Do we need any better evidence of the influence of climate on man, than to witness its effect on beasts and birds? Æolian informs us that the Eubaea was famous for producing white oxen.[24] Blumenbach remarks, that “all the swine of Piedmont are black, those of Normandy white, and those of Bavaria are of a reddish brown. The turkeys of Normandy,” he states, “are all black; those of Hanover almost all white. In Guinea, the dogs and the gallinaceous fowls are as black as the human inhabitants of the same country.”[25]
The lack of color, in the northern regions, of many animals which possess color in more temperate latitudes,—as the bear, the fox, the hare, beasts of burden, the falcon, crow, jackdaw, and chaffinch,—seems to arise entirely from climate. The common bear is differently colored in different regions. The dog loses its coat entirely in Africa, and has a smooth skin.
We all see and admit the change which a few years produces in the complexion of a Caucasian going from our northern latitude into the tropics.
FOOTNOTES:
[14] Smith on “The Complexion of the Human Species.”
[15] Pritchard.
[16] “Tribute for the Negro,” p. 59.
[17] Pennington’s Text Book, p. 96.
[18] “Livingstone’s Travels,” p. 296.
[19] Ibid, p. 364.