Physical geography. By Mary Somerville ...

489 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. CHAP. XXXIII.
table food, he never could have had a permanent residence beyond
the latitude where corn ripens. The Esquimaux, and all the inhabitants of the very high latitudes of both continents, live entirely on
fish and animal food. What effects the difference of food may have
upon the intellect is not known.
A nation or tribe driven by war, or any other cause, from a warm
to a cold country, or the contrary, would be forced to change their
food both in quality and quantity, which in the lapse of ages might
produce an alteration in the external form and internal structure.
The probability is still greater, if the entire change that a few years
produces in the matter of which the human frame is composed be
considered. At every instant during life, with every motion, voluntary and involuntary, with every thought and every exercise of the
brain, a portion of our substance becomes dead, separates from the
living part, combines with some of the inhaled oxygen, and is removed. By this process it is supposed that the whole body is
renewed every 7 years; individuality, therefore, depends on the
spirit, which retains its identity during all the changes of its earthly
house, and sometimes even acts independently of it. When sleep
is restoring exhausted nature, the spirit is often awake and active,
crowding the events of years into a few seconds, and, by its unconsciousness of time, anticipates eternity. Every change of food, climate, and mental excitement must have their influence on the reproduction of the mortal frame; and thus a thousand causes may
co-operate to alter whole races of mankind placed under new circumstances, time being granted.
The difference between the effects of manual labour and the efforts of the brain appears in the intellectual countenance of the
educated man, compared with that of the peasant, though even he
is occasionally stamped with nature's own nobility. The most savage
people are also the ugliest. Their countenance is deformed by violent unsubdued passions, anxiety, and suffering. Deep sensibility
gives a beautiful and varied expression, but every strong emotion is
unfavourable to perfect regularity of feature; and of that the Greeks
were well aware when they gave that calmness of expression and
repose to their unrivalled statues. The refining effects of high culture, and, above all, the Christian religion, by subduing the evil
passions, and encouraging the good, are more than anything calculated to improve even the external appearance. The countenance,
though perhaps of less regular forn, becomes expressive of the
amiable and benevolent feelings of the heart, the most captivating
of all beauty.'
- The countenances of the Fuegians brought to England in 1830 by Captain FitzRoy improved greatly in expression by their intercourse with
civilized men, but they had not returned to their savage brethren more
than a year before their whole appearance was completely changed; the