The tendency to variety is very manifest, even from facts under our daily observation. Individuals are common among European nations, who exhibit some one or more of the traits of the Negro, as, for example, his woolly hair, thick lips, &c. Among the Negro races have been born individuals of a perfectly white colour. Many of these specimens, according to Dr. Prichard, were not Albinos or diseased persons, but indisputable examples of his principle.
It is probable that in the infancy of the race, this extraordinary tendency may have served the important purpose of accelerating those physiological changes by which the constitution of Man was adapted to the different climates of the Globe, while, in subsequent ages, climate which determines the physiology of the majority, may be said thereby to neutralize the influence of these exceptions. Diversities of complexion, &c. occur in our own and in neighbouring countries within a very limited area. Thus the dark hair and features of the ancient Silures which were ascribed by the Romans to a Spanish origin, are still observable among their posterity, characteristics of which, I conceive, a satisfactory explanation may be found in the warm and equable temperature of the Southern counties of Wales, caused by the peculiar distribution of land and water.(15) In these countries many productions, both animal and vegetable, flourish, which are rarely found further North. The Nightingale is common, and the Vine is cultivated frequently. The contrast between the temperature of the coasts of South Wales and that of North Wales has not escaped the attention of the Welsh Bards. Davyth ap Gwilym, a Bard of the fourteenth Century, in a Poem of great beauty, in which he describes himself as writing from the land of “wild,” Gwynedh (North Wales), calls upon the Summer and the Sun to visit with their choicest blessings the genial region of “Morganwg,” (Glamorganshire,) of which he was a native, and alludes to its warm climate and its Vineyards, which seem to have been a conspicuous feature! For some very valuable illustrations of the same principle, I may refer to the account given by the Rev. Thomas Price in his Tour in Brittany, published in the Cambrian Quarterly Magazine, of the varieties of complexion and stature observable in Upper and Lower Brittany.(16)