tribçs of men display in diffèrent regions of the
earth, it cannot be doubted that he would experience emotions
of wonder and surprise. If subh a person, foi* example,
after surveying Isoteie brilliant ceremony or court-pageant in
one of the splêndid cities of Europe, were suddenly carried into
a hamlet in Negroland, at ithe hour when the sable tribes recreate
themselves with dancing and barbarous music, or if he
were transported to the saline plains over which bald and
tawny Mongolians roam, differing but little in hue from the
B