90 Johann Friedrich Blumenbach and the Encyclopaedia ...

90 Johann Friedrich Blumenbach and the Encyclopaedia

their part graduate away so insensibly towards the Ethiopian Britannica
variety, that, if it was thought convenient, they might not unfairly
be classed with them, in that distribution of the varieties we were The first extract is pari of the entry on "Nègre" in one of the
talking about. monuments of the Enlightenment, the Encvdnpcdie ou
Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts, et des métiers, coedited by
Conclusion. Thus too there is with this that insensible transition by Denis Diderot and Jean Le Rond d'Alemberi, and published
which as we saw the other varieties also run together, and which, from 1751 to 1772. The entry was written by M. I e Romain.
compared with what was discussed in the earlier sections of the book,
about the causes and ways of degeneration, and the analogous Nègre
phenomena of degeneration in the other domestic animals, brings
us to that conclusion, which seems to flow spontaneously from Man who inhabits different parts of the earth, from the Tropic of
physiological principles applied by the aid of critical zoology to the Cancer to the Tropic of Capricorn. Africa has no other inhabitants
natural history of mankind; which is, That no doubt can any longer but the blacks. Not only the color, but also the facial traits
distinguish them from other men: large and flat noses, thick lips, and
remain but that we are with great probability right in referring all and wool instead of hair. They appear to constitute a new species of
mankind.
singular as many varieties of man as are at present known to one and the
If one moves further away from the Equator toward the Antarctic,
same species. the black skin becomes lighter, but the ugliness remains: one finds there
this same wicked people that inhabits the African Meridian. If one goes
Entries in the Encyclopédie east, the features soften and become more regular, but the skin color
remains black as inside Africa. After these [eastern peoples], one
encounters a greatly tanned people, distinguishable from others by
their narrow and obliquely positioned long eyes. If we pass through
this vast part of the world which appears to be separate from Europe,
from Africa and Asia, one finds - if several travelers are to be believed
- a different

92 The Encyclopédie was lifted, there remains an extremely black colored portion of the
mucous membrane, on the skin or the vascular tissues. This black
human variety. There is absolutely no white person: the land is portion of the mucous membrane is what leaves black stain on the
peopled by red nations tanned in a thousand ways ... fingers that lifted the epidermis. There is, as a result, a particular
reservoir of this black taint between the epidermis and the skin.
Many physicians have researched the causes of the blackness of the
negro. The major opinions that the physicians hold on this matter can The mucous membrane, a tissue almost unknown, appears to be
be reduced to two: one attributes the cause to bile, the other to quite unequally distributed in different parts of the body. It is closely
some fluid contained in the veins of the mucous membrane. attached to the epidermis, and could not be entirely separated
Malpighi, Ruysch, Littré, Santorini, Heifter, and Albinus have from it, and that is why the black color cannot be erased off of
done intriguing researches on the skin of the negroes. The first the outer skin, and is of a deeper texture in the teguments of the
opinion on the blackness of the negro is entirely supported by inner surface.
proofs in a work entitled Dissertation sur la cause physique de la couleur
des nègres, etc. by M. Barrere (Paris, 1741). The following is how he The vessels of the reticular membrane are full of blackish liquor
deduced his hypothesis: when, after a long maceration of the black (liqueur noirâtre). One may ask where this comes from. Santorini did
skin in water, the outer skin is removed and attentively examined, not believe that one can decide on the source of this material which
one finds that it is black, very thin, and transparent when held up to taints the reticular membrane of the negroes; but he suspected that
daylight. That is how I saw it in America, and it has been remarked the liver could furnish the taint of the skin in this human species.
upon as well by the anatomists of our time, such as M. Winslow ... The red color of the fish's liver, various sorts of jaundice to which
humans are subject, and the blackishness that one finds in the bile
It needs to be further observed, however, that if the outer skin of the vesicles, led him to this conjecture.
negro is transparent, the color becomes pronounced in the under-skin,
which is reddish-brown, bordering on the dark. But since the skin of The following extract from Enévvclopaedia Brilannica is to ken from
the black, like that of the white, is made up of veins, it must the first American Edition, of 1798.
necessarily contain some juice. The results of the examination of
this juice are at present in question. However, one can say with Negro
some basis that the juice is analogous to the bile, an opinion
supported by observation. (1) On the cadavers of the Negroes whom I had NEGRO, Homo pelli nigra, a name given to a variety of the human
the opportunity to dissect in Cayenne,' the bile is always as dark as ink; species, who are entirely black, and are found in the torrid zone,
and (2) it is always more or less black in proportion to the skin color
of the negro; (3) the blood is blackish-red, again according to
the grade of blackness of the negro's skin; (4) it is certain that
the bile re-enters the chyle in the blood, and flows with it through
all parts of the body ...

The vessels of the mucous body, following the observations of Malpighi: the
skin and the cuticle of the negroes are white; the blackness comes
only from the mucous or the reticular membrane which is
between the epidermis and the skin. Ruysch's injections have
partly confirmed this discovery, and brought them to light. The
outer skin of the negro is not white, according

1 Translator's note: 'Cayenne' is a Tupi name, and here may refer to some place in

Brazil or other part of South America inhabited by the Tupis.

"Negro" 93

to this anatomy, because it has the whiteness of a [animal's] horn
(blancheur de la come), which always has a mixture of black. Ruysch
sent to Heifter a portion of the skin of a negro. It was white,
certainly, but the external surface of the epidermis was black-
tainted, the inside face was covered as well with deep, black taint.
Santorini, in his Remarques anatomiques, reports of observations that
establish the cause of the color of the Negroes in the mucous
membrane. These researches prove that, if the Negro's epidermis

94 Encyclopaedia Britannica V

especially in that part of Africa which lies within the tropics. In "The difference is fixed in
the complexion of negroes we meet with various shades; but they
likewise differ far from other men in all the features of their face. Round nature"
cheeks, high cheek-bones, a forehead somewhat elevated, a short,
broad, flat nose, thick lips, small ears, ugliness, and irregularity of Thomas Jefferson
shape, characterize their external appearance. The negro women (b. Shadwell, Virginia, 13 April 1743; d.
have the loins greatly depressed, and very large buttocks, which Monticello, Virginia, 4 July 1826)
give the back the shape of a saddle. Vices the most notorious seem
to be the portion of this unhappy race: idleness, treachery, In these excerpts from the essays entitled "Manners" and
revenge, cruelty, impudence, stealing, lying, profanity, "Laws," in the only book he published, Note's on the Stare o
debauchery, nastiness and intemperance, are said to have Virginia (1787), Thomas Jefferson shows acute awareness of the
extinguished the principles of natural law, and to have silenced cancerous effect of the institution of slavery_ on the moral fibre of
the reproofs of conscience. They are strangers to every sentiment his nation; for example, children of slave owners learn from
of compassion, and are an awful example of the corruption of their parents that it is all right to treat humans in cruel,
man when left to himself. inhumane, and, as Jefferson puts it, "degrading" fashion.
Jefferson, in the first essay, prays for wisdom to find a way to end
slavery in a m a n n e r t h a t would not bring about a reversal of
"the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation" between white and
black. A disproportionate part of the second essay, `Laws," is
devoted to arguments in support of what Jefferson believed to
be the innate or `natural" inferiority of the Negro (and
superiority of the white) in the areas of physical beauty, and
menial and intellectual capacity. The Negroes, according to
Jefferson, are biologically conditioned for manual labor
because they are "tolerant of heat."

"Manners," from Notes on the State of
Virginia

It is difficult to determine on the standard by which the manners of a nation
may be tried, w h e t h e r catholic, or particular. It is more

Race and the
Enlightenment

A Reader

Edited by

Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze

® BLACKWELL

Publishers

Copyright © Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 1997 Acknowledgments vil
Introduction, notes, selection and arrangement © Introduction 1
Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze, 1997
1 The God-given Order of Nature 10
First published 1997 Carl von Linné, Homo in The System of Nature 10
15
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 2 The Geographical and Cultural Distribution of
Mankind 15
Blackwell Publishers Inc. Georges-Louis Lederc, Comte de Buffon, A Natural
238 Main Street 29
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142 History, General and Particular
USA 29
Blackwell Publishers Ltd 3 "Negroes ... naturally inferior to the whites" 30
108 Cowley Road Oxford David Hume, "Of the Populousness of Ancient 34
OX4 1JF UK Nations"
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the "Of National Characters" 38
purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be James Beattie, A Response to Hume
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by 38
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or 4 "This fellow was quite black ... a clear proof 49
otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. that what he said was stupid" 58
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to Immanuel Kant, "On the Different Races of Man"
the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, "On National Characteristics" 65
hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in
any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and Physical Geography 66
without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the
subsequent purchaser. 5 The Kant-Herder Controversy 71
Immanuel Kant, Review of Herder's Ideas on the
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Philosophy of the History of Mankind
Johann Gottfried Herder, "Organization of the
Race and the Enlightenment: a reader/edited by Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze. Peoples of Africa"

p. Cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-631-20136-X (hbk.: alk. paper). - ISBN 0-631-20137-8

(pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Race - Racism - History - 18th century. 2. Enlightenment. I. Eze,

Emmanuel Chukwudi.

HT1507.R33 1997

305.8'009'033-dc2O 96-19640

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