"Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed."—Ecclesiastes viii.
There is only one other matter to which we think it necessary to allude, before we pass to the concluding section of our work. It has been said (162), that snow which is white, keeps the earth warm; that white as a colour is cool, and that black absorbs heat (230). These assertions may appear to be contradictory, and, taken in connection with the fact of the blackness of the skin of negroes in hot climates, may at a first glance be considered unsatisfactory. They are, however, perfectly reconcileable, and that too, without the slightest evasion of the real bearing of the asserted facts. White snow is warm on account of its texture, which, being woolly, forms a layer of non-conducting substance over the surface of the earth, and keeps in its warmth; white clothing, worn as a garment consisting of a thin material, is cool, because the white colour turns back the rays of the sun that fall upon it. Swansdown, although white, being a non-conductor, would be warm, because, though it would reflect the light and heat, it would confine and accumulate the heat of the body. The black skin of the negro is a living texture, and is not subject to the same laws that govern dead matter. The skin of the negro is largely provided with cells which secrete a fatty matter that acts as a non-conductor of the external heat, and also a much larger number of perspiratory glands than exist in the skins of Europeans. The perspiration cools the blood, and carries off the internal heat, while the oily matter gives a shining surface to the skin, and reflects the heat, to which the fatty matter presents itself as a non-conductor. We see, therefore, that there are two express provisions for the cooling of the negroes' skin, independent of the colour. The skin of the Esquimaux who inhabits a cold country is white, though it might be supposed that a black skin would best conduce to the warmth of his body. But the Esquimaux has, underneath his skin, a thick coating of fat, by which the internal heat of the body is prevented from escaping.
This resume of the subjects embodied in the form of question and answer in the previous pages, will serve to impress the more important truths upon the mind of the reader, while it has enabled us to fill up many omissions necessitated by the arbitrary form of catechetical composition.
"Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee."—Job xii.