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That of the French is commonly black. And the most frequent colours among the English are fair, and brown. Among the Highlanders of Scotland, the predominant complexions are black and red. Red hair is, likewise, frequently seen in the cold and elevated regions of the Alps, while black prevails in the warm rallies at the foot of those mountains; except along the northern frontier where it borders the German empire. The aboriginals of America, like all people of colour, have universally black hair, which is straight and grows in a thick coat upon the head. Black is that colour of the human hair which is most frequent; because those climates which are most favourable to the multiplication of the species, tend also to create different shades of the dark complexion. Nations which are not naturally distinguished by any peculiar colour of this excrescence, but have it diversified by different tints and shades, generally incline to the fair complexion. The great variety in the hair which is seen in England may, in some degree, be ascribed to the uncommon mixture of nations which has taken place in that beautiful and inviting island, either from early migrations to it, or from the successive conquests to which it has been subject.

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But that form of it which principally attracts our attention, is the sparse, coarse, and involved substance like wool, which overs the head of the tropical African. This peculiarity has been urged as a decisive character of a distinct species with more assurance than become philosophers but tolerably acquainted with the operations of nature. The sparseness, and coarseness of the African hair, or wool, is analogous to effects which we have already seen to be produced by the temperature of arid climates upon other animals. -Its involution may be occasioned, in part, by the excessive heat of a vertical sun acting upon sands which glow with an ardor unknown in any other quarter of the globe.* But, probably, it is occasioned chiefly by some peculiar quality of the secretion by which it is nourished.† That the curl,

*According to the testimony of Mr. Bruce, and other travelers, in the sandy deserts of Africa the sands appear frequently to burn, and to emit a blueish flame destructive to life, unless a man, perceiving its approach, instantly falls upon his face and scraping a deep hole in the sand breathes below the surface while it is passing.

† It is manifest, says Blumenbach, that there is a strong sympathy between the liver, the laboratory of the bile, and the skin: and, as the influence of climate upon the secreting powers of the former is very great, it is proportionally great on the action
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