brother, Dr. H. J. Shaw, has since tried it, with the same good effect; in fact, his experience coincides with mine throughout. In closing this short and imperfect essay, I indulge a hope that it will prove of some service to the profession.-[Nashville Journal of Medicine and Surgery.

An Essay on some of the Distinctive Peculiarities of the Negro Race. By A. P. MERRILL, M. D.

It will scarcely be deemed necessary, in treating of peculiarities, anatomical, physiological, pathological, and therapeutical, of the negro race, that we should enter upon the discussion of the science of ethnology, which has latterly engaged so much attention from learned men. It cannot be denied, however, that it involves to some extent the questions of physical and mental peculiarities, which are found to differ in different races of men, and to exercise a modifying influence over the animal and moral functions, both in health and disease; but whether these differences and peculiarities have arisen from a pleurality of original creations, from the influences of accidental circumstances, or from special providences, it matters little to our present purpose. The subjects which we have undertaken to discuss, have reference merely to the existence of certain facts, in connection with the negro constitution, which so influence and control his health, and the diseases to which he is subject, as to constitute distinctive peculiarities, requiring the adoption of habits of life in health, and the application of remedial measures in sickness, differing, either in kind or degree, from those which are applicable to the white race. And these inquiries are supposed to have reference, especially, to these two races, as we find them existing in our own country at the present time, and principally in the Southern states, in the relations of master and slave.

Anatomical Peculiarities are conceded to exercise an important influence over physiological functions; and may, therefore, be briefly referred to here, as almost necessarily connected with the other branches of our subject. These, although sufficient in the negro, to be readily distinguished and palpable, even to the casual observer, can scarcely be considered of such a decided character, and so widely differing from other races, as to justify the broad distinction which has been drawn between different races by a certain class of ethnologists; or such as will properly authorize, of themselves, independent of other considerations, the grave conclusion that God did not make of one blood all nations of men, to dwell on all the face of the earth. Nor do these anatomical peculiarities lead us to expect, from any influences which they may be supposed to exert over the functions of the body, a wider difference in the character of the diseases affecting the different races, than

we actually meet with in practice. The color of the skin, and the peculiarities of the hair of the negro, however they may have been originally produced, undoubtedly serve important purposes of protection and comfort, in the climate where he is found in the enjoyment of the fullest health. They are such as are favorable to a high degree of radiation of caloric from the body, which presents to the air a constantly evaporating surface, and afford to the brain the most efficient protection from the influence of the rays of a vertical sun. The scantiness or entire destitution of clothing, which is the natural result of that improvidence engendered by a hot climate, where little other than vegetable food is desired, and where this is mostly supplied by the spontaneous productions of the soil, renders these provisions of nature essential to healthful functions, and even a comfortable existence, in his native country.

In regard to the brain, the peculiarity of the negro consists more in its conformation than in its volume; the latter being scarcely below the average of some other races of greater acknowledged intellectual endowments, although decidedly below that of the Teutonic and Anglo-Saxon races. The phrenological characteristics of the negro, are said to indicate a large preponderance of the animal over the intellectual functions; and such is the inference to be drawn, also, from an acquaintance with the mental constitution of the negro. A remarkable fact, in this connection, not generally noticed by writers, but hinted at by Agassiz, may, we think, be considered as one of his distinctive traits. Negro children are not, in general, deficient in mental quickness, and acumen; and are not unfrequently found to be precocious, and susceptible of successful instruction; while the intellect is not only not developed subsequently, as in white children, but appears in truth to retrograde, so as actually to fall below, in many cases, the developments which have taken place in the white race, even in childhood. It is not uncommon, on southern plantations, to meet with children of nearly the same ages, of both races, engaging together in childish sports and pastimes; and to notice that the negro children are equal, and sometimes superior, to their young masters and mistresses, in the quickness of their perceptions, and aptness to learn whatever is attempted to be taught them. Negro children often succeed in learning to talk in advance of the children of their master, with which they are associated; and we have found, upon a personal experiment, that they can most readily be taught, by a system of oral instruction, simple religious truths, hymns, and forms of prayer, so as to make a very creditable display of proficiency, as catechumens. The children of family servants, which are kept in close association with the older members of the white family, by whom they are apt to be much caressed, frequently exhibit such evidences of smartness, and such readiness of wit, as to afford great promise of future usefulness, in spheres of action requiring undue intelligence and judgment. With few

and rare exceptions, however, they lose all signs of uncommon talents, as they advance in years, and sometimes even become noted for their dullness. No advantage of position or instruction will, so far as we have been able to observe, obviate or retard this tendency to deterioration.

The thorax of the negro is less expanded, and his vital capacity for respiration is said to be somewhat less than that of the white man. Indeed it is said to have been proved" that such is the fact, and that a less volume of air is respired in consequence; but this apparent defect may be compensated for, in some degree, by the greater curvature of the ribs, giving scope for greater mobility of the chest, and consequently a more perfect exhaustion and expan sion of the air-cells, in respiration. This curvature causes a deeper depression of the spine, which is a constant peculiarity in the formation of the negro skeleton. The scapulæ are said to be shorter and broader, and the pelvis somewhat narrower, particularly in the male. The legs are apt to be bowed, and the heels projecting backwards. The muscles of the limbs are short and protuberant, with proportionally longer tendons. The genital organs of both sexes are more largely developed, and the breasts of the females are more conical, with a less extent of base. The nerves have been represented as being larger, and containing a greater aggregate of substance, in proportion to the amount of brain and spinal marrow; but this, perhaps, requires further proof. The liyer is said, also, to be larger in proportion to other organs.

The Physiological Peculiarities are, in part, such as naturally result from the anatomical. Reason, judgment, forecast, and independence of character, could scarcely be the accompaniments of a brain however large its volume, in which the animal organs maintain a great preponderance over the intellectual and moral. Consequently we find, what might reasonably be expected from the anatomical conformation, that the negro is essentially a degraded being, vastly inferior to the Caucasian race, in all the attributes of spiritual existence; and only capable of improvement by many ages of contact and association with civilized nations. How far such influences may tend to the improvement of his physical constitution, and to the relief of his mental deterioration, can at present be only a matter of conjecture; but admitting that all his peculiarities of deterioration are the result of forty or more centuries of constant decline, while the interval between him and the white man, has been widened by as constant an improvement and elevation of the latter, and it must be admitted as probable, that however much may be done by mankind, toward the promotion of the civilization and christianization of the former, many thousand years must necessarily elapse, before he can be brought up to the present position of the white man. No one who has had proper

* Dr. Cartwright, New Orleans Journal, Vol 1, IX, 196.

opportunities of observation, and taken the trouble to improve them, can for a moment entertain a doubt, that, of all the providential occurrences, tending to the improvement and elevation in the scale of being, of this degraded race, none could be better suited to the purpose, than the existence of American slavery. It must not be denied, that it is a system which leads to egregious abuses. Of these we are not the apologist. To his own master let every slave-holder render up his account.

No fact in psychology is better established, than the inaptitude of the negro mind to improvement. In his native country he exhibits no signs of progression. The rising generation does not aim to improve upon the past, or to profit by a knowledge of its errors; but taking the place of their predecessors, they are content with doing precisely as has been done by their progenitors for ages. If his forefathers have been accustomed to plow with the rough branch of a tree, the negro has no conception of any other method, and works on with the branch of a tree from generation to generation forever. Nor does he seem inclined to follow the example of the white man. The latter may settle near him, and plow his grounds according to the most approved modern plan, and the negro may look on and wonder; but he is not any the less willing, still, to pursue the example of his fathers, and no improvement is attempted, however promising may be its results. Such has been the stationary condition of the race from the earliest times, tending more, perhaps, to deterioration than to improvement; and there can be little hope of progression in future, while the negro is left to follow the bent of his own inclinations. His condition and history promise nothing but the extreme of savage ignorance and degradation.

By the institution of southern slavery, the negro is brought under a system of tutelage, in contact with a race vastly his superior, and of whose habits of thought and action he is constantly compelled to take notice. By every humane and judicious master he is cared for, as he requires to be, as a child in leading strings; and although he has not yet attained a degree of improvement which would seem to be commensurate with his advantages, it must be considered, that his pupilage has as yet only been a short one, and not sufficient to test his capabilities of ultimate advancement. Time may so far develop these, as to enable him to recover his lost position in the scale of being, and to carry back to his native shores the germs of civilization, and the christian religion, both to be successfully cultivated, to the enlightenment and regeneration of benighted Africa. Human research and ingenuity have not been able to devise any other available means, by which these blessed results can be secured to an ignorant and degraded people, than by the influence of long association with a superior and dominant race. History affords examples in illustratiou of this position, and our own experience, as well as our reason, confirms

it. It is an interesting problem, to be solved in the long and tedious future, whether the negro will, even by these means, ever be elevated in the scale of being, to a degree which will realize the anxious hopes of the christian and the philanthropist.

Other physiological peculiarities result from, or appear to be intimately connected with, the native climate of the negro. Whether so formed by a separate creation, as some contend, or adapted by long habituation, the negro race is physiologically constituted for the enjoyment of a hot climate. Living mainly, in their native wilds, upon a meagre and vegetable diet, their systems are less abundantly supplied with carbonaceous material, and have less adaptation to the generation of animal heat, than the white race in more northern latitudes. The air which surrounds them within the tropics, being much of the time of an equal or higher temperature than their bodies, and never at any time much below it, there is no necessity for an active reproduction of warmth, to replenish the moderate waste from external radiation. If it be true, therefore, that less air is respired by the negro, and a less amount of oxygen consumed, which appears to be altogether probable, it is because there is less occasion for physiological combustion; and this may be further reduced by the more rapid elimination of carbon by the liver and skin, while the copious supply of perspirable matter and proportionate evaporation from the surface, tend to prevent an undue accumulation of animal heat, from the moderate exercise of the functions whence it is derived.

The negro constitution being thus eminently adapted to the torrid region, it follows that the climate in which we find him in our country, is much too far north for him. Being exposed for a large portion of the year, to a temperature to which he is ill adapted, and liable to suffer all the while from the operation of those causes, above alluded to, which constantly tend to the reduction of the heat of his body, so sparingly supplied, he can only be protected from the evil influences upon his animal functions, and rendered effective as a laborer, by being better fed, and better clothed, and lodged, than in his native country. The changes which take place in his physiological functions, as a consequence of his sudden transfer to a colder climate, must be counteracted by corresponding changes in his mode of living, or disease and an abridgment of the duration of life, must be the natural result. This remark is, perhaps, scarcely less applicable to the white man of temperate latitudes, when suddenly transferred to the polar regions. If he neglected to conform, to some extent, to Esquimaux habits, and indulge in the use of oleaginous food, to furnish additional supplies of hydro-carbon for an increased production of animal heat, he will scarcely be able to endure a succession of cold winters, without a loss of health. The converse of this proposi tion is equally true. Emigrants from hyperborean to tropical regions, require, equally, that their habits of life should be charged,