The Hickman courier., 1872-08-17
CLEMATE AND PmYsEQUE.
The Human Race I'm California
and Tasmania.

Ine hhuUiAu hAAGC AH SnhAAOb Aha
and Tasmania.
rFrom the San Francisco Bulletin, July 2e
How far climate affects physique is n
question which has caused much discus
sion among scientists. John Bull gen
eralIy believes with one of his book
makers, Kingsley, that sit is the hare
gray weather which makes hard Eng
/ iishmen" in the tight little island aud
not few New EngIanders are found who
ipsis, that the climate and other physical
features of the home of the Pilgrims
have had much to do in moulding the
prevailing characteristics Of their deseen-
! dauts. The New York Herald, not long
since. in commenting on the lnteruatlou-
al Rowing match. traced the defeat OF
the New York Atlantas by the LONDON
crew to the enervating effects OF Amer-
can climate. 4 recent writer in the
London Spectator, in connection with
this subject, has beeu peculsting whether
the settlement Of the Anglo Saxon race
in what il desiguates the two most per-
feet of earthly climates--California aud
Tasmania-Hill leave any physical i'm
preston on the rising generation. Tas.
mania it calls 1.-THE Epglish climate
etherealized, and our own is described
as 1.-The Greek climate cooled 1t
notices the fact that both these climates
have produced in their aborigines the
two feebest races Of humanity hitherto
observed-the Digger Indian aud the
native Tasmonian. The latter Is BOW, II
We mistake not. almost or entirely extinct.
These two districts have not been set
tied long enough to answer the question
with any accuracy, aud from the present
opportunities for travel, IL is not likely
to have q satisfactory solution IN after
years though at the present time, IN
respect to California, observation leads
to the belief that the physique OF the
rising generation, the sons aud daugh-
ters Of those who have made the state
what it now is, will be at least equal, 1T
not superior, to that of their parents.
Persons from the Eastern and Western
States and Europe are strongly Impress
ed on arrival with the healthy look oi the
California children, and IL is on this ac-
count, as much as anything, that tho
gushing roseate descriptions OF Callfor-
uia climate have been published abroad.
So far. however, as the evidence attaina-
bic is concerned, physical qualities, size,
strength and industry, appear to be inde-
pendent Of the thermometer and aud clI-
mate The largest and strongest race
known, the Nubian of the Upper Nile.
lives and fourishes 10 heat to which
Europeans quickly succumb. These
men have not their equals for mere phys
zeal strength, aud are at the same time
industrious. That heat is not enervsting
to certain races is proved by the muscu-
/ lar Parsees of India and that it does
not necessarily prevent industry, is attest
/ ed by the men of the South Of China,
who swarm with activity in the SUPER
heated deltas Of the rivers there. Scot
land and Scandinavia produce a brave.
manly set Of men but they are ct
whit more manly OF enduring than some
of the Southern planters whose lives
have B~.ss g,-~-s@i -s.'e,..f ths Faas sIEarnJ1a
! of South Carolina and Louisiana.
Further illustrations may be adduced
showing that physical strength isCuot
confined to climate and place. The same
is also true of civilization. The earliest
known form of civilization-the Egyp-
tian-existed under parchlug sun, az
did the Assyrian aud BabyloDiau. Greece
was no cooler when Athens rose than
when it fell. Neither is the climate of
Italy mrterialIy different now from what
it was when Rome was the mistress of
the world Chinese civilization, so far
as we know, advanced and remained sta
tiouary under the same climate infuen-
ces. Mexico and Central America an
cently possessed civilization of high
order; and there are abundant evidence
that an ancient civilization was once ex-
tended to the tropical Africa.
Without denying that climatic and
physical surroundings have a certain
influence on the frame aud mind of man,
it is clear that all the assumptions which
have been made on this matter do not rest
on a firm basis With regard to Califor-
MIA, whatever effect the climate may per-
haps have on resident population, the
facilities for travel aud the frequent in-
terchanges that are to occur with the
rest of the Union, will prevent the de-
yelopment of shch marked physical or
mental traits as would have occurred
were the country as isolated from the
rest of the world as were the people OF
olden times.